Dragon's Island by Jack Williamson

Author:Jack Williamson [Williamson, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Tower Books
Published: 1951-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

Momentarily grave, Van Doon shook his head. “I took the best mules I had up there, but they’re all too weak and old to do the work. And dying like flies.”

“We’ll soon have more.” Nan turned. “Vic, this is Don Fallon. Our newest lotus-eater. He’s to be in charge of the production section.”

“Hello, Fallon.” Van Doon caught his hand with a bone-cracking grip. “You’ll never be sorry the black flies bit you. I’ve been with the company three years, and never a regret. That virus is a sure cure for trouble-makers.” He chuckled genially. “I believe I came to murder Mr. Potter and break the company—right, J. D.?”

“Right,” Messenger said. “Nearly did it, too.”

Belfast looked away from Van Doon’s smiling pride in that conversion, trying not to shiver. It made him sick to see how that virus had turned such a determined enemy of the company into this loyal slave, and for a moment his own plans seemed hopeless.

“No time to squander.” Messenger straightened impatiently. “Let's get to work!”

Dane nodded, trying feebly to smile again. No matter how many before him had failed, his purpose was still undetected. Though he was disappointed to be shut out of the mutation lab, the products of it might tell him something about the process. And—in spite of Messenger’s taboo—he still hoped to find a way inside.

“I’ll bring you that memo, as soon as I can,” Nan told him. “But you might start looking over the plant right away. We ought to have the first batch of swimmers ready by morning. You’ll have to have everything sterile, and fresh solutions mixed.”

“Wait here, Fallon,” Van Doon added. “I’ll send your assistants out with the keys.” He turned to Messenger and the girl. “I’ve got the old Potter house ready for you. Nan, won’t you ride over with me?”

She let him help her out of the jeep. Belfast climbed hastily out on the other side, to hide his flush of unwilling resentment. Let her go, he advised himself bitterly. She meant nothing to him except alien strangeness and shocking danger. The lotus-eater was welcome to her!

Left alone when the two jeeps lurched away, he walked stiffly out of the driving sun into the hot shade under the eaves of the production building. Waiting there, feeling the drops of sweat creeping like insects down his flanks and legs, he cautiously surveyed the mutation lab across the road.

The two riflemen returned his gaze suspiciously. lie swung as casually as possible to examine the slope behind him, where those tiers of empty tanks dropped toward the river bottom. Searching for a back path to that fenced and guarded fortress, he paused abruptly when another riddle challenged him.

Danger seethed all around him. He knew it was there— but he couldn’t feel it, not in the way he had sensed the hostility of New York. The jungle was alive with crocodiles and deadly insects and internal parasites and a hundred other shapes of death, but it had no warning glow of evil.

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