Page 107 - Astounding Pulp V2

106 ASTOl.J~DIXG SCIE~CE-FICTIO~
A~o all around the e111hat t h:d ._1 ru ._ :-o that vour :-.cn•1.•n, l\.'Ul'h gr,,und.
fractory materials possible of fabrica- ers. _rclcaseci itself in bolts 0£ lightning lure, within the Patrol":- nnw panial~,- Xt·,·l·r 111fnd d:.1111:.1~1.•-th1.•} ·11 hl.t,t t 'w
I
h
tion. In the sk Y 1ung t c mauJcrs hurlmg themselves frantically to ground. ope11 wall of screen. !-pread holnrau.~t "IH,k cit, ii "1.· <hHt ·c -.l1.•p th ::-1.' l)(.·:tnt,
.
•
poi~ccJ ~tolidly upon the towering pii~ X or was that superbly disguised cira· SU_Prcme; holocaust :-prc:acling- widn and ~11rn,11mi hin1 ! ..
Jars of Aame erupt' f . l)1nn1 tht· n1aukr, c~un1.·. ri11.,.,,, i,,:
jets. mg rom their under ~icl designed for ddense alone. Know· wider during each fractional ,plit ,ec-
1 ~1g _now that the Jast faint hope of con· on?._ In an instant. it :-cc111ccl. ncarbv mi••li1v prl.\t1.·ctiu: 1..·nvchl{K', 1.,,t•rl, p-
ComincJchc B. , . . pi1~: ·down until the ::l.2'r'CII::- l>it g-r1. und.
• • , 1 0nscca s capital city t111u111g in business upon Bron eca was buildmg bur t into flame. The fa~L
w1tncsse<l ti , that they were fireproof meant 1wthino X t •W tht· t·aterpill:\r :llld mol>ik-:-\.'rl.c'~tl
nt · icn w 1 1at no one there prcs- gone, and grimly determined to rake full
1ac
1 1 ever exp d toll of the hated Patrol, the defender- ~vhalcver. The air inside them. heated en•w:: were ;:-:tic: ptn,eriul 3$ Prdlin·,
fare d . • cctc to sec; the war-
CsJgned for the illimitable reaches in turn loosed their beams. Fi,·e oi ~n _n~omcnts to a point far ah0,·c the "1.':lp011, wert·. t hl'Y n-.uld. lll.,t break
o £ empty spac I . them shot out simultaneously, and filt tgmtion ~cmperature of organic matt'rial. 1hrlrn~h those m::wkr:--' ;:-crecns.
J . • e; Jcmg waged in the very :\'0w lwlocaust waxc<l douhly mtcr-
,ca~t of its business district ! of the panels of mobile screen flamed fed furiously upon furniture. ru~~-
1 ?rapc , and wha1t:,·c-r cbc had livL:n )~ft 11:1I. Th1.· w;ill was tight. the only av1.•-
~ l•or JJo r t A I . instantly into eye-tearing violet. Thei 1111c ni e,:;c:ipe of all that liercdy radiant
. c miral l-Iaynes had di-
·
r ected the m vcst . black. These \,\·ere not the compar:i· 1 '.1 plar:. Even without ~ueh ad venti-
s tronghold a i m mcnt of trus minor t ively feeble, antiquated rays which tious atcl the air it!-cli. expa11cli11~ lrt·- enen.,!·,· straight up" an.I : and adding t
regulation baseos! as tl~ough jt were a ~-Iay11es had expected, but were the out· mendot~ ly, irresi ·tibly. _clrn,·t· outward the ·i~tr r were the tfari11 tmc.kr j ts
H c knew that f nd with good r eason. bcf?re 1t the gla. s o( window:; and the -thcn1s ·h·es clcstructiv • agents hy no
tage afar fo r om th eir coigns of van- put of up-to-the-minute. first-line pact' solid brickwork oi walls. And as thcv 111ca11. w he clcspiscd !
artille1·y !
servers wei·cu~ sci J?arate Boskonian o b- fell. glass and brisk cea ·ed to exist ~;" l n ·iclc th :5crccns. then. ragt:d pure
oo <mg on h d . Defenses down. it took but a blink of fr('n z,·. .\ L the line r::is~d the mauk 1·s·
t h e r csponsibilit , c . arge with 1 such. ~ailing. they fused; coalcscin~
porting ever ytl .Y of r econ.ling and re- t ime to Jick up the caterpillars. 0~ • and aga111 splashing aparl as thcv cle- prodigious liitin(V blast:-. C_h1t and
111
h e wanted ti i m g that transp ired , and then, the d estroyinu beams tore. each 5:ended ~1rough the inferno of Janni- aw: x. clown c,·cry 3\' m1c ol c:;cap .
1
a d irect line for ; remote-control sta·
a nd conclusi~:t r~o rt to be complete htl~tort- vibrations in an appalling- rain swci)t torrents of _supt:rlu.:atcd air. at
whoever and · 1 e wanted Boskone, t ion. Throug h tremendous edifices of wl_ch might very well ha"e been ~prin- whose touch anytl11t1g a11cl ·,·cryllung
11
know th at wl iere vc r he might be to m asonry and steel they drove, the upper kled from the hotle~t middle of the cen- combustible bu rst into fl::1111c. But th t""'
w ien the Gal . '
started a thi a cttc Patrol floo~·s . collapsing jnto the cylinders of tral core of hell itself. · And in this could be no fi re-fight i11g-yct. Outly-
ng, that th· · fin. annihilation only to be consumed al·
· th at the mailed fis . -~ 1t 1shed ; fan!astically potent, this incredibly cor- ing fires. along the lines of cl srn1 t ion
1
not spare an t of c i v hzation would most as fast as t hey could fall. preYiouslv cut. yes : but per ·onal armor
. e nemy base . l rosive flood the ground itself. the met-
1t was so located . . Simp Y because "All screen-control stations, back, aled pa:'ement. the sturdily immoYablc has c,·c~- been clcsig nccl w cnabl li.f ,
11
manity's cities th _within one of hu- fast!" Haynes directed crisply. "Back, foundations of skyscrapers. di:ssoh·cd as to exist in such an en vironment a - that
ine vitably result . at its destruction must d~d?ing ! P ut your screens on auto· near those screens then was.
·a I iu severe 11 do lumps of sugar in boiling- coffee. Dis-
g e. ndeed the . property dam- mat1c block until you get back beyo ~ "Burn ou t Lhe g-ro11nd u nder them! ..
massed there ~h . chief of s taff had effective range. Spy-ray men! See ~ so_lve?, slumped clown. flowed awav in came the o rde r. ..Tip them over- slag
S u.per-
blmdmgly turbulent streams.
.fi
spec1 cally and n ee the f orce necessary . you . can locate the enemy observers dt· them clown ! ..
-message ho me. purposely to drive that . strucuures toppled in to clisinteo-ration Sharply downward angled twosc?re
I d"
recting fire!" eac 1 1scretc particle contributing as it '
c:,
:At the word f B ut no. matter hoW far back theY fell to the utterly indescribable fervency of the beams which had been ex:pendmg
·out, almost ~as o conunand there flamed 11 their enero·ics upon Boskone's radiant
~en~, Boskonian beams still sought thei of the whole. ·
: of energ?' intole~~ie a thousand lances out ~n grimly persistent attempts to slaf• l\fore and more panels of mobile defenses. bDo,.vnward into· the lake of
~ork, steel, glass ,.,: Masonry, brick- ~heir shielding fields blazed ~vhite, their laYa ,Yhich had once _been pavement.
disappeared; fla •' and chromium trim 1 efractories wavered in the high blue as s~reen went down. They were not de- That lake had already been seething and
. ,. , nng aw • s1g1~ed to stan~ up under such heavy
h 1ssmg vapor or c . ay m sparkling th ~ overdriven refrigerators strove bubbling ; emitting momently bursts 0£
·Jiantly mobile str~scadmg away in· bril~ · proJectors as \iVembJesons'' mounted lambent flame. Now it leaped into a
. .d D . ms of fier . mightily _to cope with the terrific lo~d, ?nd the Boskonians l)lasted them dow1~
1 1qut' . isappeared r 1• corrosive !he operators stifling, almost roast111g 111 order to get at the remote-control frenzy of its own; a transcendent f ury
bearabl~ incandesce~t evealmg . the un- 10 their armo~ · of ·proof, shook sweat of volatilization. High-explosive she lls
Boskoman defensive surface · of the . from the eyes they could 11ot reach as operators back of them. Swath after by the hundred dropped a lso into the
. ., screen. ~swath of flaming_ ruin was cut through
Full-driven, that · bar ; . · h . }h:y drove themselves ·a!ld their 1 nech· tl~e Br~nsecan capital as the enemy g-_un- incandescent m ess, huding the fiery stuff
. h . . net e 1 d even · ~n~s111.s, ·on to even greater efforts · cuW afar; deepening and broadening the s ul-
agambst t e td1ta111c thrusts of the' inaul- 1ng 1 • 1 1 ' n~rs tned to follow the dodging cater-
·
ttndly fulmina11tlY t e while at
.
e
ers a ove an of the heavy d f' ense guns carr · ' · pillar tractors. · , phurous moat.
"Deep enough,'' Haynes spoke into
~lllg on a space war m the hotly
~e I ow. E nergy rebou~1ded in scintillat- · · .. ?.g, the hellishly reflectmg and heat· "Drop down, maulers !" the com- his microphone. "Tractors and press-
· ·
reek1
1ng torrents, shot off in blinding stream- retain 111 g environment O a metropolis! mander in chief ordered. " Low enough
f
·
-
- ~