Butterfly Planet by Philip E High

Author:Philip E High [High, Philip E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Sci-Fi
Published: 2017-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

Unknown to anyone outside the Organization, in a remote part of the Southern Americas was a ship. It was used principally for smuggling and occasionally for the transport of Organization Chiefs who wished to pass from one world to another without using the Security-vetted matter-transmitters. He, Brinker, was not only going to take the Organization for a packet, he was going to take an interstellar vessel costing two hundred million as well.

SEVEN

IN the hotel, Reed sat tensely on the edge of a chair and tried to reason out the events of the last few hours.

He had seen the explosion. He had tuned in to police and Security reports and from the numerous, if slightly garbled accounts, he had a rough picture of what had occurred. What troubled him, waswhy.

He did not respect the Enemy but he had no illusions as to their ruthless efficiency. Ninety per cent of those who had surrounded them were such efficient and cold-blooded killers that they were close to organic robots. Warrior robots without conscience or reservation. When someone said ‘kill’ they killed. It was not a considered action, it was the response of a mindless puppet, the reaction of a machine.

Now, for no explicable reason, these same mindless killers had lost their nerve and run in panic.

He looked at the woman Lia—God she was beautiful wasn't she? Funny how, when they had first met, he had thought of her as ordinary.

“You did it, you and Pete. How? I've got to know."

She smiled at him gently—was it with just a touch of the maternal?—and said, “I can tell you a little—you are already becoming aware yourself. When the men came, we filled their minds with uncertainty. We project, you see—we think it is hypnotic. The men were assured, arrogantly confident but we stimulated their minds into consideringalternatives. Once the process had begun, they became uneasy and lost their decision. It was only a question of time before uneasiness turned to anxiety and anxiety to neurosis. The explosion was fortuitous, not engineered although something of the sort was bound to happen sooner or later."

He shivered slightly. “Why didn't it affect me?"

“You!” She laughed softly and musically. “How could it? You are one of us."

He stopped a scowl without too much effort. It was difficult to scowl at a woman who looked so beautiful and yet so warm. Am I in love with her? he thought and knew instantly that he wasn't. Her beauty was a responsive loveliness, one reacted to it because it was beauty just as one responded to exquisite music or the rural loveliness of some of the larger nature reserves.

He said, “I wish I knew what you're talking about."

She looked at him with her wonderful dark eyes and he found himself responding again to her inner serenity and assurance. “You will, but it must come from within. It cannot be imparted verbally."

He nodded, still not understanding, but now less concerned.

Maynard emerged from the electra-shower cubicle and grinned at him.

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