CHAPTER 19
The resentment against Jarvis in the village was not more than mild; still, it was there. But he realized that the feeling was not directed personally against him, but more against the race which he represented. In spite of what Eamus Brock had done for them, the villagers were afraid of Brock and the Mags, as men have always feared what is different and strange. The Mags and their works were beyond their comprehension; and if they felt inferior, they expressed it in general distrust and disbelief in the intentions of the Mags.
In his heart, Jarvis pitied them. He had come close to sharing their feelings—until he had learned from Eamus Brock the enormity of cataclysm that hung over them all.
Toby came quite unexpectedly to visit them one evening. Jarvis had not seen the boy since the day of their arrival in the village. And he knew that Brock was inflexible in his insistence that Toby have no further association with the people of the old race, and that included Jarvis and Jo.
Jarvis has spent an evening with Mitch, and when he returned home, Toby was with Jo. He sprang lithely up as Jarvis came in, crossed over and seized Jarvis’ hand in a grip of steel. It was not immediately that Jarvis recognized him, he had changed so. He was a grown man now, possessed of a remarkable physique and a buoyant strength that matched in power the clear light of intelligence gleaming in his wide-set eyes.
“Toby!” Jarvis exclaimed at last, when it finally came through to him that this handsome man was eleven-year-old Toby Carter. “What are you doing here?”
Toby tossed his head back and laughed deep, masculine laughter.
“I couldn’t stay away forever, Jeff! They’ve been keeping me pretty busy on the other side, but I had to see you and Jo again.”
It was a real reunion. Jarvis quickly adjusted to the physical change in Toby, and in minutes they were laughing together and reminiscing on shared hardships and triumphs of only a few months ago that now seemed like years.
“I’ve missed you, Toby,” Jo told him fervently. “I really have. Jeff is busy, too, you know. He spends his time in the city.” Her look clouded. “When is it all going to end, Jeff?” she asked plaintively. “Aren’t we going to settle down some day and live ordinary, normal, pleasant lives?”
Jarvis looked at Toby and shook his head slightly. Did Toby know about the nova, too? Undoubtedly he did. The boy seemed to understand—Jarvis steadfastly closed his mind to all telepathic communion. He would not have it around Jo.
He said, easily, “There will come a day yet, Jo—won’t it, Toby? It won’t be like this forever. Eamus is working the problem out now…”
Toby looked uncomfortable.
“I’d better be going back,” he said quietly. “I’m afraid I’ve overstayed my leave already. I kind of left without letting anybody know I was going.”
“You didn’t have Eamus’ permission?” Jarvis got up and took him by the arm. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to the gate.”
It was only Jo’s awe before the tremendous change that had taken place in Toby that kept the leave-taking from being a tearful one.
Outside, Jarvis said, hastily, “I hope you didn’t mention the nova to her.”
“I didn’t, as a matter of fact,” Toby replied. “I felt that you had probably discussed it with her, and I didn’t want—”
“Nobody out here knows,” Jarvis said imperatively. “I’m the only Mag Eamus allows out of the city, and he has sworn me to absolute silence.”
In the light from the windows, Toby’s face looked suddenly drawn.
“I didn’t realize that,” he said abashedly. “I—I thought everybody knew—”
Jarvis felt a thrill course through him.
“You haven’t talked with anybody about it?”
“I was looking for your cabin,” Toby explained lamely. “I met a man of the village and asked directions from him. I—I did discuss the nova a little with him.”
“What in the world ever made you do that?”
“He brought it up,” Toby returned defensively. “He asked how we were getting on with our plans—no, he didn’t say plans—our preparations—that was the word he used—against the nova.”
“And you said what?”
“That we were working on it, that’s all. And that we hoped to have some significant news pretty soon. Honest, Jeff. That’s all that was said—but if nobody out here knows about the nova, how did that man know?”
“That is what I shall have to find out,” Jarvis said grimly. “Who was the man?”
“He said his name is Saylo.”
Jarvis was assailed by mixed feelings. How Saylo had found out about the impending nova, he had no idea. But if Saylo spread word throughout the village that the sun was about to explode—He shook his head and patted Toby on the shoulder.
“I’m glad you told me about this, Toby. Now, you’d better get back to the city.”
Toby squeezed his hand. “Good-by, Jeff. No, don’t walk me back to the gate. I’ll take off from here.”
The words still rang emptily in Jarvis’ ears, and Toby was gone, vanished as if he had never been there. Jarvis stood blinking. The boy was far ahead of him in techniques. He had no idea how the disappearance had been effected, but he knew beyond doubt that Toby had instantaneously transported himself back to his quarters in the City of Brock.
Jarvis returned into the cabin and Jo put her arms around him.
“You look worried, dear. Don’t be. Toby is still more like you than the rest of the Mags. We haven’t lost him entirely.”
“It wasn’t—” Jarvis began, then he smiled and returned her affectionate squeeze. “I wasn’t thinking of that at all,” he assured her. He had not yet told her that their own child would be born a Mag.
A knock sounded at the door and Jarvis opened up. Gardner Saylo was outside.
“I want to talk to you, Jarvis.”
Jarvis looked over his shoulder at Jo. Her face held a strained, anxious look, as if she detected the tension in Jarvis that sight of Saylo had brought on. He nodded reassuringly to her and stepped outside, closing the cabin door behind.
“What’s the trouble, Saylo?”
“No trouble. I just have to talk to you, that’s all.”
The cabin light shone dimly on the man’s round face. There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead and his eyes seemed unnaturally large. Jarvis knew that his dislike for the man stemmed only from the opposition Saylo had expressed against him in council meetings.
He said, mustering kindness into his tone, “Glad to hear you out, Saylo. What’s on your mind?”
“I—I talked to that boy of yours tonight—”
“Yes. Toby told me.”
Saylo exhaled heavily. “The nova! Look, Jarvis—I’ve been making observations. Crude ones, to be sure. But I’m as sure as a man can be that the sun will explode—turn into a nova soon. I figured if I could find that out, the Mags would be sure to know all about it. So I mentioned it to your boy—he seemed to think we knew all about it out here.”
“Unfortunately,” Jarvis observed, “he has been kept pretty close to his studies in the city. Knowing what you know, Saylo, you also realize what kind of panic would occur if the people were told about the nova.”
“They would take that well enough, Jarvis. I asked your boy how things were going, and he said the spaceship is almost finished. Now, what did he mean by that?”
Jarvis started. The spaceship was a familiar story to Toby. He hadn’t even realized he had mentioned it in reassuring Saylo. Jarvis bit his lip.
“I can say nothing about that,” Jarvis said. “You may be sure the Mags are doing everything in their power to avert the nova. If this world is saved, we will all have Eamus Brock to thank. I would advise you, Saylo, to forget this conversation, and to say nothing to anybody. There
is no use getting the people upset.”
Saylo straightened with an air of bravado. “There are some of us who don’t trust you Mags,” he blustered. “Now that we know about that spaceship, we want to know more about it.”
“For instance?”
“I’ll speak bluntly, Jarvis. Is Brock planning to take us away from Eloraspon before the explosion? If he is, why is he making such a big secret of it? Isn’t it more likely he is building that spaceship for the Mags alone?”
“If I told you the truth, you wouldn’t believe me—because I’m a Mag,” Jarvis pointed out.
Saylo gnawed his underlip and his moustache writhed.
“I think I’ve learned what I wanted to know, Jarvis. Good night.”
He turned and strode quickly away.
CHAPTER 20
It was barely dawn when Mitch knocked at Jarvis’ door. Jarvis was already awake and dressed. He had hardly slept.
“Something serious has come up, Jeff,” Mitch said. “Gardner Saylo is—”
Jarvis raised his hand wearily.
“I can guess the whole story. Saylo was here last night.”
“Here? What did he want?”
“Confirmation of a suspicion. Mitch, how much do you trust me?”
The lanky engineer was taken aback. “Why—of course I trust you, Jeff! What’s this about trusting?”
“You’re pretty excited, Mitch. More excited than I’ve ever seen you. And you’ve heard the false rumor Saylo is spreading about the Mags.”
Mitch seized on his words. “Then it is false! The Mags aren’t building a spaceship to escape from Eloraspon?”
A muscle twitched in Jarvis’s cheek. He made up his mind.
“That much is true, Mitch. Now, I’m going to tell you the rest of the truth. Whether you accept it for truth or not will be up to you.”
Slowly, in measured words, Jarvis explained the entire situation. When he had finished, Mitch was silent. Finally, the engineer spoke.
“What you say has the ring of truth in it, Jeff. Maybe I’m just shocked after living so long in a fool’s paradise. I thought the disaster was done, finished with. Now I know it has hardly begun. Jeff, Jeff—will Brock’s plan have any effect on…?”
Jarvis shrugged. “That is a point on which it is best to maintain a philosophical attitude. Either we are all saved—or all must perish.”
“You must talk to the people, Jeff! Most of them are scared to death by Saylo’s accusations. They really believe the Mags plan to desert us. It was a mistake for Brock ever to keep this thing secret. Your speaking to them as a Mag may do something to allay their fear.”
“It seems to me you are afraid, too, Mitch—but not of the nova. Of what?”
“Of my own people, Jeff! Being a Mag, you can’t understand the psychology of homo sapiens. Only a little more of Saylo’s talk will start a riot. They may rush the city—and I know what happens to anybody setting foot inside that gate!”
Jarvis jerked up. “Do you think they would dare?”
“It isn’t a matter of daring! Being crazed by fear will drive them to it.”
Jarvis wanted to tell them the truth, but he felt he should talk to Eamus Brock first. Perhaps the leader of the Mags could think of a way to avert this tragedy.
Before Jarvis could leave his house an angry group of villagers had gathered out in front.
A small delegation of men approached the doorstep. One was Gardner Saylo, another was Roy Harper. Jarvis knew the other three by sight.
“We’ve come to take you, Jarvis,” Saylo said. “Go quietly with us and nobody will get hurt.”
Jarvis looked at the faces confronting him. He saw fear there, but determination. Jo was looking up at him.
He said, “What’s the idea?”
“You’re a Mag, Jarvis,” Saylo told him. “If Brock insists on leaving us behind, he’ll leave you behind, too.”
“That’s fair enough,” Jarvis agreed reasonably. “Did you think I was planning to go with them?” He put his arm around Jo*s waist and drew her close. “I’m staying with my wife.”
Saylo tossed his head. “Oh, that sounds noble, Jarvis! But you could find room in your ship for one extra person all right! But we have other ideas. Everybody goes…or everybody stays! Now march!”
They locked him in a storeroom and went away, assuring him they would lose no time notifying Eamus Brock of his plight. Alone, Jarvis chewed his lip and thought. Undoubtedly, Brock was already aware of what had transpired. Saylo could not threaten the Mag leader. But what he could do would endanger the lives of everyone in the village. Jarvis waited.
“Don’t feel badly, Jeff. You did the best you could.”
Eamus Brock was there, as Jarvis had known he would be.
“What are we going to do, Eamus?”
The blind man, in a shimmering cocoon of light, stood quietly.
“There is nothing we can do, Jeff. The time is almost here. We have only minutes.”
“The spaceship is finished?”
“Finished. Our people are boarding her. Come with me now, Jeff. Into the city. You will go with us… help us complete the destiny of Magnanthropus.”
Jarvis shrugged. “You were watching what was going on. You heard what I told those men. I’m not going with you, Eamus.”
Brock smiled. “I know you are not, Jeff. I was only giving you a last chance to refuse. I have told you that I have plans for you, and here they are. These people need you. They don’t know it yet, but they will. In the months and years to come, they will need the guidance you can give them in resettling Eloraspon.
“I have desired all along that you remain with them. From you will spring a new and independent line of Magnanthropus. You must tell them this: In the southern hemisphere, there is a city of the ancient Mighty, and its name is Surandanish. The land around it is peopled by a race of humanoids called the Bronze Men of Surandanish. There lie all the secrets of the Mighty. If we on our journey into space do not find those who fled millennia ago, we may be back—and your descendants will be here to greet us, with the secrets we have not had time to unravel from the records of the Mighty.” Brock paused, and there was a rattle and thud outside the door. “The lock is broken,” he said. “Go. You must give us every instant you can—prevent the people from rushing the spaceship when they discover we are about to take off. The lives of every one of us—Mag and homo sapiens alike—depends on it!”
CHAPTER 21
Mitch had heard and had been on his way to release Jarvis from the storeroom. They met outside the door.
Mitch said, “The people are acting ugly. They’re scared, and they’re following Saylo and Harper blindly. They think they can force the Mags to include them in the space ship. We’re going to have to get hold of Eamus Brock and let him know what’s going on.”
“He already knows,” Jarvis said. “Mitch—we’ve only got minutes!”
“Minutes?”
“The sun is about to explode.”
Mitch’s face turned gray. “So soon?”
“Mitch! As soon as the people are aware the ship is about to take off, they are apt to riot! We must prevent that at all costs!”
“But you, Jeff! You’re going with the Mags!”
“I’m staying with Jo, Mitch! If this thing goes through and the nova is averted, there will be work for me here.”
Jarvis left him and went directly to Jo. In these last few minutes, whatever happened, he wanted to be with her. But even those moments were denied them. Mitch followed within a few minutes.
He said, “They’re going to storm the launching pad!” he cried. “Can you hear them?”
Jarvis listened. There were shouts and cries throughout the village. He heard the sound of running feet, and a group of m
en raced past, stirring up the dust in the street. They were armed, clutching rifles, pistols, clubs. The whole village was in confusion, milling to the sound of an agonized shout.
“The Mags are deserting us!”
Mitch said, “We’ve got to stop this! Come on, Jeff!”
He ran and Jarvis followed. A block from the cabin, he realized that Jo was with them, running. He turned sick inside with concern for her.
“Go back!” he shouted. “Stay in the cabin until this is over!”
Her head was thrown back proudly, her face gleaming warmly bronze in the intense sunlight.
“I’m staying with you!” she replied shrilly.
“Think, Jo—think of the baby!”
“If you live, I will live. If I live, so will my baby! So don’t waste strength yelling at me!”
The air was dust-filled, barred with the shadows of the trampling throng. Dust entered Jarvis’ throat, and he coughed as he yelled. His heart swelled with pride in Jo, at the same time the thought of what might happen to her dismayed him.
No one listened to his and Mitch’s shouts. These people were afraid—afraid beyond the restraint of reason. Jarvis saw Mitch fall, trampled by the furious crowd. He fought his way to him, stood over him and slugged viciously into the press, until Mitch could stand again.
The swirling of the mob had taken them to the edge of the launching pad. The spaceship was a needle-like spire, towering above the many-colored city of Brock. It was still a half-mile away, and Jarvis could see a throng of Mags milling around the base.
Somewhere among them, he thought, was Toby…and Daniels, the Negro lawyer from Joplin. But he could not hope to pick them out. The Mags were a cluster of luminous cocoons around the space ship.
The mob roared with an ugly temper, but moved no closer.
“Something’s holding them back!” Mitch shouted in Jarvis’ ear.
The 7th Golden Age of Weird Fiction MEGAPACK®: Manly Banister Page 67
