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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b8ebd7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63796 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63796) diff --git a/old/63796-0.txt b/old/63796-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index da495bf..0000000 --- a/old/63796-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2133 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of What Hath Me?, by Henry Kuttner - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: What Hath Me? - -Author: Henry Kuttner - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63796] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT HATH ME? *** - - - - - WHAT HATH ME? - - By HENRY KUTTNER - - The thousand tiny eyes raced past him, glittering - with alien ecstasy, shining brighter, ever brighter - as they fed. He felt the lifeblood being sucked - out of him--deeper stabbed the gelid cold--louder - roared the throbbing in his ears ... then the voice - came, "_The heart of the Watcher. Crush the heart._" - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1946. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -The man running through the forest gloom breathed in hot, panting -gusts, pain tearing at his chest. Underfoot the crawling, pale network -of tree-trunks lay flat upon the ground, and more than once he tripped -over a slippery bole and crashed down, but he was up again instantly. - -He had no breath to scream. He sobbed as he ran, his burning eyes -trying to pierce the shadows. Whispers rustled down from above. When -the leaf-ceiling parted, a blaze of terribly bright stars flamed in -the jet sky. It was cold and dark, and the man knew that he was not on -Earth. - -_They_ were following him, even here. - -A squat yellow figure, huge-eyed, inhuman, loomed in his path--one of -the swamp people of Southern Venus. The man swung a wild blow at the -thing, and his fist found nothing. It had vanished. But beyond it rose -a single-legged giant, a Martian, bellowing the great, gusty laughter -of the Redland Tribes. The man dodged, stumbled, and smashed down -heavily. He heard paddling footsteps and tried, with horrible intensity -of purpose, to rise. He could not. - -The Martian crept toward him--but it was no longer a Martian. An -Earthman, with the face of some obscene devil, came forward with a -sidling, slow motion. Horns sprouted from the low forehead. The teeth -were fangs. As the creature came nearer, it raised its hands--twisted, -gnarled talons--and slid them about the man's throat. - -Through the forest thundered the deep, booming clangor of a brass gong. -The sound shattered the phantom as a hammer shatters glass. Instantly -the man was alone. - -Making hoarse, animal sounds in his throat, he staggered upright and -lurched in the direction from which the sound came. But he was too -weak. Presently he fell, and this time he did not rise. His arms moved -a little and then were still. He slept, lines of tortured weariness -twisting the haggard face. - -Very faintly, from infinite distances, he heard a voice ... two voices. -Inhuman. Alien--and yet with a warmth of vital urgency that stirred -something deep within him. - -"_He has passed our testing._" - -Then a stronger, more powerful voice--answering. - -"_Others have passed our testing--but the Aesir slew them._" - -"_There is no other way. In this man I sensed something--a little -different. He can hate--he has hated._" - -"_He will need more than hatred_--" the deeper voice said. "_Even with -us to aid him. And there is little time. Strip his memories from him -now, so that he may not be weakened by them_--" - -"_May the gods fight with him._" - -"_But he fights the gods. The only gods men know in these evil days_--" - -The man awakened. - -Triphammers beat ringingly inside his skull. He opened his eyes and -closed them quickly against the sullen red glow that beat down from -above. He lay motionless, gathering his strength. - -What had happened? - -He didn't know. The jolting impact of that realization struck him -violently. He felt a brief panic of disorientation. Where--? - -_I'm Derek Stuart_, he thought. _At least it isn't complete amnesia. I -know who I am. But not where I am._ - -This time when he opened his eyes they stayed open. Overhead a -broad-leafed tree arched. Through its branches he could see a dark, -starry sky, the glowing, ringed disc of Saturn very far away, and a -deeply scarlet glow. - -Not Earth, then. A Saturnian moon? No, Saturn didn't eclipse most of -the sky. Perhaps the asteroid belt. - -He moved his head a little, and saw the red moon. - -_Aesir!_ - -The message rippled along his nerves into his brain. Stuart reacted -instantly. His hard, strong body writhed, whipped over, and then he was -in a half-crouch, one hand flashing to his belt while his eyes searched -the empty silence of the forest around him. There was no sound, no -movement. - - * * * * * - -Sweat stood on Stuart's forehead, and he brushed it away impatiently. -His deeply-tanned face set into harsh lines of curiously hopeless -desperation. There was no blaster gun at his belt; that didn't matter. -Guns couldn't help him now--on Asgard. - -The red moon had told him the answer. Only one world in the System had -a red moon, and men didn't go to that artificial asteroid willingly. -They went, yes--but only to be doomed and damned. From Venus to -Callisto spacemen spoke of Asgard in hushed voices--Asgard where the -Aesir lived and ruled the worlds of Man. - -No spaceships left Asgard, except the sleek black cruisers manned by -the priests of Aesir. _No man had ever returned from Asgard._ - -Stuart grinned mirthlessly. He'd learned a lesson, though he'd never -profit by it now. Always before he'd been confident of his ability to -outdrink anyone of his own weight and size. And certainly that slight, -tired-eyed man at the Singing Star, in New Boston, should have passed -out long before Stuart--under normal circumstances. - -So the circumstances hadn't been quite normal. It was a frame. A -beautiful, air-tight frame, because he'd never come back to squawk. -Nobody came back from Asgard. - -He shivered a little and looked up warily. There were legends, of -course. The Watchers who patrolled the asteroid ceaselessly--robots, -men said. They served the Aesir. As, in a way, all men served the Aesir. - -No sound. No movement. Only the sullen crimson light beating down -ominously from that dark sky. - -Stuart took stock of his clothing. Regular leatheroid spaceman's rig; -they'd left him that, anyway. Whoever _they_ were. He couldn't remember -anything that had happened after the fifth drink with the tired-eyed -man. There was a very faint recollection of running somewhere--seeing -unpleasant things--and hearing two oddly unreal voices. But the -memories slipped away and vanished as he tried to focus on them. - -The hell with it. He was on Asgard. And that meant--something rather -more unpleasant than death, if the legends were to be believed. A very -suitable climax to an unorthodox life, in this era when obedience and -law enforcement were the rigid rule. - -Stuart picked up a heavy branch that might serve as a club. Then, -shrugging, he turned westward, striking at random through the forest. -No use waiting here till the Watchers came. At least--he could fight, -as he had always fought as far back as he could remember. - -There wasn't much room for fighters any more. Not under the Aesir rule. -There were nations and kings and presidents, of course, but they were -puppet figures, never daring to disobey any edicts that came from the -mystery-shrouded asteroid hanging off the orbit of Mars, the tiny, -artificial world that had ruled the System for a thousand years. - -The Aesir. The inhuman, cryptic beings who--if legend were true--once -had been human. Stuart scowled, trying to remember. - -An--an entropic accelerator, that was it. A device, a method that -speeded up evolution tremendously. That had been the start of the -tyranny. A machine that could accelerate a man's evolution by a million -years-- - -Some had used that method. Those were the ones who had become the -Aesir, creatures so far advanced in the evolutionary scale that they -were no longer remotely human. Much was lost in the mists of the past. -But Stuart could recall that much--the knowledge that the Aesir -had once been human, that they were human no longer, and that for a -thousand years they had ruled the System, very terribly, from their -forbidden asteroid that they named Asgard--home of the legendary Norse -gods. - -Maybe the tired-eyed man had been an Aesir priest, collecting victims. -Certainly no others would have dared to land a ship on Asgard. Stuart -swung on, searching the empty skies, and now a queer, unreasoning -excitement began to grow within him. At least, before he died, he'd -learn what the Aesir were like. It probably wouldn't be pleasant -knowledge, but there'd be some satisfaction in it. And there'd be even -more satisfaction if he thought he had a chance of smashing a hard fist -into the face of one of the Aesir priests--or even-- - -Hell, why not? He had nothing to lose now. From the moment he -had touched Asgard soil, he was damned anyway. But of one thing -Stuart was certain; he wouldn't be led like a helpless sheep to the -throat-cutting. He wouldn't die without fighting against them. - -The forest thinned before him. There was a flicker of swift motion -far ahead. Stuart froze, his grip tightening on the cudgel, his eyes -searching. - -Between the columnar trees, bright amid the purple shadows, a glitter -of sparkling nebulae swept. A web of light, Stuart thought--so dazzling -his eyes ached as he stared at the--the thing. - -Bodiless, intangible, the shifting net of stars poised, high above his -head. Hundreds of twinkling, glittering pinpoints flickered there, so -swiftly it seemed as though an arabesque spider-web of light weaved in -the still, dark air--web of the Norns! - -Each flickering star-fleck--watched. Each was an eye. - -And as the thing poised, a horrible, half-human hesitancy in its -stillness, a deep, humming note sounded, from its starry heart. - -Star-points shook and quivered to the sound. Again it came--deeper, -more menacing. - -Questioning! - -Was this one of the--Watchers? Was this one of them? - - * * * * * - -Abruptly its hesitancy vanished; it swept down upon Stuart. -Instinctively he swung his cudgel in a smashing blow that sent him -reeling forward--for there was no resistance. The star-creature was as -intangible as air. - -And yet it was not. The dazzling web of light enfolded him like a -blazing cloak. Instantly a cold, trembling horror crawled along his -skin. Bodiless the thing might be--but it was dangerous, infinitely so! - -Pressure, shifting, quicksand pressure, was all about him. That -stealthy cold crept into his flesh and bones, frigid icicles jabbing -into his brain. Gasping with shock, Stuart struck out. He had dropped -the club. Now he stooped and groped for it, but he could see nothing -except a glittering veil of diamonds that raced like a mad torrent -everywhere. - -The humming rose again--ominously triumphant. - -Cursing, Stuart staggered forward. The star-cloak stayed. He tried to -grip it somewhere, to wrench it free, but he could not. The thousands -of tiny eyes raced past him, glittering with alien ecstasy, shining -brighter and ever brighter as they fed. - -He felt the life being sucked out of him.... Deeper stabbed the gelid -cold ... louder roared that throbbing tone in his ears. - -He heard his voice gasping furious, hopeless oaths. His eyes ached with -the strain of staring at that blinding glitter. Then-- - -_The heart of the Watcher. Crush the heart!_ - -The words crashed like deep thunder in his brain. Had someone spoken -them--? No ... for, with the command, had come a message as well. As -though a thought had spoken within his mind, a telepathic warning -from--where? - -His eyes strained at the dazzle. Now he saw that there was a brighter -core that did not shift and change when the rest of the star-cloud wove -its dreadful net. A spot of light that-- - -He reached out ... the nucleus darted away ... he lurched forward, on -legs half-frozen, and felt a stone turn under his foot. As he crashed -down, his hand closed and tightened on something warm and living that -pulsed frantically against his palm. - -The humming rose to a shrill scream ... frightened ... warning. - -Stuart tightened his grip. He lay motionless, his eyes closed. But all -around him he could feel the icy tendrils of the star-thing lashing at -him, drinking his human warmth, probing with avid fingers at his brain. - -He felt that warm--core--writhe and try to slip between his fingers. He -squeezed.... - -The scream burst out, an inhuman agony in its raw-edged keening. - -It stopped. - -In Stuart's hand was--nothing. - -He opened his eyes. The dazzling glitter of star-points had vanished. -Only the forest, with its purple shadows, lay empty and silent around -him. - -Stuart got up slowly, swallowed dry-throated. The creatures of the -Aesir were not invulnerable, then. Not to one who knew their weaknesses. - -_How had he known?_ - -What voice had spoken in his brain? There had been an odd, impossible -familiarity to that--that mental voice, now that he remembered it. -Somewhere he had heard it, sensed it before. - -That gap in his memory-- - -He tried to bridge it, but he could not. There was only a quickening of -the desire to go on westward. He felt suddenly certain that he would -find the Aesir in that direction. - -He took a hesitant step--and another. And with each step, a queer, -unmotivated confidence poured into him. As though some barrier in his -mind had broken down, letting some strange flood of proud defiance rush -in. - -It was impossible. It was dangerous. But--certainly--no more dangerous -than supinely waiting here on Asgard till another Watcher came to -destroy him. There were worse things than the starry Watchers here, if -legends were to be trusted. - -He went on, the curious tide of defiance rising higher and ever higher -in his blood. It was a strangely intoxicating sense of--of pure, crazy -self-confidence such as no man should rightfully have felt on this -haunted asteroid. - -He wondered--but the drunkenness was such that he did not wonder much. -He did not question. - -He thought: _To hell with the Aesir!_ - -The forest ended. At his feet a road began, leading off into the purple -horizons of the flat plain before him. At the end of that road was a -thrusting pillar of light that rose like a tower toward the dark sky. - -_There were the Aesir...._ - - - II - -Every spaceman has an automatic sense of orientation. In ancient days, -when clipper ships sailed the seas of Earth, the Yankee skippers knew -the decks beneath their feet, and they knew the stars. Southern Cross -or Pole Star told them in what latitudes they sailed. In unknown -waters, they still had their familiar keels and the familiar stars. - -So it is with the spacemen who drift from Pluto to Mercury Darkside, -trusting to metal hulls that shut in the air and shut out the vast -abysses of interplanetary space. When they work outship, a glance at -the sky will tell a trained man where he is--and only tough, trained -men survive the dangerous commerce of space. On Mercury the blazing -solar corona flames above the horizon; on clouded Venus the green star -of Earth shines sometimes. On Io, Callisto, Ganymede, a man can orient -himself by the gigantic mother planet--Saturn or Jupiter--and in the -Asteroid Belt, there is always the strange procession of little worlds -like lanterns, some half-shadowed, others brightly reflecting the Sun's -glare. Anywhere in the System the sky is friendly-- - -Except on Asgard. Jupiter was too far and too small; Mars was scarcely -visible; the Asteroid Belt not much thicker than the Milky Way. The -unfamiliar magnitudes of the planets told Stuart, very surely, that he -was on unknown territory. He was without the sure, safe anchor that -spacemen depend upon, and that lack told him how utterly he stood alone -now. - -But the unreasoning confidence did not flag. If anything, it mounted -stronger within him as he hurried along the road, his rangy legs -eating up the miles with easy speed. The sooner he reached his goal, -the better he'd like it. Nor did he wish to encounter any more of the -Aesir's guardians--his business was with the Aesir! - -The tower of light grew taller as he went on. Now he saw that it was -a cluster of buildings, massed cylinders of varying heights, each -one gigantic in diameter as well as height, and all shining with that -cold, shadowless radiance that apparently came from the stone--or -metal--itself. The road led directly to the base of the tallest tower. - -It ran between shining pillars--a gateless threshold--and was lost -in silvery mists. No bars were needed to keep visitors out of this -fortress! - -Briefly a cool wind of doubt blew upon Stuart. He hesitated, wishing he -had at least his blaster gun. But he was unarmed; he had even left the -club back in the forest. - -He glanced around. - -The red moon was sinking. A heavier darkness was creeping over the -land. Very far away he thought he saw the shifting flicker of dancing -lights--a Watcher? - -He hurried onward. - -Cyclopean, the tower loomed above him, like a shining rod poised to -strike. His gaze could not pierce the mists beyond the portal. - -He stepped forward--between the twin pillars. He walked on blindly into -the silver mists. - -Twenty steps he took--and paused, as something dark and shapeless swam -into view before him. A pit--at his feet. - -In the dimness he could not see its bottom, but a narrow bridge crossed -the gulf, a little to his left. Stuart crossed the bridge. Solidity was -again under his feet. - -With shocking suddenness, a great, brazen bellow of laughter roared -out. Harsh mockery sharpened it. And it was echoed. - -All around Stuart the laughter thundered--and was answered. The walls -gave it back and echoed it. The bellowing laughter of gods deafened -Stuart. - -The mists drifted away--were sucked down into the pit. They vanished. - -As though they fled from that evil laughter. - -Stuart stood in a chamber that must have occupied the entire base of -that enormous tower. Behind him the abyss gaped. Before him a shifting -veil of light hid whatever lay behind it. But all around, between -monstrous pillars, were set thrones, ebon thrones fifty feet tall. - -On the thrones sat giants! - -Titan figures, armored in glittering mail, ringed Stuart, and instantly -his mind fled back to half-forgotten folk-lore.... Asgard, Jotunheim, -the lands of the giants and the gods. Thor and Odin, sly Loki and -Baldur--they were all here, he thought, bearded colossi roaring their -black laughter into the shaking air of the hall. - -Watching him from their height-- - -Then he looked up, and the giants were dwarfed. - -The chamber was roofless. At least he could see no roof. The pillars -climbed up and up tremendously all around the walls that were hung with -vast stretches of tapestry, till they dwindled to a pinpoint far above. -The sheer magnitude of the tower made Stuart's mind rock dizzily. - -Still the laughter roared out. But now it died.... - -Thundered through the hall a voice ... deep ... resonant ... the voice -of the Aesir. - -"_A human, brother!_" - -"_Aye! A human--and a mad one, to come here._" - -"_To enter the hall of the Aesir._" - -A red-bearded colossus bent down, his glacial blue eyes staring at -Stuart. "_Shall I crush him?_" - - * * * * * - -Stuart sprang back as an immense hand swooped down like a falling tree -upon him. Instinctively his hand flashed to his belt, and suddenly the -red-beard was shouting laughter that the others echoed. - -"_He has courage._" - -"_Let him live._" - -"_Aye. Let him live. He may amuse us for a while...._" - -"_And then?_" - -"_Then the pit--with the others._" - -The others? Stuart slanted a glance downward. The silver mists had -dissipated now, and he could see that the abyss was not bottomless. Its -floor was fifty feet below the surface on which he stood, and a dozen -figures were visible beneath. - -They stood motionless--like statues. A burly, leather-clad Earthmen -who might have been whisked from some Plutonian mine; a slim, scantily -clad Earthgirl, her hair powdered blue, her costume the shining -sequin-suit of a tavern entertainer. A stocky, hunch-shouldered -Venusian with his slate-gray skin; a Martian girl, seven feet tall, -with limbs and features of curious delicacy, her hair piled high atop -that narrow skull. Another Earthman--a thin, pale, clerklike fellow. -A white-skinned, handsome Callistan native, looking like Apollo, and, -like all Callistans, harboring the cold savagery of a demon behind that -smooth mask. - -A dozen of them--drawn from all parts of the System. Stuart remembered -that this was the time of the periodic tithing--which meant nothing -less than a sacrifice. Once each month a few men and women would -vanish--not many--and the black ships of the Aesir priests sped back to -Asgard with their captives. - -Not one looked up. Frozen motionless as stone, they stood there in the -pit--waiting. - -Again the laughter crashed out. The red-beard was watching Stuart. - -"His courage flags," the great voice boomed. "Speak the truth, -Earthman. Have you courage to face the gods?" - -Stuart stubbornly refused to answer. He had an odd, reasonless -impression that this was part of some deep game, that behind the -mocking by-play lay a more serious purpose. - -"He has courage now," a giant said. "But did he always have courage? -Has there never been a time in his life when courage failed him? -Answer, Earthman!" - -Stuart was listening to another voice, a quiet, infinitely distant -voice within his brain that whispered: _Do not answer them!_ - -"Let him pass our testing," the red-beard commanded. "If he fails, -there is an end. If he does _not_ fail--he goes into the pit to walk -the Long Orbit." - -The giant leaned forward. - -"Will you match skill--and courage--with us, Earthling?" - -Still Stuart did not answer. More than ever now he sensed the violent, -hidden undercurrents surging beneath the surface of this by-play. More -than he knew swung in the balance here. - -He nodded. - -"He has courage," a giant repeated. "But did he always have courage?" - -"We shall see ..." the red-beard said. - -The air shimmered before Stuart. Through its shaking his senses played -him false. He knew quite well who he was and where he stood, in what -deadly peril--but in that shimmer which bewildered the eyes and the -mind he was a boy again, seeing a certain hillside he had not seen -except through his boyhood's eyes. And he saw a black horse standing -above him on the slope, pawing the ground and looking at him with -red eyes. And an old, old terror came flooding over him that he had -not remembered for a quarter of a century. A boy's acute and sudden -terror.... - -Who had opened the doors of his mind and laid this secret bare? He -himself had long forgotten--and who upon this alien world could look -back through space and time to remind him of that long-ago day when the -vicious black horse had thrown an inexperienced boy rider and planted a -seed of terror in his mind which he had been years outgrowing? But the -fear was long gone now, long gone.... _Was it?_ - -Then whence had come this monstrous black stallion that pawed the floor -of the hall, glaring down red-eyed at him and showing teeth like fangs? -No horse, but a monster in the shape of a horse, a monster ten feet -high at the shoulder, wearing the shape of his boyhood nightmare that -woke in Stuart even now the old, unreasoning horror.... - -It was stamping down upon him, shaking its bridled head, snorting, -lifting its lip above the impossible teeth. He saw the reins hanging -loose, he saw the saddle and the swinging stirrups. He knew that the -only safety in this hall for him was paradoxically upon the nightmare's -back, where the hoofs and fangs could not reach him. But the terror and -revulsion which the boy had buried long ago came welling up from founts -deep-buried in the man's subconscious mind.... - - * * * * * - -Now it was rushing him, head like a snake's outthrust, hissing like a -snake, reins flying like Medusa-locks as it stretched to seize him. -For one instant he stood there paralyzed. He had faced dangers on many -worlds to which this nightmare was nothing, but he had never since -boyhood felt the paralysis of horror that gripped him now. It was a -child's horror, resurrected from the caves of sleep to ruin him.... - -With a superhuman effort he broke that frozen fear, snatching for -the flying reins, whirling as the monstrous thing swept past him in -a thunder of terrifying hoofs. Desperately he clung to the reins, -and as the thing rushed by he somehow got a clutching hand upon the -saddle-horn and found a stirrup that swung sickeningly when it took his -weight. - -Then he was in the saddle, dizzy still with the terrors of childhood, -but astride the nightmare. - -And now, with a sudden intoxicating clarity, the fear fell from his -mind. For an instant he sat high on the back of the incredible fanged -thing, an old, old terror clearing from his mind. Confidence which was, -he knew, his own and no bodiless reassurance drawn from dreams, such -as he had felt in the jungle, flooded warmly through him. He was not -afraid any more--he would never be afraid. The festering terror buried -deep in his childhood had come to light at last and was wiped away. He -caught the reins tight and flashed a sudden grin around the hall-- - -Brazen laughter boomed through the building. And beneath his knees -Stuart felt the horse's body alter incredibly. One moment he was -gripping a solid, warm-fleshed, hairy thing whose body had a familiar -pitch and motion beneath the saddle. Then, then-- - -Indescribably the body _writhed_ under him. The warm hairy flesh flowed -and changed. Cold struck through leatheroid against his thighs, and -it was a smooth, pouring cold of many alien muscles working powerfully -together in a way no mammal knows. He looked down. - -He was riding a monstrous snake that twisted its head to look at him in -the moment he realized what had happened. Its great diamond-shaped head -towered high and came looping down toward him, wide-mouthed, tongue -like a flame flickering.... - -It laid its cold, smooth cheek against his with a hideous caressing -motion, sliding around his neck, sliding down his arm and side, laying -a loop of cold, scaly strength around him and pressing, pressing.... - -His hands closed around the thickness of its throat, futilely--and the -throat melted in his grasp and was hairy with a hairiness no mammal -ever knew. The motion of the body he bestrode changed again and was -incredibly springy and light. - -He rode a monstrous spider. His hands were sunk wrist-deep in loathsome -coarse hair, and his eyes stared into great cold faceted eyes that -mirrored his own face a thousandfold. He saw his own distorted features -looking back at him in countless miniatures, but behind the faces, -in the great eyes of the spider, he saw no consciousness regarding -him. The cold multiple eyes were not aware of Derek Stuart. Behind -the shield of its terrible face the spider shut away its own arachnid -thoughts and the memories of the red fields of Mars that were its home. -With dreadful, impersonal aloofness its mandibles gaped forward toward -its prey. - -Loathing ran in waves of weakness through Stuart's whole body, but -he shut his eyes and blindly struck out at the nearer of those great -mirroring eyes, feeling wetness shatter against his fist as--as-- - -As the horror shifted and vanished, while rippling waves of green light -darkened all about him. Now they coagulated, drew together into a -meadow, cool with Earthly grass, bordered by familiar trees far away. -Primroses gleamed here and there. Above him was the blue sky and the -warm bright sun that shone only upon the hills of Earth. - -But what he felt was horror. - -Twenty feet from him was a rank, rounded patch of weeds. His gaze was -drawn inexorably to that spot. And it was from there that the crawling -dread reached out to him. - -Faintly he heard laughter ... of the gods ... of the Aesir. The Aesir? -Who--what were they? How had he, Derek Stuart, ever heard of them -except as a name whispered in fear as the spaceships streaked through -the clouds above that Dakota farmstead.... - -Derek Stuart ... a boy of eleven.... - -But--but--that was wrong, somehow. He wasn't a child any more. He had -matured, become a spaceman-- - -Dreams. The dreams of an eleven-year-old. - -Yet the hollow, dreadful laughter throbbed somewhere, in the vaults of -the blue overhead, in the solidity of the very ground beneath him. - -This had happened before. It had happened to a boy in South Dakota--a -boy who had not known what lay concealed in that verdant clump of weeds. - -But now, somehow--and very strangely--Stuart knew what he would find -there. - -He was afraid. Horribly, sickeningly afraid. Cold nausea crawled up -his spine and the calves of his legs. He wanted to turn and run to the -farmhouse half a mile away. He almost turned, and then paused as the -distant laughter grew louder. - -_They_ wanted him to run. _They_ were trying to scare him--and, once -the defenses of his courage had broken, he would be lost. Stuart knew -that with an icy certainty. - -Somewhere, very far away, he sensed a man standing in a cyclopean -hall--a man in ragged spaceman's garb, hard-faced, thin-lipped, -angry-eyed. A familiar figure. The man was urging him on--telling him -to go on toward that clump of weeds-- - -Derek Stuart obeyed the voiceless command. His throat dry, his heart -pumping, he forced himself across the meadow till he stood at his goal -and looked down at the bloody, twisted corpse of the tramp who had been -knifed by another hobo, twenty years before, on that Dakota farm. The -old nausea of shocked horror took him by the throat and strangled him. - -He fought it down. This time he didn't run screaming back to the -farmhouse.... - -And suddenly the laughter of the gods was stilled. Derek Stuart, a man -once more in mind, stood again in the tower of the Aesir. The thrones -between the monstrous pillars were vacant. - -The Aesir were gone. - - - III - -Stuart let out his breath in a long sigh. He had no illusions about -the vanishment of the Aesir; he knew he had not conquered those -mighty beings. It would take more than human powers to do that. But -at least he had a respite. All but the most stolid spacemen develop -hypertension, and there seems to be a curious mathematical rule about -that; it increases according to the distance from the Sun. Which may -be explained by the fact that environmental differences also increase -as the outer planets are reached--and alien environments breed alien -creatures. A great many men have gone insane on Pluto.... - -This was not Pluto; it was nearer Sunward than Jupiter, but the utter -alienage that brooded over Asgard was almost palpable. Even the -solidity under Stuart's feet, the very stones of the planetoid, were -artificially created, by a science a million years beyond that of his -own time. And the Aesir-- - -Unexpectedly his deep chest shook with laughter. The inexplicable -self-confidence that had first come to him in the Asgard forests had -not waned; it seemed to have grown even stronger since his meeting with -the Aesir giants. Now he stared around the colossal hall, his eyes -straining toward the spot of light far above where those incredible -columns converged. His own insignificance by comparison did not trouble -him. - -Whether or not he could have the slightest hope of winning this -game--at least he was giving his enemies a run for their money! - -A sound from the pit roused him. Stuart walked warily toward the edge. -The dozen motionless figures were still there, fifty feet below, and -among them was one he had not noticed before--an Earthgirl, he thought, -with curling dark hair framing a white face as she tilted up her chin -and stared at him. - -At this distance he could make out few details; she wore a -close-fitting green suit which left slender arms and legs bare. - -"Earthman--" she said, in a clear, carrying voice. "Earthman! Quick! -The Aesir will be back--go now! Leave their temple before they--" - -"Don't waste your breath," Stuart said. "This is Asgard." Whoever the -girl was, she should know the impossibility of leaving the taboo world. -"If I can find a rope--" - -She said quickly, "You won't find one. Not here, in the temple." - -"How can I get you out of there? And the others?" - -"You're mad," the girl said. "What good would it do...." She shook her -head. "Better to die at once." - -Stuart narrowed his eyes at the dozen frozen figures. "I don't think -so. Fourteen of us can put up a better fight than one. If your friends -wake up--" - -The girl said, "On your left, between the pillars, there's a tapestry -showing Perseus and the Gorgon. Touch the helm of Perseus and the hand -of Andromeda. Then go carefully--there may be traps." - -"What is it?" - -"It will lead you down here. You can free us. If you hurry--oh, but -it's hopeless! The Aesir--" - -"Damn the Aesir," Stuart snarled. "Wake up the others!" He whirled and -ran toward the distant wall, where he could see the Perseus tapestry, -brown and gold, a huge curtain between two columns. - -If the Aesir saw, they made no move.... - -Stuart's lips twisted in a bitter smile. The crazy confidence had not -left him, but he was conscious of a reassuring warmth; at least he -was no longer completely alone. That would help. Between the worlds, -and on the desolate planets that swing along the edge of the System, -loneliness is the lurking terror, more horrible than the most exotic -monster ever spawned by the radioactive Plutonian earth. - -He touched the tapestry twice; it swept away from him, and a staircase -was visible, leading down through stone or metal--he could not tell -which. Stuart fought back the impulse that urged him to race down those -curving spiral steps. The girl had spoken of traps. - -He went warily, testing each tread before he put his weight upon it. -Though he did not think that the snares of the Aesir would be so simple. - -At the bottom, he emerged into a vaulted chamber, tiny by comparison -with the one he had left. It was oval, domed ceiling and walls and -floor shining with a milky radiance--except at one spot. - -There he saw a door--transparent. Through it he looked into the pit. -He was on a level with the floor of that shaft now; he could see the -dozen figures still standing motionless in a huddled group, and a few -feet beyond the glassy pane was the Earthgirl. She was looking directly -at him, but her dark eyes had a blind seeking, as though the door was -opaque from her side. - -Stuart paused, his hand on the complicated mechanism that, he guessed, -would open the portal. His hard, dark face was impassive, but he was -conscious of an unfamiliar stirring deep within him. From above, he had -not seen the girl's beauty. - -He saw it now. - - * * * * * - -She couldn't be an Earthgirl--entirely. She must be one of those -disturbingly lovely interplanetary halfbreeds. Earth-blood she had, -of course, and predominantly, but there was something more, the pure -essence of beauty that blazed through her like a flame kindled in a -lamp of crystal. In all his wanderings between the worlds, Stuart had -never seen a girl as breathtakingly lovely as this one. - -His hand moved on the controls: the door slid silently open. The girl's -eyes brightened. She gave a little gasp and ran toward him. Without -question she sought refuge in his arms, and for a moment Stuart held -her--not unwillingly. - -He thrust her away gently. - -"The others." - -She said, "It's useless. The paralysis--" - -Stuart scowled and stepped across the threshold into the pit. -Uneasiness crawled along his spine as he did so. The Aesir might be -watching from above, or--or-- - -There was nothing. Only dead silence, and the uneven breathing of the -girl as she stood in the doorway watching. Stuart stopped before the -leather-clad Earthman and tested a burly arm. The man stood frozen, his -flesh cold and hard as stone, his eyes staring glassily. He was not -even breathing. - -So with the others. Stuart grimaced and shrugged. He turned back toward -the girl, and felt a pulse of relief as he stepped into the shining -chamber. He might be no safer here, but at least he wasn't so conscious -of inhuman eyes that might be watching from above. Not that solid stone -might be any barrier to the Aesir's probing gaze.... - -The girl touched the mechanism; the door slid silently shut. "It's -no use," she said. "The paralysis holds all the others. Only I could -battle it--a little. And that was because--" - -"Save it," Stuart said. He turned toward the door by which he had -entered, but an urgent hand gripped his wrist. - -"Let me talk," the quiet voice said. "We're as safe here as anywhere. -And there may be a way--now that I can think clearly again." - -"A way out? A _safe_ way?" - -There was a haunted look in her dark eyes. "I don't know. I've lived -here for a long time. The others--" she pointed toward the door of -the pit. "The sacrifices were brought to Asgard only yesterday. But -I've been here many moons. The Aesir kept me alive for a bit, to amuse -them. Then they tired, and I was thrown in with the others. But I -learned a little. I--I--no one can dwell here in the Aesir stronghold -without--changing a little. That's why the paralysis didn't hold me as -long as it holds the others." - -"Can we save them?" - -"I don't know," she said, with a small, helpless shrug. "I don't even -know if we can save ourselves. It's been so long since I was brought -to Asgard that I--I scarcely remember my life before that. But I have -learned a little of the Aesir--and that may help us now." - -Stuart watched her. She tried to smile, but not successfully. - -She said, "I'm Kari. The rest--I've forgotten. You're--" - -"Derek Stuart." - -"Tell me what happened." - -"We haven't time," Stuart said impatiently, but Kari shook her head. - -"We'll need weapons, and I must know--first--if you can use them. Tell -me!" - -Well, she was right. She had knowledge that Stuart needed. So he told -her, very briefly, what he remembered. - -She stared at him. "Voices--in your mind?" - -"Something like that. I don't know--" - -"No. No. Or--wait--" He tried to focus his thoughts upon a far, faint -calling that came from infinite distances. His name. An urgent summons-- - -It faded and was gone. - -"There's nothing," Stuart said finally, and Kari moved her shoulders -uneasily. - -"No help there, then." - -"Tell me one thing. What's the Aesir's power? Hypnotism?" - -"No," Kari said, "or not entirely. They can make thoughts into real -things. They are--what the race of man will evolve into in a million -years. And they have changed, into beings utterly alien to humans." - -"They looked human--giants, though." - -"They can assume any shape," Kari told him. "Their real form is -unimaginable. Being of pure energy ... mental force ... matrixes of -electronic power. They were striking at you through your mind." - -Stuart said, "I wondered why they didn't set some of their Watchers on -me." - -"I don't know why they didn't," Kari frowned. "Instead, they hammered -at your weaknesses--old fears that hung on to you for years. -Experiences that frightened you in the past. They sent your mind back -into that past--but you were too strong for them." - -"Too strong--?" - -"Then. They have other powers, Stuart--incredible powers. You can't -fight them alone. And you _must_ fight them. In a thousand years no one -has dared--" - -Stuart remembered something. "Two dared--once." - - * * * * * - -Kari nodded. "I know. I know the legends, anyway. About John Starr and -Lorna. The great rebels who first defied the Aesir when the tyranny -began. But they may have been only legendary figures. Even if they were -real--they failed." - -"Yes, they failed. And they're a thousand years dead. But it shows -something--to me at least. Man wasn't meant to be a slave to these -monsters. Rebellion--" - -Kari watched him. Stuart's eyes were shadowed. - -"John Starr and Lorna," he whispered. "I wonder what their world was -like, a thousand years ago? We've got all the worlds now, all the -planets of the System from Jupiter to the smallest asteroid. But we -don't rule them, as men owned their own Earth in those days. We're -slaves to the Aesir." - -"The Aesir are--are gods." - -"John Starr didn't think so," Stuart said. "Neither do I. And at worst -I can always die, as he did. Listen, Kari." He gripped her arms. -"Think. You've lived here for a while. Is there any weapon against -those devils?" - -She met his gaze steadily. "Yes," she said. "But--" - -"What is it? Where?" - -Abruptly Kari's face changed. She pressed herself against Stuart, -avoiding his lips, simply seeking--he knew--warmth and companionship. -She was crying softly. - -"So long--" Kari whispered, her arms tight around him. "I've been here -so long--with the gods. And I'm so lonely, Derek Stuart. So lonely for -green fields and fires and the blue sky. I wish--" - -"You'll see Earth again," Stuart promised. At that Kari pulled away. -Her strange half-breed loveliness was never more real than then, with -tears sparkling on her dark lashes, and her mouth trembling. - -She said, a catch in her voice, "I'll show you the weapon, Stuart." - -She turned toward the wall. Her hand moved in a quick gesture. A panel -opened there in the glowing surface. - -Kari reached in, and when she withdrew her arm, it was as though she -held a torrent of blood that poured down from her grip. It was a cloak, -Stuart saw, made of some material so fine that it rippled like water. -Its crimson violence was bizarre against the cool green of Kari's -garment. - -"This cloak--" she said. "You must wear it if we face the Aesir." - -Stuart grimaced. "What good is a piece of cloth? A blaster gun's what I -want." - -"A blaster wouldn't help," Kari said. "This is more than a piece of -cloth, Stuart. It is half-alive--made so by the sciences of the Aesir. -Wear it! It will protect you." - -She swung the great, scarlet billows about Stuart's shoulders. Her -fingers fumbled with the clasp at his throat. And then-- - -_She lies!_ - -The desperate urgency of the thought roared through Stuart's mind. He -knew that soundless voice, so sharp now with violent intensity. His -hands came up to rip the cloak from him-- - -He was too late. Kari sprang back, wide-eyed, as the fastenings of the -cloak tightened like a noose about Stuart's neck. He felt a stinging -shock that ran like white fire along his spine and up into his brain. -One instant of blazing disorientation, a hopeless, despairing cry in -his mind--a _double_ cry, as of two telepathetic voices--and then, his -muscles too weak to hold him, he crashed down upon the floor. - -It was not paralysis. He was simply drained of all strength. There -was pressure about his throat, cold flames along his spine and in his -brain, and he could feel the texture of the cloak wrapped about him, -striking through his spaceman's garb--tingling, sentient, half-alive! - -He whispered an oath. Kari's face had not changed. He read something -strangely like pity in her dark eyes. - -From the gap in the wall whence she had drawn the cloak came a figure, -cloaked in black, a jet cowl hiding its head and face completely. It -was taller than the girl by a foot. It shuffled forward with an odd, -rocking gait, and paused near her. - -Stuart whispered, "I--should have remembered. The--the Aesir can change -their shapes. Those giants I saw weren't real. And neither are you--not -even human!" - -Kari shook her head. "_I_ am real," she said slowly. "_He_ is not." She -gestured toward the black-cloaked figure. "But we are all of the Aesir. -And, as we thought, you were sent by the Protectors. Now your power is -gone, and you must walk the Long Orbit with the other captives." - -The cowled creature came forward. It bent, but Stuart could see nothing -in the shadow of the hood. A fold of cloth writhed out and touched -Stuart's forehead. - -Darkness wrapped him like the shroud of the scarlet cloak. - - - IV - -For a long time he had only his thoughts for company. They were not -pleasant. He felt alone, as he had never felt so utterly lonely and -deserted before anywhere in the System. Now he realized that even -since his landing on Asgard, he had had companionship of a sort--that -the twin voices murmuring in his brain had been more real than he had -realized. A living warmth, a sense of--of _presence_--had been with him -then. - -But it was gone now. Its absence left a black void within him. He stood -alone. - -And Kari.... If he saw her again when his hands were free, he would -kill her. He knew that. But--but her shining smile lightened the -darkness that engulfed him now. He had never seen loveliness like -Kari's, and he had known so many women, so many, too many.... A man who -has fought his way Sunward and back again by way of Pluto's chasmed -midnight is not so easily misled by the smile of a pretty woman. - -Kari was no ordinary woman--God knew she was not! Perhaps not even -human, perhaps not even real at all. It might be that very touch of -alienage that had stamped her shining image upon his memory, but he -could not put the image aside now. He saw her clearly in the darkness -of his captivity and the deeper dark of his loneliness, now that the -voices were stilled. Lovely, exotic, with the eyes full of longing and -terror--what lies they told!--and that lovely, that dazzling smile. - -Bitterness made a wry taste in his mouth. Either she was one of the -Aesir, or she served them. Served them well. A knife in the heart was -the only answer he had for her, and he meant to give her that edged -answer if he lived. But she was so very lovely.... - -Slowly the veil of darkness lifted. He saw a face he had seen -before--the harsh, seamed features of the burly Earthman in the pit. -And beyond him, the slim Martian girl. All motionless, standing like -statues beside him ... beside him! For Stuart was one of them now. He -was in the pit, with the other captives. - -Sensation came back slowly. With it came a tingling, a warm vibration -along his spine ... about his throat ... inside his brain. He -could not move, but at the corner of his range of vision flamed a -crimsonness--the cloak. He still wore it. - -He wondered if the other captives could see him, if their minds were -as active as his in their congealed bodies. Or whether the chill of -deathlike silence held their brains along with their frozen limbs. - -A slow, volcanic fury began to glow within him. Kari--traitor and -murderess! Was she Aesir? Was she Earth-born? And that black-cloaked, -cowled creature ... which was not real. Another projector of the Aesir, -as the giants had been? - -_You were sent by the Protectors._ - -Memory of Kari's phrase came back to Stuart now. And with it, as though -he had somehow unbarred a locked gate, opened it a mere crack, came -a--a whispering. - -Not audible. Faint, faraway, like the shadow of a wind rustling ghosts -of autumn leaves, the murmur rose and fell ... calling him. - -The scarlet cloak moved ... writhed ... flowed more closely about him. -Fainter grew the voices. - -Stuart strained after them. His soul sprang up ... reaching toward -those friendly, utterly inhuman whispers that came from nowhere. - -A dull lethargy numbed him. The cloak drew tighter.... - -He ignored it. Deep in the citadel of his mind, he made himself -receptive, all his being focused on that--that strange calling from -beyond. - -And, suddenly, there were words.... - -"_Derek Stuart. Can you hear us? Answer!_" - -His stiff lips could not speak, but his thoughts formed an answer. And, -rising and falling as though the frequency of that incredible telepathy -pulsed and changed continually, the message came-- - -"We have lost. You have lost too, Stuart. But we will stay with you--we -_must_ stay now--and perhaps your death will be easier because of -that...." - -"Who are you?" he thought, oddly awed by the personality he sensed -behind that voice that was really two voices. - -"There is little time." The--sound?--faded into a thin whisper, then -grew stronger. "The cloak makes it hard for us to communicate with you. -And now we can give you none of our power at all. It is a monstrous -thing--a blasphemy such as only the Aesir would create. Half-alive--it -makes an artificial synapse between the individual and outside mental -contacts. We cannot help you--" - -"Who are you?" - -"We are the Protectors. Listen now, Stuart, for soon you must walk the -Long Orbit with the others. We removed some of your memories, so the -Aesir could not read your mind and have time to prepare themselves--we -hoped we might destroy them this time. But--we have failed again. -Now--we give you your memories back." - -Like a slowly rising tide, Stuart's past began to return. He did not -question how this was done; he was too busy lifting the veil that had -darkened his mind since--since that night at the Singing Star in New -Boston. A few drinks with the tired-eyed man, and then darkness-- - -But the curtain was lifting now. He remembered.... - - * * * * * - -He remembered a tiny, underground room, with armed men--not many of -them--staring at him. A voice that said, "You must either join us or -die. We dare run no risks. For hundreds of years a tiny band of us has -survived, only because the Aesir did not know we existed." - -"Rebels?" he had asked. - -"Sworn to destroy the Aesir," the man told him, and an answering glow -burned briefly in the eyes of the others. - -Stuart laughed. - -"You have courage," the man said. "You'll need it. I know why you -laugh. But we don't fight alone. Have you ever heard of the Protectors?" - -"Never." - -"Few have. They aren't human, any more than the Aesir are. But they are -not evil. They're humanity's champions. They have sworn to destroy the -Aesir, as we have--and so we serve them." - -"Who are they, then? What are they?" - -"No man knows," the other said quietly. "Who--and where--they are is a -secret they keep to themselves. But we hear their messages. And once in -a lifetime, not oftener, they tell us where we may find some man they -have winnowed the planets to discover. In our lifetime, Stuart, you are -the man." - -He gaped at them. "Why? I--" - -"To be a weapon for the Protectors--a champion for mankind. The -Protectors are so far beyond humanity they cannot fight our battles -in their own forms. They need a--a vessel into which they can pour -their power. Or--call it a sword to wield against the Aesir. They have -searched the worlds over for a long while now, and you--" The man -hesitated, looking narrowly at Stuart. "You are the only vessel they -found. You have a great destiny, Derek Stuart." - -He had scowled at them. "All right, suppose I have. What do they offer?" - -The man shook his head. "Death--if you're lucky. No man before you has -ever won a battle for the Protectors. You know that--the Aesir still -rule! Every chance is against you. In a thousand years no man has won -the gamble. But this is greater than you or us, Derek Stuart. Do you -think you have any choice?" - -Stuart stared the other man in the eyes. "There's no chance?" - -The leader smiled. All mankind's indomitable hope was in the smile. - -"Would the Protectors have spent all their efforts, and ours, to find -you if there were no hope? They have mighty and terrible powers. With -the right man for their vessel, they could be stronger than the Aesir. -No man could stand alone against the Aesir. The Protectors could -not stand alone. But together--sword and hand and brain welded into -one--yes, Stuart, there's a chance!" - -"Then why have the others failed?" - -"No one has yet been quite strong enough. Only once in forty -years--fifty--is a man born who might, with luck, have the courage -and the strength. Look at us here--do you think we would not offer -ourselves gladly? Instead, the Protectors guided us to you. If you are -willing to let them establish contact with your mind, enter it, possess -it--there's a chance the Aesir can be destroyed. There's a chance that -man's slavery may be ended!" His voice shook with that mighty hope. - -Stuart glanced around at the ardent, fanatical faces, and something in -him took a slow fire from the fire in theirs. A deep and vital purpose, -as old as humanity--how many times before in Earth's history had men -of Earth gathered in hidden rooms and sworn vows against tyranny and -oppression? How many times before had Earthmen dedicated themselves and -their son's sons, if need be, to the old, old dream that though men may -die, mankind must in the end be free? - -Here in this crowded room the torch of freedom still burned, despite -the hell of slavery under which the worlds toiled now. - -He hesitated. - -"It won't be easy, Stuart," the man warned. "A sword--blade must be -hammered on the anvil, heated in flame, before it's tempered. The -Protectors will test you--so that your mind may be toughened to resist -the attacks of the Aesir later. You will suffer...." - -He had suffered. Those agonizing, nightmare dreams in the forest, -the phantoms that had tortured him--other trials he did not want to -remember. But there had been no flaw in the blade. In the end--the -Protectors had been satisfied, and had entered his mind--maintaining -the contact that still held, though thinly now. - -And the voices he heard still whispering within him were the voices of -his mentors.... - -"We took your memories from you. So that the Aesir could not read too -much in your mind, and be forewarned. Now that does not matter, and you -will be stronger with your memory restored. But when you let the girl -clasp the cloak about you--that was failure." - -"If I could move," Stuart thought. "If I could rip it off--" - -"It is part of you. We do not know how it can be removed. And while you -wear it, we cannot give you our power." - -Stuart said bitterly. "If you'd given me that power in the first -place--" - - * * * * * - -"We did. How do you think you survived the first testing by the Aesir? -And it is dangerous. We must gauge it carefully, so that we do not -transmit too much of our mental energy to you. You are merely human--if -we let you draw on a tenth of our power, that would burn you out like a -melting wire under a strong current." - -"So--what now?" - -"We have lost again. You have lost, and we are sorry. All we can do -is give you an easy death. We possess you now, mentally; if we should -withdraw from your brain, you would die instantly. We will do that -whenever you ask. For the Aesir will kill you anyhow now, and not -pleasantly." - -"I'm not committing suicide. As long as I live, I can still fight." - -"We also. This has happened before. We have chosen and possessed other -champions, and they have failed. We withdrew from their minds before -the Aesir ... killed ... so that we could survive to try again. To -wage another battle. Some day we will win. Some day we shall destroy -the Aesir. But we dare not cling to our broken swords, lest we too be -broken." - -"So when the going gets tough you step out!" - -Stuart sensed pity in the strange twin voice. "We must. We fight for -the race of man. And the greatest gift we can give you now is quick -death." - -"I don't want it," Stuart thought furiously. "I'm going to keep on -fighting! Maybe that's why you've always failed before--you were too -ready to give up. So I'll die if you step out of my mind? Well--it's a -lousy bargain!" - -There was no anger, only a stronger overtone of pity in the still voice. - -"What is it you want, Stuart?" - -"Nothing from you! Just let me go on living. I'll do my own fighting. -There'll be time enough to take a powder when the axe falls. I'm asking -you simply this--keep me alive until I've had another crack at the -Aesir!" - -A pause. "It is dangerous. Dangerous for us. But--" - -"Well?" - -"We will take the risk. But understand--we _must_ leave you if the -peril grows too great. And will--inevitably." - -"Thanks," Stuart said, and meant it. "One thing. What about Kari? Who -is she?" - -"A hundred years ago she was human. Then she was brought here, and the -Aesir possessed her--as we possess you. She has grown less human in -that time, as the alien grows stronger within her. She has only faint -memories of her former life now, and _they_ will vanish soon. Contact -with the Aesir is like an infection--she will grow more and more like -them. Perhaps, eventually, become one of them." - -Stuart grimaced. "If the Aesir should withdraw from her--" - -"She would die, yes. Her own life-force has been sapped too far. You -and she are kept alive only as long as the bond of possession holds." - -Nice, Stuart thought. If the Aesir were destroyed, Kari would die -with him. And if _he_ faced doom, he too would die, as the Protectors -withdrew to avoid sharing his fate. - -Hell--what did he care whether Kari lived or died? It was only the -glamor of half-alienage that had drawn him to the girl. A dagger in her -throat-- - -Besides, he was certainly facing doom now. - -"All I can do--" he said--and stopped abruptly. He was speaking aloud. -Patiently the twin voice in his brain waited for him to continue. - -Slowly he flexed his arms. He tilted back his head, staring up at the -rim of the pit fifty feet above him. He could see the titan pillars -rising toward the roof of that mighty tower, incredibly far above. But -there was no sign of life. - -"I can move," he said. "I--" - -Struck by a new thought, he gripped the folds of the cloak. It was -nauseously warm and vibrant. It seemed to move under his hands. He -jerked at it, and felt a twinge of agonizing pain along his spine and -about his throat, while a white-hot lance stabbed into his skull. - -"If I could get rid of this--you could help me?" - -"We could give you our power, to use against the Aesir. But we do not -know how to remove the cloak." - -"I don't either," Stuart growled, and paused as a movement caught his -eye. The muscular Earthman near him was stirring. - -He turned slowly. Beyond him the Martian girl swayed her -feathery-crested head and lifted supple, slender arms. And the -others--all about Stuart they were wakening to motion. - -But no life showed in their dull eyes. No understanding. Only a blind, -empty withdrawal. - -They turned, trooped toward the wall of the pit ... toward an arched -opening that was gaping suddenly. - -"The Long Orbit," said the voice in Stuart's mind. - -"What's that?" - -"Death. As the Aesir feed. They feed on the life-force of living -organisms." - -"Is that the only way out?" - -"The only way open to you. Yes." - - * * * * * - -Stuart went slowly after the others. They had crossed the threshold -now, and were pacing along a tunnel, lit with cold blue brilliance, -that curved very gradually toward the left. Behind him a panel closed. - -The cloak swayed like a great bloodstain behind him, moving in a motion -not entirely caused by Stuart's movements. He tried again to unfasten -it, but the clasp at his throat only drew tighter. And the tingling -sensation increased along his spine. - -An artificial synapse ... blocking his nerve-ends so that he could not -draw upon the Protectors' power.... - -At his left was an alcove in the tunnel wall. It was filled with -coagulated light ... bright with glaring flames ... flame-hot. Within -that white curtain stirred swift movement, like the leaping of fires. -Above the recess a symbol was embossed in the stone. The sign of -Mercury. - -"Mercury," said the voice in Stuart's mind. "The Servant of the Sun. -The Swift Messenger. Mercury, that drinks the Sun's fires and blazes -like a star in the sky's abyss. First in the Long Orbit--Mercury." - -The crowd of prisoners, dull-eyed, swayed to and fro, a ripple of -excitement rustling through them. Abruptly the Martian girl darted -forward-- - -Was engulfed in the milky flames. - -Stood there, while curdled opalescence veiled her. On her face sheer -horror, as-- - -"The Aesir feed," the voice whispered. "They drink the cup of her -life ... to its last dregs." - -The captives were moving again. Silently Stuart followed them along the -tunnel. Now another recess showed in the wall. - -Blue ... blue, this time, as hazy seas of enchantment ... misted with -fog, with slow shifting movement within it.... - -"The sign of Venus," said the voice. "The Clouded World. Planet of life -and womb of creation. Ruler of mists and seas--Venus!" - -The Earthman was drawn into the alcove. Stood there, while azure seas -washed higher and higher about him. Through that glassy veil his face -glared, stiff with alien fear.... - -The sacrifices went on. - -There was no alcove, no symbol for Earth. The Aesir had forgotten the -world that had been their place of birth. - -"Mars! Red star of madness! Ruler of man's passion, lord of the bloody -seas! Where scarlet sands run through Time's hourglass--Mars, third in -the Long Orbit!" - -The crimson glow of a dusty ruby ... the face of a Venusian, strained, -twisted in agony ... the hunger of the Aesir.... - -"The Little Worlds! The Great Belt that girdles the Inner System! The -Broken Planet--" - -Tiny goblin lights, dancing and flickering, blue and sapphire and dull -orange, wine-red and dawn-yellow-- - -The hunger of the Aesir. - -"Jupiter! Titan! Colossus of the Spaceroads! Jupiter, whose mighty -hands seize the ships of man and drag them to his boiling heart! The -Great One-fifth in the Long Orbit!" - -The hunger of the Aesir. - -"Ringed Saturn light-crowned! Guardian of the outer skies! Saturn--" - -Uranus ... Neptune.... - -Pluto. - -The hunger of the Aesir.... - -Beyond Pluto, dark worlds Stuart had not known. Until finally he was -alone. The last of his companions had been drawn into one of the -vampire alcoves of the Long Orbit. - -He went on. - -There was another recess in the wall at his left. It was filled with -night. Jet blackness, cold and horrible, brimmed it. - -Something like an invisible current dragged him forward, though he -fought with all his strength to resist. Instinctively he sent out a -desperate call to the Protectors. - -"We cannot aid you. We must leave you ... you will die instantly." - -"Wait! Don't--don't give up yet! Give me your power--" - -"We cannot. While you wear the cloak." - -The edge of blackness touched Stuart with a frigid impact. He felt -something, avid with horrible hunger, strain forward from of the -alcove, reaching for him. The cloak billowed out-- - -Sweat stood out on Stuart's face. For, suddenly, he had seen the way. -It might mean death, it would certainly mean frightful agony--but he -could go down fighting. If the cloak could not be removed in any other -way--perhaps it could be ripped off! He gripped the half-living fabric -at its bottom, brought his arm behind him--and tore the horror from him! - - * * * * * - -Stark, abysmal nerve-shock poured like a current of fire up his spine -and into his brain. It was like tearing off his own skin. Sick, blind, -gasping dry-throated sobs, Stuart stumbled away from the black alcove, -tearing at the cloak. It tried to cling to him-- - -He ripped it away--hurled it from him. And as it fell--it screamed! - -But he was free. - -For an instant sheer weakness overwhelmed him. Then into him poured a -racing, jubilant torrent of strength, of mighty, intoxicating power -that seemed to heal his wounds and revivify him instantly. - -Into him surged the power of the Protectors! - -From the alcove a finger of darkness tendrilled out. He was borne away -from it ... along the passage. Dimly, through drifting mists, he sensed -that he was moving up a ramp ... through a wall that seemed to grow -intangible as he approached it ... up and up.... - -He was in the hall of the Aesir. - -Above him the cyclopean pillars towered, dwarfing the thrones set -between them. Before him hung the shifting wall of light. - -He was carried toward it--through it. - -He stood on a black dais. Facing him was the cloaked, cowled figure he -had last seen with Kari. - -And beside the Aesir stood Kari! - -The creature lifted its arm ... a red flame spouted toward Stuart. -Sudden, mocking laughter spilled from his lips. He no longer fought -alone. The tremendous power of the Protectors blazed within him, power -and energy and force that could smash suns. - -In midair the fiery lance failed and died. The Aesir drew back a step, -drawing its cloak about it as if in surprise. And Kari--Kari shrank -back, too, and something strangely like hope flashed for a moment -across her dazzling, her more than mortal loveliness. Hope? But she was -of the Aesir now. And if they failed, she died. Then why-- - -The Aesir's cloak flickered, and a second gush of fiery light -fountained toward Stuart. - -Up surged the tide of power in him again. Blind and dazed with his -own tremendous energy, Stuart felt a curve like a dim shield flung up -to meet that lance. The Aesir's fire struck-and flashed into blazing -fragments on the Protector's shield. Each droplet sang intolerable -music as it faded and winked out. And behind the Aesir, more dazzling -than any immortal fire had been, Stuart saw Kari's sudden, shining -smile.... - -She would die if the Aesir failed. She must know she would die. But the -brilliance of her smile struck him as the Aesir's spear of fire could -never strike. He knew, then. He understood.... - -The Aesir's cloak whirled like a storm-cloud, in dark, deep billows. -The Aesir itself grew taller for a moment, as if it drew itself up to a -godlike height. And then it did for Derek Stuart what no Aesir had ever -done for a mortal man before. No Aesir had ever needed to. It cast off -the hampering cloak and stood stripped for battle with this primitive -manling whose forebears immemorially long ago had been the Aesir's -forebears. There was in that stripping something almost of kinship--an -acknowledgment that here at last in the hall of the Aesir stood an -equal, sprung of equal stock.... - -Naked in its terrible power, the Aesir stood up to face the man. - -Not human. Not ever human, except in the mysterious basics which these -people of a thousand millenniums in the future had chosen to retain. -The flesh they had cast off, and the flesh the Aesir stood up in to -face his forebear was pure, blazing, blinding energy. Twice as tall -as a man it stood, shining with supernal brilliance, terrible and -magnificent. - -The great hall rang soundlessly with the power of the Protectors. - -And then from above a streak of light came flashing, and another, and -another. And were engulfed in the one Aesir who stood shining before -its adversary, growing ever brighter and more terrible. The rest of -the Aesir, coming to the aid of their fellow, forming a single entity -to crush the champion of mankind. - -Stuart braced himself for the incredible torrent of energy that -would come blasting through him from the Protectors. And in a split -second--it came! - -Mind and body reeled beneath the impact of that power as force flared -through him and struck out at the tower of lightning which was the -Aesir. But the force which was trying his human body to its utmost was -not force enough to touch that blinding column. Energy lashed out from -it, struck him a reeling blow--Stuart dropped to his knees, the hall -swimming in fire around him. - -But what he saw was not the terrible, blazing image of his adversary, -but Kari's face beyond. His falling meant her life--but when she saw -him go down the brilliance dimmed upon her features. The hope he had -seen there went out like a candle-flame and she was once more only a -vessel of human flesh which the Aesir had possessed and degraded. - -In his despair and his dizziness he cried soundlessly, "Help me, -Protectors! Give me your power!" - -The still double-voice said, "You could not hold it. You would be -burned out utterly." - -"I'll hold it long enough!" he promised desperately. "One second of -power--only that! Enough to smash the Aesir. Then death--but not till -then!" - - * * * * * - -There was one instant when time stopped. That cataclysmic horror that -had risen a thousand years ago and raged through the worlds like a -holocaust stood blazing before Stuart's eyes. It stooped toward him, -poising for the hammer blow that would smash him to nothing-- - -Then a power like the drive of galaxies through space thundered into -Stuart's mind. - -He had not expected this. Nothing in human experience could have taught -him to expect it. For the Protectors were not human. No more human than -the Aesir themselves. And the unleashed energy that roared soundlessly -through Stuart rocked his very soul on its foundations. He could not -stir. He could not think. He could only stay upon his knees facing the -Aesir-thing as galactic power thundered through him and wielded him -like a sword against man's enemies. - -Higher and higher rose the crashing tides of contest. The citadel -shook ponderously upon the rocks of the god-made little world. Perhaps -that world itself staggered in space as the titans battled together on -its rocking surface. - -Faster spun the core of radiant light which was the Aesir. Faster raced -the tides of power through Stuart's blasted body, seeming to rip his -very flesh apart and blaze in his brain like hammers of cosmic fire. - -Terribly, terribly he yearned for surcease, for the end of this -unthinkable destruction that was tearing his brain and body apart. And -he knew he could end it in a moment, if he chose to let go.... - -Grimly he clung to the power that was destroying him. Second by -second, counting each moment an eternity, he clung to consciousness. -The crashing lances of the Protectors drove on upon the armor of the -Aesir, and the cyclopean pillars of the great hall reeled upon their -foundations, and the very air blazed into liquid fire around him. - -He never knew what final blow of cosmic violence ended that battle. But -suddenly, without warning, the vast column of the Aesir pulsed with -violent brilliance and the whole hall rang with a cry too shrill and -terrible for ears or the very mind to hear, except as a thrilling of -despair. - -The tower rocked. All the bright tapestries billowed and flowed against -the walls. And the radiant thing that was the Aesir-- - -Went out like a blown flame. Stuart saw it darken in the quickness of -a heartbeat from blinding brightness to an angry, sullen scarlet, and -then to the color of embers, and then to darkness. - -There was nothing there at all. - -And Stuart's brain dimmed with it one last glimpse he had of the -shining smile on Kari's face, triumph and delight, in the instant -before the cloudiness of oblivion blotted her features out. - -He was not dead. Somewhere, far away, his body lay prone upon the cold -pavement of the Aesir's hall, a hall terribly empty now of life. But -Stuart himself hung in empty space, somewhere between life and death. - -The thought of the Protectors touched him gently, almost caressingly. - -"You are a mighty man, Derek Stuart. Your name shall not be forgotten -while mankind lives." - -With infinite effort he roused his mind. - -"Kari--" he said. - -There was silence for a moment--a warm silence. But the voices, -speaking as one, said gently, "Have you forgotten? When the Aesir died, -Kari died too. And you, Derek Stuart--you can never go back to your -body now. You remember that?" - -Sudden rebellion shook Stuart's bodiless brain. "Get out of my mind!" -he raged at the double-voice. "What do you know about human beings? -I've won for mankind--but what did I win for myself? Nothing--nothing! -And Kari--Get out of my mind and let me die! What do _you_ know about -love?" - -Amazingly, laughter pulsed softly. - -"Love?" said the double-voice. "Love? You have not guessed who we are?" - -Stuart's bewildered mind framed only a voiceless question. - -"We know humanity," the twin voices said. "We were human once, a -thousand years ago. Very human, Derek Stuart. And we remembered love." - -He half guessed the answer. "You are--" - -"There was a man and a woman once," the voices told him gently. -"Mankind still remembers their legend--John Starr and Lorna, who defied -the Aesir." - -"John Starr and Lorna!" - -"We fought the Aesir in the days when we and they were human. We worked -with them on the entropy device that made them what they are now--and -made us--ourselves. When we saw what they planned with their power, we -fought.... But they were five, and strong because they were ruthless. -We had to flee." - -The voices that spoke as one voice were distant, remembering. - -"They grew in power on their Asgard world, changing as the millenniums -swept over them, as entropy accelerated for them. And we changed, -too, in our own place, in our different way. We are not human now. -But we are not monsters, as the Aesir were. We have known failure -and bitterness and defeat many times, Derek Stuart. But we remember -humanity. And as for love--" - -Stuart said bitterly: - -"You know _your_ love. You have it forever. But Kari ... Kari is dead." - -The voices were very gentle. "You have sacrificed more than we. You -gave up your love and your bodies. We--" - - * * * * * - -Silence again. Then the woman, serene and gentle-voiced, "There is a -way, John. But not an easy one--for us." - -Stuart thought, "But Kari is dead." - -The woman said, "Her body is empty of the Aesir life-force. And yours -is burned out by the power we poured through it, so that no human could -live in it again unless--unless one more than human upheld you." - -"Lorna--" - -"We must part for awhile, John. We have been one for a long while. Now -we must be two again, for the sake of these two. Until the change...." - -"What change?" asked Stuart eagerly. - -"As we changed, so would you, if our lives upheld yours. Entropy would -move for you as it moved for the Aesir and for us. And that, too, I -think, is good. Mankind will need a leader. And we can help--John and -I--more surely if we taste again of humanity. After awhile--after -millenniums--the circle will close and John and I will be free to merge -again. And you and Kari, too." - -Stuart thought, "But Kari--_will_ it be Kari?" - -"It will be," the gentle voice said. "Cleansed of the evil of the -Aesir, supported by my own strength, as you by John's. You will be -yourselves again, with the worlds before you, and afterward--a dwelling -among the stars, with us...." - -The man's voice said, "Lorna, Lorna--" - -"You know we must, beloved," the softer voice said. "We have asked too -much of them to offer nothing in repayment. And it will not be goodbye." - -There was darkness and silence. - -Stuart was dimly aware of cyclopean heights rising above him. -Painfully he stirred. He was clothed in his own body again, and the -battle-blasted hall of the dead Aesir towered high into the dimness -above him. - -He turned his head. - -Beside him on the dais a girl, lying crumpled in the shower of her -hair, stirred and sighed. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT HATH ME? *** - -***** This file should be named 63796-0.txt or 63796-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/7/9/63796/ - -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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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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: What Hath Me? - -Author: Henry Kuttner - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63796] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT HATH ME? *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>WHAT HATH ME?</h1> - -<h2>By HENRY KUTTNER</h2> - -<p>The thousand tiny eyes raced past him, glittering<br /> -with alien ecstasy, shining brighter, ever brighter<br /> -as they fed. He felt the lifeblood being sucked<br /> -out of him—deeper stabbed the gelid cold—louder<br /> -roared the throbbing in his ears ... then the voice<br /> -came, "<i>The heart of the Watcher. Crush the heart.</i>"</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Spring 1946.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The man running through the forest gloom breathed in hot, panting -gusts, pain tearing at his chest. Underfoot the crawling, pale network -of tree-trunks lay flat upon the ground, and more than once he tripped -over a slippery bole and crashed down, but he was up again instantly.</p> - -<p>He had no breath to scream. He sobbed as he ran, his burning eyes -trying to pierce the shadows. Whispers rustled down from above. When -the leaf-ceiling parted, a blaze of terribly bright stars flamed in -the jet sky. It was cold and dark, and the man knew that he was not on -Earth.</p> - -<p><i>They</i> were following him, even here.</p> - -<p>A squat yellow figure, huge-eyed, inhuman, loomed in his path—one of -the swamp people of Southern Venus. The man swung a wild blow at the -thing, and his fist found nothing. It had vanished. But beyond it rose -a single-legged giant, a Martian, bellowing the great, gusty laughter -of the Redland Tribes. The man dodged, stumbled, and smashed down -heavily. He heard paddling footsteps and tried, with horrible intensity -of purpose, to rise. He could not.</p> - -<p>The Martian crept toward him—but it was no longer a Martian. An -Earthman, with the face of some obscene devil, came forward with a -sidling, slow motion. Horns sprouted from the low forehead. The teeth -were fangs. As the creature came nearer, it raised its hands—twisted, -gnarled talons—and slid them about the man's throat.</p> - -<p>Through the forest thundered the deep, booming clangor of a brass gong. -The sound shattered the phantom as a hammer shatters glass. Instantly -the man was alone.</p> - -<p>Making hoarse, animal sounds in his throat, he staggered upright and -lurched in the direction from which the sound came. But he was too -weak. Presently he fell, and this time he did not rise. His arms moved -a little and then were still. He slept, lines of tortured weariness -twisting the haggard face.</p> - -<p>Very faintly, from infinite distances, he heard a voice ... two voices. -Inhuman. Alien—and yet with a warmth of vital urgency that stirred -something deep within him.</p> - -<p>"<i>He has passed our testing.</i>"</p> - -<p>Then a stronger, more powerful voice—answering.</p> - -<p>"<i>Others have passed our testing—but the Aesir slew them.</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>There is no other way. In this man I sensed something—a little -different. He can hate—he has hated.</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>He will need more than hatred</i>—" the deeper voice said. "<i>Even with -us to aid him. And there is little time. Strip his memories from him -now, so that he may not be weakened by them</i>—"</p> - -<p>"<i>May the gods fight with him.</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>But he fights the gods. The only gods men know in these evil days</i>—"</p> - -<p>The man awakened.</p> - -<p>Triphammers beat ringingly inside his skull. He opened his eyes and -closed them quickly against the sullen red glow that beat down from -above. He lay motionless, gathering his strength.</p> - -<p>What had happened?</p> - -<p>He didn't know. The jolting impact of that realization struck him -violently. He felt a brief panic of disorientation. Where—?</p> - -<p><i>I'm Derek Stuart</i>, he thought. <i>At least it isn't complete amnesia. I -know who I am. But not where I am.</i></p> - -<p>This time when he opened his eyes they stayed open. Overhead a -broad-leafed tree arched. Through its branches he could see a dark, -starry sky, the glowing, ringed disc of Saturn very far away, and a -deeply scarlet glow.</p> - -<p>Not Earth, then. A Saturnian moon? No, Saturn didn't eclipse most of -the sky. Perhaps the asteroid belt.</p> - -<p>He moved his head a little, and saw the red moon.</p> - -<p><i>Aesir!</i></p> - -<p>The message rippled along his nerves into his brain. Stuart reacted -instantly. His hard, strong body writhed, whipped over, and then he was -in a half-crouch, one hand flashing to his belt while his eyes searched -the empty silence of the forest around him. There was no sound, no -movement.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sweat stood on Stuart's forehead, and he brushed it away impatiently. -His deeply-tanned face set into harsh lines of curiously hopeless -desperation. There was no blaster gun at his belt; that didn't matter. -Guns couldn't help him now—on Asgard.</p> - -<p>The red moon had told him the answer. Only one world in the System had -a red moon, and men didn't go to that artificial asteroid willingly. -They went, yes—but only to be doomed and damned. From Venus to -Callisto spacemen spoke of Asgard in hushed voices—Asgard where the -Aesir lived and ruled the worlds of Man.</p> - -<p>No spaceships left Asgard, except the sleek black cruisers manned by -the priests of Aesir. <i>No man had ever returned from Asgard.</i></p> - -<p>Stuart grinned mirthlessly. He'd learned a lesson, though he'd never -profit by it now. Always before he'd been confident of his ability to -outdrink anyone of his own weight and size. And certainly that slight, -tired-eyed man at the Singing Star, in New Boston, should have passed -out long before Stuart—under normal circumstances.</p> - -<p>So the circumstances hadn't been quite normal. It was a frame. A -beautiful, air-tight frame, because he'd never come back to squawk. -Nobody came back from Asgard.</p> - -<p>He shivered a little and looked up warily. There were legends, of -course. The Watchers who patrolled the asteroid ceaselessly—robots, -men said. They served the Aesir. As, in a way, all men served the Aesir.</p> - -<p>No sound. No movement. Only the sullen crimson light beating down -ominously from that dark sky.</p> - -<p>Stuart took stock of his clothing. Regular leatheroid spaceman's rig; -they'd left him that, anyway. Whoever <i>they</i> were. He couldn't remember -anything that had happened after the fifth drink with the tired-eyed -man. There was a very faint recollection of running somewhere—seeing -unpleasant things—and hearing two oddly unreal voices. But the -memories slipped away and vanished as he tried to focus on them.</p> - -<p>The hell with it. He was on Asgard. And that meant—something rather -more unpleasant than death, if the legends were to be believed. A very -suitable climax to an unorthodox life, in this era when obedience and -law enforcement were the rigid rule.</p> - -<p>Stuart picked up a heavy branch that might serve as a club. Then, -shrugging, he turned westward, striking at random through the forest. -No use waiting here till the Watchers came. At least—he could fight, -as he had always fought as far back as he could remember.</p> - -<p>There wasn't much room for fighters any more. Not under the Aesir rule. -There were nations and kings and presidents, of course, but they were -puppet figures, never daring to disobey any edicts that came from the -mystery-shrouded asteroid hanging off the orbit of Mars, the tiny, -artificial world that had ruled the System for a thousand years.</p> - -<p>The Aesir. The inhuman, cryptic beings who—if legend were true—once -had been human. Stuart scowled, trying to remember.</p> - -<p>An—an entropic accelerator, that was it. A device, a method that -speeded up evolution tremendously. That had been the start of the -tyranny. A machine that could accelerate a man's evolution by a million -years—</p> - -<p>Some had used that method. Those were the ones who had become the -Aesir, creatures so far advanced in the evolutionary scale that they -were no longer remotely human. Much was lost in the mists of the past. -But Stuart could recall that much—the knowledge that the Aesir -had once been human, that they were human no longer, and that for a -thousand years they had ruled the System, very terribly, from their -forbidden asteroid that they named Asgard—home of the legendary Norse -gods.</p> - -<p>Maybe the tired-eyed man had been an Aesir priest, collecting victims. -Certainly no others would have dared to land a ship on Asgard. Stuart -swung on, searching the empty skies, and now a queer, unreasoning -excitement began to grow within him. At least, before he died, he'd -learn what the Aesir were like. It probably wouldn't be pleasant -knowledge, but there'd be some satisfaction in it. And there'd be even -more satisfaction if he thought he had a chance of smashing a hard fist -into the face of one of the Aesir priests—or even—</p> - -<p>Hell, why not? He had nothing to lose now. From the moment he -had touched Asgard soil, he was damned anyway. But of one thing -Stuart was certain; he wouldn't be led like a helpless sheep to the -throat-cutting. He wouldn't die without fighting against them.</p> - -<p>The forest thinned before him. There was a flicker of swift motion -far ahead. Stuart froze, his grip tightening on the cudgel, his eyes -searching.</p> - -<p>Between the columnar trees, bright amid the purple shadows, a glitter -of sparkling nebulae swept. A web of light, Stuart thought—so dazzling -his eyes ached as he stared at the—the thing.</p> - -<p>Bodiless, intangible, the shifting net of stars poised, high above his -head. Hundreds of twinkling, glittering pinpoints flickered there, so -swiftly it seemed as though an arabesque spider-web of light weaved in -the still, dark air—web of the Norns!</p> - -<p>Each flickering star-fleck—watched. Each was an eye.</p> - -<p>And as the thing poised, a horrible, half-human hesitancy in its -stillness, a deep, humming note sounded, from its starry heart.</p> - -<p>Star-points shook and quivered to the sound. Again it came—deeper, -more menacing.</p> - -<p>Questioning!</p> - -<p>Was this one of the—Watchers? Was this one of them?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Abruptly its hesitancy vanished; it swept down upon Stuart. -Instinctively he swung his cudgel in a smashing blow that sent him -reeling forward—for there was no resistance. The star-creature was as -intangible as air.</p> - -<p>And yet it was not. The dazzling web of light enfolded him like a -blazing cloak. Instantly a cold, trembling horror crawled along his -skin. Bodiless the thing might be—but it was dangerous, infinitely so!</p> - -<p>Pressure, shifting, quicksand pressure, was all about him. That -stealthy cold crept into his flesh and bones, frigid icicles jabbing -into his brain. Gasping with shock, Stuart struck out. He had dropped -the club. Now he stooped and groped for it, but he could see nothing -except a glittering veil of diamonds that raced like a mad torrent -everywhere.</p> - -<p>The humming rose again—ominously triumphant.</p> - -<p>Cursing, Stuart staggered forward. The star-cloak stayed. He tried to -grip it somewhere, to wrench it free, but he could not. The thousands -of tiny eyes raced past him, glittering with alien ecstasy, shining -brighter and ever brighter as they fed.</p> - -<p>He felt the life being sucked out of him.... Deeper stabbed the gelid -cold ... louder roared that throbbing tone in his ears.</p> - -<p>He heard his voice gasping furious, hopeless oaths. His eyes ached with -the strain of staring at that blinding glitter. Then—</p> - -<p><i>The heart of the Watcher. Crush the heart!</i></p> - -<p>The words crashed like deep thunder in his brain. Had someone spoken -them—? No ... for, with the command, had come a message as well. As -though a thought had spoken within his mind, a telepathic warning -from—where?</p> - -<p>His eyes strained at the dazzle. Now he saw that there was a brighter -core that did not shift and change when the rest of the star-cloud wove -its dreadful net. A spot of light that—</p> - -<p>He reached out ... the nucleus darted away ... he lurched forward, on -legs half-frozen, and felt a stone turn under his foot. As he crashed -down, his hand closed and tightened on something warm and living that -pulsed frantically against his palm.</p> - -<p>The humming rose to a shrill scream ... frightened ... warning.</p> - -<p>Stuart tightened his grip. He lay motionless, his eyes closed. But all -around him he could feel the icy tendrils of the star-thing lashing at -him, drinking his human warmth, probing with avid fingers at his brain.</p> - -<p>He felt that warm—core—writhe and try to slip between his fingers. He -squeezed....</p> - -<p>The scream burst out, an inhuman agony in its raw-edged keening.</p> - -<p>It stopped.</p> - -<p>In Stuart's hand was—nothing.</p> - -<p>He opened his eyes. The dazzling glitter of star-points had vanished. -Only the forest, with its purple shadows, lay empty and silent around -him.</p> - -<p>Stuart got up slowly, swallowed dry-throated. The creatures of the -Aesir were not invulnerable, then. Not to one who knew their weaknesses.</p> - -<p><i>How had he known?</i></p> - -<p>What voice had spoken in his brain? There had been an odd, impossible -familiarity to that—that mental voice, now that he remembered it. -Somewhere he had heard it, sensed it before.</p> - -<p>That gap in his memory—</p> - -<p>He tried to bridge it, but he could not. There was only a quickening of -the desire to go on westward. He felt suddenly certain that he would -find the Aesir in that direction.</p> - -<p>He took a hesitant step—and another. And with each step, a queer, -unmotivated confidence poured into him. As though some barrier in his -mind had broken down, letting some strange flood of proud defiance rush -in.</p> - -<p>It was impossible. It was dangerous. But—certainly—no more dangerous -than supinely waiting here on Asgard till another Watcher came to -destroy him. There were worse things than the starry Watchers here, if -legends were to be trusted.</p> - -<p>He went on, the curious tide of defiance rising higher and ever higher -in his blood. It was a strangely intoxicating sense of—of pure, crazy -self-confidence such as no man should rightfully have felt on this -haunted asteroid.</p> - -<p>He wondered—but the drunkenness was such that he did not wonder much. -He did not question.</p> - -<p>He thought: <i>To hell with the Aesir!</i></p> - -<p>The forest ended. At his feet a road began, leading off into the purple -horizons of the flat plain before him. At the end of that road was a -thrusting pillar of light that rose like a tower toward the dark sky.</p> - -<p><i>There were the Aesir....</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>Every spaceman has an automatic sense of orientation. In ancient days, -when clipper ships sailed the seas of Earth, the Yankee skippers knew -the decks beneath their feet, and they knew the stars. Southern Cross -or Pole Star told them in what latitudes they sailed. In unknown -waters, they still had their familiar keels and the familiar stars.</p> - -<p>So it is with the spacemen who drift from Pluto to Mercury Darkside, -trusting to metal hulls that shut in the air and shut out the vast -abysses of interplanetary space. When they work outship, a glance at -the sky will tell a trained man where he is—and only tough, trained -men survive the dangerous commerce of space. On Mercury the blazing -solar corona flames above the horizon; on clouded Venus the green star -of Earth shines sometimes. On Io, Callisto, Ganymede, a man can orient -himself by the gigantic mother planet—Saturn or Jupiter—and in the -Asteroid Belt, there is always the strange procession of little worlds -like lanterns, some half-shadowed, others brightly reflecting the Sun's -glare. Anywhere in the System the sky is friendly—</p> - -<p>Except on Asgard. Jupiter was too far and too small; Mars was scarcely -visible; the Asteroid Belt not much thicker than the Milky Way. The -unfamiliar magnitudes of the planets told Stuart, very surely, that he -was on unknown territory. He was without the sure, safe anchor that -spacemen depend upon, and that lack told him how utterly he stood alone -now.</p> - -<p>But the unreasoning confidence did not flag. If anything, it mounted -stronger within him as he hurried along the road, his rangy legs -eating up the miles with easy speed. The sooner he reached his goal, -the better he'd like it. Nor did he wish to encounter any more of the -Aesir's guardians—his business was with the Aesir!</p> - -<p>The tower of light grew taller as he went on. Now he saw that it was -a cluster of buildings, massed cylinders of varying heights, each -one gigantic in diameter as well as height, and all shining with that -cold, shadowless radiance that apparently came from the stone—or -metal—itself. The road led directly to the base of the tallest tower.</p> - -<p>It ran between shining pillars—a gateless threshold—and was lost -in silvery mists. No bars were needed to keep visitors out of this -fortress!</p> - -<p>Briefly a cool wind of doubt blew upon Stuart. He hesitated, wishing he -had at least his blaster gun. But he was unarmed; he had even left the -club back in the forest.</p> - -<p>He glanced around.</p> - -<p>The red moon was sinking. A heavier darkness was creeping over the -land. Very far away he thought he saw the shifting flicker of dancing -lights—a Watcher?</p> - -<p>He hurried onward.</p> - -<p>Cyclopean, the tower loomed above him, like a shining rod poised to -strike. His gaze could not pierce the mists beyond the portal.</p> - -<p>He stepped forward—between the twin pillars. He walked on blindly into -the silver mists.</p> - -<p>Twenty steps he took—and paused, as something dark and shapeless swam -into view before him. A pit—at his feet.</p> - -<p>In the dimness he could not see its bottom, but a narrow bridge crossed -the gulf, a little to his left. Stuart crossed the bridge. Solidity was -again under his feet.</p> - -<p>With shocking suddenness, a great, brazen bellow of laughter roared -out. Harsh mockery sharpened it. And it was echoed.</p> - -<p>All around Stuart the laughter thundered—and was answered. The walls -gave it back and echoed it. The bellowing laughter of gods deafened -Stuart.</p> - -<p>The mists drifted away—were sucked down into the pit. They vanished.</p> - -<p>As though they fled from that evil laughter.</p> - -<p>Stuart stood in a chamber that must have occupied the entire base of -that enormous tower. Behind him the abyss gaped. Before him a shifting -veil of light hid whatever lay behind it. But all around, between -monstrous pillars, were set thrones, ebon thrones fifty feet tall.</p> - -<p>On the thrones sat giants!</p> - -<p>Titan figures, armored in glittering mail, ringed Stuart, and instantly -his mind fled back to half-forgotten folk-lore.... Asgard, Jotunheim, -the lands of the giants and the gods. Thor and Odin, sly Loki and -Baldur—they were all here, he thought, bearded colossi roaring their -black laughter into the shaking air of the hall.</p> - -<p>Watching him from their height—</p> - -<p>Then he looked up, and the giants were dwarfed.</p> - -<p>The chamber was roofless. At least he could see no roof. The pillars -climbed up and up tremendously all around the walls that were hung with -vast stretches of tapestry, till they dwindled to a pinpoint far above. -The sheer magnitude of the tower made Stuart's mind rock dizzily.</p> - -<p>Still the laughter roared out. But now it died....</p> - -<p>Thundered through the hall a voice ... deep ... resonant ... the voice -of the Aesir.</p> - -<p>"<i>A human, brother!</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>Aye! A human—and a mad one, to come here.</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>To enter the hall of the Aesir.</i>"</p> - -<p>A red-bearded colossus bent down, his glacial blue eyes staring at -Stuart. "<i>Shall I crush him?</i>"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Stuart sprang back as an immense hand swooped down like a falling tree -upon him. Instinctively his hand flashed to his belt, and suddenly the -red-beard was shouting laughter that the others echoed.</p> - -<p>"<i>He has courage.</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>Let him live.</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>Aye. Let him live. He may amuse us for a while....</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>And then?</i>"</p> - -<p>"<i>Then the pit—with the others.</i>"</p> - -<p>The others? Stuart slanted a glance downward. The silver mists had -dissipated now, and he could see that the abyss was not bottomless. Its -floor was fifty feet below the surface on which he stood, and a dozen -figures were visible beneath.</p> - -<p>They stood motionless—like statues. A burly, leather-clad Earthmen -who might have been whisked from some Plutonian mine; a slim, scantily -clad Earthgirl, her hair powdered blue, her costume the shining -sequin-suit of a tavern entertainer. A stocky, hunch-shouldered -Venusian with his slate-gray skin; a Martian girl, seven feet tall, -with limbs and features of curious delicacy, her hair piled high atop -that narrow skull. Another Earthman—a thin, pale, clerklike fellow. -A white-skinned, handsome Callistan native, looking like Apollo, and, -like all Callistans, harboring the cold savagery of a demon behind that -smooth mask.</p> - -<p>A dozen of them—drawn from all parts of the System. Stuart remembered -that this was the time of the periodic tithing—which meant nothing -less than a sacrifice. Once each month a few men and women would -vanish—not many—and the black ships of the Aesir priests sped back to -Asgard with their captives.</p> - -<p>Not one looked up. Frozen motionless as stone, they stood there in the -pit—waiting.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Again the laughter crashed out. The red-beard was watching Stuart.</p> - -<p>"His courage flags," the great voice boomed. "Speak the truth, -Earthman. Have you courage to face the gods?"</p> - -<p>Stuart stubbornly refused to answer. He had an odd, reasonless -impression that this was part of some deep game, that behind the -mocking by-play lay a more serious purpose.</p> - -<p>"He has courage now," a giant said. "But did he always have courage? -Has there never been a time in his life when courage failed him? -Answer, Earthman!"</p> - -<p>Stuart was listening to another voice, a quiet, infinitely distant -voice within his brain that whispered: <i>Do not answer them!</i></p> - -<p>"Let him pass our testing," the red-beard commanded. "If he fails, -there is an end. If he does <i>not</i> fail—he goes into the pit to walk -the Long Orbit."</p> - -<p>The giant leaned forward.</p> - -<p>"Will you match skill—and courage—with us, Earthling?"</p> - -<p>Still Stuart did not answer. More than ever now he sensed the violent, -hidden undercurrents surging beneath the surface of this by-play. More -than he knew swung in the balance here.</p> - -<p>He nodded.</p> - -<p>"He has courage," a giant repeated. "But did he always have courage?"</p> - -<p>"We shall see ..." the red-beard said.</p> - -<p>The air shimmered before Stuart. Through its shaking his senses played -him false. He knew quite well who he was and where he stood, in what -deadly peril—but in that shimmer which bewildered the eyes and the -mind he was a boy again, seeing a certain hillside he had not seen -except through his boyhood's eyes. And he saw a black horse standing -above him on the slope, pawing the ground and looking at him with -red eyes. And an old, old terror came flooding over him that he had -not remembered for a quarter of a century. A boy's acute and sudden -terror....</p> - -<p>Who had opened the doors of his mind and laid this secret bare? He -himself had long forgotten—and who upon this alien world could look -back through space and time to remind him of that long-ago day when the -vicious black horse had thrown an inexperienced boy rider and planted a -seed of terror in his mind which he had been years outgrowing? But the -fear was long gone now, long gone.... <i>Was it?</i></p> - -<p>Then whence had come this monstrous black stallion that pawed the floor -of the hall, glaring down red-eyed at him and showing teeth like fangs? -No horse, but a monster in the shape of a horse, a monster ten feet -high at the shoulder, wearing the shape of his boyhood nightmare that -woke in Stuart even now the old, unreasoning horror....</p> - -<p>It was stamping down upon him, shaking its bridled head, snorting, -lifting its lip above the impossible teeth. He saw the reins hanging -loose, he saw the saddle and the swinging stirrups. He knew that the -only safety in this hall for him was paradoxically upon the nightmare's -back, where the hoofs and fangs could not reach him. But the terror and -revulsion which the boy had buried long ago came welling up from founts -deep-buried in the man's subconscious mind....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Now it was rushing him, head like a snake's outthrust, hissing like a -snake, reins flying like Medusa-locks as it stretched to seize him. -For one instant he stood there paralyzed. He had faced dangers on many -worlds to which this nightmare was nothing, but he had never since -boyhood felt the paralysis of horror that gripped him now. It was a -child's horror, resurrected from the caves of sleep to ruin him....</p> - -<p>With a superhuman effort he broke that frozen fear, snatching for -the flying reins, whirling as the monstrous thing swept past him in -a thunder of terrifying hoofs. Desperately he clung to the reins, -and as the thing rushed by he somehow got a clutching hand upon the -saddle-horn and found a stirrup that swung sickeningly when it took his -weight.</p> - -<p>Then he was in the saddle, dizzy still with the terrors of childhood, -but astride the nightmare.</p> - -<p>And now, with a sudden intoxicating clarity, the fear fell from his -mind. For an instant he sat high on the back of the incredible fanged -thing, an old, old terror clearing from his mind. Confidence which was, -he knew, his own and no bodiless reassurance drawn from dreams, such -as he had felt in the jungle, flooded warmly through him. He was not -afraid any more—he would never be afraid. The festering terror buried -deep in his childhood had come to light at last and was wiped away. He -caught the reins tight and flashed a sudden grin around the hall—</p> - -<p>Brazen laughter boomed through the building. And beneath his knees -Stuart felt the horse's body alter incredibly. One moment he was -gripping a solid, warm-fleshed, hairy thing whose body had a familiar -pitch and motion beneath the saddle. Then, then—</p> - -<p>Indescribably the body <i>writhed</i> under him. The warm hairy flesh flowed -and changed. Cold struck through leatheroid against his thighs, and -it was a smooth, pouring cold of many alien muscles working powerfully -together in a way no mammal knows. He looked down.</p> - -<p>He was riding a monstrous snake that twisted its head to look at him in -the moment he realized what had happened. Its great diamond-shaped head -towered high and came looping down toward him, wide-mouthed, tongue -like a flame flickering....</p> - -<p>It laid its cold, smooth cheek against his with a hideous caressing -motion, sliding around his neck, sliding down his arm and side, laying -a loop of cold, scaly strength around him and pressing, pressing....</p> - -<p>His hands closed around the thickness of its throat, futilely—and the -throat melted in his grasp and was hairy with a hairiness no mammal -ever knew. The motion of the body he bestrode changed again and was -incredibly springy and light.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p>He rode a monstrous spider. His hands were sunk wrist-deep in loathsome -coarse hair, and his eyes stared into great cold faceted eyes that -mirrored his own face a thousandfold. He saw his own distorted features -looking back at him in countless miniatures, but behind the faces, -in the great eyes of the spider, he saw no consciousness regarding -him. The cold multiple eyes were not aware of Derek Stuart. Behind -the shield of its terrible face the spider shut away its own arachnid -thoughts and the memories of the red fields of Mars that were its home. -With dreadful, impersonal aloofness its mandibles gaped forward toward -its prey.</p> - -<p>Loathing ran in waves of weakness through Stuart's whole body, but -he shut his eyes and blindly struck out at the nearer of those great -mirroring eyes, feeling wetness shatter against his fist as—as—</p> - -<p>As the horror shifted and vanished, while rippling waves of green light -darkened all about him. Now they coagulated, drew together into a -meadow, cool with Earthly grass, bordered by familiar trees far away. -Primroses gleamed here and there. Above him was the blue sky and the -warm bright sun that shone only upon the hills of Earth.</p> - -<p>But what he felt was horror.</p> - -<p>Twenty feet from him was a rank, rounded patch of weeds. His gaze was -drawn inexorably to that spot. And it was from there that the crawling -dread reached out to him.</p> - -<p>Faintly he heard laughter ... of the gods ... of the Aesir. The Aesir? -Who—what were they? How had he, Derek Stuart, ever heard of them -except as a name whispered in fear as the spaceships streaked through -the clouds above that Dakota farmstead....</p> - -<p>Derek Stuart ... a boy of eleven....</p> - -<p>But—but—that was wrong, somehow. He wasn't a child any more. He had -matured, become a spaceman—</p> - -<p>Dreams. The dreams of an eleven-year-old.</p> - -<p>Yet the hollow, dreadful laughter throbbed somewhere, in the vaults of -the blue overhead, in the solidity of the very ground beneath him.</p> - -<p>This had happened before. It had happened to a boy in South Dakota—a -boy who had not known what lay concealed in that verdant clump of weeds.</p> - -<p>But now, somehow—and very strangely—Stuart knew what he would find -there.</p> - -<p>He was afraid. Horribly, sickeningly afraid. Cold nausea crawled up -his spine and the calves of his legs. He wanted to turn and run to the -farmhouse half a mile away. He almost turned, and then paused as the -distant laughter grew louder.</p> - -<p><i>They</i> wanted him to run. <i>They</i> were trying to scare him—and, once -the defenses of his courage had broken, he would be lost. Stuart knew -that with an icy certainty.</p> - -<p>Somewhere, very far away, he sensed a man standing in a cyclopean -hall—a man in ragged spaceman's garb, hard-faced, thin-lipped, -angry-eyed. A familiar figure. The man was urging him on—telling him -to go on toward that clump of weeds—</p> - -<p>Derek Stuart obeyed the voiceless command. His throat dry, his heart -pumping, he forced himself across the meadow till he stood at his goal -and looked down at the bloody, twisted corpse of the tramp who had been -knifed by another hobo, twenty years before, on that Dakota farm. The -old nausea of shocked horror took him by the throat and strangled him.</p> - -<p>He fought it down. This time he didn't run screaming back to the -farmhouse....</p> - -<p>And suddenly the laughter of the gods was stilled. Derek Stuart, a man -once more in mind, stood again in the tower of the Aesir. The thrones -between the monstrous pillars were vacant.</p> - -<p>The Aesir were gone.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>Stuart let out his breath in a long sigh. He had no illusions about -the vanishment of the Aesir; he knew he had not conquered those -mighty beings. It would take more than human powers to do that. But -at least he had a respite. All but the most stolid spacemen develop -hypertension, and there seems to be a curious mathematical rule about -that; it increases according to the distance from the Sun. Which may -be explained by the fact that environmental differences also increase -as the outer planets are reached—and alien environments breed alien -creatures. A great many men have gone insane on Pluto....</p> - -<p>This was not Pluto; it was nearer Sunward than Jupiter, but the utter -alienage that brooded over Asgard was almost palpable. Even the -solidity under Stuart's feet, the very stones of the planetoid, were -artificially created, by a science a million years beyond that of his -own time. And the Aesir—</p> - -<p>Unexpectedly his deep chest shook with laughter. The inexplicable -self-confidence that had first come to him in the Asgard forests had -not waned; it seemed to have grown even stronger since his meeting with -the Aesir giants. Now he stared around the colossal hall, his eyes -straining toward the spot of light far above where those incredible -columns converged. His own insignificance by comparison did not trouble -him.</p> - -<p>Whether or not he could have the slightest hope of winning this -game—at least he was giving his enemies a run for their money!</p> - -<p>A sound from the pit roused him. Stuart walked warily toward the edge. -The dozen motionless figures were still there, fifty feet below, and -among them was one he had not noticed before—an Earthgirl, he thought, -with curling dark hair framing a white face as she tilted up her chin -and stared at him.</p> - -<p>At this distance he could make out few details; she wore a -close-fitting green suit which left slender arms and legs bare.</p> - -<p>"Earthman—" she said, in a clear, carrying voice. "Earthman! Quick! -The Aesir will be back—go now! Leave their temple before they—"</p> - -<p>"Don't waste your breath," Stuart said. "This is Asgard." Whoever the -girl was, she should know the impossibility of leaving the taboo world. -"If I can find a rope—"</p> - -<p>She said quickly, "You won't find one. Not here, in the temple."</p> - -<p>"How can I get you out of there? And the others?"</p> - -<p>"You're mad," the girl said. "What good would it do...." She shook her -head. "Better to die at once."</p> - -<p>Stuart narrowed his eyes at the dozen frozen figures. "I don't think -so. Fourteen of us can put up a better fight than one. If your friends -wake up—"</p> - -<p>The girl said, "On your left, between the pillars, there's a tapestry -showing Perseus and the Gorgon. Touch the helm of Perseus and the hand -of Andromeda. Then go carefully—there may be traps."</p> - -<p>"What is it?"</p> - -<p>"It will lead you down here. You can free us. If you hurry—oh, but -it's hopeless! The Aesir—"</p> - -<p>"Damn the Aesir," Stuart snarled. "Wake up the others!" He whirled and -ran toward the distant wall, where he could see the Perseus tapestry, -brown and gold, a huge curtain between two columns.</p> - -<p>If the Aesir saw, they made no move....</p> - -<p>Stuart's lips twisted in a bitter smile. The crazy confidence had not -left him, but he was conscious of a reassuring warmth; at least he -was no longer completely alone. That would help. Between the worlds, -and on the desolate planets that swing along the edge of the System, -loneliness is the lurking terror, more horrible than the most exotic -monster ever spawned by the radioactive Plutonian earth.</p> - -<p>He touched the tapestry twice; it swept away from him, and a staircase -was visible, leading down through stone or metal—he could not tell -which. Stuart fought back the impulse that urged him to race down those -curving spiral steps. The girl had spoken of traps.</p> - -<p>He went warily, testing each tread before he put his weight upon it. -Though he did not think that the snares of the Aesir would be so simple.</p> - -<p>At the bottom, he emerged into a vaulted chamber, tiny by comparison -with the one he had left. It was oval, domed ceiling and walls and -floor shining with a milky radiance—except at one spot.</p> - -<p>There he saw a door—transparent. Through it he looked into the pit. -He was on a level with the floor of that shaft now; he could see the -dozen figures still standing motionless in a huddled group, and a few -feet beyond the glassy pane was the Earthgirl. She was looking directly -at him, but her dark eyes had a blind seeking, as though the door was -opaque from her side.</p> - -<p>Stuart paused, his hand on the complicated mechanism that, he guessed, -would open the portal. His hard, dark face was impassive, but he was -conscious of an unfamiliar stirring deep within him. From above, he had -not seen the girl's beauty.</p> - -<p>He saw it now.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She couldn't be an Earthgirl—entirely. She must be one of those -disturbingly lovely interplanetary halfbreeds. Earth-blood she had, -of course, and predominantly, but there was something more, the pure -essence of beauty that blazed through her like a flame kindled in a -lamp of crystal. In all his wanderings between the worlds, Stuart had -never seen a girl as breathtakingly lovely as this one.</p> - -<p>His hand moved on the controls: the door slid silently open. The girl's -eyes brightened. She gave a little gasp and ran toward him. Without -question she sought refuge in his arms, and for a moment Stuart held -her—not unwillingly.</p> - -<p>He thrust her away gently.</p> - -<p>"The others."</p> - -<p>She said, "It's useless. The paralysis—"</p> - -<p>Stuart scowled and stepped across the threshold into the pit. -Uneasiness crawled along his spine as he did so. The Aesir might be -watching from above, or—or—</p> - -<p>There was nothing. Only dead silence, and the uneven breathing of the -girl as she stood in the doorway watching. Stuart stopped before the -leather-clad Earthman and tested a burly arm. The man stood frozen, his -flesh cold and hard as stone, his eyes staring glassily. He was not -even breathing.</p> - -<p>So with the others. Stuart grimaced and shrugged. He turned back toward -the girl, and felt a pulse of relief as he stepped into the shining -chamber. He might be no safer here, but at least he wasn't so conscious -of inhuman eyes that might be watching from above. Not that solid stone -might be any barrier to the Aesir's probing gaze....</p> - -<p>The girl touched the mechanism; the door slid silently shut. "It's -no use," she said. "The paralysis holds all the others. Only I could -battle it—a little. And that was because—"</p> - -<p>"Save it," Stuart said. He turned toward the door by which he had -entered, but an urgent hand gripped his wrist.</p> - -<p>"Let me talk," the quiet voice said. "We're as safe here as anywhere. -And there may be a way—now that I can think clearly again."</p> - -<p>"A way out? A <i>safe</i> way?"</p> - -<p>There was a haunted look in her dark eyes. "I don't know. I've lived -here for a long time. The others—" she pointed toward the door of -the pit. "The sacrifices were brought to Asgard only yesterday. But -I've been here many moons. The Aesir kept me alive for a bit, to amuse -them. Then they tired, and I was thrown in with the others. But I -learned a little. I—I—no one can dwell here in the Aesir stronghold -without—changing a little. That's why the paralysis didn't hold me as -long as it holds the others."</p> - -<p>"Can we save them?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," she said, with a small, helpless shrug. "I don't even -know if we can save ourselves. It's been so long since I was brought -to Asgard that I—I scarcely remember my life before that. But I have -learned a little of the Aesir—and that may help us now."</p> - -<p>Stuart watched her. She tried to smile, but not successfully.</p> - -<p>She said, "I'm Kari. The rest—I've forgotten. You're—"</p> - -<p>"Derek Stuart."</p> - -<p>"Tell me what happened."</p> - -<p>"We haven't time," Stuart said impatiently, but Kari shook her head.</p> - -<p>"We'll need weapons, and I must know—first—if you can use them. Tell -me!"</p> - -<p>Well, she was right. She had knowledge that Stuart needed. So he told -her, very briefly, what he remembered.</p> - -<p>She stared at him. "Voices—in your mind?"</p> - -<p>"Something like that. I don't know—"</p> - -<p>"No. No. Or—wait—" He tried to focus his thoughts upon a far, faint -calling that came from infinite distances. His name. An urgent summons—</p> - -<p>It faded and was gone.</p> - -<p>"There's nothing," Stuart said finally, and Kari moved her shoulders -uneasily.</p> - -<p>"No help there, then."</p> - -<p>"Tell me one thing. What's the Aesir's power? Hypnotism?"</p> - -<p>"No," Kari said, "or not entirely. They can make thoughts into real -things. They are—what the race of man will evolve into in a million -years. And they have changed, into beings utterly alien to humans."</p> - -<p>"They looked human—giants, though."</p> - -<p>"They can assume any shape," Kari told him. "Their real form is -unimaginable. Being of pure energy ... mental force ... matrixes of -electronic power. They were striking at you through your mind."</p> - -<p>Stuart said, "I wondered why they didn't set some of their Watchers on -me."</p> - -<p>"I don't know why they didn't," Kari frowned. "Instead, they hammered -at your weaknesses—old fears that hung on to you for years. -Experiences that frightened you in the past. They sent your mind back -into that past—but you were too strong for them."</p> - -<p>"Too strong—?"</p> - -<p>"Then. They have other powers, Stuart—incredible powers. You can't -fight them alone. And you <i>must</i> fight them. In a thousand years no one -has dared—"</p> - -<p>Stuart remembered something. "Two dared—once."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Kari nodded. "I know. I know the legends, anyway. About John Starr and -Lorna. The great rebels who first defied the Aesir when the tyranny -began. But they may have been only legendary figures. Even if they were -real—they failed."</p> - -<p>"Yes, they failed. And they're a thousand years dead. But it shows -something—to me at least. Man wasn't meant to be a slave to these -monsters. Rebellion—"</p> - -<p>Kari watched him. Stuart's eyes were shadowed.</p> - -<p>"John Starr and Lorna," he whispered. "I wonder what their world was -like, a thousand years ago? We've got all the worlds now, all the -planets of the System from Jupiter to the smallest asteroid. But we -don't rule them, as men owned their own Earth in those days. We're -slaves to the Aesir."</p> - -<p>"The Aesir are—are gods."</p> - -<p>"John Starr didn't think so," Stuart said. "Neither do I. And at worst -I can always die, as he did. Listen, Kari." He gripped her arms. -"Think. You've lived here for a while. Is there any weapon against -those devils?"</p> - -<p>She met his gaze steadily. "Yes," she said. "But—"</p> - -<p>"What is it? Where?"</p> - -<p>Abruptly Kari's face changed. She pressed herself against Stuart, -avoiding his lips, simply seeking—he knew—warmth and companionship. -She was crying softly.</p> - -<p>"So long—" Kari whispered, her arms tight around him. "I've been here -so long—with the gods. And I'm so lonely, Derek Stuart. So lonely for -green fields and fires and the blue sky. I wish—"</p> - -<p>"You'll see Earth again," Stuart promised. At that Kari pulled away. -Her strange half-breed loveliness was never more real than then, with -tears sparkling on her dark lashes, and her mouth trembling.</p> - -<p>She said, a catch in her voice, "I'll show you the weapon, Stuart."</p> - -<p>She turned toward the wall. Her hand moved in a quick gesture. A panel -opened there in the glowing surface.</p> - -<p>Kari reached in, and when she withdrew her arm, it was as though she -held a torrent of blood that poured down from her grip. It was a cloak, -Stuart saw, made of some material so fine that it rippled like water. -Its crimson violence was bizarre against the cool green of Kari's -garment.</p> - -<p>"This cloak—" she said. "You must wear it if we face the Aesir."</p> - -<p>Stuart grimaced. "What good is a piece of cloth? A blaster gun's what I -want."</p> - -<p>"A blaster wouldn't help," Kari said. "This is more than a piece of -cloth, Stuart. It is half-alive—made so by the sciences of the Aesir. -Wear it! It will protect you."</p> - -<p>She swung the great, scarlet billows about Stuart's shoulders. Her -fingers fumbled with the clasp at his throat. And then—</p> - -<p><i>She lies!</i></p> - -<p>The desperate urgency of the thought roared through Stuart's mind. He -knew that soundless voice, so sharp now with violent intensity. His -hands came up to rip the cloak from him—</p> - -<p>He was too late. Kari sprang back, wide-eyed, as the fastenings of the -cloak tightened like a noose about Stuart's neck. He felt a stinging -shock that ran like white fire along his spine and up into his brain. -One instant of blazing disorientation, a hopeless, despairing cry in -his mind—a <i>double</i> cry, as of two telepathetic voices—and then, his -muscles too weak to hold him, he crashed down upon the floor.</p> - -<p>It was not paralysis. He was simply drained of all strength. There -was pressure about his throat, cold flames along his spine and in his -brain, and he could feel the texture of the cloak wrapped about him, -striking through his spaceman's garb—tingling, sentient, half-alive!</p> - -<p>He whispered an oath. Kari's face had not changed. He read something -strangely like pity in her dark eyes.</p> - -<p>From the gap in the wall whence she had drawn the cloak came a figure, -cloaked in black, a jet cowl hiding its head and face completely. It -was taller than the girl by a foot. It shuffled forward with an odd, -rocking gait, and paused near her.</p> - -<p>Stuart whispered, "I—should have remembered. The—the Aesir can change -their shapes. Those giants I saw weren't real. And neither are you—not -even human!"</p> - -<p>Kari shook her head. "<i>I</i> am real," she said slowly. "<i>He</i> is not." She -gestured toward the black-cloaked figure. "But we are all of the Aesir. -And, as we thought, you were sent by the Protectors. Now your power is -gone, and you must walk the Long Orbit with the other captives."</p> - -<p>The cowled creature came forward. It bent, but Stuart could see nothing -in the shadow of the hood. A fold of cloth writhed out and touched -Stuart's forehead.</p> - -<p>Darkness wrapped him like the shroud of the scarlet cloak.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>For a long time he had only his thoughts for company. They were not -pleasant. He felt alone, as he had never felt so utterly lonely and -deserted before anywhere in the System. Now he realized that even -since his landing on Asgard, he had had companionship of a sort—that -the twin voices murmuring in his brain had been more real than he had -realized. A living warmth, a sense of—of <i>presence</i>—had been with him -then.</p> - -<p>But it was gone now. Its absence left a black void within him. He stood -alone.</p> - -<p>And Kari.... If he saw her again when his hands were free, he would -kill her. He knew that. But—but her shining smile lightened the -darkness that engulfed him now. He had never seen loveliness like -Kari's, and he had known so many women, so many, too many.... A man who -has fought his way Sunward and back again by way of Pluto's chasmed -midnight is not so easily misled by the smile of a pretty woman.</p> - -<p>Kari was no ordinary woman—God knew she was not! Perhaps not even -human, perhaps not even real at all. It might be that very touch of -alienage that had stamped her shining image upon his memory, but he -could not put the image aside now. He saw her clearly in the darkness -of his captivity and the deeper dark of his loneliness, now that the -voices were stilled. Lovely, exotic, with the eyes full of longing and -terror—what lies they told!—and that lovely, that dazzling smile.</p> - -<p>Bitterness made a wry taste in his mouth. Either she was one of the -Aesir, or she served them. Served them well. A knife in the heart was -the only answer he had for her, and he meant to give her that edged -answer if he lived. But she was so very lovely....</p> - -<p>Slowly the veil of darkness lifted. He saw a face he had seen -before—the harsh, seamed features of the burly Earthman in the pit. -And beyond him, the slim Martian girl. All motionless, standing like -statues beside him ... beside him! For Stuart was one of them now. He -was in the pit, with the other captives.</p> - -<p>Sensation came back slowly. With it came a tingling, a warm vibration -along his spine ... about his throat ... inside his brain. He -could not move, but at the corner of his range of vision flamed a -crimsonness—the cloak. He still wore it.</p> - -<p>He wondered if the other captives could see him, if their minds were -as active as his in their congealed bodies. Or whether the chill of -deathlike silence held their brains along with their frozen limbs.</p> - -<p>A slow, volcanic fury began to glow within him. Kari—traitor and -murderess! Was she Aesir? Was she Earth-born? And that black-cloaked, -cowled creature ... which was not real. Another projector of the Aesir, -as the giants had been?</p> - -<p><i>You were sent by the Protectors.</i></p> - -<p>Memory of Kari's phrase came back to Stuart now. And with it, as though -he had somehow unbarred a locked gate, opened it a mere crack, came -a—a whispering.</p> - -<p>Not audible. Faint, faraway, like the shadow of a wind rustling ghosts -of autumn leaves, the murmur rose and fell ... calling him.</p> - -<p>The scarlet cloak moved ... writhed ... flowed more closely about him. -Fainter grew the voices.</p> - -<p>Stuart strained after them. His soul sprang up ... reaching toward -those friendly, utterly inhuman whispers that came from nowhere.</p> - -<p>A dull lethargy numbed him. The cloak drew tighter....</p> - -<p>He ignored it. Deep in the citadel of his mind, he made himself -receptive, all his being focused on that—that strange calling from -beyond.</p> - -<p>And, suddenly, there were words....</p> - -<p>"<i>Derek Stuart. Can you hear us? Answer!</i>"</p> - -<p>His stiff lips could not speak, but his thoughts formed an answer. And, -rising and falling as though the frequency of that incredible telepathy -pulsed and changed continually, the message came—</p> - -<p>"We have lost. You have lost too, Stuart. But we will stay with you—we -<i>must</i> stay now—and perhaps your death will be easier because of -that...."</p> - -<p>"Who are you?" he thought, oddly awed by the personality he sensed -behind that voice that was really two voices.</p> - -<p>"There is little time." The—sound?—faded into a thin whisper, then -grew stronger. "The cloak makes it hard for us to communicate with you. -And now we can give you none of our power at all. It is a monstrous -thing—a blasphemy such as only the Aesir would create. Half-alive—it -makes an artificial synapse between the individual and outside mental -contacts. We cannot help you—"</p> - -<p>"Who are you?"</p> - -<p>"We are the Protectors. Listen now, Stuart, for soon you must walk the -Long Orbit with the others. We removed some of your memories, so the -Aesir could not read your mind and have time to prepare themselves—we -hoped we might destroy them this time. But—we have failed again. -Now—we give you your memories back."</p> - -<p>Like a slowly rising tide, Stuart's past began to return. He did not -question how this was done; he was too busy lifting the veil that had -darkened his mind since—since that night at the Singing Star in New -Boston. A few drinks with the tired-eyed man, and then darkness—</p> - -<p>But the curtain was lifting now. He remembered....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He remembered a tiny, underground room, with armed men—not many of -them—staring at him. A voice that said, "You must either join us or -die. We dare run no risks. For hundreds of years a tiny band of us has -survived, only because the Aesir did not know we existed."</p> - -<p>"Rebels?" he had asked.</p> - -<p>"Sworn to destroy the Aesir," the man told him, and an answering glow -burned briefly in the eyes of the others.</p> - -<p>Stuart laughed.</p> - -<p>"You have courage," the man said. "You'll need it. I know why you -laugh. But we don't fight alone. Have you ever heard of the Protectors?"</p> - -<p>"Never."</p> - -<p>"Few have. They aren't human, any more than the Aesir are. But they are -not evil. They're humanity's champions. They have sworn to destroy the -Aesir, as we have—and so we serve them."</p> - -<p>"Who are they, then? What are they?"</p> - -<p>"No man knows," the other said quietly. "Who—and where—they are is a -secret they keep to themselves. But we hear their messages. And once in -a lifetime, not oftener, they tell us where we may find some man they -have winnowed the planets to discover. In our lifetime, Stuart, you are -the man."</p> - -<p>He gaped at them. "Why? I—"</p> - -<p>"To be a weapon for the Protectors—a champion for mankind. The -Protectors are so far beyond humanity they cannot fight our battles -in their own forms. They need a—a vessel into which they can pour -their power. Or—call it a sword to wield against the Aesir. They have -searched the worlds over for a long while now, and you—" The man -hesitated, looking narrowly at Stuart. "You are the only vessel they -found. You have a great destiny, Derek Stuart."</p> - -<p>He had scowled at them. "All right, suppose I have. What do they offer?"</p> - -<p>The man shook his head. "Death—if you're lucky. No man before you has -ever won a battle for the Protectors. You know that—the Aesir still -rule! Every chance is against you. In a thousand years no man has won -the gamble. But this is greater than you or us, Derek Stuart. Do you -think you have any choice?"</p> - -<p>Stuart stared the other man in the eyes. "There's no chance?"</p> - -<p>The leader smiled. All mankind's indomitable hope was in the smile.</p> - -<p>"Would the Protectors have spent all their efforts, and ours, to find -you if there were no hope? They have mighty and terrible powers. With -the right man for their vessel, they could be stronger than the Aesir. -No man could stand alone against the Aesir. The Protectors could -not stand alone. But together—sword and hand and brain welded into -one—yes, Stuart, there's a chance!"</p> - -<p>"Then why have the others failed?"</p> - -<p>"No one has yet been quite strong enough. Only once in forty -years—fifty—is a man born who might, with luck, have the courage -and the strength. Look at us here—do you think we would not offer -ourselves gladly? Instead, the Protectors guided us to you. If you are -willing to let them establish contact with your mind, enter it, possess -it—there's a chance the Aesir can be destroyed. There's a chance that -man's slavery may be ended!" His voice shook with that mighty hope.</p> - -<p>Stuart glanced around at the ardent, fanatical faces, and something in -him took a slow fire from the fire in theirs. A deep and vital purpose, -as old as humanity—how many times before in Earth's history had men -of Earth gathered in hidden rooms and sworn vows against tyranny and -oppression? How many times before had Earthmen dedicated themselves and -their son's sons, if need be, to the old, old dream that though men may -die, mankind must in the end be free?</p> - -<p>Here in this crowded room the torch of freedom still burned, despite -the hell of slavery under which the worlds toiled now.</p> - -<p>He hesitated.</p> - -<p>"It won't be easy, Stuart," the man warned. "A sword—blade must be -hammered on the anvil, heated in flame, before it's tempered. The -Protectors will test you—so that your mind may be toughened to resist -the attacks of the Aesir later. You will suffer...."</p> - -<p>He had suffered. Those agonizing, nightmare dreams in the forest, -the phantoms that had tortured him—other trials he did not want to -remember. But there had been no flaw in the blade. In the end—the -Protectors had been satisfied, and had entered his mind—maintaining -the contact that still held, though thinly now.</p> - -<p>And the voices he heard still whispering within him were the voices of -his mentors....</p> - -<p>"We took your memories from you. So that the Aesir could not read too -much in your mind, and be forewarned. Now that does not matter, and you -will be stronger with your memory restored. But when you let the girl -clasp the cloak about you—that was failure."</p> - -<p>"If I could move," Stuart thought. "If I could rip it off—"</p> - -<p>"It is part of you. We do not know how it can be removed. And while you -wear it, we cannot give you our power."</p> - -<p>Stuart said bitterly. "If you'd given me that power in the first -place—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"We did. How do you think you survived the first testing by the Aesir? -And it is dangerous. We must gauge it carefully, so that we do not -transmit too much of our mental energy to you. You are merely human—if -we let you draw on a tenth of our power, that would burn you out like a -melting wire under a strong current."</p> - -<p>"So—what now?"</p> - -<p>"We have lost again. You have lost, and we are sorry. All we can do -is give you an easy death. We possess you now, mentally; if we should -withdraw from your brain, you would die instantly. We will do that -whenever you ask. For the Aesir will kill you anyhow now, and not -pleasantly."</p> - -<p>"I'm not committing suicide. As long as I live, I can still fight."</p> - -<p>"We also. This has happened before. We have chosen and possessed other -champions, and they have failed. We withdrew from their minds before -the Aesir ... killed ... so that we could survive to try again. To -wage another battle. Some day we will win. Some day we shall destroy -the Aesir. But we dare not cling to our broken swords, lest we too be -broken."</p> - -<p>"So when the going gets tough you step out!"</p> - -<p>Stuart sensed pity in the strange twin voice. "We must. We fight for -the race of man. And the greatest gift we can give you now is quick -death."</p> - -<p>"I don't want it," Stuart thought furiously. "I'm going to keep on -fighting! Maybe that's why you've always failed before—you were too -ready to give up. So I'll die if you step out of my mind? Well—it's a -lousy bargain!"</p> - -<p>There was no anger, only a stronger overtone of pity in the still voice.</p> - -<p>"What is it you want, Stuart?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing from you! Just let me go on living. I'll do my own fighting. -There'll be time enough to take a powder when the axe falls. I'm asking -you simply this—keep me alive until I've had another crack at the -Aesir!"</p> - -<p>A pause. "It is dangerous. Dangerous for us. But—"</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"We will take the risk. But understand—we <i>must</i> leave you if the -peril grows too great. And will—inevitably."</p> - -<p>"Thanks," Stuart said, and meant it. "One thing. What about Kari? Who -is she?"</p> - -<p>"A hundred years ago she was human. Then she was brought here, and the -Aesir possessed her—as we possess you. She has grown less human in -that time, as the alien grows stronger within her. She has only faint -memories of her former life now, and <i>they</i> will vanish soon. Contact -with the Aesir is like an infection—she will grow more and more like -them. Perhaps, eventually, become one of them."</p> - -<p>Stuart grimaced. "If the Aesir should withdraw from her—"</p> - -<p>"She would die, yes. Her own life-force has been sapped too far. You -and she are kept alive only as long as the bond of possession holds."</p> - -<p>Nice, Stuart thought. If the Aesir were destroyed, Kari would die -with him. And if <i>he</i> faced doom, he too would die, as the Protectors -withdrew to avoid sharing his fate.</p> - -<p>Hell—what did he care whether Kari lived or died? It was only the -glamor of half-alienage that had drawn him to the girl. A dagger in her -throat—</p> - -<p>Besides, he was certainly facing doom now.</p> - -<p>"All I can do—" he said—and stopped abruptly. He was speaking aloud. -Patiently the twin voice in his brain waited for him to continue.</p> - -<p>Slowly he flexed his arms. He tilted back his head, staring up at the -rim of the pit fifty feet above him. He could see the titan pillars -rising toward the roof of that mighty tower, incredibly far above. But -there was no sign of life.</p> - -<p>"I can move," he said. "I—"</p> - -<p>Struck by a new thought, he gripped the folds of the cloak. It was -nauseously warm and vibrant. It seemed to move under his hands. He -jerked at it, and felt a twinge of agonizing pain along his spine and -about his throat, while a white-hot lance stabbed into his skull.</p> - -<p>"If I could get rid of this—you could help me?"</p> - -<p>"We could give you our power, to use against the Aesir. But we do not -know how to remove the cloak."</p> - -<p>"I don't either," Stuart growled, and paused as a movement caught his -eye. The muscular Earthman near him was stirring.</p> - -<p>He turned slowly. Beyond him the Martian girl swayed her -feathery-crested head and lifted supple, slender arms. And the -others—all about Stuart they were wakening to motion.</p> - -<p>But no life showed in their dull eyes. No understanding. Only a blind, -empty withdrawal.</p> - -<p>They turned, trooped toward the wall of the pit ... toward an arched -opening that was gaping suddenly.</p> - -<p>"The Long Orbit," said the voice in Stuart's mind.</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"Death. As the Aesir feed. They feed on the life-force of living -organisms."</p> - -<p>"Is that the only way out?"</p> - -<p>"The only way open to you. Yes."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Stuart went slowly after the others. They had crossed the threshold -now, and were pacing along a tunnel, lit with cold blue brilliance, -that curved very gradually toward the left. Behind him a panel closed.</p> - -<p>The cloak swayed like a great bloodstain behind him, moving in a motion -not entirely caused by Stuart's movements. He tried again to unfasten -it, but the clasp at his throat only drew tighter. And the tingling -sensation increased along his spine.</p> - -<p>An artificial synapse ... blocking his nerve-ends so that he could not -draw upon the Protectors' power....</p> - -<p>At his left was an alcove in the tunnel wall. It was filled with -coagulated light ... bright with glaring flames ... flame-hot. Within -that white curtain stirred swift movement, like the leaping of fires. -Above the recess a symbol was embossed in the stone. The sign of -Mercury.</p> - -<p>"Mercury," said the voice in Stuart's mind. "The Servant of the Sun. -The Swift Messenger. Mercury, that drinks the Sun's fires and blazes -like a star in the sky's abyss. First in the Long Orbit—Mercury."</p> - -<p>The crowd of prisoners, dull-eyed, swayed to and fro, a ripple of -excitement rustling through them. Abruptly the Martian girl darted -forward—</p> - -<p>Was engulfed in the milky flames.</p> - -<p>Stood there, while curdled opalescence veiled her. On her face sheer -horror, as—</p> - -<p>"The Aesir feed," the voice whispered. "They drink the cup of her -life ... to its last dregs."</p> - -<p>The captives were moving again. Silently Stuart followed them along the -tunnel. Now another recess showed in the wall.</p> - -<p>Blue ... blue, this time, as hazy seas of enchantment ... misted with -fog, with slow shifting movement within it....</p> - -<p>"The sign of Venus," said the voice. "The Clouded World. Planet of life -and womb of creation. Ruler of mists and seas—Venus!"</p> - -<p>The Earthman was drawn into the alcove. Stood there, while azure seas -washed higher and higher about him. Through that glassy veil his face -glared, stiff with alien fear....</p> - -<p>The sacrifices went on.</p> - -<p>There was no alcove, no symbol for Earth. The Aesir had forgotten the -world that had been their place of birth.</p> - -<p>"Mars! Red star of madness! Ruler of man's passion, lord of the bloody -seas! Where scarlet sands run through Time's hourglass—Mars, third in -the Long Orbit!"</p> - -<p>The crimson glow of a dusty ruby ... the face of a Venusian, strained, -twisted in agony ... the hunger of the Aesir....</p> - -<p>"The Little Worlds! The Great Belt that girdles the Inner System! The -Broken Planet—"</p> - -<p>Tiny goblin lights, dancing and flickering, blue and sapphire and dull -orange, wine-red and dawn-yellow—</p> - -<p>The hunger of the Aesir.</p> - -<p>"Jupiter! Titan! Colossus of the Spaceroads! Jupiter, whose mighty -hands seize the ships of man and drag them to his boiling heart! The -Great One-fifth in the Long Orbit!"</p> - -<p>The hunger of the Aesir.</p> - -<p>"Ringed Saturn light-crowned! Guardian of the outer skies! Saturn—"</p> - -<p>Uranus ... Neptune....</p> - -<p>Pluto.</p> - -<p>The hunger of the Aesir....</p> - -<p>Beyond Pluto, dark worlds Stuart had not known. Until finally he was -alone. The last of his companions had been drawn into one of the -vampire alcoves of the Long Orbit.</p> - -<p>He went on.</p> - -<p>There was another recess in the wall at his left. It was filled with -night. Jet blackness, cold and horrible, brimmed it.</p> - -<p>Something like an invisible current dragged him forward, though he -fought with all his strength to resist. Instinctively he sent out a -desperate call to the Protectors.</p> - -<p>"We cannot aid you. We must leave you ... you will die instantly."</p> - -<p>"Wait! Don't—don't give up yet! Give me your power—"</p> - -<p>"We cannot. While you wear the cloak."</p> - -<p>The edge of blackness touched Stuart with a frigid impact. He felt -something, avid with horrible hunger, strain forward from of the -alcove, reaching for him. The cloak billowed out—</p> - -<p>Sweat stood out on Stuart's face. For, suddenly, he had seen the way. -It might mean death, it would certainly mean frightful agony—but he -could go down fighting. If the cloak could not be removed in any other -way—perhaps it could be ripped off! He gripped the half-living fabric -at its bottom, brought his arm behind him—and tore the horror from him!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Stark, abysmal nerve-shock poured like a current of fire up his spine -and into his brain. It was like tearing off his own skin. Sick, blind, -gasping dry-throated sobs, Stuart stumbled away from the black alcove, -tearing at the cloak. It tried to cling to him—</p> - -<p>He ripped it away—hurled it from him. And as it fell—it screamed!</p> - -<p>But he was free.</p> - -<p>For an instant sheer weakness overwhelmed him. Then into him poured a -racing, jubilant torrent of strength, of mighty, intoxicating power -that seemed to heal his wounds and revivify him instantly.</p> - -<p>Into him surged the power of the Protectors!</p> - -<p>From the alcove a finger of darkness tendrilled out. He was borne away -from it ... along the passage. Dimly, through drifting mists, he sensed -that he was moving up a ramp ... through a wall that seemed to grow -intangible as he approached it ... up and up....</p> - -<p>He was in the hall of the Aesir.</p> - -<p>Above him the cyclopean pillars towered, dwarfing the thrones set -between them. Before him hung the shifting wall of light.</p> - -<p>He was carried toward it—through it.</p> - -<p>He stood on a black dais. Facing him was the cloaked, cowled figure he -had last seen with Kari.</p> - -<p>And beside the Aesir stood Kari!</p> - -<p>The creature lifted its arm ... a red flame spouted toward Stuart. -Sudden, mocking laughter spilled from his lips. He no longer fought -alone. The tremendous power of the Protectors blazed within him, power -and energy and force that could smash suns.</p> - -<p>In midair the fiery lance failed and died. The Aesir drew back a step, -drawing its cloak about it as if in surprise. And Kari—Kari shrank -back, too, and something strangely like hope flashed for a moment -across her dazzling, her more than mortal loveliness. Hope? But she was -of the Aesir now. And if they failed, she died. Then why—</p> - -<p>The Aesir's cloak flickered, and a second gush of fiery light -fountained toward Stuart.</p> - -<p>Up surged the tide of power in him again. Blind and dazed with his -own tremendous energy, Stuart felt a curve like a dim shield flung up -to meet that lance. The Aesir's fire struck-and flashed into blazing -fragments on the Protector's shield. Each droplet sang intolerable -music as it faded and winked out. And behind the Aesir, more dazzling -than any immortal fire had been, Stuart saw Kari's sudden, shining -smile....</p> - -<p>She would die if the Aesir failed. She must know she would die. But the -brilliance of her smile struck him as the Aesir's spear of fire could -never strike. He knew, then. He understood....</p> - -<p>The Aesir's cloak whirled like a storm-cloud, in dark, deep billows. -The Aesir itself grew taller for a moment, as if it drew itself up to a -godlike height. And then it did for Derek Stuart what no Aesir had ever -done for a mortal man before. No Aesir had ever needed to. It cast off -the hampering cloak and stood stripped for battle with this primitive -manling whose forebears immemorially long ago had been the Aesir's -forebears. There was in that stripping something almost of kinship—an -acknowledgment that here at last in the hall of the Aesir stood an -equal, sprung of equal stock....</p> - -<p>Naked in its terrible power, the Aesir stood up to face the man.</p> - -<p>Not human. Not ever human, except in the mysterious basics which these -people of a thousand millenniums in the future had chosen to retain. -The flesh they had cast off, and the flesh the Aesir stood up in to -face his forebear was pure, blazing, blinding energy. Twice as tall -as a man it stood, shining with supernal brilliance, terrible and -magnificent.</p> - -<p>The great hall rang soundlessly with the power of the Protectors.</p> - -<p>And then from above a streak of light came flashing, and another, and -another. And were engulfed in the one Aesir who stood shining before -its adversary, growing ever brighter and more terrible. The rest of -the Aesir, coming to the aid of their fellow, forming a single entity -to crush the champion of mankind.</p> - -<p>Stuart braced himself for the incredible torrent of energy that -would come blasting through him from the Protectors. And in a split -second—it came!</p> - -<p>Mind and body reeled beneath the impact of that power as force flared -through him and struck out at the tower of lightning which was the -Aesir. But the force which was trying his human body to its utmost was -not force enough to touch that blinding column. Energy lashed out from -it, struck him a reeling blow—Stuart dropped to his knees, the hall -swimming in fire around him.</p> - -<p>But what he saw was not the terrible, blazing image of his adversary, -but Kari's face beyond. His falling meant her life—but when she saw -him go down the brilliance dimmed upon her features. The hope he had -seen there went out like a candle-flame and she was once more only a -vessel of human flesh which the Aesir had possessed and degraded.</p> - -<p>In his despair and his dizziness he cried soundlessly, "Help me, -Protectors! Give me your power!"</p> - -<p>The still double-voice said, "You could not hold it. You would be -burned out utterly."</p> - -<p>"I'll hold it long enough!" he promised desperately. "One second of -power—only that! Enough to smash the Aesir. Then death—but not till -then!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was one instant when time stopped. That cataclysmic horror that -had risen a thousand years ago and raged through the worlds like a -holocaust stood blazing before Stuart's eyes. It stooped toward him, -poising for the hammer blow that would smash him to nothing—</p> - -<p>Then a power like the drive of galaxies through space thundered into -Stuart's mind.</p> - -<p>He had not expected this. Nothing in human experience could have taught -him to expect it. For the Protectors were not human. No more human than -the Aesir themselves. And the unleashed energy that roared soundlessly -through Stuart rocked his very soul on its foundations. He could not -stir. He could not think. He could only stay upon his knees facing the -Aesir-thing as galactic power thundered through him and wielded him -like a sword against man's enemies.</p> - -<p>Higher and higher rose the crashing tides of contest. The citadel -shook ponderously upon the rocks of the god-made little world. Perhaps -that world itself staggered in space as the titans battled together on -its rocking surface.</p> - -<p>Faster spun the core of radiant light which was the Aesir. Faster raced -the tides of power through Stuart's blasted body, seeming to rip his -very flesh apart and blaze in his brain like hammers of cosmic fire.</p> - -<p>Terribly, terribly he yearned for surcease, for the end of this -unthinkable destruction that was tearing his brain and body apart. And -he knew he could end it in a moment, if he chose to let go....</p> - -<p>Grimly he clung to the power that was destroying him. Second by -second, counting each moment an eternity, he clung to consciousness. -The crashing lances of the Protectors drove on upon the armor of the -Aesir, and the cyclopean pillars of the great hall reeled upon their -foundations, and the very air blazed into liquid fire around him.</p> - -<p>He never knew what final blow of cosmic violence ended that battle. But -suddenly, without warning, the vast column of the Aesir pulsed with -violent brilliance and the whole hall rang with a cry too shrill and -terrible for ears or the very mind to hear, except as a thrilling of -despair.</p> - -<p>The tower rocked. All the bright tapestries billowed and flowed against -the walls. And the radiant thing that was the Aesir—</p> - -<p>Went out like a blown flame. Stuart saw it darken in the quickness of -a heartbeat from blinding brightness to an angry, sullen scarlet, and -then to the color of embers, and then to darkness.</p> - -<p>There was nothing there at all.</p> - -<p>And Stuart's brain dimmed with it one last glimpse he had of the -shining smile on Kari's face, triumph and delight, in the instant -before the cloudiness of oblivion blotted her features out.</p> - -<p>He was not dead. Somewhere, far away, his body lay prone upon the cold -pavement of the Aesir's hall, a hall terribly empty now of life. But -Stuart himself hung in empty space, somewhere between life and death.</p> - -<p>The thought of the Protectors touched him gently, almost caressingly.</p> - -<p>"You are a mighty man, Derek Stuart. Your name shall not be forgotten -while mankind lives."</p> - -<p>With infinite effort he roused his mind.</p> - -<p>"Kari—" he said.</p> - -<p>There was silence for a moment—a warm silence. But the voices, -speaking as one, said gently, "Have you forgotten? When the Aesir died, -Kari died too. And you, Derek Stuart—you can never go back to your -body now. You remember that?"</p> - -<p>Sudden rebellion shook Stuart's bodiless brain. "Get out of my mind!" -he raged at the double-voice. "What do you know about human beings? -I've won for mankind—but what did I win for myself? Nothing—nothing! -And Kari—Get out of my mind and let me die! What do <i>you</i> know about -love?"</p> - -<p>Amazingly, laughter pulsed softly.</p> - -<p>"Love?" said the double-voice. "Love? You have not guessed who we are?"</p> - -<p>Stuart's bewildered mind framed only a voiceless question.</p> - -<p>"We know humanity," the twin voices said. "We were human once, a -thousand years ago. Very human, Derek Stuart. And we remembered love."</p> - -<p>He half guessed the answer. "You are—"</p> - -<p>"There was a man and a woman once," the voices told him gently. -"Mankind still remembers their legend—John Starr and Lorna, who defied -the Aesir."</p> - -<p>"John Starr and Lorna!"</p> - -<p>"We fought the Aesir in the days when we and they were human. We worked -with them on the entropy device that made them what they are now—and -made us—ourselves. When we saw what they planned with their power, we -fought.... But they were five, and strong because they were ruthless. -We had to flee."</p> - -<p>The voices that spoke as one voice were distant, remembering.</p> - -<p>"They grew in power on their Asgard world, changing as the millenniums -swept over them, as entropy accelerated for them. And we changed, -too, in our own place, in our different way. We are not human now. -But we are not monsters, as the Aesir were. We have known failure -and bitterness and defeat many times, Derek Stuart. But we remember -humanity. And as for love—"</p> - -<p>Stuart said bitterly:</p> - -<p>"You know <i>your</i> love. You have it forever. But Kari ... Kari is dead."</p> - -<p>The voices were very gentle. "You have sacrificed more than we. You -gave up your love and your bodies. We—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Silence again. Then the woman, serene and gentle-voiced, "There is a -way, John. But not an easy one—for us."</p> - -<p>Stuart thought, "But Kari is dead."</p> - -<p>The woman said, "Her body is empty of the Aesir life-force. And yours -is burned out by the power we poured through it, so that no human could -live in it again unless—unless one more than human upheld you."</p> - -<p>"Lorna—"</p> - -<p>"We must part for awhile, John. We have been one for a long while. Now -we must be two again, for the sake of these two. Until the change...."</p> - -<p>"What change?" asked Stuart eagerly.</p> - -<p>"As we changed, so would you, if our lives upheld yours. Entropy would -move for you as it moved for the Aesir and for us. And that, too, I -think, is good. Mankind will need a leader. And we can help—John and -I—more surely if we taste again of humanity. After awhile—after -millenniums—the circle will close and John and I will be free to merge -again. And you and Kari, too."</p> - -<p>Stuart thought, "But Kari—<i>will</i> it be Kari?"</p> - -<p>"It will be," the gentle voice said. "Cleansed of the evil of the -Aesir, supported by my own strength, as you by John's. You will be -yourselves again, with the worlds before you, and afterward—a dwelling -among the stars, with us...."</p> - -<p>The man's voice said, "Lorna, Lorna—"</p> - -<p>"You know we must, beloved," the softer voice said. "We have asked too -much of them to offer nothing in repayment. And it will not be goodbye."</p> - -<p>There was darkness and silence.</p> - -<p>Stuart was dimly aware of cyclopean heights rising above him. -Painfully he stirred. He was clothed in his own body again, and the -battle-blasted hall of the dead Aesir towered high into the dimness -above him.</p> - -<p>He turned his head.</p> - -<p>Beside him on the dais a girl, lying crumpled in the shower of her -hair, stirred and sighed.</p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT HATH ME? *** - -This file should be named 63796-h.htm or 63796-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/7/9/63796/ - -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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