The Whispering Spheres | Page 7

not far off and the spheres were drifting over the town. Already streets were filled with panic-stricken people. The appearance of the strange balls of fire brought residents from their homes in the middle of the night. Some fled in terror, believing a new type of raider had been invented by the enemy. Others stood watching.
The spheres circled. Taylor watched them, realizing he could do nothing to stop what would happen. There was no way to warn these helpless people that the spheres dealt death in a most sudden and violent form.
Something nagged at Taylor's mind. Why had the sphere gone out when he crept into the tunnel? What had caused it to die? Had the sphere been grounded, trying to reach him under the surface of the earth? Not likely, otherwise the creatures would not be able to attack a man standing on the ground. The bolt, besides, was not electricity, like lightning, but heat, which is not grounded easily.
Where had the spheres come from? They surely were not of this world. On the basis of biological evolution they could not be the children of any life known to science. Had they evolved suddenly, by accident? Some scientists thought all life had grown by accident; the right combination of circumstances had occurred and a chemical action had followed. Had the right combination for the spheres come about as the result of the war and the releasing of untold amounts of energy?
But even if life had begun on earth by accident, all other types had taken ages to develop. These spheres, thinking creatures, could not have evolved overnight.
These seemingly invincible creatures could not have come from this world. Biological development comes through struggle and survival. An invincible creature does not have to worry about its existence--in fact, struggle was necessary to develop an invincible being. These spheres must be from another world. Refugees, perhaps, from another, even more powerful race; or maybe they were seeking a new world to conquer.
One was circling overhead again. The leaves rustled. Taylor thought he heard a choked-off scream. Orkins. He gritted his teeth grimly.
There was only one link of hope in Taylor's chain of thought. There must always be a check to every form of life. Terrestrial plagues of insects were followed suddenly by flocks of birds. In western states an increase in the number of jackrabbits always is a forerunner of an increase in the number of coyotes. But the jackrabbits carried parasites fatal to the coyotes. If man was a rabbit, then perhaps he harbored the check to these creatures of flame.
What check would limit the whispering spheres? No germ, surely. What possible check was there except man's nature? What part of man's nature? That was the answer Taylor wanted to know.
His chain of thought was suddenly interrupted.
Pember was coming on the run. The private saluted the captain.
"Something's wrong, sir! Orkins is throwing a fit."
"Can't you quiet him? The spheres are near."
"Norden held his hand over Orkins' mouth, but it made Orkins worse. I--I think it's serious, sir."
Taylor followed Pember to the place where Orkins had been digging. Norden was there, bending over Orkins, who lay on the ground. Masters, standing behind Norden, shook his head.
"He's dead," Norden said, straightening.
"He was scared to death by the spheres," Masters said. "No one harmed him, except to hold a hand over his mouth. He wasn't choked. He could have breathed through his nostrils--"
"Wait--"
Taylor held up his hand. Something clicked in his brain.
Masters had said something about the spheres that fitted. He said, Maybe you don't have to touch 'em to kill 'em. Figuratively speaking, Orkins hadn't been seriously touched either.
The answer!
CHAPTER V
AN ESCAPE
Taylor ordered Pember and Norden to bury Orkins where he had been digging, then the officer took Masters aside.
"We've got a weapon," Taylor announced.
Masters grunted:
"Yeah? Indians had bows and arrows, too. Look at what happened to them."
"This is different. A new weapon. We can beat the spheres through their emotions."
"You mean fear, love, hate--all that stuff? How do you know these spheres have emotions?"
"What is life but a series of sensations and emotions? If the spheres are alive, they must have something which correspond to emotions. The emotions may be different from ours, but they'll be emotions just the same. Orkins died of fear. Of course, you can call it heart attack, but fear brought it on. That sphere that had me cornered in the plant died, too. Do you see?"
"Was the sphere afraid of you or the tunnel?"
"Don't be flippant. The emotion wasn't fear. It might not have been any emotion we have, but an emotion that we'd expect a creature made of energy to have. An emotion of frustration! It had me cornered. I escaped. The energy sphere met resistance. When energy meets resistance it changes!"
"I don't get it."
"Look, Masters.