Planet of the Damned

  XVII

  "Do you mean what you said, about giving up?" Lea asked. Brionrealized that she had stopped talking to Ulv some time ago, and hadbeen listening to his conversation with Krafft. He shrugged, tryingto put his feeling into words.

  "We've tried--and almost succeeded. But if they won't listen, whatcan we do? What can one man possibly do against a fleet loaded withH-bombs?"

  As if in answer to the question, Ulv's voice drowned him out,the harsh Disan words slashing the silence of the room.

  "Kill you, the enemy!" he said. "Kill you _umedvirk_!"

  He shouted the last word and his hand flashed to his belt. In asingle swift motion he lifted his blowgun and placed it to his lips.A tiny dart quivered in the already dead flesh of the creature inthe magter's skull. The action had all the symbolism of a brokenlance, the declaration of war.

  "Ulv understands it a lot better than you might think," Lea said."He knows things about symbiosis and mutualism that would get hima job as a lecturer in any university on Earth. He knows just whatthe brain-symbiote is and what it does. They even have a word for it,one that never appeared in our Disan language lessons. A life formthat you can live with or cooperate with is called _medvirk_. Onethat works to destroy you is _umedvirk_. He also understands thatlife forms can change, and be _medvirk_ or _umedvirk_ at differenttimes. He has just decided that the brain symbiote is _umedvirk_and he is out to kill it. So will the rest of the Disans as soon ashe can show them the evidence and explain."

  "You're sure of this?" Brion asked, interested in spite of himself.

  "Positive. The Disans have an absolute attitude towards survival;you should realize that. Not the same as the magter, but not muchdifferent in the results. They will kill the brain-symbiotes, evenif it means killing every magter who harbors one."

  "If that is the case we can't leave now," Brion said. With thesewords it suddenly became clear what he had to do. "The ship iscoming down now from the fleet. Get in it and take the body ofthe magter. I won't go."

  "Where will you be?" she asked, shocked.

  "Fighting the magter. My presence on the planet means that Krafftwon't keep his threat to drop the bombs any earlier than themidnight deadline. That would be deliberately murdering me. I doubtif my presence past midnight will stop him, but it should keep thebombs away at least until then."

  "What will you accomplish besides committing suicide?" Lea pleaded."You just told me how a single man can't stop the bombs. What willhappen to you at midnight?"

  "I'll be dead--but in spite of that I can't run away. Not now.I must do everything possible right up until the last instant. Ulvand I will go to the magter tower, try to find out if the bombs arethere. He will fight on our side now. He may even know more aboutthe bombs, things that he didn't want to tell me before. We can gethelp from his people. Some of them must know where the bombs are,being native to this planet."

  Lea started to say something, but he rushed on, drowning out her words.

  "You have just as big a job. Show the magter to Krafft, explain thesignificance of the brain-parasite to him. Try to get him to talk toHys about the last raid. Try to get him to hold off the attack. I'llkeep the radio with me and as soon as I know anything I'll call in.This is all last resort, finger in the dike kind of stuff, but it isall we can do. Because if we do nothing, it means the end of Dis."

  Lea tried to argue with him, but he wouldn't listen to her. He onlykissed her, and with a lightness he did not feel tried to convinceher that everything would be all right. In their hearts they bothknew it wouldn't be but they left it that way because it was theleast painful solution.

  A sudden rumbling shook the building and the windows darkened asa ship settled in the street outside. The Nyjord crew came in withguns pointed, alert for anything.

  After a little convincing they took the cadaver, as well as Lea,when they lifted ship. Brion watched the spacer become a pinpoint inthe sky and vanish. He tried to shake off the feeling that this wasthe last time he would see any of them.

  "Let's get out of here fast," he told Ulv, picking up the radio,"before anyone comes around to see why the ship landed."

  "What will you do?" Ulv asked as they went down the street towardsthe desert. "What can we do in the few hours we have left?" Hepointed at the sun, nearing the horizon. Brion shifted the weightof the radio to his other hand before replying.

  "Get to the magter tower we raided last night, that's the best chance.The bombs might be there.... Unless you know where the bombs are?"

  Ulv shook his head. "I do not know, but some of my people may.We will capture a magter, then kill him, so they can all seethe _umedvirk_. Then they will tell us everything they know."

  "The tower first then, for bombs or a sample magter. What's thefastest way we can get there?"

  Ulv frowned in thought. "If you can drive one of the cars theoffworlders use, I know where there are some locked in buildingsin this city. None of my people know how they are made to move."

  "I can work them--let's go."

  Chance was with them this time. The first sand car they found stillhad the keys in the lock. It was battery-powered, but containeda full charge. Much quieter than the heavy atomic cars, it spedsmoothly out of the city and across the sand. Ahead of them the sunsank in a red wave of color. It was six o'clock. By the time theyreached the tower it was seven, and Brion's nerves felt as if theywere writhing under his skin.

  Even though it looked like suicide, attacking the tower broughtblessed relief. It was movement and action, and for moments ata time he forgot the bombs hanging over his head.

  The attack was nerve-rackingly anticlimactic. They used the mainentrance, Ulv ranging soundlessly ahead. There was no one in sight.Once inside, they crept down towards the lower rooms where theradiation had been detected. Only gradually did they realize thatthe magter tower was completely empty.

  "Everyone gone," Ulv grunted, sniffing the air in every room thatthey passed. "Many magter were here earlier, but they are gone now."

  "Do they often desert their towers?" Brion asked.

  "Never. I have never heard of it happening before. I can think ofno reason why they should do a thing like this."

  "Well, I can," Brion told him. "They would leave their home if theytook something with them of greater value. The bombs. If the bombswere hidden here, they might move them after the attack." Suddenfear hit him. "Or they might move them because it is time to takethem--to the launcher! Let's get out of here, the quickest way wecan."

  "I smell air from outside," Ulv said, "coming from down there. Thiscannot be, because the magter have no entrances this low in theirtowers."

  "We blasted one in earlier--that could be it. Can you find it?"

  Moonlight shone ahead as they turned an angle of the corridor,and stars were visible through the gaping opening in the wall.

  "It looks bigger than it was," Brion said, "as if the magter hadenlarged it." He looked through and saw the tracks on the sandoutside. "As if they had enlarged it to bring something bulky upfrom below--and carried it away in whatever made those tracks!"

  Using the opening themselves, they ran back to the sand car. Brionground it fiercely around and turned the headlights on the tracks.There were the marks of a sand car's treads, half obscured by thin,unmarked wheel tracks. He turned off the lights and forced himselfto move slowly and to do an accurate job. A quick glimpse at hiswatch showed him there were four hours left to go. The moonlight wasbright enough to illuminate the tracks. Driving with one hand, heturned on the radio transmitter, already set for Krafft's wavelength.

  When the operator acknowledged his signal Brion reported what theyhad discovered and his conclusions. "Get that message to CommanderKrafft now. I can't wait to talk to him--I'm following the tracks."He killed the transmission and stamped on the accelerator. The sandcar churned and bounced down the track.

  "They are going to the mountains," Ulv said some time later, as thetracks still pointed straight ahead. "There are caves there and manymagter have b
een seen near them; that is what I have heard."

  The guess was correct. Before nine o'clock the ground humped into arange of foothills, and the darker masses of mountains could be seenbehind them, rising up to obscure the stars.

  "Stop the car here," Ulv said, "The caves begin not too far ahead.There may be magter watching or listening, so we must go quietly."

  Brion followed the deep-cut grooves, carrying the radio. Ulv cameand went on both sides, silently as a shadow, scouting for hiddenwatchers. As far as he could discover there were none.

  By nine-thirty Brion realized they had deserted the sand car toosoon. The tracks wound on and on, and seemed to have no end. Theypassed some caves which Ulv pointed out to him, but the tracks neverstopped. Time was running out and the nightmare stumbling throughthe darkness continued.

  "More caves ahead," Ulv said, "Go quietly."

  They came cautiously to the crest of a hill, as they had done somany times already, and looked into the shallow valley beyond. Sandcovered the valley floor, and the light of the setting moon shoneover the tracks at a flat angle, marking them off sharply as linesof shadow. They ran straight across the sandy valley and disappearedinto the dark mouth of a cave on the far side.

  Sinking back behind the hilltop, Brion covered the pilot light withhis hand and turned on the transmitter. Ulv stayed above him,staring at the opening of the cave.

  "This is an important message," Brion whispered into the mike."Please record." He repeated this for thirty seconds, glancing athis watch to make sure of the time, since the seconds of waitingstretched to minutes in his brain. Then, as clearly as possiblewithout raising his voice above a whisper, he told of the discoveryof the tracks and the cave.

  "... The bombs may or may not be in here, but we are going in tofind out. I'll leave my personal transmitter here with the broadcastpower turned on, so you can home on its signal. That will give youa directional beacon to find the cave. I'm taking the other radioin--it has more power. If we can't get back to the entrance I'll trya signal from inside. I doubt if you will hear it because of therock, but I'll try. End of transmission. Don't try to answer mebecause I have the receiver turned off. There are no earphones onthis set and the speaker would be too loud here."

  He switched off, held his thumb on the button for an instant, thenflicked it back on.

  "Good-by Lea," he said, and killed the power for good.

  They circled and reached the rocky wall of the cliff. Creepingsilently in the shadows, they slipped up on the dark entrance of thecave. Nothing moved ahead and there was no sound from the entranceof the cave. Brion glanced at his watch and was instantly sorry.

  Ten-thirty.

  The last shelter concealing them was five metres from the cave. Theystarted to rise, to rush the final distance, when Ulv suddenly wavedBrion down. He pointed to his nose, then to the cave. He could smellthe magter there.

  A dark figure separated itself from the greater darkness of the cavemouth. Ulv acted instantly. He stood up and his hand went to hismouth; air hissed faintly through the tube in his hand. Without asound the magter folded and fell to the ground. Before the body hit,Ulv crouched low and rushed in. There was the sudden scuffling offeet on the floor, then silence.

  Brion walked in, gun ready and alert, not knowing what he wouldfind. His toe pushed against a body on the ground and from thedarkness Ulv whispered, "There were only two. We can go on now."

  Finding their way through the cave was a maddening torture. They hadno light, nor would they dare use one if they had. There were nowheel marks to follow on the stone floor. Without Ulv's sensitivenose they would have been completely lost. The cave branched andrejoined and they soon lost all sense of direction.

  Walking was almost impossible. They had to grope with their handsbefore them like blind men. Stumbling and falling against the rock,their fingers were soon throbbing and raw from brushing against therough walls. Ulv followed the scent of the magter that hung in theair where they had passed. When it grew thin he knew they had leftthe frequently used tunnels and entered deserted ones. They couldonly retrace their steps and start again in a different direction.

  More maddening than the walking was the way time was running out.Inexorably the glowing hands crept around the face of Brion's watchuntil they stood at fifteen minutes before twelve.

  "There is a light ahead," Ulv whispered, and Brion almost gaspedwith relief. They moved slowly and silently until they stood,concealed by the darkness, looking out into a domed chamber brightlylit by glowing tubes.

  "What is it?" Ulv asked, blinking in the painful wash ofillumination after the long darkness.

  Brion had to fight to control his voice, to stop from shouting.

  "The cage with the metal webbing is a jump-space generator. Thepointed, silver shapes next to it are bombs of some kind, probablythe cobalt bombs. We've found it!"

  His first impulse was to instantly send the radio call that wouldstop the waiting fleet of H-bombers. But an unconvincing messagewould be worse than no message at all. He had to describe exactlywhat he saw here so the Nyjorders would know he wasn't lying. Whathe told them had to fit exactly with the information they alreadyhad about the launcher and the bombs.

  The launcher had been jury-rigged from a ship's jump-spacegenerator; that was obvious. The generator and its controls wereneatly cased and mounted. Cables ran from them to a roughlyconstructed cage of woven metal straps, hammered and bent into shapeby hand. Three technicians were working on the equipment. Brionwondered what sort of blood-thirsty war-lovers the magter had foundto handle the bombing for them. Then he saw the chains around theirnecks and the bloody wounds on their backs.

  He still found it difficult to have any pity for them. They hadobviously been willing to accept money to destroy another planet--orthey wouldn't have been working here. They had probably rebelledonly when they had discovered how suicidal the attack would be.

  Thirteen minutes to midnight.

  Cradling the radio against his chest, Brion rose to his feet. He hada better view of the bombs now. There were twelve of them, alike aseggs from the same deadly clutch. Pointed like the bow of a spacer,each one swept smoothly back for its two metres of length, to asharply chopped-off end. They were obviously incomplete, the warheads of rockets. One had its base turned towards him, and he sawsix projecting studs that could be used to attach it to the missingrocket. A circular inspection port was open in the flat base of thebomb.

  This was enough. With this description, the Nyjorders would know hecouldn't be lying about finding the bombs. Once they realized this,they couldn't destroy Dis without first trying to neutralize them.

  Brion carefully counted fifty paces before he stopped. He was farenough from the cavern so he couldn't be heard, and an angle of thecave cut off all light from behind him. With carefully controlledmovements he turned on the power, switched the set to transmit,and checked the broadcast frequency. All correct. Then slowly andclearly, he described what he had seen in the cavern behind him. Hekept his voice emotionless, recounting facts, leaving out anythingthat might be considered an opinion.

  It was six minutes before midnight when he finished. He thumbedthe switch to receive and waited.

  There was only silence.

  Slowly, the empty quality of the silence penetrated his numbed mind.There were no crackling atmospherics nor hiss of static, even whenhe turned the power full on. The mass of rock and earth of themountain above was acting as a perfect grounding screen, absorbinghis signal even at maximum output.

  They hadn't heard him. The Nyjord fleet didn't know that the cobaltbombs had been discovered before their launching. The attack wouldgo ahead as planned. Even now, the bomb-bay doors were opening;armed H-bombs hung above the planet, held in place only by theirshackles. In a few minutes the signal would be given and theshackles would spring open, the bombs drop clear....

  "Killers!" Brion shouted into the microphone. "You wouldn't listento reason, you wouldn't listen to Hys, or me, or to any voice thatsuggested an alt
ernative to complete destruction. You are going todestroy Dis, and _it's not necessary!_ There were a lot of ways youcould have stopped it. You didn't do any of them, and now it's toolate. You'll destroy Dis, and in turn this will destroy Nyjord.Ihjel said that, and now I believe him. You're just another damnedfailure in a galaxy full of failures!"

  He raised the radio above his head and sent it crashing intothe rock floor. Then he was running back to Ulv, trying to run awayfrom the realization that he too had tried and failed. The peopleon the surface of Dis had less than two minutes left to live.

  "They didn't get my message," Brion said to Ulv. "The radio won'twork this far underground."

  "Then the bombs will fall?" Ulv asked, looking searchingly atBrion's face in the dim reflected light from the cavern.

  "Unless something happens that we know nothing about, the bombswill fall."

  They said nothing after that--they simply waited. The threetechnicians in the cavern were also aware of the time. They werecalling to each other and trying to talk to the magter. Theemotionless, parasite-ridden brains of the magter saw no reason tostop work, and they attempted to beat the men back to their tasks.In spite of the blows, they didn't go; they only gaped in horror asthe clock hands moved remorselessly towards twelve. Even the magterdimly felt some of the significance of the occasion. They stoppedtoo and waited.

  The hour hand touched twelve on Brion's watch, then the minute hand.The second hand closed the gap and for a tenth of a second the threehands were one. Then the second hand moved on.

  Brion's immediate sensation of relief was washed away by thechilling realization that he was deep underground. Sound and seismicwaves were slow, and the flare of atomic explosions couldn't be seenhere. If the bombs had been dropped at twelve they wouldn't know itat once.

  A distant rumble filled the air. A moment later the ground heavedunder them and the lights in the cavern flickered. Fine dust drifteddown from the roof above.

  Ulv turned to him, but Brion looked away. He could not face theaccusation in the Disan's eyes.