Robert became aware that the Sphere had settled too close to the ground for safety in case of further firing from the hostile artillery.
“Better raise her another thousand, Taggert,” he called, turning to the latter, who was operating the machinery.
“Just what I was trying to do, old man, but she doesn’t respond.”
A swift examination proved Robert’s fears—that their reserve of power had been virtually exhausted by the tube! The speed of the gyrostats was perceptibly slackening. The Sphere was sinking!
Feverishly they turned to the engine which drove the dynamo. With this running, enough current soon would be generated to lift the Sphere out of danger. It was then that the extent of their calamity was discovered. The engine stubbornly refused to start, for one of those mysterious reasons to which engines are addicted. It persistently defied their combined efforts to diagnose the trouble.
In order to avoid crashing upon the plain, now less than a thousand feet below, Robert swung the disk upright and opened the shutters from its entire face. Even with its weakened power, unaided by the dying current, it would be almost sufficient to balance the Sphere’s weight, as long as the gyrostats were turning slowly. Thus the crash might be averted, but at the same time it was impossible to utilize any side pull of the disk to carry them beyond the enemy’s lines. They were facing capture—perhaps death!
Finding that each was in the other’s way, Taggert, who had a knowledge of engines, continued to tinker with it while Robert looked on from a window, where he kept an eye also on the plain below.
The Sphere continued to settle slowly, though they knew not what moment the gyrostats might stop, allowing them to crash down upon the plain. With each hundred feet of descent their hope grew stronger; but that they would fall into the enemy’s hands was now inevitable, for they were sinking into the very center of the camp.
Off to the south the sounds of fighting had ceased. Stretcher bearers were bringing in the wounded from that direction. Robert wondered dully how long it would be before he and Taggert would fall into the hands of the invaders.
Curiously enough, the Martians below were equally perturbed at the approach of the Sphere. Having witnessed its terrible destructive power, they felt absolutely at its mercy, and feared even to train a gun on it for fear that they would be wiped out immediately in retaliation. So far they did not suspect that the Sphere was not descending at the will of its occupants.