The Blue Dwarfs Page 8

  Pashen had no hesitation about a night flight. He had a compass to show him the way and enough power to keep the helicopter in the air all night if he could find neither the town nor a suitable place to land for rest on the way.

  6/ WORD FROM RHODAN

  When Mullon came to again, he felt so weak that even the effort of trying to remember where he was and how he had come there was painful and nearly made him lose consciousness once more.

  He saw a familiar face, as though through a thin curtain. Freddy's face. It had changed. The cheeks were hollow and her eyes were red-rimmed, seeming to lie deep in their sockets. "Freddy!" Mullon whispered.

  The curtain disappeared. Freddy's face came closer, growing clearer.

  "What is it... where am I?" Mullon wondered.

  "In safety," answered Freddy gently, tears in her eyes. "You're with me in the tent."

  There was suddenly a movement somewhere. A breeze crossed Mullon's face and a tall, broad-shouldered figure came into his field of vision. Mullon recognized the man: it was Milligan.

  "Everything's alright, Miz," Milligan said as gently as he could with his rough voice. "The blues are on their way now and—oh, is the Boss awake?"

  At that moment Mullon's memory suddenly and painfully returned. Pashen—the helicopter—Hollander!

  "How long have I been lying here?" he asked.

  "For awhile," said Freddy circumspectly.

  "Tell me exactly how long!"

  "Twenty-three days."

  Mullon groaned. "What happened?"

  "You shouldn't talk so much," whispered Freddy. "You aren't at all well!"

  "Please tell me," Mullon implored. "I must know!"

  Freddy hesitated.

  "Please... !"

  "We found you where the helicopter had been," Freddy said. "You had been shot through the heart. You were dead! Pashen had disappeared with the helicopter. We brought you to the tents and at that moment the blue dwarfs appeared. They came out of the tunnels like bright blue flames shining in the night. They knew instantly what had happened. They busied themselves with you, removing the bullet and taking you into their care. They indicated to us that they could probably save you."

  "I don't know how they did it but after a few hours you began to breathe again. Your eyes closed. You slept. The blues continued to take care of you. They gave you liquid nourishment, floated around you and you looked better every day. They must have incredible medical abilities."

  "And today you woke up for the first time. That's all."

  "But nothing else happened?" Mullon pressed. "Pashen... Hollander... "

  Freddy shook her head. "No, nothing. We're all alone with the blue dwarfs."

  "Then it's alright... ohhhh... !" He sank back and a second later had gone to sleep again.

  • • •

  30 more days went by—Grautier days, each close to 40 hours long.

  Mullon recovered noticeably under the attentive care of the blue dwarfs though he could not see what they did to him. They floated humming around him, never once touching him. But he grew stronger. five days after he had awakened for the first time he could already stand up and take a few steps.

  From then on it went quickly. From then on it was less the curing effects of the blues' treatment and more Mullon's driving wish to get back to Greenwich and look after things there.

  To his surprise he learned that in the meantime Freddy had succeeded in coming to a sort of understanding with the blue dwarfs. She had expressed her wish and the blues understood it with the help of their telepathic capabilities.

  Freddy had learned that the blue dwarfs communicated with each other in three ways: telepathy, color changes and humming. Each method fulfilled its own purpose.

  Telepathy was the means for general understanding, just as the speech of men is. The color play on the other hand gave a value to what was expressed: if, for example, the statement was telepathically made that "The forest is far!", the message was accompanied by the color reflecting the speaker's private opinion. If he was pleased by the fact the forest was far, his body glowed bright turquoise; if he were not pleased, his color changed to deep violet. If he were unmoved either way, then his body remained the usual blue.

  For its part, the humming indicated the importance of the message to the speaker. Depending on how important the fact the forest was distant was, the humming could be strong, weak or even non-existent.

  Those were the outward manifestations of the dwarfs' language. It was clear from the beginning that unless the Terrans either bred a telepath or somehow taught the dwarfs to write, there would never be a perfect communication between man and dwarf. Everything that the dwarfs wanted to communicate to a human would be incomplete and necessarily limited, to easily understood matters. Whereas the dwarfs could understand human thoughts.

  But there were limits even to that. Human logic was alien to the dwarfs and naturally they could act only on the thoughts that were intelligible within the framework of their own logic. Others they could not understand. The thought, 'A man is afraid of another man' was just as incomprehensible to them as the color play of their iridescent bodies to the Terrans.

  That example, however, had its basis not so much in the difference of logic but in the dwarfs' way of life. Freddy had found out that the dwarfs' telekinetic powers were effective only when the dwarfs were together in sufficient numbers. A single dwarf was hardly able to lift a small stone from the ground. So early in their development the dwarfs had realized that only a close communal society would be a favorable and advantageous way of life. Thus the dwarfs lived in a tightly knit clan in which there were never any disputes. This had of course influenced their manner of thinking and so the thought of someone being afraid of another member of the same species was completely alien.

  Moreover, Freddy had not been able to determine as yet if there were other clans besides the one in the hill, which included about a thousand members, and how the various clans got along with each other. The question had not been understood and so Freddy suspected that the thousand dwarfs were the only ones in a considerable area, if not the only ones on all of Grautier.

  There was something else, which she had understood more clearly: the technology of the blue dwarfs—if one could even speak of a technology at all—had developed on the basis of the telekinetic abilities of the strange beings. For example, the principle of the lever had never been discovered. When the dwarfs wanted to lift a heavy stone, they did it with the help of the gravitational field radiated from their bodies.

  The result was that there were few examples of actual machines and other devices and these only in their most primitive form. The dwarfs were all but helpless when confronted with a technical problem that could not be solved with the help of their telekinetic power.

  Thus their living quarters had been illuminated for centuries with torches. They understood the secrets of electricity intuitively but an electrical field projected somewhere is of little use for producing current as a storm. The primitive induction machines came out of considering the problem of producing current in some other fashion. There was a room under the hill in which a hundred such machines had been built and kept constantly in rotation by a part of the hill's inhabitants. In this way the current had been produced which had activated the huge light bulbs.

  Besides that, Freddy had learned that the blue dwarfs had never had any unfriendly intentions towards the four Terrans.

  The night Mullon was 'murdered' they had appeared on their own initiative. The frantic excitement of Freddy's thoughts had awakened them. That they would interrupt their sleep on Mullon's account had to be regarded as the highest sacrifice, since for the dwarfs sleep and thus renewal of their energy was nothing less than an almost religious action undertaken for the good of all. The custom was interrupted only when something extremely important had to be done.

  That was all that Freddy had been able to experience, reason out or guess. Considering the difficulties of communication standin
g in the way between human and dwarf, it was a great deal. Each detail confirmed by experience only emphasized how vast a gulf yawned between the two life-forms, what endless patience was required and, finally, what an astonishing variety of life forms were to be found in the universe.

  • • •

  After 30 days Mullon was so far along in recovery that he set the return to Greenwich for the next day. The dwarfs had made it clear that they willingly stood ready to transport the Terrans over the jungle.

  "In any event," said Mullon to Freddy and Milligan, "we certainly can't expect to be greeted with open arms. I'm even certain that Hollander meanwhile has pushed his way to power and both of you know what that means.

  "Let's consider the worst possible turn of events: Hollander has dissolved the People's Assembly and has taken over with his supporters. He knows that I'm dead but he still must take you into account. Moreover, Pashen has told him of the blue dwarfs' powers, so he knows that you won't have to walk 180 miles through the jungle. You're dangerous for him—only you can prove that Pashen told a fairy tale or whatever to account for what happened. Hollander will attempt to capture you then. That means he has posted watches between Greenwich and the western edge of the jungle. For us that means we'll have to veer far to the north or south to go around the watches and, if possible, approach Greenwich from the west.

  "What we'll have to do in Greenwich, we'll have to wait and see. I assume that Hollander is not yet completely in control of the situation or else he wants time to consolidate things: otherwise he would have shown up here a long time ago. But no matter what the situation is, we won't have it easy."

  • • •

  The flight went quickly and without incident. The place where Mullon and his two companions crossed the western edge of the jungle was 240 miles from Greenwich. The city itself lay off to the south-southwest and nothing was seen of Hollander's watch posts. Without stopping the blue dwarfs transported their passengers to a point about 20 miles northwest of Greenwich. The stream that flowed past Greenwich was only a few hundred yards away and under its overhanging banks Mullon and company found a sufficient hiding place from the helicopter Hollander was now probably using to keep a watch out for Milligan and Freddy.

  Seeing that their proteges had been landed safely, the blue dwarfs said goodbye which is to say that they danced, humming and chirping, and radiated bright turquoise.

  Oddly enough, two of them remained behind. Evidently they had been assigned to maintain communication between the Terrans and the dwarfs' hill. Mullon was happy about this and had Freddy, who had learned first how to make her thoughts understandable to, the dwarfs, convey his thanks.

  The rest of the day passed in inactivity and nervous waiting. As soon as darkness fell, Milligan would go to Greenwich and there find out what had been going on. If worst had come to worst and Hollander had come to power in Greenwich, Milligan could not allow himself to be seen there and had a walk of 40 miles in front of him—20 to and 20 back. So he slept for almost the rest of the day, resting up for the night to come.

  • • •

  Hardly had the sun set than Milligan started out. One of the most difficult parts of the trip had to be conquered first thing: crossing the fast-flowing river, Milligan stowed away his compass and pistol—the two most important pieces of equipment he had—so that the water could not get to them. Then he entered the water and let the racing current take him. With skilful strokes he steadily drew nearer to the other shore, reaching it little more than a quarter-mile downstream from where Mullon and Freddy were camped.

  From then on he followed his compass and reached the unusual—on Grautier, anyway—speed of 3.5 miles an hour. And so after over five hours of it, without stopping to rest once, he saw the dark mass of the sparsely lit little town appear in the blackness ahead.

  He threw himself into the grass and rested for a few minutes. Then he attempted to crawl closer to the town. He knew that O'Bannon lived in one of the northernmost houses. If he were able to get in touch with O'Bannon, he would have accomplished more than he had really dared hope. Assuming, of course, that O'Bannon was still at liberty.

  Milligan was still about 30 yards from the outermost house when he heard a muffled throat clearing out of the darkness in front of him. He pressed himself flat against the ground and, looking up, tried to make out in the weak starlight whom he had heard. After a brief search he discovered the outline of a man, wrapped in a coat and carrying a gun at his back, standing motionless a few yards from the house wall.

  Milligan crept a bit farther ahead. He didn't know who the man was. It could just as well have been one of Mullon's people as Hollander's. In any case, Milligan had to go past him if he wanted to reach O'Bannon's house.

  Milligan had not yet come to a decision when he heard steps approaching from the left. "Is that you, Suttney?" asked the sentry by the house. "Yeah. Everything's OK." With that the riddle was solved. Milligan knew that Suttney was one of Hollander's men. So, then, was

  the sentry. "Damn cold here," growled the sentry. "I'd like to know why we have to stand here. It's impossible that Milligan and Mullon's wife would come this way."

  "And because you believe that," said Suttney, "that's why we have to stand here. Those two are smarter than you think they are."

  "Yeah, but... "

  "Enough of that. Hurry up and go home to bed!" The sentry left without further comment and Suttney took his place. Milligan knew what he had to do. Moving in a wide curve, he approached Suttney at an angle from the rear. A gentle wind had blown up, rustling the grass and covering any sound Milligan made. Directly behind Suttney, Milligan stood up, pulled his pistol and prodded Suttney forcefully with it between the ribs."

  "Don't make a sound!" Milligan hissed. "Put your arms out to the side!"

  Suttney obeyed wordlessly and quickly: terror had overcome him. Milligan pulled the rifle off his shoulder. "Alright, now—forward, march!"

  Suttney hesitated but Milligan had no desire to lose any time. He raised the rifle and pushed the barrel against Suttney's back. Suttney stumbled forward, crying out involuntarily in pain. Like lightning Milligan had grabbed him by the collar and turned his head to look into his face. "Listen, buddy," Milligan hissed to him: "Another sound like that and that'll be the last noise you ever make! There are a lot of other sentries around and I can find out what I want to know from one of them just as easily as I can from you!"

  From then on Suttney marched willingly and made no further noises.

  Milligan kept to a northeastern direction, counting the steps he took in order to have an orientation later.

  When nothing more was to be seen of the town, he said to Suttney: "Now tell me everything that's happened in the last 35 days, friend. And don't forget to keep walking. We have a long ways to go tonight."

  • • •

  Milligan stumbled, to the riverbank across from Mullon and Freddy's camp just before sunrise. He wanted to swim across but Mullon saw how exhausted he was and called to him: "Stay over there and rest! Your report can wait until later!"

  He was in no way certain of that: it would be for Milligan to decide. That Milligan obeyed the instructions immediately and lay down to rest, Mullon took as a sign that nothing had happened that demanded haste.

  Milligan rested for two hours then walked a ways up the river, crossing the water the same way he had the evening before.

  "Now, tell us what's been going on!" Mullon urged.

  Milligan took a deep breath. "It's all rather simple," he began. "Pashen was bright enough to land the helicopter a ways from Greenwich, which he did even before sunrise. Then he sneaked his way to Hollander and made his report. Hollander realized immediately that his hour had come. His men—the few hundred he could still depend on completely—looted the arsenal and surrounded all the houses before anyone was really awake. Hollander got everybody out of bed and declared a state of emergency, although he didn't give any reasons for it. A few people defended themselves but of co
urse all resistance was pointless. Those who fought back were taken away and locked up—among them O'Bannon, Wolley and some others we know well. Hollander locked them up in the spaceship wreck and Harper and Glannon were freed.

  "Then Hollander set up a so-called 'Defense Troop': 500 men altogether, the only people allowed to carry arms. He picked the right men for it too—back on Earth, every single one of them must have been nervous whenever a policeman went by.

  "Naturally a lot of other people gave their support to Hollander, probably to spare themselves any trouble later. Hollander has been terrorizing the town and he's also been waiting for Mrs. Mullon and me. Once he's captured us, he'll want to look into the matter of the blue dwarfs. The man I questioned didn't know who or what blue dwarfs are, just that they interested Hollander tremendously.

  "And that's about all there is to say, I think."

  Mullon nodded thoughtfully. "And from whom did you find all this out?"

  "From Suttney. I grabbed him while he was standing watch. I kicked him six miles out into the prairie, then questioned him. Afterwards I turned him around so much he didn't know if he was coming or going. His cohorts probably started looking for him as soon as his relief didn't find him at his post but they can hardly have found him before this morning. Anyway, I went with him towards the northeast so that nobody will get the idea we're hiding in the northwest."

  Mullon smiled a bid sadly. "You've earned a medal, Milligan. As soon as the People's Assembly is reestablished, I'll see that you get one."

  Mullon then turned to Freddy. "Hollander hasn't even tried to make his take-over look legal. That will be the rope to hang him with as soon as we can undertake something against him."

  "So what are we going to do now?" Freddy concentrated for awhile and then began to transmit her thoughts to the two blues which had remained behind. After about half an hour they glided out over the river and disappeared in the east.