by J F Bone
ALBERT talked. It was futile to try to deceive a polygraph and he wanted no more of that nerve treatment—and then he looked into Kemmer’s mind again and discovered what went into brainwashing. The shock was like ice water. Hypersensitive stimulation, Kemmer was thinking gleefully, would reduce this fat slob in the chair to a screaming mindless lump that could be molded like wet putty.
Albert felt helpless. He couldn’t run and he couldn’t fight. But he wasn’t ready to give up. His perception passed over and through Kemmer with microscopic care, looking for some weakness, something that could be exploited to advantage. Kemmer had to have a vulnerable point.
He did.
There was a spot on the inner lining of the radial vein in Kemmer’s left arm. He had recently received an inoculation, one of the constant immunizing injections that were necessary on Antar, for there was a small thrombus clinging to the needle puncture on the inner wall of the vessel. Normally it was unimportant and would pass away in time and be absorbed, but there were considerable possibilities for trouble in that little blob of red cells and fibrin if they could be loosened from their attachment to the wall.
Hopefully, Albert reached out. If he couldn’t move himself, perhaps he could move the clot.
The thrombus stirred and came free, rushing toward Kemmer’s heart. Albert followed it, watching as it passed into the pulmonary artery, tracing it out through the smaller vessels until it stopped squarely across a junction of two arterioles.
Kemmer coughed, his face whitening with pain as he clutched at his chest. The pain was a mild repayment for his recent agony, Albert thought grimly. A pulmonary embolism shouldn’t kill him, but the effects were disproportionate to the cause and would last a while. He grinned mercilessly as Kemmer collapsed.
A man darted from behind the chair and bent over Kemmer. Fumbling in his haste, he produced a pocket communicator, stabbed frantically at the dial and spoke urgently into it. “Medic! Boss’s office—hurry!”
For a second, Albert didn’t realize that the hum of machinery behind him had stopped, but when he did, both Albert and the chair vanished.
The Zark realized that its host had been hurt again. It was infuriating to be so helpless. Things kept happening to Albert which it couldn’t correct until too late. There were forces involved that it didn’t know how to handle; they were entirely outside the Zark’s experience. It only felt relief when Albert managed to regain his ability to move—and, as it looked out upon the familiar green Antarian countryside, it felt almost happy. Of course Albert was probably still in trouble, but it wasn’t so bad now. At least the man was away from the cause of his pain.
IT was a hell of a note, Albert reflected, sitting beside the road that led to Lagash and working upon the bonds that tied him to the chair. He had managed to get out of Kemmer’s hands, but it appeared probable that he would get no farther. As things stood, he couldn’t transmit the information he had gained—and by this time probably every IC office on the planet was alerted to the fact that Earth Central had a psi-type agent on Antar—one who was not inherently unstable, like those poor devils in the parapsychological laboratories on Earth. They would be ready for him with everything from Distorter screens to Kellys.
He didn’t underestimate IC now. Whatever its morals might be, its personnel was neither stupid nor slow to act. He was trapped in this sector of the planet. Prime Base was over a thousand miles away, and even if he did manage to make his way back to it along the trade routes, it was a virtual certainty that he would never be able to get near a class I communicator or the Patrol office. IC would have ample time to get ready for him, and no matter what powers he possessed, a single man would have no chance against the massed technology of the corporation.
However, he could play tag with IC in this area for some time with the reasonable possibility that he wouldn’t get caught. If nothing else, it would have nuisance value. He pulled one hand free of the tape that held it to the chair arm and swiftly removed the rest of the tape that bound him. He had his freedom again. Now what would he do with it?
He left the chair behind and started down the road toward Lagash. There was no good reason to head in that particular direction, but at the moment one direction was as good as another until he could plan a course of action. His brain felt oddly fuzzy. He didn’t realize that he had reached the end of his strength until he dropped in the roadway.
To compensate for the miserable job it had done in protecting him from poison and neural torture, the Zark had successfully managed to block hunger and fatigue pains until Albert’s over-taxed body could stand no more. It realized its error after Albert collapsed. Sensibly, it did nothing. Its host had burned a tremendous amount of energy without replenishment, and he needed time to rest and draw upon less available reserves, and to detoxify and eliminate the metabolic poisons in his body.
It was late that afternoon before Albert recovered enough to take more than a passing interest in his surroundings. He had a vague memory of hiring a dak cart driver to take him down the road. The memory was apparently correct, because he was lying in the back of a cargo cart piled high with short pieces of cane. The cart was moving at a brisk pace despite the apparently leisurely movements of the dak between the shafts. The ponderous ten-foot strides ate up distance.
He was conscious of a hunger that was beyond discomfort, and a thirst that left his mouth dry and cottony. It was as though he hadn’t eaten or drunk for days. He felt utterly spent, drained beyond exhaustion. He was in no shape to do anything, and unless he managed to find food and drink pretty soon, he would be easy pickings for IC.
HE looked around the cart, but there was nothing except the canes on which he lay. There wasn’t even any of the foul porridgelike mess that the natives called food, since native workers didn’t bother about eating during working hours.
He turned over slowly, feeling the hard canes grind into his body as he moved. He kept thinking about food—about meals aboard ship, about dinners, about Earth restaurants, about steak, potatoes, bread—solid heartening foods filled with proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates—the thought stuck in his mind for some reason. And then he realized why.
The canes he was lying on in in the cart were sugar cane! He had never seen them on Earth, but he should have expected to find them out here—one of Earth’s greatest exports was the seeds from which beet and cane sugar were obtained.
He pulled a length of cane from the pile and bit into one end. His depleted body reached eagerly for the sweet energy that filled his mouth.
With the restoration of his energy balance came clearer and more logical thought. It might be well enough to make IC spend valuable time looking for him, but such delaying actions had no positive value. Ultimately he would be caught, and his usefulness would disappear with his death. But if he could get word to the Patrol, this whole business could be smashed.
Now if he made a big enough disturbance—it might possibly even reach the noses of the Patrol. Perhaps by working through the hundred or so tourists in Vaornia and Lagash, he could—
That was it, the only possible solution. The IC might be able to get rid of one man, but it couldn’t possibly get rid of a hundred—and somewhere in that group of tourists there would be one who’d talk, someone who would pass the word. IC couldn’t keep this quiet without brainwashing the lot of them, and that in itself would be enough to bring a Patrol ship here at maximum blast.
He chuckled happily. The native driver, startled at the strange sound, turned his head just in time to see his passenger vanish, together with a bundle of cane. The native shook his head in an oddly human gesture. These foreigners were strange creatures indeed.
ALBERT, thin, pale, but happy, sat at a table in one of the smaller cafeterias in Earth Center, talking to the Chief over a second helping of dessert. The fearful energy drain of esper activity, combined with the constant dodging to avoid IC hunting parties, had made him a gaunt shadow—but he had managed to survive until
a Patrol ship arrived to investigate the strange stories told by tourists, of a man who haunted the towns of Lagash and Vaornia, and the road between.
“That’s all there was to it, sir,” Albert concluded. “Once I figured it out that not even IC could get away with mass murder, it was easy. I just kept popping up in odd places and telling my story, and then, to make it impressive, I’d disappear. I had nearly two days before IC caught on, and by then you knew. The only trouble was getting enough to eat. I damn near starved before the Patrol arrived. I expect that we owe quite a few farmers and shopkeepers reparations for the food I stole.”
“They’ll be paid, providing they present a claim,” the Chief said. “But there’s one thing about all this that bothers me. I know you had no psi powers when you left Earth on this mission, just where did you acquire them?”
Albert shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “Unless they were latent and developed in Antar’s peculiar climatic and physical conditions. Or maybe it was the shock of that meeting with the Bandersnatch. All I’m sure of is that I didn’t have any until after that meeting with Shifaz.”
“Well, you certainly have them now. The Parapsych boys are hot on your tail, but we’ve stalled them off.”
“Thanks. I don’t want to imitate a guinea pig.”
“We owe you at least that for getting us a case against IC. Even their shysters won’t be able to wiggle out of this one.” The Chief smiled. “It’s nice to have those lads where they can be handled for a change.”
“They do need a dose of applied conscience,” Albert agreed.
“The government also owes you a bonus and a vote of thanks.”
“I’ll appreciate the bonus,” Albert said as he signaled for the waitress. “Recently, I can’t afford my appetite.”
“It’s understandable. After all, you’ve lost nearly eighty pounds.”
“Wonder if I’ll ever get them back,” Albert muttered as he bit into the third dessert.
The Chief watched enviously. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” he said. “Just get your strength back. There’s another assignment for you, one that will need your peculiar talents.” He stood up. “I’ll be seeing you. My ulcer can’t take your appetite any more.” He walked away.
Inside Albert, the Zark alerted. A new assignment! That meant another world and new sensations. Truly, this host was magnificent! It had been a lucky day when he had fallen in running from the Bandersnatch. The Zark quivered with delight—
And Albert felt it.
Turning his perception inward to see what might be wrong, he saw the Zark for the first time.
FOR a second, a wave of repulsion swept through his body, but as he comprehended the extent of that protoplasmic mass so inextricably intertwined with his own, he realized that this thing within him was the reason for his new powers. There could be no other explanation.
And as he searched farther, he marveled. The Zark was unspecialized in a way he had never imagined—an amorphous aggregation of highly evolved cells that could imitate normal tissues in a manner that would defy ordinary detection. It was something at once higher yet lower than his own flesh, something more primitive yet infinitely more evolved.
The Zark had succeeded at last. It had established communication with its host.
“Answer me, parasite,” Albert muttered subvocally. “I know you’re there—and I know you can answer!”
The Zark gave the protean equivalent of a shrug. If Albert only knew how it had tried to communicate—no, there was no communication between them. Their methods of thought were so different that there was no possible rapport.
It twitched—and Albert jumped. And for the first time in its long life, the Zark had an original idea. It moved a few milligrams of its substance to Albert’s throat region, and after a premonitory glottal spasm, Albert said very distinctly and quite involuntarily, “All right. I am here.”
Albert froze with surprise, but when the shock passed, he laughed. “Well, I asked for it,” he said. “But it’s like the story about the man who talked to himself—and got answers. Not exactly a comforting sensation.”
“I’m sorry,” the Zark apologized. “I do not wish to cause discomfort.”
“You pick a poor way to keep from doing it.”
“It was the only way I could figure to make contact with your conscious mind—and you desired that I communicate.”
“I suppose you’re right. But while it is nice to know that I really have a guardian angel, I’d have felt better about it if you had white robes and wings and were hovering over my shoulder.”
“I don’t understand,” the Zark said.
“I was trying to be funny. You know,” Albert continued after a moment, “I never thought of trying to perceive myself. I wonder why. I guess because none of the medical examinations showed anything different from normal.”
“I was always afraid that you might suspect before I could tell you,” the Zark replied. “It was an obvious line of reasoning, and you are an intelligent entity—the most intelligent I have ever inhabited. It is too bad that I shall have to leave. I have enjoyed being with you.”
“Who said anything about leaving?” Albert asked.
“You did. I could feel your revulsion when you became aware of me. It wasn’t nice, but I suppose you can’t help it. Yours is an independent race, one that doesn’t willingly support—” the voice hesitated as though searching for the proper word—“fellow travelers,” it finished.
Albert grinned. “There are historical precedents for that statement, but your interpretation isn’t quite right. I was surprised. You startled me.”
He fell silent, and the Zark, respecting the activity of his mind, forbore to interrupt.
ALBERT was doing some heavy thinking about the Zark. Certainly it had protected him on Antar, and with equal certainty it must have been responsible for the psi powers he possessed. He owed it a lot, for without its help he wouldn’t have survived.
There was only one thing wrong.
Sexless though it was, the Zark must possess the characteristics of life, since it was obviously alive. And those characteristics were unchanging throughout the known universe. The four vital criteria defined centuries ago were still as good today as they were then—growth, metabolism, irritability—and reproduction. Despite its lack of sex, the Zark must be capable of producing others of its kind, and while he didn’t mind supporting one fellow traveler, he was damned if he’d support a whole family of them.
“That need never bother you,” the Zark interrupted. “As an individual, I am very long-lived and seldom reproduce. I can, of course, but the process is quite involved—actually it involves making a twin out of myself—and it is not necessary. Besides, there cannot be two Zarks in one host. My offspring would have to seek another.”
“And do they have your powers?”
“Of course. They would know all I know, for a Zark’s memory is not concentrated in specialized tissue like your brain.”
A light began to dawn in Albert’s mind. Maybe this was the answer to the corporate conscience he had been wishing for so wistfully on Antar. “Does it bother you to reproduce?” he asked.
“It is annoying, but not painful—nor would it be too difficult after a pattern was set in my cells. But why do you ask this?”
“The thought just occurred to me that there are quite a few people who could use a Zark. A few of the more honest folks would improve this Confederation’s moral tone if they had the power—and certainly psi powers in law enforcement would be unbeatable.”
“Then you would want me to reproduce?”
“It might be a good idea if we can find men who are worthy of Zarks. I could check them with my telepathy and perhaps we might—”
“Let me warn you,” the Zark interjected. “While this all sounds very fine, there are difficulties, even with a host as large as yourself. I shall need more energy than your body has available in order to duplicate myself. It will be hard for you to do wh
at must be done.”
“And what is that?”
“Eat,” the Zark said, “great quantities of high energy foods.” It shuddered at the thought of Albert overloading his digestive tract any more than he had been doing the past week.
But Albert’s reaction went to prove that while their relationship was physically close, mentally they were still far apart. Albert, the Zark noted in astonishment, didn’t regard it as an ordeal at all.
SECOND CHANCE
In that nightmare world of strange machines Time flowed in more than one direction. But the Masters had known that someday a robot would quote Lamarck—to Man’s eternal glory.
WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIM? What nightmare distortion of reality had overtaken him in his sleep and remained with him upon awakening? He was a living skeleton! He was lying on the floor in a narrow hallway, lighted shadowlessly by a glowing golden ceiling. The two hundred and twenty pounds of bones, sinew and muscle that had marked him as a robust young man in the best of health had fallen away until he was gaunt to the point of emaciation.
Painfully he struggled to his feet and looked down the long corridor that stretched interminably ahead. His eyes saw the parallel walls, but his brain was faltering in its comprehension. It was too busy, too absorbed with the hunger contractions of his stomach and the cramping pains in his muscles. The desire for food and drink was a raging primal need within him, blotting out every other sensation.
He swayed unsteadily, and the corridor tilted at an impossible angle. Dully it occurred to him that he was falling. In instinctive alarm he put out a feeble hand, and pressed with his palm against the wall to steady himself. His confusion and dismay increased, grew almost overwhelming. Things like this simply didn’t happen. He laughed hysterically, and the sound vanished echolessly into the absorbent walls and ceiling. He tried desperately to remember, to think back. He’d been in the Officers Quarters at Prime Base last night, and now—He paused, swaying a little. Where was he?
