Page 115 - Astounding Pulp V2

114
ASTOC XDIXG SCTEN CE-FICTI0~
11
" Ah!" and 11111c Tiosk onian scr eens back to him in the same way. Yesi
snappe d off. S in ce the L en s m a n could !he Gray Lcnsman had fini!,hl.•d hi::;
. ·tar A S ta r knew what was going on The- vict im sud-.t.·d dry. t.'i!,!ht o i t h e
not mas te r o ne: D e lg onian, he w o uld n ot Job; all that was left to do was tn <it.--
in that room. He was reporting con- Council departed. lcavinf! Fichmil and
be a m e n ace to the massed m inds o f the sta ntly- stroy this world and the power of Oos- the O verlord w ith th~ Lc11:-m,1n.
nine o f B osk o n e , and the questio ning kone would be broken. K innison cou ld
A knife de cendecl Yiciously. Blood .. \\' h:1t you ha,·~ in mirn~ h~ d \,. _E i-h-
need n o t wait upo n the s lo wness of die, now, content.
spu1·tecl. The stump was dre scd, 111il, is ch(td ish. Y o u r basK ~dc..·a . ''. c,-
spe~c h. Tho u g hts beat into Kinnison's roughly but effectively. T hey did not But no thought of k a,·iug c-nt~rcd <.:ellcnt. hut you r tcclmiqu c 1::, p1t1tully
bram fro m al l s icl<:s . \Vorsel's mind. H e would. of cou rse-.
wis h thci1· vict im to bleed to death when inacleq11atc. ·· - ·· __ .
st~nd by as long as there remained the
he died , and he was not to die in any .. \\.hat l:'nu ld he w nr$e. l·:•chnul <l~•-
T1r JS P O WER of mind ,,:as relatively fashion-yet. sl1ghte t shred of hope, or unt i I . om~ ma11clcd. ·· 1 am going to dig-_ o u t _h•~
new . y es . J Tc: d id no t know wha t it was. development threatened hi · ahilitv to
A nd in the instant that K innison's CYes. sm:1:h his bones. flay h111\ :,1-hn~.
B e:: W(:nt to A r is ia, fe ll a sleep , and ·woke leav~ the planet with his 1wicclcs. i;tfor-
L ens went dead. \,Vorse!, from his safely r~ast hilll. cut h im u p into 3 d_ozen pie_ ~-
up with it. A refine ment, he thought, mation. And the pitiless inqui. it ion and send him back tO hi.- S tar A Star
dista nt nook. reached out direct to tl'.e went on.
?f hypnotis m. Only advanced s t udents . · I t ,,,-en · creatu re he.'
1 mind of his friend, thereby putting his with a wan1111g- t 1a ... -.
n P :5ycholog y could do it. H e knew . to tlti·,; G:ila..,Y will be treated
o w n life in j eopardy. He knew that S('11( I S Ill - • \ - ••
not_hing_ c:x cc:pt by hearsay of the old STAR A STAR had sent him to invest i-
thc1·e was a n Overlord in that room. the same way. \\"ha t w o uld y ou -~ o;"
Brzttarna- he was a cade t then. He gatc their planet. to clisco,·er whether ··Yon of the Eid1 lac~ fine se. the
1 and t he grue of a thousand helplessly
l a_d never hea1·cl of B lakeslee, o r of any- ?r not there was any connect ion bet ween . sigh cl ·· o u ha.Ye no
c goman . _
sacr ificed g enerations of forbears swept D I • . . , ,. _ _
tl~mg u 1:us ual concen,ing any o ne hos- it and the zwilnik organization. n c - ul>tkty, no concepuon_ of the _n tet.: 1 _P ~-
pital s hip. H e d id not know who had h is sinuous length at the thought, de- :tad come alone. in a speedster. K o, ·ibilitic- of torture . enher ?t an mdi-
sp ite h is inward cer tainty of the new
SC<;)Ut~cl _ l-Iclmut h's base, or put t he te could not tell t hem e,·cn approxi- Y1c ua f a 1 • ..,ce • 1•or m _ta nc . to
.
1 1 or o
•
c
, ,
1.h ion ite m to it. H e h ad n o idea w h o it powers of his m ind. H e knew that of mately where the speedster was. It was . _ ~ - tar adequately th1~ 1na 11
a ll t he en tit ies in the U niverse, the Del- p u111s 1 1 ta, . ·\ . d d ··
was w h o h a d k ille d Helmuth . As far s~ dark, and he had come sucl{ a long must be re u1 n . . ,··
t . eel to him alt vc. not ca .
.
as h e k n ew, n othing h ad ever been d one gon ians ,vc1·e most sensitive to the distance on foot. Tn an hou r o r so. ·'Impossible ! He die - 1 ,c, c ~ .
about a ny Bosk o n ia n spies in Pat1·ol t hought vibrations of Velantia11s. Nev- though, it would start senclinO' out a "" . 1derstru1d me. . Not alive
.i: ou n11 -u1
•
b a ses. 1-:fe had n ever h a p pened to h ear erth eless, he· d id it. thought signal which he could detcct- · . but not entirely d ead.
th He na rrowed the beam down to the "B as I 1e 1s n o,, -
of e pla n e~ Medon o r of a nyone . ut you must have some ideas about B ones b k r o et 1 . ) ,cs and eyes rernoved;
,
n a m _ed Bominger , o: lVIad a m e D e- s mallest possible coverage, employed a this Star A Star!" This director was b t t i 1ose n'lt 1101 . ,n atters a r e b u t a be-
-
.
.
ll
s p la m.es 0 1· p - 11 · H . frequenc3" a s far as possible from that the man they wanted so desperately to
1
.
.
. ' e 111.. e wa~ ent1 rely gmnmo-. If I we re clomg 1t, I s hould
, 1
·
ig n o r a nt o f a n y unus u a l weapon s of of- ordina rily used by the O verlords, and get. They believed implicitly in this ~ 1 ver al of t h ese d evic e~ 1erc.
continued to observe. It was risky, but then app Y se ' f them. to t h e
f~n se-he was a p sych ologist, n ot an en - ~gment of a Lensman director. F itting . I . b11t n on e o
g ineer o r a l · · it w as n ecessary It was beginning to successive y , "bTt ·th
P 'lys1c1st. No, he w as not in so perfectly with their own ideas of . f lete incom patl i i Y w1
unus ually a d ept w it h D L t _ appear as thouO'h the E arthman might pomt o comp . t the extren'lit ies
" FI ld ,, . e an'le e1 s- efficient organization it w as more con- l.f I 1 ould m ocu 1 a e ·
1
o on ! E 1chn1il commanded . n ? t _be able to ; scape, and he must not vincing by far that~ the actual t ruth 1 e. s . r o·anisin ,v h1ch
"Stop c · · die 111 vain. th
1u est1oning him, ev e.rybody ! of his four limbs wi a~\~- ~npleasantly?
Now, L en sm a n · d . "C ?" I 11 would have been. They knew now that rrrov.,s-shall w e s y • lif f
· an you communicate now .
, m stea
h
w at you d o n ot kno . of tellmg us the g hastly chamber the relentless ques- he would be hard to find. They did n ot o . I 5 l uld e..xtract 111s e orce
. .
Finally,
ou know, that es-
'lo_
information · w' gn~_e u s pos~t1ve now_insist upon facts ; they wanted every
, in your own H tioning went on. and consun1e it-as_ ~ . delica cy with
do you w o rk'? I am . ":'ay . ow ''I cannot communicate. " possible crumb of surmise. "You must sence is a rarely satis y in~ t
1
P eet that tl · begmnmg to sus- "It is w ell. In one way I would not have wondered who and where Star A us- taking care to leave 3ust enoug 'l o
.
i e man we really want is a
directo r, not an operat ,, Star is? You must have tried to trace maintain a bare existence. I wouJd th~n
Th. or. b_e averse to letting your Star A St~r him?" . I t . s left of him aboard his slup,
t
1
. is was a more productive , line. k~o~ what happens when one of h1_s Yes, he had tried, but the problem pu w 1a T 1 · Galaxy
1
L e nsmen, hundreds of th h mm 011s dares to spy upon the Counc_1l sta rt it toward the e unan ' .t '
k d , , em, eac could not be solved. The Lens was 11011- and send notice to the Patrol as to 1 s
wor e upon a definite a ssignment. of Boskone itself, but the information 1s directional, and the signals came in at
None o f them had ever seen or ever as yet a trifle premature. Later, he exact course and velocity." • ,,
shall learn-" practically the same strength, anywhere "But they would find him alwe !
would see the man who issued orders. in the. Gala."Cy. They were, however,
He h a d n o t even a name, but . was a Kinnison did not consciously thrill at very much fainter out here. That might Eichmil stormed.
tl
"E
For the fullest vengeance
symbol-Star A Sta r. They received that thought. H e did not know that the xac Y· itl Which is
I be taken to indicate that St-ar A Star's they must, as I have sa .
orders through the ir L en ses wherever news was going beyond his brain ; that office was in a star cluster, well out in worse, think you? To find 3: corpse,
'
.
they m1ght be in space. They reported he had achieved his goal. Worse!, how- either the zenith or the nadir: direc- however dismembered, and to dispose of
ever, did ; and Worsel thdlled for him.
tion- it with full military honors, or to find
AST-8 I
....,:
J