September 24, 2025 • 23 mins
Dive into the thrilling adventures of Astounding Stories 19, featuring an array of captivating tales that will ignite your imagination! In The Doom from Planet 4 by Jack Williamson, a mysterious ray of fire guides Dan on his ship to an island fraught with otherworldly danger. H.G. Winters The Hands of Aten takes you on a journey as Craig unearths three long-frozen Egyptians from solid ice, leading him into an astonishing escapade. Experience the gripping fate of young Stoddard in H. Thompson Richs The Diamond Thunderbolt, where being locked in a rocket propels him into the vastness of space. A.R. Holmess The Slave Ship from Space explores the chilling reality of three kidnapped Earthlings who reveal to Xantra of the Tillas just how docile Earth slaves can be. In The Revolt of the Machines, Nat Schachner and Arthur L. Zagat delve into the sinister motivations of a master machine as it rebels against its human creators. Finally, in Ray Cummingss The Exile of Time, follow Tugh, the cripple who evades fate until the world teeters on the brink of destruction. Plus, dont miss The Readers Corner, a gathering space for fans of Astounding Stories!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section eighteen of Astounding Stories, nineteen July nineteen thirty one.
This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit librivots dot org. Reading by Mark Thornton, Miranda, New Zealand,
Astounding Stories, nineteen July nineteen thirty one, Section seventeen Exile
(00:28):
of Time by Ray Cummings, Chapter twenty one, The Fight
in the power House. I found the narrow aperture and
stood peering down into the darkness. Miguel crowded behind me.
The red beams of its eyes went down into the pit,
and by their faint illumination, I saw the heads of
(00:49):
Larry and a girl swimming twenty feet below. Girl's dark
hair floated out like black sea within the water. The
princess and the strange man, exclaimed Migul. I called Larry, Larry.
His labored voice came.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Up, George, Thank God, get us out of here. Almost gone, George,
I found my wits. Then keep quiet, don't talk. Save
your strength. I'll get you out.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
How I could see that they were almost spent. For
those swimming with the labored inefficient strokes Larry, using most
of his strength to hold up the exhausted girl. He
had not a moment to spare. I wildly contemplated tearing
my garments to make a rope, but Miguel pushed me away.
(01:43):
I will bring them stand back. The robot had opened
its metal side and drawn forth a flexible wire with
a foot long hook fastened to it. The wire came
smoothly out, as though unrolling from a drum. It leaned
into the aperture and down to Larry. Fast and this
(02:03):
around the princess. Be careful not to harm her. Put
it under her arms. I saw that there was an
eyelet on the wire into which the hook could be
inserted to make a loop under her arms. Miguel called,
she will have to hold to the hook with her
hands or the wire will cut into her. Has she
(02:23):
the strength? Larry floundered as he adjusted the wire. Tina gasped, Ah,
I have the strength. The robot braced itself, spreading its
knees against the aperture, with its body leaning forward. Ready
it called yes, came Larry's voice. Migule's finger pressed a
(02:45):
button at the base of its neck with the smooth
power of machinery, the wire cable rolled into its side.
Tina came up, Negol gripped her and pulled her through
the aperture, laid her gently on the coutwalk, fastened the hook,
and soon Miguel had Larry up with us. The robots
stood aside, with its work done, silently regarding us. I
(03:09):
need not detail this reunion of Larry and me there
on the spray swept catwalk, clinging to the side of
the Great Dam, with the foaming Hudson beneath us. Larry
and Tina were not injured, and presently their strength partially returned.
We hastily sketched what had happened to each of us.
It was Chwe who was the guiding, evil genius of
(03:32):
all these disasters, chew the exile of time and rootless
murderer in many areas. He was here, very probably in
the powerhouse a few hundred feet away, and Tina, regarding
the powerhouse with her returning clarity of senses, saw that
its sending signal lights were off, which meant that the
air power of the New York District was not being supplied.
(03:55):
Help from other cities could not arrive. Tina stood up waveringly.
We cannot stay here like this, she said. Cheu has
killed the guards and is there in control. The electrical
defenses are shut off. They must be. The robots will
soon be coming along the top of the dam, for
their battery renewers are stored in the powerhouse. If they
(04:16):
get them, this massacre.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Will go on for days and spread all over.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
We've got to stop them. You must get in the
powerhouse and capture Chew. But we have no weapons, Larry cried,
and he must have that white ray if he has
killed the guards. I have a weapon, I said, had
suddenly recalled the cylinder in my pocket. I have a
white ray. The desperate madness was on us. All the
(04:43):
lives of thousands of people who might still be alive,
and Manhattan were at stake, and other millions would be
musacred if these robots renewed their energy and spread the
revolt into other cities. Over the roar and the wind
lashing us, I shouted, I promised Miguel, I would kill Chieu.
I will a turn towards mcgol. But the robot had vanished,
(05:04):
A frayed no doubt that we would want it to
go with us. After qew. The terrified mechanism was hiding.
We wasted no time searching for it. We had all
been half hysterical for these few moments, but we stated
quickly enough as we approached the powerhouse's low entrance. The
building was a rectangular structure some two hundred feet long.
(05:27):
It was fastened upon great brackets to the perpendicular side
of the dam and jutted out some fifty feet. It
was two levels in height, a total of about forty
feet to its flat roof, in the center of which
was set a small oval tower. The whole structure was
above us. Now. The catwalk went close underneath it, passing
(05:49):
through an arch the huge supporting brackets, and terminating in
a small lower platform with an open spiral staircase leading
up with some ten feet into the lower st story.
The place seemed dark and deserted as we crept up
to it. Gazing above me, I could see the top
of the dam now looming above the powerhouse. There was
(06:13):
a break in the spillway at this point. The arching
cascade of water under which the catwalk hung ended. Here
we came out, where there was a vista at Lower
Hudson beneath us. Showing dimly down past the dock lights
and skeleton landing stages to the bay. The sky was
visible now and the open wind struck us full. It
(06:36):
was a crazy pendulum wind. The storm was breaking overhead.
There were flares of lightning and thunder cracks from disturbed nature,
outraged by the temperature changes of the robots of red
and violet rays. The powerhouse, so far as we could see,
was dark and deserted. Its normal lights were extinguished. Was
(06:59):
chewing with my weapon against his. The white ray was
new to Tina. We had no way of estimating this
cylinder's effective range. The cylinder of the white Ray which
I carried was not the one with which two murdered
hul Mine was portable and considerably smaller. I Captaina and
(07:20):
Larry well behind me. It was desperate approach, and I
was well aware of it. The catwalk now was illumined
into beying the lightning. Due from many points advantage in
the power house could have seen us and exterminated us
with a soundless flash, swift as a lightning bolt itself,
but we had to chance it. We reached the small
(07:43):
lower platform the catwalk terminated. The power house was a
roof over us. I stood at the front of the
spiral staircase, which went up through a rectangular opening in
the floor. There was a vista of a dark room segment.
Keep behind me, I murmured, and I started up. Was
(08:04):
chew lurking here, waiting for me to raise myself above
this opening. If he had been he could have held
his position against a score of assailants. But he was not.
I soon stood breathlessly in a dark metal room. Tina
and Larry came up. He's not here, I whispered. It
(08:24):
was more silent in here. A cascading water is further
away from us. Now there came a flash of lightning,
followed in a few seconds by its accompanying thunder crash.
I started, what's that? On the floor near us lay
a gruesome, crumpled thing. I bent over it, waiting for
another flash. When one came, I saw it was a
(08:48):
heap of clothes covering a white skeleton. By the garments,
Tina knew it was one of the guards. He crept
into a small interior corridor where a small light was burning.
The remains of two other guards lay here close by
the doorway, as though they had come running that Chew's alarm,
only to be struck down. It was horribly gruesome here
(09:12):
in the dimness, with these bleached bones which had been
living men so recently, And there was nerve breaking to
know that Chews doubtless here somewhere. Listen, whispered Tina. There
was a crackling sound overhead, and then the blurred murmur
of a voice. An audible broadcasting transmitter was in operation.
(09:34):
It's in the tower, said Tina swiftly. Chew must be there.
This was an infinite relief. We went to the top story,
passing unheeding another crumpled heat. Again we stood listening. The
transmitter was hissing and spluttering, and then shouting its magnified
human voice out into the night. It was Chew up there.
(09:55):
He was calling udibly to his robots with words which
would be relayed upon all local magnifiers in the city.
Between the thunder cracks, we heard him plainly. Now this
is your mastered Chew in the powerhouse robots. We are triumphant.
The city is isolated. No help can get in. Kill
(10:18):
all humans spare none. This night sees the end of
human rule. And again, when you want renewal, come along
the top roadway of the dam. The electric defenses are off.
You can come and I have your renewers. Here. I
have new batteries, new strength for you robots. She had
(10:40):
been in the powerhouse before, he knew the operations of
its various controls. He had come always by the surface route.
He had heard of the existence of the secret tunnel
that had never before this night been order to find
out where it was. You stay here, I told Tina
and Larry. I'll go up there. I'll get him now,
once and for all. I reached the powerhouse roof. The
(11:05):
storm tore at me. It was beginning to rave. I
was near the outer edge of the roof, and ten
feet away stood the oval tower. I saw windows twenty
feet up with dim lights in them. Mingled with the
storm was the hiss of the transmitter at the top
of the tower, and the roar of Chew's magnified voice
had evidently been there only a brief time. From where
(11:26):
I crouched on the roof, I could see overhead along
the top edge of the dam looming above me. The
red robot rays were everywhere in the city, but none
as yet showed along the dam's upper roadway. I got
into the tower and mounted its small stairs, Creaking cautiously
to the entrance of the control room. I saw a
(11:47):
fairly large, dimly lighted oval apartment. Great banks of leaders
stood around it, tables of control apparatus, rows of dials
illumined by tiny lights like sun daring eyes. There was
another gruesome heap of garments. Here on the floor, A
grinning white skull leered at me. This was the main
(12:09):
control room of the powerhouse. Across it, near an open window,
Du sat with his back to me, bent over a table,
with the grid of a microphone before him. I raised
my cylinder, then lowered it, for I had only a
partial view of him. A huge transformer stood like a
barrier between us. Noiselessly, I stepped over the threshold into
(12:32):
one side within the room. The place was a buzz
and a hiss of sound, topped by Jew's broadcast voice
and the roar of the storm outside. Yet he was
instantly aware of me. His voice in the microphone abruptly stopped.
He rose, and, with an incredibly swift motion, whirled and
flung at me a heavy metal weight which had been
(12:53):
lying on the table by his hand. The missile struck
my outstretched weapon just as I was aiming it to fire,
and the cylinder, undischarged, was knock from my hand and
went spinning across the floor several feet away from me.
Tew like an uncoiling spring, still with one continuous motion
made the leaped sideways to where his own weapon was
(13:14):
lying on a bench, and I saw he would reach
it before I could retrieve mine. I flung my heavy
battery box but missed him, and as I rushed at him,
he caught up his cylinder and fired it full at me,
but no flash came, only a click. He had exhausted
its charge when he killed the power house guards with
(13:35):
a curse. He flung it at my face and my
arm took its blood. Just as I struck him. We fell,
gripping each other and rolled on the floor. I was
aware that Larry and Tina had followed me up. Larry shouted,
look out for him, George. I have described Larry's hand
to hand encounter with the cripple Mine was much the same.
(13:57):
I was a child in his grip with his useless
and Larry rushing into the room. Chue must have felt
that for all his strength and fighting skill, he would
have been worsted in this encounter. He blocked a jamb
of my fist, flung me head along the way, and
sprang to his feet just as Larry leaped at him
as to direct to see that he had sent Larry
(14:17):
crashing to the floor. I heard his sardonic laugh as
he hurled a metal storm at Tina, who was trying
to throw something at him. Then turning, he sprang through
the open window casement and disappeared. It was twenty feet
down to the roof. He reached the window to see
Juwe picking himself up unhurt. Then, with his awkward gait
(14:39):
but at amazing speed, he ran across the roof to
a small entrance in the face of the dam, where
an interior staircase gave access to the roadway on top.
Here was escaping us. The electrical gate was opened to him.
There was only a few hundred feet along the damn
roadway to that gate, and beyond it the roadway was
(14:59):
opening into the city, where now we could see the
distant flashing lights of the robots advancing along the dam.
Larry and I had rushed to the roof to followed you,
but Tina checked us. She said no, he has too
great a start. He's on top by now, and it's
only a short distance to the gate. There's a better
way here. I can electrify the gate again, trap him inside.
(15:23):
There was a similar gate and wall barrier at the
Jersey entrance to the dam, and both gates operated them.
The nearby Jersey section was is still an agricultural district
save for a few landing stages for the Great airliners.
The robots had spread into Jersey, but since few humans
were there, with only robot agriculturists working this section, the
(15:46):
unimportant Jersey events have not figured in my narrative. Tina
found the gate controls, but they would not operate. Those
precious lost seconds with Chew running along the top of
the dam and his robots haddancing to join him, Tina hurry,
I cried, Larry, and I bent anxiously over her. But
the leaders meant nothing to us. There were lost seconds
(16:09):
while she desperately fumbled, and Larry pleaded, Tina, dear, what's
the matter. He must have ripped out a wire to
make sure of getting away. I must find it. Everything
seems all right. A minute gone, surely she would have
reached the gates by now, or worse, the robots would
have come through and would have sailed us here. Tina pleaded, Larry,
(16:33):
don't get excited. Take it calmly, you can find the trouble.
I rushed at the window and could see the upper
half of the cross wall gate barrier and jutted above
the top edge of the dam. From the point of
vision on the Manhattan side, I saw the oncoming robot
lights and then suddenly I made down to the light
on this side of the barrier. It munked you. It
(16:56):
must have been a beam signal who was carrying moves
slowly retarded by distance, and it was almost to the gate,
and then he reached there. He's gone through, I called.
Then I saw him on the land side. It escaped
us and joined the robots. The light showed them all
coming to the gate, and then Tina abruptly found the
(17:18):
loosened wire. I have it, she exclaimed. She stood up,
tugging with all her strength at the great switch lever.
I saw up there on the top of the dam
a surge of sparks as the current hissed into the
wall barrier. Saw the barrier glow a moment then subside,
and presently the lights of the walk Robots two with
(17:39):
them retreated back into the wrecked of blood stained city.
We did it, exclaimed Larry. We're impregnable here Tina. Now
the air power for help may be on its way
and then or some other city. Can you do that?
They must have sent us help by now. In a moment,
the airpower went on the city lighting system. Then Tina
(18:02):
was at the great transmitter. She closed the circuits. London
was frantically calling us. In the midst of the chaos
for electrical sounds, which now filled the control room, came
the audible voice of the London operator. I could not
get you because your circuit was broken, it said. AH
air vessel or MIT CRAD bearing a large projector of
(18:24):
the robot Deranger, landed on the ocean surface two hundred
miles from New York Harbor. It was forced down when
your district air power failed. Tina said, hurriedly. Air power
is on. Now, is the micrad coming? Wait? Hold connection?
I will call them, And after a moment's pause, the
(18:44):
London voice came again. The mid grad is aloft again
and should be over New York in thirty minutes. You're
safe enough. Now. As the voice clicked off, Tina's emotions
suddenly overcame her safe enough and our city with human blood.
A while thought abruptly swept me. Mary Atwood was back
(19:07):
there in the cabin alone, waiting for me to return. Subconsciously,
in the rush of these tumultuous events, my mind had
always been on her. She was secure enough, no doubt,
locked in that room. But now she was back in
the city, and realizing that his cause was lost, he
would return to her. I hessly told Larry and Tina.
(19:28):
But he cannot open the door to get in to her,
said Larry. But Miguel could open the door. Where was
migul Now? It set me shuddering. We decided to rush
back to the underground route. The powerhouse could remain unattended
for a time. We got down into the tunnel and
made the trip without incident. We ran to the limit
(19:50):
of Tina's strength, and then for a distance I carried her.
We were all three panting and exhausted when we came
to the corridors under the palace. I think I've never
had so shuddering an experience as that trip. I tried
to convince myself that nothing could happened to Mary, for
all this haste was unnecessary, that the wild thorpe persisted.
(20:12):
Where was Migel. A group of officials stood in one
of the Palace's lower corridors. As they came hastily up
to Tina. I suddenly had a contempt for these men
who governed the city in which neither they nor any
one else did any work in this time of bloodshed.
All these inmates of the palace had stayed safely within
(20:32):
its walls, knowing that it was well fortified, and that
within a few hours help would doubtless come. The meet
Crab is coming with the long range deranger, Tina told
them briefly. After a moment, they hastened the way downstairs,
and I heard one of them shouting, the revolt is
over where, and now we will have all the accursed
(20:53):
robots inert. The micrat could sweep all the city with
a ray. The death of allant Yard in the tunnel
to the robot cabin had been discovered by the palace officials,
and another guard was ven now in his place. Miguel
had not passed him, God told us, for there had
been an interim when the gate was opened, had magul
(21:14):
returned here and gone back to Mary. We reached the
cabin of machinery. It was dim and deserted as before.
We came to the door of Mary's room. It was
standing half open. Mary was gone. The couch was overturned
with its covering and pillows strewn about. The room showed
(21:34):
every evidence of a desperate struggle. On the floor, the
great ten foot length of Migoll laid prone on its back.
A small door port in its metal side was open.
The panel hung awry on hinges, half wrecked away from
the aperture of the coil, and grid dangled half out
in the midst of a tangled scheme of wires. We
(21:54):
bent over the robot. It was not quite inert within
its metal shell. There was that and a faint broken rasping.
The staring eye sockets showed wavering beams of red. A
grid of tiny wires back of the parted lips vibrated
with a jangle, A bent longa magol. Can you hear me?
(22:16):
I asked? Would it respond? My heart sent a further
prayer that this mechanical thing a product of Maain's invented
genius through a thousand years, and have a last grasp
of energy to answer my appeal. Miguel, can you it spoke,
I hear you in the thin, jangled tones, crackling and
(22:39):
hissing with interference. What happened, Miguel, where is the girl?
I asked? You did this to me? He took the girl? Where? Magol?
Where did he take her? Do you know? Yes? I
it recorded that he said they were going to the
(23:00):
time cage. Overheard in the laboratory. He said that he
and the girl were leaving forever. End of chapter twenty one.
Section eighteen of Astounding Stories, nineteen July nineteen thirty one.
This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit librivots dot org. Reading by Mark Thornton, Miranda, New Zealand,
Astounding Stories, nineteen July nineteen thirty one, Section seventeen Exile
(00:28):
of Time by Ray Cummings, Chapter twenty one, The Fight
in the power House. I found the narrow aperture and
stood peering down into the darkness. Miguel crowded behind me.
The red beams of its eyes went down into the pit,
and by their faint illumination, I saw the heads of
(00:49):
Larry and a girl swimming twenty feet below. Girl's dark
hair floated out like black sea within the water. The
princess and the strange man, exclaimed Migul. I called Larry, Larry.
His labored voice came.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Up, George, Thank God, get us out of here. Almost gone, George,
I found my wits. Then keep quiet, don't talk. Save
your strength. I'll get you out.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
How I could see that they were almost spent. For
those swimming with the labored inefficient strokes Larry, using most
of his strength to hold up the exhausted girl. He
had not a moment to spare. I wildly contemplated tearing
my garments to make a rope, but Miguel pushed me away.
(01:43):
I will bring them stand back. The robot had opened
its metal side and drawn forth a flexible wire with
a foot long hook fastened to it. The wire came
smoothly out, as though unrolling from a drum. It leaned
into the aperture and down to Larry. Fast and this
(02:03):
around the princess. Be careful not to harm her. Put
it under her arms. I saw that there was an
eyelet on the wire into which the hook could be
inserted to make a loop under her arms. Miguel called,
she will have to hold to the hook with her
hands or the wire will cut into her. Has she
(02:23):
the strength? Larry floundered as he adjusted the wire. Tina gasped, Ah,
I have the strength. The robot braced itself, spreading its
knees against the aperture, with its body leaning forward. Ready
it called yes, came Larry's voice. Migule's finger pressed a
(02:45):
button at the base of its neck with the smooth
power of machinery, the wire cable rolled into its side.
Tina came up, Negol gripped her and pulled her through
the aperture, laid her gently on the coutwalk, fastened the hook,
and soon Miguel had Larry up with us. The robots
stood aside, with its work done, silently regarding us. I
(03:09):
need not detail this reunion of Larry and me there
on the spray swept catwalk, clinging to the side of
the Great Dam, with the foaming Hudson beneath us. Larry
and Tina were not injured, and presently their strength partially returned.
We hastily sketched what had happened to each of us.
It was Chwe who was the guiding, evil genius of
(03:32):
all these disasters, chew the exile of time and rootless
murderer in many areas. He was here, very probably in
the powerhouse a few hundred feet away, and Tina, regarding
the powerhouse with her returning clarity of senses, saw that
its sending signal lights were off, which meant that the
air power of the New York District was not being supplied.
(03:55):
Help from other cities could not arrive. Tina stood up waveringly.
We cannot stay here like this, she said. Cheu has
killed the guards and is there in control. The electrical
defenses are shut off. They must be. The robots will
soon be coming along the top of the dam, for
their battery renewers are stored in the powerhouse. If they
(04:16):
get them, this massacre.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Will go on for days and spread all over.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
We've got to stop them. You must get in the
powerhouse and capture Chew. But we have no weapons, Larry cried,
and he must have that white ray if he has
killed the guards. I have a weapon, I said, had
suddenly recalled the cylinder in my pocket. I have a
white ray. The desperate madness was on us. All the
(04:43):
lives of thousands of people who might still be alive,
and Manhattan were at stake, and other millions would be
musacred if these robots renewed their energy and spread the
revolt into other cities. Over the roar and the wind
lashing us, I shouted, I promised Miguel, I would kill Chieu.
I will a turn towards mcgol. But the robot had vanished,
(05:04):
A frayed no doubt that we would want it to
go with us. After qew. The terrified mechanism was hiding.
We wasted no time searching for it. We had all
been half hysterical for these few moments, but we stated
quickly enough as we approached the powerhouse's low entrance. The
building was a rectangular structure some two hundred feet long.
(05:27):
It was fastened upon great brackets to the perpendicular side
of the dam and jutted out some fifty feet. It
was two levels in height, a total of about forty
feet to its flat roof, in the center of which
was set a small oval tower. The whole structure was
above us. Now. The catwalk went close underneath it, passing
(05:49):
through an arch the huge supporting brackets, and terminating in
a small lower platform with an open spiral staircase leading
up with some ten feet into the lower st story.
The place seemed dark and deserted as we crept up
to it. Gazing above me, I could see the top
of the dam now looming above the powerhouse. There was
(06:13):
a break in the spillway at this point. The arching
cascade of water under which the catwalk hung ended. Here
we came out, where there was a vista at Lower
Hudson beneath us. Showing dimly down past the dock lights
and skeleton landing stages to the bay. The sky was
visible now and the open wind struck us full. It
(06:36):
was a crazy pendulum wind. The storm was breaking overhead.
There were flares of lightning and thunder cracks from disturbed nature,
outraged by the temperature changes of the robots of red
and violet rays. The powerhouse, so far as we could see,
was dark and deserted. Its normal lights were extinguished. Was
(06:59):
chewing with my weapon against his. The white ray was
new to Tina. We had no way of estimating this
cylinder's effective range. The cylinder of the white Ray which
I carried was not the one with which two murdered
hul Mine was portable and considerably smaller. I Captaina and
(07:20):
Larry well behind me. It was desperate approach, and I
was well aware of it. The catwalk now was illumined
into beying the lightning. Due from many points advantage in
the power house could have seen us and exterminated us
with a soundless flash, swift as a lightning bolt itself,
but we had to chance it. We reached the small
(07:43):
lower platform the catwalk terminated. The power house was a
roof over us. I stood at the front of the
spiral staircase, which went up through a rectangular opening in
the floor. There was a vista of a dark room segment.
Keep behind me, I murmured, and I started up. Was
(08:04):
chew lurking here, waiting for me to raise myself above
this opening. If he had been he could have held
his position against a score of assailants. But he was not.
I soon stood breathlessly in a dark metal room. Tina
and Larry came up. He's not here, I whispered. It
(08:24):
was more silent in here. A cascading water is further
away from us. Now there came a flash of lightning,
followed in a few seconds by its accompanying thunder crash.
I started, what's that? On the floor near us lay
a gruesome, crumpled thing. I bent over it, waiting for
another flash. When one came, I saw it was a
(08:48):
heap of clothes covering a white skeleton. By the garments,
Tina knew it was one of the guards. He crept
into a small interior corridor where a small light was burning.
The remains of two other guards lay here close by
the doorway, as though they had come running that Chew's alarm,
only to be struck down. It was horribly gruesome here
(09:12):
in the dimness, with these bleached bones which had been
living men so recently, And there was nerve breaking to
know that Chews doubtless here somewhere. Listen, whispered Tina. There
was a crackling sound overhead, and then the blurred murmur
of a voice. An audible broadcasting transmitter was in operation.
(09:34):
It's in the tower, said Tina swiftly. Chew must be there.
This was an infinite relief. We went to the top story,
passing unheeding another crumpled heat. Again we stood listening. The
transmitter was hissing and spluttering, and then shouting its magnified
human voice out into the night. It was Chew up there.
(09:55):
He was calling udibly to his robots with words which
would be relayed upon all local magnifiers in the city.
Between the thunder cracks, we heard him plainly. Now this
is your mastered Chew in the powerhouse robots. We are triumphant.
The city is isolated. No help can get in. Kill
(10:18):
all humans spare none. This night sees the end of
human rule. And again, when you want renewal, come along
the top roadway of the dam. The electric defenses are off.
You can come and I have your renewers. Here. I
have new batteries, new strength for you robots. She had
(10:40):
been in the powerhouse before, he knew the operations of
its various controls. He had come always by the surface route.
He had heard of the existence of the secret tunnel
that had never before this night been order to find
out where it was. You stay here, I told Tina
and Larry. I'll go up there. I'll get him now,
once and for all. I reached the powerhouse roof. The
(11:05):
storm tore at me. It was beginning to rave. I
was near the outer edge of the roof, and ten
feet away stood the oval tower. I saw windows twenty
feet up with dim lights in them. Mingled with the
storm was the hiss of the transmitter at the top
of the tower, and the roar of Chew's magnified voice
had evidently been there only a brief time. From where
(11:26):
I crouched on the roof, I could see overhead along
the top edge of the dam looming above me. The
red robot rays were everywhere in the city, but none
as yet showed along the dam's upper roadway. I got
into the tower and mounted its small stairs, Creaking cautiously
to the entrance of the control room. I saw a
(11:47):
fairly large, dimly lighted oval apartment. Great banks of leaders
stood around it, tables of control apparatus, rows of dials
illumined by tiny lights like sun daring eyes. There was
another gruesome heap of garments. Here on the floor, A
grinning white skull leered at me. This was the main
(12:09):
control room of the powerhouse. Across it, near an open window,
Du sat with his back to me, bent over a table,
with the grid of a microphone before him. I raised
my cylinder, then lowered it, for I had only a
partial view of him. A huge transformer stood like a
barrier between us. Noiselessly, I stepped over the threshold into
(12:32):
one side within the room. The place was a buzz
and a hiss of sound, topped by Jew's broadcast voice
and the roar of the storm outside. Yet he was
instantly aware of me. His voice in the microphone abruptly stopped.
He rose, and, with an incredibly swift motion, whirled and
flung at me a heavy metal weight which had been
(12:53):
lying on the table by his hand. The missile struck
my outstretched weapon just as I was aiming it to fire,
and the cylinder, undischarged, was knock from my hand and
went spinning across the floor several feet away from me.
Tew like an uncoiling spring, still with one continuous motion
made the leaped sideways to where his own weapon was
(13:14):
lying on a bench, and I saw he would reach
it before I could retrieve mine. I flung my heavy
battery box but missed him, and as I rushed at him,
he caught up his cylinder and fired it full at me,
but no flash came, only a click. He had exhausted
its charge when he killed the power house guards with
(13:35):
a curse. He flung it at my face and my
arm took its blood. Just as I struck him. We fell,
gripping each other and rolled on the floor. I was
aware that Larry and Tina had followed me up. Larry shouted,
look out for him, George. I have described Larry's hand
to hand encounter with the cripple Mine was much the same.
(13:57):
I was a child in his grip with his useless
and Larry rushing into the room. Chue must have felt
that for all his strength and fighting skill, he would
have been worsted in this encounter. He blocked a jamb
of my fist, flung me head along the way, and
sprang to his feet just as Larry leaped at him
as to direct to see that he had sent Larry
(14:17):
crashing to the floor. I heard his sardonic laugh as
he hurled a metal storm at Tina, who was trying
to throw something at him. Then turning, he sprang through
the open window casement and disappeared. It was twenty feet
down to the roof. He reached the window to see
Juwe picking himself up unhurt. Then, with his awkward gait
(14:39):
but at amazing speed, he ran across the roof to
a small entrance in the face of the dam, where
an interior staircase gave access to the roadway on top.
Here was escaping us. The electrical gate was opened to him.
There was only a few hundred feet along the damn
roadway to that gate, and beyond it the roadway was
(14:59):
opening into the city, where now we could see the
distant flashing lights of the robots advancing along the dam.
Larry and I had rushed to the roof to followed you,
but Tina checked us. She said no, he has too
great a start. He's on top by now, and it's
only a short distance to the gate. There's a better
way here. I can electrify the gate again, trap him inside.
(15:23):
There was a similar gate and wall barrier at the
Jersey entrance to the dam, and both gates operated them.
The nearby Jersey section was is still an agricultural district
save for a few landing stages for the Great airliners.
The robots had spread into Jersey, but since few humans
were there, with only robot agriculturists working this section, the
(15:46):
unimportant Jersey events have not figured in my narrative. Tina
found the gate controls, but they would not operate. Those
precious lost seconds with Chew running along the top of
the dam and his robots haddancing to join him, Tina hurry,
I cried, Larry, and I bent anxiously over her. But
the leaders meant nothing to us. There were lost seconds
(16:09):
while she desperately fumbled, and Larry pleaded, Tina, dear, what's
the matter. He must have ripped out a wire to
make sure of getting away. I must find it. Everything
seems all right. A minute gone, surely she would have
reached the gates by now, or worse, the robots would
have come through and would have sailed us here. Tina pleaded, Larry,
(16:33):
don't get excited. Take it calmly, you can find the trouble.
I rushed at the window and could see the upper
half of the cross wall gate barrier and jutted above
the top edge of the dam. From the point of
vision on the Manhattan side, I saw the oncoming robot
lights and then suddenly I made down to the light
on this side of the barrier. It munked you. It
(16:56):
must have been a beam signal who was carrying moves
slowly retarded by distance, and it was almost to the gate,
and then he reached there. He's gone through, I called.
Then I saw him on the land side. It escaped
us and joined the robots. The light showed them all
coming to the gate, and then Tina abruptly found the
(17:18):
loosened wire. I have it, she exclaimed. She stood up,
tugging with all her strength at the great switch lever.
I saw up there on the top of the dam
a surge of sparks as the current hissed into the
wall barrier. Saw the barrier glow a moment then subside,
and presently the lights of the walk Robots two with
(17:39):
them retreated back into the wrecked of blood stained city.
We did it, exclaimed Larry. We're impregnable here Tina. Now
the air power for help may be on its way
and then or some other city. Can you do that?
They must have sent us help by now. In a moment,
the airpower went on the city lighting system. Then Tina
(18:02):
was at the great transmitter. She closed the circuits. London
was frantically calling us. In the midst of the chaos
for electrical sounds, which now filled the control room, came
the audible voice of the London operator. I could not
get you because your circuit was broken, it said. AH
air vessel or MIT CRAD bearing a large projector of
(18:24):
the robot Deranger, landed on the ocean surface two hundred
miles from New York Harbor. It was forced down when
your district air power failed. Tina said, hurriedly. Air power
is on. Now, is the micrad coming? Wait? Hold connection?
I will call them, And after a moment's pause, the
(18:44):
London voice came again. The mid grad is aloft again
and should be over New York in thirty minutes. You're
safe enough. Now. As the voice clicked off, Tina's emotions
suddenly overcame her safe enough and our city with human blood.
A while thought abruptly swept me. Mary Atwood was back
(19:07):
there in the cabin alone, waiting for me to return. Subconsciously,
in the rush of these tumultuous events, my mind had
always been on her. She was secure enough, no doubt,
locked in that room. But now she was back in
the city, and realizing that his cause was lost, he
would return to her. I hessly told Larry and Tina.
(19:28):
But he cannot open the door to get in to her,
said Larry. But Miguel could open the door. Where was
migul Now? It set me shuddering. We decided to rush
back to the underground route. The powerhouse could remain unattended
for a time. We got down into the tunnel and
made the trip without incident. We ran to the limit
(19:50):
of Tina's strength, and then for a distance I carried her.
We were all three panting and exhausted when we came
to the corridors under the palace. I think I've never
had so shuddering an experience as that trip. I tried
to convince myself that nothing could happened to Mary, for
all this haste was unnecessary, that the wild thorpe persisted.
(20:12):
Where was Migel. A group of officials stood in one
of the Palace's lower corridors. As they came hastily up
to Tina. I suddenly had a contempt for these men
who governed the city in which neither they nor any
one else did any work in this time of bloodshed.
All these inmates of the palace had stayed safely within
(20:32):
its walls, knowing that it was well fortified, and that
within a few hours help would doubtless come. The meet
Crab is coming with the long range deranger, Tina told
them briefly. After a moment, they hastened the way downstairs,
and I heard one of them shouting, the revolt is
over where, and now we will have all the accursed
(20:53):
robots inert. The micrat could sweep all the city with
a ray. The death of allant Yard in the tunnel
to the robot cabin had been discovered by the palace officials,
and another guard was ven now in his place. Miguel
had not passed him, God told us, for there had
been an interim when the gate was opened, had magul
(21:14):
returned here and gone back to Mary. We reached the
cabin of machinery. It was dim and deserted as before.
We came to the door of Mary's room. It was
standing half open. Mary was gone. The couch was overturned
with its covering and pillows strewn about. The room showed
(21:34):
every evidence of a desperate struggle. On the floor, the
great ten foot length of Migoll laid prone on its back.
A small door port in its metal side was open.
The panel hung awry on hinges, half wrecked away from
the aperture of the coil, and grid dangled half out
in the midst of a tangled scheme of wires. We
(21:54):
bent over the robot. It was not quite inert within
its metal shell. There was that and a faint broken rasping.
The staring eye sockets showed wavering beams of red. A
grid of tiny wires back of the parted lips vibrated
with a jangle, A bent longa magol. Can you hear me?
(22:16):
I asked? Would it respond? My heart sent a further
prayer that this mechanical thing a product of Maain's invented
genius through a thousand years, and have a last grasp
of energy to answer my appeal. Miguel, can you it spoke,
I hear you in the thin, jangled tones, crackling and
(22:39):
hissing with interference. What happened, Miguel, where is the girl?
I asked? You did this to me? He took the girl? Where? Magol?
Where did he take her? Do you know? Yes? I
it recorded that he said they were going to the
(23:00):
time cage. Overheard in the laboratory. He said that he
and the girl were leaving forever. End of chapter twenty one.
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