Mack Reynolds - Brain World

He set off at a fairly good clip and Dorn had to trot to keep up.

The dog panted, “When we catch them, you’re going to have to do the dirty work. I’m conditioned, programmed not to attack any inhabitant of Einstein.”

“It’ll be a pleasure,” the big man said grimly. “Is there any chance they’re armed? On a romp like this, they probably would be.”

“No,” the dog said. “There are no arms on Einstein. I’ve read about them, but I’ve never seen a gun.”

Twice they passed over narrow roads of the type utilized by hover-craft and once Dorn discerned the entry to one of the underground houses.

They hadn’t come more than half a kilometer before Boy said, “I think this is it.” He darted around a small hill, followed by the big scientist at a trot. There was an entry there.

“This is it, all right,” Boy panted. “Here’s where you take over, Doc.”

They pounded through the entry and into a patio beyond. It was fairly similar to that of Rosemary, but there was one notable difference. The windows were decoratively covered with wrought iron bars.

A voice shouted, “Halt.” Dorn spun to confront the voice. Two young men were racing toward him.

They were huskies, though not in Dorn Horsten’s category. He slipped his glasses from his nose and into a side pocket and reached out and grabbed just as they were about to dash into him.

With deceptive speed he banged their heads together. They both reeled for a dazed moment, then fell.

“Holy smokes,” the dog said in admiration. “Some Doc you turned out to be.”

They hurried over to the main door. It was locked.

“They took him through here,” Boy said, his tongue hanging out again, his stubby tail wagging in appreciation of the excitement.

It was a heavy door, studded with wrought iron, in keeping with the rest of the patio’s decor. Dorn hesitated not for a moment. He hit it crushingly with the butt of his right hand and it crashed inward, the hinges screeching protest as they ripped from the wall.

Dorn darted through, counting on surprise if there were any others inside. He trusted the dog, but couldn’t be sure about the presence of weapons in the hands of the enemy. Even though such were not manufactured on Einstein, it was always possible to import them secretly.

The door opened up onto a large living room and there were two more men seated there. Their eyes boggled when the oversized Dorn Horsten came charging in, followed by Boy.

“These are the two that had the Boss,” the dog said.

They immediately scrambled to their feet to meet the big scientist’s attack. They might have saved themselves the trouble. He hit each one exactly once and though he had pulled his punches, both went down as though struck by lightning.

Boy was running around sniffing. “The boss is over this way, I think,” he said excitedly, heading for a door at the far end of the room. Dorn followed.

The door wasn’t locked and they went through it in orthodox fashion. It was a bedroom and Ronny was stretched out on the bed, fully clothed, including’ shoes.

Dorn skidded to a halt. He didn’t like how his colleague looked.

“How are you?” he demanded.

Ronny said slowly, his eyes focusing poorly, “I’m… under… scop.”

“Holy Ultimate,” Dorn said in protest. “You shouldn’t give truth serum to a drugged man. Have they questioned you yet?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell them the location of the Dawnworlds?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, wizard,” the big man said, his shoulders slumping. “Now the fat’s in the fire.”

Dorn Horsten bent over Ronny. He said, “Who are they?”

“I… don’t… know.”

“We better get out of here. Maybe more of them might show up, and it’s just possible some of them might be armed. Can you walk?”

“I… think… so.”

“Then get up and let’s get out of here.”

Under the Scop, Ronny couldn’t have disobeyed if he had wanted to. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and came erect, a bit woozily.

Dorn picked up a small packet from the side of the bed, scowled at it, then slipped it into his pocket.

Boy had been standing guard at the door. Now he looked over a shoulder and said, “Hello, Boss. You look like hell. This’ll teach you to run me out of the room and leave you alone with a bitch.”

Dorn scowled at the dog. “What do you mean?”

“Who else could have slipped the boss that dope?”

“She was drugged, too.”

“Sure. First she gave it to the Boss. Then she got rid of the bottle and glasses after taking a slug of the stuff herself, and climbed back into bed. She figured that’d make her free from suspicion. She was too high and mightily superior to think of me being able to point the paw of suspicion at her.”

“Hmmm,” Dorn said, taking Ronny by the arm to steady him. “We’ll see about it.”

They cautiously left the room, noted that the two kidnappers Dorn had slugged were still out cold, and crossed to the broken door of the patio, the big man still supporting the wobbly Ronny Bronston. The two men whose heads he had cracked together were also still not of this world.

They got down the entry way and outside and started back toward Rosemary’s house. There was simply no other place to go.

Dorn said, “We’ll make better time this way,” and took up the smaller agent and slung him over his shoulder and broke into a longer stride.

Boy began ranging, checking on possible pursuit, or possible ambush ahead or to the side. For a large dog, he was fast.

The effects of Scop don’t last very long,” Dorn said. “How long have you had it in you?”

“About… an… hour… ”

“It’ll be wearing off by the time we get back to the house. Did they ask you any other questions?”

“No.”

“That’s what they were after, all right,” Dorn said grimly. “And they got it. The location of the Dawnworlds. Why do they want it?”

“I… don’t… know.”

They arrived back at Rosemary’s house without pursuit or further incident. In the patio, Dorn Horsten put his fellow-agent back onto his feet. Ronny wasn’t nearly as groggy now, and his speech came more clearly.,

“Let’s go see Rosemary,” he said. “I got those knockout drops in some wine she gave me.”

They headed for his suite, initially.

Dorn said, “She was drugged too. Possibly someone else got to that wine.”

“Ha,” Boy said and was even able to get a tone of sarcasm into his voice.”

Ronny said grimly, “I saw her pop the cork. And she turned her back to me while she was pouring it.”

Somewhat to Dorn’s surprise, they found Rosemary still in bed. He had expected her to be up and around by now, and in some other part of the house.

Dorn entered the room first and blocked her seeing Ronny with his huge build.

She saw the look on his face and said, “I have a raging headache, evidently from that drug. I thought I’d stay… ” Then she saw Ronny Bronston and her eyes widened. “Ronny!” she said. “What happened?”

He looked at her thoughtfully.

Dorn Horsten brought the small packet from his side pocket and opened it. He brought something from it and then quickly bent over her, grabbed a resisting arm and slipped a syrette into it.

She tried to pull away. “What’s that!” she demanded, her eyes fearful.

“Scop,” Dorn said flatly. “I found it over at the house where the kidnappers had taken Ronny. He’d been injected with it. And now we want to know what this is all about.”

She was obviously aghast. “You can’t do this,” she gasped.

“But my dear, I just have.”

She tried to struggle out from under the bedsheet but Dorn shook his head and said, “I could restrain you, of course, until the Scop takes effect in about five minutes, but I would dislike to do it. Nor would there be much good in shouting for help. Barbara is the only other person in the house. And, besides, I could even gag you.”