Terry Pratchett - Tama Princes of Mercury

"You lie! You know his ship was destroyed. He was a fool to bother with your accursed Earthwomen. I told him so.

I told him he was not clever enough to come here. He is dead now. Well for me, because it leaves me to be master of the Light Country... . He had another spaceship in the Cold Country of Mercury. It was nearly completed and I have finished it: this ball you are now in."

"I can't see a thing," said Jimmy calmly. "Where are we?" Again Roc chuckled. "Hidden in the forest, near where I caught you. It is still daylight. We descended last night.

For one never here before, I know this land very well. Guy Palisse was nice to teach me your language, and to draw me maps." He seemed ready enough to talk. A conceited fellow, proud of his own cleverness; pleased on the whole that his father was dead. Jimmy could barely see him as a blurred shape sitting nearby. Roc told with bland conceit how he had crept upon a farmhouse not far from here, listened to its radiogrid. Every grid these days shouted of nothing but the Bolton Flying Cube; the death of the marauding Croat last fall; the hidden Tama, Rowena, Guy Palisse and Jack Dean; and Jimmy Turk, the patrol flyer who knew their whereabouts but would not tell.

Roc was shrewd, quick to learn; and he was fairly familiar with Earth -devices. He had found no trouble in communicating with Jimmy.

"Well," said Jimmy. "You're a clever fellow, aren't you? What comes next?" Roc retorted softly, "I want Tama, that is all. Your Earth does not interest me. I never liked my father's plan to populate Mercury with your Earthwomen. But the virgins of the Light Country are rebellious. They fly off in revolt if one crosses them."

"You mean, if you mutilate their wings," Jimmy put in.

"Clip their wings. I passed a law that their wings should be clipped. But that is not important now. When I return to Mercury, I shall be master of the Light Country. Everything is ready: from the cold Country our armies are coming."

"When are you going to return?"

"Tonight, when the darkness comes."

"Well, I'm not interested in your Mercury. Suppose you let me out of here and I'll go" Roc suddenly gripped him with thin, talon-like fingers and a fair amount of strength.

"You are a fooll If I had weapons to do it, I would destroy this Flying Cube that dares plan a flight to Mercury. At any rate, your Earth can give me Tama and that Earthgirl, Rowena. There is a comrade with me herebig like herwho would like to see her." The grip of Roc's fingers tightened. "Tonight, when the darkness comes, you are going to lead me to where Tama and that Rowena hide."

"I don't know where they are," said Jimmy.

"You lie!" Jimmy's sight was steadily returning. He was lying in a triangular room which was evidently a segment of a small metallic globe. The metal ceiling arched concavea dull white metal surface, with a small lens-paned window. It stood partly open. There were tree branches close outside, dimly visible in the fading daylight. Other figures had been in the room, but they had moved away now. Their voices were audible through one of the interior doorways.

Roc leaned closer. "I am going to have trouble with you then?"

"You are, if you expect me to tell you what I don't know."

"We shall see." Jimmy felt a sudden stab of pain on the upper flesh of his arm. A burning, blistering heat as though a small whitehot needle had been laid against his skin and instantly withdrawn. The smell of burning cloth, his coat sleeve, wafted to him. In Roc's hand was a small black object the size and shape of a metal lead pencil.

"That is nothing," Roc sneered, "Just a hint. Will you tell me now where those two girls are living?" Jimmy suddenly lunged. His flying fist caught Roc in the face. Roc went over backward, with Jimmy on top of him.

They were about the same size, but Jimmy was far stronger.

Roc's pencil-weapon emitted a tiny silent flash. It missed Jimmy. He knocked the thing from Roc's hand. His fingers encircled the Mercurian's slender throat, choking him; but Roc had been able already to shout. Footsteps were approaching.

Jimmy let go of his writhing adversary and sprang to his feet. The bulk of a giant man's figure loomed before him.

Jimmy's sight was still far from normal. He ducked sidewise, trying to gain the doorway. A stab of light flashed past him; missed him. Roc was shouting, struggling erect. There were other men's figures.

Jimmy stumbled over something. Fell, with the curiously light weight but bulging bulk of the giant on top of him. He felt something damp against his face. The acid smell of a drug. His senses blurred. He went limp.

Jimmy did not lose consciouness this time. All his muscles seemed paralyzed. As though in some strange form of catalepsy, he lay helpless, unable to move, but with his eyes wide open. There was a blurred sense of sight and hearing.

Blurred thoughts, as though something were pulling at him, striving to waft him off into a phantasm of chaos. He fought against it vainly.

He was lying on his back. They had shoved him against the wall of the room. Someone was talking nearby.

Jimmy fought for consciousness. He biinked. He could twitch the muscles of his face a little. Not quite dead! He could swallow awkwardly, with effort. His tongue seemed swollen, but would move.

Time passed. Jimmy suddenly realized that he had relaxed and floated off into a wild, drugged sleep. Someone had held more of the drug against his nose and mouth. He had a vague recollection of it.

The vehicle was moving now. There was vibration; and a humming in the interior. Jimmy thought he could see a window. Night outside; it seemed to be starlight. No forest trees. Only a field of glittering stars.

Roc bent over him. "Can you talk?"

"Yes."

"It is night now. We have ascended. Still over Maine, up about a hundred thousand feet. Are you ready now to tell me where those girls are?"

"No"

"But you know their location?"

"Yes." .

A dull feeling of surprise swept over Jimmy as he heard his thick, toneless voice giving his answer. His brain -was rational. He had meant to say, "No"tried to say it. but the answer had come, "Yes." Roc demanded, "Are they in this state of Maine?"

"No." Again Jimmy had tried not to answer truthfully. He realized now that this drug which had paralyzed his muscles, his nerve centers, had also paralyzed his will. Against all his efforts, his answers were truthful.

"Are they in New York State?"

"Yes."

"Tell me just where." Jimmy fought not to speak at all. He could feel Roc's gloaming dark gaze upon himfeel, as though it were something tangible. Roc's will dominating his own.

The Mercurian's voice was low and intense: "Tell me, I command you. Do you understand? Command you." Suddenly he heard his voice telling the detailed description of the location of the secluded cabin. Roc would have no trouble in descending in the forest near it. Jimmy gave all the details of the cabin's interior, the location and occupants of its different rooms.

Roc laughed softly. "Thank you. I hope there will be many times when you can help me like this." Jimmy lay mentally exhausted. His senses were floating llow and it was pleasant to be at peace.

He came to himself with the realization that he was outdoors. It was still night. Snow was under his feet and a vista of open snow fields, with forest trees nearby. A thick cloth hooa protected his head; the under jacket of his flying suit was over his shoulders.

He seemed to have almost his full strength at once. He was slumped by a tree trunk which loomed beside him. A giant man clung to him by the aimhad evidently dragged him here. The man leaned down.

"You-right, now? All right?" Broken, gutteral English. A giant Mercurian. Jimmy became suddenly aware that this was a familiar locality. He saw the dim outlines of a nearby log cabin, dark in the starlight. This was our cabin, which he had left only about twelve hours before. He saw figures prowling outside it now.