diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 207086 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767-h/31767-h.htm | 1351 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767-h/images/001.png | bin | 0 -> 78974 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767-h/images/002-1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 14738 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767-h/images/002-2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 93943 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767.txt | 933 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31767.zip | bin | 0 -> 17904 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 2300 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31767-h.zip b/31767-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..decec77 --- /dev/null +++ b/31767-h.zip diff --git a/31767-h/31767-h.htm b/31767-h/31767-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e585c2a --- /dev/null +++ b/31767-h/31767-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1351 @@ +<!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=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Peacemaker, by Alfred Coppel + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {font-weight: normal;} + h1,h2,.pa1,.hd1 {text-align: center;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 2em auto; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .blockquot {margin: 1em 10%;} + .figl {float: left; clear: left; margin: 0 1em 1em 0; padding: 0; width: 377px; text-align: left;} + .poem {margin: 1em auto; text-align: left; width: 20em;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + img {border: none;} + a:link,a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em; width: auto;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .figt {float: left; clear: left; margin: 15px; padding: 0; width: 138px;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; min-height: 230px;} + .trn p {margin: 15px;} + .bk1 {margin: 0 0 3em 0; text-align: justify;} + .hd1 {margin-bottom: 4em;} + .pa1 {margin-top: 2em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Peacemaker, by Alfred Coppel + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Peacemaker + +Author: Alfred Coppel + +Illustrator: Bob Martin + +Release Date: March 25, 2010 [EBook #31767] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PEACEMAKER *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figl"> +<img src="images/001.png" width="377" height="550" alt="" title="" /> +<i>The</i> Arrow <i>lanced down out of the night<br /> +like a spear of flame, vengeful and deadly.</i></div> + +<div class="bk1"><big><i>The legends of Jaq Merril are legion—but legends. +Hark, ye, then to the true story of the pirate benefactor +of Mankind!</i></big></div> + +<h1>THE PEACEMAKER</h1> + +<h2>By Alfred Coppel</h2> + +<p class="hd1">Illustrated by BOB MARTIN</p> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">We humans</span> are a strange +breed, unique in the Universe. +Of all the races met among +the stars, only <i>homo sapiens</i> thrives +on deliberate self-delusion. Perhaps +this is the secret of our greatness, +for we are great. In power, if not +in supernal wisdom.</p> + +<p>Legends, I think, are our +strength. If one day a man stands +on the rim of the Galaxy and looks +out across the gulfs toward the +seetee suns of Andromeda, it will +be legends that drove him there.</p> + +<p>They are odd things, these +legends, peopled with unreal creatures, +magnificent heroes and despicable +villains. We stand for no +nonsense where our mythology is +concerned. A man becoming part +of our folklore becomes a fey, one-dimensional, +shadow-image of reality.</p> + +<p>Jaq Merril—the Jaq Merril of +the history books—is such an image. +History, folklore's jade, has +daubed Merril with the rouge of +myth, and it does not become him.</p> + +<p>The Peacemaker, the chronicles +have named him, and that at least, +is accurate in point of fact. But it +was not through choice that he became +the Peacemaker; and when +his Peace descended over the +worlds of space, Merril, the man, +was finished. This I know, for I +rode with him—his lieutenant in a +dozen and more bloody fights that +earned him his ironically pacific +laurels.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Not many now living will remember +the Wall Decade. History, +ever pliable, is rewritten often, and +facts are forgotten. When it was +gone, the Wall Decade was remembered +with shame and so was expunged +from the record of time. +But I remember it well. It was an +era compounded of stupidity and +grandeur, of brilliant discovery and +grimy political maneuver. We, the +greedy men of space—and that includes +Jaq Merril—saw it end with +sorrow in our hearts, knowing that +we had killed it.</p> + +<p>If you will think back to the +years immediately preceding the +Age of Space, you may remember +the Iron Curtain. Among the nations +of the Earth a great schism +had arisen, and a wall of ideas was +built between east and west. Hydrogen +bombs were stockpiled and +armies marched and countermarched +threateningly. Men lived +with fear and hatred and distrust.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, came the years +of spaceflight and the expanding +frontiers. Luna was passed. Mars +and Venus and the Jovian Moons +felt the tread of living beings for +the first time since the dawn of +time. The larger asteroids were +taken and even the cold moonlets +of Saturn and Uranus trembled +under the blast of Terran rockets. +But the Iron Curtain still existed. +It was extended out into the gulf +of space, an intangible wall of fear +and suspicion. Thus was born the +Wall Decade.</p> + +<p>Jaq Merril was made for that +epoch. Ever in human history there +are those who profit from the stupidity +of their fellows. Jaq Merril +so profited. He dredged up the +riches of space and took them for +his own. And his weapon was man's +fear of his brothers.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It was</span> in Yakki, down-canal +from the Terran settlement at +Canalopolis, that Merril's plan was +born. His ship, the <i>Arrow</i>, stood on +the red sands of Syrtis Major, waiting +for a payload to the Outer System. +It stood among a good many +like it: the <i>Moonmaid</i>, the <i>Gay +Lady</i>, the <i>Argonaut</i>, and my own +vessel, the <i>Starhound</i>.</p> + +<p>We, the captains, had gathered +in the Spaceman's Rest—a tinkling +gin-mill peopled with human +wrecks and hungry-eyed, dusty-skinned +women who had come out +to Mars hoping for riches and had +found only the same squalor they +had left behind. I remember the +look in Merril's eyes as he spoke +of the treasures of space that would +never be ours, of the gold and +sapphires, the rubies and unearthly +gems of fragile beauty and great +price. All the riches of the worlds +of space, passing through our hands +and into the vaults of the stay-at-homes +who owned our ships and +our very lives. It seemed to me that +Merril suffered as though from +physical pain as he spoke of riches. +He was nothing if not rapacious. +Greedy, venal, ruthless. All of that.</p> + +<p>"Five of us," he said in a hard +voice, "Captains all—with ships +and men. We carry the riches of +the universe and let it slip through +our fingers. What greater fools +could there be?"</p> + +<p>Oh, he was right enough. We +had the power to command in our +hands without the sense to grasp it +firmly and take what we chose.</p> + +<p>"And mark you, my friends," +Merril said, "A wall has been built +around Mars. A wall that weakens +rather than strengthens. A wonderful, +stupid, wall...." He laughed +and glanced around the table at +our faces, flushed with wine and +greed. "With all space full of +walls," he said softly, "Who could +unite against us?"</p> + +<p>The question struck home. I +thought of the five ships standing +out there on the rusty desert across +the silted canal. Five tall ships—against +the stars. We felt no kinship +to those at home who clung to +creature comforts while we bucketed +among the stars risking our +lives and more. We, the spacemen, +had become a race apart from that +of the home planet. And Merril +saw this in our faces that night so +long ago, and he knew that he had +spoken our thoughts.</p> + +<p>Thus was born the Compact.</p> + +<p>Gods of space, but I must laugh +when I read what history has recorded +of the Compact.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Merril, filled with the wonder +of his great dream, spoke his mind +to the Captains. He told them of +the sorrow in his heart for his divided +fellow men, and his face grew +stern when he urged them to put +aside ideology and prejudice and +join with him in the Compact.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>So speaks Quintus Bland, historian +of the Age of Space. I imagine +that I hear Merril's laughter +even as I write. Oh, we put aside +ideology and prejudice, all right! +That night in Yakki the five Captains +clasped hands over the formation +of the first and only compact of +space-piracy in history!</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It was</span> an all or nothing venture. +Our crews were told nothing, +but their pockets were emptied +and their pittances joined with +ours. We loaded the five ships with +supplies and thundered off into the +cobalt Martian sky to seek a stronghold. +We found one readily enough. +The chronicles do not record it accurately. +They say that the fleet of +the Compact based itself on Eros. +This is incorrect. We wanted no +Base that would bring us so close +to the home planet every year. The +asteroid we chose was nameless, +and remained so. We spoke of it +seldom aspace, but it was ever in +our minds. There was no space +wall, there to divide us one from +the other. It was a fortress against +the rest of mankind, and in it we +were brothers.</p> + +<p>When we struck for the first time, +it was not at a Russian missile post +as the histories say. It was at the +<i>Queen of Heaven</i>, an undefended +and unsuspecting merchantman. +The records of Earth say the <i>Queen</i> +was lost in space between Uranus +and Mars, and this is so. But she +was listed lost only because no Russian +or American patrol found her +gutted hulk. I imagine that at this +very moment she hangs out beyond +Pluto, rounding the bend of the +long ellipse we sent her on that day +we stripped her bones.</p> + +<p>She carried gold and precious +stones—and more important yet, +women being furloughed home +after forced labor in the mines of +Soviet Umbriel. The <i>Starhound</i> +and the <i>Arrow</i> bracketed her a million +miles above the plane of the +ecliptic near Saturn's orbit, and +killed her. We drew abreast of her +and forced her valves. We boarded +her and took what we chose. Then +we slaughtered her men and sent +them on their long voyage. That +was the beginning.</p> + +<p>The attack against Corfu was our +next move. This is the battle that +Celia Witmar Day has described in +verse. Very bad verse.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"<i>Corfu slumbered, gorged and proud—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>While</i> Arrow, Hound <i>and</i> Maid <i>marshalled</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Freedom's might above the tyrant's ground,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And rained down death—</i>"<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>There is much more, of course. +Brave phrases of emotion and fanciful +unreality written by one who +never saw the night of space agleam +with stars.</p> + +<p>There was no talk of tyranny or +liberty aboard the <i>Hound</i> that day +we leveled with the <i>Maid</i> and the +<i>Arrow</i> a thousand miles over the +Russian Base of Corfu. There <i>was</i> +talk of the bullion stored under the +fortress' turrets.</p> + +<p>Merril's face appeared in my +visor screen, superimposed on the +image of the grimy little asteroid +floating darkly against the starfields.</p> + +<p>"Their radar has picked us up +by now, and they're wondering who +we are," he said, "Take the <i>Hound</i> +out on tangent left and join the +<i>Maid</i>. Cover my attack and stand +by to put a landing party aground."</p> + +<p>I watched the image of the +<i>Arrow</i>—a sliver of darkness against +the crescent of Corfu—lancing +down at the fortress. Her forward +tubes were glowing with the familiar +pre-discharge emanation.</p> + +<p>Below us, confusion reigned. For +the first time in memory an asteroid +Base was under attack. Merril +brought the <i>Arrow</i> in to within fifty +miles and then unleashed the fury +of his forward tubes. Hellfire coruscated +over the steel turrets and +stone walls of Corfu. It splashed +like a liquid flame over men and +metal and twisted the towers and +buttresses into spidery tendrils of +glowing thread. Corfu died without +firing a shot.</p> + +<p>We put a party from the <i>Hound</i> +aground ten hours later. Even then, +we had to wear insulated suits to +walk in that still molten inferno. +Charred bodies had become one +with the stuff of the fortress, and +nothing living was left within the +keep. We looted Corfu's treasure +and lifted into space heavy with +gold.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Time passed in an orgy of looting +for the men of the Compact. +We grew rich and arrogant, for in +space we were kings. Torn by suspicion +of one another, America and +Russia could do nothing against us. +They had built an Iron Curtain in +space, and it kept them divided +and weak.</p> + +<p>Endymion felt our blasts, and +Clio. Then came Tethys, Rhea, +Iapetus. We cared nothing for the +flag these Bases flew. They were +the gathering points for all the gold +and treasure of space and we of the +Compact took what we wished of +it, leaving a trail of blood and +rapine behind us. No nation +claimed our loyalty; space was our +mother and lust our father.</p> + +<p>Thus, the Peacemakers.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">For five</span> full years—the long +years of the Outer Belt—the +<i>Arrow</i>, the <i>Starhound</i>, the <i>Moonmaid</i>, +the <i>Lady</i> and the <i>Argonaut</i> +were the scourges of the spacelanes. +No patrol could find us, and no defense +could contain us. I recall how +we laughed at the angry sputtering +of Earth's radio. Vast sums were +spent in searches and new weapons +to protect the meek and the mutually +distrustful from Merril and +the men of the Compact. Budgets, +already strained to the breaking +point by generations of the cold +war, creaked and groaned as Russians +and Americans spent furiously +to build up their defenses against +our depredations. But though we +were few and they many—space +was large and it hid us well.</p> + +<p>And then one darkling day, Jaq +Merril and I stood on the thin +methane snow that carpeted our +Base's landing ramp, waiting under +our own blue-black sky for the return +of the <i>Argonaut</i>. Merril had +sent her sunward to strike at the +mines of Loki, an asteroid where +Russian <i>komisars</i> rolled in mountains +of blood-red rubies.</p> + +<p>We waited through the day and +into the sable night, but the <i>Argonaut</i> +did not return. For the first +time since the formation of the +Compact, we had lost a ship, and +something like unease crept into +our hearts. The carousal that night +had no gaiety, and there was the +sound of bereaved women weeping.</p> + +<p>Merril could learn nothing of the +<i>Argonaut's</i> fate. It was as though +she had dropped through a hole in +the fabric of space itself and vanished +from the ken of men. To me +he said: "I fear a new weapon." +But to the rest, he kept his peace +and let the work of the Compact +continue. There was nothing else +to be done. Our Wall Decade was +waning, and when a man or a Compact +outlives the age that gave him +or it birth, there is nothing to do +but go forward and meet the new +day dawning.</p> + +<p>So it was with the Compact. We +lived on as we had lived before: +looting and killing and draining the +wealth of space into our coffers. But +in the back of our minds a shadow +was lurking.</p> + +<p>On the next raid, the <i>Lady</i> was +lost. I saw it happen, as did Merril. +There was nothing we could do to +help her, and she died, spilling men +into the void as she ruptured in her +last agony.</p> + +<p>It was off Hyperion, whence we +had come to loot the trove built +there by the prospectors of the +Saturnian Moons. And it was a +trap.</p> + +<p>The <i>Arrow</i>, the <i>Hound</i> and the +<i>Lady</i> circled the moonlet, swinging +inward to the attack. It was the +<i>Lady</i> who was to put aground the +raiding party, and her valves hung +open while men readied the assault-boats. +Our radar screens showed +nothing of danger. There was only +the bloated giant in the sky, a +ringed monster of yellow gold +against the starry velvet of space.</p> + +<p>The <i>Lady</i> dropped her boats, the +<i>Hound</i> and the <i>Arrow</i> hovering by +to watch over their sister. And suddenly, +the jagged moonscape below +erupted—belching streaks of fire +that sought us like probing fingers. +I knew in one single instant of terror +that this was the new weapon +that had killed the <i>Argonaut</i>, for it +sliced into the <i>Lady's</i> flanks as +though the steelite hull were cheese.</p> + +<p>She bulged, glowing like an ember. +There was a sudden nimbus of +snow about her as her air escaped +and froze, and then she rolled into +her death-dance, open from bow +to stern, spilling scorched corpses +into the void.</p> + +<p>The <i>Arrow</i> and the <i>Hound</i> +drove off into space like furies leaving +the spinning body of their sister +ship behind, not waiting to watch +her crash down onto the rocky face +of Hyperion. And now the five of +the Compact were only three, and +again there was the sound of weeping +among our women.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Two months</span> after that engagement, +a single assault-boat +returned to Base. It was the lone +survivor of the <i>Lady's</i> landing +party. By some miracle, the three +men aboard had escaped the holocaust. +They had landed and been +captured and then they had fought +their way free and into the void +once more. They were half-dead +from starvation and exposure, but +they had brought word to Merril +that the wall that had so long protected +us was crumbling.</p> + +<p>Merril sought me out, his lean +hard face grim and set.</p> + +<p>"There was a Russian among the +Americans on Hyperion," he said.</p> + +<p>"A prisoner?" It was my hope +that spoke so, not my sure knowledge +of what was to come.</p> + +<p>Merril shook his head slowly. "A +technician. They developed the +beam that killed the <i>Argonaut</i> and +the <i>Lady</i>—together." His voice was +harsh and bleak. Then suddenly he +laughed. "We've touched them," +he said, "Touched them on their +tender spot—their purses." He +bowed low, filled with bitter mockery. +"Behold the diplomats, the +men who are accomplishing the +impossible!"</p> + +<p>And I knew that his words spelt +doom. Doom for the Compact and +for the Wall Decade that was our +life.</p> + +<p>Yet we did not stint. In that year +we raided Dione, Io, Ganymede, +and even the American naval Base +on Callisto. We gutted six Russian +and four American rockets filled +with treasure. And we ventured +sunward as far as the moons of +Mars.</p> + +<p>We dared battles with patrol +ships and won. We killed the destroyer +<i>Alexei Tolstoi</i> off Europa +and we shattered an American +monitor over Syrtis itself, and +watched the wreckage rain down +on Yakki, the place where the Compact +was born.</p> + +<p>And we lost the <i>Moonmaid</i>.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The radio told us the story. +Other new weapons were being developed +against us, and here and +there American and Russian spacecraft +were seen in company for the +first time in the history of the Age +of Space. Convoys were formed +from ships of both flags to protect +spatial commerce from the imagined +"great fleet" of the Compact. +None knew that only the <i>Arrow</i> +and the <i>Starhound</i>, small ships, +weary ships, were left to face the +slowly combining might of Earth.</p> + +<p>And then at last, the pickings—growing +slimmer always—diminished +to the vanishing point. Merril +stood before us and gave the assembled +crews their option.</p> + +<p>"The treasure hunt is over," our +captain told us, "And those who +wish may withdraw now. Take +your women and the space-boats +and return to Mars. You have your +shares, and you can live in comfort +wherever you may choose. If you +wish it, go now."</p> + +<p>Some few did go, but most remained. +I watched Merril's face, +and saw one last plan maturing +there. Then he spoke again and we +all understood. One last raid ... to +take Luna and command the +world!</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Still the unity of Mankind was +not secure, and Merril, filled with +impatience for his great dream, decided +on one final stroke. He would +descend on Luna Base itself with +his fleet, and commanding all +Earth, he would drive men together—even +though it might +mean his own death. With this plan +of self-immolation in his heart, the +Peacemaker ordered his hosts and +sought the pumice soil of the mother +planet's moon....</i>"</p></div> + +<p>This is the way Quintus Bland, +historian and scholar, puts it down +for posterity. I, one of "his hosts," +would say it another way.</p> + +<p>We had gutted the Solar System +of its treasure and at last men were +uniting against us. Our "fleet" was +reduced to two small ships and a +bare handful of men and women +to fight them. Jaq Merril could see +the handwriting on the wall and he +knew that all must be gambled on +one last throw of the dice. Only +with Terra herself under our guns +could we hope to continue sucking +the juice of the worlds into our +mouths. It was all or nothing, for +we had grown used to our life and +we could no longer change it to +meet the demands of the dawning +age of Soviet-American amity.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Side by side</span> the <i>Arrow</i> and +the <i>Hound</i> slanted sunward. +Mars behind us, ahead lay the +Earth-Moon system. Ten years had +passed since any of us aboard the +Compact ships had seen the home +world, and though we no longer felt +a part of it, the sight of the silvery +cloud-flecked globe touched our +hearts. Touched them as the +sapphires of Mimas or the gold of +Corfu touched them. We saw the +planet that gave us birth and we +were filled with hunger for it. To +own it, command it, make it our +own.</p> + +<p>Luna's mountains were white +and stark under our keels as Merril +led us across the curve of the +southern horizon, seeking to put +us into position to attack the UN +Moon Base in Clavius from the +direction of the Moon's hidden +face.</p> + +<p>We swung low across unnamed +mountain ranges and deep sheer +valleys steeped in shadow. The +voice of the ranger in the <i>Arrow</i> +came softly through the open intercom +into the tiny control room of +the <i>Hound</i>. A woman's voice, tense +with excitement, but disciplined +and controlled.</p> + +<p>"Range five hundred miles, four +seventy five, four fifty—"</p> + +<p>And then Merril's voice, calm +and reassuring, giving heart to all +the untried ones aboard with his +steady conning commands.</p> + +<p>"Four o'clock jet, easy, hold her. +Drivers up one half standard. +Steady goes. Meet her. Steady—"</p> + +<p>Line astern now, the two ships +flashing low across the jagged lunar +landscape, and a world in the balance—</p> + +<p>An alarm bell ringing suddenly, +and my screen showing the fleeting +outline of a Russian monitor above, +running across our stern. My own +voice, sharp with command:</p> + +<p>"Gun pointer!"</p> + +<p>"Here, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Get me that gunboat."</p> + +<p>The <i>Hound's</i> turret wound about +with agonizing slowness as the +monitor reached for the sky, clawing +for altitude and safety. And +then there came a searing blast of +fire and the fragments of the Russian +gunboat raining down lazily, +seeking their eternal rest in the +pumice of Luna's hidden face.</p> + +<p>But they had been warned at the +UN Base. The monitor had left one +dying shriek in the ether, and the +waiting garrison had heard. Merril +knew it, and so did I. We moved +forward calmly, into the jaws of +hell.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The <i>Arrow</i> attacked from ten +o'clock, low on the horizon, the +<i>Hound</i> from twelve o'clock high. +We swept in over the batteries of +pulsating projectors, raining down +our bombs. The ground shuddered +and shook with the fury of exploding +uranium and the sky was laced +with a net of fiery death. The +<i>Hound</i> shrieked her protest as I +swung her about for another attack.</p> + +<p>There was a sickening swerve and +the smell of ozone in my ship. +Somewhere, deep within her, a +woman screamed and I felt the +deck under me give as one of the +questing beams from the fortress +below cut into the hull. Airtight +doors slammed throughout the +wounded vessel, and I drove her to +the attack again, hard. The last of +the bombs clattered out of the +vents, sending mushrooms of pumice +miles into the black sky. One +battery of guns below fell silent.</p> + +<p>The <i>Arrow</i> vanished into the +night above and as suddenly reappeared, +her forward tubes spewing +red fire onto the Base below. Then +Merril pulled her up again and disappeared +among the pale stars.</p> + +<p>The <i>Hound's</i> hurt was mortal, I +could feel her dying under my +hands, and tears streaked my face. +Below decks, she was a shambles +where the cutting beam from the +ground had torn part of her heart +out. Still I fought her. There was no +retreat from this last raid, nor did +I wish any. There was a madness in +us—a blood-lust as hot and demanding +as ever our lust for gold +and treasure might have been.</p> + +<p>I lashed the face of the fortress +with the <i>Hound's</i> forward tubes, +frantically, filled with a hateful anguish. +I felt my ship losing way, +twisting and seeking rest on the +jagged ground below, and thinking +he had deserted us, I cursed Merril +in an ecstasy of blind fury.</p> + +<p>Again and again the <i>Hound</i> was +hit. I knew then that Merril's plan +had been madness, a last gesture of +defiance to the new age of unity +among men. The <i>Hound</i> fell at last, +spitting fire and gall in a futile +dance of death.</p> + +<p>She struck on a high plateau, +grinding into the pumice, rolling +with macabre abandon across the +face of the high tableland. Then at +last she was still, hissing and groaning +fitfully as she died, her buccaneering +days gone forever.</p> + +<p>I donned a suit and staggered, +half dazed, out into the lunar night. +A half-dozen men and women from +the crew had survived the impact +and they stood by the wreckage, +faces under the plastic helmets +turned skyward. They were one and +all stunned and bleeding from the +violence of the <i>Hound's</i> end, but +they looked neither back nor +around them. Their eyes were filled +with the insane glory of the drama +being enacted in the sky.</p> + +<p>The <i>Arrow</i> had returned. She +lanced down out of the night like a +spear of flame, vengeful and deadly. +Straight into the mouth of the +screaming guns she dove, death +spilling from her tubes. She bathed +the Moon Base in fire, searing the +men within—Russian and American +alike—into the brotherhood of +death.</p> + +<p>Miraculously, she pulled up out +of her encircling net of flame. We +watched in openmouthed wonder +as she reached with sobbing heart +for the sky just once again—and +then, failing, crippled and dying, +she hung above the crater's rim, +framed with deadly beams from +below, but radiant in her own right—gleaming +in the light of the sun.</p> + +<p>This was defeat. We knew it as +we stood by the tangled pile of +steelite that had been the <i>Hound</i> +and watched the <i>Arrow</i> die. But +nothing in this life that I have lived +ever told me so grandly that the +Wall Decade was ended—and our +life of buccaneering with it—as the +thing that happened next.</p> + +<p>The <i>Arrow's</i> valve opened and +a tiny figure stepped out—into +space. I did not need to be told that +Jaq Merril was coming to meet the +men he had welded together against +him.</p> + +<p>Lazily, unreally, the tiny shape +twisted over and over as it fell, until +at last it vanished amid the raw +welter of craters and ridges beyond +the razor wall of Clavius....</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">I have told</span> a true tale, +though one that will not be believed. +I have taken the Peacemaker +of the histories and painted him <i>as +he was</i>.</p> + +<p>But men are ashamed, and the +chronicles of history must be rewritten +to hide their weaknesses, +Jaq Merril has become a legend, +and the man that I knew is forgotten.</p> + +<p>Merril—pirate, fighter, grandiose +dreamer. That was my captain. Not +the colorless do-good creature of +the legend. Merril fought for lust +and greed, and these are the things +that will one day take men to the +stars. He knew this truth, of course, +and that was the substance of his +great dream. Because of it, there +are no longer walls in space, and +the men who united to fight the +Peacemaker will one day rule the +universe.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, chroniclers will write +lies about him, and Jaq Merril's +laughter will echo in some ghostly +Valhalla beyond the farthest star.</p> + +<p class="pa1">THE END</p> + +<div class="trn"><div class="figt"><a href="images/002-2.jpg"><img src="images/002-1.jpg" width="138" height="200" alt="" title="" /></a></div> + +<p><big>Transcriber's Note:</big></p> + +<p>This etext was produced from <i>If: Worlds of Science Fiction</i> January 1953. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Peacemaker, by Alfred Coppel + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PEACEMAKER *** + +***** This file should be named 31767-h.htm or 31767-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/6/31767/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/31767-h/images/001.png b/31767-h/images/001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04733fd --- /dev/null +++ b/31767-h/images/001.png diff --git a/31767-h/images/002-1.jpg b/31767-h/images/002-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..529c272 --- /dev/null +++ b/31767-h/images/002-1.jpg diff --git a/31767-h/images/002-2.jpg b/31767-h/images/002-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8c80f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/31767-h/images/002-2.jpg diff --git a/31767.txt b/31767.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f82d50 --- /dev/null +++ b/31767.txt @@ -0,0 +1,933 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Peacemaker, by Alfred Coppel + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Peacemaker + +Author: Alfred Coppel + +Illustrator: Bob Martin + +Release Date: March 25, 2010 [EBook #31767] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PEACEMAKER *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _The _Arrow_ lanced down out of the night like a spear of +flame, vengeful and deadly._] + + + _The legends of Jaq Merril are legion--but legends. Hark, ye, then + to the true story of the pirate benefactor of Mankind!_ + + +THE PEACEMAKER + +By Alfred Coppel + +Illustrated by BOB MARTIN + + +We humans are a strange breed, unique in the Universe. Of all the races +met among the stars, only _homo sapiens_ thrives on deliberate +self-delusion. Perhaps this is the secret of our greatness, for we are +great. In power, if not in supernal wisdom. + +Legends, I think, are our strength. If one day a man stands on the rim +of the Galaxy and looks out across the gulfs toward the seetee suns of +Andromeda, it will be legends that drove him there. + +They are odd things, these legends, peopled with unreal creatures, +magnificent heroes and despicable villains. We stand for no nonsense +where our mythology is concerned. A man becoming part of our folklore +becomes a fey, one-dimensional, shadow-image of reality. + +Jaq Merril--the Jaq Merril of the history books--is such an image. +History, folklore's jade, has daubed Merril with the rouge of myth, and +it does not become him. + +The Peacemaker, the chronicles have named him, and that at least, is +accurate in point of fact. But it was not through choice that he became +the Peacemaker; and when his Peace descended over the worlds of space, +Merril, the man, was finished. This I know, for I rode with him--his +lieutenant in a dozen and more bloody fights that earned him his +ironically pacific laurels. + + * * * * * + +Not many now living will remember the Wall Decade. History, ever +pliable, is rewritten often, and facts are forgotten. When it was gone, +the Wall Decade was remembered with shame and so was expunged from the +record of time. But I remember it well. It was an era compounded of +stupidity and grandeur, of brilliant discovery and grimy political +maneuver. We, the greedy men of space--and that includes Jaq +Merril--saw it end with sorrow in our hearts, knowing that we had killed +it. + +If you will think back to the years immediately preceding the Age of +Space, you may remember the Iron Curtain. Among the nations of the Earth +a great schism had arisen, and a wall of ideas was built between east +and west. Hydrogen bombs were stockpiled and armies marched and +countermarched threateningly. Men lived with fear and hatred and +distrust. + +Then, suddenly, came the years of spaceflight and the expanding +frontiers. Luna was passed. Mars and Venus and the Jovian Moons felt the +tread of living beings for the first time since the dawn of time. The +larger asteroids were taken and even the cold moonlets of Saturn and +Uranus trembled under the blast of Terran rockets. But the Iron Curtain +still existed. It was extended out into the gulf of space, an intangible +wall of fear and suspicion. Thus was born the Wall Decade. + +Jaq Merril was made for that epoch. Ever in human history there are +those who profit from the stupidity of their fellows. Jaq Merril so +profited. He dredged up the riches of space and took them for his own. +And his weapon was man's fear of his brothers. + + * * * * * + +It was in Yakki, down-canal from the Terran settlement at Canalopolis, +that Merril's plan was born. His ship, the _Arrow_, stood on the red +sands of Syrtis Major, waiting for a payload to the Outer System. It +stood among a good many like it: the _Moonmaid_, the _Gay Lady_, the +_Argonaut_, and my own vessel, the _Starhound_. + +We, the captains, had gathered in the Spaceman's Rest--a tinkling +gin-mill peopled with human wrecks and hungry-eyed, dusty-skinned women +who had come out to Mars hoping for riches and had found only the same +squalor they had left behind. I remember the look in Merril's eyes as he +spoke of the treasures of space that would never be ours, of the gold +and sapphires, the rubies and unearthly gems of fragile beauty and great +price. All the riches of the worlds of space, passing through our hands +and into the vaults of the stay-at-homes who owned our ships and our +very lives. It seemed to me that Merril suffered as though from physical +pain as he spoke of riches. He was nothing if not rapacious. Greedy, +venal, ruthless. All of that. + +"Five of us," he said in a hard voice, "Captains all--with ships and +men. We carry the riches of the universe and let it slip through our +fingers. What greater fools could there be?" + +Oh, he was right enough. We had the power to command in our hands +without the sense to grasp it firmly and take what we chose. + +"And mark you, my friends," Merril said, "A wall has been built around +Mars. A wall that weakens rather than strengthens. A wonderful, stupid, +wall...." He laughed and glanced around the table at our faces, flushed +with wine and greed. "With all space full of walls," he said softly, +"Who could unite against us?" + +The question struck home. I thought of the five ships standing out there +on the rusty desert across the silted canal. Five tall ships--against +the stars. We felt no kinship to those at home who clung to creature +comforts while we bucketed among the stars risking our lives and more. +We, the spacemen, had become a race apart from that of the home planet. +And Merril saw this in our faces that night so long ago, and he knew +that he had spoken our thoughts. + +Thus was born the Compact. + +Gods of space, but I must laugh when I read what history has recorded of +the Compact. + + "_Merril, filled with the wonder of his great dream, spoke his mind + to the Captains. He told them of the sorrow in his heart for his + divided fellow men, and his face grew stern when he urged them to + put aside ideology and prejudice and join with him in the Compact._" + +So speaks Quintus Bland, historian of the Age of Space. I imagine that I +hear Merril's laughter even as I write. Oh, we put aside ideology and +prejudice, all right! That night in Yakki the five Captains clasped +hands over the formation of the first and only compact of space-piracy +in history! + + * * * * * + +It was an all or nothing venture. Our crews were told nothing, but their +pockets were emptied and their pittances joined with ours. We loaded the +five ships with supplies and thundered off into the cobalt Martian sky +to seek a stronghold. We found one readily enough. The chronicles do not +record it accurately. They say that the fleet of the Compact based +itself on Eros. This is incorrect. We wanted no Base that would bring us +so close to the home planet every year. The asteroid we chose was +nameless, and remained so. We spoke of it seldom aspace, but it was ever +in our minds. There was no space wall, there to divide us one from the +other. It was a fortress against the rest of mankind, and in it we were +brothers. + +When we struck for the first time, it was not at a Russian missile post +as the histories say. It was at the _Queen of Heaven_, an undefended and +unsuspecting merchantman. The records of Earth say the _Queen_ was lost +in space between Uranus and Mars, and this is so. But she was listed +lost only because no Russian or American patrol found her gutted hulk. I +imagine that at this very moment she hangs out beyond Pluto, rounding +the bend of the long ellipse we sent her on that day we stripped her +bones. + +She carried gold and precious stones--and more important yet, women +being furloughed home after forced labor in the mines of Soviet Umbriel. +The _Starhound_ and the _Arrow_ bracketed her a million miles above the +plane of the ecliptic near Saturn's orbit, and killed her. We drew +abreast of her and forced her valves. We boarded her and took what we +chose. Then we slaughtered her men and sent them on their long voyage. +That was the beginning. + +The attack against Corfu was our next move. This is the battle that +Celia Witmar Day has described in verse. Very bad verse. + + "_Corfu slumbered, gorged and proud-- + While _Arrow_, _Hound_ and _Maid_ marshalled + Freedom's might above the tyrant's ground, + And rained down death--_" + +There is much more, of course. Brave phrases of emotion and fanciful +unreality written by one who never saw the night of space agleam with +stars. + +There was no talk of tyranny or liberty aboard the _Hound_ that day we +leveled with the _Maid_ and the _Arrow_ a thousand miles over the +Russian Base of Corfu. There _was_ talk of the bullion stored under the +fortress' turrets. + +Merril's face appeared in my visor screen, superimposed on the image of +the grimy little asteroid floating darkly against the starfields. + +"Their radar has picked us up by now, and they're wondering who we are," +he said, "Take the _Hound_ out on tangent left and join the _Maid_. +Cover my attack and stand by to put a landing party aground." + +I watched the image of the _Arrow_--a sliver of darkness against the +crescent of Corfu--lancing down at the fortress. Her forward tubes were +glowing with the familiar pre-discharge emanation. + +Below us, confusion reigned. For the first time in memory an asteroid +Base was under attack. Merril brought the _Arrow_ in to within fifty +miles and then unleashed the fury of his forward tubes. Hellfire +coruscated over the steel turrets and stone walls of Corfu. It splashed +like a liquid flame over men and metal and twisted the towers and +buttresses into spidery tendrils of glowing thread. Corfu died without +firing a shot. + +We put a party from the _Hound_ aground ten hours later. Even then, we +had to wear insulated suits to walk in that still molten inferno. +Charred bodies had become one with the stuff of the fortress, and +nothing living was left within the keep. We looted Corfu's treasure and +lifted into space heavy with gold. + + * * * * * + +Time passed in an orgy of looting for the men of the Compact. We grew +rich and arrogant, for in space we were kings. Torn by suspicion of one +another, America and Russia could do nothing against us. They had built +an Iron Curtain in space, and it kept them divided and weak. + +Endymion felt our blasts, and Clio. Then came Tethys, Rhea, Iapetus. We +cared nothing for the flag these Bases flew. They were the gathering +points for all the gold and treasure of space and we of the Compact took +what we wished of it, leaving a trail of blood and rapine behind us. No +nation claimed our loyalty; space was our mother and lust our father. + +Thus, the Peacemakers. + + * * * * * + +For five full years--the long years of the Outer Belt--the _Arrow_, the +_Starhound_, the _Moonmaid_, the _Lady_ and the _Argonaut_ were the +scourges of the spacelanes. No patrol could find us, and no defense +could contain us. I recall how we laughed at the angry sputtering of +Earth's radio. Vast sums were spent in searches and new weapons to +protect the meek and the mutually distrustful from Merril and the men of +the Compact. Budgets, already strained to the breaking point by +generations of the cold war, creaked and groaned as Russians and +Americans spent furiously to build up their defenses against our +depredations. But though we were few and they many--space was large and +it hid us well. + +And then one darkling day, Jaq Merril and I stood on the thin methane +snow that carpeted our Base's landing ramp, waiting under our own +blue-black sky for the return of the _Argonaut_. Merril had sent her +sunward to strike at the mines of Loki, an asteroid where Russian +_komisars_ rolled in mountains of blood-red rubies. + +We waited through the day and into the sable night, but the _Argonaut_ +did not return. For the first time since the formation of the Compact, +we had lost a ship, and something like unease crept into our hearts. The +carousal that night had no gaiety, and there was the sound of bereaved +women weeping. + +Merril could learn nothing of the _Argonaut's_ fate. It was as though +she had dropped through a hole in the fabric of space itself and +vanished from the ken of men. To me he said: "I fear a new weapon." But +to the rest, he kept his peace and let the work of the Compact continue. +There was nothing else to be done. Our Wall Decade was waning, and when +a man or a Compact outlives the age that gave him or it birth, there is +nothing to do but go forward and meet the new day dawning. + +So it was with the Compact. We lived on as we had lived before: looting +and killing and draining the wealth of space into our coffers. But in +the back of our minds a shadow was lurking. + +On the next raid, the _Lady_ was lost. I saw it happen, as did Merril. +There was nothing we could do to help her, and she died, spilling men +into the void as she ruptured in her last agony. + +It was off Hyperion, whence we had come to loot the trove built there by +the prospectors of the Saturnian Moons. And it was a trap. + +The _Arrow_, the _Hound_ and the _Lady_ circled the moonlet, swinging +inward to the attack. It was the _Lady_ who was to put aground the +raiding party, and her valves hung open while men readied the +assault-boats. Our radar screens showed nothing of danger. There was +only the bloated giant in the sky, a ringed monster of yellow gold +against the starry velvet of space. + +The _Lady_ dropped her boats, the _Hound_ and the _Arrow_ hovering by to +watch over their sister. And suddenly, the jagged moonscape below +erupted--belching streaks of fire that sought us like probing fingers. I +knew in one single instant of terror that this was the new weapon that +had killed the _Argonaut_, for it sliced into the _Lady's_ flanks as +though the steelite hull were cheese. + +She bulged, glowing like an ember. There was a sudden nimbus of snow +about her as her air escaped and froze, and then she rolled into her +death-dance, open from bow to stern, spilling scorched corpses into the +void. + +The _Arrow_ and the _Hound_ drove off into space like furies leaving the +spinning body of their sister ship behind, not waiting to watch her +crash down onto the rocky face of Hyperion. And now the five of the +Compact were only three, and again there was the sound of weeping among +our women. + + * * * * * + +Two months after that engagement, a single assault-boat returned to +Base. It was the lone survivor of the _Lady's_ landing party. By some +miracle, the three men aboard had escaped the holocaust. They had landed +and been captured and then they had fought their way free and into the +void once more. They were half-dead from starvation and exposure, but +they had brought word to Merril that the wall that had so long protected +us was crumbling. + +Merril sought me out, his lean hard face grim and set. + +"There was a Russian among the Americans on Hyperion," he said. + +"A prisoner?" It was my hope that spoke so, not my sure knowledge of +what was to come. + +Merril shook his head slowly. "A technician. They developed the beam +that killed the _Argonaut_ and the _Lady_--together." His voice was +harsh and bleak. Then suddenly he laughed. "We've touched them," he +said, "Touched them on their tender spot--their purses." He bowed low, +filled with bitter mockery. "Behold the diplomats, the men who are +accomplishing the impossible!" + +And I knew that his words spelt doom. Doom for the Compact and for the +Wall Decade that was our life. + +Yet we did not stint. In that year we raided Dione, Io, Ganymede, and +even the American naval Base on Callisto. We gutted six Russian and four +American rockets filled with treasure. And we ventured sunward as far as +the moons of Mars. + +We dared battles with patrol ships and won. We killed the destroyer +_Alexei Tolstoi_ off Europa and we shattered an American monitor over +Syrtis itself, and watched the wreckage rain down on Yakki, the place +where the Compact was born. + +And we lost the _Moonmaid_. + + * * * * * + +The radio told us the story. Other new weapons were being developed +against us, and here and there American and Russian spacecraft were seen +in company for the first time in the history of the Age of Space. +Convoys were formed from ships of both flags to protect spatial commerce +from the imagined "great fleet" of the Compact. None knew that only the +_Arrow_ and the _Starhound_, small ships, weary ships, were left to face +the slowly combining might of Earth. + +And then at last, the pickings--growing slimmer always--diminished to +the vanishing point. Merril stood before us and gave the assembled crews +their option. + +"The treasure hunt is over," our captain told us, "And those who wish +may withdraw now. Take your women and the space-boats and return to +Mars. You have your shares, and you can live in comfort wherever you +may choose. If you wish it, go now." + +Some few did go, but most remained. I watched Merril's face, and saw one +last plan maturing there. Then he spoke again and we all understood. One +last raid ... to take Luna and command the world! + + * * * * * + + "_Still the unity of Mankind was not secure, and Merril, filled with + impatience for his great dream, decided on one final stroke. He + would descend on Luna Base itself with his fleet, and commanding all + Earth, he would drive men together--even though it might mean his + own death. With this plan of self-immolation in his heart, the + Peacemaker ordered his hosts and sought the pumice soil of the + mother planet's moon...._" + +This is the way Quintus Bland, historian and scholar, puts it down for +posterity. I, one of "his hosts," would say it another way. + +We had gutted the Solar System of its treasure and at last men were +uniting against us. Our "fleet" was reduced to two small ships and a +bare handful of men and women to fight them. Jaq Merril could see the +handwriting on the wall and he knew that all must be gambled on one last +throw of the dice. Only with Terra herself under our guns could we hope +to continue sucking the juice of the worlds into our mouths. It was all +or nothing, for we had grown used to our life and we could no longer +change it to meet the demands of the dawning age of Soviet-American +amity. + + * * * * * + +Side by side the _Arrow_ and the _Hound_ slanted sunward. Mars behind +us, ahead lay the Earth-Moon system. Ten years had passed since any of +us aboard the Compact ships had seen the home world, and though we no +longer felt a part of it, the sight of the silvery cloud-flecked globe +touched our hearts. Touched them as the sapphires of Mimas or the gold +of Corfu touched them. We saw the planet that gave us birth and we were +filled with hunger for it. To own it, command it, make it our own. + +Luna's mountains were white and stark under our keels as Merril led us +across the curve of the southern horizon, seeking to put us into +position to attack the UN Moon Base in Clavius from the direction of the +Moon's hidden face. + +We swung low across unnamed mountain ranges and deep sheer valleys +steeped in shadow. The voice of the ranger in the _Arrow_ came softly +through the open intercom into the tiny control room of the _Hound_. A +woman's voice, tense with excitement, but disciplined and controlled. + +"Range five hundred miles, four seventy five, four fifty--" + +And then Merril's voice, calm and reassuring, giving heart to all the +untried ones aboard with his steady conning commands. + +"Four o'clock jet, easy, hold her. Drivers up one half standard. Steady +goes. Meet her. Steady--" + +Line astern now, the two ships flashing low across the jagged lunar +landscape, and a world in the balance-- + +An alarm bell ringing suddenly, and my screen showing the fleeting +outline of a Russian monitor above, running across our stern. My own +voice, sharp with command: + +"Gun pointer!" + +"Here, sir!" + +"Get me that gunboat." + +The _Hound's_ turret wound about with agonizing slowness as the monitor +reached for the sky, clawing for altitude and safety. And then there +came a searing blast of fire and the fragments of the Russian gunboat +raining down lazily, seeking their eternal rest in the pumice of Luna's +hidden face. + +But they had been warned at the UN Base. The monitor had left one dying +shriek in the ether, and the waiting garrison had heard. Merril knew it, +and so did I. We moved forward calmly, into the jaws of hell. + + * * * * * + +The _Arrow_ attacked from ten o'clock, low on the horizon, the _Hound_ +from twelve o'clock high. We swept in over the batteries of pulsating +projectors, raining down our bombs. The ground shuddered and shook with +the fury of exploding uranium and the sky was laced with a net of fiery +death. The _Hound_ shrieked her protest as I swung her about for another +attack. + +There was a sickening swerve and the smell of ozone in my ship. +Somewhere, deep within her, a woman screamed and I felt the deck under +me give as one of the questing beams from the fortress below cut into +the hull. Airtight doors slammed throughout the wounded vessel, and I +drove her to the attack again, hard. The last of the bombs clattered out +of the vents, sending mushrooms of pumice miles into the black sky. One +battery of guns below fell silent. + +The _Arrow_ vanished into the night above and as suddenly reappeared, +her forward tubes spewing red fire onto the Base below. Then Merril +pulled her up again and disappeared among the pale stars. + +The _Hound's_ hurt was mortal, I could feel her dying under my hands, +and tears streaked my face. Below decks, she was a shambles where the +cutting beam from the ground had torn part of her heart out. Still I +fought her. There was no retreat from this last raid, nor did I wish +any. There was a madness in us--a blood-lust as hot and demanding as +ever our lust for gold and treasure might have been. + +I lashed the face of the fortress with the _Hound's_ forward tubes, +frantically, filled with a hateful anguish. I felt my ship losing way, +twisting and seeking rest on the jagged ground below, and thinking he +had deserted us, I cursed Merril in an ecstasy of blind fury. + +Again and again the _Hound_ was hit. I knew then that Merril's plan had +been madness, a last gesture of defiance to the new age of unity among +men. The _Hound_ fell at last, spitting fire and gall in a futile dance +of death. + +She struck on a high plateau, grinding into the pumice, rolling with +macabre abandon across the face of the high tableland. Then at last she +was still, hissing and groaning fitfully as she died, her buccaneering +days gone forever. + +I donned a suit and staggered, half dazed, out into the lunar night. A +half-dozen men and women from the crew had survived the impact and they +stood by the wreckage, faces under the plastic helmets turned skyward. +They were one and all stunned and bleeding from the violence of the +_Hound's_ end, but they looked neither back nor around them. Their eyes +were filled with the insane glory of the drama being enacted in the sky. + +The _Arrow_ had returned. She lanced down out of the night like a spear +of flame, vengeful and deadly. Straight into the mouth of the screaming +guns she dove, death spilling from her tubes. She bathed the Moon Base +in fire, searing the men within--Russian and American alike--into the +brotherhood of death. + +Miraculously, she pulled up out of her encircling net of flame. We +watched in openmouthed wonder as she reached with sobbing heart for the +sky just once again--and then, failing, crippled and dying, she hung +above the crater's rim, framed with deadly beams from below, but radiant +in her own right--gleaming in the light of the sun. + +This was defeat. We knew it as we stood by the tangled pile of steelite +that had been the _Hound_ and watched the _Arrow_ die. But nothing in +this life that I have lived ever told me so grandly that the Wall Decade +was ended--and our life of buccaneering with it--as the thing that +happened next. + +The _Arrow's_ valve opened and a tiny figure stepped out--into space. I +did not need to be told that Jaq Merril was coming to meet the men he +had welded together against him. + +Lazily, unreally, the tiny shape twisted over and over as it fell, until +at last it vanished amid the raw welter of craters and ridges beyond the +razor wall of Clavius.... + + * * * * * + +I have told a true tale, though one that will not be believed. I have +taken the Peacemaker of the histories and painted him _as he was_. + +But men are ashamed, and the chronicles of history must be rewritten to +hide their weaknesses, Jaq Merril has become a legend, and the man that +I knew is forgotten. + +Merril--pirate, fighter, grandiose dreamer. That was my captain. Not the +colorless do-good creature of the legend. Merril fought for lust and +greed, and these are the things that will one day take men to the stars. +He knew this truth, of course, and that was the substance of his great +dream. Because of it, there are no longer walls in space, and the men +who united to fight the Peacemaker will one day rule the universe. + +Meanwhile, chroniclers will write lies about him, and Jaq Merril's +laughter will echo in some ghostly Valhalla beyond the farthest star. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _If: Worlds of Science Fiction_ January + 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Peacemaker, by Alfred Coppel + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PEACEMAKER *** + +***** This file should be named 31767.txt or 31767.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/6/31767/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/31767.zip b/31767.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b79a9e --- /dev/null +++ b/31767.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3abd58 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #31767 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31767) |
