Hunt the Space-Witch! Read Online Free PDF Page B

ground. Harkins stared at his numbed fingers.
    â€œYou learn slowly,” the Watcher said. “I am blind, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see—or react. I repeat: how could you force me to do anything?”
    â€œI—can’t,” Harkins said hesitantly.
    â€œGood. Admission of weakness is the first step toward strength. Understand that I brought you to me deliberately, that at no time during this interview have you operated under your own free will, and that I’m perfectly capable of determining your future actions if I see fit. I don’t, however, care that greatly to interfere.”
    â€œYou’re the chess player, then!” Harkins said accusingly.
    â€œOnly one of them,” the mutant said. “And the least important of them.” He unfolded his pitiful arms. “I brought you to me for no other reason than diversion—and now you tire me. It is time for you to leave.”
    â€œWhere do I go?”
    â€œThe nerve-center of the situation is in Tunnel City,” the Watcher said. “You must pass through there on your way home. Leave me.”
    Without waiting for a second command, Harkins rose and began to walk away. After ten steps, he glanced back. The Watcher’s arms were folded once across his chest again.
    â€œKeep going,” the mutant said. “You’ve served your purpose.”
    Harkins nodded and started walking again. I’m still a pawn , he thought bitterly. But — whose pawn am I?

Chapter Four
    After he put a considerable distance between himself and the Watcher, Harkins paused by the side of a ponderous grainy-barked tree and tried to assimilate the new facts.
    A game was being played out between forces too great for his comprehension. He had been drawn into it for reasons unknown, and—unless the Watcher had lied—the way out for him lay through Tunnel City.
    He had no idea where that city was, nor did he know what he was supposed to find there. You can go home if you get control of the robots , the Watcher had said. And the strange mutant had implied that Tunnel City was the control-center of the robots. But he had also said that nothing could command the robots!
    Harkins smiled. There must be a way for him to get there. The time had come for him to do some manipulation of his own. He had been a puppet long enough; now he would pull a few strings.
    He looked up. Late afternoon shadows were starting to fall, and the sky was darkening. He would have to move quickly if he wanted to get there by nightfall. Rapidly, he began to retrace his steps through the forest, following the beaten path back toward Jorn’s village. He traveled quickly, half walking, half running. Now and then he saw the bald head of a Star Giant looming up above a faroff treetop, but the aliens paid no attention to him. Once, he heard the harsh sound of a robot driving through the underbrush.
    Strange forces were at play here. The Star Giants—who were they? What did they want on Earth—and what part did they take in the drama now unfolding? They seemed remote, detached, as totally unconcerned with the pattern of events as the mindless robots that moved through the forest. Yet Harkins knew that that was untrue.
    The robots interested him philosophically. They represented Force—unstoppable, uncontrollable Force, tied to some pre-set and long-forgotten pattern of activity. Why had the robot saved him from the carnivore? Was that part of the network of happenings, he wondered, or did the chess game take precedence over even the robot activity-pattern?
    There was the interesting personal problem of the relationship between Jorn and Katha, too; it was a problem he would be facing again soon. Katha loved Jorn, obviously—and, with savage ambivalence, hated him as well. Harkins wondered just where he would fit into the situation when he returned to Jorn’s village. Jorn and Katha were many-sided, unpredictable people; and he