Page:Amazing Stories Volume 21 Number 06.djvu/121

Rh who lose all self control in emergency.

But the columns of Indian-manned ray-cars began to pull the steady-fire studs on their instrument panels, and their thousand rays were soon lashing out in perfect, irresistible alignment toward the huge war-ray chamber where the great mutilated bodies of the ro-ray men moved machine-like above the great cannon, sweeping the vast and deadly nozzles directing dis-flow rays in searching patterns through the opaque cloud that was Eemeeshee's position.

Almost to the source of those flaming beams our own beams reached, but not quite. Something was wrong, Eemeeshee's beams were not reaching, not striking down those dull-faced robots. Saba added her own huge ray to the multiple beam, and the glowing transparent path of the ray moved within a few short feet of the vast mechanisms that were blasting at them with the terrible energies created by that forgotten race.

Now down from that female leader Da Sylva's luxurious chamber a ray reached in upon those laboring robots, searching their minds for their almost non-existent thoughts as she looked for a way to reach the attackers within their impenetrable opacity. A premonition of failure, a feeling that if they were going to win this fray and live through it they had better do something in a hurry. Lane shot a telaug ray back at Eemeeshee, but the old loafer was slumped in a dead faint! Excitement had proved too much for him!

Lane looked at Saba. Her flushed, worried face told him she had seen what had happened to their champion from the past. In spite of himself Lane had to grin at the big booby fainting on them.

Nearer and nearer the searching, criss-crossing dis-rays reached toward their columns. Lane knew it was a matter of seconds before they found the Red Legion with death. To make matters worse, the terrific power the their dis-rays was turning the opaque rock back to normally transparent polarity, the penetrays guiding the beams made the searched parts of the great cloud in the rock as clear as glass. This made it much easier for the dull-minded robots to keep their systematic search pattern.

Saba swung open the disc of the door, leaped out into the great tunnel, raced backward to the huge crystalline floating structure in which the unconscious Eemeeshee lay, his great lips curved in the sensual, childish expression of pleasure which was habitual to him and to all who are slaves to the dream-mech habit. Lane guessed he was living over some of the dreams of infinite pleasure which had wasted his centuries old life.

The lithe Indian girl clawed her way into the complexities of the interior, hurled her soft lovely body in unaccustomed violent exertion toward the controls of that vast ancient machine of Eemeeshee's where must lie their only salvation, if there were any for them. Even as she sought for the way into Eemeeshee's airtight living chamber, the master beam of the war-ray from the enemy's robotic humans found the tail end of their column, began to blot from existence the crystal bubbles, which broke and melted under the mighty power of destruction as if in truth but bubbles of nothingness.

ELIAR DA SYLVA turned to her companion.

"There goes another danger—up in smoke. So will they all. I am curious as to just who and what that column of mech is, anyway. I had not thought another power like our own in strength existed in all the western caverns."

Miro smiled in relief at her mistress. Then she turned back to watch the terrible power of the flaming dis-ray eating steadily at the long, now revealed column of ray-cars. She clenched and unclenched her long-fingered, red-nailed hands until blood streamed from the palms. It had been a close thing and they both knew it.

"Tonight we will have our fill of killing, the survivors will certainly enjoy themselves while they learn who it was they attacked."

"When you've sated your pleasure, may I then kill some of them my own way?" asked Miro, her gross face owl-hungry, her fleshy lips curling back over her teeth redly, a slight drool on her chin.

The great dis-ray which had been rubbing out the floating cars, completely destroying the occupants, was now changed by Da Sylva's order to a concussive vibratory ray which merely laid out the occupants unconscious. She wanted her meat