Part 22 (1/2)

But-she was on her feet, infinitely determined-it would do him no good!

The Dreegh also had a weapon. His only hope must be that she wouldn't dare come near him.

Instants later, she was daring. Her trembling ringers fumbled over his dungarees, seeking openings.

They found nothing.

But hehad a weapon, she told herself, bewildered. He fired it at Steve. I saw him!

Again, more frantically, she searched all the possibilities of the one garment he wore-in vain.

She remembered, finally, in her desperation, that her father must have been watching this room. He might have seen where it was.

”Dad!” she called anxiously.

”Yes, my dear?” The reply from the intercom came at once, rea.s.suringly calm.

Watching the Dreegh warily, she asked, ”Do you have any advice on how to kill him?”

The old man, sitting in the control room of the meteorite, sighed. From his viewpoint, he could on one viewplate see the girl, Hanardy's unconscious body and Sween-Madro; on another he observed gloomily that the Dreegh s.h.i.+p had arrived and had attached to an airlock. As he watched that second viewplate, three men and five women came out of the s.h.i.+p and into a corridor of the meteorite. It was obvious that killing Sween-Madro was no longer of value.

The girl's voice cut across his awareness. ”He must have used the super-speed again without my noticing and hidden his weapon. Did you see what he did with it?”

What ProfessorUngarn wa.s.seeing was that the newly arrived Dreeghs, though in no hurry, were heading directly toward Madro and Pat.

Watching them, the professor thought, Pat was right. Sween-Madro had been vulnerable. He could have been killed. But it was too late.

Sick with self-recrimination he abandoned the control room and hurried to join his daughter.

By the time he arrived, Sween-Madro was back in the bed, and Hanardy had been lifted onto a powered dolly which had been wheeled alongside a machine that had evidently been brought from the Dreegh s.h.i.+p.

The machine was a simple device with a pair of bulbous, transparent cups and a suction system. A needle was inserted into a blood vessel on Hanardy's right arm. Swiftly, a turgid bluish-red liquid rose in one of the bulbous cups; about a quart, ProfessorUngarnestimated to his daughter in a whisper.

One by one, wordlessly, the Dreeghs went to the machine. Another needle was used. And into each a tiny drain of blood siphoned from the red stuff in the bulbous cup. It seemed as if about half of it was taken.

Still without anyone speaking, the needle was inserted into Sween-Madro's arm; and the rest of the blood from the cup flowed into him.

Pat stared at the dreadful beings with avid curiosity. All her life she had heard of, and been warned against, these creatures; and here they were from all those distances of years and miles. Four men and five women.

Three of the five women were brunette, one was a blonde; the fifth was a redhead.

The women were, every one, tall and willowy. The men were uniformly six feet four or five and gaunt of build. Was height a part of the Dreegh illness? Pat wondered, seeing them together like this. Did Dreegh bones grow as a result of their disease? She could only wonder.

The figure on the bed moved. Sween-Madro opened his eyes and sat up.

He seemed shaky and unsure. Again, there was silent action. The Dreegh men did not move, but the women one by one went over and lightly kissed Sween-Madro on the lips.

At each touch of lips there was a faint bluish light, a flash of brightness, like a spark. Invariably, the blue spark leaped from the woman to the man.

And with each flash he grew more alive. His body became visibly larger. His eyes grew bright.

Pat, who had been watching with total fascination, sud-denly felt two pairs of hands grab her. She had time to let out a shriek as two Dreegh men carried her over to Sween and held her above him, her face over his.

At the final moment, she ceased her futile struggle and froze.

She was aware of Sween's sardonic eyes gazing up at her. Then, with a deliberate movement he raised his head and brushed her lips with his.

She expected to die.

Deep inside the back of her head, a fire started. The heat of it seemed instantly unbearable; instantly there was a flash of blue flame from her lips to his.

Then she was back on the floor, dizzy, but-as she realized presently-recovering. And still alive.

Sween-Madro swung his feet over the edge of the bed and said, ”The existence of such brother-and-sister energy flows, Pat-which you have now experienced-and the Dreegh ability to use them make it likely that we could become the most powerful beings in the galaxy on a continuing basis. If we can defeat Hanardy. We only took about ten percent from you. We don't want you damaged-yet.”

He stood up, walked over and looked down at the un-conscious s.p.a.ceman. Presently he beckoned Pat and Profes-sorUngarn;father and daughter came at once.

The Dreegh said, ”I'm still not well. Can you detect any change in him?” He did not wait for a reply, but said in relief, ”I guess nothing happened. He looks as low-grade a human as you could ever not want to meet or deal with in any way, and that's the way he was before-don't you agree?”

Pat said quickly, ”I don't understand. What did you expect?”

”Hopefully, nothing,” was the reply. ”But that remark about how near our s.h.i.+p was the first unprogrammed use of his ability. A spatial relations.h.i.+p action like that comes in the Great Galactic intelligence curve at about I.Q. 1200.”

”But what did you fear?” Pat persisted.

That it would feed back through his nervous system!”

”What would that do?”

The Dreegh merely stared at her, sardonically. It was Professor Ungarn's voice that finally broke the silence. ”My dear, the Dreeghs are actually acting as if their only enemy is a programmed Hanardy.”

”Then you believe their a.n.a.lysis of the nature of the Great Galactics?”

”They believe it; so I believe it.”

”Then there's no hope?”

The old manpointedat Hanardy. ”There's Steve.”

”But he's just a b.u.m. That's why we selected him to be our drayhorse, remember?” She spoke accusingly. ”Because he was the dumbest, most honest jerk in the solar system-remember?”

The old man nodded, suddenly looking gloomy. Pat became aware that the Dreeghs were watching them, as if they were listening.