Insidekick
Page 6
deeper, opening still more pathways and connectingmore synapses with the conscious brain.
It was routine work that could be performed automatically while the restof the Zark enjoyed the colorful beauty of the Antarian scenery.
With the forest quickly left behind him, Albert walked through gentlyrolling grassland dotted with small farms and homesteads. It was apeaceful scene, similar to many he had seen on Earth, and thefamiliarity brought a sense of nostalgic longing to be home again. Butthe feeling was not too strong, more intellectual than physical, for thememories of Earth were oddly blurred.
Time passed and the road unreeled behind him. Once he took to theunderbrush to let a humming IC ground car pass, and twice more he hid asairboats swept by overhead, but the annoyances were minor andunimportant.
When hiding from the second airboat, he disturbed a kelit in the thickbrush growing beside the road. The little insect-eater chittered inalarm and dashed off to safety across the highway. And Albert, lookingat it, was conscious not only of the external shape but the internal aswell!
He could see its little heart pounding in its chest, and the pumpingbellows of the pink lungs that surrounded it. He was aware of themuscles pulling and relaxing as the kelit ran, and the long bonessliding in their lubricated joints. He saw the tenseness of theabdominal organs, felt the blind fear in the creature's mind. Thetotality of his impressions washed through him with a clear wave of icyshock.
* * * * *
Grimly, he shrugged it off. He had ESP. He ought to have expected it--itwas the next logical step. He scrambled back to the road and walkedonward a little faster, until the battlements of Lagash came in sight.
The Lagash Arm was farther from the city than was that of Vaornia, andas he came to the strip of jungle, he turned his eyes upon the emptyparklike arcades between the trees. The last edible garbage had longsince been consumed and the greater and lesser beasts had departed forthe cooler depths of the forest, but Albert was conscious of life. Itwas all around him, in the trees with the ringed layers of their trunksand the sap flowing slowly upward through the cambium layer beneaththeir scaly bark, in the insects feeding upon the nectar of the aerialvine blossoms, in the rapid photosynthetic reactions of the leaves.
His gaze, turning aloft, was conscious of the birds and the tinyarboreal mammals. He saw the whole forest with eyes filled with wonderat its life and beauty. It was the only right way to see.
At the proper distance from Lagash, he plunged off boldly across countryand entered the main area of the forest, reflecting wryly as he did sothat he was probably the first human in the short history of Antarianexploration who had gone into one of the great forests with absoluteknowledge that he would come out of it alive. And, as so often happensto men who have no fear, trouble avoided him.
He followed the directions he had obtained from Shifaz and found theplantation without trouble. He could hardly miss it, because its sizewas far from accurately expressed in the native's memory. Skillfullyconcealed beneath an overhanging network of aerial vines whosecamouflage made it invisible from the air, concealing the tobacco plantsfrom casual detector search, the plantation extended in row upon narrowrow, the irregular strips of fields separated by rows of trees fromwhich the camouflage was hung. A fragile electric fence encircled thearea, a seemingly weak defense, but one through which even the greatestAntarian beast would not attempt to pass.
Albert whistled softly under his breath at what he saw, recorded it inhis memory. Then, having finished the eyewitness part of his task, herecalled a section of road over which he had passed, and pushed.
The return journey to Vaornia was experimental in nature, as Alberttried the range of his powers. His best was just short of twenty milesand the journey which had taken him eight hours was made back insomewhat less than twenty minutes, counting half a dozen delays andbacktracks.
* * * * *
There was no question about where Albert would go next. He had to getevidence, and that evidence lay in only one place--in the local officeof the Interworld Corporation in Vaornia.
A moment later, he stood in the reception room looking across the emptydesks at the bright square of light shining through the glassite paneleddoor of Fred Kemmer's office. It was past closing hours, but Kemmer hada right to be working late. Right now, he was probably sweating blood atthe thought of what would happen if Albert had finally managed to escapehim. The Corporation would virtuously disown him and leave him to face aten-year rap in Penal Colony. Albert almost felt sorry for him.
Albert let his perception sense travel through the wall and intoKemmer's room. His guess was right--the local boss was sweating.
He checked Kemmer's office swiftly, but the only thing that interestedhim was the big vault beside the desk. He visualized the interior of thevault and pushed himself inside. Separated from Kemmer by six inches ofthe hardest metal known to Man, he quietly leafed through the files ofconfidential correspondence until he found what he wanted. He didn'tneed a light. His perception worked as well in the dark as in thedaylight.
There was enough documentary evidence in the big vault to indict quite afew more IC officials than Kemmer--and perhaps investigation of _their_files would provide more leads to even higher officials. Wherever Kemmerwas going, Albert had the idea that he wouldn't be going alone.
Albert selected all the incriminating letters and documents he couldfind and packed the micro-files in his jacket. Finally, bulging withdocumentary information, he pushed back into the streets.
It was late enough for few natives to be on the streets, and hisappearance caused no comment. Apparently unnoticed, he moved rapidlyinto the Kazlak, searching for a place to hide the papers he had stolen.What he had learned of Vaornia made him cautious. He checked constantlyfor spies, but there wasn't a native in sensing range.
He ducked into the alleyway where he had caught Shifaz. His memory of ithad been right. There was a small hole in one of the building walls,partly covered with cracked plaster, and barely visible in the darkness.The gloom of the Kazlak scarcely varied with night or day, as theenormous labyrinth of covered passages and building walls was piercedwith only a few ventilation holes. Cressets at the main intersectionsburned constantly, their smokeless flames lighting the streets poorly.
He wondered idly how he had managed to remember the way to this place,let alone the little hole in the wall, as he stuffed the micro-filesinto its dark interior. He finished, turned to leave, and was out on themain tunnel before he became aware of the IC ground cars closing in uponhim.
The Corporation was really on the beam, their spies everywhere. But theydidn't know his abilities. He visualized and pushed. They were going tobe surprised when he vanished--but he didn't vanish.
The expression of shocked surprise was still on his face as the stat gunblast took him squarely in the chest.
* * * * *
He was tied to a chair in Fred Kemmer's office. He recognized it easily,although physically he had never been inside the room. His head hurt asa polygraph recorder was strapped to his left arm, and behind him,beyond his range of vision, he could sense another man and severalmachines. In front of him stood Fred Kemmer with an expression ofsatisfaction on his face.
"Don't start thinking you're smart," Kemmer said. "You're in no positionfor it."
"You've tried to kill me three times," Albert reminded him.
"There's always a fourth time."
"I don't think so. Too many people know."
"Precisely my own conclusion," Kemmer said, "but there are other ways.Brainwashing's a good one."
"That's illegal!" Albert protested. "Besides--"
"So what?" Kemmer cut him off. "It's an illegal universe."
Albert probed urgently at the IC man's mind, hoping to find something hecould turn to his advantage, but all he found were surfacethoughts--satisfaction at having gotten the spy where he could do noharm, plans for turning Albert into a mindless idiot,
thoughts ofextracting information--all of which had an air of certainty that wasunnerving. Albert had badly underestimated him. It was high time toleave here, if he could.
Albert visualized an area outside Vaornia, and, as he tried to push, amachine hummed loudly behind him. He didn't move. Mistake, Albertthought worriedly, I'm not going anywhere--and he knows I'm scared.
"It won't do you any good," Kemmer said. "It didn't take too much brainsto figure you were using hyperspace in those disappearing acts. There'san insulating field around that chair that'd stop a space yacht." Heleaned forward. "Now--what are your contacts, and who gave you theinformation on where to look?"
Albert saw no reason to hide it, but there was no sense in revealinganything. The Patrol had word of his arrest by now and should be hereany moment.
It was as though Kemmer had read his mind.