The Earth-Tube (8 page)

Before dark the whole city was in flames, and the last of the inhabitants who had not found safety outside the city was dead or a captive of the Asians. The tanks seemed to make it a game, to hunt the last of the frightened citizens down into the holes and crannies and by-paths of the ruined and burning city and to ensnarl them there in paralyzing vapor, to be taken prisoner afterward at the pleasure of the conquerors.

So brutal, so devoid of spectacle or strategy was the conquest of this first American city that fear smote the entire hemisphere. That Buenos Aires would be next was a foregone conclusion, though the defenders there counted on a brief respite because of the water which lay between them and Montevideo. Hastily they set to work blasting a broad and deep moat around the entire city to protect it, if possible, from the tanks until some better way of combat could be devised.

IV

Dr. Scott paced his laboratory. It was late at night,
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and the noises of the city were dim and far away. In a chair by the huge earth model sat King Henderson, gazing at the clay globe with concentration, making calculations from time to time on a pad which he held in his hand.

“At every hour the problem grows more acute,” muttered the old scientist. “Angell, by his colossal blundering, has now lost the world for us, I’m afraid. He mistakes deliberateness on the part of the Asians for inactivity, slowness for fear. They will conquer South America without a struggle if he doesn’t wake up soon.”

King nodded, turning the globe slowly with his hand.

“Perhaps we’ll be able to get some action out of him at the conference to-night,” he suggested.

“That’s it. but what can we advise him to do? The calculations by which I was able to forecast this invasion give us absolutely no suggestions as to a means of combating it. What can our troops do against the armor plate? It is necessary to face the situation. We are helpless!”

There was a ring at the door.

“There they are now, King,” said the scientist, recovering himself.

King arose and went to the door, which opened into the street from a hall communicating with the laboratory. Outside stood the Secretary, and with him was a short, important-appearing man, whom King recognized from his pictures. Preceded by two armed attendants in uniform and followed by another who continually glanced around as if suspicious of every one and everything, the two men stepped briskly into the laboratory. King closed the door. When he joined the group again, the Secretary was going through the formality of introductions.

“Mr. President,” he was saying, with a grand manner, “this is Dr. Scott, and this, King Henderson. Gentlemen. the President of the Pan-Americas!”

The President broke in upon these flourishes quickly, smiling appreciatively at Dr. Scott and King. “We have come for a council of war as we explained over the telephone,” he remarked. “To-night we must decide some course of defense.”

“We are honored by this visit from you,” said Dr. Scott with evident respect. “It is not often that the President of so powerful a state comes to the humble home of a scientist to speak of war and national defense.”

“Unusual situations, such as this one certainly is, must be met by unusual measures,” replied the President, smiling again. “Besides, Dr. Angell has told me many interesting things about you and Mr. Henderson here. It is a pleasure to meet you in your own home and to see the curious laboratory you have built here.”

Dr. Scott piloted the group to easy chairs before the open fire in the library. This room and the laboratory were both on the ground floor, communicating with each other through enormous folding doors. In these two rooms, the one fitted with the most modern apparatus for physical, chemical, and other research, the other equipped with those quiet luxuries for body and mind which make association with good books doubly pleasant, Dr. Scott spent most of his waking hours. The little world in which he lived was stamped indelibly with his personality. Secluded and peaceful, separated completely in many ways from contact with the outer world, it was nevertheless a place where the affairs of that world and the universe were most closely studied and analyzed.

The President glanced about him appreciatively, smiling particularly at Anna as she came in with coffee for every one, while Dr. Scott stirred up the fire. The War Secretary arose and bowed. He remained standing until the girl had gone out of the room again.

“You have a most charming daughter,” he commented to Dr. Scott.

It was King who turned the discussion to the problem of defense.

“Is there anything new in South America?” he asked.

The Secretary shook his head.

“Not a thing,” he replied. “The fact is, I believe we have them completely bluffed. They haven’t stirred out of Montevideo, and it’s ten days now since they took the town. Aside from the defenses they’ve thrown up there and along the coast at intervals clear to the head of the causeway, they appear to have been completely inactive. Why they haven’t, by some roundabout route, marched their tanks on Buenos Aires I have not been able to figure out, but it is probable that they have learned in some way of the deep moats we have built there and know that they cannot cross with their moving forts.”

Dr. Angell put his fingertips together in a large gesture of satisfaction.

“It seems like a return to ancient methods of warfare, in a way,” he continued, “but so far it has worked.”

Dr. Scott stirred angrily.

“It’s a return to ancient methods on your part,” he declared, “but what of their methods? A resourceful people will not be stopped long by your moats and your medieval fighting equipment!”

“They have been stopped for ten days by it.”

“Perhaps. and perhaps also they have merely been playing with you.”

“Well, there’ll be no playing when they do come. I have sent eighty thousand additional troops to guard the city and more than half the big flame-throwers in South America. They will find the city garrisoned and ready for their attack.

“And as for their weapons. !” the voice of the Secretary was contemptuous. “Their attack on Montevideo showed beyond a doubt that all they have is their armor and jets of steam. Steam is all they had to shoot us with. Steam!” Dr. Angell spat vigorously into the fire.

“In the attack upon Montevideo, at least,” put in Dr. Scott mildly, “their armor and their steam seemed sufficient. At least your defenders thought so.”

The Secretary retorted hotly. “You seem to think you have to take the part of these Asians,” he declared. “You discovered them; you have to stick up for them!”

“Gentlemen,” remarked the President quietly, “we all agree that the invasion is serious, and we have come here to-night to ask Dr. Scott if there is any way, in his opinion, by which these people may be driven back to the other side of the world, where they belong.”

He looked at the scientist inquiringly, with evident sincerity and respect. Dr. Scott was silent for a moment, going over the matter carefully in his mind.

“We will come directly to the point,” he replied at length. “I could delude you with certain vague promises, but I prefer to face the truth. I know of no way to make effective resistance against this invasion.”

The Secretary sat stiffly in his chair, making no comment. The President, however, leaned forward, speaking with great intensity.

“But have you no suggestions, no theories upon which we could work? Dr. Scott, we have tried to battle with these men in our own way with methods we have worked out for ordinary wars. and we have failed. The best military heads in the country have conferred on the matter and admit themselves unable to cope with the new foe. Do you realize that Mr. Henderson and yourself are, therefore, our only hope; that on you depends the safety of the Western Hemisphere, and it may be, that of the world itself?”

Dr. Scott nodded.

“Yes,” he said, “but knowledge of the need alone will never solve the problem. The whole crux of
the
matter lies in that metallic substance which these people make and use, which defies alike unlimited heat and explosive force. It appears to have many of the properties of steel, in that it can be used for engines and moving cars, and yet it has none of the weaknesses of the strongest metals we know.

“If we had any idea what that substance is and how it is made, we might be saved, for not only could we make similar armor for ourselves, but we could also learn some method of destroying theirs.”

“Without an actual sample to work on, is it possible to draw any conclusions about the nature of the substance?” asked the President.

Dr. Scott considered.

“I’ve been thinking about it quite a little,” he replied, “and it seems logical to conclude certain things. It is apparent, for instance, that the substance is not a chemical element, but a compound. If it were an element and existed in such quantities, it is unlikely that it would have remained so long undiscovered in the Western Hemisphere. Further, if it were an element, and as it appears, virtually heat-proof, how could the Asians melt it and work it up into armor? They can produce no greater heat than we can; at least that statement was certainly true before they had made their boring through the earth; yet they had this armor more than five years ago, and with it conquered all the East.

“Consequently, I am more than ever convinced that the material is first mixed in some plastic state, molded into the desired form, and then hardened by some chemical or electrical action which settles the matter for all time.”

“For all time? Then the armor, once made, is indestructible?”

“I have no way of knowing that. ,We have on record, I believe, no instance wnere any permanent fortifications, once put up, have been destroyed or removed by the Asians. Of course our whole knowledge of the matter is scant. It seems more than likely that they have long ago learned some way to disintegrate their metal, once it is no longer of use. Otherwise the stuff would accumulate all over the countryside, heaps of metallic rubbish, and soon drive them off the land by sheer accumulation.”

“Whatever this material is,” the President put in, “the ingredients must be cheap and common, else they would never have been able to make and use so much of it. The supply seems to be endless; therefore the basic material must be almost as common as stone and as widely scattered over the earth’s surface.”

The scientist nodded. “That seems logical,” he agreed.

“Then we must obtain a sample for your laboratory here and let you go to work on it,” said the President. “We’ll try to get you one as soon as possible, though you know, knocking off a chip of this mate rial is next to impossible, and we have as yet been unable to capture any of the machines entire.”

“And you probably never will,” said Dr. Scott. “I am not even sure that a sample of the stuff would do us any good. It may possibly resist every reagent in the laboratory and defy analysis. But I’d be glad to try.”

“I will offer a prize,” exclaimed the Secretary of War suddenly, arousing from his lethargy, “for the first specimen of this metal brought into camp. And the man who brings it in shall receive the Distinguished Service Medal!”

V

The newspapers next day carried the story of the fall of Buenos Aires and La Plata, while the people of both continents seethed with excitement and fear. The
Times
ran eight pages on the attack the following morning, with complete details, pictures received by radio, and an eye-witness story by its special correspondent.

“I have seen the destruction of Buenos Aires. I have stood upon solid ground and felt it rise and disappear beneath my feet. I have gone through livid hells of fire and steam, while tortured souls writhed in agony all about and a triumphant foe, safe in battlements of steel,
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crushed the defenses of two continents and moved hideously upon the helpless in a mighty holocaust,” began the somewhat perturbed special writer. “The last days of Buenos Aires were ghastly, unbelievable; but the nature of her destruction was Beyond human comprehension.

“The city had been quiet for days. Most of the population had gone back to its daily routine since the expected attack of the Asian tanks had failed to materialize.

“Already, under the direction of a corps of trained military engineers, Buenos Aires had been transformed into an island city. A moat had been blasted around it on all sides, joining at either end with the bay. The sides of the canal were steep, and the excavation had been carried to a depth of nearly 300 feet before the water was turned in.

“Assured by the army men that the tanks of the enemy could never cross this entrenchment and heartened by the presence of several hundred thousand troops, equipped with the latest fighting equipment, the city had settled down to its business again almost as if the invasion had never existed.

“There were, of course, many obstacles to normal trade. The moat forbade rail traffic, except across a light bridge, and most of the shipping of the city had to be carried on over the water. In addition, the place was more like a military garrison than a business capital. Soldiers were continually guarding the streets, and the control was more military than civil everywhere.

“Beyond the moat there was a continual clatter of engines, and the fleets of rapid whippet tanks, equipped with flame-throwers and ray-guns, drilled in the camp of the city’s defenders. Overhead droned the endless caravan of transport planes and military scouts, reporting that the burned city of Montevideo still contained the enemy and that they appeared quiet and unready to renew their attack upon the continent.

“This atmosphere of armed peacefulness continued until late yesterday when the scouts radioed that a fleet of enemy tanks, lumbering along the northern shore of the bay, appeared to be picking their way carefully inland to seek a crossing.

“Immediately “there was consternation in the city. Thousands who had earlier professed complete confidence in the defenses of the city began to be afraid. There was a small riot late in the afternoon on the water-front, where a crowd had gathered to leave the city, but it was quickly stopped by the military guards, and the would-be deserters were sent back to their homes.