Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site
Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Web Pages in Archive

Volume 8324

MOON MAID AT THE EARTH'S CORE by ANDY NUNEZ

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BATTLE IS JOINED

No war is truly glorious. The days of knights in armor, or the splendid uniforms of Napoleon are long past. This was a war of conquest, and it was fought with all the ferocity that Mars of the Romans could ever hope for. Telegraph wires had been strung as far as our "front" in the narrow neck, and reports were clicking in. The black planes of the Race had strafed the emplacements, and several had been downed by our handful of big rifles and a barrage of rockets, but the rest had swept on toward Sari. I went to an observation post to find Othniel already there.

"They're on their way," I told him. Our post was near the palace, and sat on a knoll that could allow us to see all the way to the front with binoculars, due to Pellucidar's upward curve. I could see black dots like flies coming in V formations.

"It's a question now, whether we can surprise them," he said. "They know we have the rockets and anti-aircraft rifles now, but the big balloons up there might distract them.

It was as he said. The V-formations of planes tried to come in low, but had to pull up because of the networks of wire around the balloons. While they endeavored to shoot down the balloons, our guns opened up on them. Rocket batteries tried to score also, but there just weren't enough of them. They did cause an awful racket that distracted the Race's planes. Several of them dropped their bombs prematurely, or inaccurately, so that nothing sustained heavy damage. I was happy to see several planes drop from the sky. Their ammunition expended, the enemy flew back, presumably to re-arm. I figured that they would be most vulnerable at this time.

"Have more balloons put up," I told Othniel. "I am going hunting."

"You're still outnumbered!" Othniel snapped. "And watch out for Jehoida. His plane has large skulls instead of the Race's tripod insignia."

"Thanks!" I shouted, running for my hangar.

I found it to be largely untouched. I left Ee-la-nah with Lightning, so I knew she would be safe. The mechanics helped get the plane ready, and wheeled her out. I got in and started her up without bothering with pre-flight checks. I had to swerve to avoid a crater, but I took off in what I thought was record time; something that would have made my old flight leader proud. I noted that the Race planes were following the curve of land around the bay, so I went straight across, and caught up with them halfway to their homeland.

I dove in with guns blazing; setting three on fire before they realized what was going on. Then, they went into a frenzied scatter pattern, a huge fur ball. I shot down two more, then used my superior speed to race away before they could catch me. I went back across the front, seeing that the enemy airships were landing and disgorging troops and vehicles. I fired at them as I passed, setting two airships ablaze. Sparing no more time, I rushed back to refuel and re-arm. My next target was the ground attack.

I landed without incident. While there, I heard reports. Our airship had landed and was plugged into our telegraph system by a special hookup that Abner Perry had set up. They reported a thousand enemy troops and half a dozen vehicles, all of them with eight wheels and double turrets. I dared not wait for further news and got back in the air. What I saw when I arrived at the front was an amazing tableau.

The black-clad soldiers of the Race spread across the green landscape like a mold, with their vehicles scuttling like beetles. Their airships had gone back for another load, I assumed, except for two which went ahead and dropped bombs on our troops. I dove for those and dropped them both, so that their wreckage formed barriers for the Race to go around. The cannons of Sari, spoke, but lack of practice made their aim mediocre at best. From the woods, arrows erupted like flights of angry hornets. The Race stopped and fired back, including shelling the woods with the cannons in their vehicles. The most incongruous sight I saw was a herd of about fifty brontosauruses behind the woods. They milled around, some jumping from the sound of explosions.

I prepared for a pass against the armored fighting vehicles. I fired one burst with my cannon, ripping one of them open. My concentration on breaking up their assault was nearly my undoing. Bullets slammed into my wing and fuselage like gremlins with hammers. I slewed away and up, fighting for altitude as I twisted my head around to look for my attacker. Above me, diving from the sun, were three bat-planes of the Race. Their height advantage meant that they had speed as well as maneuverability on me. I was too low.

They got on my tail immediately, and I felt more slugs hit me. If they had the rate of fire of Focke-Wulfs, I would have already been a flaming wreck on the ground. As it was, I could feel my rudder stiffen, and knew that if I didn't get out of their sights, I was doomed. I went for an Immelman, a risky maneuver under any circumstances, especially if you are too low because if you don't get your arc just right, you loop right into the dirt. I shot upward in the beginning of the circle, hoping the enemy had never seen such a maneuver. They tried to close, but this time, their speed was bleeding off as they attempted to describe the same arc, and I was pulling away.

Looking back, this time, I could see the planes clearly. On the wings and fuselage of the middle plane, I could see grinning white skulls emblazoned. Jehoida himself was after me! My worry became replaced with grim determination, and I finished my loop with textbook perfection, skimming treetops and coming up behind the trio of fighters. I lined up on the left one and let him have it. The crate slammed to one side as if a giant hand had struck it, and corkscrewed into the ground.

The remaining two scattered. I went after the other wingman, meeting him at the wrong end of a split-S. His plane broke in half just behind the cockpit and fell in two pieces. I swung sideways to find Jehoida, only to have him diving at me again. Bullets hit the left engine, sending oil and smoke trailing. I knew that it would be only moments before it seized. Jehoida passed under me, and I could see his pasty face grinning inside his bubble cockpit. I nosed down, and shot after him, now below treetop height, scattering little dinosaurs everywhere.

He wheeled to meet me and we approached each other at full speed. I gave him the full range of my guns, turning his wings and engine to rippling sheets of flame and smoke. I was close enough to see his face twisted in terror, its pallor glowing from the inferno around him, then he passed over me, to arrow straight into the jungle behind me. A huge ball of flame erupted in my rear-view mirror. I had little time to savor my victory, though, because with a cough and shudder, my left engine stopped. I fought the already sluggish controls and managed to keep the plane level. I passed over my own lines once more, but was too engaged to shoot at the attackers. I found a reasonably flat spot and set the P-38 down. It was a nasty landing, and one of the gear collapsed, sending the ship in a half-circle, but she didn't flip. I grabbed my carbine and pistols and leaped out, heading for the front lines. I was determined to keep up the fight on land, but without my plane, I knew that another wave of Race fighters would devastate us.

I got to the men and located Ghak. He was calmly going up and down the front, encouraging his men, then alternately shooting and cursing the enemy. The remaining five vehicles were chugging to the front. I now had little idea how to defeat them.

"Your cannons must concentrate on the machines," I told him. "Your rifles will not penetrate their armor."

"Our cannon fire round shot," he said. "I will try. Ho-don!"

A young warrior appeared, fit and lithe. He was carrying a rifle and had a cartridge belt holding up his loincloth. "I am here, Ghak. Do we charge them?"

"Not yet," he said, grinning savagely. "Go to Dacor. Tell him now is the moment."

The young warrior returned the grin and rushed off. Ghak turned to me. "We do not call him the Fleet One for nothing. I am not ready to give up to these iron beasts. If we do not stop them here, then the city will be in range of their guns." He signaled to his gunners.

They let off a thunderous cannonade that blanketed the approaching vehicles. One of them was stopped, and smoke issued from it, but otherwise it still functioned, and its turret rotated, firing explosive rounds at the cannons to silence them. The others still advanced. Ghak tried shooting their wheels with some of the big rifles designed to shoot down airplanes, but the tires were made of some hard rubber that deflected the bullets. Within moments, the vehicles would be among our troops, and our defense would be broken.

From the woods where I had seen them skulking burst the fifty brontosauruses. They charged straight at the armored vehicles. I could now see that each of the sixty-foot dinosaurs carried a man upon its back. They bore down on the enemy swiftly, and the Race's infantry made little impression as they tried to shoot down the giant reptiles.

"What is this?" I asked Ghak.

"Dacor the strong one of Amoz is master of the lidi riders," he told me. His tribe captures the lidi that roam the vast Lidi Plain near Thuria and trains them for transportation. They are formidable weapons in their own right."

His view was an understatement. As I watched, the herd of brontosauruses overran the vehicles. The horde of slate-colored dinosaurs milled around like a herd of gigantic turkeys or maybe swans, from the undulations of their long necks. Their riders commanded the vast reptiles to kick the machines, or to use their powerful necks to turn them on their sides. The most effective tactic was for a lidi to smash the vehicles with their muscular tails. One was struck so hard that it went out of control and collided with another, disabling both.

A dozen of the thunder lizards were put out of action, but the rest turned the Race's armored attack to so much junk. This done, they proceeded to trample their way through the remnants of the Race infantry, then rumbled on to their landing area, where they either destroyed or carted off their supplies in a fashion that would have made Jeb Stuart or Joe Wheeler proud. They paid for the booty with another ten or so of their splendid mounts left for the carrion eaters, which in this world could be as large as a house and not particular whether its meal was still breathing or not.

I was standing there gaping like an idiot when Ho-don returned. He was coated in a fine sheen of sweat, but otherwise was not even breathing hard.

"Well," he said as he approached Ghak. "The lidi riders got all the glory. Can we attack now?"

Ghak gave a short nod and his hirsute features took on a wolfish look. "Yes, we attack now. Remember young one, that war is not glory, it is necessary to maintain a lasting peace. Go, and lead the charge."

Ho-don shook his head, grinned all the same, and ran off to tell the rest. They came out of their emplacements in ragged clumps, not bothering to form into units. Overhead, round shot from the artillery screamed their approach, joining with their hoarse, savage screams as they closed with their black-clad foes. The attackers were suddenly on the defensive. They took time to reform into units and got off several volleys. As the troops from Sari got within bayonet range, though, they wavered. Some threw down their rifles and fled. Some of their officers berated them; others shot them in the back as they fled.

Those who did not retreat were either shot down or bayoneted by the ferocious cave men who seemed more adept at using their rifles as cumbersome spears instead of the longer-ranged weapons they were supposed to be. I stayed beside Ghak, watching for any foe that tried to shoot him and dispatching them with my carbine. Those who ran passed the woods where the non-rifle armed troops had been lurking. A surprising number of these had not been killed, and now swarmed out, firing arrows and throwing spears. Surrounded, the surviving members of the Race raised their hands in capitulation.

They were carted off in good order, and Ghak's men inventoried any of the Race's supplies that were not taken or destroyed by the lidi riders from Amoz. Weapons were appropriated from the fallen members of the Race, and Dacor and his men dragged any of their vehicles that still had enough wheels to roll off to Sari. Larz rode up to me, his iron bar now improved with a wound leather grip and a rifle in a boot on his saddle.

"The fight was good, but too short," he said. "These little fellows from the Moon are worthless without their weapons. I guess that settles them."

"I doubt that," I told him. Our only airplane will not be flying for a while, if ever, and they still have plenty more. I guess we will have to bluff them with our scheme about floating balloons to the moon from Thuria."

"Oh, yes," Larz hollered down. "Goork the chief was tickled to get all that stuff. I told him that it was not to be used except as a last resort, but the old devil wasn't listening very well to that part. You know, he is Dacor's father-in-law and probably wants to be the one to defeat the men from the moon, if only to tweak David Innes' nose. He only joined the Empire because he knew what would happen if he didn't."

"That's not good," I said, "but at this point, it may not matter. We can't stop another attack like that without air cover, and most of the rockets were used up."

"Wait," Ghak warned. "Look above. Here comes our ship."

Dazzling in the noonday sun came the Empire's remaining air asset. Her white cigar shape traveled serenely over the smoking carnage. We had not decided on a name for the ship, but Othniel had favored Jehoida's Bane. As it approached, heliograph signals flashed out in flashbulb pulses. Ghak called for his own personal operator, who set up a small unit on a tripod and returned signals.

"It's Othniel," the man said. "He reports that the airships returning to the moon flew over Thuria. Goork used the materials we sent him and constructed a number of balloons that he sent off in the midst of the airships. A dozen of them were destroyed. The rest escaped, but he unleashed another set of balloons and reports several severe fires on the moon's surface. He says that some of the balloons went into orbit around the moon, but their flames soon destroyed their rigging and flaming masses fell over a large area."

"I knew it was a good plan," I said. "The British used fire ships to stop the Spanish Armada, and we used incendiaries on many Japanese and German cities. It's a horrific weapon that kills indiscriminately."

"I don't know half of what you said," Ghak pointed out. He turned to his operator. "Tell them to continue to monitor the situation." He addressed me once more. "You had better get back to Sari and report all this. I will hold here, but the element of surprise will be lost."

I left him to reorganize his warriors and caught a ride with Larz on his lidi. This was an experience unlike flying and a good deal bumpier. Still, the massive brontosaurus lumbered in a rolling gait that made it easier to stay in the saddle. It was not long until Sari came into view. Larz' massive steed gave forth a booming call, and citizens streamed from the city in wonder. He dropped me off near Perry's lab and returned to the front. The wrecked armored vehicles had been deposited in various heaps nearby. I found Perry and Giuseppe and gave them a report. They immediately fell to arguing over what to do next, so I expressed a desire to visit the Emperor right away and they agreed to accompany me.

The palace was ringed with guards and men with binoculars scanned the skies. The sight of these earnest fellows with their modern equipment and sleek fur coverings again gave me pause to question reality. I shrugged it off, because it didn't matter. This was reality for me. We were ushered in to the Emperor, who was pacing in frustration.

"I hope you have some good news," he said. "I am used to being in the thick of fighting, and this ruling stuff is getting on my nerves."

"We have excellent news," I said, and gave him a full report. He smiled at once, then turned pensive.

"If they come again, can we defeat them?" he asked.

"We are low on rockets and ammunition for the big rifles," I said. "My plane is out of the fight, so at best we could probably only bring down a handful of planes. The rest would bomb us until Sari was flat and then they could land anywhere and just march in."

"Perry, you are the religious one, I suggest you pray," David Innes said. Before much could pass Perry's lips beyond invective, a messenger rushed in.

"You are wanted in the telegraph room, my Emperor," the man reported. "The airship, Jehoida's Bane, has hooked up to its mast near the shore."

"I guess its got a name now," David grinned. "I wanted to call it Dian, but we have a sea-going vessel by that name. Let's go."

We crammed in the tiny telegraph room amid a steady stream of clicks. One operator transcribed while another sent. He handed a note to David Innes.

"Othniel says that a single airship has left the moon and is approaching Sari," he read. "He wants orders to engage."

"One airship is not an attack," I cautioned.

"My thoughts exactly," he agreed. "Let's tell them to shadow the ship, but do not fire."

In an hour, the ominous black lozenge of an airship of the Race appeared. A white dot behind it showed that Othniel was keeping a discreet distance. The black dirigible circled the city, then an object on a small parachute floated down. When it did not explode, a runner inspected it and brought it the palace. By then, we were on the palace steps surrounded by the obligatory bodyguard. Perry and Giuseppe had gone back to try to get more rockets ready and trying to work out a scheme for digging ditches and filling them with burning pitch. David Innes found the item to be a long brass cylinder that unscrewed at one end. The Emperor unscrewed the cylinder and a roll of parchment came out, full of little markings.

"It's a note of some sort," he said. "However, I can't read it."

"Ee-la-nah can," I stated. "They probably know by now that somebody from the Race is nearby. We can also flash a message to Othniel to come in."

Ee-la-nah was summoned and she arrived quickly, Lightning at her heels. The big tarag almost bowled me over and removed all the skin from my face, he was so happy to see me. She examined the note and a sly smile came to her face.

"You have won," she told David Innes. "The news of the first wave's defeat, coupled with the unchecked forest fires on the moon has caused an uprising against the ruling elite. The captain of this airship is a squadron mate of Othniel. He is asking that Othniel return with him to the moon and lead the revolt."

"This is beyond our wildest hopes," David Innes said. "You said that Jehoida feared we had overtaken the Race in weapons. Apparently, this fear was communicated to his father and leaked somehow. Goork's refusal to obey my orders has this time worked to our advantage."

From here, the results were anticlimactic. Othniel left Jehoida's Bane under Von Horst's command and took his fellow members to board the black airship. He briefly told David Innes that, should he succeed, he would agree to a lasting peace that would allow members of his Race to settle uninhabited parts of Pellucidar near Thuria. His first priority, he said, was overthrowing the Leader and his henchmen, then putting out the fires that were spreading over the surface of his world. In return, David Innes promised not to fire on any craft of the Race unless they fired first, and that he would send whatever help Othniel required to put out the fires.

David Innes called his troops back to Sari. Perry and Giuseppe met with Von Horst and decided to use the design of the captured airship to build a dirigible the size of the O-220. Giuseppe wanted to travel to the land of the Korsars and look for any surviving members of his crew. I wanted to go to Phutra to learn more of the devices of the Mahars, and to gather more of their books, so I could translate the one volume I had appropriated from the wreckage. I also wanted Perry to examine the strange helmet that allowed Mahars to speak with humans in the hopes that real dialogue could take place between humans and Mahars to the benefit of both.

My P-38 was brought back to Sari. It was mostly intact, but its engine would need a lot of work if it were to ever fly again. For the time being, I was stuck five hundred miles below the world I grew up in. Having good friends, and a woman of such unearthly beauty as Ee-la-nah, however, made the situation bearable, though I chafed to know the results of the war that I had left behind.

David Innes brought me to the present, and to the reality of what was in front of me, when he met with us over dinner.

"We must have a victory celebration," he declared. "We have defeated a technologically superior foe, and the dead must be memorialized. Perry is turning some of our rockets into Fourth of July fireworks, and it will give everybody a chance to forget the past rigors that we have had to put forth to defend ourselves. Of course, we must build our forces up to prepare to fight any other foes we encounter than are as clever as the Race, but for now, its time to party."

"I agree," I said, taking Ee-la-nah's hand. "I ask only one boon, Emperor."

"Name it," he said. "You shall have anything in Sari that I can provide."

"I ask that you marry Ee-la-nah and myself," I said, then turned to Ee-la-nah, "that is, if you will do marry me."

She threw her arms around my neck and dragged my lips to hers. "To the man who traveled alone across this world and to another to find me and rescue me, I can deny nothing. My love is yours forever. I am honored to be the wife of one so brave."

"Then we shall make it a wedding ceremony along with a victory celebration," David Innes agreed. "Now, let us continue Ö and say Ö have morals changed so much that you show so little decorum?"

I ignored him, though, lost in the liquid loveliness of lips that had no equal, and drawn inexorably by eyes that seemed to hold boundless wonder.

The End