The Struggle for Empire/Chapter 12
Chapter XII
The Battle at the Moon
The Solar System had now been cleared of the Anglo-Saxon ships as far as the orbit of the moon. Whole fleets belonging to both sides had been totally annihilated, but more rose up from the depths of space to take their places. The Anglo-Saxons still fought bravely on, with no thought of yielding. Telegram after telegram was flashed back to London urging the necessity of building more ships and preparing more men to defend the capital in case of need. There were now only two more lines of defence to be broken down before the victorious enemy would be enabled to come and rain down their shells on to London. These were the fleets stationed at the moon's orbit, and another just outside the earth's atmosphere. Only 240,000 miles lay between London and destruction. The prospect for England became more gloomy every day. The two lines of defence that remained were nothing like as strong as the two which had already been broken down and annihilated. They were composed chiefly of inferior and out-of-date ships, commanded by inexperienced men. The best officers had already been slaughtered at the two outer lines of defence.
The Sirian Admiral-in-Chief soon showed by his vigorous movements that he was not going to allow the grass to grow under his feet. The fires around Jupiter had hardly died down, when the Sirian fleets were already at the moon. Numbers of the Anglo-Saxon ships were let down on to the surface of that luminary and stationed behind the ridges of rock which formed the extinct volcanoes, so that they might be to some extent defended from the artillery of the enemy. Ambushes were posted in all the most suitable spots, and mines were laid strong enough to destroy half a dozen ships. The Anglo-Saxon admirals were labouring with untiring energy to prepare a good stronghold that would enable them to keep the enemy in check while the fortifications at London were being strengthened. The result was that in a few weeks the moon was very strongly fortified.
As the defending lines were gradually contracted, the headquarters of the Anglo-Saxon fleet were removed from Mars to London, so that the progress of the contest could be more easily watched and its movements controlled. The main body and headquarters of the Sirian fleet were established near Jupiter, but a considerable detachment was occupied near the moon in observing the position of the Anglo-Saxons. The moon soon became the theatre of a bloody and desperate contest. The Anglo-Saxon ships lay behind their bulwarks of rock, and committed frightful havoc among the Sirians. The latter approached them, but they fell to pieces under the terrible fire. They tried to entrench themselves behind rocks in the same manner as their enemies, but the positions of the latter had been so skilfully chosen that there were no suitable ridges in the neighbourhood. Sometimes the mines blew up with terrible explosions under their advancing lines, hurling the fragments of ships far and wide. The contest lasted for days and weeks without either party gaining any advantage. Hundreds of vessels lay on the dark side of the moon ready to destroy any adversary that came near them with the rays of Ednogen. When the crews were thoroughly tired out, the ships retired to the shadow for a few hours and then came forth again with renewed energies for the struggle.
The surface of the moon was soon strewn with wreckage and the mangled and disfigured bodies of human beings, while around the fighting ships there was a continual shower of dust and pieces of rock, and clouds of smoke rolled over mountain and plain, almost obscuring everything from view. When the combats took place at some distance from the moon, the ships which had their antigravitation apparatus destroyed sank with swiftly increasing velocity either to the moon or the earth, to be dashed to pieces on the former, or vaporized in the atmosphere of the latter. To lose control over the vessels in these battles meant certain death and destruction for officers and crew; there was no way of escape.
The proportionate loss which the Sirians now suffered far exceeded that of the former battles. For every ship of the Anglo-Saxons which they destroyed they lost at least two of their own. Reinforcements were continually being sent up from the main body to satisfy the jaws of destruction, but still the cry of the admirals was 'More! More!' The Admiral-in-Chief turned pale as he thought of the hundreds of ships that were being sent to disappear for ever in those terrible valleys of death, where smoke rolled and guns flashed night and day without ceasing. Then he almost despaired of ultimate victory as he thought of the amount of resistance he would probably yet meet with when he had advanced as far as the earth.
The contest continued night and day. Ramming from above was impossible, and it was difficult to fire straight on account of the movements of the moon, so both fleets crawled along over the ground, fighting desperately behind whatever shelter might be afforded. The Anglo-Saxons were being slowly driven from position to position. As soon as one ridge was rendered untenable they hastily moved their ships to the next, and only left the enemy the bare ground covered with shot and fragments of rock. Slowly the enemy's lines advanced, belching forth flame and smoke, but they left numbers of battered wrecks and thousands of dead men behind them. More vessels came up and took the places of those that were lost, and still the fight went on. The barren rocks were splintered, melted, shattered; they were scorched under the intense heat of the sun. Fleets were hidden in the craters of volcanoes, and suddenly sprang out and consumed unwary vessels. Ships chased one another round mountains, thirsting for destruction. They pursued one another deep down into clefts and caverns. Often the clouds of smoke and sheets of flame pouring out of the ground told of some deadly combat taking place far down in the bowels of the moon. Sometimes the combatants were shut in by the rocks their firing had precipitated, and they all perished together of slow starvation in the dark rocky depths. The giant forces which they had at their disposal were incapable of moving the thousands of tons of rock that were piled up on them, and so they met their death when the turmoil of battle had ceased, friend and foe lying side by side in their useless vessels.
Numbers of ships belonging to both sides were kept constantly employed in exploring the dark side of the moon to see what ambushes there might be lurking there. These wandered slowly through the darkness, cautiously flashing their searchlights hither and thither. But their endeavours led to nothing, for both nations equally disliked operating in those dark rocky regions, where, in searching for enemies, every ship was obliged to reveal its own presence.
And so the fighting went on; but even in the twenty-third century there were limits to human endurance. The gunners were utterly exhausted by hard work, the incessant detonations of the guns, and the fearful heat. Numbers fell down at their posts, and there was no one to replace them. The Sirian ships retreated to the main body, and others came to take their places, but the Anglo-Saxons could not do this. At last the men were so overpowered that many of the ships could hold out no longer. This was notified to the admiral, and he telegraphed to the headquarters at London for orders. At last a retreat to the earth was ordered, and the remnants of the Anglo-Saxon fleet proceeded to London to join the fourth line of defence. But they had fought bravely and well, for they had destroyed more than double their number of the Sirian ships. The Sirians delayed at the moon for some days to reorganize their fleets and arrange their plans for the future; then they dashed across the intervening space, and prepared to break down the last line of defence that was left to the Anglo-Saxons.