Free The Jewels of Cyttorak by Unknown Author Page A

Professor. It certainly was not what he had been expecting. “There is no method, that has been brought to my attention, to reverse the effects. I guarantee you, sir, that if there was, someone would have used it on my stepbrother years ago.”
    “I was afraid of that,” Service said. It sounded as if all the air and energy had simply gone out of the man. Where a moment before his voice had been high and worried, now it suddenly sounded like he was about to give up living.
    “Sir,” the Professor said. “What is your interest in all this?”
    Service sighed, then laughed softly. “I suppose it won’t hurt to tell anyone now. It’s pretty obvious just looking at him.”
    “At the beginning, Mr. Service. Please start at the beginning.” As he spoke, the Professor glanced down at the caller ID display on the phone, which gave him the general location from which Service was calling, based on the area code.
    “Last night my dying father showed my brother Robert and me a large emerald he said he found in an old stone temple in Korea. You’re not going to believe the next part,” Service said, laughing half-heartedly to himself. “I saw it, I was there, and I still don’t believe it.” “You would be amazed at what I will believe,” the Professor said. He turned his powerful mind outward, searching for thought patterns that matched Service’s conversation. Often one’s surface thoughts related directly to what one was saying, so isolating Service’s mind would be comparatively easy as long as the Professor continued talking to him.
    “My brother,” Service said, “is an egotistical, power-hungry man. My father had never touched the emerald because he said a monk had warned him not to. But my brother ignored him and picked it up.”
    “And what happened then?” the Professor asked, finally locating the mind of Gary Service. He began a simple surface probe, not wanting to go too deeply. He just scanned enough to see if the man spoke the truth.
    “Robert simply changed, grew, maybe six inches taller, and much, much bigger.” Service laughed. “I told you that you wouldn’t believe me.”
    “Oh,” the Professor said, “I believe you.” Service’s own thoughts confirmed what he saw. Indeed, the image of the enlarged Robert Service lay foremost in the man’s mind. “There is a ruby that turned my stepbrother into the Juggernaut. It would be logical then, that there might be another gemstone of similar power. Did the gem attach itself in any way to your brother?”
    “No,” Service said. “Robert was still holding it in his hand and laughing when he left the room. Why?” “To be honest, Mr. Service, I don’t know. But it may mean the transformation is not complete. We can only hope. Where is your brother now?’ ’
    “He flew out of here this afternoon in our private jet. He didn’t say where he was headed, but it wouldn’t be hard to track, since he’s in the family plane.”
    ‘ ‘And just where are you?’ ’ the Professor asked. “About a hundred miles north of you.”
    The Professor nodded to himself. A piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place. Cain had been headed for the Service estate. Somehow, in some way, the ruby that gave Cain his power must be hooked up to the emerald Service touched. And when Robert Service left, he took the stone with him, causing Cain to stop and follow Robert Service back west.
    But why was Robert Service going west right after touching the stone? What did he need out there?
    “Dr. Xavier?” Gary Service said. “Are you still there?’ ’
    “Yes,” the Professor said. “I’m sorry.” He thought a moment, then probed Service a bit more deeply. He did not like doing so, but it was necessary to preserve the X-Men’s secrets. The general public did not know that Charles Xavier, renowned authority on mutants, was the mentor of the X-Men, nor that he was a mutant himself.
    X-NEN
    Fortunately, Gary Service’s awareness of the X-Men was limited