LSH: The Battle For The Universe
By Bruce Wayne
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing then for a while.
The characters are owned by DC Comics and I'm writing this just for the fun of
it.
CHAPTER 10 - DOOM MACHINE
Yet Tazz was still in Antarctica! And still directing his monstrous
tractor tank toward the fleeing figure of Matter-Eater Lad, dashing madly
but hopelessly across the smooth snowfields with no slightest haven in sight.
And Ultra Boy, diving at meteoric speed, had no chance to reach
his doomed companion.
But Jo did see another figure running toward Tenzil and ripping
his parka off -- Bouncing Boy!
Evidently Tazz thought it would be a waste of the Infrared
Beamer's energy to merely shoot at ME Lad. Or perhaps he thought
it would be more fun if he just ran Tenzil over, crushing him under the
giant treads of the tank.
Bouncing Boy was hoping that Tazz was planning on the latter.
Just as the rolling machine caught up to Tenzil, Bouncing Boy inflated
himself, and angled off the Infrared Beamer at incredible speed and
hit Matter-Eater Lad, sending him flying away from the machine. Tenzil
felt as if he had been hit by a 300 pound football lineman, but that had
to feel bettter than being underneath those treads.
Ultra Boy came swooping down in front of Tazz's doom
machine and grabbed one of the enormous spiked treads to stop
the movement of the Infrared Beamer.
He yelled to ME Lad and Bouncing Boy, "You guys get out of
here, I'll slow this thing down!"
Matter-Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy immediately flew away,
keeping out of sight of the machine's huge searchlight beamer. Moments
later, seeing that his buddies were safely out of the way, Ultra Boy let
go and flew off after them.
Some distance away from Tazz, the three Legionnaires who
just cheated death were joined by Saturn Girl and Element Lad for an
impromptu strategy meeting.
Saturn Girl said to Matter-Eater Lad, "I estimate that it was
just three-tenths of second before there was contact between you
and the treads."
"That was a close shave," said Bouncing Boy with only the
slightest tremor in his voice betraying how shaken up he was.
Matter-Eater Lad took a deep breath. "Sorry, Blondie, for
gypping you out of collecting my insurance."
"What insurance?" retorted Imra. "You know quite well no
insurance company would be idiotic enough to insure any of us.
Legionnaires live the most dangerous lives in the universe. Even
Lloyds of London, who have been in business for more than a
thousand years, refused."
Saturn Girl was just chatting to allow Tenzil to regain his
shattered composure. It was not easy for a young man to be snatched
from the jaws of death by a split hairline of time.
"Thanks for the assist, Big Guy," ME Lad said to Bouncing Boy
with a smile. His face then turned into a frown as he got serious. "We've
got to get that outer-space thug now, he's a menace."
"You think?" Imra replied with sarcascm.
Ultra Boy piped up, "You know? Maybe we've been approaching
this thing the wrong way."
"What do you mean, Jo?" asked Element Lad.
"Ever hear of the old soft underbelly deal?" Ultra Boy replied.
Bouncing Boy started to say, "You mean ... ?"
"Yeah. While I was holding back that machine so Tenzil and
Chuck could get away, I looked back and saw that where the drive-
shaft for the treads extends up inside to the engines, it occurred to me
that the bottom may not be as well protected as the compartment where
Tazz sits.
Saturn Girl asked, "You mean if we attack the machine rather than
Tazz, we may be able to stop him?"
"Yeah. We already know that if we dump tons of ice on the machine
nothing will happen. But what if we attack it from the bottom?"
Element Lad smiled. "I've got an idea that it'll stop that thing in its
tracks! Jo, can you dig me a hole I can go into so that thing won't run me
over?"
"Sure, that's not a problem."
"I'll let that thing go right over my head and hit it from the bottom.
We've got nothing to lose," Element Lad explained.
A few minutes later, as Tazz's Infrared Machine was continuing
its journey along the coast of Antarcrica, Ultra Boy quickly dug a grave-
size hole in the ground for Element Lad. The Legionnaires waited in
ambush.
The huge rumbling future tank came to where they were and
the bottom of the juggernaut began passing right over Element Lad's
head. Seconds later, the machine stopped cold. There was a muffled
boom from the machine and it began to collapse.
"Jo!" Saturn Girl screamed. "Go get Jan, he's underneath that
thing!"
Ultra Boy moved quickly and dug an escape tunnel to where
Element was trapped underneath the machine. Both managed to get
out okay with no harm done to them.
"I gave Tazz a hot tip," said Element Lad. "After turning the
bottom of that Beamer to helium, I began turning the insides into
thermite and that makes steel burn like paper. He's probably yelling
for someone to put out the fire right now. Let's go watch the fun."
No less eager than Element Lad to see the results, the
five teenagers flew through the air for a mile, to land near the
Infrared Beamer. It had grounded to a halt and smoke could be
seen coming from its seams. Muffled explosions sounded inside, and
a hole melted in the hull from the thermite could be seen. From the
hole shot a lurid red glow, as a dozen fires burned fiercely.
"It looks like my thermite was like a fuse, setting off various
flammables," chortled Jan. "And here comes the cornered rat himself
out of his tinder box."
Soot-streaked, Tazz came scuttling out of a hatchway down a
ladder that suddenly burned off at the top, tumbling him the rest of the
way into the snow. He stood up dazedly, staggering away from the huge
pyre that his machine had now become.
But then he shrugged, facing the super-powered teens with his
usual aplomb.
"You think you won, eh? But before you destroyed my Infrared
Beamer, I shot a missile down through the ice, to come to rest a mile
below. In that missile's warhead is the heat-current radiator I told you of."
He leered at them.
"In nine days, its temperature charge will have built up to where the
entire Antarctic ice cap melts, flooding the world. It will happen the same
day that the giant comet arrives from space, to deal another shattering
blow. Two of my Earth dooms have been launched, and no power on
Earth, including you, can stop them."
It was true, Saturn Girl knew, Tazz had won round two, after
all.
"But at least you'll die," pronounced Bouncing Boy as he inflated
himself and began bouncing up and down in place. "We'll take you into
custody and you'll await your dooms like everyone else."
"I am without worry," said Tazz evenly. At Bouncing Boy's blank
look, he added, "You fail to remember that I have an invisible force-
shield surrounding me, even now."
"But since then," hissed Element Lad, "Brainiac 5 analyzed your
force-field's likely structure and devised a way for me to change your
shield into ..."
Element Lad pointed his hands at arms-length toward Tazz, and
there was a puff of smoke. Then ... nothing.
"Holy Jumping Hannah!" shrieked Bouncing Boy, eyes wide in
disbelief. "I thought you were kidding. But you did it ... you destroyed
Tazz!" His elation died quickly and a haunted look came into his eyes.
"Of course, we still have two Earth dooms to face, but maybe a team
of the world's best scientists can prevent them. Anyway, we won't have
two other Earth dooms to contend with ..."
"Yes, you will, my fat friend," came a familiar voice.
"Tazz?" choked Bouncing Boy, aghast. "But -- but if he's
dead ...?"
They looked up. Floating down in thin air was an image of
Tazz, shimmering as if cast from a distance. The image spoke: "All you
destroyed was my android double."
"Android double?" echoed Matter-Eater Lad.
"Namely, a biological robot made of synthetic flesh. Naturally,
I could not set off three Earth dooms simultaneously by myself. So I
called for teleportation of my waiting android doubles from my aides
in the future."
Saturn Girl still thought it was a bad dream. "You mean that
android could think, talk, and act like you? That's why I couldn't read
its mind! It wasn't a living thing -- it was a machine!"
"Down to the last tiny item," gloated the Tazz-image. "As for
me, I'm somewhere else on Earth, utterly safe. I'm projecting my long-
distance image and voice electronically to you from thousands of miles
away."
"Then you're either in the South Seas or in the Sahara," conjectured
Bouncing Boy.
"Brilliant," mocked Tazz. "Now that you five have failed to halt
Earth doom number two, may I turn my full attention to the other two
dooms? Good-bye!" And the image blinked out.
"That guy burns me," exploded Ultra Boy. "Wait'll we meet next
time!" he raged. "I'll crown him if it's the last thing I do."
"Simmer down, Jo," admonished Bouncing Boy. "Your shouts
are scaring half the penguins in Antarctica. Come on, let's get back to
the clubhouse. I just hope the other teams do better than we did."
***
Down in the cavern on a South Seas island, at sight of Tazz and
his rumbling Vulcan Machine, Colossal Boy shot himself up to ten-feet,
while Shrinking Violet swiftly shrank to insect size.
As the tiny girl flew near his face, Gim rapidly whispered a plan
to her. "Got it," she murmured, darting away.
Stealthily, Colossal Boy picked up a huge boulder among several
that lay scattered about. Tazz still stood before a huge control board
next to the machine, as if oblivious.
Flexing all his muscles in one mighty heave, Colossal Boy flung
the boulder at the control board.
Tazz turned smilingly. "Rather futile gesture, Tall One," he said,
touching a button on his belt. A hissing dis-ray accurately struck the
boulder in mid-flight, and all that was seen of it was vagrant smoke.
"I knew you were here all the time," came the mocking tones of
the villian. "You and your female companion were monitored the moment
you entered the caves. What now, Big Oaf?"
Colossal Boy was already rushing forward with another huge
boulder sprinting at a speed surprising for his hulk. When Tazz shot forth
his dis-ray, Colossal Boy dodged with trigger-tense agility.
Then he was upon Tazz, the boulder upraised in his hands,
bringing it down with shattering force on his head.
Colossal Boy was startled. He expected Tazz to have his personal
force-shield around him protectively, yet the boulder did not bounce away.
Colossal Boy was even more stunned to see the body of Tazz turn
transparent under the blow and then fade from sight.
"That was amusing," chortled a voice behind Colossal Boy.
Whirling, he saw Tazz, alive and unharmed, coming around the corner
of the giant machine. "It was a little game I purposely played, planting
my three-dimensional image out in the open exposed. It quickly exposed
your presence, eh, big one with the little brain?"
Colossal Boy lunged and drove his fist at the second Tazz, but
this time his blow bounced back from an invisible shell.
"Naturally, I'm protected," gloated Tazz. "Now listen to another
amusing story of how five Legionnaires killed me down in Antarctica."
Tazz related the details of the episode. "And you see," he finished,
"it was only my android double they destroyed. Isn't that hysterical?" he
laughed.
Colossal Boy squinted his eyes, looking Tazz over from head to
foot. "What about you now? Are you another android -- or the real thing?"
"What do you think?" leered Tazz. "We'll leave that as a tantalizing
mystery. I enjoy feeling like the proverbial cat playing with the big mouse
-- a gigantic mouse named ... what do they call you?"
"Colossal Boy,"Gim replied trying to hold back his fury.
"Ah, yes, Colossal Boy! How's the weather up there?" Tazz laughed.
"All right, the joke's on me," growled Gim, exasperated at these
ingenious tricks.
"And the punch line is that I could ray you down on the spot,"
came the grim rejoinder from Tazz, his fingers straying toward his belt.
"Maybe so," admitted Colossal Boy, fine beads of sweat on his
brow. "But tell me one thing first -- I'm asking out of curiosity. Did your
Vulcan Machine start off that string of eruptions of long-dead volcanoes?"
Android or not, Tazz's face shone with sudden pride. "Yes,
Colossal Oaf. And I grant you reprieve until you hear the full story of
Earth doom number three, being launched here in this cave."
Perched nearby in a crevice in the wall, the tiny Shrinking Violet
smiled to herself. It was exactly what she and Colossal Boy had planned,
getting Tazz to boast of his accomplishment. It gave him sadistic satisfaction
to have his Legion opponents know, before they died, what coup he had
pulled.
"The Vulcan Machine," began Tazz, "is a generator of seismic
waves. That is, it creates ground vibrations which travel down through
the Earth's crust to the molten magma lying some twenty-five miles
below."
Colossal Boy nodded in understanding.
"Now, earthquakes, as you know," resumed Tazz, almost as
if he were lecturing a class, "send forth seismic waves as their calling
card. The seismographs of your scientists can pick them up and pin-
point where any earthquake occurs. But what is the cause of earth-
quakes?"
He paused. Gim looked at him but didn't answer.
Tazz let out a long sigh. "They are caused, you fool, by deep-
seated slips of gigantic masses of rock inside the crust, which in turn
are caused by leakage of molten magma through huge cracks."
"Okay," nodded Colossal Boy. "Earthquakes are often the
prelude to volcano eruptions, allowing a stream of molten rock to
work its way up through an ancient weakness in the so-called solid
ground."
"So, you really aren't that stupid, are you?" the villian grinned.
He waved at his rumbling machine.
"So the Vulcan Machine simply sends down high-powered seismic
waves to rupture the crust at key spots. A boiling river of molten lava
rushes up from below and snakes its way to the surface, there to erupt
into the air violently. I touched off the island chain of dead volcanoes.
You saw the result."
"And your aim," guessed Colossal Boy grimly, "Is to set off more
volcanoes, all around Earth?"
"It's just a matter of broadcasting the seismic triggers," agreed Tazz.
"I'm using what would be termed the 'shotgun' method,' scattering the
vibratory 'fuses,' if you will, in all directions, downward through your
planet. Eventually, all the volcanoes on Earth, dead or alive, will erupt
without let-up -- a worldwide salvo that will devastate civilization.
"When?" breathed Colossal Boy, shaken at the mental picture of
tens of thousands of volcanoes blowing their tops all over the world.
"Nine days from now," gloated Tazz, "the giant comet my Mount
Everest ultramagnet pulled down will smash into Earth when the Antarctic
floods of the melting ice cap reach their peak. At that time, the worldwide
volcano barrage will also open up, and three earth-wrecking holocausts
in combination will start to render the Earth extinct."
Tazz turned and poised his finger near his control board. "When
I press that final red button, the seismic broadcast will speed down
through the crust, setting off that geological chain reaction. The Vulcan
Machine has been warming up to its full ultrasonic power. Now it is
ready ...
To be continued ...
By Bruce Wayne
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing then for a while.
The characters are owned by DC Comics and I'm writing this just for the fun of
it.
CHAPTER 10 - DOOM MACHINE
Yet Tazz was still in Antarctica! And still directing his monstrous
tractor tank toward the fleeing figure of Matter-Eater Lad, dashing madly
but hopelessly across the smooth snowfields with no slightest haven in sight.
And Ultra Boy, diving at meteoric speed, had no chance to reach
his doomed companion.
But Jo did see another figure running toward Tenzil and ripping
his parka off -- Bouncing Boy!
Evidently Tazz thought it would be a waste of the Infrared
Beamer's energy to merely shoot at ME Lad. Or perhaps he thought
it would be more fun if he just ran Tenzil over, crushing him under the
giant treads of the tank.
Bouncing Boy was hoping that Tazz was planning on the latter.
Just as the rolling machine caught up to Tenzil, Bouncing Boy inflated
himself, and angled off the Infrared Beamer at incredible speed and
hit Matter-Eater Lad, sending him flying away from the machine. Tenzil
felt as if he had been hit by a 300 pound football lineman, but that had
to feel bettter than being underneath those treads.
Ultra Boy came swooping down in front of Tazz's doom
machine and grabbed one of the enormous spiked treads to stop
the movement of the Infrared Beamer.
He yelled to ME Lad and Bouncing Boy, "You guys get out of
here, I'll slow this thing down!"
Matter-Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy immediately flew away,
keeping out of sight of the machine's huge searchlight beamer. Moments
later, seeing that his buddies were safely out of the way, Ultra Boy let
go and flew off after them.
Some distance away from Tazz, the three Legionnaires who
just cheated death were joined by Saturn Girl and Element Lad for an
impromptu strategy meeting.
Saturn Girl said to Matter-Eater Lad, "I estimate that it was
just three-tenths of second before there was contact between you
and the treads."
"That was a close shave," said Bouncing Boy with only the
slightest tremor in his voice betraying how shaken up he was.
Matter-Eater Lad took a deep breath. "Sorry, Blondie, for
gypping you out of collecting my insurance."
"What insurance?" retorted Imra. "You know quite well no
insurance company would be idiotic enough to insure any of us.
Legionnaires live the most dangerous lives in the universe. Even
Lloyds of London, who have been in business for more than a
thousand years, refused."
Saturn Girl was just chatting to allow Tenzil to regain his
shattered composure. It was not easy for a young man to be snatched
from the jaws of death by a split hairline of time.
"Thanks for the assist, Big Guy," ME Lad said to Bouncing Boy
with a smile. His face then turned into a frown as he got serious. "We've
got to get that outer-space thug now, he's a menace."
"You think?" Imra replied with sarcascm.
Ultra Boy piped up, "You know? Maybe we've been approaching
this thing the wrong way."
"What do you mean, Jo?" asked Element Lad.
"Ever hear of the old soft underbelly deal?" Ultra Boy replied.
Bouncing Boy started to say, "You mean ... ?"
"Yeah. While I was holding back that machine so Tenzil and
Chuck could get away, I looked back and saw that where the drive-
shaft for the treads extends up inside to the engines, it occurred to me
that the bottom may not be as well protected as the compartment where
Tazz sits.
Saturn Girl asked, "You mean if we attack the machine rather than
Tazz, we may be able to stop him?"
"Yeah. We already know that if we dump tons of ice on the machine
nothing will happen. But what if we attack it from the bottom?"
Element Lad smiled. "I've got an idea that it'll stop that thing in its
tracks! Jo, can you dig me a hole I can go into so that thing won't run me
over?"
"Sure, that's not a problem."
"I'll let that thing go right over my head and hit it from the bottom.
We've got nothing to lose," Element Lad explained.
A few minutes later, as Tazz's Infrared Machine was continuing
its journey along the coast of Antarcrica, Ultra Boy quickly dug a grave-
size hole in the ground for Element Lad. The Legionnaires waited in
ambush.
The huge rumbling future tank came to where they were and
the bottom of the juggernaut began passing right over Element Lad's
head. Seconds later, the machine stopped cold. There was a muffled
boom from the machine and it began to collapse.
"Jo!" Saturn Girl screamed. "Go get Jan, he's underneath that
thing!"
Ultra Boy moved quickly and dug an escape tunnel to where
Element was trapped underneath the machine. Both managed to get
out okay with no harm done to them.
"I gave Tazz a hot tip," said Element Lad. "After turning the
bottom of that Beamer to helium, I began turning the insides into
thermite and that makes steel burn like paper. He's probably yelling
for someone to put out the fire right now. Let's go watch the fun."
No less eager than Element Lad to see the results, the
five teenagers flew through the air for a mile, to land near the
Infrared Beamer. It had grounded to a halt and smoke could be
seen coming from its seams. Muffled explosions sounded inside, and
a hole melted in the hull from the thermite could be seen. From the
hole shot a lurid red glow, as a dozen fires burned fiercely.
"It looks like my thermite was like a fuse, setting off various
flammables," chortled Jan. "And here comes the cornered rat himself
out of his tinder box."
Soot-streaked, Tazz came scuttling out of a hatchway down a
ladder that suddenly burned off at the top, tumbling him the rest of the
way into the snow. He stood up dazedly, staggering away from the huge
pyre that his machine had now become.
But then he shrugged, facing the super-powered teens with his
usual aplomb.
"You think you won, eh? But before you destroyed my Infrared
Beamer, I shot a missile down through the ice, to come to rest a mile
below. In that missile's warhead is the heat-current radiator I told you of."
He leered at them.
"In nine days, its temperature charge will have built up to where the
entire Antarctic ice cap melts, flooding the world. It will happen the same
day that the giant comet arrives from space, to deal another shattering
blow. Two of my Earth dooms have been launched, and no power on
Earth, including you, can stop them."
It was true, Saturn Girl knew, Tazz had won round two, after
all.
"But at least you'll die," pronounced Bouncing Boy as he inflated
himself and began bouncing up and down in place. "We'll take you into
custody and you'll await your dooms like everyone else."
"I am without worry," said Tazz evenly. At Bouncing Boy's blank
look, he added, "You fail to remember that I have an invisible force-
shield surrounding me, even now."
"But since then," hissed Element Lad, "Brainiac 5 analyzed your
force-field's likely structure and devised a way for me to change your
shield into ..."
Element Lad pointed his hands at arms-length toward Tazz, and
there was a puff of smoke. Then ... nothing.
"Holy Jumping Hannah!" shrieked Bouncing Boy, eyes wide in
disbelief. "I thought you were kidding. But you did it ... you destroyed
Tazz!" His elation died quickly and a haunted look came into his eyes.
"Of course, we still have two Earth dooms to face, but maybe a team
of the world's best scientists can prevent them. Anyway, we won't have
two other Earth dooms to contend with ..."
"Yes, you will, my fat friend," came a familiar voice.
"Tazz?" choked Bouncing Boy, aghast. "But -- but if he's
dead ...?"
They looked up. Floating down in thin air was an image of
Tazz, shimmering as if cast from a distance. The image spoke: "All you
destroyed was my android double."
"Android double?" echoed Matter-Eater Lad.
"Namely, a biological robot made of synthetic flesh. Naturally,
I could not set off three Earth dooms simultaneously by myself. So I
called for teleportation of my waiting android doubles from my aides
in the future."
Saturn Girl still thought it was a bad dream. "You mean that
android could think, talk, and act like you? That's why I couldn't read
its mind! It wasn't a living thing -- it was a machine!"
"Down to the last tiny item," gloated the Tazz-image. "As for
me, I'm somewhere else on Earth, utterly safe. I'm projecting my long-
distance image and voice electronically to you from thousands of miles
away."
"Then you're either in the South Seas or in the Sahara," conjectured
Bouncing Boy.
"Brilliant," mocked Tazz. "Now that you five have failed to halt
Earth doom number two, may I turn my full attention to the other two
dooms? Good-bye!" And the image blinked out.
"That guy burns me," exploded Ultra Boy. "Wait'll we meet next
time!" he raged. "I'll crown him if it's the last thing I do."
"Simmer down, Jo," admonished Bouncing Boy. "Your shouts
are scaring half the penguins in Antarctica. Come on, let's get back to
the clubhouse. I just hope the other teams do better than we did."
***
Down in the cavern on a South Seas island, at sight of Tazz and
his rumbling Vulcan Machine, Colossal Boy shot himself up to ten-feet,
while Shrinking Violet swiftly shrank to insect size.
As the tiny girl flew near his face, Gim rapidly whispered a plan
to her. "Got it," she murmured, darting away.
Stealthily, Colossal Boy picked up a huge boulder among several
that lay scattered about. Tazz still stood before a huge control board
next to the machine, as if oblivious.
Flexing all his muscles in one mighty heave, Colossal Boy flung
the boulder at the control board.
Tazz turned smilingly. "Rather futile gesture, Tall One," he said,
touching a button on his belt. A hissing dis-ray accurately struck the
boulder in mid-flight, and all that was seen of it was vagrant smoke.
"I knew you were here all the time," came the mocking tones of
the villian. "You and your female companion were monitored the moment
you entered the caves. What now, Big Oaf?"
Colossal Boy was already rushing forward with another huge
boulder sprinting at a speed surprising for his hulk. When Tazz shot forth
his dis-ray, Colossal Boy dodged with trigger-tense agility.
Then he was upon Tazz, the boulder upraised in his hands,
bringing it down with shattering force on his head.
Colossal Boy was startled. He expected Tazz to have his personal
force-shield around him protectively, yet the boulder did not bounce away.
Colossal Boy was even more stunned to see the body of Tazz turn
transparent under the blow and then fade from sight.
"That was amusing," chortled a voice behind Colossal Boy.
Whirling, he saw Tazz, alive and unharmed, coming around the corner
of the giant machine. "It was a little game I purposely played, planting
my three-dimensional image out in the open exposed. It quickly exposed
your presence, eh, big one with the little brain?"
Colossal Boy lunged and drove his fist at the second Tazz, but
this time his blow bounced back from an invisible shell.
"Naturally, I'm protected," gloated Tazz. "Now listen to another
amusing story of how five Legionnaires killed me down in Antarctica."
Tazz related the details of the episode. "And you see," he finished,
"it was only my android double they destroyed. Isn't that hysterical?" he
laughed.
Colossal Boy squinted his eyes, looking Tazz over from head to
foot. "What about you now? Are you another android -- or the real thing?"
"What do you think?" leered Tazz. "We'll leave that as a tantalizing
mystery. I enjoy feeling like the proverbial cat playing with the big mouse
-- a gigantic mouse named ... what do they call you?"
"Colossal Boy,"Gim replied trying to hold back his fury.
"Ah, yes, Colossal Boy! How's the weather up there?" Tazz laughed.
"All right, the joke's on me," growled Gim, exasperated at these
ingenious tricks.
"And the punch line is that I could ray you down on the spot,"
came the grim rejoinder from Tazz, his fingers straying toward his belt.
"Maybe so," admitted Colossal Boy, fine beads of sweat on his
brow. "But tell me one thing first -- I'm asking out of curiosity. Did your
Vulcan Machine start off that string of eruptions of long-dead volcanoes?"
Android or not, Tazz's face shone with sudden pride. "Yes,
Colossal Oaf. And I grant you reprieve until you hear the full story of
Earth doom number three, being launched here in this cave."
Perched nearby in a crevice in the wall, the tiny Shrinking Violet
smiled to herself. It was exactly what she and Colossal Boy had planned,
getting Tazz to boast of his accomplishment. It gave him sadistic satisfaction
to have his Legion opponents know, before they died, what coup he had
pulled.
"The Vulcan Machine," began Tazz, "is a generator of seismic
waves. That is, it creates ground vibrations which travel down through
the Earth's crust to the molten magma lying some twenty-five miles
below."
Colossal Boy nodded in understanding.
"Now, earthquakes, as you know," resumed Tazz, almost as
if he were lecturing a class, "send forth seismic waves as their calling
card. The seismographs of your scientists can pick them up and pin-
point where any earthquake occurs. But what is the cause of earth-
quakes?"
He paused. Gim looked at him but didn't answer.
Tazz let out a long sigh. "They are caused, you fool, by deep-
seated slips of gigantic masses of rock inside the crust, which in turn
are caused by leakage of molten magma through huge cracks."
"Okay," nodded Colossal Boy. "Earthquakes are often the
prelude to volcano eruptions, allowing a stream of molten rock to
work its way up through an ancient weakness in the so-called solid
ground."
"So, you really aren't that stupid, are you?" the villian grinned.
He waved at his rumbling machine.
"So the Vulcan Machine simply sends down high-powered seismic
waves to rupture the crust at key spots. A boiling river of molten lava
rushes up from below and snakes its way to the surface, there to erupt
into the air violently. I touched off the island chain of dead volcanoes.
You saw the result."
"And your aim," guessed Colossal Boy grimly, "Is to set off more
volcanoes, all around Earth?"
"It's just a matter of broadcasting the seismic triggers," agreed Tazz.
"I'm using what would be termed the 'shotgun' method,' scattering the
vibratory 'fuses,' if you will, in all directions, downward through your
planet. Eventually, all the volcanoes on Earth, dead or alive, will erupt
without let-up -- a worldwide salvo that will devastate civilization.
"When?" breathed Colossal Boy, shaken at the mental picture of
tens of thousands of volcanoes blowing their tops all over the world.
"Nine days from now," gloated Tazz, "the giant comet my Mount
Everest ultramagnet pulled down will smash into Earth when the Antarctic
floods of the melting ice cap reach their peak. At that time, the worldwide
volcano barrage will also open up, and three earth-wrecking holocausts
in combination will start to render the Earth extinct."
Tazz turned and poised his finger near his control board. "When
I press that final red button, the seismic broadcast will speed down
through the crust, setting off that geological chain reaction. The Vulcan
Machine has been warming up to its full ultrasonic power. Now it is
ready ...
To be continued ...