9. The End
When I regained my senses the floor was littered with
dead bugs and Mortensen was examining Graisseux's
special laser pistol.
It was powered by new ideas, and in Mortensen's hands
it really worked! We found out later that when the mutant
bugs fed on ideas, some of the ideational energy was transmitted back to the gun.
He shot out the lock and Thalia and I followed him out
of the windowless office; before we could leave the warehouse
Graisseux discovered us. The goons weren't with
him and he looked scared.
"You fools, you can't last against my bugs." He waddled
into his breeding laboratory and opened cage after cage
of bugs. They zoomed toward Mortensen like moths
toward flame.
Mortensen burned wave after wave of bugs out of the
air with the laser pistol. Then a rustle began in the tiers
of crates; the lid burst off one crate, then another and
another, and a torrent of bugs erupted. The intensity of
ideas had caused all the larvae in the brass prizes to grow
and metamorphose into adult bugs.
Now it seemed even Mortensen must run out of ideas.
But a powerful synergy built up: as each wave of bugs
absorbed the gunblasts, they transmitted the energy back.
Finally the warehouse was silent. The last bug was dead.
Graisseux sobbed in a corner and cowered as Mortensen
approached. "What are you going to do to me?" Graisseux
squealed.
"Nothing,' said Mortensen. He took the framis loop
out of the gun and crushed it under his foot, ending the
strange pistol's power forever. He grinned. "You can't get
out of awarding that cube of gold on TV, Graisseux. And
maybe I'll meet you on stage."
THE END
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