Keeper of the Deathless Sleep
by Albert De Pina
Nardon, the Correlator, had banded together the
greatest brains of the Solar System to battle the
menace spawned by Saturn--was leading them into
the stronghold of the Energasts themselves.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Winter 1944.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
_"We cannot fight," Antaran said. "Not now.... We must be patient a
while longer. Venus still holds the secret of Vulcan base and without
allotropic metal our fleet would be so much papier mache!" He fell
silent._
_In the soft, smoky-blue twilight of the great subterranean room
beneath the Universarium, Bill Nardon gazed expressionlessly at the
angular austerity of the Council Leader's face, and remained silent._
_"Three more spacers today!" Antaran sank slowly into the yielding
firmness of a priceless crysto-plast chair. "Disappeared...." He
paused. "Must you have this hellish blue fog, Bill?" He frowned in
distaste. Bill Nardon smiled slowly from where he lay on a great couch
of alabastrine, utterly relaxed. "Would you rather have a mountain
night, a summer twilight, or dawn?" His great shoulders shook a little
with silent laughter until the mane of dark red hair that hung to his
shoulders seemed to twinkle with pinpoints of light. He pressed a
series of selectors on the back of the couch, and slowly a rosy light
like a tardy dawn diffused through the room together with the smell of
the sea. "Don't look so outraged, Antaran; that Spartan conditioning of
yours is a tragedy!" The aged Council leader shrugged his shoulders._
_"Listen to me!" Antaran said brusquely. "Half a hundred thousand men
and women from six planets cannot be hidden away like so much plunder.
Sooner or later someone is bound to escape and give away the mystery.
Yet months have passed and no trace of them has been found. Correlate
that!"_
_He sniffed at the marvelously fresh odor of the sea and blinked at the
rose-gold light of the static dawn as if it weren't a scientific and
artistic miracle, but something not quite decent._
_"The loss in terms of life and treasure is negligible. It's what it
purports in the long run that's serious. Already Venus has clamped down
on shipments of radio-actives and Mars has declared limited martial
law. No trade with Neptune is possible in the face of their embargo,
and the European coalition of Terrans and Panadurs have closed their
world! The logical development of this psychological state of nerves
is...."_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account