Subject: Doomed Lensmen - Chapter 7 Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 08:23:55 -0800 From: Lee Gold To: mobrien@dnaco.net Chapter 7: ANOTHER ONE OF OUR PLANETS IS MISSING On Thrale, the Patrol press conference had just concluded. Galactic Coordinator Tregonsee of Rigel IV still seemed his usual imperturbable self, despite the alarming surprises of the past few hours. Calmly he Lensed Kit Kinnison, "I'd like you to come back to the Directrix with me, if you've got time for a conference." Kit assented, and silently followed the stocky Rigelian to the ship. In his ears still rang the mocking questions of the Universal Telenews reporter: "Is it true that the Galactic Patrol was created not as a peace-keeping organization but as an instrument of the Arisian military? Is it true that you have concealed the identity of the true targets of the Patrol's last battle from the people of Civilization? That neither you nor your sisters are members of the species homo sapiens but are instead products of an Arisian breeding experiment? That you and your sisters have secretly taken over control of the Patrol even though your only official position is that of a Gray Lensman, and your sisters are not even officially Lensmen at all?" Christopher Kinnison knew that in truth he could not deny those charges. But still less could he have answered them fully and truthfully. He could never forget Mentor's frequent warnings that Civilization must never learn the truth about the millennia-old conflict of Arisia and Eddore lest the revelation of how those two powers had manipulated the course of history produce an inferiority complex which would inevitably destroy both the Galactic Patrol and Civilization. Even the second-stage Lensmen had never been told that their true enemy, the true leaders of Boskone, were not the Ploorans but the inhabitants of yet another planet, one that they had never even heard of, the now totally obliterated world of Eddore. Of all the citizens of Civilization, only the five young Kinnisons, the Children of the Lens, had even so much as heard the name of Eddore or knew the malefic reality it stood for. Now someone else had apparently become privy to that ultra-secret information. Who? And how? One thing was clear: Universal Telenews was somehow involved. Kit's probe of the reporter's mind had clearly revealed that the man's questions had come directly from his home office on Tellus - with strict accompanying instructions not to change a single word. Kit had Lensed Kathryn, who was already in the First Galaxy, to investigate the Tellurian office of the corporation in order to determine how much it knew about Eddore and what its source of information had been. He knew that the chief officers of Interstellar Telenews would undoubtedly be wearing mind screens powerful enough to block out even the probing of a second stage Lensman. But he was also fully aware that his sisters, like himself, had minds of such force that they could think above, below or - by sufficient effort - straight through any thought screen known to the science of Civilization. Kathryn would have no problem in obtaining the desired information. No other reporter had chosen to follow up the Telenews man's line of questioning, and so Kit had spent the rest of the conference in seeming idleness. Actually, every aspect of his mind had been galvanized into action as he had joined his fellow Lensmen in helping to quell the panic that his answers had caused throughout the Second Galaxy. The planets of the former Thralian Empire needed particularly delicate handling, unnerved as they already were by the ultimatum from Surgat, self-styled speaker for Boskone. Now, as he followed Tregonsee to the Directrix, Kit again Lensed his oldest sister. "Kat, get any results yet?" Her answering thought came in diamond-clear. "Yes, but not very satisfactory ones. Nobody at Universal Telenews knows anything about it, except Jake Briggs, the chairman of the board. And he doesn't know very much. He got the questions from a mysterious stranger called DuQuesne who claims to be from a Third Galaxy - and who says he's a 'licensed conquistador,' authorized by his home galaxy to take over the entire First Galaxy. The first step in his plan has already succeeded. By working through Briggs' organization, he's succeeded in getting Tellus to officially withdraw from the Patrol's protection." "Tellus is withdrawing from Civilization on the side of Boskone?" "No,… that's the puzzling thing about the situation. It's just withdrawing to become a neutral party." Her brother considered that for a long moment of mental silence, then said, "DuQuesne sounds like a French name. What does he look like?" "The data's incomplete. What Briggs saw could have been a hallucination. If it wasn't, then DuQuesne's pure humanoid, AAAA straight to twenty decimal places. He spoke accentless English. In fact, there's only one thing that makes me willing to believe that he's not really either a Boskonian agent of Tellurian stock or a high level hallucination: he's got a device called a projector that couldn't have been invented by any Boskonian without having been put in use long ago and on a large scale." Rapidly she gave her brother all the details that she had been able to glean from Briggs' mind on that extraordinary device. "There's just one hole in your analysis," Kit commented. "Maybe the device is a recent invention. Remember the Battle against Helmuth when that Boskonian tech jury rigged a standard energy beam projector to overload and produce a super needle-ray destructive beam?" "If DuQuesne used to be part of a Boskonian organization," returned Kathryn, "then he's definitely decided not to continue working for them. Why else would he have told Briggs that he sided neither with Boskone nor with the Patrol? His action pattern reveals no links with recent Boskonian activities. His plot to make Tellus withdraw from Civilization in no way accords with the strategy or tactics typical of the unknown enemy who headed the attack on Klovia and the ambush of Worsel at Dunster." "Isn't there a possible tie-in between his actions on Tellus and this recent ultimatum from Surgat?" "Perhaps, but the evidence available leads me to doubt it. If Surgat had had the projector, then he could have made that ultimatum in person in every capital of every world in the former Thralian Empire - and really scared the people out of their wits. No, I'm very much inclined to think that DuQuesne is acting on his own." "As a 'licensed galactic conquistador'?" "I rather doubt that he has been authorized to do this, but there's not enough information to rule it out entirely. He's supposed to get in touch with Briggs some time day, and I'll be watching to see what he does. Then maybe there'll be enough data to get some solid conclusions." "QX." Kit broke off communications with his far-away sister. He and Tregonsee had now reached the Galactic Coordinator's private suite of rooms aboard the Directrix. Kit remembered growing up playing here, but they were his family's home no more. Tregonsee waited a moment for Kit to sit down, then asked bluntly, "Were the reporter's charges true?" "True, ...but incredibly distorted." "The last one seemed to me to be fairly inconsequential, though probably effective enough for propaganda purposes," Tregonsee said with the calm characteristic of his species. "I mean the charge that you and your sisters had secretly taken over command of the Patrol. It is true that we have not given you sufficient official position in the Patrol hierarchy - and that we have failed to regularize the status of your sisters. The public does not even know the extent of the role they played in the Defense of Arisia. We should have attended to these things before, but they can certainly be dealt with now. "The next to last charge was that you children are products of an Arisian breeding experiment and not true members of the species homo sapiens. This also seems to be fairly inconsequential. Even most of the humanoid members of Civilization will probably be unconcerned by it. However, the implications of this charge are more serious: does it mean that Kimball Kinnison and Clarrissa MacDougal were not your actual parents?" "No, not at all. It's true the Arisians did foresee us in their Visualization of the Cosmic All. It's even true that Mentor played invisible matchmaker a couple of times in order to make sure that Mom and Dad would get born and thus be able to cause us to get born. That's why Mentor told Dad that his marriage was not merely permissible but necessary. We're not homo sapiens because as the children of two second stage Lensmen we have practically no genes carrying any traits of weakness. Mentor said that we carried the genes of every trait of strength ever known to any member of the human race, and therefore couldn't be classed as standard human." "It should be relatively simple to explain these things to the people," Tregonsee observed. "The first two charges, however, are more serious. Who could have been the true target of the Patrol's last battle if it was not Ploor, the head of Boskone?" Kit did not hesitate. The die was now cast. The Galactic Coordinator must be told the truth, or at least as much of it as he could take. "The target of the Patrol's last battle was the head of Boskone," he told Tregonsee. "But it wasn't Ploor. Ploor was only the second level of command. The Patrol's true last battle occurred not when we smashed Ploor but afterwards, in the attack on what Mentor called 'a residuum of non-material malignancy' left behind after the destruction of Ploor." "Do you mean that the Arisians have lied to us?" asked Tregonsee. His four horn-lipped mouths snapped open and shut; his cabled arms writhed in astonishment. "Not really," replied Kit. "The things we attacked then - the Eddorians, they called themselves - were evil all right. And they were also, in a sense, non-material. They could take material form easily enough by energizing a form of flesh, but if one of them was attacked while doing so, even if his body was totally destroyed, he himself wouldn't be a bit hurt. The Eddorians were incapable of being harmed by any physical force, however applied. The only way they could be destroyed was through the combined mental attack of the Arisians and the Galactic Patrol." Tregonsee did not reply for several moments, then asked, "But why didn't the Arisians tell us? It seems rather illogical to expect people to fight effectively against an unknown enemy.... No, don't try to answer, Kit; you couldn't know. I'd better try again to get in touch with Mentor." Kit groaned inwardly. Hurriedly he Lensed Constance, "Con, you're the hallucination expert. Can you help me fool Tregonsee into thinking he's talking with Mentor? Right now? It's necessary." Then he asked Tregonsee, "Did you say 'try again'?" "Yes," the new Galactic Coordinator replied. "I naturally attempted to contact him at the time of the Klovian disaster. It seemed to contradict his earlier assurance of Civilization's future safety and security. He did not choose to answer. Now, however, I believe I shall try again." And Kit, while receiving the Rigelian's Lensed thoughts, simultaneously heard his sister Constance reply, "It shouldn't be too difficult for us to do, Kit. I've checked with Cam, and she's going to help too; after all, she does know him better than either of us do, I don't like the idea of deceiving Uncle Trig, but you're right; it's necessary. We can't let him realize the Arisians are gone." "Actually, we're not really deceiving him by taking on the name of Mentor," he brother replied. "We are Mentor - at least to the same extent that the Arisians Nedanillor, Kriedigan, Drounli and Brolenteen were. We have inherited their position as Guardians of Civilization, and are entitled to use the name just as they did." And then, without further ado, the three linked. It was not, of course, the Unit - all the Children of the Lens were needed to produce that awesome fusion of minds - but it was a fusion so overwhelmingly effective that Tregonsee was never to suspect at that time or any later date that it was not Mentor with whom he was then exchanging thoughts. And, since he thus knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that his apparent conversation with Mentor was absolutely, undoubtedly genuine, it will be so described. Tregonsee then broke off his conference with Kit, and focused his thoughts on distant Arisia and Mentor the sage. "I apologize for intruding," he thought calmly. "There is reliable evidence that you have intentionally led us to arrive at false conclusions in respect to the nature of our enemies. I do not at present see the reasons that justify you in doing so. Why did you lead us to believe that Ploor and not Eddore was the head of Boskone?" And Mentor's answering thought was equally cold. "That information has been withheld from you because you do not have the scope to comprehend the true nature of the Eddorians any more than - as a three-dimensional being - you can, no matter how intelligent, how mature, fully comprehend the true nature of a four-dimensional being." "But Christopher Kinnison does have that ability, to fathom the Eddorians?" "Yes. You are a second stage Lensman. He and his sisters have minds capable of enduring yet a third level of stress." Well was it for the Patrol in that hour of trial that the Galactic Coordinator was Tregonsee, the only one of the second stage Lensmen capable of receiving such news without experiencing traumatic shock. He alone had realized that the children whom he and the other second stage Lensmen had helped to train had long since passed their tutors. It was a gesture of the stocky Rigelian's sense of values that this realization brought into his tranquil soul no tinge of envy or rancor but only wonder. Now he absorbed this new information without conscious shock. For a brief moment he considered its implications, then asked one last question. "I also do not understand why you told us after the attack on…Eddore that there was no longer any weapon of power left with which Boskone could threaten Civilization." Mentor's reply came quickly. "Know, youth, that my Visualization of the Cosmic All extends itself in relatively fine detail only to the events that have occurred and will occur within the First and Second Galaxies. It has recently come to my attention that a mind of power has entered into these regions from yet a third galaxy. This being with the mental capacity of an Arisian is dominated chiefly by desire for power, not for knowledge as the Arisians are. He has recently acted in opposition to the forces of Civilization. His arrival was unforeseeable, and his actions were at first equally unpredictable because of his unknown background. However, even on the basis of the little data I now have, I find no doubt that you, with the help of the young Kinnisons, will be able to ultimately defeat the plans of this being." And with that assurance, Mentor snapped the telepathic link. For several minutes thereafter, Tregonsee was silent; then he turned once more to the young red-thatched Lensman in the room with him. In a series of flashing thoughts he spread before the youth all the details of his just-finished conversation with Mentor, then said, "Christopher, as an Unattached Lensman, you can no longer be officially given any assignment, but I believe there is no breach in protocol in my saying that I would greatly appreciate it if you would head the investigation of this Third Galaxy intruder who is responsible for the recent setbacks to the force of Civilization." "I'd be glad to take on that project," and with that Kit prepared to take his leave. But, as his hand touched the doorknob, the young Lensman was stopped dead in his tracks by Tregonsee's thought. "Stop, Christopher." Then the Galactic Coordinator continued more temperately to the captain of the Directrix, "Would you mind starting over again, Captain Von Doub, and directing your account to Lensman Kinnison as well as myself. I believe your message is going to touch on the field of his present investigation." "Gladly, Coordinator," then to both Kit and Tregonsee, "Two minutes ago we received the following message: "'People of Civilization: The time for the re-establishment of Boskone has come. To prevent unnecessary hostilities, Sol IX has been taken hostage and transported by hyper-spatial tube to Boskone-controlled territory. It will not be returned until the re-establishment of Boskone has been fully completed. The Palainian colonists upon it, however, may be ransomed. "'The ransoming will be conducted as follows: One Lensman who surrenders himself as a prisoner of war will ransom two thousand Plutonians. Lensmen desirous of ransoming Plutonians must be unarmed. They must present themselves in three days time upon Lyrane IX.'" The message went on to specify geographical and chronological coordinates. "'If no Lensman has appeared in three days time, the offer for ransom will be withdrawn. Uncooperative Plutonians who are not ransomed back will be disposed of in the event of any hostilities between Boskone and the Galactic Patrol. - Surgat, speaking for Boskone.' "We have already had reports," the captain of the Directrix continued, "that indicate that this same message has also been received by the planetary governments on a large number of worlds in both the First and Second Galaxies." Second stage Lensman Tregonsee of Rigel IV did not give any immediate orders for Patrol action in response to this new ultimatum. To hurry was not Tregonsee's way. He could move quickly if occasion warranted it and if he had made his plans, but first before he could move at all, he had to know exactly how, where and why he should move. And so it was therefore Kit Kinnison who undertook the task of investigating the ultimatum in person. It was Kit who, almost immediately after the ultimatum had been received, left the Directrix, boarded a speedster, and drove it at top speed toward far-off Lyrane. He was only half an hour out in space when he received a thought from Kathryn. "Kit, have you heard about Surgat's latest move?" "I'm off to Lyrane to investigate it. Any other news?" "DuQuesne put in his reappearance on schedule, but by projector again, not in person." In a series of flashing thoughts, she gave him the details of the recent DuQuesne-Briggs meeting. "As of now," she went on somberly, "I can't see any way to locate DuQuesne except by scanning the entire Sol system, foot by foot." "Can't you trace the source of the projection?" ""Brother mine, I can't even perceive yet how the projected image propagates itself, let alone its source. We're going to have to develop a whole new technology to deal with DuQuesne effectively, and we'd better not tackle him until we do. At the moment, he's willing to fight Boskone as well as us, which means he's a potential ally, and we shouldn't concentrate on locating him unless we've got the stuff to pin his ears back. I'd advise concentrating on Surgat of Boskone and on the Unknown Enemy, and putting DuQuesne on a lower level of priority." "QX, but there's no sense in ceding him the whole Sol system. Talk to the Council and see that we build an alternate Prime Base on Mars, and switch First Galaxy Patrol Headquarters to it. That way Tellus will still be defended but without defying the planetary government's lawful eviction order." "QX, clear ether, Kit." "Clear ether." And the two broke contact. Less than a day later Kit had made the long intergalactic voyage from the Thralian solar system to Dunstan's Region, a minor spiral arm of the First Galaxy. Soon his tiny speedster approached the Lyranian system and went into orbit around the ninth planet, an uninhabited world whose sole importance up to now in the Boskone-Patrol conflict had been to serve as a place where Eddorians would train their Black Lensmen. Had any significant changes occurred since that time? Kit scanned the bleak planet with painstaking care for some time, then sent out a call to his four sisters. "Kay, Kay, Cam, Con - are you free?" They were for a while. "Lyrane IX hasn't been touched since the Battle of Ploor. I'm going to do a routine check on the system's other worlds for Boskonian agents who might be involved in the present scheme. But as of now it seems pretty apparent that the proposed ransom-by-exchange will be made by hyper-spatial tube, same as the way they got Pluto originally. If I can't find some other link between Lyrane and the Surgat-Unknown axis between now and the deadline, I'm going to go in as the first ransomer." "What!" "But you can't." "No!" "Don't be foolhardy, Kit!" Four objections came as one. "I've got to. If I don't go, some of the first stagers are bound to volunteer for the job, and get killed - and not accomplish anything in the process. If I go, the Galactic Council can reasonably forbid any other volunteers until we see whether Surgat's Boskonians honor their pledge." "Yes, but, Kit, why go by yourself? Let's all go - as the Unit," suggested Constance. "We can't. You're all needed where you are. Do you want to leave the Two Galaxies unprotected?" "But you don't have to go," cut in Kay stormily. "We can refuse their offer entirely. "We could send them a recorded message that we don't plane to exchange anybody. After all, there are over fifty million Plutonians. It would take over twenty-five thousand Lensmen to ransom them all." "We can't refuse their offer entirely. Not with honor," Kit replied with equal heat. "Lensmen always go in, remember," he quoted their father. "Besides, there's no other quick way to get a line on their location. Which is where you come in, Con. Skulk out on the outskirts of Dunstan's Region, analyze the tube when and if it forms, and follow it. Don't worry about me; I can take care of myself. But find out where that tube goes to." "QX, Kit." "What about the rest of us," asked Karen mutinously. "Are we just supposed to sit around and nothing to help?" "Kathryn's got DuQuesne on her hands; that should take up most of her time. Karen, I'd like you and Kat to work together on trying to figure out just what DuQuesne is up to. Also try to identify the personality action patterns of Surgat and the Unknown Enemy so we can set up a few traps for them once I get back. QX?" "QX," from both girls. "And I concentrate on watching out for Tregonsee," thought Cam. "Right. Also,… We've got only two second stage Lensmen left, Cam. We need more. I want you to get them." "More second stagers? Where?" "Have you forgotten that the Arisians developed eight lines of select breeding, two each on Rigel IV, Palain VII, Velantia III and Sol III? Only five second stagers were trained. Three of them are now dead, true. But there are still four other potential second stagers alive: the beings carefully bred to serve as mates for Tregonsee, Worsel and Nadreck. The Arisians decided that the human stock was best, so the other trained second stage Lensmen were never allowed to meet their complements. Nevertheless, those three beings are almost certainly potentially second stagers. I want you to find them, recruit them, and train them. We're going to need them in the days ahead." "QX, Kit." And after only a little further discussion, the conference was ended. A little more than two days later, Kit Kinnison landed his speedster on the desolate planet of Lyrane IX, a world so forbidding that even the frigid-blooded Eich had preferred to settle on the system's next inward planet. And on the outskirts of Dunstan's Region, Constance waited in her own undetectable speedster. Waited and saw Kit step out on the world's icy surface. Waited and saw him pulled by a tractor beam into a ship that was lurking at the mouth of a hyper-spatial tube, and knew that her brother was at least temporarily a prisoner of Boskone. Waited until the ship had retreated once more wholly within the hyper-spatial tube and begun to speed back through the tube to its destination. And then, and only then, Constance Kinnison, third stage Lensman, ceased waiting and went into action. Carefully she brought her ship into the barest contact with the outside surface of the hyper-spatial tube and followed its course, racing ahead of the ship inside, to the tube's far-off point of origin. And inside the hyper-spatial tube, aboard the swiftly speeding spaceship, D'zillich, High Tyrant of Nergal, looked up from the controls and turned to his aide. "Go, fetch the Lensman, Borkle," he said, "and bring him here at once. Gharlane is waiting to see him."