Hall and Upjohn had to escape from
that "No-man's-land" on Mercury. But
to form a plan, they had to think--and
their captors could read minds.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Fall 1942.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
It was neither night nor day, but a sort of nether world of twilight.
The huge fern-like plants, flashing phosphorescence under the green
corona light, seemed to close in after Cappy Upjohn and Terry Hall like
prison bars in the windows of a dungeon.
Cappy, who was leading the way, paused and waited for Terry. As the
huge, leonine man turned, his lips curled into a taunting smile.
Terry's eyes moved from side to side, watching the weird shadows,
dodging the sweep of the giant ferns as they moved in the wind.
"Scared!" Cappy ridiculed.
"I can't help it!" the younger man said. "This place gives me the
creeps."
Cappy's great laugh echoed above the howl of the winds. "This is
Mercury. Half day, half night everlastingly. Right here is the
battleground of roasting heat and perpetual cold. A twenty-mile strip
of habitable land between two kinds of hell. What the devil did you
expect, Tenderfoot?"
Cappy grunted in disgust, turned and picked his way through the ferns.
Terry, his jaw set grimly, followed. Cappy had been through all this
before. Twice he'd landed on Venus, and he'd been with the only
previous expedition to Mercury. But Terry knew that fear was a human
emotion, and that there were things even Cappy was afraid of.
The wind died a moment. Between an opening in the ferns Terry caught a
glimpse of a ghostly face, more simian than an ape's, less human than
a man's. At the same time he felt something that was like a breeze
through his brain. A painless stab of thought,
"Cappy--look!" Terry pointed at the face peering through the opening
in the ferns, and his hand clawed at the rifle he had slung over his
shoulder. In all respects it was like an old-fashioned gun, but it
fired a deadly bullet that was capable of complete annihilation of
whatever it hit. A single bullet from a flourobeam gun was powerful
enough to wipe out a steel ball ten feet in diameter.
But Terry's hands slipped away from his gun. He recognized his action
as more than fear. It was panic.
Cappy had been too surprised at the sight of the grinning face to
notice Terry's action. Now the youth had control of himself.
"Great guns! This is something new, lad! A living creature on Mercury!"
"I tried to tell you, Cappy!" Terry said. "I've seen 'em. I've felt 'em
for the past hour!"
"Felt 'em? Did they touch you?"
"It's something I can't describe. It's like poking a finger into our
brains. It doesn't hurt, but it feels uncomfortable. It's like being
watched by someone you can't see."
Cappy's boldness seemed to tarnish a little. A suggestion of a shudder
seemed to pass over the man. He straightened and shook it off.
"Pooh! Imagination, Terry!"
Cappy took a step toward the creature. The eyes seemed to flash.
Perhaps it was a reflection from the corona streamers stretching above
the horizon to the west. Cappy halted as the creature seemed to shrink
away.
"Hold on!" Cappy called. "Don't go away! We've got to see that
creature, Terry. Get it back! Can you stop it!"
There was no mistaking that the animal was intelligent. Perhaps it felt
the same emotions that raced through Terry's body.
"Let me try," Terry said. His heart was pounding, but science had to
know if intelligent life existed in Mercury's twilight zone.
Terry stripped the gun from his shoulders and laid it on the ground. He
pushed passed Cappy and walked toward the creature. Terry's hands were
extended, palms outward.
The creature hesitated. Its eyes flashed again and once more Terry felt
something cold in his skull.
The ferns parted and the creature stepped out into view.
* * * * *
It had two stubby legs, two long arms. Its head was pear-shaped and
hairless, and its body was an ovoid ball, bloated and ugly. But its
eyes were almost human except that they seemed to flash fire.
Terry halted, facing the creature.
"Terryhall of the earth!" The creature's voice echoed through the ferns.
"You--you speak English!" The words that fell from Terry's lips
mirrored his surprise. In his mind flashed a name for this creature.
Something like _Zombie_, the living dead.
"Not Zombie. Name is Chomby. I am not dead, not even living dead."
"You read my mind! That's what I've felt for the past hour. You were
studying my thoughts, and you learned my language by reading my mind!"
Chomby's rubbery lips tried to imitate a grin, but it achieved only a
hideous travesty.
Chomby's hand rubbed over the leathery rags he wore for clothing and
reached toward the earthman. The gesture was unmistakable. Chomby
wanted to shake hands. The Mercurian had been thorough in his probe
of Terry's brain. His actions were more human than Terry's under the
circumstances, for Terry was afraid.
"Nothing to fear from Chomby," spoke the Mercurian.
Terry took the hand. It was leathery and cold.
"I am glad to meet you," Terry said. He forced the words from his lips.
"We came to Mercury on a peaceful mission."
"You're afraid, Terryhall," Chomby replied. "I do not intend to kill
you. Nor will I hurt Cappyupjohn."
Cappy brushed forward and shook hands with Chomby. He concealed a wince
as he touched the creature's corpse-like flesh.
Then he unstrapped the caseknife he wore at his side and handed it to
Chomby. "A gift of friendship," he said.
Chomby reached awkwardly toward the knife. As he took it, the knife
fell to the ground. Chomby leaned over and fumbled. He could hardly
grasp the knife. Terry noted now what had been so repulsive about
Chomby's handshake. The Mercurian had no thumb.
Instead of the five-fingered hand of a human being, there were only
three flabby fingers on the end of a round, gristly hand.
Terry stooped and picked up the knife. He handed it to the Mercurian
who seized it in both hands and clutched it to his body.
"You want food and drink?" Chomby asked. "Terryhall and Cappyupjohn
follow me to my village. Sorry I have no gift of friendship otherwise.
My people are unskilled in handicraft. We can hardly make our own
clothes."
Chomby led the earthmen eastward. The shadows deepened and the sky grew
dark. The stars appeared; among them the brilliant blue planet that was
Earth.
Again Chomby read Terry's thoughts.
"You come from that one?" he asked, pointing. "You are from the sky?"
Terry answered, but Chomby seemed to read the thoughts that Terry
flashed through his mind.
"Spaceship. Machines. Rockets." The Mercurian rolled the words in his
mouth. "You come from a great race, Terryhall and Cappyupjohn. My
people want to learn skill with our hands, to be like you."
"It would be nice if we could read your minds," Cappy said, tossing a
glance toward Terry.
"You are suspicious men," Chomby said. "I read your mind and I know you
do not trust me. You fear a trap. That is why you carry your guns. But
there is nothing to fear from Chomby's people. You will think them
very primitive."
The cold winds lashed at the earthmen and nipped through the heavy
clothing they wore. Terry and Cappy lowered a plastic windshield from
their caps to protect their faces from frostbite.
Vegetation grew more scarce and at last they walked across a rocky
plain toward a row of towering basalt cliffs. The feeble light that
came from the outer fringe of the corona revealed a row of caves at the
base of the cliffs and from these emerged a hundred or so ill-fashioned
beings resembling Chomby.
The Mercurian gave no cry, nor warning of his approach. He apparently
had notified his people by telepathy, for they rushed silently to meet
him. Chomby lapsed into silence, turning from one of his kinsfolk to
another, answering questions without speaking.
Cappy stared at the Mercurians. His leonine figure marched through
the ill-shapen creatures confidently and unafraid. Doubts crept into
Terry's mind. There were too many Mercurians. Despite the powerful
weapons strapped to the earthmen's backs, they could not hope to escape
imprisonment, if these savages sought to hold them.
Chomby led the men to a cave in the center of the village. He turned to
Terry.
"My people think you are queer, Terryhall," Chomby said. "But it is
evident to them that you think the same about us. But we are all one
people. Terryhall and Cappyupjohn are not the same. Terryhall is
afraid, while Cappyupjohn is a man of rock. Are you not of the same
race?"
"More or less," Cappy said, deridingly. "Terry doesn't understand you
and he fears what he doesn't understand. I've learned to control fear,
so I am not afraid."
"You trust us?" Chomby seemed surprise.
"No," Cappy replied. "I don't trust anything, but I'm not afraid of
you."
"What if we should intend to keep you here?" Chomby asked. "Terry sees
himself as a prisoner, a slave. He fears he will never return to the
earth."
"I still have my gun," Cappy said.
"There are many of us," Chomby said, his lips gaping again in that
imitation grin. "We could overpower you and kill you."
"I'd take some of you with me," Cappy replied, defiantly. "I'd go out
in a blaze of glory."
* * * * *
Chomby studied the earthman. "I believe you would. In your world such
a trait would be considered admirable. You are hard, Cappyupjohn, and
brave. But it is not your kind that makes your race so great. Your
world is a coward's world. It was built by men who are afraid."