Part 2 (2/2)

The distant wail of a siren sent Dalroi running back to the car. It was obviously the police who had tapped his phone. Within seconds he was out of the alley and speeding precariously through the maze of turnings which const.i.tuted the downtown suburb. He lost the sound of sirens early and began to relax when he was confident that he had avoided the patrol. Two clues pointed to Gormalu. It was an unlikely lead but one which could not be ignored. Steadfastly he headed out of town.

FOUR.

Gormalu was blind, but the fact was not immediately apparent. The bat-call radar boxes on his shoulders guided his feet and hands with a precision which had unnerved many who had misjudged the disability.

No, it was not the blindness but the sheer ugliness of the man which left the undying impression: the hawk face with the taut yellowing skin, the sightless eyes peering through dark gla.s.ses, the slight, gaunt, skeleton frame. To those who knew him further, the more hideous facet was the terrifying h.o.a.rd of hatred which festered behind the blinding genius. To Dalroi he was the anathema of all that lived and breathed.

There was no love lost in any encounter between them.

This night especially, Dalroi was in no mood for charity. Gormalu, as a member of the Cronstadt committee, was the pivot of his whole plan of operation. He had the information which Dalroi needed to make an effective move against Failway, and he was somehow involved with the strange affair at Pa.s.sfields. Dalroi cursed. He who would trade with the Devil needs watch out for his own soul.

From previous visits Dalroi knew all he needed about the layout. He left his car nearly a mile from his destination and walked the rest of the way through the dark, sullen trees. Gormalu's henchmen would be wary and it was too easy to set a radar alarm on the approach road, but working in the shelter of the giant boles, nothing short of direct observation could detect his coming. Finally he circled the house, planning the best method of entry. The skylight gave rustily to the force of his fingers and seconds later he was standing in the dark laboratory. Nothing stirred. Silently he made his way to the dim inner-sanctum where Gormalu habitually held court.

The door opened quietly at his touch. Gormalu was there, his sightless eyes watching the door from theshadows of one small lamp.

”Don't move,” said Dalroi. ”Call for help and I'll kill you.”

”Don't be theatrical, Dalroi. I've been expecting you. You should have known better than to try to take me by surprise.”

”I have reasons for not advertising my visits in advance.”

”Just so! The police are rather interested in you now.”

”Don't let it give you ideas,” said Dalroi. ”I cut the phone wires before I entered. I don't exactly have a trusting nature. Kindly keep your hands where I can see them.”

”As you wish.” Gormalu leaned back into the shadows until only the thin, clawlike hands remained visible, resting on the table. ”Now tell me what you want.”

”I want information on Failway: what it is in a physical sense, where are the extra-spatial extensions, and what are its most vulnerable mechanisms?”

Gormalu was amused. ”If you had a degree in about eight subjects and an I.Q. of about one hundred and eighty you could probably understand the answer in about five years.”

”Perhaps!” said Dalroi. ”But you know exactly what I need.”

”Very well! I shall confine myself to words of one syllable. That you will still be ignorant when I have finished is entirely your affair.”

”I'll take the risk.”

”Do you know anything about the nP energy values for atomic nuclei? Perhaps not. Advanced neutrino study is not exactly popular science. Suffice it to say that all the atomic nP values for a given s.p.a.ce-time lattice fall within a certain spectrum of energy levels. Can you comprehend that?”

”No,” said Dalroi, ”but don't let that stop you.”

”Well, it is the coincidence of the nP value in a given atom with respect to another which places the two in the same s.p.a.ce-time lattice. This correspondence is called actuality. If the values are too far apart the coincidence breaks down, and, viewed from the standpoint of one atom, the other can be proven not to exist.”

”Yet it does still exist?”

”Certainly, in its own lattice or continuum. And as for atoms so for compounds and aggregates. The nP values are bunched in period steps, one step of the series being held by the atoms of this universe in which we now stand. Failway is based on the principle that atoms and thus matter, may be transposed from one energy level to another.”

Dalroi nodded. ”You mean from one universe to the next.”

”No! Universe is too limited a term to apply to the status of an energy level. Some are simply theoretical planes. Two that we know of are five-dimensional abstractions, one is a straight line, and one is a small sphere containing nothing within and the inverse of nothing outside it, or vice-versa according to your mathematical standpoint.””All right,” he said. ”Let's concentrate on the levels that Failway use.”

”Of an infinite series of levels,” Gormalu said, ”technology limits us to thirty-eight, of which the Failway apparatus can reach about twenty. Of this twenty they can populate only six, all rational planes or the internal surfaces of major spheres.”

”Six,” said Dalroi musingly. ”I had always heard it was five - five places of pleasure starting with the prissy and descending in conscience as they increase in viciousness. I wonder what h.e.l.ls the sixth one contains.”

”What terrible depths inhabit the human mind?” asked Gormalu. ”Are you so afraid of shadows?”

”No,” said Dalroi. ”I was born in the shadows. I knew more about vice and viciousness at seven than most men comprehend at seventy. That sort of childhood leaves some rather ugly scars. I just don't want it to become a national characteristic”

”It never occurred to me that you were a humanitarian.”

Dalroi ignored the sarcasm and moved the solitary lamp until the tired illumination fell full on the doctor's face, wis.h.i.+ng the man had eyes to betray his moods. The dark gla.s.ses, forever turned precisely in his direction, radiated something more than sightlessness; something malignant - as if his very soul itself were dark, unfeeling gla.s.s.

”You give me the creeps,” said Dalroi.

Gormalu's chin jutted forward with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt. ”What else did you wish to know about Failway?”

”Critical points for sabotage.”

”Of course! The application of brute strength to problems of technical delicacy.”

”I didn't ask you to approve my methods.”

”But I like your methods. They have a crude simplicity which is rather refres.h.i.+ng in this complicated world. It's just that the destruction of any form of technology is repugnant to me.”

”I feel the same way about the destruction of men,” said Dalroi sourly.

”Very well, discounting ancillary equipment, most of which is duplicated, the key to Failway is the field matrix tuner. That is the device which controls the destination of the capsule when it leaves the potential gradient. Smash it, and n.o.body can enter or leave the outworld levels until it's repaired and re-calibrated; alter the settings and a capsule in transit would get lost somewhere between here and infinity.”

”If I smash the tuner what would happen to people already on an outworld level?”

”They'd die.” Gormalu pushed his chair back into the shadows as though the dim light burning pained his sightless eyes. ”The levels are entirely dependent on supplies from Failway Terminal. Considering that it takes sixteen weeks to calibrate a new matrix tuner and there might be a visiting population of four million, you can sense the scale of the catastrophe that your interference would invoke. Let's face it, Dalroi, you're out of your cla.s.s when it comes to immobilising Failway. It's a task calling for a finesse you are never likely to acquire. Stick to murder and petty larceny.”

”One more question,” said Dalroi slowly. ”What unholy gifts do Failway offer you in return for suchpoisonous allegiance?”

For the first time the death's-head was overtaken by the white cast of fear.

”Blast you, Dalroi! That's one question more than you're allowed.”

”Is that why you had Dever killed?”

”I didn't. It was - somebody else.”

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