But otherwise it was wonderfully like a drone bee. Van Emmon was
strongly reminded of what he had once viewed under a powerful lens. The
fragile semitransparent wings, the misshapen legs, and even the jointed
body with its scale-like segments, all were carefully duplicated on a
large scale. Imagine a bee thirty feet long!
At first the geologist was puzzled to find that it carried a pair of
many-jointed antennae. He could not see how any intelligent being would
make use of them; they were continually waving about, much as bees wave
theirs. Evidently these were the loose objects he had already noted.
"Now," he wondered, "why in thunder did the builders go to so much
trouble for the sake of mere realism?"
Then he saw that the antennae served a very real purpose. There was no
doubt about it; they were wireless antennae!
For presently the newcomer, who so far had not shown himself at any
point on his machine, sent out a message which was read as quickly as it
was received by Van Emmon's agent, and as unconsciously translated:
"Number Eight Hundred Four, you are wanted on Plot Seventeen."
Whereupon Van Emmon's unknown assistant replied at once:
"Very well, Superior."
It was done by means of an extremely faint humming device, reminding the
geologist of certain wireless apparata he had heard. Not a word was
actually spoken by either Sanusian.
Van Emmon kept a close watch upon the conning tower on the other
machine. The sun was shining upon it in such a fashion that its gleam
made inspection very difficult. Once he fancied that he could make out a
short, compact figure within the "eye"; but he could not be sure. The
glass, or whatever it was, reflected everything within range.
Was the airman a quadruped? Did he sit or stand upright, like a man? Or
did he use all four limbs, animal-fashion? Van Emmon had to admit that
he could not tell; no wonder he didn't guess the truth.
Shortly after receiving the summons, the geologist's agent changed his
direction slightly; and within ten minutes the machine was passing over
a large grain field. On the far edge was a row of trees, and it was
toward this that the Sanusian proceeded to volplane, presently coming to
another nausea-producing stop. Once more Van Emmon was temporarily
helpless.
When he could look again, he saw that the machine had landed upon a
steep slope, this time with its nose pointing upward. Far above was what
looked like a cave, with a growth of some queer, black grass on its
upper rim. The craft commenced to move upward, over a smooth, dark tan
surface.
In half a minute the machine had reached the top of the slope, and the
geologist looked eagerly for what might lie within the cave. He was
disappointed; it was not a cave at all. Instead, another brown slope, or
rather a bulging precipice, occupied this depression.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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