"But for the fact that it's a long ways away," remarked Sherman, "I would say that this was the district around the La.s.san headquarters."

"What makes you think it's a long ways away?" asked Gloria. "Do you know where we are? Neither do I."

"By the nine G.o.ds of Clusium, I believe that's it, at that!" said Sherman suddenly as the road turned past a place where a long scar of earth ran up the hillside, torn and blackened. "Look--that looks exactly like the result of one of our gravity-beam shots! And there--isn't that the door?"

They were on the hillside now, directly above the place he had indicated. From above and in the darkness it appeared as a cliff, breaking down rapidly to the valley, but Sherman led them to one side, straight down the hill and in another moment they were at its base. The great door through which the green b.a.l.l.s had poured out that evening stood before them, a mighty arch reaching up into the dimness--and it was open.

"Looks like the boys haven't come home to supper yet," said Gloria in an awed whisper, contemplating the gigantic arch and the dark pa.s.sage into which it led.

"Yes, and a lot of them aren't coming, either," replied Murray in a similar tone. "But what do we do--make a break for it or poke in and see if anybody's home?"

"Listen, you three," said Sherman. "You run along and build some more monitors and go get whatever comes out of here. Me, I'm going to have a whirl at this door. The swellest girl in the world is in there, or was, and I'm going to find her."

"Nothing doing, old scout," said Ben. "If you go in we go too--except Gloria."

"What's the matter with me?" she demanded. "I'm made of the same kind of machinery you are, aren't I? And I'm good enough to run your foolish fighting-machine. Don't be a goop." And she stepped forward.

The blue-domed hall that gave directly on the outer air had disappeared since Sherman and Marta Lami had raced out of it on that night that now seemed so long ago. In its place was an enormous tunnel, lined apparently with some metal, for its sides were smooth and shimmering.

The portion they entered was lightless, but it curved as it ran down, and around the curve they could see the faint reflection of a light somewhere farther along the pa.s.sage. Their feet echoed oddly in the enormous silence of the place. There seemed nothing alive or dead within.

"Boy," whispered Murray to Gloria, "if one of those green globes comes back now it will squash us flatter than a false prosperity bankroll.

This is the craziest thing we ever did."

"Right," she said, "but what the h.e.l.l? I just came for the ride. Look, what's that?"

Before them, around the bend of the pa.s.sage, they could see another door from which the light which glittered along the tunnel was streaming. In the opening stood a man, or what seemed to be a man, facing, fortunately, inwards.

After a moment's cautious peering, Sherman p.r.o.nounced him one of the ape-man slaves. He wore a thought-helmet, and had some kind of a weapon in his hand. The four held a cautiously whispered conference.

"Listen," said Sherman, "we've got to jump that baby before he does anything. I think he's got one of those small light-guns. Didn't know they trusted them to the slaves, but I suppose so many of the La.s.sans got shot up that they had to do it. Now, who's got a knife?"

A search of pockets revealed that Murray Lee had the only one in the company.

"Never mind," said Sherman, "one is enough. Now we three will sneak up on him. The main thing is not to let him see us; if he makes a move, jump him quick. Remember there's a La.s.san at the other end of the line, and the La.s.san is getting everything he thinks. He doesn't think very fast, but don't take chances. If he sees us, you hop in, Murray, and cut the wire that leads out of his helmet and short-circuit it. They may have it fixed so that it won't short-circuit by now but I don't think so. If he doesn't see us before we jump him, clap your hands over his eyes, Ben, and I'll try to get the helmet off him and pa.s.s out some information to the La.s.san at the other end that will keep him quiet. But the main thing is to get that gun first. Everybody understand?"

Three heads nodded in unison.

"All right. Come on."

They crept up the pa.s.sage together avoiding touching hands lest the ring of the metal should warn the sentry. As they approached they could see the room he looked out on was one of the familiar blue-domed halls; the pa.s.sage ended sharply some six feet above its floor ("Taking no chances on more escapes" thought Sherman) and that the hall was of enormous size. There were machines in one corner of the floor. In another stood one of the green globes, half finished, with spidery trellises of red metal outlining what would be the surface of the sphere. Around it helmeted mechanical men came and went busily. The rest of the hall, for all its vast extent, was completely empty. At the far end was a row of doors; high on the far side an opening that looked like a door but had no obvious purpose.

This much they saw; then the sentry stirred as though to turn, and with a quick patter of feet, they were upon him. Before he had time to turn around Ben Ruby launched himself in a perfect football tackle for his legs, bringing the ape-man down with a crash. As he fell, Sherman s.n.a.t.c.hed at the helmet, and Gloria the light-gun, which had dropped from his fingers, while Murray pinioned the struggling creature's arms. In a moment Sherman found the finger-holes in the helmet, pressed, and it came loose in his hands while the ape-man ceased to struggle.

"Let him up now, folks," said Sherman, "give him a swift kick and point him toward the door. He won't come back." And he rapidly adjusted the thought-helmet to his own head.

The La.s.san at the other end was evidently disturbed. He had received the sound of the crash from the ape-man's brain and was asking querulously what it meant.

"What has happened?" the thought demanded insistently. "What is it that struck you? Have the fighting machines returned? Show a picture of what you see. Are the slaves escaping?"

"Everything's all right," Sherman sent back. "Something broke loose down below and I stumbled trying to look at it." He closed his eyes, forming a mental picture of the hall, with everything in order, then one of the pa.s.sage, and reached up and detached the helmet, motioning to Murray for the knife. An instant's sawing and the device short-circuited with a fizzing of blue sparks.

"That will give that one a headache for a while," he remarked. "We'll have to hurry, though. When he comes to he'll investigate and then there'll be trouble."

"What's that?" asked Gloria, pointing across the hall at the aperture high up in the wall. A gleaming beak had been thrust out and the bright, intelligent eye of one of the dodo-birds was regarding them malevolently from the opening.

"Shoot, quick!" said Sherman, "For G.o.d's sake! They're telepathic.

They'll have every La.s.san in the place after us."

Gloria fumbled a second with the gun, located the finger hole, sent a spurt of light flying across the room. It missed the head, but found its mark somewhere in the body of the bird, for there was a squawk and the head disappeared. Sherman vaulted down the six-foot drop, landing with a bang. "Come on," he cried, "short-circuit every wire you can find; tear them loose if you can't cut them any other way--and make for the middle door at the back."

They ran across the hall toward the work benches. It seemed enormous; like a race in a dream, in which one seems to make no progress whatever.

But the workers did not appear to notice them. Driven by the thoughts of the controlling La.s.sans, they were incapable of attending to anything else unless it was forced on their attention.

As they approached the benches, however, one flat-faced ape-man almost ran into them. His face took on an expression of puzzled inquiry and at the same moment a figure whose carriage plainly showed it human stepped down toward them from the half-completed green globe. Gloria paused, leveled her light-gun at the ape-man, and his face vanished in a spray of fire. The human advanced slowly as though struggling against some force that was too strong for him. Sherman reached him first, wrenched the helmet from his head and dropping it on the floor stamped on it till the fine mechanism was irretrievably ruined. The mechanical human fell to his knees.

"Who are you?" he asked, "G.o.d?"

"We're all right," said Murray, and Sherman, "which way to the living cages? Do you know Marta Lami?"

The man shook his head like one recovering from a dream. "I do' know,"

he said, "they had the helmets on me for twenty periods. I do' know nothing. We came through that door. In the little automobiles."

He indicated a door behind some of the machines.

Speed was urgent, but Sherman paused to instruct them briefly. "There'll be another sentry at the door. Pop him first, Gloria. Murray, take your knife, and Ben, get anything you can and cut all the wires on those birds around here. There are some more wires leading out of the machines. Be sure to get them, too. You might let loose something important. We'll try to get you another gun."

CHAPTER XXIV

The Ending of It All

Impa.s.sively, oblivious of the invasion about them, the workers kept on at their machines like ants when their nest is broken open. Sherman and Gloria dodged around one of them, avoiding the direct line of sight of the robot who worked at it and walked rapidly toward the door giving on the car-tracks. The man on duty had no weapon, but paid them no attention, being occupied in watching a car just sliding in to the station. "It's a shame" began Gloria, but "Shoot!" insisted Sherman and the light-ray struck him in the back of the neck fusing head and neck to a single ma.s.s. As he sank to the floor he turned partly over.

"Good heavens, it's Stevens!" said Gloria, "the man who organized the rebellion against Ben Ruby in New York and brought the dodos down on us."

"Never mind. Hurry," her companion urged in a fever of activity. The doors of the car were opening and half a dozen mechanical men stepped out, mostly with the foolish visages and shambling steps of the ape-men, but two whose upright walk proclaimed them human.

"Listen, everybody," called Sherman, quickly. "We're from outside. We're trying to bust up this place. Get back in the car, quick, and come help us." Suiting the action to the word, he leaped for the first compartment, reached it just as it was closing and wedged himself inside.

The car had a considerable run to make. In the dimly-lighted compartment, Sherman was conscious of turns, right, left, right again, and of a steady descent. He wondered vaguely whether he had taken the right method; whether the cage rooms lay near one another or were widely separated. At all events the diversion in the hall of the green globes would hold the attention of the La.s.sans for some time, and the short-circuiting of so many lines would hamper their methods of dealing with the emergency....

The car came to a stop. Sherman heard a door or two open, but his own did not budge, and he had no needle to stir it. He must wait, hoping that Gloria had not been isolated from him. She had the ray-gun at all events, and would not be helpless. Then the door opened again.

He was released into a cage that seemed already occupied, and one look told him that his companion was an ape-man.