The Blue Tower | Page 6

or your brothers. I must see The Belphin himself."
Suddenly this particular Belphin lost his commanding manners. He
began to wilt, insofar as so rigidly constructed a creature could go limp.
"Please, we've done so much for you. Do this for us."
"The Belphin of Belphins did things for us," Ludovick countered. "You
are all only his followers. How do I know you are really following him?
How do I know you haven't turned against him?"

Without giving the creature a chance to answer, he strode forward. The
Belphin attempted to bar his way. Ludovick knew one Belphin was a
myriad times as strong as a human, so it was out of utter futility that he
struck.
The Belphin collapsed completely, flying apart in a welter of fragile
springs and gears. The fact was of some deeper significance, Ludovick
knew, but he was too numbed by his incredible success to be able to
think clearly. All he knew was that The Belphin would be able to
explain things to him.
* * * * *
Bells began to clash and clang. That meant the force barriers had gone
up. He could see the shimmering insubstance of the first one before
him. Squaring his shoulders, he charged it ... and walked right through.
He looked himself up and down. He was alive and entire.
Then the whole thing was a fraud; the barriers were not lethal--or
perhaps even actual. But what of Mieczyslaw? And George? And
countless rumored others? He would not let himself even try to think of
them. He would not let himself even try to think of anything save his
duty.
A staircase spiraled up ahead of him. A Belphin was at its foot. Behind
him, a barrier iridesced.
"Please, young man----" the Belphin began. "You don't understand. Let
me explain."
But Ludovick destroyed the thing before it could say anything further,
and he passed right through the barrier. He had to get to the top and
warn The Belphin of Belphins, whoever or whatever he (or it) was, that
the Flockharts had a secret weapon which might be able to annihilate it
(or him). Belphin after Belphin Ludovick destroyed, and barrier after
barrier he penetrated until he reached the top. At the head of the stairs
was a vast golden door.

"Go no further, Ludovick Eversole!" a mighty voice roared from within.
"To open that door is to bring disaster upon your race."
But all Ludovick knew was that he had to get to The Belphin within
and warn him. He battered down the door; that is, he would have
battered down the door if it had not turned out to be unlocked. A stream
of noxious vapor rushed out of the opening, causing him to black out.
When he came to, most of the vapor had dissipated. The Belphin of
Belphins was already dying of asphyxiation, since it was, in fact, a
single alien entity who breathed another combination of elements. The
room at the head of the stairs had been its tank.
"You fool...." it gasped. "Through your muddle-headed integrity ... you
have destroyed not only me ... but Earth's future. I tried to make ... this
planet a better place for humanity ... and this is my reward...."
"But I don't understand!" Ludovick wept. "Why did you let me do it?
Why were Mieczyslaw and George and all the others killed? Why was
it that I could pass the barriers and they could not?"
"The barriers were triggered ... to respond to hostility.... You meant
well ... so our defenses ... could not work." Ludovick had to bend low
to hear the creature's last words: "There is ... Earth proverb ... should
have warned me ... 'I can protect myself ... against my enemies ... but
who will protect me ... from my friends'...?"
The Belphin of Belphins died in Ludovick's arms. He was the last of his
race, so far as Earth was concerned, for no more came. If, as they had
said themselves, some outside power had sent them to take care of the
human race, then that power had given up the race as a bad job. If they
were merely exploiting Earth, as the malcontents had kept suggesting,
apparently it had proven too dangerous or too costly a venture.
* * * * *
Shortly after The Belphin's demise, the Flockharts arrived en masse.
"We won't need your secret weapons now," Ludovick told them dully.

"The Belphin of Belphins is dead."
Corisande gave one of the rippling laughs he was to grow to hate so
much. "Darling, you were my secret weapon all along!" She beamed at
her "relatives," and it was then he noticed the faint lines of her forehead.
"I told you I could use the power of love to destroy