The Metal Monster [15]
as terror-stricken as theirs.
"They were such LITTLE THINGS," muttered Drake. "Such little things--bits of metal--little globes and pyramids and cubes--just little THINGS."
"Babes! Only babes!" It was Ruth--"BABES!"
"Bits of metal"--Dick's gaze sought mine, held it--"and they looked for each other, they worked with each other-- THINKINGLY, CONSCIOUSLY--they were deliberate, purposeful-- little things--and with the force of a score of dynamos-- living, THINKING--"
"Don't!" Ruth laid white hands over his eyes. "Don't-- don't YOU be frightened!"
"Frightened?" he echoed. "I'M not afraid--yes, I AM afraid--"
He arose, stiffly--and stumbled toward me.
Afraid? Drake afraid. Well--so was I. Bitterly, TERRIBLY afraid.
For what we had beheld in the dusk of that dragoned, ruined chamber was outside all experience, beyond all knowledge or dream of science. Not their shapes--that was nothing. Not even that, being metal, they had moved.
But that being metal, they had moved consciously, thoughtfully, deliberately.
They were metal things with--MINDS!
That--that was the incredible, the terrifying thing. That --and their power.
Thor compressed within Hop-o'-my-thumb--and thinking. The lightnings incarnate in metal minacules--and thinking.
The inert, the immobile, given volition, movement, cognoscence--thinking.
Metal with a brain!
CHAPTER V
THE SMITING THING
Silently we looked at each other, and silently we passed out of the courtyard. The dread was heavy upon me. The twilight was stealing upon the close-clustered peaks. Another hour, and their amethyst-and-purple mantles would drop upon them; snowfields and glaciers sparkle out in irised beauty; nightfall.
As I gazed upon them I wondered to what secret place within their brooding immensities the little metal mysteries had fled. And to what myriads, it might be, of their kind? And these hidden hordes--of what shapes were they? Of what powers? Small like these, or--or--
Quick on the screen of my mind flashed two pictures, side by side--the little four-rayed print in the great dust of the crumbling ruin and its colossal twin on the breast of the poppied valley.
I turned aside, crept through the shattered portal and looked over the haunted hollow.
Unbelieving, I rubbed my eyes; then leaped to the very brim of the bowl.
A lark had risen from the roof of one of the shattered heaps and had flown caroling up into the shadowy sky.
A flock of the little willow warblers flung themselves across the valley, scolding and gossiping; a hare sat upright in the middle of the ancient roadway.
The valley itself lay serenely under the ambering light, smiling, peaceful--emptied of horror!
I dropped over the side, walked cautiously down the road up which but an hour or so before we had struggled so desperately; paced farther and farther with an increasing confidence and a growing wonder.
Gone was that soul of loneliness; vanished the whirlpool of despair that had striven to drag us down to death.
The bowl was nothing but a quiet, smiling lovely little hollow in the hills. I looked back. Even the ruins had lost their sinister shape; were time-worn, crumbling piles--nothing more.
I saw Ruth and Drake run out upon the ledge and beckon me; made my way back to them, running.
"It's all right," I shouted. "The place is all right."
I stumbled up the side; joined them.
"It's empty," I cried. "Get Martin and Chiu-Ming quick! While the way's open--"
A rifle-shot rang out above us; another and another. From the portal scampered Chiu-Ming, his robe tucked up about his knees.
"They come!" he gasped. "They come!"
There was a flashing of spears high up the winding mountain path. Down it was pouring an avalanche of men. I caught the glint of helmets and corselets. Those in the van were mounted, galloping two abreast upon sure-footed mountain ponies. Their short swords, lifted high, flickered.
After the horsemen swarmed foot soldiers, a forest of shining points and dully gleaming pikes above them. Clearly to us came
"They were such LITTLE THINGS," muttered Drake. "Such little things--bits of metal--little globes and pyramids and cubes--just little THINGS."
"Babes! Only babes!" It was Ruth--"BABES!"
"Bits of metal"--Dick's gaze sought mine, held it--"and they looked for each other, they worked with each other-- THINKINGLY, CONSCIOUSLY--they were deliberate, purposeful-- little things--and with the force of a score of dynamos-- living, THINKING--"
"Don't!" Ruth laid white hands over his eyes. "Don't-- don't YOU be frightened!"
"Frightened?" he echoed. "I'M not afraid--yes, I AM afraid--"
He arose, stiffly--and stumbled toward me.
Afraid? Drake afraid. Well--so was I. Bitterly, TERRIBLY afraid.
For what we had beheld in the dusk of that dragoned, ruined chamber was outside all experience, beyond all knowledge or dream of science. Not their shapes--that was nothing. Not even that, being metal, they had moved.
But that being metal, they had moved consciously, thoughtfully, deliberately.
They were metal things with--MINDS!
That--that was the incredible, the terrifying thing. That --and their power.
Thor compressed within Hop-o'-my-thumb--and thinking. The lightnings incarnate in metal minacules--and thinking.
The inert, the immobile, given volition, movement, cognoscence--thinking.
Metal with a brain!
CHAPTER V
THE SMITING THING
Silently we looked at each other, and silently we passed out of the courtyard. The dread was heavy upon me. The twilight was stealing upon the close-clustered peaks. Another hour, and their amethyst-and-purple mantles would drop upon them; snowfields and glaciers sparkle out in irised beauty; nightfall.
As I gazed upon them I wondered to what secret place within their brooding immensities the little metal mysteries had fled. And to what myriads, it might be, of their kind? And these hidden hordes--of what shapes were they? Of what powers? Small like these, or--or--
Quick on the screen of my mind flashed two pictures, side by side--the little four-rayed print in the great dust of the crumbling ruin and its colossal twin on the breast of the poppied valley.
I turned aside, crept through the shattered portal and looked over the haunted hollow.
Unbelieving, I rubbed my eyes; then leaped to the very brim of the bowl.
A lark had risen from the roof of one of the shattered heaps and had flown caroling up into the shadowy sky.
A flock of the little willow warblers flung themselves across the valley, scolding and gossiping; a hare sat upright in the middle of the ancient roadway.
The valley itself lay serenely under the ambering light, smiling, peaceful--emptied of horror!
I dropped over the side, walked cautiously down the road up which but an hour or so before we had struggled so desperately; paced farther and farther with an increasing confidence and a growing wonder.
Gone was that soul of loneliness; vanished the whirlpool of despair that had striven to drag us down to death.
The bowl was nothing but a quiet, smiling lovely little hollow in the hills. I looked back. Even the ruins had lost their sinister shape; were time-worn, crumbling piles--nothing more.
I saw Ruth and Drake run out upon the ledge and beckon me; made my way back to them, running.
"It's all right," I shouted. "The place is all right."
I stumbled up the side; joined them.
"It's empty," I cried. "Get Martin and Chiu-Ming quick! While the way's open--"
A rifle-shot rang out above us; another and another. From the portal scampered Chiu-Ming, his robe tucked up about his knees.
"They come!" he gasped. "They come!"
There was a flashing of spears high up the winding mountain path. Down it was pouring an avalanche of men. I caught the glint of helmets and corselets. Those in the van were mounted, galloping two abreast upon sure-footed mountain ponies. Their short swords, lifted high, flickered.
After the horsemen swarmed foot soldiers, a forest of shining points and dully gleaming pikes above them. Clearly to us came