tingled unpleasantly, and he saw the Martian looking athim intently, coldly. In that moment Stern knew without question thathis mind was being read. Not his idea, perhaps, but his intent towardCurtis. The Martian would have to be attended to first.
"Is it true, Dr. Anderson? Will he be all right?" Beryl was sitting onthe arm of the chair next to Schaughtowl, and she was looking at Clydealmost as adoringly as the Martian. A few hours had undone all thatStern had managed to do in four years.
If Stern had been uncertain, that alone would have decided him.
"I think so," said the doctor. "He seems to be uncomfortable, ratherthan in pain. I'll send you a prescription for his heart, if he breathestoo heavily. Be sure, though, not to give him more than one pill inthree hours."
"Of course." Beryl was never that solicitous toward Stern.
"And you'll be in quarantine here until the government decides what, ifany, diseases he and the Martian may have brought back with them."
"None at all, Doctor." Curtis's voice was markedly more slurred, and hestared intently with unblinking eyes at the blank wall.
"Well, that's something we can't tell yet. Well have to keep out thepress and television men, anyway, because of your health. If I'm notdetained, I'll be back tomorrow morning. Call me if there's any change."
On his way out, the physician was besieged by reporters andphotographers, baulked of better subjects. Shortly after the doctor'sdeparture, police sirens came screaming up. The men waiting around thehouse were moved outside the gate and a guard was set at every entrance.
* * * * *
Later, a messenger came, was interrogated by the police sergeant whotook a small package from him and brought it to the house.
"Medicine," the sergeant said, handing it gingerly to Stern. "You can'tleave here without permission." And he walked hurriedly away.
This might be the answer. Stern had a good idea of what the doctor hadprescribed--something he'd said, for the heart. It must have been prettypowerful, too, for the doctor to warn against an overdose. Two at oncemight do it, or another two a little later.
But there was Schaughtowl.
"Al," said Beryl, "stay with Clyde while I fix something for him toeat."
She was more beautiful than ever. Emotions, he thought wryly, become awoman; they thrive on them. In a few minutes a woman could change likethis. It was enough to make a man lose faith in the sex.
"Certainly," he said easily.
Curtis seemed to sleep with wide open eyes gazing blankly at the farwall. Schaughtowl sat motionless before him, watchful as a dog, yetstill like a snake or spider patiently waiting. Didn't the beast eversleep?
A drink was what Stern needed. He went to the closet and poured a doublebrandy. He sipped it slowly. As delicious fire ran down his gullet andwarmed his stomach, he felt his tension ease and a sense of confidencepervade his mind.
He needn't worry. He was always successful, except that once with thestocks. And he had calm nerves.
There were guards out in front now in khaki uniform; the Governor musthave called out a company of the National Guard. Stern noticed somestate police, too. The house was well guarded on the three sidessurrounded by a neat, white picket fence. In the back, the severe dropinto the ravine made guards there unnecessary.
It was dark before Dr. Curtis moved. Beryl was watching him; she hadlittle to say to Stern now.
"How about some broth, dear?" she asked Curtis immediately.
Slowly, Clyde's eyes focused on her. He smiled. "Let's try it."
He let Beryl feed him, sitting on a stool beside his chair and beingunnecessarily motherly and coddling about it.
For a while after he had eaten, Clyde sat in his chair, looking at Berylwith his new and oddly gentle smile. It seemed to activate some hiddenresponse in her, for she glowed with tenderness.
"I suppose," Curtis slurred, "I ought to try to walk now."
"Let me help." Stern rose and crossed the room.
The Martian rustled like snakes in the weeds, and hissed.
Beryl said without suspicion, "Thank you, Al. I knew you'd do whateveryou could for Clyde." And she rested her hand trustingly on his arm.
What was past was past, not to be wept over, not to be regretted.
"Like to walk out in the back for the air?" Stern asked. "The breeze iscoming from that direction."
"That will do very well," said Curtis, obviously not caring a bit.
* * * * *
Stern helped Curtis from his chair and supported him under the arm. Theywent out the back door, the Martian slithering after them. It was coolerin the garden. Stern felt a renewed surge of self-confidence.
"The stars--" Curtis stopped to look upward.
The night was almost cloudless and there was no moon. The house hid anyview of the crowds and the guards holding them back. They were alone inthe dark.
Curtis started forward again, with the Martian scraping along behind. Itwould never let Curtis out of its sight as long as it lived; that muchwas clear to Stern.
He guided Curtis to a seat close to the ravine, a favorite spot. Alwaysthe Martian was a step--or a slither--behind, and when Curtis sat down,Schaughtowl sat between his beloved master and the precipitous drop.
Stern picked up a rock from the rock garden and tossed it into theravine. The Martian did not take his eyes off Curtis. Stern picked up alarger rock, a sharp, pointed one. He was behind the Martian and Curtiswas looking away unseeingly into the night.
It was simple, really, and well executed. The beast's skull bashed ineasily, being merely thin bones for a thin atmosphere and lightgravitation. A push sent it over the edge of the ravine.
Curtis sat unnoticing, and the traffic jam out front created more thanenough confusion to drown out any noise from the creature's fall.
Stern's palm stung. He realized that, before the Martian had pitchedover the ravine, a suction pad had for a moment caught at his hand. Ithad done the beast no good, though.
Curiously, the Martian had not guarded itself, only Curtis. Sitting withits back to Stern had really invited attack. The mind-reading abilitywas just something that Stern had nervously imagined.
The police would not be able to tell his rock from any other. The heavybody, its ungainly movement and thin bones would explain everything.Besides, there was no motive for killing the Martian and what penaltycould there be? It couldn't be called murder.
Stern looked at the palm of his right hand, the one that had held therock. It stung a little, but in the darkness he couldn't see it. Astinger of some kind, like a bee, probably. The hell with it--couldn'tbe fatal or Curtis would have warned them about it.
The Martian had been walking by the ravine and had clumsily fallen in.He would report it after he had got Curtis back into the house.
Curtis was easy to arouse and didn't seem to miss Schaughtowl. Sternmaneuvered him to the living room, where he sank into a chair and fellinto his mood of abstraction.
Beryl must be in the kitchen cleaning up, Stern supposed. Perhaps he hadbetter put some kind of germicide on his palm, just to ward offinfection.
* * * * *
He looked at Curtis relaxed in the chair. Clyde suddenly appeared oddlyboyish to him, hardly different than he had been in college days. For amoment Stern felt again the adolescent admiration and fellowship he hadfelt so strongly then. Don't be stupid, he told himself angrily. Thisman had the money and the woman that had almost belonged to him.
* * * * *
Moving slowly, Stern deliciously savored the aroma of his triumph. Onthe table was the bottle. Clyde would be easy, unsuspecting, kindly.
It wouldn't be safe to marry Beryl right away, but there could never beany suspicion.
No need to hurry. For a moment he wanted to watch Curtis. He wonderedwhat kind of pictures Clyde was seeing on the blank wall. Martianlandscapes? The strange Ladonai? Too bad he hadn't stayed on Mars. Sterncoul
dn't help having a friendly feeling for his old college chum, pity,too, for what must happen to him soon.
This was no way to kill anyone!
He was growing old and soft!
Nevertheless, Curtis _did_ have a noble and striking face. Funny he hadnever noticed it before. It seemed to glow with an uncanny peace.
Unnoticed, the numbness crept from Stern's palm along his right arm, anda prickly sensation appeared in his right leg.
It was funny to read a person's thoughts like this. Love flowed fromCurtis like the warm glow from a burning candle. A sort of halo hadformed from the light above his head.
Symbolic.
From Curtis came wave after wave of love. He could feel it pulsatingtoward him, and he felt his own heart turn over, answer it. Yes, Curtiswas noble.
Stern sank cross-legged on the floor beside Curtis and gazed at him. Theprickly sensation had
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