Title: Hero From Yesterday
Author: Randall, Robert
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Hero From Yesterday" ***


                They were a peaceful people and somehow
             couldn't stand the thought of executing their
             only criminal. The answer was to discover a--

                          HERO FROM YESTERDAY

                           By Robert Randall

           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
              Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
                             December 1957
         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]


The day Lugert's criminals gunned down three citizens in a bold
broad-daylight robbery, Domnas Karson, Third Speaker of the Council,
said, "I think I've got the answer."

"Answer? To what?" asked Murgon Darell Fourth Speaker.

"To Lugert," said Karson. "The weapon we can use against that throwback
who's terrorizing us all."

Darell sighed wearily. "There _is_ no answer to Lugert, I'm afraid.
We're peaceful people; he's a throwback to a more violent age. There's
no way to cope with him. Would you want to be the one to shoot him
down?"

Karson shuddered and said, "No, not me. Of course not. I'm no more
capable of violence than anyone else. But Lugert can be stopped. We can
get help."

"From where?"

"From the past," said Karson. "From the ugly crime-ridden world we've
evolved out of. Dr. Lorence of the Science Council has developed a
time-net which...."

"Of course!" Darell exclaimed. "Bring a man out of the past! A man who
won't be inhibited by our innate hatred of violence, a man who'll be
able to deal with Lugert as he deserves!" He rose and strode around
the long councilroom in quick, nervous steps. "Call Lorence, Karson.
Get him at work on the project at once. We can't waste any more time.
There's no telling when Lugert might...."

The visiphone chimed three times. Karson crossed the room and depressed
the receiving stud. On the screen the features of a thick-faced, stocky
man appeared.

"Lugert! What do you want?"

"I'm pleased you recognize me so quickly, Speaker Karson," said the
stocky man in a slow, deep voice. "My fame must be spreading, then."

"You didn't call to chat with us, Lugert. What is it you want?"

Lugert's face hardened slowly.

"You're right. I didn't call to chat. I called to tell you to get out."

"What's that?"

"I said, get out. Pack up your records and papers and clear out of the
Government Building, Karson. You and all the rest of you. I'm taking
over."

Karson paled. "Taking over--_the government_? How far do you think you
can go, Lugert?"

Again the confident, cheerful, steel-hard grin that had become the
Lugert trademark in such an astonishingly brief time. "How far? Why,
Karson, I can go as far as I like. There isn't one of you who dares
say _No_ to anything I ask. And now I'm asking for the government. Go
ahead; refuse. Get indignant. Threaten me. All this easy winning bores
me, Karson."

Karson stared at the thick-featured face framed by the visiscreen.
"You've won again," he said after a pause. "We can't fight you, Lugert.
How much time do we have to evacuate the Government Building?"

"How much do you need?"

Karson thought for a moment. "A week, at least. Is that all right?"

"One week, no more," Lugert agreed. "My men and I will come up to take
over things at noon on 7 September." He chuckled. "7 September, 2531. A
day to go down in history, eh, Karson?"

He broke the contact.

       *       *       *       *       *

Karson turned from the dead screen and looked at Speaker Darell. "Well,
there's our ultimatum," he said. "One week to get out and then Lugert
takes over."

"That means we'll have to move fast," said Darell. "You'd better call
Dr. Lorence. Only a week...."

Karson was already busy punching out Lorence's code number on the
visiphone. When the scientist appeared Karson quickly sketched out
the situation as it stood. Lorence's eyes widened when Karson told of
Lugert's threat. Then the Speaker went on to outline the part Lorence
and his time-net would play in the attempt to defeat Lugert.

"I'll see what I can do," Lorence promised. "I'll try to find the man
you're looking for."

"Can you do it in two days or less?"

"I hope so," Lorence said.

It took two days. Then Lorence rang the Office of the Council and told
Karson, "It's worked!"

"The time-net? You've got the man?"

"I have. I'll bring him right over."

Lorence entered the council room a while later, followed by a tall,
thin, lean-faced man dressed in archaic clothing. Karson's heart
thumped excitedly; here was the man, he thought! Here was the hero from
yesteryear who would put an end to the threat Lugert represented.

"This is Speaker Karson and Speaker Darell of our governing Council,"
Lorence said.

The man from the past nodded curtly. "You can call me Jack." His voice
was cold, flat, with a curious twang of regional accent in it; the
vowel-pronunciation was odd, as was to be expected.

Karson eyed the hard-faced stranger. He didn't seem to have an ounce of
fat on him; he looked tough, uncompromising. "I think you'll do," he
said after a moment's study. "You've got the stuff."

"Thanks," Jack said in a wry voice. "Suppose you line the program out
for me now. Give me the picture; tell me what I'm here for."

Karson frowned. "You're here to help us, because we're helpless
ourselves. Did Dr. Lorence tell you what the characteristics of this
world are?"

"He said a few things. You fill me in."

"It's 300 years since we last had a war of any sort. Crime had been
extinct 150 years--until Lugert.

"Lugert. I heard of him. Who is he?"

"He's the man you're going to kill for us," Karson said bluntly.

The man named Jack grinned. "Oh? A rub-out job?"

"I think that's the term," said Karson. "Lugert's a throwback--a man
out of the past. A man out of your time, suddenly reborn in our era
for God knows what reason. He's cold and hard and utterly ruthless.
Nothing stops him; we're powerless. The compulsion against violence is
too strong in us."

"Just a bunch of patsies," Jack said. "Lugert snaps the whip and you
all lie down and play dead when he says so. That it?"

It took Karson a few moments to digest the strange idioms. Finally he
said, "Right. He began small, with petty thefts and burglaries--he
took anything he wanted. Then he began branching out. He compelled a
scientist to create a serum for him that would instill absolute loyalty
to him in anyone who took it; using that serum, he's built up a band of
henchmen who shares his violent ways. Two days ago he decided to make
the ultimate grab for power: he ordered us to evacuate the Government
Building and let him take over."

"And you said yes," Jack remarked.

"What else could we do? But we have a weapon: you. You share Lugert's
way of life; we don't. We can strike at him indirectly, through you."

"You want me to kill this Lugert. What's in it for me?"

"What?"

"I said, what's in it for me? What do I get out of it besides the risk
of a punctured hide? I don't do these things for my health, Karson."

Karson thought about that for a moment. "Of course; there would have
to be some reward, wouldn't there? Well, what would you want? We can
supply virtually anything, if you'll do the job properly. Osmiridium?
Sapphires? Books? Women?"

The man named Jack shook his head. "Gold," he said.

Karson was startled. "Gold? But why would you want--oh, very well.
Gold was the reigning object of value in your day, wasn't it? Would 25
pounds be enough?"

The man from the past smiled unwarmly. "Quite enough," he said. "You
got yourself a deal."

       *       *       *       *       *

The man named Jack cautiously approached the big building that served
as headquarters for Lugert until the time when he would move into the
sprawling area of the Government Building.

Jack wore modern clothes; his own shabby ancient ones were carefully
stored away in a laboratory closet. His hair was close-cropped in the
current fashion.

But inside his skull was the mind of a 20th-century man. And hidden in
the folds of his vest was a 20th-century automatic, a snubnosed .38
ready to spit death.

The day was 5 September 2531; he had been in this strange world of the
future three days and if all went well he would return to his own time
today. He had spent the three days studying the approach to Lugert's
headquarters, familiarizing himself with the layout, readying himself
for the killing that had to be done.

He was thinking, _Funny old duck, that Karson. They all are. Imagine,
letting someone like Lugert push them all over the place because all
the fight's been bred out of them!_

Well, in 600 years a lot could happen. He shrugged. It wasn't his
business to worry about the doings of his remote descendants.

His business was to kill.

He knew that Lugert's personal suite was on the eighth floor of the
building, that he was guarded by one man outside the door, one at the
elevator entrance, and several in the lobby. He didn't have to worry
about the ones in the lobby. He didn't really have to worry about any
of them on the way in: they wouldn't be expecting anyone dangerous. The
only dangerous people in this world were Lugert and his henchmen and
they'd probably be off-guard when he came by.

His forearm itched where Lorence had inserted the sliver of metal. The
old scientist had been very apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but we have to do this. We can't risk having another
Lugert. This is to make sure you don't get delusions of power once
you've finished off Lugert."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we can control you hypnotically through this generator I'm
embedding in your arm. Just in case you decide not to go back to your
own time when you're through here."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't want to run this place."

But he couldn't blame them for being cautious. Not at all. They'd be
even more helpless before him than they would be under Lugert, after
all.

He drew near the big building. The guard in front said, "Who are you,
and where are you going?"

Jack made his voice as subservient-sounding as he could. He said, "I'm
from Speaker Karson. I'd like to see Lugert."

The guard frowned. "How come Karson didn't just phone the boss?"

"Beats me," Jack said. "Must be top-secret."

The guard frowned at Jack's strange language, shrugged, and sent him on
in. He passed rapidly through the lobby and reached the elevator.

A guard inside the elevator wanted to know where he was going. "I'm
from Speaker Karson," he said. "I have an urgent message to deliver to
Lugert."

The guard held out his hand. "Let's have it. I'll take it up to him;
the boss doesn't like to meet strangers."

Smiling coldly, Jack fumbled in his pocket and withdrew the .38. It
fired once; the silencer muffled the sound down to a squirt! A neat
hole appeared in the elevator operator's head.

Still smiling, Jack pressed _Eight_ and waited for the door to close.

       *       *       *       *       *

Three minutes and two killings later he stood outside the office of
Lugert himself. The elevator was clear, now, and the floor was empty of
henchmen. That would make the getaway easier, Jack thought.

He knocked.

"Who's there?" a voice growled.

"Mr. Lugert?"

"Yeah. Who's there and what do you want?"

"Urgent message from Speaker Karson, sir. Very important that I see
you, Mr. Lugert."

After a considerable pause the door swung open. Lugert stood there,
wearing a glittering plastic robe. He hadn't shaved; he was short and
squat and fierce-looking. Jack smiled and drew the gun.

"Please step inside and keep your hands in the air," he said quietly.
"And don't make a fuss. This gun happens to kill people when it goes
off."

Lugert stepped back. Jack noticed the man didn't seem frightened and
wondered whether it was because Lugert just didn't believe another man
could possibly offer danger or because Lugert was without fear.

He said, "I've killed three of your henchmen. I'm figuring on killing
you, now. Speaker Karson is paying me to do it, Lugert."

Quietly Lugert said, "Who are you? Where'd you come from?"

"You can call me Jack. You don't know me."

"I can see there's a toughness about you," Lugert said. "You're like
me. I didn't think there were any others like me in the world. Where
did Karson find you?"

"In the past, Lugert. In yesterday. He dredged me up from the
20th-Century. There were lots like you and me then, Lugert."

For the first time fear showed in Lugert's face. A driblet of
perspiration snaked down the side of his fleshy jaw. Paler than he had
been before, he said, "From the past? Then--then you can really kill
me?"

Jack nodded. "I'm going to. Karson's paying me 25 pounds of gold for
it."

"_Gold?_ But that stuff's worthless! You can find it anywhere. What do
you want gold for?"

"In my time," said Jack, "the stuff wasn't so common. It was worth
plenty. Times change."

A crafty glint showed in Lugert's eyes. "You're just a hired killer,
then. A man without conscience. Suppose I offer you 30 pounds of gold
not to kill me. Fifty pounds? A hundred?"

The generator in Jack's arm twitched warningly. He knew Karson and
Lorence were listening in. "No," he said. "There's no percentage in it.
You don't have the time-net. You can't send me back to my own time.
I'll stick with their offer."

"No! Look, we can be partners! You're the kind of man I can get to
like, Jack. We'll work together, you and me. Fifty-fifty! An even
split!"

Again the generator twitched. Jack sighed. "Sorry, Lugert. Can't do it.
I made an agreement and I'm going to stick to it. I'm going to kill
you."

Sweat streamed down Lugert's face. "It's not fair," he said. "I had
this world under my thumb--and then they had to find you somewhere!
Why? Why'd they have to mess everything up?"

"Sorry, Lugert. It's just a lousy break for you," Jack said
emotionlessly. "This is the way it's gonna be."

"No!" Lugert yelled.

Jack raised the .38. Lugert threw up his hands as if to protect himself
but Jack's finger tightened anyway. The gun went squirt!

Lugert toppled heavily to the floor. He lay there on the heavy-pile
rug, his blood spilling out and staining the brown carpet a deep red.

Jack looked at him calmly. Then he turned and left the room.

The floor was still empty. Quietly he got into the untended elevator,
rode it to the lobby, and stepped out into the street. The whole job
had taken 10 minutes. Ten minutes and four killings, and he hadn't even
raised a sweat.

       *       *       *       *       *

Darell and Karson and Dr. Lorence were waiting for him in the
councilroom of the Government Building when he got back.

"Great work," Karson said. He looked pale and shaken. "We watched the
whole thing over the transmitter Lorence built into you. Every step.
It--it was well done."

"Thanks," Jack said. "Is the gold ready?"

Lorence handed him a heavy satchel. "It's here. Twenty-five pounds.
Plus five pounds extra for your cooperation."

"Thanks again," Jack said. "Glad to be of help." He didn't mention
the moments when he wavered, when he had nearly gone over to Lugert's
side--probably would have if it hadn't been for the generator planted
in his arm.

He wondered briefly how it would have been, living here with all these
quiet philosophical types.

He said, "I suppose you're going to send me back to my own time now."

Lorence nodded.

The four of them went to Lorence's office and Jack climbed back into
the elaborate harness.

Lorence bustled around him, making adjustments carefully. "We want to
gauge this thing to the minute, you know," he explained. "No mistakes."

"I appreciate the care," Jack said. He held tightly to his satchel.

"We owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude," Karson said. "A debt that
no satchel of gold could ever repay. You've done us a great service.
You're a hero, Jack. A savior of humanity. We'd never have beaten
Lugert without you."

"Ready to go," Lorence said. He threw the switch.

Time began to swirl around the killer from the past. As 2531 started
to fade away from him he grinned for the last time and said, "Imagine
that. Me, a hero! I like that, Me, John Dillinger--a savior of
humanity!"

And then he was gone.



*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Hero From Yesterday" ***

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