Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from "Astounding Stories", January, 1932. Extensive research did not reveal any evidence that theU. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. 

[Illustration: _His clutching hands closed on something small andhard. _]

The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds

By Francis Flagg

[Sidenote: Little did Prof. Reubens suspect what his atom-tamperingwould set loose upon the world. ]

Talbot had been working that day, far up in the Catalinas, looking oversome mining prospects for his company, and was returning to theMountain View Hotel in Oracle when, from the mouth of an abandonedshaft some distance back of that town, he saw a strange object emerge. 

"Hello, " he said to Manuel, his young Mexican assistant, "what thedevil can that be?"

Manuel crossed himself swiftly. 

"Dios!" he exclaimed, "but it is a queer bird, seņor. "

Queer, it certainly was, and of a species Talbot had never before laideyes on. The bird stood on the crumbling rim of the mining shaft andregarded him with golden eyes. Its body was as large as that of abuzzard, and its head had a flat, reptilian look, unpleasant to see. Nor was that the only odd thing. The feathers glittered metallically, like blued copper, and a streak of glistening silver outlined bothwings. 

Marveling greatly, and deciding that the bird must be some rare kindescaped from a zoo, or a stray from tropical lands much further south, Talbot advanced cautiously, but the bird viewed his approach withunconcern. Ten feet from it he stopped uneasily. The strange fowl'sintent look, its utter immobility, somewhat disconcerted him. 

"Look out, seņor, " warned Manuel. 

Involuntarily, Talbot stepped back. If he had possessed a rifle hewould have shot the bird, but neither Manuel nor himself was armed. Suddenly--he had looked away for a moment--the bird was gone. Clutchinga short miner's pick-ax, and a little ashamed of his momentarytimidity, he strode to the edge of the abandoned shaft and peered down. There was nothing to see; only rotting joists of wood, crumbling earthfor a few feet, and then darkness. 

He pondered for a moment. This was the old Wiley claim. He knew itwell. The shaft went down for over two hundred feet, and there wereseveral lateral workings, one of which tunneled back into the hills fora considerable distance. The mine had been a bonanza back in the dayswhen Oracle boomed, but the last ore had been taken out in 1905, andfor twenty-seven years it had lain deserted. Manuel came up beside himand leaned over. 

"What is that?" he questioned. 

Talbot heard it himself, a faint rumbling sound, like the rhythmicthrob of machinery. Mystified, he gazed blankly at Manuel. Of course itwas impossible. What could functioning machinery be doing at the bottomof an abandoned hole in the ground? And where there were no signs ofhuman activity to account for the phenomenon? A more forsaken lookingplace it would be hard to imagine. Not that the surrounding countrywasn't ruggedly beautiful and grand; the hills were covered withlive-oak, yucca grass, chulla, manzanita, and starred with the whiteblossoms of wild thistle. But this locality was remote from humanhabitation, and lonely. 

Could it be, Talbot wondered, the strange bird making that noise? Orperhaps some animal? The noise sounded like nothing any creature, furred or feathered, could make, but, of course, that must be theexplanation. However, it would be dark within the hour, with Oraclestill two miles distant, so he turned reluctantly away, Manuelthwacking the burros from the grazing they had found. But that was notto be the end of the odd experience. Just before the trail swung overthe next rise, Talbot glanced back. There, perching on the rim of theabandoned mining shaft, were not one but two of the strange birds. Asif cognizant of his backward glance, they napped their gleaming, metallic wings, although they did not rise, and gave voice to whatcould only be their natural harsh cries, measured and, somehow, sinister. 

"_Toc-toc, toc-toc. _"

Talbot went to bed determined to investigate the old Wiley claim thenext day, but in the morning an urgent telegram called him and Manuelto Phoenix, and so the matter was necessarily postponed. Moreover, onmature reflection, he decided that there was nothing much toinvestigate. The days went by, the matter slipped his mind, and he hadalmost forgotten the incident. 

It was an Indian who first brought news of the jungle to Oracle. Hisname was John Redpath and he wasn't the average person's idea of anIndian at all. He wore store clothes and a wide-brimmed hat, and spokeEnglish with the colloquial ease of one whose native language it was. It was ten o'clock in the morning, the hour when people gathered at thelocal store and post-office to gossip and get their mail, when he camedriving into town in his Ford, his terrified wife and three childrencrowded into the back seat. 

"What's the matter, John?" asked Silby, the constable. 

"Matter?" said Redpath. "I'll tell you what's the matter. "

He held the attention of the crowd which now began flocking around him. "You know me, Silby; I'm not easily frightened; but what's happened atmy place has me scared stiff. "

He pulled out a handkerchief and mopped his brow. 

"When we went to bed last night, everything looked as usual; but thismorning.... "

He paused. 

"Something over night had grown up in my pasture. Don't ask me what itis. The whole hillside was filled with it. I went to the pasture tomilk my goats--that's some distance from the house and over a rise; youknow how rugged my land is--and there was the stuff, acres of it, twenty, thirty feet tall, like--like nothing I had ever seen before. And Silby"--his voice was suddenly low--"I could see it growing. "

At this remarkable statement, everyone in sound of his voice gaped withastonishment. Had it been any other Indian they would have said he wasdrunk--but not John Redpath. He didn't drink. 

"Growing?" echoed Silby stupidly. 

"Yes. The damn stuff was growing. But it wasn't that which stampeded meout of there. It was the globe. "

"The globe!" said Silby, more mystified than ever. 

"It was floating over the growing stuff, like a black balloon. Justover my place the balloon began to sift down a shower of pebbles. Likebeans, they were; seeds, rather; for when they hit the ground theystarted to sprout. "

"Sprout?" The constable was capable of nothing more than an echo. 

"I'm telling you the truth, " continued Redpath. "Incredibly fast. I hadbarely time to crank up the car and get out of there. I never wouldhave done it if the strange growth hadn't left the way clear from thegarage to the road. Silby, I had the devil of a time getting the wifeand kids out of the house. When I looked back after going a quarter ofa mile the house had disappeared under a tangled mass. "

There was no time for anyone to question John Redpath further. Even ashe finished speaking a large automobile dashed up and out tumbled awell-dressed and portly red-faced stranger. 

"What the devil's the matter with the road above here? Funniest thing Iever saw. The road to Mount Lemmon's blocked. My family, " he saidinconsequentially, "is at Mount Lemmon for the summer and I want to getthrough to them. "

Blocked! The crowd stared at him wonderingly. John Redpath threw in hisclutch. "So long, " he said. "I've a brother in Tucson, and I'm going tohis place until this blows over. "

As he left Oracle, John Redpath noticed several dark globes driftingdown on it from the hills. 

The first inkling the outside world had of the terrible tragedy thatwas happening at Oracle came over the phone to Tucson while JohnRedpath was still en route to that city. 

"Hello, hello! Is this the police station? Silby speaking. Silby, townconstable at Oracle. For God's sake, send us help! We're beingattacked. Yes, attacked from the air. By strange aircraft, roundglobes, discharging--oh, I don't know what it is; only it grows when ithits the earth. Yes, grows. Oracle is hemmed in. And there are thebirds--b-i-r-d-s, birds----"

There was a stifled cry, the voice suddenly ceased, and the wire wentdead. 

"My God!" said the chief of police of Tucson, "somebody's raving. " Helost no time in communicating with the sheriff's office and sending outhis men. They soon returned, white-faced and shaken. 

"Chief, " said the officer in charge of the party, "you know where theroad to Oracle switches off the main highway? Well, it's impassable, covered with stuff a hundred feet high. "

The chief stared. "Are you crazy?"

"No. Listen. It's the queerest growth you ever saw. Not like vegetationat all. More like twisted metal.... "

But now the city began to seethe with excitement. Farmers and theirfamilies flocked in from the Seep Springs district, and from Jayhnes, telling weird tales of drifting globes and encroaching jungle. TheSouthern Pacific announced that traffic northward was disrupted. Extrasappeared on the streets with shrieking headlines. Everything was inconfusion. 

A flyer from the local airport flew over Oracle and announced on hisreturn that he could see no signs of the town, that its immediatevicinity was buried under an incredibly tall and tangled mass ofvegetation. "From the air it looks like giant stalks of spaghetti, twisted, fantastic, " was his description. He went on to say that henoticed quite a few drifting globes and large birds with black, glistening wings, but these offered no hindrance to his flight. 

Now the wires hummed with the startling news. All the world wasinformed of the tragedy. The great cities of the nation stood aghast. An aroused Washington dispatched orders for the aerial forces of thecountry to proceed to Arizona without delay. The governor of Arizonamobilized the state militia. All border patrol officers proceeded tothe area affected. And yet in the face of what was happening they werepowerless to do a thing. 

At two o'clock of the day following the wiping out of Oracle, the firstblack globes approached Tucson. They floated down from the north, skirting the granite ridges and foothills of the Catalinas, and weremet with a withering hail of lead from anti-aircraft guns, and burst, scattering wide their contents. When some three hours later the firstsquadron of the air fleet came to earth on the landing field a fewmiles south of the city, the northern environs of Tucson, all the areathe other side of Speedway, and running east and west as far as the eyecould see, was a monstrous jungle a hundred or more feet tall--andstill growing. 

Terrified residents fled before the uncanny invasion. People congestedthe streets. Thousands fled from the city in automobiles, and thousandsof others thronged the railroad station and bus-line offices seekingfor transportation. Rumors ran from lip to lip that Russia wasattacking the United States with a newly invented and deadly method ofwarfare; that it wasn't Russia but Japan, China, England, Germany, acoalition of European and Asiatic powers. 

Frantically, the city officials wired railroad companies to send inemergency trains. The mayor appealed to the citizens to be quiet andorderly, not to give way to panic, that everything was being done toinsure their safety. Hastily deputized bodies of men were set topatrolling streets and guarding property. Later, martial law wasestablished. The south side of Speedway rapidly assumed the appearanceof an armed camp. At the landing field Flight Commander Burns refueledhis ships and interviewed the flyer who had flown over Oracle. Thatworthy shook his head. 

"You're going out to fight, Commander, " he said, "but God knows what. So far we have been unable to detect any human agency back of thoseglobes. They just drift in, irrespective of how the wind is blowing. Sofar our only defense has been to shoot them down, but that does littlegood; it only helps to broadcast their seed. Then, too, the globes shotdown have never been examined. Why? Because where they hit a junglesprings up. Sometimes they burst of their own accord. One or two ofthem got by us in the darkness last night, despite our searchlights, and overwhelmed a company of National Guards. "

The flight commander was puzzled. 

"Look here, " he said, "those globes don't just materialize out of thinair. There must be a base from which they operate. Undoubtedly an enemyis lurking in those mountains. " He got up decisively. "If it is humanlypossible to locate and destroy that enemy, we shall do it. "

Flying in perfect formation, the bombing squadron clove the air. Looking down, the observers could see the gigantic and mysteriousjungle which covered many square miles of country. Like sinuous coilsof spaghetti, it looked, and also curiously like vast up-pointedgirders of steel and iron. The rays of the late afternoon sun glintedon this jungle and threw back spears of intense light. Over the ironridges of the Catalinas the fleet swept at an elevation of severalthousand feet. Westward, numerous huge globes could be seen driftingsouth. The commander signaled a half dozen of his ships to pursue andshoot them down. 

In the mountains themselves, there was surprisingly little of theuncanny vegetation. Mile after mile of billowing hills were quartered, but without anything of a suspicious nature being noted. Here and therethe observers saw signs of life. Men and women waved at them fromisolated homesteads and shacks. At Mount Lemmon the summer colonistsappeared unharmed, but in such rugged country it was impossible tothink of landing. Oracle, and for a dozen miles around its vicinity, was deserted. 

Though the commander searched the landscape thoroughly with hisglasses, he could detect the headquarters of no enemies; and yet theexistence of the drifting globes would seem to presuppose a sizablebase from which they operated. Mystified, he nevertheless subjected theOracle area to a thorough bombing, and it was while engaged in doing sothat he and his men observed a startling phenomenon. 

High in the heavens, seemingly out of nothing, the mysterious globesgrew. The aviators stared, rubbed their eyes in amazement, doubted thetruth of what they saw. Their commander recollected his own words, "Those globes don't just materialize out of thin air. " But thatactually seemed to be what they were doing. Out of empty space theyleaped, appearing first as black spots, and in a moment swelling totheir huge proportions. 

One pilot made the mistake of ramming a globe, which burst, and hehurtled to earth in a shower of seed, seed which seemed to root andgrow and cover his craft with a mass of foliage even as it fell. Horrified, ammunition and explosives exhausted, the amazed commanderordered his ships back to Tucson. What he had to tell caused asensation. 

"No, " he said, finishing his report to the high military official whohad arrived with federal forces, "I saw nothing--aside from theglobes--that could possibly account for the attack. Nothing. "

But none the less the attack went on. Though hundreds of planes scouredthe sky, though great guns bellowed day and night and thousands ofsoldiers, state and federal, were under arms, still the incredibleglobes continued to advance, still more and more of the countrysidecame under the sway of the nightmarish jungle. And this losing battlewas not waged without loss of human life. Sometimes bodies of artillerywere cut off by globes getting beyond their lines in the darkness andhemming them in. Then they had literally to hack their way out orperish; and hundreds of them perished. One company sergeant told of athrilling race with three globes. 

"It was a close thing, " he said, scratching his head, "and only a thirdof us made it. "

Fear gripped the hearts of the most courageous of men. It was terrifyingand nerve-racking to face such an _unhuman_ foe--weird, drifting globesand invading jungles whose very source was shrouded in mystery. Againstthis enemy no weapons seemed to prevail. All the paraphernalia ofmodern warfare was proving useless. And looking at each other withwhite faces--not alone in Arizona, but in New York, Chicago, LosAngeles--men asked themselves these questions, and the newspapers posedthem:

 "What if this thing can't be stopped?"

 "What if it keeps on and on and invades every city and state?"

 "It is only starting now, but what will it be like a month from now, a year?"

The whole nation awoke to a realization of its danger. The Administrationat Washington solemnly addressed itself to the capitals of the world. 

 "If some power, jealous of the greatness of America, has perfected a new and barbarous weapon of warfare, and without due warning and declaration of hostilities has launched it against us, not only do we denounce such uncivilized procedure, but demand that such a power speak out and reveal to us and the world who our enemy is. "

But the powers of the world, as one, united in disclaiming any handin the monstrous attack being made on the United States. As for thatattack, it proceeded inexorably. On the fourth day Tucson was evacuated. Then Winkleman awoke one morning to find that the drifting globes hadreached the river. The town was abandoned. California mobilized citizenforces in cooperation with Nevada. The great physicist Miller was saidto be frantically at work on a chemical designed to destroy thegigantic growths, specimens of which had been sent him. Such was thecondition of affairs when, at Washington, Milton Baxter, the youngstudent, told his incredible story to a still more incredulous Senate. 

The Senate had been sitting in anxious session for five days, and waslittle inclined to give ear to the stories of cranks. Fortunately forthe world, young Baxter came of an influential family and had taken theprecaution of having himself introduced by two prominent financiers, who demanded that he be heard. 

"Gentlemen, " he said earnestly, "contrary to current opinion, Americais not being assailed by a foreign power. No! Listen to me a moment andI shall tell you what is attacking America. "

He paused and held the assemblage with compelling eyes. 

"But first let me explain how I know what I am going to tell you. I wasin London when I read of what is occurring in Arizona. Before the wirewent dead on him, didn't the unfortunate constable of Oracle saysomething about birds?"

The senators were silent. "Yes, " said a press correspondent at length. "If I remember correctly, he said, 'And there are the birds--b-i-r-d-s, birds. '"

"Well, " exclaimed Senator Huffy, "the man was pretty well excited andhis words may have been misunderstood. What the devil have birds to dowith those globes and jungles?"

"More than you think, " replied Baxter. "Listen!" He fixed theirattention with uplifted hand. "The thing I have to reveal is of suchparamount importance that I must not be interrupted. You must bear withme while I go back some months and even years in time to make myselfunderstood. 

"You all remember the mysterious disappearance of Professor Reubens. Yes, I see that you do. It caused a sensation. He was the foremostscientist in the country--it would not be exaggerating too much to sayin the world. His name was not as well known among the masses as thatof Miller and Dean; in fact, outside of an exclusive circle it wasn'tknown at all, but ask any scientist about Reubens. He was a tall, dourman of sixty, with Scotch blood in his veins, and was content to teacha class in a college because of the leisure it afforded him for his ownresearch work. That was at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

"The faculty of the college was proud to have him on its staff andprovided him with a wooden building back of the campus, for a privatelaboratory and workshop. I understand that the Rockefeller Institutecontributed funds towards Professor Reubens' experiments, but I am notcertain. 

"At any rate he had a wonderfully well equipped place. I was a pupil atthe University and attended his class in physics. A strong friendshipgrew up between us. How can I explain that friendship? I was not aparticularly brilliant student, but he had few friends and perhaps myboyish admiration pleased him. I think, too, that he was lonely, heart-hungry for affection. His wife was dead, and his own boy.... ButI won't go into that. 

"Suffice it to say that I believe he bestowed on me some of theaffection he had felt for his dead son. Indeed I am sure he did. Bethat as it may, I often visited him in his laboratory and watched, fascinated, as he pored over some of his intricate apparatus. In avague way, I knew that he was seeking to delve more deeply into theatom. 

"'Before Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope, ' the Professor once said, 'who ever dreamed of the life in a drop of water? What is needed now isa super-microscope to view the atom. '

"The idea thrilled me. 

"'Do you believe, sir, that an instrument will ever be invented thatwill do that?'

"'Yes. Why not? I am working on some such device myself. Of course thewhole thing has to be radically different. The present, method ofdeducing the atom by indirection is very unsatisfactory. We can knownothing for certain until direct observation is possible. The atomictheory that likens the atom to our solar system, with planets revolvinground a central nucleus, is very interesting. But I shall never becontent, for one, until I can see such an atomic system in operation. '

"Now I had every admiration for the capacity and genius of my teacher, but I couldn't forebear exclaiming:

"'Is that possible?'

"'Of course it's possible, ' he cried irritably. 'Do you think I shouldbe pursuing my experiments if I didn't think it possible? Onlynumbskulls think anything impossible!'

"I felt rather hurt at his retort and a certain coolness sprang upbetween us. The summer holidays came and I went away without biddinghim good-by. But returning for the new semester, my first act was tohurry to the laboratory. He greeted me as if there had never been anydifference between us. 

"'Come, ' he cried; 'you must see what I have accomplished. It ismarvelous, marvelous. '

"In his workshop stood a mechanism perhaps three feet square and fourfeet high. It was made of polished steel and looked not unlike anEdison music box. 

"'You are the first I have shown it to, ' he said excitedly. 'Here, lookinto this. '

"Stooping over the top of the box I peered into the eye-pieceindicated. It was so fashioned that it fitted the contour of the facesnugly. 

"'Now hold steady, ' warned the Professor. 'This machine makes quite anoise, but it won't harm you at all. '

"I sensed that he was fingering and arranging dials and levers on theside of the contrivance. Suddenly an engine in the box began to throbwith a steady rhythm. This gradually increased in tempo until thevibration of it shook the room. 

"'Don't move, ' shouted the Professor. 

"At first I could see nothing. Everything was intensely dark. Then thedarkness began to clarify. Or rather I should say it seemed as if thedarkness increased to such a pitch that it became--oh, I can't describeit! But of a sudden I had the sensation of looking into the utterbleakness and desolation of interstellar space. Coldness, emptiness--that was the feeling. And in this coldness and emptinessflamed a distant sun, around which twelve darker bodies the size ofpeas revolved. They revolved in various ellipses. And far off--millionsof light years away (the thought came to me involuntarily at thetime)--I could glimpse infinitesimal specks of light, a myriad of them. With a cry I jerked back my head. 

"'That, ' shouted the Professor in my ear, 'was an atomic universe. '

"It never entered my head to doubt him. The realness, the vividness, the overwhelming loneliness and vastness of the sight I had seen--yes, and the suggestion of cosmic grandeur and aloofness that wasconveyed--banished any other feeling but that of belief. 

"'Inside that box, ' said Professor Reubens quietly, 'and directlyunderneath the special crystal-ray medium I have perfected, is a pieceof matter no larger than a pin-head. But viewed through the magnifyingmedium of the crystal-ray that insignificant piece of matter becomes asvast and as empty as all space, and in that space you saw--an atomicsystem. '

"An atomic system! Imagine my emotions. The tremendousness of theassertion took away my breath. I could only seize the Professor's handand hold to it tightly. 

"'Softly, my boy, softly, ' he said, smiling at my emotion. 'What youhave seen is but the least part of the invention. There is more to itthan that. '

"'More?'

"'Yes. Did you think I would be content with merely viewing at adistance? No. Consider that revolving round a central nucleus similarto our sun are twelve planets, any one of which may be inhabited byintelligent creatures. '

"I stared at him dumbly. 

"'You mean--'

"'Why not? Size is only relative. Besides in this case I candemonstrate. Please look again. '

"Not without trepidation, I did as he bade. Once more I saw the blackemptiness of atomic space, saw the blazing nucleus with its whirlingsatellites. Above the roaring noise of the machine came ProfessorReubens' voice. 'I am now intensifying the magnifying medium andfocusing it on one of the planets you see. The magnifying crystal-rayis mounted on a revolving device which follows this particular planetin its orbit. Now ... Now.... '

"I gazed, enthralled. Only one atomic planet--the size of a pea andseemingly motionless in space--now lay in my field of vision. And thisplanet began to grow, to expand, until beneath my staring eyes itlooked like the full moon in all its glory. 

"'I am gradually increasing the magnifying power of the crystal-ray, 'came the voice of the Professor. 

"The huge mass of the planet filled the sub-atomic sky. My handsgripped the rim of the box with excitement. On its surface began toform continents, seas. Good God! was all this really materializing froma speck of matter under the lens of a super-microscope? I was lookingdown from an immense height upon an ever clarifying panorama. Mountainsbegan to unfold, plains, and suddenly beneath me appeared a mightycity. I was too far away to see it distinctly, but it was no city suchas we have on earth. And yet it was magnificent; it was like gazing ata strange civilization. 

"Dimly I could see great machines laboring and sending forth glowingstreamers of light. Strange buildings rose. It was all bizarre, bewildering, unbelievably weird. What creatures dwelt in this place? Istrained my eyes, strove to press forward, and in that very moment thethings at which I gazed seemed to rise swiftly to meet my descendinghead. The illusion was that of plunging earthward at breakneck speed. With a stifled cry, I recoiled, rubbed my blinking eyes, and foundmyself staring stupidly into the face of Professor Reubens. He shut offthe machine and regarded me thoughtfully. 

"'In that atomic universe, on a planet swinging round a sub-atomic sun, the all of which lies somewhere in a speck of our matter, intelligentcreatures dwell and have created a great machine civilization. AndBaxter, ' he leaned forward and fixed me with eyes that gleamed fromunder heavy brows, 'not only has my super-atomic-microscope revealedsomewhat of that world and its marvels to human vision, but it hasopened up another, a more wonderful possibility. '

"He did not tell me what this wonderful possibility was, and a fewminutes later I left the laboratory, intending to return after a lateclass. But a telegram from Phoenix was at my rooms, calling me home. Myfather was seriously ill. It was June before he recovered his health. Consequently I had to forego college until the next season. 

"'Old Reubens is going dotty, ' said one of my classmates to me. Ratherdisturbed, I sought him out. I saw that there were dark circles ofsleeplessness under his eyes and that his face had grown thinner. Somewhat diffidently I questioned him about his experiments. Heanswered slowly:

"'You will recollect my telling you that the super-atomic-microscopehad opened up another wonderful possibility?'

"I nodded, sharply curious now. 

"'Look. '

"He led the way into his workshop. The super-atomic-microscope, Inoticed, had been altered almost out of recognition. It is hopeless forme to attempt describing those changes, but midway along one side ofits length projected a flat surface like a desk, with a largefunnel-shaped device resting on it. The big end of this funnel pointedtowards a square screen set against the wall, a curious screensuperimposed on what appeared to be a background of frosted glass. 

"'This, ' said the Professor, laying one hand on the funnel andindicating the screen with the other, 'is part of the arrangement withwhich I have established communication with the world in the atom. 

"'No, ' he said, rightly interpreting my exclamation, 'I am not crazy. For months I have been exchanging messages with the inhabitants of thatworld. You know the wave and corpuscular theories of light? Both arecorrect, but in a higher synthesis--But I won't go into that. Sufficeit to say that I broke through the seemingly insuperable barrierhemming in the atomic world and made myself known. But I see that youstill doubt my assertion. Very well, I will give you a demonstration. Keep your eyes on the screen--so----'

"Adjusting what seemed a radio headpiece to my ears, he seated himselfat a complicated control-board. Motors purred, lights flashed, everyfilament of the screen became alive with strange fires. The frostedglass melted into an infinity of rose-colored distance. Far off, in theexact center of this rosy distance appeared a black spot. Despite theheadpiece, I could hear the Professor talking to himself, manipulatingdials and levers. The black spot grew, it advanced, it took on form andsubstance; and then I stared, I gasped, for suddenly I was gazing intoa vast laboratory, but depicted on a miniature scale. 

"But it wasn't this laboratory which riveted my attention. No. It wasthe unexpected creature that perched in the midst of it and seemed tolook into my face with unwinking eyes of gold set in a flat reptilianhead. This creature moved; its feathers gleamed metallically; I saw itsbill open and shut. Distinctly through the ear-phones came a harshsound, a sound I can only describe by the words _toc-toc, toc-toc_. Then, just as the picture had appeared, it faded, the lights went out, the purring of the motors ceased. 

"'Yes, ' said the Professor, stepping to my side and removing theheadpiece, 'the inhabitants of the sub-atomic planet are birds. '

"I could only stare at him dumbly. 

"'I see that astounds you. You are thinking that they lack hands andother characteristics of the _genus homo_. But perhaps certainfaculties of manipulation take their place. At any rate those birds areintelligent beings; in some respects, further advanced in science thanare we ourselves. Perhaps it would be more exact to say that theirscientific investigations and achievements have been along slightlydifferent lines. If such messages I sent them had come to our worldfrom another planet or dimension, how readily they might have beenmisconstrued, ridiculed or ignored. ' The Professor shrugged hisshoulders. 'But the beings in this sub-atomic world interpreted mycommunications without difficulty. 

"In no time we were conversing with one another through means of asimplified code. I was soon given to understand that their scientistsand philosophers had long recognized the fact that their universe wasbut an atom in an immeasurably greater dimension of existence; yes, andhad long been trying to establish contact with it. ' The Professor'svoice fell. 'And not that alone: they were eager to cooperate with mein perfecting a method of passing from their world to ours!

"'Yes, ' he cried, 'much of what I have accomplished has been undertheir advice and guidance; and they on their part have labored; untilnow'--his eyes suddenly blazed into my fascinated face--'until now, after months of intensive work and experiment, success is nigh, and anyday may see the door opened and one of them come through!'

"Gentlemen!" cried Milton Baxter, "what more is there to say? Istaggered from Professor Reubens' laboratory that afternoon, my head ina whirl. That was on a Monday. 

"'Come back Thursday, ' he said. 

"But as you know, Professor Reubens disappeared on a Wednesday nightbefore; and stranger still, his machines disappeared with him. In hislaboratory were signs of a struggle, and bloodstains were found. Thepolice suspected me of a guilty knowledge of his whereabouts, in shortof having made away with my friend. When I told somewhat of theexperiments he had been engaged in, spoke of the missing inventions, they thought I was lying. Horrified at the suspicion leveled at myself, I finally left Tucson and went abroad. Months passed; and during allthose months I pondered the mystery of the Professor's fate, and thefate of his machines. But my fevered brain could offer no solutionuntil I read of what was happening in Arizona; then, then.... "

Milton Baxter leaned forward, his voice broke. 

"Then, " he cried, "then I understood! Professor Reubens had succeededin his last experiment. He had opened the door to earth for the birdintelligences from the atom and they had come through and slain him andspirited away his machines and established them in a secret place!

"God help us, " cried Milton Baxter, "there can be but one conclusion todraw. They are waging war against us with their own hideous methods ofwarfare; they have set out to conquer earth!"

Such was the amazing story Milton Baxter told the Senate, but that bodyplaced little credence in it. In times of stress and disaster cranksand men of vivid imaginations and little mental stability inevitablyspring up. But the Washington correspondents wired the story to theirpapers and the Associated Press broadcast it to the four winds. 

Talbot had just returned to Phoenix from New Mexico. He had been out oftouch with civilization and newspapers and it was with a feeling ofstunned amazement that he learned of the evacuation of Tucson andWinkleman and the wiping out of Oracle. Reading Milton Baxter'sincredible story he leapt to his feet with an oath. Toc-toc! Why, thatwas the sound the strange birds had uttered in the hills back ofOracle. And there was the noise of machinery coming from the old shaft. 

Full of excitement he lost no time in seeking an interview with themilitary commander whose headquarters were located in Phoenix andrelated to him what Manuel and himself had witnessed and heard that dayat the abandoned mine. Manuel corroborated his tale. The commander wasmore than troubled and doubtful. 

"God knows we cannot afford to pass up an opportunity of wiping out theenemy. If you will indicate on a map where the old shaft is we willbomb it from the air. "

But Talbot shook his head. 

"Your planes would have a tough job hitting a spot as small as thatfrom the air. Besides, a direct hit might only close up the shaft andnot destroy the workings underground. If the enemy be the creaturesMilton Baxter says they are, what is to prevent them from digging theirway out and resuming the attack?"

"Then we will land troops in there somehow and overwhelm them with----"

Talbot interrupted. "Pardon me, General, but the enemy would have nodifficulty in spotting such a maneuver. What chance would your soldiershave against a shower of jungle seed? You would only be sending them todestruction. No, the only way is for someone familiar with those oldunderground diggings to enter them, locate the birds and the machinesand blow them up. "

"But who----"

"Myself. Listen. This is the plan. About five years ago my companymined for copper and other ores about a half mile above the Wileyclaim. I was in charge of operations. That is how I know the ground sowell. One of our northern leads broke through into a tunnel of theabandoned mine. When copper prices were shot to hell in the depressionof 1930 we quit taking out ore; but when I went through the placeeighteen months ago it was still possible to crawl from one mine toanother. Of course earth and rock may have fallen since then, but Idon't believe the way is yet blocked. If I were dropped in thatvicinity at night with another man and the necessary tools andexplosives.... "

The general thought swiftly. 

"An auto-gyroscope could land you all right. There's one here now. Butwhat about the second man to accompany you?"

Manuel said quickly, "I'm going with the boss. "

"You, Manuel, " Talbot said roughly. "Don't be a fool. If anythingshould happen to me--well, I've lived my life; but you're only a kid. "

Manuel's face set stubbornly. "An experienced mining man you need, isit not? In case there should be difficulties. And I am experienced. Besides, seņores, " he said simply, "my wife and child are somewhere inthose mountains ... Above Oracle.... "

Talbot gripped his hand in quick sympathy. "All right, Manuel; come ifyou like. "

A moonless sky hung above them as they swung over the dark andjungle-engulfed deserted city of Tucson, a sky blazing with the clarityof desert stars, and to the south and west shot through with the beamsof great searchlights. Flying at a lofty altitude to avoid contact withdrifting globes or betrayal of their coming with no lights showingaboard their craft save those carefully screened and focused on theinstrument board, it was hard to realize that the fate of America, perhaps of the world, hung on the efforts of two puny individuals. 

Everything seemed unreal, ghost-like, and suddenly the strangeness ofit all came over Talbot and he felt afraid. The noiseless engine madescarcely a sound; the distant rumble of gunfire sounded like low andmuttering thunder. They had come by way of Tucson so as to pick up aten-gallon tube of concentrated explosive gas at the military camp inthe Tucson mountains. 

"This gas, " the general had assured them, "has been secretly developedby the chemical branch of the War Department and is more powerful thanTNT or nitro-glycerin. It is odorless, harmless to breathe and explodedby a wireless-radio device. "

He had showed them how to manipulate the radio device, and explainedthat in the metal tube was a tiny chamber from which gas could notescape, and a receiving-detonating cap. "If you can introduce the tubeinto the underground galleries where you suspect the enemy'sheadquarters to be, allow the contents to escape for ten minutes, and amile distant you can blow the mine and all in it to destruction. Andyou needn't be afraid of anything escaping alive, " he had added grimly. 

Talbot thought of his words as the dark and silent world slid by. Heglanced at the luminous dial of his wrist-watch. Eleven-fifteen. Themoon rose at eleven-twenty-four. He studied the map. High over MountLemmon the craft soared. He touched the army pilot's arm. "All right, "he said, "throttle her down. " Their speed decreased. "Lower. "

Swiftly they sank, until the dark bulk of hills and trees lay blacklybeneath; so near as to seem within the touch of a hand. Though hestrained his ears, no alien sound came wafting upward. "Keep circlinghere, " he directed the pilot. "The moon'll be up in a minute and thenwe can be sure of where we are. " The pilot nodded. He was a phlegmaticyoung man. Not once during the trip had he uttered a word. 

The east glowed as if with red fire. Many a time before had Talbotwatched the moon rise, but never under stranger circumstances. Now thenight was illuminated with mellow glory. "Hit the nail on the head, " hewhispered. "Do you see that spot over there? To the left, yes. Can youland us there?"

Without a word the pilot swung for the clearance. It was a close thing, requiring delicate maneuvering, and only an auto-gyroscope could havemade it without crashing. Hurriedly Manuel and Talbot unloaded theirgear. 

"All right, " said Talbot to the pilot. "No need to wait for us. If weare successful, we'll send out the wireless signal agreed on, and if wearen't.... " He shrugged his shoulders. "But tell the General to be sureand allow us the time stipulated on before undertaking another attack. "

Standing there on the bleak hillside, watching the auto-gyroscope runahead for a few yards and then take the air, Talbot experienced afeeling of desolation. Now he and Manuel were alone, cut off from theirown kind by barriers of impregnable jungle. And yet on that lonelyhillside there were no signs of an enemy. For a moment he wondered ifhe weren't asleep, dreaming; if he wouldn't soon awake to find that allthis was nothing but a nightmare. 

But Manuel gathering up the tools aroused him from such thoughts. Notwithout difficulty were the necessary things conveyed to the abandonedmine back of the old Wiley claim. Their course lay along the bottom ofa dry creek, over a ridge, and so to the shaft half-way down the sideof a hill. A second trip had to be made to bring the gas tube. 

It was two o'clock in the morning when Manuel stood at the foot of thefour-hundred-foot hole and signaled up that the air was good. Talbotlowered the tools to him, and the gas container, and lastly went downhimself. As already stated, Talbot had explored the undergroundworkings of the mine not eighteen months before. Picking out the maintunnel and keeping a close watch for rattlers with electric torches, the two men went cautiously ahead. In places earth had fallen and hadto be cleared away, but the formation for the most part was a soft rockand shale. They went slowly, for fear of starting slides. 

At a spot taking an abrupt turn--and it was here that the newer tunnelhad broken through into the older gallery of the Wiley claim--Manuelcaught swiftly at Talbot's arm. "What is that?" To straining ears camethe unmistakable throb of machinery. They snapped off their torches andcrouched in Stygian darkness. Not a ray of light was to be seen. Talbotknew that in following the ore stratum, the Wiley gallery took severaltwists. Laboriously he and Manuel advanced with the gas tube. It wasstiflingly close. He counted the turns, one, two, three. Now the roarof machinery was a steady reverberation that shook the tunnel. Hewhispered to Manuel:

"Go back and wait for me at the mouth of the shaft. Only one of us mustrisk taking the gas tube any nearer the enemy. Here, take my watch. Itis now two-forty-five. If I don't rejoin you by four o'clock touch offthe explosive. "

Manuel started to protest. "Do as I say, " commanded Talbot. "The fateof the world is at stake. Give me an hour; but no longer--remember!"

Left alone in the clammy darkness Talbot wiped the sweat from his face. Grabbing one end of the rope sling in which the tube was fastened, hepulled it ahead. There was a certain amount of unavoidable noise; rockrattled, earth fell; but he reasoned shrewdly enough that the roar ofthe machinery would drown this. Beyond a crevice created by a cave-inhe saw an intense light play weirdly. He squirmed through the creviceand pulled the tube after him. 

His mind reconstructed the mine ahead. He recollected that when thelead of this mine had petered out, the owners had begun to sink theshaft deeper into the earth before abandoning the mine. This meant thatthe foot of the shaft, with the addition of an encroaching twenty feetof the southern gallery, was deeper by some several yards than thefloor of the tunnel in which he stood. Here was the logical place toset the gas tube, nose pointed ahead. 

With trembling fingers he loosened the screwed-in nose of the tube witha wrench. A slight hiss told of the deadly gas's escape. It wouldinevitably flow towards the shaft, drawn by the slight suction ofmachinery, following the easiest direction of expansion. Now Talbot'swork was done, and if he had immediately retreated all would have beenwell, but the weird light fascinated him. Here he was, one man in thebowels of earth pitting his strength, his ingenuity against somethingincredible, unbelievable. Beings from an atomic universe, from a worldburied within the atom; beings attacking his own earth with uncannymethods of destruction. Oh, it was impossible, absurd, but he must lookat them, he must see. 

Scarcely daring to breathe, he squirmed, he crawled, and suddenly hesaw. He was looking down into an underground crypt flooded withbrilliant light. That crypt had been altered out of all recognition, its greater expanse of roof supported with massive pillars, the lightscreened away from the shaft. But it was not all this which riveted hisstaring eyes. No--it was the machines; strange, twisted things, glowing, pulsing, and--in the light of his knowledge--menacing andsinister. 

Talbot gasped. Almost at once he observed the birds, twelve of them, two standing in front of what appeared to be a great square of polishedcrystal, wearing metal caps and goggles, heads cocked forward intently. The others also perched in front of odd machines like graven images. That was the uncanny thing about the birds: they appeared to be doingnothing. Only the occasional jerk of a head, the filming of a hardgolden eye, gave them a semblance of life. But, none the less, therecould be no mistaking the fact that they were the guiding, thedirecting geniuses back of all the pulsing, throbbing mechanisms. 

Half mesmerized by the sight, forgetful of time and place, Talbotleaned forward in awe. There was a great funnel, a shallow cabinet, andout of the cabinet poured an intense reddish beam, and out of thebeam.... 

It was a minute before he understood, and then comprehension came tohim. Those dark spots shooting from the cabinet, no larger than peas, were the mysterious drifting globes whose scattered seed was fastcovering miles of Arizonian soil with impenetrable jungle. From auniverse in a piece of matter no larger than a pin-head, from asub-atomic world, the weapons of an alien intelligence were ruthlesslybeing hurled against man, to conquer, to destroy him. 

And now it was made plain to him why the drifting globes had seemed tomaterialize out of thin air. Being infinitesimally small parts of anatom, these globes were released from the cabinet and soon assumed thesize of peas; they were guided across the crypt, up the old Wileyshaft, and high in the air, somewhere in space, enlarged to immenseproportions. How? Talbot could not guess. By some manipulation ofscience and machinery beyond that of earth. 

Engrossed, he moved an inch forward, craned his head, and in thatmoment it happened. Beneath his weight a section of earth and rockcrumbled, cracked, slid forward, and he plunged headlong to the floorbelow, striking his skull with stunning force!

He came to himself, staring up into the dour-looking face of a tallman. He recollected pitching forward among the birds and the machines. But the birds and the machines had disappeared and he was lying in anodd room without windows but lit with a soft radiance. Bewildered, hesat up. 

"Who are you?" he demanded. 

The man's beard looked straggly, untrimmed. 

"My name, " he said, "is Reubens--Professor Reubens. "

Professor Reubens! Talbot gasped. "Not the scientist who disappeared?"

"Yes--as you've disappeared. "

"What!"

"Through the machine. "

It was a moment before Talbot understood. "You mean.... "

"That you are a prisoner in a sub-atomic world. "

Talbot now realized with startling clearness what had happened to him. When he had fallen into the crypt the weird birds had directly placedhim in the cabinet and transported him to their own world. In otherwords, he and Reubens and everything he saw about him were infinitelysmall creatures in an atom-world. He and the Professor were trapped!And when Manuel blew up the only means of return.... 

"How long have I been here?" Talbot asked hoarsely. 

"Five minutes at the most. "

Then, at the shortest, the way to earth would exist twenty minuteslonger. Twenty minutes.... Incoherently he told Reubens of what hadhappened in Arizona since his disappearance, of his own misadventure. 

"Aye, " said the Professor, "I knew as much. Nor do these inhuman birdsintend stopping with the use of seed globes. More devilish weapons thanthat they plan using against earth. Oh, they are fiends, fiends!Already have they wiped out civilization and intelligent life on otherplanets in this sub-atomic system and introduced their own. "

He stopped, shuddering. "Nor is it to be wondered at that no birds wereseen after the first attack on Oracle, " he went on. "They do not fightin person, as do we ourselves, but through proxy, directing machinesfrom centers of control. In powers of destruction, they areimmeasurably ahead of man. Thank God you discovered their headquartersin the deserted mine and have spread the gas for its destruction. Butthe rage of the birds at such a defeat will be terrible. They willundoubtedly torture me in an effort to make me reveal the basis of myinvention so that they can resume the attack on earth. So we mustescape. "

"But how--where?"

"I have thought that out. It is one chance in a thousand. Undoubtedlywe will be killed. But that is better than being tortured or living inthis world. Look. "

He held up a pearl-handled pen-knife. "The birds are smart, all right, but they don't quite understand clothes, wearing none themselves. Theyfound your revolver, but overlooked this. "

"Of what good is it?"

"To cut our way out of this cell. "

Talbot laughed incredulously. The walls of the room were smooth, andhard to the touch. "They're as solid as concrete, " he said. 

"But cut like cheese under a steel blade. I found that out. Watch. "

To Talbot's amazement the point of the penknife sank into the wall andin a moment a section of it was gouged out. The professor said tensely, "I've been months in this place, been taken back and forth, and knowthe lay of the land. This room is in a great building that houses thelaboratory from which the attack against earth is being launched. Wouldyou believe it, only the great scientist who picked up my messages andhelped me perfect my invention, and a few of his assistants, areconcerned in that attack, and they will be congregated at the machines. Follow me, and whatever I command, do it promptly. "

The Professor had been working feverishly as he spoke, and now he andTalbot crawled through the hole he had made in the wall and foundthemselves in a long gloomy corridor. "Quick, " Reubens whispered. 

They darted down the passageway. Talbot had only time to see that thegleaming sides of the corridor were beveled and etched with strangedesigns, before they came to its end and where a curious device like ahuge five-pointed star was revolving noiselessly, half sunk in a greathole in the floor. Without hesitation the Professor stepped onto one ofthe flat-tipped star-points as it came level with where they stood andTalbot did the same. Up, turned the star-point, to a dizzy height, andover, but the tip swung on ball-bearings, maintaining its passengers ina perpendicular position, and from its highest point of elevationdescended to another floor far below, where they disembarked. 

The huge revolving star-wheel was nothing but an ingenious movablestaircase. But the Professor gave Talbot no time to marvel, nor did thelatter try to linger. The corridor below was wider, more richly beveledand carved, and the statue of an heroic bird stood perched in thecenter of it. The lighting was soft and mellow, but Talbot couldperceive no windows or globes. Suddenly from an open doorway hopped abird. There was no chance to avoid it. Its wings were spread and fromits parted bill came a harsh cry, "Toc-toc, toc-toc!"

Knife in one hand, the Professor hurled himself forward and caught thebird in the grip of the other. Instantly from the doorway sprang amonstrous mechanism on stilts, flexible tentacles of metal reaching outand wrapping themselves around the Professor. Talbot leaped to theProfessor's assistance. The mechanism fought like a live thing. In vainhe strove to wrench the tentacles free of the Professor. One of themlashed out and took him by the thighs in a crushing grasp. But theProfessor had the bird by the throat. Both of his hands were free. Back, he forced its head, back. The mechanism seemed to falter in theattack, as if bewildered. Across the exposed throat the Professor drewthe gleaming blade. Flesh, tendons and arteries gave, blood spurted, and in the same moment the tentacles fell away from Talbot and theProfessor and withdrew with a dull clang. The Professor released thebird and it dropped to the floor. 

"It is the birds' mentality that directs those mechanisms, " said theProfessor, pointing to the now harmless machine. 

Apparently the brief but terrific battle had passed unnoticed, no alarmbeing given. Now the corridor twisted. The two men came to where a deepwell was sunk in the floor. To one side a star-wheel revolved smoothly. Out of the depths came the steady throb of machinery. Cautiouslypeering over the edge, Talbot saw a sight he would never forget. 

He did not need the Professor's whispered words to tell him that herewas the source of the deadly attack being waged against earth. Motionless birds perched in front of bizarre machines; lights waxed andwaned; a cannon-like device, or funnel, shot a column of light into ascreen, and through the column of light moved a steady procession ofround objects the size of plums. 

"The drifting globes being shot through to earth, " whispered theProfessor, "and our only hope. Listen, the birds are intent on theirmachines, their backs to the star-wheel. We will descend, throwourselves into the column of light, seize hold of a globe, and.... "

He did not need to finish. Talbot understood in a flash. They would bedragged to their own world by the weapons hurled at it. 

"Of course that column of light may kill us, " went on the Professortensely. "Or we may be blown up on the other side. Your Mexican friendhasn't touched off that explosive gas yet, because--But we've not amoment to lose. Follow me. "

The tip of the star-wheel went up, over, descended. The blood wasroaring in Talbot's ears. "Now!" hissed the Professor. "Now!" Togetherthey rushed forward. Talbot's foot slipped. The heart leaped into histhroat. He never remembered reaching the column of light; but suddenlyhe was in it, blinded, dazed. His clutching hands closed on somethingsmall and hard. 

The laboratory was a pinwheel going round and round. Through a sea ofdarkness he floated. A distant glow grew, expanded, became the crypt inthe old Wiley mine. A moment he glimpsed the gleaming pillars, thepulsing machines, the startled birds, and then--Oh, it was incredible, impossible, but the dark, crumbling walls of the old shaft were aroundhim; the globe in his hand no larger than a pea was lifting him towardslife and safety. 

He wanted to shout, to sing, but even as the pale stars fell athwarthis upturned face, even as the cool mountain air smote his feveredbrow, the dark earth erupted beneath his feet, a whirlwind of smoke andwind beat and buffeted him, and, in the midst of an overwhelming noise, consciousness was blotted out!

It was bright daylight when Talbot regained his senses. Propped againsta great rock the Professor regarded him whimsically. Reubens lookedbadly bruised and battered; one arm hung loosely at his side. Talbot'shead ached and he knew that a leg was broken. 

"Yes, " said the Professor, "we got through just in time--a few secondsbefore the explosive gas was touched off. Thank God, my invention hasbeen destroyed. The world is safe. "

Yes, the world was safe. Talbot sank back with a sigh of relief. Overhead a white plane was dipping toward earth.