The Fire People Read online

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  THE END OF TAO.

  The scene of desolation that met us in the Lone City was at onceextraordinary and awesome. It seemed impossible that our rays, acting forso brief a period, could have done so much damage. The city was nothingmore than a semicivilized settlement of little, flat-topped stone houses.Our rays, striking these, had discharged harmlessly into the ground. Butthe interiors had been penetrated through windows and doors, andeverything inflammable about them, as well as about the streets, had beendestroyed.

  The people had taken refuge in cellars underground and in caves andcrevices--wherever they could find shelter. But even so, there were athousand dead in that city that morning, and rapidly spreading diseasewould shortly have killed them all. They came out of their hiding placeslittle by little as we entered the streets, and stood about in groupsstaring at us sullenly. They seemed mostly old men and women and children,the younger men having fled with Tao's army. They were heavy-set, patheticpeople, with broad, heavy faces, pasty-white skin, and large protrudingeyes. We were in the Lone City nearly a month, burying the dead, doingwhat we could for the people, and destroying or removing the apparatus Taohad left behind him.

  The Lone City, before the banishment of Tao, had been one of the mostprimitive settlements of the Twilight region. It was in the otherhemisphere that the Twilight Country was more densely populated; but sincethis Lone City was so close to the Great City it had become the scene ofTao's exile.

  This region about the Lone City was of the most barren of the wholeTwilight country. Its people were almost entirely meat eaters. Back towardthe Dark Country great bands of animals like caribou roamed. Living almostentirely in darkness, they had little power of sight, and were easy preyto hunters.

  Their hides, which were covered with short, white fur, provided clothing;a form of candle was made from their fat, and used for lighting; and theirflesh provided food. The Dark City, some two hundred and fifty miles away,was the center from which most of these animals were obtained.

  "Then, that's where Tao has been getting his supplies from," Mercerexclaimed, as we heard all this from one of the Twilight People. "Andthat's where he has gone now."

  Tao had indeed withdrawn to the Dark City, we learned positively. And morethan that, we learned that he had factories there as well as here. Wefound in the Lone City some eight of the interplanetary vehicles--most ofthem almost entirely completed. The fact that Tao had abandoned them soreadily made us believe he had others in the Dark City.

  There seemed a curious lack of appliances for protection against the ray.This we attributed to two causes--that Tao had managed to take most ofthem with him, and that his supply of fabric came from distant cities onthe other side of the globe. Within a month after we had occupied the LoneCity we were again ready to start forward. It had been an irksome monthfor Mercer, and not a day had passed without my receiving a truculentdeclaration from him that we were fools to allow Tao to escape so easily.

  Our occupation of the Lone City was to continue. On this second expeditionfarther into the Twilight Country I took with me a much smaller and moreselect force. We had before us a land journey of some two hundred andfifty miles, through an unknown, barren country, in which it would bedifficult for us to maintain ourselves, so I was determined to be burdenedwith as few men as possible.

  Our force consisted of all the older men trained in the operation of thelarger projectors and rockets; a variety of mechanics and helpers, menselected for their physical strength; a corps of young men to the numberof fifty, and fifty girls.

  We did not take the platforms, for I assumed it would be too cold for thegirls to make sustained flights. Against this cold we provided ourselveswell with the white furry garments of the Twilight People. I need not gointo details of our march to the Dark City. It occupied some three weeks.We met with no opposition, passing a few isolated settlements, whoseinhabitants rather welcomed us than otherwise.

  This region we passed through took us almost to the ill-defined borders ofthe Dark Country. It was not mountainous, but rather more a great brokenplateau with a steady ascent. Each day it grew darker and colder, until atlast we entered perpetual night. It was not the sort of night we know onearth, but a Stygian blackness.

  We used little torches now, of the light-ray current, and our little army,trudging along in their lurid glare, and dragging its wagons piled highwith the projectors, presented a curious and weird picture. The countryfor the most part was barren rock, with a few stunted trees growing in theravines and crevices. There was an abundance of water.

  We encountered several rainstorms, and once during the last week it snoweda little. Except for the storms, the wind held steady, a gentle breezefrom the colder regions in front blowing back toward the Light Countrybehind us.

  During the latter days of our journey I noticed a curious change in theground. It seemed now, in many places, to be like a soft, chalkylimestone, which ran in pockets and seams between strata of very hardrock. I called Miela's attention to it once, and she pointed out a numberof irregular shaped, small masses of a substance which in daylight Iassumed might be yellow. These were embedded in the soft limestone.

  "Sulphur," she said. "Like that on your earth. There is much of it uphere, I have heard."

  The Dark City occupied a flat plateau, slightly elevated above thesurrounding country, and on the brink of a sheer drop of some six or seventhousand feet to an arm of the polar sea.

  Our problems now were very different from when we had laid siege to theLone City. The conformation of the country allowed us no opportunity toapproach closer than two or three miles to the barrage of light we mustexpect. We could not reach the city from these nearest points with ourprojectors.

  There were many lateral ravines depressed below the upper surface of themain plateau, and though the light-rays from the city, directedhorizontally, would sweep their tops, we found we could traverse many ofthem a considerable distance in safety. But from the bottoms of them wecould only fire our rockets without specific aim and our projectors not atall.

  Only by the most fortuitous of circumstances did we escape completeannihilation the first moment we appeared within range. We had no ideawhat lay ahead--although the guides we had brought with us from the LoneCity informed us we were nearing our destination--and the scene remainedin complete darkness until we were hardly more than five miles outsideTao's stronghold.

  Then, without warning, his lights flashed on--not only a vertical barrage,but a horizontal one as well--sweeping the higher points of the entirecountry around for a distance of twelve or fifteen miles.

  We were, at the moment, following the bottom of a narrow gully. Had webeen on any of the upper reaches of the plateau we would undoubtedly havebeen picked out by one of the roving beams of light and destroyed.

  We camped where we were, and again for several days I attempted nothing,devoting myself to a thorough exploration of the country about us. TheDark City appeared impregnable. Beams of light from Tao's largerprojectors were constantly roaming about the entire plateau thatsurrounded it, and every higher point of vantage from which one of ourscould have reached them must have been struck by their rays a score oftimes a day.

  It will be understood, of course, that any place where we could mount oneof the higher powered projectors, a task of several hours at best, andstrike the city, must of necessity be also within range of their rays, fortheirs were as powerful as ours. Upon observation I felt convinced thatshould we attempt to mount a projector anywhere on these higher points itwould be sought out and destroyed long before we could bring it intoaction.

  That this was Tao's stronghold, and not the Lone City, now became evident.I could readily understand why he had retreated here. Fully four times asmany projectors as he had in operation in the Lone City were now inevidence. Those of shorter range, and spreading rays, kept the entirecountry bathed in steady light for several miles around him, while thelarger ones--a hundred of them possibly--roved constantly over the blackem
ptiness beyond.

  From our encampment we could advance but little farther. Fortunately,retreat was open to us; and once beyond the circle of steady light, we hadno difficulty in moving about in the darkness, even though momentarily wefrequently were within range of the single light-beams, had they chancedto swing upon us.

  This was the situation which, even Mercer agreed, appeared hopeless. Weexplored the brink of the precipice below which lay the sea. It was asheer drop of many thousand feet. Although a descent might have been madecloser to the Dark City, certainly it was not possible at any point wecould reach. We sent our girls down, and they reported that from below itappeared probable that access to the ocean was had by the Dark City somemiles farther along. They went but a short distance, for Tao's lights wereoccasionally sweeping about; and more than that, they could make but veryshort flights, owing to the cold.

  To starve Tao out appeared equally as impractical as a direct attack. Withour little army we could not surround the city on a circumference of someeighty miles. We might, indeed, have barred the several roads that enteredit, but it seemed probable that if Tao wanted to come out he would come,for all we could do to stop him. And yet to starve him out seemed our onlypossible plan.

  "We'll have to send back for reenforcements," I told Mercer, Miela andAnina at one of our many conferences. "An army of several thousand, if wecan maintain it up here."

  And then, the very next day, Mercer and Anina came forward with theirdiscovery. We had set up our encampment of little black fabric tents in aravine some six miles outside the city, securely hidden by surroundingcliffs. Above us across the black sky the greenish-red beams of Tao'slight-rays swept continually to and fro. Miela and I were sitting togetherdisconsolately in our tent, reviewing the situation, when Mercer and Aninaburst in. They had been roaming about together, exploring the country, andcame in now full of excitement and enthusiasm to tell us what they hadfound. We two were to accompany them. They would tell us no more thanthat; and as soon as we had all eaten we started off. It would be a tripof several hours, Mercer said, and would take us around to the other sideand partly behind the Dark City.

  We followed no road, but scrambled along over the open country, pickingour way as best we could, and using the lights from the city to give usdirection. The two girls half walked, half flew, and Mercer and I, withour ability to take huge leaps, made rapid progress.

  The night was black--that unluminous blackness that seems to swalloweverything, even objects near at hand. We made our way along, using littlehand searchlights that threw a red glare a short distance before us.

  We kept down in the gulleys as much as possible, avoiding the higherplaces where Tao's long-range beams were constantly striking, and passedaround in front of the Dark City, keeping always at least five miles away.

  We had been traveling two or three hours, and still Mercer and Anina gaveus no clew to what we were about to see. It began to snow. Huge, softflakes soon lay thick on the ground.

  "Mercer, where are you taking us?" I exclaimed once.

  "You shall see very soon now," Anina answered me. "What we have found,Ollie and I--and our plan--you shall understand it soon."

  We had to be content with that. An hour later we found ourselves wellaround behind the Dark City and hardly more than four miles outside it. Agreat jagged cliff-face, two hundred feet high perhaps, fronted us. We, atits base, were on comparatively low ground here, with another low line ofcliffs shading us from the light-beams of the city.

  Mercer and Anina stopped and pointed upward at the cliff. A huge seam ofthe soft, chalky limestone ran laterally for five hundred feet or moreacross its face. I saw embedded in this seam great irregular masses ofsulphur.

  "There you are," said Mercer triumphantly. "Sulphur--stacks of it. All wehave to do is set fire to it. With the wind blowing this way--right towardthe city--" His gesture was significant.

  The feasibility of the plan struck us at once. It was an enormous depositof free sulphur. From this point the prevailing wind blew directly acrossthe city. The sulphur lay in great masses sufficiently close together sothat if we were to set fire to it in several places with our smalllight-ray torches we could be assured of its burning steadily. And itsfumes, without warning, blowing directly over the city--I shuddered as thewhole thing became clear to me.

  "Good God, man--"

  "That'll smoke 'em out," declared Mercer, waving his hand again toward thecliff. "I ask you now, won't that smoke 'em out?"

  "Tao's men--yes." Miela's face was grave as she answered Mercer'striumphant question. "It will do that, Ollie. Kill them all, of acertainty; but that whole city there--"

  Mercer stared at his feet, toying idly with the little torch in his hand.

  "Can you think of any other way to get at Tao?" he asked.

  Anina met my eyes steadily.

  "There is no other way," she said quietly. "It must be done. It is yourworld--your people--we must think of now. And you know there is no otherway."

  We decided at last to try it. Once we had made the decision, we proceededas quickly as possible to put the plan into execution. We moved ourencampment farther away, well out of danger from the fumes.

  We mounted several of the projectors in positions where their rays couldreach the surrounding country, and the sky, although not the city itself.Then, ordering our men and girls to hold themselves in readiness forwhatever might occur, we four went off together to fire the sulphur.

  The wind was blowing directly toward the city as we stood at the base ofthe cliff, a silent little group. I think that now, at this moment, we allof us hesitated in awe at what we were about to do.

  Mercer broke the tension.

  "Come on, Alan--let's start it off. Now is the time--a lot of places atonce."

  We flashed on our little light-rays, and in a moment the sulphur was onfire at a score of different points. We drew off a few hundred feet to oneside and sat down to watch it in the darkness. Overhead Tao's red beamsswept like giant search-lights across the inky sky.

  The sulphur started burning with tiny little spots of wavering blue flamethat seemed, many of them, about to die away. Gradually they grew larger,spreading out slowly and silently in ever-widening circles. Under the heatof the flames the sulphur masses became molten, turned into a viscous darkred fluid that boiled and bubbled heavily and dropped spluttering upon theground.

  Slowly the blue-green flames spread about, joining each other and makingmore rapid headway--a dozen tiny volcanoes vomiting their deadly fumes andpouring forth their sluggish, boiling lava. The scene about us now waslighted in a horrible blue-green glare. A great cloud of thin smokegathered, hung poised a moment, and then rolled slowly away--its deadlyfumes hanging low to the ground and spreading ever wider as though eagerto clutch the unsuspecting city in their deadly embrace.

  The entire face of the cliff was now covered with the crawling blue fire,lapping avidly about with its ten-foot tongues. We drew back, staringsilently at each other's ghastly green faces.

  "Let's--let's get away," Mercer whispered finally. "No use staying herenow."

  We hurried back to the nearest place where one of our projectors was setup. The two men guarding it looked at us anxiously, and smiledtriumphantly when Miela told them what we had done. We stood beside them amoment, then Miela and I climbed to an eminence near by from which we hadan unobstructed view of the city.

  The light-barrage still held steady. The individual, higher-poweredprojectors as before swung their beams lazily about the country. We satpartly in the shelter of a huge bowlder, behind which we could havedropped quickly had one of them turned our way.

  "Soon it will be there," Miela said softly, when we had been sitting quietfor a time.

  I did not answer. It was indeed too solemn a thing for words, thiswatching from the darkness while an invisible death, let loose by our ownhands, stole down upon our complacent enemies.

  A few moments more we watched--and still the scene before us showed nochange. Then, abruptly, th
e lights seemed to waver; some of the beamsswung hurriedly to and fro, then remained motionless in unusual positions,as though the men at their levers in sudden panic had abandoned them.

  My heart was beating violently. What hidden tragedy was being enactedbehind that silent barrier of light? I shuddered as my imaginationconjured up hideous pictures of that unseen death that now must bestalking about those city streets, entering those homes, polluting the airwith its stifling, noisome breath, and that even at this distance seemedclutching at my own lungs.

  I suppose the whole thing _did_ last only a moment. There was little inwhat we saw of significance had we not known. But we did know--and theknowledge left us trembling and unnerved.

  I leaped to my feet, pulling Miela after me, and in a few moments more wewere back beside the projector we had left with Mercer and Anina. Suddenlya white shape appeared in the sky over the city. It passed perilouslyclose above the shattered light-barrage and came sailing out in ourdirection.

  Mercer jumped for the projector, but I was nearer, and in a moment I hadflashed it on.

  "It's Tao!" Mercer shouted. "He--"

  It was one of Tao's interplanetary vehicles, rising slowly in a great arcabove us. I swung our light-beams upward; it swept across the sky and fellupon the white shape; the thing seemed to poise in its flight, as thoughheld by the little red circle of light that fastened upon it, boring itsway in. Then, slowly at first, it fell; faster and faster it dropped,until it struck the ground with a great crash--the first and only sound ofall this soundless warfare.

  * * * * *

  It was three days before the great sulphur deposit we had ignited burneditself out. The lights of the city had all died away, and blackness suchas I never hope to experience again settled down upon the scene.

  We approached the Dark City then; we even entered one or two of itsoutlying houses;, but beyond that we did not go, for we had made certainof what we wanted to know.

  I remember my father once describing how, when a young man, he had gone tothe little island of Martinique shortly after the great volcanic outbreakof Mount Pelee. I remember his reluctance to dwell upon the scenes he sawthere in that silent city of St. Pierre--the houses with their deadoccupants, stricken as they were sitting about the family table; themotionless forms in the streets, lying huddled where death had overtakenthem in their sudden panic. That same reluctance silences me now, for onedoes not voluntarily dwell upon such scenes as those.

  A day or so later we found the interplanetary projectile which had soughtto escape. Amid its wreckage lay the single, broken form of Tao--thatleader who, plotting the devastation of two worlds for his own personalgain, had at the very last deserted his comrades and met his death alone.