by OMNICAdmin
scientist in him persisted in trying to
and odd, pistol like weapons dangled in understand the inexplicable. He was still holsters fastened to those harnesses.
observing keenly everything that passed
within his line of vision.
THE Cereans allowed the Earthmen to
The party traversed the cave of
advance along the road which led across the
machines, and entered a third cavern, smaller
cavern floor. Then they fell in behind them,
than the others, but still of gigantic size. It was like a military escort.
thronged with hundreds of Cereans facing its
Finally the huge cave was crossed. A
center in ranks arranged like the spokes of a
short tunnel was traversed. Now the humans
wheel. There was no artificial light here—only
found themselves in a second cavern, smaller
a sullen, reddish glow originating from
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6
something in an open space at the center of the
victim. Still retaining his grip on the red,
packed ranks of monsters.
glassy fragment that Ronnie Iverness had
Slowly, down an open lane, the given him, he lowered himself into the pit Terrestrials were forced to approach the thing.
with the same outward calm that the Cereans
Then they saw what it was—some hellish
were showing. He moved very slowly, as if to
form of life. It grew in a bowl-like hollow in
avoid injuring the abhorrent mass of jelly that
the floor. It seemed at first glance to be only a
craved his flesh. Pseudopods enveloped him,
semi_liquid mass of phosphorescent pulp. But
and he sank into the mass of glowing cells.
then one saw the countless fine, nervelike
His body writhed a little, and then was still. Its filaments that traversed it in every direction,
substance began to dwindle.
and the glowing nuclei of the myriad,
Hansen, the engineer, was next....
oversized cells that composed it. The effect of
Behind him, just ahead of Ronnie, was
a close scrutiny was disturbing. Presently and
Professor Farnsworth. The sickening
inevitably one realized that here in this mass
experience of watching the ends of two of his
of alien protoplasm resided deific wisdom,
loyal henchmen had done almost as much to
and an intellect that never wearied.
reduce the stamina of his old body as the
The ghoulish pulp heaved and moved
exertion of the descent into this realm of
suggestively, thrusting up hungry pseudopods.
horror. He knew that he was going to swoon
From the latter, translucent, reddish flakes before his limbs could carry him into the broke away and dropped to the floor around
slimy clutches of the monster; and at last he
the pit. These were the Red Shards. They were
thought he understood the strange and ghastly
a natural product of the devilish thing, perhaps
mystery of Ceres.
originally exuded as a liquid, from its
He took one more step toward the pit.
substance, just as a mollusc exudes the liquid
Then his knees buckled. He could no longer
which hardens to form its shell.
respond to the commands of whatever it was
A number of Cereans were around the
that controlled him. Blackness closed in
pit. Some were gathering the shards in metal
around him. His ears were roaring. As he fell,
baskets. Others, stripped of all their ornaments
he stumbled against the small figure of Ronnie
except a sort of belt made of interlocking
Iverness, close behind him. The weird crystal
shard fragments, stood in line, waiting to of evil was knocked from his numbed hand.
perform what seemed a fanatical act of The boy and the savant sprawled together.
devotion to their hideous god.
For a fleeting fragment of time, while
a dim shred of consciousness still remained to
ONE by one they were easing themselves him, Professor Farnsworth was once more his gently into the pit whose glowing, pulpy own master. And he acted quickly and surely.
contents folded over them, and began to With stiff fingers he groped for Ronnie’s right absorb their still living flesh.
hand and struck it a fierce blow. A second
And now the Earthmen could begin to
shard of evil went skittering and tinkling
guess their own fate. With cool deliberation,
across the floor.
their hands went to work removing their space
Then with a final, tremendous effort
armor, clothing, and other equipment. The air
the old scientist rasped out instructions:
around them, now, was cool and fresh. They
“Throw something at that—devil. Something
too were to be food for the monster—a strange
heavy. Kill—it— Get the—the fragment away
delicacy which it longed to taste!
from— Dave—”
A man named Rogers was the first
The savant lapsed into limp
Red Shards on Ceres
7
unconsciousness. But a quick young body was
A sheet of killing flame leaped forth.
free, now, to act under the direction of a quick
Dave did not release pressure on the trigger
young mind. Ronnie no longer held the glassy
until all of the slimy thing was blasted and
fragment, and temporarily at least his slavery
seared into nothingness. A reeking, steamy
was at an end. Cereans were rushing toward
vapor filled the cavern.
him, but for the moment he was free.
Panting, Dave looked about. A little
His gaze fell on a discarded space suit.
light was afforded by the now incandescent
Here at the heart of Ceres its weight was very
stone at the bottom of the pit. The Cereans all
small, but its large mass remained unchanged.
lay inert except for feeble, pointless
He seized it, hoisted it easily above his head,
twitchings. The Earthmen regained control of
and threw it with all his might.
their bodies, discarding the Red Shards.
It landed in the center of the slimy
“That, somehow, seems to be that,”
mass that filled the pit. The effect was Iverness commented with a puzzled grimace.
something like that of hurling a heavy stone
“Good work, Ronnie!”
into soft mud. The hard metal of the armor
Several minutes later, under the
was not like the soft living flesh of the ministrations of his henchmen, Professor victims, and it was hurled with considerable
Farnsworth regained his senses. He looked
force. The monstrous thing in the pit heaved
about, and then smiled in wan satisfaction.
and throbbed with the shock of pain.
“I think none of our alien friends are in
a position to cause us any more trouble,” he
THEN Ronnie darted toward his brother. No
said.
one hindered him. The Cereans who were
“How so?” someone asked.
leaping in his direction stopped in their tracks.
; “You all saw that each of them is
The other natives stood like grotesque statues,
wearing fragments of the red, glassy
seemingly too surprised to act. But it was not
substance,” the savant replied. “Even those
surprise which held them spellbound; it was
about to sacrifice themselves retained a string
something far more bizarre.
of the pieces. This gave me a clue. Those
Ronnie kicked the shard from his fragments afforded a means of contact brother’s hand. At once Dave went into action.
between the ruling entity of Ceres, and his
A second space suit went crashing into the
subjects. They were the detectors for his
pulpy mass of glowing jelly. The elder commands, which were emanated from his Iverness was a powerful man.
substance in the form of a kind of etheric
This time the effect on the Cereans
impulse or wave.
was more definite. Their hideous, furry bodies
“Symbiosis—that was what it was: A
swayed. Many of them crumpled to the floor,
state in which two diverse forms of life exist
and writhed and kicked aimlessly there.
together, usually to each other’s mutual
There were no weapons among the benefit. The relationship of the ants, and the Earthmen, but Dave rushed to one of the fallen
aphids, or plant lice, of Earth, is an example.
natives and jerked from its harness the pistol
The ants care for the aphids much as human
like device with which it was armed. Sensing
beings care for and protect domestic animals.
that the ghoulish horror would quickly recover
In return the aphids exude a sweet juice which
from the shock of the missiles, he directed the
the ants like; thus both kinds of insect are
muzzle of the weapon toward the pit, and
benefited.
pressed the button which was evidently the
“The thing in the pit was not just a
trigger.
huge, senseless mass of jelly, of which the
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8
Cereans made a god. It was the brains of the
the Professor finished. Ronnie broke it.
whole system! The more manlike creatures
“The Cereans in the other caverns—
were controlled by it just as it controlled us—
they won’t bother us either?”
through the agency of the red flakes which it
“I’m sure they won’t, lad,” Farnsworth
produced. Without the master’s guidance, they
replied.
are inert, as you see. They have not enough
“Two space suits are gone,” the boy
intellect of their own to remain on their feet.
persisted pessimistically. “Burned up in the
The ruling entity saw through their eyes, and
monster’s hole!”
worked with their tentacles, inventing and
“We won’t need those suits,” the
building marvelous machines. Now that the
scientist reminded him. “There’s still enough
entity is dead they will starve, for they have
to go around. Rogers and Hansen are dead,
not the sense to feed themselves.
remember. We’ll be able to blast and climb
our way out of here, I think.”
“BARRING violence, the master of Ceres was
“Then everything’s okay?” Ronnie
probably immortal; for, in spite of his wisdom,
questioned, casting a scared glance about the
he had no complex organs to wear out. A few
shadowy cavern. “I mean—about what I did—
cells in his structure would die, but they would
finding that red stuff.”
be replaced by the splitting of other cells.
“Forget it, Ronnie,” the savant
“The entity was very old, and probably
laughed. “If I had found the shards I would
had seen much in his time. He and the lesser
have done just as you did. Someone would
Cereans must have evolved on another greater
have found them eventually, I’m sure; for we
planet, where their symbiotic relationship were making a fairly complete survey of the began, for Ceres is too small to have produced
substances that compose Ceres. The result
a native life of its own. Its gravity is too slight would have been the same, no matter who the
to retain external atmosphere and water. discoverer happened to be.”
Perhaps that greater planet was destroyed by
Dave Iverness patted his young
an explosion. Perhaps thus the asteroids were
brother’s shoulder.
formed. If this is true, the entity’s science was
“You’re a real space man, kid!” he
already far advanced; he built this comfortable
reassured him.
underworld. That, I think, is about as far as
And Ronnie Iverness’ freckled face
human guesswork can go.”
registered a grin of relief.
There was a moment of silence after
