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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..1d19706 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64695 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64695) diff --git a/old/64695-0.txt b/old/64695-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fad82fd..0000000 --- a/old/64695-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1675 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Moon of Treason, by Emmett McDowell - -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: Moon of Treason - -Author: Emmett McDowell - -Release Date: March 04, 2021 [eBook #64695] - -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 MOON OF TREASON *** - - - - - Moon Of Treason - - by EMMETT McDOWELL - - Branded an outlaw by the ISP, hated and - feared as a mutant, Clyde Vickers stalked - his quarry in impotent rage. His kind, it - seemed, was always wanted for the dirty work.... - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1950. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Clyde Vickers shuffled awkwardly down the gangplank. After two years on -Jupiter he felt buoyant as a toy balloon in the mild gravity of Earth's -satellite. Every step he expected to go sailing over the heads of the -other passengers--up, up into the vast booming reaches of Luna City's -airlock. - -The line jammed, came to a fuming stop. Vickers found himself wedged -between a woman who had boarded the liner at Mars and a bearded -Plutonian explorer. He craned his neck, peering over their heads to see -what had caused the bottleneck. - -An officer of the ISP, in a blue uniform, was standing at the foot of -the gangplank, examining passports. Vickers cursed under his breath. - -"Damn them," he thought, "damn them." - -Behind him, the black spaceliner made sudden pistol-like reports as -it expanded in the warm air. It had brought some of the cold of outer -space along with it, and hoar frost stood out on its sides a foot -thick. It was rapidly exhausting the heat in the airlock. Vickers -shivered as the cold struck through his ill-fitting gray suit. - -"Papers," the ISP man said and held out his hand. - -With a start Vickers realized that he had reached the end of the -gangplank. The ISP man took one look at Vickers' little green book and -his face hardened. - -"Parolee!" he said. - -There were whispers from the crowd. A little boy said: "What's he done, -momma? What's he done?" - -"Hush!" she bade him. - -Vickers gave no sign that he'd heard. - -"Two-time loser, eh?" the ISP man went on and ran his eyes over -Vickers. He saw a tall man with huge shoulders, the muscle bulging the -cheap gray cloth--muscle that could be acquired only in the killing -gravity of Jupiter's penal mines. Then he saw Vickers' eyes, and he -looked startled. - -Vickers had his nictitating lids lowered; his eyes seemed almost -normal. Almost but not quite! - -"What the devil!" the ISP man wet his lips. "Vickers! By God, I should -have recognized the name. Vickers, eh?" He seemed about to say more, -then changed his mind. "Move along. You're holding up the line." - -"My passport." - -"Pick it up at the parole board. If you don't report there in -twenty-four hours, you'll be picked up yourself and shipped back to -Jupiter. You're a two-time loser, Vickers; you can't afford to get into -trouble again." - -Vickers regarded him with open dislike, then turned on his heel, -started across the spaceport at a cautious shuffle. - -Freedom! - -He couldn't leave the moon. He had to accept whatever work the parole -board secured for him--more than likely some stinking job deep in the -moon pits. He must report for a check-up and a psycho-therapeutic -treatment every four weeks. He couldn't marry or hold property or -change jobs. - -And if he fell from grace again, it meant sterilization and a life -sentence on Jupiter. - -Freedom. What the hell had he to look forward to? - - * * * * * - -All his life Vickers had been lonely. His parents, horrified at having -produced a monstrosity, had placed him in a home and washed their hands -of him. - -Not that Vickers' abnormality was disfiguring or particularly -noticeable even--you had to look closely at his eyes to recognize the -nictitating lids--but he was a freak, a mutant, and the sight of him -had been a constant reminder of their shame. - -At the home, Vickers' playmates had quickly discovered his queerness -and had taunted him about it with the cruelty of children. His attempts -at friendship were met with rebuffs. He might have been able to adjust -but he was never allowed to forget that he was different. - -Later when the peculiar power of his eyes became known, he was feared -a little, resented and cordially hated. Vickers was forced in on -himself. He built a shell, a hard flippant armor against the senseless -antagonism he met everywhere. - -In spite of hysterical predictions and a flood of stories in the -science-fiction magazines, the Atomic Age had not ushered in a wave of -mutants--at least not radical mutants. Vickers was practically unique. - -And alone. - -Nevertheless Vickers experienced an odd tingling excitement as he -emerged from the lock into Luna City. Beneath his thick layers of -protective indifference, he was eager as a boy, friendly, sensitive. A -starved gregariousness looked out of his eyes in unguarded moments. - -He stood with his back to the wall of an export firm, breathing deeply -of the warm, artificially earth-scented air. Through the soles of his -feet he could feel the pavement vibrating faintly, as deep inside the -bowels of the moon, the mechanical mining worms gnawed out the ore, -chewed it, digested it, spat it out as metal ingots. - -The voice of the city rolled over him, deafened him. His eyes were -bewildered at the crowds jamming the pavement. His pulse leaped. He was -like a blind man who has just had his sight restored. - -Someone said: "Hello, Vickers," and struck him on the shoulder. "Glad -to see you out." - -Vickers brought his eyes down. He stared at the man who had addressed -him. The look of exaltation slowly faded from his face to be replaced -by a puzzled frown. - -"I don't know you." - -"Oh, come now, surely you recognize me." The man was as big as Vickers, -exactly, and the same build. He was clad in a shabby gray suit. There -was something tantalizingly familiar about him. Vickers wrinkled his -forehead in concentration. - -"I must remember that," said the man, and wrinkled his forehead exactly -like Vickers. - -They were standing in a doorway out of the stream of pedestrians. -Suddenly Vickers' mouth fell open. He stared at the man in startled -disbelief. - -It was himself! - -The resemblance was too perfect. The same close-cropped black hair -and Jupiter-enlarged muscles. The same short, straight nose, wide, -thin-lipped mouth, square jaw. Even the same transparent inner lids -lowered over pale gray eyes. It was like looking into a mirror. - -Vickers felt his mouth go dry. - -"Who are you?" he demanded harshly. - -"You recognize me? Good." - -The man grinned, began to edge away. - -Vickers lunged for him. But the fellow eluded his grasp, slipped into -the stream of traffic like an eel. He was rapidly being swallowed up by -the crowd. Vickers ploughed after him. - -There was something afoot--something dangerous to himself, he felt. -He was determined not to lose sight of his double and opened his -nictitating lids.... - -Instantly, the scene about the busy spaceport changed. It took on a -vaporous unreality like an x-ray photograph. The people, the buildings, -even the pavement underfoot became tenuous as smoke. He could see right -through them. - -It always frightened Vickers a little to use his full vision, taking -him a second to adjust. Then he located his double about ten steps -ahead. - -He could make out the misty outlines of elevators in the man's flashing -heels. So that was how he'd given himself the necessary height. Pads -filled out his frame reproducing Vickers' Jupiter-trained muscles. The -nictitating lids had been cleverly simulated by contact lenses. - -But why? - -Why should anyone go to all that trouble to disguise himself exactly -like Vickers--even to the ill-fitting gray suit? There was something -sinister about the whole affair. - -Just then Vickers tripped, lost his precarious balance and fell -sprawling. - -He scrambled to his feet in time to see the stranger leap into an air -taxi. - -"Look at his eyes!" a woman cried out at his elbow. "Look at his eyes!" - - * * * * * - -Vickers hastily lowered his inner lids, cursing under his breath. There -wasn't another cab in sight. He'd better clear out before he was the -focal point of a riot. Normal humans weren't fond of mutants. - -Already a crowd was collecting. Vickers heard angry mutterings. He -forced his way through the press bull-like. Suddenly he found his path -blocked by two determined-looking men. - -"Hold on," said the man on the outside and put his hand on Vickers' -chest. He was blond with cold, pale blue eyes. "What's your hurry?" - -Vickers started to thrust them aside when he felt the second man jam a -gun into his ribs. - -"Vickers, aren't you?" asked the blond man. - -"What of it?" - -"Come along." He jerked his chin toward an air taxi. "Don't make a -fuss." - -"Where?" - -"Headquarters." The man produced an ISP card. "We tried to catch you at -the ship, but you'd left." - -Vickers hesitated. Despite the pistol in his ribs, he thought he could -take the two plainclothesmen. It would be a futile move, though. The -ISP would throw out the net for him, and this time he would be sent -back to Jupiter for life. - -He sighed, "All right," and climbed into the cab. - -He wondered if there could be any connection between the incident -outside the spaceport and this visit to ISP headquarters, but he knew -it would be useless to ask. He stared silently out the cab window at -the polyglot crowd, drawn from three worlds. - -The moon was international. It was governed by a board of seven -delegates, one each from the seven great nations of Earth. They were -known simply as "The Seven" with headquarters in the moon-tower near -the center of Luna City. The ISP offices were located there too as well -as all government bureaus. - -All at once Vickers realized that the cab was headed in the wrong -direction. - -"Where are we going?" he demanded, jarred out of his stoical calm. - -The ISP agents had taken seats one on each side of him. He could feel -their guns prodding his ribs, sleek automatics with built-in silencers. -Wicked things that could tear half his guts out. - -"Shut up," the blond man said. - -Vickers lapsed into silence again. He was more bewildered and angry -than alarmed. Try as he would, he couldn't guess who'd want him badly -enough to snatch him. - -There had been no rivals in Vickers' line of work. Samuels and Rebkia, -his partners, had both been killed in the ISP trap two years ago. There -was no one left who had any interest in him. Unless-- - -He said suddenly: "You're not ISP agents." - -"That's right." - -"What's the idea then?" - -"You ask too many questions," said the blond man. - -"An' that's a fact," the other agreed. - -Vickers' mouth set. He still thought he could take the two gunmen, but -his curiosity had the best of him. He sank back in the cushions and -waited. - -The cab had gone about three kilometers when it pulled up at the curb. - -"All right, Vickers," the blond man said; "here's where you get your -answers." - -He crawled out, straightened. The cab had stopped before a door of -opaque blue plastic. Above it in letters of electric blue light was the -inscription: - - INTERNATIONAL SPY RING - INCORPORATED - Secrets Bought and Sold - -Vickers stared at it in disbelief. There was just the plain blank -door squeezed between a theatre on the right and a travel agency with -posters of the Martian deserts in its windows on the left. The blue -door was hard to focus on--like a slightly blurred picture. He opened -his nictitating lids. - -To his utter bewilderment, he found himself looking through the door -into the theatre lobby. The blue door didn't lead anywhere. It wasn't -even a door, he realized, but an illusion! - - * * * * * - -Vickers had been examined many times. "The peculiarity of your vision," -one eminent psycho-biologist had told him, "lies in your ability to see -matter as it actually is. Tenuous unmaterial energy. There's more space -between the nucleus of an atom and its electrons in proportion than -between the sun and its planets. It's like looking at the stars"--and -he had waved his hand at the sky--"you can see them but they don't -obstruct your vision." - -It was a strange world that Vickers could see with the nictitating lids -raised--a fairy-like insubstantial world, beautiful and shocking. A -glass world without secrets. - -But his eyes never lied to him. And the door didn't exist in fact. -There was only a blank theatre wall where he had seen it. - -Then the blond man stepped forward and went through the motions of -opening the door. - -"Inside," he said and walked through and vanished! - -Vickers knew he had vanished, because he could still see the misty -outlines of the wall where the door should have been and the interior -of the theatre. He felt his stomach go hollow. "In you go," the other -man said and nudged him with the pistol. - -Vickers allowed his nictitating lids to close. - -At once he could see the door again, standing open, and a reception -room beyond. The blond man was just inside motioning for him to enter. - -Vickers drew a deep breath and stepped across the threshold. - -There was a moment of abysmal darkness, a giddy sensation, then Vickers -found himself standing in the reception room, ankle deep in carpet. He -felt unaccountably heavier--not as much as he would weigh on Earth but -more than he should weigh on the moon. - -A girl was approaching him. She said: "Go right in, Mr. Vickers," -indicating a door across the room; "they're waiting for you." - -"Who's waiting for me?" - -"Mr. Thorpe. The president of International Spy Ring, Inc. Right in -here, sir." - -The utterly absurd title of the company struck him anew. The seven -great nations would no more permit such a business to exist than they -would sit supinely by and allow an armed invasion. - -In the first place they all maintained their own very efficient -espionage and counter espionage systems. They couldn't afford to let -one nation grow more powerful than the rest. At any costs they had to -preserve the status quo. - -He didn't voice his doubts, but followed the receptionist into a large, -spartanly furnished office. There were no windows, the room being lit -by soft yellow light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. -The top of a huge desk of purely functional design was littered with -gadgets, and behind it sat a bald, pink-faced man, wearing a pleasant -expression. - -There was one other person in the room--a girl--and she was crying -softly. - -"Mr. Thorpe," the receptionist said, "Mr. Vickers to see you," and -withdrew. - -The girl turned her back quickly to Vickers so that he couldn't see her -face, but he could watch her hands worrying the material of her dress. - -It was an expensive dress, Vickers recognized, an exclusive Venusian -creation of green gossamer that was very nearly transparent even to his -normal vision. He was a little shocked and looked away. - -The man called Thorpe beamed at him. "Glad to see you, Vickers," he -said and made it sound genuine. "Won't you sit down?" - -Vickers let himself sink into a chair across from the girl. He couldn't -keep from studying her. Her brown hair was done in a sort of halo -effect and she wore wedge type sandals that must have added three -inches to her height and made her feet look tiny. - -Thorpe cleared his throat. - -"We had a good reason for bringing you here," he said; "I hope it -didn't inconvenience you too much." - -"Get to the point," said Vickers. - -Thorpe looked startled. - -"Vickers, we can use a man with your unique talents. In fact, there's -a job that no one but you--" - -"Sorry." - -Vickers was on his feet, starting for the door to the reception room. - -"Don't be hasty," Thorpe said in an agitated voice. "I really can't let -you go until you hear me out." - - * * * * * - -Vickers caught the veiled threat in his words, swung around. Thorpe's -finger was resting on a button. The girl had begun to sniff audibly. - -"All right," said Vickers, "but make it short. I have to register at -the Parole Board office before the expiration of twenty-four hours." - -"No hurry," Thorpe said, waving him back to his chair. "You met your -double on the street. He's gone to the board to register in your -place. He'll also fill any job they see fit to assign you. So you see, -Vickers, you're quite free. You're even supplied with a perfect alibi." - -Vickers did see. He saw a number of things, none of which reassured -him. He said: "Fingerprints?" - -"They'll check. He's wearing tips with your prints. So will his height -and weight. He's a fine actor, Vickers, one of the best." - -"How did you get my prints? My record is in the ISP secret file, but--" - -"But that's our business. Secrets, Vickers. Any secrets. State secrets, -scientific secrets." He chuckled. "We make no secret about it." - -Vickers looked skeptical. - -"Do you mean to tell me that you could steal the plans, say, of the -USSE's new space drive?" - -Thorpe rubbed his hands together, his grin broadening. - -"We sold them the plans. In fact, we sold those same plans to the -Black Republic, the Arab Federation, China and New Spain as well. The -only reason we didn't sell them to the United States is because they -happened to be the ones who had developed them." - -He paused to let his words sink in. "That may seem unethical, but it's -our policy. In our small way, we feel that we help to preserve the -status quo." - -"Rubbish!" said Vickers. "If you'd done that, they would have sent the -lot of you off to Jupiter." - -"They try." Thorpe looked at his watch. "In fact, Vickers, we have -information that the ISP plans to raid us in exactly twenty-three -minutes." - -Vickers stiffened. "Is that straight?" - -"Quite. But don't alarm yourself. They'll never get past the blue door." - -Far from being soothing, Thorpe's reassurance had just the opposite -effect on Vickers. For the first time, he began to doubt that he could -get through that blue door himself. There was something so damned -complacent about the man behind the desk-- - -In sudden alarm, Vickers opened his nictitating lids, flicked a quick -glance around. - -The room was quite real, but there was no sign of Luna City nor of the -moon's desolate surface. He sucked in his breath. - -The office seemed to be part of a large windowless structure. He could -see, through the walls, a restless ochre sea outside and a red pebble -beach. Strange, sinuous vegetation cloaked the shore. - -"Where are we?" he blurted out. "How did I get here?" - -"I'm sorry," said Thorpe, "but that's one secret that isn't for sale." - -Vickers closed the nictitating lids and the office recovered its -solidity. - -"What's your proposition?" - -Thorpe gave him a shrewd look. "This is Tani Fralick," he introduced -the girl. "I'm sure you've heard of her father. He's the physicist...." - - * * * * * - -Vickers sat bolt upright. Fralick was probably the most renowned man on -Earth, Mars or Venus. He certainly was the Systems greatest physicist. -Fralick was head of the United States' Bureau of Research. It was -practically treason for his daughter to be in the offices of such an -organization as "International Spy Ring, Inc." - -Thorpe said: "Tani's father has been abducted by the Arab Federation." - -The girl gave a muffled sob, buried her face in her hands. - -Vickers yelled: "What!" Then in a lower voice, "But there's been -nothing on the newscasts." - -"Of course not. The U.S. is hushing it up. They don't want it -broadcast that their top experimental physicist has been stolen. They -don't even know who has him or where he is. Tani has asked us to get -her father back." - -"Where is he?" - -Thorpe didn't look so cherubic as he drummed on the desk top. - -"Here. Luna City. He's being held in the embassy of the Arab -Federation." - -Vickers said: "Why don't you turn your information over to the U.S.?" - -"It's not as simple as that. The Arabs would kill him before they'd -give him up." - -Vickers shrugged. "If the U.S. with all its resources can't release -him, I don't see how you expect me to do it." - -"You can, though. In fact you're the only one who can. The question is, -will you?" - -"No!" said Vickers flatly; "I won't." - -"But--" - -"No buts about it. With my record, it would be poison for me, if my -name ever became associated with anything like International Spy Ring, -Inc. I'm through, Thorpe, I've quit. I can't afford to be sent back to -Jupiter." - -Tani Fralick suddenly burst into a flood of tears. Vickers clenched his -fist. At that instant a bell began to ring insistently. - -"The raid," Thorpe said. "What say we watch it? Anyway, Vickers, you -can't leave 'til it's over." - -Vickers grunted, sank deeper into his chair. Tani's soft child-like -crying was getting under his skin, but he steeled himself against it. - -Thorpe pressed a button on his desk, and a huge televisor screen on -the wall behind him glowed into life. The multiple noises of Luna City -rolled into the office shattering their isolation. The tri-dimensional -effect was so real, that it was as if the wall itself had been removed -and they were peering directly into the street outside the blue door. -Vickers could read its idiotic sign. - - INTERNATIONAL SPY RING - INCORPORATED - Secrets Bought and Sold - -All at once he frowned as he discovered the silent men converging on -the entrance. They were dressed in civilian clothes, threading their -way unobtrusively through the press. ISP men, Vickers recognized, with -a thrill of alarm. - -One of them reached the portal, put out his hand for the knob. - -The blue door vanished. - -It simply went out like a light, leaving the ISP man staring stupidly -at the blank wall of the theatre. - -Thorpe snapped off the televisor. Vickers could see that he was -chuckling. - -"The fun's over," he said. "But they'll be nosing around there for a -week. There's really no door there, you know." - -"Yes, I know. But I'll be damned if I understand." - -"You will," Thorpe said cryptically. Then he switched on the -inter-office com. "Miss Stevens, see that this memo is circulated -throughout the organization. 'Due to a police raid, the new offices of -International Spy Ring, Inc., are located at B624-1/2 Water Street, -Level Three'." - - * * * * * - -He clicked it off, stared at Vickers coldly. All the friendliness was -gone. - -"Suppose we quit fencing. We know your history, Vickers. You used to -claim that you could arrange the escape of any prisoner, no matter -where he was being held--for a price. You made monkeys out of the ISP -for a while. How many men have you broken out of the Jupiter Penal -Mines and readjustment camps?" - -"I don't know," said Vickers. "It was a good racket while it lasted." - -"But you couldn't finagle your own escape, could you?" - -"It's easier to work from the outside," Vickers rejoined laconically. - -Thorpe said in a nasty voice: "That's just the point I'd like to make. -Either you help us release Fralick, or we'll frame you and turn you -over to the ISP." - -Vickers' eyes narrowed. He leaned suddenly across the desk, hit Thorpe -on the chin with his balled fist! - -There was a "crack!" as Thorpe's jaw bone snapped. He was bowled over -backward to lie in an unconscious heap against the wall. - -Tani screamed. She tried to reach the desk, but Vickers grabbed her off -her feet, thrust her under his arm. - -"Put me down! Put me down," she cried furiously, kicking, squirming. -Vickers paid no more attention to her frantic wriggling than he would -have to a kitten. His inner lids were raised and he was staring with a -strange fixity at the alien world visible through the walls. - -"What are you going to do?" Tani gasped. "Are you crazy? You can't walk -out of here. The blue door isn't operating. Besides, even if you did -get away the Ring would have you framed." - -"I'm not going back to Luna City," Vickers said tersely. "I'm going -outside." - -"Outside!" - -"Yes." He started for the reception room. "I don't know where we are. -Another world, another dimension, it's all the same. I'll be free of -the ISP. I'll find a way out if I have to break through the walls." - -"But you can't!" she wailed. "The atmosphere outside it! It--it's -chlorine!" - -Vickers felt as if someone had kicked him in the belly. He set Tani on -her feet. - -"How do _you_ know?" - -"Thorpe showed me. He--he--" she straightened her skirt managing to -look flustered--"he's been very friendly." - -"Where are we?" - -"In another dimension, I think. The blue door is a--a stasis, Thorpe -called it. Don't ask me how they do it. They came through in space -suits and built this hermetically-sealed fortress." - -Vickers was silent. After a moment, he said: "All right, you win. I'll -break out your father if it can be done." - - * * * * * - -Vickers sat in a chair facing a blank wall; his nictitating lids were -raised, the pupils of his eyes like lambent flame. Beyond the wall lay -the embassy of the Arab Federation. - -"What do you see?" demanded Tani in a suppressed voice. - -Vickers and the girl were in the house of Seth Adda, an ex-senator and -a friend of Tani's father. He had been happy to lend Tani his house, -which was on the eighth level flush against the Arabian Embassy. - -Vickers was dressed in a snuff-brown burnoose, the national Arab -costume. He said: - -"There's a sleeping room just beyond the wall. This part of the embassy -must be the private quarters of one of the officials. The room opens on -a hall. There are six--seven--eight other bedrooms along it. I think -it's the harem. There's a swimming pool to the left." - -"Can you see him?" Tani pleaded. - -"Yes. But not very plainly. He's in a tiny cell almost in the center of -the embassy. There's a guard in front of the door." - -"Is--is he all right? They haven't hurt him?" - -Vickers concentrated on the vague outlines of the man lying on his -bunk. A thin man, elderly, with hollow cheeks. "So that's Doctor -Fralick," he thought, "greatest theoretical physicist since Einstein." - -He said aloud: - -"He seems okay." - -Tani expelled her breath in relief. Vickers looked at her suddenly and -saw that tears were running down her cheeks. Involuntarily he started -to reach out his hand to comfort her, remembered the repugnance normal -humans felt toward him and let his hand drop to his knee. - -The girl disturbed him. She was wearing practical gray coveralls -instead of the filmy creation she'd had on yesterday. She was beautiful -even in the baggy garment, but it wasn't altogether that. With the -strides that had been made in eugenics, an ugly man or woman was the -exception and, perversely, often had more appeal than the uniformly -handsome ones. - -No, he was hungry for a woman, hungry for companionship and admiration. - -He frowned, catching himself up with a jerk. Self pity! He'd better -watch himself. That way led to neurosis, manic depression and insanity. - -He wished Tani would go away and leave him alone. He worked better -alone. But he knew she'd been set to watch him. The Ring probably -thought she'd do a better job of it since it was to her interest to see -that he didn't double-cross them. - -She said, "Clyde." - -"Yes?" He was startled and dropped his nictitating lids. She'd never -called him by his first name before. - -"You resent being forced into this job, don't you? I'm sorry. Honest I -am, Clyde. But it was father's life or--or...." - -"Or mine," he supplied dryly. - -"That isn't fair." - -"Isn't it?" - -"No. You'll be protected and alibied--" - -He said: "How much do you know about International Spy Ring, Inc.?" - -She looked startled, her eyes widening. "Not--not very much, I guess. -I've heard father speak of them. They're big, Clyde. You don't know how -big. They've offices on Earth and Mars and Venus, too. The ISP can't do -a thing. They can't get past the blue doors. You can't fight the Ring. -They're invulnerable." - -"Nothing's invulnerable." - -"Clyde!" Her hand started towards him, dropped. - -She can't bring herself to touch me, he thought. They're friendly -now--because I'm necessary; they can't do without my help. But what -about afterwards? What then? - -If he were lucky, he'd be set free, to work in the moon pits where -his double was now. If he were lucky! He shivered a little. He knew -too much about International Spy Ring, Inc. As soon as he was of no -more use to them, they'd dispose of him. Permanently. Probably in that -dimension where their office was located. That beautiful little world -with the atmosphere of chlorine. - -"Clyde," Tani repeated. "What are you going to do? You're not planning -to double-cross the Ring, are you? Not that, Clyde?" - -"No." But he filed the idea away. The ISP might be willing to forget -his record, let him start out with a clean slate if he could deliver -the Ring into their hands. - -"Why did the Arabs kidnap your father?" he asked Tani suddenly. - - * * * * * - -The girl hesitated. "He--he was working on teleportation. And somehow -they got wind of it. It would have made space ships outdated. Armies -could be transported instantly behind enemy lines. It would have made -the United States supreme. He was about to succeed." She shook her -head. "But I don't see how the Arabs learned about it." - -"Don't you?" - -"No." She looked puzzled, then her brown eyes widened in comprehension. -"The Ring! But they're helping to rescue him." - -"Why not? They're getting paid by both sides. You heard Thorpe admit -that they'd sold the space drive to every one of the seven countries." - -"No. I can't believe it, Clyde." She bit her lip. "They're not like -that. Not really." - -"Rubbish." - -The girl's face had grown very white. "You won't let me down, Clyde. -You'll get father out, whatever you do?" - -He opened his nictitating lids, peered through the wall into the -embassy. There were two women in the swimming pool. The sleeping -chamber was empty. So was the hallway. - -He said, "Yes." Then, "Check the route. This is it." - -He heard her gasp. Then she began to talk hurriedly into a tiny radio -strapped about her wrist. - -Vickers looked up and down through the various floors of the embassy -next door, checking the position of the guard details, the officials -and their families. It was going to be tricky, he saw, a matter of -split second timing. - -He got up and examined the sleek air taxi. It was a transparent plastic -tear drop and filled a fourth of the room. - -One outer wall of the room had been removed outright. It had been -simulated with cloth flats like stage props so that it looked normal -enough from the outside. But when the time arrived, the air taxi could -burst right through it into the street. - -The Ring was thorough, Vickers had to admit. And ruthlessly efficient. - -He said: "Get in the taxi and start the motor. Tell them we'll crack -out of here in exactly fifteen minutes." - -He heard her catch her breath and wheeled on her suddenly. - -"What's wrong?" he demanded sharply. "Good Lord, don't go into a funk -now!" - -"Hold it!" she said, the radio to her ear. He saw the blood drain -out of her face as she listened. Then she clicked it off, turned -frightened eyes on him. - -"It's your double." Her voice sounded lifeless. "The ISP has discovered -the substitution. They have the net out for you now. You couldn't get a -block without being caught." - -Vickers could feel his stomach knot with shock. He stared at her, his -blazing eyes probing straight through her. Anywhere else in the system, -he might have been able to escape. - -But Luna City! It was like a hermetically-sealed gold fish bowl with -the ISP blocking all the exits. Sooner or later they'd dig him out. - -Sterilization and a life sentence to the Jupiter Penal Mines! There was -no leniency shown third offenders, no matter how minor the infraction. - -He got a grip on himself with an effort. - -"Tell them," he said to the girl, "we'll crack out of here according to -schedule." - -Her mouth made a soundless O. - -"Get in the taxi and start the motor," he said with a grim sparkle of -humor. "I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb!" - -"But how'll we slip through the ISP net?" Tani protested. - -"Get in there," Vickers said in a voice that brooked no questions. He -swung back to the wall separating them from the Arabian embassy. The -adjoining bedroom, he saw, was still empty. - - * * * * * - -He drew the atomic knife from its holster beneath his burnoose, pressed -the stud. A long blade of coruscating atomic energy shot from the -handle. - -The blade went into the wall as if the tough plastic had been butter. -With infinite caution, Vickers cut a four foot window into the next -building, lifted out the block. - -"Don't fumble your part," he said over his shoulder. "We may be in a -hurry when we come back this way." - -Without waiting for a reply, he stepped through, fitted the block back -into place. - -His last glimpse of Tani revealed her crouched in the transparent -plastic air taxi, her eyes round and frightened as two new moons. - - * * * * * - -Vickers didn't hurry. Hope for success lay in two factors: audacity and -his peculiar vision which allowed him to see what his opponents were -doing and so keep a number of jumps ahead. - -The Arabs were a mixture of the old and the new. Scientifically, they -were on a par with any of the seven great nations, but they clung with -superstitious fanaticism to the old customs, the old way of life. - -The harem was still inviolate, and Vickers knew there would be a guard -outside its door. - -He located him through several walls that acted like layers of -cheesecloth to his eyes, dimming the guard's figure but not obscuring -it. He found the women. There were four, and half a dozen servants -besides. But they were congregated at the pool and in two of the rooms. - -He could watch them laughing and chatting or swimming in the limpid -water. Dark-eyed houris with slender waists and full hips and breasts. -It was like a silent film of the ancients. But infinitely more real. - -And deadly. - -There was no one in the hall. Satisfied, Vickers left the bedroom, -walked swiftly down the carpeted hall until he reached the door at the -end. - -He could see the harem guard leaning against the wall, a burly bearded -figure with a hawk nose and a hawk's fierce eyes. An automatic was -belted outside his blue and white striped burnoose. - -Without hesitation or haste, Vickers ran the atomic knife through the -lock, forced open the door. - -The guard spun around, gaping in surprise. He caught sight of Vickers, -reached for the automatic. - -"By Allah!" he began. - -Vickers cut off his head. - -The head hit the floor with a thump, rolled a little, came to rest on -its stump, staring at Vickers out of open, startled eyes. - -It upset Vickers, made him a little sick at his stomach. He swallowed, -glanced about quickly. - -Three men, he discovered, were approaching around a bend in the -corridor. He had perhaps a minute or a minute and a half before they -came into sight. - -He stuffed the guard's body into a closet, threw the head in after it. -He covered the bloodstains with a carpet, welded shut the harem door -with the tip of the atomic knife. Then he ran up the corridor away from -the approaching men. - -This whole wing must be the living quarters of the embassy staff. It -was preternaturally quiet like the upper floors of a hotel. He could -see a few people in their rooms, one or two in the corridors, which he -avoided automatically. - -The cell block where Fralick was being held was located in the main -building. The traffic was considerably heavier there, and Vickers' -eyes were never still. They darted here, there, watching one person's -progress, judging how many seconds it would take another to reach a -certain intersection. - -His ears were alerted for the first outbreak of the alarm bell. -He didn't have time to notice the antique hangings, the exquisite -decorations, though he did catch an impression of sumptuousness. - -The rear of Fralick's cell butted against the back of an office. In -advance Vickers had determined to cut through the wall between office -and cell and so avoid killing the guard. If he were lucky, he would -avoid detection for precious minutes also. - -He had almost reached his objective when a heavy-set bearded official -entered the office and sat down behind the desk. - -Vickers could see him mistily as he set to work with some papers. He -swore furiously under his breath, but didn't pause. Throwing open the -door, he jumped into the chamber. - -In the feeble gravity of the moon, Vickers' leap carried him across the -room to the top of the Arab's desk. - -The official gasped, tried to rise and call out. His face was turned up -to Vickers--a long frightened face with skin like yellow leather. - -Vickers kicked him on his pointed chin. - -The Arab went over backwards with a crash. Vickers didn't glance at -him, but shut the door, attacked the far wall with the atomic knife. - -He lifted out a four foot segment. Fralick was on the other side -staring at the opening like a startled cat. - -"What--" he began, catching sight of Vickers. - -Vickers said low voiced: "Shut up. Come on!" Holding out his hand, he -half-helped, half-yanked the physicist from the cell. - -"Who are you?" Fralick's clothes were wrinkled and he needed a shave. -He was gaunt, pale, excited. "I know! You're Vickers!" - -Vickers' eyes narrowed in surprise, but he only said: "Hurry!" - -The passage outside was still deserted, thank the gods. He pulled the -physicist after him, sprinted toward the living quarters in the wing. - -There were voices ahead. Two men going in the same direction they were, -Vickers saw. He slowed down in order not to trample their heels. - -He was nervous now. He could feel the time running through his fingers. - -Still no alarm! They burst out of the corridor into an enormous hall, -crossed it swiftly, ducked down another passage. Damn place was a rat -run. Fralick was panting. "Hold out, old man!" Vickers thought. "Hold -out!" Still no alarm. They were going to make it. They had to-- - -All the bells in the world seemed to cut loose at once! - - * * * * * - -Vickers jumped as if he'd been shot. - -Fralick clutched his chest. For a moment Vickers was afraid the -scientist would pass out. - -The bell rang frenziedly. - -Hundreds of bells! Everywhere. Bells and shouts and trampling feet. -Through the misty walls Vickers could see running soldiers, frightened -officials, women and children. A vast terrifying pandemonium like a -disturbed ant nest--like a glass ant colony kept for observation. - -Then the doors began to whoosh shut. Automatic doors closing off the -passages. Blocking escape! One rammed shut just behind them. - -A party of guards caught sight of them. Steel jacketed bullets -ricocheted and whined down the corridor. - -Vickers threw a gas grenade. The guards were blotted out by a fountain -of pale green mist. It wasn't deadly, but it would knock out the Arabs, -close off the passage temporarily. - -Fralick was sobbing for breath. Suddenly Vickers grabbed him by the -shoulder. - -"Here! This way! Through the harem." - -With the atomic knife he freed the door which he'd sealed a few minutes -before. A few minutes! He glanced at his watch. Eighteen minutes -exactly; it seemed like hours! He was over his time. He put his -shoulder to the door, threw it back with a crash. - -There was a cluster of frightened women in the corridor. When they -saw Vickers and Fralick, they began to scream and fled screaming like -chickens from a hawk. - -Vickers paid no attention to them, but rushed to the bedroom where he -had cut through the wall. Kicking out the segment he almost hurled -Fralick through the opening. - -Tani was waiting in the air taxi with the door open. A white, strained -Tani with a face like a mask. - -"Dad," she cried. - -Fralick tumbled into the taxi. Vickers started to shut the door, but -Tani held it open. - -"Get in," she begged in a tight voice. "Quick!" - -"No," he said. "The ISP would spot me in that air taxi and stop us. You -can get through all right by yourselves." - -Consternation mirrored itself on Tani's waxen features. She shook her -head. "We're not going without you." - -"Yes, you are!" he said; "no time to explain. I'll meet you at the blue -door." - -She was almost in tears. "Clyde, we're not going to leave you behind!" - -Through the gaping hole in the wall behind them, Vickers could hear the -sounds of pursuit closing in, but he didn't look around. - -"You little fool!" he said brutally, "do you want to get me killed? Do -what I say. This is my kind of work!" - -Suddenly she leaned from the air taxi, kissed him hard on the mouth. -Her eyes were wet. - -"I'll be waiting," she said, catching her breath; "you crazy Quixotic -idiot. I'll wait forever." - -Then she slammed the door. The taxi roared, bull throated, and leaped -forward, bursting a hole in the false wall. - -Vickers stared after the diminishing air cab, rubbing his mouth with -the back of his hand. - -"I'll be damned," he said softly; "I'll be damned." Then he turned -around. - -He was just in time to see the first of the Arab guards lunge through -the hole in the wall of the embassy. - -Vickers hurled his other gas grenade. The egg-shaped glass bomb smashed -against the floor. Plumes of the pale green paralysis gas shot upward. -But Vickers didn't wait to see its effect. - -He left through the hole torn by the air taxi, reached the pavement, -began to walk rapidly toward the corner, the snuff-brown burnoose -flapping about his ankles. - -He had seconds only before the pursuit would develop again. The bomb -was a delaying action, no more. - - * * * * * - -Up ahead he could see a road block, and pedestrians milling around in -the street. A net hung from the level above, halting the air traffic. -The ISP was on the job. - -"Out of the frying pan into the fire," he thought grimly. He glanced -back toward the house, although the Arabs couldn't possibly come -through the room until they'd procured a fan and blown the fumes clear. - -An ISP patrol boat was gliding slowly up the street behind him. It was -manned by two men and was traveling just above the surface traffic. -A shallow, heavily armed and armored craft, it reminded Vickers of a -giant ray as it floated lazily through the air. - -He jumped to the edge of the pavement, waved the patrol boat down -frantically. - -It gave a low moan on its siren, swung in to the curb. The door opened. - -The two men inside wore uniforms--smart blue breeches and blouses -trimmed in gold with the ISP insignia--three interlocking worlds -representing Earth, Venus and Mars--emblazoned on their shoulders. They -were both young and clean cut. Only their eyes looked old and hard. - -"What's the trouble?" the officer nearest Vickers asked shortly. - -"I saw him!" Vickers sounded excited. "I saw him!" - -"Saw who?" - -"The mutant!" - -The ISP agents exchanged glances. At that instant Vickers hit the one -on the outside in the temple. He hit him with the handle of the atomic -knife. The man slumped forward, bumped his head against the slanting -windshield. Vickers was already sliding in beside him. - -He shoved the unconscious agent to the floor boards, pressed the stud -on the knife handle. The blade of sparkling flame glittered into life. - -"Take us up!" he said to the startled man at the controls; "and don't -touch the radio!" Almost as an afterthought he added softly: "I'm -Vickers. I'd just as soon die now, all at once, as be sent back to the -Jupiter Mines to die by degrees." - -The ISP man blanched. He lifted the patrol boat into the air, sent it -scooting down the street. He kept dropping his eyes to the shimmering -blade of flame. - -"Don't get that thing too close," he pleaded hoarsely. - -Vickers said: "B624-1/2 Water Street, level 3. And I won't get the -blade too close if we get through without trouble." - -"But suppose I'm ordered in?" - -"That's your tough luck." - -The ISP man was sweating. But he didn't dare remove his hands from the -controls. Beadlets of perspiration rolled down his cheeks and chin -unheeded. - -As they approached the roadblock, he touched the siren. At its eerie -wail, a man hauled up the net, and the patrol boat slid beneath it. - -Vickers let his breath escape. He was sweating too, he realized. His -forehead felt clammy as a dead fish. - -They reached the blue door without being bothered, though. Vickers -stared at the sign: - - INTERNATIONAL SPY RING - INCORPORATED - Secrets Bought and Sold - -It was the one place in Luna City where the ISP couldn't reach him. But -would the ring give him sanctuary? He didn't know. - -"They will," he thought; "they will, by Heaven, or take the -consequences!" - -He said: "Here's where I leave you, officer. Thanks for the lift," and -slid out of the patrol boat. - -The ISP man had guts. Vickers had taken his automatic, but the agent -reached for the emergency guns in the locker. Before he could shoot, -though, Vickers had disappeared through the blue door. - -He sprang from the patrol boat, started after him. He was three feet -from the blue door when it vanished. - - * * * * * - -Inside the reception room, Vickers balanced on the balls of his feet, -the ISP agent's automatic in his hand. His mouth was a thin line. -Except for Vickers, the room was empty. - -He was about to raise his nictitating lids when the door of the inner -office opened and Tani flew to meet him. Involuntarily, he jerked up -the automatic, but the girl didn't even notice it. - -"Clyde!" she said, and threw her arms about him, clinging desperately -as if she were afraid to turn loose. "I've been so afraid." There was a -funny little catch in her voice. - -Vickers stared down at her, refusing to believe his senses. Then she -tilted her head back, and he could see the relief and happiness shining -in her eyes--and something besides. - -Vickers kissed her. All his doubts were suddenly swept away and somehow -the old hurts along with them. - -"Mr. Vickers," the receptionist said. - -He hadn't noticed her enter the room. But he looked up and she was -smiling too. There was no repugnance in her eyes. - -He said: "Yes." - -"They're waiting to see you, Mr. Vickers. If you'll just step this way." - -He glanced questioningly at Tani, who nodded. Together they entered -Thorpe's office. - -Fralick was there, looking old and tired and a little messy. He was -sitting behind the big desk with Thorpe at his elbow. There were two -others in the office, a tall, parchment-faced Chinese, obviously of -Manchu descent and an Arab with the features of a Biblical patriarch. -They were smiling, all except Thorpe, who couldn't very well with his -jaw in a cast. - -Doctor Fralick put the palms of his hands on the desk and leaned -forward. He said, "I'm very glad you made it, Vickers. I haven't had a -chance to express my appreciation." - -Vickers wrinkled his forehead. There was an air of hopeful friendliness -tinctured with awe in their attitude that puzzled him. He didn't say -anything. - -Fralick looked vaguely embarrassed. "I--we've another favor to ask you, -Vickers. We want you to come in with us." - -"What?" said Vickers in a stunned voice. - -"We want you in International Spy Ring, Inc. Need you. We--well, we -wouldn't expect you to accept a minor position of course. Not a man of -your calibre. If you'll join us, Vickers, you can take charge of the -field work. None of us is so well fitted for active duty as you with -your enviable vision, your resourcefulness." - -Vickers didn't know what to say. That anybody envied him, wanted him -around, considered him an asset, knocked a hole in his armor. He had no -defenses against friendliness. - -"But you," he said; "Doctor Fralick, you're head of the U.S. Bureau of -Research--" - -"I'm also the head of International Spy Ring, Inc." - -At Vickers' expression, Fralick allowed a smile to flit across his -visage. - -"Don't judge us too harshly. Science is international, not the property -of one individual or one nation, even. It must belong to everybody. - -"We don't want power. We're after peace and tolerance and the -dissemination of knowledge. We're united, Vickers. The scientists, the -technicians, the engineers of the seven great nations. Not all of us, -but enough of us." - -He gave Vickers a shrewd penetrating look. "Our way may not seem -ethical, but it works. When there are no secrets between countries, war -is almost impossible. And there are no secrets anymore; we see to that. - -"If the Arab Federation discovers a new gas, we sell the formula to -each of the other countries. If the Black Republic or China starts a -program of military training or lays the keel of a new battleship, in a -week everyone of the other countries has the complete details. - -"We don't sell the information for profit, Vickers, but to finance the -organization." - - * * * * * - -Vickers was stunned. The realization that the Ring was not a hard -grasping organization of thieves, spies and traitors; but an -international group comprising the finest minds and bent on preserving -the peace, left him completely bewildered. - -"I don't know what to say," he said. "Of course I'll join you." - -"Good." Fralick jumped up, came around the desk with his hand out. -"We'll get you a pardon. It wouldn't do for my son-in-law to be a -fugitive from the ISP." He winked at the others who had crowded about -Vickers, pumping his hand. - -It occurred to Vickers that these men were pleased to have him--not in -spite of his mutation, but because of it! They'd even been a little -afraid he might turn them down. - -It was a new experience for him, a good experience. He had the sudden -conviction that at last he'd found his place in the world. It made him -feel warm. - -The Chinese was saying: "You're a violent man, Vickers, a dangerous -man. We were afraid that you might not see eye to eye with us in our -aims." - -"No," Vickers protested, really shocked. "No, I'm not a violent man. I -do what I must and do it as quickly and effectively as I can. But I'm -not violent." - -Thorpe's eyes twinkled. Seizing a pencil he wrote something, held it up -for them all to see, at the same time tapping the cast on his jaw. - -Vickers couldn't repress his grin. Tani squeezed his hand. - -Thorpe had written: "The gods help us all, if he ever does get violent!" - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOON OF TREASON *** - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/64695-0.zip b/old/64695-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5c148a1..0000000 --- a/old/64695-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/64695-h.zip b/old/64695-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4efc48e..0000000 --- a/old/64695-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/64695-h/64695-h.htm b/old/64695-h/64695-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 1312460..0000000 --- a/old/64695-h/64695-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1857 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Moon of Treason, by Emmett Mcdowell. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Moon of Treason, by Emmett McDowell</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Moon of Treason</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Emmett McDowell</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 04, 2021 [eBook #64695]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOON OF TREASON ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Moon Of Treason</h1> - -<h2>by EMMETT McDOWELL</h2> - -<p>Branded an outlaw by the ISP, hated and<br /> -feared as a mutant, Clyde Vickers stalked<br /> -his quarry in impotent rage. His kind, it<br /> -seemed, was always wanted for the dirty work....</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Summer 1950.<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>Clyde Vickers shuffled awkwardly down the gangplank. After two years on -Jupiter he felt buoyant as a toy balloon in the mild gravity of Earth's -satellite. Every step he expected to go sailing over the heads of the -other passengers—up, up into the vast booming reaches of Luna City's -airlock.</p> - -<p>The line jammed, came to a fuming stop. Vickers found himself wedged -between a woman who had boarded the liner at Mars and a bearded -Plutonian explorer. He craned his neck, peering over their heads to see -what had caused the bottleneck.</p> - -<p>An officer of the ISP, in a blue uniform, was standing at the foot of -the gangplank, examining passports. Vickers cursed under his breath.</p> - -<p>"Damn them," he thought, "damn them."</p> - -<p>Behind him, the black spaceliner made sudden pistol-like reports as -it expanded in the warm air. It had brought some of the cold of outer -space along with it, and hoar frost stood out on its sides a foot -thick. It was rapidly exhausting the heat in the airlock. Vickers -shivered as the cold struck through his ill-fitting gray suit.</p> - -<p>"Papers," the ISP man said and held out his hand.</p> - -<p>With a start Vickers realized that he had reached the end of the -gangplank. The ISP man took one look at Vickers' little green book and -his face hardened.</p> - -<p>"Parolee!" he said.</p> - -<p>There were whispers from the crowd. A little boy said: "What's he done, -momma? What's he done?"</p> - -<p>"Hush!" she bade him.</p> - -<p>Vickers gave no sign that he'd heard.</p> - -<p>"Two-time loser, eh?" the ISP man went on and ran his eyes over -Vickers. He saw a tall man with huge shoulders, the muscle bulging the -cheap gray cloth—muscle that could be acquired only in the killing -gravity of Jupiter's penal mines. Then he saw Vickers' eyes, and he -looked startled.</p> - -<p>Vickers had his nictitating lids lowered; his eyes seemed almost -normal. Almost but not quite!</p> - -<p>"What the devil!" the ISP man wet his lips. "Vickers! By God, I should -have recognized the name. Vickers, eh?" He seemed about to say more, -then changed his mind. "Move along. You're holding up the line."</p> - -<p>"My passport."</p> - -<p>"Pick it up at the parole board. If you don't report there in -twenty-four hours, you'll be picked up yourself and shipped back to -Jupiter. You're a two-time loser, Vickers; you can't afford to get into -trouble again."</p> - -<p>Vickers regarded him with open dislike, then turned on his heel, -started across the spaceport at a cautious shuffle.</p> - -<p>Freedom!</p> - -<p>He couldn't leave the moon. He had to accept whatever work the parole -board secured for him—more than likely some stinking job deep in the -moon pits. He must report for a check-up and a psycho-therapeutic -treatment every four weeks. He couldn't marry or hold property or -change jobs.</p> - -<p>And if he fell from grace again, it meant sterilization and a life -sentence on Jupiter.</p> - -<p>Freedom. What the hell had he to look forward to?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>All his life Vickers had been lonely. His parents, horrified at having -produced a monstrosity, had placed him in a home and washed their hands -of him.</p> - -<p>Not that Vickers' abnormality was disfiguring or particularly -noticeable even—you had to look closely at his eyes to recognize the -nictitating lids—but he was a freak, a mutant, and the sight of him -had been a constant reminder of their shame.</p> - -<p>At the home, Vickers' playmates had quickly discovered his queerness -and had taunted him about it with the cruelty of children. His attempts -at friendship were met with rebuffs. He might have been able to adjust -but he was never allowed to forget that he was different.</p> - -<p>Later when the peculiar power of his eyes became known, he was feared -a little, resented and cordially hated. Vickers was forced in on -himself. He built a shell, a hard flippant armor against the senseless -antagonism he met everywhere.</p> - -<p>In spite of hysterical predictions and a flood of stories in the -science-fiction magazines, the Atomic Age had not ushered in a wave of -mutants—at least not radical mutants. Vickers was practically unique.</p> - -<p>And alone.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless Vickers experienced an odd tingling excitement as he -emerged from the lock into Luna City. Beneath his thick layers of -protective indifference, he was eager as a boy, friendly, sensitive. A -starved gregariousness looked out of his eyes in unguarded moments.</p> - -<p>He stood with his back to the wall of an export firm, breathing deeply -of the warm, artificially earth-scented air. Through the soles of his -feet he could feel the pavement vibrating faintly, as deep inside the -bowels of the moon, the mechanical mining worms gnawed out the ore, -chewed it, digested it, spat it out as metal ingots.</p> - -<p>The voice of the city rolled over him, deafened him. His eyes were -bewildered at the crowds jamming the pavement. His pulse leaped. He was -like a blind man who has just had his sight restored.</p> - -<p>Someone said: "Hello, Vickers," and struck him on the shoulder. "Glad -to see you out."</p> - -<p>Vickers brought his eyes down. He stared at the man who had addressed -him. The look of exaltation slowly faded from his face to be replaced -by a puzzled frown.</p> - -<p>"I don't know you."</p> - -<p>"Oh, come now, surely you recognize me." The man was as big as Vickers, -exactly, and the same build. He was clad in a shabby gray suit. There -was something tantalizingly familiar about him. Vickers wrinkled his -forehead in concentration.</p> - -<p>"I must remember that," said the man, and wrinkled his forehead exactly -like Vickers.</p> - -<p>They were standing in a doorway out of the stream of pedestrians. -Suddenly Vickers' mouth fell open. He stared at the man in startled -disbelief.</p> - -<p>It was himself!</p> - -<p>The resemblance was too perfect. The same close-cropped black hair -and Jupiter-enlarged muscles. The same short, straight nose, wide, -thin-lipped mouth, square jaw. Even the same transparent inner lids -lowered over pale gray eyes. It was like looking into a mirror.</p> - -<p>Vickers felt his mouth go dry.</p> - -<p>"Who are you?" he demanded harshly.</p> - -<p>"You recognize me? Good."</p> - -<p>The man grinned, began to edge away.</p> - -<p>Vickers lunged for him. But the fellow eluded his grasp, slipped into -the stream of traffic like an eel. He was rapidly being swallowed up by -the crowd. Vickers ploughed after him.</p> - -<p>There was something afoot—something dangerous to himself, he felt. -He was determined not to lose sight of his double and opened his -nictitating lids....</p> - -<p>Instantly, the scene about the busy spaceport changed. It took on a -vaporous unreality like an x-ray photograph. The people, the buildings, -even the pavement underfoot became tenuous as smoke. He could see right -through them.</p> - -<p>It always frightened Vickers a little to use his full vision, taking -him a second to adjust. Then he located his double about ten steps -ahead.</p> - -<p>He could make out the misty outlines of elevators in the man's flashing -heels. So that was how he'd given himself the necessary height. Pads -filled out his frame reproducing Vickers' Jupiter-trained muscles. The -nictitating lids had been cleverly simulated by contact lenses.</p> - -<p>But why?</p> - -<p>Why should anyone go to all that trouble to disguise himself exactly -like Vickers—even to the ill-fitting gray suit? There was something -sinister about the whole affair.</p> - -<p>Just then Vickers tripped, lost his precarious balance and fell -sprawling.</p> - -<p>He scrambled to his feet in time to see the stranger leap into an air -taxi.</p> - -<p>"Look at his eyes!" a woman cried out at his elbow. "Look at his eyes!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers hastily lowered his inner lids, cursing under his breath. There -wasn't another cab in sight. He'd better clear out before he was the -focal point of a riot. Normal humans weren't fond of mutants.</p> - -<p>Already a crowd was collecting. Vickers heard angry mutterings. He -forced his way through the press bull-like. Suddenly he found his path -blocked by two determined-looking men.</p> - -<p>"Hold on," said the man on the outside and put his hand on Vickers' -chest. He was blond with cold, pale blue eyes. "What's your hurry?"</p> - -<p>Vickers started to thrust them aside when he felt the second man jam a -gun into his ribs.</p> - -<p>"Vickers, aren't you?" asked the blond man.</p> - -<p>"What of it?"</p> - -<p>"Come along." He jerked his chin toward an air taxi. "Don't make a -fuss."</p> - -<p>"Where?"</p> - -<p>"Headquarters." The man produced an ISP card. "We tried to catch you at -the ship, but you'd left."</p> - -<p>Vickers hesitated. Despite the pistol in his ribs, he thought he could -take the two plainclothesmen. It would be a futile move, though. The -ISP would throw out the net for him, and this time he would be sent -back to Jupiter for life.</p> - -<p>He sighed, "All right," and climbed into the cab.</p> - -<p>He wondered if there could be any connection between the incident -outside the spaceport and this visit to ISP headquarters, but he knew -it would be useless to ask. He stared silently out the cab window at -the polyglot crowd, drawn from three worlds.</p> - -<p>The moon was international. It was governed by a board of seven -delegates, one each from the seven great nations of Earth. They were -known simply as "The Seven" with headquarters in the moon-tower near -the center of Luna City. The ISP offices were located there too as well -as all government bureaus.</p> - -<p>All at once Vickers realized that the cab was headed in the wrong -direction.</p> - -<p>"Where are we going?" he demanded, jarred out of his stoical calm.</p> - -<p>The ISP agents had taken seats one on each side of him. He could feel -their guns prodding his ribs, sleek automatics with built-in silencers. -Wicked things that could tear half his guts out.</p> - -<p>"Shut up," the blond man said.</p> - -<p>Vickers lapsed into silence again. He was more bewildered and angry -than alarmed. Try as he would, he couldn't guess who'd want him badly -enough to snatch him.</p> - -<p>There had been no rivals in Vickers' line of work. Samuels and Rebkia, -his partners, had both been killed in the ISP trap two years ago. There -was no one left who had any interest in him. Unless—</p> - -<p>He said suddenly: "You're not ISP agents."</p> - -<p>"That's right."</p> - -<p>"What's the idea then?"</p> - -<p>"You ask too many questions," said the blond man.</p> - -<p>"An' that's a fact," the other agreed.</p> - -<p>Vickers' mouth set. He still thought he could take the two gunmen, but -his curiosity had the best of him. He sank back in the cushions and -waited.</p> - -<p>The cab had gone about three kilometers when it pulled up at the curb.</p> - -<p>"All right, Vickers," the blond man said; "here's where you get your -answers."</p> - -<p>He crawled out, straightened. The cab had stopped before a door of -opaque blue plastic. Above it in letters of electric blue light was the -inscription:</p> - -<p class="ph1">INTERNATIONAL SPY RING<br /> -INCORPORATED<br /> -Secrets Bought and Sold</p> - -<p>Vickers stared at it in disbelief. There was just the plain blank -door squeezed between a theatre on the right and a travel agency with -posters of the Martian deserts in its windows on the left. The blue -door was hard to focus on—like a slightly blurred picture. He opened -his nictitating lids.</p> - -<p>To his utter bewilderment, he found himself looking through the door -into the theatre lobby. The blue door didn't lead anywhere. It wasn't -even a door, he realized, but an illusion!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers had been examined many times. "The peculiarity of your vision," -one eminent psycho-biologist had told him, "lies in your ability to see -matter as it actually is. Tenuous unmaterial energy. There's more space -between the nucleus of an atom and its electrons in proportion than -between the sun and its planets. It's like looking at the stars"—and -he had waved his hand at the sky—"you can see them but they don't -obstruct your vision."</p> - -<p>It was a strange world that Vickers could see with the nictitating lids -raised—a fairy-like insubstantial world, beautiful and shocking. A -glass world without secrets.</p> - -<p>But his eyes never lied to him. And the door didn't exist in fact. -There was only a blank theatre wall where he had seen it.</p> - -<p>Then the blond man stepped forward and went through the motions of -opening the door.</p> - -<p>"Inside," he said and walked through and vanished!</p> - -<p>Vickers knew he had vanished, because he could still see the misty -outlines of the wall where the door should have been and the interior -of the theatre. He felt his stomach go hollow. "In you go," the other -man said and nudged him with the pistol.</p> - -<p>Vickers allowed his nictitating lids to close.</p> - -<p>At once he could see the door again, standing open, and a reception -room beyond. The blond man was just inside motioning for him to enter.</p> - -<p>Vickers drew a deep breath and stepped across the threshold.</p> - -<p>There was a moment of abysmal darkness, a giddy sensation, then Vickers -found himself standing in the reception room, ankle deep in carpet. He -felt unaccountably heavier—not as much as he would weigh on Earth but -more than he should weigh on the moon.</p> - -<p>A girl was approaching him. She said: "Go right in, Mr. Vickers," -indicating a door across the room; "they're waiting for you."</p> - -<p>"Who's waiting for me?"</p> - -<p>"Mr. Thorpe. The president of International Spy Ring, Inc. Right in -here, sir."</p> - -<p>The utterly absurd title of the company struck him anew. The seven -great nations would no more permit such a business to exist than they -would sit supinely by and allow an armed invasion.</p> - -<p>In the first place they all maintained their own very efficient -espionage and counter espionage systems. They couldn't afford to let -one nation grow more powerful than the rest. At any costs they had to -preserve the status quo.</p> - -<p>He didn't voice his doubts, but followed the receptionist into a large, -spartanly furnished office. There were no windows, the room being lit -by soft yellow light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. -The top of a huge desk of purely functional design was littered with -gadgets, and behind it sat a bald, pink-faced man, wearing a pleasant -expression.</p> - -<p>There was one other person in the room—a girl—and she was crying -softly.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Thorpe," the receptionist said, "Mr. Vickers to see you," and -withdrew.</p> - -<p>The girl turned her back quickly to Vickers so that he couldn't see her -face, but he could watch her hands worrying the material of her dress.</p> - -<p>It was an expensive dress, Vickers recognized, an exclusive Venusian -creation of green gossamer that was very nearly transparent even to his -normal vision. He was a little shocked and looked away.</p> - -<p>The man called Thorpe beamed at him. "Glad to see you, Vickers," he -said and made it sound genuine. "Won't you sit down?"</p> - -<p>Vickers let himself sink into a chair across from the girl. He couldn't -keep from studying her. Her brown hair was done in a sort of halo -effect and she wore wedge type sandals that must have added three -inches to her height and made her feet look tiny.</p> - -<p>Thorpe cleared his throat.</p> - -<p>"We had a good reason for bringing you here," he said; "I hope it -didn't inconvenience you too much."</p> - -<p>"Get to the point," said Vickers.</p> - -<p>Thorpe looked startled.</p> - -<p>"Vickers, we can use a man with your unique talents. In fact, there's -a job that no one but you—"</p> - -<p>"Sorry."</p> - -<p>Vickers was on his feet, starting for the door to the reception room.</p> - -<p>"Don't be hasty," Thorpe said in an agitated voice. "I really can't let -you go until you hear me out."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers caught the veiled threat in his words, swung around. Thorpe's -finger was resting on a button. The girl had begun to sniff audibly.</p> - -<p>"All right," said Vickers, "but make it short. I have to register at -the Parole Board office before the expiration of twenty-four hours."</p> - -<p>"No hurry," Thorpe said, waving him back to his chair. "You met your -double on the street. He's gone to the board to register in your -place. He'll also fill any job they see fit to assign you. So you see, -Vickers, you're quite free. You're even supplied with a perfect alibi."</p> - -<p>Vickers did see. He saw a number of things, none of which reassured -him. He said: "Fingerprints?"</p> - -<p>"They'll check. He's wearing tips with your prints. So will his height -and weight. He's a fine actor, Vickers, one of the best."</p> - -<p>"How did you get my prints? My record is in the ISP secret file, but—"</p> - -<p>"But that's our business. Secrets, Vickers. Any secrets. State secrets, -scientific secrets." He chuckled. "We make no secret about it."</p> - -<p>Vickers looked skeptical.</p> - -<p>"Do you mean to tell me that you could steal the plans, say, of the -USSE's new space drive?"</p> - -<p>Thorpe rubbed his hands together, his grin broadening.</p> - -<p>"We sold them the plans. In fact, we sold those same plans to the -Black Republic, the Arab Federation, China and New Spain as well. The -only reason we didn't sell them to the United States is because they -happened to be the ones who had developed them."</p> - -<p>He paused to let his words sink in. "That may seem unethical, but it's -our policy. In our small way, we feel that we help to preserve the -status quo."</p> - -<p>"Rubbish!" said Vickers. "If you'd done that, they would have sent the -lot of you off to Jupiter."</p> - -<p>"They try." Thorpe looked at his watch. "In fact, Vickers, we have -information that the ISP plans to raid us in exactly twenty-three -minutes."</p> - -<p>Vickers stiffened. "Is that straight?"</p> - -<p>"Quite. But don't alarm yourself. They'll never get past the blue door."</p> - -<p>Far from being soothing, Thorpe's reassurance had just the opposite -effect on Vickers. For the first time, he began to doubt that he could -get through that blue door himself. There was something so damned -complacent about the man behind the desk—</p> - -<p>In sudden alarm, Vickers opened his nictitating lids, flicked a quick -glance around.</p> - -<p>The room was quite real, but there was no sign of Luna City nor of the -moon's desolate surface. He sucked in his breath.</p> - -<p>The office seemed to be part of a large windowless structure. He could -see, through the walls, a restless ochre sea outside and a red pebble -beach. Strange, sinuous vegetation cloaked the shore.</p> - -<p>"Where are we?" he blurted out. "How did I get here?"</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry," said Thorpe, "but that's one secret that isn't for sale."</p> - -<p>Vickers closed the nictitating lids and the office recovered its -solidity.</p> - -<p>"What's your proposition?"</p> - -<p>Thorpe gave him a shrewd look. "This is Tani Fralick," he introduced -the girl. "I'm sure you've heard of her father. He's the physicist...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers sat bolt upright. Fralick was probably the most renowned man on -Earth, Mars or Venus. He certainly was the Systems greatest physicist. -Fralick was head of the United States' Bureau of Research. It was -practically treason for his daughter to be in the offices of such an -organization as "International Spy Ring, Inc."</p> - -<p>Thorpe said: "Tani's father has been abducted by the Arab Federation."</p> - -<p>The girl gave a muffled sob, buried her face in her hands.</p> - -<p>Vickers yelled: "What!" Then in a lower voice, "But there's been -nothing on the newscasts."</p> - -<p>"Of course not. The U.S. is hushing it up. They don't want it -broadcast that their top experimental physicist has been stolen. They -don't even know who has him or where he is. Tani has asked us to get -her father back."</p> - -<p>"Where is he?"</p> - -<p>Thorpe didn't look so cherubic as he drummed on the desk top.</p> - -<p>"Here. Luna City. He's being held in the embassy of the Arab -Federation."</p> - -<p>Vickers said: "Why don't you turn your information over to the U.S.?"</p> - -<p>"It's not as simple as that. The Arabs would kill him before they'd -give him up."</p> - -<p>Vickers shrugged. "If the U.S. with all its resources can't release -him, I don't see how you expect me to do it."</p> - -<p>"You can, though. In fact you're the only one who can. The question is, -will you?"</p> - -<p>"No!" said Vickers flatly; "I won't."</p> - -<p>"But—"</p> - -<p>"No buts about it. With my record, it would be poison for me, if my -name ever became associated with anything like International Spy Ring, -Inc. I'm through, Thorpe, I've quit. I can't afford to be sent back to -Jupiter."</p> - -<p>Tani Fralick suddenly burst into a flood of tears. Vickers clenched his -fist. At that instant a bell began to ring insistently.</p> - -<p>"The raid," Thorpe said. "What say we watch it? Anyway, Vickers, you -can't leave 'til it's over."</p> - -<p>Vickers grunted, sank deeper into his chair. Tani's soft child-like -crying was getting under his skin, but he steeled himself against it.</p> - -<p>Thorpe pressed a button on his desk, and a huge televisor screen on -the wall behind him glowed into life. The multiple noises of Luna City -rolled into the office shattering their isolation. The tri-dimensional -effect was so real, that it was as if the wall itself had been removed -and they were peering directly into the street outside the blue door. -Vickers could read its idiotic sign.</p> - -<p class="ph1">INTERNATIONAL SPY RING<br /> -INCORPORATED<br /> -Secrets Bought and Sold</p> - -<p>All at once he frowned as he discovered the silent men converging on -the entrance. They were dressed in civilian clothes, threading their -way unobtrusively through the press. ISP men, Vickers recognized, with -a thrill of alarm.</p> - -<p>One of them reached the portal, put out his hand for the knob.</p> - -<p>The blue door vanished.</p> - -<p>It simply went out like a light, leaving the ISP man staring stupidly -at the blank wall of the theatre.</p> - -<p>Thorpe snapped off the televisor. Vickers could see that he was -chuckling.</p> - -<p>"The fun's over," he said. "But they'll be nosing around there for a -week. There's really no door there, you know."</p> - -<p>"Yes, I know. But I'll be damned if I understand."</p> - -<p>"You will," Thorpe said cryptically. Then he switched on the -inter-office com. "Miss Stevens, see that this memo is circulated -throughout the organization. 'Due to a police raid, the new offices of -International Spy Ring, Inc., are located at B624-1/2 Water Street, -Level Three'."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He clicked it off, stared at Vickers coldly. All the friendliness was -gone.</p> - -<p>"Suppose we quit fencing. We know your history, Vickers. You used to -claim that you could arrange the escape of any prisoner, no matter -where he was being held—for a price. You made monkeys out of the ISP -for a while. How many men have you broken out of the Jupiter Penal -Mines and readjustment camps?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," said Vickers. "It was a good racket while it lasted."</p> - -<p>"But you couldn't finagle your own escape, could you?"</p> - -<p>"It's easier to work from the outside," Vickers rejoined laconically.</p> - -<p>Thorpe said in a nasty voice: "That's just the point I'd like to make. -Either you help us release Fralick, or we'll frame you and turn you -over to the ISP."</p> - -<p>Vickers' eyes narrowed. He leaned suddenly across the desk, hit Thorpe -on the chin with his balled fist!</p> - -<p>There was a "crack!" as Thorpe's jaw bone snapped. He was bowled over -backward to lie in an unconscious heap against the wall.</p> - -<p>Tani screamed. She tried to reach the desk, but Vickers grabbed her off -her feet, thrust her under his arm.</p> - -<p>"Put me down! Put me down," she cried furiously, kicking, squirming. -Vickers paid no more attention to her frantic wriggling than he would -have to a kitten. His inner lids were raised and he was staring with a -strange fixity at the alien world visible through the walls.</p> - -<p>"What are you going to do?" Tani gasped. "Are you crazy? You can't walk -out of here. The blue door isn't operating. Besides, even if you did -get away the Ring would have you framed."</p> - -<p>"I'm not going back to Luna City," Vickers said tersely. "I'm going -outside."</p> - -<p>"Outside!"</p> - -<p>"Yes." He started for the reception room. "I don't know where we are. -Another world, another dimension, it's all the same. I'll be free of -the ISP. I'll find a way out if I have to break through the walls."</p> - -<p>"But you can't!" she wailed. "The atmosphere outside it! It—it's -chlorine!"</p> - -<p>Vickers felt as if someone had kicked him in the belly. He set Tani on -her feet.</p> - -<p>"How do <i>you</i> know?"</p> - -<p>"Thorpe showed me. He—he—" she straightened her skirt managing to -look flustered—"he's been very friendly."</p> - -<p>"Where are we?"</p> - -<p>"In another dimension, I think. The blue door is a—a stasis, Thorpe -called it. Don't ask me how they do it. They came through in space -suits and built this hermetically-sealed fortress."</p> - -<p>Vickers was silent. After a moment, he said: "All right, you win. I'll -break out your father if it can be done."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers sat in a chair facing a blank wall; his nictitating lids were -raised, the pupils of his eyes like lambent flame. Beyond the wall lay -the embassy of the Arab Federation.</p> - -<p>"What do you see?" demanded Tani in a suppressed voice.</p> - -<p>Vickers and the girl were in the house of Seth Adda, an ex-senator and -a friend of Tani's father. He had been happy to lend Tani his house, -which was on the eighth level flush against the Arabian Embassy.</p> - -<p>Vickers was dressed in a snuff-brown burnoose, the national Arab -costume. He said:</p> - -<p>"There's a sleeping room just beyond the wall. This part of the embassy -must be the private quarters of one of the officials. The room opens on -a hall. There are six—seven—eight other bedrooms along it. I think -it's the harem. There's a swimming pool to the left."</p> - -<p>"Can you see him?" Tani pleaded.</p> - -<p>"Yes. But not very plainly. He's in a tiny cell almost in the center of -the embassy. There's a guard in front of the door."</p> - -<p>"Is—is he all right? They haven't hurt him?"</p> - -<p>Vickers concentrated on the vague outlines of the man lying on his -bunk. A thin man, elderly, with hollow cheeks. "So that's Doctor -Fralick," he thought, "greatest theoretical physicist since Einstein."</p> - -<p>He said aloud:</p> - -<p>"He seems okay."</p> - -<p>Tani expelled her breath in relief. Vickers looked at her suddenly and -saw that tears were running down her cheeks. Involuntarily he started -to reach out his hand to comfort her, remembered the repugnance normal -humans felt toward him and let his hand drop to his knee.</p> - -<p>The girl disturbed him. She was wearing practical gray coveralls -instead of the filmy creation she'd had on yesterday. She was beautiful -even in the baggy garment, but it wasn't altogether that. With the -strides that had been made in eugenics, an ugly man or woman was the -exception and, perversely, often had more appeal than the uniformly -handsome ones.</p> - -<p>No, he was hungry for a woman, hungry for companionship and admiration.</p> - -<p>He frowned, catching himself up with a jerk. Self pity! He'd better -watch himself. That way led to neurosis, manic depression and insanity.</p> - -<p>He wished Tani would go away and leave him alone. He worked better -alone. But he knew she'd been set to watch him. The Ring probably -thought she'd do a better job of it since it was to her interest to see -that he didn't double-cross them.</p> - -<p>She said, "Clyde."</p> - -<p>"Yes?" He was startled and dropped his nictitating lids. She'd never -called him by his first name before.</p> - -<p>"You resent being forced into this job, don't you? I'm sorry. Honest I -am, Clyde. But it was father's life or—or...."</p> - -<p>"Or mine," he supplied dryly.</p> - -<p>"That isn't fair."</p> - -<p>"Isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"No. You'll be protected and alibied—"</p> - -<p>He said: "How much do you know about International Spy Ring, Inc.?"</p> - -<p>She looked startled, her eyes widening. "Not—not very much, I guess. -I've heard father speak of them. They're big, Clyde. You don't know how -big. They've offices on Earth and Mars and Venus, too. The ISP can't do -a thing. They can't get past the blue doors. You can't fight the Ring. -They're invulnerable."</p> - -<p>"Nothing's invulnerable."</p> - -<p>"Clyde!" Her hand started towards him, dropped.</p> - -<p>She can't bring herself to touch me, he thought. They're friendly -now—because I'm necessary; they can't do without my help. But what -about afterwards? What then?</p> - -<p>If he were lucky, he'd be set free, to work in the moon pits where -his double was now. If he were lucky! He shivered a little. He knew -too much about International Spy Ring, Inc. As soon as he was of no -more use to them, they'd dispose of him. Permanently. Probably in that -dimension where their office was located. That beautiful little world -with the atmosphere of chlorine.</p> - -<p>"Clyde," Tani repeated. "What are you going to do? You're not planning -to double-cross the Ring, are you? Not that, Clyde?"</p> - -<p>"No." But he filed the idea away. The ISP might be willing to forget -his record, let him start out with a clean slate if he could deliver -the Ring into their hands.</p> - -<p>"Why did the Arabs kidnap your father?" he asked Tani suddenly.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The girl hesitated. "He—he was working on teleportation. And somehow -they got wind of it. It would have made space ships outdated. Armies -could be transported instantly behind enemy lines. It would have made -the United States supreme. He was about to succeed." She shook her -head. "But I don't see how the Arabs learned about it."</p> - -<p>"Don't you?"</p> - -<p>"No." She looked puzzled, then her brown eyes widened in comprehension. -"The Ring! But they're helping to rescue him."</p> - -<p>"Why not? They're getting paid by both sides. You heard Thorpe admit -that they'd sold the space drive to every one of the seven countries."</p> - -<p>"No. I can't believe it, Clyde." She bit her lip. "They're not like -that. Not really."</p> - -<p>"Rubbish."</p> - -<p>The girl's face had grown very white. "You won't let me down, Clyde. -You'll get father out, whatever you do?"</p> - -<p>He opened his nictitating lids, peered through the wall into the -embassy. There were two women in the swimming pool. The sleeping -chamber was empty. So was the hallway.</p> - -<p>He said, "Yes." Then, "Check the route. This is it."</p> - -<p>He heard her gasp. Then she began to talk hurriedly into a tiny radio -strapped about her wrist.</p> - -<p>Vickers looked up and down through the various floors of the embassy -next door, checking the position of the guard details, the officials -and their families. It was going to be tricky, he saw, a matter of -split second timing.</p> - -<p>He got up and examined the sleek air taxi. It was a transparent plastic -tear drop and filled a fourth of the room.</p> - -<p>One outer wall of the room had been removed outright. It had been -simulated with cloth flats like stage props so that it looked normal -enough from the outside. But when the time arrived, the air taxi could -burst right through it into the street.</p> - -<p>The Ring was thorough, Vickers had to admit. And ruthlessly efficient.</p> - -<p>He said: "Get in the taxi and start the motor. Tell them we'll crack -out of here in exactly fifteen minutes."</p> - -<p>He heard her catch her breath and wheeled on her suddenly.</p> - -<p>"What's wrong?" he demanded sharply. "Good Lord, don't go into a funk -now!"</p> - -<p>"Hold it!" she said, the radio to her ear. He saw the blood drain -out of her face as she listened. Then she clicked it off, turned -frightened eyes on him.</p> - -<p>"It's your double." Her voice sounded lifeless. "The ISP has discovered -the substitution. They have the net out for you now. You couldn't get a -block without being caught."</p> - -<p>Vickers could feel his stomach knot with shock. He stared at her, his -blazing eyes probing straight through her. Anywhere else in the system, -he might have been able to escape.</p> - -<p>But Luna City! It was like a hermetically-sealed gold fish bowl with -the ISP blocking all the exits. Sooner or later they'd dig him out.</p> - -<p>Sterilization and a life sentence to the Jupiter Penal Mines! There was -no leniency shown third offenders, no matter how minor the infraction.</p> - -<p>He got a grip on himself with an effort.</p> - -<p>"Tell them," he said to the girl, "we'll crack out of here according to -schedule."</p> - -<p>Her mouth made a soundless O.</p> - -<p>"Get in the taxi and start the motor," he said with a grim sparkle of -humor. "I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb!"</p> - -<p>"But how'll we slip through the ISP net?" Tani protested.</p> - -<p>"Get in there," Vickers said in a voice that brooked no questions. He -swung back to the wall separating them from the Arabian embassy. The -adjoining bedroom, he saw, was still empty.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He drew the atomic knife from its holster beneath his burnoose, pressed -the stud. A long blade of coruscating atomic energy shot from the -handle.</p> - -<p>The blade went into the wall as if the tough plastic had been butter. -With infinite caution, Vickers cut a four foot window into the next -building, lifted out the block.</p> - -<p>"Don't fumble your part," he said over his shoulder. "We may be in a -hurry when we come back this way."</p> - -<p>Without waiting for a reply, he stepped through, fitted the block back -into place.</p> - -<p>His last glimpse of Tani revealed her crouched in the transparent -plastic air taxi, her eyes round and frightened as two new moons.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers didn't hurry. Hope for success lay in two factors: audacity and -his peculiar vision which allowed him to see what his opponents were -doing and so keep a number of jumps ahead.</p> - -<p>The Arabs were a mixture of the old and the new. Scientifically, they -were on a par with any of the seven great nations, but they clung with -superstitious fanaticism to the old customs, the old way of life.</p> - -<p>The harem was still inviolate, and Vickers knew there would be a guard -outside its door.</p> - -<p>He located him through several walls that acted like layers of -cheesecloth to his eyes, dimming the guard's figure but not obscuring -it. He found the women. There were four, and half a dozen servants -besides. But they were congregated at the pool and in two of the rooms.</p> - -<p>He could watch them laughing and chatting or swimming in the limpid -water. Dark-eyed houris with slender waists and full hips and breasts. -It was like a silent film of the ancients. But infinitely more real.</p> - -<p>And deadly.</p> - -<p>There was no one in the hall. Satisfied, Vickers left the bedroom, -walked swiftly down the carpeted hall until he reached the door at the -end.</p> - -<p>He could see the harem guard leaning against the wall, a burly bearded -figure with a hawk nose and a hawk's fierce eyes. An automatic was -belted outside his blue and white striped burnoose.</p> - -<p>Without hesitation or haste, Vickers ran the atomic knife through the -lock, forced open the door.</p> - -<p>The guard spun around, gaping in surprise. He caught sight of Vickers, -reached for the automatic.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"By Allah!" he began.</p> - -<p>Vickers cut off his head.</p> - -<p>The head hit the floor with a thump, rolled a little, came to rest on -its stump, staring at Vickers out of open, startled eyes.</p> - -<p>It upset Vickers, made him a little sick at his stomach. He swallowed, -glanced about quickly.</p> - -<p>Three men, he discovered, were approaching around a bend in the -corridor. He had perhaps a minute or a minute and a half before they -came into sight.</p> - -<p>He stuffed the guard's body into a closet, threw the head in after it. -He covered the bloodstains with a carpet, welded shut the harem door -with the tip of the atomic knife. Then he ran up the corridor away from -the approaching men.</p> - -<p>This whole wing must be the living quarters of the embassy staff. It -was preternaturally quiet like the upper floors of a hotel. He could -see a few people in their rooms, one or two in the corridors, which he -avoided automatically.</p> - -<p>The cell block where Fralick was being held was located in the main -building. The traffic was considerably heavier there, and Vickers' -eyes were never still. They darted here, there, watching one person's -progress, judging how many seconds it would take another to reach a -certain intersection.</p> - -<p>His ears were alerted for the first outbreak of the alarm bell. -He didn't have time to notice the antique hangings, the exquisite -decorations, though he did catch an impression of sumptuousness.</p> - -<p>The rear of Fralick's cell butted against the back of an office. In -advance Vickers had determined to cut through the wall between office -and cell and so avoid killing the guard. If he were lucky, he would -avoid detection for precious minutes also.</p> - -<p>He had almost reached his objective when a heavy-set bearded official -entered the office and sat down behind the desk.</p> - -<p>Vickers could see him mistily as he set to work with some papers. He -swore furiously under his breath, but didn't pause. Throwing open the -door, he jumped into the chamber.</p> - -<p>In the feeble gravity of the moon, Vickers' leap carried him across the -room to the top of the Arab's desk.</p> - -<p>The official gasped, tried to rise and call out. His face was turned up -to Vickers—a long frightened face with skin like yellow leather.</p> - -<p>Vickers kicked him on his pointed chin.</p> - -<p>The Arab went over backwards with a crash. Vickers didn't glance at -him, but shut the door, attacked the far wall with the atomic knife.</p> - -<p>He lifted out a four foot segment. Fralick was on the other side -staring at the opening like a startled cat.</p> - -<p>"What—" he began, catching sight of Vickers.</p> - -<p>Vickers said low voiced: "Shut up. Come on!" Holding out his hand, he -half-helped, half-yanked the physicist from the cell.</p> - -<p>"Who are you?" Fralick's clothes were wrinkled and he needed a shave. -He was gaunt, pale, excited. "I know! You're Vickers!"</p> - -<p>Vickers' eyes narrowed in surprise, but he only said: "Hurry!"</p> - -<p>The passage outside was still deserted, thank the gods. He pulled the -physicist after him, sprinted toward the living quarters in the wing.</p> - -<p>There were voices ahead. Two men going in the same direction they were, -Vickers saw. He slowed down in order not to trample their heels.</p> - -<p>He was nervous now. He could feel the time running through his fingers.</p> - -<p>Still no alarm! They burst out of the corridor into an enormous hall, -crossed it swiftly, ducked down another passage. Damn place was a rat -run. Fralick was panting. "Hold out, old man!" Vickers thought. "Hold -out!" Still no alarm. They were going to make it. They had to—</p> - -<p>All the bells in the world seemed to cut loose at once!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers jumped as if he'd been shot.</p> - -<p>Fralick clutched his chest. For a moment Vickers was afraid the -scientist would pass out.</p> - -<p>The bell rang frenziedly.</p> - -<p>Hundreds of bells! Everywhere. Bells and shouts and trampling feet. -Through the misty walls Vickers could see running soldiers, frightened -officials, women and children. A vast terrifying pandemonium like a -disturbed ant nest—like a glass ant colony kept for observation.</p> - -<p>Then the doors began to whoosh shut. Automatic doors closing off the -passages. Blocking escape! One rammed shut just behind them.</p> - -<p>A party of guards caught sight of them. Steel jacketed bullets -ricocheted and whined down the corridor.</p> - -<p>Vickers threw a gas grenade. The guards were blotted out by a fountain -of pale green mist. It wasn't deadly, but it would knock out the Arabs, -close off the passage temporarily.</p> - -<p>Fralick was sobbing for breath. Suddenly Vickers grabbed him by the -shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Here! This way! Through the harem."</p> - -<p>With the atomic knife he freed the door which he'd sealed a few minutes -before. A few minutes! He glanced at his watch. Eighteen minutes -exactly; it seemed like hours! He was over his time. He put his -shoulder to the door, threw it back with a crash.</p> - -<p>There was a cluster of frightened women in the corridor. When they -saw Vickers and Fralick, they began to scream and fled screaming like -chickens from a hawk.</p> - -<p>Vickers paid no attention to them, but rushed to the bedroom where he -had cut through the wall. Kicking out the segment he almost hurled -Fralick through the opening.</p> - -<p>Tani was waiting in the air taxi with the door open. A white, strained -Tani with a face like a mask.</p> - -<p>"Dad," she cried.</p> - -<p>Fralick tumbled into the taxi. Vickers started to shut the door, but -Tani held it open.</p> - -<p>"Get in," she begged in a tight voice. "Quick!"</p> - -<p>"No," he said. "The ISP would spot me in that air taxi and stop us. You -can get through all right by yourselves."</p> - -<p>Consternation mirrored itself on Tani's waxen features. She shook her -head. "We're not going without you."</p> - -<p>"Yes, you are!" he said; "no time to explain. I'll meet you at the blue -door."</p> - -<p>She was almost in tears. "Clyde, we're not going to leave you behind!"</p> - -<p>Through the gaping hole in the wall behind them, Vickers could hear the -sounds of pursuit closing in, but he didn't look around.</p> - -<p>"You little fool!" he said brutally, "do you want to get me killed? Do -what I say. This is my kind of work!"</p> - -<p>Suddenly she leaned from the air taxi, kissed him hard on the mouth. -Her eyes were wet.</p> - -<p>"I'll be waiting," she said, catching her breath; "you crazy Quixotic -idiot. I'll wait forever."</p> - -<p>Then she slammed the door. The taxi roared, bull throated, and leaped -forward, bursting a hole in the false wall.</p> - -<p>Vickers stared after the diminishing air cab, rubbing his mouth with -the back of his hand.</p> - -<p>"I'll be damned," he said softly; "I'll be damned." Then he turned -around.</p> - -<p>He was just in time to see the first of the Arab guards lunge through -the hole in the wall of the embassy.</p> - -<p>Vickers hurled his other gas grenade. The egg-shaped glass bomb smashed -against the floor. Plumes of the pale green paralysis gas shot upward. -But Vickers didn't wait to see its effect.</p> - -<p>He left through the hole torn by the air taxi, reached the pavement, -began to walk rapidly toward the corner, the snuff-brown burnoose -flapping about his ankles.</p> - -<p>He had seconds only before the pursuit would develop again. The bomb -was a delaying action, no more.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Up ahead he could see a road block, and pedestrians milling around in -the street. A net hung from the level above, halting the air traffic. -The ISP was on the job.</p> - -<p>"Out of the frying pan into the fire," he thought grimly. He glanced -back toward the house, although the Arabs couldn't possibly come -through the room until they'd procured a fan and blown the fumes clear.</p> - -<p>An ISP patrol boat was gliding slowly up the street behind him. It was -manned by two men and was traveling just above the surface traffic. -A shallow, heavily armed and armored craft, it reminded Vickers of a -giant ray as it floated lazily through the air.</p> - -<p>He jumped to the edge of the pavement, waved the patrol boat down -frantically.</p> - -<p>It gave a low moan on its siren, swung in to the curb. The door opened.</p> - -<p>The two men inside wore uniforms—smart blue breeches and blouses -trimmed in gold with the ISP insignia—three interlocking worlds -representing Earth, Venus and Mars—emblazoned on their shoulders. They -were both young and clean cut. Only their eyes looked old and hard.</p> - -<p>"What's the trouble?" the officer nearest Vickers asked shortly.</p> - -<p>"I saw him!" Vickers sounded excited. "I saw him!"</p> - -<p>"Saw who?"</p> - -<p>"The mutant!"</p> - -<p>The ISP agents exchanged glances. At that instant Vickers hit the one -on the outside in the temple. He hit him with the handle of the atomic -knife. The man slumped forward, bumped his head against the slanting -windshield. Vickers was already sliding in beside him.</p> - -<p>He shoved the unconscious agent to the floor boards, pressed the stud -on the knife handle. The blade of sparkling flame glittered into life.</p> - -<p>"Take us up!" he said to the startled man at the controls; "and don't -touch the radio!" Almost as an afterthought he added softly: "I'm -Vickers. I'd just as soon die now, all at once, as be sent back to the -Jupiter Mines to die by degrees."</p> - -<p>The ISP man blanched. He lifted the patrol boat into the air, sent it -scooting down the street. He kept dropping his eyes to the shimmering -blade of flame.</p> - -<p>"Don't get that thing too close," he pleaded hoarsely.</p> - -<p>Vickers said: "B624-1/2 Water Street, level 3. And I won't get the -blade too close if we get through without trouble."</p> - -<p>"But suppose I'm ordered in?"</p> - -<p>"That's your tough luck."</p> - -<p>The ISP man was sweating. But he didn't dare remove his hands from the -controls. Beadlets of perspiration rolled down his cheeks and chin -unheeded.</p> - -<p>As they approached the roadblock, he touched the siren. At its eerie -wail, a man hauled up the net, and the patrol boat slid beneath it.</p> - -<p>Vickers let his breath escape. He was sweating too, he realized. His -forehead felt clammy as a dead fish.</p> - -<p>They reached the blue door without being bothered, though. Vickers -stared at the sign:</p> - -<p class="ph1">INTERNATIONAL SPY RING<br /> -INCORPORATED<br /> -Secrets Bought and Sold</p> - -<p>It was the one place in Luna City where the ISP couldn't reach him. But -would the ring give him sanctuary? He didn't know.</p> - -<p>"They will," he thought; "they will, by Heaven, or take the -consequences!"</p> - -<p>He said: "Here's where I leave you, officer. Thanks for the lift," and -slid out of the patrol boat.</p> - -<p>The ISP man had guts. Vickers had taken his automatic, but the agent -reached for the emergency guns in the locker. Before he could shoot, -though, Vickers had disappeared through the blue door.</p> - -<p>He sprang from the patrol boat, started after him. He was three feet -from the blue door when it vanished.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Inside the reception room, Vickers balanced on the balls of his feet, -the ISP agent's automatic in his hand. His mouth was a thin line. -Except for Vickers, the room was empty.</p> - -<p>He was about to raise his nictitating lids when the door of the inner -office opened and Tani flew to meet him. Involuntarily, he jerked up -the automatic, but the girl didn't even notice it.</p> - -<p>"Clyde!" she said, and threw her arms about him, clinging desperately -as if she were afraid to turn loose. "I've been so afraid." There was a -funny little catch in her voice.</p> - -<p>Vickers stared down at her, refusing to believe his senses. Then she -tilted her head back, and he could see the relief and happiness shining -in her eyes—and something besides.</p> - -<p>Vickers kissed her. All his doubts were suddenly swept away and somehow -the old hurts along with them.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Vickers," the receptionist said.</p> - -<p>He hadn't noticed her enter the room. But he looked up and she was -smiling too. There was no repugnance in her eyes.</p> - -<p>He said: "Yes."</p> - -<p>"They're waiting to see you, Mr. Vickers. If you'll just step this way."</p> - -<p>He glanced questioningly at Tani, who nodded. Together they entered -Thorpe's office.</p> - -<p>Fralick was there, looking old and tired and a little messy. He was -sitting behind the big desk with Thorpe at his elbow. There were two -others in the office, a tall, parchment-faced Chinese, obviously of -Manchu descent and an Arab with the features of a Biblical patriarch. -They were smiling, all except Thorpe, who couldn't very well with his -jaw in a cast.</p> - -<p>Doctor Fralick put the palms of his hands on the desk and leaned -forward. He said, "I'm very glad you made it, Vickers. I haven't had a -chance to express my appreciation."</p> - -<p>Vickers wrinkled his forehead. There was an air of hopeful friendliness -tinctured with awe in their attitude that puzzled him. He didn't say -anything.</p> - -<p>Fralick looked vaguely embarrassed. "I—we've another favor to ask you, -Vickers. We want you to come in with us."</p> - -<p>"What?" said Vickers in a stunned voice.</p> - -<p>"We want you in International Spy Ring, Inc. Need you. We—well, we -wouldn't expect you to accept a minor position of course. Not a man of -your calibre. If you'll join us, Vickers, you can take charge of the -field work. None of us is so well fitted for active duty as you with -your enviable vision, your resourcefulness."</p> - -<p>Vickers didn't know what to say. That anybody envied him, wanted him -around, considered him an asset, knocked a hole in his armor. He had no -defenses against friendliness.</p> - -<p>"But you," he said; "Doctor Fralick, you're head of the U.S. Bureau of -Research—"</p> - -<p>"I'm also the head of International Spy Ring, Inc."</p> - -<p>At Vickers' expression, Fralick allowed a smile to flit across his -visage.</p> - -<p>"Don't judge us too harshly. Science is international, not the property -of one individual or one nation, even. It must belong to everybody.</p> - -<p>"We don't want power. We're after peace and tolerance and the -dissemination of knowledge. We're united, Vickers. The scientists, the -technicians, the engineers of the seven great nations. Not all of us, -but enough of us."</p> - -<p>He gave Vickers a shrewd penetrating look. "Our way may not seem -ethical, but it works. When there are no secrets between countries, war -is almost impossible. And there are no secrets anymore; we see to that.</p> - -<p>"If the Arab Federation discovers a new gas, we sell the formula to -each of the other countries. If the Black Republic or China starts a -program of military training or lays the keel of a new battleship, in a -week everyone of the other countries has the complete details.</p> - -<p>"We don't sell the information for profit, Vickers, but to finance the -organization."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vickers was stunned. The realization that the Ring was not a hard -grasping organization of thieves, spies and traitors; but an -international group comprising the finest minds and bent on preserving -the peace, left him completely bewildered.</p> - -<p>"I don't know what to say," he said. "Of course I'll join you."</p> - -<p>"Good." Fralick jumped up, came around the desk with his hand out. -"We'll get you a pardon. It wouldn't do for my son-in-law to be a -fugitive from the ISP." He winked at the others who had crowded about -Vickers, pumping his hand.</p> - -<p>It occurred to Vickers that these men were pleased to have him—not in -spite of his mutation, but because of it! They'd even been a little -afraid he might turn them down.</p> - -<p>It was a new experience for him, a good experience. He had the sudden -conviction that at last he'd found his place in the world. It made him -feel warm.</p> - -<p>The Chinese was saying: "You're a violent man, Vickers, a dangerous -man. We were afraid that you might not see eye to eye with us in our -aims."</p> - -<p>"No," Vickers protested, really shocked. "No, I'm not a violent man. I -do what I must and do it as quickly and effectively as I can. But I'm -not violent."</p> - -<p>Thorpe's eyes twinkled. Seizing a pencil he wrote something, held it up -for them all to see, at the same time tapping the cast on his jaw.</p> - -<p>Vickers couldn't repress his grin. Tani squeezed his hand.</p> - -<p>Thorpe had written: "The gods help us all, if he ever does get violent!"</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOON OF TREASON ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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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