The Sphere of Sleep Page 3

anddesire.

  Surely, he found himself reasoning with that curious pleasure andcontentment which had come over him, the murder of Big Tim for soglorious and wonderful a girl could be no base act. And the scrupleswhich had forever risen to bar him mockingly from the actual deed, werenow so smoothed away that he would never have known he had had them. BigTim would die, of course. And he would take great pleasure in killinghim. There would be no regrets, no self-accusations, no torturing pangsof conscience. There would only be complete satisfaction, comfort, andhappiness. And Laura would be his. There was no doubt about that. Therewas no doubt anywhere in his mind. There was only complete gratificationof every whimsical and vagrant thought or desire.

  Then a sudden jar shook him. For a moment he had the sensation ofstruggling up from warm, drowsy depths. And then, suddenly, he waslooking into Big Tim Austin's puzzled and incredulous face, and thateery mental surcease was gone.

  "Brad--did you feel it, too?"

  Nellon nodded wordlessly. He was a little frightened of the weird forcethat had held them both in thrall. A glance at the column loominggigantically before him showed that he and Big Tim had walked a gooddistance without any conscious knowledge of having done so. It was thechance collision which had aroused them both from their sleep-walkingstate.

  * * * * *

  Nellon could feel the force yet, brushing at the fringes of his mindwith warm, soothing fingers. But he soon found that, with activeresistance, there was no fear of it overcoming him again. One thingpersisted, however, and that was the curiously refreshed and stimulatedcondition of his body. Nor was he anxious that this should go away.

  They were within yards of the great column, now, and at an evershortening range their eyes began to make out certain details which theyhad missed during their progress under that inexplicable half-trance.

  It was not actually a column, they realized, for it was hollow and theycould dimly make out the shapes of objects within. It was a vast,room-like cylinder or enclosure, with walls of transparent green. In thecenter, and midway between floor and ceiling, there hung what seemed tobe a ball of vivid green fire.

  Upon reaching the cylinder, they pressed closely to its hard surface andpeered intently within. But at first the great, flaming ball obscuredsuch early details as they could discern. It was like looking upwardthrough water at the blinding disc of the sun. Then, as their eyes grewaccustomed to the emerald brilliance, they found themselves gazing at anunbelievable scene.

  High above floated the fiery, green ball. Directly below it glitteredthe complex mass of a great machine. This was spread upon a huge baseand narrowed as it rose. Circling the apex were a multitude of rod-likeprojections, the ends of which terminated in large crystal cones. Thebases of these were pointed upward, and from each a pale, almostinvisible, beam shot up and into the green ball, as though at oncenourishing and supporting it.

  But it was not this which held the incredulous fixity of their gaze. Forarranged in concentric circles about the machine were hundreds of tablesor low platforms and upon each a still figure lay. The nearest table wassome distance from the wall through which Nellon and Austin peered, andthis, added to the weird, green light of the globe, made a cleardelineation of physical characteristics impossible. Yet they were ableto make out enough to become convinced, that, as their earlierexamination of the clothing in the rooms had suggested, the figures werehauntingly human.

  * * * * *

  For a long moment they stood there. Then Big Tim turned, and Nellon,looking around in response to the action, was amazed at the bright andfeverish gleam in the other's eyes. Words tumbled from Big Tim's lips ina hoarse rush.

  "Brad, this is going to make interplanetary history. It's the biggestthing since the discovery of the first dead city on Mars. We've got togo back to the ship and bring the others. They've got to see this. But,Brad, before they do, I'm going in there. I want to be the first to seewhat these people looked like. There must be a door somewhere--"

  And before Nellon could voice the protest which rose to his lips, BigTim had started away on an eager circuit of the green wall. Nellon stoodlooking after him in indecision, torn between conflicting impulses. Thenhe tightened his lips and followed in the direction which Big Tim hadtaken. But before Nellon could reach him, the other's excited voicecrashed in his earphones.

  "I've found it, Brad! There _is_ a door here."

  Nellon jerked into a run. He found Big Tim standing upon a short rampbefore a section of the wall which was different from the rest. It was adark area, rectangular in shape. At one side, seen dimly through thestrange green substance, was an arrangement of rods and gears which wasobviously an operating mechanism. Protruding from a slot in the wall,and clearly connected with the mechanism, was a short lever.

  Big Tim's blue eyes glittered with daring. His tow hair awry, he lookedmore than ever the picture of an overgrown, impulsive boy.

  "Good heavens, guy, you surely don't intend to go in there!" Nellonexclaimed. "We don't know what sort of--"

  Big Tim gave a short, excited laugh. "Look--there's nothing to be afraidof. There's just that green light up there and the people, and they aredead. Everything in this place is dead. Brad, this is the chance of alifetime. We'll be the first to look upon the faces of anextra-terrestrial race since the Martians."

  Big Tim pulled the opening lever. There was a moment of appalled andcomplete quiet. Then hidden motors hummed into alien life, and slowlythe door before them slid aside. Undimmed now by its confining walls,the green radiance poured through the opening in a blinding flood.

  "Come on," Big Tim urged. And without any hesitation on his own part, hestepped through, to be bathed instantly in the emerald glow.

  * * * * *

  Nellon moved to the open doorway. The emerald rays from the globe fellupon him with an almost sensible warmth. Again that weird peace andcomfort was upon him, but more overpoweringly now. He felt a rising tideof drowsiness. In some strange way, he knew it would be good to allowhimself to succumb to the softly-blanketing darkness which was fillinghis mind. It would be a blessed surcease from all the troubles and caresof his present world. But something held him back.

  And though a great, calm voice seemed to give him every assurance ofsafety, a stubborn, small one screamed him its warning. In a turmoil, hewatched Big Tim stride toward the nearest of the platforms.

  It became evident to Nellon almost immediately that Big Tim was nevergoing to reach his goal. For shortly after the first several steps, theblonde giant's purposeful walk slowed to a bemused shamble. And,watching with a curiously disembodied attention, Nellon saw him waver,stop, and then collapse upon the floor, as though he had suddenly becomevery, very tired.

  The warning voice was shrieking now. Nellon felt a swift rush of terrorthat ripped him free of the force which enclosed him in its lullingfolds. He shot a wide-eyed glance from the gleaming, inert shape of BigTim's suit to the globe flaming high above. He wanted suddenly to run.

  He struggled in panic against the invisible bonds of peace and comfortwhich were so reluctant to let him go. His determination to be free wasthe fierce and frenzied one of utter fear. Flailing his arms as ifagainst some material foe, he managed to stumble down from the ramp, toone side of the doorway where the green light would not reach him.

  Exhausted from the herculean struggle, he slumped to the floor. A soft,warm blackness was settling over him, and he was powerless to fend itoff. But he knew that he was safe, and the satisfaction which he feltwas increased by the radiation which he had absorbed, so that when hefinally swooped into unconsciousness, it was amidst a thunderous,victorious singing.

  * * * * *

  Nellon's next sensations were curious ones. He seemed to awaken inanother realm. It was a vast and formless place with no distinguishablefeature or color, but it was curiously sentient, pulsing with awesomepossibilities.

  Now, as though stirred
by his reflection upon it, the nebulous stuffbegan to writhe. And then, taking shape from the formless jumble ofthoughts in his subconscious, a dream-world began to grow. Bits wereadded here, others discarded there, but every compartment in thestorehouse of his mind contributed something. And all assembled inaccordance with the pattern Nellon had fashioned in two and a half yearsof brooding. Finally his dream paradise was complete to the last detailof his hopes and imaginings.

  It was the world which he had built around Laura taken on an immaterial,but to him nonetheless real, life. There was Laura and there washimself. And there was the complete bliss for which he had planned BigTim's murder to achieve.

  He became aware of a change. The outlines of his world were dimming,dissolving, fading. Even Laura, radiantly lovely, was beginning to blurbefore his eyes.

  In horror he sought to clutch the evaporating structure to him andstabilize it once again. But it slipped through his