Star of Ill-Omen

by Dennis Wheatley

  Kem and Carmen found them of little interest as they portrayed only factories and machines; but Escobar recognised some of them, and said that they were shots of atomic plants in various countries. All had been taken from the air and a few were close-ups of interiors photographed through roofs, as had been done in the case of his own laboratory. The series ended with the repeat of the shot showing the explosion of the Atom bomb on Bikini atoll.

  The showing lasted for about an hour, then they were taken into the further room. It was evident that the bee-beetles needed only their own light, and that was, too, ample for the humans to see by; but here, seemingly to strengthen Escobar’s impression that he was in his own room, the imitation electric lights flickered brilliantly, so the incandescence of the insects was no longer apparent. No change had been made there, but there were now a dozen or more bee-beetles in it. Two of them sat on top of the talking machine; the rest were clustered in one of the side-tables, on which reposed a flat, square, plastic box that had not been there the day before. The talking machine whirred and the voice said, ‘Music while you work!’ Then a jazz number began.

  Kem glanced at Escobar. ‘You know what they’re after, don’t you?’

  Escobar nodded. ‘Yes; the films we’ve just seen make that quite clear now. These clever insects have found out that we are developing atomic power on Earth; but they have not yet discovered how to make a fission bomb themselves, and they want me to make one for them.’

  ‘That’s it; but it would be absolutely criminal to let them in on a secret like that.’

  As they made no move towards the bench the music was suddenly cut. One of the bee-beetles on the small table touched the plastic box and its lid sprang open. In it there was a small heap of beans.

  Stepping forward Kem stretched out his hand to take one. Before he could do so all except one of the bevy of insects rose and came buzzing at his head in an angry cloud. Fearing that they might sting him to death, he put up his hands to fend them off and swiftly drew back. At the same moment the bee-beetle who had remained on the table touched a hidden spring in the box, and its lid snapped shut.

  Apparently satisfied at having driven him off, the other insects ceased to buzz round Kem’s head and settled again on the table. The machine whirred again and its voice came sharply: ‘Get going! Get going! Get going!’

  With a horrified glance at the others Kem exclaimed: ‘God help us! These little brutes have got us in a cleft stick. Either we’ll have to do as they wish, or they mean to starve us to death.’

  17

  The Drones

  There could be little doubt that Kem was right. They were entirely at the mercy of their captors, so must do what was required of them, or starve.

  Now they realised, too, that they had not been kidnapped at random, simply because the masters of Mars wanted to examine a few human beings at close quarters. They must have deliberately selected Escobar after having watched him at work in his laboratory. It was his bedroom, as well as Carmen’s, to which they had come in the dead of night, and evidently they had chosen the time and place as offering the easiest prospects of capturing him. It seemed probable that the giants who had done the job were too stupid to take in detailed instructions, so had simply been ordered to carry off any humans they found in the room. In any case they would have expected Carmen to be with him, and planned to take her to prevent her giving an alarm before they could get him to the Saucer; that Kem had been roped in, too, must have been purely accidental.

  But the fact remained. Escobar had been brought to Mars because its rulers wanted him to show them how to make an Atom bomb; and now that the captives were really beginning to feel hungry the beans in the fast-shut box seemed to them as desirable as Tournedo Rossini or a Lobster Cardinal. They looked at one another in consternation; then Carmen whispered:

  ‘Estévan, you must not do it! But we can’t starve. Pretend to do something.’

  ‘Careful!’ warned Kem. ‘I had the same idea; but they may be able to understand what we say.’

  ‘That is most unlikely,’ Escobar declared. ‘If they had a real working knowledge of Earth languages they would have picked out the words they wanted from scores of broadcasts, then recorded them one by one in proper sequence, to make a record which, when played over to us, would have told us exactly what they wanted us to do.’

  ‘Perhaps; but they must have some knowledge of it; otherwise they wouldn’t make their machine announce “Music while you work”, or shout “Get going! Get going!” with the idea of inducing us to start on the job.’

  ‘I wouldn’t mind betting that those, and a few more simple things like “Stop!”, “Halt!”, “Fire!” and “Go back”, are about all it can say. Dead languages are almost impossible to decipher without some sort of key, and with brains so utterly different from ours they would find our speech a worse puzzle than we should that of prehistoric man.’

  ‘How do you account for their having got as far as they have, then?’

  ‘By using the delicate instruments they have invented for simultaneous watching and listening. We know they can look into factories, and they have evidently studied troops at drill. Such orders as “Quick march!” and “Halt!” are always followed by actions. That would give them the meaning of a few dozen words, but I should be greatly surprised if they know any more.’

  Kem smiled. ‘It’s clever of you to have thought that one out; and I believe you’re right. Anyhow, it seems that for you to start pottering around a bit is the only hope we have of getting any breakfast.’

  Evidently the bee-beetles thought they were arguing about whether they should or should not set to work, as they had switched off the machine and, while the two men were talking, remained quite still, watching them intently. Now, as Escobar walked towards the bench, they gave an excited buzz and flew up to vantage points from which they could watch what he was about to do.

  Halting opposite the draughtsman’s board, he glanced over his shoulder at Kem and said: ‘Instead of amusing them with any chemical experiments I think I’ll design a rocket for them with some unusual parts. They have ample sense to draw the inference that I shall want them made for me, and making the parts should keep them busy for quite a time.’

  As he spoke he picked up what appeared to be a pencil from the tray which, in all but colour, was an exact replica of the one in his own laboratory. But to his surprise and amusement he found that the pencil lacked a lead core. It was the right shape and carefully sharpened, but solid plastic, and so completely useless. Having shown it to Kem and Carmen, he examined a pen. That, too, was solid plastic, and what passed for its nib had no split; but he thought he might make do with it, and opened the imitation cut-glass inkwell. Instead of blue, the fluid in it was dark green and slightly sticky. Dipping the pen he experimented on the edge of the paper and, finding that it would serve the purpose, drew a picture of a rocket.

  When he had finished, he laid down the pen, then walked over to the small table on which reposed the box of beans and stood pointedly in front of it. The insects took the hint. Its guardian gave the box a flick with his claw, and the box sprang open. Gathering round, the captives ate their belated breakfast, after which Escobar returned to his board and proceeded to draw on a larger scale some of the internal parts of the rocket.

  There was nothing that Kem or Carmen could do to assist him; so they sat down in two of the chairs and would have been content to remain as spectators for a while; but the bee-beetles had other views about them. As on the day before, two of them had kept circling their heads, then flying to the instrument bench, clearly endeavouring to induce them to go to it and set about some form of work. They could hardly ignore these importunities, so they kept shaking their heads and making gestures with their hands to indicate that they had no intention of complying.

  After some time the two bee-beetles gave up their efforts and went into a huddle with their colleagues. The whole group settled on the desk and evidently took counsel together, as
they waved their horns, clicked their pincers, and fluttered their wings. The result of this conference soon emerged, as Magog got to his knees and signed to Carmen and Kem that they should precede him through the archway.

  Seeing that they hesitated, the giant simply picked Carmen up and pushed her out into the passage. As Kem made to follow her of his own free will, Escobar, who up to that moment had been absorbed in his drawing, swung round and exclaimed:

  ‘What the devil are they up to? If they take you away I’m coming with you.’

  ‘No!’ cried Kem quickly. ‘As our bread-winner it’s up to you to stay here and keep them happy. I don’t think you need worry about us. It is simply that they’ve tumbled to it that Carmen and I are drones, and the odds are they’re sending us back to barracks.’

  Still most reluctant to be separated from them, Escobar attempted to follow, but Gog barred his passage; so he had no option but to remain behind with the school of bee-beetles.

  Kem knew well enough that in the insect world unpleasant things are liable to happen to drones; so he was far from sanguine that the reassuring prediction he had cried aloud—for Carmen’s sake as well as Escobar’s—would really be fulfilled. Concealing his apprehension as well as he could, he allowed Magog to put him on the trolley beside Carmen, then waited anxiously to see where the giant would take them. The trolley set off towards the barracks and by the time it had crossed the canal Kem was feeling a little more optimistic, but his fears were not fully allayed until they were back in their cell and Magog had stumped away, leaving them to their own devices.

  They had been dismissed from the hive much earlier than on their first visit, and estimated it to be not yet ten o’clock; so they had the best part of the day before them and nothing to do in it. After Magog’s heavy footfalls had ceased to echo in the tunnel, Kem at once set about prising out the staple that secured the great wicker door, then he smiled at Carmen, and asked:

  ‘Would you like to do some more exploring?’

  ‘Yes, let’s,’ she said. ‘I’ll bring my little torch,’ and having collected it she tiptoed after him out of the tunnel. This time they turned left, away from the distant entrance where daylight showed, and soon entered the great gloomy chamber to which they had been brought on their first arrival. They already knew that on its inner side, away from the cliff-face with its long rows of cells and windows, there lay the catacomb-like lavatory; and they suspected near it lay the cell in which they had been decontaminated.

  In a few minutes they found the circular hole in the wall through which they had been pushed, or one like it; for soon afterwards they discovered that there was a row of six of them. The holes were much too high to look into, but Kem found himself able to jump the distance with ease, and getting a grip on the edge of one of the holes he hoisted the forepart of his body over it. Beyond and below him lay pitch blackness, but as he switched on Carmen’s torch and flashed it around, its beam showed him a bare, dank, circular chamber. Its floor, unlike any others that he had seen in the warren, glistened with wet, and he came to the conclusion that these drum-like pits were used for a part of the year as cisterns in which to store a reserve of water.

  When he had clambered down, they set out to explore a continuation of the tunnel that ran from the far end of the vault they had now examined. Two hundred and fifty yards down it they came to another chamber similar to the one they had just left. Crossing it, they walked on through a further section of the tunnel until they saw a faint glow lighting the murk ahead. At first they thought it was caused by daylight percolating from another entrance at the tunnel’s extremity, but the curious quality of the light gave them a sudden hunch that it must emanate from some of the bee-beetles.

  Advancing very cautiously now, they came to a great archway that gave on to a third chamber uniform with the other two. In it a score of the bee-beetles were milling round on a small section of the floor, while others were flitting up and down the inner wall.

  Owing to a number of the cell doors on the tunnel’s outer side having been left ajar no part of it was in total darkness, and a greyish suggestion of daylight penetrated even to the big windowless chambers. In consequence, in this semi-darkness the bee-beetles made but a poor show in their role of Thinking Lights. Instead of each one appearing to be a bright, dancing flame, it was easily identifiable as an insect. Their glow came from their underparts, just as Escobar had suggested that it might, and in their present circumstances was sufficient only to throw the unluminous portions of their bodies into sharp relief.

  Those in flight were alighting after each ascent on the edge of one of the circular holes by which the cisterns could be entered, pausing there a second, then flying down, clutching bundles almost as large as themselves between their legs. They added their burdens to several big piles on the floor, which the other bee-beetles appeared to be counting into smaller heaps. After a moment the watchers realised that the bundles and heaps were formed of beans, and that the insects were employed in issuing from store the giants’ evening ration.

  Fearing to draw unwelcome attention to themselves if they proceeded further, Kem and Carmen quietly drew back and began to retrace their steps. A quarter of an hour’s walk brought them to the entrance of the tunnel, but instead of taking the road that led from it they clambered up the slope at its side on to the roof of the warren.

  From there they could get a better view of the surrounding country than they had had so far, as even this slight eminence enabled them to see a great distance. A few miles away to their left they could make out the green belt of the bean-fields and a hundred yards in their rear a long ridge of boulders, at no point more than ten feet in height, broke the skyline. Otherwise, from horizon to horizon the parched red earth, marked only by its cracks and gaping crevasses, stretched away, desolate and menacing to anyone who should venture to journey across it.

  The sun was now approaching its meridian; so, by mutual consent, they turned and walked towards the boulders with the idea of finding a little shade in which to sit down. All the boulders had been worn smooth from the friction of countless sandstorms beating upon them, but here and there they formed shallow caves, and selecting one of the larger they settled themselves in it.

  For a time they sat in depressed silence. During the past two days their minds had been occupied by constant fears or physical discomforts; but now they had leisure to think, the hopelessness of their position came home to them with full force. As Kem silently contemplated the prospect that lay before them his mercurial temperament slumped to its lowest depths, and in a fit of bitter desperation he suddenly burst out:

  ‘Oh, what are we to do? What are we to do? I just can’t stand the thought of being condemned to this sort of thing for the rest of my life. I’ll go crazy or commit suicide.’

  Carmen put a comforting arm round his shoulders. ‘It’s ghastly, I know. But you must not talk like that. You’ve been awfully brave up to now in leading our explorations and defying the little brutes as far as you could. You’ve been more cheerful than any of us, too. You mustn’t give way, darling. Your courage is the only thing I have to cling to.’

  It was the first time she had used an endearment to him since they had left Earth. He turned and looked at her. Their faces were very close together. Suddenly he seized her in his arms and greedily kissed her on the mouth.

  For a moment she lay passive in his embrace, returning his kiss with a fervour equal to his own; then she broke away from him and cried: ‘No, Kem, no! You promised you wouldn’t make love to me.’

  ‘And I’ve kept my promise,’ he said thickly. ‘But it was given six weeks ago, and things are different now.’

  ‘No, they’re not.’

  ‘Oh, yes, they are! The night we arrived here Estévan buried the hatchet as far as you are concerned. He said that we must regard the past as though it had happened to other people and nothing in it should be counted as binding on us. That included your marriage to him. He gave us carte blanche to do what we li
ked.’

  ‘I am glad that he has forgiven me; but that does not alter things between you and me.’

  ‘It does, darling. He was generous enough to say that, seeing the ghastly plight we were in, we should take such comfort of each other as we could.’

  ‘Nothing he can say alters the fact that I am bound to him by the rites of my Church. And no one can give another person permission to sin.’

  ‘Oh, Carmen!’

  ‘I’m sorry, Kem; but you must see how I feel about it.’

  ‘I think your are making a mountain out of a molehill. The canons of your Church were never meant to apply to men and women who had been carried off to Mars.’

  ‘Time and place can have no bearing on the unalterable laws of right and wrong.’

  ‘But, darling, I am desperate for you. All those weeks in the Saucer I was half-crazy with longing to hold you in my arms. Yet I fought it down and never attempted to lay a finger on you.’

  ‘I know, and I loved you all the more for the marvellous restraint you showed.’

  ‘That’s all very well, but I can’t go on like this. To be near you every moment of the day; to have to lie within a few feet of you night after night; it’s positive torture.’

  Carmen took his hand and pressed it. ‘Poor darling. How I wish I had never let you make love to me in the first place. It wouldn’t be so hard for you then. It is hard on me, too; but in time we’ll get used to it.’

  ‘I’ll never get used to it,’ Kem flared, and with a Violent gesture he pulled her towards him. She jerked her head away, and his kiss fell on her neck. For a few moments they struggled wildly, but he was loath to exert all his strength from fear of hurting her, and by the use of all of hers she succeeded in defending herself. As her slim body writhed under his broad one, she gasped: