“Of course not,” agreed Brink condescendingly, “but there are places here and here”—he pointed to gaps in the alien sequence—”where I have been able to remove entire components.” He indicated a pile of small globes and ellipses that had been placed off to one side. “I have tried activating the device without them as well as reinserting them in various combinations. So far nothing has worked.” He held up his stump. “It would go faster with two hands.”
Might as well be playing with toy blocks, Low thought to himself. He took another step forward.
“Here, let me have a look.”
Kneeling, he made a show of inspecting the mechanism’s interior, acting as if he knew exactly what he was doing. In reality, he was sizing up the other man. There were circles under the scientist’s eyes, a combination of eyestrain, lack of sleep and proper nutrition. Possibly there were other side effects he wasn’t seeing, a consequence of Brink’s recent demise and revivification. Physical strength had never been the scientist’s forte, but madmen were capable of extraordinary feats of resistance. Low knew he would have to move carefully.
“We could try two of the globes here instead of one of the ellipses,” he suggested.
“Anything! Anything at all!” The eagerness in Brink’s voice could not mask his desperation. Were the effects of the crystal that had brought him back to life finally beginning to wear off?
Low picked up one of the globes and juggled it casually in his palm. “It’s like this, Ludger. Maggie and I may have found a way to get some invaluable information. Maybe about returning home, maybe about surviving here. We don’t know yet. We don’t know because we haven’t been able to fully activate the machinery in question.”
“That is too bad.” Brink’s response was a mixture of admiration and indifference. “Nothing can exceed the importance of learning all we can about the crystals, of course.”
“Oh, to be sure.” Low exchanged a glance with Robbins. “In fact, this machinery we found seems to run on them.”
“I am not surprised. The crystals are allgegenvartig. They can do anything.”
“It seems that way, doesn’t it? Why, you should see what we managed to accomplish using just one of them. There’s no telling what we could achieve with a handful or more.” He tapped the top of Brink’s crystal-maker. “If we can get this thing up and running, we’ll split the production with you.”
“That seems reasonable.” Brink agreed readily.
Robbins observed the byplay silently, wishing she could do something to help. Low appeared to be managing without her, though, and she kept quiet, waiting for the proper moment to intervene.
“Let’s see what we can do here, then.” Feigning eagerness, Low knelt and began to fiddle with the mechanism’s interior.
A flash of light caused Robbins to jerk reflexively, and Low hastened to reassure her.
“Relax. False alarm. That part didn’t fit there, but I don’t think it caused any damage. We’ll try it in this cavity on the other side instead.”
Some time later he rose from the open device. “You know, everything’s so sensibly laid out, I wouldn’t be surprised if the damn thing did work.” Bending forward, he ran a finger along a groove in the surface.
Lights began to glow within. The last thing Robbins had expected was for Low to get it working. How it produced crystals that contained more energy than the device itself utilized she couldn’t imagine. Obviously it drew upon unknown and unseen sources.
The small bin attached to the back of the mechanism slowly began to fill with glowing, sheathed crystals. When it was full, the device stopped. Nothing Low could do, from removing the fresh product to trying different hand passes across the control surface to realigning the internal connections could induce it to start up again.
Meanwhile Brink had gathered up the new hoard. Low confronted him.
“Looks like that’s the best we’re going to be able to do, for a while at least. We’ll take our share now, Ludger.”
“Really, Commander,” replied the scientist even as he was edging toward the doorway, “you can’t honestly expect me to turn them over to you to squander on some frivolous experiment? If this device has produced its limit, then that means there will be no more.”
Low moved to block the other man’s path. “It doesn’t matter what we want them for, Ludger. You agreed to the split.”
“I don’t believe my statement has the force of law here, Commander.” With the doorway blocked, Brink reversed direction and began working his way back through the stacked containers and piles of machinery.
Low pursued, trying to avoid forcing the issue. Sooner or later the scientist had to run out of space. As the dangerous dance proceeded, he kept up a continuous soothing patter, trying to persuade the other man to see reason. Robbins chipped in with her own arguments, but despite her experience had no better luck in convincing the jittery scientist to act rationally.
The storeroom terminated in a dropoff that overlooked another level below. Brink halted, teetering on the edge. There was no ladder, no elevator, no way to make the descent. Clutching crystals to his chest without pressing them inward, he glared back at his tormentor.
Low halted. “Look, Ludger, we haven’t got time for this. Maggie, watch the door. If he gets past me, try to slow him up.”
“Boston, are you sure that—?”
“Just do it, okay?”
She nodded and assumed what she hoped Brink would see as a determined stance.
Crouching slightly, Low commenced a slow advance, one hand extended palm-up in front of him. “Come on, now, Ludger. Hand them over.”
“No.” Brink’s heels hung over emptiness.
“We just want our half. You can smother yourself with the rest, for all I care.” He was very close now, and still the scientist showed no sign of moving.
When he had approached to within arm’s length, Low reached for the glow of an overflowing pocket. As he did so, Brink convulsed and tried to dart past. Low grabbed, and the other man swung with surprising force. The Commander ducked and pulled, dragging both of them to the floor.
Rabid, maniacal energy drove the scientist’s swings, but he was wild and undisciplined. Brilliant as he was, he had no idea how to fight. It still required all of Low’s strength to ward off the mad flurry of blows, so much so that he was unable to land a single solid punch of his own.
He finally managed to roll clear, using his legs to kick free of the tumultuous embrace. Life crystals spilled from Brink’s pockets, littering the floor with emerald magic.
“No!” The scientist scrambled to his feet, staggered, and put his right foot down on emptiness. Robbins screamed as Brink went over backward, disappearing from view. Several seconds later they heard the heavy, sickening, inevitable thump.
They rushed to the edge. Their companion’s crumpled, bent body lay directly below the drop. Blood spread out beneath the twisted corpse to form a dark oval frame. In falling, Brink’s head had struck the edge of a pyramidal projection. Not only was his neck broken, the skull had been shattered. Bits and pieces of brain and bone lay everywhere.
“Didn’t mean to do that,” Low muttered tersely. “Didn’t mean for that to happen.”
Robbins put a hand on his shoulder. “He would have thrown you over if he could.”
“I know, but that wasn’t the real Ludger Brink I was fighting with. Hanging around all those crystals for so long did something to him. Altered his personality.” He eyed the softly glowing shards warily. “We’d better watch out they don’t start to act on us as well.
“I don’t think there’s much chance of reviving him with a crystal. The important parts are in too many pieces.” His eyes met hers. “It’s done and there’s nothing we can do about it. At least now maybe he’s at peace.” He indicated the scattered shards. “We might as well pick these up and use them the way we planned.”
CHAPTER 21
The transport sphere returned them to the fifth islet. As before, a single life crystal reactivated the entire complex as well as raising the Eye above the mountains of the central island.
Averting their eyes from the fantastic beam, they focused their attention on the unprepossessing slot in the side of the primary mechanism.
“Ready?” Low held a second crystal above the opening.
“Why not?” She smiled. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
“This whole island could blow sky-high and there’d be no one around to revive us.”
“If the whole island goes, then we’ll end up in more pieces than poor Ludger. At least if that happens we won’t have to worry any longer about finding food or returning home.”
Gazing back into the expressive, open face he had come to know so well, he debated whether or not to kiss her. Not the right moment, he decided. He chose not to consider the possibility that there might never be any more moments as he fed the next crystal into the waiting slot.