survivor.'
'We appreciate your concern,' said Tandi Raigarh, 'but I suggest you offer fewer apologies and give us specific information. We will then decide what to believe.'
Gale began to understand just how Henshaw was playing this group. Rather than trying to sell them on the veracity of the reports, he had, with Indy's perfectly timed interruption, brought the group virtually to demand his information. He took a deep breath and went on.
'Our report states that a strange flying machine appeared over the Kali,' he said, making certain he appeared confused by his information.
'What do you mean by strange?' demanded the representative of Egypt. Rashid Quahirah had little patience for longwinded stories. Again it played perfectly into Henshaw's agenda.
'The machine over the Kali was shaped like a great scimitar. Like a blade rather than a rounded boomerang. It shone brightly in the sun, its metal highly reflective. There were no engines, no propellers, but it made what the survivor called the shriek of a thousand devils. Its speed was considered fantastic and its noise was terrifying.'
'How fast is fantastic, if you please?' That from China's Sam Chen.
'The survivor's report states many times faster than any aircraft he had ever seen.'
Erick Svensen of Sweden coughed to cover his amusement. 'And what did this sensational machine do?'
'This is the strangest part of all. It made radio contact with the Kali. It spoke the native tongue of Mozambique, and quite perfectly. One of our survivors had been in the radio shack and heard the radio call. It ordered the ship to hove to, and to bring its concealed cargo from the safe onto the deck. If there was resistance the ship would be destroyed.'
Murmurs ran through the group; Henshaw kept going. 'Somehow, this vessel was ready for some sort of interference. The cannon and machine guns opened fire on the scimitar air machine. It accelerated with tremendous speed, swept around to the opposite side of the ship, and as the gunners tracked it a second scimitar machine swept in from another angle. It fired rockets at the Kali.'
'Rockets?' someone echoed.
'Rockets,' Henshaw emphasized. 'When the rockets struck and exploded, they released a terrible gas that soon had the crew choking. They were falling all about the decks. Some apparently died within seconds or minutes.'
Antonio Morillo slammed his hand against the table. 'This is ridiculous!'
'Do you wish me to continue?' Henshaw asked smoothly.
'Be quiet! Let the man finish!' shouted Treadwell.
'One of the aerial machines fired rockets into the rudder to disable the steering mechanism. Then one scimitar slowed and hovered just above the foredeck.
A gangway extended down, and figures in silver suits and globelike helmets descended. They went directly to the captain's
cabin. An explosion was heard, obviously to blow open the safe and take what was held in there. We have heard everything about the contents of the safe from a crystal skull, to diamonds, to a cube or pyramid with unusual markings on it. This is all guesswork—'
'Guesswork, my Aunt Millie,' George Sabbath spat. The others turned to the American, who glared at them all.
'This is poppycock. Drivel!'
'Perhaps so,' Henshaw said, unperturbed. 'I will not even attempt to explain what happened next. I presume, and you will judge for yourself, that a submarine was also involved. Two torpedoes struck the Kali after the men, or whatever they were, in the silver suits ascended back into the scimitar craft, which had been hovering all this time, continuing to howl like a thousand devils. The hatch closed, the scimitar machine accelerated swiftly, and the ship was torn in two by the torpedo hits. The three survivors clung to some of the cargo of wood and were picked up the next day.'
The Romanian delegate, Pytor Buzau, motioned for attention. 'I would rather believe the stories of vampires from our old castles than what I am hearing.'
'I suggest,' Henshaw replied with measured distaste, 'you tell that to the Mozambique government, which has lost a ship, its cargo, and fiftyeight men.'
Thomas Treadwell stood, waiting until quiet was again at hand. 'I will be brief.
One of our airliners, six engines, was lost right at our doorstep. The event was seen by several hundred people near Dover. Do you understand? Several hundred witnesses. Above the airliner, en route to France, the witnesses saw an incredible torpedolike machine. Very high, no engines, great speed, shining in the sun, and making a sound like a great blowtorch. All these people watched three scimitarshaped machines fall away from the larger craft, which they estimated was at least fifteen hundred feet long. Then a fourth machine fell from the mother ship. They said it looked like a great flattened dome, but with the body thickest towards the center. This latter machine flew alongside the airliner and put explosive shells into the cabin. It apparently damaged the airliner just enough so the pilots could make a crash landing along a beach. Once again, just as with the Empress Kali, a scimitar machine hovered by the wreckage, the figures in silvery suits emerged, released that terrible gas that killed everyone aboard the airliner, and went into the wreckage to apprehend a sealed briefcase. That was all they took. They returned to their devilish machine and sped upwards, apparently to be recovered by the mother ship.'
He paused, distressed. 'As I say, there are several hundred witnesses.'
Jacques Nungesser of France rose by Treadwell's side. 'I confirm everything you have just heard.'
'What was in that briefcase?' queried Yoshiro Matsuda.
'The plans for a new mutual defense treaty between Great Britain and France, with a most thorough review of the capacity of both countries to produce new armaments. And,' Treadwell said ominously, 'the reports of British Intelligence on the military capacity of every nation in Europe.'
Both men resumed their seats. There was no keeping this group quiet anymore, and the gathering soon
