The Idol from Passa

by Perry Rhodan

  So now he stayed put. He also ceased his outcries, being curious about what was going to happen. The three Evergreens remained there and formed a kind of ring around the three Terran captives. After a few moments of standing there motionless, Larry played his part once more and made another ran for it but he only got a few steps away before he was captured again.

  Ron took his time in studying the three Evergreens. As long as their captives behaved themselves they also remained inactive. They stood there supported by their thin but powerful tails and if any of the numerous apertures in their spherical heads happened to be organs of sight then they were staring constantly in one direction, because the towering worm-heads did not move at all.

  Minutes passed. Lofty started in with his yelling again. He waved his arms about and made as if to run away, whereupon the Evergreens became visibly more alert. He did everything that might have been expected of a desperate prisoner who feared for his life, all except for what he was shouting: "What the devil! How long do we stand around here? Why doesn't something happen?"

  Ron gave him a brief shrug as his answer. How should he know that?

  Nevertheless, Lofty's outcry appeared to have been some kind of cue because a few seconds later two more Evergreens emerged from the two dark openings. The scent of their skins was added to that of the serpents who were already present and the chamber was filled with such a heady perfume that it was almost anesthetizing.

  It was not at all clear at first what the two newcomers intended to do. In their upper arms they carried a bundle of material that seemed to be some kind of colorful cloth or fabric. Yet everybody knew that the Evergreens knew nothing of the art of weaving. They had nothing to do with fabrics.

  Nevertheless, what they were carrying was some kind of cotton cloth. After they had deposited their burdens on the ground, Ron was surprised to note the shrieking colors and unstylish patterns which were unmistakably the product of some factory in the Arkonide Imperium. So obviously the Springers had furnished the material. And what did the Evergreens intend to do with it?

  This question was quickly answered. A powerful talon grasped Ron by the shoulder and whirled him around. A second claw-hand grasped him more gently from behind. Then something rustled down over his head and obscured his vision for a second or two. When he could see again, he found that he was wearing a garish, tasteless gown with a ghastly print pattern. When he turned to look at his two companions he saw that they had not fared any better.

  "Help!" cried Lofty despairingly. "What have they turned us into? How can we show our faces anywhere in this outfit?"

  Only to ourselves, thought Ron bitterly. All of this might be very funny but who could doubt any longer that this was the Evergreens' ritual for preparing the sacrificial victims for their god?

  • • •

  This time they were not carried from the chamber. They had to go their own way and the Evergreens intended that it was to be their last walk. The three monsters who had brought them here remained behind, ostensibly to discourage any attempt to escape.

  Ron and his two companions moved ahead hesitantly as they might be expected to do. The passage they entered was tall and narrow in keeping with the serpent people's method of burrowing. And it became dark as soon as the torchlight from the other chamber faded from view. But the two Evergreens behind them pushed them along whenever they slowed their pace. They kept pushing the prisoners with their mighty arms until the Earthmen increased their speed.

  However they weren't too rough about it and Ron was loath to admit it. In their present miserable plight they needed to be kept at a high pitch of anger. He had no intention of permitting himself to think at this stage that the Evergreens were nice chaps after all and that they might be able to get along with them alright were it not for the Springers—or that these creatures were actually not to blame for this entire mess. Nor did it help to think about the Springers, either. They were not dealing with Springers here but with Evergreens. It was the Evergreens they had to escape from. Should they feel any sympathy for their serpent captors for just a second it might result in their death.

  The passage seemed to be endless. The darkness did not make it any easier to judge the distance they had come. Ron was of the opinion that they had gone about one kilometer when they began to hear the strange sound for the first time. It seemed to come from the depths of the earth beneath them. At first it sounded like an odd bell tone that was not quite in a proper pitch. It was uncanny in that it produced an almost primordial sense of fear. They stopped but the Evergreens drove them onward. The strange sound became louder.

  Ahead of them a reddish glow appeared. It seemed to emerge from a small opening far ahead in the darkness and as they approached it the sound they were hearing became more discernible. They finally realized that it was the same kind of clanging and ringing that they had heard before in the forest. Lofty began to cry out as though in terrible fear and maybe he wasn't pretending this time but Ron had expected to hear from him because he was the only one of them who could understand the drum talk.

  "They say that joy has come to them," Lofty shouted, "for this great day when they bring to their god their most prized offerings. That means us without a doubt!"

  Ron nodded mechanically as he narrowed his eyes and attempted to make out the source of the reddish illumination. When he saw that its brightness varied in a flickering fashion he became convinced that what he was seeing was torchlight—specially prepared torches that could produce colors.

  Ron reviewed swiftly what he had seen since they had been carried out of the main cavern. Undoubtedly a ceremony of some kind awaited them up ahead but if they had any chance to get away then there were only two possibilities of an exit: the two passages that led from the circular chamber behind them. They had no idea where either of the tunnels led except that beyond their junction point there were hundreds of Evergreens who were waiting to block them.

  Of course up there where the red light was coming from there could be still another way out but Ron preferred to be sure of his prospects ahead of time. He did not depend on things he didn't know anything about yet. Yet as the red light came nearer he had a peculiar hunch.

  "Keep your eyes open!" he admonished his two friends again. "And if you don't see anything yourselves then keep an eye on me, OK?"

  "OK," came their answer simultaneously.

  It was the last normal interchange of words they would have for a long time. The passageway ended a few steps farther on. Before they got there Ron had perceived that it opened into a chamber that was also circular in shape but much larger than the one where they had been prepared for the sacrifice. However there was one feature here that was considerably different from what they had seen in any of the other rooms and passages: around the high walls just under the ceiling there were oval-shaped openings at regular intervals through which bright sunlight was streaming.

  It flashed through Ron's mind that here might be the way to freedom. The oval openings were evidently large enough for a grown Terran to slip through them. Once they had climbed through one of those they would no longer have to worry about which passage or chamber contained the smallest ambush of Evergreens. However, he soon rejected the idea. The holes were more than 25 feet off the floor. They would have had to climb onto an Evergreen's head first and make a wild jump for it to even reach one of them.

  So that, too, was a hopeless prospect.

  The source of the eerie red light turned out to be torches as he had surmised. There was a clear space in the center of the cave but at least 500 Evergreens were crowded around it. Ron had expected to see spectators for the sacrifice but not such a surprising crowd as this.

  In the central area were two hollow glass tree trunks which had been carefully mounted on fork-shaped supports. Before each of them sat an Evergreen armed with two beating sticks with which they struck the glass wood and produced the hollow monotonous booming sounds that the three men had been hearing for at least a quarter of an hour.


  When the captives made their appearance at the passage exit, some of the Evergreens in the spectator throng rose up and drew back from the 'musicians' and the tone and cadence of the drumming changed at once. Visible now in the central area was a rectangular darkness on the floor that seemed to have been marked there with black charcoal. It lay there like a deeper shadow, ominously unreflective under the flickering red light of the torches, seeming to, draw one's gaze to it as if by magic. By the way the surrounding Evergreens were craning their serpentine necks and bending over it, they too seemed to be under its spell of attraction.

  The serpent throng opened a passage to make way for the prisoners. Larry was in the lead and he hesitated but this caused the onlookers to raise a humming and whistling cry of protest and the three Evergreens behind the men pushed them ahead more vigorously than before. The captives came staggering into the center of the chamber, still acting the role of unwilling victims. Actually Ron's curiosity was awakened by the dark rectangle on the floor and he wanted to have a closer look at it. But before he could get near enough to see it clearly one of his guards grasped him by his gown and jerked him back.

  So the rectangle had special significance here—of that he was sure.

  He started as a thunderous gong rang through the cavern. The nerve-racking music of the drum was silenced immediately. The humming and whistling sounds of Evergreen conversation also ceased. A deep silence pervaded the vast chamber after the reverberations of the gong had subsided. There was only an occasional rustling among the Evergreens, whose sweet-smelling hides filled the air with a heady scent of perfume.

  Now that the peak moment of danger had come, Ron felt a change come over him which seemed to dissolve all his uncertainty and doubt. He stood there motionlessly within 10 feet of the black rectangle with all his senses keyed up to a high pitch of intensity. He was suddenly ready for anything.

  Then all at once he perceived a cloud of smoke rising up ward which seemed to come from the rectangle although he saw no opening through which it might have emerged. At first it was just a thin blue haze and smelled like ordinary wood smoke but it quickly became thicker and less transparent. It reminded Ron of wood fires he had seen back on Earth and it seemed so out of place here that for a moment he wondered if it were some kind of mirage.

  Then a dull booming sound was heard again. This time it really came from below somewhere. The black rectangle disappeared in the rising stream of thick, impenetrable smoke that fairly shot upward into the chamber. The reverberations increased in volume, now mixed with shrill, howling notes.

  Ron suddenly realized what was happening. All this was a means of staging the god's appearance! Like all false gods and idols it had to have its special way of materializing in order to strike fear into the hearts of the faithful and to fill them with awe.

  And one more thing was evident. This was the moment for action. Now—while all attention was focused on the ascending pillar of smoke and the unearthly sounds. Hardly anyone would be paying attention to the sacrificial victims!

  Ron shouted above the tumult. "In we go, men!"

  He had to rely on the other two to follow him. There was no time to worry about them now. He propelled himself forward and made a flying leap into the grey-blue column of smoke.

  8/ THE MONSTER DEITY

  Transgressors are we, O Glorious One... forgive us! The Lord of Darkness has overwhelmed us and we have earned thy scorn... but yet forgive us, Ayaa-Oooy! Life long atonement do we offer thee in return for thy mercy, O thou Magnificent One...!

  • • •

  The choking fumes took, his breath away as he instinctively closed his eyes and took the plunge. He had stretched out his arms to take up the shock of hitting the floor but suddenly there was no floor. A deadly fear seized him as he realized he was falling!

  But the paralysis of fright had hardly gripped him before his downward course was interrupted and he struck against a yielding obstacle. He had an impression of something vast and hairy. With a screeching and smacking sound the thing under him fled precipitately; he lost his balance and fell another short distance. But this time he felt the impact of solid footing under him.

  Instinctively he rolled to one side. Above him he heard two loud thuds in close succession. The screeching and smacking sound repeated itself, this time in a tone of panic. Something hit the ground nearby, followed by another thud. There was a groaning and cursing somewhere next to him. Seconds later a loud clamor was heard overhead. The sound swelled to thunderous volume. He pulled himself farther to one side although he still held his eyes closed and did not see his surroundings.

  Suddenly a man's voice yelled in abject terror. "Run for it! It's a monstrosity!"

  Racing footsteps approached him and he was suddenly knocked aside as if struck by a cannonball. He crashed against the wall and opened his eyes as the pounding of running feet faded away in the distance.

  To his surprise it was fairly bright around him. He recognized the shadowy outlines of Larry in his vicinity. The one who had cried out and run away was Lofty. To the right was a long corridor running under the floor of the upper chamber and Lofty had disappeared in that direction.

  In front of him the grey fumes were still rising up out of the floor and escaping through a hole in the roof of the passageway. The hole above was rectangular in shape. Some of the smoke was drifting along the subterranean corridor so that his view was somewhat obscured in the direction where Lofty had had his frightening experience. Ron tried to see what was there but Larry stood in his way. As he shoved him to one side he felt that the other was trembling. Now he had a clear view of the back part of the passage and he could make out a shadowy form that began to move within the cloud of rising vapors.

  His blood seemed to freeze in his veins. For a second or two he was also seized with an impulse to turn and run after Lofty as fast as he could go. Apparently stunned momentarily, the thing that was threshing about in the pall of smoke was a monster that appeared to be about 10 feet high, massive and powerful, with its four arms braced against the walls for support. Its body seemed to be covered with fur and if one discounted the two extra arms the first impression it gave was that of a giant bear walking upright.

  But that only lasted until its great head emerged from the fumes and the creature fixed them with its goggle-eyed stare. The skull was hairless, smooth-skinned and shiny. A giant thin-lipped mouth split the monster countenance in half. The spherical eyes were as big as two hands and seemed to stand out from under its bony forehead ridge as though ready to drop from their sockets at any moment. The head vaguely resembled that of a giant frog.

  The appearance of the thing was both fascinating and hypnotizing. Up to this point Ron had been fairly convinced that the Springers must have brought along one of their combat robots and presented it to the Evergreens as their god. The Springer robots were of Arkonide manufacture and there were few things in the universe that could make a stronger impression on primitive people than a metal colossus that could walk and think by itself.

  But this was far from being a robot! The frog-bear was an organic creature.

  The uncanny beast came out of the smoke and walked toward the two Terrans, who were frozen where they stood with fear and horror. Apparently the thing had been in the process of climbing up through the smoke and clamor so that it could emerge out of the upper cavern's floor, thus demonstrating its supernatural powers to the Evergreens. But the three Terrans had plunged into the opening at that moment and had fallen on top of the false deity. This was what had broken their fall and prevented them from being injured by a direct drop to the stone floor of the passage. On the other hand, although the creature had withstood the impact of the first collision, namely with Ron, the succeeding blows had caused it to fall back. It had probably been stunned temporarily or even knocked unconscious for a moment or two. But now it had collected its strength again and it was on the alert for the ones who had spoiled its imposing entrance upon the stage of supersti
tion.

  It kept on coming toward them while its big feet made a slapping sound against the floor. Ron made a sign with his arm behind him to indicate to Larry that they should start a retreat. He himself kept stepping back in pace with the frog-bear monster's approach.

  That is, until he saw the dully shining object lying on the floor between him and the creature. His eyes were drawn to it as if by magic and he suddenly wished he might jump forward and grasp it before the frog-bear could get its hands on it. It was a ponderous thing which looked very much like a giant sledgehammer and certainly it would weigh him down in flight. But it was the only piece of evidence that he could take with him out of this nightmare and that's why he simply had to have it.

  Meanwhile Larry had given up trying to urge him to flee and he had gone. On the other hand, Ron remained where he was. He gauged the distance between himself and the monster for the last time—and then he made his leap. Simultaneously the alien creature let out a hissing and gurgling cry of anger. Ron concentrated only on the glittering, hammer-like object he was after; yet he could hear the slapping approach of the giant feet as the otherworld monstrosity increased its pace. It seemed that the frog-bear objected to anyone taking possession of the hammer.

  Ron suddenly realized that the hammer was probably the instrument with which the god-thing killed its sacrificial victims. It was the scepter of its divinity and no doubt the Evergreens would not recognize its supernatural station when it was not in its possession.

  He finally grasped the hammer handle with both hands and lifted it. He raised up and was about to run when he saw that the frog-bear was looming over him with its multiple arms reaching out to crush him in a deadly grip. In desperation he swung the hammer. It was such a wide swing that the heavy sledge almost pulled him off his feet. It strained his muscles and tendons and he sensed a sharp pain in his shoulder but the hammer was moving forward now with irresistible force toward the creature. Ron closed his eyes. He heard a dull cracking sound as he felt the hammer strike against something and then the weird beast let out a shriek of pain. Ron heard its talons scratching as though in blind rage. He took a new grip on the hammer and then turned and ran... and ran... and ran...