CHAPTER IV
_Before the Council_
Pegrani lost no time in reporting the incident to the Zara. The Earthmen were hustled to the throne room of the palace where the leopardwoman sat in conference with her advisers. An ominous silence greetedtheir entrance. Ugly faces leered at them from the long table.
"What is it, Pegrani?" The Zara's chalky face went whiter still.
"The Rulans, Your Majesty. They have endeavored to communicate with theprisoners."
"Did they succeed?" Clyone's voice was terrible in its fury.
"They did not. I destroyed the messenger, and the message itself waslost in the jungle where Carson flung it."
The Zara shot a fleeting glance in Blaine's direction and permittedherself the ghost of a smile. "It is well," she breathed. "But it mustnot happen again. Have Tiedor brought to me."
Pegrani hurried off to do her bidding and Blaine turned uncertainly tofollow.
"You will remain, Carson--you and Farley." The incisive voice of theleopard woman halted him in his tracks.
Tiedor was chief of the Rulans, it developed. There was but a handfulof them in the realm and they were the last survivors of thecivilization of Europa; descendants of those original brave souls whohad settled on Io as a last resort in the effort to perpetuate theirkind.
He was a magnificent creature, this Tiedor, tall and straight in hismuscular leanness and with wide-set gray eyes in the face of a Greekgod. Olive-skinned like the messenger, he was, and with the highforehead of an intellectual. He swept the assemblage with a haughtygaze when he faced the Zara.
* * * * *
"Tiedor," she snarled, "it has come to my ears that a Rulan lad carrieda message to one of my guests from Earth. What means this?"
"I know nothing about it, Your Majesty." Tiedor gazed into the wickedeyes, unafraid.
"You lie! There is some treasonable scheme in which you had hoped toenlist their help. You will tell me the entire story, here before thecouncil."
"There is nothing to tell."
"You will confess or I shall destroy every Rulan in the Tritu Nogaru."The Zara's words were clipped short with deadly emphasis.
Tiedor paled and his lips tightened in a grim line, but he stood hisground. "I have nothing to confess," he said.
With a whistling indrawn breath, the leopard woman threw back her headand motioned to one of the green-bronze giants who guarded theentrance. There was a nervous stir around the council table.
At her command the guard drew back a heavy drape that hid an embrasurein the far wall. There, on a stubby pedestal, was revealed a gleamingsphere of crystal, a huge polished ball that shimmered a ghastly greenagainst a background of jet.
Slowly in its depths a milky cloud took shape, swirling and pulsatinglike a living thing. Then it flashed into dazzling brilliance and theglobe cleared to startling transparency. It was as if it did not exist.Rather they looked through an opening in the cosmos that carried theirgaze to another and distant point. It was a large open space that wasrevealed to their eyes; a sort of public square where many of theolive-skinned Rulans were coming and going to and from the entrances ofthe circular tank-like structures that surrounded the area. They weregreeting one another in solemn fashion as they passed and watchingfurtively the green-bronze guards who were everywhere. The sound oftheir low voiced conversations came clear and distinct from the depthsof the crystal sphere.
"Your choice, Tiedor," the Zara hissed.
"There is nothing--nothing, I tell you!" The Rulan chief's voice waspanicky now.
* * * * *
Clyone's snarling command was carried to those guards out there in theTritu Nogaru by some magic of the crystal sphere. As one man theysnapped to attention. With deadly accuracy they released the energy oftheir ray pistols. It was a shambles, that square of the Tritu Nogaru;a slaughter house. Agonized screams of the doomed Rulans rent the airof the council chamber. They organized hastily and rushed again andagain into the crackling blue flame of the disintegrating blasts of theguards' fire. It was hopeless: unarmed and unprotected, they were atthe mercy of Clyone's minions.
_Sick and trembling, Blaine cried out against themassacre_.]
Sick and trembling, Blaine cried out against the massacre. He wasseized instantly by two of the green-bronze guards who had beenwatching his every move. Tommy, too, was in their clutches once more,fighting valiantly but without avail. The sphere went blank and silent,and the drape was returned to its place. Still muttering disapproval,the members of the council gazed at their queen in alarm. There was notelling what this vile creature might do.
"The slaughter continues. Tiedor," she gloated. "Soon your handful offollowers will be no more. And good riddance."
Swaying drunkenly, eyes glazed with the horror of the thing. Tiedorwent raving mad. In one wild leap he was upon her, his fingers sinkinginto the white flesh of her throat. Woman or no woman, he'd have herlife.
But it was not to be. A quick move of jeweled fingers was followed by acrashing report. Tiedor staggered and drew back, spinning on his heelto face them all with distended, pain-crazed eyes. Astonishment wasthere, and horror, but the fire of undying courage remained. His oliveskin turned suddenly purple, then black from the poisoned dart that hadexploded in his entrails. He collapsed in a still heap at the feet ofthe Zara.
She stood there a moment in the awful silence, caressing her bruisedthroat with fluttering fingers. She had faced death for one horridinstant and was obviously shaken.
Then she recovered and flew into a rage. "Out of my sight, all of you!"she screamed. "Out, I say! The Earth men are to be freed and Pegraniwill conduct them to their quarters. Go now!"
The councillors made haste to comply, jostling one another in theiranxiety to jam through the doorway. Blaine found himself released. Hetook one step toward Clyone, murderous hatred in his heart. But herecoiled from the expression in those red-flecked eyes; they softenedinstantly and looked into his very soul, saw through and beyond himinto some far place where relief and happiness might be attained. Andthen, suddenly, they were swimming in tears. The Zara dropped into aseat and buried her sleek coiffured head in outstretched arms, hershoulders shaking with sobs.
An incomprehensible anomaly, this queen of the Llotta; a strangemixture of cruelty and tenderness, of cold hatred and the longing forlove. A dual personality hers, susceptible to the deepest emotion or toutter lack of feeling as the mood might dictate.
Blaine tiptoed softly from the room.
* * * * *
They were in the corridor now, and Tommy was blowing off at a greatrate. Even Pegrani was stunned and shaken. But Tommy raved.
"Forget it!" Blaine growled. "Where do we go from here?" He couldn'thave explained his emotions then, even to himself.
"To our quarters, she said--damn her!" Tom Farley swore in picturesqueEnglish. "And we," he wound up his expressive tirade, "are getting indeeper and deeper. We can't do a thing. Why in the devil doesn't sheput us out of the way and get it over with? What's she keeping usaround for, anyway?"
Blaine was asking himself that very question. Pegrani regarded themwith something of understanding in his beady eyes. But he was nervousand apprehensive and broke in on their conversation to urge them intoaction. The Zara must be obeyed.
The corridor was deserted now and their footsteps echoed hollowly fromthe bare metal walls. Pegrani was ahead, leading the way, when Blainewas startled by an insistent tap on his shoulder. Another of theRulans, it was, repeating the gesture of the youth who had been killedon the roof. But this one had no message; he was after somethingelse--telling them in pantomime to make a break for freedom and tofollow him.
Blaine caught Tommy's attention. And Pegrani, warned again by thatsixth sense of his, turned his head. With a bellow of rage he whirledinto action, ray pistol in hand. But Blaine was prepared for him thistime. He wasn't going to witness another murder--not
now. Flinging TomFarley aside, he let loose a terrific jab that landed full on Pegrani'smouth. The ray pistol crackled harmlessly, its deadly energy spendingitself in searing the metal of the ceiling.
* * * * *
Then he wrenched the weapon from the astonished Llott and was boring inwith body punches that quickly had the dwarf gasping for breath. Thesecreatures knew nothing of fighting with their hands except in thefashion of clumsy wrestlers. The thud of hard fists against yieldingflesh was a new and terrifying experience. Pegrani was game, though,and he flailed about with his powerful arms, endeavoring to get hisopponent in his grasp. Sidestepping to avoid one of his rushes, Blainebrought up a terrible uppercut that ended flush upon the Llott's jaw.His head snapped back and his knees gave way beneath him. Down he wentin a flabby heap. Suddenly ashamed, the young pilot turned to theRulan.
Tom's eyes were shining. It was easy to see that he felt better aboutthings now.
"I am a friend," the Rulan whispered in the Llott tongue, "sent by onewho would have conversation with you. It is of the highest importance,but we must make haste. Will you trust me?"
Blaine saw deep concern and sincerity in the fellow's blue eyes. "Whatdo you say, Tommy?" he asked, looking to his friend for approval.
"I say, let's go. He seems okay to me."
Their new guide was familiar with the passages and especially so withdark and little used stairways that connected the floors of the hugebuilding. They soon reached the roof through a hatch that opened on asmall penthouse which was in deep shadow and entirely hidden from therunways where the green-bronze guards paced constantly.
A slender cable dangled before them, and at its lower end they saw abasket-like car which their guide bid them enter. When they had doneso, he tugged on the cable, giving a rapid twitching signal. Instantlythey were soaring up into the blackness above the lights of Antrid.
* * * * *
The swift journey ended in a tiny enclosed vehicle where another Rulanoperated the cable drum which had made the trip possible. The car wasunlighted save for the faint glow of a hand lamp, and it was not untilthe lower door was closed that they were permitted a view of theinterior of the strange vehicle and had a good look at the two Rulans.
"Now," the one who had brought them said, "I can explain. I am Tiedus,son of Tiedor. My companion is Dantus, son of Dantor, the greatestscientist in all Antrid. We are taking you to Dantor who has knowledgeof the mad plans of the Llotta and is in need of your help in thwartingthem. You are willing?"
"Why--why, yes," Blaine stammered, looking deep into the earnest eyesof Tiedus. "You--you know of the fate of Tiedor?"
"I do." The young Rulan fell silent; then shook his head as if to clearit of unwelcome thoughts. "There are but few of us left, oh Earth man,"he said then, "and all expect a like fate sooner or later. But that isbeside the point. We have important work to do: work that brooks nodelay. We leave now for the Tritu Anu, with your consent."
Tom Farley was examining the machinery of the car with interest. "Thisone of the monorail cars?" he inquired, when Dantus had seated himselfat the controls.
"Indeed not. The Llotta do not even know of the existence of thisvehicle. We could not get right of way on the rails, so this gravitycar was developed in secrecy. It is provided with variable repulsionenergies that can be adjusted to keep it at a fixed distance from theinner surface of the copper shell. Thus it misses cross beams andbraces. It is drawn forward by similar energies, or more exactly, bythe component of a number of attracting forces. We do not displaylights, so are thus comparatively safe from discovery. They'll catch ussooner or later, though, of course." Dantus indulged in a fatalisticshrug of his shoulders as he concluded.
* * * * *
At his manipulation of a number of tiny levers that were set into thecontrol panels like the stops of an organ, the car lurched forward.Silently, swiftly, they sped on through the gloom under the greatcopper shell.
Through the viewing glass of a periscope arrangement that let nobetraying light escape to the outside, they watched the endless linesof illuminating globes slip by beneath them. Weirdly vast and shadowyin the upper reaches, the latticed supporting columns on either sidemerged into continuous semi-transparent walls as the car gatheredspeed.
The city of Ilen-dar was left far behind. Patches of jungle flashed by;other cities. And always the endless rows of blue-white lights. Therewas neither night nor day in the sealed-in world; only the artificialsuns that never set. Continuous subjection to the ultra-violet andvisible rays of the vast lighting system was necessary to the growthand reproduction of the plant life that was so essential in keeping theatmosphere breathable.
Tommy had forgotten everything save his interest in the mechanism ofthe car. He and Dantus were fast friends already.
Chin in hand and eyes avoiding the pain of mourning in Tiedus' fixedgaze, Carson lost himself in gloomy meditation. As he thought back overthe events of the past few days he could scarcely believe they hadactually occurred or that he was sitting here in a mystery car,speeding through the rank atmosphere of an enclosed world a halfbillion miles from his own. Home seemed incredibly remote and desirablejust then, and the future dark and forbidding.