Read Ebook: The Star Beast by Knight Damon Vestal Herman B Illustrator

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 134 lines and 7345 words, and 3 pages

"Well--" she hesitated. "It's really silly, but--Last night, you see, I was thinking of something poor Professor Thomasson had said, half-jokingly, when we were discussing Oscar. He said that Oscar might not be a complete organism." She gestured toward the black thing on the table. "You know--his flat underside, that he walks with, and those curious flat areas along his sides? He can grip with those. If you put your hand there, he grips it."

Horitz nodded. "Thomasson showed me that trick." He reached over and put his hand on Oscar's black, glutinous side. "Shake hands, Oscar."

The hand sank visibly in the black flesh. When Horitz pulled it away, there was a small sucking noise.

"Ugh," said Walsh disgustedly.

"Well," continued Dr. Ilyanov, "you know that Oscar's space shell was wrecked. Professor Thomasson suggested that the accident that wrecked it might have wrecked Oscar too--that really, when he is all there, he is three or four Oscars linked together--"

She laughed embarrassedly. "Anyhow, when I slept last night, I had this nightmare. I dreamed that I saw Oscar floating in space, but there was more of him. There was another similar shape attached behind him, and two smaller ones, one on either side. He was like a sort of black cross--with those horrible tassels waving at each point of it--floating along, under the stars...."

"Well," said Horitz puzzledly, "what was so horrible about that?"

"Why, I don't know," said Dr. Ilyanov. "But it was."

Horitz crumpled up his sandwich-wrappers and threw them into the waste chute. "Might as well get started again," he said. He picked up the passenger list and read, "Jaeger, Jahore, Jessamin, Johnson."

Oscar watched interestedly as the beings in the room moved about, trailing their flaming auras. These people had strange and sometimes frightening counterpoints, he thought, but they were undeniably picturesque. He would have a story to tell when he got home.

One of the creatures arose and moved across the room. Its glowing sheath was bright reeve, with radiating streaks of darker gel. Inside, the shadowy nucleus seemed to be constructed differently from the others. Oscar followed it with the waving feelers atop his own nucleus. If he could only get into syntact with that one, he thought, he might find out something about it. Perhaps it had been badly morloned when it was young; or perhaps it was a different species entirely. It was hard to see, with these people.

Two more beings came into the room, one of them tall but with a slight nucleus, shaped like the one he had just been examining. He felt it with interest, but it was as uncommunicative as the other. The figure beside it was of an uninspiring shape, but its aura was reminiscent. He recalled that something was expected of him.

Carson Jahore was a big man, with the dark skin and fair hair that characterized his race. He was saying loudly, "--I won't stand for it, d'you hear? D'you think you can drag me and my wife in here like any common suspect? I'll hear an apology, or by God, heads will roll!"

"There's your apology," said Horitz, his eyes shining. "Where have you hidden the Equations, Ambassador Jahore?"

Dr. Ilyanov put a hand on Horitz's arm. "Please," she said, "don't be hasty. We don't know that Oscar understands, remember. Let's at least run through the rest of the passenger list, and see if he picks out anyone else."

"I never heard such nonsense in my life," put in Mrs. Jahore, who was small and sultry. "Come along, Carson, let's go and tell the captain."

"I've already buzzed the captain," said Horitz. He glanced at Dr. Ilyanov. "You're right, of course. Walsh, take Ambassador and Mrs. Jahore into the other room. If they make any trouble, give them a jolt."

Walsh, with his electrogun out, herded the pair into the next room. Jahore's shouts continued for some time.

Dr. Ilyanov stepped to the Morse sender and tapped out the message.

"Well, that's good enough for me," said Sommers, "but we might as well have the rest in, I suppose."

The captain called Horitz via his wrist phone, swore fearfully when he heard that they had bagged the ambassador, and promised to come down later. Horitz continued to read off lists of names to the central operator, bringing in groups of passengers whose nervousness increased as rumors spread through the ship.

Horitz strode up and down the room, slamming one fist into the palm of the other hand. "There must be something we've overlooked," he said. "We've got to figure out what the semantic block is between us and Oscar. I know it's something simple, I feel it; but--"

Dr. Ilyanov was frowning thoughtfully. "I have an idea," she said. "Did it ever occur to you that Dr. Tooker might be the man we are looking for?"

"Tooker!" said Horitz.

"Yes. You saw how jealous he is of his job on this ship. If the Thomasson Equations were used, he would certainly be put out of work. To a man like that, it would be worse than death. And remember, he has not been in this room since we asked Oscar to point out the killer."

"Please try it," said the girl. "I have--I have a theory."

"Yes," said Horitz.

Horitz looked at her doubtfully.

"Don't you see," she went on, "that would explain why he pointed out two when we asked for only one? They look the same to him--he can't tell them apart!"

"Maybe you've got it," said Horitz. He opened the transceiver and said, "Captain Tooker, please. Horitz calling."

"Yes, Horitz?" said the captain's voice.

"Can you come down immediately? I think we've got this thing licked."

The captain walked in a few minutes later. "Horitz," he said, "you deserve a medal. Who is it?"

"Maybe you," Horitz told him. He produced his electrogun and waved the captain over toward the wall. "No offense, but I've got to make sure."

"What!" shouted the captain, his face reddening. "Are you crazy, Horitz? Put that gun down!"

"Shut up," said Horitz, "please." He moved over to the connecting door, opened it and said, "Bring them out."

Walsh and Sommers herded their prisoners back into the room. The Jahores had subsided some time before, but broke out afresh when they saw that they were not going to be released. The captain tried to outshout the Jahores, and it took Horitz a full minute to quiet them.

When they were silent at last, he said, "Oscar has pointed out each of you as the one who murdered Professor Thomasson. Now's the time to confess."

No one said anything. Horitz picked up the passenger list from the table and glanced at it. "All right," he said. He adjusted his transceiver and said, "Stewards' Department? This is Horitz, in stateroom B39. I want the stewards who serve A deck Section 3, C deck Section 5, and the Captain's quarters. Get them down here fast."

The stewards arrived, looking apprehensive. There were five of them in all: two for each of the passenger sections, and one for Tooker. The latter said to Horitz, "Is there anything wrong, sir?"

"Nothing that need worry you," Horitz told them. "Just stand there and answer any questions I may ask you." He turned to Jahore. "Professor Thomasson was killed at a very early hour this morning," he said. "According to the ship's doctor, he had been dead approximately thirty minutes when I found him, and that was at seven-thirty. What time did you leave your stateroom this morning, Ambassador?"

"I don't know that that concerns you, you insolent puppy!" Jahore replied.

"Answer him, dearest," said his wife. "Let's get this beastly business over."

"Oh, very well," said the ambassador. "I was up at nine."

"Is that correct?" Horitz said to the stewards.

One of them spoke up, "Yes, sir, I believe so. I was in the corridor when His Excellency came out, and it was at about nine o'clock, sir."

Horitz bowed slightly. "You have my apologies, Ambassador. You and your wife may go now."

"Just a minute," said Sommers unexpectedly. "Oscar clicked when both the Ambassador and his wife were in the room, didn't he? Mrs. Jahore, when did you leave the stateroom?"

"At ten-thirty," the woman said coldly.

"That's correct, sir," said the steward. "I was working in that section almost all the morning, and I saw Mrs. Jahore leave at that time."

"Please accept my apologies also," said Tooker to the Jahores, trying to curb his apoplexy. "I assure you, sir, that this was none of my doing."

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet