Across Time by David Grinnell

Author:David Grinnell [Grinnell, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1957-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

XII. Combat

There came a day when the ship slowed, passed back into normal space, and began to crawl—to crawl in an interplanetary way, comparatively speaking—toward a group of suns. On this day Zachary Halleck was watching the suns approach him through the front walls of the ship, when from somewhere there was a ringing and the ever-present music changed pitch, became a paeon of alarm.

He rose and the EPL was at his side. “A spaceship is approaching,” it said.

“Show it to me,” said Zack. Immediately, a spot of light became visible through one section of the ship’s wall. It enlarged and was fully detailed, showing a pointed-nose rocket-driven craft,’ with stubby gun ports and visible circular portholes.

As the image enlarged, the Ever-Perfect Lieutenant described the other ship’s make-up, its capacity, its probable crew, speed, weight, armament. There was no magic in this and no guesswork. Zachary understood just how the manlike being could recite these facts. Being actually nothing but the speaking control board of the ship, it was merely translating into understandable terms the readings of its infinitely exact and incredibly perfected detection instruments.

“The vessel,” said the EPL, “is very primitive. It be- • longs in the second century of spaceship construction, and is operated by second-growth humans. We have nothing to fear from it.”

“Can it detect us?” asked Zachary, filled with the awe of his position. This other ship was quite formidable to him, considering that it meant something which was still at least two hundred years in his own -period’s future. Yet it was tremendously primitive beside the’ craft he commanded. The comparison would be between a hollowed-out log canoe and an atomically driven ocean liner.

“It does not detect us yet,” said the EPL. “We are several million miles away from its range of visibility and scope. If you want them to see us, I can arrange it. If not, they need never spot us.”

“No,” said Zachary, “let’s keep out of their sight.”

“It has been done,” said the EPL, although there was no change noticeable in the surroundings of the ship.

They continued on, nearing the cluster of stars and their attendant planets. Every once in a while, another such patrol craft would be spotted. “I don’t get it,” said Zachary suddenly. “If the Quoxians rule this sector, what are these primitives doing with spaceships—and why are they so primitive?”

“The second-growths here serve the Quoxians; believing them gods. They inhabit the surrounding planets of the outlying stars in this cluster. On their worlds, they manufacture the necessary mechanical contrivances for Quoxian experimentation. There—” The EPL cut off suddenly as the music again alarmed.

“There is a Quoxian approaching,” it said. Without Hal-• leek’s, asking, there was a shift in the light and tone of the ship. It was nothing that one could put a finger on, but something had altered. “We are now disguised,” said the EPL. “From the outside, this ship is a duplicate of the primitive battlecraft we passed. By all detectable means, it is one of them.

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