alone, above the all." She said other words whosemeanings I did not know. My head swam, my soul seemed to be floating ina sea of new and strange emotions. I sank into a dream state, and withher low suggestive words in my ears, a new world came gradually intoform about us, we were two lovers walking among plumed fern-trees,beside deliciously tinkling streams, the songs of birds rang like littlebells all about. I was conscious of her warm lips upon my own and of hereyes like two deep dark pools in which my own gaze swam and sank androse.
Suddenly a rude, loud voice broke in, the dream of paradise vanishedfrom about us.
Before us stood Genner, his face angry, and in the wall I saw the panelby which he had entered where I had thought was only blank wall. Hecried:
"You, Zoorph, I had thought not to interfere. But you are not going toenslave this man to your will. We need him, and your people need himtoo, and what you do is not right, for you know as well as I that if hefalls entirely under your spell he will be left no will of his own!"
Carna, not even abashed at the intrusion, almost spit as she angrilyretorted:
"What is the difference whose will he obeys so long as it is what we alldesire that gets accomplished? He would be better off with myexperienced direction than with his own ignorance of our ways, inanything you plan. Do you think I want to be left out? Do you think I donot desire freedom from the Jivros, too? Do you think I want to be madeinto a mindless thing when I fail to please them?"
"Never mind; get back where you came from. This man is our ally, not ourslave, and your behavior is bad. I will hold this against you. Go!" Hepointed at the window with one rigid, outstretched arm, and Carna movedslowly away, saying:
"No, Prince, do not think me an enemy! It is only that my heart _is_moved toward this strange one, I wanted him _very_ much, and how elsecan a Zoorph love than as she has been taught?"
The prince smiled at her words, his arm fell to his side.
"Very well, little temptress. Kiss your love goodbye. It may be a longtime before I let you see him again. If he desires it, you may meetlater on. But I will warn him, so that he does not become your slave."
"I would not rob him of his self, my Prince. I have an affection forthis one!"
"We will see that you do not, sweet Carna. Now get out, and be quick.The time approaches."
She darted to my side, where I sat still bewildered by the eerie yetutterly delightful experience with the witchery of a Zoorph, pressedburning lips to my own, caressed my cheek with her fingertips, gave myhand a quite American squeeze. Then I watched her slender legs swing upand out of sight as she went up her improvised ladder hand over hand.She was athletic as a dancer.
"Whew," I said, passing my hand over my heated face, and grinning at thePrince.
"Yes, whew! If it had not been for me you would have become herproperty, for they are very accomplished in making people do what theywant."
"Hypnotism, developed beyond anything I ever heard of! It must behereditary, such power!" I mused aloud. Genner answered as if I spoke tohim.
"The word hypnotism I know not, I guess you mean what we call Zoorph. Itis a cult, teaching the art of enslaving others to your will. But she isa good girl, and her Zoorph qualities are not evil. For your own sake,remember always to hold yourself in check, or she will automaticallybecome your mistress. A man does not like to be a slave even to socharming a mistress."
I did not say anything. I saw nothing wrong with the idea just then.
"Were you there behind the panel while your sister and I talked?" Iasked.
"Of course. To make sure nothing went amiss. If some curious Jivro hadcome to the door, she would have joined me in the passage."
The Prince sat down across from me on a low stool.
"I will lead this group she will send to bring the Croen. You willnaturally accompany us, as I am to keep an eye on you. Wananda will giveyou the fluid to inject into her veins. You must not be seen making theinjection. Somewhere along the way she will revive. She is an extremelystrong creature, and will immediately make her escape. I will order noneto shoot at her with vibro guns, as we do not wish her harmed. We willhurry back to get ships to pursue and capture her. But we will be unableto capture her.
"If you can manage to keep up with her in her flight, do so. You shouldbe able to outrun a Jivro; they are not very fast. But whether you cankeep up with the Croen, that I doubt. However, make the attempt, andwhen you are alone with her, explain why we want her to escape, who herfriends are. If you do not do that, she may elect to make her waythrough the wilderness, which would be fatal for her. Knowing she hasallies among us, she will find a way to attack us."
I grunted. I did not see how they expected one lone woman, howeverfantastically gifted with wits and know-how, to overcome the ships,armament and organization of the Jivros, even with Wananda working toneutralize their power.
"She must be a wizard; you expect such wonders of her!"
"There will be a ship waiting to pick her up as soon as she is out ofsight of the Jivros who will accompany us. I have sent it already. Itwaits in the hills by the barrier. With you along, you can contact theremaining Zervs. They will augment your power. I can send more shipsmanned with my men, later. We have been preparing for this a long time."
"Aren't you doing a lot of talking? Walls have ears, you know, and thoseJivros of yours look pretty shifty to me."
"It is the hour of their sleep. They are creatures of regularity, likeants, you know. They live by routine. There are only guards awake. Iknow exactly where every one of them stands at this moment, where everyone of them sleeps. I have not been inactive."
* * *
We filed out of the city gate, a party of nearly fifty, a score of thembearers of a big palanquin-like vehicle in which they proposed to carrythe Croen's inert body.
I was remembering the brief examination of her that I had made when Ientered the cavern of the golden statue.
A four-armed female of near-human aspect, but with a single horn on herforehead. A member of a race from distant space, alien even to thesevisitors to earth. She had been utterly different from anything I hadeven imagined as human--yet somewhere, somehow the origin of that racehad been similar to our own. I wondered if space was peopled with suchnear-human races, all descendant from some ancient space-traveling racewho had colonized--then passed on into forgotten time?
The party wound on, taking that same trail by which I had entered thecavern with Hank and Jake and Frans. Silently I blessed the fate thathad spared me the things that had been done to them. Their onlyrelease, I imagined, could be death.
Overhead the rocky walls began to close, the light grew dim, ahead camethat eerie glow from the magnetic statue. The prince's eyes caught minein a swift, silent order to be ready, and the two of us drew ahead ofthe column. In my jacket pocket I held the hypodermic, one of Schreedesign, different from a modern medical hypodermic only in that it wasdecorated with incut figures of glorified Jivros, carved in thecrystalline cylinder, and the metal was of gold.
There were only two of the repellent insect-men with us. I surmised theywere there only as observers, but that was not the case. They were therebecause they had to be. I could see an unusual agitation on their blank,bulge-eyed faces, if those insect masks could be called faces. They wereafraid of this Croen female, even in her inert condition.
The tall, graceful Schree warriors followed us into the cavern, and lastof all came the two hopping Jivros. The intense attraction of the statuedrew me, but I remembered how I had avoided it before, and kept my eyesaverted. Like light on a moth's eyes, the power of it seemed to strikeinto the will only when the eyes were upon it.
We gathered around the column of crystal. The Schrees attached a loop ofrope to the top, pulled it carefully from the base. When it wasstretched out horizontal upon the floor, the two Jivros set to work withlittle spinning metal disk-saws, cutting a line entirely around itlengthwise. Then they tapped it with small hammers, and the cut crackedthrough. Lifting off the top section
like the lid of a sarcophagus, theCroen lay exposed to the light of day.
I stood entranced by the exquisite beauty and majesty of the nakedcreature until Prince Genner nudged me with an elbow. Even as he did so,he whirled, pointed, cried out:
"There, through that doorway, one of the traitorous Zervs spies upon us.Catch him, my warriors, before they bring the others down upon us!"
As if drilled or awaiting this order, the tall Schrees set off as oneman, running through the same doorway by which I had followed the angryNokomee.
The prince and I were left alone with the two Jivros, who stood besidethe nude figure of the alien Croen. They eyed us, their eyes jerkingnervously from our faces to the body of the Croen. Quite calmly thePrince tugged a vibro-gun, very like the weapon Holaf had worn at hiswaist, from his belt and trained it upon the two horrors.
"This day will come for all the Jivros," cried the prince