Robert Emmett McDowell

“ Mustapha IX, Supreme Autocrat of the Terran Empire!
The image of Mustapha sat stiffly in an acceleration chair before the control panel of the space yacht. His voice, rattling away in the strange language, was high, tense, frightened.
Saxon, unable to understand, looked over his shoulder at the seven old men. They were all on their feet, staring in disbelief at the three dimensional image. The Moderator's hands began to tremble. He sat down as if his knees had turned to water. ”

“ Are we going to share all my thoughts during the rest of the voyage?"
"Hell, no," said Saxon. "I want to preserve some of my illusions." He leaned towards her. "I'll strike a bargain with you, though. If you don't mention that I'm a telepath, I'll not report our—er—experience last night."
"You mean you haven't said anything?"
"No," said Saxon. "Why should I? I didn't have proof. Who'd want to tackle General Atomic without cast-iron evidence? On second thought, who'd want to tackle General Atomic at all? No one would believe me, anyway. ”

“ All at once, his scalp began to prickle its warning and Saxon recognized the alien feel. At the same instant Ileth screamed, leaping to her feet. Saxon felt his mouth go dry, his stomach contract as he stumbled erect beside her.
Not ten yards distant, in the path of the rising sun, a naked man was materializing before their eyes. Saxon could see the grass and the hills and a segment of Alpha Centauri A through the man's body. ”

“ Saxon interrupted impatiently. "But the effects of the time field.... What do you experience while the ship is in the time field?"
"That's the Little Death," replied Murdock in a dry voice, "though the name is misleading. Actually you experience a segment of your own life, either the past, the future, or the present. As Villainowski would explain it, time is co-existent, while in the time field our lives are spread out around us, but because we're equipped with three-dimensional sense organs we're restricted to a single series of episodes anywhere along our life span." ”

“ Villainowski was never able to reconcile Saxon's appearance with his indisputable scientific attainments.
"Looks like a plug ugly," Villainowski was thinking although he was far from a beauty himself. "Ought to be a prize fighter instead of a physicist!"
"Will you pray tell me," he asked aloud of the amused Saxon, "what the hell possessed you to sneak out the night before we leave?"
Saxon grinned like a mastiff. "It was that General Atomic affair. I haven't told you, but I met one of their agents, a girl by the name of Ileth Urban, about a month ago." ”

“ Saxon grinned at her knowingly, to her added confusion.
"I hate you!" she thought.
Villainowski jumped to his feet, saying, "Of course we accept. We all accept. But let me warn you, young woman, aliens or no aliens, I don't care if we spend the rest of our lives in the Centaurian system, I'm not going to explain my stellar drive to your scoundrels!"
Ileth turned to him almost gratefully. "Oh, that doesn't matter. Our engineers are examining it. They've assured me that they can take us back to Earth." ”

“ It looked so close that the Shooting Star appeared to be falling straight into the maw of erupting atomic energy.
But reason returned, and he knew they must still be millions of miles away. He went back to the scanner, spotting first a second sun not so close, then a third, small and red like a fiery coin.
The ternary system of Alpha Centauri! They were out of the Solar System!
"Please," said a girl's voice behind him. "Stand back from the scanner! Don't try for your gun, Saxon, or I will be forced to shoot!" ”

“ Suddenly, he decided to quit beating around the bush and strike straight into the heart of the opposing forces.
"I know you're an agent of General Atomic, Ileth. I've...!" He paused.
Ileth had gasped and drawn back from him. Her thoughts were in turmoil. "Emil! I must reach Emil!" was clear.
Saxon went on inexorably. "I've wind of a plot by General Atomic against the Shooting Star. If they could get their hands on the stellar drive, no doubt they could control deep space. They'd be in a position to dictate to Government." ”

“ Men became known no longer as American or Spanish but as General Atomic men, or Tri-World men, or Corporate Government men and were as blindly patriotic to their corporations as they had been in earlier ages to the lands of their birth.
Such a one, Saxon recognized, was Emil of General Atomic, a fanatic who would consider it the greatest honor to die for his company. ”

“ They ran through the doorway back across the carpeted foyer, halting at the street.
Four little mounds of clothes met their eyes.
Saxon could feel his stomach knot inside himself. He felt the clothes. They were still warm from contact with the men's bodies. He stirred the brief red kilt that Clo-Javel had been wearing, saw with a macabre flash of humor that where Mercedes' underthings had been eminently practical, Clo-Javel didn't wear any at all.
Ileth suppressed a scream. "The helicopter! Look! It's gone, too!" Saxon glanced up in consternation. ”

“ Ileth said, "General Atomic believed that it would be to their advantage to go ahead with the expedition as soon as we got control of the ship. We would be on the spot, and any information relating to Alpha Centauri's planetary systems, natural resources, inhabitants (if any) , possibilities of colonization and trade—that sort of thing—is of the utmost importance.
"I feel...." She hesitated, and Saxon caught a glimpse again of that same intolerable fear gnawing at her mind.
"I feel that we should stick together—while we're here at least. If we're fighting among ourselves...." ”

“ The huge structure, housing Government's Bureau of Research, was aflame with light when Saxon climbed from the robot cab and approached the entrance. The shadowy figure of a guard challenged him.
Saxon produced his papers, submitted to a fingerprint test.
"So, it's you, all right," the guard growled. "Where the hell have you been? The T.I.S. has been scouring the city for you."
Saxon asked, "Is Villainowski in? I want to see him." ”

“ Slowly the flush receded from Emil's cheeks, but he held himself stiff as a ram-rod and his eyes were angry.
The N.P.A. turned back to Saxon. "At least, you admit that General Atomic abides by its contracts as long as it's to their advantage."
Saxon nodded, seeing already what was coming.
"Then," pursued Georg. "It certainly would be to their advantage to preserve you alive until you could build a stellar drive. After that...." He shrugged. "You're an intelligent man, Saxon. Rated one of the best physicists in the Empire, in fact. ”

“ Saxon leaned close, said in a lowered voice, "You don't believe that if the people have ten thousand years to contemplate the iniquity of General Atomic, they'll continue to be duped. It'll be the death blow to all the big corporations."
He straightened, returning his arm to Ileth's waist. "There's no reason for you to return to Earth with the rest of them, Villainowski. There's a lot to see here, a lot to learn. Ileth and I are going to spend...."
He frowned, called, "Hey, Mercedes. You're the anthropologist. ”

“ What did you mean when you said I was a test experiment?"
The Moderator seemed to have forgotten the existence of Saxon's weapon. He tugged at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger. "You are not a humanoid. You are one of us, a Varkan. We placed you as a baby on Earth to be raised as a humanoid."
"I was eleven," protested Saxon.
"A mere baby still, with psychological plasticity." The Moderator waved the objection aside. "If your disposition hardened into humanoid characteristics, then we would be safe in assuming that the humanoids, too, were a product of their environment. ”

“ Saxon burst out. "Here on Vark? But that's impossible. What's he doing—"
"There's been civil war," the Moderator interrupted savagely. "General Atomic has overthrown Government. General Atomic is the Terran Government now!"
"But I don't see ..." protested Saxon.
"Bah! I spoke of controls. Naturally our first necessity has been to control the humanoid's government. The Supreme Autocrats have all been Varkans, our governors, which we sent to Earth!
"Now Mustapha IX has had to flee for his life. Most of our agents on Earth have been murdered. ”

“ Before we could effect the change several generations of humanoids would have lived and died. We'd be conquered!"
Saxon laughed outright. "Of course, you people couldn't effect the change quick enough, but other humanoids could. You have Ileth here. She's a General Atomic agent. You have the crew and some of the best brains on Earth isolated on Zara. They could do it!"
The Moderator drew in his breath sharply. "But would they be willing to cooperate?"
"What a question!" roared Saxon. "Would mankind be willing to increase their life span ten thousand years? They'll jump at it!" ”

“ Ileth Urban was as fetching a bit of scientist-bait as General Atomic could have desired.
All the corporations used these girls. They scoured the Solar System for the cleverest, most beautiful ones to be found. They paid them fantastic wages and trained them to worm secrets from susceptible males. Scientific Mata Hari's.
Government itself used them, Saxon was fully aware. Only by employing even more ruthless measures than the corporations was government able to maintain itself. Government had the finest research department anywhere. ”

“ Saxon and Ileth looked at each other incredulously, unable to comprehend the significance of the Moderator's answer.
"Earth?" repeated Saxon. "I don't understand."
The Moderator wrinkled his brow, and said, "I don't know how to put it any more clearly. We transplanted our biological sports to Earth. The two sub-human races which our humanoids exterminated were the Cro-Magnards and the Neanderthalers."
Saxon's brain reeled. "Do you mean that man as we know him, homo sapiens, originated in your laboratories as—an experiment?" ”

“ Saxon realized with chagrin that he had made a slip. He should have said, "Who I am," not "What I am." No human ever doubted that he was a genuine specimen of homo sapiens.
The engine room telegraph buzzed suddenly, and when the captain answered, Villainowski's voice reached the two men.
"Sound the general alarm, Captain. Turn the ship over to the robot control. We're going into the Little Death." ”

“ There was a self-satisfied smile on the neuro-psychoanalyst's pudgy features. He had not spoken aloud the words, "Two hundred thousand," but had thought them at Saxon!
"He's a telepath!" said the N.P.A., and began to disconnect the discs from Saxon's body and stow them back in the case.
"A telepath!" Emil ejaculated. "He's a telepath?"
"Exactly," agreed the N.P.A. in dry tones. "I suspected it from the first, but frankly I couldn't believe it. I've never encountered a true telepath before. I didn't think there were any. Individuals who are unusually canny at reading expression, yes. ”

“ She's eating her heart out for you. Can't you see it's our only chance?"
"No," said Saxon stiffly and blocked out their thoughts. "No, I don't. You know as well as I do, that the crew and the officers, even the staff, except Mercedes and Brand here sold out to General Atomic. Suppose I did persuade Ileth to let us out. Suppose she comes over to our side—which I tell you right now she won't—but suppose she did. What possible chance would the five of us have against sixty armed desperate men and women? Hell, Murdock, we couldn't even get the ship back to Earth by ourselves!" ”

“ Remember, every observatory in the System had us in view until we went into the time field.
"No one but Villainowski knows how to use the stellar drive, so they couldn't have used that to escape. But after we reached Alpha Centauri we were beyond reach of the electronic telescope on Luna, even beyond radio contact. Their engineers would have a chance to examine the drive and learn enough to operate it, at least. They could return then. Nothing can catch the Shooting Star when she's operating in the Little Death."
Saxon listened with somber eyes to the T.I.S. agent's explanation. ”

“ The gaunt, frosty T.I.S. agent took his eyes from the scanner, faced Saxon.
"Not so bad," he replied laconically.
"I've heard it's a pretty rugged experience."
Murdock allowed himself a tight smile. "That depends on how active a social consciousness you have. You're a non-Newtonian physicist. You know the Pachner conception of the space-time continuum better than I do. Villainowski's stellar drive inverts the Newtonian concept that a vehicle travels through space during a passage of time. It operates through time during a passage of space. ”

“ There was a momentary silence while the Alien observed them with that amused gleam in his eye. Then Saxon tried again. "Who are you? Why have you captured us?"
The man nodded briefly again towards the closed door. "You'll learn that in there—if They see fit to tell you."
"Where are the rest of the crew? Dead? In prison?" ”

“ Murdock frowned, said "Post-hypnotic commands? I don't follow you."
"There's nothing mysterious about it, actually," explained Saxon. "When the men sold out to General Atomic they must have submitted to being hypnotized by GA's neuro-psychoanalyst. They could be given orders while in the hypnotic state, then commanded to forget them, forget in fact that they had sold out to General Atomic until after the Little Death. The Little Death was to act as a post-hypnotic command, recalling their memories and instructions." ”