Page 109 - Astounding Pulp V2

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ASTOU:\' DJXG SCIE~CE-FICTJO:-.i
ors .ac; ~ssig11c:d- tip him nver. •·
1 h · IIH<:n •' t f lava was hurled to all points of the com- l
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1
. ~ Y ri t 1 <: homha rd m ent did
n,ot .slack<:11, but from the maulers Lo pass a . the ful l-bla t drive of a uper- po werful tl1a I . . B I .
n lls O\\'ll. 1 he os -0111:rn
.
t 1c nonh ihc-r ... . dreadnoug ht \\'as cut loose beneath its Ai:-;-o FR :1r f tit" 0th r citic..·.:- l°'f tt e-
f c 1 <. ,tc 1 ic-d o ut pressors surface ! tned. of cour e. His l.r~un r:tgwl out planct four 130.:-konian c-h, n c.•r.:-. each
• ron~ th<>:.c- up011 the: south came trac~ at full powe . • • 1 1 unknown to all the Nher:-. ll>ok pff in
. 1 against the screens 01 t
.0rs , each a bca f . T o th~ eye the thing simply anti in- la~ger _hip. but \\'itfl()ul effect. T hree
s
b k 111 0 terrific PO\\'er each fo11r ·pacc-~hip5 f0r f1. ur uiffcn:-111 cic.:-ti-
. ac fed by a!J the mass and a /I the ' driv- s~a~tly d isappeared ; but not to the ultra- pnmarres lashed out as one. The flee- 11a1io11s. Each had re-ported full\- a nci
m g o rcc of a ,. ·t 1 1 . v!s1011 of the obsen·ers' plates, and espe- mg vessel, structure and cont<::nts. ceased
1
S Jo \\'I " ~ a J c fly ing fortress. accura~ely to _b ite c,·cryching th;t had
. . y I ha t wluch had been a build- cially _ no_t to the CRX tracers attached to be. The Da1111t/css relurncd to the transpll'cd unt il the t wo Aie1·.:- had fad ,i
1• g lea ned f h by K mn,son and by H enderson. They torn and ravaged city.
· . _rom L c perpendicula r, its into the distance. T hen. h ig-hly late
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m~.ei ~Jc:f ~.'? ve screen still intact. held, and the chief pilot. already ,varned, . The ma_ulers had gone. T he l11111hcr- - and prohabl_·. if the tru th ulJ h ,
was on tlie trail a fa ·t as he could ,ng caterpdlars-what were left of them
. C !11cf :' F rom h is post as o bser ver known. no littl _ urpriscd as w ell-a t
J< 111111son fla shed a tho ug ht to H ' punch his keys. :-were cl_anking ·away : reeking. smok- the fact that he was _till ::div . ea ·h had
".Ar )·ou I • . aynes. Throug h atmosphere. through strato- ing hot in c,·ery plate and member.
Jeginn111g to thin!· f left llronseca at maximum hb:-t.
thoughts a bout that a d ~ a ny unny sphere, into interplanetary space flew Onl! the fi~emen were left, working like The Gabctic d irector had don a ll
"~ A pc own there ?"
- o . i·c you ? \,VJ ?" . pursued and pursuer at ever-increasing Tro;ans . w1~h explosi,·es. rays. water. that he could. w hi h wa littl c nou ·l1.
port adm iral stii·n . d iat · asked the speed. T he Dau11tless overtook her pro- carbon-d1ox1dc snow cli1wi11CY and . t the Patrol's first warlike mon ~ h
.. • · 1-risc . I • , b ~
.\l aybc I 'm n uts b . pos~d victim fairly easily. The Bos- smot 1ermg chemicals · anrthino· and ev- had orde:-ed a squadrnn of B osk n ·
p r ise m e if I , - · ' ut it wouldn't sur- erything which would, isoiate. ; bsod>. or ablest fighting craft to Prcllin ·s a id. I t
ic 1 < sta r t do · fl. ko111an \\'as fa t, but the Patrol's new
q u ick . J \ ·e . • mg a 1t p retty flier was the fastest thing in space. But dissipate any portion of the almost in- was almost certain ly a u ·clcss gesture.
jus t in ca se gaot la. CRX trace,- on him, calculab_e heat energy so recently and he knew as he did it . Go11 w e 1· t h
l
. . ll( ll Ill . J b tra_ctors \\'Ould not hold against the now
caution H c 1 ,g it e sm a r t to urnver·sal standa rd equipment of shears, so profligately released. days w hen p irate ba e dotted t he Tel-
toes." nc erso n to keep up on his Fire apparatus from four planets wa
and the heavy secondaries served only Iurian G al::i.xy ; only by a miracl could
"Y . · , , . to push the fleeing ve sel along all the at work. There were pumpers, ladder those ships reach the Bron_ecan· line
-o ur d ia o-
think " >-- 1105 is- n u ts - 1s correct I trucks, hose and chemical truck . There
, ca111e the a . , faster. And the dreadfu l primary beams of flirrht in time to be o( ser vice.
bu t the p - . nswen ng thought · were men in heavily insulated armor. N~- could thev. T he ho wl of inter-
0 1 t adm ira l f 1J d ' could not be u~ed-yet.
g estio n, 1 1e vertli ° owe the sug - " Not yet," cautioned the admiral. Vehicles and men alike were screened fering- vibratio ns _, w h ich w as m other ing
. e 1 ess.
" D on't get too close-wait until there's against the specific wave lengths of heat ; Prellin's communicator beam s napp d
AND l'\O N E . too noth_ing detectable in space." and under the direction of a fire mar- o ff into s ilence w hile t he w o u ld-be res-
g randly the C ~oon . D eliberately shal in his red speedster hig h in a ir cuers w ere m any hou rs a w ay . For min-
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. ' o ossus was I . ' Finally an absolutely empty region
b owmg in . stateJ . ean ing over, was entered, the word to close up was they fought methodically and efficiently utes, then. fa lte· sat immersed in tho ug·ht
awful lal<e in h ?'I fashion. toward the given, and Prellin drank of the bitter the conflagration which was the after- at his g reat desk in the Cen t~r. h is no t·-
so far. Then ~ I tc l it stood. But only math of battle. They fouo·ht and tlleY mally bluish face t urning a s1cldy g ree n .
. iere was a fl h .. cup which so many commanders of ves- b , .,
even tn the i11 f . as , v1s1 ble sels of the Patrol had had to drain- the were w111n111g. before he called the planet J a rne vo n to
h e1 no of .
t e re at war, and th · energies already ga!lingly ·fatal necessity of engaging a And then it rained. As thoug h the report to E ichmil, his chief. . .
e already coruscant heavens themselves had been outraged " There is however. a brig h t s id e to
ship ~vhich was both faster and more
by what had been done, they opened and the affair." ' he concluded. " P rdlin ·s
rain sluiced down in level sheets. It records we re d estroyecf'"w ith him . A lso .
struck hissingly the nearby structures, there are two facts- that the Patrol had .
but it did not touch the central area at to use such force as practically to d e -
all. Instead, i~ turned to steam in mid- stroy the city of Com inoche, and tha t
air, and, rising or being blow aside by o ur four o bsen ·ers esca ped u nmole sted
the tempestuous wind, it concealed the -wh ich furnish conclus ive p roof that
redly glaring, raw wound beneath a the vaunted Lensm an failed co mpletely
blanket of crimson fog. to penetrate with his men tal p o wers the 1
"v\Cell, that is that," the port admiral d efenses we have been usir~g ag ains t
said '"slowly. His face was grim and him."
stern. "A good job of clean-up-ex- _" Not conclusive proof,·· Eichmil re -
pensive, but worth the price. S o be it buked h im hars hly . "Not proof at a ll,
to every pi rate base and • ever y zwilaik in any sen se- scarcely a pt·obabilit y .
hide-out ,in the Galaxy! · H ende rson Indeed , the display of force rnay ver y
land us at Cominoche Spaceport." ' well mean that he has already attained
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