Brain World

Chapter Seventeen

“What annual ceremonies?” Ronny demanded.

But suddenly all three realized that the intelligence that had been communicating with them telepathically had withdrawn. They stared at each other, aghast.

Through all this, the two dogs had been stretched out on the floor, Boy growling low in his throat, all but inaudibly. Now he said, “What was all that, Boss? I seemed to be hearing somebody talking—in my head.”

“Me too,” Plotz said, a worried whine in her voice.

“We all heard it,” Ronny told them. “They can evidently communicate, no matter what the language, with any intelligent life form.”

“What do we do now?” Dorn said.

“What can we do?” Ronny said. “All we can do is wait and see what happens.”

LeeChang said, not very convincingly, “I could probably pilot this spacecraft. We could take off and rejoin the Alexander Hamilton.”

“No,” Ronny told her. “I doubt if they’d let us. Besides, our mission isn’t finished. Somehow, we’ve got to keep them from sending out their fleet to polish off United Planets.”

He took his communicator from his pocket, activated it and said into the screen, “Ronald Bronston, calling Captain John Fodor of the Space Forces Cruiser Alexander Hamilton.”

The captain’s face faded in immediately. “Supervisor Bronston,” he said. “Are you all right?”

“We’re still alive,” Ronny said laconically. “We’ve made contact with the people we came to see. Are you okay, up there?”

“Yes. Everything is routine.”

“Wizard. Carry on, then. We’ll contact you, as arranged, within another six hours.”

He switched off the communications device and thought about it for a minute, then switched it back on again and flicked a stud. “Ronald Bronston, calling Irene Kasansky” he said.

Irene’s face faded in and when she saw who it was turned apprehensive. “Ronny,” she said. “Are you three all right?”

“Well, so far we’re still with it. Is the old man available?”

Ross Metaxa’s face, tired and moist of eye as always, took the place of Irene’s in the small screen. He looked at Ronny questioningly.

Ronny said, “It looks bad, sir. Briefly, the others got here first. We’re in their ship. They’re missing. We’ve been contacted by one of the, uh, Brahmins. It doesn’t look as though they’re going to let us go this time.”

“What are their plans for United Planets?”

“I don’t know.”

“Should I recommend to the President that the Space Forces fleet be mobilized?”

“Certainly not yet. Not while we’re still here and working on it. I told Fodor that if they did us in, he should recommend it, but it won’t do any good. The last time I was here I saw one of their spacecraft. It was a hundred times the size of the largest spacecraft we’ve got. And it was even able to turn itself invisible. We’re scheduled to be turned over to their soldier caste for something they call their annual ceremonies. It doesn’t sound so good.”

“All right, Ronny,” his superior sighed wearily. “Do what you can.” His face faded.

The three stared at each other some more without words. There was nothing to say.

Lee Chang said finally, “Should I check out the ship’s galley? We could eat something before whatever comes next.”

“I couldn’t eat anything,” Ronny said.

“I could,” Boy said, giving the Chinese girl a couple of wags. “I can always eat something.”

“Chowhound,” Plotz said, with the nearest thing to a sneer she could put over, but she too got up to follow Lee Chang.

But it was then that a voice came into all of their minds. The Brahmin’s had been calm, gentle, and in accord with the fact that he was a scholar. This voice had a ring of command.

You will leave the space vessel.

Ronny looked at Lee Chang and then Dorn and came to his feet. He said, “I doubt that disobeying would make much sense. Not to speak of physically resisting.”

They stood, too, wordlessly, and followed him, the two dogs coming along behind.

Boy growled, “By the way, Boss, that conditioning of mine, not to bite people, applies only on Einstein.”

Ronny said, “Well, don’t try it.”

At the top of the gangplank he looked out. Below were nine Dawnmen. Eight of them were drawn up in a squad, the other, obviously in command, was out in front. All were somewhat over six feet in height and all in the vicinity of one hundred and ninety pounds. All were golden of skin, dark cream of hair. They could have been brothers, so similar were they. Not exactly twins, but very similar, including the officer. All were clothed in identical shorts, nothing else, and all wore sandals.The eight bore what looked like Neptune’s trident, of mythology. Their leader carried a swagger stick.

Ronny wasn’t deluded. They might not look very efficiently armed, or dangerous, but he knew better. He started down the gangway and was followed by the others.

He marched up to the officer and said, “Okay. What do you want?”

The officer turned and looked at his men, without speaking. Evidently, he didn’t have to speak. Four of them stepped forward briskly a few paces, then snappily executed a left face and started marching off.

Into the minds of the three Earthlings and their dogs came the order, Follow.

They fell in behind the four.

Behind them, they could hear the remaining four take their place in the march. The officer strode to one side.

Dorn said to Ronny, “Was this the way they dressed the last time you were here?”

“Yes.”

“I get the impression that the climate is always the same. No seasons. Always perfect. They must have unbelievably competent climatic engineers.”

“They’ve got unbelievably competent everything,” Ronny said sourly. “I wonder where in the hell we’re being taken.”

Boy, trotting along beside Ronny, had been sizing up the Dawnmen. He gave a couple of pants and said, “The way they dress, you could really get in a nifty bite on the calf of a leg.”

“Shut up,” Ronny said.

Into their minds came another message. What kind of an… animal is that?

Ronny wondered why the Dawnmen ever asked questions. If they could read his mind, and memory, they could find the answer to any question they might want to ask. Well, perhaps it was simpler, or faster, or whatever. Or possibly only the Brahmins could read memory.

He said, “It’s a dog. On Earth and on most of the humanity-settled planets, we keep them as pets.”

Pets?

It seemed that the Kshatriyas, even the officers, weren’t as astute as the Brahmins. The Brahmin who had contacted them would have been able to dig out man’s relationship to his pets with no difficulty. But then, that made sense. The Brahmins were the brains of the Dawnworlds, the Kshatriyas were the soldiers. The Dawnmen Ronny had seen on his first visit were Sudras and hadn’t communicated with him at all; in fact, they hadn’t even seemed aware of his existence.

He said, “They serve as companions to us and live in our homes with us. They guard our houses and sometimes have special tasks such as herding other animals.”

Boy looked up at him and said, “Sure enough, Boss. How about pulling dog sleds in Alaska in the old days, stuff like that? I read a book once by an Earth-side writer named Jack London.”

That was the extent of the questioning. They marched on.

Their destination wasn’t far. They had covered approximately a kilometer and a half when an order came into their minds.

Halt!

Simultaneously, the four Dawnmen before them came to a snappy halt and they could hear those behind do the same.

The officer strode forward and suddenly a door opened before him, seemingly in the clear air. Ronny had seen the astonishing phenomenon before but Lee Chang gasped and Dorn’s eyes bugged. Beyond the door could be made out a furnished room.

Enter.

They filed through and the door closed behind them.

The surprise was in the lack of surprise. The room beyond was not as different as all that. In fact, Ronny Bronston couldn’t help comparing it to those in the monasteries of the planet Saint Athos which had been settled by a Greek religious order. It was cell-like, and there was no decoration whatsoever—as befitted a bee-hive culture. The furniture looked comfortable and utilitarian. It came to the Section G agent than any humanoid life form would evolve much the same furniture, the chair, the table, the bed, the couch. But no. The table was off-beat. There were no legs to hold it up. The top just hung there in the air. Some form of anti-gravity was being used.

The other surprise came in the fact that Rosemary was seated on a couch. There was no one else in the room. It was obvious that it was a living room, and doors opened off two of the walls. At least, Ronny assumed they were doors; there were neither knobs nor locks.

Rosemary was staring at them. Then she started to her feet, saying, “Ronny! Dorn! You’ve come to our rescue!”

Dorn snorted at that and Ronny said bitterly, “Evidently, we’ve come to join you. Where are the others?”

“In the… I suppose you’d call it the dining room… eating. I wasn’t hungry. I can’t bear their food.” She looked at Lee Chang, who had been taking her in.

Ronny said, “Rosemary, this is Supervisor Lee Chang Chu of the Bureau of Investigation. She and Dorn and I have been sent to attempt to prevent you from precipitating a crisis which would result in the destruction of United Planets and other Earth-settled worlds, including your own.”

The two women nodded warily at each other. What is there about the eternal female? Ronny wondered inwardly.

Boy had wandered over to one of the windows, which looked out upon the park-like scenery. “Some house,” he said.

Plotz settled down on the floor and promptly went to sleep, her nose on crossed paws.

Rosemary said, “I’ll go and get the others.”

But Ronny said, “There’s no hurry. Let them finish their meal. Are there accommodations here for sleeping?”

“Yes, ample.” The Einstein girl settled back wearily onto the couch, adding, “This amounts to a prison. There is no way of getting out.”

Dorn turned and looked at the door through which they had entered.

She said, “There’s no way of opening it.”

The big man said thoughtfully, “Have you tried breaking it down?”

“If you even approach it, you get a crashing headache.”

The three newcomers found seats and relaxed into them.

“Suppose you tell us your story,” Lee Chang said. “You might have some information we haven’t come upon as yet.”

Rosemary said, “I doubt it. The story is simple enough. With the knowledge we secured from Ronny under Scop we immediately took off for this destination. We met with complete failure. We still believe we have superior minds to the, uh, Brahmins but we were utterly unable to get through their barriers of traditions and rituals. There is simply no place for intercourse with strangers in this culture. They’re… they’re like ants. Everybody in his place, everybody to his task. The anthill is everything, the individual is nothing. All outsiders are enemies. Well, not exactly enemies, they’re just ignored.

“Immediately upon our setting down, we were mentally contacted by… by one of the Brahmins. We never saw him. He refused even to consider turning any of their technology over to us. He told us that we would not be allowed to leave, for fear we would inform others of the location of the Dawnworlds. We attempted to blast off and escape but the controls of the spaceship wouldn’t respond. Instead, we were turned over to the equivalent of soldier ants, I suppose you could call them, and brought here.”

Dorn said, “You made no effort to resist?”

“Two of the men had guns but they wouldn’t function. One of them attempted to physically assault one of the soldier ants and was paralyzed before he got to within six feet of him. The paralysis wore off in about five minutes but, obviously, he didn’t try again. We were brought to this place.”

Lee Chang said, “How long have you been here?”

“We don’t know. Our devices measuring time are not operative. And there is no night and day here. It always seems to be high noon. But I would say, by the number of times we have eaten, that we’ve been here approximately a week.”

One of the inner doors opened and two men entered, showing their surprise at seeing the newcomers. They were typical of those Ronny and Dorn had met on Einstein, and both looked as though they were somewhere in their early thirties.

Rosemary introduced all around. The two were Roy and David. No second names, in the Einstein fashion. Everyone had barely gotten beyond the point of shaking hands when the door opened again and two more entered the room. They were Charles and Gil.

All seated, Ronny took over. He said, looking about at the five representatives from Einstein, “We’re all in the same spot. Our interests were, and are, different, but for the sake of survival the obvious need is for unity. Do you agree?”

“Of course,” Roy said.

Ronny said, “Supervisor Chu, Dorn and I are trouble shooters. We’re widely experienced in interplanetary difficulties. I’m the leader of the group. I suggest you make me temporary chief of our whole number.”

Rosemary said, “I nominate Ronny to be our temporary head, in charge of whatever action we can take.”

“Second,” David said.

Rosemary said, “Are there any more nominations?”

There were none.

“All in favor say, ‘Aye.’ ”

All said aye, including Lee Chang and Dorn, who seemed slightly amused at this show of the democratic method.

Ronny said, “Wizard. Just before you four entered, Rosemary was giving us a run-down on your experiences here with the Dawnmen. You’ve been here something like a week. Have you any indication what they expect to do with us? The Brahmin who communicated with us merely said that we were to be turned over to the Kshatriyas, the soldier ants, as Rosemary called them, for their annual ceremonies.”

The five from Einstein looked at him. “You don’t know what the annual ceremonies are?” Roy said.

“No. Do you?”

Roy said, “They evidently come down from the antiquity of the Dawnmen. The Holy Ultimate only knows how long ago it was that they were so primitive a people. The annual ceremonies of the Kshatriyas amount to gladiator fights. Each young Kshatriyas must prove himself in the arena before he enters into full… full manhood, I suppose you’d call it.”