A Man of Double Deed Page 6

  ‘Meanwhile the liner glided smoothly across the devastated waste-land with an occasional City rising amid the red piles of atomised dust, then sped out over the blue sea.

  ‘We’re in Twelfth Section now,’ said Coman. Sein sat up eagerly and gazed down through the window at her elbow. Soon the City came into view, glittering upon the ocean like a necklace flung high upon purple velvet. As they swept lower she caught sight of the spires and minarets, and then the shining domes of the government buildings. Lower still, she made out the islands themselves, white in the sun, so far below the City that it’s shadow upon them was diffused, broken, and shot through with reflected sunlight from the structure above. How beautiful, she thought. This is Earth, and the home of men. No matter how much noise, pain and ugliness there may be – the beauty outweighs them all. In people, and in the kernel of a nut, even in the petals of a flower, there is a kind of love …

  In the strange exultation brought into her heart by the sight far below, Sein was unaware that Coman knew her thoughts and, with his eyes upon her fine hair as it fell away on each side of her slender neck, shared her happiness. Yesterday there were bad moments, he thought, but here is one that is good. He glanced at Jonl. She sat tensed in her seat, hands clenched so that the knuckles showed white. Her face was that of a stricken child. As Coman watched she turned her gaze towards him, and her mouth formed the words: ‘I’m frightened, Claus.’

  He took her hand then and, entering her mind, felt the pulsing of her blood, the quick beat of the heart that thrust it around and around inside the shell of flesh … saw her as a child beset by bright colours and vivid imaginings, and as a women, old and dying. He saw himself for an instant as she saw him, and knew all these things that tormented her.

  ‘What’s wrong with me?’ she murmured.

  ‘Nothing – but fear.’

  Just then the pilot announced: ‘We are coming in to land in thirty seconds, ladies and gentlemen. Please settle in your seats.’

  When they had done so he pressed a button, and the safety bands, curved and invisible, encased them, so that they sat motionless, unable to move a muscle, as the liner dived at five hundred miles an hour. Like a plummet the vehicle landed upon the airstrip, and was stopped by the invisible net of mesh there. Seconds later, the passengers disembarked and presented themselves for checking and identification.

  While this was going on, a hollow voice boomed from the loudspeakers: ‘Welcome to the Show City of the Pacific! Here you may bask in the most glorious sunshine in the world and sample the most varied and ingenious entertainments and amusements devised by Man … the Fifteenth City is the only City which is allowed eight hours of rain per week, and this is carefully spread out over each twenty-four hours to give you maximum enjoyment!… Between thirty and forty men and women risk their lives every week in the Sports Arena for your pleasure!… For those with more conventional tastes there are swimming and boating facilities, golf courses, and the rest … See the great natural parkland surrounding the Government Area!… Observe the alien areas, accurate down to the last detail!… See the pictures received recently from Space on the fossils of webbed creatures found on a satellite of Pluto … Now hear this! Your personal safety is our responsibility and our police are the best trained and most efficient on Earth. But remember – if you should suffer serious injury or death from criminal attack, your next of kin will immediately receive 3,000 koneas and the remainder of your blood relatives 500 koneas each …’

  Coman and Jonl hardly listened to this chatter, but Sein, who was hearing it for the first time, shuddered and said: ‘How impersonal it all sounds. Surely they could have got someone with a more cheerful voice!’

  ‘It’s a robot machine,’ Jonl explained. ‘They probably never even thought of using a human voice.’

  ‘We can leave our cases here, to be sent on later,’ said Coman.

  Coming out of the Port, they were faced with a score of floor-belts and a large illuminated map of the City.

  ‘Rain in ten minutes, thirty-two seconds from now!’ bellowed another hollow voice – and the three of them glanced at each other and laughed simultaneously.

  ‘What shall we do first?’ asked Sein.

  ‘Whatever you like, darling,’ said Jonl.

  Sein gazed at the sign-board with furrowed brow while her companions watched her with amusement. At last, tapping her teeth with one finger, a habit of hers when pleasantly excited, she said: ‘I’d love a swim in the rain.’

  ‘Right. But we’d better get moving,’ said Coman.

  They stepped on to the appropriate pathway and were quickly taken to the open-air pool a mile or so away. Arriving with five minutes to spare, they obtained changing cubicles and arranged to meet as soon as possible by the pool.

  Coman was first out and found the place crowded with humans – aliens evident being barred from this particular establishment. Clouds were already overhead and everyone seemed to be enjoying the dull, grey atmosphere. Since arriving he had been careful with his thoughts, but now, perhaps because of the general air of well-being and relaxation, he saw little harm in chancing a quick ‘reading’ of the people around the pool.

  After diving in among a group of men and women disporting themselves, he surfaced, dived again and, on resurfacing, opened his mind for a second, for a quick, wide probe – and knew immediately that he had been a fool. Cursing his hastiness he dived again, down to the tiled shining bottom to swim among a forest of legs and come up several yards away. Pulling himself out, he lay face upwards, his conscious mind now blank, his body relaxed, for all the world like a normal holiday maker, indistinguishable from the score of others who lay or sat around him.

  For in the brief instant of awareness another mind had felt and recognised that awareness. There was another telepath – a joker, in fact – not far distant from him, in the vicinity of the swimming pool.

  Chapter V

  COMAN LAY THERE as the seconds ticked by, his inner thoughts like fragile creatures, tiptoeing behind the shield he had erected during the last plunge to the bottom of the pool. Meanwhile, on the other side of that shield an unknown someone, questing, sniffing, trying to break in. What hellish luck, he thought, to have been detected so swiftly, with minutes of landing in the City!

  Yet he was not physically discovered, for on contact the other telepath had been more startled than Coman, who, in the moment of surprise, had manged to close his mind before his exact whereabouts could be pinpointed. Now that other perception was running hither and thither among the crowd, desperately anxious to find him again before it was too late.

  His eyes still closed, he breathed more easily, keeping tight hold of the mind block. Even if he were not rediscovered, his presence was known, and that was bad enough. The joker would contact his or her mate and their guard would be doubled. Of course, there was the possibility that it might be Vane – or even an odd telepath unconnected with the business he had come for – but somehow Coman knew that the person who had sensed him was neither of these. There had been an element of watchfulness, a sentinel-like speed of search, and the desperate annoyance at having lost him.

  He opened his eyes and surveyed the people around lazily and casually, as an unattached man might look for a pretty girl. At least he had the advantage of being able to recognise his adversaries on sight. But just then Sein and Jonl arrived and stood watching him, so that he was forced to discontinue his search almost before it had begun. He stared at them with obvious admiration. They had both bought costumes of the very latest fashion and these fitted their bodies like gloves, leaving only shoulders, legs and arms bare.

  ‘We just made it – look, it’s raining!’ cried Sein. She stood on the tips of her toes, her slender body quivering like a bow, stayed poised for a moment and then dived into the pool.

  Jonl sat down beside Coman, drawing her knees up and clasping her arms around them. ‘How interesting you look, with your cold eyes,’ she said. ‘Nobody could be as cruel and mean as you loo
k. What are you thinking, I wonder?’

  ‘I’m wondering how I shall get you two away without trouble.’

  Jonl looked around, and, sure enough, many pairs of male eyes were upon her. As if in answer to her glance, a tall, muscular young man got up and strolled towards them, a friendly grin upon his face.

  ‘Hullo there, my name’s Jark,’ he said, putting one hand over his heart – the customary salute of a man to a woman who attracted him.

  Coman grunted and, while half listening to the ensuing conversation, allowed his gaze to wander slowly over the crowd round the pool.

  ‘No,’ said Jonl.

  ‘What do you mean – no. Don’t tell me you’re “committed” or something equally ridiculous.’

  ‘I am, to this man.’

  ‘How crazy can you get? I won’t believe it until you show me the insignia.’

  ‘It’s in my dressing-room. You’ll have to believe me, or suffer a severe disappointment later.’

  The young man looked disgusted, his eyes greedy on the charms which it now seemed were quite out of his reach. ‘Well, I suppose I can at least talk to you – or will he object?’

  Coman stopped searching for a face and shook his head, smiling, waiting for the next gambit. Jark sat down, stretching his long well-made limbs and giving Jonl the benefit of a well-cut profile.

  ‘He’s an ugly looking blighter, what on earth d’you see in him? No, don’t tell me, let me guess. He’s a smooth-talker, worldly, fortyish. I can’t wait until I pass that milestone – the nicest and most interesting girls don’t seem to want to be seen dead with young, virile men.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think you go short of girls,’ said Jonl in an effort to keep the conversation amiable.

  He stroked his hair reflectively. ‘I don’t do too badly. But of course I really want a girl to live with until death do us part. Insignia and all the rest of it —’

  ‘But you said just now —’

  ‘I’d only just met you then. You know, if you thought of breaking your bond, I could make you happy, in bed and out.’

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Jonl, coolly.

  ‘Do you? Do you know the difference between enjoying a young man and putting up with a has-been?’ His voice had taken on an odd petulance, for he was used to easy conquests and could not bear the idea of being dismissed in this airy manner. Also the nearness of the girl’s body and particularly the swell of her firm breasts, together with the growing conviction that she was indeed possessed in the ancient manner, aroused in him a sense of injustice and considerable anger.

  It had stopped raining. Coman was about to speak when Sein appeared dripping from the pool. Laughing she walked over to them and, ignoring their new companion, stood astride Coman and shook herself, so that the drops of water fell over his face and shoulders.

  ‘Well, when are you two coming in?’

  Jark looked thunderstruck. ‘Don’t tell me the three of you are —’

  Jonl nodded. ‘It’s your unlucky day, I’m afraid.’

  ‘It must be some kind of joke!’ he said, and a look of incredulity spread across the young man’s face.

  Coman raised himself on his elbow and looked Jark in the eye for the first time. ‘Why don’t you go and excite yourself somewhere else?’

  At this insult the other jumped to his feet. ‘I’ve half a mind to challenge you to combat in the Arena!’

  ‘With what – dirty diapers?’ Coman’s tone was tired and he was thinking: This had to happen. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and let it pass over. Now …

  But Jonl, stifling her laughter, was saying: ‘Don’t be silly, Jark – he’d eat you. My, but you have got a wonderful figure though.’ She reached out a hand and touched his calf. Startled, he looked down at her, not knowing whether she meant what she said or was just testing him. He was soon to find out. Under the pretext of a caress, her fingers moved upward and reaching nerve centres by the knee swiftly pressed and twisted. He gave a yelp, his leg buckled, his whole trunk turning in a half circle, and on the instant his buttocks came round she caught one of them with the heel of her palm and pushed. He went straight into the pool, and Jonl stood up with eyes sparkling and said: ‘Come on, Sein, we’ll take all the fire out of him before he gets his breath back. He’ll want to crawl away and die by the time we’ve finished with him!’

  The sun was out once more, beating upon the pool and its occupants, reflecting in a glare from the white wall surround, shifting on the water like diamonds continually scattered, and filling Coman with a measure of its strength. He loved the parent sun and could endure its harsh breath and heavy hand longer than most men – an ability which had stood him in good stead during the early trips to Mercury, before Man had decided that he could not hold a permanent base upon that roasting pan full of minerals and valuable ores not found on Earth.

  Jark, after having been ducked unmercifully two or three times, had regained his good humour and was engaging in ball play with his tormentors and some others in the water. Coman therefore had a chance to scan the crowd without interruption. No luck. Whoever it was who had caught his probe had now either retired from sight or left the pool entirely. But there was still a possibility of finding him or her without being found himself, and Coman decided to take the chance.

  The way to the dressing cubicles was through the restaurant, and this was reached by a short enclosed passage, the interior of which lay in shadow, intensified near the entrance by the sharp division from bright sunlight. He got to his feet slowly and moved in small stages until he was near the opening, then quickly melted into the darkness. If the other telepath had entered the restaurant and was behind him then nothing would save him from being discovered. But he faced the pool, relaxed the guard over his perception and took a wide ‘reading’ of the crowd. Nothing happened for a moment, and then he felt it, the question:

  Who are you?

  It was a woman – he knew that now.

  Yes, I’m a woman. But who are you – and where?

  But he had blocked once more and stepping backwards, deeper into the shadow, was now using only his eyes, watching intently the spot from which the questions had come. She would have pinpointed his general location also and would now be scanning this particular area, or at least moving into a position from where … Ah! He had her. It was a female joker Karns had warned him about. The image of her head and face sent by Karns had been brief, concerned with bone structure, colour of eyes and hair, giving only the salient points necessary for identification. But he saw now a woman of around twenty-eight, in a brief bathing costume, no more than five feet tall, slim and good-looking in a doll-like way, standing on tiptoe in an effort to see over the heads and shoulders of the people moving around in front of her.

  Even a this distance – some forty yards – Coman seemed to feel her green eyes upon him, although he knew that he must be invisible to her. She had begun to move towards where he stood, expressions of both irritation and determination on her face. He thought quickly. Her gaze was now concentrated on the doorway, and to emerge into the light would mean fairly certain identification. For the second time that afternoon he had acted with regrettable haste. It would be a race to see who got dressed first – and what then? He would have to leave Sein and Jonl behind and contact them later, when they were wearing their wrist receivers, for even if he were caught by the woman, she must not learn of their existence.

  While these thoughts ran through his head he was hurrying to the cubicle, and as he dressed he detached the telltale insignia from his sleeve and put it in his pocket. Until he could get rid of this woman he must take on the mantle of a completely different personality. He knew she would find him now, because at this range one telepath had little difficult in tracking another, even if unable to read the other’s exact thoughts. It was a feeling, the kind of feeling an animal experiences when brushed by a supernatural force. He could feel her nearer already, seeking …

  So? He had to make a start somewhere, and if this was
the way the luck was running he must go with it – and perhaps turn it to his advantage.

  Nosey little bitch, he thought openly.

  Oh, so you are here, she thought back at him. Why did you run away?

  I’m shy of women.

  I’ll bet you are. Give me a picture of yourself.

  He made no answer to this and, completing his dressing, went out into the restaurant. Resigning himself and hoping against hope that neither Sein or Jonl had missed him, he sat at a table and waited. In a few minutes she emerged from the women’s cubicle across the room and glanced around quickly. He met her gaze without further ado, and she came towards him, drawing on a pair of thin, elegant gloves that reached halfway up her bare arms. She wore a trim two-piece costume of shimmering material containing coloured crystal patterns of all kinds.

  Looking at him steadily she said: ‘Well, you’re a hard-eyed sort of snake – aren’t you going to buy me a drink?’

  He shook his head. ‘I want somewhere where I can puff a cigarette. D’you know of such a place?’

  ‘You’re a stranger here?’

  ‘I’ve only just got back to the planet. Last time on Earth two years ago.’

  ‘What are you here for – a holiday?’

  He nodded. ‘I’m a geologist, back from an expedition to Mercury.’

  ‘And a telepath?’

  He got up and took her arm. ‘Keep your voice down. I’ve heard you can get lynched in some places for being just that.’

  She looked at him sharply but allowed herself to be steered towards the exit. Coman knew that she was naturally suspicious of him but he knew also that she was attracted, and this was reassuring. So long as he could temporarily ‘forget’ Sein and Jonl and the purpose of his visit all would be well, and he might even gain an advantage over the opposition.

  When they reached the pavement outside the building she removed her arm from his grasp and looked hard at him. ‘You don’t happen to belong to the great brotherhood of do-gooders, do you?’