The Instant of Now

by Irving E. Cox

"You havebeen talking to me in my own tongue." Carefully he inched toward thedesk. "And understanding me."

  "Entirely beside the point."

  "Not entirely. You hear what I say--which means that you must wear adisk too."

  Dirrul sprang across the desk. At the same time the Chief raised hisweapon and fired. Flame seared Dirrul's cheek. A red mist welledbefore him and he reeled back against the control panel as the Chieffired again. The second explosion was so close it seemed to be withinhis own mind.

  The Chief's hand clawed at Dirrul's tunic, ripping the disk away fromhim. Recoiling in anticipation of the dread shock wave, Dirrul hurledhimself at the Chief.

  But instead of the screaming terror he felt nothing. An inexplicableforce seemed to close in on him. His head spun dizzily but his mindstill functioned. He smashed his fist into the face of the Chief andthe body sagged to the floor.

  Dirrul stood bewildered, looking at his hand. A mass of flesh-likematerial, torn from the Chief's face, clung to his knuckles. Dirrulbent over the man and touched his skin. It crumbled under pressure andthe lifelike purple coloring ran. Dirrul peeled the putty away untilhe could make out the shape of the pale wrinkled very aged facebeneath.

  Sickened he moved away--for he had seen the ruler of Vinin.

  IX

  Dirrul backed into the desk, knocking a fragile statuette to thefloor. When it lay shattered at his feet he understood why he couldstill plan and reason, even though the disk was gone. The Chief'sshot, fired so close to his head, had deafened him either temporarilyor permanently.

  Dirrul ran to the control panel and twisted dials frantically, pullingevery lever he could find. He had no idea what he was doing and itdidn't matter so long as something happened. If he could decontroleven half the disks on Vinin it would create enough confusion to coverhis own escape.

  * * * * *

  Twenty-five days later the Space-dragon shot up from the space-fieldwhich was hidden among the stony Vininese mountain ravines. As it cutthrough the stratosphere Dirrul's bonds were released. He feltexhausted and empty. His last memory was of talking to Hurd on themountain trail. Beyond that was a blank. He looked up at Glenna, asbeautiful as ever but somehow more mature.

  "You're all right now, Eddie?" she asked in a loud voice that betrayedher deafness.

  "I think so. Where are you taking me?"

  She touched her ears, still crudely bandaged. "You must say everythingvery slowly, Eddie. I haven't yet learned to read lips as well as Hurddoes."

  "Where are we going?"

  "Back to Agron."

  "We have no right, Glenna--we're traitors!"

  "We have a duty to tell them the truth. What they do with us doesn'tmatter."

  He shook his head weakly, still lost in his stupor. "Tell me whathappened, Glenna--I can't remember anything."

  "You got out of the government building and stole a Space-dragon. Thenyou came looking for us. Just after you met Hurd your hearing began tocome back and of course you lost control of yourself. Hurd wanted tobreak your eardrums but I wouldn't let him.

  "Since we had a space-ship at last we could get away from Vinin and Iknew you'd be all right when we did. But it took us a month to stealenough fuel. Something you did in the government building paralyzed alot of the leaders for a while but by the time we got around tolooking for fuel the others had restored order again."

  The door of the control room slid open and Hurd dropped down on thebunk beside Dirrul. "Feeling better?" he asked anxiously.

  "I guess so. The whole picture's beginning to come back."

  Hurd sighed with relief and his face relaxed.

  Dirrul asked slowly, "How did you get away from them, Hurd?"

  "I lost my hearing in the beating Sorgel gave me on Agron."

  "_Sorgel!_" Dirrul repeated unbelievingly. It was the last illusion togo and for that reason the most painful. "Then it wasn't the Agronianpolice--"

  "Of course it was Sorgel," Glenna said quietly. "He had to get rid ofus because we wouldn't go along with him on the idea of a Vinineseinvasion. I tried so hard to tell you, Eddie, but I couldn't becauseof the drugs they gave us."

  "The Vininese never knew I was deaf," Hurd went on. "It's easy enoughto escape from a work camp when you can think for yourself. TheVininese resistance found me in the hills and I've been working withthem ever since. A pitiful band of the deaf, fighting insurmountableodds to win back the human dignity of half the galaxy! But they won'tturn tail and run and their numbers grow every time they raid a workcamp."

  "Were you with the men who kidnapped Glenna?"

  "We were all out that night, trying to keep watch on the camps nearthe capital. We didn't know which one Glenna was in but I was sure theVininese would try to reach her after they got your teleray message.We counted on the Vininese leading us to her and we knew we had tokidnap her first if we were to keep them from learning about the Planon Agron.

  "Unfortunately I wasn't with the group that picked you up, Eddie. Theythought they had taken a Vininese leader and it seemed such a suitablepunishment to take your disk away and let you hear the sound for awhile. Later--after you'd escaped--when the others described yourAir-Command uniform I took a chance and sent my note."

  He helped Dirrul to his feet. "You'll have to take over from here onin, Eddie. You said you knew how to pilot this thing. I figured out atake-off but that's as far as I can go."

  "Sorgel's pilot showed me once," he said. "What I don't remember I'llimprovise. He said a Space-dragon could make the run in thirty days.This baby's got to do it in less than twenty-five if we're going tobeat the Vininese fleet to Agron."

  "You didn't tell them the Plan, did you, Eddie?"

  "No."

  "The Vininese won't land without instructions."

  "Sorgel may get up enough courage to send a teleray code. We can'ttake any chances either."

  Dirrul drove himself without rest. He cut every corner he knew, usedevery trick of navigational skill he had ever learned. Nonetheless itwas twenty-eight days before the little ship hung in the air over theAgronian capital.

  His heart sank. On the space-field, in neat ranks, the Vininesespace-fleet was drawn up in proud review. The planet had fallen!Dirrul made his decision instinctively.

  The Space-dragon wheeled and swept low over the field, its viciousguns blazing. The yellow clouds of destruction swept up toward thesky--the little ship was caught in the blazing flame. Theinterplanetary freight sheds loomed ahead. And the world exploded,falling apart into a soothing painless silence.

  * * * * *

  Dirrul opened his eyes and looked at the neutral blue of a hospitalceiling. Gradually he became conscious of Dr. Kramer, seated by thebed.

  "Dr. Kramer!" Dirrul whispered. "Then everything's all right."

  "If by everything you mean your companions, yes. There's even a chancewe can restore the girl's hearing."

  "And the Vininese?"

  "Defeated."

  "Dr. Kramer, we've got to destroy the Confederacy! I saw theirtransmitters--I know how their system works."

  "Hush, Edward--I promised not to excite you. We know about it."

  "Then how could you have been foolish enough to let them land?"

  "It seemed a pity not to give a few of their people another chance.It's working out quite nicely too."

  "I don't follow you, Dr. Kramer."

  "Long ago we became interested when tourists told us about the curiousblock-buildings on Vinin. Our physics boys worked out an ingeniousdevice for analyzing their atmosphere. It was a little machineconcealed in the lining of an ordinary air-freight crate, as I recall.

  * * * * *

  "A machine is quite objective, Edward--and Customs men don't stampfreight crates with the negative adaptors. When we learned that aVininese fleet was going to land here we simply issued insulatinghelmets to all our people and let them come. As soon as we destroyedtheir portable transmitters the Vinines
e army proved quite adaptableto a new environment."

  "Then--I did nothing to help when I destroyed their fleet?"

  "Unfortunately you wounded two of our mechanics."

  "I'm a traitor, Dr. Kramer. Even when I try I can't redeem myself!"

  "Only on Vinin can you betray an external absolute, Edward. To anAgronian all objective concepts are relative to the subjectiveinterpretations made by each individual. You can only be a traitor toyourself."

  "The words are pleasant to say to a sick man but the fact remains--Iwould have betrayed Agron."

  "But you