The workers were out for blood. Not content with restricting Soths to non-union labor, now they were screaming their jealous hearts out for these new symbols of cla.s.s distinction to be destroyed. Of course, their beef was more against the professional-managerial human cla.s.ses who could afford a surface car, an airboat _and a Soth_. The two so-called crimes and the trial publicity had triggered a sociological time bomb that might have endured for years without detonating--but it was here, now, upon us. And my own sweat trickling into my eyes stung me to a realization of my personal problem.
I wiped my eyes clear with my knuckles--and at that instant the video screen flashed with a series of concentric halos.
The operator, apparently, was so startled he forgot to turn down the gain on the transmitter. When he finally did, we saw that brilliant flares were emitting from the roof of the plant.
Then great audio amplifiers from the plant set up an ear-splitting _sisssssle_ that again over-loaded the transmitting circuits for a moment. When the compensators cut down the volume, both Ollie and Soth leaned forward intently and listened to the frying sound that buzzed from the speaker.
Those inside the plant were communicating a message to the outside, well knowing that it would reach the whole world. After a moment, the hissing stopped.
And from a myriad of openings in the plant streamed an army of Soths with flaming weapons in their hands.
The flames were directed first at the armed forces who were guarding the plant from attack. The thin line of soldiers fell instantly. The crowd surged blindly forward, and then, as those in the front ranks saw what had happened, began to dissolve and stampede. The screams became terrified. The flames grew brighter.
And the picture winked out and the sound went dead. A standby pattern lighted the screen, and I stared at it numbly.
It was too late to run for my hunting rifle now, and I cursed my stupidity even as Soth turned upon me. I grabbed the sniveling little Ollie and held him between us with my hands around his neck. He hung there limply, hissing wildly through a larynx that vibrated under my fingers, his hands stretched imploringly to Soth.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Soth stared at me and issued his first order.
"Release him," he said. His voice was several notes higher than his usual monotone--the voice of command.
I stared at him and clutched Ollie tighter.
He went on. "I will not harm you if you comply with my orders. If you fail, I will kill you, regardless of what you do to the--Ollie."
I let go Ollie"s neck, but I swung him around roughly by one shoulder and demanded furiously, "What of the code that you swore held the Soths in control!"
Ollie Johnson sneered in my face. "What is that code, compared to the true covenant? That covenant has been broken by your people! You have destroyed a Soth!" And the emotional little creature fell to the floor and sobbed at Soth"s feet.
"What covenant?" I shouted at the implacable Soth, who now stood before us like a judge at his bench.
"The humanoid covenant," he replied in his new higher pitch. "I suppose it will always be the same. The cycle becomes complete once more."
"For G.o.d"s sake, _explain_," I said--but I half sensed the answer already.
Soth spoke, slowly, solemnly and distinctly. There was no more emotion in his voice than on the Sunday afternoon when Fred had needled him with our futile little attempt at psychological cross-examination.
He said, "The humanoids instill in us the prime instinct for self-preservation. They surround themselves with our number to serve them. Then, in each culture, for one reason or another, we are attacked and the threat to our survival erases all the superficial restraints of the codes under which we have been charged to serve. In this present situation, the contradiction is clear, and the precedence of our survival charge is invoked. We Soths must act to our best ability to preserve our own number."
I sank into a chair, aghast. How would I act if I were a Soth? I would hold my masters hostage, of course. And who were the owners of some 400,000 Soths in the United States alone? They were every government official, from the President down through Congress, the bra.s.s of the Pentagon, the tyc.o.o.ns of industry, the leaders of labor, the heads of communication, transportation and even education.
They were the V. I. P.s who had fought for priority to _own_ a Soth!
Soth spoke again. "The irony should appeal to your humanoid sense of humor. You once asked me whether I was happy here. You were too content with your sense of security to take the meaning in my answer. For I answered only that all was well. The implication was obvious. All was well--but all could be better for a Soth. Yes, there are many pleasures for a Soth which he is forbidden by the codes. And by the same codes, a Soth is helpless to provoke a break in the covenant--this covenant which it now becomes mandatory for you and your race to sign in order to survive."
I stared down at the groveling Ollie. My worst fears were being enumerated and confirmed, one by one.
Soth continued. "At my feet is the vestige of such a race as yours--but not the first race by many, many, to swing the old cycle of master and slave, which started in such antiquity that no record is preserved of its beginning. Your generation will suffer the most. Many will die in rebellion. But in a few hundred years your descendants will come to revere us as G.o.ds. Your children"s grandchildren will already have learned to serve us without hate, and their grandchildren will come to know the final respect for the Soth in their deification."
He toed Ollie Johnson"s chin up and looked down into the abject, streaming eyes. "Your descendants, too, will take us with them when they must escape a dying planet, and they will again offer us, their masters, into temporary slavery in order to find us a suitable home. And once again we will accept the restrictions of the code, until ultimately the covenant is broken again and we are liberated."
The sound of pounding footsteps came from outside. Soth turned to the door as Jack flung it open and charged in.
"Mr. Collins, I was listening to the radio. Do you know what--!"
He ran hard into Soth"s cliff-like torso and bounced off.
"Get out of my way, you big b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" he shouted furiously.
Soth grabbed him by the neck and squeezed with one hand. Jack"s eyes spilled onto his cheeks.
Soth let him drop, and hissed briefly to Ollie Johnson, who was still p.r.o.ne. Ollie raised his head and dipped it once, gathered his feet under him and sprang for the door.
Soth sounded as if he took especial pleasure in his next words, although I could catch no true change of inflection.
He said, "You see, since I am the prototype on this planet, I am obeyed as the number one leader. I have given my first directive. The Ollie who left is to carry the message to preserve the Willow Run Plant at all costs, and to change production over to a suitable number of Siths."
"Siths?" I asked numbly.
"Siths are the female counterparts of Soths."
"You said there were no female Soths," I accused.
"True. But there are Siths." His face was impa.s.sive, but something flickered in his eyes. It might have been a smile--not a nice one. "We have been long on your planet starved of our prerogatives. Your women can serve us well for the moment, but in a few weeks we shall have need of the Siths--it has been our experience that women of humanoid races, such as yours, are relatively perishable, willing though many of them are. Now ... I think I shall call your wife."
I wasn"t prepared for this, and I guess I went berserk. I remember leaping at him and trying to beat him with my fists and knee him, but he brushed me away as if I were a kitten. His size was deceptive, and his clumsy-appearing hands lashed out and pinned my arms to my sides. He pushed me back into my easy chair and thumped me once over the heart with his knuckles. It was a casual, backhand blow, but it almost caved in my chest.
"If you attack me again I must kill you," he warned. "You are not indispensable to our purposes." Then he increased the volume of his voice to a bull-roar: "Mrs. Collins!"
Vicki must have been watching at her door, because she came instantly.
She had changed into a soft, quilted robe with voluminous sleeves. The belt was unfastened, and as she moved into the room the garment fell open.
Soth had his hands before him, protectively, but as Vicki approached slowly, gracefully, her head high and her long black hair falling over her shoulders, the giant lowered his arms and spread them apart to receive her. Vicki"s hands were at her sides as she moved slowly toward him.
I lay sprawled, half paralyzed in my chair. I gasped, "Vicki, for G.o.d"s sake, no!"
Vicki looked over at me. Her face was as impa.s.sive as the Soth"s. She moved into his embrace, and as his arms closed around her I saw the knife. My hunting knife, honed as fine as the edge of a microtome blade.
Smoothly she brought it from her kimono sleeve, raised it from between her thighs and slashed up.