"Not too far ahead."
"You drive."
"Okay." The truck jerked into motion.
Two
The Marquis de Sade followed Sundoc into the enormous building.
"I appreciate this considerably," he said, "and I'd appreciate your not mentioning it to Chadwick, be cause he thinks I'm reading a stack of abominable manuscripts. Ever since Baron Cuvier's speculations, I have wondered, I have wished. But I never thought that I would actually get to see one."
Sundoc chuckled and led him into the huge laboratory.
"I can appreciate that. Don't worry. I like to show off my work."
They approached the great pit in the center of the
hall, coming up to the railing that surrounded it.
Sundoc gestured with his right hand and the area below was flooded with light ,
It stood like an enormous statue, like an unusually well-fashioned prop for a Grade B movie, like a suddenly materialized neurosis...
And then it moved. It shuffled its feet and lowered its head away from the light. A strip of gleaming metal was revealed at the back of its head, and another farther down along its spine.
"Ugly as they come," said Sundoc.
The marquis shook his head.
"God's dentures! It's beautiful!" he said softly. "Tell me again what it is called."
"Tyrannosaurus rex."
"Fitting. Yes, so fitting! It's lovely!"
He stood unmoving for over a minute. Then he asked "How did you obtain this wonderful beast? I was given to believe that they only existed in the extremely distant past."
"True. It took a fusion-powered vessel flying above the Road at a very good clip for a very long while to get back that far."
'Yet the Road does extend back to those days... Amazing! And how did you transport something of
that size, that power?"
"Didn't. The team I sent narcotized one and brought a tissue sample to a period about fifteen years back. This specimen was cloned from that sample—that is to say, he is an artificially cultivated twin of the original."
"Beautiful, oh beautiful! I don't understand, but it does not make a bit of difference—adds to the charm, the mystery, in fact. Now, tell me of your control over
it." "You see those metallic plates on its head and back?"
"Yes."
"They are implant grids. A great number of tiny electrodes extend down from them into the creature's nervous system. A moment..."
He walked away, crossing to a workstand from which he obtained a small rectangular box and a silver basket He returned with these and displayed them.
"This," he said, indicating the box, "is a computer—"
"A thinking machine?"
"Oh, someone has been briefing you. Well, sort of. This one is also a broadcast unit."
He threw a switch. A tiny light came on behind a dial. There was no sound.
"You can make it do whatever you want—with that?"
"Better than that."
He fitted the basket over his head, adjusted its band. "Far better," he said, "for there is feedback." The reptile raised its head, turned it to regard them. "... I see two men looking down at me. One is wearing something shiny on his head. I am going to wave to them—my right forelimb."
Grotesquely, ludicrously, the relatively tiny appendage began a waving movement "... And now I will shout my greeting!" A bellow that rattled equipment on distant tables, that seemed to shake the very building, rolled about them.
"I must! I must!" cried the marquis. "Let me try! Please let me try it!" Sundoc grinned and removed the headgear. "Sure. It's easy. I'll show you how to put it on ..." For several minutes, the marquis marched the monster about its pit, waving its tail, stamping its feet "I really can see through its eyes!" "That's the feedback part I was telling you about'' "My— Its strength must be phenomenal!" "Oh, it is."
Several additional minutes passed, then, "I am really loath to surrender this sensation," he observed, "but I suppose I must. How do you turn it off?" "Here, I'll show you."
He removed the headpiece, switched off the control unit.
"I have never known such a sensation of power," said the marquis. "Why— There would be the invincible weapon, the perfect assassin. Why do you not use it to kill that Dorakeen fellow and claim the bounty your master is offering?" Sundoc laughed.
"Can you see it lumbering along the Road toward some guessed-at rendezvous, to step on his enemy? No, transportation would be an insuperable problem, even if we did know exactly where to deliver the beast. I
never intended to use it in any such fashion. Far too cumbersome."
"True, true—when you put it that way. It was the imagery that took hold of me—the reptilian avenger swooping down upon its prey... The sensations of controlling it the while..." "Um. I suppose so."
"... Whereas it actually represents a noble enterprise for the advancement of science."
"Hardly. All of the techniques employed here are quite venerable. The control of that monster represents no gain for science. Whatever information may be obtained concerning the beast itself could as easily be gained simply by studying it in an untampered condition. No, what you see down there is the fulfillment of a whim—which is why I consented so readily to showing it off. I had always had a desire to do this for the pure fun of it. That's all. It is an end in itself. There is no special use for the beast. Oh, my assistants will study its physiology and publish their findings. Might as well take advantage of its presence that way. After a long and rewarding career, I can afford to indulge myself in this fashion. So why not?"
"We are closer together in some matters than I would have believed."
"Because I admit to an expensive indulgence?" The marquis shook his head.
"Because you enjoy the feeling of such a peculiar power."
Sundoc moved his hand and darkened the pit. He drew back from the railing and turned away.