Invaders from the Infinite | Page 9

great discs into place. We attempted to
cut them, and put them back in sections. Our finest saws and machines
did not nick them. Their weight was unbelievable, and yet we finally
succeeded in lifting the things into the wall of the ship. The actual
missing material did not represent more than a tiny cut, perhaps as wide
as one of your credit-discs. You could slip the thin piece of metal in
between them, but not so much as your finger.
"Those slots we welded tight with our best steel, letting a flap hang
over on each side of the cut, and as the hot metal cooled, it was drawn
against the shining walls with terrific force. The joints were perfectly
airtight.
"The machines proper were repaired to the greatest possible extent. It
was a heartbreaking task, for we must only guess at what machines
should be connected together. Much damage had been done by the
rushing air as it left, for it filled the machines, too, and they were not
designed to resist the terrific air pressure that was on them when the
pressure in the ship escaped. Many of the machines had been burst
open, and these we could repair when we had the necessary elements
and knew their construction from the remnants, or could find unbroken
duplicates in the stock rooms.
"Once we connected the wrong things. This will show you what we
dealt with. They were the wrong poles--two generators, connected
together in the wrong way. There was a terrific crash when the switch
was thrown, and huge sheets of electric flame leaped from one of them.
Two men were killed, incinerated in an instant, even the odors one
might expect were killed in that flash of heat. Everything save the
shining metal and clear glass within ten feet of it was instantly wiped
out. And there was a fuse link that gave. The generator was ruined. One
was left, and several small auxiliary generators.
"Eventually, we did the job. We made the machine work. And we are

here.
"We have come to warn you, and to ask aid. Your system also has a
large planet, slightly smaller than the largest of our system, but yet
attractive. There are approximately 50,000 planetary systems in this
universe, according to the records of the Invaders. Their world is not of
this system. It is the World Thett, sun Antseck, Universe Venone.
Where that is, or even what it means, we do not know. Perhaps you
understand.
"But they investigated your world, and its address, according to their
records, was World 3769-8482730-3. This, I believe, means, Universe
3769, sun 8482730, world 3. They have been investigating this system
now for nearly three centuries. It was close to 200 years ago that they
visited your world--two hundred years of your time."
"This is 2129--which makes it about the year 1929-30 that they floated
around here investigating. Why haven't they done anything?" Arcot
asked him.
"They waited for an auspicious time. They are afraid now, for recently
they visited your world, and were utterly amazed to find the
unbelievable progress your people have made. They intend to make an
immediate attack on all worlds known to be intelligently populated.
They had made the mistake of letting one race learn too much; they
cannot afford to let it happen again.
"There are only twenty-one inhabited worlds known, and their
thousands of scouts have already investigated nearly all the central
mass of this universe, and much of the outer rings. They have
established a base in this universe. Where I do not know. That, alone,
was never mentioned in the records. But of all peoples, they feared only
your world.
"There is one race in the universe far older than yours, but they are a
sleeping people. Long ago their culture decayed. Still, now they are not
far from you, and perhaps it will be worth the few days needed to learn
more about them. We have their location and can take you there. Their

world circles a dead star--"
"Not any more," laughed Morey grimly. "That's another surprise for the
enemy. They had a little jog, and they certainly are wide awake now.
They are headed for big things, and they are going to do a lot."
"But how do you know these things? You have ships that can go from
planet to planet, I know, but the records of the enemy said you could
not leave the system of your sun. They alone knew that secret."
"Another surprise for them," said Morey. "We can--and we can move
faster than your ship, if not faster than they. The people of the dead star
have moved to a very live star--Sirius, the brightest in our heavens.
And they are as much alive now as their