Sense of Obligation

  XIV

  Life was ended. Brion's mind contained nothing but despair and the painof irretrievable loss. If his brain had been complete master of his bodyhe would have died there, for at that moment there was no will to live.Unaware of this his heart continued to beat and the regular motion ofhis lungs drew in the dreadful sweetness of the smoke-tainted air. Withautomatic directness his body lived on.

  "What you gonna do?" Telt asked, even his natural exuberation stilled bythis. Brion only shook his head as the words penetrated. What could hedo? What could possibly be done?

  "Follow me," a voice said in guttural Disan through the opening of arear window. The speaker was lost in the crowd before they could turn.Aware now, Brion saw a native move away from the edge of the crowd andturn in their direction. It was Ulv.

  "Turn the car--that way!" He punched Telt's arm and pointed. "Do itslowly and don't draw any attention to us." There was sudden hope,which he kept himself from considering. The building was gone and thepeople in it all dead. That fact had to be faced.

  "What's going on?" Telt asked. "Who was that talked in the window?"

  "A native--that one up ahead. He saved my life in the desert, and Ithink he is on our side. Even though he's a native Disan, he canunderstand facts that the magter can't. He knows what will happen tothis planet." Brion was talking, filling his brain with words so hewouldn't begin to have hope.

  Ulv moved slowly and naturally through the streets, never looking back.They followed, as far behind as they dared, yet still keeping him insight. There were fewer people about here among the deserted offworldstorehouses. Ulv vanished into one, LIGHT METALS TRUST LTD. the signread above the door. Telt slowed the car.

  "Don't stop here," Brion said. "Drive on around the corner, and pullup."

  Brion climbed out of the car with an ease he did not feel. There was noone in sight now, in either direction. Walking slowly back to the cornerhe checked the street they had just left--hot, silent and empty!

  A sudden blackness appeared where the door of the warehouse had been,and the sudden flickering motion of a hand. Brion signaled Telt tostart, and jumped into the already moving sandcar.

  "Into that open door--quickly before anyone sees us!" The car rumbleddown a ramp into the dark interior and the door slid shut behind them.

  "Ulv. What is it? Where are you?" Brion called, blinking in the murkyinterior. A gray form appeared next to him.

  "I am here."

  "Did you--" There was no way to finish the sentence.

  "I heard of the raid. The magter called together all of us they could tohelp them carry explosives. I went along. I could not stop them andthere was no time to warn anyone in the building."

  "Then they are all dead--?"

  "Yes," Ulv nodded, "all except one. I knew I could possibly save one,and I was not sure who. So I took the woman you were with in the desert,she is here now. She was hurt, but not badly, when I brought her out."

  Guilty relief flooded through Brion. He shouldn't exult, not with thedeath of everyone in the Foundation still fresh in his mind. But at thatinstant he was happy.

  "May I see her?" he asked Ulv. He was seized by the sudden fear thatthere might be a mistake. Perhaps Ulv had saved a different girl.

  * * * * *

  Ulv led the way across the empty loading bay. Brion followed closely,fighting down the temptation to tell him to hurry. When he saw that Ulvwas heading towards an office in the far wall, he could control himselfno longer and ran on ahead.

  It was Lea, lying unconscious on a couch. Sweat beaded her face and shemoaned and stirred without opening her eyes.

  "I gave her _sover_, then wrapped her in cloth so no one would know,"Ulv said.

  Telt was close behind them looking in through the open door.

  "_Sover_ is a drug they take from one of their plants," he said. "We gota lot of experience with it. A little makes a good knock-out drug, butit's deadly poison in large doses. I got the antidote in the car, waitand I'll get it." He went out.

  Brion sat next to Lea and wiped her face clean of dirt and perspiration.The dark shadows under her eyes were almost black now and her elfin faceeven thinner. Yet she was alive, that was the important thing. Some ofthe tension drained away and he could think again. There was still thejob to do. After this last experience she should be in a hospital bed.Yet this was impossible. He had to drag her to her feet and put her backto work. The answer might still be found. Each second ticked awayanother fraction of the planet's life.

  "Good as new in a minute," Telt said, banging down the heavy medbox. Hewatched intently as Ulv left the room. "Hys should know about thisrenegade. Might be useful as a spy or for information. Of course it'stoo late now to do anything, so the hell with it." He pulled apistol-shaped hypodermic gun from the box and dialed a number on theside. "Now, if you'll roll her sleeve up I'll bring her back to life."He pressed the bell-shaped sterilizing muzzle against her skin andpulled the trigger. The hypo gun hummed briefly, ending its cycle with alarge click.

  "Does it work fast?" Brion asked.

  "Couple of minutes. Just let her be and she'll come to by herself."

  "Killer!" Ulv hissed from the doorway. His blowgun was in his hand, halfraised to his mouth.

  "He's been in the car--he's seen it!" Telt shouted and grabbed for hisgun.

  Brion sprang between them, raising his hands. "Stop it! No morekilling!" he shouted this in Disan. Then he shook his fist at Telt."Fire that gun and I'll stuff it down your throat. I'll handle this." Heturned to face Ulv who hadn't raised the blowgun any closer to his lips.This was a good sign. The Disan was still uncertain.

  "You have seen the body in the car, Ulv. So you must have seen that itis that of a magter. I killed him myself, because I would rather killone, ten or even a hundred men rather than have everyone on this planetdestroyed. I killed him in a fair fight and now I am going to examinehis body. There is something very strange and different about themagter, you know that yourself. If I can find out what it is, perhaps wecan make them stop this war, and not bomb Nyjord."

  Ulv was still angry, yet he lowered the blowgun a little. "I wish therewere no offworlders, that none of you had ever come. Nothing was wronguntil you started coming. The magter were the strongest, and theykilled, but they also helped. Now they want to fight a war with yourweapons and for this you are going to kill my world. And you want me tohelp you?"

  "Not me--yourself!" Brion said wearily. "There's no going back, that'sthe one thing we can't do. Maybe Dis would have been better off withoutoffplanet contact. Maybe not. In any case you have to forget about that.You have contact now with the rest of the galaxy, for better or forworse. You've got a problem to solve, and I'm here to help you solveit."

  Seconds ticked by as Ulv, unmoving, fought with questions that werenovel to his life. Could killing stop death? Could he help his people byhelping strangers to fight and kill them? His world had changed and hedidn't like it. He must make a giant effort to change with it.

  Abruptly, he pushed the blowgun into a thong at his waist, turned andstrode out.

  "Too much for my nerves," Telt said, settling his gun back in theholster. "You don't know how happy I'm gonna be when this thing is over.Even if the planet goes bang, I don't care. I'm finished." He walked outto the sandcar, keeping a careful eye on the Disan crouched against thewall.

  * * * * *

  Brion turned back to Lea whose eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.He went to her.

  "Running," she said, and her voice had a toneless emptiness thatscreamed louder than any emotion. "They ran by the open door of my roomand I could see them when they killed Dr. Stine. Just butchered himlike an animal, chopping him down. Then one came into the room andthat's all I remember." She turned her head slowly and looked at Brion."What happened? Why am I here?"

  "They're ... dead," he told her. "All of them. After the raid the Disansblew up the building. You're the only one that survived. That was Ulvw
ho came into your room, the Disan we met in the desert. He brought youaway and hid you here in the city."

  "When do we leave?" she said, in the same empty tones, turning her faceto the wall. "When do we get off this planet?"

  "Today is the last day. The deadline is midnight. Krafft will have aship pick us up when we are ready. But we still have our job to do. I'vegot that body. You're going to have to examine it. We must find outabout the magter--"

  "Nothing can be done now except leave," her voice was a dull monotone."There is only so much that a person can do and I've done it. Pleasehave the ship come, I want to leave now."

  Brion chewed his lip in helpless frustration. Nothing seemed to be ableto penetrate the apathy she had sunk into. Too much shock, too muchterror, in too short a time. He took her chin in his hand and turned herhead to face him. She didn't resist, but her eyes were shining withtears, tears trickled down her cheeks.

  "Take me home, Brion, please take me home."

  He could only brush her sodden hair back from her face then and forcehimself to smile at her. The particles of time were running out, fasterand faster, and he no longer knew what to do. The examination had to bemade. Yet he couldn't force her. He looked for the medbox and saw thatTelt had taken it back to the sandcar. There might be something in itthat could help. A tranquilizer perhaps.

  Telt had some of his instruments open on the chart table and wasexamining a tape with a pocket magnifier. He jumped nervously and putthe tape behind his back when Brion entered, then relaxed when he sawwho it was.

  "Thought you were the creepie out there, coming for a look," hewhispered. "Maybe you trust him--but I can't afford to. Can't even usethe radio. I'm getting out of here now, I have to tell Hys!"

  "Tell him what?" Brion asked sharply. "What is all the mystery about?"

  Telt handed him the magnifier and tape. "Look at that. Recording tapefrom my scintillation counter. Red verticals are five-minute intervals,the wiggly black horizontal line is the radioactivity level. All thiswhere the line goes up and down, that's when we were driving out to theattack. Varying hot level of the rock and ground."

  "What's the big peak in the middle?"

  "That coincides exactly with our visit to the house of horrors! When wewent through the hole in the bottom of the tower!" He couldn't keep theenthusiasm out of his voice.

  "Does it mean that--"

  "I don't know. I'm not sure. I have to compare it with the other tapesback at base. It could be the stone of the tower, some of these heavyrocks got a high natural count. There maybe could be a box ofinstruments there with fluorescent dials. Or it might be one of thosetactical atom bombs they threw at us already, some arms runner sold thema few."

  "Or it could be the cobalt bombs?"

  "It could be," Telt said, packing his instruments swiftly. "A badlyshielded bomb, or an old one with a crack in the skin, could give atrace like that. Just a little radon leaking out would do it."

  "Why don't you call Hys on the radio, let him know."

  "Don't want Grandaddy Krafft's listening posts to hear about it. This isour job--if I'm right. And I have to check my old tapes to make sure.But it's gonna be worth a raid, I can feel that in my bones. Let'sunload your corpse." He helped Brion, then slipped into the driver'sseat.

  "Hold it," Brion said. "Do you have anything in the medbox I can use forLea. She seems to have cracked. Not hysterical, but withdrawn. Won'tlisten to reason, won't do anything but lie there and ask to go home."

  "Got the potion here," Telt said, cracking the medbox."Slaughter-syndrome is what our medic calls it. Hit a lot of our boys.Grow up all your life hating the idea of violence, it goes rough whenyou have to start killing people. Guys breakup, breakdown, go to pieceslots of different ways. The medic mixed up this stuff. Don't know how itworks, probably tranquilizers and some of the cortex drugs. But it peelsoff recent memories. Maybe for the last ten, twelve hours. You can't getupset about what you don't remember." He pulled out a sealed package."Directions on the box. Good luck."

  "Luck," Brion said, and shook the technician's calloused hand. "Let meknow if the traces are strong enough to be bombs." He checked the streetto make sure it was clear, then pressed the door button. The sandcarchurned out into the brilliant sunshine and was gone, the throb of it'smotor dying in the distance. Brion closed the door and went back to Lea.Ulv was still crouched against the wall.

  * * * * *

  There was a one-shot disposable hypodermic in the box. Lea made noprotest when he broke the seal and pressed the needle against her arm.She sighed and her eyes closed again. When he saw she was restingeasily, he dragged in the tarpaulin-wrapped body of the magter. Aworkbench ran along one wall and he struggled the corpse up onto it. Heunwrapped the tarpaulin and the sightless eyes stared accusingly up intohis.

  Using his knife, Brion cut away the loose, bloodsoaked clothing.Strapped under the clothes, around the man's waist, was the familiarcollection of Disan artifacts. This could have significance either way.Human or humanoid, it would still have to live on Dis. Brion threw itaside, along with the rest of the clothing. Nude, pierced, bloody, thecorpse lay before him.

  In every external physical detail the man was human.

  Brion's theory was becoming more preposterous with each discovery. Ifthe magter weren't alien, how could he explain their complete lack ofemotions? A mutation of some kind? He didn't see how it was possible.There _had_ to be something alien, about the dead man before him. Thefuture of a world rested on this flimsy hope. If Telt's lead to thebombs proved to be false, there would be no hope left at all.

  Lea was still unconscious when he looked at her. There was no way oftelling how long the coma would last. He would probably have to wakenher out of it, but didn't want to do it too early. It took an effort tocontrol his impatience, even though he knew the drug needed time to workin. He finally decided on at least a minimum of an hour before he shouldtry to disturb her. That would be noon--twelve hours before destruction.

  One thing he should do was get in touch with Professor-Commander Krafft.Maybe it was being defeatist, yet he had to make sure that they had away off this planet if the mission failed. Krafft had installed a relayradio that would forward calls from his personal set. If this relay hadbeen in the Foundation building, contact was broken. This had to befound out before it was too late. He thumbed on his radio and sent thecall. The reply came back instantly.

  "This is fleet communications. Will you please keep this circuit open?Commander Krafft is waiting for this call and it is being put directlythrough to him now." Krafft's voice broke in while the operator wasstill talking.

  "Who is making this call--is it anyone from the Foundation?" The oldman's voice was shaky with emotion.

  "Brandd here. I have Lea Morees with me--"

  "No more? Are there no other survivors from the disaster that destroyedyour building?"

  "That's it, other than us it's a ... complete loss. With the buildingand all the instruments gone I have no way to contact our ship in orbit.Can you arrange to get us out of here if necessary?"

  "Give me your location, a ship is coming now--"

  "I don't need a ship now," Brion interrupted. "Don't send it until Icall. If there is a way to stop your destruction, I'll find it. So I'mstaying--to the last minute if necessary."

  Krafft was silent. There was just the crackle of an open mike and thesound of breathing. "That is your decision," he said finally. "I'll havea ship standing by. But won't you let us take Miss Morees out now?"

  "No. I need her here. We are still working, looking for--"

  "What answer can you find that could possibly avert destruction now?"His tone was between hope and despair. Brion couldn't help him.

  "If I succeed--you'll know. Otherwise, that will be the end of it. Endof transmission." He switched the radio off.

  Lea was sleeping easily when he looked at her, and there was still agood part of the hour left before he could wake her. How could he put itto use? She would
need tools, instruments to examine the corpse, therewere certainly none here. Perhaps there were some he could find in theruins of the Foundation building. With this thought he had the suddendesire to see the wreckage up close, and talk to the men he had seenworking there. There might be other survivors. He had to find out.

  Ulv was still crouched against the wall in the outer room. He looked upangrily when Brion came over, but said nothing.

  "Will you help me again?" Brion asked. "Stay and watch the girl while Igo out. I'll be back at noon." Ulv didn't answer. "I am still lookingfor the way to save Dis," Brion said.

  "Go, I'll watch the girl!" Ulv spat the words in impotent fury. "I donot know what to do. You may be right. Go. She will be safe with me."

  Brion slipped out into the deserted street and half running, halfwalking, made his way towards the rubble that had been the CulturalRelationships Foundation. He used a different course than the one theyhad come by, striking first towards the outer edge of the city. Oncethere he could swing and approach from the other side, so there would beno indication where he had come from. The magter might be watching andhe didn't want to lead them to Lea and the stolen body.

  Turning a corner he saw a sandcar stopped in the street ahead. There wassomething familiar about the lines of it. It could be the one he andTelt had used, but he wasn't sure. He looked around, but the dusty,packed-dirt street was white and empty, shimmering in silence under thesun. Staying close to the wall and watching carefully, Brion slippedtowards the car. When he came close to the rear tracks he was positiveit was the one he had been in the night before. What was it doing here?

  Silence and heat filled the street. Windows and doors were empty andthere was no motion in their shadows. Putting his foot on a bogey wheelhe reached up and grabbed the searing metal rim of the open window. Hepulled himself up and stared at Telt's smiling face.

  Smiling in death. The lips pulled back to reveal the grinning teeth, theeyes bursting from the head, the features swollen and contorted from thedeadly poison. A tiny, tufted dart of wood stuck innocently in the brownflesh on the side of his neck.