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Updated: May 13, 2025
Kreynborg guffawed as the Com-Pub fleet made its mocking circuit of the invisible dome. And Thorn raised his head. "Kreynborg!" he said grimly. "Look!" There was something in his tone which made Kreynborg turn. And Thorn held a little forked stick in his hand. "Turn off the induction-screen, or I kill you!" Kreynborg looked at him and chuckled. "It is bluff, my friend," he said dryly.
"A billion dollars and immunity to cut off the outer dome of force." Kreynborg grinned at him. "It is too late. Besides being a traitor, I would be assassinated instantly. Also, I shall be Commissar for North America anyhow." "Two billion," said Thorn without expression. "No," said Kreynborg amusedly. "Throw away der club. I shall amuse myself with you, Thorn Hardt.
All the dome of mountains and sky was visible in it. There were dancing motes in sight, which were aircraft. "I haff remofed all metal-work from that side of der room," added Kreynborg comfortably, "so I can dare to turn my back. You cannot short der induction-screen again. That was clefer. But you face a scientist, Thorn Hardt. You haff lost."
There was a scorched place on the floor where Thorn had shorted that screen and the bar of metal had grown red-hot. Kreynborg threw the switch and motioned Thorn to her. "I do not bother to search you for weapons," he said dryly. "I did it so short a time ago. And you had only a club...." Thorn walked stiffly beside Sylva. She put out a shaking hand and touched him.
His hands shook. Kreynborg chuckled again. "Oh, she is unharmed so far. I haff not much time now. Presently der two of you will while away der time. But not now." He switched on the G.C. receiver and the room filled with a multitude of messages.
And there were four air-dreadnaughts in plain sight and five thousand men watching, and Kreynborg hunted, for sport, a comrade of the five thousand men and a woman every one of them would have risked or sacrificed his life to protect. He seemed certain that they were below him. Presently he dropped another gas-bomb, and another.
Ear-cracking detonations reverberated among the mountains. There was battle there, and death and carnage and utter destruction. The roar of combat filled the universe. Thorn closed the door and looked down at Kreynborg, who breathed stentorously, his mouth foolishly open. "Our men will be back for us," he said shortly. "We needn't worry." Then he said, "Huh!
The strongest fighting-force in the world, helpless against a field of electric energy! "It is amusing," chuckled Kreynborg, looking at the screen complacently. "Der dome of force is a new infention. It is a heterodyning of one frequency upon another at a predetermined distance. It has all der properties of matter except mass and a limit of strength. There is no limit to its strength!
He raced toward her, expecting every second to hear the spitting of Kreynborg's pocket-gun. With the continuous-fire stud down, the little gun would shoot itself empty in forty-five seconds, during which time Kreynborg could play it upon him like a hose that spouted death. But Thorn had done the hundred yards in eleven seconds, years before. He bettered his record now.
There was no sign from Kreynborg or the rocket-ship. Thorn panted. "He can't reach us with gas, now, and it looks like he doesn't dare use a gun. They'd know he wasn't a Martian. At night he'll use that helicopter, though. If we can only make those ships see us...." They toiled on. The sun was already slanting down toward the western sky.
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