Read Online Manly Wade Wellman - Novel 1959 by The Dark Destroyers (v1.1) - Free Book Online

down somewhere, hide it perhaps among trees or in a valley; then he
could approach on foot, taking advantage of whatever cover he found. Surely
those confident seizers of Earth would not be expecting a scout in these
latitudes, would not keep a watch .. .
                 Pondering
thus, he was aware of a vibration in the metal floor under his moccasin soles,
a silent taut quivering.
                 Mystified
and startled, he glanced toward the chart that showed the warning lights on the
plan of the ship. None had shifted, changed color or intensity. The quiver
departed, as abruptly as it had come. Then it was back again:'
                 He
felt a tightening of his nerves and muscles. Was the mechanism on the point of
failure? But no—the ship did not waver as it slid along above the wispy layer
of clouds. Was it a matter of fuel, then, whatever the fuel was? He had come a
long way .. .
                 A
second time the vibration had ceased. Even as he sighed in relief, it was back,
stronger this time, and complicated with a deep audible undertone that, as
Darragh listened, broke into a jerky semi-rhythmic succession of humming
chirps.
                 It
sounded like telegraphy.
                Undoubtedly it was telegraphy.
                Up ahead, another aircraft had come
from somewhere, a larger ship of plumply ovoid lines, its nose turning in
Darragh's direction.
                "That damned thing's signalling
me," he muttered aloud.
                He had no desire for conversation,
even had he known how to achieve it. Nor had he desire for close companionship.
As the egg-shaped craft approached, he touched the bead on the right arm of the
control assembly, pulled it outward, and made his own little vessel slip
abruptly sidewise and around the other. As he did so, the vibration and the
rippling signal hum grew more intense, even insistent. His ears rang with it
and he shook his dark-maned head to clear it. A new pattern of signal thrust
itself into the cabin, seeming to stir the air around him.
                 Another
ship was accosting him.
                He leaned above the controls to look
out at the port. Two or three more vessels were dropping down from above. Two
more came struggling upward through the wispy mask of cloud. They converged
toward him. They were closing in.
                 "This
is. an attack!" Darragh snorted aloud, and braced
himself like a stanchion for the destroying impact of rays.
                 But
no ray came to smite him. Instead, the other craft bunched at his sides. He
could see them through the ports to starboard and port. They wove closer and
closer, as hunting wasps might close in upon a succulent spider. It was too
late to do anything but try to run.
                 But
one of the pursuers maneuvered just ahead, swifter than he and with confident
agility. No way out there, nor to either side. Perhaps
he could drop away beneath, gain the earth and seek cover. Darragh pulled the
bead down on the perpendicular arm; but they dropped with him. A whole storm of
vibrations stirred the floor beneath him, the curved bulkheads, the air he breathed. And from below came spiralling another
tormentor, a craft almost spherical and much larger than his. Again he raised
the bead and sped straight forward, again he was
overtaken and surrounded in flight.
                 They
came close, almost nuzzling him. They were driving him along a certain course.
                 He
cursed every Cold Creature piloting that swarm around him, as fervendy as
earlier he had prayed for guidance and fortune. He went ahead because 1 he must. Once more he tried to plummet down, and actually gained the clouds;
but, when he had fallen through, he could see his hunters and herders all
around, flying more swifdy and skilfully than he could hope to fly. And the
vibration was more intense,