Astounding Stories of Super-Science 7

Astounding Stories of Super-Science 7

"The system of reflectors catches all of the light thus produced except

the relatively small portion which goes initially in the right

direction, and directs it on this quartz prism where, due to the

refractive powers of the prism, the light is broken up into its

component parts. The infra-red rays and that portion of the spectrum

which lies in the visible range, that is, from red to violet inclusive,

are absorbed by a black body, leaving only the ultra-violet portion free

to send a beam through this quartz lens."

 

"I thought that a lens would absorb ultra-violet light," objected the

signal officer.

 

"A lens made of glass will, but this lens is made of rock crystal, which

is readily permeable to ultra-violet. The net result of this apparatus

is that we can direct before us as we move in the tank a beam of light

which is composed solely of the ultra-violet portion of the spectrum."

 

"In other words, an invisible light?"

 

"Yes. That is, invisible to the human eye. The effect of this beam of

ultra-violet light in the form of severe sunburn would be readily

apparent if you exposed your skin to it for any length of time, and the

effects on your eyesight of continued gazing would be apt to be

disastrous. It would produce a severe opthalmia and temporary

impairment of the vision, somewhat the same symptoms as are observed in

snow blindness."

 

"I see. May I ask what is the object of the whole thing?"

 

"Surely. Before we can successfully combat this peculiar visitant from

another world, it is necessary that we gain some idea of the size and

appearance of it. Nothing of the sort has before made its appearance, so

far as the annals of science go, and so I am forced to make some rather

wild guesses at the nature of the animal. You are probably aware of the

fact that the property of penetration possessed by all waves is a

function of their frequency, or, perhaps I should say, of their

wave-length?"

 

* * * * *

 

"Certainly."

 

"The longer rays of visible light will not penetrate as deeply into a

given substance as the shorter ultra-violet rays. This visitor is

evidently from some unexplored and, indeed, unknown cavern in the depths

of the earth where visible light has never penetrated. Apparently in

this cavern the color of the inhabitants is ultra-violet, and hence

invisible to us."

 

"You are beyond my depth, Doctor."

 

"Pardon me. You understand, of course, what color is? When sunlight,

which is a mixture of all colors from infra-red to ultra-violet

inclusive, falls oh an object, certain rays are reflected and certain

others are absorbed. If the red rays are reflected and all others

absorbed, the object appears red to our eyes. If all the rays are

reflected, the object appears white, and if all are absorbed, it appears

black."

 

"I understand that."

 

"The human eye cannot detect ultra-violet. Suppose then, that we have an

object, either animate or inanimate, the surface of which reflects only

ultra-violet light, what will be the result? The object will be

invisible."

 

"I should think it would be black if all the rays except the

ultra-violet were absorbed."

 

"It would, but mark, I did not say the others were absorbed. Are you

familiar with fluorescein?"

 

"No."

 

"I think you are. It is the dye used in making changeable silk. If we

fill a glass container with a fluorescein solution and look at it by

reflected light it appears green. If we look at it by transmitted light,

that is, light which has traversed the solution, it appears red. In

other words, this is a substance which reflects green light, allows a

free passage to red light, and absorbs all other light. This creature we

are after, if my theory is correct, is composed of a substance which

allows free passage to all of the visible light rays and at the same

time reflects ultra-violet light. Do I make this clear?"

 

* * * * *

 

"Perfectly."

 

"Very well, then. My apparatus will project forward a beam of

ultra-violet light which will be in much greater concentration than

exists in an incandescent electric light. It is my hope that this light

will be reflected by the body of the creature to a sufficient to allow

me to make a photograph of it."

 

"But won't your lens prevent the ultra-violet light from reaching your

plate?"

 

"An ordinary lens made of optical glass would do so, but I have a camera

here equipped with a rock crystal lens, which will allow ultra-violet

light to pass through it practically unhindered, and with very slight

distortion. When I add that I will have my camera charged with X-ray

film, a film which is peculiarly sensitive to the shorter wave-lengths,

you will see that I will have a fair chance of success."

 

"It sounds logical. Would you allow me to accompany you when you make

your attempt?"

 

"I will be glad of your company, if you can drive a tank. I want to take

Carnes with me, and the tank will only hold two besides the driver."

 

"I can drive a tractor."

 

"In that case you should master the tricks of tank driving in short

order. Get familiar with it and we'll appoint you as driver. We'll be

ready to go in to-night, but I am going to wait a day. Our friend was

fed last night, and there is less chance he'll be about."

 

* * * * *

 

The early part of the next evening was marked by howls and screams

coming from the mouth of the cave. As the night wore on the noises were

quite evidently coming nearer and the sentries watched the cave mouth

nervously, ready to bolt and scatter according to their orders at the

first alarm. About two A. M. the doctor and Carnes climbed into the tank

beside Lieutenant Leffingwell, and the machine moved slowly into the

cave. A search-light on the front of the tank lighted the way for them

and, attached to a frame which held it some distance ahead of them, was

a luckless sheep.

 

"Keep your eye on the mutton, Carnes," cautioned the doctor. "As soon as

anything happens to it, shut off the search-light and let me try to get

a picture. As soon as I have made my exposures I'll tell you, and you

can snap it on again. Lieutenant, when the picture is made, turn your

tank and make for the entrance to the cave. If we are lucky, we'll get

out."

 

Forward the tank crawled, the sheep bleating and trying to break loose

from the bonds which held it. It was impossible to hear much over the

roar of the motor, but presently Dr. Bird leaned forward, his eyes

shining.

 

"I smell musk," he announced. "Get ready for action."

 

Even as he spoke the sheep was suddenly lifted into the air. It gave a

final bleat of terror, and then its head was torn from its body.

 

"Quick, Carnes!" shouted the doctor.

 

The search-light went out, and Carnes and the lieutenant could hear the

slide of the ultra-violet light which Dr. Bird was manipulating open.

For two or three minutes the doctor worked with his apparatus.

 

"All right!" he cried suddenly. "Lights on and get out of here!"

 

Carnes snapped on the search-light and Lieutenant Leffingwell swung the

tank around and headed for the cave mouth. For a few feet their progress

was unhindered and then the tank ceased its forward motion, although the

motor still roared and the track slid on the cave floor. Carnes watched

with horror as one side of the tank bent slowly in toward him. There was

a rending sound, and a portion of the heavy steel fabric was torn away.

Dr. Bird bent over something on the floor of the tank. Presently he

straightened up and threw a small object into the darkness. There was a

flash of light, and bits of flaming phosphorus flew in every direction.

The anchor which held the tank was suddenly loosed and the machine

crawled forward at full speed, while a roar as of escaping air mingled

with a bellowing shriek burdened the smoke-laden air.

 

"Faster!" cried the doctor, as he threw another grenade.

 

* * * * *

 

Lieutenant Leffingwell got the last bit of speed possible out of the

tank and they reached the cave mouth without further molestation.

 

"I had an idea that our friend wouldn't care to pass through a

phosphorus screen," said Dr. Bird with a chuckle as he climbed out of

the tank. "He must have been rather severely burned the other day, and

once burned is usually twice shy. Where is Major Brown?"

 

The commanding officer stepped forward.

 

"Drive a couple of cattle into the cave, Major," directed Dr. Bird. "I

want to fill that brute up and keep him quiet for a while. I'm going to

develope my films."

 

Lieutenant Leffingwell and Carnes peered over the doctor's shoulders as

he manipulated his films in a developing bath. Gradually vague lines and

blotches made their appearance on one of the films, but the form was

indistinct. Dr. Bird dropped the films in a fixing tank and straightened

up.

 

"We have something, gentlemen," he announced, "but I can't tell yet how

clear it is. It will take those films fifteen minutes to fix, and then

we'll know."

 

In a quarter of an hour he lifted the first film from the tank and held

it to the light. The film showed a blank. With an exclamation of

disappointment he lifted a second and third film from the tank, with the

same result He raised the fourth one.

 

"Good Lord!" gasped Carnes.

 

* * * * *

 

In the plate could be plainly seen the hind quarters of the sheep held

in the grasp of such a monster as even the drug-laden brain of an opium

smoker never pictured. Judging from the sheep, the monster stood about

twenty feet tall, and its frame was surmounted by a head resembling an

overgrown frog. Enormous jaws were opened to seize the sheep but, to the

amazement of the three observers, the jaws were entirely toothless.

Where teeth were to be expected, long parallel ridges of what looked

like bare bone, appeared, without even a rudimentary segregation into

teeth. The body of the monster was long and snakelike, and was borne on

long, heavy legs ending in feet with three long toes, armed with vicious

claws. The crowning horror of the creature was its forelegs. There were

of enormous length, thin and attenuated looking, and ended in huge

misshapen hands, knobby and blotched, which grasped the sheep in the

same manner as human hands. The eyes were as large as dinner plates, and

they were glaring at the camera with an __EXPRESSION__ of fiendish

malevolence which made Carnes shudder.

 

"How does that huge thing ever get through that crack we examined?"

demanded the lieutenant.

 

Dr. Bird rubbed his head thoughtfully.

 

"It's not an amphibian," he muttered, "as is plainly shown by the shape

of the limbs and the lack of a tail, and yet it appears to have scales

of the true fish type. It corresponds to no recovered fossil, and I am

inclined to believe it is unique. The nervous organisation must be very

low, judging from the lack of forehead and the general conformation. It

has enormous strength, and yet the arms look feeble."

 

"It can't get through that crack," insisted the lieutenant.

 

"Apparently not," replied the doctor. "Wait a moment, though. Look at

this!"

 

He pointed to the great disproportion between the length and diameter of

the forelegs, and then to the hind legs.

 

"Either this is grave distortion or there is something mighty queer

about that conformation. No animal could be constructed like that."

 

* * * * *

 

He turned the film so that an oblique light fell on it. As he did so he

gave a cry of astonishment.

 

"Look here!" he said sharply. "It does get through that crack! Look at

those arms and hands! There is the answer. This creature is tall and

broad, but from front to rear it can measure only a few inches. The same

must be true of the froglike head. That animal has been developed to

live and move in a low roofed cavern, and to pass through openings only

a few inches wide. Its bulk is all in two dimensions!"

 

"I believe you're right," said Carnes as he studied the film.

 

"There is no doubt of it," answered the doctor. "Look at those paws,

too, Carnes. That substance isn't bone, it's gum. The thing is so young

and helpless that it hasn't cut its teeth yet. It must be a baby, and

that is the reason why it made its way into the cave when no other of

its kind ever has."

 

"How large are full grown ones if this is a baby?" asked the

lieutenant.

 

"The Lord alone knows," replied Dr. Bird. "I hope that I never have to

face one and find out. Well, now that we know what we are fighting, we

ought to be able to settle its hash."

 

"High explosive?" suggested the lieutenant.

 

"I don't think so. With such a low nervous organization, we would have

to tear it practically to pieces to kill it, and I am anxious to keep it

from mutilation for scientific study. I have an idea, but I'll have to

study a while before I am sure of the details. Send me the radio

operator."

 

The next day the Bureau mechanics began to dismount the apparatus from

the tank and to assemble another elaborate contrivance. Before they had

made an end of the work additional equipment arrived from Washington,

which was incorporated in the new set-up. At length Dr. Bird pronounced

himself ready for the attempt.

 

* * * * *

 

Under his direction, three cattle were driven into the cave and there

tethered. They were there the next morning unharmed, but the second

night the now familiar bellowing and howling came from the depths of the

cave and in the morning two of the cattle were gone.

 

"That will keep him quiet for a day or two," said the doctor, "and now

to work!"

 

The tank made its way into the cave, dragging after it two huge cables

which led to an engine-driven generator outside the cave. These cables

were attached to the terminals of a large motor which was set up in the

cave near the place where the cattle were customarily tethered. This

motor was the actuating force which turned two generators, one large and

one small. The smaller one was mounted on a platform on wheels, which

also contained the spark gaps, the reflectors and other apparatus which

produced the beam of ultra-violet light which had been used to

photograph the monster.

 

From the larger generator led two copper bars. One of these was

connected to a huge copper plate which was laid flat on the floor of the

cave. The other led to a platform which was erected on huge porcelain

insulators some fifteen feet above the floor. Huge condensers were set

up on this platform, and Dr. Bird announced himself in readiness.

 

A steer was dragged into the cave and up a temporary runway which led to

the platform containing the condensers, and there tied with the copper

bus bar from the larger generator fastened to three flexible copper

straps which led around the animal's body. When this had been completed,

everyone except the doctor, Carnes, and Lieutenant Leffingwell left the

cave. These three crouched behind the search-light which sent a mild

beam of ultra-violet onto the platform where the steer was held. The

engine outside the cave was started, and the three men waited with tense

nerves.

 

For several hours nothing happened. The steer tried from time to time to

move and, finding it impossible, set up plaintive bellows for liberty.

 

"I wish something would happen," muttered the lieutenant. "This is

getting on my nerves.

 

"Something is about to happen," replied Dr. Bird grimly. "Listen to that

steer."

 

* * * * *

 

The bellowing of the steer had suddenly increased in volume and, added

to the note of discontent, was a note of fright which had previously

been absent. Dr. Bird bent over his ultra-violet search-light and made

some adjustments. He handed a helmetlike arrangement to each of his

companions and slipped one on over his head.

 

"I can't see a thing, Doctor," said Carnes in a muffled voice.

 

"The objects at which you are looking absorb rather than reflect

ultra-violet light," said the doctor. "This is a sort of a fluoroscope

arrangement, and it isn't perfect at all. However, when the monster

comes along, I am pretty sure that you will be able to see it. You may

see a little more as your eyes get accustomed to it."

 

"I can see very dimly," announced the lieutenant in a moment.

 

Dimly the walls of the cave and the platform before them began to take

vague shape. The three stared intently down the beam of ultra-violet

light which the doctor directed down the passageway leading deeper into

the cave.

 

"Good Lord!" ejaculated Carnes suddenly.

 

Slowly into the field of vision came the hideous figure they had seen on

the film. As it moved forward a rustling, slithering sound could be

heard, even over the bellowing of the steer and the hum of the

apparatus. The odor of musk became evident.

 

Along the floor toward them the thing slid. Presently it reared up on

its hind legs and its enormous bulk became evident. It turned somewhat

sideways and the correctness of Dr. Bird's hypothesis as to its peculiar

shape was proved. All of the bulk of the creature was in two dimensions.

Forward it moved, and the horrible human hands stretched forward, while

the mouth split in a wide, toothless grin. Nearer the doomed steer the

creature approached, and then the reaching hands closed on the animal.

 

There was a blinding flash, and the monster was hurled backward as

though struck by a thunderbolt, while a horrible smell of musk and

burned flesh filled the air.

 

"After it! Quick!" cried the doctor as he sprang forward.

 

* * * * *

 

Before he could reach the prostrate creature it moved and then, slowly

at first, but with rapidly gaining speed, it slithered over the floor in

retreat. Dr. Bird's hand swung through an arc, and there was a deafening

crash as a hand-grenade exploded on the back of the fleeing monster.

 

An unearthly scream came from the creature, and its motion changed from

a steady forward glide to a series of convulsive jerks. Leffingwell and

Carnes threw grenades, but they went wide of their mark, and the monster

began to again increase its speed. Another volley of grenades was thrown

and one hit scored, which slowed the monster somewhat but did not arrest

the steady forward movement.

 

"Any more bombs?" demanded the doctor.

 

"Damn!" he cried as he received negative answers. "The current wasn't

strong enough. It's going to get away."

 

Carnes jerked his automatic from under his armpit and poured a stream of

bullets into the fleeing monster. Slower and slower the motion of the

creature became, and its movements again became jerky and convulsive.

 

"Keep it in sight!" cried the doctor. "We may get it yet!"

 

Cautiously the three men followed the retreating horror, Leffingwell

pushing before him the platform holding the ultra-violet ray apparatus.

The chase led them over familiar ground.

 

"There is the crack!" cried the lieutenant.

 

"Too late!" replied the doctor.

 

He rushed forward and seized the lower limb of the monster and tried

with all his strength to arrest its flight, but despite all that he

could do it slid sideways through the crack in the wall and disappeared.

A final backward kick of its leg threw the doctor twenty feet against

the far wall of the cave.

 

"Are you hurt, Doctor?" cried Carnes.

 

"No, I'm all right. Put on your masks and start the gas! Quick! That may stop it before it gets in far!"