by Lee Sheldon
"How do they expect to live on Earth?" Woody asked. "With their looks, they'll be easy to detect and our army will wipe them out."
"Do they have weapons powerful enough to conquer Earth?" Jeff asked.
"They do have powerful weapons," Meredith said. "I don't know much about them—I've never seen any—but any civilization with the technical knowledge these people have is bound to have control of forces that would make our weapons look like pea shooters."
"Then they will move in and destroy us, I suppose."
"No," Meredith said angrily. "I told you, these people are not like that. They are kind. All they want is a place to live. Nobody should deny them that. In exchange, they can give us inestimable technical information."
"But they'll never be accepted the way they look."
"They know that. That's why they are experimenting so hard on us to see if they can find the secret of our facial expressions. If they can find that and can copy it, then they can infiltrate Earth's population and no one will ever know."
"Our people will know, all right," Woody insisted. "They'd act like foreigners."
"With their superior intelligence, they will quickly adapt themselves to whatever society they fall into."
Suddenly a piece of the puzzle dropped into place in Jeff's mind. "The first thing they did when they landed was feel our faces. Were they trying then to learn how to imitate our facial expressions?"
"Of course," Meredith replied, in the satisfied tone of a teacher who has just gotten a point across to a particularly dull pupil. "They experimented for days on Peter and me, but they didn't accomplish much. Then they got Sue. Her face is softer than ours with no whiskers. So they think they have a better chance of copying Sue's expressions than they do ours. That's why she is undergoing such intensive examination."
"Why couldn't they have found another planet to go to?" Woody grumbled.
"They tried," Meredith said. "They checked all the planets in this solar system and in two or three others. Earth is the nearest like Illus of any they found. It has the same gravity and about the same atmosphere although Illus's air is drier than Earth's. I understand that did present a problem of rust, which they had never encountered before. But outside of that, the two planets are nearly alike and the Illustrians can live on Earth as well as here."
"Just our luck!" Woody said.
"It is lucky for us," Meredith said earnestly. "Just think of all the knowledge Earth will gain when the Illustrians get there."
"You talk as though you'd like to help them establish themselves on Earth," Jeff said.
"I would," Meredith said. "Our nation has always helped other nations that were in trouble. This is no different. Besides, think of yourself, Jeff. If the Illustrians don't get off this planet and take us with them, we'll all die. Personally, I would like to go home."
"Me, too," Woody said. "But I'd rather go alone."
The two Illustrians suddenly appeared at the door again and they motioned for Jeff and Woody to follow them.
"Think it over," Meredith called out, as they were leaving. "I'm sure you'll see it our way."
Jeff took another good look at the little mark on the door of Meredith's and Peter's room, although now he wasn't sure that he wanted to find them again if he should escape from his own prison room. They went back down the corridors, turning first one way then another. Jeff wondered if all the turns weren't part of a plan to confuse them.
Back in their room, Jeff dropped on the short bunk and thought over what Meredith and Peter had said. Evidently the two scientists were firmly on the side of the Illustrians, and Jeff and Woody had been taken to talk to them in the hope that they would be converted to the scientists' way of seeing things. But Jeff wasn't at all convinced that the destruction of Illus was imminent, or that the Illustrians would move into Earth's society peacefully. As Meredith had said, they must have developed some powerful weapons since they had such superior knowledge. When they ran into trouble on Earth as they were bound to do, they'd use those weapons. The result would be the destruction of the civilizations of the Earth. The evil in their expressions could not be a camouflage for kindness, no matter what Meredith Woodruff thought.
"What did you think of Uncle Meredith and Peter?" Woody asked after a long silence.
"They've been brainwashed," Jeff said. "And it has been a complete job, too."
"Some sort of thought control, maybe."
"Possibly. Anybody who can design and use spaceships as these people do are probably capable of developing thought control, too. Anyway, neither Meredith nor Peter are themselves."
"What are we going to do?"
"That's a good question. One thing is certain —we can't depend on Meredith and Peter to help us if we do make a break."
"Where would we go if we got out of here?"
"I don't know the answer to that, either. But I can't be satisfied to sit here and do nothing when I know Sue is being tormented. I wonder if we can contact her now."
He moved over to the panel with the lighted buttons. He remembered which button he had pushed to reach her room before. He considered the red button, but he wanted to talk to her if she was there so he pressed the blue button.
Instantly, the screen on the wall came alive. The interior of Sue's room flashed before them. Sue was alone in the room, lying on the couch.
"You got her room first try," Woody exclaimed.
Sue sat up with a start and looked at them. "Jeff! Woody! Where are you?"
"We're in the little prison room where they put us," Jeff said. "How about you?"
"I've been in this room all the time since I got here, except for the hours they've had me in laboratories experimenting with me."
"Are they hurting you?"
"Only with the pressure machines and things like that."
"What are pressure machines?"
"Machines they use to measure my head," Sue said. "They experimented with Meredith and Peter but they couldn't copy their expressions. They're working on me now."
"Are they having any luck?"
"I don't know but I don't think so. They seem more discouraged all the time."
"Do you have any idea what part of the complex you are in?" Jeff asked.
"No, except that I am close to the labs. If you know where they are, you know about where I am."
"I don't know where anything is," Jeff said. "Do you think they will hurt you?"
"I'm scared," Sue said. "They are determined to find a way to copy my face. If they decide they’ll have a better chance of doing it if I'm dead, I think they'll kill me with no more feeling than you'd have killing a rabbit,”
"We've got to get you away from them," Jeff said.
Suddenly the screen went out of focus. Jeff realized he had said too much. He had forgotten momentarily that everything was being monitored. The Illustrians wouldn't like this kind of talk.
The screen came into focus again, only now it was Dood's face there. "You will find chairs along the back wall of your room," he said distinctly. "You will sit in them now."
"I'm not tired," Woody said quickly.
Jeff turned to look at the rear wall of the room. Two panels were opening up there and Jeff saw two chairs very similar to the ones on the space ship. Each had a metal cap swinging above it.
"You will sit in those chairs," Dood said sharply, and Jeff could see the anger in his face.
"What's this for?" Woody asked Jeff.
"Probably the start of the brainwashing for us. They tried letting Meredith and Peter convince us and we didn't fall for their lines. So now we get the full treatment."
"We won't sit down," Woody said.
"You will sit!" Dood shouted over the screen.
Jeff saw the rage in his face. Then he turned as Dood began chattering in his native language. The chairs came out from the wall toward their victims. Jeff realized there was no place to hide.
Chapter IX
Jeff waited until the chair was almost to him, then he quic
kly stepped to one side. Meanwhile Woody had dodged the other way.
"Suppose we could stop them by knocking out that red eye in the back of each chair?" Woody suggested.
Jeff was sure that if they could damage those eyes, the chairs would no longer be able to follow them. But what would the Illustrians do then? It was possible that a session in these telecator chairs might be the least of the evils that would befall them.
"We can't get away from them," he said. "Make up your mind not to be influenced. I don't know what those chairs will do, but if we're determined, maybe we can counteract whatever it is."
During the seconds he was talking to Woody, the chair wheeled around behind him and slammed into his knees. He flopped into the chair and it scooted quickly back to the wall. There the metal cap slapped onto his head. His last thought was that he wouldn't let it influence him; he wouldn't listen to what it said.
Jeff had no idea how long he had been in the chair when he came to himself. Reaching up, he lifted the metal cap off his head and got out of the chair. Woody was still sitting in his chair, blinking stupidly at Jeff.
Jeff tried to remember the situation, but his thoughts were foggy. He looked back at the chair longingly. It would be nice to relax for a few minutes more but the panel was slowly sliding shut in front of the chair. He'd have to stay on his feet unless he could get Woody up and take his chair.
He moved over and lifted the metal cap off Woody's head. But when he started to get him out of the chair, Woody tried to slap his hands away. Jeff pulled him to his feet, anyway, and held him in spite of his struggle to get back into the chair. When Woody finally jerked free and turned, the chair had gone back into the wall and the panel was closing.
"Now look what you've done!" Woody exclaimed. "I was resting."
"So was I," Jeff said and rubbed his head. Something was fighting to get through to him but he couldn't quite remember what it was.
"I'm going to call Dood and ask him to get that chair back out here for me," Woody said and started toward the panel of lights.
Jeff caught his arm. "Wait a minute." He rubbed his head again as thoughts surged up, trying to break through to his conscious mind.
Then he remembered. He had been fighting that telecator chair; he had made up his mind that he wouldn't believe what it told him. Now everything was confused in his mind. Something tantalizing had been put there, lingering like the sweet taste of candy.
But he couldn't accept it; something stronger was holding him back. For a minute, he just stood there and kept Woody from going to the panel to call Dood. In that minute, the sweetness went away and his anger at being forced to listen to what he didn't want to hear came to the front.
He turned Woody away from the panel. "You don't want to talk to Dood," he said.
"I want to relax in that chair. It was—was great."
Jeff nodded. "I know how great it was. But you're better off without it."
"Can't be," Woody said. "I was learning things... Jeff, what can we do to help get us all back to Earth?"
"All?" Jeff looked sharply at Woody.
"Sure. Everybody here. We don't want anybody to be killed by that comet."
"So they got to you with their brainwashing."
Jeff rubbed his chin. It still didn't seem too important that Woody had succumbed to the voice that had been beating on his brain while he was relaxed in that telecator chair. But something kept hammering at Jeff, telling him it did matter—that he would stand alone if Woody went over to their side. He pushed Woody back into one of the small chairs by the table.
"Now listen to me, Woody," he said. "We decided that we wouldn't let them brainwash us."
"I haven't been brainwashed,” Woody said, indignantly. "I just see things now as they really are."
"You see things as the Illustrians want you to see them. Think of the folks back home. What will happen to them if the Illustrians take over Earth?"
"They won't take over. They just want a place on Earth where they can live peaceably."
"You know they won't be peaceable. Look, you went with June Mitchell last year, didn't you?"
"Sure. You know that."
"How would you like to have an Illustrian marry her?"
Woody stared at Jeff for a moment then he blinked his eyes and shook his head. "She's my girl."
"Nothing you have will be yours if the Illustrians take over. Remember how they looked when they stepped out of their space ship at the observatory?"
Woody shook his head again, making a face as memory came back. "They can't have June."
"Then you'd better snap out of it now and help me.
Woody sat for a long time staring into space as though seeing nothing. Jeff decided to let him alone. At least, he had stopped the progress of the brainwashing started by the telecator machine. One more session in that chair, and Woody would be as completely brainwashed as Meredith and Peter were. Somehow they had to keep out of those chairs or they were doomed to become puppets of the Illustrians, too.
Finally Woody looked up at Jeff, his eyes focusing again. "They really tried to swing me over, didn't they?" he muttered. "They about did it, too. The lowdown swindlers!"
Woody's enthusiasm for the Illustrians had turned to anger. Jeff wondered if one might not be as hard to handle as the other; they didn't dare show their anger to the Illustrians. That could lead them into worse trouble than they were in now.
"Just simmer down," Jeff advised. "You've got your own mind back. Let's be thankful for that and figure a way to get out of this."
Jeff was surprised when the screen suddenly came alive. Dood was on it and he seemed perplexed. Jeff realized that Dood had been monitoring the happenings in this room and evidently couldn't understand why the two had not been completely won over by the machine. Jeff glanced at the panel of lights. The blue light on the end was bright. Dood had activated the two-way connection between his station and this room so he could hear as well as see what Jeff and Woody were doing.
"You will visit Meredith and Peter again," Dood said.
Jeff whispered softly to Woody, "Look happy. Try to make them think we're on their side."
Jeff spread a grin on his face and waited for the door to open. Dood watched them closely and Jeff was rewarded by seeing his face take on a contented look. Evidently he was regaining faith in his telecator machine. The Illustrians, Jeff decided, depended more on facial expressions than they did on words that were spoken.
The door opened and the same two Illustrians who had taken them to the scientists' room before came in. As they moved down the corridor, Jeff whispered to Woody to pretend that they agreed with everything Meredith and Peter said. Woody looked puzzled but Jeff was sure he would follow instructions.
Once inside the room with the scientists, Jeff and Woody found chairs while their two Illustrian guards went back outside.
"They tell me you've had your education,” Meredith began.
"Sure," Jeff said. "It gives us an entirely different outlook on life."
"Good," Meredith said with satisfaction. "Now we can talk like friends again. You were always so stubborn back in the observatory that I wondered how you'd react to the truth."
"Now that we do think alike," Jeff said, "there are some things I'd like to know that they didn't tell me."
"Anything we know, we'll be glad to tell you."
"You said the other day that you had never seen any of their weapons. They do have weapons, don't they?"
"Of course," Meredith said, "but they don't plan to use any of them against the people of Earth. Their weapons are very powerful. Nobody can destroy the Illustrians. If it comes to war, they'll win."
"You think it won't come to war if they invade Earth?" Woody asked.
" 'Invade' is a bad word, Woody," Meredith said plaintively. "They just want a place to live. You know that now. And I don't see why there should be any trouble, especially if they can learn how to control their facial expressions. No one will ever know they are there."
"How are they coming with their experiments on Sue?" Jeff asked.
Meredith sighed. "Not too well. They've tried everything. They have measured her head and face and changed themselves to exactly the same proportions but they can't get the expressions she has."
"How long will they keep trying?"
"Hard to say," Peter said. "Dood was just telling us they had a couple of more measurements to try then they'd have to resort to heavy pressure."
"Pressure?" Jeff exclaimed. "They might kill her."
Meredith shrugged. "That's possible, of course. But just think. If they can find the secret to the expressions, it will save thousands, maybe millions of lives. Surely one life now is worth millions later on."
"You said there wouldn't be any war on Earth!" Woody exclaimed.
Peter stared at Woody. "I thought you had accepted the truth."
Woody subsided. "Sure, I have. It just startled me to realize that there might be trouble when we got back to Earth."
"There won't be if they can discover how to copy the facial expressions of us humans," Meredith said.
"Will we ever be as strong physically as they are?" Jeff asked thoughtfully.
Meredith shook his head. "Not by any means. Most of their strength is in their minds. But it is so overpowering that we are puny weaklings in comparison."
"Surely they must have some weak spots," Jeff said, watching Meredith closely.
"They have one, all right. But it is one that the people of Earth will never discover, in case they try to fight them."
Jeff waited for Meredith to expand on that. If he got too curious, either Meredith or Peter would become suspicious. So far, he felt that both believed that he and Woody had succumbed to the telecator machines.
"My biggest weakness is being a coward,” Woody said after the silence had drawn out. "I guess that isn't theirs."
"Hardly," Meredith said. "I didn't even find out they had a weakness until just a few days ago and that was by accident. One of them came in here and he bumped his thumb on the table. He fainted dead away."
"Bumped his thumb?" Jeff exclaimed.
Meredith laughed. "Isn't that ridiculous? It seems their nerve center is in one of the double thumbs on the lower left hand. If they bump that thumb, they pass out."