Chapter 4
Everyone worked until The Ancient One returned. He went over
to some equipment and began to work with it. A few minutes later
he straightened. "Problem!" he muttered, "Big
problem!"
Durga came over. "What?" she asked.
"The atmosphere those people are making out there, it's
almost pure methane with some very nasty chemicals mixed in with
it, completely foreign to this world. If their shields were to
collapse and the local atmosphere rush in, and there was even a
tiny spark, a VERY tiny one, the resulting explosion would
undoubtedly push this world out of orbit. It would either head
off into deep space, or slowly spiral into the sun. There's
simply too much of it. They're obviously pumping the oxygen out,
and sending it someplace else, probably under shields in their
native world to get rid of it. We have absolutely no margin for
error. We make one mistake and it's oblivion for these
people!"
"So we don't make any mistakes!" The Ax Man put in,
"We're good at that."
"We mustn't get over confident," The Ancient One
warned. "As their shields can't be allowed to collapse I
think it only appropriate we have our own to back them up. So if
we take theirs out ours will keep the two atmospheres from
mixing."
"Oh oh!" The Ax Man muttered, "I know that look!
He's planning something! Somebody's going to be very, very
unhappy."
"Let's hope so!" The Ancient One sighed, "Let's
hope so! Let's get everything together. Professor, what do you do
when you rise to high altitude and the air gets too thin to
breathe?"
"We seal up," the Professor answered. "We can go
twenty to twenty-five minutes without taking in air. We use what
is in our internal pockets."
"Why didn't your warriors do that before," The Ancient
One asked, "when they were attacking?"
"They were at low altitude," the Professor explained.
"We never realized there was a danger. If we had, we
would've sealed up, not breathed in there."
"Pity!" The Ancient One sighed. "If you'd have you
probably would've been able to drive these people out, and you
wouldn't have lost so many of your brave sons. What if you had
some auxillary air for your main lungs?"
"Oh, we could go a couple of hours," the Professor
answered. "Our secondary organs would go dormant. But as
long as we got to air within a couple of hours they would survive
without harm."
"Excellent!" The Ancient One snapped, "Excellent!
I'm going to work up a design. I want your people to manufacture
them right away. With the anti gravs the bomb Durga is making and
us to back you up, I think we could succeed!"
"What would happen if we do?" the Professor asked.
"If we can destroy their equipment," The Ancient One
answered, "in the proper sequence, we should be able to
break the machinery that is bringing their air into your world
and taking yours out. Then by collapsing their shields we should
be able to push what they've already brought here, back, through
the portals. If all goes well, your world should be returned to
you and very little harm done."
The Professor looked disturbed. "But they'll all die, won't
they?" he asked, "None of them will survive?"
"I'm afraid so," The Ancient One answered.
"There's no alternative. It's them or you, nothing in
between."
"There is another world," the Professor remarked,
"in our solar system that has an atmosphere with a high
percentage of methane. If we were to offer it to them, is there a
possibility that they might accept it, and leave us in peace? The
idea of destroying life is appalling to us. We will fight if we
have to, but if there are alternatives we prefer to take them. Do
you think you could speak with them, tell them that we do not
wish to destroy them, we would rather live in peace with
them?"
"Well, I doubt if I'd be very successful," The Ancient
One answered. "But if it is your wish I will make the
effort! I have figured out why it is so hard for your people to
destroy them. They are out of faze in time. When you fire bullets
at them they're simply not there! They're a little bit ahead in
time. But when you destroy something that takes several seconds
to blow up it catches up with them and they're destroyed.
I think I can shift myself to match them. If I am successful
before we take any action I will attempt to negotiate. But
please, don't get your hopes up! The chances of them making ANY
kind of an agreement is VERY slim."
The Professor nodded and everybody continued working. It got dark
and The Ax Man disappeared skyward. A while later there was a
bright flash after bright flash.
"Why did he have to wait until darkness?" the Professor
asked.
"We can get out into space," The Ancient One answered,
"unprotected, only in the shadow of the Earth, otherwise
than that the sun would disperse the corona of our Souls, and the
solular wind would destroy us forever. We are not indestructible!
There are things that can harm us. Very little can destroy us,
but The Great Father can."
"Phenomenal!" the Professor sighed, "Most
phenomenal! So much that The Old One taught was considered
legend, but you prove it all!"
The Ax Man returned. "I destroyed their launch site,"
he announced. "It's going to be quite a while before they
send up any more satellites. They're deaf, dumb and blind!"
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