E.E. 'Doc' Smith SF Gateway Omnibus: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, Skylark DuQuesne (2 page)

After completing his central series, Smith wrote some rather less popular out-of-series books, none having anything like the force of his major effort. A decade after his death, books he had begun or completed in manuscript, or had merely inspired or authorized, began to appear in response to his great posthumous popularity. The best known of these is the Family d’Alembert series, published as by Smith ‘with Stephen Goldin’, derived some material from posthumous manuscripts; the first volume,
The Imperial Stars
(1976), was based on published material, but subsequent volumes were essentially the work of Goldin.

Smith was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall Of Fame in 2004.Today, while he must be read by anyone interested in understanding the deep appeal of American Genre SF in the days before World War Two, any revisit to his work should be made in the loving awareness that he is a creature of the dawn.

The novels of the Skylark of Space sequence –
The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three
,
Skylark of Valeron
and
Skylark DuQuesne
– are here reprinted in one volume. The magazine publication of the first volume – which appeared in the same issue of
Amazing
that also featured Philip Nowlan’s ‘Armageddon – 2419
AD
’, the story which introduced Buck Rogers to the world – marked the coming of age of early American sf. Even then, Smith was more fun. Elements of his dawn-age exuberance may have been discernible in some of the Edisonades which proliferated in America from about 1890; and a certain cosmogonic high-handedness can be traced to the works of H. G. Wells and his UK contemporaries. But it was Smith who combined the two.

The Skylark of Space
brings the Edisonade to its first full maturity, creating a proper galactic forum for the exploits of the inventor/scientist/action-hero who keeps the world (or the Universe) safe for American values, despite the efforts of a foreign-hued villain (Marc ‘Blackie’ DuQuesne) to subvert those values. At the heart of the action lies a highly personalized conflict between hero-inventor Richard Seaton, who always triumphs through luck, gumption, vast intellect, and athletic prowess, and villain-inventor DuQuesne, who develops from the stage histrionics of the first novel into a dominating antihero, and who is perhaps Smith’s most vivid creation. As their conflict escalates, the scale of everything – the potency of the weapons, the power, size and speed of the spaceships, the number of planets overawed or annihilated – also escalates by leaps and bounds. Earth is soon left behind. The galaxy beckons! The galaxy is ours! We read the Skylark of Space in a kind of exhilarated daze. When we finish, we awaken from a marvellous dream.

For a more detailed version of the above, see E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith’s author entry in
The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
:
http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/smith_e_e

Some terms above are capitalised when they would not normally be so rendered; this indicates that the terms represent discrete entries in
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
.

The Skylark of Space

Brilliant scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, the
Skylark
. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. When they kidnap Seaton’s fiancée and friends, they unleash a furious pursuit that will propel the
Skylark
across the galaxy and back.

Skylark Three

Genius inventor Richard Seaton has developed a ‘Zone of Force’ to protect his ship, the
Skylark
– but with the Zone up and running, he can no longer control his vessel. Can this new invention help them prevail against the Fenachronians, with their advanced technology and their determination to conquer the galaxy … and destroy the Earth?

Skylark of Valeron

As the mighty spaceship
Skylark
roamed the intergalactic spaceways, Richard Seaton and his companions found a world of disembodied intelligences. A world of four dimensions where time was insanely distorted and matter obeyed no Terrestrial laws – where three-dimensional human intellects had to fight hard to thwart malevolent invisible mentalities …

Skylark DuQuesne

Richard Seaton and Marc DuQuesne were the deadliest enemies in the galaxy. Their feud had blazed among the stars and challenged the history of a thousand planets. But now a threat from outside the galaxy drives them into a desperate alliance. Seaton and DuQuesne must fight side by side to fend off the invasion – as Seaton keeps constant, perilous watch for DuQuesne’s inevitable double-cross.

Petrified with astonishment, Richard Seaton stared after the copper
steam-bath upon which, a moment before, he had been electrolyzing his solution of ‘X,’ the unknown metal. As soon as he had removed the beaker with its precious contents the heavy bath had jumped endwise from under his hand as though it were alive. It had flown with terrific speed over the table, smashing a dozen reagent-bottles on its way, and straight on out through the open window. Hastily setting the beaker down, he seized his binoculars and focused them upon the flying bath, which now, to the unaided vision, was merely a speck in the distance. Through the glass he saw that it did not fall to the ground, but continued on in a straight line, its rapidly diminishing size alone showing the enormous velocity at which it was moving. It grew smaller and smaller. In a few seconds it disappeared.

Slowly lowering the binoculars to his side, Seaton turned like a man in a trance. He stared dazedly, first at the litter of broken bottles covering the table, and then at the empty space under the hood where the bath had stood for so many years.

Aroused by the entrance of his laboratory helper, he silently motioned him to clean up the wreckage.

‘What happened, doctor?’

‘Search me, Dan … wish I knew, myself,’ Seaton replied, absently, lost in wonder at what he had just seen.

Ferdinand Scott, a chemist from an adjoining laboratory, entered breezily.

‘Hello, Dicky, thought I heard a rack— Good Lord! What you been celebrating? Had an explosion?’

‘Uh-uh.’ Seaton shook his head. ‘Something
funny – darned
funny. I can tell you what happened, but that’s all.’

He did so, and while he talked he prowled about the big room, examining minutely every instrument, dial, meter, gauge, and indicator in the place.

Scott’s face showed in turn interest, surprise, and pitying alarm. ‘Dick, boy, I don’t know why you wrecked the joint, and I don’t know whether that yarn came out of a bottle or a needle, but believe me, it stinks. It’s an honest-to-God, bottled-in-bond stinkeroo if I ever heard one. You’d better lay off the stuff, whatever it is.’

Seeing that Seaton was paying no attention to him, Scott left the room, shaking his head.

Seaton walked slowly to his desk, picked up his blackened
and battered briar pipe, and sat down. What could
possibly
have happened, to result in such shattering of all the natural laws he knew? An inert mass of metal
couldn’t
fly off into space without the application of a force – in this case an enormous, a really tremendous force – a force probably of the order of magnitude of atomic energy. But it hadn’t been atomic energy. That was out. Definitely. No hard radiation … His instruments would have indicated and recorded a hundredth of a millimicrocurie, and every one of them had sat placidly on dead-center zero through the whole show.
What was that force?

And where? In the cell? The solution? The bath? Those three places were … all the places there were.

Concentrating all the power of his mind – deaf, dumb, and blind to every external thing – he sat motionless, with his forgotten pipe clenched between his teeth.

He sat there while most of his fellow chemists finished the day’s work and went home; sat there while the room slowly darkened with the coming of night.

Finally he stood up and turned on the lights. Tapping the stem of his pipe against his palm, he spoke aloud. ‘Absolutely the only unusual incidents in this whole job were a slight slopping over of the solution onto the copper and the short-circuiting of the wires when I grabbed the beaker … wonder if it will repeat …’

He took a piece of copper wire and dipped it into the solution of the mysterious metal. Upon withdrawing it he saw that the wire had changed its appearance, the X having apparently replaced a layer of the original metal. Standing well clear of the table, he touched the wire with the conductors. There was a slight spark, a snap, and it disappeared. Simultaneously there was a sharp sound, like that made by the impact of a rifle bullet, and Seaton saw with amazement a small round hole where the wire had gone completely through the heavy brick wall. There was power – and how! – but whatever it was, it was a fact. A demonstrable fact.

Suddenly he realized that he was hungry; and, glancing at his watch, saw that it was ten o’clock. And he had had a date for dinner at seven with his fiancée at her home, their first dinner since their engagement! Cursing himself for an idiot, he hastily left the laboratory. Going down the corridor, he saw that Marc DuQuesne, a fellow research man, was also working late. He left the building, mounted his motor-cycle, and was soon tearing up Connecticut Avenue toward his sweetheart’s home.

On the way, an idea struck him like a blow of a fist. He forgot even his motorcycle, and only the instinct of the trained rider saved him from disaster during the next few blocks. As he drew near his destination, however, he made a determined effort to pull himself together. ‘What a stunt!’ he muttered ruefully to himself as he considered
what he had done.

‘What a stupid jerk! If she doesn’t give me the bum’s rush for this I’ll never do it again if I live to be a million years old!’

As evening came on and the fireflies began flashing over the grounds of her luxurious Chevy Chase home, Dorothy Vaneman went upstairs to dress. Mrs Vaneman’s eyes followed her daughter’s tall, trim figure more than a little apprehensively. She was wondering about this engagement. True, Richard was a fine chap and might make a name for himself, but at present he was a nobody and, socially, he would always be a nobody … and men of wealth, of distinction, of impeccable social status, had paid court … but Dorothy – no, ‘stubborn’ was not too strong a term – when Dorothy made up her mind …

Unaware of her mother’s look, Dorothy went happily up the stairs. She glanced at the clock, saw that it was only a little after six, and sat down at her dressing table, upon which there stood a picture of Richard. A strong, not unhandsome face, with keen, wide-set gray eyes; the wide brow of the thinker, surmounted by thick, unruly, dark hair; the firm, square jaw of the born fighter – such was the man whose vivid personality, fierce impetuosity, and indomitable perseverance had set him apart from all other men ever since their first meeting, and who had rapidly cleared the field of all other aspirants for her favor. Her breath came faster and her cheeks showed a lovelier color as she sat there, the lights playing in her heavy auburn hair and a tender smile upon her lips.

Dorothy dressed with unusual care, the last touches deftly made, went downstairs and out upon the porch to wait for her guest.

Half an hour passed. Mrs Vaneman came to the door and said anxiously, ‘I wonder if anything could have happened to him?’

‘Of course there hasn’t,’ Dorothy tried to keep all concern out of her voice. ‘Traffic jams – or perhaps he has been picked up again for speeding. Can Alice keep dinner a little longer?’

‘To be sure,’ her mother answered, and disappeared.

But when another half hour had passed Dorothy went in, holding her head somewhat higher than usual and wearing a say-something-if-you-dare expression.

The meal was eaten in polite disregard of the unused plate. The family left the table. For Dorothy the evening was endless; but at the usual time it was ten o’clock, and then ten-thirty, and then Seaton appeared.

Dorothy opened the door, but Seaton did not come
in. He stood close to her, but did not touch her. His eyes searched her face anxiously. Upon his face was a look of indecision, almost of fright – a look so foreign to his usual expression that the girl smiled in spite of herself.

‘I’m awfully sorry, sweetheart, but I couldn’t help it. You’ve got a right to be sore and I ought to be kicked from here to there, but are you too sore to let me talk to you for a couple of minutes?’

‘I was never so mad at anybody in my life, until I started getting scared witless. I simply couldn’t and can’t believe you’d do anything like that on purpose. Come in.’

He came. She closed the door. He half-extended his arms, then paused, irresolute, like a puppy hoping for a pat but expecting a kick. She grinned then, and came into his arms.

‘But what
happened,
Dick?’ she asked later. ‘Something terrible, to make you act like this. I’ve never seen you act so – so funny.’

‘Not terrible, Dotty, just extraordinary. So outrageously extraordinary that before I begin I wish you’d look me in the eye and tell me if you have any doubts about my sanity.’ She led him into the living room, held his face up to the light, and made a pretense of studying his eyes.

‘Richard Ballinger Seaton, I certify that you are entirely sane – quite the sanest man I ever knew. Now tell me the worst. Did you blow up the Bureau with a C-bomb?’

‘Nothing like that,’ he laughed. ‘Just a thing I can’t understand. You know I’ve been reworking the platinum wastes that have been accumulating for the last ten or fifteen years.’

‘Yes, you told me you’d recovered a small fortune in platinum and some of those other metals. You thought you’d found a brand-new one. Did you?’

‘I sure did. After I’d separated out everything I could identify, there was quite a lot of something left – something that didn’t respond to any tests I knew or could find in the literature.