.45 at my belt, leveled it, fired. The Old Onestaggered, his eyes blazed at me, and his hand gestured again. The gunfell from my hands, and some terrible black thing struck into my brain,tearing, rending. I fell forward into blackness....
* * *
Swirling nothingness, a dry cachination as of some dead-as-dust thinglaughing at life itself, a shuddering vibrance flooding through my fleshin waves of terrible nausea, a dim glow that grew and grew intoterrifying painful brilliance, then paled and died again into theswirling blankness that was not death, but a knowledge of deepinjury....
Again and again the swirling horror of my brain slowed, almost stopped.My eyes almost opened into the painful light, and the deep interiorvibrating sensation swelled into overpowering violence. I sank againinto darkness. Over and over I struggled almost to the doors ofconsciousness, only to be shoved back by the consciously controlledexterior force.
At last the sickness passed, and my mind quieted. I struggled intowakefulness. As I opened my eyes, the face of the old Jivro gaped withits noseless, bulging eyes not a foot away, the thin, wide lips andmouth hanging open like a trap, the ridges across the mouth like a fish,white and horrible.
I retched at the repellent sight, and the mouth moved, the words cameout so strangely, like a mechanical voice:
"Tell me, earthman, how is the weapon with which you shot my men on theroof made? What are the details of its construction, and the formula forits explosive?"
I almost laughed.
"You are ridiculous, old insect! Such things are known only totechnicians in factories, not to mining men like myself."
Again the blinding light struck at me, the sickening shaking of thevibrance welled through me. I sank and was raised again toconsciousness.
Still the same foolish old insect face, the same bulging ignorant eyes.The words:
"Tell, then, how this Croen and the forces of Prince Genner may beovercome? Speak, earthman."
The compulsion moved me, and I answered:
"There is no way you can overcome them, Jivro. You are doomed, and thereis no hope for your tyranny over the Schrees to continue. They havetired of the Jivros, and you deserve what you are going to get."
Again the sickening application of force and again the exteriorcompulsion to speak. I said:
"Your only chance to get back power is to get forces from your home inspace, wherever that may be. You cannot overcome these fighting men andtheir weapons, which are as good as your weapons, for you Jivros haverelied for too long upon the Schrees and Shinros for your fighting, andfor your thinking too, by the questions you ask. Have you not done anythinking in your life, that you ask me such silly questions?"
A change came over the old creature. I knew he was wounded, for I hadseen the glistening milky fluid pouring from the wound in his breast. Heleaned weakly against the table to which I was strapped, his eyes onmine glazing over with death. The wide lips at the very bottom of theflat face, moved:
"The Jivro Empire is ending, I think, earthman. We dug our own gravewhen we relegated all unpleasant duties to our conquered races. For anage the Jivro has been a creature shunning all work and effort, eventhinking. We were bound to lose our grip. I see now that I am reallyfoolish, and not a strong being of intellect. Our doom is written, andthe day of the writing was that day when we conquered and enslaved theSchrees."
"Now you are talking sense, Old One. You see what is plain to allothers; at last it becomes clear to you. But you are dying, and it istoo late for wisdom to come to the Jivros. Once you set your feet on thepath to greatness; but when you did evil, your feet naturally turned tothe downward path of decadence. Evil is not a way of life, it is a wayof death."
The bulging eyes on mine flickered with a fierce inner fire for aninstant, then the head bent lower. For an instant he tottered therebeside me, then crashed to the floor with a sound like a bundle of drysticks.
I turned my head, saw that I was in the chamber of my firstinterrogation, and the sound of feet about me was the Jivro "doctors,"moving to carry away their ruler. I saw the sleek body of Carna on atable but a dozen feet away. Three of the tall white-robed insects bentover her, one moving a control in a great lamp device, anotherscribbling on a pad, and the third was speaking. Evidently the Zoorphwas getting the third degree, too. I lay back weakly. I felt as if I hadbeen through a washing machine and some of my buttons left in thewringer.
As I closed my eyes, a vast _boom_ crashed into my ears, the tablejumped beneath me, pieces of masonry fell bounding on the floor and Iraised my head, staring wildly. Evidently the prince and the Croen werestill bombing the place.
I tugged at the straps on my wrists and ankles. They gave a little. Ikept on tugging, turning my head as far as I could to see how the insectmen were taking their bombardment. They stood, near fifty of them, in agroup by the door. Evidently they had started to run out when the crashcame, but had stopped when it was evident the roof was going to remainintact. If those things had any sense they would be in the deepestsub-basement they could find, I figured. The Schrees must have beencarrying them as helpless parasites for too many centuries to realizethey could do without them, for them to be so inept.
Straining my neck, I watched the grotesque high-breasted white figuresabout the doorway, they were tittering to each other in some tongue Idid not know, a strange sound like the rasping of corn husks undersqueaking wagon wheels. Suddenly the whole palace shook terribly, thefloor seemed to reel, an unbearable sound raged at my ears. I cringedfrom the pain of the sound. When I opened my eyes, the whole mass of theJivro medicals was jammed in the doorway, struggling to get over eachother, and the squeaking and rasping increased into a bedlam of sound. Ilaughed, a deep "ha ha," and from the neighboring table Carna cried:
"See what wonderful creatures are the tyrants when things are not goingtheir way. If I had known they were like that in war, I would havekilled them all myself long, long, ago. I would have poisoned them, andwhen they asked me who did it, I would have said, _boo_ and they wouldall have run away and hid!"
As the last of them got through the door, I gave my loosened straps onemighty pull, and the heavy leather tore. I could hear it part in thesudden silence. Again and again I strained, and at last the leatherparted entirely. My right hand was free. Feverishly I tore at the otherfastenings. There could be but little time left us before that bombingstruck dead center and brought the whole palace down. We had to get out.I knew it quite as well as those fleeing insect men.
Free at last, I rolled off the table, landed on all fours, leaped toCarna's side, and released the buckles of the straps. As she sat up, herface level with mine, she pursed her lips, and I gave her a heartysmack. As her arms went about my neck, I picked her up, raced throughthe doorway, along the passage, down the ramps. I was weaponless, but Ihad no longer any fear of the Jivros. I saw a group of them busy in abig chamber as I passed, but I raced on, spinning around the nextcorner, down the ramps and on ... on ... until I felt the coolness offresh air ahead, ran out beneath the stars again, and along the shadowedstreet.
Putting my Zoorph back on her feet, we raced toward that breach in thewall. Over our heads the great blasting explosions went on, and I sawbut three of the circling disks left to the defense of the city.
Outside the city wall we stopped to catch our breath, leaning againstthe wall in the shadow.
Carna said, musingly: "It is all over for the ancient Empire of theJivros, if help does not come for them tonight. For, now that they areseen to be so helpless without their slaves and their fighting men, thenews will spread. Planet after planet will rise against them. This istheir finish!"
"They expected to conquer earth, Carna. They could never have done it.For a little while, perhaps, but not for long."
"They might have! They are like ants; they have a highly developedpattern of activity. But when that pattern is disrupted, they are lost.They do not think--they remember."
"We've got to make contact with the queen and with Genner and the Croen.We will
be left out of things." I was wondering what Carna's futureplans were.
"You are interested in the beautiful sister of the Prince?" asked Carna.
"You are interested in the so handsome Prince?" I answered in the sametone of voice.
"Of course, what woman would not be! But I am more interested in you,for I fell in love with you. But I can fall out again, and maybe--whoknows...." she laughed.
"What's more to the point, Carna, is she interested in me?"
"I could tell you," said Carna, her eyes mysterious on my own, luminousand huge in the darkness.
"Well, perhaps you had better tell me, then."
"Why? I love you!"
"You mean she _is_ interested in me!"
"Very much, and she is a very smart woman who has ways of getting whatshe wants. I am very much afraid she will take you with her to spacewhen they go, and leave poor Carna in her