Logan: A Trilogy

by William F. Nolan

  And, touching, they stared out beyond the port, at the chalked, lifeless horizon of the Moon.

  When Jaq was five Logan and Jess gave him a special party. Only the spaceborn were invited—those who had been conceived on Argos and who, like Jaq, had never known their mother planet.

  Logan told the children about Earthgames he’d played in Nursery, about vibroballs and teeter-swings and talk puppets. It seemed they could never hear enough about Earth.

  “Were there really Sandmen who chased you?” asked a girl of six.

  Logan nodded.

  “And were the Sandmen really bad?” asked the little girl.

  “Yes,” said Logan. “But they were taught to be. Some of them changed.They didn’t all stay bad.”

  “You were one, weren’t you?” asked a ten-year-old, eyes alight.

  “I was one,” admitted Logan.

  “And were you bad?”

  “For awhile.”

  “No!” screamed little Jaq, running across the chamber to his father, hugging him fiercely. “Logan was never bad!”

  The boy was sobbing.

  Jessica came to them, held them both. She kissed Logan’s cheek.

  In the sudden, strained silence a six-year-old tugged at Logan’s wrist.

  “Can we play now? Can we?”

  “He’s calmer,” said Stile. “Relaxed. Almost tranquil. His mind seems to have found what it was looking for. He’s in very deep.”

  Lacy looked pensive. “What do you think a Sandman’s Gun would bring on the Market?”

  “A great deal. But it would have to be de-fused, the pore-pattern detonation device neutralized.”

  “Can that be done?”

  “It can be. It’s a very delicate procedure.”

  She paced the room, thinking.

  “He’ll never trade or sell the Gun,” said Stile.

  “I know,” she said. “It won’t be possible to negotiate with him.” She stopped, looked directly at Stile.

  “We’ll have to kill him.”

  * * *

  OUT

  Sprawled face-down across the mat, deep in his mental dreamworld with Jessica and Jaq, Logan was not aware that the room had changed, that something was being added to the atmosphere. From a small opening under the door a colorless substance was being piped into the chamber.

  Tetrahyde. Toxic and totally effective on human body tissue. Once absorbed into the lungs, it destroyed them with deadly efficiency.

  Logan breathed in…breathed out…breathed in.

  He had exactly ten more minutes of life.

  Logan, Logan, do you hear me?

  I…hear you.

  You are in great danger. You must come out!

  No. Here with Jessica…with Jaq.

  Listen to me, Logan. It’s Dia.

  How? How did you find me?

  Jonath. When you didn’t return to the camp he sent word to me. He knew no one else could reach you.

  Where are you now?

  Close to you. Close to the Giant. I knew they’d never let me see you—so I’m sending my mind to you, my thoughts.You must come out to me!

  No. Won’t come out.

  They’re killing you, Logan.

  Not true. They help me, give me water.

  All that’s over. The woman, Lacy, she has made up her mind to take the Gun. I know her thoughts. she wills you dead. Poison is in the air. You must come out, now! I’ll help you.. .our two minds, together.Only minutes remain!

  Logan willed his body to fight the drug—and Dia linked her mind to his; the images inside Logan’s head began to mix, break up.

  …and Jessica was…

  the Loveroom, and “Mother loves you,” said

  Ballard…

  who was Francis, who was…Jaq, only five,

  but already he…

  kissed her deeply, knowing they were

  never going to…

  Harder! Try harder, Logan!

  Trying. Can’t. No use.

  Fight! Break free!

  …because Box was…in the cave….

  falling…

  and love was…

  fa

  l

  l ing.

  everything w

  a

  s

  f

  a

  l

  l

  i

  n

  g

  .

  .

  .

  No. Too deep…too far in…

  But you’re doing it…we’re doing it together….you’re almost.

  …out!

  Logan blinked stupidly; his head pounded—as if a thousand hot needles had been driven into his skull.

  Only a few seconds left! Use the Gun, Logan! Use it!

  Logan fumbled dizzily at his belt holster, his nostrils filled with the acid odor of Tetrahyde.The gas was upon him. He held his breath, pulled the Gun free.

  Fired.

  The nitro charge exploded the door from its hinge-locks, flooding the liftroom with fresh air.

  Logan staggered to his feet, plowed across the mat toward the gaping exit.

  Where are you, Dia?

  Outside. On the street just below the Giant. You’ll see me.

  I’ll be there. Soon.

  Stile was in the corridor, running toward Logan, a weapon in his hand. Gun on ripper.

  Logan fired, tearing him apart.

  Lacy saw this, darted back into her chambers. The firebirds cawed and fluttered.

  Gaining strength by the second, Logan swept past her, reached the outside door, raced for the roofport.

  Behind him, Lacy was screaming: “Stop him! Stop — “

  Three guards tried to—without success. Logan chopped them aside with blows from Gun and body.

  Lacy appeared in the roof door, Fuser in hand, firing as Logan reached his paravane. Her first beam-blast sheared away a section of alum sheeting next to Logan’s head.

  He swung bitterly toward her, triggered the Gun, on tangler.

  The swift whirl of steelmesh filament engulfed her and she fell back, clawing at the choking, constricting coils of metal.

  Dia was not alone when Logan reached her. The man from the Wilderness camp who had flown her to New York was there.

  “How did you find another paravane?” Logan asked him.

  “There are still a few around,” the man told him. “Found this one in West Virginia. She needed a new gyrounit, but she’s fine now.”

  “Tell Jonath how grateful I am,” said Logan.

  “He’ll be glad to hear you’re all right.”

  Thanks to you, Logan thought, looking at Dia.

  And she smiled at him.

  “Will you be following me back?” the man asked Logan.

  No. We’re going west. Together.

  “No,” said Logan. “We’ll be going west.”

  The two men shook hands. “Good trip,” said Logan. With Dia, he watched the ship fade into night sky. Where now? asked Logan. How far west?

  All the way to the Coast, she told him, sitting beside him in the humming paravane. The New York Territory unrolled below them, night-black and massive.

  I want to take you home, Logan. She smiled, her hands touching gently at the planes of his face. West, to my home.

  As heat is felt on skin, Logan felt the passion radiating from her mind.

  He owed her his life, but could he give her something more than gratitude? Was he capable, now, of a greater commitment to her?

  Logan wasn’t sure.

  He would know when the time for knowing was at hand.

  * * *

  EYES

  Liath was waiting for them on the shore.

  Before he saw her, Logan received her warm thoughts, reaching into the sky to greet him: Welcome, Logan…Welcome to our home!

  The paravane, sweeping over her, whipped Liath’s long hair in a silver halo around her delicately-sculptured face and neck. The smokegown she wore billowed up in a swirl of mistsilk
s, revealing a lithe, cat-muscled body. She waved happily at them.

  Is she not beautiful? Yes—as you are, Dia.

  Logan set down in the sand at the ocean’s edge. The Pacific lifted sleeves of bluegreen lace and spilled them at their feet as Dia and Logan climbed free of the ship.

  The two sisters embraced, holding one another tightly.

  There was no hesitation in their movements, no blind fumbling—yet they were sightless!

  No, we see, Logan.

  And with a clarity much greater than yours.

  You steal my thoughts!

  Both girls smiled, a double radiance. It was early morning and the sun made a bronze shield of the ocean; the sky was newly-washed with wind, and flowed like another iron blue sea, free of clouds, to the horizon. The sharp odors of brine and kelp reached Logan, mixed with the cry of an overhead gull, circling and curious.

  Liath took Logan’s hand. I am glad you are safe, she told him.

  Your sister…She reached me when no one else could. They walked along the wet sand.

  Dia took Logan’s other hand, and the sisters guided him inland, toward a rising cliff of pink coral.

  Our home, nodded Dia.

  Our castle! enthused Liath.

  It was literally that: an immense castle of fibrous pink-and-white coral rising sheer from the sand. Sun spangled its daggered edges.

  Careful…Walk where we walk, warned Dia. The coral is very sharp.

  Logan followed them along a path of beaten stone which wound up into the depths of the structure.

  They emerged, finally, into a wide, sun-splashed chamber, lined with thick, tufted flowcloth. Here every coral edge was softened by resilient layers of cloth, by pillowrugs and foamcushions.

  Watch!

  Delightedly, Liath skipped across the room to a large, coral-crystal pillar. She placed her hand on the pillar and, slowly, a series of silver curtains hushed down from the ceiling, forming a protective tenting over their heads.

  These are weather shells, Dia told him. We are not like father. Our skin grows cold at night. They protect us from wind and fog.

  And for warmth…said Liath.

  She pressed another section of crystal—and a fire bloomed to life in the center of the floor.

  Incredible.

  We want you to live here with us, Logan, Dia told him. Share our home, our lives…our love.

  Liath’s thoughts flowed in: There are just the two of us. One is nearly always with father at the Bridge. We alternate.

  When Liath is gone, it can be lonely…

  For me, also, when Dia is away…We need you, Logan. Need you.

  A pairbond? questioned Logan. Between all three of us? It could be beautiful, Logan!

  And Logan thought: Jaq is gone. Gone, they echoed. Jess is gone.

  Gone...mind-whispered Dia. And we are here, said Liath.

  A night—A day. Another night.

  Logan found joy with Dia and Liath. Their minds and bodies rioted together in a spillout of sensual delights, a crossfire of thoughts, emotions, impressions, shared experiences…

  But there was a barrier.

  Your eyes, Logan. They blind you to sight.

  Dia was with him. They were lazing nude in the slow ocean tides along a sun-tinted stretch of yellow beach.

  Logan smiled. I see the sun on the water. I see gulls in the sky.He touched her body. I see your beauty.

  But I see more, she told him. So much more, Logan! My vision is achieved with the inner eye, and is on a scale beyond your conception. Whole worlds are open to me which are closed to you. I want to share them.

  How?

  You must free your inner eye—allow it to expand your total consciousness. For me, Dia, that’s impossible.

  No, you’re wrong. You need only remove the barrier of your outer sight to free that greater sight which is within you. It waits to be released.

  Are you saying that I should—blind myself?

  She shook her head, smiling softly. No, I’m saying you should free yourself…enter our world…Liath’s and mine. Become truly bonded to us. You have the ability as few others have it. As we are gifted, so are you.

  And how would I do this?

  There is a heat shield in the castle…of sunmetal. Its surface is as bright as the sun itself. Stand before it, gaze full into it with your physical eyes—and it will free you. It will take away the barrier which separates us.

  Is it really possible?

  It is, Logan, it is!

  That night, in the castle, Logan could not sleep. Existence had no reality, now, beyond the daughters of Andar. Dia had saved him from certain death and, in a way, his life was hers.

  She had asked nothing of him; she had only given. Now she wanted to give more.. .wanted to give him her inner world, share it with him.

  Why was he so afraid of losing his eyes? He had seen the cities, the cruelty, the terror and frenzy of runners fleeing the Gun. He had seen the plague run its terrible path across Argos, destroying his friends, all the people he had come to know and trust. He’d seen the Wilderness People, lost and helpless against the ravages of nature. He’d seen his son’s sprawled body.

  Jaq was dead. Jessica was dead. What more was there for him, in this world of shadows?

  Noon. The sun tall and direct above the castle. The three of them standing before a high, curtained object. When we move aside the curtain, look full into the shield, Dia told him. Do not blink or shift your gaze.

  For ten seconds. That’s all it will require, assured Liath. There will be no pain—only an intense brightness.

  I understand.

  Dia embraced him, kissed his lips. Trust us, Logan. I do. I trust you both.

  Ten seconds—and you will be with us forever, said Liath.

  Logan braced himself, teeth clamped, jaw muscles tight. He nodded.

  Open the curtain!

  Dia moved to the shield, drew back its wine-red cover.

  Brightness! Incredible, penetrating brightness…a sun-glare of fierce light so intense that Logan flinched back from it.

  Yet, he did not blink.

  Six seconds!

  Seven…

  Three more seconds, Logan!

  A rush of sound above them. Blades chopping air. The red curtain swirled, lifted itself, settled to half-cover the shield.

  Logan turned away to a wild cry from above: “Logan! Quick, Logan! I have news!” The voice of Jonath.

  In a fantail of sand, the paravane came to rest on the beach. Jonath leaped from the machine, ran toward Logan, waving, shouting.

  They met at the coral’s edge.

  “I flew here the moment I heard the news. I would allow no one else to bring it.”

  “What news, Jonath?”

  The Wilderness leader gripped his friend by both shoulders; his eyes blazed with the words: “She’s alive! Jessica’s alive!”

  * * *

  JONATH

  “All right, tell me everything you know,” Logan said tightly.

  They were in the castle. Jonath was seated on a fall of snowpillows, sipping green seawine which Dia had brought him. She and her sister hovered near Logan, who was never entirely still. He paced constantly as he listened to Jonath, questioned him on details.

  “An ex-Sandman named Evans brought me the news,” said the Wilderness man. “He told me—”

  “Evans 9?”

  “Yes,” said Jonath.

  “I’ve known him since childhood. We worked the Angeles Complex together.”

  Jonath nodded. “He said he was your friend—that he’d become a runner because of you.”

  “Evans…running?”

  “You made it to Sanctuary and so he decided to try for it—but he couldn’t connect with Ballard’s people. Evans was hiding out when they penetrated the Line at Steinbeck.”

  “Why would he tie in with Gant?”

  “After the Thinker died he told me he just naturally gravitated back with other ex-Sandmen. When Gant took command of th
eir group Evans followed along.”

  A flash of instant mental communication between Logan and the sisters: Who is Gant?

  A monster. The worst of the Sandmen. He hates me.

  Why?

  He was in charge of Angeles Complex when I became a runner. My escape to Sanctuary was a personal embarrassment to him, a black mark on his record. I was the only Sandman to ever reach Sanctuary, and he hates me for it.

  “Evans and Gant argued,” said Jonath. “Gant tried to have him killed. He got away, came to us, looking for you. He wanted you to know that Gant bought Jessica on the Market.”

  “That Borgia bitch lied to me,” said Logan. “She had me convinced that Jess was dead.”

  “To protect herself, obviously,” said Jonath. “By shifting the blame to Prince, she thought you’d let her go.”

  “But I didn’t,” said Logan flatly.

  Dia looked agonized. You’re leaving us! Your thoughts say it.

  I’m going after Jess.

  But Gant—he’ll never let you have her.

  I’ll take her.

  He’ll kill you, Logan!

  He’ll probably try.

  The Sandmen are with him. You’ll never—

  “Where is she?” Logan asked Jonath. A muscle danced in his cheek. “Where does Gant have her?”

  Jonath told him.

  * * *

  DAKOTAS

  * * *

  Deep green below them. A forest flow of pine-thick wilderness, broken by high granite cliffs and jeweled lakes, darkened by the swift-sliding shadow of the paravane.

  The Black Hills of the Dakotas.

  “When we get there,” Logan said, “I want you to stay with the ship until I bring Jess out.” “Negative. I’m going in with you,” said Jonath. “You’ll need all the help you can get.” “Then take one of these.” He handed Jonath a Fuser. “Courtesy of the Borgias.” “I’ve never fired one.”

  “Nothing to it. Just aim and press the gripstud with your thumb. It’s laser-powered. The beam will cut through any surface.”