by Eando Binder
“You, in the net! Speak up. You’re caught in an electro-psi field, if you can understand. Your naked mentality touching the net will bring you oblivion. So, speak. You have no choice.”
The clock ticked loudly in a deep silence that followed. Hillory glanced at Merry’s uncertain face. Had they failed after all to trap their enemy?
But then there came a subtle hissing sound like a radio transmitter being turned on and sending out its carrier-wave. Hillory could feel the impact of that pre-ESP emanation on his brain. It was a powerful force—frighteningly powerful.
A moment later, the unspoken but perfectly clear thought-words came. “Quite clever, earthling, this trap. I underestimated you. I did not think your kind”—he said it as if speaking of lowly worms—“capable of such psi refinements.”
“You can skip the lordly attitude,” snapped back Hillory. “Now, just who are you? And I might remind you that if you don’t care to answer my questions, I’ll just drop the net lower so that it collapses on itself and leaves no space for you….”
“No need for childish threats,” a thought came back scornfully, yet a bit fearfully. “Why should I not answer you? I am Jorzz!”
The name had been given pompously, flourishingly.
“Jorzz,” said Hillory mildly. “So I’m Hillory and the girl is Merry. But tell me, were you always a free mind, born that way somehow?”
“No, I had a body once.”
“What kind of body?”
“A human body.”
“What world did you live on?”
“Kaljj, it was called, far from here. At the other end of this galaxy.”
“What were you on your world?” pried Hillory, realizing the alien was not going to volunteer any more information than he had to.
“I was….” A hesitation, then with another mental flourish. “I was the Star King, ruler of a great world civilized for a million of your years.”
Hillory winced. They were dealing with a mind of vast advancement. “You were the Star King you say. What happened to you?”
Reluctance was plain as the slow answer came, “I was deposed.”
“Because you were a hated ruler?” bored in Hillory, slowly shaping up a picture of this one-time bodied mind.
“No,” spat back Jorzz vehemently. “My people all swore by me and would follow me anywhere.”
“Follow you where?” said Hillory shrewdly. “To conquer other worlds? And those other worlds defeated your warlike people and then deposed you? Is that the story?”
“Yes, if you must know,” Jorzz came back bitterly.
How little “human nature” changed, marveled Hillory. Whether on earth or on a planet inestimably further ahead on the scale of higher civilization. Always there would be born those souls who schemed and plotted to gain power. And Hillory could vaguely sense how earth rulers and leaders lusted for power, that rule of many worlds would be a proportionately greater drive to an ambitious mind.
“But how did you become a free mind, separated from your physical body?”
“By a process you would not understand,” said Jorzz witheringly.
Hillory had no comeback. It was true that he had been striving for some time to perfect a mind-separation device, without success.
“Is your body still alive?”
“Yes…and no,” he said enigmatically.
“What does that mean?”
“It is unimportant.”
There was a finality in the way the alien-mind said it that Hillory sensed and wondered about. But he changed the subject.
“As a free mind, you are able to animate objects via PK. And you did animate the skeleton from the flying saucer…my motorcycle…and the android?”
“Of course.”
“Now comes the big jackpot question.” Hillory took a breath. “Just why are you after the metal scroll?”
“To gather what has been hidden here on your world, by what you would call space pirates,” came back frankly.
“You mean they buried some sort of ‘treasure’ here, as we guessed? What is that treasure?”
“It is nothing you could want or use, earthling, I assure you….”
“We’ll be the judge of that,” snapped Hillory. “What happened to the pirates, just for the record?”
“They were hounded by galactic lawmen and killed. Only one member of the band escaped, with the metal treasure map. But he died on earth in a crash.”
“The skeleton in the flying saucer.” Hillory glanced at Merry. “Well, that clears up that part of the story.” To the mind-alien he said, in sudden astonishment, “But the map was made about 35,000 earth years ago. That was how long ago the pirates buried their treasure, and the last survivor died. That means you have existed for…35,000 years!”
“Naturally. As pure mind essence, I am immune to ordinary death. Through that time I wafted myself throughout the galaxy, always seeking a clue to the treasure. I stumbled on it, here on your obscure planet, at the same time you did—at the flying saucer wreck.”
Hillory’s head swam a little, at the thought of a disembodied mind flitting like a ghost from world to world, star to star, searching a whole galaxy of 200 billion suns and uncounted billions of planets. A search for a needle in a cosmic haystack.
“How did you keep from going mad?” Hillory could not help murmuring. “An endless search all that time, for 35,000 years…”
“Time? What is time? It has no real meaning for a free mind. Time is the rate of decay of living bodies, or the coming of old age, or the breakdown of metabolism. That is what it means to most living people. But in my body-free state, it is as though I began my search yesterday.”
Hillory shook his head. He had to get away from confusing metaphysical concepts and get to the meat of the matter. “You have been trying to wrest the metal map away from us. That means you don’t know its contents.”
A silence followed that seemed to mean consent.
Hillory was puzzled. “But you are obviously able to pick up people’s thoughts when they talk, as you’re doing with me. Then, when you heard the first spot was Mount Everest, why could you not rush there and beat us to it? You could animate something to pick up whatever treasure is there. Why didn’t you go?”
“For reasons of my own,” said the entity mockingly.
“He’s bluffing,” interposed Merry Vedec suddenly. “The reason is because he doesn’t know where Mount Everest is.”
“Is that right, Jorzz?” demanded Hillory.
Again no answer, which indicated to Hillory that they had scored another point in this mental duel.
“Good thinking, Merry,” said Hillory, not caring if Jorzz overheard. “It’s really quite simple. Earth is a strange new world to Jorzz. He hasn’t the slightest idea where Mount Everest is or any other place on earth.”
He turned toward the net-cage and the invisible entity. “Then what good would the map do you if you had gained possession of it?”
“That is my worry, earthling.”
Hillory made another leap in deduction. “I suppose you would have hidden it somewhere, then wafted to some world and recruited aliens to come to earth and pick up whatever lies at the four spots. Anything like that.” He shrugged. “That’s all academic now. You’ll never get hold of the map now that you’re trapped.”
“Do you intend to kill me?” asked Jorzz in deadly calm.
“Well, I…” Hillory paused. He hadn’t thought that far yet. Now it faced him. Should he lower the net and end the existence of this eerie free mind? Jorzz had tried to kill them and had nearly succeeded with Barton. Why have any scruples about killing him in turn?
Still, free mind or not, Jorzz had once been a human being, or so he claimed. Killing another human being in cold blood was murder, no matter how you looked at it. Furthermore, Jorzz might not be a threat to earth itself. Whatever the “treasure” was, it had been planted on earth accidentally, much as old-time maritime pirates would choose a lonely island that they never i
ntended to live on.
And how could he be sure Jorzz was evil? Maybe Jorzz had a right to the treasure and….
Hillory suddenly started, as if snapping out of a spell. He now felt the psychic force probing within his brain—hypnotism, Jorzz had been subtly working on his mind to make Hillory release him.
“No,” gritted Hillory aloud, trying to resist the impulse. “You’re evil…I know it…I feel it I must lower the net…”
But Hillory’s hands froze. His muscles turned to water. The hypnotic forces from the alien’s powerful mind became a torrent. Along with it now came thought-words in a mesmeric chant “You…will…release…me…earthling. You…cannot…resist…my…superior…mental…forces. Release me.”
“No,” panted Hillory, sweating and straining to keep the insidious voice out of his brain. A glance to the side showed that Merry was in a trance, having gone under already and powerless to help.
“RELEASE ME!” came thunderously over the ESP channels.
Agonized, Hillory saw his hands begin to pull on the cable, slowly, unwillingly. The copper netting began to rise, inch by inch.
“No…no,” choked Hillory, some part of his mind still resisting. But now most of his brain was overtaken by the tidal wave of hypnotic power that surged from the mind-alien. Muscles obeying the silent commands, Hillory mechanically pulled on the cable until the copper mesh cleared the floor.
Then suddenly the hypnotic force released him. Hillory let go of the cable and the net dropped to the floor—but too late.
“I’m free!” exulted Jorzz. “I wafted out from under the net. And now, idiot earthling…”
A heavy chair was suddenly animated and flung itself at Hillory. He barely ducked in time, as reflexes went into action. A ghostly psychic laugh sounded from thin air. “I’m leaving now. You still have the metal map. But the treasure will be mine…mine.”
A last burst of mockery and then silence.
Chapter 7
Free of their spells, Hillory and Merry looked at one another dizzily, almost staggering on their feet. They felt as if they had battled a raging wind. Struggle in the psychic realm was more exhausting than physical battle.
“We failed,” said Hillory hollowly, motioning for Merry to turn off the power in the cable. Then he picked up the metal map and stared at it. “This is going to be the toughest treasure hunt in history. Wherever we go, Jorzz can follow us like a shadow. Harass us. Maybe kill us.”
“Are you thinking of giving it all up?” Merry ventured.
“Yes. I’ll leave it up to chance.”
“The toss of a coin?”
“No. But if the sun doesn’t rise tomorrow morning, I’ll give up the treasure hunt.”
There was a half-humorous glint in Hillory’s eyes now, plus a flash of steely resolve. He was himself again. “So Jorzz won this round. Well see who wins the bout when it’s all over.”
He turned to the girl. “But of course,” he said with serious concern, “it’s too dangerous for you to go along with me…”
“I’ll scratch your eyes out if you say another word.” Merry stood with eyes flashing, her small fists clenched. “I’ve been in this from the start, and I demand equal rights in seeing it through.”
“Be sensible, Merry. A woman…”
“Leave out the chivalry rot.”
“We might have to carry weapons.”
“I’m the women’s pistol champ in this state.”
“You’ll be risking your life.”
“Who has the better right?”
“Merry, for your own sake…”
“Good. It’s settled then. I go.”
Hillory opened his mouth, shut it, and threw up his hands in surrender. He stared at the girl, wonderingly, as if seeing her for the first time.
“It’s simple,” explained Merry. “I joined the staff of Serendipity Labs for excitement. Sure, it was excitement of the more intellectual kind. But I was hoping for—serendipity. The big chance. And it came. The biggest and greatest adventure I could dream of.” Her eyes glowed.
“And all that packed into 109 pounds,” marveled Hillory. “But the big hurdle is to convince Dr. Clyde that we should carry out this hunt ourselves. Tomorrow morning I have to give him the clincher, in the form of a psi demonstration.”
He yawned, his craving for sleep at last overcoming him. He put the metal scroll under the copper net, signaled Merry to turn on the power, and lowered the cable. “Safe for the night.”
* * * *
Wearing the helmet surmounted by the faceted crystal, Hillory became hazy as a shimmering bubble seemed to form around him. He drifted gently off the floor up to the ceiling.
Dr. Clyde stared, along with Merry Vedec and Jim Barton, all gathered in Hillory’s psi-lab. “I saw that demonstration last year,” said Clyde, waving a lax hand.
“That won’t convince me to send you on the treasure hunt.”
“But it will in a minute,” said Hillory, coming down lightly to stand in front of Clyde. “I’ve been perfecting this method of…well, call it psi-levitation. It’s really a form of PK, or psychokinesis. That is, my mind’s PK forces can be beefed up by the psi crystal to move my body at any rate of speed I want and to any distance. And I’ll prove it.”
The shimmering bubble with Hillory in it moved to the window, which had been left open. Hillory’s face showed frowning concentration and then suddenly the bubble shot into the air at fantastic speed. The next moment it was gone.
“Wh-where did he go?” gasped Clyde.
“You’ll find out in a moment,” said Merry mysteriously. Barton spoke up. “Tell me more about that mind-trap you tried last night, Merry.”
The girl gave a digest of the event. Five minutes later the phone rang. “Answer it, Dr. Clyde,” said Merry, handing him the receiver.
“Long distance for Dr. Ames Clyde, from London.”
“I’m Dr. Clyde.”
“Here’s your party, sir.”
“Hello, chief. Hillory calling.”
“From London?” gulped Clyde unbelievingly. “3,500 miles away?”
“Oh, I knew I loafed a bit on the way,” said the phone. “But if I really hurry…”
The telephone cut off.
“…I can return before you hang up the phone.”
It was Hillory’s own voice as his bubble drifted into the window. Clyde sat there stunned, still holding the phone. He finally put it down with a sheepish grin.
“All right, Hillory. You’ve proved your psi-levitation can whisk you anywhere on earth, I suppose, in a second.”
“No, chief. Instantaneously, if I wish.”
Clyde glared indignantly. “Come, man. That would be faster than light.”
“Exactly,” nodded Hillory. “Psi phenomena are not limited by the laws of physical science.”
“But how does it work? What are psi forces? Are they like electromagnetic radiations…radio waves…space-piercing pulsations…what?”
“None of those, chief.” Hillory’s craggy face took on a vague look. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t the foggiest notion how it works. It can’t be any kind of radiation because that has to be propagated, in quantum bundles of energy, across space itself with final velocity the classic ‘c’ of Einstein. Psi force is far faster than that, close to infinite speed. If I could concentrate the great amount of PK force needed, I could whisk across the whole universe as fast as I came from London back here.”
“But how…how…does it work?” pleaded Clyde.
“The closest analogy I can give you,” said Hillory slowly, “is hydraulics. When a pipe is filled with water and you put pressure at one end with a piston, that pressure is immediately felt at the other end. No, not immediately. Transmission time is measurable. But now think of a sort of mental ether that I think pervades the entire universe. It fills all the spaces between molecules, atoms, electrons, protons, and the rest. It exists in the so-called empty space between stars and galaxies too.”
�
��Mental ether,” muttered Clyde. “Fantastic.”
“Maybe so. But think of this psi-ether as being completely non-compressible. Now, like in our water pipe, any psi ‘pressure’ or force you apply at one spot can be instantly felt at whatever other spot you’ve chosen as target. Do you see how this eliminates all need for wave-motion and radiation?”
“But how can the pressure speed all the way there so rapidly?”
“You’re not following me,” said Hillory patiently. “The psi-pressure doesn’t have to ‘speed’ or travel anywhere. The pressure at one spot is transmitted through the non-compressible medium simply because of its all-pervading presence. It’s like a man stepping on the brakes in his car and the hydraulic pressure manifests itself at the brake drums almost instantly. However, it wouldn’t work on a car a mile long. The hydraulic pressure would take too long to be manifested at the braking end because all fluids are slightly compressible. The key is that the psi-ether is absolutely non-compressible. Hence it transmits psi-pressure in a timeless moment. No time passes at all.”
“Sometimes I hate myself for asking questions,” sighed Clyde wearily. He made a gesture as if to clear away cobwebs. “Forget the theory. I see that your psi-levitation works. If you can reach Mount Everest, and the other treasure spots, in the wink of an eye, you will obviously finish the job faster than any government agency. I will take it upon myself, under those circumstances, to keep this as an in-house project of Serendipity Labs.”
Worry nagged the director somewhat, but not too much. They never worked on security projects for the government, pursuing their own independent researches. Their funding had originally come from a foundation and was now fattened by their by-product discoveries of commercial value. As long as the treasure hunt project represented no threat to earth itself—and nothing so far indicated such a threat—Clyde felt free in his conscience to make his decision.
By serendipity, a great plum had fallen into the lap of Serendipity Labs. Clyde was human enough to want all the glory to come to his establishment, once the mystery from the stars was cleared up.
“But you can’t go alone, Hillory,” admonished Clyde, assuming his role as director. “I won’t allow it. Too dangerous, with that mind-alien dogging your footsteps, no doubt. Can your psi-levitation system transport more than one person?”
