Slowly, cautiously, Shekt approached the robotlike Secretary and, not without a qualm, extended his hand. In the open palm thereof lay the blaster, butt first.
"Let him take it, Schwartz," said Shekt.
Balkis's hand reached out and grasped the weapon clumsily. For a moment there was a sharp, devouring glitter in his eyes, and then it all faded. Slowly, slowly, the blaster was put into its place in the belt, and the hand fell away.
Schwartz's laugh was high-pitched. "He almost got away, there." But his face was white as he spoke.
"Well? Can you hold him?"
"He's fighting like the devil. But it's not as bad as before."
"That's because you know what you're doing," said Shekt, with an encouragement he did not entirely feel. "Transmit, now. Don't try to hold him; just pretend you're doing it yourself."
Arvardan broke in. "Can you make him talk?"
There was a pause, then a low, rasping growl from the Secretary. Another pause; another rasp.
"That's all," panted Schwartz.
"But why won't it work?" asked Pola. She looked worried.
Shekt shrugged. "Some pretty delicate and complicated muscles are involved. It's not like yanking at the long limb muscles. Never mind, Schwartz. We may get by without."
The memory of the next two hours was something no two of those that took part in the queer odyssey could duplicate. Dr. Shekt, for instance, had acquired a queer rigidity in which all his fears were drowned in one breathless and helpless sympathy with the inwardly struggling Schwartz. Throughout he had eyes only for that round face as it slowly furrowed and twisted with effort. For the others he had hardly time for more than a moment's glance.
The guards immediately outside the door saluted sharply at the appearance of the Secretary, his green robe redolent of officialdom and power. The Secretary returned the salute in a fumbling, flat manner. They passed, unmolested.
It was only when they had left the great Hall that Arvardan became conscious of the madness of it all. The great, unimaginable danger to the Galaxy and the flimsy reed of safety that bridged, perhaps, the abyss. Yet even then, even then, Arvardan felt himself drowning in Pola's eyes. Whether it was the life that was being snatched from him, the future that was being destroyed about him, the eternal unavailability of the sweetness he had tasted-whatever it was, no one had ever seemed to him to be so completely and devastatingly desirable.
In aftertime she was the sum of his memories. Only the girl- And upon Pola the sunny brightness of the morning burned down so that Arvardan's downturned face blurred before her. She smiled up at him and was conscious of that strong, hard arm on which her own rested so lightly. That was the memory that lingered afterward. Flat, firm muscle lightly covered by glossy-textured plastic cloth, smooth and cool under her wrist- Schwartz was in a sweating agony. The curving drive that led away from the side entrance from which they had emerged was largely empty. For that he was hugely thankful.
Schwartz alone knew the full cost of failure. In the enemy Mind that he controlled he could sense the unbearable humiliation, the surpassing hatred, the utterly horrible resolves. He had to search that Mind for the information that guided him-the position of the official ground car, the proper route to take-And, in searching, he also experienced the galling bitterness of the determined revenge that would lash out should his control waver for but the tenth part of the second.
The secret fastnesses of the Mind in which he was forced to rummage remained his personal possession forever. In aftertimes there came the pale gray hours of many an innocent dawn during which once again he had guided the steps of a madman down the dangerous walks of an enemy stronghold.
Schwartz gasped at the words when they reached the ground car. He no longer dared relax sufficiently to utter connected sentences. He choked out quick phrases: "Can't-drive car-can't make-him-make drive-complicated-can't-"
Shekt soothed him with a soft, clucking sound. He dared not touch him, dared not speak in an ordinary way, dared net distract Schwartz's mind for a second.
He whispered, "Just get him into the back seat, Schwartz. I'll drive. I know how. From now on just keep him still. and I'll take the blaster away."
The Secretary's ground car was a special model. Because it was special, it was different. It attracted attention. Its green headlight turned to the right and left in rhythmic swings as the light dimmed and brightened in emerald flashes. Men paused to watch. Ground cars advancing in the opposite direction moved to the side in a respectful hurry.
Had the car been less noticed, had it been less obtrusive. the occasional passer-by might have had time to note the pale, unmoving Ancient in the back seat-might have wondered-might have scented danger- But they noticed only the car, so that time passed...
A soldier blocked the way at the gleaming chromium gates that rose sheerly in the expansive, overwhelming way that marked all Imperial structures in sharp contrast to the squatly massive and brooding architecture of Earth. His huge force gun shot out horizontally in a barring gesture, and the car halted.
Arvardan leaned out. "I'm a citizen of the Empire, soldier. I'd like to see your commanding officer."
"I'll have to see your identification, sir."
"That's been taken from me. I am Bel Arvardan of Baronn, Sirius. I am on the Procurator's business and I'm in a hurry."
The soldier lifted a wrist to his mouth and spoke softly into the transmitter. There was a pause while he waited for an answer, and then he lowered his rifle and stepped aside. Slowly the gate swung open.
19. The Deadline That Approached
The hours that followed saw turmoil within and without Fort Dibburn. More so, perhaps, in Chica itself.