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with brooding eyes. -
"Your vengeance, Jansaiya," he whispered. "And mine!" Then Scipio Agricola
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Africanus, the man from Carthage, put his head down on his arms. He began to
weep great choking sobs that ripped harshly from his throat.
Court looked away in sympathy and walked toward the televisor screen. Against
it Marion leaned, faint with reaction. Both Ardath and Li Yang were watching.
Though the Oriental's gross yellow face wets immobile, his lacquer eyes were
suddenly aglow with pity.
"Ohe," Li Yang sighed softly. "Alas for such men as Scipio, who find neither
thrones -nor love."
Ardath turned when a man appeared behind him on the screen. After a few words,
he faced Court.
"The work has been done sooner than I expected. We can turn on the power now.
Compare your chronometer with mine.
The two delicate time-pieces checked precisely.
"At exactly eleven, throw your switch," Ardath instructed.
"I shall do the same."
There were ten seconds to go-five-three- Court's hand trembled on the switch.
Two. One. . .
Now!
Deafening thunder bellowed out from the summit of the -Tower. For miles
around, the roaring blast shattered windows and awakened sleepers to panicky
fright. White light made the country bright as day. For a second, the
maelstrom of raving light and sound continued. Then it swiftly died. There
- was sileimce, save for a low humming.
"Good!" Ardath said on the screen. "We timed it exactly right. In two minutes,
watch the sky. If it lights up, we have succeeded."
With one accord, Court and Marion hurried to the railing. Even Scipio lifted
his-head to stare at the black sky.
Two minutes to wait. The incredible barrier of electrons, the curtain of
atomic energy, was rushing around the Earth, spreading out from the points of
origin in the twin Towers.
One minute dragged by. Then, without warning, the sky turned white. The dim
stars vanished. A curtain of pallid white brilliance hung over the Earth, like
a shining ivory bowl over turned upon the land.
-
A single heart-beat it remained, and then faded and was gone. But Court knew
that the Earth Shield had been created. -That barrier would forever safeguard
mankind.
"We've won!" His voice was hoarse with triumph. "Marion, we've saved
humanity!"
There was something inexpressibly tender in the girl's eyes as she watched
him. For now she knew that Stephen Court was a man whom she could love and
cherish-not a cold, inhuman machine. In the hour of his triumph, he exulted
not because he had solved a terrible problem with his keen brain. Court
rejoiced because he had saved human beings from horror and death.
"Yes," Marion said softly. "We've won, Steve. Both of us have won what we
wanted." - -
- From the metallic sphere overhead; invisible energy flared out, challenging
the stars as it poured its mighty power into the Earth Shield.
-EPILOGUE
--
One year later, a little group stood on the Wisconsin hills, examining a huge
golden space ship that loomed against the green slope and the summer sky. It
had taken months to build a new vessel to Ardath's specifications. But at last
the task had been finished, the equipment installed, and the provisions taken
aboard. In every respect, the craft was a duplicate of the Kyrian original,
save for a few new devices which Ardath and Court had perfected.
Scipi~, Li Yang and Ardath stood together at the open air-
lock, Marion and Court a few feet away. It was difficult to find words at this
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moment of sad farewell.
"I am sorry you will not go with us, both of you," Ardath said after a time.
"Yet you may be right."
"You know how I feel about it," Court returned. "The Plague is destroyed. - It
will never come again, thanks to the Earth Shield. But new dangers may arise.
These people among whom I was born are my people. I must be ready to serve and
help them. I think that was the reason I was given a mind evolved beyond my
time.
"I can help in so many ways, Ardath. There is so much I can do to improve,
this world of mine. Already, in one year, vast strides have been made. Atomic
power has outlawed war. When I die, I want to die in a Utopia that I have
helped to build."
Axdath nodded with understanding. "I came through time to find a super-mind
whom I could abduct to start a new race. Well, I have found that
super-mind-and you are wiser than I, Stephen Court. We are all part of some
cosmic pattern, and this pattern works toward good and not evil. It builds and
does not destroy. So I shall go on in my search for a race where I can find
kinship and happiness. Perhaps, a thousand years from now, I shall stand
beside your grave, Court."
"I, too," Scipio broke in. "Your world is a fine one, Court, and- some of it I
like. But I follow a dream. Mayhap I cancarve out a kingdom in1some distant
future-" He did not finish, but his face was suddenly somber. "I cannot stay
here," he said at last. "Jansaiya died here, and that would always be an
aching pain in my h'eart."
"Nor will I remain," Li Yang murmured. "Perhaps it is merely curiosity that
impels me to go on with Ardath. I do not know. But the unknown has a certain
fascination, and I am anxious to know what will exist a million years from
now. So farewell, and"-the tiny mouth twisted grotesquely-"and do not forget
fat old Li Yang."
The gross figure turned hastily and disappeared into the ship. -
Scipio bent and touched his lips to Marion's brow before he squeezed Court's
hand in a mighty grip.
"The gods watch over you," he rumbled, and was gone in-side.
Now Ardath's strange, alien eyes dwelt on the faces of Marion and Court. -
- "There is nothing I can say," he whispered. "Only, farewell."
Some indefinable bond of kinship between minds flashed for an instant as Court
and Ardath gazed into each other's eyes. Then the Kyrian stepped back - into
the ship and the port swung shut.
The vessel lifted. It rose silently and dwindled against the blue, a bright
golden ovoid that faded to a speck and was out of sight. It sped toward the
orbit it would follow around the Earth, perhaps for thousands of years, until
Ardath and Scipio and Li -Yang awoke to follow their strange destiny. - -
Two figur~s stood close together on the slope. Marion and Court looked up
until all trace of the golden ship was gone.
There was only the blue sky then, and the green hills of Wisconsin.
Still silent, and with the man's arm holding the girl's slim form close to
him, they turned to retrace their steps to the highway where a car waited.
There was nothing they could say, and no need for words had they found any. .
-
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