The Golden Age of Science Fiction Novels Vol 04

by Anthology

"In no way, save that I desired your acquaintance with the knowledge. I go now to Jadgor, and Lakkon, her father," Croft replied. "Grant us thy prayers, Zud, and those of the Gayana, since once she lay among them waiting to be my bride." He turned to the door, crashing it back with a wholly unneeded force, and strode off, clanking down the passage, leaving old Zud staring after out of troubled, aged eyes.

  Chapter IV

  At another door he stopped, wrenching it open and laying hands upon a cord that hung within it. He jerked upon it, released it, and stood waiting with hands clenched as though in impatience, until there rose slowly into sight a platform, upon which he stepped. The platform sank slowly, carrying him downward inside a rock-faced shaft, which ended in a dimly lighted chamber, where blue men strained about a capstan and windlass by means of which the primitive lift was controlled.

  "Hai! The Mouthpiece of Zitu requires a motur and one to drive it," Croft addressed the man in charge.

  The fellow saluted and turned away. I saw there were several moturs parked against one of the chamber walls. And too, I recalled that Croft had found a similar arrangement in the pyramid of Himyra when first he called on Magur, save that then the room had been used to house the carriages and gnuppas of the priests.

  Croft strode toward one of the waiting cars, and a man appeared. As Jason climbed to a seat he took his place at the wheel and the engine roared. Blue men set open a heavy door and stood aside. Through it the car darted out of the base of the pyramid to reach the street beyond it.

  "To the palace of Jadgor, and hasten!" Jason cried.

  And thus it was that I saw Jadgor and Lakkon in the flesh, and found them as Croft had described them to me. Both were quick to resort to arms, both reluctant to use trickery; but as Jason spoke, and their indignation gave way to reason, they agreed that Croft's plan was best for both Tamarizia and Naia.

  Jadgor wrote the order to the captain of a galley, which would place the craft under Jason's orders. Lakkon apologized for his first angry words when he accused Jason of weakness in not making war at once; Croft knew his father-in-law well, and accepted the apology gracefully.

  Outside the room he made his way, outside the palace of Jadgor, once more to seat in the motur, and in it toward the city walls and the foot of a mounting flight of stairs.

  A sentry stood with sword and spear before them. Croft addressed him. He saluted and permitted him to pass. Jason, Mouthpiece of Zitu, climbed up in the silvery moonlight, his shadow a purple blot beside him, to reach the top at last. And there strangely in all that archaic scene he paused before the door of the hut, above which towered the spidery outline of a wireless mast. For an instant he turned his eyes outward over the expanse of the Central Sea, and then he passed inside.

  A man seated at a table, with a key of the wireless before him, started to his feet.

  "A message to Robur, Governor of Aphur in Himyra, and quickly," Croft said.

  The operator regained his seat and produced his headdress, clamping it against his ears. Croft gave the message. There came a hissing crash of the spark. Strange, I found myself thinking as I watched—an anachronism surely that this youth of Palos, clad in plain tunic and sandals and leg casings of leather, above which showed the sinewy flesh of his lower thighs and knees, should be sitting here on top of the ramparts of a walled city, hurling forth across the ocean beyond him the potential Hertzian waves. And yet it was no more strange than that I should know it.

  And then the thing was done. The crashing of the spark was silenced. Croft tossed a coin on the table and passed outside down the stairs. And when next the motur paused he gave the driver another coin and dismissed him. He stood before a galley, moored close to the semicircular quays of Zitra's inner harbor, stretching like a pool of liquid silver beyond him to the mighty sea doors that closed the entrance to it in the overarching walls.

  But though I thrilled to the massive grandeur of the picture, Croft heeded it little. To him it was an old scene.

  "Hai! Captain of the watch, aboard the galley!" he hailed sharply and stood waiting until a head appeared above the rail of the waist and a voice replied:

  "Jason, Mouthpiece of Zitu, with the mandate of Jadgor from the palace of Jadgor. I would come toward you." Croft made answer.

  The head disappeared. For possibly two minutes nothing happened, and then a gangway was shoved out to reach the quay.

  Croft strode alone it, presented Jadgor's tablet to a suddenly wide awake captain, and was led to an apartment under the after-deck, richly furnished in red woods and hangings of scarlet, the personal color of Jadgor's house.

  Life woke on board the galley. There was a tramping of feet, a sound of voices bawling orders, suddenly the sibilant hiss of water past the hull. The galley heeled slightly on the long arc of a circle, straightened back to an even keel. Through the windows let into the stern I became conscious of a graying of the eastern heavens, and then a shadow fell upon us. It came to me that the monster sea doors were opened to permit our passing.

  Croft sank down upon a couch of burnished copper and sighed. He turned his glance about the apartment. "Are you still here, Murray?" he questioned.

  "Aye."

  "Better be going," he said. "But give me the benefit of your thoughts in the next few days. If you've waited until now, you've had recent proof of how hard it is for the father to hold his personal interests of lesser importance than matters of state."

  "Nonsense, man," I returned. "We'll beat them. Once you're in Himyra, you and Robur will get your heads together, and I'm going to work collecting all the information I can obtain on the device I suggested earlier tonight."

  "Do so." He nodded and stretched himself out on the couch. "I'll use it if we can think of nothing else. You and Rob—Murray, I thank Zitu for you both. I know I have your sympathy and understanding, and—I'll find the same things once I am in Himyra. I'll see you inside the next few days, of course."

  Chapter V

  From now on this narrative must become, until the end, an account of Croft's efforts toward the rescue of Naia and Jason, rather than of things experienced by myself. For now I was become little more than his lieutenant on Earth—a collector of knowledge to whom, when he came in the astral presence to gain it, he told how that knowledge was to be employed.

  In the body he went to Himyra first. But astrally he willed himself back that morning after I had left him, aboard Kalamita's gilded craft, where he told Naia what he had accomplished, mentioning at the end the possible means of rescue I had suggested.

  "Zitu!" Naia faltered. "It were strange indeed, were it not, if the answer to this riddle be found by our friend of Earth?"

  "Aye, strange," said Jason, "yet not more so than that, despite their knowledge, I stand here now before you."

  "Yet he is wise," she replied, clinging closer to him, "in that he saw quickly the true meaning of the meeting between you and herself this Zollarian woman saw fit to propose."

  Croft smiled in rueful fashion. "Jadgor, too, was against it. It would seem that all perceived the motive of it, save only Jason alone."

  "Ah, but Jason, my beloved, was overwrought."

  "Aye," he confessed; "and now it appears to him that it was on that Kalamita counted to lead him into a trap."

  "And will count," said Naia, "not knowing the strange power you have taught me, by which we meet."

  Croft nodded. "And through which their every move may be watched. To my mind, beloved—this meeting on which she is bent at present must be brought about."

  "But not by Jason!"

  "Nay," Croft reassured her, "not by Jason, but another, in a fashion, once I am in Himyra, Robur and I shall devise."

  "Hold, then." Naia paused to consider before she went on quickly. "Perchance against a woman, a woman's wits may aid you. Told she not Bathos to say this meeting would be north of Cathur—and sought she not once ere this, when before you fought to make me thine, beloved, to work harm to Tamarizia through Cathur's prince, so that the succession
was lost to Koryphu, his brother, and in the elections for governor, even though he sought to gain the station, he was ignored? Think you not that in Koryphu, Scythys' younger son, you may find one with hate in his heart for this woman and an agent to your hand?"

  "Aye, by Zitu!"

  And so to Scira, capital city of Cathur, he willed himself. Long familiarity with Scira made it easy for him to reach the residence, which, after the overthrow of his family, had become the home of Cathur's lesser prince. And there he found Koryphu, always unlike Kyphallos, his brother, more or less of a student, already busy with the tablets and scrolls that as yet in Tamarizia took the place of books. Satisfied that his man would be easy to located when needed, he returned to the galley at once.

  Thereafter followed a weird four days and nights, during the lighted portion of which Croft occupied himself as best he might, while the galley plowed across the Central Sea toward the mouth of the Na, up which lay Himyra. And when the daylight faded he stretched himself on the couch in his apartment and joined Naia in the spirit, going with her north to a Zollarian seaport, and from it in gnuppa-drawn conveyances wherein the passengers reclined on deeply padded cushions, toward Berla, discovering thereby that no matter what Kalamita may have said to Bathos regarding the place of Naia's holding, she was to be taken to the seat of the Zollarian government first.

  Himyra. Croft stepped upon its quays, where lapped the yellow Na, with a feeling of relief. Himyra—home. It was so he regarded that red city more than any other place on Palos outside his own house.

  "Jason!"

  He whirled, to behold Robur coming toward him from a motur.

  "Rob!" He turned in his direction.

  They met, and Robur clasped him to his breast.

  "My brother in all but birth," he said with emotion. "Would Zitu he had not sent this thing upon you. Gaya sends her greeting."

  "Like thee, Rob," Croft said, his heart warmed by such a meeting. "In Himyra, and thy presence, I breathe easier than for days. Bathos, my servant, has arrived?"

  "The sun before this," Robur returned as they got into his waiting motur. "Himyra, Aphur, and Robur stand ready to aid you in all things toward the rescue of our cousin. Jason need but say the word."

  "Presently," said Croft, "when I sit in the presence of Gaya and Robur, my true friends."

  Robur reached the top of the embankment and increased the motur's speed. In through the wide doors of the palace, with their doglike guardians of stone, and their weblike wings, to the red court where blue men sprinkled water upon the ruddy pavement, he drove. Past sentries armed with spears and short swords, who sprang to swift attention at sight of Aphur's governor, and the Mouthpiece of Zitu—the wonder worker of their nation, descending from one of his own creations—he led Croft into a private wing of the palace, and through it to the inner court, where Gaya waited on a couch beneath a striped awning, close to the sun-kissed waters of the bathing pool.

  Croft's heart swelled as he once more entered the well-known lounging place. For a moment his eyes dimmed as he bent above Gaya's hand, in silent salutation.

  "Jason, my friend," she said softly, "take thought that the ways of Zitu are past understanding, and that from this further ordeal now laid upon you may come a double peace."

  "Hai!" exclaimed Robur quickly. "Give heed to her, Jason. At times she seems given prophetic vision. Perchance this double peace is for thee and Tamarizia also."

  "Zitu grant it," said Croft, deeply affected by Gaya's greeting. "It is of that we must speak after I have made certain things plain."

  Robur nodded. Gaya returned to the couch. The two men drew other seats beside her, and Croft narrated his story. He rapidly outlined a plan for sending a Tamarizian party into the mountains north of Cathur, and at the last he mentioned Koryphu's name.

  "Hai!" Robur's face lighted. "Now, by Zitu, Jason, you have found the proper man. True is he in his heart, as I believe, and a sufferer from his brother's treason. He should welcome this task."

  "Naia brought the man to my mind," said Jason.

  "Aye"—Gaya smiled—"the step savors of a woman. Kalamita will gain small satisfaction when she meets him face to face. It is a proper choice."

  "He lies at Scira?" Robur questioned.

  Croft nodded. "Aye—I have visited him in spirit inside the last five days—and found him busy with tablets and scrolls, more student than man of affairs."

  "Then," Robur declared with quick decision, "we go to Scira and lay the matter before him without delay."

  "Nay"—Croft shook his head—"first shall I be present in Berla in my own fashion when Naia arrives. Meanwhile, Robur, you and I arrange other details for the mission to this meeting, and prepare to reopen the shops."

  For a moment Robur regarded him out of narrowed eyes, and then he nodded. "Has the Mouthpiece of Zitu some new device for the making, he will find me ready to work with him upon it as in the past."

  "Nay, I know not, nor will till after this meeting with the Zollarian woman. And after that it may be I shall revisit Earth."

  "Earth!" Robur exclaimed. "When last you attempted such a matter, the thing was an affair of Zitrans. Think you…"

  "Hold, Rob," Jason interrupted. "Within the last cycle—I have visited and conversed with a man of Earth in the spirit rather than the flesh."

  Gaya caught her breath sharply. "Jason," she faltered, "as man I know you, yet are there times when to me you seem more like to a spirit in man's form even as on a time Zud of Zitra said."

  Croft turned to her. "Man is a spirit, Gaya, my friend and wife of my all but brother," he said slowly. "Yet now my spirit is heavy, in that I am a man bereft. Wherefore, ere this thing be finished, I shall work in body and spirit to regain what I have lost. Rob, have you stores in plenty of metals, rubber, and cloth?"

  "Aye, in plenty—and if not, since Koryphu's mission will take the best part of a Zitran to arrange and carry out, it were possible to put double shifts at the forges and send the weavers to their looms."

  "Then do so," Jason accepted, filing his chest with a heavy inhalation, "for it is in my mind that ere Naia and Jason, Son of Jason, shall see Aphur again strange things shall be seen in the skies."

  Chapter VI

  Freedom of action, co-operation, a friendly understanding, marked the following days for Croft. That night he visited Naia while his body lay in a room in Robur's part of the palace, covered with a silken tissue, worked over by Gaya's own maids, whom she sent to rub into its stalwart muscles, soft, nourishing, perfumed ointments, such as the Tamarizian nobles used.

  Invisible, his presence known only to Naia, he saw the triumphal display of the captives, the procession through the streets of Berla, at the end of their voyage. But he also found a little satisfaction at Kalamita's frustration when she found that the emperor, Helmor, had his own use for the captives. They would be held as hostages under the emperor's protection. Croft momentary satisfaction vanished, however, when Helmore agreed to turn the child over to Kalamita, for sacrifice to Bel, if Tamarizia either refused to yield to Zollaria's demands or made war upon Zollaria.

  Croft writhed in his spirit, at the meaning of Helmor's words—the picture of Jason, Son of Jason, torn from the breast against which now he rested all unknowing, and fed into Bel's foul body filled with flame. He knew in the main what Zollaria would ask—knew in his soul that her demands must be refused for Tamarizia's good. There remained then naught for him save to support Naia insofar as he could in the spirit, and devise some means of freeing her from her present position, other than any true consideration of what Zollaria might propose.

  And now it appeared to him that the best he could do was to bring about delay in whatever negotiations might grow out of the situation—to see them dragged out without a definite decision—to gain time, wherein he might think and scheme. Or if there were no other way, seek to perfect some such device with which to strike a counterblow against Kalamita's nation as that I had proposed.

  Such thoughts hel
d him, therefore, as he went to a room deep amid the foundations of the palace into which Naia and her maid and child were thrust.

  A little of straw was upon the floor. It was dimly lighted by a single-oil lamp in a sconce against one wall. There was a copper couch with a none-too-clean sleeping pad upon it, and nothing more. With a quick rebellion of the spirit, Croft found himself thinking that it was not so Helmor, when a prisoner of Tamarizia, had been housed.

  He waited until Maia had induced her to stretch herself upon the couch, and taking the child in her arms had crouched beside her on the straw, rocking it gently and crooning to it a quaint Tamarizian song. And then as Naia's lips moved and he caught her whisper, "Beloved," he answered: "I am here."

  She sighed, and her body relaxed as its astral tenant stole forth.

  "You heard all, beloved?" she questioned as they sat together.

  "Aye," Croft told her.

  "Now Zitu help us!" Naia of Aphur cried. "For if my spirit be not broken, yet it is shaken within me, Jason, because of that little life Maia now holds in her arms."

  "Nay—fear not." Jason drew her to him and told her his plan to gain delay while perfecting his other plans. "Azil gave not the spirit of our son to us, beloved, to be set free in Bel's unclean arms."

  "Zitu grant it." Naia glanced about the barren chamber. "Forgive me my weakness, Jason. If delay seems best to you, I shall endure it, so you come to me frequently to tell me of all your progress."

  "Aye." Croft's soul rebelled at the thought of her durance in such quarters, though there seemed nothing else for it. "Here we may meet in safety since Helmor himself denies all access to you. And I shall visit Earth, beloved, ere I come to thee again."

  These things Croft told me on the night he kept his promise to visit me again. From Berla he went to Himyra first, speaking with Gaya and Robur, directing the latter to mobilize the workmen who had labored on the airplans before the Mazzerian war. Croft also visited the motur shops and gave command for the immediate inception of work on engines of a somewhat more powerful design than any used on Palos heretofore.