Chapter VII

Jim opened his eyes and stared up into Conley's worried face. He coughed a little on the stinging liquor the latter was pouring down his throat.

"How long have I been here?" he asked urgently.

"Just a minute or two, lad. You're mighty battered and tired, but you'll be all right now. Just rest a while."

"Rest!" Jim repeated, and climbed quickly to his feet. "None of us can rest now--there's no time! It may be too late already--but we've got to make a fight for it, if for no other reason than because Kaarji's counting on it! No, Conley, I'm not delirious." He waved the worried Irishman away. "Listen, you men! I've solved the mystery of M'Tonak, and we've got to get out of here!"

In an anxious rush of words he explained the situation, told briefly of his discovery of the Dim-Ing and what it was, and of Kaarji's avowal to destroy all of M'Tonak.

"In another few weeks, Spurlin, your spaceship would have been finished, and the greatest horror the universe has ever known would have launched itself upon Earth! It still might happen! _We've got to get back out there at once, en masse, and hold that thing's attention before it discovers what Kaarji's up to!_"

It had all happened too suddenly for the men to quite believe him. They looked askance at each other.

"But after three years of heart-breaking work," Spurlin said, "to give up my spaceship now! That's what you're asking."

"A hell of a lot of good your spaceship will be, with millions of tons of rock and ice heaped on it! That's gonna happen about fifteen minutes from now, or less! Man, don't you understand? Kaarji said he'd give me a half-hour--"

"It's a trick!" Wessel squawked loudly. "Damned funny that he ever got back here to us at all! He's discovered a protection against those greenish rays, he's trying to lure us all outside to our death, so he can have all this new metal for himself!"

Jim strode back to the door, pausing only long enough to cry, "All right, stay here, then, and die. All of you! If you won't help me, that means our last chance is gone. I'll die too, but it'll be out there fighting that thing to the last!"

"I'm with you, Jim. I believe you." It was Conley's voice he heard and Conley's friendly hand on his shoulder, but he didn't pause in his hurried stride back up through the tunnel. He heard other men coming behind them, following Conley's example, but he felt that it was too late now. There could only be a few minutes left.

Kaarji might even be dead. The Dim-Ing in its subtle way might have known the plot from the first. That would mean the Dim-Ing had won, for no man could ever be able to get back down to that control room.

As they reached the street, Jim felt the power of the entity withdraw a little, as if that were necessary in order for it to embrace all their minds. A sudden new hope surged in Jim, a feeling that their combined forces might be a match for this thing yet! And even as they were racing back toward the central plaza, he was evolving a plan that might work providing they had enough time.

"Spurlin! You remember that surface car that brought us all here at various times? Do you suppose you might discover its secret? There are hidden electronic motors, I believe."

"We thought of that before, but no man was ever able to get near enough--"

"You'll get there this time, we'll see to it! Spurlin, when we reach the plaza you take one man and head for that car. You spent three years building a spaceship, but now in as many minutes you've got a tougher job--you've got to find those motors and solve them and have them ready for a quick departure!

"The rest of you men, listen. I've had a few dealings with this Dim-Ing and I think I know its weakness. It's grossly egotistic! That's the angle we're going to play on, but our minds will have to be in perfect accord. I want you all to be silent, but listen carefully to my every word, and concur with me _mentally_ in everything I say!"

* * * * *

Strangely those mental fingers had withdrawn a little, and Jim wondered why. There was something almost cunning about it. They reached the plaza, and Spurlin with one man hurried to the surface car on the opposite side of the square. The others, more than a score in all, stopped before the building that housed the entity.

Jim knew that there could only be minutes now.

Even as he was formulating words in his mind, he felt the Dim-Ing's faculties expand again, surge out prodigiously to envelop them all. And with it came raucous mental laughter. The thing was laughing at them!

"Steady, you men," Jim said in a quick undertone. "Get ready now." And Jim laughed in return, laughed aloud and shortly. For beneath the Dim-Ing's laughter he thought he detected a false note! He felt that it was bluffing, stalling for time! But why?

"All right," he called aloud, "you have won! You have defeated us here, but in defeat we can laugh, for this will be your last victory! You will get to Earth but there you will meet your end!" Jim felt the power of the thing reaching out in a fierce resentment, but he continued tauntingly. "You will see that the Earthian mind does not fear you, they will seek you out. We have weapons to combat you that the Martians know nothing of--you will not last long on Earth! If Bhruulo alone kept you here in thrall, Earthman can do that and much more--"

Jim had other words to say, mocking words, but he did not get a chance. The Dim-Ing lashed out with a terrible, unsuspected force. For a single second, all of M'Tonak was livid under a garish unbearable green, as the men were beaten down to their knees in a huddled miserable group. Buildings blurred and wavered and seemed to topple. The Earthmen's consciousness dangled by a thread.

"That is only a tiny sample of my power," the thought came lashing at them. "That is to teach you not to drive me to anger again."

The men rose painfully to their feet, clinging together. But Jim was exultant now. He could not have told why, but he felt that in that one supreme burst of anger the Dim-Ing had expended most of its power, and that is what he had been counting on!

"Your Earthian minds are stubborn, very stubborn. But I like that. I think I shall like Earth. Tell me more about the weapons you have there, the scientific devices you will use to combat me."

What about Spurlin? Had he failed? That single, surface car was their only escape from here! It seemed hours since Spurlin had raced across the plaza toward it.

"We're lost, Jim," Conley whispered wearily. "We're beaten...."

* * * * *

"Oh, no we're not!" For suddenly, strangely, the Dim-Ing did not grasp their minds any more! It was slipping away, and they felt strangely free and buoyant. But why? Why should it withdraw in its moment of triumph, just as it was learning what it wanted to know about Earth?

In an awful moment of panic Jim thought: "Did it read in my mind something about Kaarji--does it know what Kaarji is doing?"

Simultaneously, there came a shout from Spurlin across the way, and it was a triumphant cry. "Hurry up, you men! We've got these motors going, but Lord knows--"

Spurlin's welcome voice! Jim found himself pounding across the plaza, behind the others. As in a dream he could hear the smooth threnody of the motors.

And for one last time he felt the mental power of the Dim-Ing reaching out, but it was half-hearted and uncertain, it wavered a little and seemed vaguely bewildered. Jim even paused in his stride and looked back defiantly. He felt it trying once more to grasp his mind, then it fell away disheartened. Not until then did the truth burst upon Jim, and he realized what was happening!

He reached the car last of all, and dropped exhausted across the threshold, as the re-action of all he had undergone suddenly hit him. He felt hands pulling him in and other hands sliding the door closed behind him. Even then the car was moving away, gathering speed toward the single obscure tunnel leading up and out of the vast cave of M'Tonak.