Chapter 39
A repeating hammer sound on metal woke Biggles, he was barely conscious and unable to move. Water that had trickled into the beached rocket and flooded the cabin, nearly immersing him, it was up to his chin. He could not raise himself higher he felt weak all over; drowning would commence in a couple of minutes.
Whatever hold on consciousness he had it was also weak, only the constant hammering from outside kept him awake. A panel seemed to tear inward from its rivets as the pounding intensified.
Biggles' memory also seemed to blur, he wasn't sure the rocket took him back to Earth. It could have crashed on some alien planet.
The hammered panel fell into the fuselage just as the water level reached Biggles lower lip. A giant claw reached through the new hole. The wounded pilot's consciousness faded.
A lifting sensation allowed Biggles to waken with blurred vision. He was free of the water and the rocket. A huge bulk above him was where his ascension was taking him and a dark mouth opened up to receive him. Biggles tried to roll off what he figured to be a giant's hand, but he was too weak as was his consciousness, he lost it again.
An Indian voice softly stirred him to wakefulness, the burred vision began to clear and see that he was in a bed on the Luftpirat and Lindo was tending to his recovery. A grin came over the crewman's face as Biggles' head lifted from the pillow. He could move now.
"You have been through quite an ordeal." Said Lindo. "That rocket crashed near where we and Gregor could get to you."
"Gregor is here?" Asked Biggles surprised that he could talk after he felt like his facial organs had been twisted by the flight.
"Yes he escaped and immediately honed in on the beached rocket and got you out of there just in time. We got there just after, and placed you on a lift to the Luftpirat."
Biggles tried to contain a giggle, for a few faint moments he believed that he had crashed on planet Venus; a clawed monster had broken into the cabin and handed him over to a Venusian giant to be devoured.
His arms and legs could move though they were sluggish and a touch sore.
"We know how to treat G-force induced physical trauma." Said Lindo. "You will recover your full faculties soon.
"Your clothes are here." He indicated the plush couch with his apparel sitting neatly folded. "I suggest you wait for complete recovery, however should you choose to put them on now, good luck to you."
Lindo left the room.
The sore and dizzy pilot slowly climbed out of bed and awkwardly put his clothes on. The process was slow, but he was impatient to catch up on what happened since he was forced into the rocket. His legs could ambulate but each step had to be judged for balance. Once he opened the door Biggles trudged along the deck. Gregor was there and embraced his friend fondly.
"Thank you, Gregor." Said Biggles. "Thank you for getting me out of that tin can. I nearly drowned."
Gregor articulated his limbs positively and crawled alongside Biggles to the control room. Captain Brieux was talking on the radio, the crew were operating a strange machine that seemed to create mist.
"We are making our own cloud." Explained Lindo. "It will hide us when we fly over the island."
Biggles noted that this synthetic mist had totally enveloped the airship and no view of the outside was possible except through the scope.
A crewman was aligning the lens to a fixed spot on the island; Brieux was relaying directions from Mors, who was still on the island with Lord Greystoke.
"We have it." Announced the crewman.
What Biggles and the crew saw on the screen was a hellish vision of the homunculi birthing pits in what looked like a bloody field where the monstrous fiends crawl out of to begin their lives of grisly destruction and military horror.
Brieux addressed the crew. "That is the source of the homunculi everyone. Captain Mors wants it destroyed immediately. Once we float over that point we will sprinkle our stockpile of Venusian toxin on that field and put an end to this abomination."
A report from the upper watch told that the cloud had fully covered the Luftpirat. Mors radioed in his orders to proceed. Brieux commanded the airship to fine tune its course over the island and to slowly go forward so it won't leave its cloud behind.
When it lurched forward Biggles felt his insides protest at the sudden motion, he was not ready for action yet. Lindo motioned him to speak into the radio. Gregor helped the wobbly pilot take those few awkward steps to the speaker.
"Ahoy there Biggles." Came Mors voice. "How was your rocket trip?"
"Terrible." Replied Biggles. "It nearly crushed the life out of me."
"How are you now?"
"My recovery is not complete. I can barely stand."
"You'll be right as rain soon. Have you found out what we are doing?"
"You are going to destroy the homunculi birthing pits."
"Is that fine with you? Remember M gave you command."
"Those creatures are abominations and Totenkopf, their creator, is insane. He has a God complex and the scientific instrumentation to facilitate it."
"You've met him?"
"Yes and he has to be stopped. Destroying the source of the homunculi will be a good start."
"Very well then. Captain Brieux, you can proceed."
Mors voice cut out. The airship covered by a drifting synthetic cloud floated over the island. Biggles could make out, through the scope, some elephant birds in the forest clearings. The ship's course kept it clear of the volcano, they were flying low enough to crash into it. Brieux's steering was professional requiring only subtle corrections to compensate for sidewards drifting.
The large eucalyptus tree appeared in the scope, after a minor adjustment in position, the Luftpirat was directly above the birthing pits. All activity in the abominable field seemed as per usual. No one seemed to notice the clouded ship above them. Wranglers helped a newborn homunculus out of its freshly torn open pit and lead it to the conditioning centre.
"That should be the last abomination born." Said Biggles.
Mors voice transmitted on the radio. "You are in position. Now drop the payload."
"What about you." Asked Biggles. "Are you clear?"
"Both Greystoke and I are covered. You can proceed."
Captain Brieux gave the order to drop the Venusian toxin. A mass of sparkling dust fell from the open belly of the Luftpirat. The crew turned their attention to the the large scope screen. As the substance fell onto the field, the wranglers must have thought it was gold dust; they even opened the hands to collect some. Then it hit them, they suddenly grasped their throats as if some invisible entity was choking the life out of them. Each exposed wrangler keeled over in a seizure, some even clutched their chests as other important bodily functions began to close down, It was all over for them in a few seconds, they stopped moving.
As the dust settled in the birthing pits one homunculus tore through his membrane and roared out a protest as the toxin was destroying a life that had just begun. His vocal organs soon shut down as did his breathing, he threshed about until his other organs shut down.
A general agitation erupted in all birthing pits as they became saturated with the toxin. All membranes turned sickly black; most of these were pushed up from within as the developing homunculi desperately wanted out; some tore through, whether ready or not they went into seizures the moment they saw the light of day.
Two more wranglers entered the field to check on the commotion only to fall victim to falling toxin.
The settled dust ate its way into the nutrient feeding pipes and sent its lethal power into the umbilical cords of all birthing pits. The raging occupants heaved and growled in protest until the whole field became motioless and silent.
"That's it." Exalted Biggles. "The homunculi are dead."
"Not so fast." Blared Mors voice on the radio. "We have only stopped them making more for a while. I want you to redirect the scope eighty degrees starboard."
Lindo began moving the scope lens; whatever Mors saw through his spyglass they struggled to focus on. A report from the upper lookout peering through the cloud cover with a periscope gave more precise co-ordinates. The super zeppelin was the point of interest; it was docked at the conditioning centre and it was receiving passengers. The hydraulic gangplank did not lead to the gondola; it lead into the huge gasbag. All figures crossing the gangplank crawled along the zeppelin's hull and attached themselves to the large bulk.
This boarding went on for a long time; the homunculi moved unquestioningly along the surface of the gasbag to their designated position and maintained a firm grip on the hull. Some even crawled on top of other boarders to form a second layer of mass passengers. There was not one case of a homunculus losing his grip or footing and falling to his death.
The entire surface of the super zeppelin will soon be covered twofold except for the under carriage. The homunculi would not be able to maintain their grip with the full force of gravity. Despite this limitation, the number of homunculi being transported amounted to several thousand.
"We see it Captain." Said Biggles into the radio. "So this is how they bring so many to the Front."
"Yes, the Front." Uttered Mors. "If we don't do something, those homunculi will terrorise the Western Front in a matter of days."
Brieux spoke up. "Captain, do you want us to ram it."
Mors was silent for a few seconds then issued his orders. "No. This requires something more profound. Lindo, have Izzy buttons prepare the heat ray."
A general gasp emanated from the bridge crew upon hearing this.
"Yes Captain." Answered Lindo.
Biggles spoke into the radio. "Captain, I take it that you are going to destroy the super zeppelin?"
"Why yes Biggles. And every one of those abominations it's carrying will go with it. The Luftpirat hasn't been noticed yet; we can do this with little effort. If that is OK with you?"
"It is."
Biggles watched the last of the numerous homunculi attach themselves to the zeppelin hull and the hydraulic ganglank withdrew. Izzy buttons set up a portable generator on the bridge, it gave the impression with its buzzing of have a lot of energy contained within it. Lindo attached a hose to the ouput jack. The camera like mount at the end of the hose interested Biggles most; it had an array of parabolic mirrors where the lens would've been. The pilot's memories of what he saw in museums was tweaked.
"That's the Martian heat ray." Biggles yelled.
"Why yes." Answered Izzy. "The very same heat ray the Martians wielded when they invaded Earth twenty years ago. Many Physicists have tried to reproduce it; Totenkopf himself no doubt tried. Captain Mors is the only one to get one working and it is only to be used to destroy the machinery of war."
The super zeppelin began to turn around its course was clearly going to be north across the Indian Ocean to the Western Front in Europe. Homonculi was not its only cargo; dangling from cables connected to its undercarriage were four more of those powerful tanks
"I never thought I would be glad to see a functioning heat ray." Said Biggles. "This super zeppelin must not deliver those horrors to the Front."
Huge propellers drove the large airship away from the island, soon it will be too fast to catch, but Mors ordered the crew to wait for it to be over the ocean. Lindo donned heat proof gloves and aimed the alien weapon, he would be shooting through the cloud cover, but he was confident.
When the target cleared the island Mors transmitted the command to fire. A bright flash spat from the mirrored case. A destructive force hit the super zeppelins undercarriage and tore through the hull. Blaugas erupted in flame which shot out to immerse half the gondola in fire.
Lindo adjusted his aim upwards for a second shot. Another bright flash spoke and this time the top part of the airship was hit. The heat ray instantly turned the clinging homunculi in its path to fire then it bit into the gasbag and there was an almighty boom as the hydrogen bags exploded. Fire lept out of the hull and consumed many attached homunculi. There would have been much growling as many of the synthetic monsters were mollified before losing their grip and falling as they were burning into the water far below.
The heat ray did not stop there it moved along the entire length of the airship to produce a series of major conflagrations. Lindo knew Totenkopf had invented safety devices to prevent these conflagrations from spreading, so the heat ray must destroy each hydrogen bag directly, and it did.
Of the many homunculi who noticed the fiery explosions coming their way only a few saw sense in jumping clear of the doomed airship, those that did would either be too late, be enveloped by the orange heat before falling clear or actually get clear only to begin a fall they would not survive. Many homunculi just growled and threshed their arms about until the fire engulfed them.
Two crewman managed to parachute out of the gondola before the ultimate final explosion that destroyed everything. The four dangling tanks dropped into the ocean as did the two parachutists who then had the flaming framework of the super zeppelin fall on top of them.
Lindo turned off the heat ray and bid Izzy to pack it away. Mors transmitted his well done message. A general feeling of victory flooded the bridge crew, even Gregor articulated his limbs with exaltation.
Biggles turned to his friend. "Sadly for us Gregor it is not over."
"Why do you say that?" Asked Lindo.
"We have to get Totenopf. As soon as I am better, Gregor and I are going back in."