The Time Trap Read Online Free PDF

dreamlessly, on a mound of furs in one of the bare apartments of Al Bekr. Once he roused at an unfamiliar sound to go to the door and open it. Outside the portal one of the metal robots stood motionless on guard. Smiling wryly, Mason returned to his couch and relaxed in sleep.
    The next time he awoke it was to find a hard, calloused palm clamped over his mouth. Startled, he fought desperately for a moment, and then paused as he heard the urgent whisper of Erech.
    “Quiet, Ma-zhon! Be silent!”
    The Sumerian’s swarthy face was glistening with sweat. He took his hand from Mason’s mouth, said, “We must be quick. There’s a journey you must make before the Master sends for you.”
    “The robot—” Mason nodded toward the door. Erech’s thin lips broadened in a grin.
    “I’ve taken care of him. With this—see?” He brought out from the folds of his cloak a curious egg-shaped contrivance, milkily luminescent. “I got it from Murdach.”
    Murdach! Mason remembered—the man from the future whom Greddar Klon had imprisoned in the vaults of Al Bekr.
    “How—”
    “Murdach is wise—and powerful, though he’s in chains. I visited him—after the Master had punished me for hiding you.” The Sumerian rubbed his back gingerly, wincing. “I do not love the lash’s kiss—no! Well, I told Murdach of you, and he has made a plan. He gave me this weapon against the metal men, and asked me to bring you to him. And Alasa, too—for the Master intends to slay her.”
    “What are we waiting for?” Mason asked. He sprang lightly to his feet, moved toward the door. His hand strayed toward the dagger at his belt, but Erech merely chuckled.
    “No danger—so long as we move quietly. Murdach’s weapon is powerful.”
    The Sumerian opened the door. The robot stood silent across the threshold, its faceted eye blank and dull. It made no move as the two men passed it. Erech said:
    “It’s under a spell.”
    Mason lifted quizzical eyebrows. True, to the superstitious Sumerian this must seem magic indeed, but the cause of the robot’s paralysis could be guessed. The egg-like weapon of Murdach, perhaps, emitted a ray which temporarily short-circuited the energy that activated the robot. How long, Mason wondered, would the metal man remain thus?
    “Come on,” Erech said, leading the way along the corridor. Silently the archeologist followed. Through green-lit, empty tunnels they went swiftly, and at last came out into the great room of the dais, where Greddar Klon had tortured and killed the Semite girl before the assembled multitudes of Al Bekr. The chamber was vacant now, save for the glass coffin that hung in empty air. Erech ran lightly toward it, Mason at his heels.
    From a tunnel mouth a robot came striding. The Sumerian flung up his arm, the luminous, enigmatic weapon of Murdach’s gripped in his thick fingers. From the shining object a pencil-thin beam of light sprang out.
    It struck the robot’s body. It spread, crawling over the metal surface like liquid. Suddenly the robot was a glowing figure of living light.
    The monster stopped in mid-stride, tentacles rigidly outstretched. It stood frozen.
    The light-beam died. Erech hid the weapon in his garments.
    “Now for Alasa,” he growled. “Murdach told me how to free her. If I can remember—”
    The Sumerian touched the opaque coffin, ran his hand lightly over its surface. He cursed softly—and then caught his breath. Beneath his fingers something clicked; there was a high-pitched, strange sound, as though a violin string had abruptly broken.
    The coffin sank down, opening as it dropped. Within it lay Alasa—unmoving, asleep.
    Mason leaned forward, his eyes intent on the girl. Alasa’s beauty seemed scarcely earthly as she lay there, and for a moment Mason feared that she would not awaken.
    Then the long, dark lashes lifted; warmly golden eyes looked into the man’s. In that gaze a queer understanding came, and Alasa—smiled. No longer goddess—but human