The Cometeers, page 3
part #2 of Legion Series
“I don’t mind,” she whispered softly. “You won’t, after you have been the keeper of the peace as long as I have. I suppose that last duty of the keeper must seem a terrible penalty, to you today. But there comes a time when you see that it is the final, most fitting and most precious reward for our special service.”
“I – I can’t see that.” That waiting duty became suddenly vast and dreadful in his mind, and he felt small with a new humility. “But I’m sorry – mother.” He reached out to touch her arm with a diffident caress. “I’m sorry I’ve been fretting so – about waiting here with nothing much to do.”
She reached to catch his hand and squeeze it sympathetically, and then stooped quickly again over the queerly toy-like device on the little table, which was a lever to thrust whole planets into annihilation. When he saw the look on her face – the calm authority that was almost divine and the willing acceptance of ultimate death as its price – his own restless impatience began to seem petty childishness. She finished some final adjustment, and straightened to face John Star.
“It’s ready,” she said.
“Then use it.”
She picked up the tiny device, and carried it to the vast west windows. Following, Bob Star was shaken with a puzzled dread. He wet his lips, and whispered hoarsely:
“Can you use it safely, here inside the building? And find the comet, without a telescope?”
“I can.” She glanced back gravely. “It’s mental force, that moves the lever. There’s no danger to anything except the object at which it is directed. And a telescope would be only in the way, because light’s too slow to show the target where it is. What I’ve called the fulcrum, remember, is something outside space and tune.”
She had turned to lift the small device, her slender hands white with her tension but yet oddly steady. She seemed to be sighting through the peepholes in the two tiny metal disks – though the comet, now by day, was invisible to Bob Star’s eyes. Her finger was moving to touch the key when John Star sprang to catch her arm.
“Wait!” he gasped.
Beyond them, Bob Star saw a pale blur of blue flame in the sky. He heard the whisper and the rushing and the thunderous roar of rockets. The air was alive with quivering sound, and he glimpsed a mountain of white metal, flashing above the window. Then the red floor trembled, and the rockets were suddenly still.
“It’s the Invincible!” In that abrupt silence, John Star’s taut voice seemed oddly small and far away. “Commander Kalam must have followed me – I can’t quite imagine why!” He turned slowly from the window, to Aladoree. “I think you should wait, until we know.”
Bob Star had run to join them at the window. A thousand feet below and a mile away, he saw the enormous ship – far too large for the stage on the tower, it had come down in the forest. The trees beyond it were uprooted and blazing from the rocket blast.
Even from this height, it looked literally invincible, and the shining might of it gave him a momentary sense of pride in the Legion and mankind. It was the most magnificent machine that men had ever made. The geodyne drive put the stars within its reach. New, refractory alloys made its bright hull invulnerable. Its great weapon, the atomic vortex gun, could desolate planets.
A rocket plane lifted from the hull, as he watched, and climbed swiftly toward the stage above the tower. His mother’s eyes followed it, bright with hope.
“That must be Jay,” she whispered. “We must wait.”
She lowered the device she had been aiming toward the comet, and Bob Star turned from the mighty miracle of the Invincible to peer at it once more.
“It’s so small!” he protested breathlessly. “Made of such common things! It looks so insignificant – beside the Invincible. As if it couldn’t really destroy – anything!”
“This is only the lever.” She lifted it on her small palm, almost casually. She must have seen the awed wonder in his eyes, for she added quietly: “I carry it taken apart and the parts disguised, as another measure of security. Yet, even if the assembled instrument fell into hostile hands, there would be no danger. No manipulation of the instrument itself can have any effect, unless you know the fulcrum and the force.”
Bob Star came to attention, with a quick salute, when Jay Kalam entered the room. Oddly, although he had been commander of the Legion for nearly twenty years, he looked far less soldierly than John Star. He was slender and dark and tall, with no trace of military stiffness in his bearing. His green-and-gold uniform was worn with a confident assurance, but it failed to disguise the grave reserve of the scholarly gentleman.
“John!” He spoke from the doorway, his voice quick with urgency. “Aladoree! Have you destroyed the object in Virgo?”
She moved toward him anxiously.
“Not yet,” she whispered. “In another second – but we saw your rockets – ”
“Then don’t!” His thin face relaxed, and the breath sighed out of him. He came on into the room, smiling slightly now. “I was afraid I had got here too late,” he said huskily. “The Council has rescinded its order – ”
“What’s that?” John Star’s voice was brittle as the snap of breaking glass. “Why?”
Deliberately, the tall man drew another heavy envelope from an inside pocket of his tunic, and handed it gravely to Aladoree. She opened it hastily, and her gray eyes smiled again as she read the document.
“I’m glad you got here, Jay,” she whispered softly. “You have saved me from murdering – something that must be very wonderful!”
“Why is this?” John Star’s lips were tight, his narrow face pale and stern. “Why was the order rescinded?”
The grave commander of the Legion swung quietly toward him.
“John,” he said soberly, “you know the Council was divided on ordering the destruction of the cometary object. I myself oppose it – as the murder of something greater than a planet. After you departed, I got permission to speak before the Council, in favor of a more moderate policy.”
“But – Jay!” John Star’s voice was sharp with his apprehensive urgency. “We know already that the Cometeers are hostile. We know they’ve found out about Merrin. Every moment the comet exists increases our danger. It must be destroyed!”
The tall commander shook his head.
“I know your arguments, John,” he said slowly. “And we all admit that the situation is extremely grave. We must take stern measures to assure the safety of the System. But we aren’t justified yet, in annihilating the object – without even finding out what it really is. While it’s true that the Cometeers have been scouting our military establishments, it’s quite possible that they are only trying to protect themselves from the hasty use of some such weapon as Aladoree’s. For all we know, their purpose in approaching the System may be entirely peaceful.”
“Jay, you’re a pacifist at heart.” Restrained anger cracked in John Star’s voice. “You’ve no business in the Legion!”
“I’ll not be guilty of the murder of an unknown world,” Jay Kalam answered softly. “Not just out of panic. My business in the Legion is the protection of civilization – and what does that mean, without justice or mercy? If we attempt the needless destruction of the comet, I feel that we’re asking for the same sort of fate.
“Anyhow, John, I was able to convince several members of the Council that they had been unduly swayed by your war talk. The first motion was to send an ultrawave message to call you back, but I pointed out the probability that the Cometeers might intercept and decode the order. I could see an actual danger there – because I can feel the weight of your arguments, John, even though I favor moderation. You had been gone only two hours, and I thought we could overtake you with the Invincible. It seems we were nearly too late.”
“You’ll wish you had been too late.” John Star’s face looked pale and rigid, and his voice sounded hoarse and stern and terrible. “And the System will!” He nodded bleakly at the document Jay Kalam had brought. “That paper is the death-warrant for mankind.”
An ominous quiet hung in the Jade Room. Silently, at last, Aladoree walked back to the scarletwood table and stooped to take apart her harmless-seeming weapon.
“I hope you’re wrong, John,” Jay Kalam said.
“But I’m not,” John Star answered flatly. “I’ve no desire to be needlessly ruthless. But my duty is to guard the keeper of the peace, and I can’t afford to let mistaken emotions stand in the way. I know this, Jay: by saving the comet you are murdering the System.”
Chapter 4
The Man Called Merrin
A terrible taut stillness reigned for a little while in the Jade Room. John Star stood motionless and alone on the vast red floor, his pale face set like a mask of death. Something made the others shrink back from him.
Bob Star heard the sudden catch in his father’s breath, and saw the wet glitter in his eyes. The guardian of the keeper was suddenly also a man defending his wife. He strode to Aladoree and turned, with his arm around her waist, to look almost defiantly at the commander of the Legion.
“Well, Jay?” His voice was flat and hard and dry. “If we can’t destroy the comet, what are we going to do?”
“The Green Hall voted to leave that in my hands,” Jay Kalam said. “I considered the situation carefully, while we came out from Earth. I’ve worked out a plan that I think is safe.”
“Yes?” John Star waited, grimly intent.
“There are three things we must do,” the lean commander said deliberately. “We must protect the keeper. We must guard the prisoner known as Merrin. We must find out as soon as possible whether the existence of the comet is any actual danger to the System.
“The first task is your duty, John.”
John Star nodded silently, his arm drawing tighter around Aladoree.
“But I doubt that she’s safe any longer, here in the Purple Hall,” Jay Kalam added. “Phobos is well defended – but so was that vault in the Green Hall, which the Cometeers raided. With their invisibility, they would probably be able to land and enter the building, undetected. What was left of the men guarding that vault shows that they have strange and terrible weapons.”
“I’m quite aware of that!”
“Then I suggest that you take Aladoree away from here, on the Phantom Star, at once. I don’t want to know where. You may select your own destination. Keep it secret. You can send some member of the Council the necessary information about how to communicate with you, if it does become necessary to use AKKA – a simple set of code signals, for ultrawave broadcast, ought to be sufficient.”
“Yes, sir.” John Star gave him a brisk salute.
“The defenses of the man called Merrin,” he continued deliberately, “are already as good as the Legion can make them – except in one particular. I’m going to call upon your son, to make them complete.”
He turned to Bob Star, his dark eyes searchingly intent.
“Are you ready, Bob, to undertake a very important and very dangerous duty, for the Legion and the System?”
“Yes – yes, sir!” Bob Star’s voice tried to stick, but he was trembling with an incredulous joy. Dismay shook him, when he heard his father’s quick protest.
“Robert isn’t ready for duty,” John Star said. “I was planning to take him with us, when we leave on the Phantom Star.”
“No!” Bob Star gasped. “Please – I want something to do.”
John Star merely shrugged at that, but Aladoree caught his arm.
“Bob and I have been talking, John,” she said quickly. “He feels that we have been shielding him too much, and I believe he’s right. I think he really needs a chance to prove himself.”
“Thank you, mother!” Bob Star whispered, and he turned eagerly to the grave commander. “Please – I want to try – whatever I can do. I want to try – and I’ll do my best!”
“This will need your best.” And Jay Kalam turned to John Star. “John,” he said quietly, “for this service I must call upon your son. No other man will do. You recall the adjustment of the Jovian Revolt. There’s the matter of a promise given – and I intend to respect the honor of the Legion, even in such times as these.”
John Star turned slowly back to his son. Watching him uneasily, Bob could see the stern reflection of some searching question on his face, but at last he nodded, without ever asking it. He swung abruptly back to Jay Kalam.
“Yes, I suppose we must go on keeping our word.” His voice seemed cold and harsh. “You may give Robert the necessary orders.”
Bob Star felt an ache in his throat. He wanted to thank his father, but the bleak set of John Star’s face checked the words. He lifted his arm in an impulsive salute, and John Star returned it stiffly.
“For the third matter,” Jay Kalam said again, “I am going out to the object in Virgo, on the Invincible. We shall keep in contact with the Green Hall, so long as possible, with tight-beam ultrawave. I intend to discover the true nature of the object and the purpose of its enigmatic motion. I hope to find that it isn’t quite so dangerous as you think.”
John Star stepped forward quickly, and shook the commander’s hand. He seemed to swallow, and then said huskily, “Jay!”
“I fully expect to be seeing you again, John,” Jay Kalam said evenly. “If we don’t return, however, I suppose it will be advisable to destroy the object. It will take us about five days to reach it and five to return. Give us two more. If we haven’t come back in twelve days, John, you may consider us lost – and forget my protests against destroying the object.”
He paused, turning to Bob Star.
“Bob, you will come with us on the Invincible to the prison of the man known as Merrin. We’ll have time on the crossing for me to explain the details and the great importance of your duty. You may make your farewells. We are leaving at once.”
Bob Star turned breathlessly toward his mother.
His father was beckoning the commander aside. “Jay, I’ve decided where to look for our new sanctuary. We’ll be leaving Phobos within two hours. As for communication – ”
Cautiously, John Star lowered his voice.
The woman who was also the keeper of the peace moved quickly to meet her son. Her tall loveliness caught his heart with a sharp pang of yearning affection, and the tender softness of her voice, when she spoke, brought back to him all the bittersweet of childhood. She took both his hands in hers, and drew him to her with a quivering urgency. Her eyes swept fondly up and down him, and he saw her swelling tears.
“Bob,” she breathed, “kiss your mother! You haven’t kissed me, Bob, since the day you went away to the academy – nine years ago. And I think – ” Her clear voice shuddered. “I’m afraid, Bob, that we shall never be together again!”
He kissed her. A sudden cruel tension had closed on his chest. Her troubled loveliness swam in his tears.
“My beautiful, beautiful mother!” he whispered. He drew back to look at her, with a puzzled unease. “But you didn’t want to destroy the comet,” he said quickly. “I thought you weren’t afraid, even – to die.”
“That?” She shrugged away the penalty of her secret. “But I wish – I almost wish that Commander Kalam had landed half a minute later. Because I’m still afraid your father is right.”
“Why?”
She stood silent for a moment, fear cold on her face.
“Jay will tell you about the man we call Merrin,” she said huskily. “I saw him only once. That was after he became the prisoner of the Legion. He was shackled and well guarded. Yet, somehow, he was terrible.”
She stood staring toward the jade-and-silver wall, her eyes fixed and somber as if her mind were seeing something more disturbing.
“He was a giant, Bob.” Dread still trembled in her voice. “There was a kind of splendor in him, and a terrible strength. He was a helpless captive, yet his face was shining with an unconquered power. He seemed like – well, something more than just a human being.”
She caught Bob’s arm, her strong hand quivering.
“He seemed superhuman – immortal and almost invincible and entirely contemptuous of mankind. His mind must be as powerful as his magnificent body – but his emotions can’t be quite human. You have to admire him. But you must fear him, too. I don’t quite know why, because there certainly isn’t much harm left that he can do.
“He didn’t speak to me, Bob. He simply turned for an instant to look at me, as they were leading him across to his cell – taking mincing little steps, because of the leg irons. His blue eyes were burning – and they were cold as ice. They were undefeated, carelessly unafraid.
“He laughed at me, as he went on, from a distance I could never reach across. Something in him hadn’t been beaten – and never will be! You must guard him well, Bob. For in him you are guarding the lives and the happiness of all your honest fellow men!”
Astonished and puzzled, he whispered, “I will.”
“Come, Bob,” Jay Kalam was saying. “It’s time to go.”
He embraced his mother.
“I love you, Bob,” she was breathing. “And I’m – oh! so afraid!” Her slight, straight body was trembling against him. “Be careful, son. Don’t let the man called Merrin get away!”
“Good-by, Robert.” His father shook his hand, speaking with an unaccustomed tremor of emotion in his voice. “Whatever happens, don’t ever forget that you are now an officer on duty with the Legion of Space.”
“Yes, sir.” Bob Star wondered about that unspoken question he had seen in his father’s troubled eyes, and he tried hard to answer it. “I won’t forget!”
He went out of the Jade Room with Commander Kalam, and paused abruptly when he saw Giles Habibula, sitting half-asleep on a seat in the wide corridor outside.
“My bodyguards?” he asked quickly. “Are they coming?”
The commander’s dark face warmed, as if to the glow of old memories.
“Giles and Hal?” He nodded quickly. “They’re good men – we served together, you know, long ago. Bring them on board.”
A concealed door behind the chart room of the Invincible opened into a long chamber that Bob Star was surprised to find upon a warship of space. Golden light from hidden sources fell upon the rich sheen of heavy rugs. The pale ivory walls were hung with exquisite Titanian tapestries. The massive furnishings, in silver and black, were luxuriously simple. The long bookshelves and the optiphone, with its tall cabinets of the recorded music and drama of several planets, revealed the scholarly aesthete in the master of the room.
