Kirk Miller sat along at one of the small tables in the brightly lit ballroom. His face cradled in his hands, he looked up with a sudden start when a noise from the fare end of the room grabbed his attention. A door opened and one the guests came slowly toward him. It was a woman escorted by one of the lithe uniformed figures.
it wasn’t Sharon and Kirk fell again into the enervating hollowness that gripped him each time the returning prisoners didn’t include Sharon. Each time the door opened, . The sound would jar at his nervous system and each small trauma added to his anxiety. What awful torments could they be subjecting Sharon to?
For the first time his reddened eyes and haggard face exposed his true age. The month of frustration with the Project, and then this evening had taken a heavy t toll. His normally fit body drooped in the chair.
What was happening? Where was Sharon? Most important, what had they done to her? His anxiety on top of the grief over the death of his great friend, John Shipley, pulled him deeper into a state of despair, a condition alien to his nature. He felt like he’d been kicked in the chest. It weakened his whole being. His extraordinary mind was unab le to grasp the meaning of the night’s events. Even a computer needed input to understand and make determinations. Kirk was so weighted down by his own anguish, he was hardly aware of the suffering around him.
Again the door opened and Kirk’s attention was jerked toward it. Still it was not Sharon. this time it was the Usher approaching with his lackeys.
Kirk looked around at his companions and for the first time noticed they’d grown fewer in number. Probably only a hundred left out of the more than three hundred who ‘d entered this room at intermission. Few had returned and the thought did little to comfort him. Those who were left rustled and stirred as the Usher approached. some were whimpering; too exhausted to cry out. Kirk could stand the suspense no longer. He pulled himself to his feet and hurried to meet the Usher.
The Primagnons who accompanied the Usher watched the young scientist’s approach, concerned he might cause trouble again. Kirk stopped a few steps away and glared at them.
“What have you done with my wife?” he demanded.
The Usher turned to look at him and smiled.
“Oh...Yes...Dr. Miller. Yes, the leader will see you now,” He turned to the small squad of Primagnon guards behind him. “Will two of you brethren conduct the good doctor to our leader?”
Two of the guards took up positions on either side of Kirk and waited. The young scientist ignored them and with long strides started toward the door at the far end of the room. They fell into step at his sides as his anger built to fury. The escort must have sense this because one moved ahead of him, opened the door to the hallway and led the way to proper door. The young Primagnon paused at the entrance and attempted a smile to pacify the face so full of wrath.
The door slid open and the guards slipped forward in front of Kirk. Before he could announce the young physicist, Kirk was striding directly to the figure seated behind the desk. His eyes full of hate, he blurted out.
“Where is my wife?” What have you done to Sharon?!”
The Primagnon studied the young man and gave Kirk a smile while indicating the chair behind the scientist.
“Please sit down Dr. Miller--ah--Kirk.” he could still see questions blazing in the young man’s eyes. “Your wife is quite safe for the moment. I you will please have a seat, we can discuss the situation more calmly.”
Kirk remained leaning over the desk and the Primagnon nodded to the young man’s escort. The two Primagnon guards came forward and took hold of Kirk’s shoulders. He shook them off and grudgingly took, the chair.
“I must say this evening’s little merriment has wrought a change in you, Doctor. Such violent thoughts! I can feel them reverberating throughout the room.” The Primagnon got up and approached Kirk’s chair.
Kirk made a slight movement to rise and the Primagnon guards behind him held him down in his chair as if they were afraid the young man might harm their Leader. Parker could see the animosity in Kirk’s eyes. He stepped to his console, flicked a lever, and turned to observe the young physicist’s reactions to the metallic arms of the chair. Kirk felt a strange tingling sensation move through him. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, but he suddenly realized he was paralyzed and couldn’t move.
The leader walked back to Kirk's chair and bent down to lean upon the arms of it. The chair’s force apparently had no effect on Parker. His hands rested on the clenched fists of the younger man and the Primagnon’s touch made Kirk flinch inwardly. Parker put his face close so Kirk could feel the Primagnon’s warm breath against his face and it fanned his anger. He tried to lift his hands to strike out at the creature so close to him, but was frozen and couldn’t move.
Parker leaned closer and looked directly into Kirk’s eyes. The already dilated openings of Parker’s pupils opened even wider, allowing Kirk to see deep into them. There were lights within and they grew brighter and brighter. He could feel Parker boring into his mind and into his very soul.
Parker held Kirk’s gaze for a long time as he probed the young man’s psyche. There were many interesting things to e seen. Colored fires burned in the fertile brain. The young physicist’s intellect blazed bright -- a steady white heat. to one side a greenish flame glowed alternately pale, then with the intensity of a blast furnace. This was the young man’s hate. It changed and wavered as if the spirit wasn’t used to this new emotion.
The Primagnon’s searching probe went on farther. At last he apparently found what he had been searching for..
“Yesss,” he whispered. ”There it is, just as I thought it might be.”
In the dark corner of Kirk’s brain smoldered a low flame of iridescent blue. The Primagnon’s mind pushed against the azure light. Kirk flinched slightly as if he’d experienced some sort of physical or mental pain.
The young physicist was perplexed by the Primagnon’s strange examination. This Amos Parker’s intense scrutiny disturbed his inner being. What was the sharp pain he’d felt within his head? He wasn’t sure what had happened during the examination, but felt somehow the sanctity, the private inner recesses of his soul had been violated.
The blue flame grew brighter, and for an instant the two minds locked in a battle of give and take. Kirk could look back into the mind of the Primagnon, and could read the thoughts of this strange, more-than-human-being.
For several seconds he glimpsed something deep within the Primagnon’s mind.
He wasn’t sure what he’d seen, but sensed it wasomething ominous.
SEVENTEEN
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