Philip E. High by Invader On My Back

Author:Invader On My Back [Back, Invader On My]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-01T15:21:11.296000+00:00

"I am grateful for friends, such sincere and united friends."

"Perhaps together we can accomplish something; alone it was impossible but perhaps together-"

"Accomplish something?"

"My friends, I weep for the manipulated children of the earth, all humanity. They are buffeted by powers beyond themselves. I feel it in my mind "

Chapter VII

BACK AT THE BASE, Gammon and Toynbee scowled over an accumulation of reports.

"Well, air-section S/A certainly gave our Geek friends a pounding."

"Not half the pounding they got from the Stinkers." Gammon ground out a stub of cigarette and inserted another in the corner of his mouth. "Where is Craig's last report?"

"I'm reading it now. For God's sake let me finish it."

Gammon raised his eyebrows slightly. It was unlike Toynbee to sound tense and petulant.

After a time Toynbee put the report carefully down on the table. His movements were controlled, too controlled. It looked as if he was going to considerable lengths to stop his hands from shaking.

Gammon was quick to perceive it. "Care to summarize?"

"Not particularly. It takes some absorbing and it frightens me to death. However, to save time Look, according to Craig, there's the equivalent of a Father-Stinker, a man called Carlos."

"Carlos the Spaniard. Oh, yes, I've heard of him. According to Fort Madrid he runs a fort of his own, warrior robots, minefields, barriers, the lot."

Toynbee used an obscene word and looked up at him bitterly. "Prepare yourself for your first shock. Carlos lives in a broken-down four room villa with two dogs and a bedraggled but affectionate jackdaw. Furthermore, he is confined to an ancient power-driven wheelchair and by skillful chemistry derives a frugal living from the soil and one of the ancient B-type converters dating back to the year dot. There are no barriers, no robots, no weapons and no damn minefields."

"Don't be a damn fool."

"That's the sort of reaction I might have expected. I'm only summarizing, remember?"

"Sorry. No offense intended. I just feel kind of strung up."

"Apology accepted; I'm just as damn touchy as you. Listen, this man Carlos projects those things from his mind mentally."

"Good God!" Gammon removed the mangled cigarette from the corner of his mouth and spat fragments of tobacco. "My nerve is crumbling."

"Hang on to what you have left. This man Carlos, being a cripple and a hermit by force of circumstance, has been probing around with this unusual mind of his." Toynbee hesitated. "Don't jump on me when I tell you this, but Carlos says there's something out there. A kind of broadcast on a mental or telepathic level and that this broadcast is responsible for our present plight, the Troubles and everything else."

Gammon blanched. "If this is true, where the hell is it coming from?"

"That one I can't answer but"-he hesitated-"but I'm beginning to get an outline. Look, suppose, just suppose, a Delink is a Delink because this telepathic what-have-you deletes his appreciation of moral logic before he can absorb it. The character I have been working over in the lab admits that he can not only understand my arguments but can assess and appreciate their worth at the time.

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