Page 54 - Astounding Pulp V2

54 ASTOUN DING SCIENCE-FICTION THE SMALLEST GOD 55

on t
I . '' B rugh slammed
"I d ' I 1ave 1 1111. bell a half-hour later. nor for the blue- VI. was worse than the hair tonic, but th,:re
the receiver down in disgust. snorting. coated figures that stood outside. They was no question of its tar-softening
If Hodges thought that he could put wasted no time. HERM~s spied the public highway properties. "Could you- "
such a trick over, he'd find out better. • "Dr. Arlington Brugh? 'Ne have a bel~w h1111, and began puzzling about "I know. Corton. To your right and
\iVith all the trumped-up evidence in warrant for yo~r ~,-rest, clJarge being which_ direction to take back to town. follow the road." The (llan paused and
the world, they'd still have to prove a larceny. If you II Just come along qui- Brugh had riever been out this way, and made gurgling noises. "Whyn't you
few things. He'd see the president in etly- " ~e had tailed to absorb the necessary stick around ? I like you ; snakes never
the morning before Hodges could get They were purposeful individuals mformat1on from the garbage man, so would drink with me."
to him. and words did no good. Brugh wen~ he had no idea of the location of Corton. Hermes made it quite clear he couldn't
But he wasn't prepared for the door- along-but not quietly. ~ut there was a man leaning against a stay, and the drunk nodded graye)y.
signpost, and he might know.
"Always women. I know about that ;
The little god approached him con- it's a woman that drove me to this-
fidently, now that he could both move seeing you. 'Stoo bad. Well, -SO long!"
and talk. He wanted to try his new Filled with the last drink, the god
power instead of telepathy, and did not stepped his speed up to almost five miles
trouble with the man's ~houghts, though al! hour. There was no danger of fa-
a faint impression indicated they were
ti~ue, since the radioactive energy within
highly disordered. !um-poured out as rapidly as he could
"Good evening, sir," he said -pleas- use it, and there ~ ere no waste prod-
antly, w ith only a faint blur to the words. ucts to poison- his system. His tiny lees
" Can you direct me to Corton Uni-
flickered along the road, and the litOe
".ersity ?" feet made faint tapping sounds on the
The man clutched the signpost and smooth· asphalt surface. ,
gazed down solemnly, blinking his eyes. -
He came over a hill and spied the yel-
"Got 'em again," he said dispassionately.
low lights of Corton, still an hour's trot
"And after cutting down on the stuff, away. It might have been wors·e. T he
too. 'Sfunny,-they never talked before.
swishing of the water inside him both-
Wonder if the snakes'll talk, too, when
, ered him, and he decided that he'd stick
I begin seeing them?"
to straight alcohol hereafter ; whiskey
It made no sense to Hermes, but he
contained ,too many useless in'lpurities.
1 :odded wisely and repeated his ques-
Hermes flopped over beside the road,
tion. From the vibrations, the man was and let the water and some of the oil
not unacquainted with the virtues of al- from the hair tonic trickle out ; the al-
cohol. cohol was already well inside his gummy
~he drunk pursed his lips and ex- interior where there was ,no danger of
amined the 'little figure calmly. "Never losing it. For some reason, it seemed
had one like you before. What are to be drying out more slowly than the
you?" first had, and that was all to the good.
"I suppose I'm a god," Hermes an- The few cars on the road aroused a
swered. " Can you direct me to Corton, faint desire for some easier means of
please." locomotion, but otherwise they caused
"So it's gods this time, eh? That's hi111 no trouble. H e clipped off the
what I get for changing brands. Go miles at a steady gait, keeping on the
away and let me drink in peace." H e edge of the paving, until the outskirts
thought it over slowly as he drew out of the town had been reached. Then
the bottle. "Want a drink?" he took to the sidewalk.
"Thank you, yes." The little god
stretched up and succeeded in reaching A BLUE-COATED figure, ornamented
"Thanks," said Brugh unhappily , "but you're with brass buttons, was pacing down the
the bottle. T his time he filled himself
a little small to be useful, aren't you?" to capacity before handing it back-.. It · street toward him, and H ermes wel-
j