Captain Future 23 - The Harpers of Titan (September 1950) Read Online Free PDF Page A

saw that they were of curious design, covering the ears and the entire cranial area, and overlarge as though padded with many layers of some insulating material.
    The Helmets of Silence. He knew, now, that Keogh had spoken truly when he told of an ancient means of protection used long ago by the men of Moneb against the Harpers. Those helmets would protect, yes.
    The king of Moneb rose from his throne. And the nervous uproar in the hall stilled to a frozen tension.
    A young man, the king. Very young, very frightened, weakness and stubbornness mingled in his face. His head was bare.
    “We of Moneb have too long tolerated strangers in our valley — have even suffered one of them to sit in this council and influence our decisions,” he began.
    Here there was a sharp uneasy turning of heads toward “Keogh.”
    “The strangers’ ways more and more color the lives of our people. They must go — all of them! And since they will not go willingly, they must be forced!”
    He had learned the speech by rote. Simon knew that from the way in which he stumbled over it, the way in which his eyes slid to the tallest of the cloaked and helmeted men beside him, for prompting and strength. The dark, tall man whom Simon recognized from Harker’s description as Keogh’s chief enemy, Taras.
    “We cannot force the Earthmen out with our darts and spears. Their weapons are too strong. But we too have a weapon, one they cannot fight! It was forbidden to us, by foolish kings who were afraid it might be used against them. But now we must use it.
    “Therefore I demand that the old tabu be lifted! I demand that we invoke the power of the Harpers to drive the Earthmen forth!”
    There was a taut, unhappy silence in the hall. Simon saw men looking at him, the eager confidence in young Dion’s eyes. He knew that they placed in him their desperate last hope of preventing this thing.
    They were right, for whatever was done he must do alone. Curt Newton and Otho could not possibly have yet made their way secretly by back ways to this council hall.
    Simon strode forward. He looked around him. Because of what he was, a kind of fierce exaltation took him, to be once more a man among men. It made his voice ring loud, thundering from the low vault.
    “Is it not true that the king fears, not the Earthmen, but Taras — and that Taras is bent not on freeing Moneb from a mythical yoke, but in placing one of his own upon our necks?”
    There was a moment of utter silence in which they all, king and councilors alike, stared at him aghast. And in the silence, Simon said grimly:
    “I speak for the council! There will be no lifting of tabu — and he that brings the Harpers into Moneb does so under pain of death!”
    For one short moment the councilors recovered their courage and voiced it. The hall shook with the cheering. Under cover of the noise Taras bent and spoke into the king’s ear, and Simon saw the face of the king become pallid.
     
    FROM behind the high seat Taras lifted a helmet bossed in gold and placed it on the king’s head. A Helmet of Silence.
    The cheering faded, and was not.
    The king said hoarsely, “Then for the good of Moneb, I must disband the council.”
    Taras stepped forward. He looked directly at Simon, and his eyes smiled. “We had foreseen your traitorous counsels, John Keogh. And so we came prepared.”
    He flung back his cloak. Beneath it, in the curve of his left arm, was something wrapped in silk.
    Simon instinctively stepped back.
    Taras ripped the silk away. And in his hands was a living creature no larger than a dove, a thing of silver and rose-pearl and delicate frills of shining membrane, and large, soft, gentle eyes.
    A dweller in the deep forests, a shy sweet bearer of destruction, an angel of madness and death.
    A Harper!
    A low moan rose among the councilors, and there was a shifting and a swaying of bodies poised for flight. Taras said, “Be still. There is time enough for running, when I give you leave.”
    The