There was not enough evidence to point her hopes or her fears, but the very fact that the professor hadn’t returned along with his space suit gave her grave cause for alarm. She paced the Lab while she tried to find some ray of hope, and then she spotted the caged rabbit which she had brought in for the first of the many tests the Celertron ought to have been put through.
As quickly as she could she placed the caged rabbit on the base and went back to the Celertron. Her hands trembled as she threw the main switch, and then she cut it off again, and her breast rose and fell while she stood motionless with her eyes closed, trying to recollect her presence of mind. She was trembling uncontrollably, and felt like screaming, but she took a fresh grip of her faltering nerves and heaved a long, shuddering sigh.
She hadn’t altered the process from reverse, and she did so quickly, then sent the Celertron into motion. She watched the caged rabbit as the now familiar process started, and her hands were clenched so tightly that her long, polished nails dug deeply into her soft palms.
The rabbit vanished and she sighed long and heavily while she reversed the process. She waited tense moments, not knowing how long the rabbit would take to reach the end of the invisible beam. Then she switched on again, and waited for what seemed an eternity for the machine to reach full power.
When the cage began to materialize she stood motionless, half afraid to watch, but she saw the rabbit in the cage and hurriedly switched off to run to the base. The rabbit was alive and aware of its surroundings, seemingly unaffected by its mysterious travels.
Ethne took the animal to the workbench and prepared to test it. She needed to check its blood count and functions, and it would take some time. But there was relief inside her as she imagined that Condor had divested himself of the space suit, obviously not needing it, and had probably gone to explore his surroundings, wherever they were, knowing he could not be returned for some considerable time.
While she was busy with her tests a buzzer sounded, and she crossed to the desk and flicked the switch on the communicator. Ozen’s voice came to her and she tensed, but answered him in firm, expressionless tones.
‘I want to talk to you, Miss Stound,’ the general rasped. ‘Can you open the door of the Lab immediately?’
‘Certainly.’ She pressed the button that operated the massive door, and stood by the desk as General Ozen entered.
‘What are you doing?’ he demanded instantly, looking around as if half expecting to see Condor somewhere in evidence.
‘I’m carrying out some tests on the rabbit over there,’ she replied. ‘It has been subjected to certain rays, and I’m looking for cell damage.’
‘And?’ the general prompted. His hard face was inscrutable as he watched her closely.
‘So far there’s nothing wrong with the animal. I have some more tests to run, but I feel certain that the process to which it has been subjected has not harmed it in any way.’
‘What are these tests leading up to?’ he demanded.
‘I’m afraid I cannot reveal that at this time.’ Ethne was thinking of Condor, and there was growing relief in her mind that the powerful stresses to which he had been subjected had apparently left him unharmed.
‘Very well! I shall get clearance tomorrow when I visit the World Master on Retarc. I have called to tell you that you have been ordered to accompany me. The World Master wishes to question you closely about Professor Condor’s activities of late.’
‘I’m to go to Retarc?’ Ethne repeated.
‘If you have no connection with that resistance Group then you have nothing to fear,’ Ozen said, smiling thinly.
‘What about the professor?’ she countered. ‘Is there any word of him?’
‘None at all. He returned to the Complex just ahead of my guards, and disappearing completely after alighting from his car outside the Laboratory building.’
‘Is it possible that he’s been taken by this Group you’re talking about?’ she asked. ‘It is widely known that the professor is the most brilliant of all the World Master’s scientists.’
‘That’s a possibility I am in the process of checking,’ Ozen said. ‘Don’t worry. We shall find out what has happened to Condor, and it won’t take too long. We have prisoners, and if the professor was a member of this Group then you can rest assured that we will get him.’
Ethne was not too assured by the general’s words, but she said nothing. Ozen stared at her for a moment. It was impossible for her to even imagine what was passing through his deep mind. His eyes were cold and filled with ruthlessness. From what little she knew of him she realized that he possessed none of the human emotions one was expected to have. He lived for his duty, and did it zealously, without compunction for the lives he destroyed daily in order that Abelard Aubin might continue to rule from his space lair.
‘I’ll call for you at your apartment at ten in the morning,’ the general said, breaking into her thoughts, and she stirred and found his gaze upon her like a cold caress.
She nodded slowly. ‘I’ll be ready, General,’ she told him.
He departed then, and she sighed with relief, trying to recollect her thoughts. He had that kind of effect upon her, and she knew she was not alone in that.
Ethne went back to her tests, and when she had satisfied herself that Ozen had gone she went back to the Celertron and set it into motion, trying to bring Condor back from his unknown destination. But although she waited tensely with the machine running dangerously hot, nothing happened.
She tried the rabbit again, sending it away in a flash and returning it, and she was satisfied that the Celertron was working properly. But she wished she could have sent herself, or another person, through the translation in order to discover exactly what had happened to Condor.
After that she tried every thirty minutes to get Condor back, and had no success. Then the tests on the rabbit were completed and she knew that Condor had succeeded beyond his own personal hopes in accomplishing the impossible. The only thing to be done now was to arrange for the Celertron to be ranged and sighted. If that were possible then Abelard Aubin was as good as dead.
Ethne did not leave the Lab that night. She stayed in the office going over the professor’s notes and files on the project. There were two versions of the Celertron’s abilities. One was the official version which would go to Aubin himself, and the other, the true version, was for Condor’s personal files. She knew she would have to take the official version to Retarc with her next day, and she prepared all the necessary notes and checked every detail. She could not afford to be faulted on her knowledge of the work and she knew that fact would prove invaluable to her future.
During the night she kept trying to bring Condor back, but nothing materialized when she reversed the process of the Celertron. If Condor was anywhere near the spot where the Celertron had deposited him then he was not completely in focus for the process to envelope him.
At dawn Ethne made yet another attempt to get Condor, and this failed as dismally as all her other attempts. She was afraid to leave the Lab, but knew she had to go to Retarc, and she would have to be ready when Ozen called for her. She delayed her departure to her apartment for as long as she dared, then gave up in hopelessness and hurried away, beset by fears that grew out of all proportion as she let them invade her worried mind.
Punctually at ten there was a tap at the door and she opened it to admit General Ozen. He smiled grimly at her, and she felt like a mouse that had wandered into the cat’s clutches. He was resplendent in a brand new uniform, and there was a decisiveness about him that brought home to her the utter futility of anyone trying to get the better of the Establishment. Aubin was too organized, too much in control for the little men to harm him. They had been wasting their time and their lives in trying to gain the upper hand.
‘I understand you stayed all night at the Lab,’ Ozen commented as he entered the apartment. ‘What did you find so absorbing that you gave up your bed for it?’
‘I had t
o bring the professor’s notes up to date. I suspect that I am being taken up to Retarc to give the World Master some idea of the state of this last project.’
‘That is correct. Are you ready, and do you have all the necessary files with you?’
‘I do.’ She nodded briefly. ‘Is there any word of the professor this morning?’
‘I have heard nothing. He has disappeared completely. No one has seen him. It’s as if the ground opened up and swallowed him.’
‘And your captives? Have they talked about their Group?’
‘Not yet! Some of them are very stubborn. But I have time on my side, and they will not be able to hold out much longer.’
Ethne stifled a shiver and prepared to leave. The general ushered her out to the street and they climbed into a police car which sped away immediately towards the rocket station along the coast, lights flashing and siren screeching. In a matter of minutes they were at the station, and Ozen escorted her from the car across the firing pad to the shuttle-rocket that would take them up into orbit.
She mentally consigned herself to her fate as they blasted off, and within minutes they were orbiting. She listened to the pilot’s monotonous voice as he contacted Retarc and placed the ship under the control of the guidance section on the satellite, and she didn’t bother to look through her porthole at the man-made fortress as they whirled towards it.
They docked on time and there was scarcely a bump to signify the fact. Ozen seemed to lose some of his habitual impassiveness as they stepped into the airlock, and Ethne smiled grimly to herself as she hoped that the general was in for trouble from the World Master.
Once aboard Retarc they were passed through a check-lock and ushered into an ante room. Ethne felt nervous, and fought hard not to show it. She kept glancing at Ozen from time to time, and he seemed nervous and for once could not conceal his emotions. She felt no pity for him.
The door swished upwards with a deep hiss of compressed air, and Ethne looked at the two guards who entered. One was a general, she knew by his cuff insignia, and Ozen sprang to his feet with respect showing on his hard face. He saluted and stood at attention, and Ethne stood up, feeling far from confident as she stared at the two newcomers.
‘General Ozen, you have been on Retarc many times before, and you are aware of the way in which you must conduct yourself in the World Master’s presence. Miss Stound!’ The tones hardened a little, or so Ethne imagined. ‘You will speak only when spoken to, and address the World Master as Master whenever you speak. You will remain standing at all times, and do not look away from the dais. Is that clear?’
‘Yes, General,’ the girl said woodenly.
‘Then come with me! ’
They followed the two security men out of the ante room and along a richly carpeted corridor. When they paused at a door it swished upwards with the now familiar hiss, and they entered a long room that was completely bare of furniture. A black curtain was before them concealing the far end of the room, and the door hissed shut at their backs.
The guards operated a switch of some control and a section of the floor began to slide open. There was no sound of machinery at work, and Ethne watched the developments with a kind of wondering fear. From the pit that was revealed came another section of floor, rising up steadily and smoothly, and it fitted exactly the section that had slid aside. On the replacement section was a stand that looked like a witness box in a court of law, and Ethne moistened her lips as she awaited further developments.
‘You will both take your places in that stand now,’ the general hissed, and Ethne found herself pushed in the back. She accompanied Ozen into the stand, and tingled when some kind of a force field was activated. She felt her hair twitching in response to the power, and when she tried to turn her head to glance at Ozen she found that she could not move. They were both held firmly in the centre of an invisible force field, as securely as if they had been bound hand and foot.
Unable to do anything but gaze straight ahead, Ethne found herself staring at the black curtain, and the next instant she saw it begin to move. It was whirled upwards quickly, revealing a dais of some rich red material, and upon the dais sat the short, stocky figure of Abelard Aubin, the World Master, reclining in a thickly upholstered chair.
Ethne recognized the World Master from photographs which she had seen of him, and she looked into his dark face, wondering remotely how he came to gain power over the whole world. This was the man Professor Condor had sworn to kill, and while she looked at him she kept telling herself how futile it all was! The resistance Group hadn’t been aware of the immense power Aubin wielded. They’d had no idea of the intricate security precautions that were taken to safeguard this diminutive man. It came home to her with sickening fear that they had badly under-estimated the opposition against them, and she had never felt so hopeless in all her life…
Chapter Four
Condor ducked the first wild charge of the two strange men and kicked at the nearest as the wild figure blundered by. The heavy club the man held whistled past his skull, and Condor tightened his lips and chopped with his right hand, catching the side of the bronzed neck, able to reach it only because the savage figure was bent in attack. He kicked again, catching a nerve point in the man’s thigh, and then he whirled to face the second attacker, who was growling in fury and lunging with his club upraised.
The hand-stunner was lying in the sand feet away, and Condor knew he wouldn’t get to it in time. These men had the reactions of wild animals, and they were too quick for him. He dropped to his knees, ducking his head as the tall figure blundered over him, and he hurled himself in a forward roll towards his hand weapon. But as he neared the electronic weapon a movement ahead startled him.
Looking up quickly, Condor saw the woman who had held his attention while the men sneaked up on him, and she placed a brown foot upon the hand stunner. Her long hair was down almost to her waist, concealing most of her face, but he saw that her teeth were bared, her hands held up with fingers half clenched into claws, and she looked like a tigress with cubs to defend.
Condor paused in surprise, and heard feet at his back as the two wild men came at him once more. He twisted quickly, sidestepping, and one man went by, whirling like an animal, club swinging, guttural sounds issuing from the savage throat.
The second man was upon Condor, who evaded the swinging club by fractions of an inch, and Condor seized hold of the tense arm and exerted his own considerable strength. But he found that he could not cope with this barbarian. He was swept off his feet by the man’s surging resistance, and as he went sprawling the second man leaped in with upraised club.
Condor lay breathless on his back and stared up at approaching death. The club was whistling down at his head and there was nothing he could do against it. He thinned his lips even as his reflexes tried to save him, but a wild cry from the woman froze them, halted the club’s lethal movement. Almost immediately a large shadow passed silently over them, and Condor looked up in surprise, to see a circular ship, something like a flying saucer, hovering only seventy feet above their heads.
The two savages turned instantly and went darting away, and the woman uttered cry after frantic cry as she began to run. Condor saw fear in her face as she turned, and he frowned as he stared up at the ship. He saw small figures up there on a walk that circled the entire ship, and they looked too small to be human, even at their height. But he could not make out any details, and he eased himself over on to his stomach and scuttled quickly towards his hand-stunner.
A flicker of light sped from the hovering aircraft, and one of the two fleeing men leaped in the air and went sprawling, beginning to smoke immediately, and there was just a dark smear on the hot sand after a few frightening seconds.
Condor saw the other man pause and glance around wildly. He was scooping up his hand-stunner, automatically setting it to maximum emission, and his lips were pulled tight, his teeth clenched, as he saw a second flicker of brilliant light spear downwards from the sauc
er-type craft. The second savage vanished in smoke, and it all happened so quickly that Condor was taken by shock. He looked then for the girl, and saw her running desperately amongst the copper coloured rocks, darting hither and thither in a panic stricken effort to get clear, or at least throw off the aim of the unknown gunner in the air-ship.
Without realizing what he was doing, Condor lifted his hand-stunner and pointed it at the hovering craft. He fired a two-second streak of blue Ilor-ray at the centre of the target, and dropped flat and covered his head with his arms as an explosion ripped out echoingly.
He didn’t look up, but he heard what was happening, and a split second later there was a tremendous crash. The ground shook for a moment, and then the echoes began to fade, and when Condor looked up he saw the aircraft crumpled on the ground fifty yards away, a huddled mass of broken machinery. There were thin plumes of smoke drifting up from the wreckage, and Condor pushed himself to his feet, looking around swiftly as he did so. The three savages he had stunned at the outset were beginning to recover from the bolts of lightning they’d encountered from the hand-stunner, and the woman was standing paralysed only yards away, staring in disbelief at the wrecked aircraft, her hands held above her head in horror.
Condor held his hand-stunner tightly, and was able to reach the woman, who was as tall as he. She looked at him as he reached her, and he saw that her face was heavy, her dark eyes blank from shock. He held her gaze for a moment, and she did not move a muscle.
‘I won’t hurt you,’ he said tightly. He changed hands, holding the stunner in his left hand, and he lifted his right hand palm outwards to show he wanted no trouble. But she just stared at him, her eyes blank, her mind shaken by the leashed power he had under his command.
Despot in Space Page 4