"Henry Kuttner - The Creature From Beyond Infinity UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

The sphere then rose, dwindled quickly to a speck and was gone.
Surprisingly the giants had also vanished.
Ardath adjusted the controls. Sighing, he turned away. The ship was back in its orbit, circling the Earth. It would not deviate from that course for centuries, until the moment Ardath's hand moved its controls.
He picked up a small metal box, stepped out of the laboratory and closed the panel. On the floor at his feet lay the unconscious forms of Zana and Thordred. Ardath set down the box.
This would be a new experiment, one that he had never tried. He could not speak the language of these Earthlings, nor could they speak his. But knowledge could be transmitted from one brain to another. Thought patterns were a form of energy, and that could be transferred, just as a matrix may stamp out duplicates. First, the man. . .


Ardath opened the black box, took out a circular metallic
band and adjusted it about the sleeping Thordred's head. A
similar band went about his own. He pressed a switch, felt a
stinging, tIngling sensation within his skulL
He removed the metal bands, replaced them and waited patiently. Would the experiment work? His lips shaped unfamiliar syllables. He had learned Thordred's language-but could the undeveloped brain of the Earthling be equally receptive?
Thordred groaned and opened his eyes. He stared up at Ardath. Into those amber eyes came a curious look that might have been amazement, but which was certainly not fear.
"You are not hurt," Ardath said in Thordred's harsh, primitive language. "Nor will you be harmed."
The Earthling stood up with an effort, breathing hoarsely. He took an unsteady step, reeled, collapsed with a shattering crash upon the thought transference apparatus. He lay silent ai~d unmoving, an utterly helpless strong man.
No expression showed on Ardath's face, though the work of weeks had been ruined. The device could be built again, though he did not know if it should be. Had it been successful?
Thordred shuddered, rolled over. Painfully he rose and leaned weakly against the wall. His amber eyes rested puzziedly on Ardath as he asked a question in the Kyrian's soft language, which grated from his crude throat.
"Who are you, a god or idemon?"
Ardath smiled with satisfaction, for all was going welL He must explain matters to this Earthling to calm his fears. Later, he would rebuild the machine and teach Zana his own tongue. Then the three could sleep, for centuries if necessary.
But Ardath did not know that his device had worked too
well. It had transferred knowledge of his- own language to
Thordred's brain, yet it had transferred more than that. All of
Ardath's memories had been transmitted to the mind of the
Earthling!
At that moment, Thordred's wisdom was as great as that of his captor. Though he had not Ardath's potentiality for learning more, unearthly, amazing wisdom had been impressed on his brain cells. Thordred had smashed the machine, not through accident, but with coldly logical purpose. It would not do for Zana to acquire Ardath's wisdom also.
With an effort, Thordred kept an expression of stupid won-


der on his face. He must play his role carefully. Ardath must not yet suspect that another man shared his secrets.
Ardath was speaking, carefully explaining things that his captive already knew. While Thordred seemed to listen, he swiftly pondered and discarded plans. Zana must die, of course. As for sleeping for centuries- Well, it was not a pleasant thought. Ardath must be slain, so Thordred could return to Earth, with new knowledge.
"The giants you saw in the sky," said Ardath, "were not real. They were three-dimensional projections, enlarged by my apparatus. I recorded the originals of those beings ages ago, when they actually lived and fought cave-bears and saber-toothed tigers."
No, they were merely images, but men had seen them and remembered. The panic in the city below had died. In its place grew superstitious dread, fostered by the priests. Time passed, and neither Zana nor Thordred returned. New rulers arose to sit upon the black throne. -
But on the Mountain of the Gods, men toiled under the lash of the priests. Monstrous images of stone rose against the sky, gap-mouthed, fearsome images in crude similitude of the devils who had come out of the sunset.
"They may return," the priests warned. "But the stone giants on the mountain will frighten them away. Build them higher! They will guard our city."
On the peak the blind, alien faces glared ever into the sunset. And the days fled into years, and the dark centuries shrouded Earth. Continents crumbled. The eternal seas rose and washed new shores.
But the blind gods stayed to guard that which no longer needed guarding. And still they watch, those strange, alien statues on Easter Island.




CHAPTER IV

Growth

New Year's Day, 1941, was a momentous hour for Stephen Court. Most of December, 1940, he had spent in his laboratories, engrossed with a task the nature of which he explained to no one. The great Wisconsin mansion, where he

lived with his staff, had been metamorphosed into a fortress of science, though from the outside it resembled merely an antique, dilapidated structure. But nearby villagers viewed
-with suspicion the activity around Court's home.
The local post-office was deluged with letters and packages. At all hours automobiles arrived, carrying - cryptic burdens for Court.
Slyly the villagers questioned Sammy, for he often wandered inta the combination store and post office, to sit by the stove and puff great, reeking fumes from his battered pipe. Sammy had not changed much with the years. His hair had turned white, and there were merely a few more creases in his brown face. Since moving to Wisconsin, Stephen had relazed the anti-liquor restriction, but Sammy had learned the value of moderation.