1,000-Year Voyage (11 page)

Neither Exodus nor Vilnia said anything. On Vilnia's face there was a resigned, wearied look, but Exodus' expression was entirely different. It was grimly resolute and his eyes had become unmistakably obstinate.

“Just as well you told us, mother. I have no intention of allowing our son, Orius, to become one of the energy suppliers.”

Vilnia gave a surprised glance and Merva's face set hard.

“If this is a joke, Exodus, I fail completely to see the point of it.”

“It's no joke, believe me.”

“But you agreed long ago that your child should be used, along with the others—”

“I said that then because there was no immediate need of Orius, but now that it has come to the actual time I've changed my mind. You seem to forget that Orius is different from the other children in that he is the son of the ruler's son and therefore in a class by himself—just as I was in a class by myself when those of my generation were subjected to the energy extraction.”

“Believe me,” Vilnia put in, seeing the angry look in Merva's eyes, “this is as much a surprise to me as it is to you. Exodus has never mentioned to me that he had any objections to Orius being used as an energy producer so I….”

“Be quiet,” Exodus commanded. “I'm in charge of this situation, Vilnia, not you.”

“Orius is as much my son as he is yours,” she reminded him.

“That is beside the point. The fact remains, mother, that that is my decision, so you will have to make do with the other three children.”

“It's not a question of making do,” Merva retorted. “We have just got to have all the children if we are to have enough energy to carry on. It takes four children per generation to keep the energy at a safe level for both you and myself.”

Exodus shrugged. “I am still not making any change in my decision. Is there anything else about which you wished to see us?”

Merva did not respond; her stony expression was quite sufficient.

“Come, Vilnia,” Exodus said, briefly, jerking his head to her and he ushered her out of the room in front of him. Once they were out in the corridor Vilnia looked at him questioningly.

“Defiance of your mother can have grave consequences, Exodus. Not only in the matter of the kind of reprisal that your mother might take but also because there will not be enough energy for you and her to maintain your almost eternal life. I cannot understand why you are so obstinate in the face of such an issue.”

“I know perfectly well what I am doing,” he answered coldly. “I would tell you a great deal more, Vilnia, but I am afraid I do not trust you. I haven't forgotten the incident when you informed my mother of a certain passing remark of mine. Obviously you can never be expected to share any secrets with me again after that.

“One thing I will tell you, however—I will not allow Orius to be subjected to this energy reduction because of the severe repercussions it has in later life. You yourself are a good example of it and most certainly the other couples are aboard this vessel. They are listless, not particularly strong physically, and their mental quota is far below what it ought to be. I do not intend to see Orius reduced to a state like that either for mother or anybody else. Our child has be supremely strong and powerful—”

“That surely is a small issue to weigh against the eternal life of your mother and yourself,” Vilnia protested. “I just can't understand your viewpoint on this at all, Exodus.”

“Then don't try, and leave us to handle the situation.”

Vilnia was silent, her eyes downcast. Exodus gave her a brief, rather irritated glance.

“Where is Orius at the moment? You saw him last.”

“He's in the main nursery along with the other children.”

“Then get him immediately and lock him in our room. After that, return to the storage hold where I am building the generator. There is something I want you to do which will help me considerably.”

Vilnia did not raise an objection, because the years of domination that she had suffered caused her to obey Exodus' command immediately and she hurried off down the corridor.

He watched her go, then his face as expressionless as though it were carved in teak he went on his way back to the storage hold where his cosmic generator was located. Here he busied himself for a while with the controls and switches, testing the immense surges of energy that passed through the apparatus. At length Vilnia came in hesitantly and paused just beyond the threshold, once again feeling that inner terror at the sight of the man-made chained lightning writhing between the positive and negative poles.

“Well?” Exodus glanced at her briefly. “Did you do as I asked?”

“Yes. I put him in our compartment and locked him in and here is the key.” Vilnia held it up for a moment then dropped it in the pocket of her slacks. Exodus nodded in satisfaction, then a thought seemed to strike him.

“Come to think of it, Vilnia, I think I'll take that key myself and if you wish to know why it is still because, unfortunately, I cannot trust you. If mother were to summon you and make certain demands upon you, you would immediately concede—partly from fear, and partly from the hope that you might curry favour with her. I don't intend to allow that to happen. The key please….” He held out his hand with sudden emphasis.

Puzzled, and somehow not entirely able to believe his reason for wanting the key, Vilnia nevertheless obeyed and handed it over. He slipped it in his pocket and nodded in satisfaction.

“Now for the task with which I wanted you to help me.” He switched off the terrifying display of the apparatus and Vilnia breathed more freely. As he jerked his head to her she came forward, pausing when she had at length reached the highly conductive grating between the positive and negative poles.

“You see that big bolt there?” Exodus asked, indicating an enormous octagonal bolt at floor level which was standing up partly from its socket—then as Vilnia nodded he crossed to the bench and picked up a heavy wrench, handing it across to her.

“I want you to tighten up that whilst I get underneath the foundation here and secure the nut on the other side. It has been giving me trouble from the very start and it takes two people to be able to do it properly. I don't think you're likely to be able to learn much about this apparatus from just a simple operation like this. Do you think you can manage it?”

“Oh yes, I think I can manage that,” Vilnia agreed, taking no offence at the immense sarcasm in his voice, and so saying, she fixed the wrench on the bolt sides and made the necessary adjustments. Exodus watched her for a moment and then moved away. Vilnia was too intent on her task to notice what he was doing, otherwise she would have wondered why he crossed to the switchboard.

In the next few moments she had no chance to wonder about anything at all for with a relentless hand he closed the main knife switch and between the two poles there flashed a bewildering coruscation of lavender flame and crackling energy.

Vilnia had just time to give one vast scream and she realised she was completely trapped. The next moment there was a blinding flash and the powerful earthing apparatus absorbed the tremendous surge of current. Exodus blinked a little, his mouth a straight and determined line, his eyes fixed on the space between the opposite poles where Vilnia had been at work.

There was nothing there except the big wrench that she had dropped. Vilnia had completely disappeared. With a jerk Exodus pulled out the knife switch and just for a moment put a hand over his moist forehead.

“Sorry, Vilnia,” he muttered, “but somebody had to try it someday! At least, you can be written down in cosmic history as the one who gave her life to prove that undiluted cosmic energy can indeed destroy flesh and blood completely. In fact,” he continued, musing, “one might almost say that this is a case of two birds with one stone. I have made sure that Vilnia can never betray me again, and on the other hand I have proved the efficiency of this instrument.”

The problem of explanations as to what had happened to Vilnia did not bother him in the least. He would make vague references to an accident just as his mother had once done many years before him when explaining away the death of Rigilus, and as far as he was concerned he felt no remorse.

Vilnia had served her purpose in that she had produced Orius, yet another cog in the great scheme of revenge and her weakness for giving away secrets was something that need no longer be feared. Yet despite the fact that he had so inhumanly proved the efficacy of his cosmic radiation apparatus, Exodus did not immediately rush to tell his mother the news.

For this he had a particularly good reason, and it was not because she would now be engaged in withdrawing energy from the various children. Actually there was no need for his mother to know about the cosmic radiation equipment for the simple reason that he did not intend her to live beyond a few hours more.

Here lay the explanation for him refusing to grant that energy should be drawn from Orius. He knew perfectly well that the energy drawn from the other children would not be sufficient to keep himself and his mother supplied indefinitely, but if only he himself were concerned there would be ample and it was in this direction that his plans lay. He made no immediate moves however, biding his time until he was certain that his mother has retired to rest. This meant that everybody else had also retired in accordance with pre-arranged schedule, and that the children from whom energy had been extracted were now in the main nursery, recovering from the effects thereof. This meant that he had the vessel entirely to himself and so he went to work deliberately and with the actions of a man who had long had this plan in mind.

Going to the main storage hold he brought forth a spacesuit and rapidly clambered into it, twisting the transparent helmet into place and afterwards checking the air supply apparatus to make sure it was in perfect condition.

From the wall rack he took down a powerful radiant energy cutter that was actually a super modem modification of the old time oxy-acetylene welder. The apparatus was capable of generating an intolerable heat searching enough to cut through the armoured hull of the space machine's exterior plates. Armed in this wise Exodus silently made his way to the emergency exit of the machine and eventually was successful in impelling himself to the exterior of the vessel.

Once here the slight gravitation of the vessel drew down on his enormous metal boots so that he was clamped to the outer plates like a fly on the ceiling. This was not the first time that he had ventured to the outside, so the experience lacked the wonder of the first occasion. Nevertheless there was even yet an immense fascination in thus standing as a lone figure in the void, surrounded by the endless hosts of stars.

However, the last thing on his mind was to admire the view. He took merely a cursory glance about him and then walked deliberately forward remaining upright no matter which angle he chose to take on the vessel because of the constant pull of gravity on his feet. In this manner he walked along the side of the machine until he eventually came to the deeply sunken round porthole which he knew was the one window belonging to his mother's bedroom.

Descending to his knees he peered through the thick glass and after a while could descry the sleeping form of his mother vaguely visible in the safety light which was left glowing in every part of the vessel, at all times. Her back was towards him, which was an advantage and the bedclothes were pulled up roughly towards her shoulders.

“I have been a long time getting round to this, mother,” he murmured, unhooking the radiant energy gun from his belt, “but now, necessity compels me to act.”

The actual execution of his plan was only the work of a moment when all he did was to direct the blast of the radiant energy gun straight at the thick glass of the porthole. Instantly it splintered, but not inwards. The javelins of shattered glass, each of them nearly an inch thick, were blasted outwards by the atmospheric pressure within the cabin itself, and thereafter shimmered in space like floating shards of silver paper.

The effect was extraordinary and fairy-like and rendered even more fantastic by the fact that the pieces thereafter drifted slowly back until they were adhering to the side of the ship, drawn as usual by the eternal law of mass.

Peering through the now entirely uncovered porthole. Exodus could still faintly see his mother lying motionless on the bed. Evidently the end had come to her without her making so much as a movement. The sudden evaporation of the air from the compartment and the inrush of the interstellar void must have made death instantaneous—and, filled with the sober knowledge of this fact, Exodus made his way back into the vessel and then continued along the corridor until he had come to his mother's compartment.

Working with great caution and still dad in his spacesuit he pulled down the emergency switch which caused airtight metal slides to drop into place on both sides of him in the corridor, thereby sealing off the rest of the ship from the outrush of air from this little square of corridor when he opened the door of his mother's compartment.

This was only the work of a moment and he crept forward into the star shine in the air denuded space, looking about him upon the tumbled ornaments, shifted furniture, and tangled bedclothes, all of which had been dragged in the direction of the shattered porthole by the abrupt out-rush of the air under its normal pressure of 14 pounds to the square inch.

Switching on his torch he moved forward with the beam directed on the still figure in the bed, and the nearer he moved the more puzzled he became. There was something odd about it, something unnaturally stiff. In a matter of seconds he realised the truth.

It was nothing more than a dummy, and yet the thing was so lifelike that he found it next to impossible to realise that it was one. He reached out his gauntletted hand and touched it and that satisfied him. It was a brilliant creation in wax, an exact replica of his mother, so wonderfully done that it might have made the one-time famous Madame Tussaud extremely envious.