The sound quickened his pulses to maddening pace. So she had learned he
was there. That polished door was swinging slowly again in the motion
of the air. An inspiration seized Roal. Once he had seen an outlaw
perform an incredible feat with a flame lance. If it could be done now--
It was dangerous, but he moved decisively to the window. It was the
only way to save Alayna, a reflective shot from that wooden door panel.
He cut the charge of the lance down to a minimum. It would be sure
to burn through the wood, but enough of the searing energy might be
reflected. It was one of the peculiarities of the flame lance beam that
it could be reflected from a wooden surface at a low angle of incidence.
The door panel slowly swung the image of Sebours into Roal's line of
sight. He raised the lance. But the image was so distorted in the
surface that the figure of Alayna mingled and flowed with that of her
father. If the warped door forced the deadly energy a fraction of a
degree away from its target Alayna would receive the full reflected
blast instead of Sebours.
Roal waited. The door moved, then paused. It was not quite far
enough--but it was moving back now in the wrong direction. In another
instant it would be too late.
Roal jammed himself against the wall to get the best angle of
reflection. The images wobbled and flowed on the uneven surface, but
there was no time to wait for a better reflection.
He pressed the trigger.
A fury of flame leaped out towards the door and burst against it in a
bloom of crimson fire. The charred wood that remained refused to tell
Roal of the success or failure of his shot.
There was no sound from the laboratory to tell if the shot had hit or
missed--or found the wrong target. Only a sudden great silence.
And in that silence Roal plunged out. He could not endure the waiting
in ambush longer. He plunged out upon a scene of disaster--for his
enemies. Closely following, Shorty came out blasting with his lance.
But the Martians were too dumb-stricken to fight back. They seemed to
have lost all their nerve and some had even dropped their guns to the
floor. They all faced the table where disaster had befallen them.
Roal saw at once that his daring shot had been successful. Sebours
had fallen across Alayna and now he slumped slowly to the floor. The
reflected fire of the lance had not been sufficient to burn through
him, but rather had enveloped him in horrible consuming fire. His death
had not been pretty and he had died over the bound form of his daughter.
Roal grabbed a scalpel and slashed at the bonds holding the girl to
the table. Weakly, she rose and her eyes were filled with tears and
thanksgiving.
"I couldn't believe you'd get here," she said weakly.
Roal looked down at the dead body of her father. "I'm sorry--about
him," he said.
"It is no matter," said Alayna. "That is sorrow that is long gone. But
come with me quickly. We must get out of here. The Thousand Minds will
know of what has happened and we simply must attack them first."
Roal was bewildered by her words, but she gave him no time for
questions. Clad in her filmy costume as if prepared for appearance in
the Starhouse, Alayna jumped lightly to the floor and ran between the
stupefied Martians held at bay by Shorty.
The Earthmen followed into a passage and barred the doorway. Then
Alayna directed them to burn down the roof and the walls with the
flame lances, sealing the passage completely.
As fleet as a patrol ship, Alayna darted down the passage ahead of
them, making it difficult for Roal and Shorty to follow the winding
tunnel beneath the desert sands. Their flame lances were kept ready,
but no Martians appeared.
After a long time of breathless running through the passage ways,
Alayna finally halted beside a small chamber.
Her breath came in gasps. "We can rest here for a moment," she said.
"We'll be safe for a little while, I think."
She flung herself upon the floor as Roal and Shorty followed her in.
Shorty stood guard at the door, but Roal sat down beside her, his eyes
tasting the exquisite beauty and tender loveliness of her.
* * * * *
After a moment she rose to a sitting position, breathing more easily.
"I suppose you wonder what this is all about?" she said.
"You read my mind on that," said Roal.
She took a deep breath. "My real name is Mariana Sebours," she said.
"Perhaps you knew of me as a concert singer--"
"I looked up your record. Brooks gave me your story. I know that it was
your father that I killed back there. I'm sorry, but there was no other
way."
"Don't worry about _him_," said Mariana. "_They_ killed him long ago
only he wasn't actually dead. I'm thankful that the end came for him at
last."
"Who are _they_?"
"The Martians. They are planning to rid the planet of Earthmen and
conquer Earth in revenge for what Earth had done to Mars."
"But what have we done? I thought everything was serene and peaceful
between us!"
"No. If you recall, history speaks of the Martians of a century ago
as being much different from those around us now. They were not the
skinny, dried-out creatures they are now. We have done that to them.
Once they were as robust and healthy as we. We have made them what they
are and forced them into burrows beneath the desert in order to exist."
"But how?"
"Merely by being here. My father made a long study of the cause
and determined that our two races are simply incompatible. The
infinitesimal, almost imperceptible radiations that have long been
known to emanate from human beings are nearly lethal to the Martians.
They produce the desiccation that we see.
"As a result of his work my father was filled with a tremendous
sympathy for the Martians and resolved to find a way out of the
dilemma. It occupied years of his life, but he found no way.
"On the other hand, the Martians themselves found a way to defeat Earth
and extract revenge. They discovered _harmeena_. I suppose I don't need
to tell you about its effects, but what you know are only the surface
effects. You don't understand the long-range results of use of the
drug."
"What are they? The initial effects are bad enough."
"It is in the second generation of addicts that the true results
appear. The children of anyone who has used _harmeena_ a single time
and obtained the full effect of it will have minds distorted so that
they can be made subject to the telepathic controls of the Martians.
"The Martians are an old race, and time means nothing to them. For a
century they have placidly carried on business and social life with
us, all the time secretly planning to destroy us when the time was
right and a weapon could be found. Now they have begun. _Harmeena_ is
being introduced into the lowest level of our society, but it will be
carried to the highest levels if their plans are fulfilled. And then,
in another century, perhaps, they will be ready to strike the final
blow and take over Earth. All Earth will eventually become enslaved to
the Thousand Minds when those who are robots under Martian control are
finally directed to kill off all those who aren't."
"These Thousand Minds--the SBI has heard rumors using that term, but
nothing concrete has ever come to our attention."
"The Thousand Minds are the secret ruling body of the Martians. The
premier accepted by Earth is only a puppet. By mental control, the
Thousand Minds are in direct contact with every Martian on the planet
and it is they who are most expert in the science of mind control."
"What is the secret of the phantom tavern, Starhouse? Is it only an
illusion?"
"The phantom tavern actually exists. I will take you there in a moment.
Through their mental powers, the Thousand Minds can project an image of
the Starhouse to any point on the planet, and when a person enters the
door of that projected image of Starhouse, he is actually transported
here beneath the desert by the power of the Thousand Minds."
Roal whistled softly. "So that is the explanation of the phantom
tavern. It seems incredible that such power exists. But what of your
father's part in this plot--and yours?"
* * * * *
The Queen of the Silver Stars hung her head for a moment, then looked
frankly into Roal's eyes. "My first concern was to save my father from
death and injury at the hands of the Martians. Perhaps I was selfish
in this. But, secondly, he was the one man in the system who knew more
about them than anyone else in the world. If anyone could know their
vulnerable spots it was he.
"So I stayed with him as closely as possible during this long
association with the Martians. He was so incensed by the thing that
Earthmen are doing to the Martians that he even fell in with their plan
to destroy through the drug. He knew that an appeal to Earth powers and
governments would be futile. Commercial interests would not allow the
withdrawal of Earthmen from Mars. He knew better than to ask for that.
"I gave up my career and came to Starhouse. It was a vicious, horrible
existence, but I stayed to try to protect him and to persuade him
to try to bring about a peaceful solution to the problem. I thought
if this could eventually be done it would atone for the crimes I've
committed in persuading men to use the drug.
"Now I know that I was wrong. For my father turned more and more
against Earthmen and beat and lashed me at times when I tried to
persuade him against his course of action. At last I gave up altogether
and called you. The Thousand Minds knew of it, of course, and ordered
me reduced to the status that my father had been in for so long."
"What was that?" Roal asked. "What was going to be done to you?"
"They told me then that long ago they had performed an operation on my
father and it made him the same as if his parents had been _harmeena_
addicts. His brain was totally under the control of the Thousand Minds.
That was the reason I could not prevail against him. But at the same
time he was aware of the wrong that he was doing to his countrymen and
to me. He lived for years in a mental hell of torment. That is why I'm
glad he is gone. There is peace for him now. But the Thousand Minds
were forcing him to perform the operation on me.
"You see, he had become a great figure to the common people among the
Martians. He symbolized their hidden revolt. Hardly any knew of the
actual persons in the group of the Thousand Minds, but my father was
their emissary to the people. To them he was the symbol of all that the
Thousand were doing. That is why his death so demoralized those in the
laboratory. It was as if their whole revolution were suddenly tumbling
down."
When Alayna finished she was trembling as if with cold. Roal reached to
his own shoulders and placed his cape about her. She looked up at him.
"Thank you. Did you ever wonder why it was that I tried to warn you
against the drug when you first came to Starhouse? It was because of
the cape. It was the first true kindness that any man had shown me for
so long that it made me want to cry."
Roal thought he understood, but he said, "There have been plenty to
admire you in Starhouse."