Prince Cadmus slew the Dragon and sowed
its teeth. Could this latter-day Cadmus
smash Akal-jor's atomic monster? Could
he halt the devouring Gray God before—
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories May 1952.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Cadmus trembled now as he waited. He had been waiting too long. Sweatwas heavy on his clean-muscled body. A bright eagerness blazed fromhis gray eyes. And beyond the small pressure dome of the combinationlab and living quarters, the frigid night pounded at the translucentteflonite—gnawed hungrily at that small dot of life and warmth on thebarren asteroid.
Now that he was almost ready to step into the matter transmitter, eachmoment had become an eternity as he waited to be transported almostinstantly to Mars. To the city of Akal-jor. To his final destiny.
He cursed softly at the cloud of amnesia aching in his skull. Johlanthe Venusian scientist had had him in various states of hypnosis forsome time, educating him for this task, and had placed a protectiveveneering of amnesia across his mind to protect his purpose from theSilver Guard's mental probers in case he were captured.
Since birth, Johlan had raised Zaleel and Cadmus on the asteroid. Thethree of them were unconditionally dedicated to the great "plan."Because of his fogged memory, Cadmus now knew but little concerningthe details of the plan. He only knew that he would die to carry itthrough. That if he failed, Tri-Planet civilization would go on down tofinal decay and ruin.
The three of them, three frail motes of intelligent life, must savethe vast System. Old Johlan the Venusian. Zaleel of the golden hairand generous red lips. And Cadmus the fighter. To fight the SilverGuards, and the gigantic mechanical intelligence of the Great Gray God,Cadmus had only the sword at his side and the crude energy gun Johlanhad made. The energy gun was too small for efficiency but it had to besmall in order to be carried unnoticed beneath his tunic.
Zaleel was gone. She had stepped into the transmat months before tocarry out her part of the plan. Cadmus remembered only the shinyrichness of her hair, the warm promise of her lips.
A signal light blinked. A glow crackled round the electronic power rimof the transmat. Cadmus shot one last glance through the pressure domewhere he had spent most of his lifetime in preparation.
A thin hard smile parted his space-burned face as he stepped into thetransmat and melted into a blurred vortex of coloration.
Pain beyond thought shattered his consciousness to shreds. Theblackness was absolute. The cold was ineffable.
It was the year of the Gray God, 257 A.G.
Tomorrow was the day of Worship at the Gray God's shrine. Beyond thecity of Akal-jor was the vast valley where the Gray God was born, andwhere it lived on, eternally, beneath its impregnable gray metal dome,five miles in diameter, and a mile high. Shielded by half a mile ofdeadly radioactive field, a teeming moat of gamma rays through which noliving thing could pass.
On three worlds, hopeless, futile, static beings of a dyingcivilization prepared for the big exodus to Mars and to the Gray God'saltars. Then they would return to their dull cycle of meaninglessexistence to dream in some drugged escapeasy, or to die horribly inone of Consar III's atomic power plants, mine shafts, or his isotopefactories.
Consar III had arrived in Akal-jor for the worship. With him were fivethousand slaves. Bathing in countless hedonistic luxuries, he awaitedthe worship to begi