instant. Hold tight, folks, here we go.'
Space warped and was penetrated, and they appeared suddenly notched into position in a great globe of ships in space. As far as they could see in every direction, spaceships of every size and shape floated in this hollow globe formation and released a storm of weaponry at the object floating at the mathematical center of this sphere in space. It was hard to see just what was down there because of the fury of attack, the scintillating rays, the destructive vibrating beams, the explosive filled torpedoes and highpowered shells that were continuously rained down upon the target. They put on dark glasses and finally made out a golden sphere at the heart of all the activity. It could not have been more than a mile in diameter, yet it withstood the ravening might of the greatest engines of destruction ever assembled in the lenticular galaxy. And it fought back. Occasionally a thin red beam of light would lash up from the golden surface, and anything it touched instantly exploded with terrible effect. Entire ships went up this way, and one five-mile-long battleship bought it while they watched, blowing up so efficiently that it took four other ships with it in the explosion. Yet instantly, ships waiting in the second sphere filled the gaps, and the battle went on.
'Whoever is down there sure has plenty on the ball,' John breathed, speaking for them all.
'Just two minutes left,' Jerry said, eying the chronometer.
'I'll bet you have the same idea I have.' Chuck laughed
'And me too,' agreed John.
'Right on! We set our coordinates exactly and appear inside that sphere with our trusty old bird here. All their weapons are pointed away from the golden sphere. If we get inside, the place will be ours, and we'll have Krakar!'
'No!' Sally begged. 'It is sure suicide. How can we weak Earthlings accomplish what the combined might of this alien space armada cannot?'
'That's just the point,' Jerry answered, and the others nodded agreement. 'It just goes to show you that we are a lot better than them with their big battleships and extra arms and teeth and things. Give me a good old Earthman any day! Right, gang'!'
Sally was brushed aside, and to enthusiastic cheers, the suicidally inclined men set the cheddite projector, calibrating it exactly at the center of the sphere, then pressed the actuating button just as their time was up.
17
LO! SUCH WONDERS STAND REVEALED
There was a quick flick, and the scene changed – but really changed. An unmeasurable instant before they had been in interstellar space, part of the immense fleet that was attacking the golden globe. Now they were inside the globe, they had to be. So the plan had worked!
The Pleasantville Eagle had appeared inside the space construction maybe a couple of feet above the floor. Now it fell and bounced in its undercarriage and its passengers bounced off each other, the lucky ones bouncing off Sally, who was by far the most pneumatic. There was a crash of broken glass from the galley; then everything was still.
'Just look out there, will you!' Chuck enthused, pointing. 'I have a feeling that we were not expected.'
It appeared that they were not. They were in the middle of an immense chamber whose curved walls were covered with hulking machines of mcomprehensible design, all made of gold. There were many viewscreens and controls among the machinery, and small creatures were at these controls; they were too far away to make out details, but they certainly had a nasty look. While they were taking in the details and strapping on loaded guns, Sally began to tremble and moan and salivate a bit. Chuck looked at her, then slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand.
'Too late,' he said. 'Remember, guys, how we all put on mind shields before we came here so our minds would be shielded. Well, you remember Sally had to comb her hair. . . . Yeah, I guess her mind shield is still in her purse.'
Instantly all the guns pointed at her as she shivered, then began to speak in a deep and resonant voice.
'You aliens may leave, and we will not harm you, for you are trespassing on our domain.'
'Try again,' Jerry sneered for all of them.
'This is simple research satellite, nothing more.'
'You're lying, aren't you?' John said.
'Yes, I am lying,' Sally said hoarsely, and her shoulders slumped. 'We Chachkas can tell only the truth, and I will never live down the shame of telling that lie. In fact . . . it is too much. . . I cannot bear it, living with the shame. Good-bye, fellow Chachkas, good-bye, ugly soft aliens. It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done . . . arrrgh!'
Sally swayed and almost fell, but before they could reach her, she pulled herself erect again and spoke in an even deeper voice.
'Chachka Two has committed suicide, so I, Chachka Three take command. You must leave-'
'Listen,' Chuck broke in. 'We don't like to deal with the hired help. Put Chachka One on the line.'
'Would that I could, he was a friend to us all. But he was crossing the floor when your monster machine appeared and dropped on him. One leg can be seen projecting from under your right front wheel.'
'Accidents happen,' John consoled him. 'In any case we are here, and this is the moment of truth. So speak. You are the guardians of Krakar, aren't you?'
'We are,' Sally intoned. 'Carrying on our eons-old destiny. You see before you the last descendants of the Chachka, the oldest race in the lenticular galaxy. We were old when your planet was young. While the great saurians wallowed in the swamps of Earth, our empire was at its zenith, stretching from star to star, spanning the universe. We were mighty, and yet we fell, for the lesser races were jealous of our power and warred against us, and the wars grew more and more ferocious. But with age comes wisdom, and when, almost at the end, the ultimate weapon was invented, reason prevailed and it was never used. We retreated instead, from planet to planet, signing humbling peace agreements, until we had retreated to the solar system whence we had sprung. Then a racial rot set in, for we who had been so strong were now so humble, and youngsters were not born and the fields fell into disuse and we were doomed. Our race, you might say, died of a broken heart.'
'Then what are you doing here now?' Jerry asked.
'If you'll shut up, I'll tell you. I was just getting to the best part. You see, having discovered the ultimate weapon and then not using it gave the best minds in our race a real mental lift. Most races think they are better than all the others; it just so happened that we knew it. So this golden sphere was constructed, holding within it the best of all the science we had ever known. Into it also went the best minds of the race to carry on the great work we had begun. It was agreed that just because we had no real need to use the ultimate weapon did not mean that at some future date there might not arise a situation where it might have to be used. Therefore, we watch and wait, but to date we have seen no occasion to even consider cracking it out of cold storage.'
'And the name of the ultimate weapon is Krakar?' John asked.
'It is. Very bright of you; All the races that have heard of it have come here with lust and murder burning within them and have attempted to take it by force.'
'Not us,' John said, letting his gunbelt drop to the floor so he could kick it under a chair. 'We have nothing but peace within our hearts, we Galaxy Rangers, and have devoted our all to the destruction of the Lortonoi, who are dedicated to taking over the galaxy for their own slimy ends. We can sure use your old Krakar, so why not hand it over?'
'Never!' Sally swayed. 'We see the guns and cannons and the rest of the crap sticking out of your winged machine, not so peaceful that. No, we have to be convinced before we turn Krakar over to anyone. And we are geared to defend ourselves. You see how little effect those ships out there have upon our indestructible sphere. We are surrounded by a wall of energy that cannot be penetrated.'
'Well, we got in,' Chuck said, proudly. 'So your defenses aren't all that darned good.'
'We are aware of that. Your cheddite projector is a simple variation of our R-Shi, ray, which we discarded eons ago as a childish toy, then forgot about it.'
'Too bad,' Jerry said, looking at his fingernails, then polishing them on his sleeve. 'You should have kept it
