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Title: Phantom Out of Time
Author: Nelson S. Bond
Release Date: June 14, 2020 [EBook #62395]
Language: English
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Phantom Out of Time
By NELSON S. BOND
_AN EERIE NOVEL OF SPACE AND TIME._
Graed Garroway's empire on Earth was toppling,
smashed by the flaming vengeance of Dirk
Morris who struck from nowhere with blinding
speed and true justice. Yet such a thing could
not be--for Dirk Morris was dead, slain at
the brutal command of the Black Dictator.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Fall 1943.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Metal grated upon metal, a heavy gate at the far end of the corridor
swung open, and footsteps stirred dull echoes down the quiet
prison-block. Neil Hardesty turned beseeching eyes to his friend and
leader.
"Dirk," he begged, "for the last time ... let us share this with you?
Please!"
Vurrth, the hulking Venusian, nodded mutely, lending his support
to Neil's appeal. Shaughnessey, Vurrth's earthly equal in size and
strength, rumbled deep in his throat, "Yes, Dirk. We're all in this
together. Let's take the punishment together ... like men."
Dirk Morris shook his head. His voice was firm; his gaze calm and
steady.
"No. It's better _one_ of us should die, than all. We set ourselves a
righteous task: to rid the System of a madman and a tyrant. We pledged
ourselves to fight ... to win ... or to die. Our first leader has
already given his life that worlds may someday again breathe the air
of freedom. A dozen of our comrades have paid the price of rebellion.
Edwards, Johnson, Vallery ... our blood-brothers.
"Now it is my turn. But my passing does not mean we give up the fight.
You, Hardesty, must take over the leadership of our little clan.
When you have been freed, carry on! Find new recruits; rebuild our
organization. Four against an empire is mighty odds, but if you four
surrender, the liberty of all men is doomed for generations!"
Fred Meacher said hopefully, "That's right. Someone must pick up the
torch. Neil, if you'd rather not, _I'll_ bear the _Message_--"
"Never mind," said Hardesty. "I'm ready to take it. Well, Dirk?"
The footsteps were drawing nearer. Swiftly, coolly, but deliberately,
Dirk Morris placed his lips close to Neil's ear, whispered a brief
sentence. Hardesty started. His eyes first widened, then narrowed with
incredulous surmise.
"Dirk!" he gasped. "But that's.... You can't mean--"
"Quiet!" warned Brian Shaughnessey. "Here they come! The skulking
rats!" He spat contemptuously on the floor as a band of armed men
halted before the cell in which the quartet was imprisoned.
The foremost guardsmen parted, and before the grille appeared a man
tall and powerful, dark of eye and beetling of brow; a personage whose
innate ruthlessness and cruelty could not be disguised even by the
ornate finery he wore. This was Graed Garroway, "Black" Garroway,
tyrant of Earth, emperor of the System, Overlord--by force of arms--of
the entire Solar Union.
He smiled. But there was little mirth in his smile, and no sincerity.
"Well, Morris?" he demanded.
"Well?" repeated Dirk stonily.
"Your time passes swiftly. Have you decided to tell your secret?"
"I know one thing," said Morris, "that is no secret. My time passes
swiftly, yes. But so does yours. The days of your dictatorship are
numbered, Garroway. Soon the cleansing flame of righteous rebellion
will rise to sweep you and every evil thing you stand for from the face
of creation!"
Garroway stiffened, flushing with dark anger.
"You speak boldly for a doomed man, Morris. Guards, open the cell!"
He scowled. "It may amuse you to learn that I did not need your
information, traitor. I gave you a final chance to offer it of your own
free will. But your cherished 'secret' has already been solved."
"Solved!" That was Hardesty. "You mean--?"
"Quiet, Neil!" warned Dirk. "He's faking!"
Garroway laughed.
* * * * *
"Faking? You shall see in a few minutes, when I put you to death in the
murderous device constructed by your one-time leader, Dr. Townsend!"
"Murderous--" began Hardesty.
"Please, Neil! Then you ... you found Dr. Townsend's chamber?" asked
Dirk.
"Yes. And experimented with it, too. We know, now, its purpose. Too
bad Robert Townsend did not live to receive our congratulations. So
that was your secret, eh? Your late leader succeeded in perfecting a
disintegration chamber?"
"Disint--" began Morris. Then he stopped abruptly. When he spoke again,
his voice was defiant. "Well ... now that you know, what are you going
to do about it?"
Brian Shaughnessey stared at his friend miserably.
"Disintegrating machine!" he choked. "Nothing but a damned theoretical
gadget! Is _that_ the great invention we've been risking our lives for?
Dirk--"
"Do about it?" laughed Garroway negligently. "Why, I'm going to turn it
to my own usage, of course. And you, my unfortunate young conspirator,
will attain the distinction of being the instrument's first human
victim. Come, guards! We have no more time to waste."
"A moment!" interrupted Morris. "You will keep your promise? My
companions go free when I die?"
The Overlord nodded with mock graciousness.
"Graed Garroway needs compromise with no man. But I have given my word.
Yes, your companions go free."
"Very well, then. I am ready."
Morris turned and gripped warmly the hand of each of his companions in
turn. Then he stepped forward. Two guards flanked him. The Captain of
the Guard rasped a command. The little band marched down the avenue
and out of sight; silence surged in to hush the stir of footsteps.
Somewhere a barrier clanged metallically.
"A disintegrating machine!" moaned Shaughnessey. "A damned
disintegrating machine! Suppose we _did_ have it? What good would it do
us? It wasn't portable. We couldn't use it to fight Garroway's hordes.
Dirk's just thrown his life away for nothing--"
"Please, Brian!" begged Hardesty.
His hands were knotted at his sides, the knuckles as white as his lips.
Meacher's eyes were ghastly. Only Vurrth displayed no emotion, but the
sinews of the Venusian's throat were taut cords of strain as he, with
the others, waited.
Slow seconds passed on sluggish feet. Then, after a million aeons,
came the dreaded signal. From afar sounded the thin, persistent hum
of pulsing current; the strong lights of the prison-block dimmed
briefly ... glowed ... dimmed again ... and glowed....
* * * * *
Brian Shaughnessey, strong fighting man that he was, raised a hand to
his eyes. Neil Hardesty's breath broke in a shaken murmur. Meacher
whimpered, and Vurrth's massive fists tensed at his thighs.
Again a door opened ... again footsteps approached the prisoners. There
was a look of gloating malice on Garroway's swarthy face. He said,
"Open the cell, guards. Let them out now."
Hardesty whispered, "It ... it is over?"
"It is over. Your friend has vanished ... disappeared into whatever
hell awaits rebels." The Overlord smiled. "It was a most interesting
exhibition ... most. Through the glazed pane we saw him standing,
panic-stricken, frozen with terror. Then the current was turned on.
Before our eyes, he vanished as a mist--"
"I don't believe it!" growled Shaughnessey. "Morris was afraid of
nothing; man, beast, nor devil--"
"And ... _and we_?" broke in Fred Meacher fearfully.
"Go free," said Black Garroway, "as I promised. But have a care! If
ever I hear a word of complaint or suspicion raised against any of you
again, you will share his fate. It is only through my graciousness you
live."
"We understand," said Neil evenly. "Come, friends."
He led the way from the cell as a guard unlocked the door. When the
four had almost reached the end of the prison corridor, Garroway called
after them.
"Oh ... one thing more! I almost forgot to thank you, Meacher!"
Shaughnessey said, "Huh? What's that? Why? What's he got to thank _you_
for, Fred?"
Meacher's pale eyes rolled, suddenly panicked.
"Me? I ... I don't know what he's talking about--"
Black Garroway's heavy laughter filled the hall.
"What? Oh, come now, Meacher! Of course you do. I appreciate the
information you gave me on Morris. The reward I promised you will be
waiting at the State Hall tomorrow. A thousand credits, wasn't it?
Well, come and claim it--" He chuckled stridently--"if you can."
Before the quick suspicion rising in the eyes of the comrades he had
betrayed, Meacher quailed. He tugged free of Shaughnessey's hand and
scampered to the protection of Garroway's guard. His voice bleated
shrill remonstrance.
"Sire ... you should not have told them! I served you faithfully and
well ... wormed my way into their inner council! Were it not for me you
would never have known--"
Black Garroway avoided the informer's frenzied clawing. His voice was
hard, mocking, contemptuous.
"Fool! You brought me no information worth hearing! Through my own
efforts I discovered Townsend's instrument and solved its secret. You
are a dolt, a stupid bungler! I need no such aides."
"But I told you Morris held the Secret--"
"Bah! There is no longer a secret to be held."
"But there is, Sire! Before he died, Morris told it to--"
Hardesty interrupted coldly, "Am I to understand, Garroway, that this
man is no longer under your protection?"
Garroway shrugged.
"I have washed my hands of him," he said carelessly. "Come, guards!"
He turned away as Meacher screamed, vainly struggled to escape the
vengeful trio closing in on him.
"Take him, Vurrth!" ordered Hardesty succinctly.
The great Venusian's hands closed briefly around the traitor's throat,
stifling his garbled cries. With revealing ease he lifted the Earthman,
held him dangling like a sack of meal in midair, and looked at Hardesty
for orders.
"Put him down," commanded Neil. "We will settle our differences
elsewhere."
Vurrth grunted, and obediently loosed his grip. The body, of Fred
Meacher slumped to the floor awkwardly ... and lay still. Brian
Shaughnessey bent over the crumpled figure. He glared up angrily at his
comrade.
"Confound you, Vurrth! He's dead!"
Vurrth grinned slowly.
"Sor-ree," he said. "Maybe hold too tight?"
One of the guards, glancing back, muttered a word to his captain who,
in turn, passed the message to the Overlord. A thin smile touched
Garroway's lips, but he did not turn his head. The incident was, his
attitude intimated as he led his entourage from the hall, a matter in
which he took no concern whatsoever....
II
As at his captors' bidding he stepped into the great metal chamber
which was the late Dr. Townsend's creation, two singular emotions
filled Dirk Morris' mind. One of these was thankfulness, the second ...
curiosity.
Fear was strangely absent. Perhaps that was because for many months
Dirk and those with whom he conspired for the overthrow of Black
Garroway's tyrannical rule had lived under a Damoclean sword. Death,
long a silent guest at their every gathering, was a host whose
imminence aroused no dread.
Dirk was thankful that he had been able to buy, with his own life,
the freedom of his companions. Why the Emperor had been willing to
strike this bargain, Dirk did not exactly understand; possibly because
the Overlord held his enemies in contempt, now their leader was being
removed; more likely because Garroway still held a lurking fear of
those who plotted against him, and was freeing them only that his
hireling spies might watch their movements.
But even that, thought Morris gratefully, was better than that all
should die, and the Movement end. Hardesty now knew the Secret, and
while one remained alive to work on that knowledge, hope endured.
The second commingling emotion, curiosity, concerned the chamber into
which, at this very moment, he was stepping. A "disintegration chamber"
Garroway had called it, vowing his scientists had learned its method of
operation. But in this, Dirk knew with positive assurance, the Overlord
was mistaken. Utterly mistaken. Yet, if it were not a disintegration
machine, then what--?
There was no time for further thought. The door was closed; through the
thick pane Morris saw Garroway nod, saw a soldier close the switch on
the instrument's control-board.
For an instant the thin hum of current filled Dirk's ears; a terrific
impact of pure electrical energy pierced his every nerve and fiber with
flaming hammers of agony. He felt his knees buckle beneath him, was
vainly aware that his mouth opened to cry aloud noiselessly.
A strange, twisting vibration wrenched and tore him; the solid walls
about him seemed to melt and writhe at angles the eyes ached to follow.
All this he saw as in the throes of wild delirium. Then, unable to
longer bear the fearful pain, every sinew of his being tensed for an
intolerable instant ... then darkness, blessed darkness, rushed in to
claim Dirk Morris. He sank, weak and senseless, into its enfolding
arms.
* * * * *
Silence.
Silence and darkness.
Then, out of the silence, sound. Out of the infinite darkness, light.
Light, and warmth, and comfort.
Dirk Morris opened his eyes.
He opened his eyes ... then closed them again, shaking his head to rid
his fancy of its weird hallucination. Beside him a voice spoke soft,
rippling syllables that held no meaning. Another voice replied; a
masculine voice, equally soft, but elderly and grave.
The possessor of the first voice, pressed a cup to Morris' lips. An
unknown liquor tingled Dirk's palate and swept the lethargy from his
veins. He stirred and lifted himself to one elbow, stared about him
incredulously.
"Where--?" he began--"where on earth--?" Then he stopped, seeing
the sky above him, the ground supporting him, those who were his
Samaritans. A poignant regret seized him. He whispered, "_Not_ on
Earth. Then the ancient religions were true? There _is_ an
afterlife ... a Heaven peopled with angels."
The girl kneeling beside him laughed, her voice like the music of
rill waters. She turned to her elder companion, said in strange,
accented English, "See, I was right, father! He _is_ from over There. I
recognized the garments; severe and ugly. Not at all like _ours_--"
She touched the flowing hem of her own brief, silken kirtle with
fingers equally soft and white. Both she and the graybeard were dressed
in clothing of classic simplicity. No stiff military harness like that
worn by earthlings of Dirk's era, but something resembling the _chiton_
of ancient Greece.
Dirk said wonderingly, "You ... you're human!"
"But, of course, stranger."
"This ... this isn't Earth, though. Nor any planet of the System!"
Dirk gestured toward the landscape, smooth and gaily gardened,
stretching from horizon to horizon with no ornament save the natural
adornments of Nature. Here were no grim and ugly buildings towering
to the skies, blocking the sun's warm rays from view; no shining
mansions flanked by filthy hovels; none of the cheek-and-jowl splendor
and squalor of the world whence he had come. Here was only gentle,
untrammeled beauty in a quiet, pastoral existence.
No planet of the Solar System was so organized, Dirk knew. But were a
second, convincing proof needed, he had but to glance at the sky. There
shone not the lone, familiar Sun of Earth ... but _two_ suns! A binary
system. One golden-yellow like Sol, the other a bluish-white globe of
radiance.
"No," answered the elderly man, "this is neither the Earth from which
you came nor any planet of its system. This is the planet Nadron,
satellite of the twin suns, Kraagol and Thuumion, in the fourth
galactic level."
Triumph was a bursting bomb in Morris' heart.
"Then it was a success, after all!" he cried. "Then Townsend was
right! If only he had lived to see this day! A success ... and all
because Garroway's scientists, playing with an instrument they did not
understand, succeeded where we had failed for years!
"But ... but your planet is unfamiliar to me; I do not know your suns
by the names you have given them. Your system lies just where in
relation to the galactic center? How many miles ... or light years ...
are we from my native Earth?"
The old man looked at him oddly for a moment, then:
"We are _no_ miles from your Earth, my friend," he announced quietly,
"and the distance may be measured in _seconds_ ... not light-years."
Dirk stared, bewilderment in his eyes.
"I ... I'm afraid I don't understand, sir. I hope you will forgive me.
Perhaps you are joking--?"
"It is no jest, my boy, but the simple truth. Earth and Nadron are ...
but, stay! Let me prove my point otherwise. Has it not occurred to you
to wonder that we, the people of a foreign world, know your language?"
Dirk said wonderingly, "Why ... why, that's right; you do! But how--?"
"Because," explained the elder, "we have listened to it being spoken
for many, many years. Over our visors we have both heard and watched
you on your neighboring world."
"Neighboring world?"
"How came you here?" asked the old man. "What means of propulsion
brought you hither?"
That, at least, Dirk knew. He answered eagerly.
"I came here through the medium of the greatest discovery ever made by
man. The _teleport_, a machine invented by Robert Townsend. A perfect
solution to the long puzzling problem of material transport through
Space. It disassembles the atoms of any body placed in its transmitting
chamber, and reconstructs that body at a destination selected by a
setting of its dials.
"Through circumstances not of my own choosing, I was a subject of that
machine. I was forced into the transmitter by ... well, it does not
matter whom ... and my body broadcast to this spot. Though I do not
yet, sir, understand just where I am, or exactly how I reached here--"
The old man shook his head regretfully.
"I am sorry, my boy, to tell you the machine did not work as was
planned. Its theory was sound; in one respect it performed as expected.
It _did_ disassemble your atomic components, did reconstruct your body
elsewhere. But it was to no far bourne your journey carried you.
"_Your body still stands in exactly the spot it stood before the
machine operated!_"
* * * * *
For a long, uncomprehending moment Dirk Morris gaped at his informant.
At last his bedazement found words.
"Oh, now, surely you can't expect me to believe--"
"No," interrupted the graybeard gently, "not without visual evidence.
Rima, my dear--?"
He turned to the girl, who nodded and from the folds of her garment
produced a shimmering crystal object; a mirror of some sort, or a lens.
This she handed to Dirk.
"If you will look through this--?" she suggested.
Morris lifted the crystal to his eyes wonderingly ... then almost
dropped it in his excitement!
Beneath his feet still lay the lush greensward of an alien world, but
through the curious crystal he gazed upon no panorama of soft, rolling
hills and pleasant valleys. Before him lay the image of a scene he had
but recently quitted: the execution dock of Graed Garroway's prison!
A few feet to his right stood the metal chamber into which he had been
thrust, the supposed "disintegration cell." Through the viewpane of
this the Overlord was peering, a grim smirk of satisfaction on his
lips. As Dirk watched, Garroway turned and gestured to the guardsman
whose hand had depressed the activating switch. Dirk heard no words,
but could easily read the movement of the Emperor's lips.
"_Enough! It is done!_"
With an instinct born of illogic, Dirk reached forth as if to grip
the throat of the murderous Garroway. In doing so, the crystal left
his eyes. Instantly the scene vanished. He looked once more upon
distance-purpled hills softly limned in the splendor of two suns.
The girl laughed softly.
"Confusing at first, isn't it? But you'll soon--"
"Please!" begged Dirk hoarsely. "I must see--" He placed the mirrorlike
object once more to his eyes, saw Graed Garroway lead the way from
the execution chamber. Awkwardly, uncertainly, Morris took a step
forward ... another. Though he knew his feet trod the soil of the
planet Nadron, to his eyes it seemed he glided forward across the floor
of the prison.
The door swung to behind Garroway and his followers, and involuntarily
Dirk flinched ... then grunted reproof at his own needless gesture.
So far as he was concerned, that heavy metal barrier did not exist.
For the briefest fraction of an instant his vision was blotted by jet
darkness, then he stood outside the door, looking down the corridor.
He hastened forward, stumbling, as feet that appeared to be traversing
smooth floors actually trod uneven soil, and paused at last, an
invisible presence at the tableau next enacted. He witnessed his
friends' release from the cell, read the movement of Hardesty's dry
lips as Neil whispered, "_It ... it is over?_" He saw Garroway's
boastful warning, Brian's hot denial, then watched--first with dazed
incomprehension, then with fierce understanding--the betrayal, panic
and execution of Fred Meacher.
* * * * *
When Meacher's corpse lay on the floor at ... or so it seemed ... his
very feet, and the comrades left the hallway, he would again have
followed them. But at that moment he landed with a solid bump against
something hard, and with a start he looked from the crystal to find a
tree before him. More than a hundred yards away waited those who had
befriended him. He retraced his steps slowly to their company.
"Now you understand and believe, my boy?" the kindly alien asked.
"I believe," said Dirk simply. "But, sir--"
"My name, man of Earth, is Slador. On this world, I am known as the
Ptan Slador, which is to say 'teacher.' This is my daughter, Rima."
"I am called Morris. Dirk Morris. I also--" Dirk spoke bitterly--"have
a number, as have all Earthmen of this unhappy century. Yes, Ptan
Slador, I believe, but even yet I do not understand. I stand in one
world, but looking through your crystal I see into another: my own. Why
is this?"
"Because, Dirk Morris, our two worlds lie adjacent."
"Adjacent? You mean in Space?"
"I mean in Space-Time. Look, my young friend ... your Earth science
knows of the atom?"
"But of course. It is the building-block of matter. The smallest
indivisible unit--"
"Exactly. Yet even this minute fleck of matter, the building-block
of worlds, so small that it cannot be observed under man's strongest
microscopes, is composed of ninety-nine per cent _empty space_!
"Or, let me say, rather ... what _appears_ to be such to the men of all
universes. Actually, there is no emptiness in the atom. It is composed
of solid matter, but the individual zerons of this single entity are
all vibrating at a different frequency in the Greater Universe which
includes _all_ of Space and Time.
"Consequently, you on Earth, existing at one rate of vibration, see
an entire universe vibrating at a period which matches your own. We
of Nadron live under another vibration. Our solidity, our world, our
universe ... these are all part of the 'emptiness' of _your_ world,
just as _your_ existence forms a part of the emptiness of _our_ atom.
Do you see?"
"Vaguely," said Dirk humbly. "Only vaguely. We, the young men of my
era, are not an educated people, Ptan Slador. There was a time in
Earth's history when all men were free to study where and as they
wished, read what they willed. It is not so now. Only the highborn are
permitted to own books, or borrow them from the Overlord's crypts; only
those designated by the Emperor are taught to read and write. The rest
of us, hungry for a crust of knowledge, must gather in hidden places to
learn our letters from instructors who risk their lives to teach us."
"You mean," cried the girl, "one man has dared grasp so much power? So
much evil power?"
Slador nodded gravely.
"Yes, my dear. I have long believed some such situation existed on
our neighbor world. From scenes I have witnessed through the visor,
snatches of whispered conversation, I guessed such might be the case.
It is a sorry plight for a once proud world. Drowned in a sea of
ignorance, sunken in a slough of misery and despair, mankind is beaten
helpless--"
Dirk laughed gratingly.
"Pardon me, sir. Not beaten. Not helpless. We are ignorant, yes ... but
not yet have all of us abandoned hope of striking off our shackles.
"We have a secret organization, fostered by the late Dr. Townsend,
led until recently by myself, now headed by the bravest of my former
comrades: Neil Hardesty. The members of this clan are pledged to one
purpose ... the overthrow of Graed Garroway, tyrant of the Solar System.
"Our greatest hope for success lay in Dr. Townsend's invention, the
_teleport_. It is quite impossible to muster an armed band on any of
the planets under Garroway's thumb. His spies are everywhere. Even--"
Dirk finished bitterly--"among our own supposed comrades.
"Therefore we had planned to transport our bodies to some extra-Solar
world, there gird ourselves for a last fight against Garroway's
minions. That was our dream. But now--"
He paused, shaking his head sorrowfully. That dream was now ended. Dr.
Townsend's secret weapon was not what had been hoped. Instead--
* * * * *
Then, even as he despaired, understanding drove home with blinding
force. The weapon was _not_ a failure! It was a success ... but in
another way than had been planned. He cried aloud: "But, yes! I've been
blind! This way is just as good ... perhaps better!"
"What way, Dirk Morris?" asked the girl.
"There is no need to seek a far planet of a far sun! We planned that
solely because we did not know anything about the existence of your
world, your universe.
"Nadron shall be our rallying spot! It is the ideal spot wherein to
gather our forces. Close to Earth ... seconds, not light-years, from
the foe we would crush--"
"A moment, Earthman!" interrupted Slador. "You mean to use our world as
the breeding-place for conflict on yours? Is that your thought?"
"But of course. What better place?"
The Ptan shook his head gravely.
"I am sorry, my son. But I fear that is impossible. The Council would
never permit it."
"Council?"
"Our government. Here we have a World Council, made up of the oldest
and wisest amongst us. Many, many centuries ago the question was raised
as to whether we of Nadron should establish and maintain intercourse
between our neighboring planets.
"After a lengthy period of observation and study, it was decided we
should not. It was the Council's judgment--" Here Slador flushed with
thin apology--"that Earth is in too primitive a stage of development
for such a union.
"Wherever and whenever we watched affairs unfolding, we saw war,
strife, bickering and discontent. We saw poverty and hunger ... perils
unknown in our own quiet civilization. We heard the roar of gunfire and
the bombastic mouthings of warlords. We found, in short, no culture
worthy of inclusion in our own placid existence.
"At that time was the Law laid down ... that we of Nadron should not
embroil ourselves in Earth's affairs until such time as a civilized
Earth should be able to meet us on a plane of equal amity.
"Therefore--" sighed the Ptan--"despite my private sympathy with your
cause, I am compelled to warn you that you may not use Nadron as host
for your gathering forces. Though a peaceful world, we have means of
enforcing this edict. I am sorry, but you must develop other plans."
Dirk stared at the speaker strickenly, realizing the logic of all
Slador had said, but feeling, nevertheless, sick despair that Earth's
past madnesses should now so destroy the only chance of present
salvation. He turned to the girl, who returned his gaze with a helpless
little shrug of sympathy.
He wet his lips, said hoarsely, "But ... but if you do not help us,
Earth is doomed to tyranny for countless decades to come. You cannot
refuse us your aid--"
Slador said smoothly, surprisingly, "I have not said I would not aid
you. I have merely forbidden your forces the soil of Nadron. But there
are ... other ways of helping. Ways not under the ban of our Council's
sage decision."
Hope surged in Morris like a welling tide.
"There are?" he cried. "What ways, Ptan Slador?"
"Have you forgotten," asked Slador, "the strangeness of your own
existence here? Or is it that you do not yet see how this can be bent
to use? Listen, my son--"
He spoke, and Dirk Morris listened with ever growing interest.
III
Corporal Ned Tandred, Precinct Collector of Taxes in the Ninth Ward,
Thirty-Fourth district of Greater Globe City, did not like his job.
As he wheeled his unicar through the twilight shaded streets of the
city, hemmed by a rush of bustling traffic, he thought regretfully of
those from whom he had this day forced payment of tithes--tribute--they
could ill afford.
An old man ... an even older widow ... the husband of an invalid wife
and father of three small children ... a young man unable, now new
taxes had been exacted, to marry the girl who had been waiting for
him seven long years ... these were just a few of the humble lives the
Emperor's recent edict had driven to newer, deeper, sloughs of despair.
And he, Corporal Tandred, had been the unwilling instrument through
which Garroway had dipped once again into the pockets of his subjects.
"Subjects!" grunted Corporal Tandred. "Not subjects ... slaves! That's
what we are, all of us. Myself included!" He tugged savagely at the
handle of his unicar, careening the tiny one-wheeled vehicle perilously
to the curb of the avenue as a gigantic, gray-green armored tanker of
the Imperial Army roared belligerently up the center of the street,
hogging the road and scattering traffic before it. "Miserable serfs,
all of us! If I thought there were half a chance of getting away with
it, I'd skip this filthy uniform and--"
He stopped suddenly, a strange sensation coming over him. The sensation
of somehow being watched ... listened to.
He peered cautiously over his shoulder. No ... no one in the car but
himself. The communications unit was dull; no chance his rebellious
grumbling had been overhead by a keen-eared Headquarters clerk.
Corporal Tandred breathed a sigh of relief. Nerves. Just plain
nerves ... that was all that bothered him. That was the result of
living under constant surveillance, inescapable oppression. You got the
feeling of never being free.
"This cursed money!" he grumbled again. "If I could get away with it,
I'd throw it in the Captain's face! In the Overlord's face! Thieving--"
Once more he stopped in midsentence, his lips a wide and fearful O of
bewilderment. This time he had made no mistake! There _was_ someone
near him. A voice spoke in his ear.
"_Make no such foolish gesture, Corporal!_"
Corporal Tandred recovered control of his car with a sudden effort.
He depressed its decelerating button, drew it to the curb, and stared
wildly about him.
"W-who said that?" he demanded hoarsely. "Where are you?"
"_Who speaks_," said the quiet, insistent voice, "_does not matter. Nor
the spot from whence I speak. The important thing is that you hear
and obey my words. Make not the error of hurling the tribute money in
anyone's face. Deliver it to your superior officer--but see that you
get a signed receipt for it. Do you understand?_"
"No!" said Corporal Tandred weakly. "I hear a voice speaking, but see
no one. I don't understand--"
"_It is not necessary that you understand. Just obey. Get a signed
receipt for that money. That is all!_"
"Wait!" cried Corporal Tandred. "Wait a minute--!" He was talking to
himself. Even as he spoke, he sensed that. The strange, semi-electrical
feeling of a nearby presence was gone.
* * * * *
For a moment he sat stock-still, trying to sooth his ruffled nerves.
His effort was not altogether successful; he started the unicar with a
jerk, and sped down the avenue at a rate of speed forbidden by civic
ordinance. A uniformed attendant frowned disapproval as he screeled to
a stop in front of the Revenue Office, but Corporal Tandred paid him no
heed. He hurried straightway to the central office, there deposited his
collections before his captain.
The captain nodded abstractedly, then, his attention drawn by some
oddness in the subaltern's appearance, raised a questioning eyebrow.
"What is it, Tandred? Anything wrong?"
"N-no, sir," said the corporal uncertainly.
"Someone make a complaint? That it?"
"Well, sir, there _were_ several complaints. Citizens find these new
taxes hard to swallow, sir; very hard."
The captain laughed derisively.
"Sheep! Let them suffer. It is no concern of ours. The Overlord has a
militia to maintain. Well ... that is all."
He waved a hand in dismissal. Corporal Tandred said hesitantly, "Yes,
sir. But the ... the receipt, sir?"
"Receipt? For what?"
"For the money, sir. Regulations, sir."
"Oh, yes." The captain grinned caustically. "Don't you trust me,
Corporal? You never asked for a receipt before that I can remember."
"N-no, sir. I mean ... of course I trust you, sir. I just thought
that ... that this being a new tax--"
"Very well; very well!" The captain scribbled, tore a receipt from his
pad, and handed it to the underling. "You may go now, Corporal."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
Corporal Tandred left hurriedly, still uncertain _why_ he had obeyed
the instructions of the mysterious voice, still uncomprehending as to
_why_ he should have asked for a receipt, but with a strong conviction
he had done the wise thing.
He was right! Five minutes later the money vanished mysteriously from
the captain's desk. Or so, at any rate, in stern, judicial court
the captain swore repeatedly to an even colder superior. In vain
the captain protested his innocence and tried to shift the blame
to Corporal Tandred's shoulders. The Corporal was in the clear,
triumphantly acquitted through possession of a signed receipt for the
missing money.
In the bleak gray of the following dawn, the captain was shot for theft
and conspiracy against the State. But the money was not found among his
effects....
* * * * *
Brian Shaughnessey, crouched in the concealment of a flowering hedge,
heard the footsteps of the guard pass within scant inches of his head.
He counted slowly to himself.
"... eight ... nine ... ten...."
Noiselessly he gathered himself for the silent dash. Watchful waiting
had taught him that ten seconds after marching past this bush, the
guard turned briefly down a side lane from which the roadway was
invisible. A hurried run, a swift and silent dash, would take him to
the doorway of the supply warehouse.
He crouched, tensed, listened ... then ran. For a big man he made
little noise. He had reached his objective with seconds to spare before
the guard, returning from the bypath, glanced up and down the main
avenue, found all clear, and resumed his rounds.
Shaughnessey grinned, slipped into the shadow of the doorway, and
fumbled at his belt. He withdrew a metal ovoid, prepared to draw
the pin that set its mechanism into operation ... then stopped! His
fingers faltered, and he whirled, eyes darting anxiously. For from the
darkness, a voice had spoken.
"_No, Brian!_"
Brian Shaughnessey shook himself like a great, shaggy dog. He was a
strong man, a man of great courage. But he was also a superstitious
man. Awe dawned now in his eyes. "This is it, then," he whispered to
himself. "I'm not long for this world. It ... it's _him_, come to meet
me. Well--" He shrugged--"if that's the way it must be, I might as well
finish this job--"
And again he reached for the pin. But this time the sense of unseen
presence was so strong that Brian Shaughnessey could almost feel the
grip of ghostly fingers tingling on his wrist. And the voice was
louder, clearer.
"_No, Brian! Not here!_"
"Morris!" cried Shaughnessey starkly, unbelievingly. "Dirk Morris!"
"_Hush, you idiot!_" warned the voice. "_You'll bring the guard down
upon us!_"
"Us?" repeated Brian, baffled.
"_Don't toss that grenade here. You're too close to the munitions bins.
Here ... let me have it!_"
Shaughnessey, stricken with a near-paralysis of awe, felt a curious
vibration tingle through his fingers as from his slackened grip the
explosive ovoid slipped ... and vanished! He stared about him wildly,
gasped, "The grenade! Where did it go? Dirk--"
"_Not now!_" whispered the urgent voice. "_Go to Neil. Tell him to
gather the Group at the regular place tonight. I will come to you. Now,
get out of here. Quickly!_"
"B-but I don't understand--" gulped Brian.
"_Quickly!_" insisted the voice.
Shaughnessey nodded. He did not in the least understand what manner
of mystery here confronted him. But he was a faithful servant of the
Group. It was enough for him that he had heard Dirk Morris' voice, and
that voice issued orders. Without another word he turned and slipped
across the pathway to the cover of the hedge. Using it as a shelter, he
fled the vicinity of the warehouse.
It was well he did so. Less than two minutes later, a terrific blast
hurled him headlong to the ground as a bolt of man-made lightning
seared the munitions dump wherein was stored the bulk of Graed
Garroway's military supplies for this area. A livid stalk of greasy
smoke, flame-laced, mushroomed to the skies, and the terrain for miles
around was shaken as by a temblor.
When the ensuing fire was finally brought under control, there remained
but charred and twisted girders in that gaping pit which once had been
a fortress....
* * * * *
Lenore Garroway hummed softly to herself as she sat before the
gorgeous, full-length mirror of her dressing-room table. She was
happy ... and that was not altogether commonplace, because for an
Emperor's daughter, surrounded by ease and every comfort, dwelling in
the lap of luxuries few others even dared dream of, Lenore Garroway was
not often happy.
But she was now, because she was with her gems. No pleasure in the
seven worlds compared, in the Princess Lenore's mind, with that of
fondling her precious stones, rare and perfect specimens gathered from
the farflung corners of the System at the cost of no one dared guess
how many lives.
Before and about her in bounteous array lay a ransom of glittering
baubles. Chalcedony and sardonyx ... diamond and ruby ... the rare
green _pharonys_ delved from the sea-bottoms of Venus, the even rarer
ice-amethyst of Uranus ... _wisstrix_ from giant Jupiter and the
faceted _koleidon_ of tiny Eros ... these were her playthings.
So she sat, allowing the glittering motes to sift through her soft,
white fingers, raising this matched set of rings to her ears, that
exquisite lavaliere to her equally exquisite throat, humming softly
to herself as she sat at her dressing table, watching the graceful
movements of her perfect body in the full-length rock-quartz mirror.
A soft tap pulsed through the room, and the Princess Lenore turned, the
flicker of a frown marring the perfection of her brow.
"Well, Marta?" she demanded.
Her maid-in-waiting entered fearfully. She was old and ugly. The
Princess would not have about her any who were not; her radiance must
be at all times like that of a true jewel amidst paste. Even the ladies
of the court were required to dress down their own lesser beauty when
gathered for state occasions.
"Well, Marta?" repeated the princess.
"Your pardon, Highness," breathed the old woman. "A delegation from the
women of the city--"
"What do they want?"
"It is something about ... taxes, Highness. They say they cannot
afford--"
"Taxes!" The princess' eyes clouded. "Why must they fret me with their
miserable woes? I know nothing of taxes. Bid them see my father."
Marta cringed humbly.
"They have tried to, Highness, but without success. That is why they
have come here. To beg your intercession--"
"I cannot see them," said Lenore. "Tell them to go away. I am busy."
"But, Highness--"
"Away, I said!" The princess' voice was silken-soft no longer; it
flamed with sudden petulance. "I am too busy to hear their petty
grievances. Send them away! And you, too!"
With abrupt, feline violence she snatched a handful of baubles from
the table before her, hurled them at the aged servant. Marta stood
like a withered Danae beneath the rich rain, whined, "Yes, Highness,"
and disappeared. The princess shut intrusion from her mind as the door
closed. She turned once more to her playthings, picked up and fondled
a pendant of intricately interwoven sapphire and _tolumnis_. Its
green-and-scarlet flame burned cold against the smooth satin of her
breast. She hummed softly to herself, happy....
It was then the voice spoke.
The voice was a man's voice. Its masculine deepness was like the rasp
of grating steel in the languid femininity of this room.
"_Send them away, eh, Princess? Very well. As you have judged, so shall
it also be judged against you!_"
The Princess Lenore whirled to the doorway, startled white hands
leaping to her throat. Her gray-green eyes were wide with shock ... and
horror. They widened even more as they found ... no one!
"Wh-where are you?" she gasped. "Who dares enter the boudoir of the
Princess Lenore?"
She heard no sound of footsteps, but the voice drew nearer with each
word.
"_I so dare, Princess._"
"And ... and who are you?"
"_My name does not matter. But you may call me Conscience, if you must
give me a name. For I am the Conscience of an empire._"
The voice was beside Lenore now. She spun swiftly, her hands seeking
emptiness about her.
"It is a trick! Someone will die for this! Leave! Leave this instant,
or I call the guard--"
The voice of "Conscience" laughed.
"_Call the guard if you will, Princess. I will have gone ere they
arrive ... and these with me!_"
This time the sound came from _behind_ her. Again the girl whirled,
this time to see a stupefying sight. As if imbued with eerie lapidary
life, the jewels were rising from her dressing-table in great handfuls.
Leaping clots of rich iridescence climbed into thin air ... and
vanished!
* * * * *
Up till now the princess had been overwhelmed with shock; now she was
struck to the quick with another emotion. She screamed aloud and darted
forward in defense of her precious gems.
"Stop! They are mine! How dare you--?"
Her questing hands touched the disappearing jewels, and for an instant
a strange, electrical tingling coursed her veins. Then the warmth of a
human hand struck down her clawing fingers; the Voice cried sternly,
"_Let be, woman! These go to those who need them more than you!_" Then
with a quick change of tone, "_Stand still, you little hell-cat_--"
The Princess Lenore had flung herself forward upon the invisible thief,
was groping with maddened fingers at a face, at eyes she could not
see. Her hands touched flesh ... her ears caught the swift sibilance
of an indrawn breath. In all her life, never had Lenore been in such
close contact with a man. Strong arms gripped her shoulders, shook her
fiercely, an angry voice grated, "_You greedy little fool! Are these
all you live for, then? Cold stones? No wonder your heart is an icy
barren, without sympathy or compassion. Don't you know what it means to
hunger and be without bread, to want and be without hope, to love and
be without love? In all your life, have you known only the icy caress
of gems? Not this--?_"
And harshly, stunningly, the cries of the Princess Lenore were stifled
by the crush of male lips upon her own. For an instant the world spun
dizzily beneath her; it seemed a burning brand raced through her veins,
crying a tocsin. A vast, engulfing weakness shook the princess; she
fell back, trembling and shaken.
Then anger, fierce and bitter, cleared her senses. She opened her
eyes ... and found herself viewing an incredible sight: herself bent to
the embrace of a tall, dark-haired man clad in the rough habiliments
of the working class. A young man whose jacket pockets bulged with the
jewels that had disappeared ... a young man whose eyes were covered
with a pair of strangely shaped spectacles....
With a start, she realized she was seeing her formerly invisible guest
in the rock-quartz mirror. At her gasp, the stranger spun, saw his
reflection in the glass. With an oath he loosed her, seized a heavy
stool, and hurled it at the glass. Its smoothness shattered into a
thousand gleaming splinters ... and once again she saw no one.
"_Vixen!_" grated the voice. For a few more seconds, jewels continued
to leap upward into what the Princess Lenore now knew were hidden
pockets, while she stood helplessly by. Then--she never could explain
just _why_, but by some curious _absence_ of sensation she knew--the
boudoir was deserted save for herself.
The Princess Lenore stared long and wonderingly at what had been a
mirror, the most perfect example of Plutonian rock-quartz crystal
ever moulded. Then one soft hand lifted strangely to lips which still
tingled ... and something like a smile, a thoughtful smile, touched
those lips.
Then, at long last, the Princess Lenore called the guard.
IV
Neil Hardesty peered anxiously at the chronometer on his wrist. He
said, "Almost midnight. Brian, are you sure it was--?"
"Positive!" said Brian Shaughnessey stubbornly. "It was Dirk Morris,
Neil. You've got to believe me. I know how it sounds. Crazy. But it was
him."
"You didn't _see_ him," reminded Hardesty gently. "You were under great
stress. It might have been an hallucination, you know."
"Was that explosion," demanded Shaughnessey, "imagination? It blew the
warehouse plumb from here to Tophet. If I'd been within five hundred
yards, I'd have been blown to a bunch of rags. It was him, Neil. I'd
know his voice any time, any place."
Vurrth said thoughtfully, "But Dirk dead, no?"
"That's what we _thought_," said Brian doggedly. "But he ain't dead.
Either he's still alive, or his ghost--" A strange look swept his
features. He stopped, glanced at the new leader of the group. "Neil,
could it have been a--"
"I don't know," confessed Hardesty. "I honestly do not know. We'll just
have to wait and see, Brian. But if he's coming here tonight, he'd
better come soon. It's almost midnight. After the curfew, we won't be
allowed to move on the streets."
"Particularly," interjected a new member of the Group, "now. The
Overlord's guards are watching the streets like a pack of hounds since
the theft of the Princess' jewels."
Hardesty said staunchly, "They can't blame that on us. We were all
at work when it happened. Still ... I'd like to know who did it. I'd
like to know what became of them, too. Disappeared into thin air, the
Princess claimed--"
"_The jewels_," said a familiar voice, "_have been distributed where
they will do the most good. Their wealth has been converted into food
to fill the bellies of those who hunger._"
All occupants of the refuge spun as one, seeking in vain the speaker.
Neil Hardesty cried:
"Dirk! Then Brian was right! But ... where are you?"
The voice from nowhere chuckled.
"That is what Garroway would like to know. I am beside you, Neil. Reach
out your hand."
Hardesty did so. Briefly he felt a strange, warm tingling ... then his
hand met and gripped the hand of Morris. Tears sprang to the Group
leader's eyes. He choked, "Dirk! Thank the gods you have returned! We
thought you were--"
He hesitated over the word. Morris supplied it.
"Dead? I am, Neil ... so far as you are concerned."
All members of the listening party stirred uneasily. Vurrth grunted,
and Brian Shaughnessey husked, "You see? I guessed it. A ghost--"
"That's right," laughed Morris in most unwraithlike tones. "A ghost. A
galactic ghost ... free to roam the System without hindrance or bar.
Fleshless at will ... but with a body if I so desire."
"You ... you mean," choked Neil, "you can make yourself visible if you
wish?"
"Not visible to your eyes, no. But I can render myself solid when it
is necessary to do so. It was thus--" Morris laughed--"I stole the
tax-collector's gleanings and the Princess Lenore's jewels. Thus, too,
I helped Brian destroy the munitions dump."
"I'm afraid," said Hardesty humbly, "I'm afraid I do not understand,
Dirk. You are fleshless ... yet you can make your body solid. You are
alive, yet you call yourself 'dead so far as we are concerned.' What
does it mean?"
"I'm not sure," answered Morris, "that I understand it myself,
completely. But here is the explanation as it was told me--"
* * * * *
He told them, then, of that which had followed his "execution" in the
teleport. Of his meeting with Ptan Slador and Rima, and that which
had transpired between them. To a group such as this, untutored and
unlettered, it was vain to speak in technical language; he told his
story as simply as possible.
"--thus," he concluded, "though the laws of Nadron forbid our using
that adjacent world as a gathering-spot for our forces, the Ptan
Slador and his fellows are sympathetic to our cause. They, therefore,
instructed me in the use of their visor, as well as in the employment
of certain strange faculties developed in me by my passage through the
teleport.
"I am, you see, no longer simply a man of Earth, but a creature of two
worlds. Through the machination of the teleport, my atomic vibration
was altered to that of Nadron's galactic universe. But in the greater
continuum of Space-Time, there remains a life-path which is mine, and
typically mine.
"To this ineradicable life-path I am always free to return. Could you
see me, you would note that I wear two odd bits of apparel. One, a pair
of visor-spectacles secured to my eyes; the second, a force-belt which
enables me to give my invisible body substance when such is needed.
"To reach any given spot on Earth, I have but to go to its matching
spot on Nadron, then turn the stud upon the force-belt. This sends a
magnetic flux through my body, diverting it from Nadron's vibration
to that of Earth ... and placing me on my home planet. But as for
visibility--" He shook his head sadly--"that I can never be again ...
to you. There are limits to the diversion of matter. My only _real_
existence now is upon Nadron; my visits to Earth can be made only as a
tangible and vengeful wraith."
"Then we can never see you again, Dirk?"
"Not on Earth. On Nadron, perhaps. The Ptan Slador has promised that
when we have rid Earth of its tyrant, intercourse may be opened between
our two worlds. Not before, though." Dirk pondered briefly. "There is
one other way," he said. "A way which I did not know of myself until
a few hours ago. But I shall not mention it, even to you. It was an
accident which happened in the Princess' boudoir. I must ask the Ptan
about it when next I see him. Meanwhile--"
"Yes?" said Brian eagerly. "What do we do, Dirk?"
"You," ordered Morris sternly, "get out of sight and lay low! All of
you! The incidents which have occurred today are but a mild beginning
to what is to come. There is about to burst loose a reign of terror
such as Graed Garroway in the depth of his infamy never dreamed
possible ... and I am its originator!
"When this begins, Garroway's first logical move will be to herd all
known living members of the Group together for questioning. You know
the manner of his interrogation. You must be spared the pleasures of
his rack and brand.
"So ... hide! Go where you can, as swiftly as you can, and forget you
have heard from me. But spread the word to all freedom-loving men that
the time approaches when Earth and the solar system will rid itself of
Garroway's shackles. You can do this from concealment?"
"We can," said Hardesty eagerly. "We can and will, Dirk. The hearts of
millions are with us. If you will but tell us when and where to strike."
"You will be told from time to time. When word does not come, you
will know to strike where a weakness has been driven in the enemy's
defenses."
The voice of Dirk Morris was not pleasant now. It rang with the bitter
hardness of forged steel.
"I will strike Garroway hard, and often, and everywhere! Where least he
expects attack, there will I strike him. His armies will be robbed of
leaders, stores, strongholds. I will make Earth a boiling hell for him.
And when Earth becomes too hot a cauldron for his tasting, to the far
planets of the System I will pursue him inexorably. This I vow by the
bond of comradeship we have pledged!"
Hardesty asked, "Far planets, Dirk? You can leave Nadron, then?"
"Yes. There is no time for further explanation now, though. You must
get into hiding immediately. For tonight begins the vengeance we have
so long waited. Until happier days, then, my friends--"
The voice dimmed with the final words. An electric tenseness left the
air, and somehow the assembled listeners knew their visitor had gone.
Neil Hardesty shook himself.
"Goodbye, Dirk, and ... good luck!"
Then, to his companions, "Well ... that's all. Now we know what to
expect. Come on ... let's get going! There's a lot of work ahead of us,
as well as Morris."
* * * * *
Already back on the fair soil of Nadron, Dirk Morris had retraced his
wanderings to the home of the Ptan Slador. He approached its "doorway,"
marveling again--as he had when first the Ptan revealed the entrance to
his domicile--at the ease with which the portal merged itself into the
surrounding landscape.
Homes on Nadron, Dirk had learned, were _underground_! That was why
the eye beheld nothing but the beauties of nature when the horizon
was scanned. The functions of living were carried on in cleverly
constructed subterranean dwelling-places, leaving the entire surface of
the planet a playground for the pastoral race.
The Ptan was awaiting his return, eager curiosity in his eyes. He
looked up as Morris entered.
"Well, my friend?" he asked.
Dirk smiled grimly.
"Very!" he replied. "It has been a day Graed Garroway will long
remember ... if I give him a chance to do so."
"Your plans were successful?"
"Perfectly. I assisted one of my erstwhile comrades in the destruction
of a vital munitions storehouse, robbed a tax collector of his monies
and the Emperor's own daughter of her jewels, and distributed these
where they were needed most ... amongst the poverty-ridden families
of the capital." Morris chuckled. "There will be more surprised faces
tomorrow when those poor devils wake to find themselves richer by a
king's ransom than when they sought their pallets."
"Still," said Slador thoughtfully, "you have really accomplished
little. It would take a thousand men as many years to redistribute the
tribute Garroway's army has exacted from the people of your homeland--"
"That is true. But this is only a beginning; a few, minor incidents
created to strike fear and awe into Garroway's hirelings. Later, I
will strike at more vital spots. And as for men ... there will be not
thousands, but millions, to rally when Garroway's force begins to
weaken."
Slador nodded.
"Yes, that I believe. It is the history of mankind. Ever there have
been millions to arise when oppression grows unbearable."
A remembered question stirred in Dirk's mind; something which had
vaguely puzzled him in his previous conversations with the Nadronian.
He asked, "How is it, Ptan Slador, you know so much about the history
of Earthmen? And how, even more strangely, does it come about that you
of Nadron and we of Earth are identical in physical structure? Man's
space-vessels have flamed to the farthermost planets of our sun, but
nowhere else was ever found a life-form similar to that on our own
Earth.
"The Venusians resemble us, but are taller by many feet, heavier,
slower of wit. The Plutonians again look like us ... save for the fact
that their skins are green. Yet you, not only removed from our Solar
Galaxy, but from our very ken of knowledge, might be a brother of my
own."
The Ptan smiled slowly.
"And so, in fact, I am, Dirk Morris."
"What?"
"A brother many times and many centuries removed. Tell me ... have you
never heard of the land of Aztlan?"
"Azt--?" Dirk pondered, shook his head. "No. I'm afraid I have not,
Slador. Where was it ... or is it?"
"It was," answered the older man, "an island in the ocean you Earthmen
now call the 'Atlantic' The very ocean takes its name from our
once-great nation--"
"Aztlan!" ejaculated Morris. "Atlantis! Of course! Now I remember. It
is a myth ... a fable ... of an island which sank beneath the waves
countless centuries ago! But surely, sir, you don't mean--?"
* * * * *
"I mean," Slador assured him gravely, "that legend is no fable, but
veritable truth. Yes, my son, there _was_ such an island ... and we of
Nadron were once the rulers of that island, and of your world.
"Its ancientness is not measured in centuries, but in millennia.
How long we descendants of the Atlanteans have lived on Nadron, our
archives do not tell. Those who fled hither from the holocaust that
deluged our former home could not bring with them the impedimenta
of a cultured civilization. We had to fight our way upward from
semi-barbarism to our present state of living ... and even yet we have
not regained all the lost lore of Aztlan."
Dirk said humbly, "Great must have been the wisdom of your forebears to
be able to transfer themselves from a sinking island to this place. I
understand, now, your interest in Earth. It is more than just sympathy
for us ... it is a natural love for a land which once was yours."
"Yes," said the Ptan. "A land which once we ruled, and now have lost
forever. But enough of this, my son. You were telling me of your
adventures--?"
"Yes," said Dirk, remembering. "There was one thing happened which I do
not understand. In the boudoir of the Princess Lenore, Ptan Slador, I
was _visible_ for a few seconds! Why was that?"
Slador stared at him in astonishment.
"Visible! Impossible!"
"That's what I thought. But it is true, sir. I saw my own image in the
Princess' mirror--"
"Mirror! Ah!" exclaimed the Ptan. "Now I begin to understand. This
mirror ... it was not plain, silvered glass? It was, perhaps, quartz?"
"Possibly," admitted Dirk. "I would not know about such things, sir."
"Undoubtedly," mused his advisor, "it _must_ have been a rock-quartz
mirror. That is the only Earthly substance of dual isotopic form. Its
converse refractions hold and trap not only the normal vibrations of
your system, but harmonic vibrations as well. Surely your scientists
know this. Many hundreds of years ago, I know they experimented with
the use of quartz substances in both light and sound transmission.
"But we are not so interested now in causes as in results. Do you think
the Princess saw you in this mirror?"
"I ... I am afraid so," confessed Dirk. "It was her astonishment that
attracted my gaze to the glass. Of course, I shattered the mirror
instantly. But too late to keep her from seeing--"
"If, of course," interrupted a cool voice, "she was not as bemused as
yourself."
"Eh?" Dirk spun, flushing in swift embarrassment as his eyes met those
of Slador's daughter. Rima's lips were lifted in a light smile which,
oddly, was not altogether of amusement. "Oh, you mean ... then, you ...
you saw?"
"You do let business interfere with pleasure, do you, Dirk Morris?"
laughed the girl. "Yes, I am sorry, but I must confess to having
been an innocent witness to your ... momentary digression. It was
inexcusable of me, I know, but I was so interested in your endeavors
that I turned on the visor to follow your adventures, and--"
"Rima," blurted Dirk, "you must believe me ... it was nothing. I mean,
the Princess means nothing to me. I--"
He stopped, his embarrassment heightening with his color as he realized
how any attempt at explanation merely made an already awkward situation
worse. It suddenly mattered to him terribly that Rima should have
watched that impulsive episode between himself and the Emperor's
daughter. He had no right, he knew, to think of Rima as other than
a girl who had befriended him on an alien world ... but somehow he
already did. At first sight of her, a new meaning had entered into his
life.
It did not soothe him that Rima turned away his explanation with a
laughing shrug.
"Oh, but do not misunderstand me, Dirk Morris. It does not concern _me_
in the least how you amuse yourself in your lighter moments. And your
other exploits were, I must acknowledge, thrilling to watch ... in a
somewhat different way."
Dirk said miserably, "Please! It was an impulse ... one I regretted
immediately. The Princess Lenore means nothing to me ... nothing. I
shall never lay eyes on her again in my life...."
V
In that one statement, Morris was mistaken. He made it in all good
faith, but its truth was a matter over which he was not to have full
control.
Two weeks passed. Two weeks filled with excitement and adventure. Two
weeks during which Dirk Morris made good his pledge to the assembled
brothers of the Group, now safely in hiding.
During that fortnight the Galactic Ghost ... as soon he became known
to the whispering citizenry of Earth ... struck again, again, and yet
again at the wide-flung forces of Black Garroway. Some of these blows
were of a minor nature: the theft of hoarded gold, and the subsequent
reappearance, as if by magic, of that gold where starving folk could
lay eager hands on it; the mysterious disappearance of the Emperor's
armored unicar scant moments before Garroway was to make an impressive
"personal appearance" before the populace of the capital city; the
inexplicable vanishment of a secret formula wherewith the Overlord's
military experts hoped to subdue the gallant little guerrilla army
which still held a salient against Garroway's might on the planetoid
Iris.
Other occurrences were more violent ... the kind that not even a
ruthlessly controlled press can keep from public knowledge. The
shocking demolition of the Overlord's strongest Asiatic fortress at
Chuen-tzwan, keypoint from which his troops dominated all of what had
once been Southern China. At six-fifteen in an evening, according
to testimony given by the commanding officer at the subsequent
investigation, from out of nowhere had appeared a placard, advising the
entire garrison to withdraw immediately from the fortress, advising its
component members, moreover, to rebel against Garroway. This ultimatum
had teeth in it. Midnight was set as the deadline for obedience.
When at midnight the garrison was still abristle with an aroused and
suspicious force of armed men, from a dozen key points had broken out
instantaneous fires. "Only a member of the Imperial High Command,"
testified the wretched officer, "could have known where to set those
fires. Each was at a vitally strategic place: near a munitions bin, a
water supply depot, or a warehouse of inflammables. We were helpless.
In an hour the entire fortress was doomed. I was lucky to save a tenth
of my men."
He was not so fortunate in facing Garroway's wrath. The ex-commanding
officer was put to death, along with every other ranking officer of the
destroyed battalion.
This summary execution seemed bootless, though, when a day or so later
a similar flame destroyed the spaceport wherein was cradled one quarter
of the Emperor's fleet. It was revealed by those who escaped this
debacle that it had been impossible to salvage a single one of the
spacecraft. "They were not merely attacked with fire from without," one
official avowed. "Each vessel was found to have been tampered with by
someone of the crew. The hypos were smashed as if with sledges, vital
running parts were broken or stolen. We were helpless!"
Helpless ... helpless ... helpless! There were excuses Garroway heard
often, far too often, during the next weeks. It was a word he learned
to hate fiercely, because it was so true. In quick succession he saw
fall his outpost in Lower Africa, the well-fortified city of Buenos
Aires, the central armaments depot on Lake Huron. And each time the
apologies were the same. "We saw no one ... heard no one ... until it
was too late."
* * * * *
Meanwhile, trouble had reared its head challengingly in the capital
city itself. Here, as elsewhere, a frightened populace began by asking,
"Why?" and rapidly changed its query to the more daring, "Why not?"
Rumor, despite Garroway's every attempt to still it, ran like
quicksilver through the city. If the press was silent on a new
disaster, a common man or woman walking the streets might hear at
his elbow a mysterious Voice asking, "_Did you know that last night
the fortress at Toulon fell? The city is freed of the Emperor's
rule; already the people have declared their independence, set up a
provisional government. You can do the same. The hour is near!_"
Or a child, playing with his little companions on the streets, would
suddenly stop and look about him strangely, listen as to an unseen
speaker ... then run home to his parents with the inexplicable words of
a Voice: "_Yesterday the Territory of Mexico threw off the Overlord's
bonds. In a short while you may do the same. Prepare!_"
Or an unwimpled nun, praying in the sanctuary of a forbidden
cloister--Black Garroway had long since outlawed the Church--might hear
the vengeful, whispered tones of an unecclesiastic visitant: "_On Timor
the Cross is worshipped openly since the Overlord's force has been
broken. Here it will soon be the same. Spread the word!_"
Thus the message was passed from person to person, and through a
citizenry for decades apathetic to its own plight a new sense of hope
and courage pulsed. Garroway's warriors sought in vain the refuge of
the Group, upon the heads of whose members the Emperor had long since
placed a tremendous price. But any common man who felt the urge to add
his contribution to the rising tide of revolt could find that refuge
with ease ... for at his work, or by his side, or in the heart of a
crowd would be a Voice to tell him its location.
So grew revolt like a tropic vine, reaching out new tentacles with
every rising dawn, developing new strength with every failure of
Garroway's heretofore supposedly invulnerable war machine, gathering
new converts with every fresh disaster. And the mute whisperings of
fearful people began to thrum with a new and heady tone ... the spirit
of daring, the renascense of the flame of liberty. The voice of the
people ... which is the will of God.
Graed Garroway heard the bruitings of this voice, and was afraid.
* * * * *
Graed Garroway, whose boast had ever been he feared no man, heard the
slow, insistent voice of revolt closing in about him ... and was afraid.
For the first time in his brutal career he had met an enemy he could
not crush with ruthless blows, destroy by force, obliterate with a
flick of the hand. His armies had fallen twice ... thrice ... a dozen
times before a phantom, a will-o'-the-wisp that struck and fled,
leaving terror, awe, and desolation in its wake.
He was baffled and confused, was Black Garroway. A terror was upon him
that he could neither escape nor admit, for his confession of this fear
to his commanders might be the last thing needed to send them, too,
fleeing from his banner.
There was but one living soul to whom he dared admit this fear. That
was his own flesh and blood, the Princess Lenore. Yet even to her
he would not make an open avowal. His admission came in the form of
blustering attack.
"Cowards!" he stormed, pacing the floor of his daughter's boudoir.
"Snivelling cowards ... the lot of them! All this nonsense about a
Voice ... a ghost that destroys strong forts ... a phantom that passes
unscathed through flame ... _pah!_ It's lies, lies ... nothing but
lies!"
Princess Lenore studied her father lazily. She was not of the type
easily stirred to fear. Under other circumstances, born the daughter
of a lesser man than Black Garroway, Lenore Garroway might have
made a name for herself in the world. As an adventuress ... a
fighting-woman ... a daring woman.
She drawled, half amusedly, "Lies? Are you so sure of that, my father?"
"Sure?" snorted Graed Garroway. "Of course, I'm sure! There is no such
thing as invisibility! My scientists have proven that time and time
again in laboratories. The fabled 'magic cloak' of invisibility is both
hypothetically and actually impossible. Where matter exists, there
must be either reflection, refraction, or occultation--"
The Princess yawned.
"I do not understand these high-sounding words," she said, "nor need I.
Because, you see, I have met the Galactic Ghost myself."
"Nonsense!" fumed her parent. "It was an hallucination you suffered.
Sympathetic reaction set up by nervousness. The medical examiner
testified--"
"Sometimes," interrupted the girl coldly, "you allow your
ultrascientific viewpoint to warp your better judgment, my father. You
talk nonsense! Could a nervous reaction account for the theft of my
jewels, or the shattering of my mirror?"
"I am not denying," protested Black Garroway stiffly, "that the ...
the Ghost visited you. Possibly he hypnotized you into believing him
invisible. As for your broken mirror, that might have happened in a
dozen ways--"
"The mirror was broken," said Lenore, "by the Ghost! Because I saw him
reflected in it!"
"Furthermore, it is ridiculous to assume--" The Emperor stopped
abruptly, his brow congealing--"Eh? What did you say? You saw--"
"I tried to tell you," purred the girl, "at the time. But you were too
concerned with the loss of my gems to listen to me. I told you I saw
the Galactic Ghost. He was a tall, dark-haired young man--"
"Ridiculous!" puffed Garroway. "More hypnosis!"
"--with crisp, curling hair," continued the Princess reminiscently,
"and a small, triangular scar over his right eyebrow. A very
interesting young man--"
* * * * *
Garroway had stiffened at her words, but this time it was with a
tensing of interest. He leaned forward.
"A moment, my dear. Did you say ... a small scar above his right
eyebrow?"
"Why, yes."
"A triangular scar? You are certain of that?"
"Positive. Why?"
"Because if you are right--" The Overlord left the sentence dangling;
strode to the wall audio and crisped sharp orders into its metallic
throat. Elsewhere in the palace a corps of underlings went into
action, collecting swiftly the information demanded by their master.
Within minutes there came a messenger, bearing a portfolio. This
Garroway pawed through, selecting a photograph which he handed to the
girl.
"Is this," he asked hoarsely, "the image you saw?"
The Princess Lenore took the photo, studied it, and nodded. "It is. I
remember him well. Who is he?"
Graed Garroway laughed. But now there was a touch of hysteria in his
laughter, and his deeprooted fear struck new depths as he answered.
"His name is Dirk Morris ... an underling."
"Dirk Morris," repeated the girl. "It is a pleasant name to the ears.
Well ... now that you know the identity of the Ghost, what are you
going to do?"
Garroway said slowly, "I am going to do ... nothing. Dirk Morris was
put to death almost three weeks ago. The ... the Galactic Ghost is a
ghost indeed!"
The girl smiled. "Perhaps," she said thoughtfully. "But a ghost with
very tangible body ... and impulses. And, if I am not greatly mistaken,
an Achilles' heel. Listen, my father.... I will drive a bargain with
you. For a certain price, I will deliver into your hands this threat to
your power."
"Price?" The Overlord stared at her bleakly. "What price do you ask?"
"The life," said the girl, "of the Ghost."
Garroway's brow darkened.
"Have you gone mad?" he demanded harshly. "His life is forfeit the
moment my men seize him!"
"But," pointed out the Princess Lenore sagely, "they cannot lay hands
on him ... without my help. Come, father ... I, too, can be ruthless
in getting that which I desire. Will you give me the man, Dirk Morris,
and put an end to these depredations? Or must your fortresses continue
to fall because of all on earth, I alone know how this phantom may be
caught?"
Garroway's cheeks were mottled with rage; for a moment it seemed he
might strike his own daughter.
"You ... you ingrate!" he husked. "You dare bargain with the System's
Emperor?"
"I dare bargain," taunted the Princess, "with my own father. And with a
badly frightened man."
Garroway fumed at the taunt ... but capitulated, as the Princess had
known he must do. He lowered his hands weakly.
"Very well," he said. "I give you your price. Now, what must be done?"
"This--" said the Princess. And for a long time two remarkably similar
heads, both in physiognomy and mentality, bent close together in
conference....
VI
"Tonight?" asked Dirk Morris. "You're sure, Neil?"
"This very night," swore Neil Hardesty. "At the Palace Royal. I got
it on the highest authority. From one of the Imperial Guard, recently
converted to our Cause. A grand meeting of the Emperor's strategy
Council, summoned to discuss ways and means--" He grinned--"of
apprehending the Galactic Ghost."
Dirk Morris smiled, too, though his features were invisible to his
friend.
"The Ghost," he promised, "will attend the Council meeting. Neil, send
out a hurried summons to all the Group. Tonight may be the night for
which we have waited and planned. The situation has finally turned
to our advantage. This is the setting we needed to strike our final,
and heaviest, blow. A gathering of all Graed Garroway's most trusted
lieutenants! What better time to bring an abrupt end to his tyranny?"
"Destruction?" asked Brian Shaughnessey. "You plan to kill them all,
Dirk?"
"That is not the best way. Killing would immortalize Garroway and--in
the minds of many misguided people--forever brand the Galactic Ghost as
an outlaw and murderer. No ... I will not destroy the Overlord. I will
make him appear ignominious in the eyes of his subjects ... prove to
all men that his vaunted powers are weak and futile. There is no weapon
so strong as mirth, no blade so keen as scorn."
Vurrth grunted heavily. "Maybe better you kill, Dirk. No trust
Overlord."
"My plans have been successful thus far," pointed out the Voice of
Conscience. "Play along with me a little farther. I think the end is in
sight. Neil ... be ready to send your forces into the Palace the moment
I give the signal."
"Right!"
"And you, Brian ... see that the audiocast stations are controlled by
us in time to speed word to the populace that the Emperor has been
taken."
"Right, Dirk."
"And you, Vurrth--"
"Me be on hand," growled Vurrth, "to watch Overlord. No like this."
Dirk laughed. "As you will. Well ... until tonight, comrades!"
Again, as oft before during these past weeks, the assembled brothers
of the Group sensed the passage of a tingling vibrancy, and knew their
leader had gone back to that strange, mysterious other universe which
was now his home. Neil issued orders. The Group disbanded.
* * * * *
Back on Nadron, Dirk Morris sighed and unlimbered himself of the
heavy harness which necessity forced his wearing when he made his
peregrinations between the two worlds. To the Ptan Slador he said,
"Well ... that's all I can do now. I shall try to rest until the hour
comes."
"And then?" asked Slador.
"And then," repeated Dirk slowly, "success ... at last. If everything
goes well, tonight will mark the beginning of the end. Earth's greatest
citadel will fall, carrying with it into destruction not only the
Emperor, but all those upon whom the burden of his military power rests.
"With the fall of Earth, half the battle is won. No other planet is so
tightly under Garroway's control as ours. With the Overlord imprisoned,
the other worlds will burst free of their bondage ... the System will
know again the joys of liberty."
Rima said, "Dirk ... you have laid careful plans for tonight? You have
plotted every move you will make?"
"Under the circumstances, that is well-nigh impossible. I know only
that the Emperor gathers with his staff. I shall have to make my
entrance, then decide on the spur of the moment how best to accomplish
my aims."
"You are sure--" hesitated the girl--"this is not a trap of some sort?"
"Trap?" Dirk laughed lightly. "How could it be?"
"I don't know. But the Overlord is no fool. He is a ruthless man ...
but he is no fool."
"He also," reminded Dirk, "thinks I am dead. The identity of the
Galactic Ghost is, to him, a complete mystery. Were he to discover my
identity, then perhaps I might have occasion to fear a trap of some
sort, for ... as you say ... Garroway is no fool. He would realize,
then, that the teleport brought about not death, but some sort of
sinister change. But I am sure there is no danger. Ptan Slador ... let
us drink to success, and to the final reunion of our freed worlds!"
So they toasted a new life opening to all mankind. And the maiden,
Rima, drank the toast with them. But even as she drank, her eyes were
grave and thoughtful....
* * * * *
Nevertheless, despite his claims of confidence, it was with some slight
degree of trepidation that Dirk Morris prepared for his ultimate
exploit later that night. This was, he knew, his boldest stroke to
date. He had hurled his forces elsewhere with supreme confidence. But
always he had avoided too-close contact with Graed Garroway. For in
his heart of hearts he agreed with Rima. He knew the Emperor to be,
in truth, no fool ... but a cunning adversary of infinite daring and
resource.
Still, the die was cast now. The Group's preparations were made; he
could not let them down. He must pave the way for the general uprising
which would sweep Garroway from power ... or his own scheming into
disaster.
Slador and Rima accompanied him to the spot on Nadron where his
translation was to take place. It was a tiny wooded glade, bathed
in the cool moonlight of the alien planet. In the thickets small
night-things chirruped, and from somewhere a sleepy bird sang a
listless lullaby. Dirk, standing there breathing the sweet, fresh
air of Nadron found it hard to believe that the mere pressure of a
switch on his belt would place him on the musty, lower levels of that
architectural monstrosity which was the Palace Royal ... a towering
structure of numberless stories ... at the very topmost of which would
be held the conference he pledged himself to end.
He held out a hand; first Slador, then Rima, gripped it warmly.
"Good luck!" said the Ptan. And Rima added, "We'll be waiting ... and
watching!"
Dirk nodded, not daring to trust his thoughts to words, and depressed
the switch. As oft before he felt a churning moment of vertigo ... then
he stood in a lower corridor of the Palace Royal. Not ten feet distant
stood an armed guard. This man stirred restlessly, his head turning as
if he felt the electric disturbance of Dirk's entrance. But when his
searching eyes found nothing, he returned to the pacing of his post.
Dirk slipped past him swiftly, noiselessly, and to the first of the
long series of staircases he must negotiate.
The Palace Royal was equipped with elevators, but these he dared not
use. The movement of an "empty" elevator would be token enough to the
wit-sharpened Palace guards that the dreaded Galactic Ghost was in
their midst. So he pressed forward and upward to the heights of the
tower.
It was a long climb and a brutal one. The Emperor's palace dwarfed to
shame the puny "skyscraper" attempts of ancestors a thousand years
removed. Thus it was a weary Dirk Morris who finally attained the
topmost flight, and there rested himself briefly before entering the
suite which comprised the Overlord's council chamber.
The vagrant thought struck him that the Palace was poorly guarded,
considering the chaos into which the Ghost's activities should have
thrown the Emperor. But this, he reasoned, might be but another proof
of the weakening of Graed Garroway's grip; so undermined was the
structure of his empire now that not even in his own bailiwick could
he command the meticulous discipline he had heretofore exacted of his
hirelings.
Rested at last, he moved toward the massive portal of the council hall.
It hung slightly ajar; with no effort he inched it open and eased his
still-invisible, but now substantial body through.
His entrance found the Overlord addressing a group seated in a
semi-circle about the dais from which Garroway spoke. All backs save
that of the Emperor himself were turned to Dirk. He moved forward
silently, cautiously.
"--therefore, my lords and generals," the Overlord was saying, "it is
vitally necessary that we apprehend this dastard, this criminal, who
has so dared attack our government. Never until the so-called Galactic
Ghost is captured and put to death will we be free to--"
"--to continue," said Dirk loudly, boldly, "your murderous onslaught
against the rights and liberties of freedom loving people! Is that your
meaning, Graed Garroway? Then abandon the thought. For truly, tonight
your empire crumbles beneath you!"
"_The Ghost!_"
* * * * *
The cry lifted in the hall; all heads whirled as one. Eyes opened
wide in futile scanning, and jaws fell agape. And of all that vast,
terrified assemblage, there was only one who did not freeze with sudden
fear. That one was Garroway. Strangely, a smile seized his lips as he
cried:
"Yes, the Ghost ... as I had hoped! Guards ... _lights!_"
Instantly the room, which had been cloaked in semi-darkness, blazed
with the fury of a thousand beaming flares. And to his horror, Dirk
Morris saw....
... not only those who had spun to face him, tight faces wreathed in
scowls, hands gripping lethal weapons ... but his own image, reflected
a hundred times from every nook and corner of the vast hall! From
a hundred mirrors placed to reflect in their revealing rock-quartz
surfaces every move he made!
Too late, comprehension dawned upon him! Rima had guessed aright ...
this was a trap, ingeniously set for him by the Overlord, and now
sprung at the proper moment. The Princess had revealed that which she
had seen; the Overlord was clever enough to take advantage of it.
There was but one thing to do, and that quickly! In a trice, Dirk's
hand leaped to the control stud on his belt, seeking to depress the
switch that would return him to Nadron. But here, too, the Emperor
had anticipated his move. His voice again cleft the stark, foreboding
silence.
"_Field!_"
And instantly there hummed through the room a shrill, whining current.
It took but the split of a second for Dirk Morris to discern its
purpose. For when his own hand tightened on the switch ... nothing
happened! He did not find himself hurling the vibration-span to the
safety of Nadron. He remained where he was, writhing in the coils of an
electric agony that coursed through his veins like liquid fire.
It was then the Overlord laughed, his voice a grating triumph.
"You see, Dirk Morris, it is useless! My scientists have probed the
secret of your ghostly state ... and you are snared in a net of their
devising! Toss down your weapons!"
The grim purpose in his voice left Dirk no choice. Reluctantly he
dropped to the floor the weapon with which he had hoped to capture
Graed Garroway, stood still as grim-faced guards moved forward to grip
him, bundle him to the dais wherefrom watched the smirking Overlord.
The tide was terribly turned. The biter was bitten!
VII
Dirk released the stud, pressure upon which had not brought him the
escape he hoped, and gained some consolation in the fact that the pain
faded. One thing he would _not_ do, he pledged himself, was show fear
or hurt before Garroway.
In as level a voice as he could muster he said, "So we meet again,
Overlord of scavengers?"
Garroway laughed harshly.
"The trapped rabbit uses strong language still. You have profited
little by your experience, I see, Dirk Morris."
"On the contrary," retorted Dirk, "I have profited much. And the
measure of my profit lies in the dissolution of your empire ... as you
have learned in this past fortnight."
Garroway said, "True, you have caused me trouble. I acknowledge it.
But that trouble is ended, now, for I have discovered--at last, but
fortunately not too late--the true nature of the machine in which I
had thought to execute you. It was _not_ a disintegrating machine, but
one that distorted the atoms of your body, rendering you invisible."
Dirk's heart leaped; he struggled to maintain the impassive mask which
was his face, revealed to the Overlord in a hundred reflecting surfaces
of quartz. Then not yet had Garroway learned of the existence of
Nadron, of the adjacent universe. That, at least, was something to be
thankful for.
He said, "It was a clever trap you set for me, Garroway. You announced
a council meeting which you knew I must attend; you surround yourself
not with your generals, as was expected, but with guards. You listened
to the advice of your daughter, used rock-quartz to make my body
visible--"
"--and," added Garroway complacently, "prepared an electric
wave-transmitter that disrupted your own instrument, trapped you in our
presence, and makes it impossible for you to escape.
"Well--" His voice changed abruptly--"your puny attempt to overthrow me
has failed, Morris. As a fighter, I cannot restrain a certain degree of
admiration for your effort, but as Emperor of the System, there is one
thing I can, and must, do. _Guards--!_"
His voice was a thin snarl.
But as hulking stalwarts moved forward to perform his bidding, another
slighter figure hastened before them to confront her parent. The
Princess Lenore.
"Wait!" she commanded. "What means this, my parent? Why do you call the
guards?"
"Return to your apartment, Lenore!" ordered Garroway sternly. "You have
served your purpose. It is not seemly you should witness the judgment
on this rebel."
"Have you forgotten your promise?" raged the woman. "You cannot kill
this man. You pledged me his life!"
"Forget this foolish whim!" bade her father. "He is but an underling.
Surely there are other men--"
"I want this one!" insisted Lenore. For a moment her dark, vivid eyes
touched Dirk's with lingering ferocity ... and despite the tenseness of
the moment, the peril of his situation, Dirk Morris could not restrain
the quick thrill of admiration and ... something else which burned
through him. His brain tossed in a turmoil of conflicting emotions. He
understood, now, why an ungovernable impulse had caused him to sweep
this girl into his arms that night in her apartment. It was because
she was ... she was his type of woman! A hard, gallant, ruthless
fighting-woman who knew what she wanted and would adopt any measures to
get it.
There was Rima on Nadron ... true. He respected her. For her he
felt--though he had known her but a short time--a great tenderness and
affection. But it was not true love. It was a brotherly feeling; a
comfortable confidence in her presence and companionship.
_This_ girl, the Princess Lenore, alone could stir his veins to running
fire; she alone quickened a hungry spark within him. It was mad ... it
was impossible ... but true. He loved--and the knowledge of it struck
Dirk Morris with brutally staggering force--he loved an enemy and the
daughter of his bitterest foe!
Stranger yet ... she loved him!
Now she was talking again, hurriedly arguing a case to win his life.
"It is not necessary to kill this man, my parent. It would be folly
to do so. Think! On all this world ... in all this universe ... there
are few men worthy of the name of _man_! Your court is a _melange_
of smirking nincompoops and weaklings. Who amongst them can match in
strength and vigor the spirit of Dirk Morris? Which can compare with
him in audacity and daring?"
"That," responded her father darkly, "is why he must die. I cannot
allow so dangerous a foe to live--"
"No? Have you forgotten the medical science of which your attendants
are capable? Think, my father ... were it not better to make slight
alterations in this man's brain, converting him to a true and faithful
servant, than to destroy forever the bravery in his heart?"
The words struck home. Garroway frowned thoughtfully.
"It is true," he mused. "A slight operation ... a period in the Mental
Clinic to erase from his brain-passage all thoughts of rebellion ...
would make him a new man. But it is too great a chance. Were anything
to go wrong--"
The Princess Lenore gazed at him scornfully.
"I see. Very well, then--" With slow, deliberate movements she reached
up, stripped from her raven hair the glittering imperial emblem which
designated her a member of the Family Royal--"if such must be your
decision, so be it? But I ... I shall no longer confess myself a
Garroway. If the word of the Emperor is so lightly to be given...."
And this time she was triumphant. Her scorn hit the Overlord in his
one most vulnerable spot ... his colossal vanity. His dark eyes
flamed with petulance. He snarled, "Oh, let be! No man shall say the
Overlord retracted a pledge. If you must have this man--" He turned to
Morris--"Well, what say _you_, rebel? Are you too proud to buy your
life at the expense of rebellion? Or will you accept life at the price
of a new existence of loyalty ... to me?"
* * * * *
Dirk wavered, sorely tempted. Until this moment his life had been
consecrated to a single Cause ... the overthrow of Garroway's cruel
empire. But now, suddenly, strangely, singingly, had entered into it
another influence ... love for a woman of matchless courage and beauty.
His attempts to destroy Garroway had failed. He was hopelessly
ensnared, his cohorts could not save him. Years might pass before
another Dirk Morris arose to lead malcontents in rebellion. Neil
Hardesty was a good man, a strong and faithful friend ... but he lacked
the spark of genius that leads lost causes to success.
Perhaps it would be better, in the long run, to accept defeat ... and
in accepting it, accept also such share of happiness as this world
had to offer. As the mate of Lenore he would live a new life, all
rebellious thoughts exiled from his brain by the surgery of Garroway's
physicians....
So he hesitated, and for those tense moments the fate of a world hung
in the balance. But then ... honor won! With infinite sadness, but with
courage too, Dirk Morris made his answer. It was symbolic that he made
it to the Princess.
"I am sorry, my Princess," he said quietly. "I know a great wonder,
and a great pride, that you have made this plea for me. But ... I
cannot accept life on such terms. For me there is but one clear and
unavoidable path ... to go on. This path I must choose to glory or ...
the grave."
"Don't be a fool!" cried the girl. "Don't you see you can gain nothing
by this gesture. You have no choice!"
Her words were sharp ... but her voice was fearful. Dirk, recognized
this as he said, still softly, "Yes, that, too, I see. And, believe me,
Princess, I am deeply sorry. But I have made my choice."
For an instant that seemed eternities the Princess Lenore, she who had
until a fortnight since known passion for nothing save costly baubles,
stared into Dirk's eyes. Then a little sob broke from her lips, and she
turned away.
And the Emperor nodded.
"Guards!" he said. "Take this man--"
It was a command that was never obeyed ... an order never completed!
For at that moment came interruption in the form of a violent blast
that shook the entire council hall as a thatched shack trembles in
a cyclone's wake. A column of living fire blossomed in the room;
eyes burned and eardrums throbbed to see and hear the tingling of an
unleashed and unguessable _force_ turned loose in their midst.
And in the heart of this column, loose-girt in shining white,
radiant as a goddess, but calm with the ominous quiet of powers
unfathomable ... stood the girl, _Rima of Nadron_!
* * * * *
It was Morris who first recovered sufficiently from the unexpected
appearance to make a movement. A cry broke from his lips, "_Rima!_" He
moved toward the girl. But her voice lifted in crisp warning.
"Back, Dirk! To touch this flame means death!"
Her words stopped not only Morris, but a group of the Imperial Guards
who, as one, had now spun toward the visitant. They faltered, stopped
dead in their tracks and turned to the Overlord for guidance.
Graed Garroway's black eyebrows were knit with rage and bafflement. He
demanded hoarsely, "Who is this woman? And whence comes she, that she
dares enter the stronghold of the Emperor?"
It was incredible how forceful could be the tones of Rima. Her voice
was dulcet sweet, but carried conviction.
"I am of a race that ruled this world before your ilk was spawned,
Black Garroway ... a race whose least remembered knowledge so surpasses
your own that you are as pawns with which we play at will.
"I came because the evil in your heart has inspired you to do a great
wrong ... a wrong upon mankind that we, who once loved Earth, can
neither condone nor allow. I came to free Dirk Morris, and to free
Earth of a tyrant.
"Dirk ... bid the Emperor step from his dais. He no longer rules this
city or this System."
"No longer rules--" choked Garroway.
"The city has fallen," said Rima. "While in this tower you plotted for
the life of a rebel leader, you have lost an empire. Listen ... or
better yet, turn on your visi-screens. Therein you will see I speak the
truth."
In sudden, fumbling haste Graed Garroway turned to a vision-unit set in
the auditorium wall. Instantly a section of the capital city sprawled
before the gaze of those assembled. It was as Rima had foretold. No
matter where the dial was swung, there reflected the same scene: people
leaping, laughing, rejoicing in the streets ... marching in vast,
inchoate crowds, singing and cheering. Here and there were grisly
evidences of the reason for their rejoicing ... a knot of tumbled
bodies garbed in the uniform of Garroway's forces ... a burning pyre
which had been an Imperial blockhouse ... a torn, stained militiaman's
cap lying in a gutter.
And now, to further the evidence, came the sound of voices, running
footsteps, through the tower itself. And into the council hall flooded
a host of jubilant freedmen, led by a trio at sight of whom Dirk's
heart filled with gladness. The gigantic Vurrth, grinning from ear
to ear and wearing a jacket snatched from a fallen foe ... a jacket
that had ripped up the back under the strain of the Venusian's mighty
muscles. Brian Shaughnessey, bellowing loud greetings. Neil Hardesty,
grave and quiet as ever, even in this hour of triumph, as he spoke to
his leader.
"It is over, Dirk. You have succeeded here, too?"
Dirk said ruefully, "I have succeeded, yes. But it was not of my doing.
Rima--"
"He has succeeded," interrupted the Nadronian girl. "The Emperor is
deposed."
Neil said gratefully, "We awaited your signal, Dirk. When it did not
come we grew anxious. Then Rima--" For an instant his eyes sought
those of the alien girl, and there was a curious humility in them, an
almost worshipful admiration--"then Rima came to us; told us the hour
had struck. We issued our rallying cry. It ... it was easier than we
had dared hope. The city was like a ripe plum, ready for our taking.
At every street-corner new hordes joined us. Even Garroway's hirelings
abandoned their old leaders to follow the standard of the fabulous
Galactic Ghost."
"Thus, you see," said Rima so softly that only Dirk could hear her,
"you _did_ succeed, Dirk Morris. It was the Ghost whose spirit forged
this rebellion. I but stepped in when the moment needed me."
* * * * *
Garroway, who had been standing at the vision plate, staring as a
man transfixed at the image of his own downfall, now turned to his
destroyers. His dark eyes were haggard, his sagging jowls suddenly no
longer the harsh features of a ruler, but those of a defeated old man.
He whispered:
"This, then, is the end? Very well--" A burst of his former defiance
flamed in him. He forced a laugh. "You have won, Dirk Morris. And the
death I promised you lies in store for me? Well ... so be it. It has
been a long game, but one worth the playing. Of one thing you cannot
rob me ... the memory that once I ruled the mightiest empire known to
man."
But again it was Rima who spoke. Her voice was like a crystal bell.
"Not death, Graed Garroway. It is the right of none to judge that
ultimate penalty on another. _Exile_ shall be your fate. Those who know
your system better than I shall decide which planet ... or planetoid
far removed from Earth ... shall be your final refuge.
"Neil Hardesty--" She turned to the listening captain--"send him away.
Your new government shall sit in judgment on him later."
Hardesty nodded, motioned to Shaughnessey, and the erstwhile Overlord
was led away. With him were herded from the room, none too gently,
those who had been his companions in the attempt to trap Dirk. Within
a matter of minutes the hall was cleared save for a handful: Dirk and
Rima, in her glowing pillar of flame; Hardesty, the Princess Lenore.
In the Princess' eyes glittered a great defiance and a great sorrow.
She asked, "And I? I join my father in exile?"
Rima looked at Dirk.
"Well, Dirk Morris?" she asked.
Dirk's throat was dry, his mind confusion. He said, "Must ... must I,
then, be the one to judge, Rima? She saved my life ... or tried to.
Were it not for her--"
Rima said gently, "You love her. Isn't that what you mean, Dirk?"
Dirk's head turned slowly; his eyes met those of the Princess Lenore.
And what he found there forced the answer from his lips.
"Yes, Rima. May the gods help me ... I love her."
"That," said the Nadronian girl, "I know. And this also I know ... that
she loves you. Does she love you enough to join you in the new world
which is the only one whereon you now can live? Enough to join you on
Nadron?"
It was Lenore who answered that question. She said simply, "I do not
understand your meaning, woman who dwells in a column of flame ... but
this much I _do_ know. Where Dirk Morris dwells, there would I dwell
also."
Rima nodded, satisfied.
"That, too, I had expected. It is well. She will make you a good mate,
Dirk Morris. I wish--" There was a strange catch in her voice, a catch
clenched teeth upon her lower lip could not quite stifle--"I wish
you ... much joy ... in my lost, beloved homeland--"
Dirk stared at her aghast, uncomprehending. "Rima!" he cried. "Lost
homeland? I don't understand--"
The maid of Nadron smiled wanly. Her voice, when she spoke, was
infinitely gentle.
"Surely _you_ should know, Dirk Morris, that one cannot pass with
impunity from one universe of vibration to another?"
Dirk said, "You mean that you, as I did, have become a ... a wraith to
your own world? That henceforth you have no true existence on Nadron,
as I none on Earth?"
Rima nodded quietly, sadly.
"But then," stammered Dirk, "if not on Nadron, where _is_ your new
plane of existence?" A hope caught and tugged at his heart. "Earth,
perhaps? Our planet will become your new world?"
* * * * *
Rima shook her head. "No, Dirk Morris. The atomic pathway of Space-Time
winds ever upward ... not downward to a lower vibrational plane.
When this protective shield, which already wanes--" She glanced with
a swift, despairing apprehension as the iridescence dulled, and a
crepuscular wavering dimmed its outlines--"When this shield wanes, I
shall move ... forward to a bourne I cannot guess. A better world,
perhaps, or ... a worse--"
"No!" cried Dirk. He started forward, but within the blazing column a
white arm rose in stern command.
"No farther, Dirk. To touch this field means death!"
"Rima!" cried Dick huskily. "Rima, you shouldn't have done this. It
wasn't required of you!"
"The quest of liberty," said the girl softly, "is the quest of all men,
all women, everywhere. I was watching your progress, Dirk. When I saw
you had been trapped, I knew someone must come to your aid, someone
must carry out the plans you had so carefully laid.
"My father was too old. The journey between our two worlds is ... well,
not without pain. So--" The girl smiled--"I came."
"You sacrificed yourself," cried Dirk humbly, "for us. It is too much.
Earth can never repay you, Rima."
"I was repaid when you refused life at the expense of your own
honor, Dirk. Now it is done I can tell you that on your decision at
that moment rested the future fate of Earth. We of Nadron have ever
hesitated in dabbling in the affairs of others. Had you proved unworthy
of our aid in that moment of trial. I would not have made the journey.
"And now--" There flickered in her eyes a shadow of thin, wondering
fear as the veil of flame about her seemed to shudder--"the time has
come for ... parting--"
"No!" shouted Dirk, as if by the very strength of his cry he could
withhold the inexorable. "No, Rima! Don't--"
His cry ended in a little moan. For at that moment the shimmering
column trembled and ... vanished like the flame of a snuffed candle.
The last vision of Rima to be burned forevermore upon the retina of
Dirk Morris' memory was that of a slim and gallant goddess, whiteclad,
lifting a soft arm in salute ... and farewell.
Then ... nothing.
* * * * *
Dirk turned away, shaken. He whispered, "Gone! Rima ... gone ... no one
knows where--"
Lenore said soberly, "_She_ loved you, too, Dirk."
"No. She never loved me. Not as I love you ... not as you love me--"
"It was a different kind of love," said the princess.
"I will find her!" vowed Dirk brokenly.
Lenore moved to his side quietly; the warmth of her beside him like the
courage of a voice in the wilderness.
"You and I," she breathed, "together, Dirk."
And suddenly, though there stretched before him a new and greater quest
than that recently acquitted, Dirk was consumed with a vast impatience
to know again the lips of the girl whose nearness was a heady wine,
challenging him to dare any danger. He turned to Lenore.
"Together," he agreed. "But first I must return to Nadron to lay the
plans. You ... you will come soon, my Princess?"
"Soon," she promised. "Soon. But, first--"
She moved toward his voice. If she closed her eyes, she could not tell
it was invisible arms that held her close, nor invisible lips that
quickened upon her own....
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