Now it was shifting from reality, slipping its moorings. The veryintrusion of genuine alienness rendered this place alien. The aliens were thereal people, and the products of imagination were fake. Contrary to what he hadalwaysmaintained, reality was more real than fantasy.
"You must be wondering why you've been chosen," Hindarf said. "Why should wering in an Earthling in our battle against the Ogs? Why do we needyou in oureffort to recapture the Captain?"
Forry bent his head and looked at them from under raisedeyebrows. Hedrawled, "Yes. I had been wondering about that. Many are called butFu are Chosen, as the Korean said."
Hindarf did not smile, but he did not look puzzled either. Hesaid, "Thereare some Earthlings who have what we call resonance. Through thechance of genetics, they are born with a psychic affinity, or a psychophysicalcomplex, which generates what, for want of a better term, we call white noise. This vibration is quite in phase with those radiated by the Tocs. It makesthe Earthling immediately sympathetic and empathic with the Tocs, and, conversely, it generates disturbance and confusion in the minds of the Ogs. Butit exists, and its effect is to blank out the vibrations radiated by the Tocs. In other words, we Tocs and Ogs know when we're near each other. We sense itjust as alion downwind from an antelope smells it. But when one of theresonant white-noise generator Earthlings is around, the Ogs can't sense us."
Forry put his fingertips together to form a church steeple. Hesaid, "I'venever been one to make everything black or white. There is much moregray inthis universe than black or white."
"Did you ever have a good word to say for the Nazis?" Hindarfsaid.
"Well, they did get rockets launched and that led to the firstmen on the Moon."
Alys Merrie guffawed and said, "Well, kiss my ass and call meHitler!" "Woolston Heepish is a member of the Ogs," Hindarf said. "He has not onlyset himself up as a rival of yours, he has become a caricature ofyou, and hehas stolen from you. Do you think he's more gray than black?"
"Black as the devil's hindbrain," Forry said. "Why, just lastnight...!"
Hindarf waved his hand impatiently and said, "I know. Thequestion is, willyou help us? It will be dangerous. But it will be less dangerous forus if youaccompany us. We intend to rescue Childe. He is a prisoner of theOgs. And theemanations from the house today indicate that he's participating in agrail-growing ceremony. He probably doesn't know what he's doing, butthat makes no difference. He is doing what they want him to do."
"Aren't there any other Earthlings you know who could go withyou?" Forrysaid. He remembered some of his youthful fantasies in which he hadbeen the focus of attention from the secret bands of Martians and Venusians operating inan underground struggle for control of Earth. Generally, in hisfantasies, hehad been on the side of the Martians. There was something sinister, damp, toadstooly, and creepycrawly about the Venusians. All that rain...Nowthat he thought about it, the deluge of the past seven days had turned LosAngeles intoa Venus such as the sci-fi writers had projected back in the good olddays ofScience Wonder Stories and Astounding.
"No," Hindarf said. "There are none available in this area, and none anywhere who can generate white noise to compare with yours."
"This may seem irrelevant to you at this moment," Forry said, "but why doesHeepish steal from me?"
"Because he wants your stuff for the collection he intends totake to the planet of the Ogs. He's a greedy and short-sighted person, and thatis why he'sstolen a few things from you instead of waiting to take the wholecollection just before he leaves."
"What?" Forry said shrilly. "The whole collection?"
"Oh, yes," Alys Merrie said, blowing smoke at him. "He hasplanned onemptying your house and your garage. He can do it in a few minutes, you know, ifhe can get a Captain to do it for him. The collection would be movedto a hugeroom in a barn behind the present headquarters of the Ogs. Then, whenthe Captain moves all the Ogs to their home planet, he will also take thecollection. Which, by the way, will consist of many of Earth's arttreasures in addition to artifacts and books and so forth, for the Og museums."
"You can visit our planet, if you wish," Hindarf said. "And youmight aswell have Heepish's collection, too. It won't do him any good afterhe's dead."
"Dead?"
Hindarf nodded and said, "Of course. We plan to kill every Og."
Forry did not like the idea of killing, even if Heepish diddeserve it. But the thought of going to an alien planet, one so far away that it wasnot even in this galaxy! He alone, of all men, would voyage to another world! Hehad wanted to be the first man on the Moon and the first man on Mars when he was a child and then that dream had glimmered away. He wouldn't even be able togo to thoseplaces as a tourist. And now, he was offered a free ticket to aplanet far morealien and weird than the Moon or Mars could ever be. Under a strangesun on an unimaginably exotic world!
"I can come back any time I wish?" he said. "I wouldn't want toleave Los Angeles forever, you know. I have my collection and all my wonderfulfriends."
"No trouble," Hindarf said.
"I must warn you, if it involves anything strenuous, I'll behandicapped," Forry said. "My heart..."
"Alys has told us all about that," Hindarf said. Forry's eyes widened. "Everything?" "Just the medical aspects," Hindarf said ambiguously. "All right then," Forry said. "I'll help you. But just as a white
noise
generator. You can't ask me to take part in any killing." The three men and Alys smiled. Forry smiled, too, but he was not sure that he was not making a
pact withthe devil. It seemed that the Ogs really were evil, but then the Tocsmight notbe so good, either. It could be one band of devils fighting another.
CHAPTER 38
Childe awoke with a feeling of emptiness and of shame. He lookedat Sybil, who was sleeping by his side, and then he stared upward for a longtime. Something had happened to him last night, or he presumed it was lastnight, since he did not know what time it was. His wristwatch was gone.
As if a key had been turned in him, unlocking a memory orreleasing aprogrammed tape, he had gone through that ceremony without a falsestep or beingtold, really, what to do next.
When he had evoked that pulsing light, he had felt an ecstasythat was superior, in some undefinable way, to that of sexual orgasm. It wasdifficult to untangle the sexual from the photonic, but a part of the glory hadbeen from that goblet.
That final incident, the one with Vivienne's unattached head, hadseemed at the moment to be fully justified and exquisitely delightful. But this morning itlooked ugly and perverted. He could not understand what had possessedhim.
The hell of it was, he thought, that the next time he was seatedbefore that goblet, he was likely to do the same thing or something equallyuninhibited. He did not fool himself about that.
The worst thing about this was that he was cooperating withpeople--beings, rather--who were evil.
But when he had been placed before that goblet, he had beenunable to refuse to act. In a sense, the goblet had activated him more than he hadactivated it.
What was supposed to be the final result of this ceremony and ofothers that would undoubtedly follow it?
He decided that he would refuse to do anything more unlesseverything wasfully explained.
He thought of Sybil. Would she be tortured if he refused to carryout the Ogs' desires? Knowing what he did of them, he could not doubt thatthey would dowhatever they thought was required. And so Sybil would be...Heshuddered.