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diff --git a/old/62619.txt b/old/62619.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 72ff533..0000000 --- a/old/62619.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1081 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Avenger, by Stuart Fleming - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Avenger - -Author: Stuart Fleming - -Release Date: July 11, 2020 [EBook #62619] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AVENGER *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE AVENGER - - By STUART FLEMING - - Karson was creating a superman to fight the weird - super-monsters who had invaded Earth. But he was - forgetting one tiny thing--like calls to like. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1944. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -_Peter Karson was dead. He had been dead for some time now, but -the dark blood was still oozing from the crushed ruin of his face, -trickling down into his sodden sleeve, and falling, drop by slow drop, -from his fingertips. His head was tilted over the back of the chair at -a queer, unnatural angle, so that the light made deep pools of shadow -where his eyes had been._ - -_There was no sound in the room except for the small splashing the -blood made as it dropped into the sticky pool on the floor. The great -banks of machinery around the walls were silent. I knew that they would -never come to life again._ - -_I rose and walked over to the window. Outside, the stars were as -before: tiny, myriad points of light, infinitely far away. They had not -changed, and yet they were suddenly no longer friendly. They were cold -and alien. It was I who had changed: something inside me was dead, like -the machinery, and like Peter._ - -_It was a kind of indefinable emptiness. I do not think it was what -Peter called an emotion; and yet it had nothing to do with logic, -either. It was just an emptiness--a void that could not be filled by -eating or drinking._ - -_It was not a longing. I had no desire that things should be otherwise -than they were. I did not even wish that Peter were not dead, for -reason had told me that he had to die. That was the end of it._ - -_But the void was still there, unexplainable and impossible to ignore. -For the first time in all my life I had found a problem that I could -not solve. Strange, disturbing sensations stirred and whispered within -me, nagging, gnawing. And suddenly--something moved on the skin of my -cheek. I raised a hand to it, slowly._ - -_A tear was trickling down my cheek._ - - * * * * * - -Young Peter Karson put the last black-print down and sighed with -satisfaction. His dream was perfect; the _Citadel_ was complete, every -minutest detail provided for--on paper. In two weeks they would be -laying the core, and then the metal giant itself would begin to grow, -glittering, pulsing with each increment of power, until at last it lay -finished, a living thing. - -Then there would remain only the task of blasting the great, shining -ship out into the carefully-calculated orbit that would be its home. -In his mind's eye he could see it, slowly wheeling, like a second -satellite, about the Earth; endlessly gathering knowledge into its -insatiable mechanisms. He could see, too, the level on level of -laboratories and storerooms that filled its interlocking segments; the -meteor deflectors, the air renewal system, the mighty engines at the -stern--all the children of his brain. - -Out there, away from the muffling, distorting, damnable blanket of -atmosphere, away from Earth's inexorable gravitational pull, would be -a laboratory such as man had never seen. The ship would be filled with -the sounds of busy men and women, wresting secrets from the reluctant -ether. A new chemistry, a new physics; perhaps even a new biochemistry. - -A discordant note suddenly entered his fantasy. He looked up, conscious -of the walls of his office again, but could see nothing unusual. Still, -that thin, dark whisper of dread was at the back of his mind. Slowly, -as if reluctantly compelled, he turned around to face the window at his -back. - -There, outside the window, fifty stories up, a face was staring -impassively in at him. That was the first impression he got; just a -face, staring. Then he saw, with a queer, icy chill, that the face was -blood-red and subtly inhuman. It tapered off into a formless, shriveled -body. - -For a moment or an eternity it hung there, unsupported, the bulging -eyes staring at him. Then it grew misty at the edges. It dissolved -slowly away and was gone. - -"Lord!" he said. - -He stared after it, stunned into immobility. Down in the street -somewhere, a portable video was shrilling a popular song; after a -moment he heard the faint swish of a tube car going past. Everything -was normal. Nothing, on examination, seemed to have changed. But the -world had grown suddenly unreal. - -One part of his brain had been shocked into its shell. It was hiding -from the thing that had hurt it, and it refused to respond. But the -other part was going calmly, lucidly on, quite without his volition. -It considered the possibility that he had gone temporarily insane, and -decided that this was probable. - -Hardly knowing what he did, he found a cigarette and lit it. His hands -were shaking. He stared at them dully, and then he reached over to the -newsbox on his desk, and switched it on. - -There were flaring red headlines. - -Relief washed over him, leaving him breathless. He was horrified, -of course, but only abstractedly. For the moment he could only be -glad that what he had seen was terrible reality rather than even more -terrible illusion. - - INVADERS APPEAR IN BOSTON. - 200 DEAD - -Then lines of type, and farther down: - - 50 CHILDREN DISAPPEAR FROM - PARIS MATERNITY CENTER - -He pressed the stud. The roll was full of them. - - MOON SHIP DESTROYED - IN TRANSIT - NO COMMUNICATION FROM - ANTARCTICA IN 6 HOURS - STRANGE FORCE DEFLECTS - PLANES FROM SAHARA AREA - WORLD POLICE MOBILIZING - -The item below the last one said: - -Pacifica, June 7--The World Police are mobilizing, for the first time -in fifty years. The order was made public early this morning by -R. Stein, Secretary of the Council, who said in part: - -"The reason for this ... order must be apparent to all civilized -peoples. For the Invaders have spared no part of this planet in their -depredations: they have laid Hong Kong waste; they have terrorized -London; they have destroyed the lives of citizens in every member state -and in every inhabited area. There can be few within reach of printed -reports or my words who have not seen the Invaders, or whose friends -have not seen them. - -"The peoples of the world, then, know what they are, and know that -we face the most momentous struggle in our history. We face an enemy -_superior to ourselves in every way_. - -"Since the Invaders first appeared in Wood River, Oregon, 24 hours -ago, they have not once acknowledged our attempts to communicate, or -in any way taken notice of our existence as reasoning beings. They -have treated us precisely as we, in less enlightened days, might -have treated a newly-discovered race of lower animals. They have not -attacked our centers of government, nor immobilized our communications, -nor laid siege to our defenses. But in instance after instance, they -have done as they would with us. They have examined us, dissected us, -driven us mad, killed us with no discernable provocation; and this is -more intolerable than any normal invasion. - -"I have no fear that the people of Earth will fail to meet this -challenge, for there is no alternative. Not only our individual lives -are threatened, but our existence as a race. We must, and will, destroy -the Invaders!" - -Peter sank back in his chair, the full shock of it striking him for the -first time. - -"_Will_ we?" he asked himself softly. - - * * * * * - -It was only two stories down the moving ramp to Lorelei Cooper's -laboratory. Peter took it in fifteen seconds, running, and stumbled to -a halt in front of the door marked "Radiation." She had set her door -mechanism to "Etaoin Shrdlu," principally because he hated double-talk. -He mouthed the syllables, had to repeat them because he put an accent -in the wrong place, and squeezed through the door as soon as it opened -far enough to admit him. - -Lorelei, beautiful in spite of dark-circled eyes and a smear of grease -on her chin, looked up from a huge ledger at the end of the room. One -blonde eyebrow arched in the quizzical expression he knew so well. - -"What makes, Peter my love?" she asked, and bent back to the ledger. -Then she did a double-take, looked at his face intently, and said, -"Darling, what's wrong?" - -He said, "Have you seen the news recently?" - -She frowned. "Why, no--Harry and I have been working for thirty-six -hours straight. Haven't seen anybody, haven't heard anything. Why?" - -"You wouldn't believe me. Where's your newsbox?" - -She came around the desk and put her hands on his shoulders. "Pete, -you know I haven't one--it bores me or upsets me, depending on whether -there's trouble or not. What--" - -"I'm sorry, I forgot," he said. "But you have a scanner?" - -"Yes, of course. But really, Pete--" - -"You'll understand in a minute. Turn it on, Lorelei." - -She gazed at him levelly for a moment, kissed him impulsively, and then -walked over to the video panel on the wall and swept a mountain of -papers away from in front of it. She turned the selector dial to "News" -and pressed the stud. - -A faint wash of color appeared on the panel, strengthened slowly, and -suddenly leapt into full brilliance. - -Lorelei caught her breath. - -It was a street scene in the Science City of Manhattan, flooded by -the warm spring sunshine. Down on the lowest level, visible past the -transport and passenger tubes, the parks and moving ways should have -been dotted with colorful, holiday crowds. The people were there, -yes but they were flowing away in a swiftly-widening circle. They -disappeared into buildings, and the ways snatched them up, and in a -heartbeat they were gone. - -There were left only two blood-red, malignant monstrosities somehow -defiling the air they floated in; and below them, a pitiful huddle of -flesh no longer recognizable as human beings. They were not dead, those -men and women, but they wanted to be. Their bodies had been impossibly -joined, fused together into a single obscene, floundering mass of -helpless protoplasm. The thin moaning that went up from them was more -horrible than any cry of agony. - -"The Invaders are here, citizens," the commentator was saying in a -strangled voice. "Stay off the streets. Hide yourselves. Stay off the -streets...." His voice droned on, but neither of them heard it. - - * * * * * - -Lorelei buried her head on his chest, clutching at him desperately. -"Peter!" she said faintly. "Why do they broadcast such things?" - -"They have to," he told her grimly. "There will be panics and suicides, -and they know it; but they have to do it. This isn't like a war, where -the noncombatants' morale has to be kept up. There aren't going to be -any noncombatants, this time. Everybody in the world has to know about -them, so that he can fight them--and then it may not be enough." - -The viewpoint of the teleo sender changed as the two red beings soared -away from their victims and angled slowly up the street. Peter reached -out to switch off the scanner, and froze. The girl felt his muscles -tense abruptly, looked back at the scene. The Invaders were floating -up the sloping side of a tall, pure white structure that dominated the -rest. - -"That's the Atlas building," she said unbelievingly. "Us!" - -"Yes." - -Silently, they counted stories as the two beings rose. Forty-five ... -forty-six ... forty-seven ... forty-eight. Inevitably, they halted. -Then they faded slowly. It was impossible to say whether they had gone -through the solid wall, or simply melted away. - -The man and woman clung together, waiting. - -There was a thick, oppressive silence, full of small rustlings and -other faint sounds that were no longer normal. Then, very near, a man -screamed in a high, inhuman voice. The screamed dwindled into a throaty -gurgle and died, leaving silence again. - -Peter's lips were cold with sweat. Tiny nerves in his face and arms -were jumping convulsively. His stomach crawled. He thrust the girl away -from him and started toward the inner room. - -"Wait here," he mouthed. - -She was after him, clinging to his arms. "No, Peter! Don't go in there! -_Peter!_" But he pushed her away again, woodenly, and stalked forward. - -There was a space in the middle of the room where machinery had been -cleared away to make room for an incompleted setup. Peter walked down -the narrow aisle, past bakelite-sheathed mechanisms and rows of animal -cages, and paused just short of it. - -The two red beings were there, formless bodies hazy in midair, the -distorted, hairless skulls in profile, staring at something outside his -range of vision. - - * * * * * - -Peter forced himself forward another step. Little Harry Kanin, -Lorelei's assistant, was crumpled in a corner, half supported by the -broad base of an X-ray chamber. His face was flaccid and bloated. His -glazed eyes, impassive yet somehow pleading, stared at nothingness -straight ahead of him. - -The Invaders ignored Peter, staring expressionlessly down at Kanin. -In a moment Peter realized what they were doing to him. He stood, -paralyzed with horror, and watched it happen. - -The little man's body was sagging, ever so slowly, as if he were -relaxing tiredly. His torso was telescoping, bit by bit; his spread -legs grew wider and more shapeless, his cheeks caved in and his skull -grew gradually flatter. - -When it was over, the thing that had been Kanin was a limp, boneless -puddle of flesh. Peter could not look at it. - -There was a scream in his throat that would not come out. He was beyond -fear, beyond agony. He turned to the still-hovering monsters and said -in a terrible voice, "Why? Why?" - -The nearest being turned slowly to regard him. Its lips did not move, -but there was a tiny sound in Peter's brain, a thin, dry whispering. - -The scream was welling up. He fought it down and listened. - -"_Wurnkomellilonasendiktolsasangkanmiamiamimami...._" - -The face was staring directly into his, the bulging eyes hypnotic. The -ears were small, no more than excresences of skin. The narrow lips -seemed sealed together; a thin, slimy ichor drooled from them. There -were lines in the face, but they were lines of age, not emotion. Only -the eyes were alive. - -"_... raswilopreatadvuonistuwurncchtusanlgkelglawwalinom...._" - -"I can't understand," he cried wildly. "What do you want?" - -"_... morofelcovisyanmamiwurlectaunntous._" - -He heard a faint sound behind him, and whirled. It was the first -time he had realized that Lorelei had followed him. She stood there, -swaying, very pale, looking at the red Invaders. Her eyes swiveled -slowly.... - -"_Opreniktoulestritifenrelngetnaktwiltoctpre._" - -His voice was hoarse. "Don't look! Don't--Go back!" The horrible, -mindless noise in his throat was almost beyond his power to repress. -His insides writhed to thrust it out. - -She didn't see him. Her eyes glazed, and she dropped limply to the -floor. - -The scream came out then. Before he knew, even, that he could hold -it back no longer, his mouth was wide open, his muscles tensed, his -fingernails slicing his palms. It echoed with unbelievable volume in -the room. It was a scream to split eardrums; a scream to wake the dead. - - * * * * * - -Somebody said, "Doctor!" - -He wanted to say, "Yes, get a doctor. Lorelei--" but his mouth only -twitched feebly. He couldn't seem to get it to work properly. - -He tried again. "Doctor." - -"Yes?" A gentle, masculine voice. - -He opened his eyes with an effort. There was a blurred face before him; -in a moment it grew clearer. The strong, clean-shaven chin contrasted -oddly with the haggard circles under the eyes. There was a clean, -starched odor. - -"Where am I?" he said. He tried to turn his head, but a firm hand -pressed him back into the sheets. - -"You're in a hospital. Just lie quietly, please." - -He tried to get up again. "Where's Lorelei?" - -"She's well, and you'll see her soon. Now lie quietly. You've been a -very sick man." - -Peter sank back in the bed. The room was coming into focus. He looked -around him slowly. He felt very weak, but perfectly lucid. - -"Yes...." he said. "How long have I been here, Doctor?" - -The man hesitated, looked at him intently. "Three months," he said. He -turned and gave low-voiced instructions to a nurse, and then went away. - -Peter's head began spinning just a little. Glass clinked from a metal -stand near his head; the nurse bent over him with a glass half full of -milky fluid. It tasted awful, but she made him drink it all. - -In a moment he began to relax, and the room got fuzzy again. Just -before he drifted off, he said sleepily, "You can't--fool me. It's been -_more_--than three--months." - -He was right. All the nurses, and even Dr. Arnold, were evasive, but he -kept asking them why he couldn't see Lorelei, and finally he wormed it -out of them. It had been nine and a half months, not three, and he'd -been in a coma all that time. Lorelei, it seemed, had recovered much -sooner. - -"She was only suffering from ordinary shock," Arnold explained. -"Seeing that assistant of hers--it was enough to knock anybody out, -especially a woman. But you stood actual mental contact with _them_ -for approximately five minutes. Yes, we know--you talked a lot. It's a -miracle you're alive, and rational." - -"But where is she?" Peter complained. "You still haven't explained why -I haven't been able to see her." - -Arnold frowned. "All right," he said. "I guess you're strong enough to -take it. She's underground, with the rest of the women and children, -and a good two-thirds of the male population. That's where you'll go, -as soon as you're well enough to be moved. We started digging in six -months ago." - -"But why?" Peter whispered. - -Arnold's strong jaw knotted. "We're hiding," he said. "Everything else -has failed." - -Peter couldn't think of anything to say. Dr. Arnold's voice went on -after a moment, musingly. "We're burrowing into the earth, like worms. -It didn't take us long to find out we couldn't kill them. They didn't -even take any notice of our attempts to do so, except once. That was -when a squadron of the Police caught about fifty of them together at -one time, and attacked with flame guns and a new secret weapon. It -didn't hurt them, but it annoyed them. It was the first time they'd -been annoyed, I think. They blew up half a state, and it's still -smoldering." - -"And since then?" Peter asked huskily. - -"Since then, we've been burrowing. All the big cities.... It would be -an impossible task if we tried to include all the thinly-populated -areas, of course, but it doesn't matter. By the time we excavate -enough to take care of a quarter of the earth's population, the other -three-quarters will be dead, or worse." - -"I wonder," Peter said shakily, "if I am strong enough to take it." - -Arnold laughed harshly. "You are. You've got to be. You're part of our -last hope, you see." - -"Our last hope?" - -"Yes. You're a scientist." - -"I see," said Peter. And for the first time, he thought of the -_Citadel_. No plan leaped full-born into his mind, but, _maybe_, he -thought, _there's a chance_.... - - * * * * * - -It wasn't very big, the thing that had been his shining dream. It lay -there in its rough cradle, a globe of raw dura-steel not more than -five hundred meters in diameter, where the _Citadel_ was to have been a -thousand. It wouldn't house a hundred scientists, eagerly delving into -the hinterland of research. The huge compartments weren't filled with -the latest equipment for chemical and physical experiment; instead, -there was compressed oxygen there, and concentrated food, enough to -last a lifetime. - -It was a new world, all by itself; or else it was a tomb. And there was -one other change, one that you couldn't see from the outside. The solid -meters of lead in its outer skin, the shielding to keep out cosmic -rays, were gone. - -A man had just finished engraving the final stroke on its nameplate, to -the left of the airlock--_The Avenger_. He stepped away now, and joined -the group a little distance away, silently waiting. - -Lorelei said, "You can't do it. I won't let you! Peter--" - -"Darling," he began wearily. - -"Don't throw your life away! Give us time--there must be another way." - -"There's no other way," Peter said. He gripped her arms tightly, as if -he could compel her to understand by the sheer pressure of his fingers. -"Darling, listen to me. We've tried everything. We've gone underground, -but that's only delaying the end. _They_ still come down here, only not -as many. The mortality rate is up, the suicide rate is up, the birth -rate is down, in spite of anything we can do. You've seen the figures: -we're riding a curve that ends in extinction fifty years from now. - -"They'll live, and we'll die, because they're a superior race. We're a -million years too far back even to understand what they are or where -they came from. Besides them, we're apes. There's only one answer." - -She was crying now, silently, with great racking sobs that shook her -slender body. But he went remorselessly on. - -"Out there, in space, the cosmics change unshielded life. They -make tentacles out of arms; or scales out of hair; or twelve toes, -or a dozen ears--or a better brain. Out of those millions of -possible mutations, there's one that will save the human race. We -can't fight _them_, but a superman could. That's our only chance. -Lorelei--darling--don't you see that?" - -She choked, "But why can't you take me along?" - -He stared unseeingly past her wet, upturned face. "You know why," he -said bitterly. "Those rays are strong. They don't only work on embryos; -they change adult life forms, too. I have one chance in seven of -staying alive. You'd have one chance in a million of staying beautiful. -I couldn't stand that. I'd kill myself, and then humanity would die, -too. You'd be their murderer." - -Her sobs gradually died away. She straightened slowly until he no -longer had to support her, but all the vitality and resilience was gone -out of her body. "All right," she said in a lifeless voice. "You'll -come back, Peter." - -He turned away suddenly, not trusting himself to kiss her goodbye. A -line from an old film kept echoing through his head. "_They'll_ come -back--but not as _boys_!" - -We'll come back, but not as men. - -We'll come back, but not as elephants. - -We'll come back, but not as octopi. - - * * * * * - -He was trembling violently. He ran the last few steps, stumbled into -the airlock, and pressed the stud that would seal the door behind him. -_We'll come back...._ He heard the massive disk sink home, closing him -off. Then he sank down on the floor of the airlock and put his head in -shaking hands. - -After a while he roused himself, closed the inner door of the lock -behind him, and walked down the long corridor into the control chamber. -The shining banks of keys were there, waiting for his touch; he slumped -down before them and listlessly closed the contact of the visiplate. - -He swung its field slowly, scanning for the last time the bare walls -of the underground chamber, making sure that all the spectators had -retired out of the way of the blast. Then his clawed fingers poised -over the keys, hovered a moment, and thrust down. - -Acceleration pressed him deep into his chair. In the visiplate, the -heavy doors that closed the tunnel above him flashed back, one by one. -The energy-charged screen flickered off to let him pass, and closed -smoothly behind him. The last doors, cleverly camouflaged, slipped back -into place and then dwindled in the distance. It was done. - -He flashed on out, past the moon, past Mars, over the asteroid belt. -The days merged into weeks, then months, and finally, far out, _The -Avenger_ curved into an orbit and held it. The great motors died, and -the silence pressed in about him. - -Already he could feel the invisible rays burning resistlessly through -his flesh as if it were water, shifting the cells of his body, working -its slow, monstrous alchemy upon him. Peter waited until the changes -were unmistakably evident in his skin and hair, and then he smashed all -the mirrors in the ship. - -The embryos were pulsing with unnatural life, even in the suspended -animation of their crystal cells. One by one he allowed them to -mature, and after weeks or years destroyed the monstrosities that came -from the incubators. Time went by, meaninglessly. He ate when he was -hungry, slept when his driving purpose let him, and worked unceasingly, -searching for the million-to-one chance. - -He stared sometimes through changed eyes at the tiny blue star that was -Earth, wondering if the race he had left behind still burrowed in its -worm-tunnels, digging deeper and deeper away from the sunlight. But -after a time he ceased even to wonder. - -And one changeling-child he did not destroy. He fed knowledge to its -eager brain, and watched it through the swift years, with a dawning -hope.... - - * * * * * - -Peter closed the diary. "The rest you know, Robert," he said. - -"Yes," I told him. "I was that child. I am the millionth mutation you -were searching for." - -His eyes glowed suddenly in their misshapen sockets. "You are. Your -brain is as superior to mine as mine is to an anthropoid's. You solve -instinctively problems that would take our mechanical computers hours -of work. You are a superman." - -"I am without your imperfections," I said, flexing my arms. - -He rose and strode nervously over to the window. I watched him as he -stood there, outlined against the blazing galaxies. He had changed but -little in the years that I had known him. His lank gray hair straggled -over his sunken eyes; his cheeks were blobbed with excresences of -flesh; one corner of his mouth was drawn up in a perpetual grin. He had -a tiny sixth finger on his left hand. - -He turned again, and I saw the old scar on his cheek where I had once -accidentally drawn one of my talons across his face. - -"And now," he said softly, "we will go home. I've waited so -long--keeping the control chamber and the engine room locked away from -you, not telling you, even, about Earth until now--because I had to be -sure. But now, the waiting is over. - -"They're still there, I'm sure of it--the people, and the Invaders. You -can kill the Invaders, Robert." - -He looked at me, a little oddly, almost as if he had some instinctive -knowledge of what was to come. But he went on swiftly, "On Earth we -had a saying: 'Fight fire with fire.' That is the way it will be with -you. You are completely, coldly logical, just as _they_ are. You can -understand them, and so you can conquer them." - -I said, "That is the reason why we will not go back to Earth." - -He stared at me, his jaw slack, his hands trembling. "What--what did -you say?" - -I repeated it patiently. - -"But why?" he cried, sinking down into the chair before me. In an -instant all the joy had gone out of him. I could not understand his -suffering, but I could recognize it. - -"You yourself have said it," I told him. "I am a being of logic, just -as the beings who have invaded your planet are. I do not comprehend the -things which you call hate, fear, joy and love, as they do not. If I -went to Earth, I would use your people to further my knowledge, just as -the invaders do. I would have no reason to kill the invaders. They are -more nearly kin to me than your people." - - * * * * * - -Peter's eyes were dull, his limbs slumped. For a moment I thought that -the shock had deranged his mind. - -His voice trembled when he said, "But if I ask you to kill them, and -not my people?" - -"To do so would be illogical." - -He waved his hands helplessly. "Gratitude?" he muttered. - -"No, you don't understand that, either." - -Then he cried suddenly, "But I am your friend, Robert!" - -"I do not understand 'friend,'" I said. - -I did understand "gratitude," a little. It was a reciprocal -arrangement: I did what Peter wished, so long as I did not actively -want to do otherwise, because he had done things for me. Very well, -then we must not go back. It was very simple, but I knew that he could -not comprehend it. - -I tried to explain it to him, however. But he only stared at me, with -an expression on his face that I had never seen there before, and that, -somehow, I did not like to see. It was disquieting, and so I hastened -to the end that I knew was inevitable. - -"Will you promise," I asked, "to abide by my decision?" - -He kept on looking at me, his lips trembling in their fixed grin. "No!" -he said. "Never! You'll change your mind some day--you must! We'll go -back, then--I'll make you go back! Lorelei--" He collapsed, sobbing, -his head sunk in his arms. - -I knew that what he said was partly true. Some day, when I slept, as I -would have to within months, he would go down to the control room, set -the keys for the return, and lock the combinations of the doors behind -him again. Sooner or later, in spite of me, _The Avenger_ would go -home. There was only one thing to do. - -He was still slumped in his chair, his body shaken by his sobs. I rose -silently, and stood for a moment looking down at him. It was best that -it happen now; it was what he would have called "mercy." - -_I extended my arms, looking at the corded, black-furred length of -them. I looked down at him once more, saying a silent farewell; and -then I clasped his gray head, very quickly, between my hands._ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Avenger, by Stuart Fleming - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AVENGER *** - -***** This file should be named 62619.txt or 62619.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/6/1/62619/ - -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 print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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