It was some two hours later when Hanlon, in his own body, heard steps
outside, and the sound of a key in his prison door. It opened, and one
of the palace guard officers stood in the doorway.
"Well, you're awake," he said. "You sober now?"
"I never was drunk," Hanlon snapped, sitting erect to give his
thought-out alibi. "I was working there in the stables, and felt myself
getting faint. I managed to stagger into the tackroom, where I knew
there was a cot--and that's all I remember until I found myself here."
"The head groom said you were drunk, and had us arrest you and bring
you here. But you don't look like a man who had been dead drunk a few
hours ago."
"Come smell my breath. You'll see I wasn't. In fact, I very seldom
take even a drink of mild toxo and I haven't had any of that for many
periods. Mykkyl's my drink."
The guard came close, sniffing, and Hanlon continued his prepared but
necessary lie. "Ever since I was a boy I've been subject to these
fainting spells. I'm getting so I can usually feel one coming on, and
go lie down somewhere. In half an hour or so I wake up and am all right
again until the next seizure. They usually come only two or three times
a year."
The officer scratched his head. "Can't smell no liquor. Guess you must
be telling the truth. In that case, there's no sense keeping you here.
You can leave if you want to."
"Thanks, friend. I suppose it was a natural reaction, after seeing me
unconscious."
Hanlon walked out of the little residence jail, and went back to his
room in the groom's quarters. There he sat down to plan what his next
moves would be.
"I've got to warn the Ruler some way, and make sure he is really
protected," he thought. "But how can I do that? Maybe he likes me well
enough to promote me to a place in his guards. Oh, if I could only talk
to dad about all this. I need his help and advice. Dare I take the time
to start hunting for him again? Or must I keep on working here?"
His heart clamored for him to do so, but he made himself consider every
angle and connotation of his situation as coldly and logically as
possible, as though the admiral was just that, and not also his beloved
father.
He should, Hanlon supposed, warn the Ruler. On the other hand, he knew
Amir was no fool, and that as a result of his near-death the past few
hours, he would certainly be taking greater care of himself than ever?
Incidentally, Hanlon wondered, how badly was Amir hurt?
Was there anything further he (Hanlon) could do about it?
He thought and thought, but could not see just how, without giving
everything away. Perhaps he could get word to young Inver, to keep a
more careful watch over his father. But trying that, too, would be a
give-away. Was it time for that? Time for him to come out into the open
and appear as a Terran and a member of its Inter-Stellar Corps?
SSM George Hanlon had matured tremendously under all the experiences he
had undergone since joining the secret service, but he was still only
a very young man. Such problems as these were really far above him, he
felt--were things he simply did not have sense enough to figure out
correctly. Not enough experience; not enough brains, he told himself
with what he thought was an honest evaluation.
Nevertheless, he knew he was alone, that it was up to him, and that he
had to make a decision one way or another.
But part of that decision was not left up to him. He was interrupted in
the midst of his cogitations by the sudden opening of his room's door.
He looked up in annoyance--and it was Endar.
"Pack your things and get out," the head groom said harshly. "I've seen
the Ruler, told him about your disgraceful act of being drunk on duty,
and have his permission to discharge you. He was very disappointed in
you, he said."
Beneath his harshness Hanlon could easily detect the man's fierce
satisfaction at having thus rid himself of a potential (as he thought)
competitor. From his reading of the other's mind, Hanlon knew that
Endar had _not_ talked this over with the Ruler, and was doing it on
his own. But the young S S man did not dare reveal his knowledge of
that fact at this moment.
So he made himself say plaintively, "But I wasn't drunk. I felt one of
my fainting spells coming on, and ran into the tackroom to lie down
while it was on me."
"A trumped-up excuse, which doesn't help," Endar sneered. "Even if it
was true, which I know it isn't, we don't want such people working
here. So get out--and fast." He threw some money on the bed, as wages,
and left.
In a way Hanlon was rather glad. It did help solve some of his
problems, in that it left him freer to go and come where and when he
wished. So he made no further protests, but silently packed his things,
pocketed the money Endar had left, and went out and got his trike and
rode back to Stearra. He wondered if his old rooms had yet been taken
by someone else.
When he reached the building where he had been living, he parked his
tricycle in the shed in the back yard, and went up to his old apartment.
The padlock and hasp had been forced, and the door was closed but
unlocked. He opened it and went in just the same, for there were
still some of his things there. He was determined to get them, even if
someone else was living here now.
But the moment he got inside he sensed something changed. He stood
quietly, letting his mind _sniff_ at the feeling, trying to figure out
what it was. He thought he heard a slight noise in the next room, and
tiptoed softly across to the door. It was, he now saw, slightly ajar,
and he peered through the crack. Someone was lying on his bed--an older
Estrellan male, he judged by the longer, heavier beard.
Something about that face seemed familiar.
* * * * *
_The being in the spaceship high above the surface of this planet had
been growing more and more puzzled and unsure of itself during the past
several days. Its plans seemed to be going all awry--and it was not
quite sure why._
_That native it had been controlling had not acted as he was supposed
to act. Or rather, things had happened that had made it impossible for
him to act always as directed. Even to the being the strange behavior
of those four-legged beasts for riding, that had ruined its carefully
prepared plan, was completely unexplainable._
_And there was still the problem of that one unreadable mind on this
world. Various things the being had done or caused to be done had
enabled it, through its high-powered, multiphased scanner, to SEE the
entity and keep track of its various goings and comings, but all its
most intense efforts had not yet been able to touch that mind._
_That this entity was working with those others who had such a
different mind-texture from the usual run of Estrellans, it had long
since proved to its satisfaction. The being now knew what these others
were, and what they were trying to do on this planet. But who or what
that unreadable entity was, what it was doing, and why--all this had so
far defied the being's utmost powers._
_So it was puzzled and as nearly worried as it was possible for one
of its race to be. Also, for the first time during its very long life,
the being was beginning to lose a little of its supreme faith in its
own abilities. It was almost beginning to wonder if it was possible for
itself to fail in its mission? But that was unthinkable._
_And yet, it almost wailed mentally, that entity MUST be working toward
the same ends as those others. Was it their master?_
_For nearly two Estrellan days and nights it had been considering
carefully and minutely all the data so far acquired, and what its
next actions should be. One thing it had early decided--there was no
further use for confining or controlling those other two strange-minded
creatures from that other system. It therefore released the "flee"
compulsion from the one, and caused the "jailer" to open the doors and
allow the other to leave its prison._
* * * * *
As George Hanlon stared at that figure on the bed, he reached out
mentally and touched its mind. Instantly he let out a yell of delight,
flung wider the door, and ran to the bedside.
"Dad, you're free!"
Admiral Newton woke, saw his son, and pushed himself erect. But as
he did so a grimace of pain crossed his face, and Hanlon was all
solicitude.
"What's the matter, dad?"
"Guess I'm not in very good shape," his father managed to grin. "Been
half-starved and tortured a bit. But never mind that now. I'm glad to
see you. When I was freed, I figured the quickest way to find you was
to come here and wait. Guessed you'd be back sometime."
"Just lucky I did. Things worked out a bit differently than I expected,
or I might never have come back here."
He explained in short, terse sentences what he had been doing and what
he thought he had accomplished so far.
"So you see, dad," he concluded, "why I'm doubly glad to see you, both
because it means you're free, and so you can advise me what we're to do
next."
"Hmmm," the admiral thought swiftly. "We've got to do something
immediately, that's for sure. Of course, I have the authority to
approach Amir as a Terran, in case of need. But do you know for sure,"
he bent a penetrating gaze on the young man, "whether or not the Ruler
has decided in our favor?"
"No," Hanlon said honestly. "I don't know that. But it seems as though
he should have, now that he knows what Irad was trying to do, and why.
If we go to him at once, and urge him properly, as well as explain why
we are here and how we were trying to protect him, he should swing over
our way. At least, that's what I'd about decided I ought to do."
The admiral was again silent, his brow creased in a deep frown of
thought. Suddenly he snapped his fingers in decision, and looked up.
"We'll do it. I have uniforms hidden in one of my hide-outs here, and
we'll get rid of our disguises and go see him."
He climbed from the bed, and Hanlon gasped as he saw how emaciated his
father was, and the marks of his torture. But the admiral dressed, then
both went down and climbed aboard Hanlon's motor-trike.
But when they got to Newton's room, another surprise awaited them. For
Hooper was there, waiting for Newton as the admiral had waited for
Hanlon.
After mutual exchanges of experience, the three thankfully began
removing their Estrellan disguises, worn so long and so uncomfortably.
Their clothing off, they jumped beneath the pipe-shower, and as the
water softened the hair and plastic, they took off their false ears and
noses, and ripped the hair from their bodies. Then they shaved their
beards, and more or less trimmed each other's hair to the best of their
ability.
"Boy, does this feel good?" Hanlon cavorted, naked, about the little
room, while his father and Hooper laughed their own relief.
Admiral Newton pulled a large travelling-case from beneath his low bed,
unlocked the three complicated and pick-proof locks, and took out some
uniforms. The others looked their astonishment, and he grinned. "Didn't
know I had yours, too, did you?"
Clean, shaved and dressed in their uniforms, with the symbols of their
ranks on the collars and shoulder tabs, the three sat comfortably in
easy chairs, discussing plans and telling more fully what each had
discovered.
Hanlon learned that the plot had been far more wide-spread than he
realized. Almost every city on the planet had a cell working at the
spreading of the propaganda against Estrella's joining the Terran
Federation, and the lesser rumors about the insanity of Inver, the
Ruler's son. He now learned the real reason for that whispering
campaign, and wondered how he had missed it before. Inver stood
Third-In-Line, and would become the Ruler after Amir if anything
happened to Irad.
Both Hooper and Newton, who had worked more exclusively in other cities
than Stearra, knew the names of most of the native Estrellans who
headed these cells, and they could be picked up and arrested when the
time came. The crime wave had been quite wide-spread, also, as had the
whispers that the Terrans were to blame for it.
The other two were loud in their praise of Hanlon's work in uncovering
the real head of the plot, and his splendid work in saving the Ruler's
life when his assassination had been so carefully planned.
It was noticeable that the junior S S man no longer took their praise
with the cockiness he had formerly exhibited. In fact, he was actually
apologetic and uncomfortable. He squirmed and blushed, and tried to
minimize what he had done.
George Spencer Newton Hanlon, secret serviceman of the Inter-Stellar
Corps, had finally grown up.
It was so late when they completed their plans that Admiral Newton
decided they had best wait until morning before seeking an audience
with the planetary ruler. Besides, he and Hooper both needed all the
rest they could get, before embarking on any new campaign.
Hanlon prepared the best meal he could from the meager supplies in the
admiral's room, and they all ate, then went to bed.
But deep down in his inner consciousness, a warning bell seemed to be
ringing as George Hanlon lay in bed. It took him many long, anxious
minutes of intense concentration before he was able to isolate the
feeling from the many new items that had been talked about that
evening. But he finally brought it into focus in his mind. He sat
upright, disturbing his father, who was almost asleep.
"What's the matter, Spence?" sleepily.
"Amir," Hanlon said with agitation. "He ought not to be left unguarded
like this. Those gangsters, led by Irad, are sure to make another
attempt to kill him--and quickly, now that Irad has tipped his hand."
"But what can we do?" Hooper was also sitting up on the blanket-pallet
that had been spread for him on the floor of this small, one-bed room.
"I ... don't ... know," Hanlon said slowly. "I ... I can probably
watch, through a bird or something, what's going on. But if they try
anything...."
Newton started to climb out of bed. "I'll go notify the residence
officials. Maybe we can alert his guards to be more watchful."
Hanlon was still worried. "I don't know about that, either. Maybe some
of them have been planted by Irad ... and if we say anything to the
wrong ones it might merely hasten their plans."
"That sounds reasonable," Hooper said. "Irad would certainly never
overlook a chance like that."
"If he could make it," Newton admitted, lying down again. "Maybe you'd
better keep watch, Spence, since you know how. If you see anything
starting, we'll do our darnedest to break it up."
* * * * *
_And in its spaceship the alien being awoke the Estrellan native it had
been controlling for so long, and impressed certain commands on his
mind--nor was the native able any longer to make any attempt, however
feeble, to resist. Continued compulsion had at last weakened his will
to the point where all suggestions and commands were instantly obeyed
without question._
_He therefore rose, dressed, equipped himself with a flamegun and
certain other instruments, and left the house where he had been hiding
out._