Sinister Paradise Read online

the veil that circled the island shimmeredand twisted as if it was about to collapse. It righted itself.

  Except for a puff of swiftly dissipating white vapor, the air was clear.Where wild harp notes had once flooded now was silence. Where a creaturethat had once looked like a giant bird had flapped through the air nowthere was nothing.

  * * * * *

  On the ledge, Johnny Retch wiped sweat from his face. From his pockets,he methodically refilled the almost empty clip of the gun. He lookeddown at Gotch, who was sitting up.

  "You killed the Jezbro!" Gotch was whispering. His eyes were searchingthe sky as if he still did not believe what he had seen happen.

  "Sure," Retch answered. "I don't know what the hell it was, but it couldbe killed. Anything can be killed, Gotch. Remember that." The sting ofacid crept into his voice. "Get up. We're going on up the ledge."

  "By God, Johnny, you can do anything!" Gotch spoke. He rose withsuddenly renewed confidence. "Wait'll we get to them--" He looked up theledge toward the mouth of the tunnel.

  Effra was seated in the operator's chair in front of the complexcontrol panel that resembled the key board of a strange organ. She hadbeen watching an image move in the screen directly in front of her eyes.

  This image--it had been that of a great bird--had suddenly vanished.

  "The Jezbro was destroyed!" she whispered. "The core of it was struck.When that happens, the complete projection is torn to pieces!" Her facewas white with strain.

  Parker took his eyes off the screen where he had been watching somethingthat he did not pretend to understand.

  "Sometimes they are very difficult to control," Effra continued, hervoice a whisper. "Once set in motion, they seem almost to achieve lifeof their own. I did not send the Jezbro against the men on the ground, Isent it against the man on the ledge, against this Retch. But--" hervoice faltered.

  "I saw it get away," Parker said. There was turmoil in his mind,confusion. He was in a place where miracles came to life. The secret ofthe ability to walk on the water lay here in this room. Effra, in swiftsentences had explained to him that the men who walked on the watercarried little pieces of metal in their pockets; pieces of metal whichincreased tremendously the surface tension of the water where theystepped on it. She had also told him that Ulnar, working this equipment,had _vondeled_ his helicopter, had sent out a tiny Jezbro that hadstruck at the ship, wrecking it. The Jezbro, the secret of the menwalking on the water, had come from this room. The striking of theJezbro was to Ulnar the act of _vondel_. Even the veil that surroundedthe island was generated here; in the power being generated in theslowly circling pool of mercury; power that was changed and modified bythe other equipment.

  Here was the heart and the secret of the magic of this island; here eventime was set aside.

  Ulnar poked at Effra, grunted harshly. "I know," the girl said quickly."In just a minute."

  Ulnar grunted again. He hovered over her like some massive broodingspirit. He was eager to get his hands on the control board but his oldfingers were no longer sufficiently flexible to play on that key boardthe tune that had to be played.

  "_Pater noster_--Our Father--" In the silence came Rozeno's voice as heknelt in prayer. Bewildered and hurt and horrified, Rozeno and Ulnar hadcome back into the room to find Parker and Effra and Mercedes alreadythere. Mercedes knelt beside him.

  Pedro thrust his head through the opening behind them. "Him two moremen, him man that kill Jezbro, him still coming up ledge."

  "That's Johnny Retch," Parker said. "He's still coming. And there areprobably others already inside here, looking for us in the rooms andcorridors. We've got to move, Effra."

  "I know, Bill." Her fingers started toward the control board, drew back."I called you Bill. Is that your name?"

  "Yes."

  "It's a nice name."

  "But now we must hurry," Parker said. As he spoke, Ulnar grunted asingle sound that set the girl into motion.

  Her fingers went to one of the little statuettes, an eagle, a perfectthing in its way, a marvelous representation of the bird of prey. Effrahad told Parker, in hasty sentences, how these images were made, deepdown in the mountain, of a particular kind of metal that was almostweightless. He watched her slip the eagle into a slot, held his breathas her fingers darted across the key board.

  A soft hum sounded--currents moving--a glow sprang into existencesurrounding the little image. Slowly, the statuette began to glow with asilver light. The glow played over it, it shifted, changed, was onething this instant, was something else the next instant. It looked likea moth emerging from a cocoon and becoming a butterfly. The tiny wingscame free, the head moved.

  The cheeping of a sleepy bird was in the room.

  At the sound, a wave of cold from the deepest depths of space seemed tosweep over Parker. Here was magic beyond the comprehension of the mind.Only it wasn't magic, it was a scientific achievement of the highestcaliber.

  * * * * *

  At the cheeping sound, Effra's fingers moved swiftly on the controlboard, playing a symphony that only she understood. The little eaglemoved out of the slot, it spread its wings, they fluttered, it movedupward into the air of the room.

  With each circling of the room, it grew larger. The cheeping soundbecame louder, there was a touch of harp music in it now. Effra'sfingers moved like lightning over the control panel. The growing eagleseemed to pick up its controls, it swirled, circled, went through theopen slot, went out of the room, and into the air outside. It was nowthe Jezbro.

  Its image appeared on the screen. It shot high into the air, stillgrowing. The scene on the screen revealed in miniature the whole island,the sea lapping its shores, the boat lying at anchor. Effra's fingersmoved frantically over the controls. "This is one of the hardest thingsto do. They seem to be attracted to the sun, when first released. Theystruggle desperately to escape into space--There! I've got it undercontrol."

  The scene changed, became a group of men climbing the ledge. Parker sawthese men suddenly jerk their heads toward the sky as they became awareof the Jezbro. He could imagine the fear that was shooting through them.They had seen Johnny Retch destroy the Jezbro, only here the Jezbro wasagain.

  From their viewpoint, it had miraculously come back to life and wasdiving again upon them from the sky. Guns were fired upward. But thesemen did not have the cool, hard nerves of Johnny Retch, did not have hisshooting eye. They missed. The Jezbro dived among them.

  They scattered, screaming. Two went off the ledge, three raced down it.One mounted to the sky to the triumphant harping of the Jezbro.

  Parker felt a wave of relief flow through him. Here in the Jezbro wasactually a most potent weapon, the means of stopping an attack. "Girl!You've done it!"

  A second later he caught himself. "But Johnny Retch wasn't in thatbunch. He must already be inside the cliff."

  A gun roared three times inside the mountain. Footsteps faltered in thecorridor outside. Pedro stumbled into the room. His face was a bloodymask.

  "Him men inside." As he coughed out the words, he coughed out blood--andhis life. He stumbled, caught himself, stumbled again, went down the waya dead man goes down, never to rise again.

  "_Qui est in Coelis_--who are in Heaven--" Rozeno's voice whisperedthrough the room. The only sound.

  Ulnar moved slowly, stood beside Pedro. They had been master and servantbut in the old days they had come up out of Mexico together, guarding atreasure. Ulnar moved to the wall, took down a heavy battle axe thathung there. "Time come for me," he said. "Me go meet men as my chiefwent to meet Cortez!" His eyes glinted.

  "Wait!" Rozeno called. The priest was on his feet. "I have resolved theconflict in my soul. There comes a time when men, even good men, mustfight against the forces of evil." From the wall he took a spear.

  "I'll go with you two," Parker said. "In just a moment." From hisjacket, he took one of the two pistols. Silently he passed it to Effra."As a last resort, use it."

 
"But, Bill, there is still time--"

  Parker didn't hear her. He was moving with Rozeno and Ulnar throughanother opening. "At least," Rozeno was saying. "We have this advantage.We know our way around here."

  They moved silently, by side passages, through the rooms. "Find Retch,"Parker whispered over and over again. "He's the heart and the core ofthis business. With him out of the way, we can handle the others."

  "Do you see anybody, Pfluger?" Retch's voice came from somewhere.

  "Naw. I think I got the old gink but he ducked out of sight somewhere."

  "Retch is on the other side of the corridor," Rozeno whispered. "The manwho spoke last is in the next