The Sentinel - Arthur C. Clarke [30]
He stood for a moment blinking in the fierce sunlight. Then he saw the ruined mining machinery around him, and beyond that a derelict railway stretching down a mountainside. Several miles away dense forest lapped at the base of the mountain, and very far off Stormgren could see the gleam of a great river. He guessed that he was somewhere in southern France, probably in the Cévennes mountains.
As he climbed into the little ship, he had a last glimpse of the mine entrance and the men frozen round it. Quite suddenly a line of metal spheres race out of the opening like silver cannon balls. Then the door closed behind him and with a sigh of relief he sank back upon the familiar couch.
For a while Stormgren waited until he had recovered his breath; then he uttered a single, heartfelt syllable:
“Well??”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t rescue you before. But you’ll see how very important it was to wait until all the leaders had gathered here.”
“Do you mean to say,” spluttered Stormgren, “that you knew where I was all the time? If I thought—”
“Don’t be so hasty,” answered Karellen, “or at any rate, let me finish explaining.”
“It had better be good,” said Stormgren darkly. He was beginning to suspect that he had been no more than the bait in an elaborate trap.
“I’ve had a tracer on you for some time,” began Karellen, “and though your late friends were correct in thinking that I couldn’t follow you underground, I was able to keep track until they brought you to the mine. That transfer in the tunnel was ingenious, but when the first car ceased to react it gave the show away and I soon located you again. Then it was merely a matter of waiting. I knew that once they were certain I’d lost you, the leaders would come here and I’d be able to trap them all.”
“But you’re letting them go!”
“Until now,” said Karellen, “I did not know which of the two billion men on this planet were the heads of the organization. Now that they’re located, I can trace their movements anywhere on Earth, and can probably watch most of their actions in detail if I want to. That’s far better than locking them up. They’re effectively neutralized, and they know it. Your rescue will be completely inexplicable to them, for you must have vanished before their eyes.”
That rich laugh echoed round the tiny room.
“In some ways the whole affair was a comedy, but it had a serious purpose. It will be a valuable object lesson for any other plotters. I’m not concerned merely with the few score men of this organization—I have to think of the moral effect on other groups which may exist elsewhere.”
Stormgren was silent for a while. He was not altogether satisfied, but he could see Karellen’s point of view and some of his anger had evaporated.
“It’s a pity to do it in my last few weeks of office,” he said, “but from now on I’m going to have a guard on my house. Pieter can be kidnapped next time. How has he managed, by the way? Are things in as big a mess as I expect?”
“You’ll be disappointed to find out how little your absence has mattered. I’ve watched Pieter carefully this past week, and have deliberately avoided helping him. On the whole he’s done very well—but he’s not the man to take your place.”
“That’s lucky for him,” said Stormgren, still rather aggrieved. “And have you had any word from your superiors about—about showing yourself to us? I’m sure now that it’s the strongest argument your enemies have. Again and again they told me: ‘We’ll never trust the Overlords until we can see them.’”
Karellen sighed.
“No, I have heard nothing. But I know what the answer must be.”
Stormgren did not press the matter. Once he might have done so, but now for the first time the faint shadow of a plan had come into his mind. What he had refused to do under duress, he might yet attempt of his own free will.
Pierre Duval showed no surprise when Stormgren walked unannounced into his office. They were old friends, and there was nothing unusual in the Secretary-General paying a personal visit to the chief of the