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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32272-h.zip b/32272-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce72488 --- /dev/null +++ b/32272-h.zip diff --git a/32272-h/32272-h.htm b/32272-h/32272-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20eaf02 --- /dev/null +++ b/32272-h/32272-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2123 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Insidekick, by J. F. BONE. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Insidekick, by Jesse Franklin Bone + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Insidekick + +Author: Jesse Franklin Bone + +Illustrator: Wood + +Release Date: May 6, 2010 [EBook #32272] +[Last updated: May 26, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSIDEKICK *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>Insidekick</h1> + +<h2>By J. F. BONE</h2> + +<h3>Illustrated by WOOD</h3> + +<p>[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction +February 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">Johnson had two secrets—one he knew and would die rather than +reveal—and one he didn't know that meant to save him over his own dead +body!</div> + + +<p>Shifaz glanced furtively around the room. Satisfied that it was empty +except for Fred Kemmer and himself, he sidled up to the Earthman's desk +and hissed conspiratorially in his ear, "Sir, this Johnson is a spy! Is +it permitted to slay him?"</p> + +<p>"It is permitted," Kemmer said in a tone suitable to the gravity of the +occasion.</p> + +<p>He watched humorlessly as the Antarian slithered out of the office with +a flutter of colorful ceremonial robes. Both Kemmer and Shifaz had known +for weeks that Johnson was a spy, but the native had to go through this +insane rigmarole before the rules on Antar would allow him to act. At +any rate, the formalities were over at last and the affair should be +satisfactorily ended before nightfall. Natives moved quickly enough, +once the preliminaries were concluded.</p> + +<p>Kemmer leaned back in his chair and sighed. Being the Interworld +Corporation's local manager had more compensations than headaches, +despite the rigid ritualism of native society. Since most of the local +population was under his thumb, counter-espionage was miraculously +effective. This fellow Johnson, for instance, had been in Vaornia less +than three weeks, and despite the fact that he was an efficient and +effective snoop, he had been fingered less than forty-eight hours after +his arrival in the city.</p> + +<p>Kemmer closed his eyes and let a smile cross his keen features. Under +his administration, there would be a sharp rise in the mortality curve +for spies detected in the Vaornia-Lagash-Timargh triangle. With the +native judiciary firmly under IC control, the Corporation literally had +a free hand, providing it kept its nose superficially clean. And as for +spies, they knew the chances they took and what the penalty could be for +interfering with the normal operations of corporate business.</p> + +<p>Kemmer yawned, stretched, turned his attention to more important +matters.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Albert Johnson fumbled hopefully in the empty food container before +tossing it aside. A plump, prosaic man of middle height, with a round +ingenuous face, Albert was as undistinguished as his name, a fact that +made him an excellent investigator. But he was neither undistinguished +nor unnoticed in his present position, although he had tried to carry it +off by photographing the actions of the local Sanitary Processional like +any tourist.</p> + +<p>He had been waiting near the Vaornia Arm on the road that led to Lagash +since early afternoon, and now it was nearly evening. He cursed mildly +at the fact that the natives had no conception of time, a trait not +exclusively Antarian, but one which was developed to a high degree on +this benighted planet. And the fact that he was hungry didn't add to his +good temper. Natives might be able to fast for a week without ill +effects, but his chunky body demanded quantities of nourishment at +regular intervals, and his stomach was protesting audibly at being +empty.</p> + +<p>He looked around him, at the rutted road, and at the darkening Vaornia +Arm of the Devan Forest that bordered the roadway. The Sanitary +Processional had completed the daily ritual of waste disposal and the +cart drivers and censer bearers were goading their patient daks into a +faster gait. It wasn't healthy to be too near the forest after the sun +went down. The night beasts weren't particular about what, or whom, they +ate.</p> + +<p>The Vaornese used the Vaornia Arm as a dump for the refuse of the city, +a purpose admirably apt, for the ever-hungry forest life seldom left +anything uneaten by morning. And since Antarian towns had elaborate +rituals concerning the disposal of waste, together with a nonexistent +sewage system, the native attitude of fatalistic indifference to an +occasional tourist or Antarian being gobbled up by some nightmare +denizen of the forest was understandable.</p> + +<p>The fact that the Arm was also an excellent place to dispose of an +inconvenient body didn't occur to Albert until the three natives with +knives detached themselves from the rear of the Sanitary Processional +and advanced upon him. They came from three directions, effectively +boxing him in, and Albert realized with a sick certainty that he had +been double-crossed, that Shifaz, instead of being an informant for him, +was working for the IC. Albert turned to face the nearest native, +tensing his muscles for battle.</p> + +<p>Then he saw the Zark.</p> + +<p>It stepped out of the gathering darkness of the forest, and with its +appearance everything stopped. For perhaps a micro-second, the three +Vaornese stood frozen. Then, with a simultaneous wheep of terror, they +turned and ran for the city.</p> + +<p>They might have stayed and finished their work if they had known it was +a Zark, but at the moment the Zark was energizing a toothy horror that +Earthmen called a Bandersnatch—an insane combination of talons, teeth +and snakelike neck mounted on a crocodilian body that exuded an odor of +putrefaction from the carrion upon which it normally fed. The +Bandersnatch had been dead for several hours, but neither the natives +nor Albert knew that.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was a tribute to the Zark's ability to maintain pseudo-life in a +Bandersnatch carcass that the knifemen fled and a similar panic seized +the late travelers on the road. Albert stared with horrified fascination +at the monstrosity for several seconds before he, too, fled. Any number +of natives with knives were preferable to a Bandersnatch. He had +hesitated only because he didn't possess the conditioned reflexes +arising from generations of exposure to Antarian wildlife.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>He was some twenty yards behind the rearmost native, and, though not +designed for speed, was actually gaining upon the fellow, when his foot +struck a loose cobblestone in the road. Arms flailing, legs pumping +desperately to balance his toppling mass, Albert fought manfully against +the forces of gravity and inertia.</p> + +<p>He lost.</p> + +<p>His head struck another upturned cobble. His body twitched once and then +relaxed limply and unconscious upon the dusty road.</p> + +<p>The Zark winced a little at the sight, certain that this curious +creature had damaged itself seriously.</p> + +<p>Filled with compassion, it started forward on the Bandersnatch's four +walking legs, the grasping talons crossed on the breast in an attitude +of prayer. The Zark wasn't certain what it could do, but perhaps it +could help.</p> + +<p>Albert was mercifully unconscious as it bent over him to inspect his +prone body with a purple-lidded pineal eye that was blue with concern. +The Zark noted the bruise upon his forehead and marked his regular +breathing, and came to the correct conclusion that, whatever had +happened, the biped was relatively undamaged. But the Zark didn't go +away. It had never seen a human in its thousand-odd years of existence, +which was not surprising since Earthmen had been on Antar less than a +decade and Zarks seldom left the forest.</p> + +<p>Albert began to stir before the Zark remembered its present condition. +Not being a carnivore, it saw nothing appetizing about Albert, but it +was energizing a Bandersnatch, and, like all Zarks, it was a purist. A +living Bandersnatch would undoubtedly drool happily at the sight of such +a tempting tidbit, so the Zark opened the three-foot jaws and drooled.</p> + +<p>Albert chose this precise time to return to consciousness. He turned his +head groggily and looked up into a double row of saw-edged teeth +surmounted by a leering triangle of eyes. A drop of viscid drool +splattered moistly on his forehead, and as the awful face above him bent +closer to his own, he fainted.</p> + +<p>The Zark snapped its jaws disapprovingly. This was not the proper +attitude to take in the presence of a ferocious monster. One simply +didn't go to sleep. One should attempt to run. The biped's act was +utterly illogical. It needed investigation.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Curiously, the Zark sent out a pseudopod of its substance through the +open mouth of its disguise. The faintly glittering thread oozed downward +and struck Albert's head beside his right eye. Without pausing, the +thread sank through skin and connective tissue, circled the eyeball and +located the optic nerve. It raced inward along the nerve trunk, split at +the optic chiasma, and entered the corpora quadrigemina where it +branched into innumerable microscopic filaments that followed the main +neural paths of the man's brain, probing the major areas of thought and +reflex.</p> + +<p>The Zark quivered with pleasure. The creature was beautifully complex, +and, more important, untenanted. He would make an interesting host.</p> + +<p>The Zark didn't hesitate. It needed a host; giving its present mass of +organic matter pseudo-life took too much energy. The Bandersnatch +collapsed with a faint slurping sound. A blob of iridescent jelly flowed +from the mouth and spread itself evenly over Albert's body in a thin +layer. The jelly shimmered, glowed, disappeared inward through Albert's +clothing and skin, diffusing through the subcutaneous tissues, sending +hair-like threads along nerve trunks and blood vessels until the threads +met other threads and joined, and the Zark became a network of +protoplasmic tendrils that ramified through Albert's body.</p> + +<p>Immediately the Zark turned its attention to the task of adapting itself +to its new host. Long ago it had learned that this had to be done +quickly or the host did not survive. And since the tissues of this new +host were considerably different from those of the Bandersnatch, a great +number of structural and chemical changes had to be made quickly. With +some dismay, the Zark realized that its own stores of energy would be +insufficient for the task. It would have to borrow energy from the +host—which was a poor way to start a symbiotic relationship. +Ordinarily, one gave before taking.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, Albert possessed considerable excess fat, an excellent +source of energy whose removal would do no harm. There was plenty here +for both Albert and itself. The man's body twitched and jerked as the +Zark's protean cells passed through the adaptive process, and as the +last leukocyte recoiled from tissue that had suddenly become normal, his +consciousness returned. Less than ten minutes had passed, but they were +enough. The Zark was safely in harmony with its new host.</p> + +<p>Albert opened his eyes and looked wildly around. The landscape was empty +of animate life except for the odorous carcass of the Bandersnatch lying +beside him. Albert shivered, rose unsteadily to his feet and began +walking toward Vaornia. That he didn't run was only because he couldn't.</p> + +<p>He found it hard to believe that he was still alive. Yet a hurried +inspection convinced him that there wasn't a tooth mark on him. It was a +miracle that left him feeling vaguely uneasy. He wished he knew what had +killed that grinning horror so opportunely. But then, on second thought, +maybe it was better that he didn't know. There might be things in the +Devan Forest worse than a Bandersnatch.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Inside the city walls, Vaornia struck a three-pronged blow at Albert's +senses. Sight, hearing and smell were assaulted simultaneously. Natives +slithered past, garbed in long robes of garish color. Sibilant voices +cut through the evening air like thin-edged knives clashing against the +grating screech of the ungreased wooden wheels of dak carts. Odors of +smoke, cooking, spices, perfume and corruption mingled with the +all-pervasive musky stench of unwashed Vaornese bodies.</p> + +<p>It was old to Albert, but new and exciting to the Zark. Its taps on +Albert's sense organs brought a flood of new sensation the Zark had +never experienced. It marveled at the crowded buildings studded with +jutting balconies and ornamental carvings. It stared at the dak caravans +maneuvering with ponderous delicacy through the swarming crowds. It +reveled in the colorful banners and awnings of the tiny shops lining the +streets, and the fluttering robes of the natives. Color was something +new to the Zark. Its previous hosts had been color blind, and the +symbiont wallowed in an orgy of bright sensation.</p> + +<p>If Albert could have tuned in on his fellow traveler's emotions, he +probably would have laughed. For the Zark was behaving precisely like +the rubbernecking tourist he himself was pretending to be. But Albert +wasn't interested in the sights, sounds or smells, nor did the natives +intrigue him. There was only one of them he cared to meet—that slimy +doublecrosser called Shifaz who had nearly conned him into a one-way +ticket.</p> + +<p>Albert plowed heedlessly through the crowd, using his superior mass to +remove natives from his path. By completely disregarding the code of +conduct outlined by the IC travel bureau, he managed to make respectable +progress toward the enormous covered area in the center of town that +housed the Kazlak, or native marketplace. Shifaz had a stand there where +he was employed as a tourist guide.</p> + +<p>The Zark, meanwhile, was not idle despite the outside interests. The +majority of its structure was busily engaged in checking and cataloguing +the body of its host, an automatic process that didn't interfere with +the purely intellectual one of enjoying the new sensations. Albert's +body wasn't in too bad shape. A certain amount of repair work would have +to be done, but despite the heavy padding of fat, the organs were in +good working condition.</p> + +<p>The Zark ruminated briefly over what actions it should take as it +dissolved a milligram of cholesterol out of Albert's aorta and +strengthened the weak spot in the blood vessel with a few cells of its +own substance until Albert's tissues could fill the gap. Its knowledge +of human physiology was incomplete, but it instinctively recognized +abnormality. As a result, it could help the host's physical condition, +which was a distinct satisfaction, for a Zark must be helpful.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Shifaz was at his regular stand, practicing his normal profession of +guide. As Albert approached, he was in the midst of describing the +attractions of the number two tour to a small knot of fascinated +tourists.</p> + +<p>"And then, in the center of the Kazlak, we will come to the Hall of the +Brides—Antar's greatest marriage market. It has been arranged for you +to actually see a mating auction in progress, but we must hurry or—" +Shifaz looked up to see Albert shouldering the tourists aside. His +yellow eyes widened and his hand darted to his girdle and came up with a +knife.</p> + +<p>The nearest tourists fell back in alarm as he hissed malevolently at +Albert, "Stand back, Earthman, or I'll let the life out of your +scaleless carcass!"</p> + +<p>"Doublecrosser," Albert said, moving in. One meaty hand closed over the +knife hand and wrenched while the other caught Shifaz alongside the head +with a smack that sounded loud in the sudden quiet. Shifaz did a neat +backflip and lay prostrate, the tip of his tail twitching reflexively.</p> + +<p>One of the tourists screamed.</p> + +<p>"No show today, folks," Albert said. "Shifaz has another engagement." He +picked the Antarian up by a fold of his robe and shook him like a dirty +dustcloth. A number of items cascaded out of hidden pockets, among which +was an oiled-silk pouch. Albert dropped the native and picked up the +pouch, opened it, sniffed, and nodded.</p> + +<p>It fitted. Things were clearer now.</p> + +<p>He was still nodding when two Earthmen in IC uniform stepped out of the +crowd. "Sorry, sir," the bigger of the pair said, "but you have just +committed a violation of the IC-Antar Compact. I'm afraid we'll have to +take you in."</p> + +<p>"This lizard tried to have me killed," Albert protested.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't know about that," the IC man said. "You've assaulted a +native, and that's a crime. You'd better come peaceably with us—local +justice is rather primitive and unpleasant."</p> + +<p>"I'm an Earth citizen—" Albert began.</p> + +<p>"This world is on a commercial treaty." The guard produced a blackjack +and tapped the shot-filled leather in his palm. "It's our business to +protect people like you from the natives, and if you insist, we'll use +force."</p> + +<p>"I don't insist, but I think you're being pretty high-handed."</p> + +<p>"Your objection has been noted," the IC man said, "and will be included +in the official report. Now come along or we'll be in the middle of a +jurisdictional hassle when the native cops arrive. The corporation +doesn't like hassles. They're bad for business."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The two IC men herded him into a waiting ground car and drove away. It +was all done very smoothly, quietly and efficiently. The guards were +good.</p> + +<p>And so was the local detention room. It was clean, modern and—Albert +noted wryly—virtually escape-proof. Albert was something of an expert +on jails, and the thick steel bars, the force lock, and the spy cell in +the ceiling won his grudging respect.</p> + +<p>He sighed and sat down on the cot which was the room's sole article of +furniture. He had been a fool to let his anger get the better of him. IC +would probably use this brush with Shifaz as an excuse to send him back +to Earth as an undesirable tourist—which would be the end of his +mission here, and a black mark on a singularly unspotted record.</p> + +<p>Of course, they might not be so gentle with him if they knew that he +knew they were growing tobacco. But he didn't think that they would +know—and if they had checked his background, they would find that he +was an investigator for the Revenue Service. Technically, criminal +operations were not his affair. His field was tax evasion.</p> + +<p>He didn't worry too much about the fact that Shifaz had tried to kill +him. On primitive worlds like this, that was a standard procedure—it +was less expensive to kill an agent than bribe him or pay honest taxes. +He was angry with himself for allowing the native to trick him.</p> + +<p>He shrugged. By all rules of the game, IC would now admit about a two +per cent profit on their Antar operation rather than the four per cent +loss they had claimed, and pay up like gentlemen—and he would get +skinned by the Chief back at Earth Central for allowing IC to unmask +him. His report on tobacco growing would be investigated, but with the +sketchy information he possessed, his charges would be impossible to +prove—and IC would have plenty of time to bury the evidence.</p> + +<p>If Earth Central hadn't figured that the corporation owed it some +billion megacredits in back taxes, he wouldn't be here. He had been +dragged from his job in the General Accounting Office, for every field +man and ex-field man was needed to conduct the sweeping investigation. +Every facet of the sprawling IC operation was being checked. Even minor +and out-of-the-way spots like Antar were on the list—spots that +normally demanded a cursory once-over by a second-class business +technician.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Superficially, Antar had the dull unimportance of an early penetration. +There were the usual trading posts, pilot plants, wholesale and retail +trade, and tourist and recreation centers—all designed to accustom the +native inhabitants to the presence of Earthmen and their works—and set +them up for the commercial kill, after they had acquired a taste for the +products of civilization. But although the total manpower and physical +plant for a world of this size was right, its distribution was wrong.</p> + +<p>A technician probably wouldn't see it, but to an agent who had dealt +with corporate operations for nearly a quarter of a century, the setup +felt wrong. It was not designed for maximum return. The +Vaornia-Lagash-Timargh triangle held even more men and material then +Prime Base. That didn't make sense. It was inefficient, and IC was not +noted for inefficiency.</p> + +<p>Not being oriented criminally, Albert found out IC's real reason for +concentration in this area only by absent-mindedly lighting a cigarette +one day in Vaornia. He had realized almost instantly that this was a +gross breach of outworld ethics and had thrown the cigarette away. It +landed between a pair of Vaornese walking by.</p> + +<p>The two goggled at the cigarette, sniffed the smoke rising from it, and +with simultaneous whistles of surprise bent over to pick it up. Their +heads collided with some force. The cigarette tore in their greedy grasp +as they hissed hatefully at each other for a moment, before turning +hostile glares in his direction. From their expressions, they thought +this was a low Earthie trick to rob them of their dignity. Then they +stalked off, their neck scales ruffled in anger, shreds of the cigarette +still clutched in their hands.</p> + +<p>Even Albert couldn't miss the implications. His tossing the butt away +had produced the same reaction as a deck of morphine on a group of human +addicts. Since IC wouldn't corrupt a susceptible race with tobacco when +there were much cheaper legal ways, the logical answer was that it +wasn't expensive on this planet—which argued that Antar was being set +up for plantation operations—in which case tobacco addiction was a +necessary prerequisite and the concentration of IC population made +sense.</p> + +<p>Now tobacco, as any Earthman knew, was the only monopoly in the +Confederation, and Earth had maintained that monopoly by treaty and by +force, despite numerous efforts to break it. There were some good +reasons for the policy, ranging all the way from vice control to taxable +income, but the latter was by far the most important. The revenue +supported a considerable section of Earth Central as well as the huge +battle fleet that maintained peace and order along the spacelanes and +between the worlds.</p> + +<p>But a light-weight, high-profit item like tobacco was a constant +temptation to any sharp operator who cared more for money than for law, +and IC filled that definition perfectly. In the Tax Section's book, the +Interworld Corporation was a corner-cutting, profit-grabbing chiseler. +Its basic character had been the same for three centuries, despite all +the complete turnovers in staff. Albert grinned wryly. The old-timers +were right when they made corporations legal persons.</p> + +<p>Cigarettes which cost five credits to produce and sold for as high as +two hundred would always interest a crook, and, as a consequence, Earth +Central was always investigating reports of illegal plantations. They +were found and destroyed eventually, and the owners punished. But the +catch lay in the word "eventually." And if the operator was a +corporation, no regulatory agency in its right mind would dare apply the +full punitive power of the law. In that direction lay political suicide, +for nearly half the population of Earth got dividends or salaries from +them.</p> + +<p>That, of course, was the trouble with corporations. They invariably grew +too big and too powerful. But to break them up as the Ancients did was +to destroy their efficiency. What was really needed was a corporate +conscience.</p> + +<p>Albert chuckled. That was a nice unproductive thought.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Fred Kemmer received the news that Albert had been taken to detention +with a philosophic calm that lasted for nearly half an hour. By morning, +the man would be turned over to the Patrol in Prime Base. The Patrol +would support the charge that Albert was an undesirable tourist and send +him home to Earth.</p> + +<p>But the philosophic calm departed with a frantic leap when Shifaz +reported Johnson's inspection of the oiled-silk pouch. Raw tobacco was +something that shouldn't be within a thousand parsects of Antar; its +inference would be obvious even to an investigator interested only in +tax revenues. Kemmer swore at the native. The entire operation would +have to be aborted now and his dreams of promotion would vanish.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't my supply," Shifaz protested. "I was carrying it down to +Karas at the mating market. He demands a pack every time he puts a show +on for your silly Earthie tourists."</p> + +<p>"You should have concealed it better."</p> + +<p>"How was I to know that chubby slob was coming back alive? And who'd +have figured that he could handle me?"</p> + +<p>"I've told you time and again that Earthmen are tough customers when +they get mad, but you had to learn it the hard way. Now we're all in the +soup. The Patrol doesn't like illicit tobacco planters. Tobacco is +responsible for their pay."</p> + +<p>"But he's still in your hands and he couldn't have had time to transmit +his information," Shifaz said. "You can still kill him."</p> + +<p>Kemmer's face cleared. Sure, that was it. Delay informing the Patrol and +knock the snoop off. The operation and Kemmer's future were still safe. +But it irked him that he had panicked instead of thinking. It just went +to show how being involved in major crime ruined the judgment. He'd have +Johnson fixed up with a nice hearty meal—and he'd see that it was +delivered personally. At this late date, he couldn't afford the risk of +trusting a subordinate.</p> + +<p>Kemmer's glower became a smile. The snoop's dossier indicated that he +liked to eat. He should die happy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>With a faint click, a loaded tray passed through a slot in the rear wall +of Albert Johnson's cell.</p> + +<p>The sight and smell of Earthly cooking reminded him that he hadn't +anything to eat for hours. His mouth watered as he lifted the tray and +carried it to the cot. At least IC wasn't going to let him starve to +death, and if this was any indication of the way they treated prisoners, +an IC jail was the best place to be on this whole planet.</p> + +<p>Since it takes a little time for substances to diffuse across the +intestinal epithelium and enter the circulation, the Zark had some +warning of what was about to happen from the behavior of the epithelial +cells lining Albert's gut. As a result, a considerable amount of the +alkaloid was stopped before it entered Albert's body—but some did pass +through, for the Zark was not omnipotent.</p> + +<p>For nearly five minutes after finishing the meal, Albert felt normally +full and comfortable. Then hell broke loose. Most of the food came back +with explosive violence and cramps bent him double. The Zark turned to +the neutralization and elimination of the poison. Absorptive surfaces +were sealed off, body fluids poured into the intestinal tract, and +anti-substances formed out of Albert's energy reserve to neutralize +whatever alkaloid remained.</p> + +<p>None of the Zark's protective measures were normal to Albert's body, and +with the abrupt depletion of blood glucose to supply the energy the Zark +required, Albert passed into hypoglycemic shock. The Zark regretted +that, but it had no time to utilize his other less readily available +energy sources. In fact, there was no time for anything except the most +elemental protective measures. Consequently the convulsions, +tachycardia, and coma had to be ignored.</p> + +<p>Albert's spasms were mercifully short, but when the Zark was finished, +he lay unconscious on the floor, his body twitching with incoordinate +spasms, while a frightened guard called in an alarm to the medics.</p> + +<p>The Zark quivered with its own particular brand of nausea. It had not +been hurt by the alkaloid, but the pain of its host left it sick with +self-loathing. That it had established itself in a life-form that +casually ingested deadly poisons was no excuse. It should have been more +alert, more sensitive to the host's deficiencies. It had saved his life, +which was some compensation, and there was much that could be done in +the way of restorative and corrective measures that would prevent such a +thing from occurring again—but the Zark was unhappy as it set about +helping Albert's liver metabolize fat to glucose and restore blood sugar +levels.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The medic was puzzled. She had seen some peculiar conditions at this +station, but hypoglycemic shock was something new. And, being unsure of +herself, she ordered Albert into the infirmary for observation. The +guard, of course, didn't object, and Kemmer, when he heard of it, could +only grind his teeth in frustration. He was on delicate enough ground +without making it worse by not taking adequate precautions to preserve +the health of his unwilling guest. Somehow that infernal snoop had +escaped again....</p> + +<p>Albert moved his head with infinite labor and looked at the intravenous +apparatus dripping a colorless solution into the vein in the elbow joint +of his extended left arm. He felt no pain, but his physical weakness was +appalling. He could move only with the greatest effort, and the +slightest exertion left him dizzy and breathless. It was obvious that he +had been poisoned, and that it was a miracle of providence that he had +survived. It was equally obvious that a reappraisal of his position was +in order. Someone far higher up the ladder than Shifaz was responsible +for this latest attempt on his life. The native couldn't possibly have +reached him in the safety of IC's jail.</p> + +<p>The implications were unpleasant. Someone important feared him enough to +want him dead, which meant that his knowledge of illicit tobacco was not +as secret as he thought. It would be suicide to stay in the hands of the +IC any longer. Somehow he had to get out and inform the Patrol.</p> + +<p>He looked at the intravenous drip despondently. If the solution was +poisoned, there was no help for him. It was already half gone. But he +didn't feel too bad, outside of being weak. It probably was all right. +In any event, he would have to take it. The condition of his body +wouldn't permit anything else.</p> + +<p>He sighed and relaxed on the bed, aware of the drowsiness that was +creeping over him. When he awoke, he would do something about this +situation, but he was sleepy now.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Albert awoke strong and refreshed. He was as hungry as he always was +before breakfast. Whatever was in that solution, it had certainly worked +miracles. As far as he could judge, he was completely normal.</p> + +<p>The medic was surprised to find him sitting up when she made her morning +rounds. It was amazing, but this case was amazing in more ways than one. +Last night he had been in a state of complete collapse, and now he was +well on the road to recovery.</p> + +<p>Albert looked at her curiously. "What was in that stuff you gave me?"</p> + +<p>"Just dextrose and saline," she said. "I couldn't find anything wrong +with you except hypoglycemia and dehydration, so I treated that." She +paused and eyed him with a curiosity equal to his own. "Just what do you +think happened?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I think I was poisoned."</p> + +<p>"That's impossible."</p> + +<p>"Possibly," Albert conceded, "but it might be an idea to check that food +I left all over the cell."</p> + +<p>"That was cleaned up hours ago."</p> + +<p>"Convenient, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean by that," she said. "Someone in the kitchens +might have made a mistake. Yet you were the only case." She looked +thoughtful. "I think I will do a little checking in the Central Kitchen, +just to be on the safe side." She smiled a bright professional smile. +"Anyway, I'm glad to see that you have recovered so well. I'm sure you +can go back tomorrow."</p> + +<p>She vanished through the door with a rustle of white dacron. Albert, +after listening a moment to make sure that she was gone, rose to his +feet and began an inspection of his room.</p> + +<p>It wasn't a jail cell. Not quite. But it wasn't designed for easy +escape, either. It was on the top floor of the IC building, a good +hundred feet down to the street below. The window was covered with a +steel grating and the door was locked. But both window and door were +designed to hold a sick man rather than a healthy and desperate one.</p> + +<p>Albert looked out of the window. The building was constructed to +harmonize with native structures surrounding it, so the outer walls were +studded with protuberances and bosses that would give adequate handholds +to a man strong enough to brave the terrors of the descent.</p> + +<p>Looking down the wall, Albert wavered. Thinking back, he made up his +mind.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Fred Kemmer was disturbed. By all the rules, Albert Johnson should be +dead. But Shifaz had failed, and that fool guard <i>had</i> to call in the +medics. It was going to be harder to get at Johnson, now that he was in +the infirmary, but he had to be reached.</p> + +<p>One might buy off an agent who was merely checking on tax evasion, but +tobacco was another matter entirely. Kemmer wished he hadn't agreed to +boss Operation Weed. The glowing dreams of promotion and fortune were +beginning to yellow around the edges. Visions of the Penal Colony +bothered him, for if the operation went sour, he would do the paying. He +had known that when he took the job, but the possibility seemed remote +then.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. It wasn't that bad yet. As long as Johnson hadn't +communicated with anyone else and as long as he was still in company +hands, something could be done.</p> + +<p>Kemmer thought a while, trying to put himself in Johnson's place. +Undoubtedly the spy was frightened, and undoubtedly he would try to +escape. And since it would be far easier to escape from the infirmary +than it would be from detention, he would try as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>Kemmer's face cleared. If Johnson tried it, he would find it wasn't as +easy as he thought.</p> + +<p>With characteristic swiftness, Kemmer outlined his plans and made the +necessary arrangements. A guard was posted in the hall with orders to +shoot if Johnson tried the door of his room, and Kemmer himself took a +stand in the building across the street, facing the hospital, where he +could watch the window of Albert's room. As he figured it, the window +was the best bet. He stroked the long-barreled blaster lying beside him. +Johnson still hadn't a chance, but these delays in disposing of him were +becoming an annoyance.</p> + +<p>Cautiously, Albert tried the grating that covered the window. The +Antarian climate had rusted the heavy screws that fastened it to the +casing. One of the bars was loose. If it could be removed, it would +serve as a lever to pry out the entire grating.</p> + +<p>Albert twisted at the bar. It groaned and squealed. He nervously applied +more pressure, and the bar moved slowly out of its fastenings.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The Zark observed his actions curiously. Now why was its host twisting +that rod of metal out of the woodwork? It didn't know, and it was +consumed with curiosity. It had found no way to communicate with its +host so that some of the man's queer actions could be understood; in the +portions of the brain it had explored, there were no portals of +communication. However, there still was a large dormant portion, and +perhaps here lay the thing it sought. The Zark inserted a number of +tendrils into the blank areas, probing, connecting synapses, opening +unused pathways, looking for what it hoped existed.</p> + +<p>The results of this action were completely unforeseen by the Zark, for +it was essentially just a subordinate ego with all the lacks which that +implied—and it had never before inhabited a body that possessed a +potentially first-class brain. With no prior experience to draw upon, +the Zark couldn't possibly guess that its actions would result in a +peculiar relationship between the man and the world around him. And if +the Zark had known, it probably wouldn't have cared.</p> + +<p>Albert removed the bar and pried out the grating. With only a momentary +hesitation, he lowered himself over the sill until his feet struck an +ornamental knob on the wall. He glanced quickly down. There was another +protuberance about two feet below the one on which he was standing. +Pressing against the wall, he inched one foot downward until it found +the foothold. With relief, he shifted his weight to the lower foot, and +as he did a wave of heat enveloped his legs. The protuberance came loose +from the wall with a grating noise mixed with the crackling hiss of a +blaster bolt, and Albert plunged toward the street below.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>As the pavement rushed at him, he had time for a brief, fervent wish +that he were someplace else. Then the thought was swallowed in an icy +blackness.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Fred Kemmer lowered the blaster with a grin of satisfaction. He had +figured his man correctly, and now the spy would be nothing to worry +about. He watched the plummeting body—and gasped with consternation, +for less than ten feet above the pavement, Albert abruptly vanished!</p> + +<p>There is such a thing as too much surprise, too much shock, too much +amazement. And that precisely was what affected Albert when he found +himself standing on the street where the IC guards had picked him up. By +rights, he should have been a pulpy smear against the pavement beneath +the infirmary window. But he was not. He didn't question why he was +here, or consider how he had managed to avoid the certain death that +waited for him. The fact was that he had done it, somehow. And that was +enough.</p> + +<p>It was almost like history repeating itself. Shifaz was at his usual +stand haranguing another group of tourists. It was the same spiel as +before, and almost at the same point of the pitch. But his actions upon +seeing Albert were entirely different. His eyes widened, but this time +he slid quietly from his perch on the cornerstone of the building and +disappeared into the milling crowd.</p> + +<p>Albert followed. The fact that Shifaz was somewhere in that crowd was +enough to start him moving, and, once started, stubbornness kept him +going, plowing irresistibly through the thick swarm of Vaornese. Reason +told him that no Earthman could expect to find a native hidden among +hundreds of his own kind. Their bipedal dinosaurlike figures seemed to +be cast out of one mold.</p> + +<p>A chase through this crowd was futile, but he went on deeper into the +Kazlak, drawn along an invisible trail by some unearthly sense that told +him he was right. He was as certain of it as that his name was Albert +Johnson. And when he finally cornered Shifaz in a deserted alley, he was +the one who was not surprised.</p> + +<p>Shifaz squawked and darted toward Albert, a knife glittering in his +hand. Albert felt a stinging pain across the muscles of his left arm as +he blocked the thrust aimed at his belly, wrenched the knife from the +native's grasp, and slammed him to the pavement.</p> + +<p>Shifaz bounced like a rubber ball, but he had no chance against the +bigger and stronger Earthman. Albert knocked him down again. This time +the native didn't rise. He lay in the street, a trickle of blood oozing +from the corner of his lipless mouth, hate radiating from him in +palpable waves.</p> + +<p>Albert stood over him, panting a little from the brief but violent +scuffle. "Now, Shifaz, you're going to tell me things," he said heavily.</p> + +<p>"You can go to your Place of Punishment," Shifaz snarled. "I shall say +nothing."</p> + +<p>"I can beat the answers out of you," Albert mused aloud, "but I won't. +I'll just ask you questions, and every time I don't like your answer, +I'll kick one of your teeth out. If you don't answer, I guarantee that +you'll look like an old grandmother."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Shifaz turned a paler green. To lose one's teeth was a punishment +reserved only for females. He would be a thing of mockery and +laughter—but there were worse things than losing teeth or face. There +was such a thing as losing one's life, and he knew what would happen if +he betrayed IC. Then he brightened. He could always lie, and this +hulking brute of an Earthman wouldn't know—couldn't possibly know. So +he nodded with a touch of artistic reluctance. "All right," he said, +"I'll talk." He injected a note of fear into his voice. It wasn't hard +to do.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get that tobacco?" Albert asked.</p> + +<p>"From a farm," Shifaz said. That was the truth. The Earthman probably +knew about tobacco and there was no need to lie, yet.</p> + +<p>"Where is it?"</p> + +<p>Shifaz thought quickly of the clearing in the forest south of Lagash +where the green broad-leaved plants were grown, and said, "It's just +outside of Timargh, along the road which runs south." He waited tensely +for Albert's reaction, wincing as the Earthman drew his foot back. +Timargh was a good fifty miles from Lagash, and if this lie went over, +he felt that he could proceed with confidence.</p> + +<p>It went over. Albert replaced his foot on the ground. "You telling the +truth?"</p> + +<p>"As Murgh is my witness," Shifaz said with sincerity.</p> + +<p>Albert nodded and Shifaz relaxed with hidden relief. Apparently the man +knew that Murgh was the most sacred and respected deity in the pantheon +of Antar, and that oaths based upon his name were inviolable. But what +the scaleless oaf didn't know was that this applied to Antarians only. +As far as these strangers from another world were concerned, anything +went.</p> + +<p>So Albert continued questioning, and Shifaz answered, sometimes readily, +sometimes reluctantly, telling the truth when it wasn't harmful, lying +when necessary. The native's brain was fertile and the tissue of lies +and truth hung together well, and Albert seemed satisfied. At any rate, +he finally went away, leaving behind a softly whistling Vaornese who +congratulated himself on the fact that he had once more imposed upon +this outlander's credulity. He was so easy to fool that it was almost a +crime to do it.</p> + +<p>But he wouldn't have been so pleased with himself if he could have seen +the inside of Albert's mind. For Albert knew the truth about the +four-hundred-acre farm south of Lagash. He knew about the hidden curing +sheds and processing plant. He knew that both Vaornese and Lagashites +were deeply involved in something they called Operation Weed, and +approved of it thoroughly either from sheer cussedness or addiction. He +had quietly read the native's mind while the half-truths and lies had +fallen from his forked tongue. And, catching Shifaz's last thought, +Albert couldn't help chuckling.</p> + +<p>At one of the larger intersections, Albert stopped under a flaming +cresset and looked at his arm. There was a wide red stain that looked +black against the whiteness of his pajamas. That much blood meant more +than a scratch, even though there was no pain—and cuts on this world +could be deadly if they weren't attended to promptly.</p> + +<p>He suddenly felt alone and helpless, wishing desperately for a quiet +place where he could dress his wound and be safe from the eyes he knew +were inspecting him. He was too conspicuous. The pajamas were out of +place on the street. Undoubtedly natives were hurrying to report him to +the IC.</p> + +<p>His mind turned to his room in the hostel with its well-fitted wardrobe +and its first-aid kit—and again came that instant of utter +darkness—and then he was standing in the middle of his room facing the +wardrobe that held his clothing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He felt no surprise this time. He knew what had happened. Something +within his body was acting like a tiny Distorter, transporting him +through hyperspace in the same manner that a starship's engine room +warped it through the folds of the normal space-time continuum. There +was nothing really strange about it. It was a power which he <i>should</i> +have—which any normal man should have. The fact that he didn't have it +before was of no consequence, and the fact that other men didn't have it +now merely made <i>them</i> abnormal.</p> + +<p>He smiled as he considered the possibilities which these new powers gave +him. They were enormous. At the very least, they tripled his value as an +agent. Nothing was safe from his investigation. The most secret hiding +places were open to his probings. Nothing could stop him, for command of +hyperspace made a mockery of material barriers.</p> + +<p>He chuckled happily as he removed his pajama jacket and reached for the +first-aid kit. From the gash in his sleeve, there should be a nasty cut +underneath, and it startled him a little that there was no greater +amount of hemorrhage. He cleaned off the dried blood—and found nothing +underneath except a thin red bloodless line that ran halfway around his +arm. It wasn't even a scratch.</p> + +<p>Yet he had felt Shifaz' blade slice into his flesh. He knew there was +more damage than this. The blood and the slashed sleeve could tell him +that, even if he didn't have the messages of his nerves. Yet now there +was no pain, and the closed scratch certainly wasn't the major wound he +had expected. And this <i>was</i> queer, a fact for which he had no +explanation. Albert frowned. Maybe this was another facet of the psi +factors that had suddenly become his.</p> + +<p>He wondered where they had come from. Without warning, he had become +able to read minds with accuracy and do an effective job of +teleportation. About the only things he lacked to be a well-rounded psi +were telekinetic powers and precognition.</p> + +<p>His frown froze on his face as he became conscious of a sense of unease. +They were coming down the hall—two IC guardsmen. He caught the doubt +and certainty in their minds—doubt that he would be in his room, +certainty that he would be ultimately caught, for on Antar there was no +place for an Earthman to hide.</p> + +<p>Albert slipped into the first suit that came to hand, blessing the seam +tabs that made dressing a moment's work. As the guards opened the door, +he visualized the spot on the Lagash road where he had encountered the +Bandersnatch. It was easier than before. He was standing in the middle +of the road, the center of the surprised attention of a few travelers, +when the guards entered his room.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The bright light of Antar's golden day came down from a cloudless yellow +sky. In the forest strip ahead, Albert could hear a faint medley of +coughs, grunts and snarls as the lesser beasts fed upon the remains of +yesterday's garbage. Albert moved down the road, ignoring the startled +natives. This time he wasn't afraid of meeting a Bandersnatch or +anything else, for he had a method of escape that was foolproof. Lagash +was some thirty miles ahead, but in the lighter gravity of Antar, the +walk would be stimulating rather than exhausting.</p> + +<p>He went at a steady pace, occasionally turning his glance to the road, +impressing sections of it upon his memory so that he could return to +them via teleport if necessary. He found that he could memorize with +perfect ease. Even the positions of clumps of grass and twigs were +remembered with perfect clarity and in minute detail. The perfection of +his memory astonished and delighted him.</p> + +<p>The Zark felt pleased with itself. Although it had never dreamed of the +potential contained in the host's mind, it realized that it was +responsible for the release of these weird powers, and it enjoyed the +new sensations and was eager for more. If partial probing could achieve +so much, what was the ultimate power of this remarkable mind? The Zark +didn't know, but, like a true experimenter, it was determined to find +out—so it probed deeper, opening still more pathways and connecting +more synapses with the conscious brain.</p> + +<p>It was routine work that could be performed automatically while the rest +of the Zark enjoyed the colorful beauty of the Antarian scenery.</p> + +<p>With the forest quickly left behind him, Albert walked through gently +rolling grassland dotted with small farms and homesteads. It was a +peaceful scene, similar to many he had seen on Earth, and the +familiarity brought a sense of nostalgic longing to be home again. But +the feeling was not too strong, more intellectual than physical, for the +memories of Earth were oddly blurred.</p> + +<p>Time passed and the road unreeled behind him. Once he took to the +underbrush to let a humming IC ground car pass, and twice more he hid as +airboats swept by overhead, but the annoyances were minor and +unimportant.</p> + +<p>When hiding from the second airboat, he disturbed a kelit in the thick +brush growing beside the road. The little insect-eater chittered in +alarm and dashed off to safety across the highway. And Albert, looking +at it, was conscious not only of the external shape but the internal as +well!</p> + +<p>He could see its little heart pounding in its chest, and the pumping +bellows of the pink lungs that surrounded it. He was aware of the +muscles pulling and relaxing as the kelit ran, and the long bones +sliding in their lubricated joints. He saw the tenseness of the +abdominal organs, felt the blind fear in the creature's mind. The +totality of his impressions washed through him with a clear wave of icy +shock.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Grimly, he shrugged it off. He had ESP. He ought to have expected it—it +was the next logical step. He scrambled back to the road and walked +onward a little faster, until the battlements of Lagash came in sight.</p> + +<p>The Lagash Arm was farther from the city than was that of Vaornia, and +as he came to the strip of jungle, he turned his eyes upon the empty +parklike arcades between the trees. The last edible garbage had long +since been consumed and the greater and lesser beasts had departed for +the cooler depths of the forest, but Albert was conscious of life. It +was all around him, in the trees with the ringed layers of their trunks +and the sap flowing slowly upward through the cambium layer beneath +their scaly bark, in the insects feeding upon the nectar of the aerial +vine blossoms, in the rapid photosynthetic reactions of the leaves.</p> + +<p>His gaze, turning aloft, was conscious of the birds and the tiny +arboreal mammals. He saw the whole forest with eyes filled with wonder +at its life and beauty. It was the only right way to see.</p> + +<p>At the proper distance from Lagash, he plunged off boldly across country +and entered the main area of the forest, reflecting wryly as he did so +that he was probably the first human in the short history of Antarian +exploration who had gone into one of the great forests with absolute +knowledge that he would come out of it alive. And, as so often happens +to men who have no fear, trouble avoided him.</p> + +<p>He followed the directions he had obtained from Shifaz and found the +plantation without trouble. He could hardly miss it, because its size +was far from accurately expressed in the native's memory. Skillfully +concealed beneath an overhanging network of aerial vines whose +camouflage made it invisible from the air, concealing the tobacco plants +from casual detector search, the plantation extended in row upon narrow +row, the irregular strips of fields separated by rows of trees from +which the camouflage was hung. A fragile electric fence encircled the +area, a seemingly weak defense, but one through which even the greatest +Antarian beast would not attempt to pass.</p> + +<p>Albert whistled softly under his breath at what he saw, recorded it in +his memory. Then, having finished the eyewitness part of his task, he +recalled a section of road over which he had passed, and pushed.</p> + +<p>The return journey to Vaornia was experimental in nature, as Albert +tried the range of his powers. His best was just short of twenty miles +and the journey which had taken him eight hours was made back in +somewhat less than twenty minutes, counting half a dozen delays and +backtracks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There was no question about where Albert would go next. He had to get +evidence, and that evidence lay in only one place—in the local office +of the Interworld Corporation in Vaornia.</p> + +<p>A moment later, he stood in the reception room looking across the empty +desks at the bright square of light shining through the glassite paneled +door of Fred Kemmer's office. It was past closing hours, but Kemmer had +a right to be working late. Right now, he was probably sweating blood at +the thought of what would happen if Albert had finally managed to escape +him. The Corporation would virtuously disown him and leave him to face a +ten-year rap in Penal Colony. Albert almost felt sorry for him.</p> + +<p>Albert let his perception sense travel through the wall and into +Kemmer's room. His guess was right—the local boss was sweating.</p> + +<p>He checked Kemmer's office swiftly, but the only thing that interested +him was the big vault beside the desk. He visualized the interior of the +vault and pushed himself inside. Separated from Kemmer by six inches of +the hardest metal known to Man, he quietly leafed through the files of +confidential correspondence until he found what he wanted. He didn't +need a light. His perception worked as well in the dark as in the +daylight.</p> + +<p>There was enough documentary evidence in the big vault to indict quite a +few more IC officials than Kemmer—and perhaps investigation of <i>their</i> +files would provide more leads to even higher officials. Wherever Kemmer +was going, Albert had the idea that he wouldn't be going alone.</p> + +<p>Albert selected all the incriminating letters and documents he could +find and packed the micro-files in his jacket. Finally, bulging with +documentary information, he pushed back into the streets.</p> + +<p>It was late enough for few natives to be on the streets, and his +appearance caused no comment. Apparently unnoticed, he moved rapidly +into the Kazlak, searching for a place to hide the papers he had stolen. +What he had learned of Vaornia made him cautious. He checked constantly +for spies, but there wasn't a native in sensing range.</p> + +<p>He ducked into the alleyway where he had caught Shifaz. His memory of it +had been right. There was a small hole in one of the building walls, +partly covered with cracked plaster, and barely visible in the darkness. +The gloom of the Kazlak scarcely varied with night or day, as the +enormous labyrinth of covered passages and building walls was pierced +with only a few ventilation holes. Cressets at the main intersections +burned constantly, their smokeless flames lighting the streets poorly.</p> + +<p>He wondered idly how he had managed to remember the way to this place, +let alone the little hole in the wall, as he stuffed the micro-files +into its dark interior. He finished, turned to leave, and was out on the +main tunnel before he became aware of the IC ground cars closing in upon +him.</p> + +<p>The Corporation was really on the beam, their spies everywhere. But they +didn't know his abilities. He visualized and pushed. They were going to +be surprised when he vanished—but he didn't vanish.</p> + +<p>The expression of shocked surprise was still on his face as the stat gun +blast took him squarely in the chest.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He was tied to a chair in Fred Kemmer's office. He recognized it easily, +although physically he had never been inside the room. His head hurt as +a polygraph recorder was strapped to his left arm, and behind him, +beyond his range of vision, he could sense another man and several +machines. In front of him stood Fred Kemmer with an expression of +satisfaction on his face.</p> + +<p>"Don't start thinking you're smart," Kemmer said. "You're in no position +for it."</p> + +<p>"You've tried to kill me three times," Albert reminded him.</p> + +<p>"There's always a fourth time."</p> + +<p>"I don't think so. Too many people know."</p> + +<p>"Precisely my own conclusion," Kemmer said, "but there are other ways. +Brainwashing's a good one."</p> + +<p>"That's illegal!" Albert protested. "Besides—"</p> + +<p>"So what?" Kemmer cut him off. "It's an illegal universe."</p> + +<p>Albert probed urgently at the IC man's mind, hoping to find something he +could turn to his advantage, but all he found were surface +thoughts—satisfaction at having gotten the spy where he could do no +harm, plans for turning Albert into a mindless idiot, thoughts of +extracting information—all of which had an air of certainty that was +unnerving. Albert had badly underestimated him. It was high time to +leave here, if he could.</p> + +<p>Albert visualized an area outside Vaornia, and, as he tried to push, a +machine hummed loudly behind him. He didn't move. Mistake, Albert +thought worriedly, I'm not going anywhere—and he knows I'm scared.</p> + +<p>"It won't do you any good," Kemmer said. "It didn't take too much brains +to figure you were using hyperspace in those disappearing acts. There's +an insulating field around that chair that'd stop a space yacht." He +leaned forward. "Now—what are your contacts, and who gave you the +information on where to look?"</p> + +<p>Albert saw no reason to hide it, but there was no sense in revealing +anything. The Patrol had word of his arrest by now and should be here +any moment.</p> + +<p>It was as though Kemmer had read his mind. "Don't count on being +rescued. I stopped the Patrol report." Kemmer paused, obviously enjoying +the expression on Albert's face. "You know," he went on, "there's a +peculiar fact about nerves that maybe you don't know. A stimulus sets up +a brief neural volley lasting about a hundredth of a second. Following +that comes a period of refractivity lasting perhaps a tenth of that time +while the nerve repolarizes, and then, immediately after repolarization, +there is an extremely short period of hypersensitivity."</p> + +<p>"What's that to do with me?" Albert asked.</p> + +<p>"You'll find out if you don't answer promptly and truthfully. That +gadget on your arm is connected to a polygraph. Now do you want to make +a statement?"</p> + +<p>Albert shook his head. He was conscious of a brief pain in one finger, +and the next instant someone tore the finger out of his hand with red +hot pincers. He screamed. He couldn't help it. This punishment was +beyond agony.</p> + +<p>"Nice, isn't it?" Kemmer asked as Albert looked down at his amputated +finger that still was remarkably attached to his hand. "And the beauty +of it is that it doesn't even leave a mark. Of course, if it's repeated +enough, it will end up as a permanent paralysis of the part stimulated. +Now once again—who gave you that information?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Albert talked. It was futile to try to deceive a polygraph and he wanted +no more of that nerve treatment—and then he looked into Kemmer's mind +again and discovered what went into brainwashing. The shock was like ice +water. Hypersensitive stimulation, Kemmer was thinking gleefully, would +reduce this fat slob in the chair to a screaming mindless lump that +could be molded like wet putty.</p> + +<p>Albert felt helpless. He couldn't run and he couldn't fight. But he +wasn't ready to give up. His perception passed over and through Kemmer +with microscopic care, looking for some weakness, something that could +be exploited to advantage. Kemmer <i>had</i> to have a vulnerable point.</p> + +<p>He did.</p> + +<p>There was a spot on the inner lining of the radial vein in Kemmer's left +arm. He had recently received an inoculation, one of the constant +immunizing injections that were necessary on Antar, for there was a +small thrombus clinging to the needle puncture on the inner wall of the +vessel. Normally it was unimportant and would pass away in time and be +absorbed, but there were considerable possibilities for trouble in that +little blob of red cells and fibrin if they could be loosened from their +attachment to the wall.</p> + +<p>Hopefully, Albert reached out. If he couldn't move himself, perhaps he +could move the clot.</p> + +<p>The thrombus stirred and came free, rushing toward Kemmer's heart. +Albert followed it, watching as it passed into the pulmonary artery, +tracing it out through the smaller vessels until it stopped squarely +across a junction of two arterioles.</p> + +<p>Kemmer coughed, his face whitening with pain as he clutched at his +chest. The pain was a mild repayment for his recent agony, Albert +thought grimly. A pulmonary embolism shouldn't kill him, but the effects +were disproportionate to the cause and would last a while. He grinned +mercilessly as Kemmer collapsed.</p> + +<p>A man darted from behind the chair and bent over Kemmer. Fumbling in his +haste, he produced a pocket communicator, stabbed frantically at the +dial and spoke urgently into it. "Medic! Boss's office—hurry!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>For a second, Albert didn't realize that the hum of machinery behind him +had stopped, but when he did, both Albert and the chair vanished.</p> + +<p>The Zark realized that its host had been hurt again. It was infuriating +to be so helpless. Things kept happening to Albert which it couldn't +correct until too late. There were forces involved that it didn't know +how to handle; they were entirely outside the Zark's experience. It only +felt relief when Albert managed to regain his ability to move—and, as +it looked out upon the familiar green Antarian countryside, it felt +almost happy. Of course Albert was probably still in trouble, but it +wasn't so bad now. At least the man was away from the cause of his pain.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was a hell of a note, Albert reflected, sitting beside the road that +led to Lagash and working upon the bonds that tied him to the chair. He +had managed to get out of Kemmer's hands, but it appeared probable that +he would get no farther. As things stood, he couldn't transmit the +information he had gained—and by this time probably every IC office on +the planet was alerted to the fact that Earth Central had a psi-type +agent on Antar—one who was not inherently unstable, like those poor +devils in the parapsychological laboratories on Earth. They would be +ready for him with everything from Distorter screens to Kellys.</p> + +<p>He didn't underestimate IC now. Whatever its morals might be, its +personnel was neither stupid nor slow to act. He was trapped in this +sector of the planet. Prime Base was over a thousand miles away, and +even if he did manage to make his way back to it along the trade routes, +it was a virtual certainty that he would never be able to get near a +class I communicator or the Patrol office. IC would have ample time to +get ready for him, and no matter what powers he possessed, a single man +would have no chance against the massed technology of the corporation.</p> + +<p>However, he could play tag with IC in this area for some time with the +reasonable possibility that he wouldn't get caught. If nothing else, it +would have nuisance value. He pulled one hand free of the tape that held +it to the chair arm and swiftly removed the rest of the tape that bound +him. He had his freedom again. Now what would he do with it?</p> + +<p>He left the chair behind and started down the road toward Lagash. There +was no good reason to head in that particular direction, but at the +moment one direction was as good as another until he could plan a course +of action. His brain felt oddly fuzzy. He didn't realize that he had +reached the end of his strength until he dropped in the roadway.</p> + +<p>To compensate for the miserable job it had done in protecting him from +poison and neural torture, the Zark had successfully managed to block +hunger and fatigue pains until Albert's over-taxed body could stand no +more. It realized its error after Albert collapsed. Sensibly, it did +nothing. Its host had burned a tremendous amount of energy without +replenishment, and he needed time to rest and draw upon less available +reserves, and to detoxify and eliminate the metabolic poisons in his +body.</p> + +<p>It was late that afternoon before Albert recovered enough to take more +than a passing interest in his surroundings. He had a vague memory of +hiring a dak cart driver to take him down the road. The memory was +apparently correct, because he was lying in the back of a cargo cart +piled high with short pieces of cane. The cart was moving at a brisk +pace despite the apparently leisurely movements of the dak between the +shafts. The ponderous ten-foot strides ate up distance.</p> + +<p>He was conscious of a hunger that was beyond discomfort, and a thirst +that left his mouth dry and cottony. It was as though he hadn't eaten or +drunk for days. He felt utterly spent, drained beyond exhaustion. He was +in no shape to do anything, and unless he managed to find food and drink +pretty soon, he would be easy pickings for IC.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He looked around the cart, but there was nothing except the canes on +which he lay. There wasn't even any of the foul porridgelike mess that +the natives called food, since native workers didn't bother about eating +during working hours.</p> + +<p>He turned over slowly, feeling the hard canes grind into his body as he +moved. He kept thinking about food—about meals aboard ship, about +dinners, about Earth restaurants, about steak, potatoes, bread—solid +heartening foods filled with proteins, fats and carbohydrates.</p> + +<p>Carbohydrates—the thought stuck in his mind for some reason. And then +he realized why.</p> + +<p>The canes he was lying on in in the cart were sugar cane! He had never +seen them on Earth, but he should have expected to find them out +here—one of Earth's greatest exports was the seeds from which beet and +cane sugar were obtained.</p> + +<p>He pulled a length of cane from the pile and bit into one end. His +depleted body reached eagerly for the sweet energy that filled his +mouth.</p> + +<p>With the restoration of his energy balance came clearer and more logical +thought. It might be well enough to make IC spend valuable time looking +for him, but such delaying actions had no positive value. Ultimately he +would be caught, and his usefulness would disappear with his death. But +if he could get word to the Patrol, this whole business could be +smashed.</p> + +<p>Now if he made a big enough disturbance—it might possibly even reach +the noses of the Patrol. Perhaps by working through the hundred or so +tourists in Vaornia and Lagash, he could—</p> + +<p>That was it, the only possible solution. The IC might be able to get rid +of one man, but it couldn't possibly get rid of a hundred—and somewhere +in that group of tourists there would be one who'd talk, someone who +would pass the word. IC couldn't keep this quiet without brainwashing +the lot of them, and that in itself would be enough to bring a Patrol +ship here at maximum blast.</p> + +<p>He chuckled happily. The native driver, startled at the strange sound, +turned his head just in time to see his passenger vanish, together with +a bundle of cane. The native shook his head in an oddly human gesture. +These foreigners were strange creatures indeed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Albert, thin, pale, but happy, sat at a table in one of the smaller +cafeterias in Earth Center, talking to the Chief over a second helping +of dessert. The fearful energy drain of esper activity, combined with +the constant dodging to avoid IC hunting parties, had made him a gaunt +shadow—but he had managed to survive until a Patrol ship arrived to +investigate the strange stories told by tourists, of a man who haunted +the towns of Lagash and Vaornia, and the road between.</p> + +<p>"That's all there was to it, sir," Albert concluded. "Once I figured it +out that not even IC could get away with mass murder, it was easy. I +just kept popping up in odd places and telling my story, and then, to +make it impressive, I'd disappear. I had nearly two days before IC +caught on, and by then you knew. The only trouble was getting enough to +eat. I damn near starved before the Patrol arrived. I expect that we owe +quite a few farmers and shopkeepers reparations for the food I stole."</p> + +<p>"They'll be paid, providing they present a claim," the Chief said. "But +there's one thing about all this that bothers me. I know you had no psi +powers when you left Earth on this mission, just where did you acquire +them?"</p> + +<p>Albert shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "Unless they were latent +and developed in Antar's peculiar climatic and physical conditions. Or +maybe it was the shock of that meeting with the Bandersnatch. All I'm +sure of is that I didn't have any until after that meeting with Shifaz."</p> + +<p>"Well, you certainly have them now. The Parapsych boys are hot on your +tail, but we've stalled them off."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. I don't want to imitate a guinea pig."</p> + +<p>"We owe you at least that for getting us a case against IC. Even their +shysters won't be able to wiggle out of this one." The Chief smiled. +"It's nice to have those lads where they can be handled for a change."</p> + +<p>"They do need a dose of applied conscience," Albert agreed.</p> + +<p>"The government also owes you a bonus and a vote of thanks."</p> + +<p>"I'll appreciate the bonus," Albert said as he signaled for the +waitress. "Recently, I can't afford my appetite."</p> + +<p>"It's understandable. After all, you've lost nearly eighty pounds."</p> + +<p>"Wonder if I'll ever get them back," Albert muttered as he bit into the +third dessert.</p> + +<p>The Chief watched enviously. "I wouldn't worry about that," he said. +"Just get your strength back. There's another assignment for you, one +that will need your peculiar talents." He stood up. "I'll be seeing you. +My ulcer can't take your appetite any more." He walked away.</p> + +<p>Inside Albert, the Zark alerted. A new assignment! That meant another +world and new sensations. Truly, this host was magnificent! It had been +a lucky day when he had fallen in running from the Bandersnatch. The +Zark quivered with delight—</p> + +<p>And Albert felt it.</p> + +<p>Turning his perception inward to see what might be wrong, he saw the +Zark for the first time.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>For a second, a wave of repulsion swept through his body, but as he +comprehended the extent of that protoplasmic mass so inextricably +intertwined with his own, he realized that this thing within him was the +reason for his new powers. There could be no other explanation.</p> + +<p>And as he searched farther, he marveled. The Zark was unspecialized in a +way he had never imagined—an amorphous aggregation of highly evolved +cells that could imitate normal tissues in a manner that would defy +ordinary detection. It was something at once higher yet lower than his +own flesh, something more primitive yet infinitely more evolved.</p> + +<p>The Zark had succeeded at last. It had established communication with +its host.</p> + +<p>"Answer me, parasite," Albert muttered subvocally. "I know you're +there—and I know you can answer!"</p> + +<p>The Zark gave the protean equivalent of a shrug. If Albert only knew how +it had tried to communicate—no, there was no communication between +them. Their methods of thought were so different that there was no +possible rapport.</p> + +<p>It twitched—and Albert jumped. And for the first time in its long life, +the Zark had an original idea. It moved a few milligrams of its +substance to Albert's throat region, and after a premonitory glottal +spasm, Albert said very distinctly and quite involuntarily, "All right. +I am here."</p> + +<p>Albert froze with surprise, but when the shock passed, he laughed. +"Well, I asked for it," he said. "But it's like the story about the man +who talked to himself—and got answers. Not exactly a comforting +sensation."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," the Zark apologized. "I do not wish to cause discomfort."</p> + +<p>"You pick a poor way to keep from doing it."</p> + +<p>"It was the only way I could figure to make contact with your conscious +mind—and you desired that I communicate."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you're right. But while it is nice to know that I really have +a guardian angel, I'd have felt better about it if you had white robes +and wings and were hovering over my shoulder."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," the Zark said.</p> + +<p>"I was trying to be funny. You know," Albert continued after a moment, +"I never thought of trying to perceive myself. I wonder why. I guess +because none of the medical examinations showed anything different from +normal."</p> + +<p>"I was always afraid that you might suspect before I could tell you," +the Zark replied. "It was an obvious line of reasoning, and you <i>are</i> an +intelligent entity—the most intelligent I have ever inhabited. It is +too bad that I shall have to leave. I have enjoyed being with you."</p> + +<p>"Who said anything about leaving?" Albert asked.</p> + +<p>"You did. I could feel your revulsion when you became aware of me. It +wasn't nice, but I suppose you can't help it. Yours is an independent +race, one that doesn't willingly support—" the voice hesitated as +though searching for the proper word—"fellow travelers," it finished.</p> + +<p>Albert grinned. "There are historical precedents for that statement, but +your interpretation isn't quite right. I was surprised. You startled +me."</p> + +<p>He fell silent, and the Zark, respecting the activity of his mind, +forbore to interrupt.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Albert was doing some heavy thinking about the Zark. Certainly it had +protected him on Antar, and with equal certainty it must have been +responsible for the psi powers he possessed. He owed it a lot, for +without its help he wouldn't have survived.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing wrong.</p> + +<p>Sexless though it was, the Zark must possess the characteristics of +life, since it was obviously alive. And those characteristics were +unchanging throughout the known universe. The four vital criteria +defined centuries ago were still as good today as they were +then—growth, metabolism, irritability—and <i>reproduction</i>. Despite its +lack of sex, the Zark must be capable of producing others of its kind, +and while he didn't mind supporting one fellow traveler, he was damned +if he'd support a whole family of them.</p> + +<p>"That need never bother you," the Zark interrupted. "As an individual, I +am very long-lived and seldom reproduce. I can, of course, but the +process is quite involved—actually it involves making a twin out of +myself—and it is not necessary. Besides, there cannot be two Zarks in +one host. My offspring would have to seek another."</p> + +<p>"And do they have your powers?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. They would know all I know, for a Zark's memory is not +concentrated in specialized tissue like your brain."</p> + +<p>A light began to dawn in Albert's mind. Maybe this was the answer to the +corporate conscience he had been wishing for so wistfully on Antar. +"Does it bother you to reproduce?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It is annoying, but not painful—nor would it be too difficult after a +pattern was set in my cells. But why do you ask this?"</p> + +<p>"The thought just occurred to me that there are quite a few people who +could use a Zark. A few of the more honest folks would improve this +Confederation's moral tone if they had the power—and certainly psi +powers in law enforcement would be unbeatable."</p> + +<p>"Then you would want me to reproduce?"</p> + +<p>"It might be a good idea if we can find men who are worthy of Zarks. I +could check them with my telepathy and perhaps we might—"</p> + +<p>"Let me warn you," the Zark interjected. "While this all sounds very +fine, there are difficulties, even with a host as large as yourself. I +shall need more energy than your body has available in order to +duplicate myself. It will be hard for you to do what must be done."</p> + +<p>"And what is that?"</p> + +<p>"Eat," the Zark said, "great quantities of high energy foods." It +shuddered at the thought of Albert overloading his digestive tract any +more than he had been doing the past week.</p> + +<p>But Albert's reaction went to prove that while their relationship was +physically close, mentally they were still far apart. Albert, the Zark +noted in astonishment, didn't regard it as an ordeal at all.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Insidekick, by Jesse Franklin Bone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSIDEKICK *** + +***** This file should be named 32272-h.htm or 32272-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/7/32272/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Insidekick + +Author: Jesse Franklin Bone + +Illustrator: Wood + +Release Date: May 6, 2010 [EBook #32272] +[Last updated: May 26, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSIDEKICK *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Insidekick + + By J. F. BONE + + Illustrated by WOOD + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction +February 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +Sidenote: Johnson had two secrets--one he knew and would die rather than +reveal--and one he didn't know that meant to save him over his own dead +body!] + + +Shifaz glanced furtively around the room. Satisfied that it was empty +except for Fred Kemmer and himself, he sidled up to the Earthman's desk +and hissed conspiratorially in his ear, "Sir, this Johnson is a spy! Is +it permitted to slay him?" + +[Illustration] + +"It is permitted," Kemmer said in a tone suitable to the gravity of the +occasion. + +He watched humorlessly as the Antarian slithered out of the office with +a flutter of colorful ceremonial robes. Both Kemmer and Shifaz had known +for weeks that Johnson was a spy, but the native had to go through this +insane rigmarole before the rules on Antar would allow him to act. At +any rate, the formalities were over at last and the affair should be +satisfactorily ended before nightfall. Natives moved quickly enough, +once the preliminaries were concluded. + +Kemmer leaned back in his chair and sighed. Being the Interworld +Corporation's local manager had more compensations than headaches, +despite the rigid ritualism of native society. Since most of the local +population was under his thumb, counter-espionage was miraculously +effective. This fellow Johnson, for instance, had been in Vaornia less +than three weeks, and despite the fact that he was an efficient and +effective snoop, he had been fingered less than forty-eight hours after +his arrival in the city. + +Kemmer closed his eyes and let a smile cross his keen features. Under +his administration, there would be a sharp rise in the mortality curve +for spies detected in the Vaornia-Lagash-Timargh triangle. With the +native judiciary firmly under IC control, the Corporation literally had +a free hand, providing it kept its nose superficially clean. And as for +spies, they knew the chances they took and what the penalty could be for +interfering with the normal operations of corporate business. + +Kemmer yawned, stretched, turned his attention to more important +matters. + + * * * * * + +Albert Johnson fumbled hopefully in the empty food container before +tossing it aside. A plump, prosaic man of middle height, with a round +ingenuous face, Albert was as undistinguished as his name, a fact that +made him an excellent investigator. But he was neither undistinguished +nor unnoticed in his present position, although he had tried to carry it +off by photographing the actions of the local Sanitary Processional like +any tourist. + +He had been waiting near the Vaornia Arm on the road that led to Lagash +since early afternoon, and now it was nearly evening. He cursed mildly +at the fact that the natives had no conception of time, a trait not +exclusively Antarian, but one which was developed to a high degree on +this benighted planet. And the fact that he was hungry didn't add to his +good temper. Natives might be able to fast for a week without ill +effects, but his chunky body demanded quantities of nourishment at +regular intervals, and his stomach was protesting audibly at being +empty. + +He looked around him, at the rutted road, and at the darkening Vaornia +Arm of the Devan Forest that bordered the roadway. The Sanitary +Processional had completed the daily ritual of waste disposal and the +cart drivers and censer bearers were goading their patient daks into a +faster gait. It wasn't healthy to be too near the forest after the sun +went down. The night beasts weren't particular about what, or whom, they +ate. + +The Vaornese used the Vaornia Arm as a dump for the refuse of the city, +a purpose admirably apt, for the ever-hungry forest life seldom left +anything uneaten by morning. And since Antarian towns had elaborate +rituals concerning the disposal of waste, together with a nonexistent +sewage system, the native attitude of fatalistic indifference to an +occasional tourist or Antarian being gobbled up by some nightmare +denizen of the forest was understandable. + +The fact that the Arm was also an excellent place to dispose of an +inconvenient body didn't occur to Albert until the three natives with +knives detached themselves from the rear of the Sanitary Processional +and advanced upon him. They came from three directions, effectively +boxing him in, and Albert realized with a sick certainty that he had +been double-crossed, that Shifaz, instead of being an informant for him, +was working for the IC. Albert turned to face the nearest native, +tensing his muscles for battle. + +Then he saw the Zark. + +It stepped out of the gathering darkness of the forest, and with its +appearance everything stopped. For perhaps a micro-second, the three +Vaornese stood frozen. Then, with a simultaneous wheep of terror, they +turned and ran for the city. + +They might have stayed and finished their work if they had known it was +a Zark, but at the moment the Zark was energizing a toothy horror that +Earthmen called a Bandersnatch--an insane combination of talons, teeth +and snakelike neck mounted on a crocodilian body that exuded an odor of +putrefaction from the carrion upon which it normally fed. The +Bandersnatch had been dead for several hours, but neither the natives +nor Albert knew that. + + * * * * * + +It was a tribute to the Zark's ability to maintain pseudo-life in a +Bandersnatch carcass that the knifemen fled and a similar panic seized +the late travelers on the road. Albert stared with horrified fascination +at the monstrosity for several seconds before he, too, fled. Any number +of natives with knives were preferable to a Bandersnatch. He had +hesitated only because he didn't possess the conditioned reflexes +arising from generations of exposure to Antarian wildlife. + +[Illustration] + +He was some twenty yards behind the rearmost native, and, though not +designed for speed, was actually gaining upon the fellow, when his foot +struck a loose cobblestone in the road. Arms flailing, legs pumping +desperately to balance his toppling mass, Albert fought manfully against +the forces of gravity and inertia. + +He lost. + +His head struck another upturned cobble. His body twitched once and then +relaxed limply and unconscious upon the dusty road. + +The Zark winced a little at the sight, certain that this curious +creature had damaged itself seriously. + +Filled with compassion, it started forward on the Bandersnatch's four +walking legs, the grasping talons crossed on the breast in an attitude +of prayer. The Zark wasn't certain what it could do, but perhaps it +could help. + +Albert was mercifully unconscious as it bent over him to inspect his +prone body with a purple-lidded pineal eye that was blue with concern. +The Zark noted the bruise upon his forehead and marked his regular +breathing, and came to the correct conclusion that, whatever had +happened, the biped was relatively undamaged. But the Zark didn't go +away. It had never seen a human in its thousand-odd years of existence, +which was not surprising since Earthmen had been on Antar less than a +decade and Zarks seldom left the forest. + +Albert began to stir before the Zark remembered its present condition. +Not being a carnivore, it saw nothing appetizing about Albert, but it +was energizing a Bandersnatch, and, like all Zarks, it was a purist. A +living Bandersnatch would undoubtedly drool happily at the sight of such +a tempting tidbit, so the Zark opened the three-foot jaws and drooled. + +Albert chose this precise time to return to consciousness. He turned his +head groggily and looked up into a double row of saw-edged teeth +surmounted by a leering triangle of eyes. A drop of viscid drool +splattered moistly on his forehead, and as the awful face above him bent +closer to his own, he fainted. + +The Zark snapped its jaws disapprovingly. This was not the proper +attitude to take in the presence of a ferocious monster. One simply +didn't go to sleep. One should attempt to run. The biped's act was +utterly illogical. It needed investigation. + + * * * * * + +Curiously, the Zark sent out a pseudopod of its substance through the +open mouth of its disguise. The faintly glittering thread oozed downward +and struck Albert's head beside his right eye. Without pausing, the +thread sank through skin and connective tissue, circled the eyeball and +located the optic nerve. It raced inward along the nerve trunk, split at +the optic chiasma, and entered the corpora quadrigemina where it +branched into innumerable microscopic filaments that followed the main +neural paths of the man's brain, probing the major areas of thought and +reflex. + +The Zark quivered with pleasure. The creature was beautifully complex, +and, more important, untenanted. He would make an interesting host. + +The Zark didn't hesitate. It needed a host; giving its present mass of +organic matter pseudo-life took too much energy. The Bandersnatch +collapsed with a faint slurping sound. A blob of iridescent jelly flowed +from the mouth and spread itself evenly over Albert's body in a thin +layer. The jelly shimmered, glowed, disappeared inward through Albert's +clothing and skin, diffusing through the subcutaneous tissues, sending +hair-like threads along nerve trunks and blood vessels until the threads +met other threads and joined, and the Zark became a network of +protoplasmic tendrils that ramified through Albert's body. + +Immediately the Zark turned its attention to the task of adapting itself +to its new host. Long ago it had learned that this had to be done +quickly or the host did not survive. And since the tissues of this new +host were considerably different from those of the Bandersnatch, a great +number of structural and chemical changes had to be made quickly. With +some dismay, the Zark realized that its own stores of energy would be +insufficient for the task. It would have to borrow energy from the +host--which was a poor way to start a symbiotic relationship. +Ordinarily, one gave before taking. + +Fortunately, Albert possessed considerable excess fat, an excellent +source of energy whose removal would do no harm. There was plenty here +for both Albert and itself. The man's body twitched and jerked as the +Zark's protean cells passed through the adaptive process, and as the +last leukocyte recoiled from tissue that had suddenly become normal, his +consciousness returned. Less than ten minutes had passed, but they were +enough. The Zark was safely in harmony with its new host. + +Albert opened his eyes and looked wildly around. The landscape was empty +of animate life except for the odorous carcass of the Bandersnatch lying +beside him. Albert shivered, rose unsteadily to his feet and began +walking toward Vaornia. That he didn't run was only because he couldn't. + +He found it hard to believe that he was still alive. Yet a hurried +inspection convinced him that there wasn't a tooth mark on him. It was a +miracle that left him feeling vaguely uneasy. He wished he knew what had +killed that grinning horror so opportunely. But then, on second thought, +maybe it was better that he didn't know. There might be things in the +Devan Forest worse than a Bandersnatch. + + * * * * * + +Inside the city walls, Vaornia struck a three-pronged blow at Albert's +senses. Sight, hearing and smell were assaulted simultaneously. Natives +slithered past, garbed in long robes of garish color. Sibilant voices +cut through the evening air like thin-edged knives clashing against the +grating screech of the ungreased wooden wheels of dak carts. Odors of +smoke, cooking, spices, perfume and corruption mingled with the +all-pervasive musky stench of unwashed Vaornese bodies. + +It was old to Albert, but new and exciting to the Zark. Its taps on +Albert's sense organs brought a flood of new sensation the Zark had +never experienced. It marveled at the crowded buildings studded with +jutting balconies and ornamental carvings. It stared at the dak caravans +maneuvering with ponderous delicacy through the swarming crowds. It +reveled in the colorful banners and awnings of the tiny shops lining the +streets, and the fluttering robes of the natives. Color was something +new to the Zark. Its previous hosts had been color blind, and the +symbiont wallowed in an orgy of bright sensation. + +If Albert could have tuned in on his fellow traveler's emotions, he +probably would have laughed. For the Zark was behaving precisely like +the rubbernecking tourist he himself was pretending to be. But Albert +wasn't interested in the sights, sounds or smells, nor did the natives +intrigue him. There was only one of them he cared to meet--that slimy +doublecrosser called Shifaz who had nearly conned him into a one-way +ticket. + +Albert plowed heedlessly through the crowd, using his superior mass to +remove natives from his path. By completely disregarding the code of +conduct outlined by the IC travel bureau, he managed to make respectable +progress toward the enormous covered area in the center of town that +housed the Kazlak, or native marketplace. Shifaz had a stand there where +he was employed as a tourist guide. + +The Zark, meanwhile, was not idle despite the outside interests. The +majority of its structure was busily engaged in checking and cataloguing +the body of its host, an automatic process that didn't interfere with +the purely intellectual one of enjoying the new sensations. Albert's +body wasn't in too bad shape. A certain amount of repair work would have +to be done, but despite the heavy padding of fat, the organs were in +good working condition. + +The Zark ruminated briefly over what actions it should take as it +dissolved a milligram of cholesterol out of Albert's aorta and +strengthened the weak spot in the blood vessel with a few cells of its +own substance until Albert's tissues could fill the gap. Its knowledge +of human physiology was incomplete, but it instinctively recognized +abnormality. As a result, it could help the host's physical condition, +which was a distinct satisfaction, for a Zark must be helpful. + + * * * * * + +Shifaz was at his regular stand, practicing his normal profession of +guide. As Albert approached, he was in the midst of describing the +attractions of the number two tour to a small knot of fascinated +tourists. + +"And then, in the center of the Kazlak, we will come to the Hall of the +Brides--Antar's greatest marriage market. It has been arranged for you +to actually see a mating auction in progress, but we must hurry or--" +Shifaz looked up to see Albert shouldering the tourists aside. His +yellow eyes widened and his hand darted to his girdle and came up with a +knife. + +The nearest tourists fell back in alarm as he hissed malevolently at +Albert, "Stand back, Earthman, or I'll let the life out of your +scaleless carcass!" + +"Doublecrosser," Albert said, moving in. One meaty hand closed over the +knife hand and wrenched while the other caught Shifaz alongside the head +with a smack that sounded loud in the sudden quiet. Shifaz did a neat +backflip and lay prostrate, the tip of his tail twitching reflexively. + +One of the tourists screamed. + +"No show today, folks," Albert said. "Shifaz has another engagement." He +picked the Antarian up by a fold of his robe and shook him like a dirty +dustcloth. A number of items cascaded out of hidden pockets, among which +was an oiled-silk pouch. Albert dropped the native and picked up the +pouch, opened it, sniffed, and nodded. + +It fitted. Things were clearer now. + +He was still nodding when two Earthmen in IC uniform stepped out of the +crowd. "Sorry, sir," the bigger of the pair said, "but you have just +committed a violation of the IC-Antar Compact. I'm afraid we'll have to +take you in." + +"This lizard tried to have me killed," Albert protested. + +"I wouldn't know about that," the IC man said. "You've assaulted a +native, and that's a crime. You'd better come peaceably with us--local +justice is rather primitive and unpleasant." + +"I'm an Earth citizen--" Albert began. + +"This world is on a commercial treaty." The guard produced a blackjack +and tapped the shot-filled leather in his palm. "It's our business to +protect people like you from the natives, and if you insist, we'll use +force." + +"I don't insist, but I think you're being pretty high-handed." + +"Your objection has been noted," the IC man said, "and will be included +in the official report. Now come along or we'll be in the middle of a +jurisdictional hassle when the native cops arrive. The corporation +doesn't like hassles. They're bad for business." + + * * * * * + +The two IC men herded him into a waiting ground car and drove away. It +was all done very smoothly, quietly and efficiently. The guards were +good. + +And so was the local detention room. It was clean, modern and--Albert +noted wryly--virtually escape-proof. Albert was something of an expert +on jails, and the thick steel bars, the force lock, and the spy cell in +the ceiling won his grudging respect. + +He sighed and sat down on the cot which was the room's sole article of +furniture. He had been a fool to let his anger get the better of him. IC +would probably use this brush with Shifaz as an excuse to send him back +to Earth as an undesirable tourist--which would be the end of his +mission here, and a black mark on a singularly unspotted record. + +Of course, they might not be so gentle with him if they knew that he +knew they were growing tobacco. But he didn't think that they would +know--and if they had checked his background, they would find that he +was an investigator for the Revenue Service. Technically, criminal +operations were not his affair. His field was tax evasion. + +He didn't worry too much about the fact that Shifaz had tried to kill +him. On primitive worlds like this, that was a standard procedure--it +was less expensive to kill an agent than bribe him or pay honest taxes. +He was angry with himself for allowing the native to trick him. + +He shrugged. By all rules of the game, IC would now admit about a two +per cent profit on their Antar operation rather than the four per cent +loss they had claimed, and pay up like gentlemen--and he would get +skinned by the Chief back at Earth Central for allowing IC to unmask +him. His report on tobacco growing would be investigated, but with the +sketchy information he possessed, his charges would be impossible to +prove--and IC would have plenty of time to bury the evidence. + +If Earth Central hadn't figured that the corporation owed it some +billion megacredits in back taxes, he wouldn't be here. He had been +dragged from his job in the General Accounting Office, for every field +man and ex-field man was needed to conduct the sweeping investigation. +Every facet of the sprawling IC operation was being checked. Even minor +and out-of-the-way spots like Antar were on the list--spots that +normally demanded a cursory once-over by a second-class business +technician. + + * * * * * + +Superficially, Antar had the dull unimportance of an early penetration. +There were the usual trading posts, pilot plants, wholesale and retail +trade, and tourist and recreation centers--all designed to accustom the +native inhabitants to the presence of Earthmen and their works--and set +them up for the commercial kill, after they had acquired a taste for the +products of civilization. But although the total manpower and physical +plant for a world of this size was right, its distribution was wrong. + +A technician probably wouldn't see it, but to an agent who had dealt +with corporate operations for nearly a quarter of a century, the setup +felt wrong. It was not designed for maximum return. The +Vaornia-Lagash-Timargh triangle held even more men and material then +Prime Base. That didn't make sense. It was inefficient, and IC was not +noted for inefficiency. + +Not being oriented criminally, Albert found out IC's real reason for +concentration in this area only by absent-mindedly lighting a cigarette +one day in Vaornia. He had realized almost instantly that this was a +gross breach of outworld ethics and had thrown the cigarette away. It +landed between a pair of Vaornese walking by. + +The two goggled at the cigarette, sniffed the smoke rising from it, and +with simultaneous whistles of surprise bent over to pick it up. Their +heads collided with some force. The cigarette tore in their greedy grasp +as they hissed hatefully at each other for a moment, before turning +hostile glares in his direction. From their expressions, they thought +this was a low Earthie trick to rob them of their dignity. Then they +stalked off, their neck scales ruffled in anger, shreds of the cigarette +still clutched in their hands. + +Even Albert couldn't miss the implications. His tossing the butt away +had produced the same reaction as a deck of morphine on a group of human +addicts. Since IC wouldn't corrupt a susceptible race with tobacco when +there were much cheaper legal ways, the logical answer was that it +wasn't expensive on this planet--which argued that Antar was being set +up for plantation operations--in which case tobacco addiction was a +necessary prerequisite and the concentration of IC population made +sense. + +Now tobacco, as any Earthman knew, was the only monopoly in the +Confederation, and Earth had maintained that monopoly by treaty and by +force, despite numerous efforts to break it. There were some good +reasons for the policy, ranging all the way from vice control to taxable +income, but the latter was by far the most important. The revenue +supported a considerable section of Earth Central as well as the huge +battle fleet that maintained peace and order along the spacelanes and +between the worlds. + +But a light-weight, high-profit item like tobacco was a constant +temptation to any sharp operator who cared more for money than for law, +and IC filled that definition perfectly. In the Tax Section's book, the +Interworld Corporation was a corner-cutting, profit-grabbing chiseler. +Its basic character had been the same for three centuries, despite all +the complete turnovers in staff. Albert grinned wryly. The old-timers +were right when they made corporations legal persons. + +Cigarettes which cost five credits to produce and sold for as high as +two hundred would always interest a crook, and, as a consequence, Earth +Central was always investigating reports of illegal plantations. They +were found and destroyed eventually, and the owners punished. But the +catch lay in the word "eventually." And if the operator was a +corporation, no regulatory agency in its right mind would dare apply the +full punitive power of the law. In that direction lay political suicide, +for nearly half the population of Earth got dividends or salaries from +them. + +That, of course, was the trouble with corporations. They invariably grew +too big and too powerful. But to break them up as the Ancients did was +to destroy their efficiency. What was really needed was a corporate +conscience. + +Albert chuckled. That was a nice unproductive thought. + + * * * * * + +Fred Kemmer received the news that Albert had been taken to detention +with a philosophic calm that lasted for nearly half an hour. By morning, +the man would be turned over to the Patrol in Prime Base. The Patrol +would support the charge that Albert was an undesirable tourist and send +him home to Earth. + +But the philosophic calm departed with a frantic leap when Shifaz +reported Johnson's inspection of the oiled-silk pouch. Raw tobacco was +something that shouldn't be within a thousand parsects of Antar; its +inference would be obvious even to an investigator interested only in +tax revenues. Kemmer swore at the native. The entire operation would +have to be aborted now and his dreams of promotion would vanish. + +"It wasn't my supply," Shifaz protested. "I was carrying it down to +Karas at the mating market. He demands a pack every time he puts a show +on for your silly Earthie tourists." + +"You should have concealed it better." + +"How was I to know that chubby slob was coming back alive? And who'd +have figured that he could handle me?" + +"I've told you time and again that Earthmen are tough customers when +they get mad, but you had to learn it the hard way. Now we're all in the +soup. The Patrol doesn't like illicit tobacco planters. Tobacco is +responsible for their pay." + +"But he's still in your hands and he couldn't have had time to transmit +his information," Shifaz said. "You can still kill him." + +Kemmer's face cleared. Sure, that was it. Delay informing the Patrol and +knock the snoop off. The operation and Kemmer's future were still safe. +But it irked him that he had panicked instead of thinking. It just went +to show how being involved in major crime ruined the judgment. He'd have +Johnson fixed up with a nice hearty meal--and he'd see that it was +delivered personally. At this late date, he couldn't afford the risk of +trusting a subordinate. + +Kemmer's glower became a smile. The snoop's dossier indicated that he +liked to eat. He should die happy. + + * * * * * + +With a faint click, a loaded tray passed through a slot in the rear wall +of Albert Johnson's cell. + +The sight and smell of Earthly cooking reminded him that he hadn't +anything to eat for hours. His mouth watered as he lifted the tray and +carried it to the cot. At least IC wasn't going to let him starve to +death, and if this was any indication of the way they treated prisoners, +an IC jail was the best place to be on this whole planet. + +Since it takes a little time for substances to diffuse across the +intestinal epithelium and enter the circulation, the Zark had some +warning of what was about to happen from the behavior of the epithelial +cells lining Albert's gut. As a result, a considerable amount of the +alkaloid was stopped before it entered Albert's body--but some did pass +through, for the Zark was not omnipotent. + +For nearly five minutes after finishing the meal, Albert felt normally +full and comfortable. Then hell broke loose. Most of the food came back +with explosive violence and cramps bent him double. The Zark turned to +the neutralization and elimination of the poison. Absorptive surfaces +were sealed off, body fluids poured into the intestinal tract, and +anti-substances formed out of Albert's energy reserve to neutralize +whatever alkaloid remained. + +None of the Zark's protective measures were normal to Albert's body, and +with the abrupt depletion of blood glucose to supply the energy the Zark +required, Albert passed into hypoglycemic shock. The Zark regretted +that, but it had no time to utilize his other less readily available +energy sources. In fact, there was no time for anything except the most +elemental protective measures. Consequently the convulsions, +tachycardia, and coma had to be ignored. + +Albert's spasms were mercifully short, but when the Zark was finished, +he lay unconscious on the floor, his body twitching with incoordinate +spasms, while a frightened guard called in an alarm to the medics. + +The Zark quivered with its own particular brand of nausea. It had not +been hurt by the alkaloid, but the pain of its host left it sick with +self-loathing. That it had established itself in a life-form that +casually ingested deadly poisons was no excuse. It should have been more +alert, more sensitive to the host's deficiencies. It had saved his life, +which was some compensation, and there was much that could be done in +the way of restorative and corrective measures that would prevent such a +thing from occurring again--but the Zark was unhappy as it set about +helping Albert's liver metabolize fat to glucose and restore blood sugar +levels. + + * * * * * + +The medic was puzzled. She had seen some peculiar conditions at this +station, but hypoglycemic shock was something new. And, being unsure of +herself, she ordered Albert into the infirmary for observation. The +guard, of course, didn't object, and Kemmer, when he heard of it, could +only grind his teeth in frustration. He was on delicate enough ground +without making it worse by not taking adequate precautions to preserve +the health of his unwilling guest. Somehow that infernal snoop had +escaped again.... + +Albert moved his head with infinite labor and looked at the intravenous +apparatus dripping a colorless solution into the vein in the elbow joint +of his extended left arm. He felt no pain, but his physical weakness was +appalling. He could move only with the greatest effort, and the +slightest exertion left him dizzy and breathless. It was obvious that he +had been poisoned, and that it was a miracle of providence that he had +survived. It was equally obvious that a reappraisal of his position was +in order. Someone far higher up the ladder than Shifaz was responsible +for this latest attempt on his life. The native couldn't possibly have +reached him in the safety of IC's jail. + +The implications were unpleasant. Someone important feared him enough to +want him dead, which meant that his knowledge of illicit tobacco was not +as secret as he thought. It would be suicide to stay in the hands of the +IC any longer. Somehow he had to get out and inform the Patrol. + +He looked at the intravenous drip despondently. If the solution was +poisoned, there was no help for him. It was already half gone. But he +didn't feel too bad, outside of being weak. It probably was all right. +In any event, he would have to take it. The condition of his body +wouldn't permit anything else. + +He sighed and relaxed on the bed, aware of the drowsiness that was +creeping over him. When he awoke, he would do something about this +situation, but he was sleepy now. + + * * * * * + +Albert awoke strong and refreshed. He was as hungry as he always was +before breakfast. Whatever was in that solution, it had certainly worked +miracles. As far as he could judge, he was completely normal. + +The medic was surprised to find him sitting up when she made her morning +rounds. It was amazing, but this case was amazing in more ways than one. +Last night he had been in a state of complete collapse, and now he was +well on the road to recovery. + +Albert looked at her curiously. "What was in that stuff you gave me?" + +"Just dextrose and saline," she said. "I couldn't find anything wrong +with you except hypoglycemia and dehydration, so I treated that." She +paused and eyed him with a curiosity equal to his own. "Just what do you +think happened?" she asked. + +"I think I was poisoned." + +"That's impossible." + +"Possibly," Albert conceded, "but it might be an idea to check that food +I left all over the cell." + +"That was cleaned up hours ago." + +"Convenient, isn't it?" + +"I don't know what you mean by that," she said. "Someone in the kitchens +might have made a mistake. Yet you were the only case." She looked +thoughtful. "I think I will do a little checking in the Central Kitchen, +just to be on the safe side." She smiled a bright professional smile. +"Anyway, I'm glad to see that you have recovered so well. I'm sure you +can go back tomorrow." + +She vanished through the door with a rustle of white dacron. Albert, +after listening a moment to make sure that she was gone, rose to his +feet and began an inspection of his room. + +It wasn't a jail cell. Not quite. But it wasn't designed for easy +escape, either. It was on the top floor of the IC building, a good +hundred feet down to the street below. The window was covered with a +steel grating and the door was locked. But both window and door were +designed to hold a sick man rather than a healthy and desperate one. + +Albert looked out of the window. The building was constructed to +harmonize with native structures surrounding it, so the outer walls were +studded with protuberances and bosses that would give adequate handholds +to a man strong enough to brave the terrors of the descent. + +Looking down the wall, Albert wavered. Thinking back, he made up his +mind. + + * * * * * + +Fred Kemmer was disturbed. By all the rules, Albert Johnson should be +dead. But Shifaz had failed, and that fool guard _had_ to call in the +medics. It was going to be harder to get at Johnson, now that he was in +the infirmary, but he had to be reached. + +One might buy off an agent who was merely checking on tax evasion, but +tobacco was another matter entirely. Kemmer wished he hadn't agreed to +boss Operation Weed. The glowing dreams of promotion and fortune were +beginning to yellow around the edges. Visions of the Penal Colony +bothered him, for if the operation went sour, he would do the paying. He +had known that when he took the job, but the possibility seemed remote +then. + +He shook his head. It wasn't that bad yet. As long as Johnson hadn't +communicated with anyone else and as long as he was still in company +hands, something could be done. + +Kemmer thought a while, trying to put himself in Johnson's place. +Undoubtedly the spy was frightened, and undoubtedly he would try to +escape. And since it would be far easier to escape from the infirmary +than it would be from detention, he would try as soon as possible. + +Kemmer's face cleared. If Johnson tried it, he would find it wasn't as +easy as he thought. + +With characteristic swiftness, Kemmer outlined his plans and made the +necessary arrangements. A guard was posted in the hall with orders to +shoot if Johnson tried the door of his room, and Kemmer himself took a +stand in the building across the street, facing the hospital, where he +could watch the window of Albert's room. As he figured it, the window +was the best bet. He stroked the long-barreled blaster lying beside him. +Johnson still hadn't a chance, but these delays in disposing of him were +becoming an annoyance. + +Cautiously, Albert tried the grating that covered the window. The +Antarian climate had rusted the heavy screws that fastened it to the +casing. One of the bars was loose. If it could be removed, it would +serve as a lever to pry out the entire grating. + +Albert twisted at the bar. It groaned and squealed. He nervously applied +more pressure, and the bar moved slowly out of its fastenings. + + * * * * * + +The Zark observed his actions curiously. Now why was its host twisting +that rod of metal out of the woodwork? It didn't know, and it was +consumed with curiosity. It had found no way to communicate with its +host so that some of the man's queer actions could be understood; in the +portions of the brain it had explored, there were no portals of +communication. However, there still was a large dormant portion, and +perhaps here lay the thing it sought. The Zark inserted a number of +tendrils into the blank areas, probing, connecting synapses, opening +unused pathways, looking for what it hoped existed. + +The results of this action were completely unforeseen by the Zark, for +it was essentially just a subordinate ego with all the lacks which that +implied--and it had never before inhabited a body that possessed a +potentially first-class brain. With no prior experience to draw upon, +the Zark couldn't possibly guess that its actions would result in a +peculiar relationship between the man and the world around him. And if +the Zark had known, it probably wouldn't have cared. + +Albert removed the bar and pried out the grating. With only a momentary +hesitation, he lowered himself over the sill until his feet struck an +ornamental knob on the wall. He glanced quickly down. There was another +protuberance about two feet below the one on which he was standing. +Pressing against the wall, he inched one foot downward until it found +the foothold. With relief, he shifted his weight to the lower foot, and +as he did a wave of heat enveloped his legs. The protuberance came loose +from the wall with a grating noise mixed with the crackling hiss of a +blaster bolt, and Albert plunged toward the street below. + +[Illustration] + +As the pavement rushed at him, he had time for a brief, fervent wish +that he were someplace else. Then the thought was swallowed in an icy +blackness. + + * * * * * + +Fred Kemmer lowered the blaster with a grin of satisfaction. He had +figured his man correctly, and now the spy would be nothing to worry +about. He watched the plummeting body--and gasped with consternation, +for less than ten feet above the pavement, Albert abruptly vanished! + +There is such a thing as too much surprise, too much shock, too much +amazement. And that precisely was what affected Albert when he found +himself standing on the street where the IC guards had picked him up. By +rights, he should have been a pulpy smear against the pavement beneath +the infirmary window. But he was not. He didn't question why he was +here, or consider how he had managed to avoid the certain death that +waited for him. The fact was that he had done it, somehow. And that was +enough. + +It was almost like history repeating itself. Shifaz was at his usual +stand haranguing another group of tourists. It was the same spiel as +before, and almost at the same point of the pitch. But his actions upon +seeing Albert were entirely different. His eyes widened, but this time +he slid quietly from his perch on the cornerstone of the building and +disappeared into the milling crowd. + +Albert followed. The fact that Shifaz was somewhere in that crowd was +enough to start him moving, and, once started, stubbornness kept him +going, plowing irresistibly through the thick swarm of Vaornese. Reason +told him that no Earthman could expect to find a native hidden among +hundreds of his own kind. Their bipedal dinosaurlike figures seemed to +be cast out of one mold. + +A chase through this crowd was futile, but he went on deeper into the +Kazlak, drawn along an invisible trail by some unearthly sense that told +him he was right. He was as certain of it as that his name was Albert +Johnson. And when he finally cornered Shifaz in a deserted alley, he was +the one who was not surprised. + +Shifaz squawked and darted toward Albert, a knife glittering in his +hand. Albert felt a stinging pain across the muscles of his left arm as +he blocked the thrust aimed at his belly, wrenched the knife from the +native's grasp, and slammed him to the pavement. + +Shifaz bounced like a rubber ball, but he had no chance against the +bigger and stronger Earthman. Albert knocked him down again. This time +the native didn't rise. He lay in the street, a trickle of blood oozing +from the corner of his lipless mouth, hate radiating from him in +palpable waves. + +Albert stood over him, panting a little from the brief but violent +scuffle. "Now, Shifaz, you're going to tell me things," he said heavily. + +"You can go to your Place of Punishment," Shifaz snarled. "I shall say +nothing." + +"I can beat the answers out of you," Albert mused aloud, "but I won't. +I'll just ask you questions, and every time I don't like your answer, +I'll kick one of your teeth out. If you don't answer, I guarantee that +you'll look like an old grandmother." + + * * * * * + +Shifaz turned a paler green. To lose one's teeth was a punishment +reserved only for females. He would be a thing of mockery and +laughter--but there were worse things than losing teeth or face. There +was such a thing as losing one's life, and he knew what would happen if +he betrayed IC. Then he brightened. He could always lie, and this +hulking brute of an Earthman wouldn't know--couldn't possibly know. So +he nodded with a touch of artistic reluctance. "All right," he said, +"I'll talk." He injected a note of fear into his voice. It wasn't hard +to do. + +"Where did you get that tobacco?" Albert asked. + +"From a farm," Shifaz said. That was the truth. The Earthman probably +knew about tobacco and there was no need to lie, yet. + +"Where is it?" + +Shifaz thought quickly of the clearing in the forest south of Lagash +where the green broad-leaved plants were grown, and said, "It's just +outside of Timargh, along the road which runs south." He waited tensely +for Albert's reaction, wincing as the Earthman drew his foot back. +Timargh was a good fifty miles from Lagash, and if this lie went over, +he felt that he could proceed with confidence. + +It went over. Albert replaced his foot on the ground. "You telling the +truth?" + +"As Murgh is my witness," Shifaz said with sincerity. + +Albert nodded and Shifaz relaxed with hidden relief. Apparently the man +knew that Murgh was the most sacred and respected deity in the pantheon +of Antar, and that oaths based upon his name were inviolable. But what +the scaleless oaf didn't know was that this applied to Antarians only. +As far as these strangers from another world were concerned, anything +went. + +So Albert continued questioning, and Shifaz answered, sometimes readily, +sometimes reluctantly, telling the truth when it wasn't harmful, lying +when necessary. The native's brain was fertile and the tissue of lies +and truth hung together well, and Albert seemed satisfied. At any rate, +he finally went away, leaving behind a softly whistling Vaornese who +congratulated himself on the fact that he had once more imposed upon +this outlander's credulity. He was so easy to fool that it was almost a +crime to do it. + +But he wouldn't have been so pleased with himself if he could have seen +the inside of Albert's mind. For Albert knew the truth about the +four-hundred-acre farm south of Lagash. He knew about the hidden curing +sheds and processing plant. He knew that both Vaornese and Lagashites +were deeply involved in something they called Operation Weed, and +approved of it thoroughly either from sheer cussedness or addiction. He +had quietly read the native's mind while the half-truths and lies had +fallen from his forked tongue. And, catching Shifaz's last thought, +Albert couldn't help chuckling. + +At one of the larger intersections, Albert stopped under a flaming +cresset and looked at his arm. There was a wide red stain that looked +black against the whiteness of his pajamas. That much blood meant more +than a scratch, even though there was no pain--and cuts on this world +could be deadly if they weren't attended to promptly. + +He suddenly felt alone and helpless, wishing desperately for a quiet +place where he could dress his wound and be safe from the eyes he knew +were inspecting him. He was too conspicuous. The pajamas were out of +place on the street. Undoubtedly natives were hurrying to report him to +the IC. + +His mind turned to his room in the hostel with its well-fitted wardrobe +and its first-aid kit--and again came that instant of utter +darkness--and then he was standing in the middle of his room facing the +wardrobe that held his clothing. + + * * * * * + +He felt no surprise this time. He knew what had happened. Something +within his body was acting like a tiny Distorter, transporting him +through hyperspace in the same manner that a starship's engine room +warped it through the folds of the normal space-time continuum. There +was nothing really strange about it. It was a power which he _should_ +have--which any normal man should have. The fact that he didn't have it +before was of no consequence, and the fact that other men didn't have it +now merely made _them_ abnormal. + +He smiled as he considered the possibilities which these new powers gave +him. They were enormous. At the very least, they tripled his value as an +agent. Nothing was safe from his investigation. The most secret hiding +places were open to his probings. Nothing could stop him, for command of +hyperspace made a mockery of material barriers. + +He chuckled happily as he removed his pajama jacket and reached for the +first-aid kit. From the gash in his sleeve, there should be a nasty cut +underneath, and it startled him a little that there was no greater +amount of hemorrhage. He cleaned off the dried blood--and found nothing +underneath except a thin red bloodless line that ran halfway around his +arm. It wasn't even a scratch. + +Yet he had felt Shifaz' blade slice into his flesh. He knew there was +more damage than this. The blood and the slashed sleeve could tell him +that, even if he didn't have the messages of his nerves. Yet now there +was no pain, and the closed scratch certainly wasn't the major wound he +had expected. And this _was_ queer, a fact for which he had no +explanation. Albert frowned. Maybe this was another facet of the psi +factors that had suddenly become his. + +He wondered where they had come from. Without warning, he had become +able to read minds with accuracy and do an effective job of +teleportation. About the only things he lacked to be a well-rounded psi +were telekinetic powers and precognition. + +His frown froze on his face as he became conscious of a sense of unease. +They were coming down the hall--two IC guardsmen. He caught the doubt +and certainty in their minds--doubt that he would be in his room, +certainty that he would be ultimately caught, for on Antar there was no +place for an Earthman to hide. + +[Illustration] + +Albert slipped into the first suit that came to hand, blessing the seam +tabs that made dressing a moment's work. As the guards opened the door, +he visualized the spot on the Lagash road where he had encountered the +Bandersnatch. It was easier than before. He was standing in the middle +of the road, the center of the surprised attention of a few travelers, +when the guards entered his room. + + * * * * * + +The bright light of Antar's golden day came down from a cloudless yellow +sky. In the forest strip ahead, Albert could hear a faint medley of +coughs, grunts and snarls as the lesser beasts fed upon the remains of +yesterday's garbage. Albert moved down the road, ignoring the startled +natives. This time he wasn't afraid of meeting a Bandersnatch or +anything else, for he had a method of escape that was foolproof. Lagash +was some thirty miles ahead, but in the lighter gravity of Antar, the +walk would be stimulating rather than exhausting. + +He went at a steady pace, occasionally turning his glance to the road, +impressing sections of it upon his memory so that he could return to +them via teleport if necessary. He found that he could memorize with +perfect ease. Even the positions of clumps of grass and twigs were +remembered with perfect clarity and in minute detail. The perfection of +his memory astonished and delighted him. + +The Zark felt pleased with itself. Although it had never dreamed of the +potential contained in the host's mind, it realized that it was +responsible for the release of these weird powers, and it enjoyed the +new sensations and was eager for more. If partial probing could achieve +so much, what was the ultimate power of this remarkable mind? The Zark +didn't know, but, like a true experimenter, it was determined to find +out--so it probed deeper, opening still more pathways and connecting +more synapses with the conscious brain. + +It was routine work that could be performed automatically while the rest +of the Zark enjoyed the colorful beauty of the Antarian scenery. + +With the forest quickly left behind him, Albert walked through gently +rolling grassland dotted with small farms and homesteads. It was a +peaceful scene, similar to many he had seen on Earth, and the +familiarity brought a sense of nostalgic longing to be home again. But +the feeling was not too strong, more intellectual than physical, for the +memories of Earth were oddly blurred. + +Time passed and the road unreeled behind him. Once he took to the +underbrush to let a humming IC ground car pass, and twice more he hid as +airboats swept by overhead, but the annoyances were minor and +unimportant. + +When hiding from the second airboat, he disturbed a kelit in the thick +brush growing beside the road. The little insect-eater chittered in +alarm and dashed off to safety across the highway. And Albert, looking +at it, was conscious not only of the external shape but the internal as +well! + +He could see its little heart pounding in its chest, and the pumping +bellows of the pink lungs that surrounded it. He was aware of the +muscles pulling and relaxing as the kelit ran, and the long bones +sliding in their lubricated joints. He saw the tenseness of the +abdominal organs, felt the blind fear in the creature's mind. The +totality of his impressions washed through him with a clear wave of icy +shock. + + * * * * * + +Grimly, he shrugged it off. He had ESP. He ought to have expected it--it +was the next logical step. He scrambled back to the road and walked +onward a little faster, until the battlements of Lagash came in sight. + +The Lagash Arm was farther from the city than was that of Vaornia, and +as he came to the strip of jungle, he turned his eyes upon the empty +parklike arcades between the trees. The last edible garbage had long +since been consumed and the greater and lesser beasts had departed for +the cooler depths of the forest, but Albert was conscious of life. It +was all around him, in the trees with the ringed layers of their trunks +and the sap flowing slowly upward through the cambium layer beneath +their scaly bark, in the insects feeding upon the nectar of the aerial +vine blossoms, in the rapid photosynthetic reactions of the leaves. + +His gaze, turning aloft, was conscious of the birds and the tiny +arboreal mammals. He saw the whole forest with eyes filled with wonder +at its life and beauty. It was the only right way to see. + +At the proper distance from Lagash, he plunged off boldly across country +and entered the main area of the forest, reflecting wryly as he did so +that he was probably the first human in the short history of Antarian +exploration who had gone into one of the great forests with absolute +knowledge that he would come out of it alive. And, as so often happens +to men who have no fear, trouble avoided him. + +He followed the directions he had obtained from Shifaz and found the +plantation without trouble. He could hardly miss it, because its size +was far from accurately expressed in the native's memory. Skillfully +concealed beneath an overhanging network of aerial vines whose +camouflage made it invisible from the air, concealing the tobacco plants +from casual detector search, the plantation extended in row upon narrow +row, the irregular strips of fields separated by rows of trees from +which the camouflage was hung. A fragile electric fence encircled the +area, a seemingly weak defense, but one through which even the greatest +Antarian beast would not attempt to pass. + +Albert whistled softly under his breath at what he saw, recorded it in +his memory. Then, having finished the eyewitness part of his task, he +recalled a section of road over which he had passed, and pushed. + +The return journey to Vaornia was experimental in nature, as Albert +tried the range of his powers. His best was just short of twenty miles +and the journey which had taken him eight hours was made back in +somewhat less than twenty minutes, counting half a dozen delays and +backtracks. + + * * * * * + +There was no question about where Albert would go next. He had to get +evidence, and that evidence lay in only one place--in the local office +of the Interworld Corporation in Vaornia. + +A moment later, he stood in the reception room looking across the empty +desks at the bright square of light shining through the glassite paneled +door of Fred Kemmer's office. It was past closing hours, but Kemmer had +a right to be working late. Right now, he was probably sweating blood at +the thought of what would happen if Albert had finally managed to escape +him. The Corporation would virtuously disown him and leave him to face a +ten-year rap in Penal Colony. Albert almost felt sorry for him. + +Albert let his perception sense travel through the wall and into +Kemmer's room. His guess was right--the local boss was sweating. + +He checked Kemmer's office swiftly, but the only thing that interested +him was the big vault beside the desk. He visualized the interior of the +vault and pushed himself inside. Separated from Kemmer by six inches of +the hardest metal known to Man, he quietly leafed through the files of +confidential correspondence until he found what he wanted. He didn't +need a light. His perception worked as well in the dark as in the +daylight. + +There was enough documentary evidence in the big vault to indict quite a +few more IC officials than Kemmer--and perhaps investigation of _their_ +files would provide more leads to even higher officials. Wherever Kemmer +was going, Albert had the idea that he wouldn't be going alone. + +Albert selected all the incriminating letters and documents he could +find and packed the micro-files in his jacket. Finally, bulging with +documentary information, he pushed back into the streets. + +It was late enough for few natives to be on the streets, and his +appearance caused no comment. Apparently unnoticed, he moved rapidly +into the Kazlak, searching for a place to hide the papers he had stolen. +What he had learned of Vaornia made him cautious. He checked constantly +for spies, but there wasn't a native in sensing range. + +He ducked into the alleyway where he had caught Shifaz. His memory of it +had been right. There was a small hole in one of the building walls, +partly covered with cracked plaster, and barely visible in the darkness. +The gloom of the Kazlak scarcely varied with night or day, as the +enormous labyrinth of covered passages and building walls was pierced +with only a few ventilation holes. Cressets at the main intersections +burned constantly, their smokeless flames lighting the streets poorly. + +He wondered idly how he had managed to remember the way to this place, +let alone the little hole in the wall, as he stuffed the micro-files +into its dark interior. He finished, turned to leave, and was out on the +main tunnel before he became aware of the IC ground cars closing in upon +him. + +The Corporation was really on the beam, their spies everywhere. But they +didn't know his abilities. He visualized and pushed. They were going to +be surprised when he vanished--but he didn't vanish. + +The expression of shocked surprise was still on his face as the stat gun +blast took him squarely in the chest. + + * * * * * + +He was tied to a chair in Fred Kemmer's office. He recognized it easily, +although physically he had never been inside the room. His head hurt as +a polygraph recorder was strapped to his left arm, and behind him, +beyond his range of vision, he could sense another man and several +machines. In front of him stood Fred Kemmer with an expression of +satisfaction on his face. + +"Don't start thinking you're smart," Kemmer said. "You're in no position +for it." + +"You've tried to kill me three times," Albert reminded him. + +"There's always a fourth time." + +"I don't think so. Too many people know." + +"Precisely my own conclusion," Kemmer said, "but there are other ways. +Brainwashing's a good one." + +"That's illegal!" Albert protested. "Besides--" + +"So what?" Kemmer cut him off. "It's an illegal universe." + +Albert probed urgently at the IC man's mind, hoping to find something he +could turn to his advantage, but all he found were surface +thoughts--satisfaction at having gotten the spy where he could do no +harm, plans for turning Albert into a mindless idiot, thoughts of +extracting information--all of which had an air of certainty that was +unnerving. Albert had badly underestimated him. It was high time to +leave here, if he could. + +Albert visualized an area outside Vaornia, and, as he tried to push, a +machine hummed loudly behind him. He didn't move. Mistake, Albert +thought worriedly, I'm not going anywhere--and he knows I'm scared. + +"It won't do you any good," Kemmer said. "It didn't take too much brains +to figure you were using hyperspace in those disappearing acts. There's +an insulating field around that chair that'd stop a space yacht." He +leaned forward. "Now--what are your contacts, and who gave you the +information on where to look?" + +Albert saw no reason to hide it, but there was no sense in revealing +anything. The Patrol had word of his arrest by now and should be here +any moment. + +It was as though Kemmer had read his mind. "Don't count on being +rescued. I stopped the Patrol report." Kemmer paused, obviously enjoying +the expression on Albert's face. "You know," he went on, "there's a +peculiar fact about nerves that maybe you don't know. A stimulus sets up +a brief neural volley lasting about a hundredth of a second. Following +that comes a period of refractivity lasting perhaps a tenth of that time +while the nerve repolarizes, and then, immediately after repolarization, +there is an extremely short period of hypersensitivity." + +"What's that to do with me?" Albert asked. + +"You'll find out if you don't answer promptly and truthfully. That +gadget on your arm is connected to a polygraph. Now do you want to make +a statement?" + +Albert shook his head. He was conscious of a brief pain in one finger, +and the next instant someone tore the finger out of his hand with red +hot pincers. He screamed. He couldn't help it. This punishment was +beyond agony. + +"Nice, isn't it?" Kemmer asked as Albert looked down at his amputated +finger that still was remarkably attached to his hand. "And the beauty +of it is that it doesn't even leave a mark. Of course, if it's repeated +enough, it will end up as a permanent paralysis of the part stimulated. +Now once again--who gave you that information?" + + * * * * * + +Albert talked. It was futile to try to deceive a polygraph and he wanted +no more of that nerve treatment--and then he looked into Kemmer's mind +again and discovered what went into brainwashing. The shock was like ice +water. Hypersensitive stimulation, Kemmer was thinking gleefully, would +reduce this fat slob in the chair to a screaming mindless lump that +could be molded like wet putty. + +Albert felt helpless. He couldn't run and he couldn't fight. But he +wasn't ready to give up. His perception passed over and through Kemmer +with microscopic care, looking for some weakness, something that could +be exploited to advantage. Kemmer _had_ to have a vulnerable point. + +He did. + +There was a spot on the inner lining of the radial vein in Kemmer's left +arm. He had recently received an inoculation, one of the constant +immunizing injections that were necessary on Antar, for there was a +small thrombus clinging to the needle puncture on the inner wall of the +vessel. Normally it was unimportant and would pass away in time and be +absorbed, but there were considerable possibilities for trouble in that +little blob of red cells and fibrin if they could be loosened from their +attachment to the wall. + +Hopefully, Albert reached out. If he couldn't move himself, perhaps he +could move the clot. + +The thrombus stirred and came free, rushing toward Kemmer's heart. +Albert followed it, watching as it passed into the pulmonary artery, +tracing it out through the smaller vessels until it stopped squarely +across a junction of two arterioles. + +Kemmer coughed, his face whitening with pain as he clutched at his +chest. The pain was a mild repayment for his recent agony, Albert +thought grimly. A pulmonary embolism shouldn't kill him, but the effects +were disproportionate to the cause and would last a while. He grinned +mercilessly as Kemmer collapsed. + +A man darted from behind the chair and bent over Kemmer. Fumbling in his +haste, he produced a pocket communicator, stabbed frantically at the +dial and spoke urgently into it. "Medic! Boss's office--hurry!" + +[Illustration] + +For a second, Albert didn't realize that the hum of machinery behind him +had stopped, but when he did, both Albert and the chair vanished. + +The Zark realized that its host had been hurt again. It was infuriating +to be so helpless. Things kept happening to Albert which it couldn't +correct until too late. There were forces involved that it didn't know +how to handle; they were entirely outside the Zark's experience. It only +felt relief when Albert managed to regain his ability to move--and, as +it looked out upon the familiar green Antarian countryside, it felt +almost happy. Of course Albert was probably still in trouble, but it +wasn't so bad now. At least the man was away from the cause of his pain. + + * * * * * + +It was a hell of a note, Albert reflected, sitting beside the road that +led to Lagash and working upon the bonds that tied him to the chair. He +had managed to get out of Kemmer's hands, but it appeared probable that +he would get no farther. As things stood, he couldn't transmit the +information he had gained--and by this time probably every IC office on +the planet was alerted to the fact that Earth Central had a psi-type +agent on Antar--one who was not inherently unstable, like those poor +devils in the parapsychological laboratories on Earth. They would be +ready for him with everything from Distorter screens to Kellys. + +He didn't underestimate IC now. Whatever its morals might be, its +personnel was neither stupid nor slow to act. He was trapped in this +sector of the planet. Prime Base was over a thousand miles away, and +even if he did manage to make his way back to it along the trade routes, +it was a virtual certainty that he would never be able to get near a +class I communicator or the Patrol office. IC would have ample time to +get ready for him, and no matter what powers he possessed, a single man +would have no chance against the massed technology of the corporation. + +However, he could play tag with IC in this area for some time with the +reasonable possibility that he wouldn't get caught. If nothing else, it +would have nuisance value. He pulled one hand free of the tape that held +it to the chair arm and swiftly removed the rest of the tape that bound +him. He had his freedom again. Now what would he do with it? + +He left the chair behind and started down the road toward Lagash. There +was no good reason to head in that particular direction, but at the +moment one direction was as good as another until he could plan a course +of action. His brain felt oddly fuzzy. He didn't realize that he had +reached the end of his strength until he dropped in the roadway. + +To compensate for the miserable job it had done in protecting him from +poison and neural torture, the Zark had successfully managed to block +hunger and fatigue pains until Albert's over-taxed body could stand no +more. It realized its error after Albert collapsed. Sensibly, it did +nothing. Its host had burned a tremendous amount of energy without +replenishment, and he needed time to rest and draw upon less available +reserves, and to detoxify and eliminate the metabolic poisons in his +body. + +It was late that afternoon before Albert recovered enough to take more +than a passing interest in his surroundings. He had a vague memory of +hiring a dak cart driver to take him down the road. The memory was +apparently correct, because he was lying in the back of a cargo cart +piled high with short pieces of cane. The cart was moving at a brisk +pace despite the apparently leisurely movements of the dak between the +shafts. The ponderous ten-foot strides ate up distance. + +He was conscious of a hunger that was beyond discomfort, and a thirst +that left his mouth dry and cottony. It was as though he hadn't eaten or +drunk for days. He felt utterly spent, drained beyond exhaustion. He was +in no shape to do anything, and unless he managed to find food and drink +pretty soon, he would be easy pickings for IC. + + * * * * * + +He looked around the cart, but there was nothing except the canes on +which he lay. There wasn't even any of the foul porridgelike mess that +the natives called food, since native workers didn't bother about eating +during working hours. + +He turned over slowly, feeling the hard canes grind into his body as he +moved. He kept thinking about food--about meals aboard ship, about +dinners, about Earth restaurants, about steak, potatoes, bread--solid +heartening foods filled with proteins, fats and carbohydrates. + +Carbohydrates--the thought stuck in his mind for some reason. And then +he realized why. + +The canes he was lying on in in the cart were sugar cane! He had never +seen them on Earth, but he should have expected to find them out +here--one of Earth's greatest exports was the seeds from which beet and +cane sugar were obtained. + +He pulled a length of cane from the pile and bit into one end. His +depleted body reached eagerly for the sweet energy that filled his +mouth. + +With the restoration of his energy balance came clearer and more logical +thought. It might be well enough to make IC spend valuable time looking +for him, but such delaying actions had no positive value. Ultimately he +would be caught, and his usefulness would disappear with his death. But +if he could get word to the Patrol, this whole business could be +smashed. + +Now if he made a big enough disturbance--it might possibly even reach +the noses of the Patrol. Perhaps by working through the hundred or so +tourists in Vaornia and Lagash, he could-- + +That was it, the only possible solution. The IC might be able to get rid +of one man, but it couldn't possibly get rid of a hundred--and somewhere +in that group of tourists there would be one who'd talk, someone who +would pass the word. IC couldn't keep this quiet without brainwashing +the lot of them, and that in itself would be enough to bring a Patrol +ship here at maximum blast. + +He chuckled happily. The native driver, startled at the strange sound, +turned his head just in time to see his passenger vanish, together with +a bundle of cane. The native shook his head in an oddly human gesture. +These foreigners were strange creatures indeed. + + * * * * * + +Albert, thin, pale, but happy, sat at a table in one of the smaller +cafeterias in Earth Center, talking to the Chief over a second helping +of dessert. The fearful energy drain of esper activity, combined with +the constant dodging to avoid IC hunting parties, had made him a gaunt +shadow--but he had managed to survive until a Patrol ship arrived to +investigate the strange stories told by tourists, of a man who haunted +the towns of Lagash and Vaornia, and the road between. + +"That's all there was to it, sir," Albert concluded. "Once I figured it +out that not even IC could get away with mass murder, it was easy. I +just kept popping up in odd places and telling my story, and then, to +make it impressive, I'd disappear. I had nearly two days before IC +caught on, and by then you knew. The only trouble was getting enough to +eat. I damn near starved before the Patrol arrived. I expect that we owe +quite a few farmers and shopkeepers reparations for the food I stole." + +"They'll be paid, providing they present a claim," the Chief said. "But +there's one thing about all this that bothers me. I know you had no psi +powers when you left Earth on this mission, just where did you acquire +them?" + +Albert shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "Unless they were latent +and developed in Antar's peculiar climatic and physical conditions. Or +maybe it was the shock of that meeting with the Bandersnatch. All I'm +sure of is that I didn't have any until after that meeting with Shifaz." + +"Well, you certainly have them now. The Parapsych boys are hot on your +tail, but we've stalled them off." + +"Thanks. I don't want to imitate a guinea pig." + +"We owe you at least that for getting us a case against IC. Even their +shysters won't be able to wiggle out of this one." The Chief smiled. +"It's nice to have those lads where they can be handled for a change." + +"They do need a dose of applied conscience," Albert agreed. + +"The government also owes you a bonus and a vote of thanks." + +"I'll appreciate the bonus," Albert said as he signaled for the +waitress. "Recently, I can't afford my appetite." + +"It's understandable. After all, you've lost nearly eighty pounds." + +"Wonder if I'll ever get them back," Albert muttered as he bit into the +third dessert. + +The Chief watched enviously. "I wouldn't worry about that," he said. +"Just get your strength back. There's another assignment for you, one +that will need your peculiar talents." He stood up. "I'll be seeing you. +My ulcer can't take your appetite any more." He walked away. + +Inside Albert, the Zark alerted. A new assignment! That meant another +world and new sensations. Truly, this host was magnificent! It had been +a lucky day when he had fallen in running from the Bandersnatch. The +Zark quivered with delight-- + +And Albert felt it. + +Turning his perception inward to see what might be wrong, he saw the +Zark for the first time. + + * * * * * + +For a second, a wave of repulsion swept through his body, but as he +comprehended the extent of that protoplasmic mass so inextricably +intertwined with his own, he realized that this thing within him was the +reason for his new powers. There could be no other explanation. + +And as he searched farther, he marveled. The Zark was unspecialized in a +way he had never imagined--an amorphous aggregation of highly evolved +cells that could imitate normal tissues in a manner that would defy +ordinary detection. It was something at once higher yet lower than his +own flesh, something more primitive yet infinitely more evolved. + +The Zark had succeeded at last. It had established communication with +its host. + +"Answer me, parasite," Albert muttered subvocally. "I know you're +there--and I know you can answer!" + +The Zark gave the protean equivalent of a shrug. If Albert only knew how +it had tried to communicate--no, there was no communication between +them. Their methods of thought were so different that there was no +possible rapport. + +It twitched--and Albert jumped. And for the first time in its long life, +the Zark had an original idea. It moved a few milligrams of its +substance to Albert's throat region, and after a premonitory glottal +spasm, Albert said very distinctly and quite involuntarily, "All right. +I am here." + +Albert froze with surprise, but when the shock passed, he laughed. +"Well, I asked for it," he said. "But it's like the story about the man +who talked to himself--and got answers. Not exactly a comforting +sensation." + +"I'm sorry," the Zark apologized. "I do not wish to cause discomfort." + +"You pick a poor way to keep from doing it." + +"It was the only way I could figure to make contact with your conscious +mind--and you desired that I communicate." + +"I suppose you're right. But while it is nice to know that I really have +a guardian angel, I'd have felt better about it if you had white robes +and wings and were hovering over my shoulder." + +"I don't understand," the Zark said. + +"I was trying to be funny. You know," Albert continued after a moment, +"I never thought of trying to perceive myself. I wonder why. I guess +because none of the medical examinations showed anything different from +normal." + +"I was always afraid that you might suspect before I could tell you," +the Zark replied. "It was an obvious line of reasoning, and you _are_ an +intelligent entity--the most intelligent I have ever inhabited. It is +too bad that I shall have to leave. I have enjoyed being with you." + +"Who said anything about leaving?" Albert asked. + +"You did. I could feel your revulsion when you became aware of me. It +wasn't nice, but I suppose you can't help it. Yours is an independent +race, one that doesn't willingly support--" the voice hesitated as +though searching for the proper word--"fellow travelers," it finished. + +Albert grinned. "There are historical precedents for that statement, but +your interpretation isn't quite right. I was surprised. You startled +me." + +He fell silent, and the Zark, respecting the activity of his mind, +forbore to interrupt. + + * * * * * + +Albert was doing some heavy thinking about the Zark. Certainly it had +protected him on Antar, and with equal certainty it must have been +responsible for the psi powers he possessed. He owed it a lot, for +without its help he wouldn't have survived. + +There was only one thing wrong. + +Sexless though it was, the Zark must possess the characteristics of +life, since it was obviously alive. And those characteristics were +unchanging throughout the known universe. The four vital criteria +defined centuries ago were still as good today as they were +then--growth, metabolism, irritability--and _reproduction_. Despite its +lack of sex, the Zark must be capable of producing others of its kind, +and while he didn't mind supporting one fellow traveler, he was damned +if he'd support a whole family of them. + +"That need never bother you," the Zark interrupted. "As an individual, I +am very long-lived and seldom reproduce. I can, of course, but the +process is quite involved--actually it involves making a twin out of +myself--and it is not necessary. Besides, there cannot be two Zarks in +one host. My offspring would have to seek another." + +"And do they have your powers?" + +"Of course. They would know all I know, for a Zark's memory is not +concentrated in specialized tissue like your brain." + +A light began to dawn in Albert's mind. Maybe this was the answer to the +corporate conscience he had been wishing for so wistfully on Antar. +"Does it bother you to reproduce?" he asked. + +"It is annoying, but not painful--nor would it be too difficult after a +pattern was set in my cells. But why do you ask this?" + +"The thought just occurred to me that there are quite a few people who +could use a Zark. A few of the more honest folks would improve this +Confederation's moral tone if they had the power--and certainly psi +powers in law enforcement would be unbeatable." + +"Then you would want me to reproduce?" + +"It might be a good idea if we can find men who are worthy of Zarks. I +could check them with my telepathy and perhaps we might--" + +"Let me warn you," the Zark interjected. "While this all sounds very +fine, there are difficulties, even with a host as large as yourself. I +shall need more energy than your body has available in order to +duplicate myself. It will be hard for you to do what must be done." + +"And what is that?" + +"Eat," the Zark said, "great quantities of high energy foods." It +shuddered at the thought of Albert overloading his digestive tract any +more than he had been doing the past week. + +But Albert's reaction went to prove that while their relationship was +physically close, mentally they were still far apart. Albert, the Zark +noted in astonishment, didn't regard it as an ordeal at all. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Insidekick, by Jesse Franklin Bone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSIDEKICK *** + +***** This file should be named 32272.txt or 32272.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/7/32272/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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