Transcribe
Translate
Spaceways, v. 3, issue 6, whole no. 22, August 1941
11
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
S P A C E W A Y S 11 THE INSIGNIFICANT INVASION for behind me, trailing down the corridor, was a line of pink powder. The coating on my spacesuit, caused by the pink gas, had been flaking off at every step. At once an idea began germinating in the back of my mind; but just then; but such, as you must know, are the mental processes of heroes; I couldn't put my finger on it. The first robot turned the corner ten yards away, to topple with an atom pellet through his glass brain. The second was more cautious. It dropped to the floor, and came around the corner behind the fallen body of the first. I fired three shots with no effect. Then the robot raised a long tube in one jointed arm, and the wall beside me burst into blazing brilliance that half-blinded me; I staggered backward and entered one of the rooms that lined the corridor. Evidently thinking it had destroyed me, the robot came striding around the corner. I shot it easily. Carefully brushing the pink coating off my spacesuit, I picked up the robot's weapon and hid in a chamber filled with metal boxes. And while I crouched there, I pursued that elusive idea which had been born when I first saw the pink trail behind me. Ah! I had it! Why had I been sprayed with that gas in the first place? Surely it was not simply to make it easier to trail me; could it be-- Suddenly I thought of the reason. They were afraid of bacteria! No doubt they had killed all harmful native bacteria thousands of years ago. Such a race would have no resistance to disease. Drawing a deep breath, I took of my helmet and shut off the oxygen. The air in the spaceship was perhaps slightly richer than that of earth, but otherwise it was identical. Mentally I visualized the squillions of bacteria swarming out of my spacesuit to seed the air with death. To cinch matters, I walked over to the wall and carefully sneezed into the ventilator. Even hay-fever has its uses, I reflect happily. Infected by the ingeniousness of the idea, I began walking rapidly down the corridor, stopping at intervals to blow, sneeze, or cough into each ventilator. "If my hay-fever doesn't kill 'em," I thought to myself, "my halitosis will." After a few minutes of this, I reached a corridor which ran along the inside of the ship's hull. As I bent to peer through a porthole, the ship suddenly gave a jerk and began to move horizontally. While I watched, a huge airlock in the side of the glass dome came into view. The ship moved into it; the inner door clanged behind it, the outer one opened, and the ship was pushed out onto the airless surface of the planet. The Sharbians were preparing to take off; there was no time to lose! At once I turned my captured ray gun on the wall, slicing out a near circular section. As the detached disk toppled with a clang, I leaped lightly through, propelled by the escaping air, and fell flat on my parachute. Quickly I scrambled up and ran toward the shelter of some jagged rocks a short distance away. I was none too soon, for just as I ducked around the rocks, two robots driving a strange tractor-like mechanism jolted around the side of the huge ship. When they stopped to look at the hole I had cut in its side, I shattered their glass heads with two well-placed shots. Then I ran to the tractor and climbed into the box that formed its body. Pushing aside the broken robots, I began to experiment with the controls. Luckily, they were very simple: a pedal which functioned as a starter, accelerator, and brake combined; and two levers for steering, as in the terrestrial tractor. I stepped on the pedal; the tractor jolted forward toward the Bedbug of Space, which lay on the level plain about two miles away. Ah, how I now wished I had found a better parking space! As .I turned to look back, I saw two other tractors, robot-manned, pursuing me. Swiftly, as they drew nearer, I placed a small box which I found in the tractor on the accelerator pedal; leaving the machine to steer itself, I turned, dropped low in the box, and directed my ray gun at one of the pursuing machines. With a bright, soundless flash, it exploded. The ground shook. I began to swing the beam of raw energy to bear upon the second tractor when it flickered and died.
Saving...
prev
next
S P A C E W A Y S 11 THE INSIGNIFICANT INVASION for behind me, trailing down the corridor, was a line of pink powder. The coating on my spacesuit, caused by the pink gas, had been flaking off at every step. At once an idea began germinating in the back of my mind; but just then; but such, as you must know, are the mental processes of heroes; I couldn't put my finger on it. The first robot turned the corner ten yards away, to topple with an atom pellet through his glass brain. The second was more cautious. It dropped to the floor, and came around the corner behind the fallen body of the first. I fired three shots with no effect. Then the robot raised a long tube in one jointed arm, and the wall beside me burst into blazing brilliance that half-blinded me; I staggered backward and entered one of the rooms that lined the corridor. Evidently thinking it had destroyed me, the robot came striding around the corner. I shot it easily. Carefully brushing the pink coating off my spacesuit, I picked up the robot's weapon and hid in a chamber filled with metal boxes. And while I crouched there, I pursued that elusive idea which had been born when I first saw the pink trail behind me. Ah! I had it! Why had I been sprayed with that gas in the first place? Surely it was not simply to make it easier to trail me; could it be-- Suddenly I thought of the reason. They were afraid of bacteria! No doubt they had killed all harmful native bacteria thousands of years ago. Such a race would have no resistance to disease. Drawing a deep breath, I took of my helmet and shut off the oxygen. The air in the spaceship was perhaps slightly richer than that of earth, but otherwise it was identical. Mentally I visualized the squillions of bacteria swarming out of my spacesuit to seed the air with death. To cinch matters, I walked over to the wall and carefully sneezed into the ventilator. Even hay-fever has its uses, I reflect happily. Infected by the ingeniousness of the idea, I began walking rapidly down the corridor, stopping at intervals to blow, sneeze, or cough into each ventilator. "If my hay-fever doesn't kill 'em," I thought to myself, "my halitosis will." After a few minutes of this, I reached a corridor which ran along the inside of the ship's hull. As I bent to peer through a porthole, the ship suddenly gave a jerk and began to move horizontally. While I watched, a huge airlock in the side of the glass dome came into view. The ship moved into it; the inner door clanged behind it, the outer one opened, and the ship was pushed out onto the airless surface of the planet. The Sharbians were preparing to take off; there was no time to lose! At once I turned my captured ray gun on the wall, slicing out a near circular section. As the detached disk toppled with a clang, I leaped lightly through, propelled by the escaping air, and fell flat on my parachute. Quickly I scrambled up and ran toward the shelter of some jagged rocks a short distance away. I was none too soon, for just as I ducked around the rocks, two robots driving a strange tractor-like mechanism jolted around the side of the huge ship. When they stopped to look at the hole I had cut in its side, I shattered their glass heads with two well-placed shots. Then I ran to the tractor and climbed into the box that formed its body. Pushing aside the broken robots, I began to experiment with the controls. Luckily, they were very simple: a pedal which functioned as a starter, accelerator, and brake combined; and two levers for steering, as in the terrestrial tractor. I stepped on the pedal; the tractor jolted forward toward the Bedbug of Space, which lay on the level plain about two miles away. Ah, how I now wished I had found a better parking space! As .I turned to look back, I saw two other tractors, robot-manned, pursuing me. Swiftly, as they drew nearer, I placed a small box which I found in the tractor on the accelerator pedal; leaving the machine to steer itself, I turned, dropped low in the box, and directed my ray gun at one of the pursuing machines. With a bright, soundless flash, it exploded. The ground shook. I began to swing the beam of raw energy to bear upon the second tractor when it flickered and died.
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
