Despot in Space
Page 17
Staggering, Condor went across the lounge and peered out into the corridor. He sighed heavily when he saw it was empty. There was no sign of the World Master. Aubin had escaped from him!
Cursing himself, Condor stepped over the two unconscious guards and started along the corridor towards the door at the far end. He had taken barely two steps when the door opened and several guards came piling through, running towards him with guns upraised. Condor was caught at a disadvantage, and immediately dropped his gun and lifted his hands.
The four guards were jostling each other in their eagerness to reach him, and Condor cursed himself for not shooting Aubin on sight. He’d had the World Master completely at his mercy and had failed at the last moment to execute him. The guards came on, until the foremost suddenly stopped as if he’d run into an impenetrable barrier. The others cannoned into him, then froze, and Condor stared at them, his senses still reeling from the shock of the near miss from the hand-stunner. He was still looking intently at them when they shimmered and vanished.
Condor caught his breath. But there was another guard coming through the doorway at the far end of the corridor, and the man, an officer, was holding a levelled gun. He was frowning, perplexed by the disappearance of the four guards preceding him, and he covered Condor, who was standing with upraised arms.
‘Where are my guards?’ the officer demanded.
Condor started to lower his arms and the officer uttered a curse and fired at him. Condor saw the flash of energy, tensed for the blinding impact, and saw the flicker of light vanish in the reverse force of the Celertron. He smiled then, and lunged forward, until the power of the Celertron pulled him up and held him frozen for the split second it took to translate him.
The confusing experience of returning to Earth left Condor breathless and gasping as he materialized on the base back in the Lab. He saw guards lying haphazardly on the floor around the base, and saw Nis Erie covering him with a stunner. Erie was about to stun him, but turned instead and waved to Ethne, who was at the side of the Celertron. The girl switched off the power, and Condor had to be helped from the base by his fellow scientist.
‘Aubin is dead,’ Erie said. ‘He came down on the base, and before I could get him clear he was struck by a series of energy beams that came down from Retarc. What happened, Professor?’
Condor knew what had happened. The guards had fired at him and their beams had been deflected by the Celertron’s reverse process. The guards had killed Aubin! He looked down at the burned figure sprawled on the floor beside the base, and he loosed the hand that Erie thrust out at him.
‘This isn’t the time to rest or congratulate one another,’ he said. ‘Send your success signal, Erie!’
‘I’ve already done so,’ Erie said jubilantly. ‘My superiors have been getting the “project in action” signal ever since you went up to Retarc. Now they’re getting the success signal. They’ll be moving at last. We’ve done it.’
‘What about the men outside trying to get through our force field?’ Condor was not satisfied.
‘They’re still trying to break through, but they haven’t had any success yet,’ Ethne said, coming to Condor’s side. Her nimble fingers began to remove his space suit. ‘It seems to me that they’ve failed to take the energy at the rocket site. Professor Erie told me while you were gone that there are many officers in high rank who are part of this plot to overthrow Aubin. They will take over as soon as the success signal is received.’
Condor nodded, but he was hardly listening. He divested himself of the space suit, and then went to stand beside the Celertron. The instrument was silent and still, and Condor touched it lovingly. It was the secret key that would unlock the future for many worlds, and it was his personal project.
Ethne hurried out to her office to check the scanners covering the front of the building, and she gasped at what she saw and came hurrying back to the Lab.
‘Professor, Colonel Rith out there is holding up a white flag, and the projector they’ve set up to smash our force field has been switched off.’
‘I knew our people wouldn’t waste any time,’ Nis Erie commented, rubbing his hands together. ‘You can open the main door now, Ethne, and cut off the force field blocking the exterior entrance. The rule of Aubin is over and we can get down to the task of setting the world back to rights.’
Condor was not listening. He still stood by the Celertron, his mind gripped by the vast plans that were leaping across his thoughts. The work of rehabilitating the world was not his concern. He was a scientist, and his was the task of bridging the vast distances of Space to contact those many other worlds out there that had been beyond the reach of Earth until he had perfected the Celertron.
He knew he would make many treks into the unknown in the cause of furthering science, and the first of those trips would be a return to Crana. The Nethers needed his help.
His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Colonel Rith, who was still holding his hastily constructed white flag. Erie went forward to confront the Colonel, who saluted.
‘Gentlemen, I have just received an urgent message from my HQ that the World Master is dead and a new government has taken over. My orders are to guard you with my life! I am happy to be at your disposal.’ Ethne moved to Condor’s side and slipped her hand into his. She looked into his face and saw the faraway expression in his pale eyes. She squeezed his hand, knowing what was passing through his mind, and all she asked was that she would be permitted to go along with him.
Condor put his arm around her slim shoulders. The Cosmos was there, calling to them, and he was impatient to answer!