THREE DAYS later Ted received a radiogram from Peiping, reading as follows:
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Honorable Sir: I avail myself of the privilege of submitting below the result of my poor efforts at deciphering the written characters of the Moon People. The spoken language was, with the exception of a few scattered words which cannot be put together to make sense, wholly unintelligible to me. Here follows my sorry translation: Why have you destroyed Ur? You, the people of Du Gong have thrown to us, the Imperial Government of P’an-ku, mightiest emperor of Ma Gong, the tcha-tsi (meaning unknown to translator) of war. We are greater and wiser than you, and can crush you with ease. You have demonstrated that you are not fit to govern yourselves—that you are a menace to the people of the great Lord Sun, his eight apostles and their children. The Imperial Government of P’an-ku will send a viceroy to rule over you. Submit, and you will live happily, the subjects of P’an-ku. Resist, and you will be destroyed. In my humble and unworthy opinion, the word, “tcha-tsi,” means either some instrument of war or perhaps a challenge to war, and has the same symbolical significance as does the gauntlet in English. Dr. Wu. |
The contents of this message were immediately transmitted to the President of the United States, and he lost no time in calling a council of the Associated Governments of the Earth by radiovisiphone. Ted Dustin was a party to the conference, and assisted in drafting a placatory note to P’an-ku. The note, which was sent to Dr. Wu for translation into the Lunite language, was as follows:
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To the Imperial Government of P’an-ku: Greeting: The Associated Governments of the Earth regret the destruction of Ur, and are willing to do all in their power to make amends. The destruction was unintentional, as the Associated Governments of the Earth were unaware that Ma Gong was inhabited. The Associated Governments of the Earth make full apology for having wronged the people of Ur, and stand willing to pay a reasonable indemnity in treasure, food, raw materials, or manufactured products, but are united in the purpose to resist and retaliate for any attempt at conquest. |
After the note had been drafted and dispatched it was unanimously decided at the meeting that Ted was entitled to the million dollar reward, there being now no longer any doubt that his projectile had struck the moon. The treasurer of the association was, accordingly, ordered to pay him that amount.
It was late in the evening when Ted called Roger into his private office.
“Get that translation from Dr. Wu, yet?” he asked.
“Yes. I had it painted in large white letters on a black placard and mounted on an easel in front of the big disc.”
“Good. We’ll go up now. Everything will be ordered off the air in five minutes, and we’ll try to get it through.”
They took the elevator to the tower room, where the linguists, scientists, and representatives of the associated powers were assembled as before. President Whitmore was not present, however, because of urgent business in Washington. His place was taken by the Secretary of State. Dr. Wu, who was also unable to be present, was represented by Dr. Fang, a Chinese scholar of almost equal repute.
At ten o’clock, the zero hour, Ted promptly pressed the button and began manipulating the dials.
This time he was instantly rewarded by the appearance of the dazzlingly beautiful girl who had faded from his vision on the occasion of his last attempt at communication. She was attended by two armed guards as before, and in addition by a bent, gray-bearded man who wore a richly embroidered robe of dark blue, and sandals.
Both glanced at the writing on the placard which Ted held up. Eagerly watching their faces, he saw that they registered amazement and horror. Wondering what there could be about this pacific message to cause such a reaction, he called Dr. Fang and asked him to write the query: “What is wrong?”
The doctor, a thin, rat-faced Manchu, came forward, but said he did not know the symbols for the words.
The girl, meanwhile, had a scroll and writing brush brought forward by a female attendant. The latter held the scroll aloft so its surface was fully visible, and the girl began rapidly writing two sets of characters thereon. One set was similar to those which had been used in the previous communication. The other was totally unlike it and bore no resemblance to any known earthly characters. Her purpose, however, was quite evident. The two sets of characters were written in alternating perpendicular line side by side, in order that the former language might be used as a key to the latter.
Quick to grasp her idea, Ted called for the photo-record of the message from the Imperial Government of P’an-ku. Beside it, he wrote the English translation, using Roman capital letters for the sake of simplicity. Then beside the placarded note to the Government of P’an-ku, he wrote the original of that note, also in Roman capitals. In addition, he pointed out and distinctly pronounced the English words, one by one.
The girl nodded, smiled, and pointed questioningly at him.
“Ted Dustin,” he said.
She pointed to herself and said:
“Maza an Ma Gong.”
He repeated the name after her, and pointed to the scroll she had written. She was pronouncing and pointing out each word when she was suddenly crowded out as before by the appearance of P’an-ku and his attendants.
The rotund and imperious P’an-ku read the message on the placard, then turned to the old man who stood beside him and smiled. Ted thought there was a trace of a sneer in his smile. He ordered the old fellow to write his reply, then turned and stalked majestically out of the range of vision. The old man held his message aloft for a few moments as if fully aware that it was being recorded. Then he let his arm fall to his side, and the disc became blank.
After supplying Dr. Fang with a set of photo-records of the messages, and dispatching another to Dr. Wu, Ted and Roger went to the private office of the former for a conference.
“It seems to me,” said Ted, after he had his briar going, “that there’s something putrid in Denmark. Did you notice the expression of horror on the faces of the girl and the gray-bearded man when they read our messages?”
“Queer, wasn’t it?” replied Roger. “Must have been something in that message that was quite a shock to them. Wonder what it could have been.”
“That’s precisely what I’ve been wondering—and it has led to a rather unpleasant thought. I wouldn’t mention it to anyone in the world but you—not at present, anyhow but it looks to me as if Dr. Wu may have double crossed us.”
“How?”
“By writing a message of his own in the place of the one we asked him to translate for us.”
“But what message of his own could he possibly have written?”
“That,” said Ted, “is what I propose to try to find out just as soon as I possibly can. Just before we came up here I sent Bevans to Peiping in the 800. He has orders to bring Professor Ederson back with him. We can bank on the professor to shoot square, and it’s quite possible that he can check up on Wu’s message. At any rate, he’s probably the best versed white man in the world on the ancient writings of China and Tibet. Has made a life-time study of them, I’m told.”
“What about the learned Manchu, Dr. Fang?”
“I think he was bluffing. If there’s mischief afoot, you can safely bet he’s in on it, and knows how to play his part. He’s not so ignorant as he pretends to be. Did you notice the expression on the face of the man in the golden armor? He smiled when he read our message, but the smile was half a sneer.”
“It was a mean smile, all right,” agreed Roger. “More like the snarl of an animal than the smile of a human being.”
“I’d rather have a person frown at me than smile that way,” said Ted.
Shortly after midnight a radiogram from Professor Fowler of the Yerkes Observatory arrived. He stated that he had seen five flashes on the moon, coming from the region of the lunar crater Stadius.
In the wee, small hours of the morning, Chicago was shaken by a terrific detonation.