“How about the Vocation Board?” asked Ira.
“It’s a good idea, leaving hypnosis out of it,” Mark contended. “As a body of experts, concerned solely with finding the special aptitudes of young people just out of school, it will be a valuable aid to society. Its decisions don’t have to be final — merely directive. Any one applicant will probably find that he has aptitudes along several lines. The final choice of his subsequent training will lie with him.”
The large meeting room of the thieves’ fraternity had been turned into a banquet hall for the celebration. Rugs had been removed for a space for dancing. A small orchestra, composed entirely of members, furnished the music.
It was while Mark was leading Nona in a waltz that Omega appeared. He did it quite suddenly, at Mark’s elbow. His wrinkled countenance was the familiar one of the superannuated, but agile old man. He leered pleasantly.
“May I cut in?” he inquired.
Mark relinquished, Nona, and went back to the table where Ira, Tolon, and Gladys waited, eyes wide at the appearance of the old man. They had been watching Mark and Nona dance, and had all seen Omega suddenly take form.
“That’s —” began Ira.
“That’s him,” finished Mark, as grim as he was ungrammatic. “Get Jan Thomas. We’ll have to face this sooner or later.”
IRA, face as inscrutable as ever, left to find Jan Thomas. Tolon and Gladys seemed to catch the tension in Mark’s mind and were silent until Ira returned, bringing the bio-chemist with him.
“He seems like a nice old man,” ventured Gladys.
“Doesn’t mean a thing,” said Mark. “He might just as well look like a spider, or a saint. He puts bodies on and takes them off like changes of clothes.
“Not that he isn’t a fine character. Don’t misunderstand me. He’s finer than any human could possibly be. But he just doesn’t see things the way we do. His viewpoint is something we can’t begin to understand.
“There’s no telling what to expect. He might be cosmically offended at what I’ve done. Then again he might pat me on the back for having spunk enough to defy him, and give you all his blessings. I wish I knew.”
The dance ended, Nona brought Omega over to the table. Mark gravely introduced him to the others. He seemed very cordial. His eyes twinkled merrily, albeit they were a bit crossed at times. He perked up at the introduction of Jan Thomas.
“One of the Ancestors, eh?” he observed to Mark. “Then you’ve licked Vargo?”
“Thoroughly,” said Mark, and explained the present situation. “... But there’s something else I’d like to tell you about. Er... Suppose we adjourn to another room. Too much noise here.”
It was getting a bit noisy, what with the free flow of wines and other beverages, but that wasn’t Mark’s reason for wanting to seek the privacy of another room. He preferred not to have too many witnesses when he sprang the news to Omega. And that turned out to be admirable foresight.
“You like it here now?” inquired Omega, as they left the room.
Mark nodded. “And so does Nona,” he said. “We’re going to bring both the children here.”
“Both!” Omega exploded, as the door closed behind them, shutting off the noise of the revelry.
“Yes. Both,” said Mark. “I’ve decided on another plan. Neither Nona nor I liked the first one.”
Omega’s face darkened angrily. He overdid it, though. It continued to darken, until he resembled a Senegalese even to the thick lips and broad nose. Gladys let out a stifled shriek, and he abruptly changed back. He smiled disarmingly at her.
“What an actor I’d have made,” he said. “What’s your new plan, son? It had better be good!”
For answer Mark took Tolon’s arm and laid it beside Gladys’. Then he drew a knife across both. A streak of blue blood followed the knife, but the wounds immediately closed and healed.
Chapter 25: No Harem for Nona
“SO!” said Omega explosively, “You’ve usurped my prerogative! You think you can judge as well as Omega, eh? How do you know these people won’t beget idiots, criminals, or the like?
“No offense, Toots,” he added to Gladys. “I could get idiotical about you myself.” But he scowled ferociously at Mark as he said it.
“It wasn’t really your prerogative,” Mark reminded gently. “My blood was an accident. And I haven’t done anything to —”
“There won’t be any idiots or criminals!” interrupted Nona. “These two have proven themselves to be intelligent and good. As much so as Mark or I.”
Omega regarded her thoughtfully. “You too, eh?” he said. “Didn’t you know that I investigated your ancestors for several generations back before I made up my mind? What do you know about these two? There might be a vicious strain that’ll crop up in the next generation. Meddlers! I ought never to have noticed you!”
He pushed his chair back and stood up. The chair vanished in a puff of dust as he kicked it aside to pace angrily back and forth across the floor.
He stopped suddenly, looking at Ira and Jan Thomas, who were keeping a discreet silence. “Those too?” he asked.
Mark nodded and started to speak, but Omega silenced him with, a gesture and resumed his pacing. There was a carpet on the floor and he almost wore a groove in it before he finally stopped. Mark and the others were nearing an advanced state of nervous prostration by that time.
“There’s no sense in punishing them,” Omega said, looking at the four who had received the injection. “It wasn’t their fault. And it’s too late to do anything about it. But you two —”
He fixed a baleful eye on Mark and Nona, who calmly gazed back at him. “You two shall suffer! All of you face the other wall!
They did. In fact they were afraid not to — although Mark was heeding a rebellious section of his mind, which insisted upon telling him that there was nothing to fear. He fought down his imagination, refusing to picture Omega’s possible revenge.
Nona, however, was frankly apprehensive. She shivered a little as she faced the wall.
“Now,” said Omega. “Mark. You back up about three steps.”
Mark did so, and realized that there were more people in the room than there had been a moment before. To the right of him were two men, and to the left two more. His eyes widened in surprise.
“All right,” said Omega. “You can all turn around.”
They obliged, then gasped in unison. Five Marks met their startled eyes: all identically similar, down to the last detail. Omega had apparently vanished.
“They’re spurious,” said the middle Mark, stepping forward a pace and facing the others.
“Who’s spurious?” said Mark of the left end. “Nona! You know me don’t you?”
A clamor came from the others at this turn of affairs. They all turned to Nona and held their arms appealingly to her, beseeching her recognition. Then they fell to glaring at each other and muttering dire threats. Nona, pale and worried, looked from one to the other in indecision.
“Take it easy, boys,” came a voice from out of the air over their heads. “We’ll leave it to Nona to decide. That’ll be a fine punishment for both of you. When she decides which is the real one, I’ll destroy the others. Tough if she makes a mistake, eh Mark?”
ALL five Marks nodded thoughtfully, then glared at each other once more. Nona weakly sat down, looking appealingly at the others. But none of them had a suggestion to offer. Each of the five looked like the Mark they had known since his arrival on their horizon.
“Ask them questions,” Jan Thomas finally said. “Things which only Mark can answer. We’ll leave the room if you’d rather.”
“Won’t work,” said Omega. “Each of them is complete with all Mark’s memories. They’re identical in all respects but one.”
Nona came alert. “What is that?”
Omega chuckled eerily. His disembodied voice gave them all the shivers, it seemed to be enjoying itself so thoroughly.
“The phonies know they’re phony,” O
mega said. “But that won’t help you. They want to keep on living, so they won’t give themselves away.”
Nona buried her head in her hands. A muffled sob escaped her. Five solicitous Marks stepped forward to console her. That almost resulted in a fist fight, but inasmuch as each knew that the others couldn’t be easily harmed, the thing fizzled among a host of angry looks and gargantuan cuss words.
The air turned an azure hue for a few seconds — though that was probably one of Omega’s little jokes.
Nona finally stifled her sobs — and came erect. She held her head defiantly. “I won’t choose!” she said. “After all, I’ve had a lot of fun with one Mark. I should have five times as much with five Marks. That’s final!”
Astonishment covered the faces of the five. Then four of them smiled and one looked angry. Nona triumphantly stepped forward and kissed the expression off his face. The others disappeared with an impressive clap of thunder.
“Smart girl,” applauded Omega, resuming the shape of the old man. “I had you going for a few minutes though. And was Mark scared!”
“I wasn’t, you old fraud,” Mark claimed. “You gave yourself away when you said that nothing could be done about the blue blood of my friends here. You could change it back if you wished. I knew you were only fooling from that minute on.”
OMEGA laughed, the parchment-like skin of his sides crackling as he heaved. Omega was thorough when it came to sound effects.
“All right, all right,” said Mark, “I was a little scared for a minute.”
“I kind of thought you were,” Omega chuckled. “But in regard to these four friends of yours. They’re all right. In fact it might interest you to know that I had something to do with the quick development of that serum. Thomas will tell you that never before did his mind work so clearly as when he threw together that last batch of serum — the one that didn’t kill the guinea pig.”
Jan Thomas’ eyes widened. “I thought —” he started. Then he nodded vigorously, not trusting his voice.
Omega beamed. “You know, Mark,” he continued, “I believe in letting people solve their own problems, though I don’t mind helping them a bit when they’re on the right track. I was getting impatient there a few months ago when you kept putting off a decision on this matter.
“Naturally you didn’t want this family mating. Neither did I. But you didn’t seem to be doing anything in the way of following the only other course open to you. I had to get you started. Don’t mind, do you?”
* * *
Later, when the celebration broke up and everybody, went to his own room, Mark looked at Nona quizzically as she prepared for bed.
“What’s on your mind, if any?” she asked.
“I’m just wondering how good an actress you are,” he answered. “You were certainly convincing when you intimated that five husbands would be better than one.”
THE END
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction to The Best of Argosy
Minions of Mercury
Foreword
Chapter 1: The Heavenly Visitor
Chapter 2: Metropolis, 7952 AD
Chapter 3: The Case of the Chinese Whale
Chapter 4: City for Mars
Chapter 5: The Ancestors Live
Chapter 6: Without Wings, You Fly
Chapter 7: He Floats through the Air
Chapter 8: Vargo says, “Thumbs Down!”
Chapter 9: Check your Helmet Hero
Chapter 10: Lady in Mid-Air
Chapter 11: No Slaves are We
Chapter 12: The Girl who wasn’t Hypnotized
Chapter 13: Meet an Ancestor
Chapter 14: Discussion with a Condor
Chapter 15: Trap
Chapter 16: Chapeau by Vargo
Chapter 17: Plan for Pulling Teeth
Chapter 18: Let’s go to Prison
Chapter 19: Blackout for an Oldster
Chapter 20: The Exchequer Blues
Chapter 21: Poosh ’em up, Mark
Chapter 22: Meet Mr. Mouse
Chapter 23: Amateur Night
Chapter 24: May I Cut In?
Chapter 25: No Harem for Nona
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The Best of Argosy #7 - Minions of Mercury Page 19