The Project Gutenberg EBook of Operation Lorelie, by William P. Salton

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Title: Operation Lorelie

Author: William P. Salton

Illustrator: William Ashman

Release Date: June 19, 2009 [EBook #29160]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: Illustrator: Wm. Ashman]

OPERATION LORELIE

BY WILLIAM P. SALTON

_It was a new time and a vast new war of complete and awful
annihilation. Yet, some things never change, and, as in ancient
times, Ulysses walked again--brave and unconquerable--and again, the
sirens wove their deadly spell with a smile and a song._

They came like monsters, rather than men, into the vast ruin of what had
once been a great city. They walked carefully, side by side, speaking to
each other by radio as though they were in deep space rather than upon
solid ground.

The winding way they followed through the ruins was marked by blurred
footsteps in the dust and the two men, clumsy in their bulky suits,
found the going difficult.

They stopped, and one of them held out an instrument. He studied the
dial. "All clear," and both men removed their helmets. They wiped sweat
from their faces and glanced at each other.

The blonde man said, "The air's okay, Jarvis. Everything seems all
right. I don't get it."

Jarvis, his dark eyes wary, scowled as he looked about. "It seems all
right. But we know it isn't. It can't be."

"I'm shucking this suit."

"Don't be a fool, Mark!"

"But the dial read _clear_, man! And we know nobody is going to shoot
us. All life _had_ to be wiped out."

"How about minor power installations?"

Jarvis took a chocolate bar from his pocket, sat down on a piece of
broken rubble and began to eat. "You're too careless--far too careless,
Mark."

Mark laughed. "You've always been cautious enough for both of us. Got me
out of plenty of scrapes back in school, too. Don't think I've
forgotten." Affection warmed his blue eyes as they rested on the face of
his friend.

"Okay! Okay! Bu