Page 56 - Astounding Pulp V2

56 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION
comes the presence of the policeman. She shook her head, blinking bleary
O ne of the duties of an officer was di- eyes. "That I don't, but maybe you'd
recting people, he had gathered, ru1d a take the university? It's well I knew
little direction would be handy. Th'e where that may be."
smallest god stopped and waited for the Dr. B rugh lived but a short distance
other to reach him. from t~e ca!n pus he knew, and once o n
"Could you direct me to the home the u111vers1ty gr~unds, Hermes would
of Dr. Arlington Brugh, please?" have no trouble tn finding the house .
The cop looked about carefully for H e nodded eagerly. She reached down
the speaker. Hermes raised his voice a filthy hand and caught him U{) w
f Id f I
.
'
rap .
again. "1'111 here, sir." pl ~ng a o o 1er tattered dress a bout
Officer O 'Callahan dropped his eyes 11m.
slowly, expecting a drunk, and srued the "Come along, then. I 'll be taking .
god. H e let out a startled bellow. "So there myself." She paused to let th rou
it's tricks, is it now ? Confound that last drops trickle from a bottle · te ew
111
o 1er
I
'd
Bergen, after dri vin' the brats wild w1 e mout 1, and stuck her head 1 barely six inches high ; it would never
about ventriloquence. Come out o' · l · th r 0 ut
c~r~th10us Y.' t ef po_1cem~n had g one
there, you spalpeen. Tryin' your tricks \i 'V 1t a gt un o satisfaction, she struck
on an honest police; like as if I didn't across the street to a streetcar t
have worries o' me own." " 'Tis the last dime I have but a t op.
Hermes watched the officer hunting day it'll be when Molly 11cCann orry
around in the doorways for what he be- do a favor for a Little Folk." can t
lieved must be the sou rce of the voice, She propped herself ag ainst the
ca r-
.
and decided that there was no use lin- stop post an d waited patiently, While
gering. He put one foot in front of H ermes pondered the mellowing eJl:
the other and left the cop. o a co 10 . · . •t ects
f I I 1 agam. When the noisy ·
"Pssst !" The sound came from an stopped, she climbed on clutching <:ar
'
1 1tn 1
I
alley a couple of houses below, and H er- firm y, d I 1e 1eard only the bu mpin
1 an
mes paused. In the shadows, he . made of a flat wheel and her heavy breathin g
out a dirty old woman, her fro:wsy hair But she managed to keep half a,,v kg.
•ae
'di '
blowing about her face, her finger an d carn e 11m o ff the car at the pro ' zat10'.1 until he had convinced himself of
crooked enticingly. E vidently she place. . Per
wanted something, and he turned in S he set him down as gently a s Un-
I
hesitantly. stea d y n~rves wo4- d permit and pointed
"That dumb Irish rnick," she grunted, a wavenng finger at the buildings -meas
on
and from her breath H ermes recognized t h e campus. "Th ere you be, and it'
another kindred spirit; apparen tly hu- the best of luck I'm wishing you. Mayb..-.s
mans were much easier to get along with now, that I've ~elped a Little Man, goo~
when thoroughly steeped in alcohol, as luck II be commg to me. A very go d
. 1
..
0
he was himself. " S ure. now, a body mg1t to you.
might think it's never a word he'd heard Hermes bowed gravely as he g uess
o' the Little F olks, and you speaking she ex pected. "_My thanks, Molly 11::~
politely, too. Ventriloquence, indeed! Cann, for you r kmdness, and a very g o
\Vas you wanting to kn<_>w what I might night to you.·• H e watched her tot1:~~
be telling you ?" away, and turned toward t he laborato
Hermes stretched his rubber face into building, where he could secure a f ry
a passable smile. " D o you know w here more di-ops of straight alcohol. Af~i
Dr. Arlington :Brugh lives? H e's a re- that, he could attend to his other busi- knob turned, and he kicked out aga-inst
search director at Corton University." ness. the door jamb with one foot until the
THE SMALLEST GOD 57
VII. door began to swing. Then he dropped
T AKYA BRUGH was completely un- down and pushed until he could slide
aware of the smallest god's presence as Llirough the opening. F or his size, he
he stood on a chair looking across at her. ~~rried a goodly portion of strength in
11
A stray beam of moonlight struck her s gum-and-rubber body. ·
face caressingly, and made her seem a But th_e 111 aster was not in the bed,
creature of ,·elvet and silver, withdrawn a nd ll~e mistress was making slow
in sleep from all that was mundane. st ranglmg sounds, that indicated emo-
H ermes probed her mind gently, a lit- tional upset. F rom Brugh's mind, Her-
tle fearfully. mes had picked up a hatred of the sound
Across her mind, a flickering pageant of a woman crying, and he swung hastily
of tall men, strong men, lithe and ath- out, wondering what the fuss was about.
letic men, ran in disordered array, and T here was only one person left, and he
none of them were less than six feet tall. headed toward the little M issie Kath-
] I ern1es gazed at his own small body, erine's room.
~
She was aSleep when he entered, but
do.- Now the face of J ohn Thomas fit- he called softly: " Miss K itty." H er
ted itself on one of the men, and Tanya head popped up suddenly from the pil-
held the image for a few seconds. The low ~ nd she groped for the light. For
god growled muttered oaths ; he had ai: · e\ght-year-olcl child, she was Joyely
1th
no love for the Thomas image. Then )" the sleep still in her eyes. She
it flickered into the face of W ill Young gazed at the little white figure in faint
Brugh's assistant. ' astonishment.
H ermes shinnied up the leg of a chair
H ermes had probed her thoughts to nd
confirm his own ideas of the wonderful a made a leap over onto the bed where
·
delight that-Tanya must be and he \Vas he could watch he1. "\Vhat happened to
1sappo111 ·e .
n 1er mmd were
faintly d' · t d I I ' • your father ?" he asl<ed.
innocence and emptiness- except for • · " She blinked at him with round eyes.
men of tall stature. H e sio-hed softly . . It talks-a little doll that talks ! H ow
cute !n
'
d
t>
an . reverted to purely human rationali-
'
}Nm not a doll, Kitty; I'm H ermes."
the rightness of her thoughts. ot a doll ? O h, goody, you're an
B
. ut the question of height bothered elf then ?"
·
k
" Maybe." It was no time to bicker
h1111
Cl 'Id .
he ~vas 11 1 e~.'ld ie new, gr_ew up, but about a question that had no satisfactory
1
11
I
d ? c 1 ' t iough his age was answer. But his heart warmed toward
. ure 111 hours. Some way he must
gam ' the girl. S he wasn't drunk, yet she
a new body, or g row taller, and could still believe in his existence. "I
th
at llleant that D r. Brugh would be
needed fo d .· . . don't know just what I am, but I think
. r a ,ice on t1e I'm the smallest of the gods. \ Vhere·s
1 n ddle of height
111crease. your fatJ1er ?"
H e dropped quietly from the chair Memory overwhelmed K itty in a rush,
ao d trotted toward the master's bed- and her bro,,·u eyes brimmed with tears.
room, pushing against the door in the "He's in jail!" she answered through
hope that it might be opeu. It wasn't, a puckered mouth. "A nasty man ca111e
but he made a leap for the doorknob and took him away, and mamma iecls
~d caught it, throwing his slight weight awful. J ust 'cause i\lr. H odges hates
into the job of twisting it. F inally the him."
··Where's jail ? Never mind, I'll find
out." It would save time by taking the