Not Only Dead Men by A. E. van Vogt

Author:A. E. van Vogt [Vogt, A. E. van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi Short Story
Publisher: Astounding Science Fiction
Published: 1942-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

The oarlocks creaked; the water whispered gently against the side of the rowboat—and every minute Wardell liked his position less.

It struck him after a moment that the boat was not heading directly at the vessel; and that their angle of approach was making for a side view of the object he had already noticed at the front of the stranger’s metal deck.

He raised his glasses; and then he just sat there too amazed even to exclaim. It was a weapon all right—a harpoon gun.

There was no mistaking it. They hadn’t even changed the design, the length of the harpoon or— Wait a minute!

What about the line?

He could make out a toy-sized roller beside the gun, and there was a coppery gleam coming from it that told a complete story.

“They’ve given us,” he thought, “a cable as good as their own, something that will hold— anything.” Once again the chill struck through him, and the words that one of his crew had use: What kind of whale—

“Closer!” he said hoarsely.

He was only dimly conscious that this kind of boldness was utterly rash. Careful, he thought, there were too many damn fools in hell already. Foolhardiness was—

“Closer!” he urged.

At fifty feet the long, dark hull of the ship, even a part of what was under water, showed plainly; and there wasn’t a scratch to indicate where the shells from the three-incher had exploded, not a sign of damage anywhere.

Wardell was parting his lips to speak again, his mind hard on his determination to climb aboard under cover of the point-blank range of the machine gun —when there was a thunder of sound.

It was a cataclysmic sound, like whole series of monstrous guns firing one after the other. The roar echoed hugely from the barren hills and spat backward and forward across the natural hollow made by the almost completely land-locked’ bay.

The long, torpedo-shaped ship began to move. Faster, faster— it made a great half circle, a wave of fiery flashes pouring into the water from its rear; and then, having avoided the rowboat completely, headed for the narrows that led to the open sea.

Suddenly, a shell splashed beside it, then another and a third; Wardell could see the muzzle flame of the three-incher on the distant deck of the Albatross. There was no doubt that Art Zote and Preedy thought the hour of crisis was at hand.

But the stranger heeded not. Straight for the narrows it thundered, along the gantlet made by the shallows, and then out into the deep water. It rumbled a full mile past the schooner, and then the fiery explosions ceased. The skies emptied of the rolling roar on roar of sound. The ship coasted on momentum, then stopped.

And lay there, silent, lifeless as before, a dark shape protruding out of the restless waters. Somewhere along its course, Art Zote had had the sense to stop his useless firing. -

In the silence, Wardell could hear the heavy breathing of the men laboring at the oars. The rowboat shuddered

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