Return from The Void Read online

  Rous settled into his room by placing the bolster and the covers from the bed on the floor, where he stretched out more comfortably because the bed was much too small for him. Within a few minutes he fell asleep.

  3/ PANIC IN THE STREETS

  When he awoke it was already past noon. Somebody knocked on the door.

  "Frokja!" he called—careful to use his best Mirsalese for "enter".

  Rosita stepped into the room. "I hope you had a good rest," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "You sleep through the most important things."

  "How's that? What's happening?"

  "Lloyd's posthypnotic suggestion has taken effect. The little old man downstairs is convinced that he took our papers from us for safekeeping and then misplaced them later. The police are here to question us and issue new credentials."

  Rous jumped up. "Good! I'll be there!"

  There were four policemen altogether who were waiting downstairs in the lobby. By the time Rous got there, Lloyd and Rosita were already there ahead of him.

  A deposition was made of the testimony of the little man who seemed to be the hotel business manager. After that, Rous and his companions were questioned concerning their origin and their purpose or intentions. They furnished satisfactory particulars because meanwhile they had thoroughly informed themselves concerning their optional homeland of Wollaston. Rous pretended to know nothing about the requirement for special travel permits. He let on that he and his friends had left Resaz five days ago and traveled to Keyloghal with many interruptions and that they discovered there that the entire village had died out or been deserted. From that point onward they had come to Fillinan on foot.

  One of the four policemen was an elderly, grey-haired little man whose uniform indicated he held a higher rank than the other 3. He had introduced himself as Commissioner Flaring.

  At the end of the interview he wanted to know something else. "Weren't you concerned about the disappearance of the villagers?"

  "Naturally. We were very curious as to where they might have gone. We thought that maybe there had been an evacuation for some important reason or other and we hurried to get to Fillinan."

  "Why?"

  Rous gave a slight shrug. "Well... it could be that you had detected a subterranean volcano that was ready to erupt and you might have evacuated everybody for that reason."

  Flaring appeared to be satisfied with this explanation. "Did you by chance happen to see an omnibus in your travels?—I mean, during your hike from Keyloghal to Fillinan?"

  Rous pretended to ponder the question carefully. "Yes..." he answered finally. "Now I remember. About three miles outside of town we saw an empty bus."

  "Empty?" gasped Flaring.

  "Yes, empty."

  Flaring glanced at his companions and then stood up. "Alright. New passes will be drawn up for you and will be sent to you." Without any further ado, he and his companions left the hotel.

  Rous, Lloyd and Rosita went back to their rooms.

  "There's something about Flaring that I don't like," said Rosita suddenly.

  "What's that?"

  "That time when we had a native victim in the Gazelle, I was able to study the Mirsalese mentality. When anybody goes away without saying goodbye it's considerably more serious a situation than it would be on Earth. Flaring has something against us... and he's let us become aware of it."

  "Let's hope he keeps his suspicions to himself," answered Rous. "Him alone we can handle with the psycho-beamer. There'll only be danger if he should make his thoughts public. At all costs we have to avoid being taken for aliens because in that case the most logical thing for them to assume would be that we are the enemy who has been wiping out the Mirsalese in such a mysterious manner.

  Rosita nodded.

  Lloyd said, "It won't do us much good to waste away in our rooms. We should take a walk."

  "You're right," admitted Rous. "Even in the face of having people stare at us."

  • • •

  For some strange reason the Mirsalese were less curious in the afternoon than they had been in the morning. Only a few still tended to turn and look at their figures, which by Mirsalese standards were unusually tall. Apparently some kind of word had been passed around in this area concerning the arrival of three people from Wollaston.

  Rous and his two companions took the subway to the downtown section. Fillinan's main showcase boulevard was called the 'Avenue of Kings'. More than 300 feet wide, it cut through the city from North to South. This happened to be a time when a new experiment was going on. At various places along the avenue, in experimental stretches of perhaps two-thirds of a mile each in length, the street had been equipped with a microwave guide-beam system. It was designed to take over the task of steering vehicles which were equipped with the corresponding apparatus to respond to it. So it was no wonder that the crowds filled the walks along the edges of the testing areas. They watched the test cars of the police whose drivers ostentatiously placed their hands behind their heads in order to demonstrate that they actually didn't have anything to do with the steering. As a result of all the excitement with which the Mirsalese watched this spectacle, Rous and his companions were hardly noticed at all.

  The houses on both sides of the street were grandiose and apparently had been built without any restriction as to their cost. They were hexagonal like all houses on Mirsal 2 and were surrounded by gardens.

  Many of the buildings were as tall as the old New York skyscrapers. For the most part there were shops and stores on the ground floor and offices and apartments in the other floors above. With the exception of the alien-looking signs over the storefronts, this city might have been something that a very imaginative architect might have designed and constructed on Earth.

  Rous, Rosita and Lloyd strolled along the avenue. Lloyd carried the briefcase under his arm like a student who was determined not to lose his belongings. They did very little talking because there was too big a danger of being overheard.

  They must have gone about two-thirds of a mile along the avenue from the subway exit when Lloyd suddenly stopped and looked about him. "Wait!" he said in a low, excited tone. "Something's going on!"

  Rous and Rosita had also stopped. Lloyd stared up the street but there was nothing more to be seen ahead than the usual swarm of traffic.

  "What is it?" asked Rous.

  Lloyd waved his hand impatiently. "The aliens!" he blurted out. "Very close by. I can sense them!"

  Rous felt a chill chase up his spine. The Mirsalese were still standing on the curbstones enthusiastically watching the police test cars.

  "Now!" cried Lloyd. "They're coming!"

  He made a grimace as though he were suffering pain. With a seemingly involuntary movement of his hands he opened the briefcase under his arm and took out a small defense screen generator of the type used in Arkonide transport suits and, in a larger version, on spaceships.

  Rous didn't know what he intended to do with it. Rosita let out a shrill scream and pointed up the street. "There!" she gasped.

  Rous followed her direction and saw that the air across the whole width of the street farther ahead seemed to be shimmering. He noted that behind this shimmering curtain of air the sidewalks were empty of people and the cars in the street that had been moving along in an orderly manner now became all mixed up and ran up onto the sidewalks or crashed into the sides of buildings or into each other.

  The strange curtain seemed to jump nearer. It was a maddening spectacle the way the people disappeared from the street and how the cars would suddenly begin their crazy antics without any drivers.

  The Mirsalese standing on the curbs turned their attention to the disturbance. The street rose on a gentle incline toward the north so that the view was unobstructed. Each one of them could see with his own eyes what was happening—how this curtain that made people invisible and cars driverless was moving inexorably toward them. A few seconds later, the panic began. Howling and screaming and shoving and pushing, the whole mass of h
umans set itself in motion, down the street and away from the horrible and incomprehensible thing that was moving toward them.

  Rous, Lloyd and Rosita fled to one side. They escaped the general press of the throng by standing on the edge of a garden, where they watched the shimmering wall as it progressed down the street. It seemed to have increased its speed. Lloyd suddenly recovered from the shock of it all. "Get hold of one of them!" he called to Rous. Rous didn't understand what he meant until Lloyd pointed to the fleeing Mirsalese.

  "One of those people," he shouted. "Be quick, we don't have any more time!" Rous reached into the crowd of fleeing people and grabbed someone at random. The man fought back and struggled to get away but he was no match for Rous' strength.

  The invisible wall had come still closer.

  The man hung limply in Rous' grip. He stared at the three Terranians with his eyes fairly popping, he groaned aloud but said no more. "Get him between us!" insisted Lloyd and it was then that Rous caught on to what he was planning. He had turned on the defense screen generator. Then the wall reached them. Rous had a tingling sensation as though a gentle breeze swept over him but when he thought about it later he couldn't say whether it had been the effect of the wall itself or of his own imagination. For a fraction of a second all sound ceased. The bedlam of the street throngs was cut off. Rous, Lloyd and Rosita stood holding each other's hands in a triangular formation so that the Mirsalese would be protected in the middle. Then the noise returned. Rous looked down the street where the weird phenomenon was overtaking the fugitives faster than they could run and causing them to disappear.

  The wall of strange energy seemed to have increased its speed tenfold, hurtling along the street and sweeping it clear. A few moments later there was no Mirsalese to be seen, far and wide. Except for the one individual whom Rous and his companions had taken under their wing. With staring eyes and unable to speak, the man stood trembling between his protectors. He looked up and down the street and then drew in a shuddering breath and began to sob as the enormity of the catastrophe finally hit him.

  Rous looked at him and wondered if he could be of any further use to them. He had been a worthwhile experimental object. Now they knew that a Mirsalese could be kept from disappearing if he were surrounded by three Terranians under the protection of a powerful defense screen.

  Rous placed a hand on the man's shoulder and spoke to him in a friendly tone. "Go home and be glad that you're still alive!"

  The man obeyed wordlessly. He staggered away without turning once to look back.

  Now Rous stirred into action again. "Come on! We have to find out if anybody in the city has escaped the tragedy."

  Lloyd shoved the small generator into the case and walked away toward the next subway entrance.

  "Don't waste any false hopes on that!" Rous called after him. "The subway isn't running any more. You can imagine what happened to the trains when they suddenly lost their drivers."

  Rosita had a better idea. A few of the cars which had been overtaken by the catastrophe were still undamaged. She picked out one of the most powerful models. "Come over here," she called. "I think we can use this!"

  Rous came across the street. Before he got to the car he saw something lying on the pavement. It had a dull blue shimmer to it and, was shaped like a comb without teeth. He didn't know what purpose it had once served but on a sudden impulse he picked it up and stuck it into his pocket.

  Rosita had observed this. "What do you want with that?" she asked.

  He shrugged. "For a later look-see. It was directly in the path of the... that wall. Maybe it's some kind of clue.

  He got in behind the steering wheel. After having driven the bus it was no task to get the car going and to guide it carefully among the obstacles that lay ahead in the street.

  At the first intersection he turned to his right. The side streets were comparatively narrower although still a good 40 yards wide but they were just as empty as the Avenue of Kings.

  Rous tried to remember the location of the hotel. Inasmuch as they had come this far on the subway he hadn't had a chance to get a mental impression of the street layout. However he knew the general direction and was fairly confident that he could find his way through the empty streets—empty, that is, except for the clutter of wrecked and driverless cars.

  He must have driven this way for half an hour when Lloyd suddenly cried out: "There are people up ahead! A whole bunch of them. Apparently the misfortune hasn't hit the whole city."

  Rous narrowed his eyes. "Then we'd better be careful. They'll think that anybody coming out of the downtown area is their enemy."

  The hotel was in the city outskirts, at least nine or ten miles from the Avenue of Kings. Rous required an hour and a half to cover the distance because of his lack of knowledge of the streets. But finally he got to a street that he thought he knew. Rosita recognized a sort of jewelry store where she had paused during the earlier afternoon and Lloyd knew the intersection to take in order to get to the hotel from here.

  Rous made a turn and came within a hair of crashing into the red vehicle that was parked crossways in the narrow street. Lloyd had just announced that the mental impulses were close by.

  It was a personnel truck carrying about 20 policemen with ready weapons and double sentries stood on the right and left sides of the street. Rous came to a stop, he had no other choice. "Watch it, Lloyd!" he warned.

  Three police officers jumped down from the red truck and came to the car. Rous put down the right side window.

  "Where are you coming from?" asked one of the 3.

  "From the eastern suburbs," Rous answered.

  "Directly through the city?"

  "Yes."

  "What does it look like there?"

  Rous registered an expression of horror which did not require too much acting on his part. "Everything empty, all disappeared!"

  "Were you able to observe where or in what direction the people went?"

  "No. We weren't there, ourselves. We came over the Finnestal Bridge. On the far side everything was in order but on this side—"

  "Alright," said the policeman. "You may continue. You'll have to drive over the sidewalk."

  Rous thanked the officer. He pulled to the left and drove around the red personnel vehicle.

  "You've made a mistake," said Rosita calmly.

  Rous looked at her in surprise. "What did I do?"

  "You didn't say goodbye."

  "But I—"

  "You thanked him but you didn't say goodbye. Don't you remember what an important thing it is with the Mirsalese to give the word of departure?"

  "Oh for—!" Rous cursed half aloud. "Do you think maybe he didn't notice it?"

  "He did notice it," answered Rosita. "I could see it in his face. I think it was a ruse that he let you go past. We're going to run into some unpleasantries."

  Rous said nothing more. A few minutes later he pulled to a stop in front of the hotel.

  The streets were also empty in this sector. Lloyd maintained that the cluster of mental impulses he had received had come from a southwesterly direction. Apparently the southwestern portion of Fillinan was the only part of the city that had escaped the fate of the others.

  The hotel was now emptier feeling than before. Even the little man had disappeared. Rous rang a few times but when no one showed up at the desk he helped himself to the room keys. The elevator did not function. The catastrophe had also caused the power room attendant to disappear and now there wasn't any electricity.

  They went up the stairs without saying a word to one another. They had enough on their minds to make them pensive.

  Instead of separating, they all went together to Rous' room. Before Rous went in, Lloyd gave him a warning signal and pointed to the door. Rous raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment and then finally nodded. At the same time he pointed to Lloyd's equipment case. Lloyd took out the psycho-beamer.

  Then they went in.

  At first glance the room had the appea
rance of not having been disturbed. But as soon as Rosita had closed the door behind her, faces appeared from behind sofas, chairs and tables. They were the faces of the police. The men rose up now into full view, each with his miniature flame-thrower aimed right at them.

  One of the police officers Rous recognized. It was Flaring. Flaring came out from his place of concealment. Smiling sarcastically, he said: "We thought that perhaps you could enlighten us concerning the recent catastrophe that has occurred. That's why we've come here!"

  • • •

  On board the Drusus there was a new registration of signal attenuation from the body transmitters of the three agents. Like the first, it only lasted about three seconds. Thereafter the signals continued coming in flawlessly.

  On the other hand, the Gazelle's transmitter had not yet been disturbed.

  Rhodan assumed that Rous and his companions had made 'enemy contact' for the second time. The fact that Rous had not communicated with the ship after the first contact was undoubtedly an indication that the incident had been of no consequence.

  Now it remained to be seen whether or not such was the case this time...

  • • •

  "What makes you think we can help you?" asked Rous calmly.

  Flaring indicated the chairs and said, "Sit down—and don't try anything foolish!"

  Rous, Lloyd and Rosita sat down obediently.

  "You claim that you come from Wollaston," Flaring began without any hesitation. "In Wollaston there are many uncivilized people. I doubt that any one of them could drive an omnibus without instructions. And if he were instructed, then he would know the traffic regulations and he would have parked it on the left side of the street instead of the right side."

  "Okay," he answered. "That's your theory. What's the rest of it?"

  "Since the catastrophe in the country the arterial highways to the city have all been occupied by double sentry positions. Coming here on the road from Resaz you were able to get past the 2d station, meaning the innermost guard post, without interference, but the outer station's sentries strangely have no recollection of three people from Wollaston coming through their position."