Warriors of Zantos by William Russell Moore Read online

  Amazing Stories, June, 1933

  Warriors of Zantos

  by William Russell Moore

  IKE the scintillating jewels from a

  intelligence. One city is built entirely of Martian treasure house, set upon a

  cone-shaped structures. The other is of

  L black velvet carpet from some sphere-shaped buildings. Between the two, Venerian jungle castle, the whole broad

  reaching apparently around the globe, is a panorama of the universe spread out before broad band of some metallic substance—

  the two earthlings in the space car. So

  perhaps a barrier between the two

  silently did the perfect mechanism of the intelligences. But we are drawing near

  car work, that no sound was heard, save the enough for you to discern with your own

  excited breathing of the two fine-featured eyes, the strangeness of it.”

  men in the observatory compartment. They

  The silver space car drifted above

  were drifting toward the planet system of a the surface of the planet, a globe somewhat mighty sun; were about to land their silvery in size as the earth of their childhood. The ship upon the alien surface of a planet in a two hardy adventurers peered out through

  sun-system far from their own familiar the portholes at a strange scene. A world Solar System.

  that lacked oceans, but which was dotted

  “Let us land upon the fourth planet

  with gem-like lakes many miles across.

  from the star,” said Kama, the man at the

  “Let us descend to five thousand

  controls. “It is more suitable to our bodies.

  feet,” said Knir, and the man at the controls Later, perhaps, when we return with more

  set the ship in motion, dropping them

  equipment, we may explore the others.”

  swiftly down into the atmosphere, where

  The man at the telescope showed

  they cruised along above the broad strip of excitement as they drew near the planet.

  metal that Knir had seen from out in space.

  “In all my life,” he exclaimed, “I have

  never seen a more peculiar city! No, not in WHEN near the surface, they could see that two thousands years of travel back and

  it was a broad ring of broken pieces of

  forth across the Universe, have I beheld

  machinery, like some gigantic junk yard,

  anything so strange.”

  spread out in a ring ten miles wide, around

  “What do you make of it, Knir?”

  the equatorial part of the planet. The huge inquired the man at the controls, “What

  cities, reaching ten thousand feet into the type of intelligence dwells on the planet?”

  air, were visible from the ship, far in the

  “That is impossible to tell,” said

  distance to either side. “There seems to be Knir. “But upon one half of the planet’s

  no sign of life,” said Kama.

  surface I see a great city. Built at the pole,

  “Indeed, it is more eerie than the

  it seems to cover millions of square miles.

  ruins of Mars when men first set foot upon At the other pole, I now see another great the desert planet,” sighed Knir. “I regret it city, as large as the first. But they are of greatly, for I had hoped to commune with

  such different types of architecture that the strange intelligence which built those they could not have been built by the same extraordinary cities.”

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  “Look, Knir!” said Kama excitedly.

  They have fought a battle that reached all

  “A battle is in progress!”

  around the planet!”

  Ahead of them, on the strip of

  wreckage, or rather amidst the wreckage, a

  “YES, Now the red men are gaining an

  battle was indeed in progress. As the ship advantage. For every silver man that falls, drew nearer, the men could see that over a two red men attack another silver man.

  hundred great creatures were locked in Look, the silver men are outnumbered deadly embrace. Half of them were red in

  almost two to one!” said Kama.

  color, the others were silver-colored, but in

  “I dislike to see the red men win,”

  form, both were identical.

  said Knir. “I propose that we aid the silver Towering over fifty feet in height,

  men. The disintegrator will even the

  they were supported by four flexible legs numbers.”

  and four long feelers with mighty knives on

  “Bring it into play then,” said

  the ends, for cutting and slashing.

  Kama. “We will aid the silver men.”

  The pilot switched on the listening

  The bright red flame of the ray

  device, and the sound of battle came played upon the field of battle, narrowed to plainly to their ears, increased by the a pencil-like streak. As it touched the red amplifier. There was a continual roar of

  men, they became shattered bits of dust,

  metal upon metal, crashing and grinding,

  and at last the red men were less in number but no outcries were heard. It was a than the silver men.

  gigantic hand-to-hand conflict, and as the

  “They have not even noticed us,”

  two earthlings watched, one of the red said Kama.

  bodies succeeding in over-throwing one of

  “But look!” cried Knir. “The silver

  his silver-colored foe-men, and men are overpowering the red men now.

  immediately he rent him to pieces.

  They seem to be equal in strength until one

  “Why—they’re

  just—machines!”

  is destroyed. Two to one, the small side has gasped Knir.

  no chance!”

  “Machines—with

  intelligence,”

  “There goes the last red man,” said

  said Kama. “Surely they could not be Kama at length. “Perhaps we should have operated by remote control! Let us descend aided the red men after all,” he added

  to within a thousand feet of them, where

  thoughtfully.

  we can see them more plainly.”

  “At any rate, let us descend and

  A thousand feet from the surface,

  question these strange creatures,” said

  the noise of the battle could be heard Knir. “Made of metal, though they are, it without the aid of the amplifiers. The may be that some intelligent entity sits machine that had succeeded in destroying

  within their metal bodies and directs

  its opponent, now raced to the aid of them—else they may be reasoning another, which was about to overcome a

  machines, who knows? Machines have

  silver man. That fight was brief for the

  been produced upon the second moon of

  silver

  man.

  Outnumbered, he was Saturn which rival men in reasoning quickly destroyed and scattered upon the

  ability.”

  field.

  “Hold!” cried Kama. “The silver

  “Look, Knir,” said Kama, “the men have turned and are attacking one entire band of wreckage around this planet another!”

  is made up of these shattered machines!

  “Even so,” observed Knir. “What

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  strange fancy causes th
is?”

  No sign of life was to be seen in the

  “Machines created to fight,” said

  place and they disembarked to enter the

  Kama, “will turn upon themselves, when

  building. The great doorway seemed made

  the object of their hate is destroyed. “Let us to admit the mighty machines that they had observe them closely.

  seen in their last desperate struggle out For another hour, the battle raged,

  there upon the plain, and they gripped their and the men in the space car scarcely weapons tightly, fearing that they might breathed, so intent were they upon the meet one of them inside the massive circus of destruction below them. Finally, structure.

  only one battered machine remained.

  The city, however, was deserted, as

  Like a man befuddled by the was the building in which they were, and intoxication ray, the great machine stood they were about to go, after examining the there, looking about the battle field. Seeing mysterious sculpturing about the walls,

  one long metal tentacle waving in the air, it when Knir found a small square of metal,

  ran quickly to it and wrested it from the covered with tiny heliographs.

  socket of the metal body, whirled it high Taking the metal tablet back to the

  into the air and snapped it into two pieces.

  ship with them, they left the cone city and Then, as though in great anger, it turned flew to the city of the spheres.

  and ran toward a towering rocky cliff,

  Like the cone city, this one was

  twenty miles from the battle field.

  deserted, and built to gigantic proportions,

  “We will follow,” said Kama.

  to accommodate the huge forms of life that had inhabited it. Once more they

  THE space car sped along behind the discovered a small metal tablet with racing monster, checked its speed as the

  peculiar heliographs engraved upon it, and cliff drew near, to see what the monster

  taking it, they returned to their ship.

  might do. As though devoid of sight, the

  In a few days they had refueled

  monster never slackened its pace, but ran their ship, renewed their supply of air and straight to the rock and hurled itself against water, and were once more out in space.

  the stone.

  Controls set for the solar system, they

  Shattered metal burst into began poring over the tablets which they fragments and flew about over the ground, had found.

  and soon, the last waving tentacle subsided The messages, when interpreted,

  into a coil and all was silent.

  read the same, excepting that the names

  The astonished men in the space car

  were reversed.

  looked at the wreckage for a few moments, when they turned the car and went back to

  “WE, the vanishing race of Zamins, have

  the battle-field. No sign of life was visible been fighting with the blasphemous race of anywhere, and they quickly straightened

  Xons for many centuries. All Zantos is

  their course to travel around the planet, reduced to a complete and deadly war-along the band of wreckage. Nowhere machine. But we, the Zamins, are along the whole battle-front, could they

  vanishing from the face of Zantos, so we

  find a single moving thing.

  have produced a fighting machine in our

  At last they went to the city of the

  own likeness, a machine which will not

  cones and landed at the base of the center stop until it has destroyed every Xon in

  tower, the tallest cone of the city.

  sight. Many millions of these machines are

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  we building, and they will spread around

  war over it?”

  the equator of Zantos, to carry on our fight,

  “No one knows,” said Kama.

  for shortly, our race will be completely

  “Great Jupiter!” he exclaimed later. “We

  destroyed by the deadly disease which has witnessed the end of a fight which may

  attacked us. We believe this disease to be have been going on since before men of the the work of the Xons, and to keep them

  earth began to explore the universe!”

  from destroying out great city, and building

  “Beyond a doubt,” said Knir. “And

  their own hated sphere dwellings, we will it might have gone on another few

  cause these machines to fight for the true thousand years, were it not for what we

  architecture.”

  did. As it was, we saw the end!”

  “The end of a battle between two

  “Each race then, did the same thing

  races of beings dead for aeons,” said Kama at the same time,” said Knir. “The disease with a shake of his head. “Tomorrow we

  evidently attacked both at once. Each descend upon the outskirts of the solar thought it the work of the other. Such system.”

  strange psychology of mind! What peculiar

  “Peace,

  Kama.”

  twist of their brains led each to attempt a

  “Peace to you, Knir,” returned

  different type of architecture, and finally to Kama.

 

 

  Monte Herridge, Warriors of Zantos by William Russell Moore

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