Star Born Page 10

  10

  THE DEAD GUARDIANS

  The spacemen spent a cramped and almost sleepless night. Although inhis training on Terra, on his trial trips to Mars and the harsh Lunarvalleys, Raf had known weird surroundings and climates, inimical tohis kind, he had always been able to rest almost by the exercise ofhis will. But now, curled in his roll, he was alert to every sound outof the moonless night, finding himself listening--for what he did notknow.

  Though there were sounds in plenty. The whistling call of some nightbird, the distant lap, lap of water which he associated with the rivercurving through the long-deserted city, the rustle of grass as eitherthe wind or some passing animal disturbed it.

  "Not the best place in the world for a nap," Soriki observed out ofthe dark as Raf wriggled, trying to find a more comfortable position."I'll be glad to see these bandaged boys on the ground waving good-byeas we head away from them--fast--"

  "Those weren't animals they killed--back on that island." Raf broughtout what was at the heart of his trouble.

  "They wore fur instead of clothing." Soriki's reply was delivered in acolorless, even voice. "We have apes on Terra, but they are not men."

  Raf stared up at the sky in which stars were sprinkled like carelesslyflung dust motes. "What is a 'man'?" he returned, repeating theclassical question which was a debating point in all the spacetraining centers.

  For so long his kind had wondered that. Was a "man" a biped withcertain easily recognized physical characteristics? Well, by thatruling the furry things which had fled fruitlessly from the flames ofthe globe might well qualify. Or was "man" a certain level ofintelligence, no matter what form housed that intelligence? They weresupposed to accept the latter definition. Though, in spite of thehorror of prejudice, Raf could not help but believe that too manyTerrans secretly thought of "man" only as a creature in their owngeneral image. By that prejudiced rule it was correct to accept thealiens as "men" with whom they could ally themselves, to condemn thefurry people because they were not smooth-skinned, did not wearclothing, nor ride in mechanical transportation.

  Yet somewhere within Raf at that moment was the nagging feeling thatthis was all utterly wrong, that the Terrans had not made the rightchoice. And that now "men" were _not_ standing together. But he had nointention of spilling that out to Soriki.

  "Man is intelligence." The com-tech was answering the question Raf hadalmost forgotten that he had asked the moment before. Yes, the properconventional reply. Soriki was not going to be caught out with anyclaim of prejudice.

  Odd--when Pax had ruled, there were thought police and the cardinalsin was to be a liberal, to experiment, to seek knowledge. Now thewheel had turned--to be conservative was suspect. To suggest that someold ways were better was to exhibit the evil signs of prejudice. Rafgrinned wryly. Sure, he had wanted to reach the stars, had foughtdoggedly to come to the very spot where he now was. So why was hetormented now with all these second thoughts? Why did he feel everyday less akin to the men with whom he had shared the voyage? He hadhad wit enough to keep his semirebellion under cover, but since he hadtaken the flitter into the morning sky above the landing place of thespacer, that task of self-discipline was becoming more and moredifficult.

  "Did you notice," the com-tech said, going off on a new track, "thatthese painted boys were not too quick about blasting along to theirstrongbox? I'd say that they thought some bright rocket jockey mighthave rigged a surprise for them somewhere in there--"

  Now that Soriki mentioned it, Raf remembered that the alien party whohad gone into the city had huddled together, and that several of theblack-and-white warriors had fanned out ahead as scouts might in enemyterritory.

  "They didn't go any farther than that building to the west either."

  That Raf had not noticed, but he was willing to accept Soriki'sobservation. The com-tech had a ready eye for details. He'd better paycloser attention himself. This was no time to explore the why andwherefore of his present position. So, if they went no farther thanthat building, it would argue that the aliens themselves didn't careto go about here after nightfall. For he was certain that the isolatedstructure Soriki had pointed out was not the treasure house they hadcome to loot.

  The night wore on and sometime during it Raf fell asleep. But the twoor three hours of restless, dream-filled unconsciousness was not whathe needed, and he blinked in the dawn with eyes which felt as if theywere filled with hot sand. In the first gray light a covey of wingedthings, which might or might not have been birds, arose from someroosting place within the city, wheeled three times over the building,and then vanished out over the countryside.

  Raf pulled himself out of his roll, made a sketchy toilet with thepreparations in a belt kit, and looked about with little favor foreither the scene or his part in it. The globe, sealed as if ready fora take-off, was some distance away, but installed about halfwaybetween it and the flitter were two of the alien warriors. Perhapsthey had changed watches during the night. If they had not, they couldgo without sleep to an amazing degree, for as Raf walked in a circleabout the flyer to limber up, they watched him closely, nor did theirgrips on their odd weapons loosen. And he had a very clear idea thatif he stepped over some invisible boundary he would be in for trouble.

  When he came back to the flitter, Soriki was awake and stretching.

  "Another day," the com-tech drawled. "And I could do with somethingbesides field rations." He made a face at the small tin ofconcentrates he had dug out of the supply compartment.

  "We'd do well to be headed west," Raf ventured.

  "Now you can come in with that on the com again!" Soriki answered withunwonted emphasis. "The sooner I see the old girl standing on her pinsin the middle distance, the better I'll feel. You know"--he looked upfrom his preoccupation with the ration package and gazed out over thecity--"this place gives me the shivers. That other town was badenough. But at least there were people living there. Here's nothing atall--at least nothing I want to see."

  "What about all the wonders they've promised to show us?" counteredRaf.

  Soriki grinned. "And how much do we understand of their mouth-and-handtalk? Maybe they were promising us wonders, maybe they were offering totake us to where we could have our throats cut more conveniently--for them!I tell you, if I go for a walk with any of these painted faces, I'm goingto have at least three of my fingers resting on the grip of my stun gun.And I'd advise you to do the same--if I didn't know that you were alreadywatching these blast-happy harpies out of the corner of your eye.Ha--company. Oh, it's the captain--"

  The hatch of the globe had opened, and a small party was descendingthe ladder, conspicuous among them the form and uniform of CaptainHobart. The aliens remained in a cluster at the foot of the ladderwhile the Terran commander crossed to the flitter.

  "You"--he pointed to Raf--"are to come along with us."

  "Why, sir?" "What about me, sir?" The questions from the two at theflitter came together.

  "I said that one of you had to remain by the machine. Then they saidthat you, in particular, must come along, Kurbi."

  "But I'm the pilot--" Raf began and then realized that it was justthat fact which had made the aliens attach him to the exploring party.If they believed that the Terran flitter was immobilized when he, andhe alone, was not behind its controls, this was just the move theywould make. But there they were wrong. Soriki might not be able torepair or service the motor, but in a pinch he could take it up, sendit westward, and land it beside the spacer. Each and every man aboardthe _RS 10_ had that much training.

  Now the com-tech was scowling. He had grasped the significance of thatarrangement as quickly as Raf. "How long do I wait for you, sir?" heasked in a voice which had lost its usual good-humored drawl.

  And at that inquiry Captain Hobart showed signs of irritation. "Yoursuspicions are not founded on facts," he stated firmly. "These peoplehave displayed no signs of wanting to harm us. And an attitude ofdistrust at this point might be fatal for future friendly contact.Lablet is sure that th
ey have a highly complex society, probablyadvanced beyond Terran standards, and that their technical skills willbe of vast benefit to us. As it happens we have come at just the rightmoment in their history, when they are striving to get back on theirfeet after a disastrous series of wars. It is as if a group ofoff-world explorers had allied themselves with us after the Burn-Off.We can exchange information which will be of mutual benefit."

  "If any off-world explorers had set down on Terra after the Burn-Off,"observed Soriki softly, "they would have come up against Pax. And justhow long would they have lasted?"

  Hobart had turned away. If he heard that half-whisper, he did notchoose to acknowledge it. But the truth in the com-tech's words madean impression on Raf, a crew of aliens who had been misguided enoughto seek out and try to establish friendly relations with the officialsof Pax would have had a short and most unhappy shrift. If all theaccounts of that dark dictatorship were true, they would have vanishedfrom Terra, and not in their ships either. What if something like Paxruled here? They had no way of knowing for sure.

  Raf's eyes met Soriki's, and the com-tech's hand dropped to hookfingers in his belt within touching distance of his side arm. Theflitter pilot nodded.

  "Kurbi!" Hobart's impatient call sent him on his way. But there wassome measure of relief in knowing that Soriki was left behind and thatthey had this slender link with escape.

  He had tramped the streets of that other alien city. There there hadbeen some semblance of habitation; here was abandonment. Earth driftedin dunes to half block the lanes, and here and there climbing vineshad broken down masonry and had dislodged blocks of the paved sidewaysand courtyards.

  The party threaded their way from one narrow lane to another, seemingto avoid the wider open stretches of the principal thoroughfares, Rafbecame aware of an unpleasant odor in the air which he vaguelyassociated with water, and a few minutes afterward he caught glimpsesof the river between the buildings which fronted on it. Here the partyturned abruptly at a right angle, heading westward once more, passingvast, blank-walled structures which might have been warehouses.

  One of the aliens just ahead of Raf in the line of march suddenlyswung around, his weapon pointing up, and from its nose shot a beam ofred-yellow light which brought an answering shrill scream as a large,winged creature came fluttering down. The killer kicked at thecrumpled thing as he passed. As far as Raf could see there had been noreason for that wanton slaying.

  The head of the party had reached a doorway, sealed shut by whatlooked like a solid slab of material. He placed both palms flat downon its surface at shoulder height and leaned forward against it,almost as if he were whispering some secret formula. Raf watched themuscles stand up on his slender arms as he exerted strength. And thenthe door split in two, and his fellows helped him push the separatehalves back into the wall.

  Lablet, Hobart, and Raf were among the last to enter. It was as iftheir companions had now forgotten them, for the aliens were pushingon at a pace which took them down an empty corridor at a quickeningtrot.

  The corridor ended in a ramp which did not slope in one straight reachbut curled around itself, so that in some places only the presence ofa handrail, to which they all clung, kept them from losing balance.Then they gathered in a vaulted room, one of which opened a completecircle of closed doors.

  There was some argument among the aliens, a dispute of sorts overwhich of those doors was to be opened first, and the Terrans drew alittle apart, unable to follow the twittering words andlightning-swift gestures.

  Raf tried to work out the patterns of color which swirled and loopedover each door and around the walls, only to discover that too long anexamination of any one band, or an attempt to trace its beginning orend, awoke a sick sensation which approached inner turmoil the longerhe looked. At last he had to rest his eyes by studying the grayflooring under his boots.

  The aliens finally made up their minds, or else one group was able tooutargue the other, for they converged upon a door directly oppositethe ramp. Once more they went through the process of unsealing thepanels, while the Terrans, drawn by curiosity, were close behind themas they entered the long room beyond. Here were shelves in solid tiersalong the walls, crowded with such an array of strange objects thatRaf, after one mystified look, thought that it might well take monthsto sort them all out.

  In addition, long tables divided the chamber into aisles. Halfway downone of these narrow passageways the aliens had gathered in a group assilent and intent now as they had been noisy outside. Raf could seenothing to so rivet their attention but a series of scuffed marks inthe dust which covered the floor. But an alien, whom he recognized asthe officer who had taken him to inspect the globe, moved carefullyalong that trail, following it to a second door. And as Raf pusheddown another aisle, paralleling his course, he was conscious of asickly sweet, stomach-churning stench. Something was very, very deadand not too far away.

  The officer must have come to the same conclusion, for he hurried toopen the other door. Before them now was a narrow hall broken by slitwindows, near the roof, through which entered sunlight. And one suchbeam fully illuminated a carcass as large as that of a small elephant,or so it seemed to Raf's startled gaze.

  It was difficult to make out the true appearance of the creature,though guessing from the scaled strips of skin it had been reptilian,for the body had been found by scavengers and feasting had been inprogress.

  The alien officer skirted the corpse gingerly. Raf thought that hewould like to investigate the body closely but could not force himselfto that highly disagreeable task. There was a chorus of excitedexclamation from the doorway as others crowded there.

  But the officer, having circled the carcass, turned his attention tothe dusty floor again. If there had been any trail there, it was nowmuddled past their reading, for remnants of the grisly meal had beendragged back and forth. The alien picked his way fastidiously throughthe noxious debris to the end of the long room. Raf, with the samecare, toured the edge of the chamber in his wake.

  They were out in a smaller passageway, which was taking themunderground, the Terran estimated. Then there was a large space withbarred cells about it and a second corridor. The stench of the deathchamber either clung to them, or was wafted from another point, andRaf gagged as an especially foul blast caught him full in the face. Hekept a sharp look about him for signs of those feasters. The feast hadnot been finished--it might have been that their entrance into thestoreroom had disturbed the scavengers. And things formidable enoughto drag down that scaled horror were not foes he would choose to meetin these unlighted ways.

  The passage began to slope upward once more, and Raf saw a half-moonof light ahead, brilliant light which could only come from the sun.The alien was outlined there as he went out; then he himself wasscuffing through sand close upon another death scene. The deadmonster had had its counterparts, and here they were, sprawled out,mangled, and torn. Raf remained by the archway, for even the open airand the morning winds could not destroy the reek which seemed asdeadly as a gas attack.

  It must have disturbed the officer too, for he hesitated. Then withvisible effort he advanced toward the hunks of flesh, casting back andforth as if to find some clue to the manner of their death. He wasstill so engaged when a second alien burst out of the archway, asplintered length of white held out before him as if he had made someimportant discovery.

  The officer grabbed that shaft away from him, turning it around in hishands. And though expression was hard to read on those thin featuresunder the masking face paint, the emotion his whole attitude expressedwas surprise tinged with unbelief--as if the object his subordinatehad brought was the last he expected to find in that place.

  Raf longed to inspect it, but both aliens brushed by him and patteredback down the corridor, the discoverer pouring forth a volume of wordsto which the officer listened with great intentness. And the Terranpilot had to hurry to keep up with them.

  Something he had seen just before he had left the arena remained inhis mind: a for
earm flung out from the supine body of what appeared tobe the largest of the dead things--and on that forearm a bracelet ofmetal. Were those things pets! Watchdogs? Surely they were notintelligent beings able to forge and wear such ornaments of their ownaccord. And if they were watchdogs--whom did they serve? He wasinclined to believe that the aliens must be their masters, that themonsters had been guardians of the treasure, perhaps. But deadguardians suggested a rifled treasure house. Who and what--?

  His mind filled with speculations and questions, Raf trotted behindthe others back to the chamber where they had found the first reptile.The alien who had brought the discovery to his commander steppedgingerly through the litter and laid the white rod in a special spot,apparently the place where it had been found.

  At a barked order from the officer, two of the others came forward andtugged at the creature's mangled head, which had been freed from theserpent neck, rolling it over to expose the underparts. There was abroad tear there in the flesh, but Raf could see little differencebetween it and those left by the feasters. However the officer,holding a strip of cloth over his nose, bent stiffly above it for acloser look and then made some statement which sent his command into ababbling clamor.

  Four of the lower ranks separated from the group and, with their handweapons at alert, swung into action, retracing the way back toward thearena. It looked to Raf as if they now expected an attack from thatdirection.

  Under a volley of orders the rest went back to the storeroom, and theofficer, noting that Raf still lingered, waved him impatiently afterthem.

  Inside the men spread out, going from shelf to table, selecting thingswith a speed which suggested that they had been rehearsed in this taskand had only a limited time in which to accomplish it. Some took pilesof boxes or other containers which were so light that they couldmanage a half-dozen in an armload, while two or three others struggledpantingly to move a single piece of weird machinery from its bed tothe wheeled trolley they had brought. There was to be no lingering onthis job--that was certain.