The Gift of Power
ONE guard took the bottle from the bluish lips. "It's dead," he said slowly. "I don't--"
The monster groaned. The massive head turned. The single eye passed over the faces of the four men. Vane felt an odd sense of shock as the weird gaze focused briefly upon him.
Simultaneously an icy chill shook Vane's mind. He went sick, giddy, and momentarily blind. Beside him, he heard the guards gasp, and realized that they felt as he did.
It passed. Vane heard a voice inside his mind.
Inaudible, yes--but clearer than any bell-tone he heard it.
"For Gawd's sake!" a guard said, amazedly. "I--I'm hearing things--"
He paused.
The inaudible voice commanded, "Silence!" And the word's meaning was somehow as clear to Vane as it would have been if spoken aloud in modern English.
"I am Zaravin," the mental voice said. "I must give you four my message swiftly, for I have little time left. I am from . . . the planet you call Mercury. The innermost planet."
Vane tried to draw back, but could not. His muscles seemed frozen into paralysis. Sweat was cold on his forehead.
Unreasoning horror of the unknown made his stomach a sick void.
The telepathic voice went on.
"Listen.... Two months out from Mercury I fell ill . . . with the sleeping death. When I awoke, all was lost. The ship needed continual guidance. Since I could not carry sufficient fuel, I had to manufacture it on the way . . . and I awoke too late. There was not enough fuel for me to prevent this crash."
The jewel on Zaravin's forehead flamed with red, baleful light. It held Vane's gaze.
The Mercutian went on:
"It is the Stone from the Stars that you see. It is the bestower of all power. Ages ago it fell, embedded in a meteorite, brought from some alien Universe, perhaps . . . it is alive. All knowledge, all strength, is hidden in it. You doubt me, I see.... Jaeckel, Bester, Hanley....Stephen Vane.... How, then, do I know the names of you four?"
There was silence. All around the green dust sparkled eerily, and drifted down from the trees. A chill wind blew up flurries of snow. The distant sound of the tumbling river seemed very loud in the utter silence.
"The Stone from the Stars gives all power," Zaravin told the Earthmen soundlessly. "It is . . . what you call . . . symbiosis. For it lives, with a strange, silicate life of its own. Perhaps, in the unknown abyss from which it came, it drew its life-force from rays . . . alien suns.... I do not know. On Mercury, it feeds upon the life-energy of its host. And now I am its host."
The blue, fleshy lips twisted in pain. Shining blood made a pool around the bulbous head.
"It is a parasite and drains the lifeforce. But in return it shares its own wonderful powers with the owner--powers of telepathy and will. These powers must be used sparingly, for they are exhausting. The owner of the gem at times falls into a state of suspended animation, during which the jewel rests and revitalizes itself. When I started this first interplanetary voyage, our ruler gave it to me, knowing that only with its aid could I conquer the tremendous obstacles. And there was only one way for the Stone to be removed. Once it finds a host, it remains there during the entire life-span of that host. Our ruler was forced to kill himself in order that I might have the gem...."
The weird, soundless voice grew urgent.
"The power of the jewel must not die! Even though it is lost to Mercury, it will aid the men of Earth. Take it, one of you--use it! And when your race has conquered space-travel, take the Stone from the Stars back to my people. Remember--it gives all power to the owner!"
The Mercutian's body twisted convulsively. A torrent of blood gushed from between the thick blue lips. A choking gasp sounded as the huge body jerked. The bulbous head rolled aside as the single eye glazed in death.
And--the Stone from the Stars leaped from Zaravin's forehead!
VANE realized that the Mercutian was lifeless. His horrified eyes followed the path of the jewel.
It soared out swiftly, turning over and over, rolled down a little slope of snow, and then lay still and shimmering.
Silence. Time itself had stopped. The murmur of the river was a deafening thunder.
One of the guards gave a curious gasping sound. It broke the spell. Vane drew an unsteady breath, shivering a little. And then, before any of his captors could move, he wrenched free from the grasp on his arm and dived forward.
He fell on his knees. His handcuffed wrists hit together painfully. His cupped fingers found the Stone from the Stars and lifted it.
It lay in his palm, red against the snow he had scooped up with it.
"Vane!" a guard roared. "Drop that--" that--"
The Stone blazed, throwing unearthly reddish reflections on white snow and cold-pallid skin.
It held fascination for Vane. He lifted it toward his forehead. A heavy hand gripped his shoulder, flung him back. But too late.
The Stone from the Stars leaped from Vane's palm. He felt an instant of grinding, sickening agony clashing within his brain. It lasted only a moment, and was gone.
He stood up, throwing off the hand that held his shoulder. The guard--it was bulldog-faced Hanley--went for his gun.
As he drew it, something made Vane say curtly, "Drop it! Drop the gun, Hanley! Quick!"
"Like hell I will," the guard snarled. There was a soft little plop at his feet. The automatic had fallen into the snow. Hanley said, "Whup!" and started to bend over to recover the weapon.
Vane said, "Don't move!" Hanley froze. The lawyer whirled toward the others. "Don't move, any of you!"
And the guards stood motionless. Jaeckel was caught off balance, with one leg in the air. He wavered, toppled, and fell flat on his face.
Vane stood unmoving for a time. Presently he reached up and gingerly touched the gem. His fingers groped searchingly.
The Stone had attached itself permanently to his forehead. It had sunk in, blazing like a caste mark of some Hindu sect, above and between his brows . . .
UNREASONING horror shook Vane. He clawed at the jewel, tried to wrench it from its place. He could not budge the gem. His nails slipped off the smooth, cold surface. His wrists began to bleed as the handcuffs dug into them.
It was nightmare--the guards living statues, the jewel flaming in his living flesh and bone, the dead silence, broken only by the river's murmur . . .
Vane lowered his hands slowly and stood staring at the cuffs. Apparently Zaravin had not lied. The Stone from the Stars gave its possessor strange powers.
And that meant--
Suddenly Vane thought of Pasqual. Big Mike Pasqual, ruthless, all-powerful lord of Kentonville's underworld. Too smart for the law. Too strong for his enemies. All-powerful--
Like hell!
Vane's smile was not good to see. He was visualizing Pasqual, frozen motionless as the guards had been, screaming for help, facing the death he had arranged for so many others.
The lawyer turned to Hanley. His young face, with lines of bitterness months of prison had engraved upon it, was hard.
"Unlock my handcuffs, one of you," he said quietly.
"Yeah?" Hanley's voice was strained but mocking. "I don't know what you've done to me, but I'm not going to take those cuffs off. I won't--I won't--"
His voice rose into a scream. Because all the time he was talking, Hanley was reaching into his pocket, taking out a key-ring, selecting a small key, walking forward and reaching toward Vane's extended wrists . . .
"Thanks," Vane said as the lock clicked. He shook the cuffs off and gingerly massaged his wrists. "Now--let's see. These prison clothes. They won't do. But a guard's uniform--" He shook his head, pondering.
"And I can't leave you here. You'd freeze in no time. I don't know why the devil I care about that, but--I've got it. Listen, the three of you. In ten minutes you'll be perfectly normal again. You'll go directly back to the prison. You won't remember anything that happened after you came into this valley. Tony Apollo and I are dead. You saw us fall into the gorge. We're dead. Do you understand?"
"We understand," the three chorused. Jaeckel's voice was muffled as he lay face down in the snow.
Vane grinned suddenly. "Okay, boys," he said, turning. "Good luck!" And he hurried up the slope toward the ridge and freedom....
HIS mind was furiously active. What now? First of all, he had to get rid of these betraying clothes and find more suitable garments.
What about the guards? For a second Vane felt an unreasoning premonition, but dismissed it casually. After all, he owned the magic gem that gave its owner incredible powers. And--so far--it seemed to work.
It worked on a tourist Vane stopped, too. The man was about his build, he noticed, and was driving a sedan slowly along the highway that twisted through the mountains near by. Vane simply stood beside the road and commanded--inaudibly--"Slow down and stop. Be careful." He did not wish to see the man kill himself by plunging over the precipice that gaped across the highway.
The sedan stopped. The man got out. He stared at Vane and gasped, "You're the escaped con! Don't shoot--"
"Take off your clothes," Vane said.
"I will not!" the man said in a shocked voice, shucking his overcoat. He removed his necktie. "Undress in the open-air? I've never done such a thing in my life!" He pulled off his pants. "I won't undress and that's flat!"
"Keep your underwear," Vane smiled, as the man continued to strip. "Swell. Now get in back and cover yourself up with that afghan I saw there."
"I won't," the man said, crawling into the back seat and pulling the afghan over him. "I won't."
"Now keep quiet."
There was no answer. Vane donned the garments and got in the front seat. He found a comb in an inner pocket and adjusted his hair till a lock of it fell over the jewel that flamed on his forehead. Still he was not satisfied. He picked up the black Homburg that lay on the seat beside him, turned down the brim, and pulled it over his eyes. Peering into the rear-view mirror, he nodded, satisfied. It would do. The gem was hidden from casual scrutiny.
Vane was whistling softly as he slid the car into gear and began the long journey into Kentonville....
Forward to Chapter 3 of Red Gem of Mercury