Diagnosis 2

Diagnosis 2

High over the valley came a keening note, drifting down the wind with a

strange, heterodyning effect. It rose and fell with a definite cadence,

as though it were a message.

 

Out of the murky darkness at the far end came a stirring; a gigantic

groping, as of a monstrous something responding sluggishly to the

call. Then, more swiftly, getting its bearings, the shadowed something

began moving forward, gaining purpose, gaining massiveness, gaining

speed. There was almost an anxious eagerness in its progress, as though

it were an appetite sensing a free meal. At the same time there was

something obscene in its haste, as though it anticipated more than

mere food.

 

High on the south wall of the valley, atop the ramparts of the City,

stood a figure in a red cloak, staring out over the valley's dark

depths. He was tall, saturnine, and his face, though darkly handsome,

was somehow malevolent, menacing, revolting. He was leering now, in

ghastly anticipation of something that was to occur at the base of the

cliffs at his feet. Behind him the keening of the Call still emanated

from the lips of the gory idol enthroned in the Temple. He shook a fist

at the darkness below.

 

"Feel now the dire might of the anger of Bra Naan!" he mouthed. "Die,

Dahnjen Saan, despoiler of the Temple!" He turned to an accolyte.

"Control the Beast, when he comes. Let him kill, but save the

Priestess. Her punishment shall be mine alone." He licked his lips.

 

"Yes, Oh High One. The Beast shall move only as the Hypno-ray

dictates." The accolyte hurried off into the Temple and in a moment,

lancing down from above, came the beam of the ray, searching into the

depths of the valley.

 

* * * * *

 

The Priestess Marima Saan no longer struggled in Dahnjen Saan's

grasp, as he carried her amid the gloomy ramparts of the weird stone

formations on the valley floor. Instead she wept, and clung to him.

 

"Why do you weep?" he asked harshly.

 

"Because now we both will die," she said. "Oh Dahnjen, why did you do

it?"

 

"Because I do not propose that Bra Naan will remain forever as a

barrier to our love," he said. "Beyond the Valley his power does not

exist. We are going there to live our lives as they should be lived."

 

"Alone, in the Wild Land?"

 

He laughed. "It's not so wild as you think. I've been there. And

nothing so fearsome exists that we cannot overcome it. Nor will anyone

ever find us. The natives are friendly--I know them well."

 

Once more she began to weep. "But we'll never get there. We cannot

escape from the Valley. It is guarded at the exit by the Beast. None

have ever escaped him."

 

Dahnjen patted the rifle strapped to his back. "Think you that the

Priests alone know anything of science?" he asked.

 

She looked at the long barrel of the rifle. "What is it?"

 

"Something the Beast will not like," he promised. "And now, be still.

Soon we will be on more level ground, and you will be able to walk."

 

Some minutes later he set her down, and she walked by his side. But as

they moved deeper into the Valley, and into the gloom, a sound began

behind them. It was a keening noise, shrill, penetrating, rising and

falling with the chill of terror in its pitch.

 

"The Call!" cried Marima Saan. "Bra Naan calls the Beast! Now we shall

surely die!" She clung to him.

 

He urged her forward again, looking swiftly about him as they went.

Finally he spied the rock formation he wanted, and together they

crouched in its shadow, waiting. Above them, lancing through the dark

mists came the ray from atop the cliff. Dahnjen growled. "He wants to

make sure--he's using the Hypno-ray. Good thing it only works on the

Beast!"

 

Ahead of them now they heard sounds. Huge thumping sounds,

earth-shaking motions as a monstrous body moved toward them in the

darkness.

 

"The Beast comes!" said Marima tragically. "Oh Dahnjen, what shall we

do?" She flung her arms around his neck and clung to him. "Is this the

way our love will end?"

 

He bent his head and kissed her, then he grinned at her. "In just a

moment you will learn more about that," he said. "But right now, you

crouch down behind me and stay there. As soon as I can see, you'll find

out that not only the Priests are possessed of wonderful instruments."

He slipped the rifle from his shoulder and held it ready in his hands.

 

The searching ray swept over them several times, and the third pass

found them. Momentarily it outlined them in its light, then swept on,

as though in disdain. Finally it halted, down the valley, centered on a

lumbering form, outlining it in the darkness so that its head could be

seen looming high above the ground.

 

"The Beast!" breathed Marima.

 

And now, moving more purposefully, heading straight toward them, the

monster came. Although they knew that it could not see them as yet, in

the darkness, it did not deviate from its course, and they know that

its feeble mind was under the control of the priests in the Temple far

above them on the cliff wall. As it came, its jowls slavered, and its

eyes glared ferociously. The light gleamed off its bared teeth, and

reflected from the scaly ugliness of its hide.

 

Dahnjen Saan lifted his newly invented weapon, sighted carefully.

Then as Marima Saan cringed back in terror, a sharp explosion echoed

and re-echoed in the confines of the valley. A brilliant flash of

light illuminated the scene for a moment, and then a second explosion

came from the neck of the Beast. It faltered, uttered a tremendous

roar of rage and pain, and blood gouted from its wound. Then roaring

continuously, it charged forward once more. Again and again Dahnjen

fired his rifle, and each time explosions shook the valley and jarred

the oncoming monster. First one eye, then the other vanished in a

shredding of gore, and then the mouth literally exploded, and the

brilliant white of the bared teeth vanished in red blood.

 

The monster stopped, stood swaying, then came on again, but it was

obvious that it had been seriously wounded, and was not guiding its own

movements. Its giant head was turned sideways in an awkward stiffness,

exposing its ear. Dahnjen aimed a shot directly into it, and the top of

the head seemed to disintegrate. Brains flew through the air, mingled

with red, and the monster halted again. For long moments it swayed,

then with a crash that shook the rock beside which the two fugitives

crouched, it collapsed to the floor of the valley and lay kicking

gigantically, thrashing about in monstrous death throes.

 

"Dahnjen!" screamed Marima. "You've killed the Beast!"

 

He shouldered his rifle and lifted her to her feet. Then he bent and

kissed her again. "It was what I had in mind," he admitted.

 

* * * * *

 

Before them lay the narrow entrance to the Valley's lower end. Beyond

the gap they saw blue sky and the rolling green of a forest.

 

"There," said Dahnjen, "lies our freedom. Once in the depths of that

forest, we will be safe. Hundreds of miles away lies a land where the

power of the priests does not reach."

 

Marima clasped his hand in hers and they both hastened forward.

 

But suddenly, across the narrow gap before them, rose a dozen red-robed

figures. In the fore was the menacing form of Bra Naan. Leveled at them

was the deadly crossbow of the Priesthood.

 

Marima uttered a cry of horror and leaped forward, placing her body

between that of Bra Naan and Dahnjen. There was a sharp twang of a

bowstring, and the arrow leaped from the priest's crossbow to bury

itself in her breast. With a scream she sank to the ground. But as she

did so Dahnjen recovered from his frozen surprise and whipped his

rifle from his shoulder. Crouching behind her fallen body, he leveled

it and pressed the trigger. Bra Naan's head exploded on his shoulders

and disintegrated. He fell to the ground. And as he did so, the

remaining priests charged forward. Methodically, cursing and sobbing,

Dahnjen shot them, one by one, and as the last two reached him, he

clubbed the rifle and swung it savagely about his head. There came a

satisfying crunch as the skull of the man in the lead cracked, and then

the last man was upon him. Dahnjen brought the stock of the rifle up

under the man's chin and almost drove it through his skull. Then, the

battle over, he stood there, swaying. Eyes glazing, he dropped to his

knees and sagged over the body of Marima Saan....

 

* * * * *

 

Mary Mason opened her eyes in bewilderment and looked up at Don Jensen

bending over her. On his forehead the silver electrode was still

strapped, but broken wires dangled from it, over one ear.

 

"What happened?" she asked.

 

"I don't exactly know," he said. "But I do know you suddenly dashed

over and clouted me in the face. Then everything went black for what

I judge was quite a period of time. I must have fallen off the couch,

finally, and broken the wires, which stopped the machine. Anyway, I

came to to find you lying beside me on the floor. Whatever was the idea

of bashing me?"

 

A flood of red suddenly rose to her cheeks. "Now I remember," she

said. "It was what you were thinking! It was on the screen!"

 

It was his turn to redden. "What was on the screen?"

 

"You know very well." She got to her feet, went over to the television

screen and looked into it. It was blank.

 

He followed her over, removing the electrode from his forehead. He

tossed it on the bench and looked at the clock. "Twenty minutes," he

said.

 

"Twenty minutes what?" she asked.