Сидней Баундс - The Robot Brains [with w_cat]

Christian pointed his gun at them.

247 "You know why I am here," he said. "Speak - and remember that I can shoot you."

Suddenly Victor, the leader of the Brains, raised his hand. He was holding his murder weapon in it..

248 Christian jumped to his feet, quick as lightning, caught Victor by his hand and pressed it hard. The weapon fell to the floor, and Christian kicked it under the bed. He pointed his automatic at the Brains again.

"All right-speak!"

249 The Brains were standing and looking at him. Then Victor said quietly: "We must leave."

250 "You are not going to leave..." Christian did not finish.

251 Each Brain touched the black crystal at his waist - and disappeared. The captain was alone in the trailer, not believing his eyes. It was impossible...

252 Fox was right. They could not be human.

253 He put his hand under the bed and took out the weapon of the Brains. It was made of some hard metal.

254 It was very important to send the weapon to Miller's chief as quickly as possible. Military Intelligence must understand who their enemies were: beings who could disappear into nothing. But he did not know if the people in Military Intelligence would believe him...

255 Christian walked up and down the trailer, thinking. Then he sat down at the table and wrote an account of what had happened at the Cross Keys, how he had got the Brains' weapon, and how the three Brains had disappeared before his eyes.

256 He smoked one of his black cigars while he was reading what he had written. Then he put his account and the weapon into a cardboard box and left the trailer. In the darkness of the night he walked noiselessly to Jo's trailer. He knocked, and Jo opened the door.

257 "Can you take this package to Fox?" he asked in a low voice. "Tell him to send it to Miller's chief. Tell him also that I shall be hiding at Girton: he knows that I have friends there.

258 "I'll go now," said Jo. "Good luck, Sailor."

259 Christian went to the place where he had left his bicycle and rode off. Early in the morning, when it was still dark, he arrived at the village of Girton.

260 He got into his friends' house through the back door. It was quiet in the house, and breakfast was prepared on the table. Christian ate, then lay down on the bed which had been prepared for him.

261 It was late when he woke. Bright sun was shining in through the window.

On the table there was a newspaper. He read:

DECAPITATION AT CAMBRIDGE

262 The headless corpse of Professor Duval was found early this morning in his private study. Duval, one of the world's famous mathematicians and a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, was working on a new theory of the space-time continuum. His papers have been lost...

263 "Come in," the Old Man said. "Please sit down, Doctor Fox."

264 Fox looked with interest at the chief of Military Intelligence. The Old Man pushed a box of cigarettes towards him.

265 "Help yourself, Doctor. First of all I must thank you for bringing us the weapon -"

266 Fox interrupted:

267 "Christian got that weapon for you. Don't you think it is time to clear him of the suspicion of the murder?"

268 "That is really a matter for the police, but I believe his story. I think I will be able to help." The Old Man looked through some papers. "I have here a report on this weapon. It is a decapitator; and a new kind of energy is used in it. I have no details, but a group of scientists are working on it. The fingerprints on the weapon show that it has been used by somebody with very small hands."

269 "The Brains!" exclaimed Fox.

270 "Probably. As you know, the Brains have disappeared completely - my men are watching the Fair, and they haven't seen them. I don't think they will come to the Fair again."

271 "We must get one of those crystals," said Fox. "Lawrence worked with rockets. Duval worked out a new theory for the space-time continuum. Do you see what we are up against? These murders aren't going to stop - you can be sure that the Brains have more than one decapitator. It is an interplanetary affair. The earth is fighting for the right to go out into space..."

272 The Old Man looked grim.

273 "If you are right," he said, "the position is serious. What have we got? An invasion by beings from another world who can disappear at will and who have a deadly weapon - deadlier than ours. We must find them. If only we knew where to start looking -"

274 "They have a spaceship which is hidden somewhere," said Fox. "Find the ship and you will find the Brains. I advise you to check all unidentified flying objects which appear in the sky."

275 "I'll do that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must see the Prime Minister immediately."

276 Fox said quickly: "And Christian? Will you clear him?"

277 "Yes. I'll speak with the Home Secretary. Later, I should like to meet the captain personally."

278 Fox walked along the corridor and left the building of Military Intelligence. He heard the voice of a newsboy:

279 "Another decapitation! The maniac strikes again! Special!"

280 Fox bought a newspaper. It told of an Italian scientist who had been found dead in his laboratory. Fox had a feeling that the real trouble was only just starting. First Britain, now Italy...

Where next? He wondered.

281 From the window of his office on the sixty-fourth floor Michael Brant had a very good view of downtown Manhattan. But he was not looking through the window. He was sitting with his back to the window. He was a fat man with rings on his fingers and a big cigar between his teeth.

282 "It is interesting," he said slowly. "Of course, it is interesting, but where is money in it? You agree that it will take a lot of money to make something practical out of this model of yours, don't you?"

283 He was looking at the inventor who was standing in front of him.

284 "I haven't the money to do it myself," said the inventor. "That's why I came to you. I need a research laboratory. But I am sure that you will get your money back in the end."

285 "In the end!" Brant smiled cynically. "Listen, Marten, I am a financier, not a philanthropist. I want results - now. All right," he went on, "I'll give you five thousand."

"Ten," said Marten.

286 At this moment, though the door was locked, a dwarf-like figure, dressed in grey, suddenly appeared in the room. The man raised his hand and pointed a strange-looking gun at Marten. A bright ray appeared from the gun.

287 The next moment Marten's headless corpse fell on the floor. The weapon turned to Brant...

288 Afterwards the man in grey turned the ray on Marten's invention, and then disappeared.

289 In South America five men died.

290 In Africa and Mexico, in Sweden and Madagascar, the decapitations continued. Reports from behind the Iron Curtain said that this process was now world-wide. Brains were seen in Berlin, Hawaii, and other places. More and more people were murdered, and all of them were scientists - until the incident in Caribou City.

291 Caribou City was a small town on the banks of the Peace River in Canada. Uranium had been discovered there, and a group of scientists were doing some research work. One night a scientist was decapitated there in the presence of a large group of people, but this time the Brain who had decapitated him did not escape.

292 The scientist's assistant had a gun and shot the Brain through his heart.

293 There was a full hour of triumph in Caribou City. Then the revenge came. There appeared a lot of Brains in the town. They used the weapons, which were of the same type as the decapitators, but much bigger and more powerful. Whole buildings were burned to the ground. In a short while Caribou City was completely destroyed...

294 After that the Brains returned to their practice of killing the world's scientists. Every day reports of new decapitations came from different parts of the world: from Athens and Tokyo, Lisbon and Vienna. Newspapers attacked the governments for doing nothing.

295 The British Prime Minister declared a state of emergency.

296 The police and Military Intelligence were looking for the Brains' base, but could not find anything. The Brains simply appeared, killed, and disappeared again.

297 Sitting in an armchair in the cabin of his yacht, Captain Christian raised his glass.

298 "It's nice to be a free man again. Thanks, Doc."

299 Doctor Fox, sitting opposite him, opened a fresh bottle of beer.

300 "You did it yourself, Chris," he said. "You got the decapitator."

301 "And you took it to Miller's chief. I could not do it without you."

302 They sat a few minutes in silence.

303 "The important thing now," said Christian, "is to find the Brains. We must get one of those crystals."

304 "I don't see, how you can do that," said Fox. "You can't catch people who disappear into thin air."

305 "We must try. We must catch one of them before he has time to use his decapitator or touch his crystal. If we work fast, we can do it. And then we'll separate. I'll take the prisoner to a hiding-place which will be prepared - and you will take the crystal somewhere else."

306 Fox laughed: "First catch your Brain."

Christian smiled.

307 "We'll make a trap," he said. "We can publish an article in the newspapers that some scientist has found out the mystery of the Brains. The newspaper article will mention the place where this scientist works - and it will be our hiding-place! I am sure the Brains will come to that place at once!"