"For three thousand years the seven cities had been living off the
plunder of conquered Io and Callisto, the first and second satellites.
And never has it occurred to these fools what has become of that
plunder."
"They probably will, Hol-Dai," I said. "Some day a fleet of space
freighters will carry it all off."
The white-haired old man shook his head. "Not a fleet, my son. A man in
the palm of his hand."
I sat down then, and I asked questions, and after a time I had the
story in its entirety. Both Io and Callisto had been conquered by
the people of Ganymede and had been forced to pay a huge indemnity.
Part of that indemnity came in the form of a stone, called by the
Ganymedians, the Jupiter Stone. That stone, protected by an envelope of
white <i>pinardium</i>, contained a compressed particle of the light-active
rock which formed Jupiter's great red spot. <i>And this stone contained
sufficient inexhaustible power to move the factories and industrial
plants of half the solar system.</i>
I forgot for a moment that Hol-Dai was listed as psychopathically
unbalanced. "Where is this stone?" I demanded.
"It lies in a simple glass case in the old emperor's palace in the city
of Klovada," he replied. "But"--he lifted a warning hand--"do not think
it is as simple as that. The people of the High Ganymedian Plateau were
aware of the value of their treasure and they adopted means to protect
it.
"They protected the stone by surrounding it with a small space warp. As
it lies there now, it is so heavy an army could not lift it."
"Then...?"
"How can it be removed? There is a way, my son, a dangerous, almost
impossible way, but one which I have spent my entire life planning. The
space warp has been devised to have seven focal points, lying along the
plane of the seven cities. I have devised transmitting equipment which
will discharge a beam along this plane, thus nullifying the space warp.
But, to accomplish this, entrance must be made into each of the seven
cities, and that would mean contracting the terrible plague in not one
but all seven of its virulent forms.
"I have taken care of that too. I have compounded a pellet which will
give temporary immunity to the plague if taken at the proper intervals
and...."
Here Hol-Dai's mind gave way again, and he lapsed into unintelligible
babbling.
I mulled over this story for a week. During that time I read over
Hol-Dai's case history and discovered that his lucid intervals were
fairly intermittent and complete. That is, when he was normal, he
remained so until he lost his grip entirely. Next I visited the
place where he had lived before he was confined to the hospital.
My credentials gained me entrance and the right to go through his
possessions. Nothing had been touched. I found his vial of immunity
pellets with full instructions as to dosage. And I found in his
equipment the seven miniature transmitting sets and the necessary
connecting wire. In his papers, however, I searched in vain for
reference to the Jupiter Stone.
But I didn't stop there. I haunted public libraries and the
archives-galleries, always seeking proof for everything Hol-Dai had
told me. Where I didn't always find proof, I found "possibility." The
old man's story could be true.
As I read over the history of Ganymede, the lure, the fascination of
that "stone" swept over me. It became a narcotic, off-setting all
other desires until I knew I must act. I took Hol-Dai's equipment and
his vial of pellets, and I spent one week studying the geographical
layouts of the seven cities. I drove in a tracto-car to the first city
of Profaldo, and as you have seen, I successfully "planted" the first
transmitting set.
"One down, six to go," I told myself grimly. Full confidence was mine,
and my spirits were riding high.
<tb>
Senar, the second city, came out of the haze abruptly. High in the sky
the immense disc of Jupiter cast a reddish light over the metropolis.
As before, all roads leading across the flat converged on a single
runway, leading to the main gate.
I entered, and it seemed time had turned backward, erasing the
intervening hours. For Senar was the same as Profaldo. The same roaring
drink shops and crowd-choked gambling casinos. The same twisting
despondent streets sunk in filth and mockery of the law.
Again I came to the building marked POWER DIVISION. In the
Commissioner's office, however, I was due for a surprise. A girl
turned to me inquiringly.
She was tall, svelte and dark-haired, with agate eyes that bored me
through and through. "Well?" she said.
The same story, the same explanation. I proffered my papers, waited a
diplomatic length of time, then stated that I wished to purchase some
power.
To my astonishment, however, she took the offer matter-of-factly.
"I know," she said. "You are Tepondicon."
"I'm <i>what</i>?"
She smiled. "At least you are the mortal counterpart of that legendary
figure. According to the Ganymedian legends, a great disaster was to
come upon our seven cities and would not be removed until a brave
warrior entered each of the cities and fought it alone. The legends
call that warrior Tepondicon."
"I see," I said. "And you think...?"
"We have the disaster all right in the form of the plague. Now you are
here in an attempt to conquer that plague." She waved a careless hand
at my consternation. "The Commissioner at Profaldo advised me of your
coming. We still do have some communication left, you know."
Tepondicon, eh? It made my role easier. It fitted into my plans nicely.
Before I could say more, she was conducting me down the corridor to the
power room. She stood by, watching over me, as for a second time I made
my necessary connections to the central conduit, and she followed me as
I mounted my second transmitting set on a low revetment in the rear of
the power building.
As I touched the clockwork into motion she grasped my arm.
"There is no need for you to leave immediately, Mr. Dulfay," she said.
"I know very well that you have temporary protection against the
plague. Won't you let me show you more of the city of Senar?"
My better judgment said no; my eyes said yes. She stood there smiling,
carmine lips a bow of allure, agate eyes gleaming. She was clad in a
dress of voltex, and the clinging material revealed every curve and
contour of her figure.
An hour later I found myself in a dimly lighted cafe, surrounded by
high-caste Ganymedians, Jovians and Earth men and women, all in
various stages of intoxication--all, I knew, seeking to conceal their
terror at the relentless death that stalked them.
I sat across a table from the Commissioner of Senar. She was drinking
<i>boca</i>, and she was laughing gayly.
"Come," she said, "forget your troubles. Remember, you are Tepondicon."
But something was wrong. I could feel it with every fibre of my body.
That man looking at me from the opposite table, for one thing. He had
been too casual in his quick appraisal of me, too quick to lower his
eyes when I glanced his way.
And then abruptly it hit me hard. I was Tepondicon, and as such,
my avowed attempt to cure the plague made me a valuable entity, if
controlled by the right persons. A group of power-crazed renegades
could, by holding me, make any terms they desired for my release.
I looked around carefully, seeking a means of escape; and I saw then
other men at other tables, covertly watching me. I drank a full glass
of <i>boca</i>, pretended to drink another, began to feign drunkenness. Then
clumsily I knocked the bottle from the table and staggered to my feet.
"Gotta get more," I hiccupped. "'S'cuse me, please."
Stumbling unsteadily, I weaved my way toward the bar. Halfway across to
it, I swiveled and broke into a run. Instantly a shout of warning rose
up behind me. Through the maze of tables I raced, overturning three of
them with a crash as I passed.
I gained the door. A heat-gun charge slammed into the wall, inches
above my head. Feet pounded in pursuit. Then I was outside, leaping up
the steps to the main level, sprinting down the back street.
I ran until a stitch in my side drew me up. Behind me roared the night
life of the city, but there was no sign of pursuit. I passed through
the main gate without trouble and half an hour later was driving
leisurely across the flat.
<tb>
Profaldo and Senar were behind me. What conditions would I meet in
the next city, Caldray? My wildest dreams did not prepare me for the
reception that was to be mine. Scarcely had I entered Caldray when I
stopped short, staring at the scene ahead. The streets were jammed
with citizenry. In blazing ato-bulbs high overhead was the single word
TEPONDICON. Flags and pennants hung from every balcony.
Even as I moved uncertainly forward, two stalwart men, clad in the
ancient chain mail of Ganymede's earlier years, strode forward. Back
somewhere in the tiers of rectangular buildings the amplified strains
of an orchestra rose up. It was a recording, I knew, but it was
Bokart's <i>Symphony Out of Space</i>, in all its pomp and glory.
A deafening cheer rose up then. I was conducted to a low carriage, and
with two scarlet-clad postilions on either side began my tour of the
city.
"Tepondicon! Tepondicon!" yelled the crowd.
Well, it was confusing, and disconcerting, too. With all eyes focused
upon me, my every movement would be watched. A wrong word, a misstep,
and those cheers would change to death yells. And yet as the carriage
bore me smoothly along the paved streets, the significance of it all
became clear in my mind in every detail.
These people were rats, scum of the System. What matter if their
hopes were falsely raised to the heights? They were doomed anyway by
the plague. And in four days more the Jupiter Stone would be mine.
Up until now, my life had been one great series of failures. At the
Martian School of Technology I had been expelled in my sophomore year
for a mere matter of selling drugs to my fellow students. I had been
cashiered from the Royal Space Force for what the upstart officers
called insubordination. Gamblings, swindlings, I had tried them all
with little luck. This would be my metamorphosis, my emergence from the
cocoon of mediocrity into success.
The procession drew up before the Power Division building. The Power
Commissioner, a tall gangly man this time, waited to receive me at the
top of the steps.
But inside his office, with the roar and hubbub of the streets cut off,
the interview was much the same as the two previous. He passed a box of
cheroots across the desk, leaned back and smoked contentedly.
"And to think," he said, "that a week ago I was ready to join the list
of suicides. Mr. Dulfay, I wonder if you realize what this means to
the people. Freedom from the plague. It seems incredible."
"You must remember," I cautioned, "It's only an experiment as yet. I
can promise nothing."
He waved this aside. "You will be successful," he said. "The hopes of
thousands cannot be denied. And now the power. All we have is at your
disposal."
<tb>
Voltar! Xynan! Malakan! In the fourth, fifth and sixth cities
everything worked like clockwork. My welcome in each succeeding
metropolis was greater than the last. Crowds screamed "<i>Tepondicon!</i>"
to the echo. The cities must have ransacked every corner of their
confines to festoon their battlements and parapets with tinsel. Hope
was hysteria. The black spectre of the plague was pushed to the
background. As the legendary hero, Tepondicon, I was the embodiment of
all their dreams and hopes.
Before entering each city I swallowed three of Hoi-Dai's pellets.
Before leaving, I tapped the power centers and put transmitting sets in
operation.
And now Klovada, the seventh and final city. In a few hours my beam
would be discharged along the planes of the seven cities. The space
warp would be nullified. Remained then only to go to the royal palace,
open the glass case and remove the Jupiter Stone. With that stone my
life would begin anew. No more swindlings or petty thieveries. I would
be king in my own right.
I did not realize the strain under which I had been living until the
official reception in Klovada was over and I was ushered into the
Commissioner's office. There I slumped wearily into a chair and waited
impatiently for him to enter.
The Commissioner was a girl. Not a girl like the seductress of Senar,
but a small dainty child with golden hair and blue eyes. She strode
forward briskly, a pleasant smile on her lips, and extended her hand.
"I bid you welcome, Sir Tepondicon," she said. "You have reached the
end of your goal."
There was something in her tone of voice that made me look at her
sharply. Could it be possible that she suspected...?
"You have come a long way," she said, speaking slowly. "You have
braved many dangers, and you have conducted yourself in a most ethical
manner. May I ask, Mr. Dulfay, what your personal profit will be in
this venture?"
"No profit," I said easily. "A scientist has only research as his aim.
That and the welfare of the people."