Robert Silverberg - Vampires from Outer Space

Blen Duworn’s eyes suddenly gleamed strangely, and the antennae above his eyes rose rigidly. “You’re very clever, Earthman. You seem to have figured everything out quite neatly. Only—we of Drosk are not blood-drinkers ourselves; medical tests could easily prove that we are just as innocent as the Nirotans are. Why try to fix the blame on us? I’ve never been positive that I saw a Nirotan that morning; it was dark and foggy. If I was the vampire, how did I do the killing?”

“Drosk is noted for its mechanical skill,” Harriman said. “It isn’t hard to devise an instrument that can tap the jugular, pump out a few liters of blood, and immediately turn the blood to vapor and discharge it into the atmosphere. I’m sure you could create such a device the size of a signet ring, with Drosk’s microminiaturizing techniques. Plunge it into the jugular, draw out the blood, dispose of it—who would be the wiser?”

“The Nirotans are equally clever at such contrivances,” retorted the Drosk.

“Yes, they are. But what motive would they have for confirming the popular stereotype of themselves as vampires? No, Blen Duworn, you’ve exhausted all your arguments. I say that the so-called Vampire Menace was cooked up by Drosk conspirators, with an eye toward driving your Nirotan competition off Earth. And—”

The gleam in Blen Duworn’s eyes grew more intense. Harriman tried to avert the alien’s gaze, but the Drosk snapped, “Look at me, Earthman! At my eyes! You’ve been very clever! But you haven’t counted on one thing, the Drosk hypnotic power, the power with which I persuaded Harkins that he had seen a Nirotan, the power which I will use now to obtain my freedom—”

Harriman rose, reeling dizzily, as the alien’s mind lashed out at his own. It was impossible to look away, impossible to break the alien’s hold—

Harriman began to sag. Suddenly the doors opened. Three Security Corpsmen rushed in, seizing Blen Duworn.

Harriman shook his head to clear it, and smiled faintly. “Thanks,” he muttered. “If you’d waited another minute he would have had me. I hope you got every word down on tape.”

After that, the rest was simple. “Duworn cracked and gave us the name of his conspirators,” Harriman reported the next day to Director Russell. “Half a dozen Drosk were in on it. The idea was to make it look as if the Nirotans were going vampire all over Terra.”

“And if you hadn’t illegally examined that bat-creature,” Russell said, “we’d still be going around in circles. You ought to hear the apologies Secretary-General Zachary’s been making to the Nirotans.”

“Couldn’t be helped, chief. Duworn and the others were banking on our lack of knowledge about the Nirotans. And they came close to succeeding. But what kind of an investigation can you conduct if you don’t know anything about the suspects, even?”

Russell nodded. “You’ll have to take a reprimand, Neil. That’s just for the record. But there’ll be a promotion coming along right afterward, to take the sting out of it.”

“Thanks, chief.”

Secretary-General Zachary managed to convey Earth’s apologies to the Nirotans for the recent indignities they had suffered, and the bat-beings decided to remain on Earth. Drosk, on the other hand, felt compelled to withdraw; it was decided that the six guilty conspirators would be taken back to their home world for punishment according to Drosk law, and all members of the species departed from Earth at once.

Neil Harriman received his promotion, and once again it was safe for the Nirotans to walk the streets of Earth. But, despite the well-publicized findings that the Nirotans were harmless vegetarians, and despite the confession of the Drosk, few Earthmen passed one of the hulking bat-like beings without a slight shiver of revulsion, and a thought for the ancient legends of the era of superstition, which had so shockingly come alive for a few days during the so-called Vampire Menace of 2104.