Wandl the Invader | Page 7

that damned Orentino to de-insulate the room Molo is in. Now,
by the gods, we may see and hear something."
The frightened manager of the Red Spark was in the control room.
Halsey killed our barrage to let the outside connections get through to
us. We all crowded around the mirror-grid which stood on Orentino's
desk. Foley gave us connection with the control room. We saw
Orentino's face, his eyes nearly popping with fright. "Colonel Halsey, I

will do whatever you tell me."
"What room is that Martian occupying?"
"Insulated 39."
"Break off the insulation. Do it slowly and he may not notice. Then
give us connection, audio and vision."
"But I have no image-finders in the insulated rooms."
"Cut off the barrage. I'll get connection there."
Foley was already setting up his eavesdropper on the desk. The mirror
blurred a little; then it clarified. We had the interior of the secret room,
and voices were coming out of Foley's tiny receiver.
The image showed the box on the floor, with its lid down. The tall
hooded shape of the stranger stood with Molo and his sister by the table.
They were talking in swift, vehement undertones. The language was
Martian, a dialect principally used in Ferrok-Shahn. Our equipment
brought it in and I could understand it.
Molo was saying: "But you are the fool to have dared to come here!"
"The master knows that there is danger. Something is wrong." The
hooded stranger spoke like a foreigner, but not a Martian, nor an
Earthman, and not like any person of Venus I had ever heard. It was a
strange, indescribable intonation, a flat, hollow voice.
"I say the master is concerned."
"Let him be."
"And he demanded I bring him here to find you. He is displeased that
you are here."
What gruesome thing was this? Their glances seemed to go to the box
on the floor at their feet, as though the master were in there. But the lid

of the box did not rise.
"Well, you have found me," Molo declared impatiently. "When you
know me better, always you will find I have my wits. The thing is for
tomorrow night, not tonight."
"But that, my master is not sure." The hollow voice was deferential but
insistent. "He fears danger; something has gone wrong. He is working
on it now, striving to receive the message! There is a message. He
knows that much. Perhaps from our world, Wandl, itself."
For a moment Molo had no answer. His sister had not spoken. I noticed
that her gaze seemed roving the room.
"What is it I should do?" Molo asked at last.
"Come with us to your home-room."
"But I have everything ready there. The contact is ready for tomorrow
night. Your world will control Earth."
"But if it be tonight?"
Again Molo was silent. My breath stopped. On our mirror I saw the
stranger's hood part just a little. There seemed to be no face; just the
blur of something brownish.
"But if it be tonight?" the voice insisted.
"I will go," Molo said abruptly, "but your coming here was dangerous.
Suppose we cannot get out undetected? You know I will never go to
where all our instruments are set up and have some damnable spy
follow me. Is all going well on Venus and Mars?"
"Yes. My master feels so. He seems to get messages. The contacts will
be made simultaneously." A gruesome chuckle. "The capture of these
three worlds. We shall have all three enchained at once. Helpless."
The lid of the black box seemed again about to rise when there came a

sharp cry from Meka. "This room is not insulated!"
Our eavesdropping was discovered. Beside me, I heard Halsey give a
low curse. On our mirror we saw sudden action. The ten-foot, cloaked
figure laboriously lifted the black box, and swung with it toward the
outer wall of the room. I saw now clearly with what a dragging, heavy
tread that giant shape moved, as though it weighed, here on Earth, far
more than the normal weight to which it was accustomed.
"Over there!" Molo gasped. "The escape-port; this room has one. Meka,
go with him. I will join you. You know where."
Foley cried, "Colonel, I may be able to stop them!"
But Halsey saw on our image that Molo was staying. "Wait. Let them
go. If we have the Martian here, that's better."
I saw the room's escape-port swing open as Meka and the hooded shape
carrying the box moved for it. The moonlit darkness of the outer
catwalk enveloped the disappearing figures.
Molo was left alone. He closed the port swiftly. His detector now was
in his hand, but Halsey anticipated him by a second or two. Our listener
went dead; our mirror darkened.