In one hand he held a tube that Sander believed was a weapon. He kept it carefully pointed at the smith in spite of trembling in his hands so severe that at times he had to strengthen one hand’s grip with the aid of the other. And for any armament that might match the surroundings of this place, the smith already had a hearty respect.
“Our world,” the apparition in gray said for the second time, and then coughed rackingly.
Sander heard a whine from Rhin and glanced in the direction of the koyot. The animal, whom he had seen charge even a herd bull and keep that formidable beast busy until the riders of the Mob could rope it, was crouching to the floor as if he had been beaten. And at the sight of that Sander’s temper flared.
“What have you done to Rhin!”
The stranger grinned. “The animal has learned a lesson. I am Maxim—no beast shall show teeth to me. Be warned, boy, be warned! I have”—he made a gesture to embrace perhaps more than the room they were now in—”such powers at my command as you poor barbarians outside cannot even dream of! I am Maxim, of the Chosen Ones. There were those who foresaw, who prepared—We, we alone saved all that was known to man! We alone!” His voice scaled up thinly with a note in it that brought another whine out of Rhin and disturbed Sander. The smith thought that the line between sanity and madness already had been crossed by this twisted man.
“Yes, yes!” the other continued. “We preserved, we endured, we are the only intelligence, the only civilization left. Barbarian—look well at me—I am Maxim! There is here”—with one knotty finger he tapped the front of his head—”more knowledge than you could hope to gain in two of your limited life times. You think to steal that now? There is no way—it is locked here.” Again finger thumped forehead. “You cannot even understand what you lack—so reduced is your species. You are not human as were the Before Men—!”
His babble grew more and more strident. Sander had only to look at Rhin to realize that this madman had formidable weapons, and he did not doubt that the other was equally ready to turn them on anyone or thing he might encounter. What had happened to Fanyi and the fishers? This must be the storage place she had sought, of that Sander was sure. But had she met this Maxim and paid for it? As his anger had been aroused by the sight of Rhin cowed by this mockery of a true man, so it was heightened by a mental picture of Fanyi perhaps meeting death at his hands.
“What want you?” Maxim demanded now. “What have you come to ask of Maxim? Ways of killing? I can show you such as will melt your mind with horror. We knew them, yes, we knew them all! There are diseases one can sow among the unknowing, so that they die like poisoned insects. We can keep alive a man’s body to serve us, but destroy his will, even his thinking mind. We can blast a city from the earth by pressing a single button. We are masters. This place, it is of our planning, for we knew that some must be saved, that our civilization must live. And it was preserved, and we did live—”
His voice trailed into silence, the animation faded from his unhealthy face. For a moment he looked lost and empty as if he himself had been the victim of one of the mind-destroying weapons he had described.
“We live,” he repeated. “We live longer than any man has done before. And after us our children live—How old do you think I am, barbarian?” he demanded.
Sander refused to make a guess that might be wrong, one that would arouse the ill will of this mad creature.
“Each people,” he chose his words cautiously, “has its own norm of life span. I cannot tell yours.”
“Of course not!” The man’s head wobbled in a nod. “I am one of the Children. I have lived near two hundred of the years by which men used to reckon.”
Which might even be true, Sander decided. How many more of these inheritors of what seemed the worst of the Before Men’s knowledge still existed?
“Near two hundred years,” Maxim repeated. “I was wise, you see. I knew better than to risk my life going out into the dead world, mixing with the barbarians. I told them they were doing wrong. Lang, I told Lang what would happen.” He laughed. “And I was right. Barbarian, do you know how Lang died? Of a pain in his belly—of something that a minor operation would have cured. She told me that—she who said she was Lang’s daughter. Of course she lied. No one of us would mate with a barbarian. She lied, but I could not deal with her for her lies because she had Lang’s own transmitter.
“We were programmed from the first so there would be no quarrels among us. We were such a small number then—and it might be that we would be sealed here in this complex for generations. So there must be no quarrels, no misunderstandings. All of us had the transmitters for our own protection. You see, barbarian, how everything was arranged? How there could be no trouble we were not equipped to handle?
“And the children. Like Lang, they had their transmitters from birth. It was all so carefully thought out. The Big Brain in the sealed chamber—it knew everything. It knows everything. It has not made any contact for a time now. There is no need, of course. I, Maxim, I know all that is necessary.”
“This girl who told you of Lang’s death”—Sander had no doubt there was a reference to Fanyi—”where is she now?”
Maxim laughed. “She lied to me, you know. No one must lie to Maxim. I can see a man’s thoughts if I wish. I can see your thoughts, barbarian! When she came, I knew there would be others. I used the—” He stopped again and eyed Sander warily. “I brought you here, barbarian. It was amusing, very amusing. There were the old testing rooms, and it was of interest to see you working your way through. She did not have to do that—not with Lang’s transmitter. But you showed a certain cunning, not human, but amusing, you know. I had to have you here. The rest of your kind—they want my treasures—but they can be stopped. Since you came through my barriers, I knew I must get you all the way to be safe.”
“I am here,” Sander pointed out. “But the girl—what did you do with her?”
“Do with her?” The laugh degenerated into a giggle. “Why, I did nothing, nothing at all. There was no need to. The Big Brain has its own defenses. I listened to her, pointed her in the right direction, and let her go. There was no need at all for me to concern myself farther. She was even grateful to me. I—” That same tinge of bewilderment crossed his pouched and flabby face. “There was something about her. But, no, no barbarian can have any trait that Maxim cannot master! To control beasts—that I can do too. See how this mangy creature of yours fears me. Now the problem is—how to make you useful. You have no transmitter, so, of course, you can be mastered.”
“But I have!” Why he claimed that, Sander did not know. But he was certain that he must make some move of his own to face up to this caricature of a man.
“You cannot!” The man’s tone was petulant as that of a stubborn child. “Lang was the last to go forth. He left me, in spite of what I told him over and over, he left me! He was stupid, really. Being the youngest of the children, the breeding must have worn thin in his generation. And Lang had only one transmitter. They do not last long—not more than fifty years or so. Then they have to be recharged. So yours, if you do have one, is inoperable. It would be that of Robar perhaps. And he went longer ago than Lang. Do not try to trick me, barbarian! Remember, I am Maxim and the knowledge of the Before Time is all mine!”
“I will show you.” Carefully Sander reached for the front of his outer coat. He saw that tube in the other’s hand center on him, but he had to take this chance. He brought out the band of woven wire.
Maxim cackled. “That is no transmitter, barbarian! You are indeed no more intelligent than this beast. A transmitter! You do not even know what the word means. She did not know. She thought it magic—magic such as the superstitious savage plays with! And now you show me a mass of wire and call it a transmitter!”