_Would you say present-day Secret Service men have a
tough job protecting the President? No doubt, but as time
goes on it will get tougher. Here is about as tricky a
method of liquidation as we've ever come across._
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Amazing Stories February 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Thank you for permitting me to come to your office," said the Damakoi,
very politely.
"Sit down," I said, and glanced at the instruments on my hidden desk
panel. With a member of the most fanatically dangerous race in the
Galaxy sitting across from me, I didn't feel like taking chances.
Every non-radiating detector we had was focussed on the blue-skinned
being before me, and every meter showed that the alien was harmless.
Which didn't necessarily mean anything, of course--Holdreth Khain of
Damak could easily have had something else up his sleeve. It was my job
to make sure that whatever it might be, it wouldn't work.
[Illustration: Deadly enemies, they drank to each other's damnation.]
"I realize that you don't trust me," the Damakoi said. "But I have come
here merely to warn you. If you have time to listen to my story--"
He left the sentence hanging, as though waiting for a rebuke from me.
But I'd had my orders.
"It's not that, Holdreth Khain," I said, keeping my voice smooth; "We
realize that a high percentage of your race are loyal to the Galactic
Federation. You are all fanatical in your beliefs, of course, but
that is merely a racial psychological trait. There are as many of the
Damakoi for us as against us. The trouble is, we can never know which
is which."
It wasn't quite true. There were many more of the Damakoi against us
than for us. At least seventy percent of the beings from the planet
Damak hated the principles that the Galactic Federation stood for. If
this alien was against us, I was in one devil of a jam.
* * * * *
"My people have acquired a very unsavory reputation throughout the
Galaxy," the Damakoi said. "But I am not the assassin type, myself."
He waved a four-fingered blue hand in a deprecative gesture. "I am in
complete disagreement with the anti-Federation beliefs which are widely
held on my planet."
I nodded and tried to keep my face pleasant. I had little enough love
for the Damakoi--they were mostly hotheads whose suicide assassins had
done too much already to wreck Galactic amity. I trusted Holdreth Khain
about as far as I could throw a chimney by the smoke.
"And why did you wish to see me, Holdreth Khain?" I asked.
He seemed terribly tired and sad, as if the many sins of his countrymen
all weighed heavily on his shoulders. He put a hand up to his face and
brushed across it, as if to brush away his own fears and worries.
"I'll come straight to the point, Mr. Cameron. One of my fellow
Damakoi--a man named Zorvash Pedrik--is on this planet. He landed in an
indetectable one-man spaceship, carrying a theta bomb."
I nodded, and I could feel my jaw muscles tightening. If a Damakoi
assassin could get inside the Galactic Capitol building carrying a
theta bomb, the whole Council would die of radiation. A theta bomb
doesn't explode; it flares. The resulting hellish radiation kills
everything within half a mile of the radiation center. It consists of
two little spheres of ditherium--one positive, the other negative. When
they get within a few inches of each other--_poof_!
"How is he carrying it?" I asked. "A theta bomb has to be heavily
shielded; even when they're several feet apart, the radiation is enough
to kill whoever's carrying it unless they're pretty heavily shielded."
The Damakoi spread his hands in a shrug. "I do not know; all I can tell
you is that I know the assassin personally. I can recognize him."
It sounded good, but I still didn't trust the being. His kind were too
treacherous and fanatic. Even the ones on the side of the Galactic
government were a hotheaded bunch.
Holdreth Khain said bitterly: "It will be the ghastliest outrage
ever committed by a Damakoi--and that covers a lot of territory. The
explosion flare will wipe out the delegates from hundreds of worlds."
"I take it you don't approve?"
Khain looked up. "My people--many of them--oppose the Multiworld
Charter and the Galactic government. They will take any steps necessary
to destroy the government. And in doing so, they have left a trail of
blood throughout space.
"I have long disagreed--sometimes violently--with this bloody policy
of assassination, I have personally removed fourteen of the attempted
killers."
I tried to keep a grim smile off my face. This bird was a true Damakoi;
he hated the killer policy, but saw nothing strange in the fact that he
had wiped out fourteen of them himself. If he had.
"Luckily," he continued, "I happened to find out what Zorvash Pedrik
intended to do. I could not kill him personally, but I have been able
to get here in time to head him off. I want you to find him--before he
succeeds."
I nodded slowly. "I understand, Holdreth Khain. It is a noble and
honorable thing that you are doing. I'll see to it that you get a
proper reward for this information."
"No reward will be necessary," the Damakoi said. "The failure and death
of Zorvash Pedrik will be reward enough for me."
"All right," I said, "let's see what we can figure out."
I was sitting right on top of a powder keg, and I knew it--but what
could I do but see it through?
* * * * *
The Galactic Capitol is a great, airy pile of a building that soars a
full three hundred stories into the air. It rears up from the heart of
Central City, jutting into the sky like the man-made mountain that it
is. Around it, the hundreds of floodlights cast a shower of brilliant
radiance over its sparkling, milk-white walls.
I had stationed armed guards at each of the ten entrances, the fastest
and most quick-witted men in the Service. It would be almost impossible
for a Damakoi to get inside undetected.
But "almost" isn't good enough. My nerves were tighter than violin
strings, and they felt as though they were vibrating at high pitch.
I was in a hell of a touchy position. If _all_ the Damakoi had been
against us, it would have been easy--just blast every one that got
within half a light year of the Capitol. Unfortunately, about three out
of ten Damakoi were allies, and their insidious inside work on their
own planet kept the dangerous fanatics badly crippled. We couldn't
afford to kill three innocent Damakoi for every seven guilty.
I was pretty sure I knew where Holdreth Khain stood, but I couldn't
take any chances.
I knew he wasn't carrying a theta bomb on him; the detectors would
have picked up the radiation from the two spheres. Even if he'd had it
concealed inside his body, there would be no way of putting enough lead
around it to conceal it. I wished there was some way I could X-ray him,
but X-rays are deadly to the Damakoi. Unlike human beings, the Damakoi
can't even stand a little bit of hard radiation; they die if they're
even X-rayed.
The two of us approached the immense bulk of the Grand Capitol. I was
saying, "Damakoi have been upsetting the social equilibrium for over a
century. It almost seems as though your people get some sort of unholy
joy out of wrecking everything that other beings build, work, and
strive for." It was a thinly-veiled insult, and it was meant that way;
I wanted to get his reaction.
He looked at me oddly for a moment, but he said nothing.
"Come along," I said. "Let's go around and meet the guards. I want
to make sure they know you. I wouldn't want to have you killed
unnecessarily."
I took Holdreth Khain from gate to gate, exhibiting him to my men. At
each entrance, I saw the men's eyes fill with suspicion while their
manners remained polite.
"All right," I said, after we had been to all ten gates, "now
the guards will recognize you. Let's start looking for Zorvash
Pedrik--before he causes trouble."