And in a cold, unfamiliar voice, he answered himself: "Keep him there
at all costs--your life, if necessary. I will send help."
"Yes, Dr. Tersen," Kramer said in his own voice.
Reese frowned. Tersen? He remembered someone of that name--some
scientist involved in a scandal a few years back on Earth. But what he
was doing here on _Damballa_ and what sort of control was he exerting
over Lloyd Kramer?
"I am to keep you from escaping," Kramer said flatly. "Put the knife
away, Jim Reese."
Reese glanced past Kramer and saw moving figures--colonists, coming
toward him. He recognized them but still there was something unfamiliar
about them. They moved stiffly. _Like so many zombies_, Reese thought.
Sweat poured down his body. He didn't want to hurt Kramer, not even the
strangely-possessed Kramer before him.
Stooping quickly, he picked up a handful of the soft, warm _Damballa_
mud and hurled it into Kramer's face. The big man, blinded, spat out
mouthfuls of mud. Reese turned and ran.
"After him!" Kramer rumbled. "He's getting away!"
Reese heard a dozen pairs of feet behind him. He dodged back into the
jungle, felt a slimy trailer of vine slap across his face and plunged
into a swampy morass covered over with quivering _chulla_-ferns.
* * * * *
He crouched there for five minutes, ten, listening while the colonists
thrashed about searching for him. He felt chilled despite the tropical
warmth of the forest.
Who was this Tersen? And what had he done to the people of Colony
Eight? To Lois...?
He had to find out. Somehow, while he had been gone, Tersen had seized
control of the minds and bodies of his friends and fellow colonists. He
heard their voices--steely, unreal.
"Any sign of him?"
"No. He has vanished."
"Dr. Tersen will punish us. We must find him."
"He has a knife. We must be careful."
"No. Dr. Tersen said to capture him even at the cost of our lives."
Reese shuddered. He recognized those voices, or thought he did. Abel
Lester, Dick Fredrics, Chuck Hylan--men he had worked with and known
for years. Hunting him now, as if he were some wild _thruuv_ needed to
serve as food for the colony.
Someone passed within three feet of his hiding place and moved on.
Reese was bathed in his own sweat. If he could only stay hidden until
they went away, then sneak back into the Colony and find out what had
happened, find out if Lois was all right--
A needle of pain shot up his leg. He gasped and tried to keep from
screaming.
Another bright bolt of agony. Another.
Needleworms! Boring up from the mucky depths of the swamp and
penetrating the soles of his boots!
He cursed. The damnable creatures were everywhere. He went into a
little dance, trying to avoid their keen snouts, but there were dozens
of them, sensing a juicy meal. If he stayed here any longer he'd be
slowly eaten to death.
Clutching his knife tightly he edged out of his shelter, looking
around. There was no one in sight; the searchers were beating through
the underbrush up ahead.
He moved on tiptoe back toward the village. And suddenly the thick
corded arms of Lloyd Kramer shot around him from behind, pinioning him
in an unbreakable grip. The knife dropped from his hands.
"All right!" Kramer called. "I've got him! Let's go back now."
* * * * *
Three men guarded him as he lay bound in one corner of the Colony
Administration Building. Lloyd Kramer, Abel Lester and Mark Cameron,
Lois' father. They had been facing him wordlessly for almost 15
minutes. None of them would answer his questions--not even when he
asked Cameron whether Lois was all right.
Suddenly the door opened and a tall, ascetically thin man entered.
Reese knew instantly from the cold set of his features and the fact
that his eyes, unlike those of the zombies, burnt with a hard flame of
intelligence, that this was Dr. Tersen.
"You can go," Tersen said.
The three guards nodded and left. Reese noticed that a tiny band of
bright metal encircled Tersen's forehead.
The scientist looked down at Reese. "Are you a member of this colony?"
he asked.
"Why should I tell you?"
"I repeat, James Reese: are you a member of this colony?"
"Yes," Reese said. "I've been away on a hunting trip the past month.
Who the devil are you?"
"My name is John Tersen, formerly of Earth. You may have heard of me."
"I remember some sort of trial," Reese said. "You were accused of
illegal experiments of some kind. You were banished from Earth."
"Ah, yes. Precisely." A film of pain crossed Tersen's lean features.
"Exiled from my native world. That was six years ago--six years in
which I've worked alone, on an uncharted planetoid, preparing. Colony
Eight of _Damballa_ represents my first laboratory experiment. After
that, the other nine colonies--and then, Earth. I'll have repaid them
for what they did to me!"
"Do you have this whole colony in your control?" Reese asked.
"Yes. All but you--and you'll soon be under the beam too."
_That means Lois too_, Reese thought. _What an idiot I was to go away
and leave her here alone!_
And then he realized it was lucky he had done so. If he had stayed
here, he'd probably be a zombie like all the rest. At least this way he
was a free agent and it was still possible to defeat Tersen--for the
time being.
Something flashed brightly in Tersen's hand. A thin metallic
bracelet--of the same metal as the band around the scientist's forehead.
"This is for you," Tersen said. "Since I can't readjust the generator
without losing control of all the others I've prepared a special
trinket for you. Let me slip it on you, Reese."
Tersen reached for Reese's wrist. Reese twisted his body away.
"Don't be coy," Tersen said, smiling bleakly. He slapped Reese and
seized his wrist. Despite Reese's desperate writhing Tersen managed to
force the bracelet over the man's wrist and clamp it shut.
"There," Tersen said. "Now the whole village is under control."
Reese was puzzled. He felt no different; evidently something had gone
wrong. But he did not intend to let Tersen know that.
"We'll march on Colony Seven tonight," Tersen mused aloud.
"Everything's ready to begin the conquest."
He stepped behind Reese and undid his bonds. Reese rose to his feet
stiffly, hoping he made a convincing zombie. He crossed the room toward
the door.
"Join the others," Tersen ordered.
"Yes, Dr. Tersen," Reese said in sepulchral tones.
* * * * *
Outside, he glanced around and saw several colonists some distance
away. He walked toward them, careful to maintain the stiff walk in case
Tersen were watching.
Something had gone wrong with Tersen's bracelet because Reese
definitely was under no control. It was a lucky break; it allowed him
some extra time to discover what power Tersen held over the enslaved
colonists. And he could find Lois.
The bracelet on his wrist gave no clue. It was just a thin band of
metal without ornament. Presumably Tersen had expected to exert some
kind of thought-control through it.
None of the colonists wore bracelets of this sort. Therefore, Tersen
had some other means of controlling them. He had spoken of a
"generator." Perhaps he could find that while he remained at large.
"Hello, Earthman. There is trouble here."
Maintaining his stiffness, Reese turned. He saw Kuhli, the addict. The
pack he had been carrying was missing.
"Why are you back?" Reese asked.
"I need.... I need...." Kuhli gestured to his back. "I lost my pack. I
need...." He could not pronounce the name of the drug he craved but he
had been drawn back to the colony by desperate need.
Reese began to say something--then he cut it short and started to run.
"Lois! Lois!"
The girl was walking across the clearing in the familiar stiff-legged
stride. Reese caught up with her in a moment or two, his heart
pounding. "Thank God you're all right!" he exclaimed.
She stared at him. Her lovely face was void of all expression and her
hazel-grey eyes looked blankly at him. "Who are you?" she asked, as if
she were sleepwalking.
"Why--I'm Jim! Are you under this dreadful thing, too? Yes, yes, of
course you must be. I...."
She interrupted him--speaking in a deep, grotesque voice that sounded
more like Dr. Tersen's than her own. "Somehow this Reese is not under
control. He must be captured and put out of the way. Get him!"
Reese realized that Tersen had been watching through Lois' eyes. Half
a dozen of the colonists were converging on him now. He turned and
started to run.
They spread out in a loose ring around him and he saw that unless he
could dodge past them and escape into the forest, he was trapped.
He dashed forward toward the nearest man--Chuck Hylan. Hylan was lean
and agile but Tersen's control left him stiff and awkward. He brought
his fists up and aimed a few wild punches at Reese. Reese ducked them
easily and smashed a hard right at Hylan.
It was a blow that could have toppled a tree--but Hylan merely
staggered and stayed up. Reese saw that the control gave them extra
endurance. He'd get nowhere by fighting with them. Pushing Hylan aside,
Reese broke for the clearing.
And froze.
He heard Tersen's dry voice saying, "... must have been a short in the
wave canal. But that's taken care of now."
The voice was not loud. It was in his mind.
And he was unable to move.
* * * * *
It was a strange, unearthly experience to be a zombie. Part of Reese's
mind remained conscious. Part of him knew that Tersen had belatedly
achieved control through the bracelet on his wrist and that Reese was
no longer his body's master. He felt a presence in his mind. Tersen.
Tersen dictated his motions now.
Stiffleggedly--and it was no sham, now--he turned or _was_ turned, and
walked back toward the rest of the group. Tersen had appeared and stood
there, icy eyes glittering at him.
"I made the mistake of not testing you before I freed you," the
scientist said. "But I think the control is in effect now. We'll see."
_Raise your right hand!_ came a sudden mental command. Reese felt his
right hand shoot above his head. He struggled to pull it down but it
was impossible.
_Left hand!_
_Both hands!_
_Kneel on your left knee!_
Apparently Tersen was satisfied. He ordered Reese up and turned away.
His control was complete.
"We march on Colony Seven tonight," Tersen announced again.
The rest of that day was a dim blur for Jim Reese. He followed through
a series of dictated tasks, preparing for the raid on the colony. He
discovered now exactly what had happened to Colony Eight but there was
nothing at all he could do about it.
Tersen had appeared about a week after Reese had quarrelled with Lois.
He had announced he was here to perform some experiments and asked the
Colony to let him stay for a month or so. The Colony had agreed.
Tersen had proceeded to set up a dome and build his generator. It
operated on encephalographic principles and allowed him to control the
brains of all within its field at the time it was turned on. The Colony
had not discovered this until the day Tersen had switched the generator
on. From then on all were slaves.
Since Reese had not been present when that happened he was not subject
to the generator field nor was the generator set up to control him.
Tersen had had a portable generator under experimental construction
and it was that which he had used to control Reese. It had failed, at
first, though Reese's clever act had deceived Tersen. But when the
scientist discovered Reese still was not under control he was able to
make a trifling adjustment that altered the situation.
These things Reese found out by his contact with Tersen's mind. Contact
worked in two directions--but control in only one.
Reese and the others readied the Colony for the attack on its
neighbors. Tersen planned to control all the 10 colonies on
_Damballa_--and then, building more generators, he would spread his
dominion to Earth, the planet that had driven him into exile.
* * * * *
But one person in Colony Eight was free from Tersen's control. One
person came and went as he pleased.
Kuhli. The drug-sodden alien.
Reese was standing stiffly before the medical commissary later that
day when Kuhli came out, his back once again laden with a packful
of benzolurethrimine ampoules. The alien was smiling happily in his
narcotic daze.
He approached Reese and peered at him curiously out of eyes clouded
with drugs. "Earthman. Much trouble here. I leave again."
Prisoner within his own skull, Reese longed to break Tersen's iron
control. But it was impossible. He stood stock-still while Kuhli stared
at him.
The alien's blubbery mouth split in a pleased smile. "Pretty," he
crooned. "Pretty. I take."
Reese's heart bounded in sudden hope.
Kuhli's dim eyes were fixed on the shining bracelet on Reese's wrist!
The alien was pawing his arm now, examining the trinket, exclaiming
little wordless cries of pleasure over it. Reese felt his body
breaking out in heavy sweat. If only Tersen wouldn't notice--!
Kuhli began to slip the bracelet off.
And Tersen detected it. His sudden, urgent thought came to Reese: _Stop
him! Don't let him remove the bracelet, Reese!_
Unable to resist, Reese started to draw his hand back, to bring his
other fist down on the alien's skull. But halfway through the action he
felt a shock like a heavy-voltage current ripping through him and knew
that he was free. The alien had removed the bracelet!
Quickly Reese seized it, grabbing it from the alien's paws. Despite
Kuhli's protests, Reese hurled the bracelet as far into the underbrush
as he could.
He grinned and patted the blubbering alien on one scaly shoulder.
"That's all right, Kuhli. Good boy, Kuhli. When this thing is over
remind me to get you a new bracelet."
He began to run, moving with grim determination now. He was free
again--and now he knew where Tersen and his generator were located. He
didn't intend to fail a third time.
* * * * *
Tersen had set up his headquarters in one of the small domes near the
stream that ran past the colony. Blaster in hand, Reese ran to the
dome.
Someone stood in the door. Not Tersen.
Lois.
"Don't go in there," she said--in her normal voice. "Tersen's in there."
"I know." He stared at her. She didn't have the same zombie-like
appearance she had had earlier. "Get out of my way," he told her. "I'm
going in."
She put her hand on his arm tenderly. "No Jim. Give me the gun. I've
broken out of his control. He doesn't know it yet. Let me go in
there--and I'll take him by surprise. He won't expect it when I blast
him down."
A grin lit Reese's features. The voice was unmistakably Lois'. "Okay.
Great idea, darling. Here."
He handed her his blaster and waited for her to go inside. But instead
she levelled the gun at him.
"Lois! What is this--a trap?"
Words came from her mouth in reply--words spoken in a deep, distorted
voice. "Well done. Now kill him." It was the voice of Dr. Tersen.
Her finger tightened on the trigger as Reese stood frozen in utter
horror. Tersen had used a shrewd ruse--by pretending to have let Lois
escape his power he had gotten Reese to surrender his weapon.
But Lois stood facing him without firing. Sweat broke out on her face.
She became deadly pale.
"Fire!" Tersen urged, speaking through her mouth. "Shoot him!"
"I--I can't," she said hesitantly, "I--love--him."
The gun dropped from her hand. A moment later she fell in a crumpled
heap at Reese's feet.
There was no time to examine her. He snatched up the blaster, stepped
over her fallen body and burst into the dome.
A purple blast of energy seared the air above him and blew a hole above
the door. Instantly Reese dropped.
A compact, whirring pile of machinery confronted him--and, huddling
behind an overturned bench, was Tersen aiming a blaster at him. Reese
flattened himself against the floor.
Tersen fired and missed. Reese squeezed the stud of his own blaster and
ashed part of the table behind which Tersen cowered.
He heard footsteps behind him. The colonists, still under Tersen's
domination, were coming to their master's aid.
"You'd better give up," Tersen said. "They'll tear you to pieces."
Reese's only reply was another bolt of energy that ripped away the wall
above Tersen's head. Tersen fired again; heat bathed Reese's cheek.
The colonists were practically there now. He could hear them swarming
up the path to aid Tersen. He fired again--
Squarely into the generator.
Livid blue flames flickered over the complex machinery for a moment.
Tubes melted: connections shorted out. An agonized scream came from
Tersen and he charged forward madly, blinded with rage.
Reese didn't need to fire. He simply stepped into Tersen's path and
smashed him to the ground with a solid right. Then he turned and pumped
his remaining three charges into the burning generator.
A moment later the colonists arrived--but not as Tersen's rescuers,
as his executioners. Reese got out of their way as the newly-freed
colonists rushed in.
What was left of Tersen wasn't pretty.
"It was awful," Lois sobbed, outside. "I knew what he was planning to
do and yet I couldn't help myself. I--was like a puppet on a string."
"I know what it was like," Reese said. "He had me under control a while
too--until poor crazy Kuhli decided he liked the way my bracelet shone.
But you did help yourself--you didn't fire!"
"Yes," the girl said weakly. "I struggled--and then somehow I won. I
snapped his hold and collapsed. And then--and then--"
Reese smiled. "It's all over now," he said. "Tersen's dead and his
machine's smashed. It had one flaw--it couldn't control love."