by Jeff Sutton
"But I never..." He floundered for words.
"You unlocked the lion cage," she reminded primly.
Awed, he asked, "Why would I need that kind of power?"
"Perhaps Holton Lee realized it would take that kind of power to retrieve the colonists' ship."
"From Jupiter?"
She nodded. "The task would be all but impossible through any other means."
He considered it. "Then Holton Lee didn't have that kind of power," he stated.
"Doesn't have," she corrected. "He's still alive."
"Doesn't have," he amended.
"Apparently not, Jedro."
"What does all this have to do with immortality?"
"Immortality." Granny sniffed.
"What's the connection?"
"None, I suspect." Granny's eyes got a faraway look. "Perhaps that's the prize Holton Lee dangled to the colonists' descendants to make certain he wasn't forgotten that someday he'd be revived. That's powerful bait, Jedro."
"Then the secret's not in the stone," he reflected.
"Immortality? No, it's only in Holton Lee's mind."
"How did Faust hope to get the secret?"
"He had the silly idea of hypnotizing Holton Lee as he awakened him. A very stupid man, Jedro."
He looked into the ancient eyes for a long moment, then asked haltingly, "Where did I come from? Do you know?"
"Earth, Jedro."
"Earth!" Somehow he wasn't surprised.
"Five or six years ago," she affirmed. "Of course you wouldn't remember.
Your mind was blanked out."
"Why?" he demanded.
"Because of your youth. They couldn't take a chance on your saying or doing something that might give you away."
"I don't understand."
"You have the power," she explained. "You were already beginning to exhibit it. That made it Page 82
extremely dangerous for you -- the reason they had to blank your memory, your talent with it, spirit you away."
"Dangerous in what way?" he asked.
"Destiny -- or perhaps I should say genes chose you as the person to awaken Holton Lee," she explained. "But the Superminds, as you might gather, weren't all pillars of virtue. A few of them were ready to grab you on the off-chance of getting the secret, and they wouldn't have let a little thing like murder stand in their way. Some people can't be trusted, Jedro."
"I guess not."
Granny eyed him musingly. "Anyone who got you under his control, as Faust tried to do, would be but a step from immortality."
He asked hesitantly, "Do you know who my parents were?"
"They were Superminds, Jedro."
"Were?" He felt a quick pain.
"They're dead now, God rest them." Granny examined her veined hands.
"When...how did they die?"
She raised her eyes. "They were killed by people who thought they had the stone. Fortunately, they'd arranged for its safekeeping earlier."
"Dead," he repeated numbly.
"I'm sorry," whispered Kathy.
He felt a stillness inside him, thinking that, like Kathy, he was an orphan. They were both orphans. "Why did they send me to a mean person like Mr. Krant?"
"A mixup, I suppose." Granny eyed him kindly. "The arrangement was made in an awful hurry, just before they died."
"How did Mr. Clement get the stone?"
"The arrangement I mentioned. He was to deliver it to you at an age when he thought you'd be old enough." She considered her words. "Actually, as a downthrough, he knew all along exactly when he would deliver it to you" -- she
flicked a glance at Kathy -- "and under what circumstances. Of course, your mother knew that, too."
"She was...?" He waited expectantly.
"A downthrough."
"And my father?" he asked humbly.
"A clairvoyant, among other things. Oh, he was quite the telepath and, I suspect, a levitator."
"What's that?"
"He could lift his body from the ground, whisk it around through mental effort. It's a form of psychokinesis."
"How do you know all that?" he challenged.
"I was your mother's aunt."
"Aunt?" he exclaimed incredulously.
"Her mother's sister," confirmed Granny. Her lips crinkled into a gentle smile. "So you see, Jedro, I'm your great-aunt."
"My great-aunt," he whispered. He felt a fullness in his throat. He wasn't alone! He had Granny.
Still, like Kathy, he was an orphan. But she had known her parents, or at least had known her father. He never would. But then he'd known his parents once! He'd lived with them for perhaps ten whole years before the memory block. He grasped hungrily at the knowledge. Perhaps...
"Will I ever regain my memory?" he blurted.
"Possibly," she answered quietly. "That's largely an unknown, Jedro.
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Perhaps if your mind is strong enough to break through..."
"It's strong enough," he declared. "I'll make it strong enough. What's my full name?"
"Jedro Lee."
"Lee?"
"You are a direct descendant of Holton Lee," she explained.
"Holton Lee," he echoed. He became aware of the warmth of the stone again. Unfolding his palm, he gazed at it, his mind reeling from all that
Granny had told him. Reddish-purple, filled with violet fire, the stone blazed more brilliantly than ever.
He contemplated it broodingly, thinking of all the deaths it had occasioned. His parents, Kathy's father, Faust, The Tattooed Man and -- Yes! -
- The Strangler. Those were the deaths of which he knew, but how many others might have died because of it during the long centuries of Holton Lee's sleep?
He was afraid to think.
His parents had died to protect the stone!
He lifted his head. They had made certain he would get the stone; now he had it. It was up to him to locate Holton Lee, free him from his self-imposed exile, help him bring the colonists back from Jupiter's deeps. Then Holton Lee would lead his people to new worlds among the stars. And he would go with them. And Kathy.
He turned toward her, caught with a surge of excitement. A strong, confident feeling swept through him. She brushed at her eyes and smiled.
Granny said, "We have work to do, Jedro."
"Yes, sure." He brought back his thoughts.
"We have to find Holton Lee, awaken him."
"I'll find him," he promised.
"I'm certain you will." She smiled approvingly. "Which asteroid is he on?"
"Don't tell her," cried Kathy.
"Child!" Granny looked hurt and shocked.
"You can't tell her," continued Kathy. "You're not supposed to tell anyone, Jedro. She said that herself."
Granny allowed a bewildered smile to cross her face. "You're right, child, but Jedro's not out of danger yet. There are others trying to get the
stone."
"There are?" He looked at her in dismay.
"Powerful forces, Jedro. But my main concern is with Holton Lee, waking him safely. He's been too long on that frozen world." She looked at Kathy.
"I'm just trying to help, child."
"I know you're trying to help," said Jedro.
Granny sniffed reproachfully. "After all, I am your great-aunt, Jedro.
Your mother called me Aunt Amelia. Did I mention that? I used to hold you when you were a tiny tot."
Jedro hung his head.
"I feel responsible for you," she added.
"Sure." He shifted irresolutely, aware that Kathy had placed him in an extremely uncomfortable position. But she was right: her father and his parents had died to make certain that no one learned the secret. He looked back at Granny; her expression was one of waiting.
"Kathy's right," he said. "I can't tell you."
"Pish, Jedro." Granny tossed her head. "I'm an old woman, your great-aunt, and I'm just trying to make certain that nothing else happens. I Page 84
promised your par
ents that I would watch over you. They would turn over in their graves if I failed to do it."
"I appreciate that," he muttered.
"It was Vesta, wasn't it?"
"She's trying to read your mind," cried Kathy. "Don't let her, Jedro!"
"She can't," he answered.
"Can't?" Granny flicked her head toward him with a quick, birdlike motion. "Why not?"
"Because I don't know the answer yet. I haven't determined that." As he spoke, the name of the asteroid was emblazoned in his mind, as it had been before. Watching Granny, he saw no reaction and felt satisfied that her telepathy was quite elementary.
"Then ask it," she instructed.
"Don't do it," warned Kathy.
"I won't."
"I believe you will," said Granny. Her bony hand came from a pocket holding a small, black heat gun.
Caught in a surge of fear, Jedro leaped from his chair.
"Sit down," snapped Granny.
He regarded her, while in his mind the pieces fell into place. "You sent The Strangler after me," he accused.
"A bumbler," snorted Granny.
"But you did, you did."
"I thought it might save time, Jedro."
He looked at Kathy. Her eyes, wide and fearful, were riveted on the weapon. Slowly he returned his gaze to Granny. Her face had grown mean and cold.
"Sit down," she snapped.
He sank back into the chair. "Even if you get the stone it won't do you any good," he whispered.
"Won't it?" Granny cackled, showing her white dentures.
"You'd have to be a PK. You said that yourself."
"To bring the colonists back from Jupiter's gas seas," she acknowledged, "but not to locate Holton Lee. And that's what I want to know -- how to find Holton Lee."
"Why?"
"Immortality, Jedro. Don't be a fool."
"You'd sacrifice the colonists still on Jupiter?"
"Let them keep their icebox." Granny tossed her head. "They mean nothing to me."
"Does immortality mean that much to you?"
"Why do you think I'm here?" she snapped. "Do you think I've liked living with a bunch of freaks in a flea carnival? I've spent my entire life, ever since I was a girl, trying to get that secret. Do you believe I'm going to let it escape me now?"
"Holton Lee wouldn't tell you the secret, even if you found him," he declared.
"He will when he wakes up and finds himself staring into this heat gun."
Granny cackled. "That old fox will talk but fast."
"You're as bad as Dr. Faust," Kathy interrupted. "Worse, you're as bad as...as The Tattooed Man."
"You don't understand, girl."
"What don't I understand?" she demanded angrily.
"You're young yet," replied Granny. "Your whole life extends before you.
The years stretch out, each one seemingly like an eternity. You can't imagine growing old, can Page 85
you? But time isn't forever. The older you get, the faster it passes. Then, when you feel the wind of death, the short time ahead becomes the most valuable commodity in the entire universe. I'm seventy-six years old;
I haven't time to spare. When you get that old, you'll think about immortality, too."
"You've been thinking about it ever since you were a girl," countered Jedro.
Granny smiled toothily. "I plan ahead."
"I still won't tell you the answer."
"No?" Granny swung the barrel of the heat gun, centering the muzzle between Kathy's eyes.
"How would you like to watch her fry?"
Jedro jerked violently upright. "Don't do that," he cried.
"You'll cooperate?"
"Yes, sure." He licked his lips nervously.
"Don't tell her," cried Kathy. "I'm not afraid."
"Quiet," snarled Granny. She hefted the gun menacingly.
Jedro said shakily, "Put it away and I'll tell you what you want to know."
"Put it away?" She shook her head.
"Well, turn it away."
"No tricks, Jedro." Granny swung the barrel of the gun to one side.
"Remember, I'm your great-aunt. Try to think of this as helping a member of your family."
"I will." He gulped.
"And don't try to trick me because I'm going to stare into your mind."
"How can I concentrate if you do that?"
"I'll wait until you give me the answer, Jedro, then I'll verify it."
"Don't tell her," pleaded Kathy.
"I have to." Feeling the stone's warmth, he opened his palm and gazed at it. The leaping violet flames gave the illusion that it was throbbing.
He had the power! Clement had told him that. So had Granny. The power, if Granny were right, to draw the cryogenic vessel from Jupiter's methane deeps. Even Holton Lee couldn't accomplish that. The power to move objects!
Contemplating it, he trembled.
"What's the matter?" asked Granny sharply.
"Nervous, I guess."
"Jedro," wailed Kathy.
"Get on with it," snapped Granny.
He shut his ears to her voice, his eyes on the curious flicker that came from the depths of the stone. He closed his mind to the present: Kathy and
Granny receded from his consciousness; the table, the chairs, the dead bodies of Faust and The Tattooed Man appeared to dissolve, along him, dazzling beach with a with the floor and ceiling. He had the eerie impression of floating in the vastness of a universe in which the very stars had been blotted from existence.
A pulsing sensation came from the stone. Transmitted into his flesh, it felt like the beat of a giant heart. Holton Lee! The name came unbidden to his mind. Unbidden, too, came the vision of a gaunt white face, peaceful in the darkness of its cryogenic shell. He glimpsed a sweeping firmament broken by the great blaze of the planet he knew to be Jupiter. Off to one side gleamed ringed Saturn. A jagged black asteroid tumbled toward him and blotted out the stars.
A tumultuous stream of memory engulfed in its imagery. A child ran along a sandy laughing man and woman. His parents!
The man soared through the air
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The woman looked at tomorrow
Krant's relks watched him from the darkness of their stalls Clement gazed upward into a yellow-blue sky
Taber leaped
Strangler died
Faust
Tattooed Man
Kathy
Granny heat gun, heat gun, heat gun, heat...
Instantly he blanked his mind.
He had the power!
A great calm came to him, the sensation of standing in the eye of a storm while the wild winds swirled around him. He felt an overpowering sense of certainty, of destiny. He opened his mind to the stars again.
They were waiting!
He had the power!
Abruptly he lifted his head and looked into Granny's squinty eyes. She waved the gun menacingly.
"Well?" Her voice betrayed her anxiety.
"I have the power," he said.
"Certainly, I told you that." She leaned toward him. "Which asteroid, Jedro?"
He threw back his head and laughed. "That's not important."
"What is?"
"I have the power."
"Stop quibbling, Jedro."
"Psychokinesis, just as you said."
"I'm not interested in that." Granny's voice rose querulously. "Tell me what I want to know or I'll fry the girl. She'll be just a grease spot, Jedro."
"If you pull the trigger you'll fry yourself." As he spoke, Granny's wrist contorted, bringing the barrel of the gun around until it pointed between her squinty eyes. She screamed and dropped the weapon. He kicked it aside.
"Get out," he said.
"Jedro, I'm your great-aunt," she wailed. "All I'm asking is immortality. Is that too much?"
Jedro grinned. Suddenly the chair in which she had been sitting was empty.
Kathy screamed.
"It's all right," he said. "I put her outside."<
br />
"Jedro, I was so afraid." Kathy attempted a smile as she brushed at her eyes.
"Never be afraid again," he counseled. He walked to the door and looked out. Granny stood near the lion cage weeping silent into a handkerchief; her thin shoulders shook convulsively. She looked far older than her seventy-six years. Immortality had passed her by.
He turned back into the room, then paused and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, Kathy asked tremulously, "What did you do, Jedro?"
"Moved two relk from a dirty barn to a pasture where the panda grass is always green," he answered. He laughed again. Krant would never find them.
Kathy smiled brightly. "What do we do now, Jedro?"
"We'll have to go to Earth."
"Earth?" She waited.
"To get a ship to go out to the asteroid belt," he explained. "Holton Page 87
Lee is waiting."
"Could we do that?" she whispered.
"Get a ship?" He caught her hand. "We have the power, Kathy."
"The power." Her voice was awed.
He glanced at the ceiling. "The stars are waiting."
"Waiting." She sighed.
"We have plenty of time," he said. He felt certain Holton Lee would arrange that.
The Authors
Jean and Jeff Sutton are a man-wife writing team whose collaboration has won three Junior Literary Guild Selections for their Putnam books: The Beyond, The Programmed Man, and Lord of the Stars. An ex-newspaperman and author of many novels, Mr. Sutton is an editorial consultant in the aerospace field.
Mrs. Sutton teaches high school social studies in San Diego, California, where they live.
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