Sinister Paradise Read online

room."

  They slipped to the opening, peering into the next room. A man in therewas crouching against the wall and watching the opening into thecorridor. At the sight of the man, Ulnar went berserk. This was the manwho had killed Pedro.

  A shrill battle cry pealing from his lips, massive axe uplifted, Ulnarcharged through the door.

  The crouching man whirled. Smoke and thunder rolled from the gun in hishand. Ulnar had taken death wounds before he was halfway across theroom. But death wounds or not, he kept going.

  The heavy axe came down on the head of the man who was desperatelytrying to fend it off. The man went down. For an instant, Ulnar'sbattle cry of triumph, wild and savage and fierce, roared through thehoneycomb of passages, then went into silence with Ulnar, forever.

  "Hey, Pfluger, what the hell happened?" Retch's startled voice came.

  "We've got to cross the corridor to get at him," Parker whispered. "Andthere are other men in here somewhere."

  "Listen!" Rozeno whispered.

  Voices, a babble of sound, were coming from behind them.

  "The men from the village," Rozeno whispered. "When they ceased fearingthe Jezbro, they found the courage to come up here."

  * * * * *

  The babble grew stronger. Running feet moved along the corridor. Retchshouted somewhere, but the words were lost.

  Rising above the other sounds was the cry of a woman--Effra.

  Parker cursed beneath his breath as he ran. At the side entrance to thebig room where the pool of mercury turned, he stopped, appalled.

  The room seemed full of men. Some of them he recognized as coming fromthe village, others he had never seen before. From their appearance hejudged they had come in the boat. Retch was coming through the door thatled into the main corridor. The gun in his hands was centered on Effra,who crouched at the key board of the vast machine. There was a smile onRetch's face.

  "Parker!" Retch's voice lifted in a yell. "Parker! I've got your girl.Come on out and give yourself up or I'll let her have it."

  This was his moment of triumph, this was the moment when he won hisvictory. Parker, peering around the edge of the doorway, knew now thathe had no way to go. If he moved into the room, and tried to shootRetch, the man would certainly kill Effra in one wild burst of slugs ashe turned the gun on the pilot.

  "Parker!" Retch yelled again. A smile on his face, he waited for ananswer.

  Effra's fingers moved on the control panel. Mercedes got slowly to herfeet. The men in the room were silent, waiting for an answer to Retch'scommand. Parker stood just outside the door, hesitant. No matter what hedid, it seemed to him that there was only one answer.

  Behind Retch, coming from the corridor, something moved. At the sight ofit, Parker felt a flood of biting cold surge through him.

  It was a puma--a gigantic puma. In its jaws, as it swung its head fromside to side, dangled the body of a man it had killed in the corridor.

  It was a Jezbro puma.

  Once it had been a little image in a niche beside the machine from theold time. Then life had flowed into it, its own kind of life, now itwalked as a huge ravening beast through the room where once it had beena tiny image.

  The first man who saw it went dead white and slumped downward in afaint. The others saw it in almost the same instant. Pandemonium sweptthrough the room. No man's nerves were proof against such a sight asthis. Screaming men were suddenly trying to fight their way out of aplace that had suddenly become haunted.

  The puma flowed into the room. Like Retch, it had yellow eyes. Theyglared now, with a burning light. There was a vague mistiness about thispuma but there was also about it the appearance of solid reality.

  Retch spun to face the menace coming from behind him. The gun in hishands spat flame and fury.

  He had destroyed the Jezbro hawk. He would also destroy this Jezbropuma.

  The puma dropped the man from its jaws. It crouched. It leaped straightat the gun spouting lead. Retch slid to one side. The puma missed. Ithit the floor, slid, tried to turn as a frantic girl moved buttons onthe key board.

  The floor was slick, the padded feet did not grip. The tail of thesliding puma touched the pool of mercury. The tail smoked as if it wassuddenly on fire.

  The puma screamed. It seemed to be drawn into the pool. It was as ifsomething in the pool caught the puma, held it, pulled it into themercury.

  It went out of sight, vanished. No puff of flame followed. The life thathad animated it had come from this pool. Now the life had returned toits source.

  The dazed Retch lowered his smoking gun.

  Parker moved silently forward.

  "Lay down the gun, Johnny Retch!" he said.

  Retch seemed to stiffen. His back was to Parker. He did not attempt toturn.

  "You called for me," Parker said. "Here I am. Drop the gun!"

  Retch snarled, spun, dropping flat as he turned. His eyes were narrowed.They glared at Parker like twin flames of yellow hate. He tried to bringup the gun.

  Something came through the air, something that he did not see. Itgrabbed his arms, clutched them with a fierce grip, screamed at him.Mercedes!

  Retch, with one savage thrust, flung her aside. Again the two yelloweyes glared at Parker as Retch brought up the weapon that he held.

  "You haven't licked me yet!" Retch screamed.

  The gun in Parker's hand exploded.

  Suddenly Retch had three eyes. One of them was in the middle of hisforehead. It was round and blue.

  He stood for a second, transfixed. Something had happened to him. He didnot know exactly what it was. He had come here seeking Montezuma'streasure. He had it in the reach of his hand. But something had happenedto him. What it was he did not quite know. Something--

  He tried to lift the gun he held. His hands would not obey him. Orperhaps the gun had suddenly grown too heavy for him to lift. He couldnot raise it.

  The yellow light in his eyes did not change. But suddenly he collapsed,went down, did not move.

  * * * * *

  Even after he was on the floor, his eyes remained fixed on Parker,glaring, yellow. Then, little by little, the yellow flames began to goout.

  In the silence were two sounds. The first, Mercedes, whispering. "'Ave Ipaid my debt, Beel? I tried."

  "You have paid it," Parker said.

  The other sound was that of the old priest beginning the prayers for thedying. He had laid aside his spear. Now he was kneeling again, his voicelifting as he prayed even for those who had mis-used him.

  Then there was another sound, voices shouting in the distance. The menwho had run from this room were trying to regain their courage, tryingto find the will to come back again.

  Parker moved to the girl who sat at the key board.

  "Effra, my dear, if you would--"

  Catching his idea, she nodded. Her fingers lifted the image of analligator from its niche.

  Parker saw the 'gator waddle from this room of mystery and of magic,from this room of lost science, from this forgotten laboratory of avanished race.

  After the alligator, went a jungle cat, full of spit and scratch and thesounds of fury. After the cat went a jaguar, black, fanged, also withyellow eyes.

  In the corridors the screaming stopped. Parker, listening, shuddered. Hewas glad he was not out in one of those corridors; one of the men whohad tried to steal the treasure of Montezuma, one of the men who hadfollowed Johnny Retch. Hell was walking through those tunnels--hell inthe form of an alligator; hell in the form of a jungle cat; hell in theform of a jaguar with yellow eyes.

  From the window slot, Parker watched men swarm out of the cliff. Somefound the small boats, pushed out in them to the PT boat. Others swam. Ajaguar went along the shoreline screeching at them. A jungle cat spat atthem from the edge of the water.

  On the boat, the anchors were hastily cast off. Powerful motors growled.Gathering speed, leaving a growing wake behind it, the boat drove itselfinto the veil, went out of s
ight.

  Parker went back to the girl at the key board.

  Her eyes came up to him. "Hello, Bill," she said.

  "Effra?" he whispered.

  "As I was sitting here, I remembered who you were--and who Iam--Bill--Bill--" She came into his arms.

  Hours later, on a balcony in front of one of the window slots, theystill stood very close together. Rozeno and Mercedes were with them.Rozeno was speaking.

  "Do you think, my son, that you can go out into the world, and contactthe great men of this time, and bring them here one by one, so that wemay build in this secure spot a group from which the lines of progresscan flow out to all men in all the corners of the earth?"

  "I can, Father," Parker answered.

  "Unto all men--" Rozeno's lips moved in prayer. "Unto all men--"

  THE END