“Come with me,” Torpeon interrupted. “Speak to no one. If you are confirmed, I will promote you; if not—” He made a gesture sufficiently explanatory.
He led the way back to his private chamber, postponing for the time his conference with Miriam. A glance at the pentagonal plate as he entered the room was enough to show him that the report had been no flight of imagination. He seated himself at the table and concentrated all his faculties upon the situation.
The indicator for No. 19 was wavering loosely back and forth, and responded to no efforts to extract information. He tested No. 20. After a short interval the sign of attention was received. “Has anything unusual occurred?” he asked, in a tone which he divested of any emotion.
Rapidly and confusedly the message was poured into his ear from the annunciator:
“Assistant on the way with full details. The collapse was sudden and complete. No. 19; also a shock in No. 7 and instruments displaced. Does not appear to be seismic. Sheer cleavage of rock between us and No. 19. Building overset in bed of river. Operators drowned. No explosive sounds. Guards report no one seen in neighborhood. Selections of stations indicates design. Circuit interrupted. Fear further disturbances. No. 5—” There was a break, and then, faintly and agitatedly, “Your presence seems urgent.”
Torpeon rose from the table. He moved a lever, which disconnected the plate and closed the annunciator. His bearing was composed, and he smiled nonchalantly upon the trembling servant who had been standing beside the doorway.
“You were partly correct,” he said adjusting his mantle and taking up a short truncheon from a shelf beside the table. He detached from it a metal ring, stamped with the device of a triangle within a square. “Take this to the captain of the guard—it is your warrant of authority—and tell him to hold a hundred men in readiness. The matter is of slight importance, but we may have to enforce a little discipline. After delivering the order, return here, and keep watch outside this door till I come back. If any one attempts to enter, put him under arrest. If he resists, kill him. Give no information and answer no questions. Have you understood me?”
“Yes, gracious prince!”
Motioning the man to precede him, he closed the door behind them; the messenger hurried away on his errand, and Torpeon departed with a leisurely step down the corridor.
Never before, however, had the Prince of Tor felt such consternation as now. He was being attacked by an enemy who seemed to be cognizant of his plans, and who was able to overcome his precautions and produce inexplicable results. He could not doubt that Lamara must be the unseen power behind the attack, and that she meant to defeat his great enterprise. How she had divined his purpose he could only conjecture; and he was amazed that she had so far departed from traditional Saturnian custom as to undertake offensive operations. He had not counted upon such an innovation, and could not estimate her resources. That they might prove superior to his own seemed not improbable. She had already annulled the painfully devised measures by which he had believed his undertaking could be secretly carried out, and he be beyond reach of pursuit or hindrance before it was discovered.