“I AM READY TO CONFER WITH YOU,” read Sayre. “ARE YOU WILLING TO OBEY THE CONDITIONS WHICH I IMPOSE?”
“YES,” typed the physician.
“MY SERVANT, ALPHA, WILL CONDUCT YOU TO THE MEETING PLACE,” came the next words. “BE READY TO ACCOMPANY HIM.”
“I AM READY,” replied Sayre.
No further message appeared upon the tape. Sayre knocked the ashes from his pipe and sat down to await the coming of Eric Veldon’s servant. Shortly afterward, the door opened. A human automaton entered.
This man was tall and his features seemed to be molded of a pliable substance. In fact, his face, lifeless in expression, looked like a mass of manila-tinted wax. The man’s eyes, though steady, were expressionless. This human machine stared directly at the young surgeon. The molded lips formed a single word:
“Come.”
Sayre arose. The creature stood aside to let him pass. A hand rose like a semaphore signal to point the way along a corridor. Sayre came to the head of a gloomy stairway. He stopped short. Another corpselike figure was standing there. This one was short; the face of the living automaton was of a criminal type. Sayre noted a heavy, pock-scarred jaw.
The man’s arm swung up and pointed toward the stairs. Sayre could hear the approaching beat of footsteps. Alpha, the automaton who had summoned him, was following. Sayre went down the stairs.
There, a few feet beyond the last step, he encountered a cadaverous creature that stood like a lifeless sentinel.
Sayre recognized the monstrosity who had come to Joseph Barratini’s apartment. The human automaton pointed to a corridor that led to the left. Sayre took that path until he found the way blocked by still another living corpse. This one raised a hand to stop his progress.
Alpha arrived and uttered a single, unintelligible word. The last of the sentinels stalked away, with slow, monotonous footbeats. Like echoes, came the sound of other steps. Sayre knew that the men who had guided him were also tramping away from their appointed spots. The physician stood with only Alpha beside him.
The sides of this corridor were paneled. Sayre heard a slight whirring sound. He looked just in time to see a panel slide open. He turned toward Alpha. The mechanical man raised his hand and pointed through the opening.
“Enter,” he spoke, in a dull tone.
SAYRE went into the room. He found himself in a small chamber with dark-paneled walls. There was a table near one end of the room; in front of it was a chair that faced the wall.
On the table, Sayre spied a large frame with dark glass. These objects were barely distinguishable in the gloomy, indirect light of the room.
“Wait,” ordered Alpha, pointing to the chair.
Rupert Sayre sat down. He faced the dark glass. He heard Alpha tramp away. He caught the sound of the closing panel. He was alone.
A hidden mechanism began to thrum. The lights in the room went out. Total blackness prevented Sayre from observing anything that happened until a glow began to penetrate the dark glass of the frame.
Suddenly, the glow burst into an aura of radiant, violet light. Rupert Sayre gasped in utter amazement.
Framed in the space before him, within reach save for the blocking glass, was a terrifying object. A living skeleton, its upper ribs in view, was facing him from the other side of the table. Sayre found himself staring into the eyeless sockets of a skull that grinned monstrous teeth.
This was no illusion. The creature was real. Yet Sayre was quick to recognize the truth. He was looking at the skeleton of a living man. These bones were visible instead of flesh because the person was within the focus of an X-ray machine of extraordinary power. The dark glass formed a screen of fluoroscopic particles which made the scene possible.
Skeleton hands appeared. Bony arms rested their elbows on the table beyond the screen. The jaws of the skull moved. Words seemed to grate from the lipless mouth.
“You are Doctor Rupert Sayre,” said the skeleton.
“I am,” replied the physician.
“I am the master here,” asserted the skeleton. “Do you know my name?”
Sayre was prompt with his reply. He suspected that this bony frame was Eric Veldon, the man whom Joseph Barratini had mentioned; but Sayre was wise enough not to reveal is suspicion.
“No,” he declared.
“That is good,” announced the skeleton. “Tell me. How did you come to follow Doctor Barratini?”
Sayre made a quick decision. He felt that a partial revelation of the truth would enable him to cover up the facts which he did not wish to tell. Tersely and in methodical fashion, he offered his explanation.
“I was calling on Doctor Barratini,” he said. “Someone rapped at the door of the apartment, Doctor Barratini became alarmed. He asked if I had my car available. I told him yes. He put me in another room and told me to follow the man who drove him away.
“An odd-looking fellow entered. He gave money to Doctor Barratini, who then went out with him. I saw them enter a limousine. I followed in my machine. When the limousine stopped, I alighted. I opened the door and found Doctor Barratini dead…”
The skeleton interrupted with a grating laugh. There was no need for Sayre to continue. The young physician calmly awaited the fate that his bony captor might pronounce.
“You are a surgeon,” announced the living skeleton. “Your work is known to me. I learned your identity through cards upon your person. I have work for you to perform. Chance has given you an opportunity.”
RUPERT SAYRE shuddered at the harsh tones of the skeleton’s voice. He knew well that this was Eric Veldon. He felt that he could foretell what the fiend intended to propose. He, Rupert Sayre, would be requested to take up the work which Doctor Joseph Barratini, dead, could no longer perform.
“I have servants,” declared the skeleton, “who serve me well. These minions were once criminals. Doctor Barratini performed operations upon their brains. The men have preserved their natural capabilities, but they no longer remember their pasts. They act mechanically but efficiently.
“Their old names have been forgotten. They are designated by Greek letters. The servant who brought you here was Alpha. He was the first of Doctor Barratini’s subjects.
“Unfortunately, Doctor Barratini and I disagreed. He felt that his operations should be for the benefit of the subjects; that these former criminals could be allowed to take new places in society.
“I decided otherwise. It was necessary for me to eliminate Doctor Barratini. I chose the method which he would least suspect. I summoned him apparently to perform another operation. My minion obeyed two instructions: first, he released a quantity of lethal gas into the interior of the limousine; second, he stopped at a familiar spot to meet another minion who was stationed there.
“I wanted to be sure that Barratini was not followed. You appeared; you stepped into the limousine. My minions brought you along with Barratini.
“The admission of air into the limousine had thinned the gas. You were overcome by the effects, but you did not die. I, naturally, was interested when I learned your identity. I had intended to attempt any future brain operations myself. It has now occurred to me that you can serve in the capacity of operating surgeon.”
The skeleton ceased speaking. Rupert Sayre stared. He was in an incredible situation. He was facing a man whose features he could never recognize. As a means of disguise, Eric Veldon had chosen the amazing course of appearing as a skeleton.
Suddenly, Sayre realized that the man was awaiting his reply to the proposal.
“Suppose,” suggested Sayre, “that I refuse—”
The grating laugh of the skeleton interrupted. Harsh words came from the grinning teeth.
“You have this choice,” announced the fiend. “You may operate upon the subjects whom I provide; or you may pass that privilege on to me. Should I be forced to play the part of surgeon, you, Doctor Sayre, will be my first experimental case.”