Page:Amazing Stories Volume 07 Number 08.djvu/56

Rh half the distance, it stopped and a portion of its substance was pushed out to form a pseudo-podium or false limb. With a gesture that was unmistakably meant to be a polite but firm request, it beckoned for the two men to move in the direction of the city. At the same time the ring of strange creatures opened like a horse-shoe in front of them, while they surged slowly forward behind them.

"It seems to want us to follow it," Sullivan stammered. "Do you think we'd better obey?"

"Not unless we have to," Brink declared. "Let's get our wings ready."

S he spoke these words and before he had time to unfurl the wing membranes which were wrapped around his arms, Brink was astonished to see a bulge appear on the upper surface of the Titanian leader. With uncanny speed it formed itself into what looked like a featureless head, which it proceeded to shake violently as if to say, "You had better not do that."

Paying no attention to this warning—if warning it was—the two space marines adjusted their wings, turned on their gravity-nullifyers, and soared heavenward.

Instantly the amoeba-like beings, which up to this time had moved slowly and sluggishly, hurled themselves into swift action. Flowing along the ground with incredible speed, they gathered momentum until with powerful leaps, they took to the air, their flexible bodies taking the form of giant flapping wings.

Soon the air was full of them and the two men found that they were being prevented from flying in any direction save two—downward and toward the city of cones.

Brink decided to return to the ground, hoping thus to gain time for concocting some strategem. But when he and Sullivan attempted to delay matters by seeming to yield, but walking with deliberate slowness, four of the Titanians approached them and thrust out from their bodies long, sinuous tentacles with which they reached out to seize their captives.

When he saw the snakey pseudo-podia whipping out toward him, Sullivan lost his head and drew his super-pistol. Though it weighed less than a kilogram, it was capable of spraying bullets with the speed of a machine gun and the power of an elephant rifle. Sullivan saw the bullets plainly as they thudded into the body of his opponent, but they penetrated only a centimeter or two before they were checked by the tough, resilient material of the Titanian's body. With horrified dismay he saw the creature press the bullets out from its skin, like a child spitting cherry-stones from its mouth.

One of the tentacles wrapped itself around the pistol and wrenched it out of his hand. Then he felt his arms seized in the clammy embraces of other pseudo-podia, which dragged him forward with irresistible force.

"It's no use, Jimmy," he said resignedly. "We may as well go along with them."

SCORTED by a mob of squirming Titanians, many of whom had joined the procession en route, the two Terrestrial officers were dragged through the wide but tortuous streets of the village until they reached a building of medium size. A door slid to one side and the two men were shoved through the opening. Noiselessly the door closed behind them.

They found themselves in a room shaped like a segment of pie. At the inner angle of the chamber was one of those shapeless, transparent masses of protoplasm, which they knew to be a native of Titan. It was considerably bigger than any of the others they had seen and its central spheroid of wrinkled grey matter was correspondingly great.

Though it possessed nothing that resembled features or sense organs, the creature indicated by its change in position that it was conscious of their presence. From different parts of its body bulges appeared, protruding like the telescopic eyes of a lobster.

"He is giving us the once over," Sullivan remarked.

At the sound of his voice, the Titanian moved a trifle closer, as if striving to catch the words. Then it shot out several tentacles with which it explored the bodies of both prisoners at once. Stretched across a low frame in front of it was a strip of material resembling celluloid on which the creature scratched strange marks with a small, sharp instrument.

When the inspection was completed, the Titanian withdrew all its pseudo-podis into its body and the door opened again. Out in the street four guards awaited them. As they were being conducted still further toward the heart of the city, Brink said, "Well, there's one thing to be thankful for. Our rocket-ship is still safe. Maybe Al will be able to contrive some way to help us out of this mess."

As if to mock his words, an ominous hissing sound came from somewhere overhead. Looking upward, the two men were horrified to see their space ship hovering over the roofs of the city. It was not traveling under its own power but was held in the clutches of two claw-like instruments hanging from the under side of a strange airship. The Titanian craft was shaped like a regular polyhedron with fourteen faces.

Brink, who had majored in mathematics, knew the technical name of this figure. "It's a tetrakaidecagon," he told Jimmy. "These babies must know a lot about mathematics to be able to construct a ship of that shape. What do you suppose that hissing noise is? Doesn't it sound familiar to you?"

"It sure does. Sounds like the hydrogen escaping from the fuel tank. Maybe those dumb-bells opened the throttle without turning on the ignition."

"I'll bet that's what happened all right. And we need every cubic centimeter of that fuel to get back to Ganymede!"

"What do you suppose has become of Al?"

"They probably captured him like they did us. First thing you know, they'll be dragging him into town."

Just ahead of them they saw their rocket ship come slowly down until it rested on the pavement of a wide circular space where several of the streets intersected. Brink tried to dash toward it, hoping at least that he would get a chance to shut off the escaping fuel, but in this he was thwarted by his alert guards, who shot out long tendrils of protoplasm which wrapped about him and stopped him dead in his tracks.

Through a huge door of one of the largest of the buildings, the space flyer was carried inside. The Earth-men caught a glimpse of another space flyer, which they surmised belonged to the Valentine sisters. It had a ragged yawning hole in its side.

"Take a good look at that building," Brink whispered. "If we ever get loose, we'll want to know where our ship is located."

Since all the buildings looked exactly alike, except for