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diff --git a/old/64644-0.txt b/old/64644-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5431f28..0000000 --- a/old/64644-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3816 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Outcasts of Solar III, by Emmett -McDowell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Outcasts of Solar III - -Author: Emmett McDowell - -Release Date: February 27, 2021 [eBook #64644] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTCASTS OF SOLAR III *** - - - - - The Outcasts Of Solar III - - By Emmett McDowell - - Of all Terra's bloodily brawling billions, only - mighty scientist Jon Saxon sensed the Others. - Even as he swung his fists and dodged the tearing - dart guns, his skin crawled weirdly. Who--_who_--was - so coldly watching this war-torn, hell-bent planet? - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1948. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -"Quiet!" Jon Saxon's voice was a breath in the night as he cautioned -the girl. A warning prickle of danger had run over his skin like -gooseflesh. He was a big man, over six feet, with thick brawny -shoulders and arms like a blacksmith. Before the girl could cry out, -Saxon swept her into the deep shadow of a doorway. His dark gray eyes -probed the street but he could see no one. - -This seventh level thoroughfare of Adirondaka appeared utterly -deserted. Only occasional street lamps revealed glimpses of the -magnificent architecture of the post-atom capitol of Earth. Down the -center of the boulevard the public conveyor swept silently, endlessly -without a passenger anywhere along its ribbon-like length. - -"Where are they?" the girl whispered. - -He shook his head. "I can't see them." But his skin continued to -prickle its warning. Somewhere in the shadows were men, several of -them, stalking him soundlessly. - -He became aware of an alien quality about the figures ringing in him -and the girl, figures he could sense but not see. Still nothing moved -in the street. The girl, he realized, was strangely quiescent. - -Then, sharp as speech, her thought impinged on Jon Saxon's -consciousness. "_The fools! And after I told Emil not to let them crowd -him!_" - -Jon Saxon's eyes narrowed. So the girl thought the invisible figures -were G.A.'s men. He had known, of course, from their first meeting -that the girl was a General Atomic spy. But by not so much as a hint -had he let her suspect that her very thoughts betrayed her. - -The tingling sensation intensified, warned him that the shadows were -closing in. The feel of alienism was stronger, as if they were not -quite human. His heart pumped faster, the pulse throbbing in his ears. - -The moon was rising, he saw, competing indifferently with the street -lights. Its rays streamed down through the ninety-eight levels of the -capitol, down through crystal plastic roadways into the dense blackness -of the pit itself. - -Again he became aware of the girl's thought, "_Why, there's nothing -here! He's imagining things!_" It was accompanied by a wave of relief, -and at the same time she whispered, - -"What is it Jon? What do you see?" - -"Hold it, Ileth!" - -His hands gripped her slender shoulders, silenced her. The public -conveyor still swept past without a sound. - -Bewilderment grew in him. - -The alien entities were close, all about them, apparently without -substance. The tingling sensations were like hot and cold flashes -now, signaling him of something present, something which he couldn't -identify. - -They were not the girl's men, whatever she thought. He would have -recognized them by their feel. - -No, these escaped classification. He had never experienced anything -like them before. His strange sixth sense, the first extra-human sense -which he had begun to develop inexplicably in his twenty seventh year, -could perceive nothing beyond their presence. - -He took his hand from Ileth's shoulders, groped for the button -controlling the door against which they crouched. - -"_Stop!_" - -The thought rang like a bell in his skull. - -Jon Saxon stiffened. "_What is it?_" he concentrated. "_Who are you?_" - -Again the bodiless thought struck into his mind. - -"_That is not for you to know--now or possibly ever. The girl is -working for General Atomic. Do not allow yourself to be duped. It is -decidedly not our policy that General Atomic or any of the corporations -learn the secret of the stellar drive!_" - - * * * * * - -Saxon's eyes opened with surprise. He had no intention of giving G.A. -the secret of the stellar drive. It was a government secret, for one -thing.... - -"_We are quite aware of your intentions_," came the telepathic -communication. "_Otherwise, you would no longer be._" - -Saxon swallowed dryly, realized his palms were sweating. He glanced at -Ileth. The moonlight had crept into the doorway, illuminating her oval -face clearly. He noted the perplexed slant to her fine black brows, the -sober, half frightened expression clouding her patrician features. - -"Why don't we go?" she asked. "What are you waiting for?" - -"In a minute." - -He sent his thought probing out toward the alien minds. And brought up -sharp before an absolute mental barrier. - -No neophytes here. Whatever the creatures were, they were masters of -thought-transference. Excitement sent the blood surging through Saxon's -veins, blotted out momentarily his alarm. - -Until this moment, he had believed himself unique, the single telepath -on Earth. - -He had been thirty-one when he first became aware of his telepathic -potential. It had developed overnight, a seventh extra-human sense, -that isolated him forever from the rest of mankind. - -There had been something indecent, prying about seeing into the minds -of his fellows--like a peeping Tom. It had been intolerable at first, -the naked baring of souls before him, intolerable and shocking, until -he had learned to block out their thoughts. - -He felt the girl shiver against him. - -"But what are you afraid of, Jon?" - -He didn't answer because the alien thoughts intruded on his mind again. - -"_This is a warning, Jon Saxon. Do not divulge the stellar drive to -anyone. It is not and never was intended for you to know. Only the -unfortunate development of a telepathic sense enabled you to steal it -from Villainowski's brain...._" - -"_I didn't steal it!_" Saxon thought indignantly. "_I worked with -Villainowski building the ship. It would have been impossible for me -not to learn it._" - -"_Exactly_," came the reply. "_And your continued existence hinges -entirely on your silence._" - -A chill wind blew up Saxon's spine, but it only fanned the flame of -eagerness which had sprung up in him. Here were others like himself, -possessed of telepathic powers. - -"_Who are you?_" he thought passionately. - -He realized in dismay that the prickling in skin and scalp had -diminished. The telepaths were withdrawing, deserting him without a -hint of further contact. - -"_Who are you? How can I find you?_" - -Nothing! - -He and the girl were alone again in the moonlit doorway. - -A strange sense of exhilaration replaced Saxon's first feeling of -letdown. There were other telepaths on Earth and sometime, someplace -their paths would cross again. He stepped into the street, saying to -Ileth, "Let's go. I was mistaken. There's no one here." - -In the rays of the street lamp, he looked more like a pugilist than -a Government Bureau of Research man and one of Terra's top nuclear -physicists. He had a big nose, twice broken, strong white teeth and a -square massive jaw. He caught the girl's thought and grinned down at -her. - -"_He's not handsome_," she was thinking, "_not by any standard, but -when he grins like that you don't think about his looks and virility -radiates from him like heat waves. He's a dangerous man! Emil -underrates him!_" - -"Hadn't we better take the conveyor?" she asked aloud. - - * * * * * - -Jon Saxon nodded, swung the girl lightly by her elbows to the pick-up, -transferred to commuter, then express. They found seats while the -buildings flowed past on either hand like a speeded-up movie. - -"You have a frightening job," said Ileth, looking up at his from big -hazel-green eyes. Her shiny black hair she wore in a shoulder length -page-boy bob. She smoothed her short-waisted chartreuse jacket over -small firm breasts. "I'm surprised Government lets you go out without -your bodyguard." - -"They don't." Saxon's unprepossessing features lit with a boyish grin. -"But I slip away from them once in a while." - -"You were afraid of an ambush back there in the street?" - -He nodded. "Yes. I thought one of the corporations may have got wind of -my escapade." - -The girl, he saw from her thoughts, was satisfied with his explanation. - -In these days of savage competition, the big corporations maintained -their own factories and laboratories. General Atomic, Tri-World, -Amalgamated Plastic, a score of lesser companies employed staffs -of technicians and research scientists. The lives of these men -were fraught with a peculiar danger. They were subject to bribery, -kidnapping and torture by the spy agencies of rival companies in their -efforts to extort from them any new discovery or guarded scientific -process their corporations might possess. Independent agencies manned -by corrupt technicians had men everywhere. - -The corporations protected themselves by confining their technicians -to barracks and never permitting them to wander forth unescorted. It -was a condition which Jon Saxon found little better than slavery. The -constant surveillance irked him to the point of rebellion. - -Now he was confronted suddenly with the fact that he had been under -observation of an infinitely more subtle kind as well. Some group was -keeping constant watch upon his mind. But who? - -Ileth sighed and laid her sleek black head on his shoulder. "Jon, -you've been so quiet tonight. Is it because tomorrow the expedition -leaves for Alpha Centauri?" - -"I don't know. I'm not afraid, exactly. We know the drive is -practicable, but it's the first attempt man's ever made to reach the -stars. We've never been beyond the Solar System before, Ileth." - -He felt the girl's arms slip around his neck, cling with surprising -strength. "I'm afraid, Jon. I wish you weren't going." - -"What are you afraid of?" - -Ileth bit her lower lip. She was feeling rather than thinking, Saxon -realized, a mental chaos bubbling in the primitive thalamic regions of -her nervous system, a formless intuition of disaster stalking the first -expedition into stellar space. - -"I--I don't know exactly," she confessed. "I don't understand it, Jon." - -Saxon's eyes narrowed. He had intercepted that dread of the -expedition's fate before. He had felt it emanating from hundreds of -individuals otherwise unrelated. It was like a hypnotically imposed -command: "_Don't venture into the Stellar Depths!_" - -And it always stemmed from the subconscious, the regions of the human -mind telepathically closed to him. At first he'd been inclined to think -it was dread of the unknown. But now he was not so sure. - -Facts, Saxon knew, were assimilated by the subconscious, later to -emerge as hunches and intuition. He had grown to believe that there -must be reason behind this universal fear of stellar space. - -He had even felt it in himself; in his chief, Villainowski; in his -co-workers at Government's Bureau of Research. It was a very real -feeling that nothing but disaster for the human race could come of this -venture to the stars. - - - II - -Ileth's apartment was on the ninety-eighth level, flush against the -transparent plastic dome which hermetically sealed in Adirondaka. - -Jon Saxon followed the girl out of the lift, watching her with -admiration. - -She was a slim, long legged creature in chartreuse green, jodhpur-like -trousers that moulded her slender waist and rounded hips with amazing -fidelity before flaring at her thighs. - -Ileth Urban was as fetching a bit of scientist-bait as General Atomic -could have desired. - -All the corporations used these girls. They scoured the Solar System -for the cleverest, most beautiful ones to be found. They paid them -fantastic wages and trained them to worm secrets from susceptible -males. Scientific Mata Hari's. - -Government itself used them, Saxon was fully aware. Only by employing -even more ruthless measures than the corporations was government able -to maintain itself. Government had the finest research department -anywhere. And the Terrestial Intelligence Service was the most -efficient organization of its kind. Not only that; Government had -power, power unbelievable in its Space Navy. - -Ileth paused, allowing him to come abreast of her, her hazel-green eyes -smiling at him. - -Saxon hastily blocked out her thoughts in embarrassment. "_You're a -pretty little Judas_," he thought, then glanced up as a bright glare -lit the night sky. - -A trail of orange flame streaked above the city and disappeared like -a meteor in reverse. The _Morning Star_, a crack luxury liner, was -heading out for Venus. It must be nineteen hours. - -"Our last night," said Ileth softly. "Tomorrow we'll be leaving for -Alpha Centauri like that ship." - -They had reached a door in the glistening plastic face of a building. -The door opened automatically, responsive to the girl's personal -vibration. - -Saxon saw a lambent darkness beyond the entrance. The ceiling of -Ileth's apartment was the transparent rind of the city itself. The moon -streamed through the crystal plastic, lighting it faintly. - -His nerves tightened, his sixth sense of feel exploring the apartment -for a trap. - -But no warning tingle prickled his skin. Then the lights came on as -Ileth passed inside. They glowed from the walls like cold flame. - -With a sigh of relief, Saxon saw that the chamber was empty. - -"Sit down," said Ileth, "I'll get you a drink." She disappeared through -a doorway across the room, stripping her yellow green jacket from her -shoulders as she went. - -Jon Saxon sank onto a lounge, following Ileth's progress by her -thoughts. - -"_Soda. Where's that soda? Oh, here it is. Emil must have put it there. -Like a man._" Then, "_Contact Emil?_" - -A moment's indecision. Saxon could almost hear the girl thinking. "_Not -yet_," she decided with a mental shiver. "_Saxon would be no good to us -dead._" Then, "_Make the drink strong. Take a gallon to make him drunk. -Big brute. Shoulders like a door. I could...._" - -Saxon hastily blocked out her thought in embarrassment. The girl's mind -was too graphic. - -For the hundredth time his brain grappled with the identity of those -alien telepaths who had warned him in the street tonight. - -The radiation branch of Government's Bureau of Research had been -experimenting with thought projection. Could they have been successful? -It might account for the alien feel he had experienced for that -impenetrable barrier which had defeated his attempt to reach their -minds. - -A machine? - -Unconsciously, he shook his head. His sixth sense, the ability not -only to feel a presence but identify it almost as if he were seeing -it, convinced him that there had been life in the street, a strange -invisible form of life possibly; but the reality of it was inescapable. -In some ways his heightened sense of feel was more reliable than his -ears or eyes. - -Ileth returned bearing a tray with glasses, a decanter of whiskey and -soda. "I wasn't long, was I?" - - * * * * * - -There was a hard bright glitter in her hazel-green eyes. Saxon saw -that she had changed to a halter and skirt of Martian microweb. He -swallowed, feeling a pulse beginning to tick in his throat. The -microweb was as black as the girl's hair, but not anywhere so thick. - -Only her cold determination to keep him there until after the sailing, -which he could feel like a dash of cold water, defeated her purpose. - -She handed him a glass, set the tray on an end table, switched on the -telecaster. - -Instead of music, the newscaster was blaring forth the announcement of -the expedition to Alpha Centauri. - -"... greatest page in the annals of the Empire. Tomorrow at nine hours -the _Shooting Star_ with a picked crew, with a staff of specialists -and representatives from all the great corporations will blast off for -Alpha Centauri. - -"Under the directorship of John Villainowski of Government's Bureau of -Research, the man who developed the stellar drive, the expedition plans -to investigate the planetary systems of the Centaurian suns. - -"His excellency, Mustapha IX, will be present...." - -Ileth snapped off the telecaster. - -"Jon," she asked and leaned against him, "why did you sneak out tonight -of all nights?" - -He sensed the girl's tension, knew that it would be difficult to fool -her. Suddenly, he decided to quit beating around the bush and strike -straight into the heart of the opposing forces. - -"I know you're an agent of General Atomic, Ileth. I've...!" He paused. - -Ileth had gasped and drawn back from him. Her thoughts were in turmoil. -"_Emil! I must reach Emil!_" was clear. - -Saxon went on inexorably. "I've wind of a plot by General Atomic -against the _Shooting Star_. If they could get their hands on the -stellar drive, no doubt they could control deep space. They'd be in a -position to dictate to Government." - -Ileth was thinking furiously now, Saxon realized, trying to figure how -much he knew and how much he was guessing. - -He laughed without amusement. He knew damned little, too damned little. - -Only this morning, he had intercepted the stray thought of one of his -co-workers and realized that the man had sold out to General Atomic. To -his horror he had read in the man's mind where General Atomic, after -securing the stellar drive, intended to overthrow Government. - -How General Atomic planned to get the drive, who else was in the plot, -the man hadn't known. He had been bribed to take orders from a G.A. -agent, whom he knew only as Q62. - -Saxon couldn't inform the T.I.S. of his knowledge. He had no proof, -except what he had read in this one man's mind. - -He had told Villainowski of his suspicions. The chief had promised to -set the T.I.S. onto the case, but they had turned up no evidence of any -kind against the great corporation. - -General Atomic had done its work with utmost secrecy, not letting its -right hand know what its left hand was doing. - -Saxon was desperate. He grasped the girl's slight shoulders. "What do -you know about it, Ileth?" - -"I don't know anything. Oh Lord, Jon, I'm to be General Atomic's -representative aboard the _Shooting Star_, and they've told me nothing -of any plot against the ship. Nothing, Jon, I swear it." - -With a disheartening feeling of defeat, Jon realized the girl was -telling the truth. She had been told nothing of General Atomic's plan. -She, too, he read in her frightened thoughts, had been instructed to -take orders from a General Atomic's agent whom she knew as Q62. - -"Who's Q62?" he shot at her. - -Ileth's hazel-green eyes were enormous. "You! How did you know?" - -"Who's Q62?" - -"I don't know. I've never met him." - -"How will you know him?" - -"I don't know. They said he would be able to identify himself. That's -all. They wouldn't tell me how." - -All at once Saxon's skin began to prickle its warning of danger. He -released the girl, wheeled towards the door just as it was flung -viciously back. - -He saw three men in the opening and reached for his dart gun. - -With a half sob, Ileth hurled herself on him, bearing him backward to -the couch, her arms around his chest, her long legs tangled with his. - -[Illustration: _With a half sob, Ileth hurled herself on him._] - -"Emil!" she panted. "Quick! He's got a gun!" - -"Easy. Easy. Easy," said a man's low amused voice. - -Jon Saxon succeeded in throwing Ileth off his chest and surging to his -feet. He found himself staring into the tiny barrel of a dart gun. The -dart gun was being held steady as a rock by a gray-eyed, yellow-haired -man with a faint smile on his wide thin lips. - -Saxon let his hand fall away from his holster. - -"Get his gun, Ileth." - -"Right, Emil." - -Saxon felt the girl's cool fingers slip inside his blouse, pluck his -automatic from his holster. - -"Has he any other weapons?" - -She patted Saxon deftly, impersonally, shook her head, her black hair -swinging. - -"No. That's all." - -The blond man lowered his gun. "You may sit down, sir." - -Saxon sat down. - - * * * * * - -There were two others behind the blond man but Saxon kept his eyes -on Emil, recognizing a dangerous type. Obviously well educated, -intelligent, the blond man was fiercely loyal to General Atomic. - -Not such a queer combination in these times, Saxon thought; when the -corporations had come to replace countries in men's loyalties. - -The anarchist revolt against Bureaucratic-Socialism had seriously -weakened Terra and corporate business had fought its way back to power. -Determined never again to permit the sacred laws of property to be so -violated, it had fastened its tentacles to the very roots of society. -It organized a government in an image of itself--a corporate government. - -Men became known no longer as American or Spanish but as General Atomic -men, or Tri-World men, or Corporate Government men and were as blindly -patriotic to their corporations as they had been in earlier ages to the -lands of their birth. - -Such a one, Saxon recognized, was Emil of General Atomic, a fanatic who -would consider it the greatest honor to die for his company. - -"You realize, sir," said Emil, "that we regret very much what we must -do." - -"Why do it, then?" Jon Saxon asked bluntly. - -The blond Emil looked shocked. "Are you suggesting treason, sir?" - -"I'm not suggesting anything," replied Saxon, who had already read his -death sentence in Emil's brain. "But you don't expect me to give you -any information, when you plan to kill me immediately after." - -Emil's expression was vaguely disturbed. "Nonsense! I'm commissioned -to offer you a post in General Atomic's research department at twice -your present salary, if you can give us the information we wish." - -But Saxon still read nothing but inexorable death in Emil's mind. - -"Eyewash," he said. - -In the ensuing silence the men's thoughts beat at Saxon's brain like -the confusing racket of people talking all at once. - -At length Emil moved aside, saying, "We're prepared for obstinacy. -Georg, take over." - -A plump man of middle age drew up a chair facing Saxon. - -"Georg," explained Emil, "is an N.P.A." - -Saxon stared into the moon faced neural-psychoanalyst. The man -possessed the most unusual pair of twinkling blue eyes like bits of -glass, a smooth pink face, thin sandy hair. He was dressed like Emil in -loose, comfortable coveralls of a gray siliconex. - -He took Saxon's wrist, said pleasantly, "Hmmm, pulse rapid but strong. -Unusual nervous control. Strip to the waist, if you please." - -As Saxon pulled off his blouse, the plump N.P.A. turned to the third -man, obviously his assistant, and said, "Bring the machine, Alph." - -The man called Alph lugged a heavy case in front of the couch, opened -it. Georg began to attach saucer shaped suction discs to Saxon's -temples, the base of his skull, his solar plexus. Wires led from the -discs to the machine in the black case. - -"Quite ready," said Georg to Emil. "Ask any questions you wish." - -Saxon could feel a delicate tingle rippling up his spine into his brain -like a mild electric shock. Emil asked, "Do you know the secret of -Villainowski's stellar drive?" - -"No," returned Saxon. "That's preposterous. No one understands that -except Villainowski himself. Do you think Government would be so -stupid as to let the secret out?" - -The plump N.P.A. who had been studying a bank of dials, looked up and -said, "He's lying. From that I would infer that he understands the -stellar drive." - -"What?" gasped Emil. - -With a sinking heart Jon Saxon realized that the blond man had not been -expecting such luck. They had thought that he might be able to give -them some clue to the stellar drive, but not that he actually could -reproduce it. - -"What's his torture coefficient?" Emil shot at the N.P.A. - -Georg adjusted several dials. The tingling became livid fire coursing -up Saxon's spine. His eyes closed, he crushed his lips between his -teeth until a trickle of blood coursed down his chin. - -The room swayed sickeningly. Sweat burst from his pores, made his sick -white face glisten in the indirect lighting. - -Then as sudden as it came, the fire smoldered and died out of his spine. - -He heard the N.P.A. speak in an awed voice, "His torture coefficient is -below his will to live. He'll die first." - - * * * * * - -Emil began to stride nervously back and forth before the lounge. He -swung suddenly on Saxon, saying, "Look, that post on General Atomic's -research bureau is still open. I can promise you three times your -present salary, and a bonus besides." - -"Liar," replied Saxon without hesitation. "I don't need a machine to -tell you're lying." He laughed shortly. - -The N.P.A.'s plump face looked puzzled. He made rapid adjustments on -the machine, bent over the dials again. - -"He's not lying," he said in a queer voice. "He knows you intend to -kill him as soon as you squeeze him dry of information." - -Saxon caught sight of Ileth's white, strained face and grinned at her. -She had been as surprised, he read her thoughts, as himself at Emil's -opportune entrance. Obviously, Emil had not been supposed to put in an -appearance until she had a try at him first. - -It was all verification that General Atomic was trying to steal the -stellar drive. But Saxon had been able to catch only the scantiest of -details from Emil's mind. - -General Atomic not only wanted the drive, he sensed, but a monopoly on -it. That meant killing or buying off everyone in Government's Bureau of -Research who knew the secret of the drive. - -Emil said to Saxon, "Suppose I contact General Atomic and put it up to -them. I'll confess my orders were to question you, then dispose of you. -Frankly, Ileth's reports have convinced us that you couldn't be bought." - -"What makes you think that I can now? Anyway, what guarantee have I -that their promises aren't as empty as yours?" he asked sceptically. - -Georg, the neuro-psychoanalyst, pursed thick lips and interjected -himself into the conversation. "General Atomic abides by its -contracts," he pointed out. - -"Yes. When it's to their advantage." - -Emil's eyes blazed; red stained his pale cheek. "Do you mean to imply, -sir, that General Atomic is treacherous?" - -"Exactly." - -"Emil!" said the plump N.P.A., sharply. - -Slowly the flush receded from Emil's cheeks, but he held himself stiff -as a ram-rod and his eyes were angry. - -The N.P.A. turned back to Saxon. "At least, you admit that General -Atomic abides by its contracts as long as it's to their advantage." - -Saxon nodded, seeing already what was coming. - -"Then," pursued Georg. "It certainly would be to their advantage -to preserve you alive until you could build a stellar drive. After -that...." He shrugged. "You're an intelligent man, Saxon. Rated one of -the best physicists in the Empire, in fact. It seems to me that you -could easily convince General Atomic that it would be of advantage to -them to keep you alive indefinitely. What would you say to a hundred -thousand credits a year?" - -"Not enough." - -"_Two hundred thousand?_" - -"One or two ..." Saxon began, then paused in consternation. He had been -tricked! - -There was a self-satisfied smile on the neuro-psychoanalyst's pudgy -features. He had not spoken aloud the words, "Two hundred thousand," -but had thought them at Saxon! - -"He's a telepath!" said the N.P.A., and began to disconnect the discs -from Saxon's body and stow them back in the case. - -"A telepath!" Emil ejaculated. "He's a telepath?" - -"Exactly," agreed the N.P.A. in dry tones. "I suspected it from the -first, but frankly I couldn't believe it. I've never encountered a -true telepath before. I didn't think there were any. Individuals who -are unusually canny at reading expression, yes. But never any true -telepaths. I'm going to request General Atomic to let me perform an -autopsy after he's been disposed of. Possibly he's a mutant." - -"Disposed of?" ejaculated the blond Emil. "But great stars, Georg! He's -invaluable to us. Not only does he possess the secret of the stellar -drive, but he can...." - -"You're the executive!" retorted Georg sharply, "but I advise you to -shoot him now! This second!" - -"What do you mean?" - -"You're not stupid, man! How much information has he picked from -our brains already? If he should escape, the plan would have to be -sacrificed. Everything might be lost." Then, sharply, "And don't think -about the plan! Shoot him!" - -Saxon could read growing conviction in the blond man's mind. He saw -Emil's hand, holding the dart gun, begin to rise. - -"Look out, Emil!" shrieked Ileth suddenly. - -But Saxon had already snatched the plump N.P.A. off his feet, yanking -him between himself and Emil. He heard a sharp plop. The N.P.A.'s body -quivered as it intercepted Emil's poisoned dart. Saxon realized he was -holding aloft a dead man. - -The muscles in his burly naked shoulders hunched. He hurled the dead -N.P.A. at the blond man who went down, bowled over backwards by the -body. - -Emil's head struck the plastic floor with a sickening crunch. Saxon -caught a painful mental flash as unconsciousness gripped the blond man. - -Without a pause, he leaped for Ileth. The girl was fumbling at her -waist, where her gun's muzzle had become entangled. Only the fact that -the muzzle had caught in her waist band saved him. - -She flinched back as Saxon's hand closed on the gun, tore it loose from -her grip. There was a rip of cloth and the dart gun came away. Ileth's -skirt, freed of its supporting waistband, slid down about her ankles. - -Saxon leaped backward, threatening the N.P.A.'s flabbergasted assistant -as well as the girl. - -"Don't move! Either of you." - -The N.P.A.'s assistant was obviously terrified and had no intention of -budging. - -"_Oh, my skirt!_" Ileth's wild thought came clear as a bell to Saxon, -and the girl rolled her eyes toward her feet, where the cloth lay in a -black ring. But she didn't move. - -Saxon grinned. "Obviously," he said, "you haven't any weapon concealed -about yourself. You can pick up your skirt, Ileth." - -She snatched it about her waist again, holding the foot long tear -together with her hand. - -"I'm leaving," he said, "but remember, I can read your thoughts. If -either of you make a move towards that audio during the next ten -minutes, I'll pop back in and fill you as full of darts as a porcupine." - -And he backed, still grinning, through the door. - - - III - -The huge structure, housing Government's Bureau of Research, was aflame -with light when Saxon climbed from the robot cab and approached the -entrance. The shadowy figure of a guard challenged him. - -Saxon produced his papers, submitted to a fingerprint test. - -"So, it's you, all right," the guard growled. "Where the hell have you -been? The T.I.S. has been scouring the city for you." - -Saxon asked, "Is Villainowski in? I want to see him." - -"Not half as bad," said the guard, "as he wants to see you." He stuck -his head inside the guardroom, yelled, "Hey, Webb, come relieve me. -That missing physicist has shown up. I've got to take him up to the -chief." - -"I can find my way," Saxon assured him dryly. - -"I've got my orders," retorted the man, "to escort you, and escorted -you'll be." - -As they took the lift, Saxon probed gently into the guard's mind. He -was thinking about a Venusian dancer performing at the Sun Palace on -Greater Broadway. Either he didn't know why Villainowski wanted him, or -he was more interested in the dancer. - -Saxon sighed in resignation. - -Chief Villainowski was a small wiry man of Polish descent who had led -none too reputable a life, although it was not generally known. Jon -Saxon, regarding him across the polished desk, read suspicion and -wonder in the chief's mind. Villainowski was never able to reconcile -Saxon's appearance with his indisputable scientific attainments. - -"_Looks like a plug ugly_," Villainowski was thinking although he was -far from a beauty himself. "_Ought to be a prize fighter instead of a -physicist!_" - -"Will you pray tell me," he asked aloud of the amused Saxon, "what the -hell possessed you to sneak out the night before we leave?" - -Saxon grinned like a mastiff. "It was that General Atomic affair. I -haven't told you, but I met one of their agents, a girl by the name of -Ileth Urban, about a month ago." - -"Black-headed girl?" asked the third man in the room. He had his chair -leaned against the wall. A tall, angular, sandy-haired man with pale -blue eyes like gimlets. "Does she have hazel-green eyes, small delicate -features? Ears peaked like an animal's...." - -"I hadn't noticed the ears," Saxon confessed, swinging toward the -sandy-haired man. - -Gavin Murdock, T.I.S. agent, had been assigned as T.I.S. representative -to this first expedition beyond the Solar System. He said, "No, I guess -not. She wears her hair in a page-boy bob." - -Villainowski interrupted: "Well, damn it, man, who gave you permission -to horn in on the T.I.S.'s work?" - -"I knew her. She'd been set to pump me dry of information by General -Atomic. If anyone could get anything out of her, I could." - -"You don't fancy yourself much," the chief grunted with a touch of -asperity. "What did you find out?" - -Saxon related events just as they had transpired, omitting only the -alien telepaths in the street and his own telepathic ability. - -"By Pluto!" exploded Villainowski when he had concluded. "We can grab -the lot of them." - -"Not so fast," Murdock interrupted from his chair against the wall. -"What proof have you? Only Saxon's word. It won't hold in a court of -law." - -"But the girl!" Villainowski protested. "She's General Atomic's -representative on the expedition. You don't intend to let her--" - -"It's better to have her where we can watch her," the T.I.S. agent -returned. "Saxon can keep an eye on her. He seems to be able to pry -more out of her than any of my agents have. If he can persuade her that -he hasn't told us about the fracas in her apartment...." - -"I can convince her of that, I think," said Saxon. "But she doesn't -know anything...." - -"Except," Murdock interrupted again, "that she's to take orders from an -agent known as Q62. At least, she should lead us to him." He paused, -regarded Saxon with his penetrating pale blue eyes. "What the devil did -you do to her, man, to get that information out of her? Stick darts -under her finger nails?" - -In both Murdock's and Villainowski's mind Saxon read a cold -determination to keep him under surveillance as well as the girl. - - * * * * * - -Villainowski, he knew, hated the corporations in general, but it was -nothing to the black flame of hatred that consumed the man whenever he -thought of General Atomic. It was almost psychopathic. He had never -forgotten or forgiven General Atomic, Saxon knew, for stealing his -first three discoveries and then disgracing him. - -It was a queer friendship that existed between the two men questioning -Saxon--the gaunt cold-blooded manhunter, who had sent a girl with whom -he was infatuated to the Lunar Penal Colony, and Villainowski, the -small wiry scientist, ex-Jovian slaver, and at present head of the -first expedition into deep space. - -"Well," the sandy-haired Murdock repeated inexorably, "how did she -happen to tell you about Q62?" - -"It was a slip," explained Saxon. "I followed it up." - -"She's not given to making slips," Murdock pointed out. "Not Ileth -Urban." - -When Saxon didn't reply, the T.I.S. agent said, "Saxon, we've -investigated your past pretty thoroughly. We did the same with every -man and woman connected with this expedition. We encountered a strange -thing. Saxon, who are your parents?" - -Jon Saxon could feel his stomach contract. "I don't know. I haven't any -recollection before my eleventh year." He could feel Murdock's probing -blue eyes, sense his scepticism. - -"You've a convenient memory, because we've been unable to find any -trace of your parents or birth prior to your enrollment in the -Institute. A thousand years ago your case would have been unusual, -but it could have happened. But today, with our universal system of -records, it's impossible. I've never encountered a parallel case to -yours." - -"I'm sorry," said Saxon dryly, "but I do seem to have been born, don't -I? And somehow escaped the census." - -Murdock smiled a wintry smile. "There were funds deposited at the -Institute for your education. We haven't been able to trace those funds -either. In fact, every way we've turned, we've run into a blank wall." - -"I'm sorry," said Saxon again, "but I can't help you. I have absolutely -no memory before I was eleven. Don't think it hasn't worried me. I -asked the T.I.S. to investigate it years ago. They couldn't find -anything then. It's not surprising they haven't found anything this -time." - -"You won't object to being examined by our N.P.A.?" - -"No," replied Saxon. - -Villainowski spoke into an inter-communicating audio, "Send in the -N.P.A." - -The neuro-psychoanalyst must have been waiting outside because he -entered immediately. Saxon regarded him curiously. Government's N.P.A. -was a lean Cassius-like individual with an ingratiating smile. Saxon -had taken an immediate dislike to him when he had first seen him -prowling about the corridors of the research building, but he knew the -man was a brilliant psychologist. - -The N.P.A. approached Saxon rubbing his hands together and smiling. -"So this is the subject. How are you, Jon? There's no need to ask -questions. I've studied your record. No question but what there's a -mental block, is there? Hope we can break it. Sit here, if you don't -mind." - -Saxon took the chair indicated, the N.P.A. facing him. - -"Take one of these." He held out a box of hypno-pills. - -Saxon selected one, gulped it down. He made no effort to read the minds -of Murdock, Villainowski or the N.P.A. - -The neuro-psychoanalyst was wearing a revolving mirror about an inch -in diameter on a band about his forehead. He set the mirror in motion -which caught the room light, alternately darkening and flashing. - -"Look into the light, Jon," he said in a calm, sure voice. "Relax and -watch the light. You are going to sleep when I count three. You can -feel the effect of the hypno-pill already. When I count three you -sleep, sleep.... One." A pause. "Two." Pause. "Three...." - - * * * * * - -After half an hour the N.P.A.'s voice wasn't so sure. He had given -Jon three more pills, had tried all the devices at the command of the -largest neural-clinic in the Empire without the slightest effect. -Jon Saxon continued to regard the N.P.A. with a half hidden gleam of -amusement in his dark gray eyes. - -The neuro-psychoanalyst sat back, mopped his perspiring face with his -handkerchief. "It's no use!" he said in a strained voice. "He can't be -hypnotized!" - -"I could have told you that," replied Saxon. "Do you think I haven't -tried to have the block broken before?" - -The N.P.A. swore and got to his feet. "Well, why didn't you say so?" he -shouted. It was the first time Saxon had ever seen him lose his temper. - -"Because these gentlemen have been suspicious of me." He indicated -Murdock and Villainowski. "If I had offered any objections to being -hypnotized, they'd have been sure that I was afraid to." - -All at once, Saxon experienced the peculiar tingling in scalp and -skin that warned him the alien creatures, whom he had met in the -street, were present. He couldn't possibly be mistaken. Once having -experienced that peculiar inhuman feel it was not to be forgotten or -confused. - -Not only were they invisible, but neither doors nor walls seemed to -offer any resistance to them. - -"_Who are you?_" he concentrated, but his thought met that strange -mental barrier. There was no answer. - -He realized that the three men were watching him with a curious -tenseness. - -Suddenly the N.P.A.'s jaw dropped. An expression of complete -astonishment lit up his face. "I've got it! I've got it!" he cried. - -"Got what?" growled Villainowski, moving uneasily behind his massive -desk. - -"Saxon! Saxon, that's who! My Lord, why didn't it occur to me before. -He's a--" - -The words died suddenly on the N.P.A.'s lips. An expression of fright -crossed his lean features. Then, without a sound, he crumpled to the -carpet. - -Jon Saxon, staring in horror, realized that the tingling of his skin -was diminishing. The telepaths were withdrawing. - -At the same instant Murdock's chair hit the floor as he leaped across -the room, dropped to his knee beside the prone figure of the N.P.A. For -a moment he was bent over the body like a bronze statue, then he turned -his face up to Villainowski. - -Saxon, who had read his thoughts, was amazed at Murdock's passionless -expression. - -"He's dead," the T.I.S. agent said in a toneless voice. "I wouldn't -have believed it, if I hadn't seen it happen, but he's deader than the -moon." - - - IV - -Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! rang the warning gong, reverberating through -the launching pit. - -Mustapha IX had shaken hands for the last time with Villainowski and -hurried down the gangplank. The ports were all sealed; crew at their -stations. Outside the pits, the frenzied crowd was delirious with -excitement. Wasn't it man's first attempt to reach the stars? - -Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! - -On the last stroke the _Shooting Star_ fell silent except for the -muffled roar of her tubes warming. At the same instant the crowd grew -impossibly still. - -The raw fear, which had made itself felt in spite of the festivities, -rode to the surface. The strange psychological dread of deep space. - -A woman in the relatives' stand suddenly buried her face in her hands, -her shoulders shaking with violent sobs. She was the wife of the master -mechanic on the third's watch. A gray-faced man moved towards the -woman, patted her shoulders. - -Just then a continuous violent explosion shook the frail stand like -an earth tremor. The _Shooting Star_ burst from the pits, trailing a -comet-tail of orange flame. - -"Oh, my husband!" wailed the woman, "oh, my husband!" but her voice was -drowned in the roar. - - * * * * * - -Jon Saxon threw off his safety belt, glanced across at the strained -white face of Ileth Urban in the next acceleration chair. "Buck up," he -grinned. "It's too late to change your mind now." - -The girl nervously tucked a curl in place, smiled uncertainly. "Heaven -help me! Are we going to share all my thoughts during the rest of the -voyage?" - -"Hell, no," said Saxon. "I want to preserve some of my illusions." He -leaned towards her. "I'll strike a bargain with you, though. If you -don't mention that I'm a telepath, I'll not report our--er--experience -last night." - -"You mean you haven't said anything?" - -"No," said Saxon. "Why should I? I didn't have proof. Who'd want to -tackle General Atomic without cast-iron evidence? On second thought, -who'd want to tackle General Atomic at all? No one would believe -me, anyway. Just like they won't believe you if you tell them I'm a -telepath." - -Saxon could see the girl reach a decision. "Oh, I wouldn't say that," -he broke in before she could voice her thought. "You've lots of other -courses. You could snub me or spread tales behind my back." - -"I didn't say it!" she retorted hotly. "I thought it. My Lord, I can't -even call my thoughts my own!" - -"Then it's a bargain." - -"I didn't say so." - -"No. But you've decided to...." - -She stamped her feet. "That's what I mean! That's what I mean!" - -"Calm down," he said. "Half the staff is staring at you." - -Ileth drew a deep breath, shrugged. A grim smile flashed across her -pretty patrician features. - -"If you can stand it," she replied with an unexpected twinkle in her -hazel-green eyes, "I suppose I can too." - -He stood up. "Like to meet the rest of the staff? Fine. You're all -settled in your cabin, aren't you? No? Then I'll give you a hand as -soon as we finish our tour of introduction." - -Ileth's eyes had grown darker and darker. - -"Now don't lose your temper," he said hastily. - -"I haven't said a damn word. At least let me get my answers out of my -mouth." - -Saxon laughed, taking her arm. "Come along. We're accelerating at one -G constant. We'll have no trouble moving around." He hesitated, then -asked in an off hand manner, - -"Has Q62 identified himself yet?" - -Ileth looked startled, frightened. She tried to draw away but Saxon -held onto her arm. "No. No, he hasn't. Please let go. You're hurting -me, Jon." - -But he didn't release her. "Is he aboard the ship?" - -"No. I don't know. General Atomic didn't notify me that he would -be." Abruptly, Ileth didn't seem confused any longer. She raised her -chin, looked Saxon nakedly in the eyes making no effort to conceal -her thoughts. "I think he is," she said simply. "But I don't know. He -hasn't identified himself, if he is. I--I haven't seen anyone aboard -that I know. I think I'm the only General Atomic agent aboard, and I'm -an accredited representative." - -Saxon regarded her a moment without speaking. The girl was telling the -truth as far as she knew. There could be no doubt about that. - - * * * * * - -Saxon introduced Ileth to Brand, Government's bio-chemist, to Mercedes, -the gray-haired middle-aged woman who was Government's authority in -anthropology. He made the circuit of the lounge with her, letting her -chat with ethnologists and semantics experts, psycho-historians and -zoologists--all of Government's brilliant array of specialists. And all -the while he kept his mind open and alert, sifting their varied thought -patterns for a betraying sign. - -He didn't intercept a single suspicious thought. - -They all seemed to be just exactly what they were supposed to be, -each one an expert in his field, eager and enthusiastic investigators -beginning an unparalleled adventure. Saxon could discover no evidences -that any of them had sold out to General Atomic. - -If Q62 or any General Atomic agent were among Government's staff, they -were perfect in dissembling their thoughts. - -From the lounge, Saxon showed Ileth about the ship. He could see it was -an experience for the girl. - -The _Shooting Star_ had been built along the general design of a -cruiser, heavily armed and armored against the possibilities of hostile -races inhabiting the planets of the Alpha Centaurian suns. - -Her crew was small. Government's staff of scientists numbered fourteen; -and only four of the corporations were represented: General Atomic, -Tri-World, Amalgamated Plastic and United Spaceways. In spite of the -mass of equipment and a year's emergency ration of fuel and supplies, -they were not crowded. - -Saxon led Ileth through the control room, the officer's mess, the -engine room and observation deck. Everywhere they went, Saxon probed -the brains of crew and officers. - -At the end of two hours, he still had found exactly nothing. Apparently -Q62 was not aboard. Ileth asked slyly, "Did you find him?" - -They had entered the deck on which the cabins were located and were -passing the closed door of number seven. - -"Q62?" said Saxon with a puzzled frown. "No--" He halted abruptly, -seizing the girl's arm. - -"Jon! What is it?" - -"Be quiet!" - -Saxon's scalp was tingling as if minute electrical shocks were coursing -through the roots of his hair. - -The Aliens? - -The feel was unmistakable to his extra-human sixth sense. And it was -emanating from Cabin Seven! - -Like a cat he reached the door in one silent bound, pressed the button. -The panel slid back noiselessly. Except for a blade of light lancing -into the cabin from the lighted passage, only darkness lurked beyond -the doorway. - -The alien unhuman feel was suddenly so strong that it was like a cold -draft pouring through the blackened entrance, sending chills rippling -up his spine. - -Ileth's eyes were enormous. Saxon could hear her frightened erratic -breathing. Her fear-thoughts beat at his brain. "_What is it? What has -he found? What's wrong?_" - -In spite of himself, Saxon could feel the blood drain out of his -cheeks. He wanted suddenly to slam the door and run blindly down the -corridor, away from that strange creature lurking in the dark of Cabin -Seven. - -He controlled himself, reached noiselessly inside the door, pressed the -switch. Light flooded the cabin. - -"Why, it's just a girl!" said Ileth, who was peering wide-eyed over -Saxon's shoulder. She giggled nervously. - -Saxon stared at the occupant of the cabin, scarcely crediting his eyes. -It was a girl right enough, a flaxen haired girl sleeping easily on her -back in the narrow bunk. - -A thin flexoplas coverlet was thrown across her. One slim bare leg -dangled over the edge of the bunk. Her face, Saxon saw, was heart -shaped, the closed eyelids delicately blue. - -At Ileth's giggle, the creature opened her eyes, sat upright with -a half-suppressed scream. Ileth backed out of the doorway in -embarrassment, but Saxon stood as if turned to stone. - -The tingling sensation was sending goose flesh racing over his skin. -The alien emanations were streaming straight from the girl on the bunk. - -He recovered himself, thought violently, angrily, "_Who are you?_" - -The girl stared at him without making a sound. Saxon realized that her -eyes were amber as topaz, large and strangely lambent. Then a faint -smile twitched the corners of her lips. She made no move to escape, not -even to cover her breasts and shoulder. - -"_You!_" the thought reached Saxon tinged with amusement. "_It would be -you who discovered me!_" - -She touched a tiny instrument strapped to her wrist, which Saxon -noticed for the first time. - -"_Who are you?_" he thought again, then narrowed his eyes with crazed -disbelief. - -He could see the bulkhead through the girl. She gave a low laugh. The -flexoplas coverlet, which had lain so lightly over her lap, collapsed -slowly. - -The girl was gone, dissolved. Only her throaty laugh lingered in the -still air. - -Saxon rubbed his eyes. He felt Ileth trembling against him as if she -had a chill. Setting his jaw, he stepped up to the bunk, felt the -sheets. They were warm and still held the impression of the girl's body. - -He straightened, realized that the tingling in his scalp had ceased. -The alien telepath was gone. But where? - -"Let's get the hell out of here," Ileth said vehemently. - -Saxon followed her into the passage, switched off the lights, closed -the door softly behind him. - -"I don't believe it!" said Ileth. "I don't want to believe it." Her -fine patrician features were paper white, making her black lashes -and eyebrows stand out like heavy strokes of a crayon. Her lips were -bloodless. - -Saxon shook his head in bewilderment. - -"Couldn't you read her mind?" asked Ileth. - -"She had the most perfect mental barrier I've ever encountered. I -couldn't read a thing. Only...." - -"Only what?" - -"Nothing," he said abruptly, shaking his massive shoulders as if to -free them from a burden. "Nothing. I think we'd better keep our mouths -shut about this too. If we went around telling what we've seen, they'd -throw us in the psychopathic ward." - -Ileth shuddered. - -"Maybe it was an hallucination," she suggested. "Maybe we're nutty as a -fruit cake, I hope." - - - V - -"You've been through the Little Death before," said Saxon. He and -Murdock, the T.I.S. agent, were in the control room, Murdock's eye -glued to the scanner. "What's it like, Murdock?" - -The gaunt, frosty T.I.S. agent took his eyes from the scanner, faced -Saxon. - -"Not so bad," he replied laconically. - -"I've heard it's a pretty rugged experience." - -Murdock allowed himself a tight smile. "That depends on how active a -social consciousness you have. You're a non-Newtonian physicist. You -know the Pachner conception of the space-time continuum better than I -do. Villainowski's stellar drive inverts the Newtonian concept that a -vehicle travels through space during a passage of time. It operates -through time during a passage of space. - -"Yes, yes," Saxon interrupted impatiently. "But the effects of the time -field.... What do you experience while the ship is in the time field?" - -"That's the Little Death," replied Murdock in a dry voice, "though the -name is misleading. Actually you experience a segment of your own life, -either the past, the future, or the present. As Villainowski would -explain it, time is co-existent, while in the time field our lives are -spread out around us, but because we're equipped with three-dimensional -sense organs we're restricted to a single series of episodes anywhere -along our life span." - -Saxon frowned and said, "In other words, it's just as if we returned to -the past and relived some incident that occurred to us before?" - -"Right. Or into the future and experienced something that hasn't -happened yet." - -Saxon's frown deepened. "But what's so rugged about that?" - -"Nothing," rejoined Murdock dryly, "if you've lived an exemplary life. -It's not pleasant, though, to live over and over again a period when -you committed murder say, or were terribly frightened, or even did some -little thing that you've been trying your best to forget since." - -Saxon, caught a brief mental flash from the T.I.S. agent, as he shoved -the picture of a girl with pretty Slavic features out of his mind. - -"I'm not looking forward to the Little Death!" Murdock said dryly, and -returned his eye to the scanner. - -Saxon leaned back in the acceleration chair. The captain was bending -over the three-dimensional space-charts along with the third mate. A -spaceman stood at the robot pilot. Another, whom Murdock had replaced -at the scanner, was reclining in a second acceleration chair. - -There was an air of tension in the control room. Saxon realized -suddenly that the captain was checking the robot controls. - -That could mean only one thing. It was nearing time for Villainowski to -switch the _Shooting Star_ onto the stellar drive. They would be going -into the Little Death any moment. Saxon sat up abruptly. "How long -before we switch over, Captain?" - -The captain looked up from the charts. "We've attained minimum -velocity. Villainowski's in the engine room now. I'm expecting orders -to turn her over right away." - -Murdock turned from the scanner again, fixed Saxon with his pale blue -eyes. - -"By the way, Jon, you've been prowling the ship from stem to stern the -past three days." His voice was pitched too low to reach the officers -checking the star maps and robot controls. "Have you a line on Q62 yet?" - -Saxon could read suspicion in the T.I.S. agent's mind. "No," he -admitted, "and I'm more puzzled than you. Ileth doesn't know who Q62 -is, or even if he's aboard, although she's been commanded by General -Atomic to take her orders from him." - -"You're sure of that?" - -"Yes. I'm sure of it." - -There was a pause, each man busy with his own thoughts. - -"I'd swear," Saxon broke the silence, "that Q62 isn't aboard, nor any -other General Atomic agents." - -Murdock regarded him speculatively and Saxon caught his thought, "_What -the hell makes him so damned sure?_" - - * * * * * - -Sure? Saxon thought to himself. He wasn't sure about anything. The -alien stowaway was still aboard. His sixth sense had warned him of her -nearness a hundred times during his sporadic jaunts about the ship. But -he had been unable to establish contact with her. - -He had kept his mind open to the wash of thoughts from crew and -staff, but, so far as he had been able to learn, they were all loyal -to Government. Not even in their secret innermost thoughts had he -discovered any evidence that a traitor was aboard. - -Murdock interrupted his reflections, asking, "Have you any idea what -that N.P.A. had discovered before he died?" - -Saxon started, looked at the T.I.S. agent uncomfortably. Murdock's -irrelevant question had conjured a vivid picture in his mind of the -death of the N.P.A. in Villainowski's office. - -"I don't know," he said miserably, beginning to understand how -uncomfortable the Little Death might be. "I would give a lot to know. -He may have had a clue to what I am." - -Murdock's cold blue eyes narrowed, and he regarded Saxon with a -peculiar intensity. "_That's a devilish odd way for him to put it_," -the T.I.S. agent was thinking. "_What he is! Now why the hell would he -say that?_" - -Saxon realized with chagrin that he had made a slip. He should have -said, "Who I am," not "What I am." No human ever doubted that he was a -genuine specimen of _homo sapiens_. - -The engine room telegraph buzzed suddenly, and when the captain -answered, Villainowski's voice reached the two men. - -"Sound the general alarm, Captain. Turn the ship over to the robot -control. We're going into the Little Death." - -"Right," said the captain. He looked pale and worn and older. He -snapped off the telegraph, turned to the third. "Sound the general -alarm and turn on the public address system, then go to your cabin." -The third nodded, reached for the switch. - -An ugly clangor broke through the _Shooting Star_ from stem to -stern, followed immediately by a harsh metallic voice issuing from -strategically placed audios. - -"All officers, members of unlicensed personnel and staff report to your -quarters at once and lie on your bunks." - -There was a series of clicks as the ship went smoothly over to the -robot controls. - -The command ordering everyone to their cabins was repeated three more -times. - -Saxon realized there was no one in the control room, but himself, -Murdock, and the captain. - -"Coming?" asked the captain from the doorway. - -"In a minute," Murdock replied. - -The captain departed hastily, and Saxon followed the T.I.S. agent -across the deck to the control board, where a single dial was marked -off in parsecs. - -"I'm damned curious about this four dimensional drive," Murdock -confessed, as he dropped into an acceleration chair before the dial. -"I've been through it before. But I'd like to follow its operation here -in the control room as long as possible before we blank out. Are you -game?" - -"Sure," Saxon's voice was eager. He took a seat beside Murdock, staring -at the dial marked off in parsecs with fascination. - -He became conscious of a sobering silence. The robot controls had cut -off the jets. A giddy feeling of weightlessness possessed him. - -Suddenly the radiograph began to click off a message. He saw Murdock -frown, tear off the tape, read it. - -"Good Lord!" the T.I.S. agent burst out. "Read it! We've got to get to -Villainowski before we go onto the stellar drive!" He leaped to his -feet, went soaring in the air, a pained expression on his face. Murdock -had forgotten their weightless condition now that the jets were off. - -Saxon who had snatched the strip of paper, flashed his eye over the -words. - - IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS: - - TO CHIEF J. VILLAINOWSKI. URGENT. ORDERS CANCELLED. TURN BACK - TO EARTH WITHOUT DELAY. ALL FIVE COPIES OF STELLAR DRIVE STOLEN. - GOVERNMENT CANNOT RISK YOUR LIFE IN DEEP SPACE UNTIL YOU CAN - REPLACE PLANS. - - MUSTAPHA IX. - -Saxon realized the machine was still clicking off the message over and -over again. - -Murdock had pushed himself to the bulkhead, where he kicked off, -gliding through the door. Saxon followed cautiously, conscious of a -yellow mist collecting in the control room. - -The T.I.S. agent got just beyond the doorway when he floated -unconscious to the deck. - -Saxon made it to the head of the ladder. Then he, too, lost control -over his muscles. - -[Illustration: _Saxon made it to the head of the ladder. Then he, too, -lost control over his muscles._] - -The mist was like soup, thick yellow pea soup. - -His last conscious thought was, "So this is the Little Death!" - - * * * * * - -"Here! Why are you crying?" asked the big white giant. His voice was -gentle, compassionate, and he was naked except for a kilt of a strange -gleaming material like woven light. - -"But I don't want to go," Saxon protested in a reedy, childish tone. -He realized in dismay that the giant wasn't a giant at all, but normal -and man-sized. "I don't want to go," he heard himself tearfully -repeating. - -They were in a room, the little boy that had been Saxon and the big -white man, and a door across the room was opening. The little boy that -was Saxon shrank against the man. - -A woman appeared in the doorway. She was tall and beautiful and dressed -like the man in a gleaming kilt. She smiled at Saxon, but he was not -reassured. He hung back from crossing the threshold. - -Saxon saw a troubled look pass between the two. Then the man steeled -himself, picked up the squirming boy, carried him through the doorway. - -It was a strange sensation that possessed the mature Saxon, stretched -on the cold deck at the head of the ladder to the engine room. He -wasn't dreaming. He was the little boy, and yet he seemed to be outside -himself, watching his own actions, appraising himself like the detached -half of a dual personality. - -He was in the time field, Saxon realized. That was it! He was reliving -a segment of his life span that had taken place before he was eleven! - -His heart leaped spasmodically. At last the curtain was being raised on -those blank years of childhood! - -The room into which the man carried him, Saxon saw, was larger that -the anteroom and cluttered with strange machinery, ugly machinery. -The far wall was a solid bank of windows, through which he could see -a green meadow rolling gently away to blue foothills in the distance. -Light poured through the windows from a blazing sun high overhead and a -second orange sun was just rising. - -The man deposited him in a chair. Saxon quit thrashing, as the woman -fitted a skull-cap over his head, making minute adjustments. A cable -led from the peak of the skull-cap to a frightening machine which the -woman bent over next, and set in operation. - -Saxon could feel a rush of thought pouring into his brain. Queer -thoughts couched in semantically obscure words. - -One stood out. "_Earth._" It was repeated many times before he began -to comprehend the import of the alien symbols. "_Earth is the third -planet of a star known to its inhabitants as Sol!_" - -With a feeling of strangeness the Saxon who observed realized that the -boy was being taught to speak English! - - * * * * * - -Saxon shook his head groggily, pushed himself to his hands and knees -and found himself floating six feet in the air. He had forgotten that -the jet drive was still off. - -It came back with a suddenness that flung Saxon to the metal deck. - -He scrambled to his feet, his mind in a whirl. Forgotten temporarily -were the emergency orders commanding them to return to Earth. If -Villainowski had been right, then Saxon had actually relived an event -which had transpired before he was eleven. - -Then who the hell was he? - -He returned to the control room, stepping over the unconscious body of -Murdock, who had not yet recovered from the effects of the time field. - -The dial on the control board read 1.3 parsecs! - -He jumped for the scanner, clamped his eye to the aperture, and -immediately jumped back! - -Dead ahead was a huge blazing sun! - -It looked so close that the _Shooting Star_ appeared to be falling -straight into the maw of erupting atomic energy. - -But reason returned, and he knew they must still be millions of miles -away. He went back to the scanner, spotting first a second sun not so -close, then a third, small and red like a fiery coin. - -The ternary system of Alpha Centauri! They were out of the Solar System! - -"Please," said a girl's voice behind him. "Stand back from the scanner! -Don't try for your gun, Saxon, or I will be forced to shoot!" - -Saxon whirled around. - -Ileth Urban stood in the doorway, a dart gun leveled at his stomach. -Behind her, he saw the shame-faced Murdock surrounded by the crew. -Murdock was helpless, his arms in the air. - -"The crew have mutinied," said Ileth. "The ship is now under the -control of General Atomic." - -Saxon's jaw sagged. He said, "So you are Q62." It wasn't so much a -question as a statement. He knew. He could read it in her thoughts. But -why hadn't he been able to see it there before? - -It wasn't possible, but there could be no doubt. Ileth Urban was Q62. - -Then the thoughts of the men in the corridor made themselves felt. -Every man jack of them had gone over to General Atomic, not recently, -but weeks and months ago, before they had ever left Earth. - -He dropped into a chair, his head in his hands. How had they been able -to disguise their thoughts all this time? - -He looked at Ileth in her chartreuse green short-waisted jacket. She -held the dart gun leveled at his chest. Her patrician features were set -in grim unhappy lines. - -"Something!" Saxon thought wildly, "Something has gone terribly wrong!" - - - VI - -The T.I.S. agent, his bony fingers locked beneath his head, was -stretched face up on his bunk. There were five of them in the ship's -brig--Saxon, Murdock and Villainowski, Mercedes, the anthropologist and -Brand, the bio-chemist. - -"Jon, that girl's crazy about you." - -"What?" Jon Saxon swung up his head, regarded Murdock coldly. - -Without moving, the T.I.S. agent repeated, "She's in love with you, -Jon. Though what Ileth can find to love in that ugly granite mug of -yours is beyond comprehension." - -Saxon said, "So what?" Everyone was watching him speculatively. - -They had been cooped together for nine days now, the four men and the -woman. Yesterday the ship had landed. But none of them knew where. - -"So what?" Murdock echoed breaking the silence. "My Lord, man, play up -to her. She's eating her heart out for you. Can't you see it's our only -chance?" - -"No," said Saxon stiffly and blocked out their thoughts. "No, I don't. -You know as well as I do, that the crew and the officers, even the -staff, except Mercedes and Brand here sold out to General Atomic. -Suppose I did persuade Ileth to let us out. Suppose she comes over to -our side--which I tell you right now she won't--but suppose she did. -What possible chance would the five of us have against sixty armed -desperate men and women? Hell, Murdock, we couldn't even get the ship -back to Earth by ourselves!" He hesitated. "Besides it strikes me as a -contemptible stunt...." - -Murdock's cold blue eyes flashed. He sat up, swinging his feet to the -deck. "Do you think we're playing a game?" - -Mercedes, the gray-haired woman, interrupted, "Don't nag him, Murdock. -Everyone isn't a cold-blooded monster like you." - -The T.I.S. agent grunted his disgust, lay back down and rolled to his -stomach. - -Mercedes was a pleasant-faced, middle-aged woman with bright black eyes -like a parrot. - -"I don't see yet," she continued imperturbably, "how General Atomic -could contact everyone before we sailed." She smoothed her skirts, -sitting primly on the brig's only chair, and cast a sly look at -Murdock. "Not with the vaunted T.I.S. on guard." - -"Humph!" came Murdock's muffled voice from the pillow. "What's so -damned impossible about that? We couldn't watch the beggars all the -time." He rolled back and sat up again. - -"No. What bothers me is why they didn't give themselves away. They were -investigated. All of them were reputable Government men, their fathers -Government men before 'em." - -"It's hard to refuse a million credits," Saxon pointed out. - -Murdock's pale blue eyes jerked to Saxon. "How do you know?" - -Before Saxon could reply, Mercedes said, "General Atomic offered us all -a million credits. They did to me and Brand, I know. We reported it to -the T.I.S." - -"Yeah," said Murdock with a frown. "Yeah, and we questioned them with -the lie-detector. Not once, but every time they left the building. -They were psychoanalyzed and searched. And every damned one of them -was certified loyal to Government. They never gave a sign that they'd -sold out to General Atomic, not a sign. Why, the bums acted as if they -didn't know it themselves." - -"They didn't!" put in Saxon. - -Their eyes swung back to the burly nuclear physicist. He read -scepticism, doubt, curiosity in their minds. - -"What do you mean??" Murdock exploded. - -"I mean just what I said. They actually didn't know that they had sold -out to General Atomic until after the Little Death. It's simple enough. -I'm surprised no one's thought of it before. Ever since Charcot back in -the nineteenth century....'" - -"Hypnotism!" Villainowski burst out. "That's it, of course! -Post-hypnotic commands!" - -Saxon nodded. "I wasn't sure. I'm not sure even yet." But he was. He -had known it the moment he had looked into Ileth's mind the day of the -mutiny. - -Murdock frowned, said "Post-hypnotic commands? I don't follow you." - -"There's nothing mysterious about it, actually," explained Saxon. -"When the men sold out to General Atomic they must have submitted to -being hypnotized by GA's neuro-psychoanalyst. They could be given -orders while in the hypnotic state, then commanded to forget them, -forget in fact that they had sold out to General Atomic until after the -Little Death. The Little Death was to act as a post-hypnotic command, -recalling their memories and instructions." - -"By Pluto!" ejaculated Murdock. "I believe you've hit it!" He regarded -Saxon with increased respect. - -The slight, homely Villainowski rubbed a nine day's growth of -beard, musing, "It was a beautiful scheme. Then men couldn't betray -themselves. They couldn't be tripped up by the lie-detector because -they honestly believed they were still loyal to Government." - -Again Saxon nodded. "I was trying to find Q62," he said, "when Ileth -was Q62 all the time, although she didn't know it until she woke up -from the Little Death." - - * * * * * - -Brand, the bio-chemist, who had been lying on an upper bunk silently -listening, broke into the conversation. "But why did General Atomic -wait until after the Little Death before having their men seize the -ship? It doesn't make sense. I should think they'd want to get the -drive to one of their laboratories, where it could be examined as soon -as possible." - -It was Murdock who replied. "That's not difficult to explain either. -General Atomic couldn't afford to take a chance. If they'd grabbed the -_Shooting Star_ within reach of Government's space navy, they would -have been apprehended sure. Remember, every observatory in the System -had us in view until we went into the time field. - -"No one but Villainowski knows how to use the stellar drive, so they -couldn't have used that to escape. But after we reached Alpha Centauri -we were beyond reach of the electronic telescope on Luna, even beyond -radio contact. Their engineers would have a chance to examine the drive -and learn enough to operate it, at least. They could return then. -Nothing can catch the _Shooting Star_ when she's operating in the -Little Death." - -Saxon listened with somber eyes to the T.I.S. agent's explanation. It -was right, he felt, as far as it went. But it didn't account for the -aliens, nor for Saxon's strange experiences during the Little Death, -nor the death of that N.P.A. before they sailed. - -He heard the door to the brig click and glanced up just as it slid -aside. - -Ileth Urban stood in the entrance. - -Ileth's green jodphur-like trousers emphasized her long legs and slim -waist. Her black shoulder length hair had been pushed back, disclosing -small peaked ears. - -She came inside, with a look of determination, and the guard closed the -door behind her, but didn't lock it. - -"I ..." she began, caught Saxon's eyes and blushed furiously. -Unconsciously her chin went up and she squared her shoulders. "I don't -know how to say what I've come to tell you." Again she hesitated, -biting her lip. "I think it'll be good news...." - -"Good news?" echoed Murdock sarcastically. "Have the crew been -massacred by Centaurians?" - -"There's no sign of living Centaurians yet," she replied. "Not on this -planet anyway." - -"Living Centaurians?" asked Murdock. "What do you mean 'living' -Centaurians? What have you found?" - -The silence was alive. Saxon could feel the intangible fear of deep -space grip every one of them. There was, he realized, a decided -pathologic quality about it, as if every one of them were not quite -sane on the subject. - -"A city," said Ileth in a suppressed voice. - -There was a quick intake of breaths. - -"Yes," she went on, "a city. About twenty-five kilometers northeast of -here. A perfectly huge city without a single inhabitant." - -"What planet is this?" Villainowski asked suddenly. - -"There's no harm in telling you, I suppose," said Ileth, "because we -haven't the faintest notion. Our astronomer says that it belongs to -Alpha Centauri A, although he hasn't figured its period yet. He says -it's about midway between Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. It's a -little larger than Earth but not so dense. Gravity is about four fifths -what it is at home." Her face sobered at the word "home." "Oxygen -content a little high, but not much. The rest of the atmosphere is -composed principally of non-poisonous inert gases. Now you know as much -as we do." - -Jon Saxon became aware of a thought emanating from Murdock: "_Seize the -girl. Dictate terms to the others._" The same thought, Saxon realized, -was forming in their bio-chemist's mind as well. - -Ileth must have suspected something, because her hand crept up to her -small high breasts and she said, "Before I go on, you'd better know -that I'm not so unprotected as I look. We were all hypnotized back -on Earth and our orders given to us in that condition. Then we were -commanded to forget them until after the Little Death. I'm telling you -this so you'll understand." - -The prisoners exchanged glances. - -"General Atomic," Ileth continued hurriedly, "prepared for any -eventuality. If anything happens to me, Q63 will take over. I don't -know who he is, and he doesn't know it himself, but any accident -befalling me will be the post-hypnotic signal for him to remember. -There's also a Q64, Q65--all the way to Q70. So you see it's useless to -think that by doing anything to me you can get the upper hand." - -"Rather like queen bees," suggested Saxon. "Secret order with a -vengeance." - -"_Even from you, darling!_" he caught Ileth's irritating thought. - - * * * * * - -He saw Murdock relax on his bunk, intercepted his furious frustration. -The T.I.S. agent, he realized, was like cold flame on the inside. - -"But that's not my news," Ileth said. "I've come to offer you your -freedom--within limits, of course." - -"Eh?" said Villainowski in surprise, and the rest tensed expectantly. - -Ileth said, "General Atomic believed that it would be to their -advantage to go ahead with the expedition as soon as we got control -of the ship. We would be on the spot, and any information relating to -Alpha Centauri's planetary systems, natural resources, inhabitants (if -any), possibilities of colonization and trade--that sort of thing--is -of the utmost importance. - -"I feel...." She hesitated, and Saxon caught a glimpse again of that -same intolerable fear gnawing at her mind. - -"I feel that we should stick together--while we're here at least. If -we're fighting among ourselves...." - -"In other words," Murdock interrupted in a voice without inflection, -"you're asking us to go on with the expedition as if nothing's -happened?" - -"Only while we're here," she hastened to assure him. "You won't be -given arms, of course. There are only five of you. What earthly chance -would you have against the entire crew and the rest of the staff? And -this way you won't have to stay locked in the brig. You can carry on -with your investigations. We--we don't know what alien form of life -inhabits this planet. But the city...." - -She bit her lip again. "The city was peculiar." - -A short uncomfortable silence greeted her statement; then Mercedes, the -gray-haired anthropologist asked, "What do you mean, child?" - -"I don't know how to define it. Wait until you see it." - -But Saxon had intercepted an image in Ileth's mind--a distorted glimpse -of a vast beautiful city stretching for kilometer after kilometer -without a soul anywhere. A sobering chill prickled up his spine. He -said, "I, for my part, am willing to call a truce, Ileth." - -The girl glanced at him gratefully. Saxon became aware of a passionate -thought: "_Oh, the darling stiffnecked bear!_" The girl's color -heightened suddenly. She began to think furiously: "_Two times two is -four; three times two is six; four times two is eight_...." - -Saxon grinned at her knowingly, to her added confusion. - -"_I hate you!_" she thought. - -Villainowski jumped to his feet, saying, "Of course we accept. We all -accept. But let me warn you, young woman, aliens or no aliens, I don't -care if we spend the rest of our lives in the Centaurian system, I'm -not going to explain my stellar drive to your scoundrels!" - -Ileth turned to him almost gratefully. "Oh, that doesn't matter. Our -engineers are examining it. They've assured me that they can take us -back to Earth." - -Villainowski looked crestfallen. - -"Tomorrow," said Ileth in a firm voice, "we're starting to investigate -the city. Mercedes is the anthropologist. I particularly wanted her and -Saxon along." - -"What about the rest of us?" Brand the bio-chemist, asked. - -Ileth ticked them off on her fingers. "Dr. Villainowski is an -astro-physicist, I believe. We have the telescope mounted. He and our -men are to locate any other planets in the system. You, Dr. Brand, are -to go with Loar, the Martian, on an expedition into the hills to the -south. Mr. Murdock will be stationed temporarily with the emergency -crew aboard the _Shooting Star_." - -Saxon realized that she had cleverly separated them. At the same moment -he recognized that leap of fear in Ileth whenever she thought about -outside. It was pathologic. - -"My Lord!" he thought, "was their fear of deep space driving them -insane?" - -Ileth was saying, "You can have your old cabins back. I won't see you -again until tomorrow. We--we're still on Earth time because of the -peculiar daylight hours. Until tomorrow." - -She turned, head bent and hurried abruptly through the door. - -The prisoners looked at each other in vague alarm, unconsciously -drawing closer together. In each of their minds, Saxon read the same -thing--the blind unspoken terror of deep space! - - * * * * * - -The helicopter whispered scarcely a hundred feet above the rolling -plain, while Saxon stared hungrily out of the windows, unable to -satisfy his eyes. - -Alpha Centauri A, a scintillating yellow orb like Sol, stood in -mid-sky. The orange disc that was Alpha Centauri B, the second half of -the binary, was just rising. Proxima was not in sight. - -Directly below he could see a flock of plants that looked like tumble -weeds except that they were a weirdly mottled yellow and green. They -rolled along in a herd pausing to nibble at new shoots of the pale -green grass. "Cannibal Plants," their botanist had named them because -of their feeding habits. - -Herbivorous plants! - -Their botanist, Saxon thought, was going quietly insane trying to -classify the staggering complexity of utterly alien forms of plant -growth. - -"Weird, isn't it?" A woman's rich husky voice addressed Saxon. "It -sends goose flesh up my spine." Saxon tore his eyes away from the -window. - -The person sitting beside him was Clo-Javel, a black-eyed woman with -cadmium-yellow hair. There was a sleek disturbing fullness to her -breasts and hips that was echoed in her red lips and magnificent eyes. -She must be thirty-five but no one except possibly the T.I.S. knew her -exact age. - -Clo-Javel's first passion was archaeology, Saxon knew. Her second was -men. He asked, "How many pieces of silver did General Atomic give you?" - -Clo-Javel regarded him with an amused tolerant smile. "Don't be rude, -Jon." - -Saxon, looking into the woman's mind, realized that his thrust hadn't -disturbed her in the least. Clo-Javel apparently had no more honor than -morals. - -There was no question, though, about her archaeological ability. Her -reconstruction of the New York skyscrapers, which had perished early in -the Atom Age, were famous. - -Saxon was appalled. He had expected to uncover a sense of shame among -the crew and staff for their treachery. But, if they felt any remorse, -they never let it rise into the realms of conscious thought. He had -probed their minds one after another, his hope of persuading some of -them to return to the Government fold diminished with each one. - -At one stroke they had received wealth and better positions with -General Atomic's research bureau. They were determined not to lose -them. Furthermore, to a man they were convinced that General Atomic -would be the next government. - -He glanced about the cabin. There were nine of them accompanying Ileth -to the deserted city. He allowed their thoughts to wash across his -mind, eager, excited, fearful thoughts like half spoken words. - -"Look!" Ileth cried suddenly and pointed ahead. She was piloting the -helicopter and spoke over her shoulder. "Look! There's the city!" - -Saxon saw a maze of towers scintillating like jewels in the combined -light of the twin suns. He saw endless avenues and squares and parks. -It was all bright and raw like a city seen in a shimmering mirage. - -He swallowed a lump in his throat. He felt.... Why, damn it, he felt as -if he were coming home after a long time. - -Home? - -He thought suddenly of his extra-human senses. Maybe this _was_ home! -Could it be that he was not of Earth at all? Not a mutant of whom his -parents had been ashamed and who had deserted him at the Institute, as -he had always believed? - -Then Ileth was dropping the helicopter safely into a beautiful square -ringed with vari-colored translucent buildings. - -Nothing moved. Not the faintest echo of a sound reached Saxon's ears. -He found himself holding his breath as the 'copter landed with a faint -jar. - -Saxon's scalp began to prickle warningly, and such a feel of alienism -swept over him, exciting his extra-human sixth sense that he felt giddy. - -The city wasn't deserted. It was densely populated. - -All around him, everywhere, were aliens. He could sense their movements -along the streets, inside the buildings. Hundreds of them. - -He heard Ileth's strangely chastened voice. "It's so uncannily -deserted. No one. Absolutely no one. What do you suppose happened to -the--the things who built this city?" - -Saxon had to clench his jaw to keep from shouting, "They're here! You -fools, let's get away while we've still got a chance! They're all -around us!" - -Instead, he kept silent, little beads of perspiration breaking through -his prickling skin. - - - VII - -Jon Saxon was the first man out of the helicopter. He stood stock-still -while the others climbed out, his scalp tingling, his eyes sweeping the -magnificent panorama. The faces of buildings like the sheer fracture of -tinted ice walled in the square, with here and there a canyon street -slicing off from it. - -Ileth scrambled out last, asked, "Jon, what's wrong? You're pale as a -ghost." - -"I don't know." The tingling in his hair roots was becoming less -pronounced as his extra-human sixth sense adjusted. He was still aware -of the aliens but not uncomfortably so. - -"You--you don't feel anything?" - -He started. "How did you know I could feel things?" - -"I didn't!" Ileth's hazel-green eyes were enormous. "Good Lord, Jon, -I only thought you could sense their thoughts, maybe, if anything was -around. I didn't.... Can you feel things? You can, can't you? I should -have guessed it." - -Saxon's expression had grown grimmer with each word. When Ileth asked, -"What are you?" in a hushed voice, he snapped, - -"Homo Superior!" - -"Homo Superior?" She looked startled, then raised her eyebrows. "You -don't fancy yourself much, do you?" - -They had drawn gradually away from the others. He looked back. Basil, -the geographer, and his helper had set up their instruments. They were -taking readings, making swift notations. They had the three-dimensional -camera recording impressions, and the automatic mapper was beginning to -scratch a few tentative lines on its plastic rolls. - -"I think we ought to stick together," Saxon volunteered. "I know it'll -be impossible to keep the geographers by us, but the rest had better -hang together." - -Ileth shivered and asked, "Then there is something here?" - -The silence was absolute. Not a breath of air stirred anywhere. Saxon -hesitated, said at last, "Yes, I think so." - -"What?" - -"I don't know." - -Clo-Javel, approached them, straightening her short kilt-like skirts. -The archaeologist's costume was brief and practical, but of more -importance to Clo-Javel's way of thinking, the red skirt disclosed -a goodly length of her really remarkable legs. Clo-Javel was even -more proud of her legs than of her reconstruction of the New York -skyscrapers. She said, "Did you ever see such buildings? What makes -them look so weird?" - -Saxon wrinkled his brow, his eyes returning to the glittering facade -of cliff-like structures as they waited for the rest of their party to -come up. - -"I think," he said hesitantly, "it's because, it's because everything -looks so new. As if the city was only finished yesterday and had never -been used." - -"That's it," Ileth burst out. - -Mercedes joined them. She too, was wearing kilts, but hers were longer -than Clo-Javel's and gray and her jacket was a commodious affair with -many pockets. "What's that?" she asked catching the tail end of the -conversation. - -"The city looks as if it has never been lived in," Ileth explained. - -Mercedes lit a cigarette, said, "Nonsense, whoever heard of building a -city and then not using it." - -"No." Clo-Javel agreed with the gray-haired Mercedes. "It's not that -altogether. Possibly it's built of some material impervious to decay. -Saxon's a physicist." She gave him a brilliant smile. "He would know -more about that than I do." - -Clo-Javel pursed red lips. "It--it looks familiar." - -There was a silence, then Mercedes said, "So it does. Though I can't -put my finger on it. But that shouldn't be so strange. The creatures -who built it might have been very similar to us. If I could lay my -hands on some of their bones...." She laughed good humoredly. "I could -tell you in a minute what they were like." - -"Were?" Saxon thought, but he didn't express it aloud. He was conscious -all the time of the presence of the aliens. It was like being in the -midst of a crowded city street. - -The semantics expert, the psycho-historian, and the ethnologist joined -them in a body. They headed for the nearest building, a towering -windowless structure of yellow crystal. - -Saxon glanced back uneasily. - -The helicopter stood silent and deserted in the center of the square. -The geographer and his helper were disappearing down one of the -canyon-like streets with their equipment. - -"Look!" commanded Ileth pointing toward the face of the yellow -structure. "Letters of some sort! There on the building. Maybe it's a -sign." - -They quickened their pace until they could describe the letters clearly. - -Ileth gasped, "Oh!" and stopped uncertainly. - -The rest of them came to a confused halt beside her, staring up at the -sign in utter bewilderment. Saxon felt a chill creep up his spine. The -sign read: - - TIMES SQUARE - - * * * * * - -For as long as it takes to draw a startled breath there was silence; -then they all began to babble at once. Clo-Javel made herself heard -suddenly above the others. "I recognize it!" she cried in her ringing -husky voice. - -"What?" - -"It's an exact reproduction of New York II! I knew the city looked -familiar! I knew it!" - -"New York II?" Saxon echoed. He was not strong in history and had only -a faint recollection of a city by that name having once occupied the -great Manhattan waste lands. - -"Yes," Clo-Javel repeated. "It was the world capitol before Adirondaka -was built. I had to study it when I was doing the reconstruction of New -York I. There's a scale model of it in the Institute's museum. Isn't -that right, Rufus?" - -The psycho-historian nodded in a bemused fashion. - -"Yes," he agreed. "New York II was built over the ruins of New York I -which had been destroyed by the first atomic war. The second atomic war -completely annihilated New York II as well as all the other big cities -on Earth. Cities weren't built after that for almost five hundred -years. Not until the Empire, in fact." He paused uncertainly. "I don't -understand this." - -Ileth asked, "You mean that this city is an exact reproduction of New -York II, Clo?" - -The woman nodded, her black eyes curiously frightened. "This is the -amusement center. The yellow building housed the Tri-World Theatre." - -"But I don't understand...." Ileth gazed helplessly at Saxon. "What -is a reproduction of New York II doing here on a planet in the Alpha -Centaurian system? We're over four light years from Sol. No one's ever -been here before." - -Saxon was conscious of bewilderment and fear muddling the girl's -thoughts. His own mind couldn't quite grasp the fact that here was an -exact replica of a Terran city. It was inexplicable. It didn't make -sense. And, more than that, it was impossible! - -He could read the same thoughts struggling against the fact in the -minds of the others. He said, "Let's see what the buildings are like -inside." - -"Yes," agreed Ileth. She had edged close to Saxon. "Maybe we can find -the answer inside." - -They started for the impressive entrance of the Tri-World Theatre, -halted again in near-panic as the doors swung wide. - -Ileth gasped, clutched at Saxon's arm, hanging onto it in desperation. - -Before any of them could say anything, a voice blared forth. "... a -thousand Ganymedian natives in the primitive ritualistic orgy of that -Weird little satellite. Hamura in the mating dance of the Ganymedians. -Seats: three hundred and seventy-five dollars." - -Clo-Javel's voice had lost its rich huskiness. It was a frightened -quaver when she said, "It's a working model. Automatic, don't you see?" -She giggled nervously, and paused. - -"But the voice?" protested Ileth. - -"Advertising," explained the archaeologist. "It's a mechanical voice, -like the doors." - -"Well, I'm not sure how much a dollar was," said Mercedes, "but three -hundred and seventy-five for a seat seems rather exorbitant." - -Rufus, the psycho-historian, was pale as a corpse. He swallowed, -managed to splutter, "Inflation that followed the first atomic war. -Inflation...." His voice trailed off as he stared beyond the gaping -doors into the foyer of the empty theatre. - -"Well, I'm not going in that place!" said the ethnologist suddenly. He -was a goat-bearded little dandy. It was his first speech in some time. - -Rufus, the psycho-historian, said, "I don't think I care to either." - -"Nonsense!" exploded Mercedes. "There isn't anything in there. You can -see for yourself. I'm going in." - -"I think we should explore the city a bit further," Rufus protested. -He glanced uneasily toward the helicopter. Basil and his helper were -nowhere in sight. - -Mercedes said, "Humph," gave her plump shoulders a shake, disappeared -with short sturdy steps through the door. - -"She shouldn't go in there alone," said Saxon starting after her. Ileth -clung to his arm. "I'm coming along." They left the others standing -huddled outside, watching them nervously. - - * * * * * - -The foyer was carpeted ankle deep in mauve. Life-like, -three-dimensional photographs of actors and actresses in every -conceivable costume from none at all to the cumbersome furs of Titan -lined the walls. - -The magnificent foyer gave the startling impression that just the -moment before, crowds of theatre goers had been surging across it. -Saxon could feel the hair lift on the back of his neck. - -"Where's Mercedes?" asked Ileth in a small voice. - -Saxon glanced around, realized that the anthropologist wasn't in the -foyer. "She must have gone into the theatre." He lifted his voice, -called, "Mercedes. Mercedes!" - -His voice echoed hollowly. There was no answer. Saxon and Ileth -exchanged worried glances. - -"Our voices probably don't carry beyond the foyer," Saxon reassured the -girl. "The ancients were clever with sound." - -They crossed the floor, their steps cushioned noiselessly in the thick -mauve carpet. They went through the doors, past the automatic ticket -taker and paused. - -A vast amphitheatre with curving rows of empty seats fell away below -them like the terribly ancient Roman theatre at Pompeii. The walls by -some trick of construction trapped the light, shedding it softly over -the seats, concentrating it in a glowing pillar of illumination on the -stage. - -Suddenly, Ileth brought her hand to her mouth, a look of horror -springing into her features. "Oh, my Lord!" she whispered. "Look!" and -pointed at the floor at their feet. Saxon glanced down, caught his -breath. - -A puddle of clothes lay on the floor as if the middle-aged, gray-haired -anthropologist had just stepped out of them. - -Saxon dropped to his knees beside the garments, turned them over. -Sturdy leather walking shoes and heavy gray socks. Gray skirt and -jacket. A stout brassiere and practical mannish shorts. They were so -typically Mercedes, that Saxon felt a lump in his throat. - -The socks were still in the shoes, brassiere inside the jacket. He -stood up, feeling his palms begin to sweat. It was as if Mercedes had -been suddenly dissipated into thin air, her clothes falling in on -themselves. - -He heard Ileth give a dry sob, realized suddenly that he felt no alien -presence. He and the girl were alone in the theatre, alone as they'd -been in the street that night in Adirondaka. - -Saxon clenched his fist. "Let's get out of here. Quick!" - -"But Mercedes?" - -"She's gone! We can't help Mercedes now. The others! Hurry!" - -They ran through the doorway back across the carpeted foyer, halting at -the street. - -Four little mounds of clothes met their eyes. - -Saxon could feel his stomach knot inside himself. He felt the clothes. -They were still warm from contact with the men's bodies. He stirred -the brief red kilt that Clo-Javel had been wearing, saw with a macabre -flash of humor that where Mercedes' underthings had been eminently -practical, Clo-Javel didn't wear any at all. - -Ileth suppressed a scream. "The helicopter! Look! It's gone, too!" -Saxon glanced up in consternation. - -The square was empty. The twin suns riding high in the sky beat down on -bare plastic blocks where the helicopter had stood. - -"We're hiking back to the ship--_now_," Saxon said to the frightened -girl. - -"But it's twenty-five kilometers." - -"So it's twenty-five kilometers. We can average four an hour or better. -That's six hours. How many more hours of daylight have we?" - -Ileth bit her lip, studied her chronometer. "The days are short. The -planet rotates in a little over fourteen hours. Alpha Centauri A sets -first, in about an hour, I think. Then Alpha Centauri B about three -hours later. Proxima rises about ten minutes after that but it doesn't -cast much light." - -"Never mind," he said almost roughly. "Come on. We'd better find the -geographers quick." - - * * * * * - -They did, a few minutes later, in one of the side canyons. That is, -they found implements and two small piles of clothes. "I was afraid of -this," said Saxon, his heart lowly sinking into his boots. - -Ileth began to cry half in fright, half hysterically. - -"None of that!" He shook her shoulders, until she stopped with a -hiccup. Turning her loose, he bent over the instruments, secured a -compass. - -"We're northeast of the ship," he said, "that means if we travel in a -southwesterly direction, we should hit it square on the nose. Let's -hike!" - -But they found it impossible to keep a true southwesterly course -through the city. They walked along the deserted, resounding streets, -their eyes filled with the fantastically lovely architecture of New -York II, the flowing lines and gleaming planes of apartment houses -built of a thousand substances from crystal to somber-veined black -marble. - -"To think," said Saxon, "that a people, any people, could have found it -in their hearts to destroy a work like this." - -"I'm glad I've seen it," Ileth replied queerly, "even if I did have to -come to Alpha Centauri. It's lovely." She shivered. - -Saxon said in perplexity, "Why did they let us escape? I don't -understand it." - -"We were in the foyer, alone, when it must have happened," she -suggested. "Maybe they overlooked us." - -"Maybe," agreed Saxon doubtfully and paused. - -They had come to the end of the city which stopped abruptly as if it -had been set down in the middle of the green rolling prairie. Beyond -the last building, a herd of cannibal plants rolled by, browsing as -they went. - -"It's going to be damned tricky keeping a straight course across this," -he said. "There doesn't seem to be a tree on the planet." He sighted -the compass, picked out a round hill like the dome of a building, to -the southwest. "We'll keep a little to the left of that hill." - - * * * * * - -Alpha Centauri A was setting. By the time they had advanced a kilometer -across the prairie it was gone. The orange light of Alpha Centauri B -lent a queer unearthly complexion to the scene. It became perceptibly -cooler, and a breeze sprang up from the east, bringing the faint scent -of bitter almonds. - -Saxon lengthened his stride. "We're not keeping to schedule," he said; -then, "Look at that!" - -A fawn colored creature like a large cat but with four pairs of legs, -broke from a draw and went undulating across the grass. - -"I'm getting tired," said Ileth in a small voice. - -He took his eyes from the strange animal, studied the girl. The -emotional turmoil which they'd been through had drained her of -strength. Her features were white, drawn, her lids drooping over her -hazel-green eyes. Her lashes, he thought, were the thickest curliest -lashes he'd ever seen and black as her lustrous hair. He felt a -tenderness well up inside him and banished it. - -"We've got to make the ship. Walk until you drop. Then I'll carry you. -But we have to get back as soon as possible." - -Her features stiffened at the harshness of his words. He caught a weary -flash of anger in her thoughts, then she turned and began to plod again -toward the southwest. - -"Faster," said Saxon. - -Alpha Centauri B was setting when they reached the domed hill which -Saxon had lined up with the compass. He left Ileth stretched exhausted -at the base and climbed to the summit. His eyes swept the horizons with -the last orange rays of the sun, but the _Shooting Star_ was still not -in sight. - -By the time he rejoined Ileth, it was dark. "Did you see it?" the girl -asked in a sleepy voice. - -"No. We haven't come far enough, I suppose. We'll have to wait until -Proxima rises before we can go on. That'll give us a chance to rest. -How long before Proxima comes up?" - -"Ten or fifteen minutes." She hesitated. "I'm cold." - -Saxon put his arms around the shivering girl, pulled her against him. -She gave a little sigh, laid her head on his shoulder. He caught her -sleepy thoughts, "_Two times two is four. Three times two is six_," and -chuckled to himself. - -The darkness was not dispelled very much when Proxima rose above the -hills like a sullen red hot drop of metal. The light was red and -wavering like the shimmering heat waves above a brush fire. Saxon could -not see very well or very far. Nevertheless he wakened Ileth. - -She rubbed her eyes, glanced about her in consternation. The change in -light had brought about a startling change in the scenery. It looked as -if it were bathed in blood. - -She said, "Oh, Jon, I wish we were home. I wish we'd never come on this -horrible expedition." - -He didn't look up from his compass. "The ship can't be much further." -He spotted the black gash of a gully a hundred yards ahead. "We'll walk -to the gully, then pick out another object." - -"I'm still tired. I don't feel as if I'd slept at all." - -"You didn't--much. Only about ten minutes. Come on." - -They reached the gully and Saxon found a cone-shaped hill looming up -redly almost a quarter of a mile further on. They set out for it, Ileth -holding his hand. - -Their progress was necessarily slower because Saxon had to stop often -and consult the compass. Even so, he began to be afraid that they had -overshot the ship in the dark. - -Slowly Proxima Centauri blazed its blood red path across the night sky. - -Not far from Proxima a star twinkled faintly, steadily. It was about in -the position that Sol should be. He wondered if it was. - -"It's growing lighter," said Ileth. - -Saxon glanced toward the east, recognized the graying darkness that -heralded the dawn. He said, "Alpha Centauri A's rising. Maybe we can -see where we are." - -The light was quickening fast with dawn. Saxon climbed to the crest of -a ridge, stared off into the southwest. - -All at once his heart stood still. He called, "Ileth! Ileth! Come up -here!" - -The girl ran up the ridge, the urgency in his voice dispelling her -weariness. "What is it, Jon?" - -He pointed ahead. "Aren't those the hills south of the ship?" - -She narrowed her eyes, studying the blue outlines in the dawn light. -"Yes. But, Jon, where is the ship?" - -He pointed at a blackened circle in the grass not an eighth of a -kilometer distant. The circle was almost a thousand yards in diameter. - -"That's where our jets burned the grass when we landed. That's where -the _Shooting Star_ was yesterday!" - -In ten minutes they were tramping back and forth across the blackened -circle of grass, kicking up little puffs of ashes. The mark of the jets -were there, pressed deep in the soft soil. But those and the charred -vegetation were the only signs that a ship had ever rested there. - -Ileth flung herself dejectedly to the grass at the edge of the circle. -"I'm so hungry and bone weary and thirsty and disappointed, I could -cry." - -Saxon sat down beside her. "I don't understand it," he said for the -hundredth time. "I don't understand any of it." - -All at once, his scalp began to prickle its warning and Saxon -recognized the alien feel. At the same instant Ileth screamed, leaping -to her feet. Saxon felt his mouth go dry, his stomach contract as he -stumbled erect beside her. - -Not ten yards distant, in the path of the rising sun, a naked man was -materializing before their eyes. Saxon could see the grass and the -hills and a segment of Alpha Centauri A through the man's body. - -A thought struck into Saxon's mind. "_So there you are._" It emanated -from the Alien. "_We were afraid you might have gotten clean away._" - -Saxon realized the man was quite solid now, standing with bare feet -planted in the pale green grass. There was an instrument like a watch -strapped to his wrist. He was holding a small shiny cylinder. - -Saxon caught an echo of Ileth's thought. "_Oh Lord, he's naked as a -grape!_" - -The man leveled the cylinder. There was a brief flash. - -Saxon felt an instant's giddiness, a rapid dissolution, then nothing. - - - VIII - -Jon Saxon couldn't have been unconscious but a fraction of a second -because he didn't have time to fall. He came to himself swaying -dizzily, nauseated as if with space sickness. - -He opened his eyes. He was blind! - -The shock left him numb. Then gradually, like a flower unfolding its -petals to the light, he felt his extra-human sixth sense assume control. - -He became aware of the grass and the sun and the distant hills. -Everything registered in varying degrees of grayness. It wasn't -grayness exactly, but the word came as near to describing the peculiar -impressions that external objects were registering on his sixth sense -as his vocabulary could supply. - -He didn't picture his environment; he realized it. The burned circle of -grass, the naked alien.... - -A second shock rocked Saxon to his heels. The Alien! - -Tentatively, almost timidly, he examined the strange figure confronting -him. The man, for man he appeared to be, stood quietly several paces, -sizing up Saxon with an equal degree of caution. The analogy to two -strange dogs eyeing each other belligerently, but each afraid to make -the first move, was so ludicrous that Saxon chuckled although no sound -issued from his lips. - -He sensed his opponent relax. The fellow was big the way Saxon was big, -and the same virility radiated from him like a physical force. - -The impressions received via his sixth sense were gaining in vividness. -Saxon had never fully appreciated its scope before. - -Then with the force of a blow, Ileth's terrified thoughts penetrated -sharply to his mind. - -"_I must be dead! Oh God, I'm dead!_" - -Saxon could perceive the girl cowering above a small pile of clothes, -frightened, helpless, blind. She didn't have his extra-human sixth -sense to substitute for sight. She was trembling violently, a -slim-naked wraith without substance. - -The little pile of clothes at her feet made it suddenly clear what had -befallen Mercedes and the crew, what had happened to Ileth and himself. -In some fashion, the Aliens had transmuted them into a space where -their three-dimensional organs of perception no longer registered. - -He moved to the girl, touched her arm. - -Saxon was not conscious of a sense of contact, but a vague shock like a -weak electric current ran up his arm to his brain. Ileth flinched back -in terror. - -Again he touched her arm, thinking, "_Ileth, am I getting through? -Ileth, am I getting through?_" over and over again. - -"_Yes_," came the unexpected answer. "_Yes. Yes. Is it you, Jon? We're -dead, you know, Jon._" - -"_No_," he thought. "_We're not dead. We've been transmuted but we're -not dead._" - -A command rang sharply in his disembodied mind. "_Lead the girl and -follow me!_" - -Saxon's attention swung back to the Alien, perceived the man -threatening him with the cylinder which had blasted them into this -indeterminate dimension. - -"_Suppose I refuse?_" he thought. - -"_I'm afraid that you underestimate the range of effect of this -weapon._" The Alien brandished the cylinder again. "_Follow me._" - -Saxon capitulated, touched Ileth. "_Keep in contact with me. I'll -guide you._" He began to move after the stranger who was already at a -distance. - -He didn't know how long they walked. Time had no expression in this -state. Alpha Centauri A hung always in the same spot just above the -horizon. He thought of Villainowski's inverted formula--"To travel -through time during a passage of space." The Little Death must be like -this, if one were conscious. - -He was still turning it over in his mind when he perceived the station. - -The station appeared to be a cubical structure like a large plastic -block, except that the matter of which it was formed wasn't matter at -all. It was energy, Saxon sensed, pulsating sheets of energy that must -not be visible in the normal, three-dimensional world. - -The Alien stood to one side, motioned them through the shimmering walls. - -Saxon was conscious of a throbbing rhythm which swept through him like -the hum of a dynamo. He experienced the eerie giddiness for the second -time and groped for Ileth before he blanked out. - - * * * * * - -This time Saxon was longer regaining consciousness. He came out from -under the effects of the pulsation, feeling his flesh solid again. Air -warmed and caressed his skin. He was materialized, he saw, as he leaped -to his feet and opened his eyes. - -He felt vaguely overwhelmed by the return of his senses. He had never -before appreciated their infinite variety. The walls were yellow, lemon -yellow; the floor cool and firm underfoot; the air had a faint odor of -bitter almonds; and Ileth.... - -He said, "Open your eyes, Ileth. You'll be able to see better that way." - -The girl's eyes popped open. She took one look at Saxon, then at -herself. Her eyes grew rounder, her throat flamed. - -She gasped, "Oh! You should have let me keep my eyes shut," and whipped -her back to him. - -She must have realized instantly that the view she presented was no -better screened, for she sat down with a thump, saying, "Oh!" again. -Then, in an embarrassed voice, "This is just like a dream I had once. -Only everyone but me wore clothes in the dream, and there isn't a fig -leaf between the three of us." - -"The three of us?" - -Saxon glanced around, discovered the Alien rummaging in one of the -cabinets, from which he produced three of the gleaming kilts, tossed -them each one. - -"You humans," he said in an amused tone and perfect English, "have odd -notions about concealing yourselves. Here." - -Saxon gratefully buckled his kilt in place, examined the material. The -threads were almost weightless and glowed like strands of light. With a -start, he recalled where he had seen them before. - -The man and the woman had been wearing kilts like these in his vision -during the Little Death. Then.... - -His mind refused to entertain the possibility. And yet it was a piece -of everything else. His inability to remember his childhood. The -development of first a sixth sense at twenty-seven, then a seventh at -thirty-one. - -He strode abruptly to the windows and looked out. - -The windows were at an elevation and gave a view of the strangest city -he had ever beheld. - -There were houses, at least they could be houses, spaced entirely -without relation to each other and surrounded by immense park-like -grounds. There were no congested areas within his range of vision. -Neither was he able to discover roads or sidewalks, fences or walls -anywhere. - -Alpha Centauri A was still just rising, its orange twin not yet above -the hills, which he could see in the distance. - -He turned wonderingly back into the room. - -Their guard regarded them in amusement. "Sit down," he suggested, -indicating a bench. - -They seated themselves. - -"Ask him what they're going to do with us, Jon." Ileth nudged Saxon in -the ribs. - -Saxon cleared his throat. - -Before he could speak, the guard smiled and said, "I haven't the -faintest idea how they plan to dispose of you. Even if I did, that -would be for Them to tell you." He nodded toward a closed door on their -right. "They'll send for you any moment now." - -"Who are 'they'?" Saxon asked. - -"The Elders." - -"What planet is this?" - -"Vark." The guard's voice was pleasant. He smiled faintly when he -talked. "The fourth planet of the sun you call Alpha Centauri A. This -is the city of Ghibellena." He nodded out the windows. - -"How did we get here? Teleportation?" - -"Not exactly." - -There was a momentary silence while the Alien observed them with that -amused gleam in his eye. Then Saxon tried again. "Who are you? Why have -you captured us?" - -The man nodded briefly again towards the closed door. "You'll learn -that in there--if They see fit to tell you." - -"Where are the rest of the crew? Dead? In prison?" - -"Oh, no. They've been taken to Zara." - -"Zara? Where's Zara?" - -"Zara is a satellite of the third planet. The one we call Tunis." - -"What is that city we saw? The deserted one near the ship?" - -Again the man smiled and nodded toward the door. "If They see fit to -tell you." - -Saxon shrugged burly shoulders. "How do you make yourselves invisible?" - -Surprisingly enough the man answered. - -"It's a refinement of your stellar drive, an excursion into the time -field. In fact, it was discovered almost a hundred of your years ago by -a Terran. A Dr. Walter." - -Saxon looked disconcerted. Ileth swallowed, her eyes as round as -saucers. Suddenly her hand squeezed his arm. - -"The door! It's opening!" - -"You may go in," said their guard. "They're ready for you." - -Saxon had risen uncertainly. He looked at the door which was receding -into the wall. Through the portal, he glimpsed a terrace or a balcony, -roofless. Beyond and below the terrace was a yellow sea stretching to -the horizon, its cadmium waves frothing against a beach of black sand. - -"They're expecting you," the guard prompted. - -Saxon shrugged. Taking Ileth's arm, he went through the opening. The -door slid shut behind them. - - * * * * * - -The balcony, Saxon saw, was paved checkerboard fashion with green and -yellow blocks. At the left, out of sight from the entrance, was a -twenty foot table of pale green stone. Seven incredibly old men sat -behind the table. - -No one said anything. - -Saxon took the initiative, advanced to within six feet of the pale -green table. His dark gray eyes narrowed. He was vaguely conscious of a -flow of thought passing among the seven old men like conversation, but -its content escaped him. His jaw jutted angrily. - -"Control your anger, my son," said the old man in the center. "Your -thoughts should be respectful in the presence of your elders." - -Saxon concealed his astonishment, asking, "Might I inquire what this -mummery is all about?" He became aware again of the hidden thoughts -flowing between them. - -Then the old man in the center said, "I am the moderator, my son. Your -mind, we have perceived, teems with questions. We have decided that -from the psychological angle, certain of these questions can now be -answered." - -"Psychological angle?" Saxon felt confused. The deviousness of the -Aliens, the maddening superiority which they assumed began to get -under his skin. With an effort, he got a grip on himself, returned -their curious stares. - -The seven old men were wrinkled, emaciated. Once they had been big men -like Saxon, but the years had wasted their flesh. - -"That's better," approved the Moderator, referring to Saxon's change of -tactics. "Now for your questions," and he seemed to look straight into -Saxon's mind. - -"Very early in our history," began the Moderator after a moment, "we -learned that we advanced in the physical sciences by trial and error. A -disheartening process, because only so many combinations can be tried -in a single life-time...." - -"What the hell has this got to do with us?" Saxon interrupted harshly. - -"Patience, my son. I'm explaining the relation between our world and -the third planet of Sol which you call Earth." - -A little muscle began to jump in Saxon's jaw. - -"Trial and error," the old man began again. "A slow heartbreaking -process, and one which in its nature is inescapable. At least, so we -thought until quite recently." He paused, tugged at his lower lip with -thumb and forefinger. - -Saxon mastered an impulse to shout, "Get to the point!" - -"Recently," went on the moderator, "we tried an experiment in -our biological laboratories which we hoped would speed up the -trial-and-error formula. - -"By exposing the germ plasm of a semi-intelligent anthropoid inhabiting -the fourth planet of this system to hard radiations, we succeeded in -creating a mutant, a biologic sport who's life span was only an instant -of time. It matured, mated and died in an incredibly brief period. - -"They were startlingly prolific as well; they multiplied like--like--" -he groped for a simile--"like guinea pigs or rats. - -"Furthermore, they early exhibited the most amazing ingenuity. In -twenty generations they had fire; in thirty, crude implement of stone." - -Saxon, unable to restrain his impatience longer, cried, "The point, -man--get to the point." - -The old man gave Saxon a steely look. "We recognized," he went -on stiffly, "the significance of our mutation. As soon as the -semi-intelligent sports developed a science, we could expect the trial -and error method to be speeded up. A life-time of experiment to them -was only a moment to us. - -"We isolated them on the fifth planet of our sun. But it soon became -apparent that they constituted a dangerous menace even that close. -They were so fecund, and their ferocity was appalling. Wars broke out -between various tribes. They murdered each other by the thousands." - -Gradually Saxon's interest had been caught by the history of the -semi-reasoning mutants whose ferocity and proliferation had constituted -a menace to their creators. He glanced at Ileth, discovered her -spellbound. - -The Moderator's voice was growing thinner. - -"Luckily," he was saying, "stellar travel was accomplished at this -time. We exported several thousand of the creatures to another star -system and destroyed the rest. - -"The environment on the planet where we transplanted our colony of -humanoids was ideal for our purpose--harsh and savage. Several species -of bipeds with rudimentary intelligence already inhabited the planet, -but our own culture speedily wiped them out and were happily warring -among themselves...." - -A suspicion began to grow in Saxon's mind. He blurted, "On what planet -did you introduce this culture?" - -The Moderator paused, stared Saxon coolly in the eye. - -"Earth!" he said. - - * * * * * - -Saxon and Ileth looked at each other incredulously, unable to -comprehend the significance of the Moderator's answer. - -"Earth?" repeated Saxon. "I don't understand." - -The Moderator wrinkled his brow, and said, "I don't know how to put -it any more clearly. We transplanted our biological sports to Earth. -The two sub-human races which our humanoids exterminated were the -Cro-Magnards and the Neanderthalers." - -Saxon's brain reeled. "Do you mean that man as we know him, homo -sapiens, originated in your laboratories as--an experiment?" - -He heard Ileth laugh hysterically. - -"Precisely," replied the Moderator. "And I might add that the -experiment has proven successful. During the last thousand years they -have supplied us with hundreds of discoveries and developments. The -real nature of the space-time continuum, for example. - -"The creatures are inordinately clever at the physical sciences--as was -to be expected from an emotionally unstable, rationalizing mammal under -the pressure of such an antagonistic environment. Our own laboratories -have become, for all practical purposes, unnecessary!" - -Ileth was staring at the Moderator with wide horrified eyes. "I," she -gasped. "I am a humanoid? I don't live but a moment? I'm prolific and -savage and--and clever like a monkey? Why, you shriveled up old bag of -bones, that's the most stupid pack of lies I've ever heard!" - -The Moderator regarded her compassionately. "You haven't changed -because I've told you the truth. Your life expectation is no shorter. -It's a matter of relativity. To us our ten thousand years seems no -longer than your three score and ten does to you." - -"Ten thousand years?" exploded Saxon. The sum was so staggering that it -was only a figure to him. "Then--" he began, but the Moderator answered -before he could speak. - -"No. I was not born when the experiment with the humanoids began. They -were developed some twenty-five thousand years ago." - -Ileth began to laugh crazily, unable to stop. In a moment she would be -hysterical. Saxon shook her roughly. "Stop it!" - -"I--I--I can't," she giggled. "Either he's mad or I am." Her words -ended in a flood of tears. - -Saxon put his arm around the girl, turned back to the Moderator. "It -was done with hard radiations?" - -"Yes. In the resultant mutants their metabolism had been accelerated -beyond our wildest expectation. Their life cycle geared to their -metabolism passed through its different phases like--like ..." again he -fished in Saxon's mind for a simile. "Like a meteor. By artificially -slowing down their metabolism they returned to their normal life span. - -"You've been very curious about the replica of New York II which you -saw when you landed." - -Saxon nodded, trying to conceal a thought which had begun to take shape -in the back of his mind. - -"It's just that. A replica of a city built during the Atomic Age by -the humanoids. Their constant implacable wars are so savage that we've -found it necessary to duplicate their work here, if we hope to preserve -any of it for study." - -Saxon narrowed his eyes, asked, "You spoke of the menace of having such -savage neighbors. Just how serious was such a threat?" - - * * * * * - -The Moderator smiled and glanced at his constituents. Saxon strained to -grasp the thoughts flowing between them, but failed utterly. - -"Admirable!" the Moderator commented suddenly. "Your reactions, my son, -are leading us to hope we may turn in the most optimistic report." - -Saxon stared at him as if he were crazy. Ileth's tears had subsided to -a sniffle. - -"Now for your question," said the Moderator and coughed again. - -"The menace was real, not imaginary. We had created a monster that -would be either a marvelous scientific instrument, or--the means of our -destruction. - -"Remember, my son, time is relative. These creatures lived, fought, -loved, begat children, carried on scientific research and died, all in -seventy short years. They existed at fever intensity. Their metabolism -burns them up. - -"Our lives are adjusted to a span of ten thousand years. We have a -total population of little over a million. We are neither a war-like -people, nor a highly-industrialized people. - -"In one of their generations the humanoids accomplish almost as much as -we do in one of ours. Think, my son, they perform in seventy years what -it takes us ten thousand to do. - -"If it ever came to hostilities between us we'd be doomed, overwhelmed -almost before we realized what was happening." - -Saxon listened in astonishment. The thought in the back of his mind -kept trying to push to the fore, but he repressed it, afraid that the -Aliens might see it. - -"Their amazing fecundity," the Moderator was saying, "their short life -spans, their ingenuity and ferocity made them a very real menace even -isolated outside our stellar system. Fortunately, we also foresaw the -inevitable crisis and prepared for it." - -"Crisis?" Saxon echoed. - -"The time when the humanoids would reach our scientific level and -surpass us," said the Moderator in a grim voice. "That time has -arrived!" - - - IX - -Somewhere a bell began to ring shrilly. Saxon saw an expression of -annoyance pass across the Moderator's wrinkled visage. He pressed a -button set in the table top. The bell stopped ringing. A voice began -to speak in an alien tongue directly behind Saxon. The burly nuclear -physicist spun around in surprise. - -He was looking into the control room of a small private space yacht! - -The deception was so realistic that Saxon gasped before he noticed -the three beams of light converging from lenses in the wall, focusing -at a point directly behind him to form the solid appearing image. A -three-dimensional televisor complete with sound! - -Then all speculation was driven from his mind as he recognized the -figure who was speaking. - -Mustapha IX, Supreme Autocrat of the Terran Empire! - -The image of Mustapha sat stiffly in an acceleration chair before the -control panel of the space yacht. His voice, rattling away in the -strange language, was high, tense, frightened. - -Saxon, unable to understand, looked over his shoulder at the seven old -men. They were all on their feet, staring in disbelief at the three -dimensional image. The Moderator's hands began to tremble. He sat down -as if his knees had turned to water. - -The voice rattled on and on. - -At last Mustapha IX quit talking. The Moderator pressed the button. The -image dissolved. - -A stunned silence followed, as one by one the old men sank back to -their seats. Saxon, devoured with curiosity, asked, "What was it?" - -The Moderator gave him a level glance. "That was the man you know as -Mustapha IX, Supreme Autocrat of the Terran Empire. He was reporting -from his private yacht which has just emerged from the time field and -is decelerating. It'll be a week before he lands on Vark." - -"Mustapha IX?" Saxon burst out. "Here on Vark? But that's impossible. -What's he doing--" - -"There's been civil war," the Moderator interrupted savagely. "General -Atomic has overthrown Government. General Atomic is the Terran -Government now!" - -"But I don't see ..." protested Saxon. - -"Bah! I spoke of controls. Naturally our first necessity has been to -control the humanoid's government. The Supreme Autocrats have all been -Varkans, our governors, which we sent to Earth! - -"Now Mustapha IX has had to flee for his life. Most of our agents on -Earth have been murdered. Only a handful escaped with him!" - -The Moderator pressed another button, began to speak rapidly, -tonelessly in the alien language into a microphone. The thoughts of the -seven old men were flashing back and forth like streaks of light behind -their mental barrier. The crisis, Saxon realized, had arrived with a -vengeance! - -Suddenly the guard came running through the door in answer to a summons -by the Moderator. For the first time Saxon intercepted a thought as the -Moderator directed the guard to take the prisoners away. - -"_Send the girl to Zara_," he commanded the guard. "_Confine the man -here until we can check results!_" - -"Come along," said the guard in a tight voice to Saxon and Ileth. He -took hold of Ileth's arm. The girl shrank away from him, frightened by -the swift and ominous change which had come over their captors. - -Saxon's eyes went bleak. The guard jerked back as he caught a glimpse -of Saxon's intentions, but he wasn't quick enough. - -Saxon's balled fist caught him on his left cheek bone, sent him -sprawling to the checkered pavement. Saxon was on him like a wolf. -Wrenching the cylinder from the stunned guard's belt, he backed off -swinging the unfamiliar weapon in a menacing arc. - -[Illustration: _He backed off, swinging the unfamiliar weapon._] - -He saw the withered faces of the Elders blanch. They pressed stiffly -against the back of their chairs, jaws sagging. The guard scrambled -to his feet. He shook his head groggily but made no move to attack -Saxon. - -Triumph welled up inside Jon Saxon. He said, "The shoe's on the other -foot. I don't know how this damned thing works, but there's a button. -Unless you start answering my questions straight we'll see what happens -if I press it." - -He paused. The seven old men glared at him but said nothing. - -"How did General Atomic discover your agents? Why didn't their -invisibility protect them?" - -The Moderator moistened his lips. "The humanoids devised a machine that -detects us. An adaption of the thought projector, which enabled them to -detect our telepathic potential. Once they could isolate our thought -waves, they were able to trace them to their source by a process -similar to locating the source of a radio beam." - -Saxon narrowed his eyes, recalling the thought projector which -the radiation branch of Government's Bureau of Research had been -experimenting with. So that's how General Atomic had uncovered the -Aliens. - -"General Atomic," the Moderator was saying, "suspected the existence of -mutants, telepaths, ever since an agent of theirs by the name of Emil -turned in a report on you!" - -Saxon started. - -The Moderator's first fright was over, he realized. The old man was -regarding him with a faint smile. - -Saxon glanced behind him in alarm; but there was nothing there. He -clenched his fist until the knuckles whitened. "What other methods did -you use to keep the humanoids in check?" - -There was a subtle change in the voice of the Moderator when he -answered. It was ringing, hard. "As I said, we foresaw this crisis. To -discourage stellar travel we planted a pathologic fear of deep space in -the humanoid subconscious. - -"Certain of their discoveries we have suppressed. Notably, the -space-time stellar drive. The Little Death, as you call it, has been -discovered three separate times in the past thousand years." - -"What?" - -"Yes. Are you surprised? Once by an unknown scientist, once by a -physicist, Dr. Walter, and lastly by Dr. Villainowski." - -Although Saxon still held the alien weapon, he had the uncomfortable -sensation that a trap had been sprung and the Moderator was only -waiting for it to close on him. - -With a suffocating tenseness, he asked, "What am I?" - -"You," said the Moderator, "are a test experiment!" - -"What?" - -"A test experiment. On your psychological reactions will depend the -ultimate fate of the humanoids!" - -"A test experiment," he repeated dazedly. "What do you mean?" - -"Simply this. For some time we've realized that steps must be taken to -curb the rapaciousness of the humanoids." - -"But me...." - -The Moderator held up his hand. - -"I'm coming to you. If the ruthless savagery of the humanoids was -instinctive, part of their heredity, there was little that could be -done except destroy them. - -"But if, on the other hand, their natures resulted from the pressure -of their environment, we might be able to modify that environment and -salvage our experiment." - -"But what the hell am I? What did you mean when you said I was a test -experiment?" - -The Moderator seemed to have forgotten the existence of Saxon's weapon. -He tugged at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger. "You are not a -humanoid. You are one of us, a Varkan. We placed you as a baby on Earth -to be raised as a humanoid." - -"I was eleven," protested Saxon. - -"A mere baby still, with psychological plasticity." The Moderator -waved the objection aside. "If your disposition hardened into humanoid -characteristics, then we would be safe in assuming that the humanoids, -too, were a product of their environment. - -"Of course, there were factors we couldn't control. The natural -unfolding of your sixth and seventh senses in early childhood--" - -Saxon burst out, "But I was twenty-seven when I developed a sixth sense -and thirty-one--" - -"My son, that's quite true. But you're only in your adolescence now." - -"At thirty-eight," said Saxon in disbelief, "I'm an adolescent?" - -The Moderator nodded. "And precocious at that!" - -Ileth giggled again nervously. - - * * * * * - -Saxon gave a short laugh. He had a feeling that he had been stuffed too -full of information. He couldn't digest it. In spite of the suspicions -he had entertained concerning his birth, he was unable to really -believe that he was an Alien! - -He glanced suddenly at Ileth. The girl had shrunk away from him as if -he were a leper. Her hazel-green eyes were horrified. All at once, she -began to cry. - -Saxon tried to pat her shoulder, but she wrenched away. The action -drove a needle of pain into his heart. He realized in a numbed fashion -how fond he had grown of the girl. - -"Fond, hell!" he thought savagely, "I'm in love with her." - -"My son," came the hated voice of the Moderator, "she is not for you." - -"What do you mean?" Saxon shouted. - -The Moderator regarded him a moment, his eyes veiled. Then, "The -psychologist is ready to give you his report. As a true human, you have -the right to hear it." - -A shriveled, wrinkled man at the end of the table began to address -Saxon in a dry voice. - -"I've been probing your reactions as the truth was revealed to you. -You can understand the importance of an accurate judgment, when you -know that the fate of our experiment rests on the manner in which you -conformed to a humanoid environment." - -"Experiment be damned!" Saxon flung out "What about me?" - -The psychologist permitted himself a vague smile. "Your reactions have -been typically humanoid. - -"You have been bewildered, frightened, angry. - -"You tried to think first of some way by which you could destroy us. -Failing that, you cast about in your mind for some compromise which -would cause us to hold our hand until we could be either conquered or -wiped out--preferably wiped out. These are typically humanoid reactions -to a dangerous foe. - -"Under the circumstances we can preserve our experiment if we can -modify the humanoids' environment." - -Saxon felt relief. Whatever the Aliens planned, they weren't going to -destroy mankind. - -The psychologist having delivered his report, the Moderator resumed, -"It is unfortunate in a way for you, my son, that the test has been so -favorable to the humanoids. - -"They live and die so fast that in a few generations we can correct -their savage dispositions. - -"But you have solidified in the humanoid mould. You will have to -undergo a dangerous operation. Our psychologist must induce infantile -retrogression in you. When you have been reduced mentally, to the age -of eleven, then your re-education can begin. - -"I'll be perfectly frank. You have about one chance in ten of retaining -your sanity. The danger lies in that retrogression once activated in -your brain cells. It cannot always be halted." - -Saxon's laugh was a croak. "You forget I've still the weapon." - -The Moderator said, "It's time that this nonsense stopped. We've -allowed you to retain the cylinder in order to observe your reactions. -Look around you!" - -Saxon spun around. - -Materializing like gray wraiths, a dozen figures were taking substance -behind him. They were all armed with shining cylinders. - -"Drop it!" commanded the Moderator. - -Saxon's weapon clanged against the pavement. - - * * * * * - -Ileth suppressed a scream, swayed, half fainting. Saxon caught her -before she fell. The girl recovered, flung her arms about his neck. - -"You can't do it!" she stormed at the Elders. "You can't. I love him. I -don't care what he is, I love him, I tell you!" - -"Take them away!" the Moderator said imperiously. - -The wraiths had grown solid. They began to close in. - -Saxon's spine stiffened. He said, "Wait a moment!" in a breathless -voice. "Have you overlooked the five sets of plans for Villainowski's -stellar drive? The ones that were stolen from Government's Research -Building?" - -The Moderator's face went gray. For the second time Saxon intercepted a -thought flowing between the seven old men. - -A fear thought! Pure funk! - -Saxon's heart leaped like an arrow as the realization burst on him -that the seven old men were terrified of the humanoids. They were so -badly frightened that for a moment their guard had relaxed and the fear -thought had escaped past their mental barriers. - -If only there was a way to exploit their fear. He felt hope surging -back through his veins. - -"Already," he shouted, "General Atomic must be manufacturing the ships. -And you can't stop it. The secret of stellar travel is loose among the -humanoids!" - -"We know of the loss of the plans. General Atomic _is_ laying the keels -of thousands of the new-type ships. But that doesn't affect your fate -in the least." - -"Doesn't it?" said Saxon harshly. "I'm the only Varkan who can compete -with the humanoids. I'm the only one who's been conditioned to the -speed of their reflexes." - -"You're a dangerous anti-social!" the Moderator snapped. "Your -auto-reactions approach the humanoid level because you're still a child -with a child's adaptiveness. When you mature you'll appreciate the -difference. We wouldn't dare use you even if you could do anything. If -worst comes to worst we can destroy our experiment!" - -Saxon laughed at him. "And how many generations of humanoids would have -passed away before you could wipe out a culture that's spread to all -the planets of its solar system? Why, they'll be swarming over Vark -from pole to pole before you can prepare to repel them." - -The Moderator winced, tried to interrupt, but Saxon was inexorable. - -"You might have been able to destroy them while you had them isolated -in their own Solar System. But they're free now. Free to expand through -the Galaxy!" - -Saxon paused. The idea sprouting some time ago had begun to bear -fruit. He pushed it resolutely out of his mind lest they intercept it. - -The Moderator asked with narrowed eyes, "You have an idea, haven't you?" - -Saxon could feel the Aliens probing at his thoughts like a scalpel -laying bare his skull. - -"_Two times two is four. Three times two is six_," he thought hastily -and realized the seven old men were on the verge of apoplexy. - -There was a tense moment of silence as their wills clashed. Then the -Moderator asked, "What's your price?" - -"Freedom for myself and the crew. Hands-off policy for the humanoids." - -The silence deepened. - -Again Saxon became aware of those flickering baffling thoughts as the -seven old men conferred behind their mental shields. - -At last, grudgingly, the Moderator spoke, "That depends on your -success." - -Saxon didn't relax. He had won only if he had guessed the right answer -to a question that had been obsessing him. If he was right, he would -need no guarantee to hold the Aliens to their promise. - -"You said that when the metabolism of the humanoids was slowed they -returned to their normal life span. Does that mean that you can -actually lengthen their lives to equal yours?" - -The Moderator looked puzzled, nodded. "A comparatively simple -operation, but...." - -"But nothing!" Saxon almost shouted. "If their life span is the same -as yours, then they'll be on the same time scale. Their fecundity is -the direct result of their shortened life cycle. They'll no longer -constitute a menace!" - -Hope blazed temporarily in the Moderator's eyes, then went out. When he -spoke next his voice was cold, dead. - -"But that takes time. Before we could effect the change several -generations of humanoids would have lived and died. We'd be conquered!" - -Saxon laughed outright. "Of course, you people couldn't effect the -change quick enough, but other humanoids could. You have Ileth here. -She's a General Atomic agent. You have the crew and some of the best -brains on Earth isolated on Zara. They could do it!" - -The Moderator drew in his breath sharply. "But would they be willing to -cooperate?" - -"What a question!" roared Saxon. "Would mankind be willing to increase -their life span ten thousand years? They'll jump at it!" - - * * * * * - -Zara was a diminutive green little world, held in thrall by the third -planet of Alpha Centauri A. A miniature heaven of soft breezes and -crystal streams and gravity so slight that Saxon felt buoyant as a -bubble. - -He said in rare good humor, "So there it is. The Varkans can't slow the -metabolic rate of billions of humanoids by force or by themselves in -time." - -He was surrounded by the members of the expedition, to whom he had just -explained the proposal of the Aliens to extend mankind's normal life -span to an unthinkable age. - -With his arm around Ileth's slim waist, he had watched suspicion give -way to hope and hope to wild enthusiasm. Only Villainowski appeared -disgruntled. - -"It's more than I can stomach," growled the Chief, "to think of -perpetuating General Atomic in power practically forever." - -Saxon leaned close, said in a lowered voice, "You don't believe that -if the people have ten thousand years to contemplate the iniquity of -General Atomic, they'll continue to be duped. It'll be the death blow -to all the big corporations." - -He straightened, returning his arm to Ileth's waist. "There's no reason -for you to return to Earth with the rest of them, Villainowski. There's -a lot to see here, a lot to learn. Ileth and I are going to spend...." - -He frowned, called, "Hey, Mercedes. You're the anthropologist. What -was that barbaric custom practiced by newly-married couples during the -pre-Atom age?" - -"The honeymoon." Mercedes chuckled, turned to the faintly pink Ileth, -pinched her cheek. "Don't look so frightened, child. The first ten -thousand years are the hardest." - - * * * * * - -[Transcriber's Note: Original text had two section VII. Second one -renumbered to VIII.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTCASTS OF SOLAR III *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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