The Airlords of Han Read online

  CHAPTER VI

  An Unequal Duel

  But to return to my narrative, and my _swooper_, from which I was gazingat the interior of the Han ship.

  This ship was not unlike the great dirigibles of the Twentieth Centuryin shape, except that it had no suspended control car nor gondolas, nopropellers, and no rudders, aside from a permanently fixeddouble-fishtail stabilizer at the rear, and a number of "keels" soarranged as to make the most of the repeller ray airlift columns.

  Its width was probably twice as great as its depth, and its length abouttwice its width. That is to say, it was about 100 feet from the mainkeel to the top-deck at their maximum distance from each other, about200 feet wide amidship, and between 400 and 500 feet long. It had inaddition to the top-deck, three interior decks. In its general curvaturethe ship was a compromise between a true streamline design and aflattened cylinder.

  For a distance of probably 75 to 100 feet back of the nose there were nodecks except that formed by the bottom of the hull. But from this pointback the decks ran to within a few feet of the stern.

  At various spots on the hull curvature in this great "hollow nose" wereplatforms from which the crews of the _dis_ ray generators and the_electronoscope_ and _electronophone_ devices manipulated theirapparatus.

  Into this space from the forward end of the center deck, projected thecontrol room. The walls, ceiling and floor of this compartment weresimply the surfaces of _viewplates_. There were no windows or otheropenings.

  The operation officers within the control room, so far as their visionwas concerned, might have imagined themselves suspended in space, exceptfor the transmitters, levers and other signalling devices around them.

  Five officers, I understand, had their posts in the control room; thecaptain, and the chiefs of _scopes_, _phones_, _dis rays_ and_navigation_. Each of these was in continuous interphone communicationwith his subordinates in other posts throughout the ship. Each_viewplate_ had its phone connecting with its "_eye machines_" on thehull, the crews of which would switch from telescopic to normal view atcommand.

  There were, of course, many other _viewplates_ at executive poststhroughout the ship.

  * * * * *

  The Hans followed a peculiar system in the command of their ships. Eachship had a double complement of officers. Active Officers and BaseOfficers. The former were in actual, active charge of the ship and itsapparatus. The latter remained at the ship base, at desks equipped with_viewplates_ and phones, in constant communication with their"correspondents," on the ship. They acted continuously as consultants,observers, recorders and advisors during the flight or action. Althoughnot primarily accountable for the operation of the ship, they weresenior to, and in a sense responsible for the training and efficiency ofthe Active Officers.

  The _ionomagnetic coils_, which served as the casings, "plates" andinsulators of the gigantic condensers, were all located amidship on acenter line, reaching clear through from the top to the bottom of thehull, and reaching from the forward to the rear rep-ray generators; thatis, from points about 110 feet from bow and stern. The crew's quarterswere arranged on both sides of the coils. To the outside of these, wherethe several decks touched the hull, were located the various pieces of_phone_, _scope_ and _dis ray_ apparatus.

  The ship into which I was gazing with my _ultroscope_ (at a telescopicand penetrative setting), carried a crew of perhaps 150 men all told.And except for the strained looks on their evil yellow faces I mighthave been tempted to believe I was looking on some Twenty-fifth Centurypleasure excursion, for there was no running around nor appearance ofactivity.

  The Hans loved their ease, and despite the fact that this was a warship, every machine and apparatus in it was equipped with a complementof seats and specially designed couches, in which officers and menreclined as they gazed at their viewplates, and manipulated the littlesets of controls placed convenient to their hands.

  * * * * *

  The picture was a comic one to me, and I laughed, wondering how suchsoft creatures had held the sturdy and virile American race in completesubjection for centuries. But my laugh died as my mind grasped at theobvious explanation. These Hans were only soft physically. Mentally theywere hard, efficient, ruthless, and conscienceless.

  Impulsively I nosed my _swooper_ down toward the ship and shot toward itat full rocket power. I had acted so swiftly that I had covered nearlyhalf the distance toward the ship before my mind slowly drifted out ofthe daze of my emotion. This proved my undoing. Their scopeman saw metoo quickly, for in heading directly at them I became easily visible,appearing as a steady, expanding point. Looking through their hull, Isaw the crew of a _dis_ ray generator come suddenly to attention. Asecond later their beam engulfed me.

  For an instant my heart stood still. But the inertron shell of myswooper was impervious to the disintegrator ray. I was out of luck,however, so far as my control over my tiny ship was concerned. I hadbeen hurtling in a direct line toward the ship when the beam found me.Now, when I tried to swerve out of the beam, the swooper responded butsluggishly to the shift I made in the rocket angle. I was, of course,traveling straight down a beam of vacuum. As my craft slowly nosed tothe edge of the beam, the air rushing into this vacuum from all sidesthrew it back in again.

  Had I shot my ship across one of these beams at right angles, mymomentum would have carried me through with no difficulty. But I had nomomentum now except in the line of the beam, and this being a vacuumnow, my momentum, under full rocket power, was vastly increased. Thisrealization gave me a second and more acute thrill. Would I be able tocheck my little craft in time, or would I, helpless as a bullet itself,crash through the shell of the Han ship to my own destruction?

  I shut off my rocketmotor, but noticed no practical diminution of speed.

  * * * * *

  It was the fear of the Hans themselves that saved me. Through myultroscope I saw sudden alarm on their faces, hesitation, a franticofficer in the control room jabbering into his phone. Then shakily thecrew flipped their beam off to the side. The jar on my craft wasterrific. Its nose caught the rushing tumble of air first, of course,and my tail sailing in a vacuum, swung around with a sickening wrench.My swooper might as well have been a barrel in the tumult of waters atthe foot of Niagara. What was worse, the Hans kept me in that condition.Three of their beams were now playing in my direction, but not directlyon me except for split seconds. Their technique was to play their beamsaround me more than on me, jerking them this way and that, so as to formvacuum pockets into which the air slapped and roared as the beamsshifted, tossing me around like a chip.

  Desperately I tried to bring my craft under control, to point its nosetoward the Han ship and discharge an explosive rocket. Bitterly I cursedmy self-confidence, and my impulsive action. An experienced pilot of thepresent age would have known better than to be caught shooting straightdown a _dis_ ray beam. He would have kept his ship shooting constantlyat some angle to it, so that his momentum would carry him across it ifhe hit it. Too late I realized that there was more to the business ofair fighting, than instinctive skill in guiding a swooper.

  At last, when for a fraction of a second my nose pointed toward theHans, I pressed the button of my rocket gun. I registered a hit, but notan accurate one. My projectile grazed an upper section of the ship'shull. At that it did terrific damage. The explosion battered in asection about fifty feet in diameter, partially destroying the top deck.

  At the same instant I had shot my rocket, I had, in a desperate attemptto escape that turmoil of tumbling air, released a catch and dropped allthat it was possible to drop of my ultron ballast. My swooper shotupward, like a bubble streaking for the surface of water.

  I was free of the trap in which I had been caught, but unable to takeadvantage of the confusion which reigned on the Han ship.

  I was as helpless to maneuver my ship now, in its up-rush, as when I hadbeen tumbling in the air pockets. Moreover
I was badly battered fromplunging around in my shell like a pellet in a box, and partiallyunconscious.

  I was miles in the air when I recovered myself. The swooper was steadyenough now, but still rising, my instruments told me, and traveling in ageneral westward direction at full speed. Far below me was a sea ofclouds, stretching from horizon to horizon, and through occasionalbreaks in its surface I could see still other seas of clouds at lowerlevels.