Planet of the Damned

  XIV

  Life was ended. Brion's mind contained nothing but despair and thepain of irretrievable loss. If his brain had been completely themaster of his body he would have died there, for at that momentthere was no will to live. Unaware of this, his heart continued tobeat and the regular motion of his lungs drew in the dreadfulsweetness of the smoke-tainted air. With automatic directnesshis body lived on.

  "What you gonna do?" Telt asked, even his natural exuberationstilled by this. Brion only shook his head as the words penetrated.What could he do? What could possibly be done?

  "Follow me," a voice said in guttural Disan through the opening ofa rear window. The speaker was lost in the crowd before they couldturn. Aware now, Brion saw a native move away from the edge of thecrowd and turn to look 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." For a moment there washope, which he kept himself from considering. The building was gone,and the people 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, andI think he is on our side. Even though he's a native Disan, he canunderstand facts that the magter can't. He knows what will happento this planet." Brion was talking to fill his brain with words sohe wouldn't begin to have hope. There was no hope possible.

  Ulv moved slowly and naturally through the streets, never lookingback. They followed, as far behind as they dared, yet still keepinghim in sight. Fewer people were about here among the desertedoffworld storehouses. Ulv vanished into one of these; LIGHT METALSTRUST LTD., the sign read above the door. Telt slowed the car.

  "Don't stop here," Brion said. "Drive around the corner, and pull up."

  Brion climbed out of the car with an ease he did not feel. No onewas in sight now, in either direction. Walking slowly back to thecorner, he checked the street they had just left. Hot, silent andempty.

  A sudden blackness appeared where the door of the warehouse hadbeen, and the sudden flickering motion of a hand. Brion signaledTelt to start, and jumped into the already moving sand car.

  "Into that open door--quickly, before anyone sees us!" The carrumbled down a ramp into the dark interior and the door slid shutbehind them.

  "Ulv! What is it? Where are you?" Brion called, blinking in themurky interior. A grey form appeared beside 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 theycould to help them carry explosive. I went along. I could not stopthem, and there was no time to warn anyone in the building."

  "Then they are all dead?"

  "Yes," Ulv nodded. "All except one. I knew I could perhaps save one;I was not sure who. So I took the woman you were with in thedesert--she is here now. She was hurt, but not badly, when I broughther out."

  Guilty relief flooded through Brion. He shouldn't exult, not withthe death of everyone in the Foundation still fresh in his mind.But at that instant he was happy.

  "Let me see her," he said to Ulv. He was seized by the sudden fearthat there might be a mistake. Perhaps Ulv had saved a differentwoman.

  Ulv led the way across the empty loading bay. Brion followedclosely, fighting down the temptation to tell him to hurry. When hesaw that Ulv was heading towards an office in the far wall, he couldcontrol himself no longer and ran on ahead.

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

  "I gave her _sover_, then wrapped her in cloth so no one wouldknow," 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 got a lot of experience with it. A little makes a good knock-outdrug, but it's deadly poison in large doses. I got the antidote inthe car; wait and I'll get it." He went out.

  Brion sat next to Lea and wiped her face clean of dirt andperspiration. The dark shadows under her eyes were almost black nowand her elfin face seemed even thinner. But she was alive--that wasthe important thing.

  Some of the tension drained away from Brion and he could thinkagain. There was still the job to do. After this last experience Leashould be in a hospital bed. But this was impossible. He would haveto drag her to her feet and put her back to work. The answer mightstill be found. Each second ticked away another fraction of theplanet's life.

  "Good as new in a minute," Telt said, banging down the heavy medbox. He watched intently as Ulv left the room. "Hys shouldknow about this renegade. Might be useful as a spy, or forinformation--though of course it's too late now to do anything, sothe hell with it." He pulled a pistol-shaped hypodermic gun from thebox and dialed a number on the side. "Now, if you'll roll her sleeveup I'll bring her back to life." He pressed the bell-shapedsterilizing muzzle against her skin and pulled the trigger. The hypogun hummed briefly, ending its cycle with a loud click.

  "Does it work fast?" Brion asked.

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

  Ulv was in the doorway. "Killer!" he hissed. His blowgun was in hishand, half raised to his mouth.

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

  Brion sprang between them, raising his hands. "Stop it! No morekilling!" he shouted in Disan. Then he shook his fist at Telt."Fire that gun and I'll stuff it down your throat. I'll handle this."He turned to face Ulv, who hadn't brought the blowgun any closer tohis 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 thatit is that of a magter. I killed him myself, because I would ratherkill one, or ten, or even a hundred men than have everyone on thisplanet destroyed. I killed him in a fair fight and now I am goingto examine his body. There is something very strange and differentabout the magter, you know that yourself. If I can find out what itis, perhaps we can make them stop this war, and not bomb Nyjord."

  Ulv was still angry, but he lowered the blowgun a little. "I wishthere were no offworlders," he said. "I wish that none of you hadever come. Nothing was wrong until you started coming. The magterwere the strongest, and they killed; but they also helped. Now theywant to fight a war with your weapons, and for this you are going tokill my world. And you want me to help you!"

  "Not me--yourself!" Brion said wearily. "There's no going back,that's the one thing we can't do. Maybe Dis would have been betteroff without offplanet contact. Maybe not. In any case, you have toforget about that. You have contact now with the rest of the galaxy,for better or for worse. You've got a problem to solve, and I'm hereto help you solve it."

  Seconds ticked by as Ulv, unmoving, fought with questions that werenovel to his life. Could killing stop death? Could he help hispeople by helping strangers to fight and kill them? His world hadchanged and he didn't like it. He must make a giant effort to changewith it.

  Abruptly, he pushed the blowgun into a thong at his waist, turnedand strode 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 whole damnthing is over. Even if the planet goes bang, I don't care. I'mfinished." He walked out to the sand car, keeping a careful eyeon the Disan crouched against the wall.

  Brion turned back to Lea, whose eyes were open, staring at theceiling. 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 myroom and I could see them when they killed Dr. Stine. Just butcheredhim like an animal, chopping him down. Then one came into the roomand that's all I remember." She turned her head slowly and looked atBrion. "What happened? Why am I here?"

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

  "When do we leave?" she asked in the same empty tones, turningher face to the wall. "When do we get off this planet?"

  "Today is the last day. The deadline is midnight. Krafft will havea ship pick us up when we are ready. But we still have our job to do.I've got that body. You're going to have to examine it. We mustfind out about the magter...."

  "Nothing can be done now except leave." Her voice was a dullmonotone. "There is only so much that a person can do, and I've doneit. Please have the ship come; I want to leave now."

  Brion bit his lip in helpless frustration. Nothing seemed topenetrate the apathy into which she had sunk. Too much shock, toomuch terror, in too short a time. He took her chin in his hand andturned her head to face him. She didn't resist, but her eyes wereshining with tears; tears trickled down her cheeks.

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

  He could only brush her sodden hair back from her face, and forcehimself to smile at her. The moments of time were running out,faster and faster, and he no longer knew what to do. The examinationhad to be made--yet he couldn't force her. He looked for the med boxand saw that Telt had taken it back to the sand car. There might besomething in it that could help--a tranquilizer perhaps.

  Telt had some of his instruments open on the chart table and wasexamining a tape with a pocket magnifier when Brion entered. Hejumped nervously and put the tape behind his back, then relaxed whenhe saw who it was.

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

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

  Telt handed him the magnifier and tape. "Look at that--recordingtape from my scintillation counter. Red verticals are five-minuteintervals, the wiggly black horizontal line is the radioactivitylevel. All this where the line goes up and down, that's when we weredriving out to the attack. Varying hot level of the rock andground."

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

  "That coincides exactly with our visit to the house of horrors!When we went through the hole in the bottom of the tower!" Hecouldn't keep the excitement out of his voice.

  "Does it mean that...."

  "I don't know. I'm not sure. I have to compare it with the othertapes back at base. It could be the stone of the tower--some ofthese heavy rocks have got a high natural count. There maybe couldbe a box of instruments there with fluorescent dials. Or it might beone of those tactical atom bombs they threw at us already. Some armsrunner sold them a 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 givea trace like that. Just a little radon leaking out would do it."

  "Why don't you call Hys on the radio and let him know?"

  "I don't want Granddaddy Krafft's listening posts to hear about it.This is our job--if I'm right. And I have to check my old tapes tomake sure. But it's gonna be worth a raid, I can feel that in mybones. Let's unload your corpse." He helped Brion with the clumsy,wrapped bundle, then slipped into the driver's seat.

  "Hold it," Brion said. "Do you have anything in the med box I canuse for Lea? She seems to have cracked. Not hysterical, butwithdrawn. Won't listen to reason, won't do anything but lie thereand ask to go home."

  "Got the potion here," Telt said, cracking the med box."Slaughter-syndrome is what our medic calls it. Hit a lot of ourboys. Grow up all your life hating the idea of violence, and it goesrough when you have to start killing people. Guys break up, breakdown, go to pieces lots of different ways. The medic mixed up thisstuff. Don't know how it works, probably tranquilizers and some ofthe cortex drugs. But it peels off recent memories. Maybe for thelast ten, twelve hours. You can't get upset about what you don'tremember." He pulled out a sealed package. "Directions on the box.Good luck."

  "Luck," Brion said, and shook the technician's calloused hand."Let me know if the traces are strong enough to be bombs." He checkedthe street to make sure it was clear, then pressed the door button.The sand car churned out into the brilliant sunshine and was gone,the throb of its motor dying in the distance. Brion closed the doorand went back to Lea. Ulv was still crouched against the wall.

  There was a one-shot disposable hypodermic in the box. Lea madeno protest when he broke the seal and pressed the needle againsther arm. She sighed and her eyes closed again.

  When he saw she was resting easily, he dragged in thetarpaulin-wrapped body of the magter. A work-bench ran along onewall and he struggled the corpse up onto it. He unwrapped thetarpaulin and the sightless eyes stared accusingly up into his.

  Using his knife, Brion cut away the loose, blood-soaked clothing.Strapped under the clothes, around the man's waist, was the familiarcollection of Disan artifacts. This could have significance eitherway. Human or humanoid, the creature would still have to live onDis. Brion threw it aside, along with the clothing. Nude, pierced,bloody, the corpse lay before him.

  In every external physical detail the man was human.

  Brion's theory was becoming more preposterous with each discovery.If the magter weren't alien, how could he explain their complete lackof emotions? A mutation of some kind? He didn't see how it waspossible. There _had_ to be something alien about the dead manbefore him. The future of a world rested on this flimsy hope. IfTelt's lead to the bombs proved to be false, there would be no hopeleft at all.

  Lea was still unconscious when he looked at her again. There was noway of telling how long the coma would last. He would probably haveto waken her out of it, but he didn't want to do it too early. Ittook an effort to control his impatience, even though he knew thedrug needed time in which to work. He finally decided on at least aminimum of an hour before he should try to disturb her. That wouldbe noon--twelve hours before destruction.

  One thing he should do was to get in touch with Professor-CommanderKrafft. Maybe it was being defeatist, but he had to make sure thatthey had a way off this planet if the mission failed. Krafft hadinstalled a relay radio that would forward calls from his personalset. If this relay had been in the Foundation building, contact wasbroken. This had to be found out before it was too late. Brionthumbed on his radio and sent the call. The reply came backinstantly.

  "This is fleet communications. Will you please keep this circuitopen? Commander Krafft is waiting for this call and it is being putdirectly through to him now." Krafft's voice broke in while theoperator was still talking.

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

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

  "No more? Are there no other survivors from the disaster thatdestroyed your building?"

  "That's it, other than us it's a ... complete loss. With thebuilding and all the instruments gone, I have no way to contact ourship 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 untilI call. If there is a way to stop your destruction I'll find it.So I'm staying--to the last minute if necessary."

  Krafft was silent. There was only the crackle of an open mike andthe sound of breathing. "That is your decision," he said finally."I'll have a ship standing by. But won't you let us take Miss Moreesout now?"

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

  "What answer can you find that could possibly avert destructionnow?" His tone was between hope and despair. Brion couldn't helphim.

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

  Lea was sleeping easily when he looked at her, and there was stilla good part of the hour left before he could wake her. How couldhe put
it to use? She would need tools, instruments to examine thecorpse, and there were certainly none here. Perhaps he could findsome in the ruins of the Foundation building. With this thoughthe had the sudden desire to see the wreckage up close. There mightbe other survivors. He had to find out. If he could talk to the menhe had seen working there....

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

  "Will you help me again?" Brion asked. "Stay and watch the girlwhile I go out. I'll be back at noon." Ulv didn't answer. "I amstill looking for the way to save Dis," Brion added.

  "Go--I'll watch the girl!" Ulv spat 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 from the onethey had come by, striking first towards the outer edge of the city.Once there, he could swing and approach from the other side, sothere would be no indication where he had come from. The magtermight be watching and he didn't want to lead them to Lea and thestolen body.

  Turning a corner, he saw a sand car stopped in the street ahead.There was something familiar about the lines of it. It could be theone he and Telt had used, but he wasn't sure. He looked around, butthe dusty, packed-dirt street was white and empty, shimmering insilence under the sun. Staying close to the wall and watchingcarefully, Brion slipped towards the car. When he came close behindit he was positive it 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,and there was no motion in their shadows. Putting his foot on abogey wheel, he reached up and grabbed the searing metal rim of theopen window. He pulled himself up and stared at Telt's smiling face.

  Smiling in death. The lips pulled back to reveal the grinning teeth,the eyes bursting from the head, the features swollen and contortedfrom the deadly poison. A tiny, tufted dart of wood stuck in thebrown flesh on the side of his neck.