Involuntarily Ardath's solemn face relaxed in a gentle smile. He could not help liking this blandly frank Oriental, who played soft music with one hand while he administered poison with the other.
"Very well," he agreed. "Let us go. What of the guards— can we pass through their lines?"
"Unless Dro-Ghir's body is discovered. In that case, not even I will be above suspicion, so we must hurry."
The two slipped quietly from the tent and under a swollen red moon they walked through the encampment. Only when the fires had grown dim behind them did they breathe freely once more.
Li Yang pointed up to the smoke from the camp that drifted across Earth's satellite.
"Barbarian flames darken the Moon-lantern," he said softly. In future ages, the smoke may have drifted away. Not for many centuries, though, I think!"
Ardath did not answer, for he was concentrating on the brain of the man who walked beside him. Presently he sighed with an emotion that was close to despair.
His quest was not over. Li Yang was wise, far ahead of his time in intelligence, but he was not the super-being Ardath sought. The search must still go on through the eons. But Li Yang would be a good companion to have, despite his shortcomings.
After awhile, they came in sight of the ship.
The Oriental's lips quivered, though his face remained immobile.
"The chariot actually flies?" he asked in awe. "It is truly wonderful, like the fabled dragon of Sti-Shan."
On the threshold of the golden ship, Ardath paused a moment. His gaze went to the blue curtain that flickered across the laboratory door. Then he looked sharply at Thordred and Jansaiya, who were rising from their couches.
Jansaiya's elfin features betrayed nothing, though there was a hint of fear in the sea-green eyes. Thordred's beard bristled with apparent indignation.
"It is time you returned!" he growled. "Look!" He pointed toward the laboratory. Silently Ardath entered, Li Yang at his heels. Ignoring their apparent interest in the Oriental, he lifted his brows in a question.
"Enemies," Thordred grunted, his yellow eyes angry. "They came from the forest. I—" He looked away involuntarily. "I opened the 'door, which was wrong, I admit. But I was curious—"
"Go on," Ardath ordered unemotionally.
"Well, the barbarians saw us. They came toward the ship, yelling and hurling spears. I shut the port and barred it, but they hammered so hard on the metal I feared they'd break through."
"No spear can pierce the hull," Ardath replied quietly.
"Jansaiya was frightened, and I was weaponless. I thought I could find a weapon in your laboratory. But when I tried to enter—" He made a quick, angry gesture toward the threshold. "You do not trust us, I see."
"You are wrong." Ardath smiled suddenly. "I take precautions against possible enemies, but you are not my enemy, Thordred. The barbarians fled?"
"They gave up at last," Thordred blurted hurriedly. "But if they had broken in, we would have been slaughtered like trapped beasts."
Ardath shrugged indifferently.
"It should be forgotten. We have a new companion. And soon we must sleep again for centuries."
Thordred said nothing. His eyes were veiled, but slow rage mounted within him. Again he had failed. Not completely, though—He had not betrayed himself, and as yet Ardath suspected nothing.
They must sleep again, yet they would awaken.
Thordred's fist clenched. The next time, he would not fail!
CHAPTER X
The Living Death
Stephen Court was in his Wisconsin laboratory-home. With Marion and Sammy, he had returned from Canada and plunged immediately into a desperate succession of experiments. Slowly, painfully, he made progress.
"We have two goals," he told Marion, his dark eyes gleaming behind lids that were red with lack of sleep. "First—"
"First you've got to eat something," the girl interrupted.
She brought a tray to Court's desk and set it down. Silently he nodded his thanks. Wolfing a sandwich without tasting it, he kept on talking.
"Remember what I told you about seeing a golden space ship on an orbit around the Earth? I've been checking that. I have a hunch there's some clue connected with that ship."
"How do you figure that out?"
Marion perched on a corner of the desk, her trim legs swinging under the lab smock she wore.
"The ship was obviously created by some civilization far in advance of ours. That means their science was also in advance of today's. Perhaps in that vessel I can find some weapon—some method unknown to modern science—that will help me fight the plague. The very least it can do is set me on the right track."
Marion patted her dark hair into place, though she boasted that she had lost all the silly feminine habits.
How can you reach the ship? Space travel is impossible."
Court smiled. "It was impossible. Rockets are useless as yet, because the fuel problem's insurmountable. Balloons weren't practical. But there is a way of overcoming gravitation.
"Good Lord!" The girl slid down from the desk and stood staring. "You don't mean—"
"Hold on. I haven't done anything yet, except make some spectroscopic analyses. Marion, that space ship isn't made of gold! It's a yellow metal, an unknown alloy. I haven't finished analyzing it, but I know there's magnesium there, tungsten, and other elements. The virtue of that alloy is that, properly magnetized, it becomes resistant to gravitation."
"How?" she asked, amazed.
Court tapped idly on the tray as he replied.
"I'm just theorizing, though I feel pretty certain. Earth is a gigantic magnet. You know that. Well, like poles repel, opposite poles attract. If we could set up a magnetic force absolutely identical to Earth's, we could utilize that principle. So far it hasn't been done, except by the unknowns who built that golden ship. If I can duplicate the alloy—which I think I can do—and shoot the right sort of energy into it, we'll have a space ship."
"Whew!" Marion breathed, and she blinked. "Then you'll go out after—"
"The golden vessel? Yes. It may be a wild goose chase, for all I know, but the chance is worth taking. I may find scientific knowledge that will be just what I need."
The girl turned away with such haste that Court looked at her sharply.
"What is it?" he demanded.
She shook her head speechlessly. Court got up swiftly and swung her around to face him. There were tears in her lovely brown eyes.
"Tell me what it is!" he commanded. "What's wrong?"
She bit her lip. "You'll think I'm foolish."
"I said, tell me what it is!"
"I'm just superstitious," Marion burst out. "It isn't scientific at all. But for a minute I had the queerest feeling that— that—"
"Well?" he said impatiently, frowning and gripping her shoulders.
"That there's danger in that ship," she whispered. "Danger to you, Stephen. As though that golden ship had been waiting for ages, perhaps—just for the moment when you'd enter it."
He grinned ironically and sat down again. Gulping milk, he watched Marion laughingly over the rim of the glass.
"A sort of ancient rendezvous," he teased. "You're under a nervous tension, Marion. We all are," he admitted, sobering. "And there's reason enough, I'm afraid."
They fell painfully silent. Both were thinking of the man who lay alone in a lead-plated room upstairs. Sammy was already being ravaged by the frightful plague from outer space. Court got up, squaring his shoulders with decision.
"He didn't back down, you know, and I certainly won't run from a shadow. Get my suit, Marion. It's time to check up on Sammy again."