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something! The Buffalo flotilla slowed and stopped, and in a matter of minutes the detachments from the other bases arrived. The cone was formed and, iron-driven vessels in the van, the old-type craft far in the rear, it bore down upon the Nevian, vomiting from its hollow front a solid cylinder of annihilation. Once more the screens of the Nevian flared into brilliance, once more the red cloud of destruction was flung abroad. But these vessels were not entirely defenseless. Their iron-driven ultra-generators threw out screens of the Nevians own formulae, screens of prodigious power to which the energies of the amphibians clung and at which they clawed and tore in baffled, wildly coruscant displays of power unthinkable. For minutes the furious conflict raged, while the inconceivable energy being dissipated by those straining screens hurled itself in terribly destructive bolts of lightning upon the city far beneath. No battle of such incredible violence could long endure. Triplanetary s ships were already exerting their utmost power, while the Nevians, contemptuous of Solarian science, had not yet uncovered their full strength. Thus the last desperate effort of mankind was proved futile as the invaders forced their beams deeper and deeper into the overloaded defensive screens of the war-vessels; and one by one the supposedly invincible space-ships of humanity dropped in horribly dismembered ruin upon the ruins of what had once been Pittsburgh. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html CHAPTER 15 SPECIMENS Only too well founded was Costigan s conviction that the submarine of the deep- sea fishes had not been able to prevail against Nerado s formidable engines of destruction. For days the Nevian lifeboat with its three Terrestrial passengers hurtled through the interstellar void without incident, but finally the operative s fears were realized - his far flung detector screens reacted; upon his observation plate they could see Nerado s mammoth space-ship, in full pursuit of its fleeing life-boat! On your toes, folks - it won t be long now! Costigan called, and Bradley and Clio hurried into the tiny control room. Armor donned and tested, the three Terrestrials stared into the observation plates, watching the rapidly-enlarging picture of the Nevian space-ship. Nerado had traced them and was following them, and such was the power of the great vessel that the now inconceivable velocity of the lifeboat was the veriest crawl in comparison to that of the pursuing cruiser. And we ve hardly started to cover the distance back to Tellus. Of course you couldn t get in touch with anybody yet? Bradley stated, rather than asked. I kept trying, of course, until they blanketed my wave, but all negative. Thousands of times too far for my transmitter. Our only hope of reaching anybody was the mighty slim chance that our super-ship might be prowling around out here already, but it isn t, of course. Here they are! Reaching out to the control panel, Costigan viciously shot out against the great vessel wave after wave of lethal vibrations, under whose fiercely clinging impacts the Nevian defensive screens flared white; but, strangely enough, their own screens did not radiate. As if contemptuous of any weapons the lifeboat might wield, the mother ship simply defended herself from the attacking beams, in much the same fashion as a wildcat mother wards off the claws and teeth of her spitting, snarling kitten who is resenting a touch of needed maternal discipline. They probably wouldn t fight us, at that, Clio first understood the situation. This is their own lifeboat, and they want us alive, you know. There s one more thing we can try - hang on! Costigan snapped, as he released his screens and threw all his power into one enormous presser beam. The three were thrown to the floor and held there by an awful weight as the lifeboat darted away at the stupendous acceleration of the beam s reaction against the unimaginable mass of the Nevian sky-rover; but the flight was of short duration. Along that presser beam there crept a dull red rod of energy, which surrounded the fugitive shell and brought it slowly to a halt. Furiously then Costigan set and reset his controls, launching his every driving force and his every weapon, but no beam could penetrate that red [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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