Second Stage Lensmen

by Edward E Smith

  This situation was another poser; but it, too, they had to take. There was no way out of it, and it was still perfect Boskonian generalship. The welcoming arrangements were therefore made precisely as Tyrant Gannel had directed.

  The flagship settled toward ground, her under-jets blasting unusually viciously because of her tremendous load; and as she descended Kinnison glanced briefly down at the familiar terrain. There was the immense space-field, a dock-studded expanse of burned, scarred, pock-marked concrete and steel. Midway of its extreme northern end, that nearest the palace, was the berth of the flagship, Dock No. 1. An eighth of a mile straight north from the dock—the minimum distance possible because of the terrific fury of the under-jets—was the entrance to the palace grounds. At the northern end of the western side of the field, a good three-quarters of a mile from Dock No. 1 and somewhat more than that distance from the palace gates, were the Stands of Ceremony. That made the Lensman completely the master of the situation.

  The flagship landed. Her madly blasting jets died out. A car of state rolled grandly up. Airlocks opened. Kinnison and his bodyguards seated themselves in the car. Helicopters appeared above the stands and above the massed crowds thronging the western approaches to the field; hovering, flitting slowly and watchfully about.

  Then from the flagship there emerged an incredible number of armed and armored soldiers. One small column of these marched behind the slowly-moving car of state, but by far the greater number went directly to and through the imposing portals of the palace grounds. The people in general, gathered there to see a major spectacle, thought nothing of these circumstances—who were they to wonder at what the Tyrant of Thrale might choose to do?—but to Gannel’s Council of Advisers they were extremely disquieting departures from the norm. There was, however, nothing they could do about them, away out there in the grandstand; and they knew with a stark certainty what those helicopters had orders to do in case of any uprising or commotion anywhere in the crowd.

  The car rolled slowly along before the fenced-back, wildly-cheering multitudes, with blaring bands and the columns of armored spacemen marching crisply, swingingly behind it. There was nothing to indicate that those selected men were not Thralians; nothing whatever to hint that over a thousand of them were in fact Lensmen of the Galactic Patrol. And Kinnison, standing stiffly erect in his car, acknowledged gravely, with upraised right arm, the plaudits of his subjects.

  The triumphal bus stopped in front of the most out-thrust, the most ornate stand, and through loud-voiced amplifiers the Tyrant invited, as a signal honor, the twelve members of his Advisory Cabinet to ride with him in state to the palace. There were exactly twelve vacant seats in the great coach. The advisers would have to leave their bodyguards and ride alone with the Tyrant: even had there been room, it was unthinkable that any one else’s personal killers could ride with the Presence. This was no honor, they knew chillingly, no matter what the mob might think—it looked much more like a death-sentence. But what could they do? They glanced at their unarmored henchmen; then at the armor and the semi-portables of Gannel’s own heelers; then at the ’copters now clustering thickly overhead, with the narrow snouts of needle-ray projectors very much in evidence.

  They accepted.

  It was in no quiet frame of mind, then, that they rode into the pretentious grounds of the palace. They felt no better when, as they entered the council chamber, they were seized and disarmed without a word having been spoken. And the world fairly dropped out from beneath them when Tyrant Gannel emerged from his armor with a Lens glowing upon his wrist.

  “Yes, I am a Lensman,” he gravely informed the stupefied but unshrinking Boskonians. “That is why I know that all twelve of you tried while I was gone to cut me down, in spite of everything I told you and everything you have seen me do. If it were still necessary for me to pose as Traska Gannel I would have to kill you here and now for your treachery. That phase is, however, past.”

  “I am one of the Lensmen whose collective activities you have ascribed to ‘the’ Lensman or to Star A Star. All those others who came with me into the palace are Lensmen. All those outside are either Lensmen or tried and seasoned veterans of the Galactic Patrol. The fleet surrounding this world is the Grand Fleet of that Patrol. The Boskonian force was completely destroyed—every man and every ship except your flagship—before it reached Klovia. In short, the power of Boskonia is broken forever; Civilization is to rule henceforth throughout both galaxies.”

  “You are the twelve strongest, the twelve ablest men of the planet, perhaps of your whole dark culture. Will you help us to rule according to the principles of Civilization that which has been the Boskonian Empire or will you die?”

  The Thralians stiffened themselves rigidly against the expected blasts of death, but only one spoke. “We are fortunate at least, Lensman, in that you do not torture,” he said, coldly, his lips twisted into a hard, defiant sneer.

  “Good!” and the Lensman actually smiled. “I expected no less. With that solid bottom, all that is necessary is to wipe away a few of your misconceptions and misunderstandings, correct your viewpoints, and…”

  “Do you think for a second that your therapists can fit us into the pattern of your Civilization?” the Boskonian spokesman demanded, bitingly.

  “I don’t have to think, Lanion—I know,” Kinnison assured him. “Take them away, fellows, and lock them up—you know where. Everything will go ahead as scheduled.”

  It did.

  And while the mighty vessels of war landed upon the space-field and while the thronging Lensmen took over post after post in an ever-widening downward course, Kinnison led Worsel and Tregonsee to the cell in which the outspoken Thralian chieftain was confined.

  “I do not know whether I can prevent you from operating upon me or not,” Lanion of Thrale spoke harshly, “but I will try. I have seen the pitiful, distorted wrecks left after such operations and I do not like them. Furthermore, I do not believe that any possible science can eradicate from my subconscious the fixed determination to kill myself the instant you release me. Therefore you had better kill me now, Lensman, and save your time and trouble.”

  “You are right, and wrong,” Kinnison replied, quietly. “It may very well be impossible to remove such a fixation.” He knew that he could remove any such, but Lanion must not know it. Civilization needed those twelve hard, shrewd minds and he had no intention of allowing an inferiority complex to weaken their powers. “We do not, however, intend to operate, but only and simply to educate. You will not be unconscious at any time. You will be in full control of your own mind and you will know beyond peradventure that you are so in control. We shall engrave, in parallel with your own present knowledges of the culture of Boskonia, the equivalent or corresponding knowledges of Civilization.”

  They did so. It was not a short undertaking, nor an easy: but it was thorough and it was finally done. Then Kinnison spoke.

  “You now have completely detailed knowledge both of Boskonia and of Civilization, a combination possessed by but few intelligences indeed. You know that we did not alter, did not even touch, any track of your original mind. Being fully en rapport with us, you know that we gave you as unprejudiced a concept of Civilization as we possibly could. Also, you have assimilated completely the new knowledge.”

  “That is all true,” Lanion conceded. “Remarkable, but true. I was, and remained throughout, myself; I checked constantly to be sure of that. I can still kill myself at any moment I choose.”

  “Right.” Kinnison did not smile, even mentally, at the unconscious alteration of intent. “The whole proposition can now be boiled down into one clear-cut question, to which you can formulate an equally clear-cut reply. Would you, Lanion, personally, prefer to keep on as you have been, working for personal power, or would you rather team up with others to work for the good of all?”

  The Thralian thought for moments, and as he pondered an expression of consternation spread over his hard-hewn face. “You mean actually—person
ally—apart from all consideration of your so-called altruism and your other infantile weaknesses?” he demanded, resistantly.

  “Exactly,” Kinnison assured him. “Which would you rather do? Which would you, personally, get the most good—the most fun—out of?”

  The bitter conflict was plainly visible in Lanion’s bronzed face; so was the direction in which it was going.

  “Well… I’ll…be…damned! You win, Lensman!” and the ex-Boskonian executive held out his hand. Those were not his words, of course; but as nearly as Tellurian English can come to it, that is the exact sense of his final decision. And the same, or approximately the same, was the decision of each of his eleven fellows, each in his turn.

  Thus it was, then, that Civilization won over the twelve recruits who were so potently instrumental in the bloodless conquest of Thrale, and who were later to be of such signal service throughout the Second Galaxy. For they knew Boskonia with a sure knowledge, from top to bottom and from side to side, in every aspect and ramification; they knew precisely where and when and how to work to secure the desired ends. And they worked—how they worked!—but space is lacking to go into any of their labors here.

  Specialists gathered, of a hundred different sorts; and when, after peace and security had been gained, they began to attack the stupendous files of the Hall of Records, Kinnison finally yielded to Haynes’ insistence and moved out to the Z9M9Z.

  “It’s about time, young fellow!” the Port Admiral snapped. “I’ve gnawed my finger-nails off just about to the elbow and I still haven’t figured out how to crack Onlo. Have you got any ideas?”

  “Thrale first,” Kinnison suggested. “Everything QX here, you sure?”

  “Absolutely,” Haynes grunted. “As strongly held as Tellus or Klovia. Primaries, helices, super-tractors, Bergenholms, sunbeam—everything. They don’t need us here any longer, any more than a hen needs teeth. Grand Fleet is all set to go, but we haven’t been able to work out a feasible plan of campaign. The best way would be not to use the fleet at all, but a sunbeam—but we can’t move the sun and Thorndyke can’t hold the beam together that far. I don’t suppose we could use a negasphere?”

  “I don’t see how,” Kinnison pondered. “Ever since we used it first they’ve been ready for it. I’d be inclined to wait and see what Nadreck works out. He’s a wise old owl, that bird—what does he tell you?”

  “Nothing. Nothing flat.” Haynes’ smile was grimly amused. “The fact that he is still ‘investigating’—whatever that means—is all he’ll say. Why don’t you try him? You know him better than I do or ever will.”

  “It wouldn’t do any harm,” Kinnison agreed. “Nor good, either, probably. Funny egg, Nadreck. I’d tie fourteen of his arms into lover’s knots if it’d make him give, but it wouldn’t—he’s really tough.” Nevertheless he sent out a call, which was acknowledged instantly.

  “Ah, Kinnison, greetings. I am even now on my way to Thrale and the Directrix to report.”

  “You are? Fine!” Kinnison exclaimed. “How did you come out?”

  “I did not—exactly—fail, but the work was very incompletely and very poorly done,” Nadreck apologized, the while the Tellurian’s mind felt very strongly the Palainian equivalent of a painful blush of shame. “My report of the affair is going in under Lensman’s Seal.”

  “But what did you do?” both Tellurians demanded as one.

  “I scarcely know how to confess to such blundering,” and Nadreck actually squirmed. “Will you not permit me to leave my shame to the spool of record?”

  They would not, they informed him.

  “If you must have it, then, I yield. The plan was to make all Onlonians destroy themselves. In theory it was sound and simple, but my execution was pitifully imperfect. My work was so poorly done that the commanding officer in each one of three of the domes remained alive, making it necessary for me to slay those three commanders personally, by the use of crude force. I regret exceedingly the lack of finish of this undertaking, and I apologize profoundly for it. I trust that you will not allow this information to become a matter of public knowledge,” and the apologetic, mentally sweating, really humiliated Palainian broke the connection.

  Haynes and Kinnison stared at each other, for moments completely at a loss for words. The Port Admiral first broke the silence.

  “Hell’s—jingling—bells!” he wrenched out, finally, and waved a hand at the points of light crowding so thickly his tactical tank. “A thing that the whole damned Grand Fleet couldn’t do, and he does it alone, and then he apologizes for it as though he ought to be stood up in a corner or sent to bed without any supper!”

  “Uh-huh, that’s the way he is,” Kinnison breathed, in awe. “What a brain!…what a man!”

  Nadreck’s black speedster arrived and a three-way conference was held. Both Haynes and Kinnison pressed him for the details of his really stupendous achievement, but he refused positively even to mention any phase of it.

  “The matter is closed—finished,” he declared, in a mood of anger and self-reproach which neither of the Tellurians had ever supposed that the gently scientific monster could assume, “I practically failed. It is the poorest piece of work of which I have been guilty since cubhood, and I desire and I insist that it shall not be mentioned again. If you wish to lay plans for the future, I will be very glad indeed to place at your disposal my small ability—which has now been shown to be even smaller than I had supposed—but if you insist upon discussing my fiasco, I shall forthwith go home. I will not discuss it. The record of it will remain permanently under Lensman’s Seal. That is my last word.”

  And it was. Neither of the two Tellurians mentioned the subject, of course, either then or ever, but many other persons—including your historian—have done so, with no trace whatever of success. It is a shame, it is positively outrageous, that no details are available of the actual fall of Onlo. No human mind can understand why Nadreck will not release his seal, but the bitter fact of his refusal to do so has been made all too plain.

  Thus, in all probability, it never will become publicly known how those monstrous Onlonians destroyed each other, nor how Nadreck penetrated the defensive screens of Onlo’s embattled domes, nor in what fashions he warred upon the three surviving commanders. These matters, and many others of perhaps equal interest and value, must have been of such an epic nature that it is a cosmic crime that they cannot be recorded here; that this, one of the most important incidents of the campaign, must be mentioned merely and baldly as having happened. But, unless Nadreck relents—and he apparently never does—that is the starkly tragic fact.

  Other Lensmen were called in then, and admirals and generals and other personages. It was decided to man the fortifications of Onlo immediately, from the several fleets of frigid-blooded poison-breathers which made up a certain percentage of Civilization’s forces. This decision was influenced markedly by Nadreck, who said in part:

  “Onlo is a beautiful planet. Its atmosphere is perfect, its climate is ideal; not only for us of Palain VII, but also for the inhabitants of many other planets, such as…” and he mentioned some twenty names. “While I personally am not a fighter, there are some who are; and while those of a more warlike disposition man Onlo’s defenses and weapons, my fellow researchers and I might very well be carrying on with the same type of work which you fire-blooded oxygen-breathers are doing elsewhere.”

  This eminently sensible suggestion was adopted at once. The conference broke up. The selected sub-fleets sailed. Kinnison went to see Haynes.

  “Well, sir, that’s it… I hope…what do you think? Am I, or am I not, due for a spot of free time?” The Gray Lensman’s face was drawn and grim.

  “I wish I knew, son…but I don’t.” Eyes and voice were deeply troubled. “You ought to be… I hope you are…but you’re the only judge of that, you know.”

  “Uh-huh…that is, I know how to find out…but I’m afraid to—afraid he’ll say no. However, I’m going to see Cris first—talk it over wi
th her. How about having a gig drop me down to the hospital?”

  For he did not have to travel very far to find his fiancee. From the time of leaving Lyrane until the taking over of Thrale she had as a matter of course been chief nurse of the hospital ship Pasteur, and with the civilizing of that planet she had as automatically become chief nurse of the Patrol’s Base Hospital there.

  “Certainly, Kim—anything you want, whenever you please.”

  “Thanks, chief… Now that this fracas is finally over—if it is—I suppose you’ll have to take over as president of the Galactic Council?”

  “I suppose so—after we clean up Lyrane VIII, that you’ve been holding me away from so long—but I don’t relish the thought. And you’ll be Coordinator Kinnison.”

  “Uh-huh,” gloomily. “By Klono, I hate to put my Grays away! I’m not going to do it, either, until after we’re married and I’m really settled down onto the job.”

  “Of course not. You’ll be wearing them for some time yet, I’m thinking.” Haynes’ tone was distinctly envious. “Getting your job reduced to routine will take a long, long time… It’ll probably take years even to find out what it’s really going to be.”

  “That’s so, too,” Kinnison brightened visibly. “Well, clear ether, President Haynes!” and he turned away, whistling unmelodiously—in fact, somewhat raucously—through his teeth.

  CHAPTER

  23

  Attainment

  T BASE HOSPITAL IT WAS MIDNIGHT. the two largest of Thrale’s four major moons were visible, close together in the zenith, almost at the full: shining brilliantly from a cloudless, star-besprinkled sky upon the magnificent grounds.