The Winged Men of Orcon | Page 5

were half-bird, half-human!
Their faces, bodies, arms, and legs were human. But they had wings!
Translucent, membranous structures, almost gauzy, which stretched out
from their shoulders like bat's wings. And their skins, as they surged
about in the beams of our light, gleamed a bright orange color, and
about their heads waved frilled antennae which were evidently used as
extra tactile organs to supplement the human hands. I could see

instantly that the Orconites possessed a high degree of intelligence. Of
all the queer breeds that interplanetary travel and exploration had
produced, this was the queerest.
I swung to Koto, who was crouching beside the gun.
"Get rid of that cable before we go under!" I exclaimed.
I had already guessed that the plate which held the cable to our stern
was magnetic. It was easy to see that the cable had been fastened there
by the Orconites and that our ship and ourselves might be drawn to
destruction. I flung myself over to Koto's side to help him with the gun.
The howling wind which had been at a lull as we reached the deck,
broke loose again, and, as a gust hit us, Koto, gun, and I were all but
swept overboard. The winged legion overside gave loud cries and
braced themselves against the gusts. I saw Virginia Crane clinging
desperately to her stanchion beside the light switches.
"More light if you have it!" I screamed to her against the wind.
Then Koto and I got the gun going.
* * * * *
My first feeling was one of intense relief. As the thing went off under
our hands, and I knew from a faint trembling and a low hiss that the
weapon was functioning perfectly, I felt thankful indeed for the instinct
which had made me get the gun on deck. It could be only a matter of
seconds now until a whole section of the metallic cable was
disintegrated completely and until our ship was free.
Breathlessly I watched the greenish atomic stream play along the bright
length of the cable of death, and, as Koto and I steadied the gun
together, I knew he shared my relief. Despite the howling of the wind,
the yells of the Orconites, the continued slow movement of the ship,
and the hideous churning of the waves astern, I laughed to myself.

"Doctor Weeks!"
I saw that Captain Crane had gone aft to watch the effects of our fire.
"All right," I bellowed. "What--"
"Nothing is happening back here! Your gun! What's the matter with it?"
I was too startled to answer otherwise than I did.
"Nothing's the matter with it. What's the matter with you?"
But the next instant I knew she was right.
"My God, Doctor!" Koto cried, and I knew he had leaped to the same
conclusion I had.
Suddenly I brushed Koto's hands away from the gun, and myself
directed it so that its ray cut straight across one whole group of the
queer creatures on the beach. Then I cursed.
Instead of being cut down, broken like so many blades of grass, not one
of the creatures showed that the ray had touched them at all. They only
uttered tremendous hoarse sounds that might have been laughter.
I stood up.
"Koto, Leider's found means of protecting both raw materials and
living beings against the atomic gun!"
* * * * *
Captain Crane was beside us now, and I saw that she did not need to be
told of the disaster. As Koto turned away from the gun, I thought of
LeConte below. When the waves closed in on us, he would be caught
like a rat.
The shriek of the wind and the crash of waves grew louder. I felt upon
my face the sting of spray from the aqueous solution of which the

lashing sea at our stern was composed. The cable held, and the ship
continued to move. We were barely a hundred yards away from the
shore.
All at once, though, a string of both chemical and physical
formulae--the last thing a man would expect to think of in such a
position--flashed into my mind.
"Here, wait a minute," I thought. "If Leider's done this thing, it
means--it must mean--that he's juggled his atomic structures through
production in terrific quantities of the quondarium light which I
theorized about last year! But he can't have done that without playing
hell with the action of magnetic forces from beginning to end! I believe
if we take the gun aft and direct it at--"
That was as far as I got with forming words. I flung myself toward the
gun and began to drag it to a position aft, where we might direct its ray
full force, at close range, against the magnetic metal plate which