Page 110 - Astounding Pulp V2

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JJO ASTOL .• ·01. ·c SCIE. ·cE-FICTIO.
1,is nbj<·<.tiv ·. TT,· may hav • allowed a.s he had never before been, in all his
fl~c:. <JfJ~•rvc·rs to (·scape·. to Juli our s us- short life. He had been in dangerou
JJJCJrJ1~ .... Y,,11 _·c,uP<: lf arc probably the s illlal ions before, certainly ; not only
rwxt m l11w. J Jc,w n·rwin arc you that that. he had been wounded almo t unto
)'(Jllr ,,,\·11 base ha.., n ot already been in- death. In tho~e instances. however, peril
vaded:'' had come upon hilll suddenly. He had
" .r\l,!,,,Jutc·ly cc·rlain. !'>ir.'' Jaltc·s face, rcactc:cl to il automatically. having had
liulc if any rime to think about it be-
lu,w,·vcr, turned a t.hadc grc:cncr at the
thnught. forehand.
I
"Y <HI u ..,,. t lw tc·n11 ·a1,~ohllc y very >lever before had he gone into a place
l
in which he knew in advaQce that the
l
_~(Js ·ly- lmt I li<Jpc.; that y<Ju ar<.: right.
advantage was a ll upon the olh~r ide;
s c· all 1 I w men and a ll the equipment
w · hav<· s c-nt y ou to make s ure that it from which his chance of gett111g out
alive was so terrifyina ly small. It wa·
r <;1nains in ,p<.:nctrablc."
worse. much worse, tl:::u1 going into that
vortex. There, while the road was
xx. strange the enemy was known to be
. ~ N TlJ El R J1 CJ11111agnct ic, practically in- one w l~om he · had conquered before;
th
visible s p c:c:d ster, K innison and Worsel a nd furthe rmore he had had e Dauu~·
en t I I f h 5 • ' and the set·
ei·cc t 1c: tcrr a incognita o t e . cc- less. 1ts eager young crew,
ond Galaxy and approached the sola r entific self-abnegation of old Caf<lynge
th
sys tem of the E ic h, s lowjng d own to a to back h im. Here he had e sp~ed·
ci:awl a s they d id so . They knew as s tcr and WorseJ-and Worse! was JUSl
111uc h con cern ing dread J arn evon , the as sca red as he was. . elapsed. He could not percciYe eYell
planet w h ic h was the ir goal, as did J a lte, The p it of his stomach felt cold,_his
f r om whom t h e knowle dge ha d been bones seem ed bits of rubber tubmg.
:
a cqu ir e d ; but t h a t was all too little. "!'Jev~rtheless, the two ~ e1_1smenT'tre~d
1 1
They knew t hat it w as the fifth pla net rng 111. That was their Job. ey I t
out fro m. t he S u n a nd tha t it was bit- to go in even though they knew t ia
1:erly cold. I t, had a n a tmosphere, but t he foe ~vas at least their e9ual m~t·
o n e co n taining ox y geri ; one poison- t ally, was overwhelmingly their ~upenor
110
o u s t o oxy rren breathers. It had no p hysica1Iy, and was upon his own
0 trace of the work it would haYe been
r ot ati on-o r rather , its day coincided ground. 1
with its y ear-and its people dwelt upon "So am I" Worsel admitted. "1'11
its e ternally dark h emisphere. If they scared to th: tip of my tail. I ~ave one
had ey es, a point upon which there was advantage over you, 1 10wever-I v~ been
<l<;mbt, they did not operate upon the that way before." Be was referring to
frequencies ordinarily referred . to as . the time when he had gone to De!gou,
"visible" light. In fact, about the Eich abysmally certain that he would not re-
a s pers ons or identities they kne~ n_ext · turn. Nor w ot'.ild he have r~turn~? save
to nothing. J alte had seen them, but for Kinnison and Van Buslork. What
either he did not perceive them. cle~rl_y is fated, happens. Shall we prepare_?"
111
or els e his mind could not retain their They had spent 1nanY hours di~-
tr"?e likeness ; his only pictt.~re of the c~ssion of what could be done, and Ill
E:1chian physique beii;ig a conf~sedly ,hor- . t~•e _end had decid~d that the only pos-
nple blur. . ?·1ble _prepafation was to make sure that
~' !'111 scared, Worse1," Kinnisoq. '. <;Je- . Jf ~i.n_nison .failed, his failure would not
d a red. ~ "Scared purple, and th~,, closer br~~ .disaster to the Patr~l. . ward.
we come _the n1or e scared . I get. . . . lv.l;igh~ as well. Corne JO; my mmd's
And he was scared. He was afraid wide open." ·
l\1,H'r (1ff. c..'\l'l1 1, , t'1t' !_! l"":l, it v p,d, ;
The Velantian in:;inu:m·d hi, lllind
into Kinnison\; and thL· l•ar1hm:t11 th1111ght. t'\l'll. hbllhl'[c..•d t,, ,'(.' I\ . • "th-
:
slumped down, uncou cio11,. ThL·11 il,r ing h;lpf)t'lll'cl. rl1L·~ bn«kd. 'Pu.•, l i,-
L·111h:1rln·cl. l·\,nt h~ i \ l ( \l thl')' 111.tdl· th ... -il·
many minutes \\"orsel wrought "ithi11
the plastic brain. Finally: c:n1til•ll:- " a,· i\ir\\:trtl.
l 11 c,:-.l'lll'~' thl· pl.111 "a, ,impli ... ·it , i· _
"Thirty seconds after )Oil k:t\'(' mr :,l'\i. \ , ·or:-l·l wduld acc..-omp:lny 1 • m ni-
thee inhibition \\'ill hcco111e opcrati, L'. :-on until both Wl'r ' \\ithin tlw t ht"-.u ht
\\'hen I rebn'. them your 111L·1110ry :111cl StTl'l'l b of I he ck1111c..• . Thc.. 11 I Ill' rdturi.ut
'
your knowledge \\'ill l;e cxactl_,· as they
would 1-:1 . .'t. so111c ,, ay 0r «'the.•,-. the.• in-
were before J began to operate." he form:t1 i~111 the P::i.t nll had ti"\ ha,·L· . . 111d
thought, slowly, inten-ch-. clearly. '·l·n- lhl' \ ·dantia.11 w (Htld ~ct it b::ick t\", Pritn1..'
ti; that time you kno\,: nothing what-
B:t;;e. l f the ,r:lf l .c1bm:tn 1..·1..,ul.J o- 1 "'.
ever of any of these 111attcr:-. :'\ o men-
tal search, howen'r profound : no l rut h too. well and "'oml. . \ iter all. the,~ ,, a~
·
110 real rca;;on 10 think th:tt he couldn t
drug, howe\·er potent : 110 probing. cn ~n -he was rn 1·cly pbying· !-:ltC. on ... -n-
of the subconsciou:,.;. \\'ill or can c\i:,cOn?r cral prin •iph::.. l i. how1..•, 'r. wor::,t ca n1c
them. They do not exist. They nc,·c·r
have ~xisted. They shall not exi;;t until t w0rst. w cll-
I so allow. The e other matter;; h:t,·e The,· arrin:-d.
been, arc. and hall be the iacts unt il ·'N;w rcn1c111b 1·. \ \ rorsel. i:o matt r
what happ1. ns to 111t:. ~r a~0und me. you
that instant. K imball Ki1111i. on. . t::iY out. Don 't c me ,n attc'. me. Ilclp
awaken!"
,e· all vott ca 11 with you r . nund. hut nc L
The Tellurian came to. not knowing 11 : 1· \· , e\·c1·,·th1110- l ~ct. anct
that he had been out. Nothing- had oc- othen n ·c. a -. . :::- _
at the first _ ign of dan~cr y1.. u fli t bac~,
curred ; for him no ti111e whatever hacl
to the speed ter and g-1\·e her the .,C:. t .
that his mind had been touched. whether 1 ·111 around or not. lt ck~
"Sure it's done. \Vorse!? I can't find " heck ... \\·orsel agreed. quietly.
K in nison•~ wa - the lt:irde1· pan. X t
a thing!" Kinnison, who had him elf
operated upon so many minds as trace- because he was the le~~ r. but hecau!-
he w:is the better qualihed. Th y both
lessly, could scarcely belicYc that his . . ·t The Pat.-ol c:1111c fi 1·st. It
own had been tampered ·with. 1 dlC \\ I . . .
. b 'o-cr • , · ... sllY rnore important than
1 . ....
"It is clone. If you could detect any " as l ~o e . O f I . . .
11
anv bei11g- or anr g roup )cti~gs ~ t t.
The man strode a way . a nd Ill th ,~ty
poor work, and wasted." seconds underwen t a _wc11·cl a.11 l stnk-
ing mental transfonnat1O11._ T hree qua 1·-
THE speedster dropped as nearly as ters of his kno.,,dedge d1sa.ppe~red s
the Lensmen dared t0\va1·cl J arnevon ·s completely tha t he had no 111klmg; that
tremendous primary base. T hey did not
he had ever had it. A n ew name. a n c,v
know whether they were being observed personality wc~·e his. so co mplete ly a:1cl
or not. For all they knew, these in-
indisputably his that he_ had n o fam t
comprehensible beings might be able to glimmering of a r~collect1on that h e h ad
see or to sense them as plainly as though
ever been othen v1se.
their ship were p~inted witli radium and He was ·wearing his Len s. It could
were landing openly, with searchlights do no possible harm. s ince _it was almost
ablaze and with bells a-clang. Muscles inconceivable that the E tch could be
tense, ready to hurl their tiny flier away made to believe that any 0 1·dinary age n t
at the slightest alarm; they wafted down-
could haYe · penetrated so far, a n d the
Through the screens they dropped. fafl should not be revealed to the foe