Agent of Vega and Other Stories by James H. Schmitz

“That’s it,” Weldon said. “To carry the analogue I was using a little farther, we might again be sending a spaniel against a tiger. But the spaniel—backed up by the projector—would now be approximately tiger size . . . and tiger-strong. We must assume that the rogue would be far more skilled and deadly in an actual mental struggle, but there should be no struggle. Our telepath’s business would be simply to locate his man, identify him, and break away again. During the very few seconds required for that, the diex field should permit him to hold off the rogue’s assault.”

Dr. Lowry shook his head. “You can’t be sure of it, Ferris!” he said. “You can’t be sure of it at all.”

Weldon smiled. “No, we can’t. We don’t really know what would happen. But neither, you see, does the rogue.”

Lowry said hesitantly, “I’m afraid I don’t follow you.”

“Ben,” Weldon said, “we don’t expect your diex projector will ever be put to the use we’ve been discussing just now. That isn’t its purpose.”

Lowry looked dumfounded. “Then what is its purpose?”

Arlene Rolf’s face had gone pale. “Doctor Ben,” she said, “I believe Colonel Weldon is implying that the rogue already knows about the diex projector and what might be attempted with it.”

Weldon nodded. “Of course, he knows about it. How many secrets do you think can be kept from a creature who can tap the minds of anybody he encounters? You can take it for granted that he’s maintained information sources in every department of the government since the day we became aware of his existence. He knows we’re out to get him. And he isn’t stupid enough to allow things here to develop to the point where one of our telepaths is actually placed in front of that projector. He can’t be sure of what the outcome would be. After all, it might . . . very easily . . . be fatal to him.”

Lowry began, “Then I don’t . . .” He checked himself, gave Arlene Rolf a bewildered look. “Are you still with this madman, Arlene?”

Her smile was twisted. “I’m afraid so! If I am, I don’t like the situation at all. Colonel Weldon, have you people planned to use the diex projector as a trap for the rogue?”

“As bait for a trap,” Weldon said. “Ben, put yourself in the rogue’s place. He regards this entire planet as his property. But now the livestock is aware of him and is restless. On the technological side it is also becoming more clever by the decade—dangerously clever. He can still keep us in our place here, and so far he’s succeeded in blocking a major exodus into the solar system where his power would vanish. But can he continue indefinitely? And can he find any enjoyment in being the lord of all Earth when he has to be constantly on guard now against our efforts to get rid of him? He’s blocked our first thrusts and showed us that he can make it a very costly business to harass him too seriously. But the situation is as unsatisfactory to him as to us. He needs much more effective methods of control than were required in the past to bring us back to heel.”

Lowry said, “And the diex projector . . .”

Weldon nodded. “Of course! The diex projector is the perfect solution to the rogue’s problems. The security islands which so far have been our principal form of defense would become meaningless. He could reach any human mind on Earth directly and immediately. Future plots to overthrow him would stand no chance of success.

“The rogue has shown no scientific ability of his own, and the handful of other men who might be capable at present of constructing a similar instrument have been placed beyond his reach. So he has permitted the development of the projector to continue here, though he could, of course, have put an abrupt stop to it in a number of ways. But you may be sure that he intends to bring the diex projector into his possession before it actually can be used against him.”

Arlene said, “And he’s assumed to know that the projector is now operational, aside from any faults that might still show up in the tests?”

“Yes,” Weldon said.

She went on, “Does the fact that I was allowed to leave the project several times a week—actually whenever I felt like it—have something to do with that?”

Weldon said, “We believe that the rogue has taken advantage rather regularly of that arrangement. After all, there was no more dependable way of informing himself of the exact state of affairs on the project than . . .”

“Than by picking my mind?”

Weldon hesitated, said, “There’s no denying that we have placed you both in danger, Arlene. Under the circumstances, we can offer no apology for that. It was a matter of simple necessity.”

“I wasn’t expecting an apology, Colonel Weldon.” Her face was white. “But I’m wondering what the rogue is supposed to attempt now.”

“To get possession of the projector?” Weldon hesitated again. “We don’t know that exactly. We believe we have considered every possible approach, and whichever he selects, we’re prepared to trap him in the process of carrying it out.”

Dr. Lowry said, “But he must suspect that you intend to trap him!”

Weldon nodded. “He does, naturally. But he’s under a parallel disadvantage there—he can’t be certain what the traps are. You don’t realize yet how elaborate our precautionary measures have been.” Weldon indicated the small door in the wall beyond Dr. Lowry. “The reason I use only that private conduit to come here is that I haven’t stepped off a security island for almost three years! The same has been true of anyone else who had information we had to keep from the rogue . . . including incidentally Mr. Green, whose occasional `public appearances’ during this critical period have been elaborately staged fakes. We communicate only by viewphone; in fact, none of us even knows just where the others are. There is almost no chance that he can do more than guess at the exact nature of our plans.”

“And with all that,” Lowry said slowly, “you expect he will still go ahead and make a bid for the projector?”

“He will because he must!” Weldon said. “His only alternative would be to destroy this security island with everything on it at the last moment. And that is very unlikely. The rogue’s actions show that in spite of his current troubles with us he has a vast contempt for ordinary human beings. Without that feeling, he would never have permitted the diex projector to be completed. So he will come for it—very warily, taking every precaution, but confident of outmaneuvering us at the end.”

Arlene asked, “And isn’t it possible that he will do just that?”

There was a barely perceptible pause before Weldon replied. “Yes,” he said then, “it’s possible. It’s a small chance—perhaps only a theoretical one. But we’re not omniscient, and we may not know quite as much about him as we think. It remains possible.”

“Then why take even that risk?” Arlene asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to destroy the projector now—to leave things as they are—rather than offer him a weapon which would reduce us all to helpless chattels again?”

Weldon shook his head. “Arlene, we can’t leave things as they are! Neither can the rogue. You know that really—even though you refuse to admit it to yourself at the moment.”

“I . . . what do you mean?”

“This year,” Weldon said patiently, “we have the diex projector. What will we have five years from now when diex energy has been more fully explored? When the other fields of knowledge that have been opened in recent years begin to expand? We could, perhaps, slow down those processes. We can’t stop them. And, at any point, other unpredictable weapons may emerge . . . weapons we might use against the rogue, or that he might use against us.

“No, for both sides the time to act is now, unless we’re willing to leave the future to chance. We aren’t; and the rogue isn’t. We’ve challenged him to determine whether he or mankind will control this planet, and he’s accepted the challenge. It amounts to that. And it’s very likely that the outcome will have become apparent not many hours from now.”

Arlene shook her head but said nothing. Dr. Lowry asked, “Ferris, exactly what is our role in this situation supposed to be?”

“For the next few hours,” Weldon said, “you’ll be instructing me in the practical details of operating the projector. I’ve studied your reports very carefully, of course, and I could handle it after a fashion without such help. But that isn’t good enough. Because—as the rogue knows very well—we aren’t bluffing in the least in this. We’re forcing him to take action. If he doesn’t”—Weldon nodded at the polished hardwood box on the table before Dr. Lowry—”one of our telepaths presently will be placed before that instrument of yours, and the rogue will face the possibility of being flushed into view. And there is no point on the globe at this moment which is more than a few minutes’ flight away from one of our strike groups.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *