In the Green Star's Glow

She felt the pressure of unseen eyes upon her as she lay, eyes closed, breathing in and out with long, shallow breaths.

Then the feeling of being watched terminated, and Niamh felt herself to be alone and unobserved once again.

She sat up quickly and examined the wall, probing with the sensitive tips of her forgers. The sandal strap was indeed wedged into the narrowest of openings, which meant that the secret door lord not entirely returned to its original position.

This, in turn, suggested that whatever the nature of the locking mechanism which held the door firmly shut, the mechanism might not have fully engaged, due to the slight obstruction. She strove against the seemingly solid wall and pushed and probed, but to no avail.

Taking hold of the end of the strap which protruded from the nearly shut door, Niamh delicately exerted pressure, trying not to pull the leather strap from its place but to apply leverage against it, in order to widen the opening.

After a time, the stone door gave a little. Just a little, but enough to spark a flame of hope within the girl’s breast.

She then took out the jeweled brooch which she had recovered from the floor of the cell—the same pin she had let fall from the net in order to ascertain the distance to the ground—and began employing this as a tool.

The brooch was in the form of a flat buckle of gilt metal, with a design set in sparkling crystals. The edge of the brooch, however, was just thin enough to enable her to insert it into the crack.

With both hands Niamh now twisted simultaneously at the brooch while tugging on the strap.

After an interminable tune, the crack widened still more.

After what seemed like hours of probing and tugging, the girl succeeded in opening the door until it thrust out about one inch from the wall.

Then, using the full strength of her lithe and supple young body, the princess pulled and pulled upon that obtruding edge until her fingers were raw and throbbing with weariness.

But at last the door stood open, revealing an empty square of blackness; into which she crawled headfirst, without a moment’s hesitation.

Whatever might lie outside was better than the prison within!

The wall of her cell proved to be about a foot thick. Beyond the secret door she found a corridor that led to a stone staircase which curved up to a higher story of the structure, perhaps at ground level, for it was obvious that she had been imprisoned in some basement level.

Niamh ascended the stair and found an open portal carved of sleek, glistening stone like pale marble.

The chamber into which she peered was lighted with the same sourceless glow of mellow luminosity she had first observed in her cell. But this room was walled with jeweled mosaics in peculiar geometric patterns devoid of any meaning to her. Low taborets and cushioned stools were scattered about, and the gleaming ceramic floor underfoot, colored a brilliant shade of peacock blue, was carpeted with thick, luxurious furs of a creamy hue.

Fur-bearing animals were so rare upon the planet of the Green Star as to be virtually unknown, but Niamh entered the room without giving thought to this minor mystery. Where all is unknown, so trivial an enigma is unworthy of notice.

In the opposite wall yawned another doorway, hung with a curtain composed of glassy beads-red, blue, amber yellow-strung on long cords. Through this curtain she could see another room, a larger room, with a domed ceiling. It was filled with complicated apparatus whose purposes were not known to her, yet it was untenanted, so the girl shouldered through the curtain and stepped within.

A sharp medicinal stench bit her nostrils—the piercing odor of disinfectant. She gained the center of the domed chamber, and gazed about her with some perplexity.

The walls were lined with metal cabinets with glass doors and shelves covered with glittering bladed implements that looked like surgical instruments.

Benches of metal and long metal tables covered with gleaming white enamel or porcelain stood here and there about the room. These were covered with a variety of vats and crucibles, glass and ceramic containers of every size and description. Peering within, she discovered that these vessels held colored fluids and powders of various kinds. Many were marked with labels, but these were lettered in characters unknown to her.

Tall lamps of tubular metal were affixed to wall brackets. Some were illuminated by an unknown power-source, and cast beams of vivid hues upon lumps of protoplasm sealed in closed, transparent vessels. Niamh shuddered and turned her eyes away, for the first time beginning to regret her lack of trepidation in venturing so imprudently into the private domain of her unknown captor.

The lumps of wetly glistening tissue were various organs of the bodies of men and beasts.

And they seemed to be alive …

The only exit from the domed room, besides the curtained portal through which she had entered, was a sealed metal door held shut by a system of clamps and levers.

She regarded it dubiously, then attempted to open it. The clamps were not locked, but seemed designed for the purpose of making the inner chamber airtight. She opened the metal door easily and looked within.