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diff --git a/30322-h/30322-h.htm b/30322-h/30322-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e05688e --- /dev/null +++ b/30322-h/30322-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1255 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Helpful Hand of God, by Tom Godwin + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + + +.f1 { font-size:xx-large; font-weight:bold; margin-left:30%; } +.f2 { font-size: x-large; font-weight:bold; margin-left:20%; } +.f3 { font-size: larger; font-weight:bold; margin-left:20%; } +.f4 { font-size:xx-large; font-weight:bold; } + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:smaller;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30322 ***</div> + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction December 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p></div> +<p> </p> + +<div> +<img class="figright" src="images/image_001_01.jpg" width="341" height="266" alt="" title="" /> +<img class="figright" src="images/image_001_02.jpg" width="600" height="175" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="f3">the helpful hand of</p> + +<p class="f1">god</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... Can be very helpful indeed. But of course, it's long +been known that God helps those who wisely help +themselves....</p></div> +<p class="f3">BY TOM GODWIN</p> +<p> </p> +<p class="f3">ILLUSTRATED BY BARBERIS</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>(From "Vogarian Revised Encyclopedia":</p> + +<p><i><b>SAINTS:</b> Golden Saints, properly, Yellow Saints, a term of contempt +applied by the Vogarian State Press to members of the Church Of The +Golden Rule because of their opposition to the war then being planned +against Alkoria. See CHURCHES.</i></p> + +<p><i><b>CHURCH, GOLDEN RULE, OF THE:</b> A group of reactionary fanatics who +resisted State control and advocated social chaos through "Individual +Freedom." They were liquidated in the Unity Purge but for two-thousand +of the more able-bodied, who were sentenced to the moon mines of Belen +Nine. The prison ship never arrived there and it is assumed that the +condemned Saints somehow overpowered the guards and escaped to some +remote section of the galaxy.)</i></p> +<p> </p> +<p>Kane had observed Commander Y'Nor's bird-of-prey profile with detached +interest as Y'Nor jerked his head around to glare again at the +chronometer on the farther wall of the cruiser's command room.</p> + +<p>"What's keeping Dalon?" Y'Nor demanded, transferring his glare to +Kane. "Did you assure him that I have all day to waste?"</p> + +<p>"He should be here any minute, sir," Kane answered.</p> + +<p>"I didn't find the Saints, after others had failed for sixty years, to +then sit and wait. The situation on Vogar was already very critical +when we left." Y'Nor scowled at the chronometer again. "Every hour we +waste waiting here will delay our return to Vogar by an hour—I +presume you realize that?</p> + +<p>"It does sound like a logical theory," Kane agreed.</p> + +<p>Y'Nor's face darkened dangerously. "You will—"</p> + +<p>Quick, hard-heeled footsteps sounded in the corridor outside. The +guard officer, Dalon, stepped through the doorway and saluted; his +eyes like ice under his pale brows and his uniform seeming to bristle +with weapons.</p> + +<p>"The native is here, sir," he said to Y'Nor.</p> + +<p>He turned, and made a commanding gesture. The leader of the Saints +appeared; the man whose resistance Y'Nor would have to break.</p> + +<p>A frail, white-bearded old man, scuffed uncertainly into the room in +straw sandals, his faded blue eyes peering nearsightedly toward Y'Nor.</p> + +<p>"Go to the commander's desk," Dalon ordered in his metallic tones.</p> + +<p>The old man obeyed and stopped before Y'Nor's desk, his hands clasped +together as though to hide their trembling.</p> + +<p>"You are Brenn," Y'Nor said, "and you hold, I believe, the impressive +titles of Chief Executive of the Council Of Provinces and Supreme +Elder of the Churches Of The Golden Rule?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir." There was a faint quaver in old Brenn's voice. "I welcome +you to our world, sir, and offer you our friendship."</p> + +<p>"I understand you can produce Elusium X fuel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Our Dr. Larue told me the process is within our ability. +We—" He hesitated. "We know you haven't enough fuel to return to +Vogar."</p> + +<p>Y'Nor stiffened in his chair. "What makes you think that?"</p> + +<p>"It requires a great deal of fuel to get through the Whirlpool star +cluster—and even sixty years ago, the Elusium ores of Vogar were +almost exhausted."</p> + +<p>Y'Nor smiled thinly. "That reminds me—you would be one of the Saints +who murdered their guards and stole a ship to get here."</p> + +<p>"We killed no guards, sir. In fact, all of them eventually joined our +church."</p> + +<p>"Where is the ship?"</p> + +<p>"We had to cut it up for our start in mechanization."</p> + +<p>"I presume you know you will pay for it?"</p> + +<p>"It was taking us to our deaths in the radium mines—but we will pay +whatever you ask."</p> + +<p>"The first installment will be one thousand units of fuel, to be +produced with the greatest speed possible."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. But in return"—the old man stood a little straighter and +an underlying resolve was suddenly revealed—"you must recognize us as +a free race."</p> + +<p>"Free? A colony founded by escaped criminals?"</p> + +<p>"That is not true! We committed no crime, harmed no living thing...."</p> + +<p>The hard, cold words of Y'Nor cut off his protest:</p> + +<p>"This world is now a Vogarian possession. Every man, woman, and child +upon it is a prisoner of the Vogarian State. There will be no +resistance. This cruiser's disintegrators can destroy a town within +seconds, your race within hours. Do you understand what I mean?"</p> + +<p>The visible portion of old Brenn's face turned pale. He spoke at last +in the bitter tones of frightened, stubborn determination:</p> + +<p>"I offered you our friendship; I hoped you would accept, for we are a +peaceful race. I should have known that you came only to persecute and +enslave us. But the hand of God will reach down to help us and—"</p> + +<p>Y'Nor laughed, a raucous sound like the harsh caw of the Vogarian +vulture, and held up a hairy fist.</p> + +<p>"This, old man, is the hand for you to center your prayers around. I +want full-scale fuel production commenced within twenty-four hours. If +this is done, and if you continue to unquestioningly obey all my +commands, I will for that long defer your punishment as an escaped +criminal. If this is not done, I will destroy a town exactly +twenty-five hours from now—and as many more as may be necessary. And +you will be publicly executed as a condemned criminal and an enemy of +the Vogarian State."</p> + +<p>Y'Nor turned to Dalon. "Take him away."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">S</span>cared sheep," Y'Nor said when Brenn was gone. "Tomorrow he'll say +that he prayed and his god told him what to do—which will be to save +his neck by doing as I command."</p> + +<p>"I don't know—" Kane said doubtfully. "I think you're wrong about his +conscience folding so easily."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> think?" Y'Nor asked. "Perhaps I should remind you that the +ability to think is usually characteristic of commanders rather than +sub-ensigns. You will not be asked to try to think beyond the small +extent required to comprehend simple commands."</p> + +<p>Kane sighed with weary resignation. An unexpected encounter with an +Alkorian battleship had sent the Vogarian cruiser fleeing through the +unexplored Whirlpool star cluster—Y'Nor and Kane the two surviving +commissioned officers—with results of negative value to those most +affected: the world of the Saint had been accidentally discovered and +he, Kane, had risen from sub-ensign to the shakily temporary position +of second-in-command.</p> + +<p>Y'Nor spoke again:</p> + +<p>"Since Vogarian commanders do not go out and mingle with the natives +of a subject world, you will act as my representative. I'll let Brenn +sweat until tomorrow, then you will go see him. In that, and in all +subsequent contacts with the natives, you will keep in mind the fact +that I shall hold you personally responsible for any failure of my +program."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The next afternoon, two hours before the deadline, Kane went out into +the sweet spring air of the world the Saints had named Sanctuary.</p> + +<p>It was a virgin world, rich in the resources needed by Vogar, with +twenty thousand Saints as the primary labor supply. It was also, he +thought, a green and beautiful world; almost a familiar world. The +cruiser stood at the upper edge of the town and in the late afternoon +sun the little white and brown houses were touched with gold, half +hidden in the deep azure shadows of the tall trees and flowering vines +that bordered the gently curving streets.</p> + +<p>Restlessness stirred within him as he looked at them. It was like +going back in time to the Lost Islands, that isolated little region of +Vogar that had eluded collectivization until the year he was sixteen. +It had been at the same time of year, in the spring, that the State +Unity forces had landed. The Lost Island villages had been drowsing in +the sun that afternoon, as this town was drowsing now—</p> + +<p>He forced the memories from his mind, and the futile restlessness they +brought, and went on past a golden-spired church to a small cottage +that was almost hidden in a garden of flowers and giant silver ferns.</p> + +<p>Brenn met him at the door, his manner very courteous, his eyes +dark-shadowed with weariness as though he had not slept for many +hours, and invited him inside.</p> + +<p>When they were seated in the simply-furnished room, Brenn said, "You +came for my decision, sir?"</p> + +<p>"The commander sent me for it."</p> + +<p>Brenn folded his thin hands, which seemed to have the trembling +sometimes characteristic of the aged.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday evening when I came from the ship, I prayed for guidance +and I saw that I could only abide by the Golden Rule: <i>Do unto others +as you would have them do unto you.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Which means," Kane asked, "that you will do what?"</p> + +<p>"Should we of the Church be stranded upon an alien world, our fuel +supply almost gone, we would ask for help. By our own Golden Rule we +can do no less than give it."</p> + +<p>"Eighteen hours ago I issued the order for full-scale, all-out fuel +production. I've been up all night and day checking the operation."</p> + +<p>Kane stared, surprised that Y'Nor should have so correctly predicted +Brenn's reaction. He tried to see some change in the old man, some +evidence of the personal fear that must have broken him so quickly, +but there was only weariness, and a gentleness.</p> + +<p>"So much fuel—" Brenn said. "Is Vogar still at war with Alkoria?"</p> + +<p>Kane nodded.</p> + +<p>"Once I saw some Alkorian prisoners of war on Vogar," Brenn said. +"They are a peaceful, doglike race. They never wanted to go to war +with Vogar."</p> + +<p>Well—they still didn't want war but on Alkoria were Elusium ores and +other resources that the Vogarian State had to have before it could +carry out its long-frustrated ambition of galactic conquest.</p> + +<p>"I'll go, now," Kane said, getting out of his chair, "and see what +you're having done. The commander doesn't take anybody's word for +anything."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">B</span>renn called a turbo-car and driver to take him to the multi-purpose +factory, which was located a short distance beyond the other side of +town. The driver stopped before the factory's main office, where a +plump, bald man was waiting, his scalp and glasses gleaming in the +sunshine.</p> + +<p>"I'm Dr Larue, sir," he greeted Kane. He had a face that under normal +circumstance would have been genial. "Father Brenn said you were +coming. I'm at your service, to show you what we're doing."</p> + +<p>They went inside the factory, where the rush of activity was like a +beehive. Machines and installations not needed for fuel production +were being torn out as quickly as possible, others taking their place. +The workers—he craned his neck to verify his astonished +first-impression.</p> + +<p>All of them were women.</p> + +<p>"Father Brenn's suggestion," Larue said. "These girls are as competent +as men for this kind of work and their use here permits the release of +men to the outer provinces to procure the raw materials. As you know, +our population is small and widely scattered—"</p> + +<p>A crash sounded as a huge object nearby toppled and fell. Kane took an +instinctive backward step, and bumped into something soft.</p> + +<p>"Oh ... excuse me, sir!"</p> + +<p>He turned, and had a confused vision of an apologetic smile in a +pretty young face, of red curls knocked into disarray—and of +amazingly short shorts and a tantalizingly wispy halter.</p> + +<p>She recovered the notebook she had dropped and hurried on, leaving a +faint cloud of perfume in her wake and a disturbing memory of curving, +golden tan legs and a flat little stomach that had been exposed both +north and south to the extreme limits of modesty.</p> + +<p>"A personnel supervisor from Beachville," Larue said. "She was +sunbathing when the plane arrived to pick her up and had no time to +obtain other clothing. Father Brenn firmly insisted upon losing not +one minute of time during this emergency."</p> + +<p>A crane rumbled into view and its grapples seized the huge object that +had fallen.</p> + +<p>"Our central air-conditioning unit," Larue said. "It had to go."</p> + +<p>"You're putting something else in its place, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes. We must have more space but Father Brenn opposed the plan of +building an annex as too dangerously time consuming. The only +alternative is to tear out everything not absolutely essential."</p> + +<p>Kane left shortly afterward, satisfied that the Saints were doing as +Brenn had said.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He went back out in the spring sunshine where the turbo-car was still +waiting for him, debated briefly with himself, and dismissed the +driver. After so many weeks in the prison-like ship, it would be +pleasant to walk again.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_002.jpg" width="500" height="704" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>A grassy, tree-covered ridge ran like the swell of a green sea +between the plant and the town. He stopped on top of it, where the +town was almost hidden from view, and looked out across the wide +valley. Shadows moved lazily across it as cotton-puff clouds drifted +down the blue dome of the sky, great white birds like swans were +soaring overhead, calling to one another in voices like the singing of +violins, bringing again the memories of the Lost Islands—</p> + +<p>"And the Vogarian lord gazed upon his world and found it good!"</p> + +<p>He swung around, his hand dropping to his holstered blaster, and +looked into the green, mocking eyes of a tawny-haired girl. She was +beautiful, in the savage way that the hill leopards of Vogar were +beautiful, and her hand was on a pistol in her belt.</p> + +<p>Her eyes flickered from his blaster up to his face, bright with +challenge.</p> + +<p>"Want to try it?" she asked.</p> + +<p>She wore a short skirt of some rough material and her knees were +dusty, as though she had walked for a long way. These things he +noticed only absently, his eyes going back to the bold, beautiful +face. For twenty years he had been accustomed to the women of Vogar; +colorless in their Party uniforms and men's haircuts, made even more +drab by the masculine mannerisms they affected. Not since the spring +the Lost Islands died had he seen a girl like the one before him.</p> + +<p>"Well?" she asked. "Do you think you'll know me next time?"</p> + +<p>He walked to her, while she watched him with catlike wariness.</p> + +<p>"Hand me that pistol," he ordered.</p> + +<p>"Try to take it, you Vogarian ape!"</p> + +<p>He moved, and a moment later she was sitting on the ground, her eyes +wide with dismayed surprise as he shoved the pistol in his own belt.</p> + +<p>"Resisting a Vogarian with a deadly weapon calls for the death +penalty," he said. "I suppose you know what I can do?"</p> + +<p>She got up, defiance like a blaze about her.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what you can do—you can go to hell!"</p> + +<p>The thought came to him that there might be considerable pleasure in +laying her over his knee and raising some blisters where they would do +her the most good. He regretfully dismissed the idea as too +undignified for even a sub-ensign and asked:</p> + +<p>"Who are you, and what are you doing here with that pistol?"</p> + +<p>She hesitated, then answered with insolent coolness:</p> + +<p>"My name is Barbara Loring. I heard that you Vogarians had demanded +that we agree to surrender. I came down from the hills to disagree."</p> + +<p>"Is a resistance force meeting here?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think you could make me tell you?"</p> + +<p>"There are ways—but I'm not here to use them. I am not your enemy."</p> + +<p>A little of the hostility faded from her face and she asked, "But how +could a Vogarian ever not be our enemy?"</p> + +<p>He could find no satisfactory answer to the question.</p> + +<p>"I can tell you this," she said. "I know of no resistance +organization. I can also tell you that we're not the race of cowards +you think and we'll fight the instant Father Brenn gives the word."</p> + +<p>"For one who speaks respectfully of Brenn," he said, "your recent +words and actions weren't very religious and refined."</p> + +<p>Fire flashed in the green eyes again. "Up in the Azure Mountains, +where I come from, we're not very refined and we like being that way!"</p> + +<p>"And why do you carry guns?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Because all along our frontier lines are rhino-stags, cliff bears, +thunder hawks, and a lot of other overgrown carnivora that don't like +us—that's why."</p> + +<p>"I see." He took the pistol from his belt and held it out to her. "Go +back to your mountains, where you belong, before you do something to +get yourself executed."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">Y</span>'Nor, waiting impatiently in the ship, was grimly pleased by the news +of Brenn's change of attitude.</p> + +<p>"Exactly as I predicted, as you no doubt recall. How long until they +can have a thousand units of fuel produced?"</p> + +<p>"Larue estimated fourteen days at best."</p> + +<p>Y'Nor tapped his thick fingers on his desk, scowling thoughtfully. "As +little as seven extra days might force Vogar to accept the Alkorian +peace terms because of lack of fuel—the natives can work twice as +hard as they expected to. Tell old Brenn they will be given exactly +seven days from sunrise tomorrow.</p> + +<p>"And summon Dalon and Graver. I want them to make use of every man on +the ship for a twenty-four hour guard-and-inspection system in the +plant. The natives will get no opportunities for stalling or +sabotage."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Brenn was writing at his book-laden table when Kane went into his +cottage the next morning.</p> + +<p>"These are called edicts," Brenn said, after greeting him, "but I +possess no law-making powers and they are really only suggestions."</p> + +<p>Brenn shoved the paper to one side. The script was somewhat different +from that of Vogar.</p> + +<p><i>The Vogarian inspection and guard system is no more than an expected +precaution against sabotage. The Vogarians must be regarded as +potential friends who now treat us with suspicion and arrogance only +because they do not yet realize the sincerity of our desire to help +them to any extent short of surrender—</i></p> + +<p>Kane looked up from the uncompleted, surprisingly humble, edict and +Brenn asked:</p> + +<p>"Your commander, sir—he is now pleased with our actions?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly. He will disintegrate a town seven days from sunrise this +morning if all the fuel isn't produced by then."</p> + +<p>"<i>Seven</i>—only <i>seven</i> days?" There was startled disbelief on Brenn's +face. "But how can he expect us to produce so much fuel in so short a +time?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I'm sorry—it's something I would have argued against +if I hadn't had too much sense to try."</p> + +<p>"Seven days—" Brenn said again. "We can only pray that God will let +it be time enough."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Kane walked on to the plant. The hilltop where he had met the girl was +deserted and he felt a vague disappointment.</p> + +<p>The plant was hot without the air-conditioner, especially in the +vicinity of the electronic roasters. The girls looked flushed and +uncomfortable, but for the redhead who still wore her scanty sunsuit. +The armed Vogarians looked incongruously out of place among the girls +and were sweating profusely. Kane made a mental note to have them +ordered into tropical uniforms.</p> + +<p>He found Dalon prowling like a wolf among his guards.</p> + +<p>"It's inconceivable that these women could ever be a menace," Dalon +said, "but I'm taking no chances."</p> + +<p>He saw Graver, the cruiser's Chief Technician; a thin, dry man who +seemed to be as emotionless as the machines and electronic circuits +that were his life.</p> + +<p>"They're doing everything with astonishing competence," Graver said. +"My technicians are watching like hawks, though."</p> + +<p>Larue was not in his office. His secretary, a brown-eyed woman of +strikingly intelligent appearance, said, "I'm sorry, sir—Dr. Larue +had to go back to town for a few minutes. May I give him your +message?"</p> + +<p>"No, thanks," he said. "Father Brenn is probably performing that +unpleasant chore right now."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">S</span>ince Dalon and Graver seemed to have the situation at the plant well +in hand, Kane decided to make a tour of the outer provinces where the +ores were being mined. An efficient plant would be worthless if it did +not receive sufficient ore.</p> + +<p>He spent four days on the inspection tour; much longer than he had +expected to be gone but made necessary by the fact that the small +Elusium mines were widely scattered in rugged, roadless areas and he +had to walk most of the distance. The single helicopter on Sanctuary +was being used to fly the ore out but it was operating on a schedule +that caused him to miss it each time.</p> + +<p>Each mine was being worked by full day-and-night crews; in fact, by +more men than necessary. The reason for that, and for the way the men +silently withheld their hostility, was made apparent in a bit of +conversation between two miners that he overheard one day:</p> + +<p><i>"... So why all of us here when not this many are needed?"</i></p> + +<p><i>"They say Father Brenn wanted to get all the men out of town, away +from the cruiser, so there would be no trouble—and you know there +would have been if we had stayed. He wants to get the cruiser on its +way back to Vogar, they say, so we can get busy producing weapons to +fight the Occupation force...."</i></p> + +<p>He returned on the fifth evening of the allotted seven days and +stopped by Brenn's cottage before going on to the ship. The old man +was working in his garden, his trembling hands trying to tie up a +red-flowered vine.</p> + +<p>Kane tied it for him and he said, "Thank you, sir. Did you find the +mining to be as I had said?"</p> + +<p>"I found more than that. You know, don't you, that Y'Nor will return +with the Occupation force a hundred days after leaving here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—I know that that is his intention."</p> + +<p>"I understand that you're going to try to build weapons while he's +gone. Don't, if you think anything of your people, let them do it. +Nothing you could build in a hundred days would last a minute against +a cruiser's disintegrators."</p> + +<p>"I know," Brenn said. "We are supposed to choose between bloody, +hopeless resistance and eternal slavery, aren't we? But why should +either fate befall a peaceful race?"</p> + +<p>Kane asked the logical question: "Why shouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"The laws of God have always been laws of justice and mercy. Not even +the Vogarian State can change them."</p> + +<p>He thought of the way the State had changed the Lost Islands in one +bloody, violent afternoon. Brenn, watching his face, said:</p> + +<p>"You are skeptical and bitter, my son—but you will learn that a +harmless old man can speak with wisdom."</p> + +<p>"No," he said. "There is neither justice nor mercy in the universe. I +know from experience. A man can only choose between the lesser of two +evils—and almost anything is less evil than Y'Nor when he's mad."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He went to the plant the next morning. Inside, wherever he looked, he +saw girls in shorts and halters. The place seemed to be alive with +partially clad women. He went to the nearest bulletin board and read +Brenn's edict of four days before:</p> + +<p><i>Since the excessively warm temperature of the plant causes much +discomfort and thereby impairs the efficiency of all workers, and +since maximum efficiency will be required to produce the fuel in the +extremely short time permitted us, it is suggested that the cool +sunsuits of the Beachville girls become the standard work uniform +until further notice. These may be obtained for the asking in +Department 5-A.</i></p> + +<p>The next day's edict read:</p> + +<p><i>Some have hesitated to follow yesterday's edict through a sense of +modesty. This is most commendable. However, the situation is very +critical, our lives depend upon the highest degree of efficiency we +can attain, and a hot, miserable worker is not efficient. Your bodies +are God's handwork—do not be ashamed of them.</i></p> + +<p>The edict for the next day read simply, warningly:</p> + +<p><i>THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">T</span>he Vogarian guards and inspectors, now in tropical uniforms, still +looked out of place with their holstered weapons but their former +cold arrogance was gone and the attitude of the girls had changed from +polite reserve to laughing, chattering friendliness.</p> + +<p>He found Dalon in a far corner; cornered, literally, by the red-haired +personnel supervisor who was spitting like a cat as she said:</p> + +<p>"... Then tell your commander how one of your men tried to make one of +my girls and got hit with a wrench for it! Ask him whether he wants us +to produce fuel or make love! Go ahead—ask him! Or let me—<i>I'll</i> ask +him!"</p> + +<p>"You'll have to see to it that your girls don't lead my men on." Dalon +ran his finger around his collar, worry on his face. "Florence, are +you trying to get me ruined?"</p> + +<p>"Then inform your men that there is a certain commandment we all +believe in and anything beyond our willingness to be friends calls for +marriage first."</p> + +<p>"<i>Marriage?</i>" Dalon spluttered the word, recovered his poise with an +effort, and said stiffly, "My men are soldiers, not suitors. I want +them respected as such."</p> + +<p>He strode away without seeing Kane. The girl stared after him, fuming, +and Kane went in search of Graver.</p> + +<p>Graver and the brown-eyed secretary were in Larue's office, their +heads together over a flow sheet of some kind. The secretary excused +herself and when she was gone, Kane asked:</p> + +<p>"Where's Larue?"</p> + +<p>"Checking the catalytic processors, I think, sir." Graver answered, +almost vaguely. "Mar ... his secretary was just showing me how they +improvised so much of their equipment so quickly." There was a strange +light in Graver's usually expressionless eyes. "It's incredible!"</p> + +<p>"Well—the commander gave them no time to waste, you know."</p> + +<p>"Sir? Oh ... I was referring to her intelligence, sir. It's amazing +that a woman should have such a thorough knowledge of such a complex +process."</p> + +<p>Kane felt the birth pains of the first dark premonition.</p> + +<p>"If you don't want a thorough knowledge of the interior of State +prison," he said in grim warning, "you'd better get that silly look +off your face and concentrate on your duties. Tell Dalon the same +order applies to him. And tell Larue that the commander reminds him +they now have less than forty hours to finish the job."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He decided, again, to walk back to the ship. There was now a multitude +of paths through the grass were girls had been walking to and from +work. Two groups from the last shift-change were a short distance +ahead of him, several of Dalon's guards and Graver's technicians among +them, all of them talking and laughing.</p> + +<p>In that area they could not be spied upon by Y'Nor with the ship's +view-screen scanners and even as he watched, a tall, dark young guard +put his arm around the girl walking close beside him. She twisted away +from him and ran on to the next group, there to look back with a +teasing toss of her head.</p> + +<p>Kane watched both groups disappear over the hill, then followed, +muttering thoughtfully. He felt he could safely assume—if anything +could be said to be safe about the situation—that the lack of +discipline he had just witnessed was typical of all the men. They were +all young and healthy and for sixteen hours out of each day they were +side by side with the almost nude, provocatively feminine, Sanctuary +girls.</p> + +<p>Their weakness was understandable. It was also very dangerous. Heads +would roll if Y'Nor ever learned what was going on and it required no +psychic ability to guess whose head would roll the fastest and +farthest.</p> + +<p>He would have to have it stopped, at once.</p> + +<p>He took a short cut to Brenn's cottage, by a sleepy, shady street he +had never been down before. Halfway along it was an open-air eating +place of some kind, with tables placed about under the trees. There +seemed to be no customers at the moment but he stopped, anyway, to +take a closer look for errant guards.</p> + +<p>A tawny head lifted at a table half hidden by a nearby tree and he +looked into the surprised face of the mountain girl, Barbara.</p> + +<p>"Well!" she said. "Come on over and let me offer you a glass of +cyanide."</p> + +<p>He walked over to her table. She was wearing a blouse and skirt +similar to that of the day he had met her but the pistol was gone.</p> + +<p>"I thought I told you to go back to your hills," he said.</p> + +<p>"I decided it would be more fun to work in the plant and sabotage +things."</p> + +<p>"Let Y'Nor learn you said that and you'll be in a fix I can't help you +out of."</p> + +<p>"Should a Vogarian care?" But the jeering was gone as she said, "When +you gave my pistol back to me—I thought it was a trick of some kind."</p> + +<p>"I told you I wasn't your enemy."</p> + +<p>"I know ... but it's hard for a Saint to believe any Vogarian could +ever be anything else."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem to be very hard for the girls in the plant," he +observed glumly.</p> + +<p>"Oh ... that's different." She made a gesture of light dismissal. +"Those soldiers and technicians are good boys at heart—they haven't +been brain-washed like you officers."</p> + +<p>"That's interesting to know, I'm sure. I suppose—"</p> + +<p>He stopped as a gray-haired woman came and set down a tray containing +a sandwich and a mug. From the foamy top of the mug came the +unmistakable aroma of beer.</p> + +<p>"Do you Saints <i>drink</i>?" he asked incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Sure. Why?"</p> + +<p>"But your church—"</p> + +<p>"Earth churches used to ban alcohol as sinful because it would cause a +mean person to show his true character. My church is more sensible +and works to change the person's character, instead."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_003.jpg" width="500" height="702" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>She took a bite of the sandwich. "Cliff bear steak—it and beer go +perfectly together. Shall I order you some?"</p> + +<p>"No," he said, thinking of Y'Nor's fury if Y'Nor should learn he had +had a friendly lunch with a native girl. "About your church—what kind +of a church is it, anyway?"</p> + +<p>"What its name implies. Heaven isn't for sale at the pulpit—everybody +has to qualify for it by his own actions. We have to practice our +belief—just looking pious and saying that we believe doesn't count."</p> + +<p>He revised his opinion of the Saints, then asked, "But were you +practicing your Golden Rule when you came to this town with a gun to +shoot Vogarians?"</p> + +<p>"For Vogarians we have a special Golden Rule that reads: <i>Do unto +Vogarians as they have come to do unto you.</i> And you came here to +enslave or kill us—remember?"</p> + +<p>It could not be denied. When he did not answer she smiled at him; a +smile surprisingly gentle and understanding.</p> + +<p>"You honestly would like to be our friend, wouldn't you? The State +psychiatrists didn't do a good job of brainwashing you, after all."</p> + +<p>It was the first time since he was sixteen that anyone had spoken to +him with genuine kindness. It gave him a strange feeling, a lonely +sense of something rising up out of the past to mock him, and he +changed the subject:</p> + +<p>"Are the Azure Mountains the edge of your frontier?"</p> + +<p>She nodded. "Beyond is the Emerald Plain, a great, wide plain, and +beyond it are mountain ranges that have never been named or explored. +I'm going into them some day and—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">T</span>ime passed with astonishing speed as he talked with the girl and it +was late in the afternoon when he continued on to Brenn's cottage. He +put the thoughts of her from his mind and told Brenn of the too-warm +association between the girls and the Vogarians.</p> + +<p>"But it is only friendship," Brenn said soothingly. "You can assure +your commander that nothing immoral is being done."</p> + +<p>"If he knew what was going on, it would be my neck. It has to be +stopped. Write an edict—do anything that will stop it at once."</p> + +<p>Brenn stroked his white beard thoughtfully. "I'm sorry this unforeseen +situation has occurred, sir. Will you have strict orders to the same +effect given your men?"</p> + +<p>"There's a severe penalty for unauthorized fraternization. I'll see +that they're well reminded of it."</p> + +<p>"I'll write another edict, at once, forbidding the girls to speak to +your men, sir."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Y'Nor was pacing the floor when Kane went to the ship, his face black +and ugly with anger.</p> + +<p>"Have you been blind?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>Kane tried to swallow a sinking feeling, wondering just how much Y'Nor +had seen, and said, "Sir?"</p> + +<p>"My guards—my so-called guards—how long have they been strolling +back from the plant in company with the native women?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said, feeling a great relief that Y'Nor had not seen the true +situation, "it's only that some of the out-going shifts coincide, sir, +and—"</p> + +<p>"You know, don't you, that military men march to and from duty in +military formation?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"You are aware of the importance of discipline?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"You are further aware of the fact that you, Dalon, and Graver, will +be guilty of treason if this lack of discipline imperils my plans in +any way?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"You have heard of the punishment for treason?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He went below when the unpleasant business with Y'Nor was finally +over. It was the beginning of the eight-hour sleep period for Dalon +and Graver but they were still up, sitting on their bunks and staring +dreamily into space. It was only belatedly, almost fuzzily, that they +became aware of his glowering presence in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"I bring you glad tidings," he said, "from the commander's own lips. +The multiple-gallows at State prison is still in perfect working +order, especially the first three trapdoors—"</p> + +<p>The last day dawned, bright and sunny, and he went to see Brenn.</p> + +<p>"I had the new edict posted immediately," Brenn said. "I hope it will +undo the damage."</p> + +<p>"Let's see it," Kane requested and Brenn handed him the handwritten +original. It was:</p> + +<p><i>Despite our affection for the Vogarians among us, we must not +endanger them by any longer talking to them. A Vogarian military rule +is now being enforced which forbids Vogarians to speak to Sanctuary +girls except in the line of duty. There is a severe penalty for those +who disobey this rule.</i></p> + +<p><i>It must also be pointed out, sternly to the Sanctuary girls and +respectfully to the Vogarians, that flight into the uninhabited +Sanctuary mountains would result in execution for the fleeing couples +if Commander Y'Nor should ever find them.</i></p> + +<p>"What's this?" Kane demanded, pointing to the last paragraph.</p> + +<p>"Why—a warning, sir."</p> + +<p>"Warning ... it's a suggestion!"</p> + +<p>"A suggestion?" Brenn lifted his hands in shocked protest. "But, sir, +how could anyone think—"</p> + +<p>"I, personally, wouldn't give a damn if the entire crew was too +love-sick to eat. But the commander does and my future welfare, +including the privilege of breathing, depends upon my retaining what +passes for his good will."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens—I shall have this edict removed from the bulletin +boards at once!"</p> + +<p>"A great idea. It should fix up everything to lock the stable door +now that the horse is stolen."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">H</span>e went to the plant and felt the air of resentment as soon as he +stepped inside. Dalon was patrolling among his men, his haggard face +becoming more haggard each time the red-haired personnel supervisor +went by with her hips swinging and her head held high in hurt, aloof +silence. The guards were pacing their beats in wordless quiet, +Graver's technicians were speaking only in the line of duty. The girls +were not talking even to one another but in the soft, melting glances +they gave the Vogarians they said <i>We understand</i> in a manner more +eloquent than any words.</p> + +<p>In fact, far too eloquent. He considered the plan of having Brenn +forbid the girls to look at the guards, discarded that as impractical, +for a moment wildly considered ordering the guards not to look at the +girls, discarded that as even more impractical, and went, muttering, +to Larue's office.</p> + +<p>Larue was at his desk, his face lined with fatigue.</p> + +<p>"It's been a difficult job," he said, "but we'll meet the deadline."</p> + +<p>"Good," Kane answered. "Did Brenn phone you about having that edict +removed?"</p> + +<p>"Ah—which one?"</p> + +<p>"Which one? You mean...."</p> + +<p>He turned and ran from the office.</p> + +<p>A girl was removing the offending edict from the nearest bulletin +board. Another, later, one proclaimed:</p> + +<p><i>We must abandon as hopeless the suggestion of some that if there must +be an Occupation force, we would like for it to be these men whom we +have come to respect, and many of us to love. This can never be. Only +Commander Y'Nor will leave the ship at Vogar, there to select his own +Occupation force, while the men now among us continue directly on to +the Alkorian war from which many of them will never return.</i></p> + +<p><i>We must not resent the fact that on this, their last day among us, +these men are forbidden to speak to us or to let us speak to them nor +say that this is unfair when Commander Y'Nor's Occupation troops will +be permitted to associate freely with us. These things are beyond our +power to change. We must accept the inevitable and show only by our +silent conduct the love we have for these warriors whom we shall never +see again.</i></p> + +<p>Kane gulped convulsively, read it again, and hurried back to Larue's +office.</p> + +<p>"How long has that last edict been up?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"About twelve hours."</p> + +<p>"Then every shift has seen it?"</p> + +<p>"Ah ... yes. Why—is something wrong with it?"</p> + +<p>"That depends on the viewpoint. I want them removed at once. And tell +that sanctified old weasel that if this last edict of his gets me +hanged, which it probably will, I'll see to it that he gets the same +medicine."</p> + +<p>He went back into the plant and made his way through the bare-legged, +soft-eyed girls, looking for Dalon. He overheard a guard say in low, +bitter tones to another: "... <i>Maybe eight hours on Vogar, and we +can't leave the ship, then on to the battle front for us while Y'Nor +and his home guard favorites come back here and pick out their +harems</i>—"</p> + +<p>He found Dalon and said to him, "Watch your men. They're resentful. +Some of them might even desert—and Y'Nor wasn't joking about that +gallows for us last night."</p> + +<p>"I know." Dalon ran his finger around the collar that seemed to be +getting increasingly tighter for him. "I've warned them that the +Occupation troops would get them in the end."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He found Graver at a dial-covered panel. The brown-eyed secretary—her +eyes now darker and more appealing than ever—was just leaving, a +notebook in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Since when," Kane asked, "has it been customary for technicians to +need the assistance of secretaries to read a dial?"</p> + +<p>"But, sir, she is a very good technician, herself. Her paper work is +now done and she was helping me trace a circuit that was fluctuating."</p> + +<p>Kane peered suspiciously into Graver's expressionless face.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure it was a circuit that was doing the fluctuating?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Did you know that half of Dalon's guards seem to be ready to jump +ship?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. But their resentment is not characteristic of my +technicians."</p> + +<p>He realized, with surprise, that that was true. And Graver, in +contrast to Dalon's agitation, had the calm, purposeful air of a man +who had pondered deeply upon an unpleasant future and had taken steps +to prevent it.</p> + +<p>"I have no desire to hang, sir, and I have convinced my men that it +would be suicide for part of them to desert. I shall do my best to +convince Dalon's guards of the same thing."</p> + +<p>He went back through the plant, much of his confidence restored, and +back to the ship.</p> + +<p>Y'Nor was pacing the floor again, his impatience keying him to a mood +more vile than ever.</p> + +<p>"This ship will leave at exactly twenty-three fifteen, Vogar time," +Y'Nor said. "Any man not on it then will be regarded as a deserter and +executed as such when I return with the Occupation force."</p> + +<p>He stopped his pacing to stare at Kane with the ominous anticipation +of a spider surveying a captured fly.</p> + +<p>"Although I can operate this ship with a minimum of two crewmen, I +shall expect you to make certain that every man is on board."</p> + +<p>Kane went back out of the ship, his confidence shaken again, and back +to the plant.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">N</span>ight came at last and, finally, the first shielded tank of fuel was +delivered to the ship. Others followed, one by one, as the hours went +by.</p> + +<p>It was almost morning when Graver came to him and said, "My duties and +those of my men are finished here, sir. Shall we go to prepare the +ship for flight?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—get busy at it," Kane answered. "Don't give the commander any +excuse to get any madder than he already is."</p> + +<p>An hour later the last of the fuel went into the last tank and was +hauled away. Someone said, "That's all," and a switch clicked. A +machine rumbled off into silence, followed by others. Control panels +went dark. Within a minute there was not a machine running, not a +panel lighted.</p> + +<p>Dalon's whistle for Guard Assembly sounded, high and shrill. A girl's +voice called to one of the guards: "Hurry back to your ship, +Billy—the thunder hawks might get you if you stayed—" and broke on a +sob. Another girl said, "Hush, Julia—it's not his fault."</p> + +<p>He went out of the plant, and past Larue's office. He saw that the +brown-eyed secretary was gone, her desk clean. Larue was still there, +looking very tired. He did not go in. The fuel had been produced, he +would never see Larue again.</p> + +<p>He took the path that led toward town. Part of the Whirlpool star +cluster was still above the horizon, a white blaze of a thousand suns, +and the eastern sky was lightening with the first rays of dawn. A +dozen girls were ahead of him, their voices a low murmur as they +hurried back toward town. There was an undertone of tension, all of +the former gaiety gone. The brief week of make-believe was over and +the next Vogarians to come would truly be their enemy.</p> + +<p>He came to the hilltop where he had met the mountain girl, thought of +her with irrational longing, and suddenly she was there before him.</p> + +<p>The pistol was again in her belt.</p> + +<p>"You came with all the stealth of a plains ox," she said. "I could +have shot you a dozen times over."</p> + +<p>"Are we already at war?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"We Saints have to let you Vogarians kill some of us, first—our +penalty for being ethical."</p> + +<p>"Listen to me," he said. "We tried to fight the inevitable in the Lost +Islands. When the sun went down that day, half of us were dead and the +rest prisoners."</p> + +<p>"And you rose from prisoner to officer because you were too selfish to +keep fighting for what was right."</p> + +<p>"I saw them bury the ones who insisted on doing that."</p> + +<p>"And you want us to meekly bow down, here?"</p> + +<p>"I have no interest of any kind in this world—I'll never see it +again—but I know from experience what will happen to you and your +people if you try to fight. I don't want that to happen. Do you think +that because a man isn't a blind chauvinist, he has to be a soulless +monster?"</p> + +<p>"No," she said in a suddenly small voice. "But I had hoped ... we were +talking that day of the mountains beyond the Emerald Plain and a +frontier to last for centuries ... it was just idle talk but I thought +maybe that when the showdown came you would be on our side, after +all."</p> + +<p>She drew a deep breath that came a little raggedly and said with a +lightness that was too forced:</p> + +<p>"You don't mind if I have a silly sentimental fondness for my world, +do you? It's the only world I have. Maybe you would understand if you +could see the Azure Mountains in the spring ... but you never will, +will you? Because you lied when you said you weren't my enemy and now +I know you are and I"—the lightness faltered and broke—"am yours ... +and the next time we meet one will have to kill the other."</p> + +<p>She turned away, and vanished among the trees like a shadow.</p> + +<p>He was unaware of the passage of time as he stood there on the hill +that was silent with her going and remembered the day he had met her +and the way the song swans had been calling. When he looked up at the +sky, it was bright gold in the east and the blazing stars of the +Whirlpool were fading into invisibility. He looked to the west, where +the road wound its long way out of the valley, and he thought he could +see her trudging up it, tiny and distant. He looked at his watch and +saw he had just time enough to reach the ship before it left.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f4">B</span>renn was standing by his gate, watching the dawn flame into +incandescence and looking more frail and helpless than ever. The +cruiser towered beyond, blotting out half the dawn sky like a sinister +omen. A faint, deep hum was coming from it as the drive went into the +preliminary phase that preceded take-off.</p> + +<p>"You have only seconds left to reach the ship," Brenn said. "You have +already tarried almost too long."</p> + +<p>"You're looking at a fool," he answered, "who is going to tarry in the +Azure Mountains and beyond the Emerald Plain for a hundred days. Then +the Occupation men will kill him."</p> + +<p>There was no surprise on Brenn's face but it seemed to Kane that the +old man smiled in his beard. For the second time since he was sixteen, +Kane heard someone speak to him with gentle understanding:</p> + +<p>"Although you have not been of much help to my plans, your intentions +were good. I was sure that in the end this would be your decision. I +am well pleased with you, my son."</p> + +<p>A whine came from the ship and the boarding ramp flicked up like a +disappearing tongue. The black opening of the air lock seemed to +wink, then was solid, featureless metal as the doors slid shut.</p> + +<p>"<i>Bon voyage</i>, Y'Nor!" Kane said. "We'll be waiting for you with our +bows and arrows."</p> + +<p>"There is no one on the ship but Y'Nor," Brenn said. "Graver saw to it +that the Ready lights were all going on the command room control +board, then he and all the others followed my ... suggestion."</p> + +<p>Kane remembered Graver's calmness and his statement concerning his +men: "... It would be suicide for part of them to desert."</p> + +<p>For <i>part</i> of them. But if every last one deserted—</p> + +<p>The drives of the ship roared as Y'Nor pushed a control button and the +ship lifted slowly. The roaring faltered and died as Y'Nor pushed +another button which called for a crewman who was not there. The ship +dropped back with a ponderous thud, careened, and fell with a force +that shook the ground. It made no further sound or movement.</p> + +<p>He stared at the silent, impotent ship, finding it hard to realize +that there would be no hundred-day limit for him; that the new world, +the boundless frontier—and Barbara—would be his for as long as he +lived.</p> + +<p>"Poor Commander Y'Nor," Brenn said. "The air lock is now under the +ship and we shall have to dig a tunnel to rescue him."</p> + +<p>"Don't hurry about it," Kane advised. "Let him sweat in the dark for a +few days with his desk wrapped around his neck. It will do him good."</p> + +<p>"We are a kind and harmless race, we could never do anything like +that."</p> + +<p>"Kind? I believe you. But harmless? You made monkeys out of Vogar's +choicest fighting men."</p> + +<p>"Please do not use such an uncouth expression. I was only the humble +instrument of a greater Power. I only ... ah ... encouraged the +natural affection between man and maid, the love that God intended +them to have."</p> + +<p>"But did you practice your Golden Rule? You saw to it that fifty young +men were forced to associate day after day with hundreds of +almost-naked girls. Would you really have wanted the same thing done +to you if you had been in their place?"</p> + +<p>"Would I?" There was a gleam in the old eyes that did not seem to come +from the brightness of the dawn. "I, too, was once young, my son—what +do <i>you</i> think?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30322 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30322-h/images/image_001_01.jpg b/30322-h/images/image_001_01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..532f65d --- /dev/null +++ b/30322-h/images/image_001_01.jpg diff --git a/30322-h/images/image_001_02.jpg b/30322-h/images/image_001_02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..adb8879 --- /dev/null +++ b/30322-h/images/image_001_02.jpg diff --git a/30322-h/images/image_002.jpg b/30322-h/images/image_002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..224f5ac --- /dev/null +++ b/30322-h/images/image_002.jpg diff --git a/30322-h/images/image_003.jpg b/30322-h/images/image_003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b32d83d --- /dev/null +++ b/30322-h/images/image_003.jpg |
