Beyond Ming’s Law
FOR most of the time Aura was sedated. Engulfed in blackness, she swam in and out of consciousness. She was unable to open her eyes. The blackness swirled her in pain. She awoke from nightmares only to endure the anguish she had fled. Occasionally, she determined she lay on a metal table, her ankles and wrists clamped down tightly; she never remembered for long. At first, she could not decide if the pain was enjoyable; however, its gradual but persistent growth eventually terrified her. Never before had immediacy been so overwhelming, reducing her sense of identity to a microcosm.
Klytus ran his sheathed hand down her naked back. Her jumpsuit had been torn into shreds during the procedure; the sole intact section, really, was that over her stomach, and it was so drenched in her perspiration that it stuck to the table. “Your lover Barin is harboring Gordon in Arboria, is he not?”
“Is your hand sterilized?”
Klytus moved as if to slap her. She squinted, attempting to hide her face behind her arm in anticipation of the blow, but his hand merely trembled before he regained control of himself.
“No,” said Aura meekly, belatedly answering him, knowing she was on the verge of breaking.
A red light on the table to her left glowed.
“This lying is a waste of time,” said Klytus.
Kala placed her hand on Aura’s cheek; her black leather glove was smooth and soft. “You left with a pilot and returned alone. Wasn’t he Gordon in disguise?”
“No!”
Kala smiled. “Then who was he?” She ignored the glowing red light.
“Just a young pilot. Believe me, he’s nobody important. When I rejected his clumsy advances, he declared he couldn’t live without me. Before I could stop him, he opened the hatch and hurled himself onto the rocks below.”
Kala stared at her prisoner. Then she straightened, placed her hands on her hips, closed her eyes, and laughed. Her ecstatic laughter echoed in Aura’s ears long after the whip stung the air. Its tips cut deeply into the bared back, breaking open scabs and creating at least one fresh streak. For the first time since the procedure began, Aura felt drops of her blood run down her side and stomach, forming a tiny pool on the table. Kala struck Aura until Klytus impatiently gestured for it to end.
“Whom do you imagine you are protecting?” asked Klytus. “The doctor who helped you revive Gordon? We know he’s another lover of yours . . .”
“You’ve gone mad!” exclaimed Aura.
Klytus spoke into a communicating device in his hand. “This is General Klytus. Seize Doctor Lem on suspicion of treason. Prepare him for torture.”
“Never!” said Aura. “Do your worst! I can stand it! Someday I’ll laugh about this—and you’ll both be dead!”
“We’ll see about that,” replied Klytus. “Bring me the Bore Worms, Kala.”
Several seconds elapsed before Aura found her voice. “No! Not the Bore Worms!”
“I admit their method of entry is a trifle messy, not to mention undignified,” said Klytus. “But those who have endured Bore Worms have said the pain caused when they begin devouring the colon is among the most excruciating in the cosmos. From what I’ve been able to ascertain of your likes and dislikes down through the years, I should think you’d be looking forward to this.”
When Kala stood before her, holding a large pair of tweezers and a jar filled with the squirming white worms, Aura screamed, “I’m a Princess of the Blood, Klytus. My father will have your head for this! I swear! He’ll execute you and your entire perverted secret police force! I demand to see him!”
“With pleasure,” answered Klytus nonchalantly. He touched a button on the table console.
A section of the chamber wall before Aura dissolved into blackness. A hologram of Ming the Merciless appeared; he stood sipping a drink. He had been watching the entire procedure.
“The traitor is close to confessing, Your Majesty,” said Klytus. “Should we stop the torture?”
Ming dipped a fruit into the chalice. “No.”
Lowering his panpipe, Fico raised his eyebrows. “Doesn’t the Princess Aura and her apparent infatuation with this primitive have something to do with it?”
Barin laughed and waved both his hands. “Oh, she may be Ming’s daughter and the heir to his throne, but I don’t care with whom or how many times she does it. She’s only a woman and there’re plenty of them.”
“Too many space hounds in the void, eh, Prince?”
“Exactly.”
But Fico knew better. He played a few random notes. “No, there must be some other reason why I’m loyal to Ming,” said Barin, thoughtfully.
“Perhaps it’s a disease of your blood, my Prince. Remember that as a child, you saw your father executed for rebelling against the Emperor. Naturally, you prize loyalty. Who the hell wants to die that way? But the question is: Is your loyalty to Ming the stronger, or is it your hatred of Flash Gordon?”
Barin leaped up, knocking over his flagon. “I’ll kill Gordon now!”
Though the surface of the dank swamp was calm, a continuous undertow pulled the prisoners under. Only a small level portion of the cage was above the surface, forcing the prisoners to hold on to the wooden bars. At first Flash believed the situation would not depress his spirits. He spent his initial minutes in the cage accepting the tremendous alteration which had come over his life; the thought of escape could wait . . . briefly. Once he had believed himself master of his destiny; because he had, within limits, shaped his life to his own ends, he had believed all men possessed similar powers, and thus was unsympathetic to several important precepts of twentieth-century philosophy. However, blind circumstance (or perhaps mysterious, more ethereal forces) had shown him otherwise. His previous achievements had been rendered meaningless phantoms as he vainly attempted to reassert a minimal control over his life. At least he now expected the unexpected. He resolved he would fight for his life—against each new danger the Mongian system threw at him. And he would rescue his friends; important philosophical precepts were inconsequential in light of his stirred emotions. His desire for Dale filled him with a saintly passion and worship; his concern for Dale and Zarkov, his fear for their fates, filled him with worry and despair. He accepted his emotional highs and lows; he did not care to think of his resolutions in terms of “going with the flow,” due to the perpetual undertow weakening his grip on the cage, but the phrase did accurately mirror his conclusions. Now his mind was free to turn to thoughts of escape.
However . . .
He soon realized the undertow demanded all his attention. The seconds crawled by as he held on to the bars with all his strength. The hot swamp water, as much as his efforts, caused perspiration to flow from his face. He breathed through his mouth to minimize the odors—the green water, the debris and waste slowly gliding by, the rotting flesh of the HawkMan also held captive. Gangrene had set in, and the poor fellow was losing strength quickly. Not that the Frigian was doing much better; his wound constantly oozed blood and pus. Flash found himself supporting the pair. After a time he did not think of escape; all his concentration was centered on holding his companions and keeping his free hand wrapped around a bar. The HawkMan’s arms encircled his neck, and the Frigian was limp in his embrace. The hissing Lizard Men occasionally tried to usurp the area, but the trio managed to kick away and otherwise intimidate the cowardly creatures.
It was difficult to see. Eerie phosphorescent plants provided this section of the swamp with a dim lighting barely able to penetrate the wisps of green fog. Flash glimpsed huge tree trunks not twenty yards away; sometimes he saw the surface break as an Arborian creature passed by; occasionally Tree Men above jeered at the prisoners. These were but impressions. Soon his entire universe was centered on the cage and his efforts to save his fellows from drowning
Perhaps they had been struggling together for an hour when the Frigian said weakly, “It’s no use. I can’t hold on.”
“Never say die,” Flash replied sternly.
“I must. My suffering must end so I may be reborn.” The Frigian pushed himself away before Flash could prevent it. He sank, hardly causing a ripple in the smooth green surface.
Flash moved to go after him, then remembered the dying HawkMan around his neck. He hesitated. Even if he managed to save the Frigian, the HawkMan would die. Perhaps it did not matter. Both the Mongians were on the verge of death anyway, and what difference—one way or the other—did a few moments of life make? Flash did not resist the white hatred welling up inside him and saturating his spirit.
Damn Barin!
They freed the prisoner’s hands before they threw him through the opening and into the swamp. “Sleep well, you traitor,” said one. “We’ll pull out your heart in the morning!”
“Yes, if you live till morning!” said another.
The Tree Men stepped onto the platform and tugged on the ropes. They were soon lost behind the weak glow.
The new prisoner laughed.
“That’s the spirit,” said Flash. “There’s always hope.”
“Better than hope,” said Fico the minstrel. “I stole a key to this cage.” He held it before Flash’s face. “We’ll need weapons to cross the swamp. They’re stored in the temple. Will you climb up with me?”
“Damn straight I will!” Flash helped the HawkMan get the best grip possible on the bars. Just before he and Fico opened the cage, he said, “Hold on, HawkMan. We’ll be back. I promise.”
Angry that they had been prevented from escaping after the two left, the Lizard Men hissed and beat at the HawkMan.
His rear shaking with pleasure and excitement, Luro (still thin, dark, and unruly) stood at the entrance to the dock. “Fortune has smiled upon us!” he called. “Guess who Big Blue has brought us!” He pointed to the Hawk Men approaching in the sky.
Soon Dale and Zarkov, escorted by Hawk Men, entered. Dale smiled stiffly but sincerely. “Hi there, Prince Vultan! Remember us?”
Usually Vultan did not find mammals beautiful, but he thought in this case he would make an exception. “Indeed I do, my lovely!” he exclaimed. With a great laugh, he picked up Dale and set her down amidst the pastries on the table. Her high heels did not provide much footing on the slippery repast.
“We escaped from Ming’s palace,” said Zarkov. “We throw ourselves on your mercy and beg help.”
“You escaped from the palace?” exclaimed Vultan. “That sounds like a terrific story. You must tell it to me sometime.” As he spoke, he gestured for Luro to stand beside him. He whispered from the side of his mouth, “Call Ming. Tell him I’m ready to trade prisoners for my daughter Rima.”
“Call him?” exclaimed Luro. He then realized it was imperative for him to lower his voice. “At this time? He’s knocked off by now.” Luro nervously nibbled at his shoulder. “You know how the Emperor prizes his spare time.”
“Call him,” said Vultan sternly, between his teeth.
“I agree this is important and I agree that he’ll ask why he wasn’t informed at once, but he’ll order my execution before he even gives me a chance to tell him, and what’s more, he won’t change his mind. Don’t you remember Scurvo? Ming agreed wholeheartedly that the Lizard Rebellion demanded his immediate personal attention, but he had Scurvo tortured anyway. Just for the hell of it. I suppose Ming thought it amusing or something. I don’t really care. But I . . .”
“CALL HIM!” yelled Vultan, staring at his fists. His entire body trembled as he controlled his rage.
“You wouldn’t,” said Dale, getting off the table.
Luro laughed. “That’s easy for you to say. Ming’s army outnumbers us ten to one, and they have superior hardware. Our weapons need at least another year of preparation before we can fight.”
Dale shrugged with a dignified air. “Humph. Ming’s not unbeatable.” She placed her arms on her hips and shook her shoulders. “All his boys couldn’t even kill Flash.”
Vultan spit out a mouthful of grain. Walking onto the table and over a bench, he exclaimed, “Gordon’s alive!”
“Where?” asked Luro, scrambling behind his Prince.
“He’s in Arboria. Prince Barin is aiding him!” Hans Zarkov, Earth scientist, man of peace, held his fist before Vultan’s face. “I tell you—now’s the time to strike!”
In the laboratory where Zarkov had been “brainwashed,” next to the chamber where Aura had been tortured, Klytus gave a sealed scroll to Ming. “Here is the confession, Your Majesty.”
Ming curled his lip as he took it; he bounced it in his hand a few times. “Excellent, Klytus. A wonderful bout of torturing, delicately performed.”
The masked man bowed. “I am honored to have received such praise.”
Ming waved it off, as if to say “Of course.”
“But I’ve one question, if I may.”
Ming nodded.
“What of the traitoress? Should I proceed with the execution?”
Placing his hands behind his back, Ming sucked in his stomach and raised his shoulders; he nearly swaggered down the steps to the lower level. “No, I think a year in Frigia should cool down my daughter. Then, who knows? Perhaps We might marry her off to someone worthy of her treachery.”
“Why, thank you, Sire,” said Klytus with genuine pleasure; he was already savoring the moment. “What can I ever do to repay you?”
“Just get me the traitors Gordon and Barin!”
Klytus bowed. “It shall be done!” He paused a moment. “With pleasure.”
Flash and Fico, the Tree Man, entered the dark temple; the former searched for weapons, and the latter knelt to pick up the sole weapon in the temple, a knife lying beneath a window.
“Where are the weapons?” asked Flash eagerly, though he secretly wondered how crossbows and knives would help him rescue his friends.
Barin and the old priest entered the doorway as men standing outside ignited torches. The men in the windows were briefly silhouetted pitch black against the blinding white, and the visual effect encompassed Flash’s entire field of sight. The glow of the torches quickly diminished as the men jumped from the windows and surrounded Flash in a line of blades. The second shift hung the torches on fixtures inside the temple, then calmly withdrew their swords and knives, becoming a second row of blades as well.
Leaning against a wall, Barin restrained a smile with difficulty. “Do you know where you are?”
“Don’t you?” asked Flash.
“You have trespassed where only a Tree Man may enter!” said the old priest. “Fortunately Fico and a friend managed to see you commit this heinous crime. A stranger in our temple must try the Wood Beast or die!” His indignation could only have been the result of genuine rage; Flash guessed they both had been duped.
“It figures,” said Flash. “You guys must make up these dadblamed rules as you go along!”
“That has been our custom since time immemorial,” said Prince Barin. “You entered here of your own free will, Earthling. But I swear by the Great God Arbor, because of my word to Aura, I won’t kill you unless you beg me to.”
“If you’re so confident of victory”—Flash’s eyes narrowed—“then why don’t you try against me? How do you know your God Arbor isn’t on my side?” Improvising desperately, he knew a slim chance of victory was better than none at all.
The men regarded each other with hard, meaningful expressions. A few mumbled about the possibility Flash had been sent here by the ineffable.
That’ll be as good a reason as any, thought Flash.
As the Earthling had expected, Barin took it as a personal affront that his men would rationally consider the proposition. “The Beast lies somewhere in this stump. At all times, there are five safe passages; the Beast always inhabits the sixth. Its venom contains a substance so poisonous that the merest scratch infects its victims with a bliss so glorious and magnificent that it drives them insane. The victims slowly die witless.”
“You mean—like the Joke that Kills?” asked Flash.
“Something like that,” said Barin. “Are you scared? No? Well then, let the test begin!”
As the priest poked his staff into the stump, Flash glared at Barin. “You first,” he dared.
Snorting once, Barin removed his glove, tucked it in his belt, and walked toward the Wood Beast. When he thrust his arm into a stub, he stared at Flash as if his fate was a trifle in light of his overwhelming hatred. He withdrew his arm with a triumphant air. “What would Aura think of you now?”
Barin stuck in his arm up to the elbow. The creature hissed and growled, and Barin held his breath. But he pulled out his arm unharmed.
Once again, Flash thrust his arm. Barin licked his lips as he anticipated the inevitable. Rarely did the Wood Beast wait four times before striking. The Prince controlled himself with difficulty when, despite the Beast’s growling, it was apparent the Earthling was safe. For the time being.
“Second down,” said Flash, wiping perspiration from his brow. “Your play.”
Barin shook his head. “No, yours.”
“Are you sure these are the rules?”
“They’ve just been changed,” said Barin grimly.
Flash glanced at the Tree Men surrounding him. It appeared he had no choice but to continue. He thrust in his arm a third time, withdrawing it as soon as he dared.
With another nod, Barin indicated that Flash was to try a fourth time. Flash complied.
He gasped. The Wood Beast hissed. Flash’s mouth twitched and for a moment he had trouble retracting his arm. His hand covering his wrist where the wound should be, he whirled toward Barin. His eyes asked all the questions.
“Death is certain,” said Barin. “But only after tortured madness.”
“How—how long?” asked Flash.
Barin smiled and shrugged. “Hours—or days. Depending on your strength. I think you could last, oh, maybe two days. At least.”
Flash fell to his knees; he threw back his neck and exposed his chest to the Tree Man’s blade. “Please—end it now!”
“I tricked you, Barin!” He allowed the Prince to see that his wrist had not been stung. “One move and your boys’re going to be looking for a new prince.”
Standing over Barin for several moments, Flash stared deep into his eyes, attempting to reach the decent he sensed in the Mongian’s heart. His instincts, normally infallible in such matters, could not fail him a second time. The Tree Men backed away, dropping their weapons at the Earthling’s silent command.
Discarding the sword (because keeping it would hinder his escape), Flash bounded out an opening and leaped from the boardwalk. He caught a vine and slid down it as quickly as he dared.
Inside the temple, before the Tree Men had reacted, Barin cried, “He’s mine! I hunt him alone!”
The vine ended twenty feet above the swamp. Wondering if he would strike land or water, Flash dropped through the green mists. He landed in a foot of particularly fetid liquid. Without glancing about (he could not see far in any direction), Flash ran beneath the village. He did not have a plan per se; he was still desperately improvising. He hoped to return later and hijack a flier or something, but his immediate objective was to avoid recapture.
He dashed through a maze of swirling green mist. Occasionally he paused, felt his heart pounding, wondered how long he could continue running madly before he collapsed in an exhausted heap; his subsequent running was at a quicker pace, though it ultimately slowed until he paused again. The mists caressed and cooled his perspiration. His trousers soaked water up to his thighs, weighing him down as much as his fatigue; he perceived his steps as sluggish. Coherent fragments flickered through his mind as he ran. What if he traveled in a circle? What if he became lost forever? What would happen to Dale and Zarkov then? The frantic trembling of panic weakened his leg muscles. Beyond loomed what appeared to be a large shallow pool; near a huge trunk on the opposite side hung three vines. Flash smiled. Perhaps he might pick up information on his pursuers. Who knows? He might even reassert some control over the situation. He made for the vines.
He stepped on what appeared to be a carpet of leaves over mud; and immediately sank to his waist in quicksand. All manner of horrible scenarios occurred to him, each one ending with his death. He imagined himself smothering to death, gasping for oxygen and instead sucking warm gook into his mouth and up his nose. Spotting some vines that led toward solid ground, he lunged for them, an effort which only caused him to sink another foot. He wished that he could reach the vines without lunging, but he was sinking too quickly to tread his way slowly. He had no choice but to lunge again. And again. The quicksand was up to his shoulders when he realized, with a shudder, that his only opportunity to grab the vines would be beneath the surface. His skin feeling as if it was pulling up stakes and crawling away from him, he submitted to the tug of the quicksand and blindly moved his hands through the density.
He found the vines. He pulled his head above the surface, experiencing a tremendous elation. Only in retrospect did he realize how much he feared death by suffocation. He pulled himself with difficulty to the dry land, turned over on his back, and drank in the sweet, musty air of Arboria. He lay silently for a moment. The peacefulness of the swamp was suddenly, surreally broken when the ground began to slurp.
Something big and blunt pressed against him, bearing him down before he could scramble from beneath it. The slurping ground swelled up like a frog’s bulging throat. Instinctively, he grabbed at what appeared to be a huge spider leg before it weighed down his shoulder, and his free hand waved about until it, too, grasped a spider leg. He felt a tiny mouth equipped with a pair of miniature pincers working in the middle of his back. It would take that mouth a long time to eat him, but the spider legs would ensure he stayed within its pitiful range. The spider would slowly eat him for hours.
For the first time since he landed on Mongo, Flash panicked. He had endured shock after shock; he had been granted reprieve after reprieve, only to die helplessly in the grip of a giant spider. He fought back, but not with reason. He snapped off the tip of a spider leg and, rolling over, tried to pierce the inflated belly. But the skin was as tough as leather.
Flash listened as the arrow whizzed through the air and exploded in a shower of white sparks against the leathery stomach, deflating it like a stationary helium balloon. The legs immediately eased the pressure on Flash, enabling him to push himself to one end of the spider. White pus flew from the wound in a sputtering stream whose volume drowned the creature’s last gasping slurps.
When Flash saw Barin standing over him and realized the Prince and no other had rescued him, he barely restrained a shout. He had reached Barin’s well of decency!
He, too, felt a curious surge of optimism, but it quickly sank in the despair that nurtures a fatal discouragement as Barin quietly reloaded his weapon.
These people are just a mass of contradictions, thought Flash.
Barin grinned and aimed. Flash made ready to jump, but the spider’s skin had folded over his feet. Breaking away would be difficult.
“Vultan wants a word with you, Barin.”
“This arrogant scum begs a thousand pardons for having the impertinence to wake you, Most Imperious Leader,” said the pilot of the transport flier. “Truly my head should be shorn from my shoulders and my precious jewels stuffed into my mouth for daring to distract you from the pleasant dreams which have doubtlessly ensnared you.”
“What is your report?” replied Klytus. His tone hinted at weariness and confusion. He lay nearly perpendicular to the floor in a coffinlike bed installed in the wall.
“We’ve scanned a HawkMan patrol four hundred miles east I am most ashamed to admit I anticipate your pleasure as I say that the HawkMen have Gordon and Prince Barin with them.”
Klytus stifled a yawn. “They are flying toward the Sky Palace?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Wake me when it’s in sight.” Klytus pressed a button; a panel slid down and enclosed the bed in darkness, concealing it from the crew, as it sank to a horizontal position.
Prince Vultan squatted on his silver Royal Perch in the banquet room of the Sky Palace. His mating urge had totally disappeared, but it would return soon enough, as soon as he took care of certain matters. His toes picked up straw and crushed it between them, his sole indication of nervousness as he scrutinized Gordon and Barin. (Though he ran his fingers through his beard, the allusion was to calculating detachment rather than agitation.) Pecking at either shoulder with no discernible rhythm, Luro stood beside the Hawk Man Prince; once he reached behind a guard and took a sweetmeat from a banquet table, but a disapproving glance from Vultan convinced him to return it.
Flash and Barin were flanked by guards. The awesome beauty of their journey from Arboria—in addition to their utter dependence on the strength of their captors—had so dazzled them they had forgotten the pressing issues of the Mongian kingdom, and they were only now becoming capable of coping with reality. Barin exclaimed, “You’d sell us to Ming?!”
Vultan rolled his eyes. “By the Gods, I think your surprise is genuine! Come on, Barin, do you actually expect mercy here? What would you do if I was a captive in your kingdom?”
Barin snorted disdainfully. “I would remind you of Article Seventeen of Ming’s Law: ‘No captive Prince of Mongo shall be offered for ransom without the option of combat with an opponent of his choice.’ ”
His eyes closed and his head bobbing, Vultan impulsively gestured for Barin to hurry it up during the recitation. Then he grasped the implications. His eyes popped open. “I haven’t read that stupid book in years. Does such an article exist?” he asked Luro.
“I’m afraid it does.”
Barin beamed. “I’ve read it many times,” he said proudly.
“You had good reason after Ming executed your father,” said Luro viciously.
“Now, now,” said Vultan, “I seem to recall Ming executed your father too.” He turned to Barin. “This is a damned nuisance. Who do you choose to fight?”
Stunned by this latest unexpected development, the Earthling exclaimed, “This place is a lunatic asylum!”
A giant of a HawkMan with rippling bronzed muscles swung a mallet with all his strength at a gong a third taller than he. As Dale listened to the reverberations resulting from the meeting of the mallet and the metal, she could not help but think her life had somehow become a J. Arthur Rank Production. Like a fragile sex object with no will of her own, she had been yanked from one melodramatic situation only to be thrust into another. As she and Zarkov walked to the court (glimpsing the HawkMen perched on benches and tables through the spaces between the curtains), she wondered what ludicrous ceremony her captors would soon subject her to. She noticed Zarkov making mental figures while staring at his watch. “Hans, just what are you doing?”
“I’m computing just how much longer the Earth has remaining. Making allowances for time variables and other factors which seem farfetched to the layman, I calculate the Earth has about thirteen hours and five minutes left.”
“That’s wonderful! You’re telling me we have to save the Earth and we haven’t even found . . .” Then, she saw him!
“It’s so crazy!” Dale breathlessly whispered into his ear. “Last time I saw you I prayed it was a dream; this time I’m praying it’s not! Are you okay?”
Flash grinned so wide his mouth hurt. “I am now.”
“Me too—but have I got some crazy stories to tell you!”
“Let’s save them for our kids.”
Holding her expression with an effort, Dale thought, Our kids? Should I tell him now about my operation? Oh well, there’s plenty of time. He’ll take it well because he’s such a liberal. But there’s one thing that can’t wait. “If that’s a marriage proposal, I accept.”
Their lips again became thirsty for mutual ecstasy, and they neared one another as if moving outside of their own volition. But they had touched for only a moment when two grim guards pulled Flash away from her.
Dale struck a guard on the biceps. “Will you leave us alone? I just got engaged!”
Flash smiled bravely. “See you in a while—I hope!”
“Where are they taking you?”
“Don’t ask,” replied Flash, looking over his shoulder.
As Flash and Barin faced Vultan, Dale strained to pick up some indication of what he was saying to them; she could not help but think that the Prince of the HawkMen was, despite his tendency toward rashness, a crafty devil, a shrewd judge of character. Perhaps these attributes had saved him many times from the more severe manifestations of Ming’s wrath. At any rate, Vultan had realized he was safe from a treacherous blow because Barin’s hatred for Flash took precedence over all his other emotions; Dale admitted to herself that it required no great insight to realize Flash would never kill in cold blood, regardless of the provocation. Vultan evidently spoke in low tones, for the guards nearby leaned over to hear. However, his gestures were delivered robustly; he shook his fist between them, held his palm flat, turned it at sharp angles, stabbed the air with an imaginary knife, and shook his fist again. The bronze HawkMan struck the gong; when its noise died, Vultan pointed to the flat disk in the center of the Sky Palace and said loudly, “All right, I want you two to get out there and fight!”
Barin followed Flash across a gangplank onto the disk. When Luro pulled a lever on a portable control box, the gangplank withdrew, hissing pneumatically. Flash glanced at the bottomless skies below; clouds of many colors billowed, but land was not to be seen. The disk appeared to be supported by rays generated by numerous antigravity devices, and Flash noticed panels that could insulate the disk from certain rays, thus implying it was not always stable. He gulped.
Biro threw two black whips between the duelists. “Let the combat begin!” proclaimed Vultan, Prince of the Hawk Men. “To the death!”
Flash attempted to shake Barin’s hand, but the Tree Man Prince was already taking off his gloves, disdainfully ignoring his foe. Barin casually threw his gloves off the disk.
They warily stalked one another, neither permitting the other to come too near the whips. Their leather soles provided little footing on the slick, smooth surface. Flash found himself concentrating as much on maintaining his balance as on what Barin was doing.
Barin lunged for the whips. Flash smacked him with a right cross, making a direct hit on the nose. Barin rolled with the punch, otherwise his nose would have sprayed him with his own blood. After they regained their footing, Barin retaliated, striking Flash a glancing blow on the cheekbone.
HawkMen and HawkWomen cooed with excitement, but a scowling Vultan, his mating urges suddenly prodding him to engage in less violent activities, sat tugging at his beard.
Flash and Barin exchanged several blows, repeatedly sending each other away from the whips. Then they stalked about again, each awaiting an opening. Barin found his when Flash glanced at Dale (standing between Zarkov and Vultan) to see how she was faring. Lunging forward, the Tree Man Prince grabbed a whip.
At that point, an irritated Vultan demanded that Luro hand over the disk controls.
Barin snapped his whip three meters to Flash’s left. And two meters to Flash’s right. He would have snapped it a third time to the same rhythm, but his foot slipped a bit and he was forced to steady himself. Even as he did so, Vultan manipulated the controls, causing the disk to sway at this angle and that, like a saucer balanced on a juggler’s stick. Flash regretted that his professional football career had not helped him to become more graceful; he was totally unprepared to deal with this contest of balance; even his most delicate moves on Astroturf had been brutal and swift, as befits those of a passing quarterback. Now he concentrated on maintaining his balance, on the defensive, while the more poised Barin pressed the attack. Finally, the swaying of the disk aided him in reaching his whip.
Dale bit into her fist and held tightly onto Zarkov’s arm. The scientist caressed her hand, absently attempting to comfort her while he stared in horror at the proceedings.
Dale screamed, immediately regretting it. Vultan, on the other hand, proclaimed, “This is boring!” He pressed a button in an impatient manner that implied he wished to end the duel swiftly.
Blunt-edged knives with sharp, spikelike points rose from the surface of the disk; when Vultan manipulated certain controls, they rose and fell in a chaotic pattern.
Aghast at this latest unexpected horror, beset by a vision of a bloody Flash with the knives protruding throughout his body, Dale screamed a second time. She habitually screamed with her eyes closed, so she did not see Barin accidentally wrap the end of his whip around a knife.
“Promise me something!” Flash wheezed.
“What?”
“If you kill me, team up with Vultan and fight Ming.”
“You’ve got to!” said Flash. “For your own sake!”
For many moments the duelists were still, two statues engaged in an eternal struggle. But gradually, due to his advantage in leverage, Barin pressed Flash downward, downward, the progress slow but steady. Barin’s victory and Flash’s gory impalement seemed inevitable.
Suddenly, Dale shouted, “Flash, I love you! And we have twelve hours left to save the Earth!”
As if saving his own life was not enough justification, this was all the incentive Flash required. Aided by an onslaught of adrenaline coursing through his system, Flash rallied and pushed Barin away.
The Prince of the Tree Men, thinking victory inevitable, believing the Earthling to be ultimately an inconsequential vexation in the scheme of the universe, had not expected another effort on Flash’s part. Indeed, Barin found the turnabout rather astounding as the disk tilted sharply, causing him to lose what remained of his foothold, sending him flying toward the edge. He managed to land belly-first, but he was unable to grab a knife due to the fact that Vultan caused those in his immediate vicinity to sink into the disk. His fingers futilely dug into the greased surface, and a panic unlike any he had ever known welled up inside him as he felt his feet, and then his legs, dangle over nothingness.
Flash realized more quickly what was happening. He knew there was only one chance to rescue Barin, and though the Prince had tried to impale him horribly but a moment before, Flash did not hesitate to try to save him. He leaped toward the edge, grabbed the whip wrapped around the knife, and swung out, catching Barin by the wrist.
“Climb up my arm!” said Flash.
“You’ve won!” boomed Vultan. “Let him fall!”
Flash ignored the HawkMan Prince. “Quick! I can’t hold you much longer!”
Nervously running his fingers through his beard and involuntarily flapping his wings, Vultan absently allowed the disk to right itself. “What is this?” he asked of Flash’s deed.
“Humanity!” proclaimed Zarkov.
“Humph. Madness,” replied Vultan gruffly. But he left the controls alone.
After Flash pulled Barin to safety, they knelt and stared at one another, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Flash held out his hand, but the Tree Man Prince still refused to shake it. My God, what if Zarkov’s wrong? thought Flash, recalling his attempt to shake hands with the red-robed leader. What if the gesture is unfriendly on Mongo?
Prince Barin was dizzy, his innards swirling in a maelstrom; the Earthling became truly real in his eyes for the first time as he thought, Gordon means it! He’s sincere. Barin pondered the innumerable killings he had witnessed, the slayings he had performed himself, and the mercy killings in the sacred temple. His bloody past became a dream, and he realized that existence was meaningful only if you dared to mold it in accordance with the nobler aspects of human nature. He clasped Flash’s hand. “Where you go, I follow!” He leaped to his feet and shouted to the flabbergasted crowd, “There is something higher than Ming’s Law!”
“Oh, there is, is there?” asked Vultan loudly, moving toward the edge of the platform. He pointed at the smiling Tree Man. He spoke angrily. “Would you care to elucidate on the matter? Would you care to demonstrate the practicability of this higher law before Ming blasts both our kingdoms to shreds?”
The inner glow warming Barin, the glow even the HawkMen with the thickest skulls perceived, would not permit him to be dismayed by the questions. He appeared to have every intention of answering. Everyone, including and especially Flash, was interested in what he had to say. However, his answer, regardless of its potential brilliance and relevance to the revolutionary situation at hand, was ill-favored by the Fates. For just as Barin opened his mouth to demonstrate anew the thespiac abilities that had amused a tyrant, sirens blared throughout the Sky Palace.
A stunned populace watched through the entry to the port as the black vessel of Klytus approached.
Flash and Barin moved off the disk, walking across the gangplank.
The black shuttlecraft docked. Its doors opened.
The people waited. Vultan looked toward Luro and Biro, but he did not wipe the perspiration from his forehead. Dale and Zarkov watched their captors, searching for an indication of their eventual treatment. Attempting to conceal his nervousness, Flash ran his tongue between his teeth, biting down until the nerve endings began to throb. Only Barin awaited Klytus’s appearance with a relaxed demeanor; he smiled at Flash and moved close to him.
Finally, Klytus walked alone down the dock, into the banquet room. The very wind had stilled during his approach, as if he wielded power over the elements themselves.
Klytus, as usual, was unimpressed. “Agent Zarkov, you will be liquidated for treachery. As for you, Prince Vultan, you will surrender these fugitives at once or the Imperial Fleet will blast your kingdom and your subjects to atoms.” Raising his shoulders and holding his hands before his stomach, Klytus expected them all to succumb to the inevitable.
The Story Continues Tuesday at Atomic Kommie Comics
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