CHAPTER XV

_Escape_

That _Tarrano_ should thus defy the Earth, when by every law of rational

circumstance the move seemed to spell only his own disaster, was

characteristic of the man. He stood there in the instrument room at the

peak of the skeleton tower in Venia and rasped out to the Earth Council

his defiance. Silence followed--silence unbroken save by the hiss and

click of the instruments as the message was sent.

And then Tarrano ordered thrown upon himself the lights and sending

mirrors so that his own image might be available to all of the public

and Earth officials who cared to look upon it. Within the circle of

mirrors he stood drawn to his full height; his eyes flashing, heavy

brows lowered, and a sardonic smile--almost a leer--pulling at his thin

lips. The embodiment of defiance. Yet to those who knew him well--as I

was beginning to know him--there was in his eyes a gleam of irony, as

though even in this situation he saw humor. A game, with worlds and

nations as his pawns--a game wherein, though he had apparently lost,

with the confidence of his genius he knew that the hidden move he was

about to make would extricate him.

"Enough," he rasped.

The mirrors went dark. He turned away; and still without appearance of

haste he drew Wolfgar, Elza and me to the balcony. Together we stood

gazing over the lights of the city below us.

A cloudless, starry sky. Empty of air-craft; but to the north just below

the horizon, we knew that the line of war vessels was hovering. Even

now, doubtless, they had their orders to descend upon us. Tarrano seemed

waiting, and I suppose we stood there half an hour. Occasionally he

would sight an instrument toward the north; and by the orders he gave at

intervals I knew that preparations for action on his part were under

way.

Half an hour. Then abruptly from below the northern horizon lights came

up--spreading colored beams. The Earth war vessels! A line of them as

far as we could see from left to right, mounting up into the sky as they

winged their way toward us--a line spreading out in a broad arc. And

then, behind us, I saw others appear. We were surrounded.

It was a magnificent, awe-inspiring sight, that vast ring of approaching

colored lights. Red, green and purple--slowly moving eyes. Light-rockets

sometimes mounting above them, to burst with a soundless glare of white

light in the sky; and underneath, the spreading white search-beams,

sweeping down to the dark forest that lay all about us.

Soon, in the white glare of the bombs, we could distinguish the actual

shapes of the vessels. Still Tarrano did not move from his place by the

balcony rail. He stood there, with a hand contemplatively under his

chin, as though absorbed by an interest in the scene purely impersonal.

Was he going to give himself up? Stand there inactive while these armed

forces of the most powerful world in the Solar System swept down upon

him?

Abruptly he snapped his instrument back to his belt. He had not used it

since the hostile lights had appeared. Previously, I knew, he had been

watching those lights, with the curved ray of the instrument when the

lights themselves had been below the horizon.

He turned now to me. "They are here, Jac Hallen. Almost here. And I am

at their mercy." His tone was ironic; then it hardened into grimness. He

was addressing me, but I knew it was for Elza's benefit he spoke.

"I came here to Earth, Jac Hallen, for certain things. I find them now

accomplished. I belong here no longer." He laughed. "I would not force

myself into a war prematurely. That would be very unwise. I think--we

shall have to avoid this--engagement. I am--slightly outnumbered."

He called an order, quite calmly over his shoulder. I suppose, at that

moment, the Earth war vessels were no more than five miles away. The

whole sky was a kaleidoscope of darting lights. In answer to his order,

from the peak of our tower a light bomb mounted--a vertical ray of green

light. The bomb of surrender!

Tarrano chuckled. "That should halt them. Come! We must start."

He held a brief colloquy with a Venus man who appeared beside him. The

man nodded and hastened back into the instrument room. The green light

of our bomb had died away. The lights in the sky began fading--the whole

sky fading, turning to blackness! I became aware that Tarrano had thrown

around our tower a temporary isolation barrage. For a few moments--while

the current he had at his command could hold it--we could not be seen on

the image finders of the advancing vessels.

Tarrano repeated: "That should hold them--I have surrendered! They

should be triumphant. And outside our barrage, our men will bargain with

them. Ten minutes! We should be able to hold them off that long at

least. Come, Lady Elza. We must start now."

With a scant ceremony in sharp contrast to his courteous words to Elza,

he hurried us off. Three of us--Elza, Wolfgar and myself, with one

attendant who still carried Elza's personal belongings. Hurried us into

the vertical car which had brought us up into the tower. It descended

now, down the iron skeleton shaft. Outside the girders I could see only

the blackness of the barrage, with faint snapping sparks.

Silently we descended. It seemed very far down. And suddenly I realized

that we were going lower than the ground level. The barrage sparks had

vanished. The blackness now was a normal darkness; and in it I could see

slipping upward the smooth black sides of the vertical shaft into which

we were dropping. And the sulphuric smell of the barrage was gone. The

air now smelt of earth--the heavy, close air of underground.

I do not know how far down we went. A thousand feet perhaps. The thing

surprised me. Yet in those moments my mind encompassed it; and many of

Tarrano's motives which I had not reasoned out before now seemed plain.

He had come from Venus to the Earth, possibly several months ago. Had

come directly here to Venia and set up his headquarters. His purpose on

Earth--as he had just told me--did not lie with warfare. While he was

here his forces had conquered the Great City of Venus, and just now, the

Hill City of Mars. He controlled Venus and Mars--but he was still far

from ready to attack the Earth.

He had come to the Earth in person for several important purposes. For

one--he desired the Brende model and Dr. Brende's notes. He had them

now; they were, in reality, at this present moment in the Great City of

Venus. Also, with the Brende secret--to control it absolutely--he had to

have Georg Brende. Well, as I was soon to realize, Georg was now his

captive. And the Princess Maida? His purpose in holding her was

two-fold. She had, now as always in the Venus Central State, a

tremendous sentimental sway upon her people. Tarrano had abducted her,

forcibly to remove her from the scene of action, so that during her

unexplained absence his propaganda would have more influence. He had

brought her here to Earth; and now his plan was to have Georg Brende and

her fall in love with each other. He still hoped to win Georg to his

cause, by giving him the Princess Maida, if for no other reason. And

with Maida married to Georg--and Georg in Tarrano's service--Maida

herself would turn her influence in Venus to consolidate her people to

Tarrano.

These, in part, were Tarrano's present plans and motives. They were

working out well. And--as he had said--the Earth did not concern him now

as a battle-ground. Later ... But even with this sudden insight which

seemed to come to me, I was inadequate to grasp what later he was to

attempt.

While thus occupied with my thoughts, we were steadily descending into

the ground under Venia--dropping out of sight while above us, perhaps by

now, the eager warcraft of Earth were overwhelming the city. Tarrano had

not spoken; but when at last our little car bumped gently at the bottom,

he said smilingly: "We are here, Lady Elza."

We left the car, and passed into a dim-lighted cavern. I saw a lateral

black tunnel-mouth yawning nearby, with a shining rail at its top and

bottom, one above the other. And between the rails was a metal vehicle.

A long, narrow car; yet with its turtle-back and its propelling gas-tube

at the rear, with a rudder on each side of the tube, I realized that it

was designed also for sub-sea travel. A small affair. Ten feet at its

greatest width, and fifty or sixty feet long.

There was nothing startling in this evidence of underground and sub-sea

transportation. But that it should be here in primitive Venia surprised

me. Then I realized that Tarrano had been here perhaps many months.

Quietly, secretly he had constructed this underground road. For his

escape, I could not doubt it. Indeed, I did not doubt but that the man

had anticipated practically every event which had occurred.

We found in the car, or boat if you will, a variety of attendants and

personal belongings. Tara was there; I saw her sitting alone on one of

the distant rings of seats. And Argo was among us--and others whom I had

learned to know by sight and name. It was the party and equipment which

Tarrano had probably originally brought with him from Venus. We, the

last arrivals in the car, took our places. The doors slid closed. The

car vibrated slightly; purred with its forward motors. We were started.

It was not a long trip. How far we went I have no means of knowing. But

after a time, by the changed motion and sounds, I realized that we were

traversing water. Then above us after another interval, they opened a

hatchway. The pure fresh air of night streamed in upon us. Every light

in the boat had been extinguished. At Tarrano's command I followed him

up the small spider incline and through the hatchway. We stood on a

little circular space of the turtle-deck, well aft--an observation space

enclosed by a low metal rail. A few feet below us dark glossy water was

slipping past.

At a lazy hasteless pace, we were passing along what I saw to be a broad

river. The Riola Amazonia[16] I afterward learned it to be. Heavy banks

of luxurious foliage, dark and silent. Inundated in places. And after a

few moments we slackened, turned sharply into one of the inundated coves

and nosed slowly amid a tangle of the jungle bank.

[Footnote 16: Evidently the upper Amazon.]

And then I saw, hidden here in the recesses of this pathless forest, a

small inter-planetary flyer, painted a hazy grey-blue. Around and over

it the vegetation had been carefully, cunningly trained. A few cautious

lights illumined it now; but without them, and even in daylight, I knew

that from above it could never be seen.

Our party entered it--a small but surprisingly luxurious vessel. The

foliage from above it was cut away by ready workmen; and in half an hour

more we were rising from the forest. Straight up, into that cloudless

sky. The land dropped away beneath us; visually concave at first as the

circular horizon seemed to rise with us. The sky overhead fortunately

was empty--nothing in sight to bar our outward flight. And we carried no

lights.

In a moment or two, so swiftly did we gather velocity, the lights of

Venia--a distant patch of them--were visible. Then, further away, I

presently saw the grey expanse of open sea. And as we mounted, the

simulated concavity of the Earth turned convex. I had never seen it

thus--had never been so far above its surface before. A huge grey ball

down there which was our Earth. Outlines of sea and land. Then

continents and oceans, enveloped by patches of cloud area. A

grey ball, changing to a glowing, vaguely dull red; then silver.

Dwindling--gleaming brighter silver on one side where the sunlight

struck it.

We were in the realms of outer, inter-planetary space!