Hunters Out of Space Read online

  CHAPTER 12

  He had been drowned. He was floating in a sea of light, and now andthen shining little fishes swam inquisitively up to him and stared. Theywould look at him with wide, cold eyes and then dart off into space,leaving a flashing wake behind them. They hurtled through the murkylight like shooting stars. And once two of them dashed together andburst like a rocket. The sparks came falling down through a billionmiles of space, and as they fell they built up planets and systems oftheir own. Until a dark coil that had the shape of a dragon slitheredacross the milky way and began to devour them one by one. The sparksdisappeared into its dark maw. Then it turned about and came snufflingthe air as it looked for him. It found him and buried its long fangsin the back of his skull.

  Jack Odin groaned in pain and awoke. The pain hit him again and he thrustout with his arms. But strong hands were holding him down.

  He became conscious of a buzzing, murmuring sound. It was neither sad norglad. Something like the sound that the last bee of autumn makes as ithovers above the last ball of clover.

  Something was falling across the back of his neck and spreading out acrosshis shoulders. Like a woman's hair, he thought. Perhaps it was a bitcoarser. But not much. But then, just as the strange soothing feeling wasputting him back to sleep, the hairs changed their soft caress and a dozenof them plunged into his spinal cord and upward into that small old-brainwhere all the bogies of the stone age still cowered.

  Odin yelled in pain and fought. But the hands held him tight. In his earshe could hear someone else screaming and cursing--threatening all sorts ofvengeance. The voice was Gunnar's.

  Three times more the soft mane of hair caressed him and three times morejust as he was getting ready to go back to sleep the torture began. Andall the while he was lying upon his belly, his face thrust into a pillow.He could see little as he writhed from one side to the other. The handsheld him securely. And once when he almost struggled clear, a strong kneewas thrust into his back and forced him down.

  At intervals, he could hear Gunnar's voice--and his own--crying, pleading,threatening.

  Then at last it was over. The hands turned Odin upon his back and he laythere, gasping and hurting, like one who has just come up from deep water.

  The lights were so bright that at first he could see nothing. Then hisvision cleared and he knew where he was--in the surgery room of the Nebula.

  Ato was standing nearby, trying to reassure him. Beside Odin on another bedwas Gunnar, lying flat on his back and stripped to the waist. Gunnar washowling curses and kicking like a frog.

  A doctor and a nurse were there. And completing the group was Nea holding around object in each hand--round things with unkempt, trailing hair. He wasnot completely conscious--and for a second she looked like a high priestessof the Amazon, holding two mummified heads before her--

  The pain left him. His mind cleared and he lay there gasping from theordeal.

  Ato and Nea smiled at them. So cheerfully that he almost expected them towrite out a bill for surgical fees.

  "God, that was a close one," Ato said, and wiped his forehead. "Five hoursof it. And it was touch and go all the time."

  "What happened?" Odin asked. He remembered something about a glitteringtomb and Maya awakening from her long sleep and Grim Hagen. He evenremembered the Bron carelessly swinging Piper's head by the hair. Butthese were mere scenes that flashed before his mind. He could not fit themtogether, as yet.

  "Tell him, Nea," Ato said.

  * * * * *

  She smiled proudly. "It was my invention that saved you. You see, I havetwo of them now. I told you that they are as near as we can get to makingliving things. And I also told you that there is much more to them thanyou saw. They are destroyers and they are builders. We found you dead--ornearly so. Hagen had sent volt after volt through your bodies. You wereelectrocuted."

  "We hurried you back to the ship. And all this time, while Ato steeredus back into space, the Kalis and I--for that is what I have decided tocall them--have been working over you. You might say that we are masterelectronicians, rebuilding circuits, repairing transistors andcondensers--"

  "You were plenty rough," Gunnar grumbled.

  "We had to be. Do you remember a story about the bush-men dying from acurse? Here." She held her two precious Kalis in one arm while she tappedthe base of her skull. "In here is a bulb, the old brain, not even anidiot's brain, that brought you up from the jungle. It is a simple,worrying brain. Easily frightened. Easily convinced. It was convinced thatyou were dead. We had to arouse it."

  Odin fancied that he could hear the two Kalis purring contentedly likecats. Well, they had done a good job. Let them purr. He would like to havethanked them, but how can you thank two bowling balls with scalps of cat'swhisker wire?

  * * * * *

  Gunnar sat up and began grumbling anew: "Well, thanks. Now, get me someclothes. Freida would not like it if I sat here half-undressed before ayoung lady. And tell me where we are?"

  It was Ato's turn to talk. "I threw The Nebula into the Fourth Drive sometime ago. That may have helped to save your lives too. We should check onthat, Nea."

  "Will you please tell me where we are?" Gunnar demanded.

  "Give me time, little man," Ato retorted. "We are back in Trans-Einsteinianspace, and Aldebaran and its worlds are far behind us. Ahead of us is GrimHagen and the Old Ship. Maya is with him. So are at least a hundred of thewhite-skinned captains from the planet we just left. Also, a dozen Brons.Maybe more, but not many. What we saw at the council that day when Ramadefied Grim Hagen was just a sample of what was to follow. The people werebled white. Graft, corruption, and patronage had taken its toll. Some ofthe Brons were older and wanted to rest. But injustice couldn't stop untilthe last tear had washed away the last drop of blood. A few of the Bronsand most of the slaves revolted. They won, of course. Grim Hagen shouldhave known the result. He and his men were in flight when they found youand took Maya. They gathered at the Old Ship and took off. Meanwhile, wefought our way out of the city. We decided to have one last try for Maya.But we found you two and a dead Bron and the head of a native. We broughtyou here and took off. All this time I have had a fix on Hagen."

  "Can't we overtake him?" Odin asked.

  "We are trying to. He seems to be heading for a huge dust-cloud. He alsosent us a message. Some nonsense about having contacted some race at theedge of creation who would go with him to plunder the stars. He demandedthe secret of Wolden's invention again. I think his mind is going fast."

  "Not as fast as he will go if I ever get my hands on him," Gunnar promised.

  "But Maya is awake now," Ato explained. "We had time on our side before.Now, if he gets away from us he can live out his days on some obscureplanet. The years will pass like a whirlwind--while we go dashing thisway and that, and in a surprisingly short time our willing and unwillingfugitives will have lived out their lives. They have the vagaries of time,space, and speed upon their side."

  Nea laughed. "Even as I said before." She gave Jack Odin a searching look,but Odin avoided her gaze--

  "Then, what have you done?" Odin asked.

  "All that I could do under the circumstances. I have a fix upon him. Wesapped all the energy from Aldebaran that we could. We have power enough,but there are no stars nearby. As I said before, he is heading for adust-cloud. There, both ships can replenish their energy. After that wewill have to stick close by him and see what happens. After all, we arebehind him. By the old Airmen's rule of thumb, a ship with another uponits tail is a hundred percent loss."

  "Only at that moment," Odin corrected. "If not destroyed, it has a chanceto improve its percentage when the pursuer has made its pass."

  "True enough," Ato admitted. "That is why I propose to stay close behindit. I can't seem to find that dust cloud on any map. It must be far, faraway."

  Nea laughed again. "What is far? What is near? You do not even havecatch-words for Trans-Space. You are looking into
the books of theadvanced classes, and you have not yet opened the primers of space."

  Ato flushed in anger. "Nea, I was my father's helper for years and years.I know as much about space as any man."

  She shrugged. "Oh, you can cover blackboards with formulas, and I don'tdoubt that they will be right. But living things and living emotions demandsomething to cling to. A measuring stick. Grim Hagen tried to give themsomething substantial back there: A system of brutality and graft thatworked for the last-minute Caesars. He even threw in a goddess. Did hesucceed?"

  She paused to caress the two things she held in her arms. "My pets knowmore about time and space and energy than all of you, don't you, dears?"She kissed one of them and gave Odin a mysterious smile.

  The Kalis began purring contentedly, as though space were no more than ahuge living room, and they were beside a comfortable fireplace, looking upat their all-powerful mistress.