Tài liệu Operation Lorelie pdf

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Operation Lorelie
Salton, William P.
Published: 1954
Categorie(s): Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29160
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Copyright: Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or
check the copyright status in your country.
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Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from Amazing Stories March 1954. Extensive
research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this
publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have
been corrected without note.
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They came like monsters, rather than men, into the vast ruin of what had
once been a great city. They walked carefully, side by side, speaking to
each other by radio as though they were in deep space rather than upon
solid ground.
The winding way they followed through the ruins was marked by
blurred footsteps in the dust and the two men, clumsy in their bulky
suits, found the going difficult.
They stopped, and one of them held out an instrument. He studied the
dial. "All clear," and both men removed their helmets. They wiped sweat
from their faces and glanced at each other.
The blonde man said, "The air's okay, Jarvis. Everything seems all
right. I don't get it."
Jarvis, his dark eyes wary, scowled as he looked about. "It seems all
right. But we know it isn't. It can't be."
"I'm shucking this suit."
"Don't be a fool, Mark!"
"But the dial read clear, man! And we know nobody is going to shoot
us. All life had to be wiped out."
"How about minor power installations?"
Jarvis took a chocolate bar from his pocket, sat down on a piece of
broken rubble and began to eat. "You're too careless—far too careless,
Mark."
Mark laughed. "You've always been cautious enough for both of us.
Got me out of plenty of scrapes back in school, too. Don't think I've for-
gotten." Affection warmed his blue eyes as they rested on the face of his
friend.
"Okay! Okay! But what happened to them? Where did they go?" Jarvis
took nervous bites from his second chocolate bar. Then he, too, peeled
off his suit. He sniffed the air distrustfully, as he wiggled his shoulders
to free them from the clinging, damp shirt. Then he took a few experi-
mental steps forward.
"Seems all right, Mark. But how do you explain about Hank and Gar-
land? Never were two more careful guys."
"Probably a simple miscalculation. Or an accident. We know it
couldn't have been enemy action. Tests prove conclusively that we
wiped them out—to a man." He took deep gulps of air into his lungs,
and stretched like a cat. "We'll find out soon enough. Boy, I feel great!"
They deflated and folded their safety suits and added the bundles to
the other equipment on their backs. Then, with their instruments held
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before them, they probed their way into the twisted wreckage, still fol-
lowing the faint, dust-filled footprints.
Bent and rusted girders rose on all sides like the bones of prehistoric
monsters. Nothing stirred. The dust lay ages-thick on everything.
"Gives you the spooks, doesn't it?" Jarvis was still tense, poised to re-
spond to the first signal of danger. "Feels like we're the last men alive!"
"Funny about Hank and Garland. There's nothing here to harm
anyone."
Jarvis looked at his watch. "Better contact HQ for instructions."
The two stepped off the path, into the shade of a grotesque chunk of
broken masonry. Mark set up the radio and twirled the dials. "Team
Four, calling HQ. Team Four, reporting!"
"HQ here." The voice from the radio blared loud in the stillness. "Give
your report, Team Four."
"Looks like nothing's moved here in a thousand years. Safe as a baby's
dream. Rock-solid, air morning-pure. But—" He hesitated, trying not to
sound like a scared school boy. "No sign of Team Three. Or of Teams
One and Two, either. Over."
"Look here, Team Four. It's your job to find out. The earth didn't just
swallow them. Final report from each team placed them well within the
city. It's been ten days since the last contact. Probe every inch of the
place."
"Right!"
"But be careful. We can't afford to lose any more men! Roger!"
"Roger!"
There was only one way now—ahead. It lay clearly marked. The dim
footsteps never strayed or faltered. Three hours of search revealed no
pitfalls, no dangers, and no trace of the missing men. Then night was
upon them and they bedded down gratefully.
"Strange, isn't it? The war over. The invaders blasted from the earth.
All peril gone. And yet—men disappear."
Jarvis stared at the ruins around them. "I can't take much more, Mark.
Twelve years of war is enough. Are we never to have a life—have our
home and women back, and—peace?"
"Sure, it's been tough. But think of the women and children isolated on
that sub-satellite. It's tougher for them—just waiting." Stretched on his
back, Mark stared at the cloudless, evening sky. "But pretty soon we'll
get this planet cleaned up and bring them in. Christ! Four years without
even seeing a woman. I remember the last time—"
"Okay!" Jarvis interrupted impatiently. "Let's get to sleep."
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"Sure, pal. Goodnight."
They fell asleep to dream of green hills, corn ripening, apples roasting
over an open fire. Peace, and home, and girls, their firm legs flashing in
the sun.
Soldierlike, Mark was suddenly awake. He lay without motion, sensit-
ive to some subtle change in the surroundings. From the corner of his
eye he could see Jarvis wrapped in sleep. The silence seemed eternal.
Then, whisper-soft, came a murmur, a sound, a voice. A girl's voice,
sighing and singing, from deep in that devastated spot.
A woman!
Instantly, Mark was on his feet. No need to wake Jarvis. Plenty of time
for Jarvis to find out—afterwards. But not yet! A miracle that a girl had
survived in all that wreckage. But a miracle he wanted to savour alone!
Ahead, the path turned and Mark followed it as it went forward again,
downhill, between the massed walls of rubble. Now the voice swelled, a
melancholy song. Well, she won't be melancholy for long, Mark thought.
Her solitary ordeal was over.
"Mark!" Jarvis stood on an upturned lintel, ten feet above Mark's head.
As Mark jerked to a stop at the cry, Jarvis jumped into his path. "You
fool! Don't you know it's a trap?"
"So that's how you want to play it? The noble friend, protecting me
from myself!" He slammed a fist into the side of Jarvis' head. "Well, I
won't bite! She's mine! I found her!"
In silence, in the narrow passage between the rocks, the two fought.
Suddenly, above the sound of fist on flesh, came the voice of the girl
again, clear, young. "She is there," thought Jarvis. He could almost taste
her lips on his. The sensation came as a shock. How did he know? He'd
never had a woman. That's what came from listening to the tales of
Mark's exploits with women. Now he had to have that girl!
The mounting tension of the fighting snapped something in Jarvis'
seething mind. Danger, friendship, duty, all meant nothing. Only one
thing mattered. The girl! Mark had had more than his share of girls. He,
Jarvis, was the one who should have her! He'd been deprived of his man-
hood long enough! His frenzied brain hunted a trick to gain his ends.
Mark's superior strength began to force Jarvis to give ground. Then a
final blow sent him reeling, he reached out to break his fall, his hand
closed on a rock. He threw it. Mark crashed to the ground, his knee
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smashed, his leg useless. Then the tomb stillness of the dead city took
over. The dust settled slowly. Mark came to his feet.
Jarvis was gone.
Dragging his useless leg, Mark forced himself to crawl forward. Jarvis
had to be stopped.
Ahead, a shadow moved, and for a moment the moon threw the sil-
houette of a man against a cavernous opening in the debris.
"Jarvis!"
An electric flash shattered the darkness. The jagged teeth of the bolt
spit tongues of fire. Cordite mingled with the raw, nauseant, revolting
smell of scorched flesh and hair. The figure tottered and fell into the
black mouth of the cave. Then, as the flame faded, it lit up small bundles
of charred bones near the fallen body.
There was a whir and a click of a mechanism. Fifteen feet away, Mark
watched as the arm of a phonograph rose, moved slowly back to the
starting point. Then the record began once more to grind out its death-
trap melody.
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