Z lensman, p.1
Z-Lensman, page 1
Z-LENSMAN
An Astonishing New Adventure in the Lensman Series
Created By E.E. "Doc" Smith
By David A. Kyle
Foreword
The genus Homo sapiens belongs to the family of Arisia. Human beings, together with all their related humanoid races, were the fruit of Arisian seed, and they lived, along with their bizarre cousins and exotic kindred, among the millions of planets throughout the island universe known as our Milky Way galaxy.
Within our, space and time, the ancient Arisians were the genesis of all intelligent life.
Where or how they began at the dawn of the Cosmos not even their records could tell for certain. Their home was the planet that must have been the very first upon which life formed. For eons, as the Arisians progressed beyond the stages of mechanics and technology and evolved from entities of flesh into entities of energy, they prospered alone and unthreatened. When their first mother sun grew old and died, they moved their planet to a bright, new star, until, as the eons rolled on, they had to move again.
All that time, in the vastness of interstellar matter, they were alone.
Then came the time of the Coalescence, when the Milky Way and Lundmark's Nebula passed through each other, edge to edge, and billions of new planets were born. With this marvelous explosion of new opportunities came a sinister shadow of the ultimate terror, Eddore. This was another planet with another race from another existence. As good and Godlike as were the Arisians, so evil and Devilish were the Eddorians.
Thus began the ages-old conflict that led to the formation of the mighty Arisian weapon, the Galactic Patrol. On the countless new planets flourished galactic multitudes, a thousand million years younger than their ancestors. Slowly but relentlessly they climbed out of the primordial elements into, Civilization and toward perfectionism. Serving as Guardians, secretly encouraging them, were the mental forces of the Arisians. In opposition, seeking absolute power over all minds and bodies through crime and corruption, were the Eddorians, with their infamous chief henchmen, the Eich, masterminding their conspiracy of a diabolic counterculture. Civilization was tested with the task of discovering the real enemy, not being told of the existence of the Eddorians, while the Eddorians, in turn, were brainwashed into ignorance of the existence of the Arisians.
So the Arisians, stressing self-reliance among the maturing races, let them fight their own battles. However, Mentor, the supremely wise entity of the Arisians, gave the elite officers of the Patrol a quasi-living instrument of telepathy, the Lens. The only other help offered by the Guardians was limited to counseling.
Mentor was the unit name of the fusion of the mentalities of four of the greatest Arisians, also known as the Molders of Civilization. Each one was concerned with the development of one of four extremely different races from four widely separated planets: Tellus (Earth), Velantia III, Rigel IV, and Palain VII. Each planet had eventually produced one exceptional Lensman, specially trained by Mentor as a Second Stage Lensman. Nadreck, the most illustrious Z-Lensman, although not the first Palainian Lensman, was the genuine genius who did reach the L2 or Second Stage.
The Molder in whose charge the destiny of Palain VII was placed was called Brolenteen.
Brolenteen had two tasks to perform simultaneously. Offensively, he had to encourage the growth and effectiveness of a meager number of Palainian Lensmen; defensively, he had to block the direct intervention of a top Master of the Innermost Circle of the All-Highest of Eddore and its vicious Boskonian conspiracy.
When Virgil Samms, the first wearer of the Lens, went to Palain VII to seek recruits from the New Thought Club, Brolenteen was, secretly, already there. Samms's minimal success in that encounter would have seemed more heartening had he known that Brolenteen was subtly helping him. Within a year, five Palainians had visited the mysterious planet of Arisia and had been given their Lenses. Among them was Bovreck.
Bovreck was the ancestor of Nadreck.
Nadreck, later to become the only Second Stage Lensman in the history of Palain, has always seemed a baling and inexplicable creature. Very little has heretofore, been told of his background and personal life, primarily because he is overwhelmingly a Z-type in the Historian Smith twelve digit classification system.
This historical adventure, out of the files of the Galactic Patrol, is not a biography of Nadreck; the Z-Lensman from Palain VII, but the, reporting of these events does cast a great deal of light upon who Nadreck really was-and why he was that way.
David A. Kyle Tellus
Prologue
Eukonidor, the youthful Watcher from Arisia, had turned back the brazen attempt to invade Arisia by the mighty First and Eighth councilors of the Eich. He had changed the course of their mammoth torpedo so that, in a sweeping circle, it had returned to slam directly into the great cruiser of those foremost Eich leaders.
The worst was yet to come.
Far, far away, in the Second Galaxy, was Jarnevon, the home planet of the Eich, and it was soon to be the scene of one of the most titanic space battles in -the history of Civilization, personally directed by the Tellurian Lensman Kimball Kinnison. The victory that was to come-an absolutely crucial one for the Galactic Patrol would bring about the utter destruction of the Eich planet, crushed between the nutcracker of two guided worlds colliding.
But, as a Watcher, Eukonidor had discovered another plot, one in which the Eich could have a victory that would be nearly as great for Boskonia as the battle of Jarnevon would be for Arisian Civilization. This plot was developing in the Palainian system, the system least integrated into the plans of the Galactic Council and the most vulnerable-as Palain was a Z-type planet to the designs of blackguard Z-type relations in other parts of the universe. Of those scheming monstrosities, the worst by far, of course, were the servile followers of the Eich high in the councils of Boskonia.
The plot had evolved out of the defeat of the notorious villain, Gray Roger, who had been defied by the Triplanetary Patrol, forerunner of the Galactic Patrol. Gray Roger, a manifestation of the mighty Gharlane of Eddore, had then turned his attention to other systems and other planets, and Palain seemed the most likely victim.
Eukonidor was encouraged to find that two Palainian Lensmen already intuitively suspected the gathering onslaught against them. These two were the most outstanding members of a cadre of Patrolmen and Lensmen, which, though excellent in quality, was vexingly small in numbers. They did not know that it was the supermind of Gharlane that they were preparing to confront, but independently they were investigating and preparing to defend their world against anything on any plane. To encourage them, Eukonidor informed Brolenteen, the Mentorian Guardian overseeing that area. This resulted in the convening of a special Court of Gray Lensmen to promote the two Palainians into this elite corps of Unattached Lensmen who wore the distinctive gray leather harnesses of the Gray Legion.
That was how Angzex and Nadreck became Gray Lensmen. As such, they were free agents, no longer tied to a regular unit of the Patrol, able to formulate their own plans to protect the Palainian system, authorized to draw upon any asset of the Patrol without accountability.
Angzex concerned the personal self, that which could not be properly described as either "his" or "her" self, with defensive plans. This self gathered intelligence, monitored the First and Second Galaxy, and stood guard between them, for it was from the Second, the site of the mother world of the Eich, that the strength of the Boskonian conspiracy was drawn.
Angzex enlisted an ancestor, old-Ymkzex, into sentinel duty, making Bovreck's deep-space laboratory the key picket-post.
Nadreck concentrated himself, in this case "himself" was a relatively accurate term, on the offensive side, looking for ways to attack the enemy before it could attack them, upsetting plans before they could be executed. This took Nadreck out among the stars and into direct involvement with the far-flung activities of the Patrol. As Angzex was to old-Ymkzex, so Nadreck was to old-Bovreck. Nadreck found that his relationship with old-Bovreck fitted perfectly into the elaboration of his plans. Bovreck's space lab became not only the early-warning station for Angzex, it also became the communications base for Nadreck's extensive operations. just as the two zex-line family members harmonized perfectly in the intricacies of their thought processes, so did the reek-line family members.
Nadreck had the decided advantage of Bovreck's Lens for increasing his ability for rapid and precise informational interchanges across the light-years.
It was inevitable, therefore, that the existence of the Palainian Research Laboratory Five should have precipitated what happened.
Not since the days of the Triplanetary League, with its Triplanetary Patrol, the predecessor of the Galactic Patrol, had Civilization's once audacious and dreadful foe attempted to fight back from his humiliating defeat. That once mighty entity, who singlehandedly had brought Tellus close to unsalvageable ruin, was Gharlane.
Gharlane, Master Number Two of the Innermost Circle of the All-Highest of the Eddorians, had never ceased planning for the day when he would again personally challenge the Patrol. Finally, he had decided to initiate his personal battle against Civilization by choosing Palain VII as his target.
1 Space Pirates Attack
The attack of the space pirates on the intergalactic space station was sudden and unopposed. Brolenteen, his attention fixed tenaciously on his own plans, arrived too late to stop it. He was not perturbed, however. His prodigious power as Arisian Guardian of Palain was reserved for the true peril, which came not from the guns of the Boskonian outlaws but fr
Brolenteen was himself most particularly involved in the lives of the two Palainians who were in danger of being killed. Bovreck had been one of the first of the strange frigid beings to have received the Lens of Arisia from Brolenteen's superentity, Mentor. As for Bovreck's coresearcher, Ymkzex-although not measuring up to being a Lensman had nevertheless joined the Galactic Patrol as a technician assigned permanently to Bovreck .
Their deaths were not the worst of what could happen to them: they could be made into traitors, instruments to destroy the Galactic Patrol and thereby all Civilized progress in that sector of the galaxy.
The seriousness of the situation could be judged by the fact that Mentor allowed Brolenteen to be here and not in the other galaxy where Armageddon, it appeared, was about to happen at the place called Jarnevon.
Here, almost within the First Galaxy, a different, though nonetheless momentous, conflict was about to happen, unnoticed by all but a handful of participants. A small Palainian space station, manned by old-Bovreck and old-Ymkzex, was to be the focal point for an equally important defeat of an insidious plan of the ultimate enemy, the Innermost Circle of Eddore.
The pirate spaceship, motionless, now hung in deep space with all its instruments targeted ahead on an invisible speck. Although no light illuminated the distant object, it registered as a faint dot on the vitascope; it was a small, inhabited space station. -On the front screen, the life form radiation pulsed against the electromagnetic net of distant stars sprinkled across the, jet-velvet blanket of the universe. On the rear screen, a trillion miles behind the rear of the fifteen-hundred-ton, cylindrical black raider, was spread the glorious edge of the Milky Way-galaxy, a hundred thousand light-years from end to end.
Ahead, on the forward screen, a glowing smear above the calibrated bull's-eye, millions of light-years beyond the space station, was the barely discernible disc of the Second Galaxy, Landmark's Nebula.
The pirate captain, a half-caste with slick dark hair and bluish skin, nervously cast his eyes back and forth from his instruments to his charts. His arms were stiff, hands spread wide, pressing back his curious mates who kept crowding against him on either side.
"Humpf!" he said aloud. "Damn if you're not right, Val-d or. It's the Palainian Research Laboratory Five. The chart coordinates are wrong, like you said. No doubt deliberate."
"No doubt," said Val-d'or, the navigator. "No doubt, Captain Balltis. It's their wealth they're afraid for." "Humpf. You're damned good as a navigator, Val-d'or. I admit it.
We're lucky to have you. Finding you when Joey got himself killed was the only good thing that's happened to us in the last three months. You got us out of the galaxy right past the Patrol.
And then to find this place is practically a miracle. Now we hope you're right about the treasure."
'I'm right. My source is infallible. There will be practically no resistance.
And no Patrolmen."
"No defenses, no Patrol," said the second-in-command, undisguised suspicion in his voice. "How do you know that?"
"Stands to reason. A small Palainian lab," Val-d'or said. "Strictly oddball, elderly Palainians, in a toxic atmosphere. Two or three of them, at most. You afraid?"
"I'm cautious, smart guy. We all are. That's how we keep alive. There are such things as Palainian Patrolmen." "Palainian Patrolmen? Not many of them around. Very few.
And very unlikely out here. You got no worries."
Captain Balltis was keenly glancing from one to the other, in his fidgety way, out of the corners of his puffy black eyes. When the exchange of remarks was over, he examined the faces of the rest of his crew crowded into the tiny pilothouse. He intimately knew eight of the nine of them, all tough, experienced rogues. He saw that he would have to make the decision. They were all on edge, ready to crack from frustration, desperate for some action and some profit, and concerned about being in uncharted deep-space; where they had been driven by a Patrol ship that their clever navigator, a stranger, had managed to outwit.
"I say we attack," Captain Balltis said. "We'll make it quick. Quick success or quick retreat.
Palainians are cowards, but we'll take no chances."
"Palainians are also known to be poor," one spaceburned pirate said, pink scarred flesh permanently drawn back from his big, yellow teeth. "Talk of treasure still seems foolish to me. But I don't really care. I've never seen a Palainian, let alone killed one. That chance makes it interesting."
"You can't really see Palainians;" the captain said. "They distort your vision. They're always moving, so even pictures are worthless. They can't be depicted. I've seen a few and even I can't describe them."
"Well, I can describe them," one of the crew said. "They're repulsive, poisonous monsters.
Unless there's money to steal, or we can sell their bones or skin, I say let's forget 'em and find a safe port and bust loose from this tin can."
"Well, that's the point," the captain said, scratching his whiskers and obviously becoming inpatient. "I don't believe they're poor. I think Val-d'or's right. The way they're forever furtively poking around the weirdest corners of the galaxy, always loners, acting like misers, my guess is they got unlimited funds. Ill bet they have hoards of valuable things waiting for some enterprising freebooters like us to lift 'em. Val-d'or got us here. I say we attack. How say you?"
There were two mild dissents, but after the briefest of arguments, there was an unanimous agreement. Captain Balltis wasted no time. He accelerated toward the station, barking orders. The crew scrambled into frantic action, five of them suiting up in armor and arming themselves as a boarding party, although seven wanted to go and only two or three should have been going.
"Gimme a reading," the captain said. "What're we up against?"
"Nothing. Absolutely. No defense screen. No weapons. A lead-pipe cinch."
With the speed and skill developed over their years as an outlaw team, the pirates, their ship firmly pressed against the docking port of the station, assaulted the space station.
Three of the five penetrated the station's inner hull in a shower of sparks and swirling smoke, while the other two covered them. Brownish-green gas, the station's deadly atmosphere, boiled out under pressure and crystallized in space.
The trio in the vanguard died first, inexplicably. At one moment they were charging forward, irresistible; in the next moment, for no apparent reason, they were sprawled out in the passageway, dead. They had made no .outcry, showed no reaction.
Then the other two, weapons weightlessly spinning free, collapsed in silence, equally unmarred and equally dead.
In the pilothouse there was panic among the remaining pirates. The captain attempted to disengage and flee, even with plates extended, the side of his ship open. His hands froze over the control buttons, quivering, and his face rippled under his whiskers as though from a continuous series of electric shocks. He fell forward on the console. Then the second-in-command and the helmsman collapsed, falling upon the back of the dead captain.
Only Val-d'or, with a queer, incomprehensible expression around his wide, brilliant eyes, remained alive, his body fixed in a grotesque pose against the room's main stanchion.
Brolenteen, although en route and still light-years away, knew instantaneously what had happened. He was not surprised, for he long ago had visualized the event. When he reached the station within hours after the deadly attack, he found exactly what the newly arrived Lensman Armstrong had found earlier.
Tellurian Lensman Dick Armstrong was thoroughly puzzled. The station was without life.
There was no Bovreck, no Ymkzex, nor any trace of them. He stood in the passageway of windowless, unlighted Laboratory Five, staring down at the three human bodies disclosed by his headlamp, talking to himself.
"Three bodies in the pilothouse, two more inside the open air lock. Eight corpses with no signs of wounds, but certainly death by some kind of violence...."
He set the time of death at from ninety to a hundred minutes before he' had sped to the scene under full emergency power. He had been in a globular cluster, picking up supplies at the outpost GP base, when the urgent Lensed message had arrived from Research Laboratory Five.
