“Nothing of the sort. You’re old Pete Grahame, a darned good half-back, and the world’s rottenest scientist. Only you’ve been passed into another form of being, through the action of four little quartz bulbs whose periods of vibrations form a beat—but that’s over your head, Pete, old son, and we’ll have time to talk over details when we get back. Right now, we’re in somewhat of a jam.” Instinctively, he glanced at Hope; it was her danger, and not his own, that had brought that haggard pallor to his face in so short a time.
“That’s what I don’t understand. What do these people—if you can call them that—want of us?”
Vic looked down, frowning.
“I’m not sure I’m right,” he replied after a moment, “but if I am—they wish us to kill them. As many as possible.
“When I found myself here, I wandered nearly to the city before I was molested. When they did appear, and tried to lay hands on me, I warned them back, and finally shot one of them.
“The effect was magical. They seemed unable to believe the evidence of their eyes. They rushed me eagerly, each seeming to beg for a bullet.
“I gave them what they wanted, still hoping I could frighten them away. A great crowd formed around me, and the rabble was sent flying by a number of the men who seem to hold some office, distinguished by a jewel-like emblem around their throats. If I read their actions correctly, they claimed the privilege of death by virtue of their greater authority.
Well, I finally decided that my gun did anything but frighten them. They were angry when I refused to do any more slaughtering, and led me here. Every once in a while one of the captains would come in and command me to kill him. I refused, for that’s the only trump card I held.
“When Hope, here, acted like the foolish little kid she is, she was not even armed, and they rushed her here without delay. My theory is that these people live in a dreary world in which there is no pleasure. Their faces seem to show that. Apparently they live a very long time, and have no means of shortening that life. They are not intelligent. Things that would kill a man of our own world have no effect on them, for remember that they are not physical beings. You have seen them appear out of thin air, and dissolve in the same fashion?”
“Yes.”