<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></SPAN>CHAPTER III<br/> We "Sink" the "Ground Ships"</h2>
<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Boss Handan</span>, of the Winslows,
a giant of a man, a
two-fisted fighter and a leader of
great sagacity, had been selected
by the council as our Boss
<i>pro tem</i>, and having given the
scatter signal to the council, he
retired to our general headquarters,
which we had established
on Second Mountain a few miles
in the rear of the fighting front
in a deep ravine.</p>
<p>There, in quarters cut far below
the surface, he would observe
every detail of the battle on
the wonderful system of viewplates
our ultrono engineers had
constructed through a series of
relays from ultroscope observation
posts and individual "<i>cameramen</i>."</p>
<p>Two hours before dawn our
long distance <i>scopemen</i> reported
a squadron of "ground ships"
leaving the enemy's disintegrator
wall, and heading rapidly
somewhat to the south of us, toward
the site of the ancient city
of Newark. The ultroscopes could
detect no canopy operation. This
in itself was not significant, for
they were penetrating hills in
their lines of vision, most of
them, which of course blurred
their pictures to a slight extent.
But by now we had a well-equipped
electronoscope division,
with instruments nearly equal to
those of the Hans themselves;
and these could detect no evidence
of <i>dis</i> rays in operation.</p>
<p>Handan appreciated our opportunity
instantly, for no sooner
had the import of the message on
the Bosses' channel become clear
than we heard his personal command
snapped out over the long-gunners'
general channel.</p>
<p>Nine hundred and seventy
long-gunners on the south and
west sides of the city, concealed
in the dark fastnesses of the forests
and hillsides, leaped to their
guns, switched on their dial
lights, and flipped the little lever
combinations on their pieces that
automatically registered them on
the predetermined position of
map section HM-243-839, setting
their magazines for twenty shots,
and pressing their fire buttons.</p>
<p>For what seemed an interminable
instant nothing happened.</p>
<p>Then several miles to the
southeast, an entire section of
the country literally blew up, in
a fiery eruption that shot a mile
into the air. The concussion,
when it reached me, was terrific.
The light was blinding.</p>
<p>And our <i>scopemen</i> reported
the instant annihilation of the
squadron.</p>
<hr />
<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">What</span> happened, of course,
was this; the Hans knew
nothing of our ability to see at
night through our ultroscopes.
Regarding itself as invisible in
the darkness, and believing our
instruments would pick up its
location when its <i>dis</i> rays went
into operation, the squadron
made the fatal error of not turning
on its canopies.</p>
<p>To say that consternation
overwhelmed the Han high command
would be putting it mildly.
Despite their use of code and
other protective expedients, we
picked up enough of their messages
to know that the incident
badly demoralized them.</p>
<p>Their next attempt was made
in daylight. I was aloft in my
swooper at the time, hanging
motionless about a mile up. Below,
the groundships looked like
a number of oval lozenges gliding
across a map, each surrounded
by a circular halo of luminescence
that was its <i>dis</i> ray canopy.</p>
<p>They had nosed up over the
spiny ridge of what once had
been Jersey City, and were moving
across the meadowlands.
There were twenty of them.</p>
<p>Coming to the darker green
that marked the forest on the
"map" below me, they adopted a
wedge formation, and playing
their pencil rays ahead of them,
they began to beam a path for
themselves through the forest.
In my ears sounded the ultrophone
instructions of my executives
to the long-gunners in the
forest, and one by one I heard
the girls report their rapid retirement
with their guns and
other inertron-lightened equipment.
I located several of them
with my scopes, with which I
could, of course, focus through
the leafy screen above them, and
noted with satisfaction the unhurried
speed of their movements.</p>
<p>On ploughed the Han wedge,
while my girls separated before
it and retired to the sides. With
a rapidity much greater than
that of the ships themselves,
the beams penetrated deeper and
deeper into the forest, playing
continuously in the same direction,
literally melting their way
through, as a stream of hot water
might melt its way through a
snow bank.</p>
<p>Then a curious thing happened.
One of the ships near one
wing of the wedge must have
passed over unusually soft
ground, or perhaps some irregularity
in the control of its canopy
generator caused it to dig deeper
into the earth ahead of it, for it
gave a sudden downward lurch,
and on coming up out of it,
swerved a bit to one side, its offense
beam slicing full into the
ship echeloned to the left ahead
of it. That ship, all but a few
plates on one side, instantly vanished
from sight. But the squadron
could not stop. As soon as a
ship stood still, its canopy ray
playing continuously in one spot,
the ground around it was annihilated
to a continuously increasing
depth. A couple of them tried
it, but within a space of seconds,
they had dug such deep holes
around themselves that they had
difficulty in climbing out. Their
commanders, however, had the
foresight to switch off their offense
rays, and so damaged no
more of their comrades.</p>
<hr />
<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">I switched</span> in with my ultrophone
on Boss Handan's channel,
intending to report my observation,
but found that one of
our swooper scouts, who, like
myself, was hanging above the
Hans, was ahead of me. Moreover,
he was reporting a suddenly
developed idea that resulted
in the untimely end of the
Hans' groundship threat.</p>
<p>"Those ships can't climb out
of deep holes, Boss," he was saying
excitedly. "Lay a big barrage
against them—no, not on
them—in front of them—always
in front of them. Pull it back as
they come on. But churn h—l
out of the ground in front of
them! Get the rocketmen to make
a penetrative time rocket. Shoot
it into the ground in front of
them, deep enough to be below
their canopy ray, see, and detonate
under them as they go over
it!"</p>
<p>I heard Handan's roar of exultation
as I switched off again to
order a barrage from my Wyoming
girls. Then I threw my
rocket motor to full speed and
shot off a mile to one side, and
higher, for I knew that soon
there would be a boiling eruption
below.</p>
<p>No smoke interfered with my
view of it, for our atomic explosive
was smokeless in its action.
A line of blinding, flashing
fire appeared in front of the
groundship wedge. The ships
ploughed with calm determination
toward it, but it withdrew
before them, not steadily, but
jerkily intermittent, so that the
ground became a series of gigantic
humps, ridges and shell holes.
Into these the Han ships wallowed,
plunging ponderously yet
not daring to stop while their
protective canopy rays played,
not daring to shut off these active
rays.</p>
<p>One overturned. Our observers
reported it. The result was a
hail of rocket shells directly on
the squadron. These could not
penetrate the canopies of the
other ships, but the one which
had turned turtle was blown to
fragments.</p>
<p>The squadron attempted to
change its course and dodge the
barrier in front of it. But a new
barrier of blazing detonations
and churned earth appeared on
its flanks. In a matter of minutes
it was ringed around, thanks
to the skill of our fire control.</p>
<p>One by one the wallowing
ships plunged into holes from
which they could not extricate
themselves. One by one their canopy
rays were shut off, or the
ships somersaulted off the knolls
on which they perched, as their
canopies melted the ground away
from around them. So one by
one they were destroyed.</p>
<p>Thus the second ground sortie
of the Hans was annihilated.</p>
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