Part 26 (1/2)

”Get up on that plank! Dive into the tank! Get back into your own body, let Philip have his! Then come up-the two of you-and face the music. For I'll be gone, and your story will sound like the ravings of a maniac.”

Quest took an obedient step toward the platform. But at the same instant a tremendous crash s.h.i.+vered the door. It seemed to unnerve Keane Clason. With a gasp he sank down upon the steps, his body doubled in pain, his hand clutching at his heart. Another crash followed, and he shuddered and cried out.

Instantly Quest felt an expansion of the will. Keane's sudden physical weakness had loosened his control. Philip's lips worked painfully as Quest forced him to pause, to disobey the command of the Master Will. In a spasm of will he fought to wrench himself free from the countless clinging tentacles of his Control. In great surges, Quest's reviving volition pounded against the walls of his borrowed body. Now he sought to force this sluggish body back to the wall, so that he might release the airlock and spring the door. But Philip seemed to ossify, every cord and muscle of his body frozen to stone by the conflict that raged within him.

Braced against the wall, Keane was rising slowly to his feet. His seizure was easing, and so he was able to exert a better pressure upon his rebellious Agent.

”Come!” he gasped, realizing that he lacked the strength to escape alone and must therefore change his plan. ”Lift me-quick! Carry me out! Slide the panel back into place. We will escape together!”

The spoken command turned the balance against Quest. His will yielded to the master. At the same instant Philip's body relaxed like an object relieved of a great excess of electrical potential. Suddenly strong and supple, he lifted the trembling Keane and tossed him across his shoulder.

For a moment there had been a lull in the a.s.sault on the door. Now the battering resumed with a fury that jarred the whole chamber and sent ripples dancing across the varicolored liquids in the osmotic tank.

”Quick!” gasped Keane. ”Move! I say. Carry me out.”

But he was in a fainting condition. Crash after crash rocked the chamber, and with every blow Quest's will felt a stimulation that enabled him to stand off the commands of his Control. Then a wave of nausea swept over him and left him reeling. It seemed that Philip's blood had turned to boiling oil. A dazzling mist swallowed him up, and with a weird sense of inflation he felt full strength returning to his will.

A booming blow that bulged the door inward acted upon him like a stage player's cue. He leaped to the platform. The gurgling sound of remonstrance rattled from Keane's throat. But Quest paid no heed. Philip was walking the plank-away from the open panel-out over the tank.

Rapidly he dropped down the ladder to the bottom rung, s.n.a.t.c.hed Keane's wrist in a gorillalike grip, and hurled him down into the vat.

Then Philip was clinging desperately to the ladder, his strength gone, his body s.h.i.+vering as if with ague.

”Go on up!” came a strange, impatient voice from below him. ”For heaven's sake let me out of here!”

A downward glance, and with a shout of alarm Philip was scrambling up the ladder, for there was a head down there, and a pair of naked shoulders, and the face of a man he had never seen before. Hand over hand Quest followed. Philip had collapsed and lay p.r.o.ne on the plank. Quest lifted him to his feet and shook him anxiously.

”Philip!” he urged. ”Philip! Can you walk?”

The tattoo on the battered door helped to revive the older man.

”Quick!” whispered Quest, kneading Philip's arms. ”There's barely an hour left. Get to your office. Burn the papers. Refuse the money. Do you hear me?”

Philip nodded dazedly.

”Hurry!” puffed Quest, thrusting him through the opening that Keane had reserved for his own escape, and sliding the panel back into place.

Quest was himself now-young, strong, free. Instantly he threw the electrolytic switch to minus. For Keane had failed to emerge from the tank, and since he was submerged alone, he could not escape until electrolysis was halted.

Just as Quest leaped from the platform to release the airlock, the door burst in and three men with drawn guns rushed into the chamber.

The leader stopped with a startled oath and stood blinking his unbelieving eyes. Quest was poised like a statue, his naked body gleaming an unearthly white against the l.u.s.terless black of the wall.

”Quest,” came from the three in chorus. Then a rush of questions: ”What's the matter? What's happened to you? Where are the Clasons?”

Quest turned toward the platform, expecting to see Keane.

”Something's wrong!” he shouted. ”Quick! Somebody get Philip. He's gone to his Loop office. Keane Clason's at the bottom of this tank. I'm not sure how this thing works, but Philip can get him out! I'm sure of it!”

Despite the confident predictions of both Quest and Philip Clason, osmotic a.s.sociation failed to restore Keane to life, and at last the coroner ordered the removal of the body. The autopsy revealed heart disease as the cause of his death.