The Complete Stories (Page 146)

The Cultist answered promptly, ‘I will do no such thing. You’re free to do what you want, but it’s only fair to warn you that just as soon as I get my chance I’m going to finish what I came out here to do. If it’s my word of honor you’re relying on, you’d better call the police.’

Sheerin smiled in a friendly fashion. ‘You’re a determined cuss, aren’t you? Well, I’ll explain something. Do you see that young man at the window? He’s a strong, husky fellow, quite handy with his fists, and he’s an outsider besides. Once the eclipse starts there will be nothing for him to do except keep an eye on you. Besides him, there will be myself — a little too stout for active fisticuffs, but still able to help.’

‘Well, what of it?’ demanded Latimer frozenly.

‘Listen and I’ll tell you,’ was the reply. ‘Just as soon as the eclipse starts, we’re going to take you, Theremon and I, and deposit you in a little closet with one door, to which is attached one giant lock and no windows. You will remain there for the duration.’

‘And afterward,’ breathed Latimer fiercely, ‘there’ll be no one to let me out. I know as well as you do what the coming of the Stars means — I know it far better than you. With all your minds gone, you are not likely to free me. Suffocation or slow starvation, is it? About what I might have expected from a group of scientists. But I don’t give my word. It’s a matter of principle, and I won’t discuss it further.’

Aton seemed perturbed. His faded eyes were troubled.

‘Really, Sheerin, locking him — ‘

‘Please!’ Sheerin motioned him impatiently to silence. ‘I don’t think for a moment things will go that far. Latimer has just tried a clever little bluff, but I’m not a psychologist just because I like the sound of the word.’ He grinned at the Cultist. ‘Come now, you don’t really think I’m trying anything as crude as slow starvation. My dear Latimer, if I lock you in the closet, you are not going to see the Darkness, and you are not going to see the Stars. It does not take much knowledge of the fundamental creed of the Cult to realize that for you to be hidden from the Stars when they appear means the loss of your immortal soul. Now, I believe you to be an honorable man. I’ll accept your word of honor to make no further effort to disrupt proceedings, if you’ll offer it.’

A vein throbbed in Latimer’s temple, and he seemed to shrink within himself as he said thickly, ‘You have it!’ And then he added with swift fury. ‘But it is my consolation that you will all be damned for your deeds of today.’ He turned on his heel and stalked to the high three-legged stool by the door.

Sheerin nodded to the columnist. ‘Take a seat next to him, Theremon — just as a formality. Hey, Theremon!’

But the newspaperman didn’t move. He had gone pale to the lips. ‘Look at that!’ The finger he pointed toward the sky shook, and his voice was dry and cracked.

There was one simultaneous gasp as every eye followed the pointing finger and, for one breathless moment, stared frozenly.

Beta was chipped on one side!

The tiny bit of encroaching blackness was perhaps the width of a fingernail, but to the staring watchers it magnified itself into the crack of doom.

Only for a moment they watched, and after that there was a shrieking confusion that was even shorter of duration and which gave way to an orderly scurry of activity — each man at his prescribed job. At the crucial moment there was no time for emotion. The men were merely scientists with work to do. Even Aton had melted away.

Sheerin said prosaically. ‘First contact must have been made fifteen minutes ago. A little early, but pretty good considering the uncertainties involved in the calculation.’ He looked about him and then tiptoed to Theremon, who still remained staring out the window, and dragged him away gently.

‘Aton is furious,’ he whispered, ‘so stay away. He missed first contact on account of this fuss with Latimer, and if you get in his way he’ll have you thrown out the window.’

Theremon nodded shortly and sat down. Sheerin stared in surprise at him.

‘The devil, man,’ he exclaimed, ‘you’re shaking.’

‘Eh?’ Theremon licked dry lips and then tried to smile. ‘I don’t feel very well, and that’s a fact.’

The psychologist’s eyes hardened. ‘You’re not losing your nerve?’

‘No!’ cried Theremon in a flash of indignation. ‘Give me a chance, will you? I haven’t really believed this rigmarole — not way down beneath, anyway — till just this minute. Give me a chance to get used to the idea. You’ve been preparing yourself for two months or more.’

‘You’re right, at that,’ replied Sheerin thoughtfully. ‘Listen! Have you got a family — parents, wife, children?’

Theremon shook his head. ‘You mean the Hideout, I suppose. No, you don’t have to worry about that. I have a sister, but she’s two thousand miles away. I don’t even know her exact address.’

‘Well, then, what about yourself? You’ve got time to get there, and they’re one short anyway, since I left. After all, you’re not needed here, and you’d make a darned fine addition — ‘

Theremon looked at the other wearily. ‘You think I’m scared stiff, don’t you? Well, get this, mister. I’m a newspaperman and I’ve been assigned to cover a story. I intend covering it.’

There was a faint smile on the psychologist’s face. ‘I see. Professional honor, is that it?’

‘You might call it that. But, man. I’d give my right arm for another bottle of that sockeroo juice even half the size of the one you bogged. If ever a fellow needed a drink, I do.’

He broke off. Sheerin was nudging him violently. ‘Do you hear that? Listen!’

Theremon followed the motion of the other’s chin and stared at the Cultist, who, oblivious to all about him, faced the window, a look of wild elation on his face, droning to himself the while in singsong fashion.

‘What’s he saying?’ whispered the columnist.

‘He’s quoting Book of Revelations, fifth chapter,’ replied Sheerin. Then, urgently, ‘Keep quiet and listen, I tell you.’