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THE PLOTTERS
By ALEXANDER BLADE
[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories December1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed.]
[Sidenote: He came from a far planet to find some of the Earth'ssecrets. But Marko found other things, too--like his love for beautifulBeth]
It seemed to be the same tree that kept getting in my way. I tried to goaround it but it moved with me and I ran right into it. I found myselfsprawled on my back and my nose was bleeding where I had hit it againstthe tree. Then I got up and ran again.
I had to keep running. I didn't know why; I just had to. There was apuddle of water and I splashed through it and then slipped and fell intoa thorny bush. When I got up there were scratches on my hands and faceand chest.
As yet I felt no pain. That wouldn't come for a while, after I had donea lot more running. But at the moment I couldn't feel a thing.
In my conscious mind there was only a sort of grayness. I didn't knowwhere I was, or who I was, or why I was running. I didn't know that if Iran long enough and bumped into enough trees and scratched myself oftenenough I would eventually feel pain. Or that out of the exertion and thepain would come awareness.
All that must have been there, but buried so deep it didn't comethrough. It was only instinct which kept me going.
The same tree was in my way again and this time I didn't even try to goaround it. My breath was knocked out of me. After a few gasps it cameback, and then I was off again.
I went up a rise and down into a hollow and tripped over roots. Thattime I didn't fall. I went up the other side of the hollow with the windwhistling in my ears. A few drops of rain fell. There were flashes oflightning in the sky.
Wet leaves whipped against my face and there was a crack of thunder soclose that it shook me. I ran away from the thunder and up another riseand down into another hollow.
The wind was stronger now. It came in long blasts. Sometimes I ran withit and sometimes against it. When I ran against it I didn't make muchheadway, but my legs kept pumping. There was tall grass to slow me downand there were roots to trip me. There was the wind and the thunder andthe lightning. And there were always trees.
And then there was a terrible flash and above me a crack that was not ofthunder. Something came crashing down. It was the limb of a tree. Itcrashed against my chest and smashed me flat on my back and pinned methere.
One of my ribs felt broken. It jabbed into me as I fought to raise thisweight from my chest, and this was a pain I could feel.
This was something that hurt as nothing had ever hurt me before. Thiswas excruciating. But it was the pain that cut through the grayness ofmy mind, and because of that I welcomed it.
With the pain would come knowledge. I would know who I was and why I wasrunning. Already there were figures racing across the blankness. Therewere faces and there were names: Ristal, Kresh, Marko, Copperd, Beth.
I was Marko. I knew that much already. Beth was the golden girl. SomehowI knew that too. But who were the others?
It wasn't coming fast enough. I couldn't find the connections. There wasonly one way to bring it back, to bridge the gaps. I had to startsomewhere, with what I knew. I had to start with myself and then bridgethe gap to Beth. That was the beginning.
* * * * *
I checked with the mirror for the last time and decided that I wouldpass muster. As far as I could see, I looked like almost any collegestudent.
There wasn't anything I could do about my hair. It hadn't grown at all.It was a mass of short, black ringlets that fit my head like a tightcap. But there was no use worrying about that.
Mrs. Mara came down the hall just as I was locking the door. She lookedhurt when she saw me turn the key.
"You don't have to do that in my house," she said. "There's nobody wouldthink of going into your room."
"Of course not," I said. "It's just force of habit, you know."
I smiled and hoped she would pass it off as lightly as I seemed to. Thelast thing in the world I wanted was to have her get suspicious and goprowling about my room. I felt easier when she smiled back at me.
"Sure. And where are you off to, now?"
"Swimming," I said. "That is, if I can get into the college pool."
"Just act like you own the place and nobody will ask you any questions,"she said, and winked at me.
That was exactly the way I had figured it, but it was good to havereassurance. Theoretically, no one was supposed to use the pool who wasnot a member of the faculty or student body. Enforcement, however, waslax, and the chances were that nobody would ask to see my card.
Mrs. Mara and I were right. The day was hot, and the men who weresupposed to be watching the entrance were sitting in the shade of thestands and quenching their thirst with soft drinks. I walked right in,looking straight ahead.
It was a large pool, used for skating in winter, and there were standsbuilt on three sides. Instead of going down to the locker rooms, Imerely slipped out of my shirt and trousers, rolled them into a ball anddropped them beside the pool. A good many others had also worn theirswim suits underneath.
Then I looked around for the girl.
* * * * *
She was down near the other end of the pool, talking to some people. AsI came toward them she left the group and climbed up on the divingboard.
Against her white bathing suit, her small trim figure showed golden. Herhair was almost the same color. She looked like the bathing suit modelsI had seen in store windows. The golden model came to life as she leftthe board in a high, arching dive. She hit the water with hardly asplash.
"Nice stuff, Beth," one of the men said as she swam toward them.
"Was it really, Ken?" the girl asked.
He nodded as he said it was. They began to talk about diving andswimming. The man called Ken did most of the talking. He said he wantedto show her a few things about her swimming stroke.
He jumped off the edge of the pool and swam across and then turnedaround and swam back. Everybody stopped what they were doing and watchedhim. When he clambered out he smiled in a very superior way.
"See what I mean? You've got to use your legs more."
"You splash too much," I said.
It was the only way I could think of at the moment to get into theconversation. But it got me in. Everybody was looking at me as though Iwere out of my mind. Ken sneered.
"Oh, I do?"
"Don't take it offensively," I said. "But you really do. Also your armmotion is not good."
* * * * *
He was so angry that it was almost funny. Now I was sorry I had spoken,because the girl might be a close friend of his and she might takeoffense.
"Maybe you would like to show me how it's done," Ken said hotly. "Icould make it worth your while. Suppose we race two lengths. For tendollars."
"That's not fair, Ken," the girl said.
I could see that she didn't like the way he was taking it, so that wasall right. But I hesitated. I didn't have ten dollars. On the otherhand, I had been watching these people swim.
It was an easy way to make ten dollars, since I had no other means ofgetting money. There was the hundred dollars which I had taken from aman on the road the day I came into town, but that money was gone.
"Come on," I said, and started walking to the end of the pool.
When I got there I bent and dipped one foot into the water. It wascolder than the water I had been used to, and not quite as heavy,somehow. I pulle
d my foot out quickly and everybody laughed, except thegirl.
"This isn't right," she said. She turned to me. "You don't know who Kenis, apparently."
"You are very kind," I said. I smiled at her and she smiled back. Shehad blue eyes.
By that time the pool had been cleared. Everybody was out of the waterand standing at the edge. Ken said, "Whenever you're ready."
"I am ready now," I said. And immediately one of his friends gave thesignal, "Go!"
Ken jumped in first. Then I dived in. Once in the water it did not feelso cold nor so light. I swam down to the other end and turned around andswam back. When I climbed out, Ken was just making his turn at the farend. Everyone was looking at me very strangely. Ken came out rubbing hisshoulder.
"Must have pulled a muscle," he muttered.
"In that case I wouldn't think of taking your money," I