The HARPERS of
TITAN
A Captain Future NOVELET by EDMOND HAMILTON
Again Simon Wright, the "Brain", lives in a human body, and in that guise contends
with the most hideous peril he has ever faced--a menace driving a planet to madness!
CHAPTER I
Shadowed Moon
His name was Simon Wright, and
once he had been a man like other
men. Now he was a man no longer,
but a living brain, housed in a metal
case, nourished by serum instead of
blood, provided with artificial senses
and means of motion.
The body of Simon Wright, that had
known the pleasures and ills of
physical existence, had long ago
mingled with the dust. But the mind of
Simon Wright lived on, brilliant and
unimpaired.
HE ridge lifted, gaunt and rocky,
along the rim of the lichen forest,
the giant growths crowding to the very
crest and down the farther slope into
the valley.
Here and there was a clearing
around what might once have been a
temple, now long fallen into ruin. The
vast ragged shapes of the lichens
loomed above it, wrinkled and wind-
torn and sad. Now and again a little
breeze came and set them to rustling
with a sound like muted weeping,
shaking down a rotten, powdery dust.
Simon Wright was weary of the
ridge and the dun-gray forest, weary
of waiting. Three of Titan's nights had
passed since he and Grag and Otho
and Curt Newton, whom the System
knew better as Captain Furore, had
hidden their ship down in the lichen-
forest and had waited here on the
ridge for a man who did not come.
This was the fourth night of
waiting, under the incredible glory of
Titan's sky.
But even the pageant of Saturn,
girdled with the blazing Rings and
attended by the brilliant swarm of
moons, failed to lift Simon's mental
spirits. Somehow the beauty above
only accentuated the dreariness below.
Curt Newton said sharply, "If
Keogh doesn't come tonight, I'm
going down there and look for him."
He looked outward through a rift in
T
the lichens, to the valley where Moneb
lay--a city indistinct with night and
distance, picked out here and there
with the light of torches.
Simon spoke, his voice coming
precise and metallic through the
artificial resonator."Keogh's message
warned us on no account to go into the
city. Be patient, Curtis. He will
come."
Otho nodded. Otho, the lean, lithe
android who was so exactly human
that only a disturbing strangeness in
his pointed face and green, bright eyes
betrayed him.
"Apparently," Otho said, "there's a
devil of a mess going on in Moneb,
and we're liable to make it worse if
we go tramping in before we know
what it's all about."
HE manlike metal form of Grag
moved impatiently in the shadows
with a dull clanking sound. His
booming voice crashed loud against
the stillness.
"I'm like Curt," he said. "I'm tired
of waiting."
"We are all tired," said Simon. "But
we must wait. From Keogh's
message, I judge that he is neither a
coward nor a fool. He knows the
situation. We do not. We must not
endanger him by impatience."
Curt sighed. "I know it." He settled
back on the block of stone where he
was sitting. "I only hope he makes it
soon. These infernal lichens are
getting on my nerves."
Poised, effortlessly upon the unseen
magnetic beams that were his limbs,
Simon watched and brooded. Only in
a detached way could he appreciate
the picture he presented to others --a
small square metal case, with a
strange face of artificial lens-eyes and
resonator-mouth, hovering in the
darkness.
To himself, Simon seemed almost a
bodiless ego. He could not see his
own strange body. He was conscious
only of the steady, rhythmic throbbing
of the serum-pump that served as his
heart, and of the visual and auditory
sensations that his artificial sense-
organs gathered for him.
His lenslike eyes were capable of
better vision under all conditions than
the human eye, but even so he could
not penetrate the shifting, tumultuous
shadows of the valley. It remained a
mystery of shaking moonlight, mist
and darkness.
It looked peaceful. And yet the
message of this stranger, Keogh, had
cried for help against an evil too great
for him to fight alone.
Simon was acutely conscious of the
T
dreary rustling of the lichens. His
microphonic auditory system could
hear and distinguish each separate tiny
note too faint for normal ears, so that
the rustling became a weaving,
shifting pattern of sound, as of ghostly
voices whispering ­a sort of
symphony of despair.
Pure fancy, and Simon Wright was
not given to fancies. Yet in these
nights of waiting he had developed a
definite sense of foreboding. He
reasoned now that this sad whispering
of the forest was responsible, his brain
reacting to the repeated stimulus of a
sound-pattern.
Like Curt, he hoped that Keogh
would come soon.
Time passed. The Rings filled the
sky with supernal fire, and the moons
went splendidly on their eternal way,
bathed in the milky glow of Saturn.
The lichens would not cease from
their dusty weeping. Now and again
Curt Newton rose and went restlessly
back and forth across the clearing.
Otho watched him, sitting still, his
slim body bent like a steel bow. Grag
remained where he was, a dark
immobile giant in the shadows,
dwarfing even Newton's height.
Then, abruptly, there was a sound
different from all other sounds. Simon
heard, and listened, and after a
moment he said:
"There are two men, climbing the
slope from the valley, coming this
way."
Otho sprang up. Curt voiced a
short, sharp "Ah!" and said, "Better
take cover, until we're sure."
The four melted into the darkness.
Simon was so close to the strangers
that he might have reached out one of
his force-beams and touched them.
They came into the clearing, breathing
heavily from the long climb, looking
eagerly about. One was a tall man,
very tall, with a gaunt width of
shoulder and a fine head. The other
was shorter, broader, moving with a
bearlike gait. Both were Earthmen,
with the unmistakable stamp of the
frontiers on them, and the hardness of
physical labor. Both men were armed.
They stopped. The hope went out of
them, and the tall man said
despairingly,
"They failed us. They didn't come.
Dan, they didn't come!"
Almost, the tall man wept.
"I guess your message didn't get
through," the other man said. His
voice, too, was leaden. "I don't know,
Keogh. I don't know what we'll do
now. I guess we might as well go
back."
Curt Newton spoke out of the
darkness. "Hold on a minute. It's all
right."
URT moved out into the open
space, his lean face and red hair
clear in the moonlight.
"It's he," said the stocky man. "It's
Captain Future." His voice was shaken
with relief.
Keogh smiled, a smile without
much humor in it. "You thought I
might be dead, and someone else
C
might keep the appointment. Not a
far-fetched assumption. I've been so
closely watched that I dared not try to
get away before. I only just managed
it tonight."
He broke off, staring, as Grag came
striding up, shaking the ground with
his tread. Otho moved in from beyond
him, light as a leaf. Simon joined
them, gliding silently from among the
shadows.
Keogh laughed, a little shakily.
"I'm glad to see you. If you only knew
how glad I am to see you all!"
"And me!" said the stocky man. He
added, "I'm Harker."
"My friend," Keogh told the
Futuremen. "For many years, my
friend." Then he hesitated, looking
earnestly at Curt. "You will help me?
I've held back down there in Moneb
so far. I've kept the people quiet. I've
tried to give them courage when they
need it, but I'm only one man. That's
a frail peg on which to hang the fate of
a city."
Curt nodded gravely. "We'll do all
we can. Otho--Grag! Keep watch,
just in case."
Grag and Otho disappeared again.
Curt looked expectantly at Keogh and
Harker. The breeze had steadied to a
wind, and Simon was conscious that it
was rising, bringing a deeper plaint
from the lichens.
Keogh sat down on a block of stone
and began to talk. Hovering near him,
Simon listened, watching Keogh's
face. It was a good face. A wise man,
Simon thought, and a strong one,
exhausted now by effort and long fear.
"I was the first Earthman to come
into the valley, years ago," Keogh
said. "I liked the men of Moneb and
they liked me. When the miners began
to come in, I saw to it that there was
no trouble between them and the
natives. I married a girl of Moneb,
daughter of one of the chief men.
She's dead now, but I have a son here.
And I'm one of their councilors, the
only man of foreign blood ever
allowed in the Inner City.
"So you see, I've swung a lot of -
weight and have used it to keep peace
here between native and outlander.
But now!"
He shook his head. "There have
always been men in Moneb who hated
to see Earthmen and Earth civilization
come in and lessen their own
influence. They've hated the
Earthmen who live in New Town and
work the mines. They'd have tried
long ago to force them out, and would
have embroiled Moneb in a hopeless
struggle, if they'd dared defy tradition
and use their one possible weapon.
Now, they're bolder and are planning
to use that weapon."
Curt Newton looked at him keenly.
"What is this weapon, Keogh?"
Keogh's answer was a question.
"You Futuremen know these worlds
well ­ I suppose you've heard of the
Harpers?"
Simon Wright felt a shock of
surprise. He saw incredulous
amazement on Curt Newton's face.
"You don't mean that your
malcontents plan to use the Harpers
as a weapon?"
Keogh nodded somberly. "They
do."
Memories of old days on Titan
were flashing through Simon's mind;
the strange, strange form of life that
dwelt deep in the great forests, the
unforgettable beauty wedded to
dreadful danger.
"The Harpers could be a weapon,
yes," he said, after a moment. "But the
weapon-would slay those who
wielded it, unless they were protected
from it.".
"Long ago," Keogh answered, "the
men of Moneb had such a protection.
They used the Harpers, then. But use
of them was so disastrous that it was
forbidden, put under a tabu.
"Now, those who wish to force out
the Earthmen here plan to break that
tabu. They want to bring in the
Harpers, and use them."
Harker added, "Things were all
right until the old king died. He was a
man.His son is a weakling. The
fanatics against outland civilization
have got to him, and he's afraid of his
own shadow. Keogh has been holding
him on his feet, against them."
IMON saw the almost worshipful
trust in Harker's eyes as he
glanced at his friend.
"They've tried to kill Keogh, of
course," Harker said. "With him gone,
there'd be no leader against them."
Keogh's voice rose, to be heard over
the booming and thrumming of the
lichens.
"A full council has been called for
two days from now. That will be the
timeof decision ­whether we, or the
breakers of tabu, will rule in Moneb.
And I know, as I know truth, that
some land of a trap has been set for
me.
"That is where I will need you
Futuremen's help, most desperately.
But you must not be seen in the town.
Any strangers now would excite
suspicion, and you are too well known
and ­" he glanced at Simon and added
apologetically, "distinctive."
He paused. In that pause, the boom
and thunder of the lichen was like the
slatting of great sails in the wind, and
Simon could not hear the little furtive
sound from behind him until it was
too late ­a second too late.
A man leaped into the clearing.
Simon had a fleeting glimpse of
copper-gold limbs and a killer's face,
and a curious weapon raised. Simon
spoke, but the bright small dart was
already fled.
In the same breath, Curt turned and
drew and fired. The man dropped. Out
in the shadows another gun flashed,
and they heard Otho's fierce cry.
There was a timeless instant when
no one moved, and then Otho came
back into the clearing. "There were
only two of them, I think."
"They followed us!" Harker
exclaimed. "They followed us up here
to ­"
He had been turning, as he spoke.
He suddenly stopped speaking, and
S
then cried out Keogh's name.
Keogh lay face down in the
powdery dust. From out his temple
stood a slim bronzed shaft little larger
than a needle, and where it pierced the
flesh was one dark drop of blood.
Simon hovered low over the
Earthman. His sensitive beams
touched the throat, the breast, lifted
one lax eyelid.
Simon said, without hope, "He still
lives."
CHAPTER II
Unearthly Stratagem
RAG carried Keogh through the
forest and, tall man that .Keogh
was, he seemed like a child in the
robot's mighty arms. The wind
howled, and the lichens shook and
thundered, and it was growing darker.
"Hurry!" said Harker. "Hurry -
there may still be a chance!"
His face had the white, staring look
that comes with shock. Simon was
still possessed of emotion - sharper,
clearer emotions than before, he
thought, divorced as they were from
the chemical confusions of the flesh.
Now he knew a great pity for Harker.
"The Comet is just ahead," Curt
told him.
Presently they saw the ship, a
shadowed bulk of metal lost among
the giant growths. Swiftly they took
Keogh in, and Grag laid him carefully
on the table in the tiny laboratory. He
was still breathing, but Simon knew
that it would not be for long.
The laboratory of the Comet, for all
its cramped size, was fitted with
medical equipment comparable to
most hospitals­most of it designed for
its particular purpose by Simon
himself, and by Curt Newton. It had
been used many times before for the
saving of lives. Now the two of them,
Simon and Curt together, worked
feverishly to save Keogh.
Curt wheeled a marvellously
compact adaptation of the Fraser unit
into place.
Within seconds the tubes were
clamped into Keogh's arteries and the
pumps were working, keeping the
blood flowing normally, feeding in a
stimulant solution directly to the heart.
The oxygen unit was functioning.
Presently Curt nodded.
"Pulse and respiration normal. Now
let's have a look at the brain."
He swung the ultrafluoroscope
into position and switched it on.
Simon looked into the screen,
hovering close to Curt's shoulder.
"The frontal lobe is torn beyond
repair," he said. "See the tiny barbs on
that dart? Deterioration of the cells
has already set in."
Harker spoke from the doorway.
"Can't you do something? Can't you
save him?" He stared into Curt's face
for a moment, and then his head
dropped forward and he said dully,
"No, of course you can't. I knew it
when he was hit."
All the strength seemed to run out
of him. He leaned against the door, a
G
man tired and beaten and sad beyond
endurance.
"It's bad enough to lose a friend.
But now everything he fought for is
lost, too. The fanatics will win, and
they'll turn loose something that will
destroy not only the Earthmen here,
but the entire populace of Moneb too,
in the long run."
Tears began to run slowly from
Harker's eyes. He did not seem to
notice them. He said, to no one, to the
universe, "Why couldn't I have seen
him in time? Why couldn't I have
killed him ­ in time?"
For a long, long moment, Simon
looked at Harker. Then he glanced
again into the screen, and then aside at
Curt, who nodded and slowly
switched it off. Curt began to remove
the tubes of the Fraser unit from
Keogh's wrists.
Simon said, "Wait, Curtis. Leave
them as they are."
Curt straightened, a certain startled
wonder in his eyes. Simon glided to
where Harker stood, whiter and more
stricken than the dead man on the
table.
Simon spoke his name three times,
before he roused himself to answer.
"Yes?"
"How much courage have you,
Harker? As much as Keogh? Am
much as I?"
Harker shook his head.
"There are times when courage
doesn't help a bit."
"Listen to me, Harker! Have you
courage to walk be-beside Keogh into
Moneb, knowing that he is dead?"
The eyes of the stocky man
widened. And Curt Newton came to
Simon and said in a strange voice,
"What are you thinking of?"
"I am thinking of a brave man who
died in the act of seeking help from
us. I am thinking, of many innocent
men and women who will die,
unless... Harker, it is true, is it not,
that the success of your fight
depended on Keogh?"
ARKER'S gaze dwelt upon the
body stretched on the table ­ a
body that breathed and pulsed with the
semblance of life borrowed from the
sighing pumps.
"That is true," he said. "That's why
they killed him. He was the leader.
With him gone ­ "Harker's broad
hands made a gesture of utter loss.
"Then it must not be known that
Keogh died."
Curt said harshly, "No! Simon, you
can't do it!"
"Why not, Curtis? You are
perfectly capable of completing the
operation."
"They've killed the man once.
They'll be ready to do it again. Simon,
you. can't risk yourself! Even if I
could do the operation ­ no!"
Something queerly pleading came
into Curt's gray eyes. "This is my kind
of a job, Simon. Mine and Grag's and
Otho's. Let us do it."
"And how will you do it?" Simon
asked. "By force? By reasoning? You
are not omnipotent, Curtis. Nor are
H
Grag and Otho. You, all three of you,
would be going into certain death, and
even more certain defeat. And I know
you. You would go."
Simon paused. It seemed to him
suddenly that he had gone mad, that
he must be mad to contemplate what
he was about to do. And yet, it was
the only way ­ the only possible
chance of preventing an irretrievable
disaster.
Simon knew what the Harpers
could do, in the wrong hands. He
knew what would happen to the
Earthmen in New Town. And he knew
too what retribution for that would
overtake the many guiltless people of
Moneb, as well as the few guilty ones.
He glanced beyond Harker and saw
Grag standing there, and Otho beside
him, his green eyes very bright, and
Simon thought, I made them both, I
and Roger Newton. I gave them hearts
and minds and courage. Some day
they will perish, but it will not be
because I failed them.
And there was Curt, stubborn,
reckless, driven by the demon of his
own loneliness, a bitter searcher after
knowledge, a stranger to his own kind.
Simon thought. We made him so,
Otho and Grag and I. And we wrought
too well. There is too much iron in
him. He will break, but never bend ­
and I will not have him broken
because of me!
Harker said, very slowly, "I don't
understand."
Simon explained. "Keogh's body is
whole. Only the brain was destroyed.
If the body were supplied with another
brain ­ mine ­ Keogh would seem to
live again, to finish his task in
Moneb."
Harker stood for a long moment
without speaking. Then he whispered,
"Is that possible?"
"Quite possible. Not easy, not even
safe ­ but possible."
Harker's hands clenched into fists.
Something, a light that might have
been hope, crept back into his eyes.
"Only we five," said Simon, "know
that Keogh died. There would be no
difficulty there. And I know the
language of Titan, as I know most of
the System tongues.
"But I would still need help ­ a
.guide, who knew Keogh's life and
could enable me to live it for the short
time that is necessary. You, Harker.
And I warn you, it will not be easy."
Harker's voice was low, but steady.
"If you can do the one thing, I can do
the other."
Curt Newton said angrily, "No one
is going to do anything of the sort.
Simon, I won't have any part of it!"
The stormy look that Simon knew
so well had come into Curt's face. If
Simon had been able to, he would
have smiled. Instead, he spoke exactly
as he had spoken so many times
before, long ago when Curt Newton
was a small redheaded boy playing in
the lonely corridors of the laboratory
hidden under Tycho, with no
companions but the robot, the android,
and Simon, himself.
"You will do as I say, Curtis!" He
turned to the others. "Grag, take Mr.
Harker into the main cabin. See that
he sleeps, for he will need his
strength. Otho, Curtis will want your
help."
Otho came in and shut the door. He
glanced from Simon to Curt and back
again, his eyes brilliant with a certain
acid amusement. Curt stood where he
was, his jaw set, unmoving.
imon glided over to the cabinets
built solidly against one wall.
Using the wonderfully adaptable
force-beams more skilfully than a man
uses his hands, he took from them the
needful things ­ the trephine saw, the
clamps and sutures, the many-shaped
delicate knives. And the other things,
that had set modern surgery so far
ahead of the crude Twentieth Century
techniques. The compounds that
prevented bleeding, the organic
chemicals that promoted cell
regeneration so rapidly and fully that a
wound would heal within hours and
leave no scar, the Stimulants and
anaesthetics that prevented shock, the
neurone compounds.
The UV tube was pulsing overhead,
sterilizing everything in the
laboratory. Simon, whose vision was
better and touch more sure than that of
any surgeon dependent on human
form, made the preliminary incision in
Keogh's skull.
Curt Newton had still not moved.
His face was as set and stubborn as
before, but there was a pallor about it
now, something of desperation.
Simon said sharply, "Curtis!"
Curt moved then. He came to the
table and put his hands on it beside the
dead man's head, and Simon saw that
they trembled.
"I can't," he whispered. "Simon, I
can't do it. I'm afraid."
Simon looked steadily into his eyes.
"There is no need to be. You will not
let me die."
He held out a glittering instrument.
Slowly, like a man in a dream, Curt
took it.
Otho's bright gaze softened. He
nodded to Simon, across Curt's
shoulder, and smiled. There was
admiration in that smile, for both of
them.
Simon busied himself with other
things.
"Pay particular attention, Curtis, to
the trigeminal, glossopharyngeal,
facial ­"
"I know all about that," said Curt,
with a peculiar irritation.
"­pneumogastric, spinal accessory,
and hypoglossal nerves," Simon
finished. Vials and syringes were laid
in a neat row. "Here is the anaesthetic
to be introduced into my serum-
stream. And immediately after the
operation, this is to be injected
beneath the dura and pia mater."
Curt nodded. His hands had stopped
shaking, working now with swift, sure
skill. His mouth had thinned to a grim
line.
Simon thought, He'll do. He'll
always do.
There was a moment, then, of
S
waiting. Simon looked down at the
man John Keogh and of a sudden fear
took hold of him, a deep terror of what
he was about to do.
He was content as he was. Once,
many years before, he had made his
choice between extinction and his
present existence. The genius of Curt's
own father had saved him then, given
him new life, and Simon had made
peace with that life, strange as it was,
and turned it to good use. He had
discovered the advantages of his new
form ­ the increased skills, the ability
to think clearly with a mind unfettered
by useless and uncontrollable
impulses of the flesh. He had learned
to be grateful for them.
And now, after all these years...
He thought, I cannot do it, after all!
I, too, am afraid ­ not of dying, but of
life.
And yet, beneath that fear was
longing, a hunger that Simon had
thought mercifully dead these many
years.
The longing to be once again a
man, a human being clothed in flesh.
The cold, clear mind of Simon
Wright, the precise, logical
unwavering mind, reeled under the
impact of these mingled dreads and
hungers. They leaped up full stature
from their graves in his subconscious.
He was shocked that he could still be
prey to emotion, and the voice of his
mind cried out, I cannot do it! No, I
cannot!
Curt said quietly, "All ready,
Simon."
Slowly, very slowly, Simon moved
and came to rest beside John Keogh.
He saw Otho watching him, with a
look of pain and understanding, and ­
yes, envy. Being unhuman himself,
Otho would know, where others could
only guess.
Curt's face was cut from stone. The
serum-pump broke its steady rhythm,
and then went on.
Simon Wright passed quietly into
the darkness.
CHAPTER III
Once Born of Flesh
earing came first. A distant
confusion of sounds, seeming
very dull and blurred. Simon's first
thought was that something had gone
wrong with his auditory mechanism.
Then a chill wing of memory brushed
him, and in its wake came a pang of
fear, and a sense of wrongness.
It was dark. Why should it be so
dark in the Comet?
From far off, someone called his
name. "Simon! Simon, open your
eyes!"
Eyes?
Again that dull inchoate terror. His
mind was heavy. It refused to
function, and the throb of the serum-
pump was gone.
The serum-pump, Simon thought. It
has stopped, arid I am dying!
He must call for help. That had
happened once before, and Curt had
saved him. He cried out, "Curtis, the
H
serum-pump has stopped!"
The voice was not his own, and it
was formed so strangely.
"I'm here, Simon. Open your eyes."
A long unused series of motor relays
clicked over in Simon's brain at that
repeated command. Without
conscious volition he raised his
eyelids. Someone's eyelids, surely not
his own! He had not had eyelids for
many years!
He saw.
Vision like the hearing, dim and
blurred. The familiar laboratory
seemed to swim in a wavering haze.
Curt's face, and Otho's, and above
them the looming form of Grag, and a
strange man... No, not strange; he had
a name and Simon knew it ­ Harker.
That name started the chain, and
Simon remembered. Memory pounced
upon him, worried him, tore him, and
now he could feel the fear ­ the
physical anguish of it, the sweating,
the pounding of the heart, the painful
contraction of the great bodily
ganglia.
"Raise your hand, Simon. Raise
your right hand." There was a strained
undertone in Curt's voice. Simon
understood. Curt was afraid he might
not have done things properly.
Uncertainly, like a child who has
not yet learned coordination, Simon
raised his right hand. Then his left. He
looked at them for an endless moment
and let them fall. Drops of saline
moisture stung his eyes, and he
remembered them. He remembered
tears.
"You're all right," Curt said shakily.
He helped Simon raise his head and
held a glass to his lips. "Can you drink
this? It will clear away the fog, give
you strength."
Simon drank, and the act of
drinking had wonder in it.
The potion counteracted the
remaining effects of the anaesthetic.
Sight and hearing cleared, and he had
his mind under control again. He lay
still for some time, trying to adjust
himself to the all but forgotten
sensations of the flesh.
The little things. The crispness of a
sheet against the skin, the warmth, the
pleasure of relaxed lips. The memory
of sleep.
He sighed, and in that, too, there
was wonder. "Give me your hand,
Curtis. I will stand."
Curt was on one side, Otho on the
other, steadying him. And Simon
Wright, in the body of John Keogh,
rose from the table where he had lain
and stood upright, a man and whole.
By the doorway, Harker fell
forward in a dead faint.
Simon looked at him, the strong
stocky man crumpled on the floor, his
face gray and sick. He said, with a
queer touch of pity for all humanity, "I
told him it would not be easy."
But even Simon had not realized
just how hard it would be.
There were so many things to be
learned all over again. Long used to a
weightless, effortless ease of
movement, this tall rangy body he
now inhabited seemed heavy and
awkward, painfully slow. He had great
difficulty in managing it. At first his
attempts to walk were a series of
ungainly staggerings wherein he must
cling to something to keep from
falling.
His sense of balance had to undergo
a complete readjustment. And the
dullness of his sight and hearing
bothered him. That was only
comparative, he knew ­ Keogh's sight
and hearing had been excellent, by all
human standards. But they lacked the
precision, the selectivity, the clarity to
which Simon had become
accustomed. He felt as though his
senses were somehow muffled, as by a
veil.
And it was a strange thing, when he
stumbled or made an incautious
movement, to feel pain again.
UT as he began to gain control
over this complicated bulk of
bone and muscle and nerve, Simon
found himself taking joy in it. The
endless variety of sensory and tactile
impressions, the feeling of life, of
warm blood flowing, the knowing of
heat and cold and hunger were
fascinating.
Once born of flesh, he thought, and
clenched his hands together. What
have I done? What madness have I
done?
He must not think of that, nor of
himself. He must think of nothing but
the task to be done, in the name of
John Keogh who was dead.
Harker recovered from his faint.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "It was just
that I saw him ­ you ­ rise up and
stand, it ­ "He did not finish. "I'm all
right, now. You don't have to worry."
Simon noticed that he kept his eyes
averted as much as possible. But there
was a dogged look about him that
said-he told the truth.
"We ought to get back as soon as
you can make it," Harker said. "We ­
Keogh and I, have been gone too long
as it is."
He added, "There's just one thing.
What about Dion?"
"Dion?"
"Keogh's son."
Simon said slowly, "No need to tell
the boy. He could hot understand, and
it will only torture him."
Mercifully, he thought, the time
would be short. But he wished that
Keogh had not had a son.
Curt interrupted. "Simon, I've been
talking to Harker. The council is
tonight, only a few hours away. And
you will have to go alone into the
Inner City, for there Harker is not
allowed to enter.
"But Otho and I are going to try to
get around Moneb and into the council
hall, secretly. Harker tells me that was
Keogh's idea, and it's a good one ­ if
it works. Grag will stay with the ship,
on call if necessary."
He handed Simon two objects, a
small mono-wave audio disc and a
heavy metal box only four inches
square.
"We'll keep in touch with the
audios," he said. "The other is a hasty
B
adaptation of the Comet's own
repellor field, but tuned for sonic
vibrations. I had to rob two of the coil
units. What do you think of it?"
Simon examined the tiny box, the
compact, cunning interior
arrangement of oscillators, the capsule
power unit, the four complicated
grids.
"The design might have been
further simplified, Curtis ­ but, under
the circumstances, a creditable job. It
will serve very well, in case of
necessity."
"Let's hope," said Curt feelingly,
"that there won't be any such case."
He looked at Simon and smiled. His
eyes held a deep pride and admiration.
"Good luck," he said.
Simon held out his hand. It was
long and long since he had done that.
He was amazed to find his voice
unsteady.
"Take care," he said. "All of you."
He turned and went out, going still
a bit uncertainly, and behind him he
heard Curt speaking low and savagely
to Harker.
"If you let anything happen to him,
I'll lull you with my own hands!"
Simon smiled.
Harker joined him, and they went
together through the lichen forest,
ghostly under the dim, far Sun. The
tall growths were silent now that the
wind had died. And as they went,
Harker talked of Moneb and the men
and women who dwelt there. Simon
listened, knowing that his life
depended on remembering what he
heard.
But even that necessity could not
occupy more than one small part of
his mind. The rest of it was busy with
the other things ­ the bitter smell of
dust, the chill bite of the air in the
shaded places, the warmth of the sun
in the clearings, the intricate play of
muscles necessary to the taking of a
step, the rasp of lichen fronds over
unprotected skin, the miracle of
breathing, of sweating, of grasping an
object with five fingers of flesh.
The little things one took for
granted. The small, miraculous
incredible things that one never
noticed until they were gone.
He had seen the forest before as a
dun-gray monochrome, heard it as a
pattern of rustling sound. It had been
without temperature, scent or feel.
Now it had all of these things. Simon
was overwhelmed with a flood of
impressions, poignant almost beyond
enduring.
e gathered strength and sureness
as he went. By the time he
breasted the slope of the ridge, he
could find pleasure in the difficulty of
climbing, scrambling up over
treacherous slides of dust, choking,
coughing as the acrid powder invaded
his lungs.
Harker swore, shambling bearlike
up the steep way among the lichens.
And suddenly Simon laughed. He
could not have said what made him do
so. But it was good to laugh again.
They avoided the clearing by
H
common consent. Harker led the way,
lower down across the ridge. They
came out onto open ground, and
Simon was touched beyond measure
to find that he had a shadow.
They paused to get their breath, and
Harker glanced sidelong at Simon, his
eyes full of a strange curiosity.
"How does it feel?" he asked. "How
does it feel to be a man again?"
Simon did not answer. He could
not. There were no words. He looked
away from Harker, out over the valley
that lay so quiet under the shadowy
Sun. He was filled with a strange
excitement, so that he felt himself
tremble.
As though suddenly frightened by
what he had said, and all the things
that were implicit in that question,
Harker turned suddenly and plunged
down the slope, almost running, and
Simon followed. Once he slipped and
caught himself, gashing his hand
against a rock. He stood motionless,
watching with wondering eyes the
slow red drops that ran from the cut,
until Harker had called him three
rimes by Keogh's name, and once by
his own.
They avoided the New Town. "No
use asking for trouble," Harker said,
and led the way past it down a ravine.
But they could see it in the distance, a
settlement of metalloy houses on a
shoulder of the ridge, below the black
mouth of the mines. Simon thought
the town was strangely quiet.
"See the shutters on the windows?"
Harker asked. "See the barricades in
the streets? They're waiting, waiting
for tonight."
He did not speak again. At the foot
of the ridge they came to an open
plain, dotted with clumps of grayish1
scrub. They began to cross it, toward
the outskirts of the city.
But as they approached Moneb a
group of men came running to meet
them. At their head Simon saw a tall,
dark-haired boy.
Harker said, "That is your son."
His skin a lighter gold, his face a
mixture of Keogh's and something of
a softer beauty, his eyes very direct
and proud, Dion was what Simon
would have expected.
He felt a sense of guilt as he greeted
the boy by name. Yet mingled with it
was a strange feeling of pride. He
thought suddenly, I wish that I had
had a son like this, in the old days
before I changed.
And then, desperately, "I must not
think these things! The lure of the
flesh is pulling me back."
Dion was breathless with haste, his
face showing the marks of
sleeplessness and worry.
"Father, we've scoured the valley
for you! Where have you been?"
Simon started the explanation that
he had concerted with Harker, but the
boy cut him short, racing from one
thing to another in an urgent flood of
words.
"You didn't come, and we were
afraid something had happened to
you. And while you were gone, they
advanced the time of the council!
They hoped you wouldn't come back
at all, but if you did, they were going
to make sure it was too late."
Dion's strong young hand gripped
Simon's arm. "They're already
gathering in the council hall! Come
on. There may still be time, but we
must hurry!"
Harker looked grimly over the
boy's head at Simon. "It's come
already."
With Keogh's impatient son, and
the men with him, they hurried on into
the city.
Houses of mud brick, generations
old, and towering above them the wall
of the Inner City, and above that still
the roofs and squat, massive towers of
the palaces and temples, washed with
a kind of lime and painted with ocher
and crimson.
HE air was full of smells ­ of
food and the smoke of Cooking
fires, acrid-sweet, of dust, of human
bodies oiled and fragrant and musky,
of old brick crumbling in the sun, of
beasts in pens, of unknown spices.
Simon breathed them deeply, and
listened to the echo of his footsteps
ring hollow from the walls. He felt the
rising breeze cold on his face that was
damp with sweat. And again the
excitement shook him, and with it
came a sort of awe at the
magnificence of human sensation.
I had forgotten so much, he
thought. And how was it possible ever
to forget?
He walked down the streets of
Moneb, striding as a tall man strides,
his head erect, a proud fire in his eyes.
The dark-haired folk with skins of
golden copper watched him from the
doorways and sent the name of Keogh
whispering up the lanes and the
twisting alleys.
It came to Simon that there was yet
another thing in the air of Moneb ­ a
thing called fear.
They came to the gates in the inner
wall. Here Harker dropped helplessly
back with the other men, and Simon -
and the son of Keogh went on alone.
Temple and palace rose above him,
impressive and strong, bearing in
heroic frescoes the history of the kings
of Moneb. Simon hardly saw them.
There was a tightness in him now, a
gathering of nerves.
This was the test ­ now, before he
was ready for it. This was the time
when he must not falter, or the thing
he had done would be for nothing, and
the Harpers would be brought into the
valley of Moneb.
Two round towers of brick, a low
and massive doorway. Dimness,
lighted by torches, red light flaring on
coppery flesh, on the ceremonial robes
of the councilors, here and there on a
helmet of barbaric design. Voices,
clamoring over and through each
other. A feeling of tension so great
that the nerves screamed with it.
Dion pressed his arm and said
something that Simon did not catch,
but the smile, the look of love and
pride, were unmistakable. Then the
boy was gone, to the shadowy benches
T
beyond.
Simon stood alone.
At one end of the low, oblong hall,
beside the high, gilded seat of the
king, he saw a group of helmeted men
looking toward him with hatred they
did not even try to conceal, and with
it, a contempt that could only come
from triumph.
And suddenly from out of the
uneasy milling of the throng before
him an old man stepped and put his
hands on Simon's shoulders, and
peered at him with anguished eyes.
"It is too late, John Keogh," the old
man said hoarsely. "It is all for
nothing. They have brought the
Harpers in!"
CHAPTER IV
The Harpers
IMON felt a cold shock of recoil.
He had not looked for this. He had
not expected that now, this soon, he
might be called upon to meet the
Harpers.
He had met them once before, years
ago. He knew the subtle and terrible
danger of them. It had shaken him
badly then, when he was a brain
divorced from flesh. What would it do
to him, now that he dwelt again in a
vulnerable, unpredictable human
body?
His hand closed tightly on the tiny
metal box in his pocket. He must
gamble that it would protect him from
the Harpers'power. But, remembering
that experience of years ago, he
dreaded the test.
He asked the old councillor, "Do
you know this to be true, about the
Harpers?"
"Taras and two others were seen at
dawn, coming back from the forest,
each bearing a hidden thing. And ­
they wore the Helmets of Silence."
The old man gestured toward the
group of men by the king's throne who
looked with such triumphant hatred at
he whom they thought to be John
Keogh.
"See, they wear them still!"
Swiftly, Simon studied the helmets.
At first glance they had seemed no
more than the ordinary bronze battle-
gear of a barbaric warrior. Now he
saw that they were of curious design,
covering the ears and the entire cranial
area, and overlarge as though padded
with many layers of some insulating
material.
The Helmets of Silence. He knew,
now, that Keogh had spoken truly
when he told of an ancient means of
protection used long ago by the men
of Moneb against the Harpers. Those
helmets would protect, yes.
The king of Moneb rose from his
throne. And the nervous uproar in the
hall stilled to a frozen tension.
A young man, the king. Very
young, very frightened, weakness and
stubbornness mingled in his face. His
head was bare.
"We of Moneb have too long
tolerated strangers in our valley ­
have even suffered one of them to sit
S
in this council and influence our
decisions," he began.
Here there was a sharp uneasy
turning of heads toward "Keogh."
"The strangers' ways more and
more color the lives of our people.
They must go ­ all of them! And since
they will not go willingly, they must
be forced!"
He had learned the speech by rote.
Simon knew that from the way in
which he stumbled over it, the way in
which his eyes slid to the tallest of the
cloaked and helmeted men beside
him, for prompting and strength. The
dark, tall man whom Simon
recognized from Harker's description
as Keogh's chief enemy, Taras.
"We cannot force the Earthmen out
with our darts and spears. Their
weapons are too strong. But we too
have a weapon, one they cannot fight!
It was forbidden to us, by foolish
kings who were afraid it might be
used against them. But now we must
use it.
"Therefore I demand that the old
tabu be lifted! I demand that we
invoke the power of the Harpers to
drive the Earthmen forth!"
There was a taut, unhappy silence
in the hall. Simon saw men looking at
him, the eager confidence in young
Dion's eyes. He knew 'that they
placed in him their desperate last hope
of preventing this thing.
They were right, for whatever was
done he must do alone. Curt Newton
and Otho could not possibly have yet
made their way secretly by back ways
to this council hall.
Simon strode forward. He looked
around him. Because of what he was,
a kind of fierce exaltation took him, to
be once more a man among men. It
made his voice ring loud, thundering
from the low vault.
"Is it not true that the king fears, not
the Earthmen, but Taras ­ and that
Taras is bent not on freeing Moneb
from a mythical yoke, but in placing
one of his own upon our necks?"
There was a moment of utter
silence in which they all, king and
councilors alike, stared at him aghast.
And in the silence, Simon said grimly:
"I speak for the council! There will
be no lifting of tabu ­ and he that
brings the Harpers into Moneb does so
under pain of death!"
For one short moment the
councilors recovered their courage
and voiced it. The hall shook with the
cheering. Under cover of the noise
Taras bent and spoke into the king's
ear, and Simon saw the face of the
king become pallid.
ROM behind the high seat Taras
lifted a helmet bossed in gold and
placed it on the king's head. A Helmet
of Silence.
The cheering faded, and was not.
The king said hoarsely, "Then for
the good of Moneb, I must disband the
council,"
Taras stepped forward. He looked
directly at Simon, and his eyes smiled.
"We had foreseen your traitorous
counsels, John Keogh. And so we
F
came prepared."
He flung back his cloak. Beneath it,
in the curve of his left arm, was
something wrapped in silk.
Simon instinctively stepped back. :
Taras ripped the silk away. And in
his hands was a living creature no
larger than a dove, a thing of silver
and rose-pearl and delicate frills of
shining membrane, and large, soft,
gentle eyes.
A dweller in the deep forests, a shy
sweet bearer of destruction, an angel
of madness and death.
A Harper!
A low moan rose among the
councilors, and there was a shifting
and a swaying of bodies poised for
flight. Taras said,
"Be still. There is time enough for
running, when I give you leave."
The councilors were still. The king
was still, white-faced upon his throne.
But on the shadowy benches, Simon
saw Keogh's son bent forward,
yearning toward the man he thought to
be his father, his face alight with a
child's faith.
Taras stroked the creature in his
hands, his head bent low over it.
The membranous frills began to lift
arid stir. The rose-pearl body pulsed,
and there broke forth a ripple of music
like the sound of a muted harp,
infinitely sweet and distant.
The eyes of the Harper glowed. It
was happy, pleased to be released
from the binding silk that had kept its
membranes useless for the making of
music. Taras continued to stroke it
gently, and it responded with a
quivering freshet of song, the liquid
notes running and trilling upon the
silent air.
And two more of the helmeted men
brought forth silvery, soft-eyed
captives from under their cloaks, and
they began to join their music
together, timidly at first, and then
more and more without hesitation,
until the council hall was full of the
strange wild harping and men stood
still because they were too entranced
now to move.
Even Simon was not proof against
that infinitely poignant tide of thrilling
sound. He felt his body respond, every
nerve quivering with a pleasure akin
to pain.
He had forgotten the effect of music
on the human consciousness. For
many years he had forgotten music.
Now, suddenly, all those long-closed
gates between mind and body were
flung open by the soaring song of the
Harpers. Clear, lovely, thoughtless,
the very voice of life unfettered, the
music filled Simon with an aching
hunger for he knew not what. His
mind wandered down vague pathways
thronged with shadows, and his heart
throbbed with a solemn joy that was
close to tears.
Caught in the sweet wild web of
that harping, he stood motionless,
dreaming, forgetful of fear and
danger, of everything except that
somewhere in that music was the
whole secret of creation, and that he
was poised on the very edge of
understanding the subtle secret of that
song.
Song of a newborn universe
joyously shouting its birth-cry, of
young suns calling to each other in
exultant strength, the thunderous
chorus of star-voices and the
humming bass of the racing, spinning
worlds!
Song of life, growing, burgeoning,
bursting, on every world, complicated
counterpoint of a million million
species voicing the ecstasy of being in
triumphant chorus!
Something deep in Simon Wright's
tranced mind warned him that he was
being trapped by that hypnotic web of
sound, that he was falling deeper,
deeper, into the Harpers' grip. But he
could not break the spell of that
singing.
Soaring singing of the leaf drinking
the- sun, of the bird on the wing, of
the beast warm in its burrow, of the
young, bright miracle of love, of birth,
of living!
And then the song changed. The
beauty and joy faded from it, and into
the sounds came a note of terror,
growing, growing...
T came to Simon then that Taras
was speaking to the thing he held,
and that the soft eyes of the Harper
were afraid.
The creature's simple mind was
sensitive to telepathic impulses, and
Taras was filling its mild emptiness
with thoughts of danger and of pain,
so that its membranes shrilled now to
a different note.
The other Harpers picked it up.
Shivering, vibrating together and
across each other's rhythms, the three
small rose-pearl beings flooded the air
with a shuddering sound that was the
essence of all fear.
Fear of a blind universe that lent its
creatures life only to snatch it from
them, of the agony and death that
always and forever must rend the
bright fabric of living!
Fear of the somber depths of
darkness and pain into which all life
must finally descend, of the shadows
that closed down so fast, so fast!
That awful threnody of primal
terror that shuddered from the Harpers
struck icy fingers of dread across the
heart. Simon recoiled from it, he could
not bear it, he knew that if he heard it
long he must go mad.
Only dimly was he aware of the
terror among the other councilors, the
writhing of their faces, the movements
of their hands. He tried to cry out but
his voice was lost in the screaming of
the Harpers, going ever higher and
higher until it wastorture to the body.
And still Taras bent over the
Harper, cruel-eyed, driving it to frenzy
with the power of his mind. And still
the Harpers screamed, and now the
sound had risen and part of it had
slipped over the threshold of hearing,
and the super-sonic notes stabbed the
brain like knives.
A man bolted past Simon. Another
followed, and another, and then more
and more, clawing, trampling, falling,
I
floundering in the madness of panic.
And he himself must flee!
He would not flee! Something held
him from the flight his body craved­
some inner core of thought hardened
and strengthened by his long
divorcement from the flesh. It steadied
him, made him fight back with iron
resolution, to reality.
His shaking hand drew out the little
metal box. The switch clicked.
Slowly, as the power of the thing built
up, it threw out a high, shrill keening
sound.
"The one weapon against the
Harpers!" Curt had said. "The only
thing that can break sound is ­sound!"
The little repeller reached out its
keening sonic vibrations and caught at
the Harpers' terrible singing, like a
claw.
It clawed and twisted and broke that
singing. It broke it, by its subtle sonic
interference, into shrieking
dissonances.
Simon strode forward, toward the
throne and toward Taras. And now
into the eyes of Taras had come a
deadly doubt.
The Harpers, wild and frightened
now, strove against the keening sound
that broke their song into hideous
discord. The shuddering sonic
struggle raged, much of it far above
the level of hearing, and Simon felt
his body plucked and shaken by
terrible vibrations.
He staggered, but he went on. The
faces of Taras and the others were
contorted by pain. The king had
fainted on his throne.
Storm of shattered harmonies, of
splintered sound, .shrieked like the
very voice of madness around the
throne. Simon, his mind darkening,
knew that he could endure no more...
And suddenly it was over. Beaten,
exhausted, the Harpers stilled the wild
vibration of their membranes. Utterly
silent, they remained motionless in the
hands of their captors, their soft eyes
glazed with hopeless terror.
Simon laughed. He swayed a little
on his feet and said to Taras,
"My weapon is stronger than
yours!"
Taras dropped the Harper. It
crawled away and hid itself beneath
the throne.
Taras whispered,
"Then we must have it from you,
Earthman!"
He sprang toward Simon. On his
heels came the others, mad with the
bitter fury of defeat when they had
been so sure of victory.
Simon snatched out the audio-disc
and raised it to his lips, pressing its
button and crying out the one word,
"Hurry!"
He felt that it was too late. But not
until now, not until this moment when
fear conquered the force of tradition,
could Curt and Otho have entered this
forbidden place without provoking the
very outbreak that must be prevented.
IMON went down beneath his
attackers' rush. As he went down,
he saw that the councilors who had
S
fled were running back to help him.
He heard their voices shouting, and he
saw the boy Dion among them.
Something struck cruelly against
his head, and there was a crushing
weight upon him. Someone screamed,
and he caught the bright sharp flash of
darts through the torchlight.
He tried to rise, but he could not.
He was near unconsciousness, aware
only of a confusion of movement and
ugly sounds. He smelled blood, and he
knew pain.
He must have moved, for he found
himself on his hands and knees,
looking down into the face of Dion.
The shank of a copper dart stood out
from the boy's breast, and there was a
streak of red across the golden skin.
His eyes met Simon's, in a dazed,
wondering look. He whispered
uncertainly:
"Father!"
He crept into Simon's arms. Simon
held him, and Dion murmured once
more and then sighed. Simon
continued to hold him, though the boy
had become very heavy and his eyes
looked blankly now into nothingness.
It came to Simon that the hall had
grown quiet. A voice spoke to him.
He lifted his head and saw Curt
standing over him, and Otho, both
staring at him anxiously. He could not
see them clearly. He said, "The boy
thought I was his father. He clung to
me and called me Father as he died."
Otho took Dion's body and laid it
gently on the stones.
Curt said, "It's all over, Simon. We
got here in time, and it's all right."
Simon rose. Taras and his men
were dead. Those who had tried to
foster hatred were gone, and not ever
again would Harpers be brought into
Moneb. That was what the pale,
shaken councilors around him were
telling him.
He could not hear them clearly. Not
so clearly, somehow, as the fading
whisper of a dying boy.
He turned and walked out of the
council hall, onto the steps. It was
dark now.
There were torches flaring, and the
wind blew cold, and he was very tired.
Curt stood beside him. Simon said,
"I will go back to the ship."
He saw the question in Curt's eyes,
the question that he did not quite dare
to ask.
Heartsick, Simon spoke the lines
that a Chinese poet had written long
ago.
"'Now I know, that the ties of flesh
and blood only bind us to a load of
grief and sorrow.'"
He shook his head. "I will return to
what I was. I could not bear the agony
of a second human life­no!"
Curt did not answer. He took
Simon's arm and they walked together
across the court.
Behind them Otho came, carrying
gently three small creatures of silver
and rose-pearl, who began now to
sound ripples of muted music, faint
but hopeful at first, then soaring
swiftly to a gladness of prisoners
newly freed.
They buried the body of John
Keogh in the clearing where he had
died, and the boy Dion lay beside him.
Over them, Curt and Grag and Otho
built a cairn of stones with Harker's
help.
From the shadows, Simon Wright
watched, a small square shape of
metal hovering on silent beams, again
a living brain severed forever from
human form.
It was done, and they parted from
Harker and went down through the
great booming lichens toward the
ship. Curt and the robot and android
paused and looked back at the tall
cairn towering lonely against the stars.
But Simon did not look back.