by Hal Annas
Aleta remained silent until the Eg started to rise, then said, “I’m asking again about Nyuk.”
The Eg gestured toward the dressing rooms. “The girls hear all the rumors. For a reasonable sum they may give you information. Come back about twilight.” Aleta walked out on the plain and casually looked over the ships. They were all traders, some of them obviously armed, and their crews were on hand. She had wondered why the city was so quiet. Now she understood. Trouble was brewing. Crewmen were not given liberty. Every ship was ready to be launched on a moment’s notice.
This planet, she understood, was the focus of something big which had already begun to develop.
Keeping out of sight as much as possible, and fighting hunger, she idled about until twilight, then returned to the Vinth garden. Without thinking she went on back to the dressing rooms. The girls squealed in simulated fright, but quieted when she removed the turban. In another hour she had learned what she came for.
Nyuk had been attacked and captured by Golgons who failed to recognize him. He arranged for ransom through a combine of Egs and was probably free. The girls had learned all this from Golgons who indulged too much. Everyone in the city would know of it before yellow daylight. They would also know that the Golgons and the Egs would suffer Novakkan vengeance for releasing Nyuk. Word had come from an outer planet that the Novakkans wanted him more than they wanted treasure.
There were also rumors that he had dealt the Novakkans a terrific blow on his own planet. And it was known that Earth warships were gathering. What would happen was uncertain, but everyone wished he was off this planet.
Aleta returned through the city and found the entrance to the palace under the mountain. The Novakkans had left it open and she could find no way to close it. Nor did she care. On this day she had resorted to force. Now she felt that she could defend herself.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DEEP inside the corridor she paused where she had seen the fragments of clothing and packages of food. The food was gone. Had she been inclined to swear she would have done so now. She would have cursed herself for not Stealing food before returning.
Too exhausted for more effort now, she went on to the chamber where she had last seen Nyuk. He was there, and about him were the half-empty packages of food. He was still dirty and bruised and looked exhausted. He eyed her masculine clothes, the blade and the raygun, nodded approvingly.
“Ten minutes left,” he said. “Eat.”
She ate ravenously, then followed him to the blank wall where he had broken the invisible beams. Nothing had changed. He seemed puzzled.
“My calculations,” he said, “may be off a few seconds, even a minute. Wait.”
Soon a panel slid back revealing another blank wall. After a few seconds it. too, opened on still another blank wall. The final panel opened into a rose-lighted chamber, richly furnished but with musty odors.
Nyuk found the controls and set in motion machinery that would clean and renew the air.
“Our refuge,” he said. “Here we will work.”
Other chambers reminded her of the laboratory underground on the planet attacked by the Novakkans. A treasure-trove of knowledge.
“It hasn’t been opened since my father’s day,” Nyuk explained. “I’ve memorized the things he told me.”
Aleta understood. As a child, Nyuk had heard of this place, also the dangers involved. The knowledge itself had given him a sense of power and arrogance, but he’d been hesitant about risking the dangers. In the course of life he’d paraded his wealth, tempted the Novakkans, done things to provoke them, all for the purpose, hidden in this subconscious, of driving himself to undertake this final adventure. She understood him, she was certain, better than he understood himself.
And the understanding gave her a feeling of kinship-
“Secrets of the past,” he explained, “and the future. Stored here. Man never develops his full potential. Your own history is an example. The Egyptians had gone far in science, then the knowledge was lost. In every age man has, at his fingertips, the opportunity to learn the ultimate Cause and Effect. He always stops short of the answer. Why? Something stops him, something bigger, some ultimate law that is part of conscious intelligence itself. It doesn’t want to be toyed with. But we need not stop. My father made it clear that the knowledge that it exists is the first step to finding the ultimate Cause and Effect.”
Aleta didn’t like the talk. It sounded wild, a trifle desperate, as coming from a feverish imagination. She studied Nyuk for signs of breaking. He was tense, high strung, his features flushed, his pulse too high. The situation was fraught with danger. The entrance to the palace was open, the Golgons knew where to find him, and yet he stood here talking of fantasies.
“We must guard the entrance,” she warned.
He shook his head. “We’re safe here. Except for food we have everything we need.”
She didn’t like it. Something about him had grown younger, more reckless. This, when they needed mature thought. This, when the planet, caught between Earthmen and Novakkans, might become a ball of rubble. This, when they were both objects of Novakkan vengeance, when they couldn’t hope to find a friend nearer than the SYZ System.
Total exhaustion came. She finally slept on a couch in a chamber that was almost totally dark. She dreamed she was smothering and woke to find herself in Nyuk’s arms. She struggled, fought, kicked, bit, scratched, but his strength was too much for her. He had finally demanded what he considered rightly to be his.
She could struggle no longer. She lost herself in surrender and knew then that she would never again be afraid of him.
He was gone when she awoke and returned hours later with a huge bundle of food. He led her to the three connecting panels and showed her how to lock them from the inside.
“They aren’t likely to be discovered,” he said. “But if they are, when locked inside they will withstand an army. Keep them locked when I’m away. We’ll arrange a signal.”
She found herself taking an interest in the things that interested him, trying to give meaning to his wild thoughts, but always she dreamed of Earth, of Dave and Mae, of Norwich Wyatt who would someday understand that she couldn’t have done otherwise. She had never fully accepted the thought that he had forgotten her, give her up as dead and married another. Deep in her heart, she knew, he would always be first.
But here was a man who needed her, who made demands and took what he demanded, who had defied the Novakkans and dealt them a terrific blow, who had taken her from under their eyes, who had brought her by teleportation or some miraculous means back to the planet from which he had stolen her, a man who cared little for life, but who sought ultimate answers and, at times, convinced her he would find them.
Always she remembered her vow in the lifeship, that she would devote her strength to eradicating the madness in the universe that kept men perpetually at war, and in her allegiance with Nyuk she felt that she had taken the first steps. No other man’s knowledge and courage would likely be so valuable in the same cause.
Weeks passed. They were not precisely happy weeks. At tmes she was lonely, discontent, longing for Earth, or even the yellow daylight of the Eg planet, and most of all, people.
Being wife to Nyuk was trying. He never confided where he was going or when he would return. Hours of anxiety. And when he was working in the laboratory he never told her his exact objective, never explained the steps toward it, but glowed like a youngster when something was accomplished, when a minor objective was achieved. At times he treated her as a servant; at other times he was feverishly attentive.
Not by any means had her surrender cost her individuality. When loneliness became overwhelming she dressed in masculine clothes and went about the city. Twice she had narrow escapes from Golgons. They taught her caution and gave her confidence in her ability to take care of herself.
She was in the city when the Novakkan ships came down. They numbered nineteen. Rumors flew. When that many ships were together
the Novakkans were on a mission of vengeance. The Egs began to desert the city. Those that could took passage to other planets. Others scattered across the habitable belt.
Back with Nyuk, she begged him to take her away. He scoffed at the idea. It was then that she thought she began to love him a little. Of all intelligent life in the galaxy, aside from Earthlings, he alone would defy Novakkans. And it occurred to her that if ever they were defeated he would be the one to do it.
But that was impossible. He had no following, nothing but his wily intellect, his sources of knowledge, his detachment from killing. Her fears grew, and she stayed away from the city.
Nyuk died the day after she had decided to tell him that they were to have a child. She had waited thirty-six hours. He’d never been gone that long before. She determined to go in search of him, and then found his body outside the three panels.
It was horrible. She would never forget. His features were peaceful, but he had been dismembered.
It took time for her to recover from the shock sufficiently to gather up the remains and leave them on the snow mesa.
Then she found the message. His dismembered body had been lying on it. It read: “Ernest Vardon needs you. Come to the Vinth garden-”
That it was a trap she was almost certain. But there was still a possibility that Vardon was alive and did need her.
It took her two days to decide. At the end of that time she reached the conclusion that anything was better than remaining here alone.
She altered Nyuk’s clothing to fit her, dressed rakishly, armed herself with two photon guns and Nyuk’s blade. She had plenty of metal left by Nyuk, and filled a heavy purse and tied it to her belt.
In the city she scouted the ships on the plain. With rare exceptions, they were Novakkan—scarred, grim and forbidding. They had coursed the galaxy from end to end; they had seen more fighting than even Earth warships. The tales their wardrooms and compartments and corridors could tell would make the hair stand on end. The thought made her shiver as she returned along the byways.
The city was dismally quiet. This, with Novakkans on the planet. This, with nineteen raiders down. She saw three Egs and one Golgon. No one else except Novakkans. The neutrals had vanished.
She found Ernest Vardon in an upper room at the Vinth garden. His broken leg had mended; his artificial leg was attached. He looked strong and healthy, as he had when he stood between her and the mutineers on the lifeship, but his eyes were dull and his expression was that of a trance.
He didn’t recognize her. The dancing girls did. They told her he had been left there by Novakkans, that they had been told she would come for him. It didn’t make sense. Not until she reasoned it out coldly. The Novakkans knew she was hiding somewhere; they expected her to take Vardon to that place.
It would be the end. They had Vardon under control and some gadget attached that would enable them to track his movements.
“But,” one of the Golgon girls said, “the Novakkans can find you anyway. They know you’re in the city.”
It still wasn’t cleat?
What was clear was the report of a fleet of Earth warships. They were standing outside the orbits of the outer planets.
The report was confirmed. Still the Novakkans made no move to take their ships aloft. It looked as if they would be caught sitting.
But again cold reasoning argued. Nineteen Novakkan raiders could be bait. Hundreds, thousands had circled the planet defended by Nyuk. They might now be standing behind the dead star waiting for the Earth fleet.
Aleta made her decision. “Keep Ernest Vardon and care for him,” she told the Golgon girls, giving them a handful of metal.
Back in the underground palace, she searched the laboratory for a long range communicator. Nyuk was not the type of man who would neglect communication. He had been the only one who could communicate with Earth for her.
She found it. And it worked on a principle that she couldn’t comprehend. It had no visual, no way to confirm the response on the other end. She might have been talking to Novakkans. But she had to take that chance. She told the Earth Council that Novakkan ships were believed to be grouped in the Eg System.
Then she inquired about Mae and Dave and Norwich Wyatt, but learned nothing. The Council didn’t concern itself with minor individuals, nor did it entirely believe her report.
“You’ll believe when the Novakkans tear your advance fleet apart,” she warned. “Don’t send them into the system without support.”
“’We’re checking your identity and reliability,” the man told her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Two days later Aleta found diagrams and charts which gave her a clue to the secrets of the two laboratories. The mathematical symbols were difficult, but she found most of the answers in books and on the spools. The import was beyond comprehension, but one thing was clear: she held more power in the palm of her hand than any other lone individual in the galaxy.
Through an intricate teleportation system she could move in a few moments to the next inward planet and on to the one close against the dead star. By drawing magnetic energy from the star itself, she could set up a field of attenuation which would enable her, in effect, to pass through solid matter.
That was just the beginning. So much scientific lore was included in the books and formulas that the accomplishments themselves would amount to miracles.
Here, she realized, was something very close to the ultimate answer. With a group of dedicated scientists to carry out her orders, she could use her power to stop the ravage of war and bring peace to the galaxy.
The question was where to get the scientists. And how to test their loyalty to the cause of peace. The task would require a lifetime of effort.
And there was a contradiction. She would bring about peace by the use of force. If she couldn’t trust others, could she trust herself? How would she feel when she had it in her power to issue orders?
The questions disturbed her. The thought of having unlimited power made her uneasy. The stirring inside her body was of far greater interest. She tried to calculate the exact time and what preparations would have to be made. And then came again the longing for Earth and the sight of Mae and Dave.
To check her knowledge, she set up a field and returned to the planet from which Nyuk had brought her. Part of the laboratory there was in ruin. But the actual equipment remained intact.
Memory of days in the forest palace reminded her of Nyuk’s cruiser. There was a possibility it still remained. Nyuk had left a lethal field about the palace, gradually decreasing the oxygen content of the atmosphere. That meant that the Novakkans would not remain long. In their awkward spacesuits they might not have found the cruiser.
Climbing the slanting shaft made by the Novakkans, she took careful note of her breathing. At the first sign of faintness she meant to hurry back to where the machinery kept the air fresh and clean.
The surface was blackened rubble. But the air was pure. She searched among the ruins, found mounds of bones, metal, Jewelry and innumerable things impervious to the destruction.
From the laboratory she brought elaborate lamps and set them up at spaced intervals, then made a methodical search.
One heap of rubble towered nearly a hundred feet. She was doubtful about what was under it until she’d carefully recalled every familiar passage in the palace as it had existed before the destruction. Then she was certain that the cruiser was there. Whether it had been damaged was another question.
She could do nothing more without rays to burn the rubble from about it.
Carefully she made her plans. She would return to the Eg planet, get Ernest Vardon and the two of them would clear away the rubble, dig out the cruiser, make whatever repairs were necessary and return to Earth.
It was where he wanted to go and where she wanted to go.
She would leave the laboratories sealed and have her child on Earth.
Someday she would return and take control of the power that could reach out f
rom here. Her own child would never have to experience the hardship of war, as she had done. Of that she would make certain.
Back in the laboratory she studied the miniature systems and cosmographs. And on one of the Eg System she saw something moving that shouldn’t be moving.
It took a while for her to understand that both the systems and the cosmographs duplicated in miniature precisely what happened in reality.
Two fleets were moving, one into the Eg System, one out from the Eg System. It was no trick to deduce that they were Earth warships and Novakkan raiders.
Her earlier deductions had been in error. The Novakkans had not been behind the dead star. They were far out near the Earth warships with a single planet between them. They were moving at right angle to the plane of the ecliptic. But the Earth ships were coming straight in toward the Eg planet where nineteen raiders still rested. They were followed by a huge supporting fleet.
It was little wonder that the Novakkans, far out, were turning away. The Earth fleet and its support might number tens of thousands.
The part that worried Aleta was that, according to the cosmograph, the raiders were on a trajectory that would cut the spaceway between Sol and the SYZ Systems. And with so many warships away from the home base, both Earth and its colonies would be comparatively unprotected.
She set the controls to take her back to the outer planet, then remembered. She couldn’t hurry planetary motion. She had to await the pleasure of Cosmic Law.
But the time wasn’t wasted. She dug through ancient books, listened to innumerable recordings, found supplies of clothing and food concentrates that had been stored for ages, and ray tubes that worked on principles aside from the photonic.
Some of the things she learned contradicted current knowledge. Whether the ideas were merely ancient quackery was something she couldn’t test. For example, one book written in archaic English gave numbers of formulas purporting to show that a single cosmic law governed everything in the universe.
Other books gave theories of how planets and systems were created. The formulas were much too difficult, but she gathered that the prevailing theory was that all of space was filled with energy and that planets grew out of that energy, increasing in size until they attained a critical mass and began fission. Where hydrogen was present they began fusion instantly and became stars, eventually to nova or die and repeat the cycle.