Sinister Paradise Read online

caught himself on one of the hand-madechairs, jerked himself up, and drove at Parker. The pilot met the chargehead on. They went down locked together.

  Retch was a tornado erupting with violent fury. He threw Parker awayfrom him, leaped to his feet. Parker pulled himself to one knee. Thefallen pistol lay in front of him. He snatched it up.

  Retch was coming toward him. He saw the gun in Parker's hand, hesitated.

  "I'll kill you," the pilot said.

  * * * * *

  Retch caught himself. For an instant he seemed to hang in the air beforeParker, yellow glaring in his eyes as he tried to make up his mindwhether or not to buck the gun.

  "Get your hands up," Parker said.

  Slowly the yellow went out of Retch's eyes.

  "Get your hands up!" Parker repeated.

  This time Retch obeyed him. Parker backed him against the wall, took thesecond pistol from his pocket, his own gun.

  "Damn you!" Retch snarled. Parker saw that the man was not speaking tohim but to Gotch, he saw also that during all this Gotch had not moved.The man stood transfixed; afraid to move.

  Parker turned to the two men behind the table. They had not movedeither, though Ulnar looked as if he was about to come to his feet.Rozeno sat very still. There was sadness on his face.

  "Go away," he gestured toward Retch. "And you, too, Gotch, go away."

  "You mean we can go after--" Gotch faltered.

  "I don't want to see either of you again," Rozeno said. There was actualliving pain in his voice. "Go!"

  "Wait a minute," Parker spoke quickly.

  "Yes, my son?" Rozeno's face lost its sadness when he looked at Parker,it came alive with sudden animation.

  "You don't mean to tell me you are going to let these two go?" the pilotprotested.

  "Of course."

  "But Retch tried to kill you."

  "I know--"

  "And he'll try it again. There's something here that's driving himcrazy. I don't know what it is but he knows. If you turn him loose--Iwould just as soon turn loose a rattlesnake, Johnny Retch."

  Parker's words were hard, blunt, forceful. But for all the effect theyhad on the old priest, he might as well not have spoken them. Rozenosmiled. "I do not think Retch or Gotch will ever harm us. They have nomeans to harm us." He made a gesture with his hands, spoke a singleword, "Go!"

  Retch and Gotch went quickly from the room, like men who were very gladto go.

  "I hope you know what you are doing," Parker said, saw that Rozeno wasnot looking at him. The old priest was watching Mercedes.

  "You may stay here, with us," Rozeno added.

  Mercedes' face mirrored gratitude. "Thank you."

  Rozeno turned his attention to Parker. "You are new to our island, areyou not, my son?"

  "Yes."

  "How did you arrive here? Was your ship wrecked?"

  "Yes. Actually, however, we were looking for this island." SwiftlyParker explained what had happened.

  "Retch went away, he hired you to bring him back in a ship that flies?"Rozeno seemed a little perturbed.

  For the first time, Ulnar spoke, a single grunted sound. Rozeno answeredwith a swift flow of gutturals that Parker did not understand. Ulnargrunted again, a hot light appeared in his eyes. "Kill him!" His fistcame down upon the table.

  Again Rozeno looked pained. "I have worked so long and so hard with him,trying to show him the Way, trying to explain to him that killing is nota part of the Way. But the old savagery is still in his heart. SometimesI despair of him." He shook his head very gently. The light flowing infrom behind him made a halo of his long white hair. His eyes searchedParker. They were the kindest and at the same time the keenest eyes thepilot had ever met. They looked at him and through him; they probed deepdown inside of him; they seemed to search down to the bottom of hissoul. Parker had the feeling he was being weighed, measured, probed.

  "It is not often that I offer a choice to those who come here," Rozenospoke. "Usually they prefer to live in the village at the base of thecliff. You may live here with us, if you wish." The smile on Rozeno'sface was a living thing.

  Deep down inside of him, Parker felt his soul come to sudden life. "I'llstay here, Father, if I may."

  The smile on Rozeno's face became even brighter. "Good, my son. You havemade a very wise choice."

  Parker was silent, perturbed, suddenly uneasy. Here in this place twoold men lived in rooms near the top of a cliff. Down below was a villagewhere brawling men lived, men who could walk on water. In the night, inthis place something called a Jezbro went on the wings of a harp. Therewas magic here, mysteries that went beyond his understanding. What elsewas here?

  "Tell me about this place, Father?"

  Rozeno nodded. "Gladly, my son, gladly. I will show you and tell you asI show you. There are things here that even I do not understand." For asecond, the old priest frowned as if he was contemplating mysteries thatlay afar. Then his smile came back and he was rising to his feet. "Comewith me, my son."

  * * * * *

  As they moved from the big room, Ulnar grunted hastily and gesturedtoward the wall slit. Looking through it, Parker saw a speedy craftmoving inside the veil--a PT boat. His heart jumped at the thought thatthe Navy had finally penetrated the secret of this strange island. Hisheart sank when he saw that even if this was a PT boat, it was not aNavy ship. The craft was dirty, unkempt, it was not the smart, spick andspan vessel that the Navy would operate.

  As he watched, the boat veered abruptly, slowed, almost came to a haltas if its occupants had suddenly discovered the presence of the island.

  Ulnar shook his fist at the boat. "_Vondel me sego!_" he said.

  "No, no, Ulnar," Rozeno spoke hastily. "You must not _vondel_ them. Theyare just some people who have stumbled through the veil and now arebewildered."

  "Me make 'em more frightened," the Indian spoke. He brought one fistdown into the other fist, a smacking sound.

  "What is _vondel_?" Parker spoke.

  Rozeno seemed not to hear him. The priest was already moving from theroom.

  "We do not know who cut these passages here," Rozeno said. "We do notknow who cut these rooms into the rock. Some race that lived a long,long time ago--perhaps the legendary Murians, perhaps some otherrace--had this island as an outpost. I think, also, they used it as ascientific laboratory; a dangerous laboratory that they put far awayfrom their homeland. A place where their wise men--theirphilosophers--could seek out the mysteries of nature."

  "Um," Parker said. There was cold in him. He tried to force it away,discovered it would not go.

  "There is something else that is very strange about this island," thepriest continued. "Time is different here."

  "How is time different?"

  "In this way," Rozeno answered. "I came to the New World with Cortez."

  "I see," Parker said.

  "You take it very calmly."

  "I do not doubt my own eyes nor do I doubt you."

  The old priest glowed. "Good. Good. Tell me, my son, are there many menlike you in the world of today? I have a dream, a secret private dream,that the scientists from your world might come here and study thestrange things on this island."

  "They would come here in droves if they knew about it. And so wouldeverybody else. You would be over-run by hordes of the curious."

  "Yes, we know that. That isn't quite what I meant. It was my hope thatperhaps we could make this island what it was in the olden days--secretplace where the wise men could come to study." The priest's face glowedagain. "There is so much here to be learned and here, also, is the timein which to learn. Here great discoveries might be made. Here couldpossibly be discovered not only the secrets of nature but the secrets ofthe minds and the hearts of men. From this place, as the centuriespassed, there might be fed out, little by little, knowledge that wouldchange the world; knowledge that would change the hearts and the mindsof men; knowledge that would eliminate poverty, stop wars, knowledgethat
would help the human race become what it must one day be."

  The glow on Rozeno's face was bright. The dream he dreamed was suddenly,in Parker's mind, a living, breathing vital hope, the hope of allhonest men everywhere, that tomorrow might be better!

  "Would you, my son, help me achieve that dream? Will you go back throughthe veil and explain to some of your greatest scientists what we havehere?"

  "I would like nothing better," the big pilot answered. In a way, thiswas his dream too, though up until now it had always been a secret,hidden, impossible-to-accomplish thing. His hand went out to Rozeno.Deep inside of him, the glow grew to