Free The Light-Kill Affair by Robert Hart Davis Page B

controlled, almost kindly. "The summons was for Napoleon Solo. The summons was for Napoleon Solo."
    Solo watched Joe, fascinated. He forgot the misdelivered summons. This didn't seem very important right now. He was seeing one of Nesbitt's mindless slaves being programmed, by light. The programming was much like that done to computers, Solo thought, except that the computers' were memory tapes and transistors, and here the scientist was dealing with a man driven mindless by some sort of exquisite torture.
     
    FIVE
     
    THE INDIAN assistant moved toward Napoleon Solo. The man's dark face was impassive.
    "We've come for the girl," Joe said.
    Solo flinched, looking down at Bikini's dark head pressed on his shoulder. She was deeply asleep. She had been able to relax because she trusted him. She felt secure in his arms, even in this place.
    "She's asleep," Solo said, his chilled voice warning Joe flatly to keep his hands off of her. The Indian merely smiled coldly, spoke sharply, and the two guards entered, armed with small rifles. They stood ready at Joe's side.
    "You'll still have to take her," Solo said.
    The Indian bent forward, catching Bikini's arm. He shook her. The girl came awake slowly, protesting.
    Solo set himself. Joe shook Bikini again, lifted her. As Joe rose, Solo came up on the balls of his feet. His fist caught Joe on the jaw, staggering him.
    He released his hold on Bikini and fell backwards. He struck hard against the glass wall. It trembled under his weight.
    Beyond the glass the huge leaves and thick limbs quivered, set into motion by the vibration.
    Solo came up, moving, crouched toward Joe.
    A rifle butt caught Solo in the forehead. Bikini screamed,
    Solo staggered, his legs buckling under him. He landed on his knees. Vaguely, he saw Joe pull himself up, shake his head and then order the guards out of the cell with the girl.
    Solo saw it as if from a great distance, and he knew Bikini was screaming, but he could barely hear her.
    The guards half-dragged Bikini to the corridor entrance of Hothouse One. Behind them, Joe tested his jaw, his face twisted.
    The guards thrust open the doors. The giant plants inside set up a rustling, waving motion at the movement.
    "Inside," Joe ordered.
    Bikini shook her head, staring wide-eyed at the long writhing green tentacles, the huge crying leaves.
    Joe jerked his head. The guards caught Bikini's arms, thrusting her through the door.
    Bikini toppled on the walkway. She sprang to her feet and ran to the doors. They were closed in her face. She beat against them.
    The sound set up a wild reaction among the plants. The snake-like limbs reached out, the leaves waved, the thick trunks seemed to quiver.
    Bikini pressed against the door, staring in awe at the giant green plants.
    From an intercom Dr. Nesbitt's voice seemed to fill the room, setting the plants in violent motion again.
    "You must fight to live, my dear. You don't have a chance. As you see, some of the walks are wide. Some are almost grown over. But the wide ones are open only be cause the plants are pulled back. Any movement in them and the plants will crowd in, reaching out, even growing in the direction of the sound. It's the way they live, my dear."
    Bikini pressed her fist over her mouth to keep from crying out.
    "Perhaps if you run, my dear," Nesbitt's voice suggested. "Run. You may find a place to run. You may break free from their tentacles. You must offer some challenge to the plants, my dear, or your unfortunate death will serve no useful purpose."
    Suddenly Bikini screamed.
    As Nesbitt had talked, long green tentacles had struck against the walls, holding as if with suction cups, and now reached out swiftly toward her.
    They approached from both sides of the door.
    "You're not safe there, my dear," Nesbitt's voice taunted. "I suggest you run."
    Bikini did not move. Petrified with fear, she remained pressed against the door until the slimy, serpent-like tentacles clapped against her arms from both