CHAPTER VI

IN THE TOILS OF HORROR

What the creature had told her gave Tara of Helium food for thought.

She had been taught that every created thing fulfilled some useful

purpose, and she tried conscientiously to discover just what was the

rightful place of the kaldane in the universal scheme of things. She

knew that it must have its place but what that place was it was beyond

her to conceive. She had to give it up. They recalled to her mind a

little group of people in Helium who had forsworn the pleasures of life

in the pursuit of knowledge. They were rather patronizing in their

relations with those whom they thought not so intellectual. They

considered themselves quite superior. She smiled at recollection of a

remark her father had once made concerning them, to the effect that if

one of them ever dropped his egotism and broke it it would take a week

to fumigate Helium. Her father liked normal people--people who knew too

little and people who knew too much were equally a bore. Tara of Helium

was like her father in this respect and like him, too, she was both

sane and normal.

Outside of her personal danger there was much in this strange world

that interested her. The rykors aroused her keenest pity, and vast

conjecture. How and from what form had they evolved? She asked Ghek.

"Sing to me again and I will tell you," he said. "If Luud would let me

have you, you should never die. I should keep you always to sing to me."

The girl marvelled at the effect her voice had upon the creature.

Somewhere in that enormous brain there was a chord that was touched by

melody. It was the sole link between herself and the brain when

detached from the rykor. When it dominated the rykor it might have

other human instincts; but these she dreaded even to think of. After

she had sung she waited for Ghek to speak. For a long time he was

silent, just looking at her through those awful eyes.

"I wonder," he said presently, "if it might not be pleasant to be of

your race. Do you all sing?"

"Nearly all, a little," she said; "but we do many other interesting and

enjoyable things. We dance and play and work and love and sometimes we

fight, for we are a race of warriors."

"Love!" said the kaldane. "I think I know what you mean; but we,

fortunately, are above sentiment--when we are detached. But when we

dominate the rykor--ah, that is different, and when I hear you sing and

look at your beautiful body I know what you mean by love. I could love

you."

The girl shrank from him. "You promised to tell me the origin of the

rykor," she reminded him.

"Ages ago," he commenced, "our bodies were larger and our heads

smaller. Our legs were very weak and we could not travel fast or far.

There was a stupid creature that went upon four legs. It lived in a

hole in the ground, to which it brought its food, so we ran our burrows

into this hole and ate the food it brought; but it did not bring enough

for all--for itself and all the kaldanes that lived upon it, so we had

also to go abroad and get food. This was hard work for our weak legs.

Then it was that we commenced to ride upon the backs of these primitive

rykors. It took many ages, undoubtedly, but at last came the time when

the kaldane had found means to guide the rykor, until presently the

latter depended entirely upon the superior brain of his master to guide

him to food. The brain of the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His

ears went and his eyes, for he no longer had use for them--the kaldane

saw and heard for him. By similar steps the rykor came to go upon its

hind feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther. As the brain

shrank, so did the head. The mouth was the only feature of the head

that was used and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the red race

fell into the hands of our ancestors from time to time. They saw the

beauties and the advantages of the form that nature had given the red

race over that which the rykor was developing into. By intelligent

crossing the present rykor was achieved. He is really solely the

product of the super-intelligence of the kaldane--he is our body, to do

with as we see fit, just as you do what you see fit with your body,

only we have the advantage of possessing an unlimited supply of bodies.

Do you not wish that you were a kaldane?"

For how long they kept her in the subterranean chamber Tara of Helium

did not know. It seemed a very long time. She ate and slept and watched

the interminable lines of creatures that passed the entrance to her

prison. There was a laden line passing from above carrying food, food,

food. In the other line they returned empty handed. When she saw them

she knew that it was daylight above. When they did not pass she knew it

was night, and that the banths were about devouring the rykors that had

been abandoned in the fields the previous day. She commenced to grow

pale and thin. She did not like the food they gave her--it was not

suited to her kind--nor would she have eaten overmuch palatable food,

for the fear of becoming fat. The idea of plumpness had a new

significance here--a horrible significance.

Ghek noted that she was growing thin and white. He spoke to her about

it and she told him that she could not thrive thus beneath the

ground--that she must have fresh air and sunshine, or she would wither

and die. Evidently he carried her words to Luud, since it was not long

after that he told her that the king had ordered that she be confined

in the tower and to the tower she was taken. She had hoped against hope

that this very thing might result from her conversation with Ghek. Even

to see the sun again was something, but now there sprang to her breast

a hope that she had not dared to nurse before, while she lay in the

terrible labyrinth from which she knew she could never have found her

way to the outer world; but now there was some slight reason to hope.

At least she could see the hills and if she could see them might there

not come also the opportunity to reach them? If she could have but ten

minutes--just ten little minutes! The flier was still there--she knew

that it must be. Just ten minutes and she would be free--free forever

from this frightful place; but the days wore on and she was never

alone, not even for half of ten minutes. Many times she planned her

escape. Had it not been for the banths it had been easy of

accomplishment by night. Ghek always detached his body then and sank

into what seemed a semi-comatose condition. It could not be said that

he slept, or at least it did not appear like sleep, since his lidless

eyes were unchanged; but he lay quietly in a corner. Tara of Helium

enacted a thousand times in her mind the scene of her escape. She would

rush to the side of the rykor and seize the sword that hung in its

harness. Before Ghek knew what she purposed, she would have this and

then before he could give an alarm she would drive the blade through

his hideous head. It would take but a moment to reach the enclosure.

The rykors could not stop her, for they had no brains to tell them that

she was escaping. She had watched from her window the opening and

closing of the gate that led from the enclosure out into the fields and

she knew how the great latch operated. She would pass through and make

a quick dash for the hill. It was so near that they could not overtake

her. It was so easy! Or it would have been but for the banths! The

banths at night and the workers in the fields by day.

Confined to the tower and without proper exercise or food, the girl

failed to show the improvement that her captors desired. Ghek

questioned her in an effort to learn why it was that she did not grow

round and plump; that she did not even look as well as when they had

captured her. His concern was prompted by repeated inquiries on the

part of Luud and finally resulted in suggesting to Tara of Helium a

plan whereby she might find a new opportunity of escape.

"I am accustomed to walking in the fresh air and the sunlight," she

told Ghek. "I cannot become as I was before if I am to be always shut

away in this one chamber, breathing poor air and getting no proper

exercise. Permit me to go out in the fields every day and walk about

while the sun is shining. Then, I am sure, I shall become nice and fat."

"You would run away," he said.

"But how could I if you were always with me?" she asked. "And even if I

wished to run away where could I go? I do not know even the direction

of Helium. It must be very far. The very first night the banths would

get me, would they not?"

"They would," said Ghek. "I will ask Luud about it."

The following day he told her that Luud had said that she was to be

taken into the fields. He would try that for a time and see if she

improved.

"If you do not grow fatter he will send for you anyway," said Ghek;

"but he will not use you for food."

Tara of Helium shuddered.

That day and for many days thereafter she was taken from the tower,

through the enclosure and out into the fields. Always was she alert for

an opportunity to escape; but Ghek was always close by her side. It was

not so much his presence that deterred her from making the attempt as

the number of workers that were always between her and the hills where

the flier lay. She could easily have eluded Ghek, but there were too

many of the others. And then, one day, Ghek told her as he accompanied

her into the open that this would be the last time.

"Tonight you go to Luud," he said. "I am sorry as I shall not hear you

sing again."

"Tonight!" She scarce breathed the word, yet it was vibrant with horror.

She glanced quickly toward the hills. They were so close! Yet between

were the inevitable workers--perhaps a score of them.

"Let us walk over there?" she said, indicating them. "I should like to

see what they are doing."

"It is too far," said Ghek. "I hate the sun. It is much pleasanter here

where I can stand beneath the shade of this tree."

"All right," she agreed; "then you stay here and I will walk over. It

will take me but a minute."

"No," he answered. "I will go with you. You want to escape; but you are

not going to."

"I cannot escape," she said.

"I know it," agreed Ghek; "but you might try. I do not wish you to try.

Possibly it will be better if we return to the tower at once. It would

go hard with me should you escape."

Tara of Helium saw her last chance fading into oblivion. There would

never be another after today. She cast about for some pretext to lure

him even a little nearer to the hills.

"It is very little that I ask," she said. "Tonight you will want me to

sing to you. It will be the last time, if you do not let me go and see

what those kaldanes are doing I shall never sing to you again."

Ghek hesitated. "I will hold you by the arm all the time, then," he

said.

"Why, of course, if you wish," she assented. "Come!"

The two moved toward the workers and the hills. The little party was

digging tubers from the ground. She had noted this and that nearly

always they were stooped low over their work, the hideous eyes bent

upon the upturned soil. She led Ghek quite close to them, pretending

that she wished to see exactly how they did the work, and all the time

he held her tightly by her left wrist.

"It is very interesting," she said, with a sigh, and then, suddenly;

"Look, Ghek!" and pointed quickly back in the direction of the tower.

The kaldane, still holding her turned half away from her to look in the

direction she had indicated and simultaneously, with the quickness of a

banth, she struck him with her right fist, backed by every ounce of

strength she possessed--struck the back of the pulpy head just above

the collar. The blow was sufficient to accomplish her design,

dislodging the kaldane from its rykor and tumbling it to the ground.

Instantly the grasp upon her wrist relaxed as the body, no longer

controlled by the brain of Ghek, stumbled aimlessly about for an

instant before it sank to its knees and then rolled over on its back;

but Tara of Helium waited not to note the full results of her act. The

instant the fingers loosened upon her wrist she broke away and dashed

toward the hills. Simultaneously a warning whistle broke from Ghek's

lips and in instant response the workers leaped to their feet, one

almost in the girl's path. She dodged the outstretched arms and was

away again toward the hills and freedom, when her foot caught in one of

the hoe-like instruments with which the soil had been upturned and

which had been left, half imbedded in the ground. For an instant she

ran on, stumbling, in a mad effort to regain her equilibrium, but the

upturned furrows caught her feet--again she stumbled and this time went

down, and as she scrambled to rise again a heavy body fell upon her and

seized her arms. A moment later she was surrounded and dragged to her

feet and as she looked around she saw Ghek crawling to his prostrate

rykor. A moment later he advanced to her side.

The hideous face, incapable of registering emotion, gave no clue to

what was passing in the enormous brain. Was he nursing thoughts of

anger, of hate, of revenge? Tara of Helium could not guess, nor did she

care. The worst had happened. She had tried to escape and she had

failed. There would never be another opportunity.

"Come!" said Ghek. "We will return to the tower." The deadly monotone

of his voice was unbroken. It was worse than anger, for it revealed

nothing of his intentions. It but increased her horror of these great

brains that were beyond the possibility of human emotions.

And so she was dragged back to her prison in the tower and Ghek took up

his vigil again, squatting by the doorway, but now he carried a naked

sword in his hand and did not quit his rykor, only to change to another

that he had brought to him when the first gave indications of

weariness. The girl sat looking at him. He had not been unkind to her,

but she felt no sense of gratitude, nor, on the other hand, any sense

of hatred. The brains, incapable themselves of any of the finer

sentiments, awoke none in her. She could not feel gratitude, or

affection, or hatred of them. There was only the same unceasing sense

of horror in their presence. She had heard great scientists discuss the

future of the red race and she recalled that some had maintained that

eventually the brain would entirely dominate the man. There would be no

more instinctive acts or emotions, nothing would be done on impulse;

but on the contrary reason would direct our every act. The propounder

of the theory regretted that he might never enjoy the blessings of such

a state, which, he argued, would result in the ideal life for mankind.

Tara of Helium wished with all her heart that this learned scientist

might be here to experience to the full the practical results of the

fulfillment of his prophecy. Between the purely physical rykor and the

purely mental kaldane there was little choice; but in the happy medium

of normal, and imperfect man, as she knew him, lay the most desirable

state of existence. It would have been a splendid object lesson, she

thought, to all those idealists who seek mass perfection in any phase

of human endeavor, since here they might discover the truth that

absolute perfection is as little to be desired as is its antithesis.

Gloomy were the thoughts that filled the mind of Tara of Helium as she

awaited the summons from Luud--the summons that could mean for her but

one thing; death. She guessed why he had sent for her and she knew that

she must find the means for self-destruction before the night was over;

but still she clung to hope and to life. She would not give up until

there was no other way. She startled Ghek once by exclaiming aloud,

almost fiercely: "I still live!"

"What do you mean?" asked the kaldane.

"I mean just what I say," she replied. "I still live and while I live I

may still find a way. Dead, there is no hope."

"Find a way to what?" he asked.

"To life and liberty and mine own people," she responded.

"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves," he droned.

She did not reply and after a time he spoke again. "Sing to me," he

said.

It was while she was singing that four warriors came to take her to

Luud. They told Ghek that he was to remain where he was.

"Why?" asked Ghek.

"You have displeased Luud," replied one of the warriors.

"How?" demanded Ghek.

"You have demonstrated a lack of uncontaminated reasoning power. You

have permitted sentiment to influence you, thus demonstrating that you

are a defective. You know the fate of defectives."

"I know the fate of defectives, but I am no defective," insisted Ghek.

"You permitted the strange noises which issue from her throat to please

and soothe you, knowing well that their origin and purpose had nothing

whatever to do with logic or the powers of reason. This in itself

constitutes an unimpeachable indictment of weakness. Then, influenced

doubtless by an illogical feeling of sentiment, you permitted her to

walk abroad in the fields to a place where she was able to make an

almost successful attempt to escape. Your own reasoning power, were it

not defective, would convince you that you are unfit. The natural, and

reasonable, consequence is destruction. Therefore you will be destroyed

in such a way that the example will be beneficial to all other kaldanes

of the swarm of Luud. In the meantime you will remain where you are."

"You are right," said Ghek. "I will remain here until Luud sees fit to

destroy me in the most reasonable manner."

Tara of Helium shot a look of amazement at him as they led her from the

chamber. Over her shoulder she called back to him: "Remember, Ghek, you

still live!" Then they led her along the interminable tunnels to where

Luud awaited her.

When she was conducted into his presence he was squatting in a corner

of the chamber upon his six spidery legs. Near the opposite wall lay

his rykor, its beautiful form trapped in gorgeous harness--a dead thing

without a guiding kaldane. Luud dismissed the warriors who had

accompanied the prisoner. Then he sat with his terrible eyes fixed upon

her and without speaking for some time. Tara of Helium could but wait.

What was to come she could only guess. When it came would be

sufficiently the time to meet it. There was no necessity for

anticipating the end. Presently Luud spoke.

"You think to escape," he said, in the deadly, expressionless monotone

of his kind--the only possible result of orally expressing reason

uninfluenced by sentiment. "You will not escape. You are merely the

embodiment of two imperfect things--an imperfect brain and an imperfect

body. The two cannot exist together in perfection. There you see a

perfect body." He pointed toward the rykor. "It has no brain. Here,"

and he raised one of his chelae to his head, "is the perfect brain. It

needs no body to function perfectly and properly as a brain. You would

pit your feeble intellect against mine! Even now you are planning to

slay me. If you are thwarted in that you expect to slay yourself. You

will learn the power of mind over matter. I am the mind. You are the

matter. What brain you have is too weak and ill-developed to deserve

the name of brain. You have permitted it to be weakened by impulsive

acts dictated by sentiment. It has no value. It has practically no

control over your existence. You will not kill me. You will not kill

yourself. When I am through with you you shall be killed if it seems

the logical thing to do. You have no conception of the possibilities

for power which lie in a perfectly developed brain. Look at that rykor.

He has no brain. He can move but slightly of his own volition. An

inherent mechanical instinct that we have permitted to remain in him

allows him to carry food to his mouth; but he could not find food for

himself. We have to place it within his reach and always in the same

place. Should we put food at his feet and leave him alone he would

starve to death. But now watch what a real brain may accomplish."

He turned his eyes upon the rykor and squatted there glaring at the

insensate thing. Presently, to the girl's horror, the headless body

moved. It rose slowly to its feet and crossed the room to Luud; it

stooped and took the hideous head in its hands; it raised the head and

set it on its shoulders.

"What chance have you against such power?" asked Luud. "As I did with

the rykor so can I do with you."

Tara of Helium made no reply. Evidently no vocal reply was necessary.

"You doubt my ability!" stated Luud, which was precisely the fact,

though the girl had only thought it--she had not said it.

Luud crossed the room and lay down. Then he detached himself from the

body and crawled across the floor until he stood directly in front of

the circular opening through which she had seen him emerge the day that

she had first been brought to his presence. He stopped there and

fastened his terrible eyes upon her. He did not speak, but his eyes

seemed to be boring straight to the center of her brain. She felt an

almost irresistible force urging her toward the kaldane. She fought to

resist it; she tried to turn away her eyes, but she could not. They

were held as in horrid fascination upon the glittering, lidless orbs of

the great brain that faced her. Slowly, every step a painful struggle

of resistance, she moved toward the horrific monster. She tried to cry

aloud in an effort to awaken her numbing faculties, but no sound passed

her lips. If those eyes would but turn away, just for an instant, she

felt that she might regain the power to control her steps; but the eyes

never left hers. They seemed but to burn deeper and deeper, gathering

up every vestige of control of her entire nervous system.

As she approached the thing it backed slowly away upon its spider legs.

She noticed that its chelae waved slowly to and fro before it as it

backed, backed, backed, through the round aperture in the wall. Must

she follow it there, too? What new and nameless horror lay concealed in

that hidden chamber? No! she would not do it. Yet before she reached

the wall she found herself down and crawling upon her hands and knees

straight toward the hole from which the two eyes still clung to hers.

At the very threshold of the opening she made a last, heroic stand,

battling against the force that drew her on; but in the end she

succumbed. With a gasp that ended in a sob Tara of Helium passed

through the aperture into the chamber beyond.

The opening was but barely large enough to admit her. Upon the opposite

side she found herself in a small chamber. Before her squatted Luud.

Against the opposite wall lay a large and beautiful male rykor. He was

without harness or other trappings.

"You see now," said Luud, "the futility of revolt."

The words seemed to release her momentarily from the spell. Quickly she

turned away her eyes.

"Look at me!" commanded Luud.

Tara of Helium kept her eyes averted. She felt a new strength, or at

least a diminution of the creature's power over her. Had she stumbled

upon the secret of its uncanny domination over her will? She dared not

hope. With eyes averted she turned toward the aperture through which

those baleful eyes had drawn her. Again Luud commanded her to stop, but

the voice alone lacked all authority to influence her. It was not like

the eyes. She heard the creature whistle and knew that it was summoning

assistance, but because she did not dare look toward it she did not see

it turn and concentrate its gaze upon the great, headless body lying by

the further wall.

The girl was still slightly under the spell of the creature's

influence--she had not regained full and independent domination of her

powers. She moved as one in the throes of some hideous

nightmare--slowly, painfully, as though each limb was hampered by a

great weight, or as she were dragging her body through a viscous fluid.

The aperture was close, ah, so close, yet, struggle as she would, she

seemed to be making no appreciable progress toward it.

Behind her, urged on by the malevolent power of the great brain, the

headless body crawled upon all-fours toward her. At last she had

reached the aperture. Something seemed to tell her that once beyond it

the domination of the kaldane would be broken. She was almost through

into the adjoining chamber when she felt a heavy hand close upon her

ankle. The rykor had reached forth and seized her, and though she

struggled the thing dragged her back into the room with Luud. It held

her tight and drew her close, and then, to her horror, it commenced to

caress her.

"You see now," she heard Luud's dull voice, "the futility of

revolt--and its punishment."

Tara of Helium fought to defend herself, but pitifully weak were her

muscles against this brainless incarnation of brute power. Yet she

fought, fought on in the face of hopeless odds for the honor of the

proud name she bore--fought alone, she whom the fighting men of a

mighty empire, the flower of Martian chivalry, would gladly have lain

down their lives to save.