The Jewels of Aptor Part 23

The Priestess sighed again. "There was a time," she began, "generations ago, when Hama was a high G.o.d in Aptor. He had many temples, monasteries, and convents devoted to him. We had few. Except for these religious sanctuaries, the land was barbaric, wild, uninhabitable for the most part. There had once been cities in Aptor, but these had been destroyed even earlier by the Great Fire. All that we had was a fantastic record of an unbelievable time before the rain of flame of tremendous power, vast science, and a towering, though degenerate, civilization. These records were extensive, and entirely housed within the monasteries. Outside the monasteries, there was only chaos, where half the children were born dead, and the other half deformed. And with the monstrous races that sprang up over the island now as a reminder to us, we declared that the magic contained in these chronicles was evil, and must never be released to the world again. But the priests of Hama, decided to use the information in these chronicles, spread it to the people, and declared they would not commit the same mistakes that had brought the Great Fire. They opened the books, and the City of New Hope grew on the far sh.o.r.e of the river. They made giant machines that flew through the air. They constructed immense boats which could sink into the sea and emerge hundreds of miles away in another harbor in another land. They even harnessed for beneficial use the fire metal, uranium, which had brought such terror to the world before and had brought down the flames."

"But they made the same mistake as the people before the Great Fire made?" suggested Iimmi.

"Not exactly," said the Priestess. "That is, they were not so stupid as to misuse the fire metal which ravaged the world so harshly before.

History is cyclic, not repet.i.tive. A new power was discovered that dwarfed the significance of the fire metal. It could do all that the fire metal could do, and more efficiently: destroy cities, or warm chilly huts in winter; but, it could also work on men's minds. They say, that before the Great Fire, men wandered the streets of the cities terrified that flames would descend on them any moment and destroy them.

They panicked, bought flimsy useless contraptions to guard themselves from the fire. Geo, Iimmi, have you any idea how terrifying it would be to know that while walking the streets, at any moment, your mind might be s.n.a.t.c.hed from you, raped, violated, and left broken in your own skull?

"Only three of these instruments were constructed. But the moment their existence was made known by a few fantastic demonstrations, the City of New Hope began the swerve down the arc of its own self-destruction. It lasted for a year, and ended with the broken wreck you escaped from last night. During that year invasions were launched on the backward nations across the sea with whom months before there had been friendly trade.

Civil wars broke out and internal struggles caused the invasions to fall back to the homeland. The instruments were hopelessly lost, but not before the bird machines had even dropped bombs on the City of New Hope itself. The house of the fire metal was broken open to release its death once more. For a hundred years after the end, say our records, the city flamed with light from the destroyed power house. During the first hundred years more and more of our number were born blind because of the sinking fire in the city. At last we moved underground, but it was too late." She rose from her seat. "And so you see, Hama destroyed himself.

Today, loyal to Argo, are all the beasts of the air, of the land ... and of the water."

"What about the--the three instruments?" Geo asked. "What happened to them?"

The blind Priestess turned to him. "Your guess," she said, smiling, "is as good as mine." She turned again and glided softly from the room.

When she left, Iimmi said, "Something is fishy."

"But what is it?" said Geo.

"Well, for one thing," said Iimmi, "we know there is a Hama. From the dream I would say that it's just about the size and organization of this place."

"Just how big is this place anyway?" Geo asked.

"Want to do some more exploring?"

"Sure," he answered. "Do you think she does know about Hama but was just pretending?"

"Could be," said Iimmi. They started off down another corridor. "That bit about going into men's minds with the jewels," Iimmi went on. "It gives me the creeps."

"It's a creepy thing to watch," said Geo. "Argo used it on Snake the first time we saw her. It just turns you into an automaton."

"Then it really is our jewels she was talking about."

Stairs cut a white tunnel into the wall before them, and they mounted upward, coming finally to another corridor. They turned down it and for the first time saw recognizable doors in the wall. "Hey," said Iimmi, "maybe one of these goes outside."

"Fine," said Geo. "This place is beginning to get me." He pushed open a door and stepped in. Except for the flowing white walls, it duplicated in miniature the bas.e.m.e.nt of the New Edison building. Twin dynamos whirred and the walls were laced with pipes.

"Nothing in here," said Iimmi.

They tried a door across the hall now. In this one sat a white porcelain table and floor to ceiling cases of glittering instruments. "I bet this is the room your arm came off in," Iimmi said.

"Probably," replied Geo.

They came out and continued even farther. In the next room the glow was dimmer, and there was dust on the walls. Iimmi ran his finger over it and looked at the gray crescent left on the bleached flesh.

Two huge screens leaned out from the face of a metal machine. A few dials and a gla.s.s meter hung beneath each two yard rounded-rectangle of opaque gla.s.s. In front of each was a stand which held something like a set of binoculars and what looked like a pair of ear m.u.f.fs.

"I bet this place hasn't been used since before these girls went blind,"

said Geo.

"It looks it," Iimmi said. He stepped up to one of the screens, the one with the fewer dials on it, and turned a switch.

"What did you do that for?" Geo asked.

"Why not?" said Iimmi. Suddenly a flickering of colored lights ran over the screen, swellings of blue, green, s.h.i.+ny scarlets. They blinked.

"That's the first color I've seen since I've been here," Iimmi said. The colors grayed, dimmed, congealed into forms, and in a moment they were looking at a bare white room in which stood two barefoot young men. One was a dark Negro with pale hands. The other had an unruly shock of black hair and only one arm.

"Hey," gestured Iimmi, and the figure on the screen gestured too.

"That's us." He walked forward and the corresponding figure advanced on the screen. He flicked a dial and the figures exploded into colors and then focused again. "What's that?" asked Iimmi.

In a room stood three of the blind women. On one wall was a smaller screen similar to the one in their own room. The women, of course, were oblivious to the picture on it, but it was the picture on the screen that had stopped Geo. It was a face. A man's face.

One of the women had on an ear m.u.f.f apparatus and was talking into a small metal rod which she carried with her as she paced.

"But the picture! Don't you recognize him?" demanded Geo.

"It's Jordde!" exclaimed Iimmi. "They must have gotten in contact with our s.h.i.+p and are arranging to send us back."

"I wish I could hear what they're saying," said Geo.

Iimmi looked around and then picked up the metal ear m.u.f.fs from the stand in front of the screen. "That's what she seems to be listening through," said Iimmi, referring to the Priestess in the picture. "Try them. Go on." He helped Geo fit them over his ears. "Hear anything?"

Geo listened.

"Yes, of course," the Priestess was saying.

"She is set upon staying in the harbor for three more days, to wait out the week," reported Jordde. "I am sure she will not remain any longer.

She is still bewildered by me, and the men have become uneasy and may well mutiny if she stays longer."

"We will dispose of the prisoners this evening. There is no chance of their returning," stated the Priestess.

"Detain them for three days, and I do not care what you do with them,"

said Jordde. "She does not have the jewels, she does not know my--our power; she will be sure to leave at the end of the week."

"It's a pity we have no jewels for all our trouble," said the Priestess.

"But at least all three are back in Aptor, and potentially within our grasp."

Jordde laughed. "And Hama never seems to be able to keep hold of them for more then ten minutes before they slip from him again."

"Yours is not to judge either Hama or Argo," stated the Priestess. "You are kept on by us only to do your job. Do it, report, and do not trouble either us or yourself with opinions. They are not appreciated."

"Yes, mistress," returned Jordde.

"Then farewell until next report." She flipped a switch and the picture on the little screen went gray.

Geo turned from the big screen now, and was just about to remove the hearing apparatus when he heard the Priestess say, "Go, prepare the prisoners for the sacrifice of the rising moon. They have seen enough."

The woman left the room, Geo finished removing the phones, and Iimmi looked at him.

"What's the matter?"