The Idol from Passa Read online

  Ron nodded. "So you say he was dead when they found him?"

  "That's right."

  After that, Ron was silent for awhile. Lofty would have given much to know what he was thinking about but during the half day he had spent with these two men he had given up asking curious questions.

  Larry Randall had been staring at the house in silence but now he suddenly spoke to Ron. "So it looks as if they've changed their tactics in only a matter of days," he commented.

  "And pretty drastically, too. I'd like to know what they do with the dead victims that they carry away with them."

  "But the main question is why they've changed their tactics."

  Ron smiled suddenly. "Lofty isn't making any bets on our ever being able to figure out the logic of these native creatures. But why rack our brains over it when the answer may simply be that they think differently than we do? And if that isn't it we'll probably never find out, anyway."

  Larry shrugged and offered no further comment.

  "What happened to Andy's body?" Ron asked.

  "Some neighboring settlers buried him," Lofty answered. "His grave is behind the house."

  "No autopsy?"

  "What for? One of the worm-heads fell on him—or pounced on him, the way we figured it later. The snake's tracks were right there, big as life. And Andy's chest... well, let's not talk about it. But I mean there wasn't any doubt about his being dead." As he finished speaking he pushed a button on his armrest, which caused the side window to slide down.

  Ron turned to him. "Maybe this will sound ridiculous, Lofty," he said, "but I don't want you to ever do that without warning me. Maybe it's safe where we are but inside the forest our lives could depend on whether the windows are open or shut. Do you understand?"

  Lofty understood and seemed crestfallen. "Yeah, you're right," he answered almost meekly. "I should have thought of that, myself. Maybe I'd better—" He stopped suddenly and seemed to be trying to hear something. Then he leaned his head out the open window.

  "What is it?" asked Ron in a low voice.

  "One of them's out there!" exclaimed Lofty.

  "One of what?"

  "An Evergreen," Lofty whispered. "I can smell him. Over there!" He reached out an arm to point.

  For the first time Ron gave his close attention to the glittering edge of the glass forest. The blue sun was now a brilliant white to the eye and stood close to the zenith. The air appeared to shimmer above the exotic thickets and alien plant forms. It was hot outside—and still as death. The forest sounds had faded away.

  Some of the individual tree trunks were six feet in diameter. They were weird in appearance, sometimes allowing light to pass through and at other times reflecting the sun's rays. If one didn't look directly at it the forest presented the appearance of a giant pane of glass with thousands of cracks in it and having jagged edges. It was hard to judge distances in such a jungle. The multiple reflections made a bewildering pattern of light and semi-shadows. After gazing into the glassy maze for awhile, one's eyes ceased to distinguish objects with any reliable clarity.

  The outside air was filled with many strange aromas, most of which were quite pleasant. Ron couldn't decide which scent came from the Evergreen that Lofty believed he had picked up. Back on Earth they had demonstrated to him the scent of a serpent hide from Passa but here there were too many other admixtures in the natural environment to be able to distinguish it.

  Ron let his gaze wander along the edge of the forest while trying to discover where the Evergreen might be. But he saw nothing, neither a shadow nor any movement whatsoever. He began to think that Lofty might be mistaken yet the tension of the situation wouldn't leave him. He groped for the weapon that he carried on his belt.

  Lofty remained motionless at the window. Larry acted as though he were not concerned with the matter. But his eyes were on the flight panel and the control stick was in his hand.

  Minutes passed.

  Suddenly Lofty drew back from the window. "It's coming now," he rasped out excitedly. "Look over there to the right of the house and you'll see it!"

  He gave Ron his place at the open window and Ron stared in the indicated direction with a feverish excitement. He fastened his gaze on the glittering scintillation of the glass forest and tried to see the creature but the more he strained his eyes the more the scene became a blur. Everything turned into a swirl of colorful reflections in which no details at all were discernible.

  Ron closed his eyelids for a second in order to clear his vision but right away he was sorry he had done so. When he opened his eyes again, the Evergreen was already standing in front of the glass forest, fully erect and with its four arms outstretched as though for balance. As Ron stared at it he felt a shudder run down his spine. The thing's powerful body was topped by the great spherical worm head with its dark, sensitively quivering orifices. Beneath that crowning horror was the supple and iridescent serpent form, its hide gleaming a metallic green interspersed with flecks of red, yellow and blue.

  The arms remained motionless. The four long, thin claw-fingers at the ends of the arms were fully extended. The towering body tapered toward the ground but even there where it supported itself with its tail its skin presented the same gorgeous pattern of colors. And now all of a sudden Ron was aware of the indescribable odor that came from the alien creature—a fragrance unknown anywhere else in the galaxy.

  But now that the enemy had appeared, Ron's cool composure returned. His hand slipped to his belt and brought up the weapon. Without making any sudden movement that might shy the Evergreen away, Ron carefully placed the gun barrel on the window edge. He bent down and made sure of his aim.

  Behind him he heard an uneasy sigh from Lofty.

  Ron pressed the trigger. For just the fraction of a second there was a piercing hum but after that nothing happened. There was no beam of destructive fire and the Evergreen on the forest edge didn't even move. When Lofty gasped in new alarm, Ron straightened up.

  "It's alright, Larry," he said calmly to Randall. "You can look around now. We'll be staying here for awhile."

  It was then that the Evergreen began to move. Suddenly its great long body shot forward, carrying it three feet off the ground in a leap that brought it 10 feet closer as the thin elastic tail took up the shock of its landing. Immediately it gathered itself for a second jump.

  Lofty began to squirm. "Shoot it." he yelled. "Try another weapon! It'll kill us all!"

  Without moving from his position, Ron grasped him and pulled him closer to the window. "Just take it easy," he said. "Nothing is going to happen to us." He could feel that Lofty was trembling.

  Larry Randall, meanwhile, had left the flight controls to join them and now he merely watched with interest as the serpent monster approached in an elegant series of jumps. The thing came within 15 feet of the glider before it stopped. Then suddenly more than two-thirds of its serpentine body flexed downward and coiled into a circle on the ground. From the upper pair of arms upward, however, the Evergreen held an erect position and two of the quivering orifices in its spherical head seemed to stare at the aircraft like a pair of eyes.

  "My God!" exclaimed Lofty. "That... that's the way they sit down when they want to communicate. It wants to talk to us! How did you manage it, Larry?"

  • • •

  Ron activated the door and it rolled to one side. He had long since replaced the strange weapon in his belt—a gun that seemed strange to Lofty, at least, because it didn't appear to be capable of shooting anything. Ron simply came out of the ship and walked right up to the motionless Evergreen.

  Lofty watched with wide-staring eyes. "He shouldn't... he's taking a chance!" he stammered. "He can't be sure if—" He stopped talking when Larry Randall also got out of the glider.

  He was carrying a small instrument that mounted two small microphones on its upper face. Lofty recognized it. It was known as atransec , a translator box, a wonder machine that could learn an alien language a thousand times faster than the most
talented human linguist.

  Larry showed as little concern for his safety as Ron in spite of the close proximity of the Passa serpent. He placed the transec on the ground in front of him and unhooked the microphones, which proved to be on long, thin extension cords. Ron took one of them while Larry held the other one up toward the worm-like head of the Evergreen.

  Lofty's curiosity got the best of him so in spite of his fears he finally clambered down out of the glider and joined his companions.

  "We bring you greetings," said Ron into the microphone.

  There was a singing, humming sound from the Evergreen. It was interspersed with an odd, lip-smacking noise which was the only consonant that the other language contained.

  Instantly the transec's loudspeaker crackled and a voice was heard speaking in English: "Oh no, not today. I have to go home soon."

  Ron stared at his microphone and then at the Evergreen. "We are glad that we have found you here," he assured the serpent.

  There was an undulating whistling and high-pitched humming from the Evergreen, again intermixed with the smacking sound that was somewhat similar to a glottal stop. "If it were not so terribly cold I should have had a fine harvest today."

  Ron turned to the others in bewilderment and Lofty chuckled. "What's so funny?" Ron asked after turning off the mike. "What kind of nonsense is he speaking?"

  Now Lofty was enjoying himself. "That's their way," he explained. "They have a custom of starting out with inconsequential talk before they get down to business. They seem to think it's a form of politeness for everybody to just chatter awhile about anything that comes to mind and not even to listen to what another person is saying."

  A furrow appeared on Ron's forehead. "So? And how do you knock it off and get down to cases?"

  "I wouldn't advise you to try it yet," said Lofty. "He'd think that was very impolite. Keep him going with a few side remarks, maybe two or three sentences that don't mean anything. Then tell him that his silly talk has been very amusing... and he'll change his tune right away."

  Ron's frown deepened. "Now look, Lofty," he warned the other, "if you're pulling my leg I've got news for you!"

  "No kidding, sir," Lofty reassured him. "I'm giving it to you straight. It's the only proper thing you can do!"

  Ron clicked on the mike and raised it to his lips. In a serious tone he remarked: "Houses are usually square but of course you can make round ones, too."

  The Evergreen answered: "Yes, and if I just had a few extra greens I could make a wonderful salad."

  "Yesterday I just fell from the sky," Ron explained confidently.

  "Don't ask me," replied the Evergreen. "I haven't been to the seashore in more than three years."

  "If there weren't any caterpillars," retorted Ron in some desperation, "there wouldn't be any butterflies."

  Whereupon the Evergreen assured him: "The worst thing, you know, is those lazy trees. If you lean against them they simply fall over."

  Ron had made his countdown. He figured that he'd indulged in enough nonsense so that he would not appear to the Evergreen to be discourteous. Then he followed Lofty's advice and came to the point. "OK, it's been fun," he said. "This conversation has been very amusing." The Evergreen answered quickly and very complacently. "And your words have been equally entertaining, my friend. It would please me to be of service to you."

  "Why are you attacking the settlers?" asked Ron. The hardness of his tone indicated that he meant to get to the point as fast as possible now. He also added: "Why don't you furnish us with any more skins?"

  "The Glorious One has come," answered the Evergreen. "He is the Sssst ... We pay him homage. He commands us and we obey." The hissing sound meant that the word was untranslatable. Either there was no equivalent for it in the Terran language or the transec didn't yet have it in its vocabulary. Ron wondered what the "Sssst" part could mean. "Where does he come from?" he asked. The Evergreen swayed its massive head. "How could I know the origin of the Sssst? He is everywhere and yet nowhere. When it pleases him he descends at any place he chooses, to remain for awhile."

  "What does he look like?"

  "Mighty and magnificent. His splendor blinds our vision."

  "Where does he live?"

  "There in the forest. Beyond the Mountain of Sssst ... in the Caverns of Sssst. We worship him there." Ron stared sullenly at his microphone. What was the use of his efforts so far if the translator couldn't translate the most vital word in the whole conversation? He probed further: "What do you do with the prisoners you take?"

  "We sacrifice them to the Sssst," answered the Evergreen calmly. "And the dead Terrans?"

  "We show them to him so that he may see that we make offerings to him even in battle." A shudder came over Ron. He ended the interrogation with one last question: "In what direction lies the dwelling place of the Glorious One?"

  The Evergreen nodded toward the forest. The gesture might have embraced an angle of about 30°. By Terran reckoning it was somewhere northeast by east. "Over there somewhere," answered the alien monstrosity. All in all, this piece of information wasn't any worse than what Ron had heard so far.

  Long before this conversation, Ron had prepared a list of questions he hoped to ask of the first Evergreen he could hypnotize. At present he only had a part of the list checked off but he realized that he wasn't going to get very far with the rest of them under present circumstances. There were two things he hadn't counted on: the odd characteristics of Evergreen thinking plus the fact that the Passa settlers had never taken the trouble to look into the environment and customs of the indigenous inhabitants.

  So all he could do was express his thanks to the serpent creature. But he followed this up with an

  instruction which astonished Lofty Patterson. "You will remain here," he told the Evergreen, "until the sun has disappeared behind the roof of the house. Then you will get up and go wherever you please. But you will forget that we have met or that I asked you these questions. I..."

  At this point he interrupted himself. For a second or two it seemed as if he wanted to add something.

  But then he turned to Lofty and Larry and snapped an order: "Let's continue onward!" Larry picked up the transec apparatus and carried it back with him to his place in the ship. When Lofty climbed on board, confused and a bit benumbed, Larry was back at the flight controls. Ron sat down beside Lofty, the door closed and Larry lifted up. The glider came up to the level of the house roof under which Andy Lever had been living until a few days ago. Then it swerved around over the house and headed toward the forest.

  Lofty looked back. Below lay the Evergreen in its coils with the top six feet of its serpent body still erect. The creature did not move.

  "How did you do that, sir?" he blurted out finally.

  Ron shrugged his shoulders casually. "Terran technology has come up with quite a number of weapons," he answered. "Among others there are those which affect the central nervous system and cause the victim of the shot to be under the will of whoever's doing the shooting. Such weapons are called psycho-beamers. Their effect is called mechanico-hypnosis. We weren't entirely sure that the principle would work on the alien brain of an Evergreen... but as you can see, it took effect. When that fellow comes out of it down there in about an hour, he'll forget all about his meeting with us."

  Lofty gazed ahead in silence for awhile but finally asked another question. "At the end there, you were about to say something else to him, weren't you?"

  Ron smiled. "You're a sharp observer, Lofty. Yes, I was about to tell him not to touch another Terran in his life, let alone take any prisoners or to kill them."

  "Sounds like a good idea," Lofty agreed. "Why didn't you tell him?"

  Ron took his time before answering. "This thing called Sssst is probably pretty shrewd, whatever it is. It might get suspicious if it saw one of its subjects suddenly unwilling to bring him Terrans to the sacrifice. And we want to avoid all suspicions—until we have the monster in our hands."

  4
/ GLASS DRUMS, DARK IDOLS

  Be not angered against us, O thou Majestic and Incomparable One! The sacrifices become fewer and our warriors are hard beset to capture them. Spurn us not, O Mighty One! We move to bring thee further offerings. Be patient with us, O thou Invincible One, Ayaa-Oooy...!

  • • •

  The glider was not like others. It had been brought from Earth on board the Laramie . Its powerful generators were capable of building a defense screen around it that made it invulnerable, provided that at least 10 heavy ship's guns were not concentrated on it simultaneously.

  By sunset the small expedition had put the forest boundary 300 km behind it. Lofty demonstrated his exceptional memory by calling out minor details of the terrain below even before they could be seen from the glider. This was in spite of the fact that he hadn't seen the forest interior for the past 10 years and he hadn't been in this particular region for at least 20 years.

  "Now a river should be showing up soon," he announced as the blue sun prepared to disappear behind the glassy horizon. "It flows from north-northeast to south-southwest—not very wide. In some places the trees even touch each other over the water."