The Crystal Crypt Read online

uniform. The light flashed up brightly,blinding them. Erick closed his eyes. The light left him, touching Maraand Jan, standing silently together, clasping hands. Then it flickeddown to the ground and around in a circle.

  A Leiter stepped forward, a tall figure in black, with his soldiersclose behind him, their guns ready. "You three," the Leiter said. "Whoare you? Don't move. Stand where you are."

  He came up to Erick, peering at him intently, his hard Martian facewithout expression. He went all around Erick, examining his robes, hissleeves.

  "Please--" Erick began in a quavering voice, but the Leiter cut him off.

  "I'll do the talking. Who are you three? What are you doing here? Speakup."

  "We--we are going back to our village," Erick muttered, staring down,his hands folded. "We were in the City, and now we are going home."

  One of the soldiers spoke into a mouthpiece. He clicked it off and putit away.

  "Come with me," the Leiter said. "We're taking you in. Hurry along."

  "In? Back to the City?"

  One of the soldiers laughed. "The City is gone," he said. "All that'sleft of it you can put in the palm of your hand."

  "But what happened?" Mara said.

  "No one knows. Come on, hurry it up!"

  There was a sound. A soldier came quickly out of the darkness. "A SeniorLeiter," he said. "Coming this way." He disappeared again.

  * * * * *

  "A Senior Leiter." The soldiers stood waiting, standing at a respectfulattention. A moment later the Senior Leiter stepped into the light, ablack-clad old man, his ancient face thin and hard, like a bird's, eyesbright and alert. He looked from Erick to Jan.

  "Who are these people?" he demanded.

  "Villagers going back home."

  "No, they're not. They don't stand like villagers. Villagers slump--diet,poor food. These people are not villagers. I myself came from the hills,and I know."

  He stepped close to Erick, looking keenly into his face. "Who are you?Look at his chin--he never shaved with a sharpened stone! Something iswrong here."

  In his hand a rod of pale fire flashed. "The City is gone, and with itat least half the Leiter Council. It is very strange, a flash, thenheat, and a wind. But it was not fission. I am puzzled. All at once theCity has vanished. Nothing is left but a depression in the sand."

  "We'll take them in," the other Leiter said. "Soldiers, surround them.Make certain that--"

  "Run!" Erick cried. He struck out, knocking the rod from the SeniorLeiter's hand. They were all running, soldiers shouting, flashing theirlights, stumbling against each other in the darkness. Erick dropped tohis knees, groping frantically in the bushes. His fingers closed overthe handle of the case and he leaped up. In Terran he shouted to Maraand Jan.

  "Hurry! To the car! Run!" He set off, down the slope, stumbling throughthe darkness. He could hear soldiers behind him, soldiers running andfalling. A body collided against him and he struck out. Someplace behindhim there was a hiss, and a section of the slope went up in flames. TheLeiter's rod--

  "Erick," Mara cried from the darkness. He ran toward her. Suddenly heslipped, falling on a stone. Confusion and firing. The sound of excitedvoices.

  "Erick, is that you?" Jan caught hold of him, helping him up. "The car.It's over here. Where's Mara?"

  "I'm here," Mara's voice came. "Over here, by the car."

  A light flashed. A tree went up in a puff of fire, and Erick felt thesinge of the heat against his face. He and Jan made their way toward thegirl. Mara's hand caught his in the darkness.

  "Now the car," Erick said. "If they haven't got to it." He slid down theslope into the ravine, fumbling in the darkness, reaching and holdingonto the handle of the case. Reaching, reaching--

  He touched something cold and smooth. Metal, a metal door handle. Reliefflooded through him. "I've found it! Jan, get inside. Mara, come on." Hepushed Jan past him, into the car. Mara slipped in after Jan, her smallagile body crowding in beside him.

  "Stop!" a voice shouted from above. "There's no use hiding in thatravine. We'll get you! Come up and--"

  The sound of voices was drowned out by the roar of the car's motor. Amoment later they shot into the darkness, the car rising into the air.Treetops broke and cracked under them as Erick turned the car from sideto side, avoiding the groping shafts of pale light from below, the lastfurious thrusts from the two Leiters and their soldiers.

  Then they were away, above the trees, high in the air, gaining speedeach moment, leaving the knot of Martians far behind.

  "Toward Marsport," Jan said to Erick. "Right?"

  Erick nodded. "Yes. We'll land outside the field, in the hills. We canchange back to our regular clothing there, our commercial clothing. Damnit--we'll be lucky if we can get there in time for the ship."

  "The last ship," Mara whispered, her chest rising and falling. "What ifwe don't get there in time?"

  Erick looked down at the leather case in his lap. "We'll have to getthere," he murmured. "We must!"

  * * * * *

  For a long time there was silence. Thacher stared at Erickson. The olderman was leaning back in his chair, sipping a little of his drink. Maraand Jan were silent.

  "So you didn't destroy the City," Thacher said. "You didn't destroy itat all. You shrank it down and put it in a glass globe, in apaperweight. And now you're salesmen again, with a sample case of officesupplies!"

  Erickson smiled. He opened the briefcase and reaching into it he broughtout the glass globe paperweight. He held it up, looking into it. "Yes,we stole the City from the Martians. That's how we got by the liedetector. It was true that we knew nothing about a _destroyed_ City."

  "But why?" Thacher said. "Why steal a City? Why not merely bomb it?"

  "Ransom," Mara said fervently, gazing into the globe, her dark eyesbright. "Their biggest City, half of their Council--in Erick's hand!"

  "Mars will have to do what Terra asks," Erickson said. "Now Terra willbe able to make her commercial demands felt. Maybe there won't even be awar. Perhaps Terra will get her way without fighting." Still smiling, heput the globe back into the briefcase and locked it.

  "Quite a story," Thacher said. "What an amazing process, reduction ofsize-- A whole City reduced to microscopic dimensions. Amazing. Nowonder you were able to escape. With such daring as that, no one couldhope to stop you."

  He looked down at the briefcase on the floor. Underneath them the jetsmurmured and vibrated evenly, as the ship moved through space towarddistant Terra.

  "We still have quite a way to go," Jan said. "You've heard our story,Thacher. Why not tell us yours? What sort of line are you in? What'syour business?"

  "Yes," Mara said. "What do you do?"

  "What do I do?" Thacher said. "Well, if you like, I'll show you." Hereached into his coat and brought out something. Something that flashedand glinted, something slender. A rod of pale fire.

  The three stared at it. Sickened shock settled over them slowly.

  Thacher held the rod loosely, calmly, pointing it at Erickson. "We knewyou three were on this ship," he said. "There was no doubt of that. Butwe did not know what had become of the City. My theory was that the Cityhad not been destroyed at all, that something else had happened to it.Council instruments measured a sudden loss of mass in that area, adecrease equal to the mass of the City. Somehow the City had beenspirited away, not destroyed. But I could not convince the other CouncilLeiters of it. I had to follow you alone."

  Thacher turned a little, nodding to the men sitting at the bar. The menrose at once, coming toward the table.

  "A very interesting process you have. Mars will benefit a great dealfrom it. Perhaps it will even turn the tide in our favor. When we returnto Marsport I wish to begin work on it at once. And now, if you willplease pass me the briefcase--"

  Transcriber's Note:

  This etext was produced from _Planet Stories_ January 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copy
right on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.