by Sax Rohmer
Seated under one of the dream trees, from which in a gentle breeze fragrant petals dropped from time to time, a gracefully beautiful girl had joined him, seated herself beside him. She carried a flask of wine and two crystal glasses. She smiled, and her dark eyes challenged him, provocatively. She filled the glasses.
“You will drink with me?” she whispered, handing him one of them. “I belong to you, and so let us drink together.”
Tony hesitated. She wore a gauzy robe through the mist of which every line of her shapely body was visible. She threw her arms around his neck. Her ripe lips were very near.
Some swift revulsion swept over him. He dashed his glass to the ground—and sudden darkness fell . . .
When the dark cloud passed, he found himself in another part of the garden. A sweet voice, a woman’s voice, spoke from the shadows of a flowering bush near to which he lay.
“Why are you so sad?” the voice asked. “You are young and the world is before you. There is nothing to prevent a soldier trained in diplomacy from rising to the greatest heights. Your President is a soldier-diplomat. May I talk to you?”
“Yes,” he remembered saying.
He was joined by a fair woman, neither so young nor so beautiful as the dark siren who had offered him wine, but all the same very attractive. She seated herself beside him on the mossy bank where he lay. She had strange violet eyes, alight with intelligence.
“Together,” she said softly, “we could go far.”
Tony looked into the violet eyes, and as he looked they seemed to turn green, the fair features to become yellow—and he found himself staring into the face of Dr. Fu Manchu!
So the dream had ended, and now, he thought, it was continuing.
He opened his eyes again.
The wonderful garden had gone. But he lay, not among flowers, but on a cushioned divan. Looking around, he still saw what he had seen before: a small room luxuriously furnished in the Oriental manner. The only light came from a shaded lantern hung from the ceiling. But there were rich rugs on the floor, lacquer-ware gleamed from the shadows. There was a faint odor of sandalwood.
He sat up, conscious of a swimmy feeling but with no trace of headache to explain what he supposed to have been delirium. He tried to stand up. He couldn’t do so. Looking down, angrily, at his ankles, he saw that they were secured by a tiny cord of something that resembled catgut. He put his heels together and tried to snap it.
The effort was useless. The fastenings pierced his skin, and he knew that any further attempts would only cut the tendons.
And, in that moment of acute pain, real memory came, bridging the mirage which had clouded his mind. He remembered that last scene in the insect vivarium lined with cases of loathsome creatures, remembered the mocking words of Fu Manchu.
Then had come that perfumed cloud, oblivion . . .
A heavy curtain was silently drawn aside—and Dr. Fu Manchu came in.
He wore a yellow robe, and his nearly hairless head was bare. A sort of Satanic majesty seemed to radiate from the tall figure. Silent, he stood watching Tony. Then, at last, he spoke.
“Your impersonation of Chi Foh, the fisherman, was excellent. Almost you deceived me. I must congratulate you.”
Tony said nothing.
“The gas which overcame you is a preparation perfected by me some years ago. If any of it had penetrated the cases, it would not have affected the creatures confined there.”
It was hard to sit and listen to that cold voice. Dr. Fu Manchu spoke English with careful perfection and his manner was that of a professor addressing a class of students.
“What a pity!” Tony commented.
“I note that you are imitating the brand of repartee favored by Sir Denis Nayland Smith. It is usually prompted by bravado in moments of danger. I am completely acquainted with the psychological features of Sir Denis’s character. I endeavored to learn something of your own, particularly of one aspect, during the time that you remained under the influence of the drug. Its composition renders the subject peculiarly impressionable to what is sometimes termed hypnotic suggestion.”
Tony began, now, to listen intently.
“I projected on to your brain images of two desirable women, who are members of my organization. There was no trace of sexual reaction. You rejected their overtures. In fact, you dispelled the second image, for I saw recognition of myself dawning in your eyes. But I had learned what I wanted to know. You are completely enslaved by one woman. And I think I know her name.”
* * *
Tony found himself alone again. Dr. Fu Manchu had stepped silently to the draped opening, raised the curtain and silently disappeared.
He could detect no sound of any kind. Where was he? What place was this? And where were Nayland Smith and Cameron-Gordon? He stood up; and learned that by taking short, mincing steps he could walk; for there was about a foot of fine, unbreakable cord between his ankles.
First, he crossed to the curtain from behind which Fu Manchu had entered and retired. He raised the heavy brocade. He saw a blank wall. That it masked a door was perfectly obvious; but to find how to open it was another matter.
He hobbled right around the room, examining the wall foot by foot.
The room had no window, and no door!
For one horrifying moment panic touched him with its icy finger.
Except that it was exotically furnished, this place was no better than an oubliette, one of those dreadful medieval dungeons without exit other than an inaccessible trap, of which he had seen an example in an ancient French castle.
He returned to the settee and tried to recover composure, to get himself in hand.
That he might be left in this luxurious cell to starve to death was a nightmare he could safely dismiss. Dr. Fu Manchu had other plans for him; for he had spoken of terms, which “whatever they may be”, he must accept.
He wanted to shout out curses on Fu Manchu, that cold-blooded villain who used human emotions as ingredients in a scientific formula. But he smothered the useless words, clutched his head and groaned.
How long a time had elapsed since that moment when, surrounded by obscene insects, they had heard the sardonic voice of Dr. Fu Manchu? He could have been unconscious for hours, days, weeks! The devilish genius who had them all in his power possessed medical knowledge which, as Cameron-Gordon had said, properly belonged to the future of science.
Tony groped in his Chinese garments. He was desperately thirsty, but a smoke might steady his nerves. His automatic was gone, but a packet of cigarettes and a lighter remained. He lighted a cigarette.
As he blew smoke from his lips he noted that it hung motionless in the stagnant air. There was little or no ventilation.
But sitting there, watching the smoke, trying to conquer useless anger and to think constructively, he became aware of two curious facts. The first: smoke clouds began to swirl; second, the air grew suddenly cold.
A premonition swept into his mind. He dropped the cigarette in a jade bowl which lay on a table near the divan, and stood up.
The curtain masking the hidden opening was moving!
It was swept aside.
The gaunt figure of a man wearing only a loin-cloth stood there, looking into the room . . .
His neck was fixed in a brace which seemed to make his head immovable, for he never turned it in the slightest degree. Ghastly grey features and fish-like eyes in that rigid head were indescribably revolting. There was a long scar over the creature’s heart.
But, crowning terror, this apparition unmistakably was that of the Cold Man whom he had killed, whose body, with a broken neck, he had seen lying at the foot of a tree near the wall of Lao Tse-Mung’s house!
Tony stifled a cry of horror. He became cold as though his spine had frozen; incapable of action.
The grey thing spoke. Its voice resembled one on a worn-out record. “Follow!”
Very slowly, the grey figure turned, never moving the rigid neck. A black opening in the wall gaped beh
ind him. The temperature of the room had perceptibly become lower. Tony, fists clenched convulsively, hesitated. Every human instinct prompted him to refuse to follow a thing which he could only believe to be of another world.
He overcame that helpless inertia, which had seized him; took a deep breath. Dead or alive, the creature which had said “Follow” offered a way out of the prison in which he was trapped . . . But perhaps this was another dream, a further example of Dr. Fu Manchu’s psychological examinations—a test of his courage!
Tony followed; slowly, because of the fastenings around his ankles, fearfully because uncertain if he dreamed or was awake.
Ahead, silhouetted against a lighted opening, he could see the mummylike figure moving. He kept his distance. Even the narrow passage was chilled by the creature’s presence. There was a short stair. He allowed the grey thing to reach the top before he followed, and found himself in a white-walled corridor, doors opening to right and left. The corridor was empty.
Before one of these doors, the grey figure paused, pressed a bell and went on, moving mechanically like an automaton. When Tony came to the door—it was a sliding door—he found it wide-open. He hesitated, glanced along the lighted passage. His phantom guide had disappeared.
He looked into a small room. The only illumination came from one wall of the room which appeared to be made of glass.
Three chairs were set facing the glass wall; and two of them were occupied.
“Hullo, McKay!” Nayland Smith’s unmistakably snappy speech! “You’re rather late. But the curtain hasn’t gone up yet . . .”
* * *
As Tony stepped in, the sliding door closed noiselessly behind him.
He made his way to the vacant chair next to Nayland Smith; sat down. Dr. Cameron-Gordon, his head in his hands, occupied the third chair. Somewhere below Tony could see, through the glass wall, a large, dimly lighted place masked in vague shadows. Sir Denis grasped his hand.
“Keep smiling, McKay! I don’t know what all this is about any more than you do. But we’re still alive.”
Came Cameron-Gordon’s voice: “It’s all over. Smith! What will become of Jeanie when we disappear for good?”
“Don’t worry,” Nayland Smith said. “We’re in a tight comer, but I have got out of tighter ones.”
Cameron-Gordon sighed and dropped his head into his hands again.
“I was led here by the dacoit we buried in the cypress grove!” Tony whispered to Sir Denis. “It’s supernatural!”
“Nothing is supernatural where Dr. Fu Manchu is concerned. You may recall that the dacoit was dug up again?”
“What about it?”
“I have known of others buried as dead who have been disinterred by Fu Manchu and restored to life.”
“But a man with a broken neck!”
“Clever surgeons have mended broken necks before now. And Dr. Fu Manchu is probably the greatest surgeon the world has ever known.”
As Nayland Smith stopped speaking. Tony noted for the first time how completely silent the cabinet in which they were assembled seemed to be. Not a sound was audible from outside its walls . . . until suddenly the stillness was broken by a voice, apparently the voice of someone in the room. But no one else was in the room!
“I am instructed,” this modulated voice said, “to explain the purpose of what you are about to see. This is a sound-proof observation room which both I and The Master use frequently. He is about to pay his daily visit to the necropolites, known locally as Cold Men—a duty which devolves on me when The Master is absent.”
“Dr. Matsukata,” Cameron-Gordon muttered, “Fu Manchu’s chief technical assistant.”
“Is that so?” Nayland Smith rapped. “Why don’t you join us. Dr. Matsukata, instead of speaking on radio?”
“I am following my instructions. Be so good. Sir Denis, as to listen to what I am here to tell you.”
“Seems we have no choice!” Tony commented.
The precise voice continued: “I believe you have already made the acquaintance of a necropolite and must have noted the unusual qualities which these creatures possess. In certain respects they resemble the Haitian zombies, whose existence has been disputed in some quarters. In fact, in certain respects, the process of reanimation is similar, but superior. They work as automata, being entirely under control of the power miscalled hypnotic suggestion. Otherwise than by complete disintegration, their faculties are indestructible. So that the necropolite is perfectly equipped to carry out dangerous missions.”
“You’re telling me nothing!” Tony broke in. “But there’s one thing you might tell me—what a Japanese is doing in Fu Manchu’s gang!”
“For a friend of Sir Denis Nayland Smith, you betray remarkable ignorance of the Order of the Si-Fan,” Matsukata answered heatedly. “Its membership is not confined to China. It includes the whole of Asia, the Near East, many parts of Europe and America. Its secret power is at least equal to that of Communism . . .”
Light sprang up in the dim place below—and Tony found himself looking down upon a morgue!
Nearly a score of grey bodies lay there in two rows, one row on the right and one on the left. But here the resemblance to a morgue ended. They lay, not on stone slabs, but on neat hospital cots.
“The necropolites,” came Matsukata’s voice. “This clinic was constructed for the purpose of creating and maintaining them. They represent The Master’s supreme achievement; for they are dead men who live again at his command. The process of reducing their bodies to the low temperature at which alone reanimation can be brought about is too technical for description here. But I should be glad to discuss it, later, with Dr. Cameron-Gordon.”
“Thank you, no,” Cameron-Gordon muttered. “I want to keep what little sanity I have left.”
“Be good enough to watch closely what now takes place. I must explain that a necropolite retains in his living-death whatever useful qualities were his in normal life—also his physical appetites or vices. Without occasional gratification of the latter, the creature’s usefulness deteriorates. Watch carefully.”
Tony was watching more than carefully. He was trying hard to convince himself that this thing was reality, that he wasn’t lost again in a nightmare dream. Nayland Smith’s crisp voice came to reassure him.
“I warned you, McKay, that if we made a mistake, we should walk into hell!”
Dr. Fu Manchu came into the ward below with its rows of grey corpses. He wore a white coat, and his manner was that of cool detachment which marks the specialist visiting a hospital ward. A white-coated orderly followed, pushing a glass-topped cabinet on rubber-tired wheels. He was sallow-faced, but looked European.
Not a sound penetrated to the observation room, and Matsukata remained silent.
Dr. Fu Manchu stopped beside the first cadaver at the end of the row and made a swift, skillful examination. He spoke over his shoulder to the orderly. The man charged a hypodermic syringe; handed it to him. Fu Manchu gave an injection, not in the arm, but in the breast of me still body, and passed on to the next.
This singular proceeding continued until every cot had been visited. Two of the Cold Men received no injection.
And, as Fu Manchu walked out with his strange, feline step, followed by the orderly wheeling the glass trolley . . . three or four of those Cold Men first treated began to stir!
Tony found himself shivering.
“My God! It’s unholy!” Cameron-Gordon whispered.
Matsukata spoke again. “The Master has detected signs in two of the necropolites which necessitate their removal to the surgery for further examination.”
Almost as he ceased speaking, two stretchers were carried in and the two Cold Men placed on them and carried out.
“The most instructive feature of the treatment,” the smooth Japanese voice went on, “will now begin. The Master will project to each creature the images appropriate to his particular appetite when a normal man. To one, the figure of his enemy; to another, a banquet of
his favorite food; to a third, the image of a seductive woman—and so forth.”
Now, the Cold Men were rising up, moving grey arms convulsively; and all seemed to be crying out.
“They are calling for Looma,’ Matsukata explained. “By this name they know a drink which transports them to a dream life where there is no satiety. One can kill his enemy a hundred times, another eat and drink without experiencing repletion, a third enjoy the pleasures of love indefinitely. Something like the promised paradise of Mohammed.”
“Don’t they murder one another?” Tony asked shakily.
“They cannot leave their cots. Their movements are restricted by a length of slender cord, such as that which is attached to your ankles. They are about to receive their instructions.”
Dr. Fu Manchu returned, alone. He carried a lamp of unusual design. The light of this lamp was shone into the face of the Cold Man until his twitching and mouthing ceased. Then, Fu Manchu rested his long fingers on the creature’s temples and stared into his eyes. This routine was continued until all had been dealt with.
“Now comes Looma, their wine of paradise,” Matsukata said softly.
And, as Dr. Fu Manchu went out, a nurse in a trim white uniform came in, followed by the same orderly pushing the glass trolley. It carried, now, a large glass jug filled with some liquid of a color resembling green Chartreuse, and a number of small glasses. The orderly filled the glasses and the nurse carried each to a Cold Man. In every case it was grasped avidly and swallowed in one eager draft.
But Tony scarcely followed what took place after the appearance of the nurse.
For the nurse was Moon Flower . . .
Chapter XX
Tony’s impressions of the next few minutes were chaotic. The frantic behavior of Cameron-Gordon, the crisp, soothing words of Nayland Smith, the tumult in his own mind, had built up a jungle of frustrated hopes, terror and abject misery in which the details of what actually occurred were lost.
He knew that the tiny but tough shackles which confined their ankles had been removed by a smiling Chinese mechanic, dexterously and swiftly. The man used an instrument resembling a small electric buzz-saw.