"Wrong," she shook her blonde head. "I wanted to come with you." He
looked away, sensing for the first time that now, somehow, they were on
a different basis. Dorothy was no longer a child and her girlish hero
worship was apparently replaced by something more mature.
He felt the cruiser nose down. They were landing again.
Norman reached up and yanked a space suit from its wall hook, threw it
to Dorothy. "Put this on over your coveralls." As he jerked another
suit down for himself, he caught a glimpse of a jungle-walled clearing
with a peculiar shaped building at the end of a small landing field.
As they slid to a quick stop, the port opened and Sade and his little
group appeared again. The fat Mercurian laughed as he saw Norman and
Dorothy buckling on the stiff garments. He made no move to stop them.
"Keren tells me you're very interested in our little world," he said.
"That tank along the wall there holds what you're looking for, but
first we must show you around."
Encircled by the four patrolmen, Norman and Dorothy were hustled out
of the ship and across the landing field. The odd, light-house-like
building stood at the end of the field, a large windowless structure
with a conical tower on top. They were led to the building in silence,
ushered into a huge room and the door closed behind them. Venusian
mahogany paneled the tapestry covered walls and heavy carved furniture
was scattered about the room's creamy white floor. Sade opened a heavy
door at the side and motioned his prisoner-guests in.
"I haven't time to talk now," he said. "Here's something to entertain
you until I return." He flicked a button outside the door, then closed
the door, leaving them alone in the small room.
* * * * *
Norman glanced at Dorothy, then turned to examine the place as he took
off his helmet. The room was small, dark paneled and windowless like
the one outside. A furry _zhak_-skin rug covered the black floor. He
started to speak, but a panel at the end of the room suddenly glowed
with the transparent clearness of a window. A television screen--what
was Sade up to!
Then Norman sucked in his breath through his teeth as Dorothy
clutched his arm. Not the withered creature of the hospital but the
tousle-headed guy he'd grown up with--Johnny's image appeared on the
screen.
Johnny stood in what at first appeared to be a clearing in the jungle
but as he kicked at some invisible obstacle, Norman realized a wall of
glass separated him from the surrounding field outside. The scene was
sparkling clear, as if they were watching through a window Johnny's
futile efforts to scale the smooth wall. His path around the enclosure
proved it to be circular, about eight feet in diameter. Norman ground
his teeth. So Johnny _had_ been Sade's prisoner!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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