Айзек Азимов - Before The Golden Age

The leader gave an order and two of the crew stepped to the flying controls. The man at the switchboard manipulated some dials. The ship started upward with a rocketing motion, climbing at what was, to my judgment an entirely unsafe angle. However, the ship made it without any difficulty and leveled off at an elevation of about a thousand feet and continued on her way east. I took a rapid glance at the compass set on the roof and mentally resolved to keep track of our course.

Two of the crew stepped forward and tossed to one side a piece of cloth which had covered some long object lying on the floor. They picked it up and I suppressed an exclamation with difficulty. The object was a man and it needed only a glance to tell me that he was of a different race from the crew of the ship. Long curling yellow locks fell from his head in place of the short black hair of the Kauans and his skin was as white as mine instead of the disgusting saffron yellow which marked our captors.

His arms and legs hung limp and useless as they picked him up and bore him aft. They dumped him unceremoniously on the floor beside me and returned to the forward part of the cabin. I looked at my fellow captive with interest, an interest which he quite evidently felt as well.

“Where from?” he asked me in an undertone. His voice had none of the guttural quality which marked the speech of the crew. It was as soft and liquid as the speech of any man of Ulm.

“Ulm,” I replied, also in an undertone.

“But Ulm fell months ago,” he said wonderingly. “Surely you did not survive the sack of the city. If you did, how have you survived since then?”

“I was not at the fall of the city,” I replied. “I was away seeking aid for Ulm when it fell. I have just returned.”

He looked at me curiously.

“What was your rank?” he demanded.

“I was Siba Tam,” I replied proudly.

An expression of joy crossed his face.

“My hilt to your hand, Siba Tam,” he said, “had I a sword to offer. I have long hoped for a sight of the son of my ruler.”

“I was not the son of Kalu,” I answered, “I was the husband of his only child.”

“Still my hilt to your hand,” he replied. “I have not seen my native land since I was a child but no more loyal subject of her Sibama lives. Do you wish to continue on to Kau?”

“I hardly wish to go anywhere as a slave,” I said briefly.

“Then we can escape,” he replied. “I had planned to try to win my freedom before we reached the city, although I had little hope of success. Two of us should be more than a match for five men of Kau.”

“But my legs and arms are paralyzed,” I objected.

“That is of no moment. Can you keep them quiet and simulate paralysis if I remove the effects of the ray?”

“I think so.”

“Then be careful and do not move them while I work.”

He rolled over and fell against me. The Kauans glanced around at him for a moment but paid no further attention. In a moment I felt a sharp pain in my back and then another in my shoulder.

“Now remain perfectly quiet,” said my new friend. A dull whir sounded behind me for a moment and an excruciating pain racked my limbs. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. The pain passed and to my joy I found that both feeling and motion had been restored.

“What are your orders?” asked my fellow captive softly.

“I have no plans made. You know what to do much better than I do. Issue your orders and I will obey.”

“Then when I give the word, leap to your feet and rush them,” he said. “Get between them and their fighting suits and keep them away from them. If they get to their weapons, we are dead or worse. Without them they have nothing but their strength to rely on.”

“Wait a moment,” I said cautiously, “I think I have a weapon here. I have one that will kill ordinary men but it failed against these men. However, they had their fighting suits on when I tried it. Tell me, are they vulnerable to a sword thrust?”

“Without their fighting suits, yes; with them, no.”

“Fine. Lie still and let me try my hand on them. Can you fly the ship after we capture it?”

“Certainly.”

“All right, I’ll see what I can do. If my weapon fails, we can still rush them with bare hands.”

I braced myself for an effort. The distance was short and I felt sure that the little thirty-two automatic pistols which I had providentially armed myself with would be accurate enough for my purpose. Both rested in holsters—one under each arm.

With a sudden swift movement, I sprang to my feet, a pistol in each hand. I raised the right one and fired at the leader. I watched breathlessly for a moment. He swayed back and forth and then fell headlong. The gun was effective.

The other members of the crew stared stupidly at their fallen leader. Again the little gun spoke and the odds were reduced to three to two. The remaining members of the crew made a rush for their fighting suits but they never reached them. Three times the little automatic spat forth a message of death and each time my aim was good. My companion had risen to his feet and he now raced for the controls. He got them just in time, for the pilotless ship was careening badly. In a moment he had it flying once more on a level keel.

I made the rounds of the prostrate crew. At short range the mushroom bullets with which my gun was loaded had done their work. Only one of our enemies lived and it was evident that his wound was fatal. Assured of their helplessness to harm us, I moved up to the control board.

“Which way, Siba Tam?”

I reflected before answering. There was no use in returning to fallen Ulm. The ship would be an excellent aid to me in pursuing my search for my lost princess and I had gained a loyal follower. The first step was to arm him.

“Go back to the place where I was captured and then straight west for a few miles. In the meantime, teach me how to fly this ship. What is your motive power? I see no signs of any source of energy.”

“Our power is drawn from the central power house in Kaulani.”

“Radio transmission of power!” I gasped.

“I do not understand your words,” he said (I had unconsciously spoken in English). “The power to turn our propellers and to actuate the fighting suits is generated in Kaulani and is sent out in the form of waves which are received by wires on the top of the ship.”

“I noticed them,” I replied, “but did not suspect their use. I thought they were used to receive and probably transmit messages.”

“Could messages be sent or received through them?”

“Certainly. Isn’t that done?”

“No, Siba Tam.”

“In that case we have one bit of knowledge that the Kauans don’t have,” I said cheerfully. “I will show you how it is done later. Now show me how to control the ship.”

He motioned me to take the dual set of controls and started his explanations. It was ridiculously simple for one already well versed in flying and in five minutes I was maneuvering the ship like a veteran. The secret of the small wing spread and the short take-off and landing distance lay in the setting and position of the side propellers. They were so inclined that their blast struck the wings and gave a lifting effect to aid the take-off. Reversing them made them act as a brake and brought the craft to a standstill in a few feet. The central propeller did practically all the work of moving the ship forward.

In a short time we were over the place where I had been captured and we landed and secured my rifle and pack. We took off again and in ten minutes landed safely by the side of my adjuster.

“Now I will repay you for teaching me to fly our ship,” I said with a smile, “by teaching you to manipulate a machine which I doubt if even the leader of that crew of brigands who captured us could understand. However, before I do so, tell me about yourself. Who are you and how did you get here? I have lived for years in Ulm and do not know your face and my face was not familiar to you.”