Chapter 24 of The Radio Planet This is a LibraVox recording. All LibraVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, auto-volunteer, please visit LibraVox.org The Radio Planet by Ralph Myon Farley Chapter 24 The Lobsterite Circuit Malts could not help comparing his present ease of passage down the swath cut by the Capians with his difficult drubbing through the shrubs a few feet an hour, or even with forcing his way behind the wedge-faced insect. Upon his arrival at the brink of the abyss, his first act was to test the black sand with an electric coil. As he had expected, it was magnetised, the only iron ore which will respond to a magnet. It was the same ore as he had used in his cruciables while making his radio-sat in Vikingi. This preliminary disposed of, cables were quickly stretched back and forth across the pit and from these cables, large electromagnets were hung close to the surface of the water. Wires were run from the lighting system of the nearby town to a master controller at the top of the cliff. When all was in readiness, the earth man threw the current into all the circuits. The result was immediate. To the surface of the water that floated bottom-side up, a score or more of lobster-like creatures, each the size of a freight car. Poor beasts, the pellets of sand and cement in the cavities of their gravity-sense organs were composed of magnetite.  Consequently, reverting their position and floating to the surface, they imagined, with little imagination, their primitive brains were capable of, that they were resting peacefully at the bottom of the lake. Next, they were turned on, in place of the suspended magnets, a number of magnets lying against the steep side of the pit, near the surface of the water. And instantly all the lobsterites rolled over with their bellies toward the side of the pit. The experiment was a complete success. Grappling hooks and blocks and tackle were then brought and dragging was begun for the airplane, the end-rival and the bandolier of cartridges, which Malds had lost on the night of his landing in Carpia. The radio man himself, stationed at his switchboard, manipulated the instruments. Presumably all three of the thought articles were near the bank where Cabot had landed, so fishing was begun at that point, while energized magnets across the pond drew the huge crustaceans away. Even so, several of them swam back and snapped at the grappling hooks. This gave Malds an opportunity to practice his controls. Whenever one of the monsters of the deep would approach any of the dredging apparatus, the radio man would close the switch, which controlled some nearby magnet, where at the bewildered beast would be thrown completely off his balance and would require several power paths before he could orient himself to the new lines of force. By the time that this had been accomplished, Cabot would have switched on the mother magnet, thus again upsetting the beast's equilibrium. It was a truly weird and novel tune which this electrical genius of two worlds played upon his keyboard, while huge green shapes moved at his command. Finally, Malds got so expert at this strange game that it became safer for his workmen to descend into the pit without fear of the denizens of the deep. At last the ropes were securely fastened to the end plane, and it was drawn up to the bank to safety. The firearm and ammunition followed shortly thereafter. The forces of the two king, Baby Q, were now armed with one small airship, one rifle, and one benderlay of cartridges. You must attack at once, Nanan asserted. The Earthmen looked at the cupian in surprise. Why? he asked. Because, the young cleric explained, if you don't, some of his village is going to get word to Prince Yuri of your return. Although no announcement has yet been made of your identity, this feat of yours of overcoming the scissor beasts is as good as a verbal introduction. Runners will soon be not to find the Serpa. Why Runners? Malds asked. Why not radio? Because, Nanan replied, I took the precaution to throw an adjusting tool into the local motor generator set early this morning. One of the solenoids is hopelessly jammed, and it will take several decent nights of steady work to restore it. Great are the ramifications of the lost religions, Kaboom ermid approvingly. But the young cleric pouted in spite of the tone of approval, said he, there were no ramifications to this accomplishment. I did it all myself. Have it your own way. Malds returned conciliatorily. But to get back to what we were discussing, how am I to attack the Serpa with no troops, and only one plane and one rifle? But you must attack, Nanan objected. As for planes, every plane in the kingdom, safe only yours is under lock and key at Rautusa, the old naval airbase, which is now the headquarters of the whistling bees. Every firearm, safe too, your rifle and Prince Yuri's automatic, is under heavy guard at the Kauna Arsenal. Only the pretender himself and the Arsenal guards, who are trusted henchmen of his, are permitted to be armed. And I suppose the Irvmen interjected with a shrug, that you expect me, alone and single-handed, to cease the Kauna Arsenal and distribute arms to my people. Not exactly, the priests replied. But you see, at which point, the conversation was interrupted by a body of troops, fought abreast, which came marching toward them, down the aisle which had been cut through the trees. Cabo's staff, back to guards, trapped the soldiers swung along in the perfect cadence, which had been taught them by generations spent in the marching clubs, or hundreds of coupiers. True, they were unarmed, but what could one armed human do against such numbers? Cabo glanced down the path, and saw hundred after hundred turn into it at the farther end. There was only one possibility of escape, his plane. But the plane was still dripping from its submergence in the pond. What did Strofel engine start while wet? Had enough water leaked into the alcohol tanks to damage the fuel? He would see. Shouting to Nanan and Emsil to follow, he started to water his craft. But the young cleric blocked his way. Trattory! No. For the young priest cried, Fear not, defender of the faith. These be friends. They are the armies which you are to lead against Yuri. They are marching clubs of the loyal hill towns, which have been called together here, ostensibly for an athletic tournament. Cabo stopped his march grumble of retreat and smiled. With such men he would reconquer Coupier. Yuri or no Yuri, bees or no bees. The far most hundred debouched and formed in company front. Then from the ranks there stepped a Coupien, who snatched off his blonde wick, revealing ruddy locks beneath. Under his own right breath, he pinned to red circle the insignia of Field Marshal. It was her babu, chief of staff of the armies of Coupier, which had been Cabo's right-hand man in the two wars of liberation. Facing the troops he gave across command, upshot every left hand. Then, weaning about, he held his own hand aloft and shouted, YAHOO! Maltz, Cabo! We are ready to follow where you lead. YAHOO! The troops echoed in unison. And then, giving his men the order, At ease. Haas drove up to the year of man. Warmly the two friends patted each other on the cheek. It was many sung since they had seen each other, and much had happened in the meantime. A council of war was immediately held between Maltz, Haa, Nanan and Emsil at the plain. When this gathering came to the attention of Yuri, Maltz asked, and won't yet once suspect its cause, in view of its nearness to Lunho Castle, and in view of my recent radio announcements from Vaikingi. I doubted, the babu replied, for we have wrecked every radio set in the vicinity. But this did not reassure the earthmen as much as it might. It would seem to me, he asserted, that this very fact would put Prince Yuri on his guard. Possibly so, Nanan roofily admitted, but it will take four days for an investigator to cover the thousand stats from Kuana to here by Kair Kool at two days by B. And in the meantime, Maltz counted, it will take our plain two days to reach Kuana, and our Kair Kools four. Then, Emsil suggested, had we not better march openly and at once. This suggestion was accepted, with the reservation however, that the return of Kabo and the existence of their plain were to be kept as secret as possible. Accordingly, the main body of the troops were put on the march toward Kuana under Emsil, with instructions to requisition every available Kair Kool, wreck every radio set, and place every settlement under martial law. The Kair Kools, as fast as ceased, were to be manned by the best sharpshooters and sent ahead. The local village and the lobster pond were placed under heavy guard, and the earthmen with their plain and rifle remained under cover. That night, just as sunset, he started forth. The airship had been stripped to its lightest, and in it were crowded Maltz Kabo, Hababu, Nanan, and half a dozen sharpshooters. Long before morning, they came up with the lights of the foremost Kair Kools, and so were forced to cease their advance, whereupon they landed and encanned for the rest of the night and the following day. All day long, Kair Kools passed them on the road, stopping to report as they passed. Apparently, a surprising number of these swift, two-wheeled Perovian autos had been captured. The following night, the plane again took wing, and continued until it caught up once more with the advance guard of the taxi-cap army. These men reported that at the last radio station seized, they had learnt that Prince Yuri had put censorship on the air, thus showing conclusively that the usurper had learnt something of what was going on. Then the Kair Kools swept ahead, and Kabo encamped as before. He was now halfway to Qohana, his loved ones, and Prince Yuri. To walk the end of the day, which followed, the advancing Kair Kools met a bombing squadron of whistling bees, and were forced to halt, and take cover, as best they could. Most of the men escaped, but many of the machines had to be left on the road, where they were demolished by the bombs of the enemy. During all this confusion, a Kair Kools from the capital, bearing cross-sticks as a flak of truce, drew up to the vanguard with the following message. King Yuri cannot but regard the steady procession of Kair Kools to what Qohana, as a menace is. If it is not so intended, then let a delegation in one Kair Kools proceed under cross-sticks to convince them of your sincerity. From now on, if more than one Kair Kools advances, it will be taken as a hostile act, and Prince Q, the heir to the throne, will be sacrificed as a hostage. Upon receiving this message, Emsul at once directed his followers to stay where they were, until Malds Kabo should catch up with them. Then with a picked body of men in one Kair Kools, under cross-sticks, he took up the road to what Qohana, proceeded by the delegation which had brought the message from Yuri. Not a word were to give them as to the purpose of the advance. Your message was from Prince Yuri, he said, and therefore to Prince Yuri shall be the reply, but it does seem a bit thoughtless of the Hymenians to drop bombs on our men, before even attempting to ascertain whether or not our advance was intended to be peaceful. To this, they in turn made no answer. About midnight, Malds Kabo in his airplane reached the point where the K'Kools had halted. He found the K'upians confused and more or less leaderless. He, as they, was horrified at the threat which the Aserpa Yuri held over the head of the little king. But while he and Nan Nan and her Babu were conferring on this situation, word was brought in by a party who had just demolished the nearby radio set, that they had picked the following unaddressed and unsigned message out of the air. Fear not, Baby Q has been kidnapped from the palace and is safe. Somehow this news carried conviction. The longer they considered it, the more authentic it appeared. Certainly it could not have emanated from Yuri, for he could have no possible object in deceiving them into thinking that the little king was safe, and thus encouraging them to proceed with whatever they might have afoot. But they could not imagine who was their informant. It might be anyone of a number of the leaders in Kubo's two wars of liberation. Pop Lath, the Philosopher, Mango of the Kuana Jail, Jababu, Aya Bu, and Bu Teden, professors at the Royal University, Count Camel of Ketu, the Exradical, or even the loyal Prince Thorin, Yuri's Sankapratha, whom Kubo had left in charge as regent upon embarking on his ill-fated visit to the earth. All these loyal cupians have been driven into hiding, when the renegade Yuri had returned across the boiling seas and had observed the throne with the aid of the Hymenians. Where they now wear, no one knew. This message might be from any one of them, or it might not. Anyhow, it served to understand companions. Setmalds, undoubtedly there were some of Yuri's cupian henchmen on the backs of the bees, which bombed our care-colds. These have probably reported by wireless that our advance has stopped. I do not believe that Yuri yet knows that we have a plane. Accordingly, he will not expect immediate trouble. So long as our vanguard remains here, four hundred steps from Kuana. You, Hababu, remain here in charge of our troops. I seriously doubt if the usurper will attack you, for he does not dare trust enough cupians with rifles for that purpose. Nananan and I and our sharpshooters will proceed as rapidly as possible in the plane until daybreak, when we will encamp as usual. Tomorrow afternoon, scouts ahead to destroy the wireless and start your whole Kikul army on the move at sunset. Lend every effort to join me as soon as possible at the capital, where I expect you to arrive some time tomorrow night. Beyond that, I have no definite plans. May the great builder speed our course. Then he set good night and took off once more in his plane. As he saw deloft with his noisy trovell motor, Evman would have heard it for stats in every direction, but these cupians were earless and hence possessed no sense of hearing the noisy plane could make no impression upon their antenna sense, for its engines being of the trovell variety, or diesel, as we call a somewhat similar device on earth, had no electrical ignition. Throughout the remainder of the night, the plane sped southward, deviating from its course only when whistling sounds warned them of the presence of bees. With the first vain tinge of pink in the east, they landed and hit their airship in search of a wood, 260 stats from Kuana. A small town lay nearby, to it went several off the crew in search of food and information, while the rest took turns guarding the plane and sleeping. During a boast turn at watch, he noted a figure slinking across a neighbouring field. There was something strangely familiar about this figure, so Malz hid himself in a tartan bush and awaited its approach. It walked with peculiar limp, very much like that which had characterised Bhutan, ever since he recovered from the shell wound which he had received in the Second War of Liberation. But the face and the hair of the approaching Kupean bore no resemblance to that of Professor Tiddon. Nevertheless, Cabot took a chance. Stepping subtly from his place of concealment, he shouted, Bhutan! The rat, the Kupean, emitted a shriek of terror from his antennae and started running away across the fields. Stop! the young man called. I am Malz, Cabot! The fleeing man halted abruptly and peered at Malz inquisitively, then he smelled and snatched off his wig and straightened out his expression. It was none other than Bhutan. So you're the cause of all the rumpus, he ejaculated returning and petting his friend warmly on the cheek. What rumpus! Malz inquired with interest. While it won't work, the other replied. I know messages on the air anyhow. Nothing but beasts. The air is full of them anyhow. Also full of vague rumours of all sorts. As Poplith would say, Where this wind has a storm. Speaking of Poplith, Malz said, Where is the philosopher? Kuana, lost I hurt, Bhutan replied. Jababu and Aibu are somewhere in the west. Prince Thorin has disappeared completely. Jababu and Emsul are supposed to be in the northern part of the Okhads mountain. Kamal Bharsakar has gone over to Yuri. I'm here. That about completes the list of our formalities. Jababu is in charge of my unarmed forces. 160 stats north of here. Kuana answered. Emsul is on his way to Yuri and across Styx. I am here in a plane with one rifle, and then the cleric and six unarmed sharpshooters. What is the idea? The idea is to fly to Kuana tonight, the airman replied, and raise as much rifles as possible for Prince Yuri. Will you come with us? There's one vacant place in the plane. The cupion looked at him merrily and said, You are still the same old Malz-Kabo. You propose to capture Kuana practically without arms and singlehand it. And the joke is that you will proceed. How do you do it? It's a gift, Malz laughed, but trees have antennae, as Poplar would say. Let us proceed to the plane and wait for evening. At the plane, Kabo awakened one of the cupions to take his place on guard. Then, in low tones, he and Bhutan, each related to the other, all that had occurred since the matter transmitting apparatus had shot the radio man, Earthward. Along toward the night, the absentees returned from the village, bringing provisions, but scarcely any news except that the place was seething with suppressed excitement, and that they had succeeded in getting into the radio station and pying the apparatus. Let's start the night once, Bhutan counseled. No one can now get word to Yuri, and perhaps they will mistake us for a Hymenian Hanyar. But impatient as he was, Malz would hear none of this. They could easily dispatch a runner to some nearby town to send the message from there, he said. Furthermore, a plane looks very little like a whistling bee. So the group feasted, and waited until the last streaks of red had died in the west, before they shot into the air and southward. The plane was driven to its utmost, but it was later the one o'clock before the lights of Kuanah loomed ahead. Turning to the right, Kabo skirted the city and landed near the arsenal. Nanan promptly left them. He tried to fast to attend to, he explained. Great are the ramifications of the lost religion, the Earthmen replied laughing, and I hope that you pick up some useful information. After the young cleric had gone, Bhutan asked, Surely you don't plan for us to attack the arsenal. It is heavily guarded by the only men whom Yuri permits to carry firearms in this entire kingdom. End of chapter 24 Recording by Mocha Chapter 25 of the Radio Planet This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Michael Knowles Fort Worth, Texas The Radio Planet by Ralph Milne Farley All kinds of trouble. We must reconnoiter first, Kabo replied, for as yet I have no definite plans. Accordingly, they made their way to a grove of trees near the arsenal. Where they stood, they were completely enveloped by foliage and tropical darkness. But, the arsenal was in a flood of light, which emanated from large floodlights on poles a short distance outside the surrounding wall. Along the top of the high wall walked sentinels armed with rifles. Kabo quickly formed his plans. Turning his rifle and bandolier over the best shot in the party, he instructed the sharpshooters as follows. When I raise my hand so, then shoot the sentinel to whom I'm talking. Follow that by a shot at the nearest light. Then, under cover of the darkness, slink across the plane and join me at the wall. Without any further explanation, he walked boldly out into the light. As he approached the arsenal, they rang out a cry, HALT! he halted. Not so loud, he cautioned. You see I am unarmed. Let me approach near the wall, so that I may explain my mission, which is for your antennae alone. The sentinel signified his ascent, and Kabo drew near. HALT! the cupian on the wall repeated, but this time in a low tone. Kabo halted again, this time almost directly under the light. Stand where you are, said the soldier, while I let down a ladder. Make any attempt to flee, I shall fire. Miles remained where he was with every indication of extreme terror as the cupian let down a rope ladder from the top of the wall and descended. Hold up your hands. Upshot Kabo's right hand. It was the signal agreed on with a concealed sharpshooter. Ping! The sentinel dropped to the ground without a sound. Ping! The light went out.  It felt good to have a real rifle-shaped rifle in his hands once more as opposed to the buttless firearms of the ants. Just then a voice hailed him from the top of the wall. What's the trouble? Out of the dim twilight below, Miles called back. I shot a subtler, and just as I was about to search his body, the light went out. Have you your flashlight with you? Yes. Then come on down and help me search. The sentinel, eager for a taste of subtler's food after weeks of garrison rations, started to scramble down the rope ladder. But, as he neared the ground, Kabo stepped on his side and put a single bullet through his brain. Out of the semi-darkness around him, there arose seven forms. There were Batten and the six Coupian marksmen from the hills. Batten started to change clothes with a fallen guard, but Kabo stopped him, saying, No, your limp would give you away. Let one of the others assume the personality of this sentry. One of the others made the exchange. Then, said their leader, two of the posts of the guard are now cleared. Do you, marksmen, ascend to the ladder and walk this beat impersonating Yuri's guardman? The man did so, while those below cowered close to the wall. Soon, Kabo heard a shot to the extreme right of the beat. Then a voice from above called softly. One less guard, O. Kabo. Three sections of the wall are now cleared. I have the body up here. Miles and one more sharpshooter mounted the parapet. Soon, all three were walking posts with the precision of old wartime practice, while the other five members of the party clung to the rope ladder under the shadow of the wall. Kabo himself walked to the leftmost post and took pains never to meet the adjoining sentry. Thus, nearly half a part of time passed. Finally, an officer with a squad approached along the top of the wall to the left. Kabo promptly crowded the extreme right-hand end of his beat and cautioned his own adjoining sentry to remain close at hand. As the squad drew near, he sang out, HALT. The squad halted. Who is there? The earth man demanded. Relief. Advance one and be recognized. The officer stepped forward. Advance relief. The officer brought the relief forward, halted it again, and called out. Number four. There at, one of the squad stepped from the ranks at Port Arms. Kabo himself came to Port in unison. At this point, the routine ended. Tilting his gun slightly from its position, Miles suddenly fired two shots, and the officer and the new number four sank down upon the parapet. Instantly, the whole squad was in confusion, but before they could raise their rifles to reply, Miles and his companions riddled them with bullets. One of them more quick thinking than the rest dropped prone without being hit, and then cautiously drew a bead on Miles Kabo, who seeing his enemies all down had just paused to breathe. Neither he nor his companion saw his hostile move, and Miles's other man was walking his post far to the right in a military manner, so as to attract no attention from the guardsmen farther on. Everything was all set for the tragedy which would forever put an end to the hope of redemption of Kupia from the renegade Yuri and his B allies.  It was Ba Thedun, who had crawled to the top of the wall in the rear of the squad, a shot from Kabo's company promptly put an end to this last enemy. Then the seven conspirators searched the bodies and equipped themselves, Kabo pinning on the insignia of the officer. There were eight bodies but some had undoubtedly fallen from the wall in the struggle. No time could be spared to hunt for these and eight was more than enough for the present purposes. Miles formed his men in two ranks, countered them off, faced them to the right and proceeded along the parapet picking up his one already posted man as he went. Number six was relieved in true military form. He was too glad of getting off duty to notice some unfamiliarity with the officer who relieved him, similarly with number seven, eight, nine, and so on. As he came to number eleven, Kabo began to worry for fear that his supply of new sentinels might run out. Why hadn't he made some arrangement to have his own men rejoin him after being posted? But then he reflected that that would never do, for it certainly would have been noticed by the others. He was in a fix. Number twelve was relieved. All seven of his own men were gone, and Miles Kabo found himself at the head of a squad composed entirely of the enemy. What could he do at number thirteen? But, just as he was frantically turning this question over in his mind, he came to a long ramp leading inward from the wall, down to a small building between the wall and the main arsenal. He stepped back as though to inspect the squad, and they, without command, marched past him, turned and proceeded past number one down the ramp. This was the guard quarters. There were no more sentinels to relieve. Inside the buildings, he gave the commands relief, halts, left, face, port arms, open chambers, closed chambers, dismissed, hands up. The last was not in the manual. The tired men on their way to the gun rack stopped in surprise, upshot their hands, some first dropping the rifles, but some retaining them. It is Kabo, the Minorean, one of them shouted. The situation was ticklish in the extreme. The Koopians were scattered throughout the room, so that it was impossible for Miles to cover them all simultaneously with his rifle.  If they started any trouble, Miles could expect to get one, or at the most two, of the seven before the rest would get him. Furthermore, they knew it. Back up, all of you, into that corner, quickly! He directed. But they did not budge.  They realized that they had him at bay, rather than he them. And would a prize he would be for presentation to King Yuri, why the king might even blow them a beef-stake party. The earth man confronted them, unafraid. He had a drop on them, and he intended to press his advantage to the limit.   The Koopian addressed and obeyed with alacrity. You, with a scar! Lay down your gun! Now you, back into the corner! The second soldier did so. Things were progressing nicely. One by one he could subdue the Koopians confronting him. But, just as he was exulting in his triumph, his gun was seized from behind, turning he saw number one leering at him. One blow from his fist in that leering face, and the newcomer crashed to the floor. But, before Miles could wheel to confront those in the guard room, they had rushed him and borne him to the ground. Capture him alive, someone shouted, and that was the last that he heard, for something snapped in his portable radio set, and from then on he was deaf to antennae emanations. All that he could hear was the occasional rifle shot. In spite of the overwhelming numbers upon him, he fought with his feet and fists, until at last the weight seemed to lessen. Finally, he struggled to his feet and confronted his tormentors. Could it be that single-handed, he'd vanquished eight Prani Koopians? But no, for the figures he confronted were Batend, and his own men. The eight enemies lay dead on the floor. The mutual congratulations were silently given. A quick inspection showed that his headset and the apparatus belt were hopelessly damaged, and the radio man found a stylus in paper and wrote, my artificial antennae and the accompanying apparatus were injured during the fight. Luckily, there's another in the airplane. One of you go quickly and fetch it. One of the party accordingly withdrew. The others, rifle in hand, proceeded to search the building, but not a soul did they find, although the couches had evidently been recently occupied. It seemed likely that during the struggle in the guards room, the rest of the guard, being unable to reach their arms racks, had stealthily left the building. So Miles and his party hurried on the door, which led from the building to the arsenal yard. As they emerged, they were met with a volley from the arsenal, and three of their number went down. The rest beat a hasty retreat and barred the door. Then they made their way to the windows which faced the main arsenal, but two more of them were picked off before they realized how perfectly they were silhouetted by the lighted rooms within. One of these two was bot-end. Miles Cabot and one Coupion sharpshooter were all that were left of the party. As rapidly as possible, the two survivors extinguished all the lights in the guard house, and then mounted to the roof, which was flat surrounded by a low parapet, which protected them from showing themselves against the illumination of the surrounding vapor lamps. Crawling along the roof to the edge of the nearest arsenal, they appeared cautiously over. The whistle of a bullet caused Miles to duck his head, and he pulled his companion to cover as well. With his artificial antennae gone, he could not explain orally, and it was too dark to write. But the other followed him to the opposite edge, where they succeeded in potting the sentinels at post two and three, which were the only occupied posts within the site. There appeared to be nothing further to be accomplished up there. They crawled down into the building and took their stationary windows of the upper story, from which they fired at every sign of movement in the direction of the arsenal, taking care to drop to the floor and then change windows after each shot. Finally, their ammunition gave out, and Cabo went down to the guards room for more. But a long and careful search revealed only a few rounds. Miles returned to the upper story and groped through the rooms to find his friend. But it was his foot rather than his outstretched hand, who finally found him. The Coupian sharpshooter lay dead. Miles Cabo alone, with only about a dozen cartridges, was the sole remaining defense of the captured building. No life seemed to be stirring on the arsenal side, so he crossed the building and looked out at the wall. Dark figures were stealthily creeping along, where post number twelve should have been. The earth man let them have it with rapid fire, and they quickly disappeared. He now heard firing in that direction, and then the lights there went out, so that the wall no longer showed against the sky. From time to time he fired where he judged the wall was, so as to keep back the invaders, and thus soon entirely exhausted his ammunition. Thank heaven, he said to himself, the downstairs doors barred. But, as he said this, he realized that he had omitted to bar the door which opened towards the wall. And even as he realized this, there came a rush of many feet down the ramp which led from the wall to this door. End of Chapter 25 Recording by Michael Knowles Fort Worth, Texas Chapter 26 of The Radio Planet This is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Radio Planet by Ralph Milne Barley Chapter 26 The Debacle Miles drew his knife, crouched in a corner of the dark room and prepared to sell his life dearly. He was ready for searchers who might come groping through the room, but he was wholly unprepared for the sudden switching on of the electric lights. As he sprang to his feet and rubbed his eyes he saw before him Nan Nan and the sharpshooter whom he had sent back to the plane to get his second radio set. Behind them in the doorway were a score or more of cupions. Snatching the new set he fastened it in place while the others waited. Then articulate once more you've come in the nick of time. How did it happen? The young priest replied through spies of our religion I located Ohia Bo. He rounded up a number of his followers and we hastened hither the wall we found unguarded with a rope ladder hanging down with dead soldiers in black togas. We took their arms and mounted the wall only to be driven back by shots. My shots Miles interjected. Not at all Nan Nan replied for some came from the arsenal we could tell by the flashes. Several of our party were hit although not by you so your conscience may feel clear. Before we put a stop to this by shooting out all the outside lights. Then we rushed the guard house and here we are. But where are your men? Dead. All dead the earthmen sadly replied even butedden. Ohia Bo then stepped forward and greeted his former chief. Yahoo! Kabed! he cried made the dead rest beyond the waves we the living have worked to do look the sky turns pink and silver in the east morning has come. What do you propose? Whistling bees will soon be upon us. Miles answered we must capture the arsenal before they arrive. The party then took inventory of their supplies. There were 38 rifles 40 cupians and Miles Kabed. One man was promptly sent to the roof with cross sticks. When these were recognized 38 men under arms were marched up onto the roof as well. It was considered advisable for Kabed himself to keep under cover. Then Ohia Bo unbarred the door and stepped out an officer from the arsenal advanced to meet him. The two gravely patted each other's cheek. The officer whose rank was that of Puta inquired what is the idea of defying your king professor? The idea Ohia replied is that we have come to restore Ku the 13th to the throne and the cupians to their proper dominion over the bees. The house as you see is man by sharpshooters, fully armed. A vast force, unarmed but determined waits outside the walls. If you surrender we shall spare your lives. If not we shall rush the gates while our sharpshooters pick off anyone who opposes and shall kill all whom we find within. What say you? The Puta shrugged his shoulders. What is there to say? He replied. We surrender. The guard looked around, safe conduct without arms. Agreed. So the guard got a hundred number in their black togas filed out of the arsenal, threw the guard house onto the wall along it and down the rope ladder. The ladder was then hauled up again. The Puta looked around him. Where is your vast army? he asked. On the other side of the wall Ohia Bu replied with a smile.  But the officer and his followers started circling the wall to investigate. Before he gained the main gate however, it had been opened and for all he could tell the vast army had passed inside. A guard stationed there advised him to get out of rifle range as speedily as possible and twelve sentinels who by now had manned the wall or out this menace. So grumbling somewhat the Puta men off toward the city. Thus did Miles Cabot and forty seven practically unarmed followers capture the Koana arsenal from its hundred defenders. Stragling cupians now began to drift in from the city. These were put to work carting arms and ammunition out of the arsenal and stacking it up in wildly separated piles wherever cover could be found. Every cupian who reported was issued a rifle bandolier of cartridges. We may perhaps disarm some enemies Miles admitted, but we must take the risk. The majority will be friends. It was while that they removed all the ammunition which they could. It would have been better if they could have removed more. They all worked feverishly for half the morning even taking the guards off the wall for this purpose. But they had scarcely made a dent in the supplies stored in the arsenal when a fleet of bees appeared on the southern horizon. In spite of the approaching menace Miles and his men continued to work. The Hymenians flew low straight at the arsenal until a volley from Cabot's men brought down two of them and caused the rest to soar into the sky whereupon they started dropping bombs on the arsenal and on the men carting materials they're from. Naturally this put an abrupt end to Cabot's operations. His men scattered as rapidly as possible and individually made for the city with small quantities of arms keeping to cover as well as they could. Cupions from Kouana helped themselves to the rest and by nightfall the captured supplies were pretty well distributed. The arsenal was a smoking ruin. All through the afternoon the bees flying low harassed whoever they saw moving on the streets especially such as were carrying rifles but these retaliated by firing at all bees that came within range in spite of which very few bees were killed. Night brought a cessation of this sort of warfare. Emsoul arrived and of course at once gave up the idea of his projected peace mission to Yuri. He and Cabot and Nannan and Oh Yabu spent the night under heavy guard at separated points throughout the city securing much needed sleep. Under cover of the darkness many of their followers foraged in the ruins of the arsenal and security surprising quantity of undamaged material being joined in the morning by the army in Kirkhuls from the north. Before daybreak a resolute band of several thousand loyal Cupions had gathered in the streets and houses surrounding the palace and promptly at sunrise they launched an attack that expected to find the palace guard unarmed but evidently had a large quantity of the rifles and ammunition which had been distributed through the city and found their way to the palace for the assault was at once repulsed by heavy fire from the palace guards. As Cabot's forces reformed for a second attack they were deluged with explosives from above. The bee people had evidently not returned to their base at Watusa but it spent the night nearby so as to be on hand to protect the palace. Whenever they sighted even a small group of Cupions or whenever they had reason to suspect that some building was hostily occupied there they would drop one of their devastating bombs. Cabot's forces were completely at the mercy of the Hymenians. There was but one thing to do. Flee. In vain the earth man and his able lieutenants tried to rally their troops but what was the use in assembling was the signal for a bomb from above. What was the use of attacking the invincible bees? Miles Cabot stood irresolute in one of the public squares. He was as near to despairing as he had ever been in his many vicitudes on the planet Poros since his first arrival there five earth years ago. Well if only he had airplanes with which to subdue the Hymenians as in the days of old almost was he tempted to return to the vicinity of the arsenal. Ascertain whether his one plane was intact and if so fly alone in the last desperate attempt to give battle to his winged enemies. The more he thought of the plan the more it appealed to him. There seemed to be no other way out his bravely engineered revolution had crumbled. If he stayed where he was he would undoubtedly be tracked down and put to some ignominious end by the usurper. How much better then to die bravely fighting for his Lilla and his adopted country? And his baby? He wondered where the little darling had disappeared to. At least the infant king was out of Yuri's clutches. So as mine made up Miles set out on a run for the wood overlook in the arsenal. After a few para-parts he reached in. There stood his plane. Rapidly he went over all the struts and stays and engine parts. Everything appeared to be in first class order. The fuel tanks contained plenty of alcohol. How this machine had escaped capture or destruction was a marvel but probably the bees had been too busy bombing groups of cupians to take the time to explore the apparently deserted grove. Miles sprang aboard and was just about to start the truffle engine and the familiar sound smiting upon his earth-born ears caused him to delay for a moment. From the southward came the pur of many motors. Was the wish the father to the thought his longing for an air fleet with which to vanquish the bees had been so intense had it affected his mind and caused him to hear things which did not exist? Impossible for the pur of the motors was unmistakable. He strained his eyes toward the southern horizon so that they might see what his ears heard, but there was nothing there. The radiant silver sky was untouched saved by an occasional small cloud. The bees still kept up their bombing of the city. He could see them flying low over the housetops and up and down the principal thoroughfares ferreting out any groups of cupians who dared to gather in cabbage cause, dropping bombs in houses which presumed to fly the blue pennant of the Ku dynasty in place of the yellow of Yori. The bees did not heed the approaching planes from the south, of course not for the whistling bees of Poros had no ears. They heard with their antennae and heard only radio waves at that, in fact only short-length radio waves. The noise of a large fleet of airships swept on out of the south. Nearer and nearer they came until it was right over the city and still not a single plane appeared in sight. Meanwhile the bees continued their depredations and the earthman sat in his own plane and watched and waited. As he watched he saw one of the bees who happened to be flying higher than the rest suddenly vanish in a puff of smoke and then another and another. The Heimerneans too saw this and rose to investigate where at there came the shadow fleet. The shadow fleet was the shadow fleet of the Shadoff were of descending planes. Fascinated Miles stared into the sky once came these sounds and saw occasionally against gathering clouds a glint of silver light. Several more of the ascending bees exploded and now Miles was able to see from time to time silhouetted on a background of cloud the ghostly form of an airship. The bees had the spirits of the brave cupian aviators of the past returned to free their beloved country from Heimernean domination. The two fleets bees and ghostly planes had now completely joined battle and were drifting slowly to the southeast. Miles came out of his trance started his engine and rose into the air intent on joining the fray. On his way he circled over the city and gave it a glance and passing then he gave it a second glance for the cupians relieved of the menace of the bees were forming for a second attack on the palace instantly his plans changed what business had he running off to watch however interesting a sky battle when right here before him lay a chance to do what he had brave so many misfortunes to accomplish namely free his lila from the unspeakable Yuri veering sharply he landed on one of the upper terraces of the palace he still wore his bandolier of cartridges and still carried his rifle filling the magazine he boldly descended into the building no one guarded the approaches from the air for they depended on their aerial allies to do that for them the upper rooms were deserted doubtless because the women folk were cowering in the basements because the palace guards and Yuri's other henchmen resisted in the attack of cabbage cupians at the ground levels Cabot himself explored the place unimpeded and unchallenged here he was at last at his journey's end but where was lila lila the blue-eyed princess lila of the golden curls his lila the rooms which he and she had occupied showed every sign of continued and present occupancy even to the crib of the baby emblazoned with the arms of the house of Q. Cabot looked reverently around the living rooms of his wife and child and then swept on into the lower levels of the palace. Occasionally he would come upon groups of defenders but they naturally assuming that he was one of them especially as he still wore the black toga of the arsenal guard gave him but little heed whenever the group was not too numerous he would shoot them he hated to do this he knew he had to in order to save his loved ones then he traversed practically the whole of the upper reaches of the palace without encountering his arch-enemy Yuri or any of the woman folk Yuri was no coward however much of a scandal he might be no one would ever accuse him of that therefore he was not in hiding he was apparently not in command of the defense therefore he must be either away from the palace or concocting some devil figuring thus Cabot continued to descend to levels below the ground floor while treading these subterranean passages searching ever searching for either Lilla or Yuri he came upon one of the palace guards the fellow was unarmed so Cabot did not shoot in steady order up with your hands the guard promptly obeyed now set his captor the price what your life is to lead me to your king indeed I will with pleasure the soldier replied with a sneer for King Yuri will make short work of one who turns traitor to his black garb the earth man smiled I am no traitor he announced and this black toga is merely borrowed fur do you not know Cabot the Minorian the other blanched good builder he exclaimed returned from the planet Minos but I am at your orders for I am one of the old guard who served under King Q the 12th the father of Princess Lilla may he rest beyond the waves lead on and no treachery Miles curtly replied I trust no one who has ever worn the livery of Prince Yuri so the guard led the way through many winding passages down into the very bowels of the subterranean labyrinths of the palace what could Prince Yuri be doing way down here unless he was hiding which seemed unlikely Cabot became very suspicious and rifle in hand and finger on trigger watched his guide with eagle eye finally they came upon a form in an elaborate yellow toga huddled in a corner King Yuri said the soldier laconically at the sound of the voice the usurper looked and now it became evident that he was crouching there not for fear but rather because he was engaged in repairing something with a set of typical poverian queer looking tools apparently not at all surprised he hailed his deadliest enemy and rival as though the latter were a long lost friend Yahoo! Cabot the Minorion I rather expected you would turn up sooner or later just a minute until I fix this wire and then I will be at your service you see one of my minds wouldn't explode no one else seemed able to get at the cause of the trouble and so I had to come down here in person and so saying he turned back to his work Miles stepped forward to see what Prince Yuri was doing for a brief moment the earth man scientific curiosity got the better of his caution for that moment brief as it was proved long enough for the watchful soldier who had let him hither to snatch Miles rifle from his hand and cover him with its muzzle up with your hands the soldier preemptorily commanded Cabot obeyed not to do so would have been suicide Yuri still unperturbed remarked well done Tobol you shall be promoted for this shall I shoot him sire Tobol eagerly asked know the you super ruminated waving his antennae thoughtfully not just now wait until I finish with this wire in the meantime you might let the Minorian lean against the wall so that he will be more comfortable so Miles leaned against the wall and waited his hand still held high while the Prince putted around in the corner finally after a seemingly interminable period Yuri arose slung his tools together rushed one hand against the other looked at his victim with a cruel smile shall I kill him now asked Tobol know I am reserving that pleasure for myself the Prince replied then to Cabot at last you are in my power I intend to shoot you myself I intend to shoot you down unarmed turning to Tobol the Prince asked how is our battle going very well sire the soldier replied we are repulsing all the assaults in spite of the departure of the bees to the southward a momentary cloud of doubt spread over the sinister handsome visage of Prince Yuri then he smiled and said doubtless the bees know what they are about will soon return to the fray so let us proceed with the execution follow me Miles followed almost was he tempted to spring upon his enemy and attempt to throttle him before the inevitable bullet from Tobol could do its work it would be well worth the sacrifice of his own life to rid Cupia of this incubus but what if Yuri should survive no it would never do to risk this so he meekly followed the Prince led the way up several levels until they came to a small circular chamber hung with curtains that one side was a deus an electric paper lamp on the ceiling burnished the light Prince Yuri took the rifle from the guard stood Miles in the center of the room and sat down himself on the deus then he directed Tobol go and summon the Princess Lilla hither for I wish her to see me kill this lover of hers this beast from another world Miles winced at the mention of his beloved and there at his tormentor smiled the soldier departed on his errand Yuri toyed with a weapon and watched his victim with a sneer on his handsome lips Miles returned his stare without flinching you can put down your hands now if you wish you fur-faced mathla the Prince remarked Cabot did so and instinctively felt of his face the insult was unwarranted where he had shaved only that morning don't go too far he admonished his captor remember poblas proverb I'm an Orion I've a mind to kill you right now the Prince replied just to prove that your friend is wrong go ahead and try it Miles challenged half hoping that Yuri would take him at his word and thus spare Lilla the pain of attending the execution a grim look settled on the usurpers face as he slowly raised the rifle and pointed it at the earth man's right side left side Miles admonished that my heart is on the other side that is the case with you cupians my but you're a cool one Yuri admired shifting his arm as directed now are you prepared to die yes Miles replied it all seemed like a dream it couldn't be possible that he was really going to die on the far away planet Venus perhaps all his adventures in the sky had been a mere dream and he was now about to be awakened thus do I bring peace to poros the cupians intentionally declaimed his finger closed upon the trigger the rifle spat fire end of chapter 26 chapter 27 of the radio planet this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adrian Stevens the radio planet by Ralph Milne Farnley chapter 27 peace on poros Miles felt a sharp warm pain in his shoulder but he still stood erect he was not dead could it be that Yuri had missed shaking himself together and blinking his eyes Miles stared at the prince the prince stared back with an open-mouthed expression of surprise his eyes were fish-like his body was no longer erect the rifle lay in his lap he seemed to be feebly trying to raise it and point it at Cabot then with a gurgle some blood welled from the prince's mouth and trickled down his chin with one supreme effort his antennae radiated the words curse you then the rifle dropped clattering from his nervous hands a slouch forward prone on the floor at the foot of the dais from the right side of his back there protruded the jeweled hilt of a dagger behind the couch between parted curtains stood a wild-eyed cupid woman her face hideous with pent-up hate and triumph for a moment Miles stood rooted to the spot then tearing his feet free he rushed to his fallen enemy from the wound their gushed bright cerise-coloured blood foamy with white bubbles Miles turned the body over and listened at the right side of the chest not a sound then the prince's chest collapsed with a sigh a little more blood welled out of the mouth and all was still once more Prince Yuri the most highly developed specimen of Coupian manhood but a renegade traitor rejected of the princess lila pretended to the throne of Coupia Prince Yuri was dead and such an ignominious death for one of his high spirit to die stabbed in the back by a woman Cabot rose and faced her the jawed dagger still in his hand who are you? he asked and why did you do it I am a carper she replied in a strange voice a carper from the mountain village of Pranth do you remember how in the second War of Liberation you found Lunocastle deserted and a slain infant lying on the royal beer can I ever forget it he answered his mind going back into the past naturally I thought it was my baby son whom I had never seen therefore I fought all the harder against the usurper Yuri until I drove him and his ant allies southward rejoined lila in Kuana learned that little Ku was safe and that the dead child was but an orphan baby whom lila had substituted for our own baby for fear of just such an outcome he was no orphan okpa shrieked he was mine, mine the dead child was mine Yuri stabbed my child and I have stabbed him with a self-same dagger Yuri killed my baby and I have slain him and I must die myself for killing a king so saying her anger spent she flung herself upon the couch and wept silently as is the habit of cupians just then the princess lila in a black gown swept into the room they told me the king wished to see me here she said where is the king she stopped abruptly as she saw the body on the floor then her eyes rose until they rested on Mars Cabot with a glad cry she rushed towards his outstretched arms but a peremptory shout of hands up from the doorway caused her to halt she was between Miles and the door he still held the jeweled dagger in his hand stepping quickly to one side he cast it straight at Tobo who stood by the entrance a rifle in his hands and before the cupian soldier could raise his weapon to fire the missile had penetrated his heart down he went with a crash while this had been going on Ocarpa, the madwoman had crept stealthily towards Yuri's body with a view to securing the rifle which he had dropped seizing it she leapt to her feet with a shriek you too! she cried pointing at lila with one skinny finger for it was you who took my babe from the orphanage and exposed him to danger you adjoint murderer with Yuri slain and now it is your turn! but nyle stepped between her and the princess and wrenched the gun from her poor mad hands whereat she flung herself upon him clawing and biting like a demon it was only the work of a few minutes however to get both her wrists behind her back lila sensing the need ripped some strips from the hanging draperies together they tied the woman and seated her to one side then once more the long separated earth man and his cupian beloved started to embrace while Ocarpa glared at them with baleful eyes this was too much for miles just one parapath he said and stepping over to Ocarpa he spun her around until she faced the wall then he clasped his princess to him in a long embrace but at last the khang intruded in his bliss lila dearest he asked where is our little son she shook herself together I know not they would not let me know for fear that the usurper may he rest beyond the waves might force the secret from me but our country is more important than our child while we tarry hear the battle rages quick to the upper levels of control we cannot do so without a message from their king her husband asserted let us therefore bring them one stooping down he picked up the dead body of Prince Yuri and flung it across his shoulder lead on he said as they emerged up a flight of stairs into the main hall of the palace they saw a frantic throng of palace guards piling tables chairs and other furniture barricaded across one of the doorways evidently the troops of emsal and ha babu had penetrated the palace and had driven the defenders back to this point the golden curled lila standing straight and slim in her black gown stopped all this work of fortification with an imperious gesture desist she cried I your princess command it this war is over Yuri the usurper is dead prove it snarled back the guards like a pack at bay recoiling from her regal presence here is your proof Mars Cabot shouted stepping forward and casting Yuri's body down before them your king is dead Testro, one replied the king is dead Yuri is dead, another echoed long live king Q long live king Q shouted all the palace thugs this sage has stormed over the barricade with leveled rifles but at the shouts within and at the sight of their princess and their intrepid earthman leader they grounded their arms and holding their left hand aloft gave the Peruvian greetings Yahoo! Mars Cabot our regent has returned from Minos to rule over us then one guardsman had an idea come he said let us mount to the upper terraces the yellow penant of King Yuri and restore the red banner of the Q dynasty from one of the balconies above came a boyish voice it has already been done Mars Cabot everyone looked up and there stood Yuri's younger brother the loyal prince Toron wearing the insignia of an admiral of the Coupian air navy I hope you don't mind Miles he said as he descended I made myself admiral on my own hook you see while all the bees were here at Kuana bombing your man I captured the air base at Wautusa with a crowd of ex aviators whom I had assembled for that purpose we had been hiding in the woods for several seconds with spies at Wautusa to inform us when there was an opening when the time came we walked right in killed a few old bees who were on guard reconditioned the planes which have lain in storage my brother sees the throne painted them with silver paint flew up here to Kuana and put the bees out of business the silver paint was my own idea and I must say it seemed to work the bees couldn't see us at all against the silver sky the plaza and the fields beyond are strewn with dead and dying hymenians and my men are tracking down the survivors and he would have chatted on in his boyish excitement one of the soldiers brutally interrupted with thy brother lies dead O Toron the young prince followed the pointing finger of the guard until his eyes rested on the crumpled body in its bloodstained yellow toga then he flung his arm across his face to blot out the sight for a few moments he stood thus while all respectfully kept silent at last he uncovered his eyes and addressed the earth man may he rest beyond the waves he said I crave the corpse so that I can give my brother a decent funeral he shall be buried with full royal honours Mars Cabot replied for he was a brave and regal cupian who would have served his country well if his inordinate ambition had not blinded his judgement my cousin shall have royal burial echoed the princess lila it would be due you Toron for your share in the victory if for no other reason I appreciate this courtesy more than words can express Toron replied the news of the capitulation had rapidly spread and the huge hall was filling with cupians from without among them came Emsil Nannan, Hababu, Oyabu and even Poplath the philosopher warm were the greetings between the friends but where is our king Mars asked as soon as he could free himself from all the congratulation now it can be told Poplath replied he is safe in the care of my wife in our village at Lai the darling I shall go to him at once lila announced and I too, Mars added but no, Hababu interposed for the populace demanding a speech from the great liberator so be it Mars said with a shrug of resignation affairs of state cannot wait even the presence of the king it seems but shall these black toe guard guards be permitted to retain their arms Emsil asked why not the earth man replied their only crime is that they fought loyally for their leader besides this is a free country the reason for this was that he deprived us of our rifles then to the palace soldiery care tenderly for the body of Prince Yuri and lay it out in state pending our return and I almost forgot there is a crazy woman bound in one of the cellar rooms turn her over to the mango of Kuana for incarceration in the mangul and under peril of your lives do not permit her to escape all hail our regent and our most beautiful and beloved princess shouted the guards as Miles and Lila left the palace a kerkul awaited them at the gate getting into this they proceeded at a slow rate through the city and across the plaza toward the stadium through lanes of cheering cupians Prince Turram, Emsil, Hababa, Oyaba and others of their retinue followed them the plaza and the fields beyond were strewn with bodies mostly in fragments of the once great race of the Hymenians one of these bees as they passed it gave sign of still possessing some life a faint whistling sound assailed the antenna of the passing procession Kabot gave one look in the direction of the sound then signed the kerkuls to stop dismounted and approached the dying creature adjusting his control to the wavelength of bee speech he sadly said Portheris, once my friend whom I made king of the bees he grieves me to see you lying thus struck down in a war against my people raising himself feebly the dying Portheris replied I bear you no malice, Miles Kabot and I pray that you will bear me none although I opposed the war to a fight of race against race I was loyal to my own as any honourable individual would have been under like circumstances perhaps it is just as well for you do not remember that when you were driving the ant men of the face of Goopia you said there is no room on any planet for more than one race of intelligent beings now, the last for me and is gone and the last of my people is gone may Goopia be a peace sincere wish of your old friend the huge bee fell back quivered a moment and lay still thus died Portheris the last of the Hymenians may you rest beyond the waves dear friend the earthmen murmured as he returned sadly to his car they found the stadium packed with cheering throngs in gala attire everywhere fluttered flags of the Q dynasty after Lila had been comfortably seated and Marshal Ha and the others had arrived Mars stepped to the transmitter and was about to broadcast some appropriate remarks to the assembled multitude when an airplane arrived overhead and settled softly into the arena from the plane there stepped Publeth the philosopher followed by Buther his dark and beautiful wife both were smiling and in her arms a baby Coupian then Cabot spoke into the microphone behold your king it was the shortest speech he had ever made and the best thus came Q the 13th into his own there is not much more to tell Prince Tauron retained his self-given title of Admiral of the Air Navy Ha Baba was restored to his professorship at the Royal University Oya B was promoted to full professorship Publeth the philosopher again became mangle of Khuana and his wife was made governess of the infant king Emsul the veterinary was given the title of court physician Ova the Holy Leader died shortly after this and Nan Nan was selected by the Great White Lodge as a person to re-establish the lost religion publicly throughout Coupia Miles and Lila leaving their friends to reconstruct the capital departed for a vacation at Luno Castle thus end the story of the adventure of Mars Cabot the Radio Man on his return to the silver planet Venus as received by the Harvard scientists and myself over the long distance Radio Set Farm on Chappaquiddick Island Massachusetts Ralph Milne-Farnley End of Chapter 27 End of the Radio Planet by Ralph Milne-Farnley


Flowers use their beautiful petals and fragrance to attract insects. Why do they do that? Because the insects help them in pollination. So in this video, we're going to see what pollination is, what are the different types, and how exactly do the insects help. So let's start with what is pollination? Pollination is simply the act of transferring the pollen grains from the anther, these are the anther, the top part of the male organs, to the stigma. Stigma is the top part of the female organ. So let me just show that. Here is the pollen grain sitting on the anther, top part of the male. Here is the stigma, top part of the female. The act of transferring that pollen grains from the anther all the way to... So let me just try. From the anther all the way to stigma. That's basically what we call pollination. That's what pollination is all about. Now, based on whether the pollen grains are transferred within the same plants, or they're transferred between two different plants, we can classify them into two kinds. So the first one we'll call self-pollination, self-pollination. And the second one would be something called cross-pollination. Let me just write that correctly. All right, cross-pollination. So let's start with the self-pollination. What exactly is this? So as the name suggests, if the pollen grains are transferred within the same plant itself, then we'll say it's self-pollination. So one way that can happen is if you have pollen grains transferred within the same flower, so from the anther to the stigma of the same flower, this is self-pollination. But even if you have pollen grains transferred from the anther to the stigma of a different flower belonging to the same plant, I'll call this number two, this is also self-pollination. Why? Because still the pollen grains are being transferred within the same plant. The pollination is still happening. The plant is still pollinating itself. That's the whole idea behind self-pollination. So these are examples of self-pollination. For the first one to happen, the flower needs to be bisexual, meaning it has to have both the male and the female reproductive parts. Only then it can do this. On the other hand, if the flowers are uresexual, then they can still self-pollinate this way. A male flower can transfer pollen grains to a female flower belonging to the same plant. On the other hand, what do you think is cross-pollination? Can you guess that now? What do you think is cross-pollination? Well, cross-pollination is transfer of pollen grains from one flower to a flower of a different plant or a different tree. So for example, if you have pollen grains from here going all the way to the stigma of a different flower altogether, meaning flower belonging to a different tree altogether, then that is what we call cross-pollination across two different plants. Of course, same species, obviously, but two different plants altogether. So I'll call this as number three. This is in pink, so this is cross-pollination. Now you might say, cool, but how exactly does the pollination happen? How do the flowers take the pollen grains and transfer it to the stigma? They don't have any moving parts now, do they? Well, that's a great question. So the pollination depends on certain agents. Let me just write that down. Depends on certain agents. Agents are basically things that help in pollination. One of the most common agent would be wind. So the pollen grains will just get sprayed into the air, and then the wind will be the one that carries it forward. And because both the pollen grains and the stigma is very sticky, and the pollen grain comes very close to that stigma, it'll just stick to it. And of course, in some cases, they are not sticky, but they're very hairy. Even then, the pollen grains will get entangled very nicely with the stigma and they get stuck to it. And pollination happens. So with wind, self-pollination can easily happen because they're very close to each other, right? The stamen, the pollen grains and the stigma are very close to each other. So with wind or water, just like how wind helps in transferring pollen grains for land plants, water will help in transferring the pollen grains in aquatic plants. But what about cross-pollination? Now you see, for cross-pollination to happen, the pollen grains need to get transferred from one plant or from one tree to another. Now if these trees are very far apart, then the chances of cross-pollination reduces, right? So how do we effectively increase the chances of cross-pollination? This is where the insects coming to the picture. So another important agent for pollination, especially cross-pollination, would be insects. Insects like bees, butterflies, moths, and even birds. But how exactly do the insects pollinate? Let me take an example of a bee over here. Let's say this bee is flying and it's a little hungry and it spots a flower. The flower attracts the bees by using its beautiful petals, its odor, and also by using the nectar. Now what exactly is nectar, you may be asking? Well, nectar is this sugary stuff that the flowers produce near its base, base of the flower, which has a lot of sugar, it has a lot of protein, so perfect for these hungry bees. So what these bees do, they get attracted to that particular flower, they sit on that particular flower and they start drinking that nectar. And as they start drinking that nectar, the pollen grains start sticking to the bees. Let me show you a couple of photos of that. Here on the top, you can see a bee drinking nectar from the flower. And as a result, you can see it's resting its legs on one of the anthers. And so pollen grains can easily stick to the bee. In the second case, you can see a lot of pollen grains sticking to this bee. This bee has been super busy. So coming back to our story, a lot of pollen grains can easily get stuck to this bee. So pollen grains get stuck to that bee. Let me now get rid of this photo. And then when the bee decides to move away, it carries those pollen grains with it. Now the bee goes on its way, on its journey, long journey maybe to its home, and then it spots another similar flower with the similar fragrance and the similar odor. And then again, it gets attracted to it and starts drinking the nectar from that. And while doing that, some of the pollen grains get transferred to the stigma, and that's how cross-pollination can happen. But it's important that the bees need to get attracted to the same species of the flower. For example, if this is a papaya flower, it needs to transfer that pollen grains to another papaya flower and not maybe watermelon flower. And it's for that reason, usually certain bees are always attracted to certain kinds of flower that increases the chances of successful cross-pollination.  These bees turn out to be a major contributor of pollination. Okay? Now of course, the pollination has happened, but that's not the end of the story. It's actually the beginning of the story. Remember, the sperms inside the pollen grains still need to travel all the way into the eggs which are found in the ovaries. And that is something we'll talk about in the future video. So what did we learn in this video? We learned about what pollination is, which is basically the transfer of pollen grains from the anther, the top part of the male, to the stigma, the top part of the female organ. And this can happen in two ways. Self-pollination is when the pollination happens within the plant. This can happen within the flower or within two different flowers of the same plant. And cross-pollination is when pollination happens within two different plants. So from one flower of one plant to a flower of a different plant altogether. And then we saw the agents are basically what causes pollination. The examples of that would be wind and water. And certain insects also help in pollination.


This video is going to talk about fractions and equations and how to handle that. Well, the first thing we need to talk about is least common denominator because we're going to need that in order to be able to solve these equations. So when you're looking at a least common denominator, you're looking at the denominators and here we have a 6 and a 3 and we want to list the multiples of those. So 6 would be 6 and then 6 times 2 is 12 and 6 times 3 is 18 and 6 times 4 is 24 and we'll see if that's enough. And then 3 would be 3 and 3 times 2 is 6. Oh, and we can see right there, all of a sudden I have listed something common to both of these already. So the least common denominator would be 6. And sometimes you have more than 2, so you have to consider all of them and find what they all have in common. So if I look at this next example, I've got 2, 5, and 4 as my denominators. I don't care what the top is right now. I'm just looking at the bottom to find the least common denominator. So we have 2 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, I might even need more than this, 18, 16, 18, 20, 22, and so on. For 5 we have 5, 10, 15, 20. I've come up with one that's common, so let's see if I can find anything common with 4. 4 would be 4, and then 8. 4 times 3 is 12, 4 times 4 is 16, and 4 times 5 is 20. So I've got a 20 in all three of these when I list their multiples. So the least common denominator is that common multiple of 20.


For 70 years, the United States and Australia have maintained one of the strongest military partnerships the world has ever seen. First, sharing arms in World War I, our bond was sealed in World War II. While young Aussies were fighting the Nazis in North Africa, Australians on the home front found themselves engaged in the Pacific Theater. Selling sail for the outback, the U.S. and Australia aligned once again during the island hopping campaign, leading to Allied success in the Pacific. In 1951, the Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty was signed, solidifying the alliance between the nations. November 16, 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and U.S. President Barack Obama announced the annual rotational deployment of U.S. Marines to Darwin. As the Prime Minister and I announced yesterday, some of our Marines will begin rotating through these parts. Merk D continues to contribute to regional security within the Indo-Pacific region. It is comprised of command, ground combat, aviation combat, and logistics combat elements. Our mission is to conduct humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, embassy reinforcements, non-combatant evacuation operations, operations from key maritime terrain, and enable follow-on forces to operate in the region. Supporting the U.S. force posture initiatives, we train and operate with the Australian Defense Force to enhance interoperability, conduct regional engagements, and demonstrate the indomitable strength of the U.S.-Australian alliance. Together, forward-deployed Marines and sailors in the ADF are a postured and ready force dedicated to keeping a free and open Indo-Pacific region.


One way of finding the images that occur for an object for a converging and for a diverging lens is ray tracing. There are three principle rays that we can use to find the image. The first one are parallel rays. They go through the focal point. For the converging lens, this means a ray that is parallel will go through the focal point on the right. Actually this is why it's called a converging lens as it converges parallel rays on the right side. For the diverging lens, it was quite similar. The parallel ray is not going through the focal point on the right, but through the one on the left. So it's just virtually going through the focal point. There's no real light on the left side. I'm drawing it dotted here, then it goes like this. So here the light is diverging. Parallel light is spreading out in different directions. Now here the parallel light converges. They come together. The second type of rays that we can look up is kind of the inverse of the one that we just did. Any ray through the focal point will become parallel. So on the left side for the converging lens, we're using the left focal point and this ray will become parallel. For the diverging lens, we do the same thing as before. We use the other focal point as the one used for the converging. So here we use the left one. That means here we're using the right focal point. So a ray that is aimed at the right focal point, like this, will become parallel. And I'm backtracking it where we think it comes from when we look through the lens from this side. Then there is a last that we can use. That is one that goes through the center, just goes straight through. Actually only two rays to find the image, but if you have a third one, that can confirm the location of the image. So that is actually the easiest. One that goes through the center of the lens does not change direction at all. So one that goes through the center of the lens is the center. That does not change direction. Same thing here. One that goes through the center of the lens does not change direction at all. Now in both cases, we just found the image. The image is where all the rays meet again. So here in the case of the converging lens, for an object that was placed behind the focal point, I got a real image, real because the rays really meet here, and it's upside down. In case of the diverging lens, where two or three rays appear to me, they appear to meet here. I'm looking from this side. I'm seeing them coming out from this point. So what I see is an image here behind the lens, so it's a virtual image, but the light doesn't really come from there. These two rays just appear to be coming from this direction. So for the diverging lens, with an object on the left side of the focal point, I got a virtual image here.