Speaker 1: Chapter four of The Vortex Splaster makes War by E. E. Smith.
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four,
Speaker 1: Two Worlds for Conquest. When Luda had given him the
Speaker 1: entire picture, Cloud saw that it was far from bright.
Speaker 1: D'arjeeb's coup had been planned with surpassing care and been
Speaker 1: executed brilliantly. His spies and fifth columnists had known exactly
Speaker 1: what to do, and had done it in perfect synchronization,
Speaker 1: with the armed forces striking from without. Drugged betrayed by
Speaker 1: her own officers, Luda had been carried off without a struggle.
Speaker 1: She did not know just how far reaching the stroke
Speaker 1: had been, but she feared that most of the fortresses
Speaker 1: were now held by the enemy. Ou Hall probably had
Speaker 1: the advantage in numbers and in power of soldiers and warships.
Speaker 1: Then upon, moon Archie would not have made his bid
Speaker 1: unless he had been able in some way to get
Speaker 1: around the treaty of strict equality in armament. The Hill was, however,
Speaker 1: much the nearer of the two worlds. Therefore, if this
Speaker 1: initial advantage could be overcome, to Hill's main forces could
Speaker 1: be brought into action much sooner than could the enemies,
Speaker 1: And if In addition, the vortex could be extinguished before
Speaker 1: it had done too much irreparable damage. Neither side would
Speaker 1: have any real tactical advantage, and the conflict would subside
Speaker 1: instead of flaring up into another world. Girdling Holocaust Cloud
Speaker 1: would have to do something. But what That vortex had
Speaker 1: to be snuffed out, but defended as it was by
Speaker 1: Uhollians in the air and upon the ground. How could
Speaker 1: he make the approach? His vortex bombing flitter was screened
Speaker 1: only against the frequencies of atomic disintegration. She could not
Speaker 1: ward off for a minute the beams of Eva, the
Speaker 1: feeblest ship of war. His cruiser was clothed to stop
Speaker 1: anything short of a Maler's primary blasts, but there was
Speaker 1: no possible way of using her as a vehicle from
Speaker 1: which to bomb the vortex out of existence. He had
Speaker 1: to analyze the thing first, preferably from a fixed ground station.
Speaker 1: Then two, His special instruments were all in the flitter
Speaker 1: and the cruiser had no bomb tubes. How could he
Speaker 1: use what he had to clear a station? The cruiser
Speaker 1: had no offensive beams, no ordinary bombs, no neckabombs. Droumia map.
Speaker 1: Will you please, Luda, he asked she did so, the
Speaker 1: cratered vortex where an Immitz building had once been the
Speaker 1: ring of fortresses, two of which were unusually far apart,
Speaker 1: separated by a parkway and a shallow lagoon. Shallow how deep?
Speaker 1: Cloud interrupted? She indicated a depth of a couple of feet.
Speaker 1: That's not map. Then thanks, the physicist ruminated, you seem
Speaker 1: to be quite an engineer. Can you give me details
Speaker 1: on your power plants, screen generators and so on? She could.
Speaker 1: Complex mathematical equations flashed through his mind, each leaving a
Speaker 1: residue effect. Can be done, maybe to bins. He turned
Speaker 1: to the Chickladorian. Are you a pilot or just an
Speaker 1: emergency assignment pilot? Master? Pilot rating? Unlimited tonnage or space? Good?
Speaker 1: Think you're in shape to take three thousand centimeters of acceleration?
Speaker 1: Pretty sure of it. If I was right, I could
Speaker 1: take it standing on my head without a harness, and
Speaker 1: I'm feeling better all the time. Let's hodder up and
Speaker 1: find out. Not until after we've unloaded the passengers somewhere.
Speaker 1: Cloud went on with the aid of Luna's map to
Speaker 1: explain exactly what he had in mind. Afraid it can't
Speaker 1: be done. The pilot shook his head glumly. Your timing
Speaker 1: has got to be too ungodly fine. I can do
Speaker 1: the piloting, determine power to mass ratio, measure the blast,
Speaker 1: and so on. I'm not afraid of balancing her down
Speaker 1: on her tail. I can hold her steady to a centimeter.
Speaker 1: But pottane's only half the job you want. Pilots don't
Speaker 1: ever land on a constant blast, and the leeway you
Speaker 1: allow here is damn near zero. To hit as close
Speaker 1: as you want, your timing has got to be accurate,
Speaker 1: pretty near to her tenth of a second. You don't
Speaker 1: know it, friend, but it'd take a master computer an
Speaker 1: hour too. I know all about that. I am a
Speaker 1: master computer, and I'll have everything figured. I'll give you your
Speaker 1: zero in plenty of time. U X. Then what are
Speaker 1: we waiting for to unload the passengers? Luda? Do you
Speaker 1: know of a place where they will be safe? And
Speaker 1: maybe you had better send a message to de Hill
Speaker 1: to call out your army and navy. We can't blow
Speaker 1: out that vortex until we control the city, both in
Speaker 1: the air and on the ground. That message was sent
Speaker 1: long since they are even now in space. We will
Speaker 1: land your women there, She pointed to a spot upon
Speaker 1: the plate. They landed, but three of the women would
Speaker 1: not leave the vessel. The monarkin declared that she had
Speaker 1: to stay aboard to take care of the patient. Why
Speaker 1: would happened if he passed out again with nobody except
Speaker 1: laymen around. She was right, Cloud conceited, and she could
Speaker 1: take it. She was a monarchan built of well bone
Speaker 1: and rubber. She would bend under three g's but she
Speaker 1: wouldn't break. The squatty insisted upon staying. Since Wynn had
Speaker 1: a woman of taminga hidden from danger or run away
Speaker 1: from a good fight, she could help the pilot hold
Speaker 1: his head up through an acceleration that would put Cloud
Speaker 1: into a pack, or give her that durineo ax and
Speaker 1: she'd show him how it ought to be swung. The
Speaker 1: Ceckladorian girl, too, remained aboard, her eyes not pink but
Speaker 1: deep cool green, brimming with unshead tears flashed at the
Speaker 1: idea of leaving her man to die alone. She just
Speaker 1: knew that they were all going to die, even if
Speaker 1: she couldn't be of any use, even if she did
Speaker 1: have to be in a hammock, What of it if
Speaker 1: her Thalaskin died. She was going to die too, and
Speaker 1: that was all there was to it. If they made
Speaker 1: her go asure, she'd cut her own throat right then.
Speaker 1: So there and that was that. A dozen armed Dehilians
Speaker 1: came aboard, as pre arranged, and the cruiser blasted off. Then,
Speaker 1: while Thalaskin was maneuvering Inert to familiarize himself with the
Speaker 1: control and to calibrate, the blast cloud, brought out the
Speaker 1: four semi portable projectors. They were fright weapons, so heavy
Speaker 1: that it took a strong man to lift one upon Earth,
Speaker 1: so heavy that they were designed to be mounted upon
Speaker 1: a massive tripod. While in use, they carried no batteries
Speaker 1: or accumulators, but were powered by tight beams from the
Speaker 1: mother ship. Luda was right. Such weapons were unknown in
Speaker 1: that solar system. They had no beam transmission of power.
Speaker 1: The Dahillian warriors radiated glee as they studied the things.
Speaker 1: They had more powerful stuff, of course, but it was
Speaker 1: all fixed, mount wired, solid, and far too heavy to move.
Speaker 1: This was wonderful. These were magnificent weapons. Indeed, high above
Speaker 1: the stratosphere Inert, the pilot found his exact location and
Speaker 1: flipped the cruiser around so that her stern pointed directly
Speaker 1: toward his objective upon the planet beneath. Then, using his
Speaker 1: forward braking jets drivers, he blasted her straight downward. She
Speaker 1: struck atmosphere almost with a thud. Only her fiercely driven
Speaker 1: meteorite screens and wall shields kept her intact. I hope
Speaker 1: you know what you're doing, jum, the pilot remarked conversationally,
Speaker 1: as the scene enlarged upon his plate with appalling rapidity.
Speaker 1: I've made hot landings before, but I always figured on
Speaker 1: having a hair or two of leeway. If you don't
Speaker 1: hit this to a hundredth we're going to splash. When
Speaker 1: we strike. We won't bounce. I can compute zero time
Speaker 1: to one thousands, and I can set the clicker to
Speaker 1: within a hundredth but it's you that'll have to do
Speaker 1: the real hitting. Cloud grinned back at the iron nerved pilot.
Speaker 1: Sure a four second call is enough for you to
Speaker 1: get your rhythm, allow for reaction time, and leg and
Speaker 1: blast exactly on the click. Absolutely, if I can't get
Speaker 1: it in four, I can't get it at all. Pretty
Speaker 1: close now, uh huh, Cloud staring at the electromagnetic reflection altimeter,
Speaker 1: which indicated continuously their exact distance above objective, began to
Speaker 1: sway his shoulders. He was more than a master computer.
Speaker 1: He knew, without being able to explain how, he knew,
Speaker 1: every mathematical fact and factor of the problem. Its solution
Speaker 1: was complete. He knew the exact point in space and
Speaker 1: the exact instant in time at which the calculated deceleration
Speaker 1: must begin. By the aid of the sweet second hand
Speaker 1: of the chronometer, one full revolution of the dial every second.
Speaker 1: He was now setting the clicking mechanism so that it
Speaker 1: would announce that instant. His hand swayed back and forth.
Speaker 1: A finger snapped down, and the sharp toned instrument began
Speaker 1: to give out its crisp, precisely spaced clicks got in
Speaker 1: on the hair cloud snapped get ready to Alaskan seconds
Speaker 1: four three two one click. Exactly Upon the click, the
Speaker 1: cruiser's driving blasts smashed on. There was a cruelly wrenching
Speaker 1: shock as everything aboard acquired suddenly a more than three
Speaker 1: times earthly weight. The Dehillians merely twitched. The tomigan, standing
Speaker 1: behind the pilot's seat, supporting and steadying his wounded head
Speaker 1: in its rest, settled almost perceptibly but her firmly gentle
Speaker 1: hands did not yield a millimeter. The nurse sank deeply
Speaker 1: into the cushioned bench upon which she was lying, her
Speaker 1: quick bright eyes remaining fixed upon her patient. The Chickladorian
Speaker 1: girl in her hammock fainted quietly and downward. The big
Speaker 1: ship hurtled tail first directly toward the now glowing screens
Speaker 1: of a fortress driving jets or not orthodox weapons, but
Speaker 1: properly replied, they can become efficient ones, indeed, and these
Speaker 1: were being applied with micrometric exactitude. Down, down, down. The
Speaker 1: frantic Uhoalians thought that it was crashing, thought it a
Speaker 1: suicide ship. Nevertheless, they fought it. The threatened fortress and
Speaker 1: its neighbors hurled out their every beam. The Euhualian ships
Speaker 1: dive frantically at the invader and tried their best to
Speaker 1: blast her down in vain. The cruiser's screens carried the
Speaker 1: load effortlessly down she drove. The Fortress's screens flamed ever brighter,
Speaker 1: radiating ever higher under the terrific bombardment, closer hotter. Nor
Speaker 1: did the frightful blast waver appreciably. The Czeckladorian was a
Speaker 1: master pilot down set up a plus ten Alaskan Cloud
Speaker 1: ordered quietly, I missed it a bit air dense, and
Speaker 1: the beams give it to her on the third click
Speaker 1: from this plus ten it is sir on a bare
Speaker 1: hundred yards now, and the ship of Space was still
Speaker 1: plunging earthward at terrific speed. The screens were furiously incandescent.
Speaker 1: But we're still holding one hundred feet velocity appallingly high.
Speaker 1: The enemy's screens still up. Something would have to give now.
Speaker 1: If that screen stood up, the ship must surely strike
Speaker 1: it and vanish as she did so. But the Alaskan,
Speaker 1: the Cickladorian, made no move, nor spoke no word to
Speaker 1: hike his blast. If the skipper was willing to bet
Speaker 1: his own life on his computations, who was he to squawk?
Speaker 1: But was it possible that Cloud had miscalculated? No, While
Speaker 1: the mighty vessels driving projectors were still a few yards away,
Speaker 1: defending screens exploded into blackness. The full awful streams of
Speaker 1: energy raved directly into the structures beneath metal and stone.
Speaker 1: Glared white, then flowed sluggishly at first, but ever faster
Speaker 1: and more mobile, then boiled coruscuently into vapor. The cruiser slowed, stopped,
Speaker 1: seemed to hang poised, Then slowly, reluctantly, she moved upward,
Speaker 1: her dreadful exhausts, continuing the devastation. That's computin, mister, the
Speaker 1: pilot breed to figure a dive like that right on
Speaker 1: the nose and then have the guts to hold her
Speaker 1: cold the skipper. That's computation, all yours, pilot, Cloud demurred,
Speaker 1: All I did was give you the dope. You're the
Speaker 1: guy that made it good. High in the stratosphere, the
Speaker 1: Chickladorian cut the acceleration to a thousand, and Cloud took stock.
Speaker 1: Hurt anybody nobody was q X. We'll repeat then on
Speaker 1: the other side of the lagoon. And as the cruiser
Speaker 1: began to descend upon the new course, the vengeful Pahelian
Speaker 1: fleet arrived upon the scene, looping, diving, beaming, often crashing
Speaker 1: in suicidal collision. The two factions went maniacally to war
Speaker 1: friend and fall alike, however, avoided the plunging Tellurian ship,
Speaker 1: that monster they had learned with, the thing about which
Speaker 1: they could do nothing. The second fortress fell exactly as
Speaker 1: the first had fallen, and as the pilot brought the
Speaker 1: cruiser gently to ground in the middle of the shallow lake.
Speaker 1: Clouds saw that the Dhilians, overwhelmingly the period in numbers,
Speaker 1: now had cleared the air of the ships of Oohul.
Speaker 1: Can you fellows and your ships keep them off of
Speaker 1: my flitter while I take my readings, he demanded, we can?
Speaker 1: The eighties radiated happily. Four of the armored bone heads
Speaker 1: were wearing these semi portables. They had them perched lightly
Speaker 1: atop their feeding heads, held immovably in place by two
Speaker 1: huge arms apiece. One hand sufficed to operate the controls,
Speaker 1: leaving two hands free to whatever else might prove an order.
Speaker 1: Let us out. The lock opened. The Ghelian warriors sprang
Speaker 1: out and splashed away to meet the foot soldiers who
Speaker 1: were already advancing into the lagoon. Cloud watched pure carnage
Speaker 1: for a few minutes. He hoped, Yes, there they were.
Speaker 1: The loyalists, seeing that their cause was not lost after all,
Speaker 1: had hastily armed themselves and were coming into the fray.
Speaker 1: There would be no tanks. The navy was seated that
Speaker 1: the blaster broke out his flitter, then set it down
Speaker 1: near the vortex and made his observations. Everything was normal.
Speaker 1: The Sigma curve was the spectacularly unpredictable thing which he
Speaker 1: had come to expect. He selected three bombs from the
Speaker 1: cruiser's vast store, loaded them into the tubes, and lofted.
Speaker 1: He set his screens, adjusted his goggles, and waited, while
Speaker 1: far above him and wide around him, his guardian Dahelian
Speaker 1: war vessels toured watchfully, their drumming blasts say reassuring thunder.
Speaker 1: He waited, eyeing the Sigma curve as it flowed backward
Speaker 1: from the tracking pen until finally he could get a
Speaker 1: satisfactory ten second prediction. That is, he knew the ten seconds,
Speaker 1: thence the activity of the vortex would match closely enough
Speaker 1: one of his bombs. He shot his flitter forward, solving
Speaker 1: instantaneously the problems of velocity and trajectory. At exactly the
Speaker 1: correct instant he released the bomb. He swung his little
Speaker 1: bomber asad went innersiless. The bomb sped truly into that
Speaker 1: awful crater, through that fantastic hel of heat and of
Speaker 1: lethal radiation and of noxious gas. It struck the vortex
Speaker 1: itself dead center. It penetrated just deeply enough the extremely
Speaker 1: refractory casing of neocarbaloi, so carefully computed as to thickness,
Speaker 1: held just long enough, the carefully weighted charge of duo
Speaker 1: duc exploded, its energy and that of the vortex, combining
Speaker 1: in a detonation whose like no inhabitant of that solar
Speaker 1: system had even dimly imagined. The gases and the pall
Speaker 1: of smoke and pulverized tufa blew aside the frightful waves
Speaker 1: of fluid lava quite it down. The vortex was out
Speaker 1: and would remain out. The vortex. Blaster went back to
Speaker 1: his cruiser and stored his flitter away. Oh you did it. Thanks,
Speaker 1: I didn't believe really that you, that anybody could do it.
Speaker 1: Luda was almost hysterical in her joyous relief. Nothing to it.
Speaker 1: Cloud depreciated, How are your folks coming along with the
Speaker 1: mopping up practically clean? Luda answered grimly, We now know
Speaker 1: who is who. I think those who fought against us
Speaker 1: or who did not fight for us very soon will
Speaker 1: be dead. But the Uhoalian fleet comes, does yours ours
Speaker 1: goes to meet it. In moments, wait a minute, Cloud
Speaker 1: sat down at his plate, made observations and measurements, calculated. Mentally,
Speaker 1: he energized his longest range communicator and conferred briefly, the
Speaker 1: Uhalian fleet will be here in seven hours and eighteen minutes.
Speaker 1: If your people go out to meet them, it will
Speaker 1: mean war that not even the patrol can stop without
Speaker 1: destroying practically all of the ships and men you have
Speaker 1: in space. The patrol flotilla will arrive in seven hours
Speaker 1: thirty one minutes. Therefore, I suggest that you hold your
Speaker 1: fleet here in formation, but quiescent under instructions not to
Speaker 1: move until you yourself signal them to do so, while
Speaker 1: you and I go out and see if we can't
Speaker 1: stop the Euhulians. Stop them. Ludas thought, was a distinctly
Speaker 1: unladylike one with what prey, I don't know. Cloud confessed,
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't do any harm to try, would it? No,
Speaker 1: probably not, and so it was done. All the way out,
Speaker 1: Cloud pondered ways and means. Asked the cruiser near the
Speaker 1: on rushing fleet. He sent a quick thought to Luda
Speaker 1: Darjeeb is undoubtedly with that fleet. He knows that this
Speaker 1: is the only inertial ship in this part of space.
Speaker 1: He wants it more than he wants anything else in
Speaker 1: the universe. Now, if we could only make him listen
Speaker 1: to reason, if we could make him see, he broke
Speaker 1: off no soap, you couldn't explain green to the blind.
Speaker 1: These folks didn't know and wouldn't believe what real power was.
Speaker 1: Any One of those oncoming patrol super dreadnoughts could blast
Speaker 1: both of these combined fleets clear out of space. Those
Speaker 1: primary beams were starkly incredible to anyone who had never
Speaker 1: seen them in action. Thehulians didn't stand the chance of
Speaker 1: a fly under a mallet, but they would have to
Speaker 1: be killed before they'd believe it. A damn shame too,
Speaker 1: the joy, the satisfaction, the real advancement possible only through
Speaker 1: cooperation with each other and with the millions of races
Speaker 1: of galactic civilization. If there were only some means of
Speaker 1: making them believe we and they do believe. Luda broke
Speaker 1: in upon his somber musings, Huh what you do? You
Speaker 1: were listening? Cloud exclaimed, Certainly at your first thought, I
Speaker 1: put myself on rapport with dhar Jib, and he and
Speaker 1: his people. All of us listened to your thoughts. But
Speaker 1: you really believe me? We believe all of us but
Speaker 1: some will cooperate only as far as it seems to
Speaker 1: serve their own ends to do so. Your linsman, if
Speaker 1: they are able to, will undoubtedly have to kill that insect.
Speaker 1: Dharjib and the insulted Uhalien drove in a protesting thought,
Speaker 1: but Luda went, call me on. You think, then, to
Speaker 1: Laurian that your linsman can cope with even such as
Speaker 1: dar Jib of ooh Hal, I'll say they can. It
Speaker 1: is well, then come aboard Dharjeb. Unarmed and unarmored as
Speaker 1: I am, we will together go to confer with these
Speaker 1: visiting lindsmen of galactic civilization. It is understood that there
Speaker 1: is to be no warfare until our return. Holy Klono
Speaker 1: Cloud gasped, he wouldn't do that, would he? Certainly? Luda
Speaker 1: was surprised at the question. Although he is an insect
Speaker 1: and is morally and ethically beneath contempt, he is after
Speaker 1: all a reasoning being. Qx Cloud was dumbfounded, but tried
Speaker 1: manfully not to show it. In that case, everything can
Speaker 1: be settled without another blow being struck. D'arjyb came aboard
Speaker 1: the cruiser. He was heavily bandaged and most of his
Speaker 1: hands were useless, but he apparently bore no ill will.
Speaker 1: Whatever Cloud gave orders, the ship flashed away to meet
Speaker 1: the oncoming patrolman. The conference was held, coming out pros
Speaker 1: decisely as Luda had foreseen. The fleets returned each to
Speaker 1: its home world, and plenty potentiaries of the Hill and
Speaker 1: Avoo Hall held long meetings with the Lensman. You won't
Speaker 1: need me any more, will you, Admiral Cloud asked a
Speaker 1: few days later. No, nice job, Cloud, thanks, I think
Speaker 1: I'll be on my way then, clear Ether, and the
Speaker 1: Vortex Blaster, after taking leave of his other new friends,
Speaker 1: resumed his interrupted voyage, having added another solar system to
Speaker 1: the Fellowship of galactic civilization. End of chapter four end
Speaker 1: of The Vortex Blaster Makes War by E. E. Smith.
Speaker 1: This story recorded by Phil Shinever in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,