The Great Hydration

The Analane set off cautiously between the rows of stands, carefully inspecting everything around them. At nearly every stand a hawker boasted of the death-dealing devices that were on show there, irrespective of whether anyone was nearby to listen. On offer were flingers of various types and sizes, their innovation lying in the ingenuity of the flenchers they projected, or else in their range or speed. There was little of interest there, and Hrityu and Kurwer passed them by. They passed by, too, rolling war wagons to be hurled at an enemy spitting darts in all directions, multiple flingers trailing nets which would then contract, choking the life out of an enemy, and engines for raising such a wind that an enemy was faced with a lethal sandblast.

They were in search of something invincible. The Crome had to be defeated without question. And with them they had brought the means to pay for it: one of the greatest inventions ever—as great a step forward, possibly, as the radium motor itself.

Deeper into the pavilion stands were stocked with sample mercenary warriors, both humanoid and lizard. The Analane took no notice of these. Mercenaries could not be trusted, being liable to turn on their paymasters if they found themselves on the losing side.

New methods of war lay at the far end of the pavilion, and this was what the Analane were pinning their hopes on. They gazed bewildered at a jumble of battle machines of all shapes and sizes, until a blue-skinned lizard a head taller than Hrityu accosted them.

“You are here to buy?”

Hrityu nodded. The lizard’s reply was a hiss. “Then witness our ferocious invention in action.”

At his gesture his helpers set to pushing a large, heavy block of a dark material in place. Then there was aimed at it a weapon resembling some sort of giant flinger, but instead of a shaft there was what looked like a barrel or cylinder.

Two lizards withdrew to safety. A third squatted behind the weapon, and pulled a lever.

A radium motor had all the while been humming in the depths of the contraption. Now, with a rapid ratcheting noise, the barrel of the weapon rotated, hurling an incredible stream of flenchers.

The onslaught seemed endless. Before their eyes the target block was chewed to bits.

“This machine is the product of much mechanical skill,” the lizard hissed smoothly. “It will annihilate a whole company of warriors. Consequently its price is high.”

Stunned by the demonstration, Kurwer became excited. Hrityu, however, cautioned him to silence.

They passed on, and were accosted by a sand-coloured Grishi who spoke to them gruffly. “Curiosity-seekers are not welcome among those who innovate and invent. Is what you can offer of comparable value to what you find here?”

“What we have,” Kurwer snapped, “is so extraordinary that only dire necessity persuades us to part with it!”

The Grishi inspected him, and then nodded slowly. “Perhaps you would care to see our own devastating contribution to the art of total warfare. It works by denying the enemy breathable air.”

He turned and picked up a glass globe from a nearby table. It contained a mass of green crystals. “Sprayed onto a force of enemy warriors, this preparation instantly absorbs the life-giving element in the atmosphere, causing them to fall insensible. I am ready to prove its efficacy against a few prisoners we keep in the testing ground outside—if, that is, your own goods can be deemed of equal desirability.”

From the adjoining stand a Grishi of a different tribe, his skin a somewhat darker orange, laughed. “My rival’s chemicals are interesting, but unreliable. They do not necessarily kill the enemy, who is apt to recover later. Here, now, I have a device of a definitely lethal description: a machine which casts a tough flexible canopy over the enemy. The canopy contracts, stifling its victims. As many as a hundred may be asphyxiated together.”

He indicated a balled-up rubbery object in the midst of an arrangement of rods and loaded springs. “I, too, can apply it to some prisoners I keep ready, provided there is sufficient inducement.”

Kurwer drew Hrityu aside to confer. “Each of these weapons seems impressive in its own way,” he said doubtfully. “What do you think? Perhaps we could obtain them all.”

Sadly Hrityu shook his head. “It is the custom for the buyer of an invention to demand sole possession of it. We can offer our radiator to one party only, and I do not think any of these weapons are its equal in value.”

“What could be more valuable than the survival of the Analane?”

“But nothing we have seen so far guarantees victory. The machines are large and clumsy. They could be overrun or stolen, leaving us worse off than before. It is too early to reach a decision.”