'Of course!' snapped the mayor of New York. 'Most of the cash in New York has been shipped out. Most of the particularly valuable jewels, too. Even nine-tenths of the art treasures have gone!'
'Then there's nothing to be done -'
There was an indescribable noise outside - a strangled squawk, as if somebody saw something utterly terrifying, A lesser politician turned a ghastly white. Then something came through the door. The door was closed, but the Thing came through it. And suddenly whitish light flared, and a round ring appeared in mid-air.
The gathering of eminent figures in finance and politics became a howling, panic-stricken mob. A rush of fear-crazed men bowled Jack over. He struck out savagely and was on his feet again as something flashed from the floor. Jack fought ruthlessly, lifting Gail above a crazy tangle of struggling bodies. He thrust her feet first through a window to the terrace outside.
'Go on!' he snapped. 'Get in a car and speed!'
'Come with me! Quick!' she cried.
But he looked about him anxiously. He saw Gail's father plunge through the phantom body of the Mole; in its misty interior open the door of the .conference room, and rush through to safety. Then swirling gas from the exploded bomb obliterated all sight.
Howls of pure panic arose about him. And Jack forced his way blindly through the window that had meant safety for Gail and tried to fumble his own way to some car with an unblinded driver. A horde of sightless, squealing men babbled and pushed. Crowded together, they had been bad enough. Opened out, now, they ran with flailing arms, hysterical with pure panic.
A fat man bumped against Jack, flinging him to one side. Somebody else struck crazily at him, and someone careened heavily into him, and he gave ground. Then, abruptly, there was something hard and unyielding against his knees, and he toppled over.
He fell perhaps eight feet, down from the terrace outside the windows of the governor's mansion. Branches lashed at him, and then he hit something incredibly hard and solid. He felt a terrific blow on his head.
A long time later, it seemed, Jack heard the purring of machinery. He heard Gail's voice, urgent and resolute. Somebody picked him up. The noise of machinery grew louder. It roared close beside him. He felt a swimming motion.
Then, as he stirred vaguely, something hit him again, and he passed into blank unconsciousness.
When Jack opened his eyes again the noise of machinery still went on. There was again the sensation of swimming, of a gentle rocking from side to side. His head ached intolerably. Then his eyes cleared.
He was inside the Mole. His hands and feet were tied fast. Durran grinned at him. A rat-faced man with a convict's shaven poll was at the controls. Two others were in sight about the engine. But worst of all was the sight of Gail, very white, sitting in a crowded corner of the Mole and staring at vacancy.
VIII
Through the windows of the Mole the outside world could be seen. One glance, and Jack knew. A strange, harsh, reddish light outlined tall and unsubstantial columns reaching up to a roof of shadows. The columns rose from a cloudy, soft-seeming vapour underfoot. Over all and through all the reddish light showed.
The Mole swam on, and the columns swept slowly past, immobile despite their near transparency. There was no sound from without. The thudding rumble of the gasoline engine; the whine of the dynamo and the separate driving motors -that was all. There was not even a noise as of a water wash against the hull of the earth-ship. It swam on through an eerie, a phantom world - and it was almost impossible to believe.
Shadows even passed through the interior, through all its moving parts, through the human beings within it. They paid no heed. Those shadows were tree trunks, impalpable to the dematerialized state of the Mole as it was impalpable to the normal world.
Durran grinned and said: 'You're a very lucky young man.'
Jack opened his lips and closed them.
*I said,' repeated Durran amusedly, 'you're a very lucky young man. You're alive.'
'I hardly imagine,' returned Jack evenly, 'that I'll be alive very long.'
'It wasn't my intention to allow it,' conceded Durran. A mocking light danced in his eyes. 'Miss Kennedy persuaded me otherwise. You are very fortunate to have so charming a girl so - shall I say, loyal to you?' He chuckled.
Jack was working on his bonds. Hopeless! They had been tied by someone who knew how.
'You want to know,' he said slowly, 'where the other earth-ships are being built to destroy you. That's why you brought me in the Mole instead of simply shooting me.'
'You guess,' said Durran, 'with remarkable accuracy.'
'Set her free,' said Jack grimly, 'and I'll tell you where they are. Otherwise you can go to hell! There's no power on earth that could make me tell while she's a prisoner.'
'I disagree,' said Durran. Again his eyes mocked. 'I think we could make you tell us anything. There are - er - methods. But I shan't try. I promised Miss Kennedy.'
Jack's eyes turned to (Jail. She stood up and came over to him, bracing herself against the swaying movements of the Mole. She was silent for a moment. Then:
'1 told him, Jack,' she said quietly. 'I - I wasn't blinded by the gas. You told me to run, but I - I waited to be sure you were safe. You - didn't come outside. I didn't see you, anyway. So I started to go back to find you. And the Mole swam out and materialized on the lawn. I hid. Then I saw two men get out and pick you up. I recognized you. And I ran -'
'She tried to fight us,' put in Durran blandly. 'And I recognized her, in turn. I had her showed inside the Mole, and of course we brought you in. We were very busy just about then, because there were police running to shoot at us. You were unconscious. I dematerialized the Mole and started to navigate away. And Miss Kennedy had picked up a hand grenade and swore she'd pull the pin and blow the lot of us to smithereens unless we released you at once.'
Again Jack's eyes turned upon Grail. 'Good girl!' he said grimly. 'I'm almost sorry that you didn't go through with it.'
'It was a stalemate,' said Durran as blandly as before. 'Because, as I pointed out, she'd do you no good by blowing us all up. Finally we compromised. I promised to release you, unharmed, but not her, if she'd put down the grenade, and if she told me where the other earth-ships are being built.'
'Jack, I - I had to! Don't you see? He promised to - only hold me for ransom.'
Durran nodded. 'That's all,' he said comfortably. 'You, Hill, will be allowed to leave the ship in ten minutes more. In fact, I'll insist on it.'
Jack searched his face. The mockery, the unholy amusement in his eyes, denied the promise of safety. There was no doubting that.
'Do you mean,' he asked harshly, 'you're going to re-materialize the ship and put me out on solid ground, or do you mean you're going to toss me out of the door into that?'
He nodded to the vapourous, unreal cloudiness which was the earth to those within the Mole.
'No!' said Gail quickly. 'He was laughing when he promised to let you out. I made him swear he didn't mean to put you out of the ship so you'd - drop down to the centre of the earth. He said you'd stay on top, all right.'
Durran laughed again.
'Well?' snapped Jack. 'What's the catch? And I tell you, Durran, no ransom you can get for her is as big as the one I can give you, of information you need! You turn her loose instead of me-'
'I'll let you decide,' said Durran blandly. 'You see, Hill, you gave advice on how to keep me from looting bank vaults by putting bars of iron about so I couldn't materialize any part of the Mole in a vault without including a bar and so blowing up the ship. The fools haven't taken your advice, but I thought they would.