Rakshasi
With a sort of detached wonder, Ramey noticed that the blue man did
not rise from his throne to greet them.
Even a ruler of men, the young airman thought dimly, should humble
himself before gods. Then the conviction came to him that the ruler of
Angkor did not consider them gods! Of their origin he had, could have,
no knowledge. But it was obvious that he recognized them, somehow, for
exactly what they were: human beings caught in a web of circumstances
inexplicable even to themselves.
So the blue lord's preoccupation was with the giant Ravana. To the
amber-skinned one he addressed his questions. The spate of their
conversation sped back and forth between them so swiftly that there
was not even time for the attentive Sheng-ti to translate for his
companions.
But though the words of a conversation may be unintelligible, its tenor
is ofttimes obvious to the careful witness. It became clear to Ramey
that Ravana, at first polite in his salutation to the blue lord of
Angkor, was becoming more presumptious and argumentative every minute.
His shoulders became stiffer, straighter, more bold. Once he glanced
back as if to assure himself that behind him ranged the solid phalanx
of his warriors. His voice assumed a belligerent stridency, and an
arrogant light emboldened his eyes.
Nor was Ramey the only one to notice this gathering insolence. The blue
ruler frowned, and his tone developed an edge of asperity.
Now, however, the amber giant exhibited startling rudeness. Boldly
he interrupted the azure-tinted emperor in midsentence, and cried
what sounded like a loud demand. A brief, startled silence fell upon
the court room. In that silence, Dr. Aiken prodded the _bonze_ for
information.
Scanty as it was, it verified Ramey's suspicions.
"The Tall One says the gods appeared to _him_; he therefore claims the
right to house their mortal avatars whilst they visit. The Blue One
reminds him he is but a guest at the palace, and that he, Sugriva, is
emperor of Angkor."
Lake chuckled. "Huh! Talk about your southern hospitality! It's peanuts
compared to this! Scrapping over who's going to put us up for the
night!"
"Scrapping" was a bit of an exaggeration. It did not quite reach that
stage. But in the moment following the silence it looked very much as
though it might. The tall lord, Ravana, concluding his defiant demands,
turned and snapped an order to his followers. Their hands leaped to
their swords, they moved as though to surround the little party of
time-exiles.
But now the Emperor Sugriva had reached the end of his patience, and
with a swift decision exposed the hand of steel beneath the velvet
glove. He cried a word. It might have been a title or a name.
"_Kohrisan!_"
* * * * *
The cry brought an instant response. From one of the arched doorways
of the council room, as if he had been waiting on hair-trigger for
the call to catapult him forward, sprang a strange figure. A short,
gnarled figure so elaborately adorned, _cap-a-pied_, in the glittering
habiliments of a warrior that Ramey had to look twice to see it was no
man at all, but another of the weirdly humanoid apes.
The monkey-captain sized up the situation at a glance, lifted his voice
in a cry that bore little resemblance to the shrill chattering of
ordinary banderlogs. The apparently tenantless court sprang to life.
Through every portal flooded troops of the armed monkey-men to arraign
themselves grimly behind their leader. The furry captain spoke, this
time directly to Ravana, who scowled at him.
For a moment it seemed Ravana trembled on the brink of a decision. His
right hand yearned toward his sword. Then he shrugged and forced a
smile to his lips. He made a perfunctory, almost insulting, bow to the
blue-skinned lord of the jungle, then crisped a word to his followers.
They turned and marched from the room. As Ravana passed the squat
ape-man, he sneered a mocking taunt; the gaudily garbed little creature
flinched as if struck with a blow. Then Ravana and his bullies were
gone, and Sugriva beckoned Ramey's party to advance toward him.
Ramey's first impression of the emperor had been that Sugriva was a
wishy-washy sort. Now he was forced to alter that opinion. There was
no nervousness, no uncertainty in the blue lord's manner. He seemed to
have weighed carefully the problem and arrived at a conclusion. He was
a gentle man but he could act when action was required. And he was a
man of penetrating intellect. He had already recognized that Sheng-ti
was the only one to whom his words held meaning. He addressed himself
to the _bonze_. Sheng-ti answered with a new note of humility in his
voice, then relayed the message.
"The Blue One says to follow him. He would understand and be
understood."
Wonderingly the little group followed Sugriva to a small privy chamber
beyond the throne-room. As they entered this Ramey's eyes widened to
behold another metal cabinet somewhat similar to that in which they
had been borne here, but of hemispherical shape. Into this the ruler
motioned them. Red Barrett looked dubious.
"Hey, what's he going to do, Ramey? Send us back where we come from? So
soon? Aw, gee! Me and Toots here ain't hardly got acquainted yet."
Syd offered warningly, "Look out. It's a trick of some sort. I don't
trust--"
"I think it's all right," Ramey reassured them. "Yes, I know it is.
See, he's going in it himself. Come on. We'll never find out what this
is all about if we don't take a chance."
He stepped into the chamber behind Sugriva. The others followed. The
blue lord closed the door.
* * * * *
This chamber, too, had a control panel on one wall. To this the emperor
went, adjusted small dials and pressed a plunger. Sheila screamed.
Cries of alarm ripped the throats of Lake and Dr. Aiken. Ramey Winters
was conscious that he, too, had cried aloud under the impact of a lance
of fiery pain piercing his brain. From the ceiling of the chamber a
radiation terrible to look upon blazed down upon them, its intangible
beam of light seemed to smash them with tangible force. Ramey staggered
a step forward, clutching for Sugriva. But even as he did so, he was
aware that the ruler pressed another button, that the radiation had
died, and the pain was suddenly gone.
His head throbbed and burned. He cried, "Damn you! What's the big idea?
What are you trying to do to us?" But there was disarming candor in the
blue man's smile. "Peace, my friend," he soothed. "There will be no
more pain. It is over now."
"Over?" repeated Ramey. "It had damned well _better_ be over. You
can't--" Then he halted, his mouth foolishly agape, as realization of
what had happened dawned upon him.
He had spoken to the Lord of Angkor. And the blue lord had answered.
And each of them had understood the other!
* * * * *
Sheila Aiken stared at their new acquaintance wildly.
"You--you're speaking English!"
He shook his head, a quiet smile on his lips. "No, on the contrary, it
is you who speak my tongue. Not that it matters. We can converse in
either. Now that we have undergone the ministration of the _vilyishna_,
each of us possesses the other's language." He turned to the
yellow-skinned _bonze_ who, heretofore, had been his sole interpreter.
There was a curious comprehension and sympathy in his eyes. "And you,
my friend--your brain has cleared?"[6]
[Footnote 6: Study of brain structure has convinced medical men that
the degree of human intelligence is commensurable not to the size of
the brain, but by the number and depth of its convolutions. These
groovelike depressions in the gray-matter are apparently fashioned by
thought-action.
Since it is also believed that thought itself is an electrical
phenomenon, it is altogether conceivable that a machine might be
devised whereby a transformation of patterns from one brain to another
might be achieved. The _vilyishna_ of Rudra is evidently based on a
refinement of some such principle as this.--Ed.]
The surly Sheng-ti was surly no longer. An amazing change had come
over him; his eyes, which had ever been dark and cloudy with half-mad
suspicion, were now gleaming. Ramey knew, even before the old priest
spoke, what this meant. The mysterious _vilyishna_ had performed for
Sheng-ti the greatest of all possible services. It had lifted from his
brain the cloud of insanity which had veiled it for years!
Sheng-ti cried out, a choking little cry of joy, and dropped to his
knees. "It is, O my Lord! Thou knowest it is indeed clear and strong
again!"
Sugriva laid a hand on his shoulder, raising him.
"I am sorry it was necessary to subject you to even a moment's
pain. But there was no other way. The patterns of the brain are not
rearranged without a modicum of discomfort." As he spoke he opened the
door again, they returned to the room whence they had come. "You are
all recovered now?"
* * * * *
Dr. Aiken's eyes were those of a new Balboa staring out across
uncharted seas of knowledge.
"The _vilyishna_! Transference of knowledge by machine! Learning by
superimposition of brain patterns!" he whispered. "Lord, what an
achievement! Where did it come from?"
"It is an invention of my people," Sugriva told him.
"Your people?" repeated Ramey. "Who are your people, my Lord? In the
world from which we came there are no men of your pigmentation. Who on
earth _are_ your people?"
It was then the blue lord Sugriva smiled. There was a touch of sadness
in his voice. "My people are not of Earth, my young friend. They are
of--another world altogether!"
"_Venus!_" cried Dr. Aiken suddenly. "Venus--that is your homeland! I
knew it! Ramey, do you remember just as the Japanese attacked I was
about to tell you of one of the oddest carvings we had discovered? That
mural was a representation of the solar system, showing at the center
the mother Sun, then, circling about her in their orbits, the planets
of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the other spheres.
"Two things about this mural perplexed us. One, that there was a
definite line scored between the planets Venus and Earth, such a line
as experience in deciphering Angkor's symbolism had taught us always
represented 'contact' of some sort.
"The second point was that immediately beneath this diagram were a
series of smaller carvings. One showing a forest of lush vegetation
unlike anything known to Man, another showing a cylindrical, shiplike
object surrounded by heavenly bodies, a third showing a troup of
earthmen kneeling before a man like Sugriva. A man with blue skin. My
Lord--you know the carving whereof I speak?"[7]
[Footnote 7: The mural here described is no invention of the author. It
actually exists. Many and ludicrous have been the attempts of savants
to give a logical explanation of its meaning. Readers of scientific
fiction, less hindered by dogma and prejudice, may be willing to accept
it as factual proof that at one time in history intercourse did exist
between this earth and the planet Venus.--Ed.]
Sugriva nodded. "Indeed, I know it well. Did I not cause it to be made?
In the long years that have elapsed since I assumed the protectorate of
this Earth colony I have had my subjects carve much of the history of
our people into the walls of this citadel. But more of that later. I
would hear now of yourselves. You came hither in the cabinet of Rudra?"
Ramey said, "Then you _knew_ of the time-machine?"
"Of a certainty, my son. Was it not built by my own blood-brother,
Rudra, who, until he grew restless and fretful, ruled this colony with
me? Ah, he was a brilliant one, Rudra, and a great scientist. It was he
who designed the _vilyishna_, aye, and even the Bow of Death which now
you bear. Important things might he and I have accomplished had he been
content to stay here with me. But a score of years ago, dissatisfied
and impatient, he built in the chamber beneath the altar room the
cabinet which flies backward in Time. In this cabinet he made many
trips into the past, returning ever and anon to amuse me with tales of
marvels seen. But ever longer and more daring grew his trips, until
finally there was one from which he returned not ever, nor the cabinet
in which he had gone. Tell me--and saw you my blood-brother Rudra in
the era whence you came?"
* * * * *
Dr. Aiken shook his head sorrowfully. "No, my Lord. We saw him not.
The cabinet was thick with dust, and Rudra's bow lay on the floor. The
machine itself had lain hidden in its chamber from the sight of man for
countless centuries."
Sugriva sighed.
"Then he is indeed perished. But tell me--how came you to find the
cabinet? And from what ancient era came you? Rudra found many signs of
life in the ages he traversed, but never a race of Earthmen cultured as
yourselves."
"We are not from the Past, my Lord, but the Future."
"Future! But my brother's machine could not safely move forward in
Time! He told me so. Only into the Past--"
"Nevertheless, he must have tried. For we found his cabinet in an age
five thousands of years later than this."
Sugriva nodded dolefully.
"Now I can guess why he returned not. He was daring, my brother. Too
daring. But--the future, you say? Tell me, then--is my small colony a
great and beautiful metropolis in the period whence you came hither?"
"Not so, my Lord Sugriva," answered Dr. Aiken regretfully. "Somewhere
in the centuries which span between now and our era, an evilness has
befallen this colony of yours. For in the world we left behind us,
these mighty halls and temples are but a haunting wonder lost in the
slumbering sea of leafy jungles."
Sugriva's sadness deepened.
"This is grievous news you bring me, my friends. If what you say is
true, if fifty centuries hence this colony is vanished, its people
scattered, then my labors here are of no avail. And my mission on Earth
has failed. But--why?"
It was a question for which the time-exiles knew no answer. Its
solution lay yet in Sugriva's future, and was so far buried in their
world's past as to be a forgotten secret. But they were spared the
necessity of answering. For at that moment came an interruption. There
wakened a flurry of action at the central gate, the doorway opened, and
through its great portals swept a woman.
And _what_ a woman! She was tall ... much taller than the average man,
almost as tall as Ramey himself. But there was no gangling awkwardness
to her height. Her figure was perfectly proportioned to her stature.
She walked with the slow and lithe and languorous grace of a jungle
creature. A panther, perhaps, thought Ramey, with rapt approval
watching her move nearer. Yes, assuredly a panther. For she was neither
white nor Mongolian. Her skin was the soft, fine ivory of the Eurasian.
Ivory, shading to tawny gold with the contours of her body, deepening
with the curve of her thigh, the round of her elbow, the shadowy cup
of her breasts. Pantherine, too, were her eyes. Triangular eyes,
long-lashed and lazy, with pupils of dusty emerald.
Captain Kohrisan sprang to attention as she approached, saluted and
cried introduction:
"My lords--the Lady Rakshasi!"