Part 4

"Allow us, O Panadur, to build a new civilization on your world, a civilization where we may achieve happiness in freedom. We bring over two thousand Space machines laden with everything we can possibly need, and millions of eager beings. We will transform your world into a Paradise such as you have never known. Weather control stations will give Panadur freedom from cold and darkness; cities will be reared in beauty, and to you, we guarantee forever, freedom from attack; for if we do not remain on Panadur, whom the Terrans call Europa, the Council of Terra will never rest until it has been subjugated by its interstellar fleet. Your mines will be ravaged, your people will be enslaved, blood redder than the angry spot of the greater world will flow in rivers."

"And how can you prevent them from doing so, in any event?" the Panadur asked.

* * * * *

"We will make your world impregnable. Each one of the Spacers that brings our people here, will be turned into a fighting cruiser; the minds of the greatest scientists of Terra will be utilized for our advancement ... and, these scientists, five-hundred of them, now asleep, will be delivered into your care as hostages, together with fifteen robots, placed under your command. We will ensure your safety, in return for your scientific aid. We know you have no tools; even to repair a small rent on my cruiser when I crashed here before, took hundreds and hundreds of your people and the tools I had, plus weeks of work! The result was magnificent, but I know how handicapped you were. My robots will build you machines of power, and we will give you that which you may choose from our ships. In insuring your safety, we ensure ours. One for all, and all for one, O Panadur. Fate has decreed that your world is in danger--shall we join forces?"

"It is true, Terran. We have achieved mental mastery, but we've never conquered our environment. Our hands," he extended fragile, six-fingered hands without thumbs, "are hardly suited to fashion tools. But with machines that create other machines ... and metal beings such as I saw in your mind...." A far away look came into beryl eyes as the Panadur leader paused.

"Let your mind be passive that I may contact and transmit to my people, they must know the entire story."

Mark complied, and instantly, as if a tremendous force had struck him, he reeled in darkness, consciousness fled. He never knew that not far behind him another being fell unconscious also. It was Palanth. The Martian had followed unseen, unwilling to let Mark risk the unknown by himself.

The hours slid in silence under the unchanging luminescence of the primordial cavern, now filled with countless Panadurs in hieratic attitudes.

At last one of the beings stood erect and made a silent motion; waves of pure energy began to course through Mark Lynn and Palanth. But when they awoke, all the Panadurs were gone save their leader. Mark dazedly stretched his long limbs and looked at the Martian uncomprehendingly, then slowly remembrance came.

"So, you did follow me after all? Disobedience of orders in an uncharted world--do you know the penalty imposed by the Council?"

"May the Council swelter in Venus' deepest swamp!" Palanth spat irreverently. "Didn't intend to take chances ... your life's too valuable, O scourge of the Planets!" Under a grandiloquent manner he tried to hide the mixture of bewilderment and awe with which he gazed at the placid Panadur Leader. He still had not quite decided what had happened to him.

The Panadur in turn, gazed inscrutably at the being from Mars, its delicate nose wrinkled slightly at Palanth's mingled fragrances. What went on in the Panadur's prodigious mind was unknown to the two men, for the three-foot tall Leader's mind was not in contact with theirs. The faintest hint of a smile hovered over his placid features. At last he began to send:

"The tragedy of your world, 'twice come' is only less startling than that of your Government--your leaders are a paradox! With a philosophy of achievement they conceal the greatest achievement of all--men of metal to enrich your lives; with the goal of conservation and economy, they waste the most precious of all things--Life! From such a Government, we can expect but destruction.

"Yet, your people reared without controls are dissenters.... I fear they might not accept our guidance, that at some future time their will to power might create an even greater problem to be solved. However, there's no alternative now. We accept the fifteen men of metal, O Terran, but above all we must have the 'Sleeping Ones' whose minds we will study. _We Panadurs must guard against a future paradox._ Your people," he paused and gazed from Mark to Palanth, "may remain."

The mental rapport was broken, and the furred leader disappeared into the depths of the cavern, leaving Mark and Palanth to retrace their steps to the _Stellar Virgin_.

* * * * *

For the first time in her highly-trained life, Lucero felt the full impact of loneliness as the Europan night swallowed Mark and Palanth. At last she chose action rather than endure the atavistic emotions that had begun to grip her. And methodically she flitted silently from compartment to luxurious compartment where the scientists dreamt their drugged sleep. Carefully she scanned their faces and was struck by one overwhelming fact--this was no collection of second rate scientists for the solution of routine problems, but an assemblage of the first order, now inert and helpless in the coma of Vanadol, presided over by a sphinx-like robot.

The last compartment was much larger than the preceding ones, and by far more luxurious; during the previous inspection, Mark, Palanth and herself had had no time to come this far, and the girl was startled at its complex magnificence. Equipped for research work, it was a miracle of scientific devices, from energizing cabinets to a bewildering array of surgical apparatus and tools.

Only one man occupied it, and on the raised dais an immobile robot. But the face that Lucero bent over made her gasp with involuntary fear. It was the face of Verdugo, the infamous cerebral surgeon whose gifted fingers could change an entire ego with a few movements of the atomic scalpel.

The sight of the dreaded scientist in their midst was startling enough, but what made the girl turn ashen was the sudden flutter of the surgeon's lids. A painful groan came from his lips, as he trembled and opened his eyes. The sight of Lucero bending over him seemed to reassure him, for he smiled faintly.

Behind Lucero the towering robot glided noiselessly to peer at his awakening master. The girl was unaware it had moved.

"Shall I bring a measure of Thassalian, Master?" The metal man's richly modulated voice rose without the slightest mechanical inflection.

For one shattering instant, the girl felt as if her reason was taking wings. She remained utterly still as if in the grip of paralyzing hysteria. But her training saved her. Slowly she turned and gazed into the strangely human features of the metal giant. At close quarters she noted the smooth beryloid construction of the superb outer shell; the indestructible optics of non-abradable, chemically inert crystal with microscopic adjustments. But most important of all, she sensed that here was a brain which had attained full growth--powerful, experienced and ... organic!

"Yes, bring me some Thassalian, _Alcoran_," the surgeon assented wearily and half-rose from his couch with a sigh. "The sleep-freeze reaction is far worse than I'd anticipated!"

"The antidotes have been given--two antidotes Master!" The super-robot answered instantly.

"Two! For the love of Terra! If it took a double antidote I must have been given a dose big enough for a Hellacorium...."

"Doctor Verdugo," Lucero interrupted purposely, now entirely calm. "There's life ... intelligent life on Europa." She didn't intend that Alcoran should have a chance to disclose what he must have known.

"Yes?" Doctor Verdugo was all attention. "Bring the Thassalian!" He waved an imperious hand at Alcoran, "and don't stand there like an effigy! Must your orders be given twice?" He glared at the robot. "Proceed, Doctor Fortun. Intelligent life ... what's it like?"

"Humanoid, but furred against Europa's eternal cold. They seem to be telepathic!"

"Telepathic.... Remarkable! I must have a specimen without delay. Have my scientists been awakened?"

"We've just arrived, Doctor, they're being given the antidote now," Lucero was once again her coldly efficient self.

"Your Thassalian, Master." Alcoran extended the small glass and waited while the scientist drank, closing his eyes against the ecstasy imparted by the liquor.

"Help me up!" The girl complied stifling a grimace of distaste as his arm encircled her waist. Verdugo stood on his feet with the girl's help, weaving a little, and finally recovered his balance.

"Telepathic ..." he murmured, the light of some fiendish purpose gleaming in the coal black eyes. "Order some of my scientists to secure a specimen immediately, Doctor Fortun!" The girl bowed.

"Master ..." Alcoran's voice was insistent. "You must...."

* * * * *

"Silence! Never use the word 'must' to me, never!" Verdugo had drawn himself to his full height. "Ever since I synthetized his brain, he's got the idea that _he_ owns me! I had to order him not to stir from his seat during the entire voyage ... I wouldn't have had any peace otherwise," he smiled at the girl and waved toward the super-robot. "I synthetized his brain from three of the finest intelligences on Terra!"

"You mean you transferred three brains to Alcoran's helmet?" She asked aghast. "But didn't they retain their memories ... their personalities...?"

"Of course not, my dear. I never do things by halves. And now I must inform the Council we have arrived, and the discovery of life on Europa." He walked toward the immense metal wall and his slender hand reached out to touch a spot. Silently, the huge metal partition rose upwards revealing a hidden alcove in the very center of which, taking up about two-thirds of the available space stood a gigantic machine.

"A Tele-Magnum!" Lucero breathed.

"Alcoran, contact Venus ... the Council Hall," Doctor Verdugo ordered his super-robot. The latter came noiselessly forward. Once seated at the console of the incredibly complex mechanism, his agile finger ran without hesitation over the banked keys, after pressing a master switch that lighted serried ranks of powerful tubes, with an eerie violet light.

"Give my orders to my scientists, Doctor Fortun--it is imperative I have an Europan specimen immediately." Doctor Verdugo made a curious grimace that accentuated the evil expression stamped on his features, then he nodded in dismissal.

With a great effort Lucero quieted her swirling thoughts. She had no doubt but that the super-robot knew about the administration of Vanadol. If Verdugo learned of it, he would instantly report it to the Council, and at least part of the fleet would come to investigate. Against the fleet of Terra they were powerless.

"I'll not deserve this world and freedom if I fail now!" She told herself. White-faced and grim she began to carry out a plan that was slowly growing in her mind out of sheer desperation. Once again she retraced her steps from compartment to compartment, and began motivating each robot, commanding them to administer the sleep-freeze to the men and women in the lower tiers. One robot she left, the one in the compartment next to that of Doctor Verdugo--she had a task for that one.

When all the robots save one had been sent below, she went back and entered the next to the last compartment.

"Arise and come with me," she ordered the robot. "I'm your master, you will obey my orders implicitly." The metal monster stirred, as if some hidden mechanism had come to life at the vibration of her words. It arose on frictionless bearings and stood glittering before her; she opened its breast and inspected the masterly work that had been done on the control panel; its eyes, lit now by the glow of intelligence seemed uncannily human. Lucero knew this specimen didn't possess the Machiavellian intelligence of Alcoran--only Verdugo could accomplish such a satanic piece of work--but it was larger and more powerful than Alcoran, the latter being a specialized product for intricate mental work.

Resolutely Lucero marched to Doctor Verdugo's compartment, followed by the fearful metal servant. The scientist had already completed preparations for a vivisection when the girl entered, and was bending over a multitude of helixes of finest wire of sensitized silver.

An array of electric and atomic-powered instruments from tiny, silver-like scalpels, to razor-sharp saws gleamed on tables at his sides; fulgurants cast ultra-visibility light upon the white-swathed couch where the victim was to be strapped alive. Verdugo did not hear them enter, but Alcoran did! Instantly the super-robot gave a warning cry at the sight of his metal counterpart and stood before the girl and robot like an impassable wall.

"Attack!" Lucero did not waste words. "Destroy it!" She pointed to the slightly crouching Alcoran.

VII

With a blasting roar the girl's robot lunged, and Alcoran sprang forward to meet the attack. It was a nerve shattering impact, like that of two armored pre-historic monsters engaged in a death-struggle.

Behind the metal men, both Lucero and Verdugo maneuvered for position, their atomo-pistols blazing a path through scientific instruments and furnishings as they fired over and around the struggling robots. The awesome din of the gigantic battle was deafening, as the compartment was slowly converted into shambles.

Once Alcoran managed to grip the leg of Lucero's robot and the latter went crashing against the vivisection table, instantly pulverizing it. But with a leap that carried it half across the vast alcove, the robot charged Alcoran like a battering-ram and driving him into the Tele-Magnum room with the impetus of his leap. The explosion of shattered tubes and crashing metal, the singing hum of ripped berlyloy and pulverized plastuco, was drowned by the clang and thud of the gigantic bodies as they strove to wrench each other apart.

And now, only the litter-strewn floor was between Lucero and Verdugo, the latter oozing blood from a seared shoulder where an atomoblast had touched. Deliberately she aimed her atomo-pistol, even as the surgeon simultaneously raised his, but her blast only disintegrated a fulgurant on the ceiling, while Verdugo's fatal pencil of violet light speared an empty spot, for at that instant the hurtling form of Alcoran spewed from the alcove, barely grazing the girl, but such was the terrific force of his passage that it knocked her spinning against the wall where she collapsed.

Behind Alcoran, hurtling like an avenging angel, Lucero's robot came charging with but one thought--destruction.

"Alcoran!" It was Verdugo shouting hoarsely at his creation, now spread-eagled on the floor. "Run, follow me!" He dived for the passageway as Alcoran, damaged as he was, his brain shaken by the terrific concussion arose and sped after him.

At the sight of the fallen girl, Lucero's robot checked his rush, hesitated and finally bent over her. He raised the still form as if it were a feather and stood for a moment as if trying to cerebrate. Finally it deposited her with infinite care on the couch where Verdugo had slept. Then it began to search what cabinets had not been destroyed, for a stimulant.

It found the decanter of Thassalian, that miraculously had escaped destruction; gently opening the girl's mouth the robot poured a few drops down her throat. Just then Mark Lynn and Palanth burst into the room. Shamble was before their eyes. Mark went white with apprehension and leaped to Lucero's side, but the robot placed a formidable metal hand against the earthman's chest and growled:

"Back, Terran! Come no nearer!"

* * * * *

Palanth slid toward them atomo-pistol in hand, just as Mark drew his. But at that moment Lucero opened her eyes and groaned softly.

"Mark!" There was a universe of gladness in her cry. She waved a limp hand toward the robot. "This is Mark Lynn and the other's Palanth--your masters also, obey them."

The robot stepped back and Mark kneeled at her side. "Are you hurt, my darling?" Lucero shook her head and tried to smile.

Palanth turned to the robot. "Tell us what occurred in detail," he commanded. Thus it was that from the metal lips they heard the entire story with photographic accuracy, as far as he had seen.

"I might have known they'd have one last counter-check," Mark reproached himself. "I should never have left you!"

"Who could have foreseen this?" Lucero raised herself on an elbow. "Even I had no idea that Verdugo was with us, not to speak of his bringing one of the only two ultra-specialized super-robots in existence. We'll have to work very fast, Mark! There's nothing, literally nothing, that Alcoran cannot accomplish in a scientific way, provided he has the materials--Verdugo may even have him build a Tele-Magnum and communicate with the Council!"

"But where's he going to get materials, my dear? A Tele-Magnum is a tall order!"

"I don't know.... But I do know that Verdugo has the mind of a fiend and the skill of a genius, and Alcoran's a triple-synthetized brain, and under Verdugo's control!"

"We'll deal with the surgeon," Palanth's voice was deadly.

"And we shall deal with Verdugo and his scientists," came the quiet telepathic thought.

Both Mark Lynn and the Martian turned seeking its source, and saw framed in the doorway to the alcove, the silver-furred figure of the Panadur leader.

"That was the agreement," the Panadur added after a pause. "Thousands of my people await without to carry him away."

Lucero's robot took a step forward tentatively and then gazed questioningly at its mistress, and suddenly a wave of energy from the Panadur stopped it dead in its tracks.

"The agreement will be honored," Mark acquiesced, "but one has escaped, O Panadur, and Klonos knows where in that maze of rocks and caverns he's now hiding with his super-robot."

"That's our problem, Terran. The agreement was five-hundred, and five-hundred scientists shall we have."

"You will need the fifteen robots immediately," Mark said thoughtfully. "Lucero, my dear, only you can command the robots, so place fifteen under the Panadur's command ... are you able to walk?"

"Of course, I was only stunned." She rose from the couch and left the compartment followed by her ever-watchful metal man. The Panadur seemed to melt away as it glided into the hall.

"And now," Mark addressed Palanth, "we must begin to land the spacers, I have the radio beam. The sooner everyone has been given the sleep-freeze antidote, the better. Internationals first, they are our best fighters, just in case the Council has another trick up its sleeve. Then we must find some way of increasing the spacers' resistance to the disintegrating beam--the alloy used on robots' case shell is the clue--they're impervious to atom-blast. Weather stations next--robots to be detailed on that and machinery stations to turn out mechanical robots and more machinery ... tools, weapons for defense ... we're really fighting for time."

"I know. But even then, I can think of nothing that can stop Terra's fleet if it ever comes to Europa. It's practically invulnerable, or Venus and my own Mars would have shaken off the Council's domination long ago!"

"I have an idea Palanth! It's far from clear, but if it works.... It has to do with radiant energy--even the Fleet couldn't withstand that."

"Radiant energy! Have you lost your mind? Who can control a radiant energy vortex? Besides, we have no means of releasing it. Stop dreaming Mark!"

"It isn't a dream," Mark shrugged wide shoulders. "But come, let's take a look at the scientific exodus--I'm certainly glad to be rid of them, hope the Panadurs can cope with that tribe."

"What do you suppose the Panadurs _really_ want with them, Mark?"

"Probe their minds of course. Panadurs have surpassing intellects, but they have neither tools nor scientific techniques. I suppose they want to learn all they can from our 'sleeping beauties,' in order to achieve their own inventions. Panadurs are thumbless, unable to make tools, thus their development has been purely along mental lines. Since their metabolism requires no food, as they are able to absorb energy _directly_, they have by-passed all domestic arts and sciences."

The steadily increasing noise from the tiers below, had now become a cacophonous din, as more and more Internationals came to life.

* * * * *

The Panadur Leader bending over a scientist for the nth time, probed, delved and searched the innermost recesses of the quiescent brain under the scalpel, but at last he straightened with a baffled expression.

The Europan cavern was a vast catacomb under the glaucous radiance of the radio-active walls that spread a green stela on the faces of the sleeping scientists, flanking the walls in lengthening rows.

The Panadur knew what had been done, he had even tried the delicate process, but the secret of transferring a living brain, minus its personality and the seat of entity, remained unsolved.

Not one of the scientists brought from the _Stellar Virgin_ possessed the secret technique, and many Panadurs had sacrificed themselves in vain as their brains died under the atomo-knife.

Presently the Panadur Leader raised his delicate face, the brilliance of his eyes increased as he turned to face the tunnel that led to the cavern's entrance, then the single thought flashed out: "_Enter!_"

It wasn't long until the silence was broken by the tread of heavy-shod feet crunching the glittering oxide crystals, and Mark entered followed by Palanth. The awful responsibility for three-hundred million lives and the transfiguration of a world, had left its mark on the faces of the two men.

"We bring bad news, Panadur!" Mark said bluntly, in his preoccupation he unconsciously resorted to speech. "One of the space vessels has been looted of vital supplies that can be used for the construction of an interplanetary radio. Verdugo took the opportunity to steal its radio installations with the aid of his robot, while the passengers celebrated their arrival on Europa. If Verdugo builds a Tele-Magnum and contacts the Council, it means War!"

"And war," Palanth seconded, "means the Terran Fleet, against which we are not prepared!"

"When were the supplies stolen?"

"Three revolutions of Panadur on its axis ago--we learned of it today. Enough time for Alcoran to have built an instrument powerful enough to contact the Council on Venus."

"The blame is partly ours," the Panadur telepathed sadly. "We should have captured Verdugo long ago. But it meant wasting lives to imprison that madman ... but now, we have no recourse, the scientist and his metal servant will be brought in. It will solve another problem," he added thoughtfully. "This!" He indicated the trepanned cranium of the scientist on the operating table.

"If you need them, Panadur, you may have every robot in our possession," Mark offered.

For an instant the nearest thing to a smile the two men had ever seen, crossed the features of the strange being of Europa.

"Panadur thanks you, Terran. But we already have built over a thousand robots, half of them have mechanical brains and can be radio-controlled, but the other half, the important one requires a knowledge of Verdugo's technique for transplanting organic brains to metal men. He shall provide that ... personally!"