initial commit of ebook 32836HEADmain

1 files changed, 1034 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/32836.txt b/32836.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7addc6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/32836.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1034 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of When the Mountain Shook, by Robert Abernathy
+
+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: When the Mountain Shook
+
+Author: Robert Abernathy
+
+Illustrator: Kelly  Freas
+
+Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32836]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN THE MOUNTAIN SHOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         WHEN THE MOUNTAIN SHOOK
+
+                           By Robert Abernathy
+
+                        Illustrated by Kelly Freas
+
+[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science
+Fiction March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Dark was the Ryzga mountain and forbidding; steep were its
+cliffs and sheer its crevasses. But its outward perils could not compare
+with the Ryzgas themselves, who slept within, ready to wake and
+conquer...._]
+
+
+At sunset they were in sight of the Ryzga mountain. Strangely it towered
+among the cliffs and snow-slopes of the surrounding ranges: an immense
+and repellently geometric cone, black, its sides blood-tinted by the
+dying sun.
+
+Neena shivered, even though the surrounding cold could not reach her.
+The ice-wind blew from the glacier, but Var's love was round her as a
+warming cloak, a cloak that glowed softly golden in the deepening
+twilight, even as her love was about him.
+
+Var said, "The Watcher's cave should be three miles beyond this pass."
+He stood rigid, trying to catch an echo of the Watcher's thoughts, but
+there was nothing. Perhaps the old man was resting. From the other
+direction, the long way that they two had come, it was not difficult to
+sense the thought of Groz. That thought was powerful, and heavy with
+vengeance.
+
+"Hurry," said Neena. "They're closer than they were an hour ago."
+
+She was beautiful and defiant, facing the red sunset and the black
+mountain. Var sensed her fear, and the love that had conquered it. He
+felt a wave of tenderness and bitterness. For him she had come to this.
+For the flame that had sprung between them at the Truce of New Grass,
+she had challenged the feud of their peoples and had left her home, to
+follow him. Now, if her father and his kinsmen overtook them, it would
+be death for Var, and for Neena living shame. Which of the two was worse
+was no longer a simple problem to Var, who had grown much older in the
+last days.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Wait," he commanded. While she waited he spun a dream, attaching it to
+the crags that loomed over the pass, and to the frozen ground underfoot.
+It was black night, as it would really be when Groz and his henchmen
+reached this place; lurid fire spewed from the Ryzga mountain, and
+strange lights dipped above it; and for good measure there was an
+avalanche in the dream, and hideous beasts rushed snapping and ravening
+from the crevices of the rock.
+
+"Oh!" cried Neena in involuntary alarm.
+
+Var sighed, shaking his head. "It won't hold them for long, but it's the
+best I can do now. Come on."
+
+There was no path. Now they were descending the steeper face of the
+sierra, and the way led over bottomless crevasses, sheer drops and sheer
+ascents, sheets of traitorous glare ice. Place after place had to be
+crossed on the air, and both grew weary with the effort such crossings
+cost. They hoarded their strength, helping one another; one alone might
+never have won through.
+
+It was starry night already when they saw the light from the Watcher's
+cave. The light shone watery and dim from beneath the hoary back of the
+glacier, and as they came nearer they saw why: the cave entrance was
+sealed by a sheet of ice, a frozen waterfall that fell motionless from
+the rocks above. They heard no sound.
+
+The two young people stared for a long minute, intrigued and fearful.
+Both had heard of this place, and the ancient who lived there to keep
+watch on the Ryzga mountain, as a part of the oldest legends of their
+childhood; but neither had been here before.
+
+But this was no time for shyness. Var eyed the ice-curtain closely to
+make sure that it was real, not dream-stuff; then he struck it boldly
+with his fist. It shattered and fell in a rain of splinters, sparkling
+in the light that poured from within.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They felt the Watcher rouse, heard his footsteps, and finally saw him--a
+shrunken old man, white-haired, with a lined beardless face. The sight
+of him, more marred by age than anyone they had ever seen before, was
+disappointing. They had expected something more--an ancient giant, a
+tower of wisdom and strength. The Watcher was four hundred years old;
+beside him even Groz, who had always seemed so ancient, was like a boy.
+
+The Watcher peered at them in turn. "Welcome," he said in a cracked
+voice. He did not speak again; the rest of his conversation was in
+thought only. "Welcome indeed. I am too much alone here."
+
+"You were asleep!" said Var. Shock made his thought accusing, though he
+had not meant to be.
+
+The old man grinned toothlessly. "Never fear. Asleep or awake, I watch.
+Come in! You're letting in the wind."
+
+Inside the cave it was warm as summer. Var saw with some surprise that
+all the walls were sheathed in ice--warm to the touch, bound fast
+against melting by the Watcher's will. Light blazed in reflections from
+the ice walls, till there was no shadow in the place. Behind them began
+a tinkling of falling water, thawed from the glacial ridges above to
+descend sheet-wise over the cave mouth, freezing as it fell into
+lengthening icicles. The old man gazed at his work for a moment, then
+turned questioningly to the young pair.
+
+"We need a little rest out of the cold," said Var. "And food, if you can
+spare it. We're pursued."
+
+"Yes, yes. You shall have what I can give you. Make yourselves
+comfortable, and in one minute.... Pursued, eh? A pity. I see the world
+is as bad as it was when I was last in it."
+
+Hot food and drink were before them almost at once. The Watcher regarded
+them with compassion as their eyes brightened and some of the shadow of
+weariness lifted from them. "You have stolen your enemy's daughter, no
+doubt, young man? Such things happened when I was young."
+
+Warming to the old man now, Var sketched his and Neena's history
+briefly. "We should have been safe among my people by now. And before
+very long, I'm sure, I would have performed some deed which Groz would
+recognize as a worthy exploit, and would thus have healed the feud
+between our families. But our flight was found out too soon. They cut us
+off and forced us into the mountains, and now they are only a few hours
+behind us."
+
+"A pity, indeed. I would like to help you--but, you understand, I am the
+Mountain Watcher. I must be above feuds and families."
+
+Var nodded somberly, thinking that an old recluse would in any case be
+able to do little for them against Groz and his violent kinsfolk.
+
+"And what will you do now?"
+
+Var grinned mirthlessly. "We haven't much choice, since they're
+overtaking us. I have only one idea left: we can go where Groz may fear
+to follow us."
+
+"To the mountain, you mean."
+
+"And into it, if need be."
+
+The Watcher was broodingly silent; his eyes shifted to Neena, where she
+nestled by Var's side. He asked, "And you--are you willing to follow
+your lover in this?"
+
+Neena returned his gaze without flinching; then she looked sidelong at
+Var, and her lips curled with a proud and tender mockery. "Follow? Why,
+I will lead, if his courage should fail him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The old man said, "It is no part of my duty to dissuade you from this
+thing. You are free persons. But I must be sure that you know what you
+are doing. That is the second part of the law the First Watcher made: to
+guard lest the unwary and the ignorant should bring harm on themselves
+and on all men."
+
+"We know the stories," Var said brusquely. "In the hollow heart of their
+mountain the Ryzgas sleep, as they chose to do when their world
+crumbled. But if they are wakened, the mountain will tremble, and the
+Ryzgas will come forth."
+
+"Do you believe that?"
+
+"As one believes stories."
+
+"It is true," said the Watcher heavily. "In my youth I penetrated
+farther into the mountain than anyone before, farther even than did the
+First Watcher. I did not see the sleepers, nor will any man until they
+come again, but I met their sentries, the sentinel machines that guard
+them now as they have for two thousand years. When I had gone that far,
+the mountain began to shake, the force that is in the Earth rumbled
+below, and I returned in time." Now for the first time Var sensed the
+power in the old man's look, the power of four hundred years' wisdom.
+Var stared down at his hands.
+
+"The Ryzgas also were men," said the Watcher. "But they were such a race
+as the world has not seen before or since. There were tyrannies before
+the Ryzgas, there was lust for power, and atrocious cruelty; but such
+tyranny, power, and cruelty as theirs, had never been known. They ruled
+the Earth for four generations, and the Earth was too little for them.
+They laid the world waste, stripped it of metals and fuels and bored to
+its heart for energy, poisoned its seas and its air with the fume of
+their works, wrung its peoples dry for their labor ... and in each of
+those four generations they launched a ship of space. They were great
+and evil as no other people has been, because they wanted the stars.
+
+"Because of them we must build with dreams instead of iron, and our only
+fire is that of the Sun, and even now, two thousand years later, the
+Earth is still slowly recovering from the pangs and poison of that age.
+If you turn up the sod in the plain where the wild herds graze, you will
+find numberless fragments of rusted or corroded metal, bits of glass and
+strange plastic substances, debris of artifacts still showing the marks
+of their shaping--the scattered wreckage of the things they made. And
+we--we too are a remnant, the descendants of the few out of all humanity
+that survived when the Ryzgas' world went down in flame and thunder.
+
+"In the last generation of their power the Ryzgas knew by their science
+that the race of man would endure them no longer. They made ready their
+weapons, they mined the cities and the factories for destruction, making
+sure that their works and their knowledge would perish with them.
+Meanwhile they redoubled the yoke and the punishments, hastening the
+completion of the last of the starships.
+
+"From the memories that the old Watchers have left here, and from the
+memories of dead men that still echo in the air, I have gathered a
+picture of that world's end. I will show it to you...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Var and Neena stared, unstirring, with wide vacant eyes, while the old
+man wove a dream around them, and the bright ice-cave faded from their
+vision, and they saw--
+
+Black starless night, a sky of rolling smoke above the greatest city
+that was ever built. Only the angry light of fires relieved the city's
+darkness--that, and the blue-white lightning flashes that silhouetted
+the naked skeletons of buildings and were followed by thunder and a
+shaking of the earth.
+
+Along lightless streets, half choked with rubble and with the dead,
+poured a mad, hating horde. The recurrent flashes lit scarred faces,
+naked bodies blackened and maimed from the hell of the workshops where
+the Ryzgas' might had been forged, eyes that stared white and half
+sightless from the glare of the furnaces, gnarled hands that now at long
+last clutched the weapons of the last rebellion--a rebellion without
+hope of new life on a world gutted and smoldering from the fulfilment of
+the Ryzgas' dream, without slogans other than a cry for blood.
+
+Before them death waited around the citadel where the masters still
+fought. All round, from the lowest and most poisonous levels of the
+shattered city, the slaves swarmed up in their millions. And the
+lightning blazed, and the city howled and screamed and burned.
+
+Then, unbelievably, the thunder fell silent, and the silence swept
+outward like a wave, from ruined street to street. The mouths that had
+shouted their wrath were speechless, and the rage-blinded eyes were
+lifted in sudden awe. From the center, over the citadel, an immense
+white globe soared upward, rising swiftly without sound.
+
+They had never seen its like, but they knew. It was the last starship,
+and it was leaving.
+
+It poised motionless. For an instant the burning city lay mute; then the
+millions found voice. Some roared ferocious threats and curses; others
+cried desolately--_wait!_
+
+Then the whole city, the dark tumuli of its buildings and its leaping
+fires and tormented faces, and the black sky over it, seemed to twist
+and swim, like a scene under water when a great fish sweeps past, and
+the ship was gone.
+
+The stunned paralysis fell apart in fury. Flame towered over the
+citadel. The hordes ran and shrieked again toward the central inferno,
+and the city burned and burned....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Var blinked dazedly in the shadowless glow of the ice-cave. His arm
+tightened about Neena till she gasped. He was momentarily uncertain that
+he and she were real and here, such had been the force of the dream, a
+vision of such scope and reality as Var had never seen--no, lived
+through--before. With deep respect now he gazed upon the bent old man
+who was the Mountain Watcher.
+
+"Some of the Ryzgas took flight to the stars, and some perished on
+Earth. But there was a group of them who believed that their time to
+rule would come again. These raised a black mountain from the Earth's
+heart, and in hollows within it cast themselves into deathless sleep,
+their deathless and lifeless sentinels round them, to wait till someone
+dare arouse them, or until their chosen time--no one knows surely.
+
+"I have told you the story you know, and have shown you a glimpse of the
+old time, because I must make sure that you do not approach the mountain
+in ignorance. Our world is unwise and sometimes evil, full of arrogance,
+folly, and passion that are in the nature of man. Yet it is a happy
+world, compared to that the Ryzgas made and will make again."
+
+The Watcher eyed them speculatively. "Before all," he said finally,
+"this is a world where you are free to risk wakening the old tyrants, if
+in your own judgment your great need renders the chance worth taking."
+
+Neena pressed her face against Var's shoulder, hiding her eyes. In her
+mind as it groped for his there was a confusion of horror and pity. Var
+looked grimly at the Watcher, and would have spoken; but the Watcher
+seemed suddenly a very long way off, and Var could no longer feel his
+own limbs, his face was a numb mask. Dully he heard the old man say,
+"You are tired. Best sleep until morning."
+
+Var strove to cry out that there was no time, that Groz was near and
+that sleep was for infants and the aged, but his intention sank and
+drowned under wave upon wave of unconquerable languor. The bright cave
+swam and dissolved; his eyelids closed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Var woke. Daylight glimmered through the ice of the cave mouth. He had
+been unconscious, helpless, for hours! At the thought of that, panic
+gripped him. He had not slept since childhood, and he had forgotten how
+it was.
+
+He came to his feet in one quick movement, realizing in that action that
+sleep had refreshed his mind and body--realizing also that a footstep
+had wakened him. Across the cave he faced a young man who watched him
+coolly with dark piercing eyes that were familiar though he did not know
+the face.
+
+Neena sat up and stifled a cry of fright. Var growled, "Who are you?
+Where's the Watcher?"
+
+The other flashed white teeth in a smile. "I'm the Watcher," he
+answered. "Often I become a youth at morning, and relax into age as the
+day passes. A foolish amusement, no doubt, but amusements are few here."
+
+"You made us fall asleep. Groz will be on us--"
+
+"Groz and his people could not detect your thoughts as you slept. They
+were all night chasing elusive dreams on the high ridges, miles away."
+
+Var passed a hand across bewildered eyes. Neena said softly, "Thank you,
+Watcher."
+
+"Don't thank me. I take no sides in your valley feuds. But now you are
+rested, your minds are clear. Do you still mean to go on to the Ryzga
+mountain?"
+
+Not looking at the Watcher, Var muttered unsteadily, "We have no
+alternative."
+
+There was a liquid tinkling as the ice-curtain collapsed; the fresh
+breeze of morning swept into the cave. The youth beckoned to them, and
+they followed him outside.
+
+The glacial slope on which the cavern opened faced toward the mountain.
+It rose black and forbidding in the dawn as it had by sunset. To right
+and left of it, the grand cliffs, ocher and red, were lit splendidly by
+the morning sun, but the mountain of the Ryzgas drank in the light and
+gave nothing back.
+
+Below their feet the slope fell away into an opaque sea of fog, filling
+a mile-wide gorge. There was a sound of turbulent water, of a river
+dashed from rock to rock in its struggle toward the plain, but the
+curling fog hid everything.
+
+"You have an alternative," said the Watcher crisply. The two took their
+eyes from the black mountain and gazed at him in sudden hope, but his
+face was unsmiling. "It is this. You, Var, can flee up the canyon to the
+north, by a way I will show you, disguising your thoughts and masking
+your presence as well as you are able, while the girl goes in the other
+direction, southward, without seeking to conceal herself. Your pursuers
+will be deceived and follow her, and by the time they catch her it will
+be too late for them to overtake Var."
+
+That possibility had not occurred to them at all. Var and Neena looked
+at one another. Then by common consent they blended their minds into
+one.
+
+They thought, in the warm intimacy of unreserved understanding: "_It
+would work: I-you would make the sacrifice of shame and mockery--yet
+these can be borne--that I-you might be saved from death--which is alone
+irreparable.... But to become_ I _and_ you _again--that cannot be
+borne._"
+
+They said in unison, "No. Not that."
+
+The Watcher's face did not change. He said gravely, "Very well. I will
+give you what knowledge I have that may help you when you enter the
+Ryzga mountain."
+
+Quickly, he impressed on them what he had learned of the structure of
+the mountain and of its guardian machines. Var closed his eyes, a little
+dizzied by the rapid flood of detail.
+
+"You are ready to go," said the Watcher. He spoke aloud, and his voice
+was cracked and harsh. Var opened his eyes in surprise, and saw that the
+Watcher had become again the hoary ancient of last night.
+
+Var felt a twinge of unfamiliar emotion; only by its echo in Neena's
+mind did he recognize it as a sense of guilt. He said stiffly, "You
+don't blame us?"
+
+"You have taken life in your own hands," rasped the Watcher. "Who does
+that needs no blessing and feels no curse. Go!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They groped through the fog above blank abysses that hid the snarling
+river, crept hand in hand, sharing their strength, across unstable dream
+bridges from crag to crag. Groz and his pack, in their numbers, would
+cross the gorge more surely and swiftly. When Var and Neena set foot at
+last on the cindery slope of the great volcanic cone, they sensed that
+the pursuit already halved their lead.
+
+They stood high on the side of the Ryzga mountain, and gazed at the
+doorway. It was an opaque yet penetrable well of darkness, opening into
+the face of a lava cliff, closed only by an intangible curtain--so
+little had the Ryzgas feared those who might assail them in their sleep.
+
+Var sent his thoughts probing beyond the curtain, listened intently,
+head thrown back, to their echoes that returned. The tunnel beyond
+slanted steeply downward. Var's hands moved, molding a radiant globe
+from the feeble sunshine that straggled through the fog-bank. With an
+abrupt motion he hurled it. The sun-globe vanished, as if the darkness
+had drunk it up, but though sight did not serve they both sensed that it
+had passed through to light up the depths beyond. For within the
+mountain something snapped suddenly alert--something alive yet not
+living, seeing yet blind. They felt light-sensitive cells tingle in
+response, felt electric currents sting along buried, long-idle
+circuits....
+
+The two stood shivering together.
+
+The morning wind stirred, freshening, the fog lifted a little, and they
+heard a great voice crying, "There they are!"
+
+Var and Neena turned. Far out in the sea of fog, on a dream bridge that
+they could not see, stood Groz. He shook the staff he carried. It was
+too far to discern the rage that must contort his features, but the
+thought he hurled at them was a soundless bellow: "Young fools! I've
+caught you now!"
+
+Behind Groz the figures of his followers loomed up as striding shadows.
+Neena's hand tightened on Var's. Var sent a thought of defiance: "Go
+back! Or you'll drive us to enter the mountain!"
+
+Groz seemed to hesitate. Then he swung his staff up like a weapon, and
+for the two on the mountainside the world turned upside down, the
+mountain's black shoulder hung inverted above them and the dizzy gulf of
+sky was beneath. Var fought for footing with his balance gone, feeling
+Neena reel against him until, summoning all his strength, he broke the
+grip of the illusion and the world seemed to right itself. The mist
+billowed again and Groz was out of sight, but they could hear him
+exhorting his men to haste.
+
+Neena's face was deadly pale and her lips trembled, but her urgent
+whisper said, "Come on!"
+
+Together they plunged into the curtain of darkness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At Var's thought command Neena froze instantly. "Feel that!" he
+muttered, and she, listening, sensed it too: the infinitesimal trickle
+of currents behind what appeared to be a blank tunnel wall, a rising
+potential that seemed to whisper _Ready ... ready.... _
+
+The sun-globe floated behind them, casting light before them down the
+featureless tunnel that sloped always toward the mountain's heart. Var
+summoned it, and it drifted ahead, a dozen feet, a little more--
+
+Between wall and wall a blinding spindle of flame sprang into being,
+pulsed briefly with radiant energy that pained the eyes, and went out.
+The immaterial globe of light danced on before them.
+
+"Forward, before the charge builds up again!" said Var. A few feet
+further on, they stumbled over a pile of charred bones. Someone else had
+made it only this far. It was farther than the Watcher had gone into
+these uncharted regions, and only the utmost alertness of mind and sense
+had saved them from death in traps like this. But as yet the way was not
+blocked....
+
+Then they felt the mountain begin to tremble. A very faint and remote
+vibration at first, then an increasingly potent shuddering of the floor
+under their feet and the walls around them. Somewhere far below immense
+energies were stirring for the first time in centuries. The power that
+was in the Earth was rising; great wheels commenced to turn, the
+mechanical servitors of the Ryzgas woke one by one and began to make
+ready, while their masters yet slept, for the moment of rebirth that
+might be near at hand.
+
+From behind, up the tunnel, came a clear involuntary thought of dismay,
+then a directed thought, echoing and ghostly in the confinement of the
+dark burrow:
+
+"_Stop!_--before you go too far!"
+
+Var faced that way and thought coldly: "Only if you return and let us go
+free."
+
+In the black reaches of the shaft his will groped for and locked with
+that of Groz, like the grip of two strong wrestlers. In that grip each
+knew with finality that the other's stubbornness matched his own--that
+neither would yield, though the mountain above them and the world
+outside should crumble to ruin around them.
+
+"Follow us, then!"
+
+They plunged deeper into the mountain. And the shaking of the mountain
+increased with every step, its vibrations became sound, and its sound
+was like that of the terrible city which they had seen in the dream.
+Through the slow-rolling thunder of the hidden machines seemed to echo
+the death-cries of a billion slaves, the despair of all flesh and blood
+before their monstrous and inhuman power.
+
+Without warning, lights went on. Blinking in their glare, Var and Neena
+saw that fifty paces before them the way opened out into a great rounded
+room that was likewise ablaze with light. Cautiously they crept forward
+to the threshold of that chamber at the mountain's heart.
+
+Its roof was vaulted; its circular walls were lined with panels studded
+with gleaming control buttons, levers, colored lights. As they watched
+light flicked on and off in changing patterns, registering the
+progressive changes in the vast complex of mechanisms for which this
+must be the central control station. Behind those boards circuits opened
+and closed in bewildering confusion; the two invaders felt the rapid
+shifting of magnetic fields, the fury of electrons boiling in vacuum....
+
+For long moments they forgot the pursuit, forgot everything in wonder at
+this place whose remotest like they had never seen in the simplicity of
+their machineless culture. In all the brilliant space there was no life.
+They looked at one another, the same thought coming to both at once:
+perhaps, after two thousand years, the masters were dead after all, and
+only the machines remained? As if irresistibly drawn, they stepped over
+the threshold.
+
+There was a clang of metal like a signal. Halfway up the wall opposite,
+above a narrow ramp that descended between the instrument panels, a
+massive doorway swung wide, and in its opening a figure stood.
+
+Var and Neena huddled frozenly, half expecting each instant to be their
+last. And the Ryzga too stood motionless, looking down at them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He was a man of middle height and stocky build, clad in a garment of
+changing colors, of fabric delicate as dream-stuff. In his right hand,
+with the care one uses with a weapon, he grasped a gleaming metal tube;
+his other hand rested as for support against the frame of the doorway.
+That, and his movements when he came slowly down the ramp toward them,
+conveyed a queer suggestion of weariness or weakness, as if he were yet
+not wholly roused from his two millenia of slumber. But the Ryzga's
+manner and his mind radiated a consciousness of power, a pride and
+assurance of self that smote them like a numbing blow.
+
+With a new shock, Var realized that the Ryzga's thoughts were quite
+open. They had a terse, disconnected quality that was strange and
+unsettling, and in part they were couched in alien and unintelligible
+symbols. But there was no block. Apparently the Ryzga felt no need to
+close his mind in the presence of inferior creatures....
+
+He paused with his back to the central control panel, and studied the
+interlopers with the dispassionate gaze of a scientist examining a new,
+but not novel, species of insect. His thoughts seemed to click, like
+metal parts of a mechanism falling into places prepared for them. The
+image occurred oddly to Var, to whom such a comparison would ordinarily
+have been totally strange.
+
+"Culture: late barbarism. Handwork of high quality--good. Physically
+excellent stock...." There was a complicated and incomprehensible
+schemata of numbers and abstract forms. "The time: two thousand
+years--more progress might have been expected, if any survivors at all
+initially postulated; but this will do. The pessimists were mistaken. We
+can begin again." Then, startlingly super-imposed on the cool
+progression of logical thought, came a wave of raw emotion, devastating
+in its force. It was a lustful image of a world once more obedient,
+crawling, laboring to do the Ryzgas' will--_toward the stars, the
+stars!_ The icy calculation resumed: "Immobilize these and the ones
+indicated in the passage above. Then wake the rest...."
+
+Var was staring in fascination at the Ryzga's face. It was a face formed
+by the custom of unquestioned command; yet it was lined by a deeply
+ingrained weariness, the signs of premature age--denied, overridden by
+the driving will they had sensed a moment earlier. It was a sick man's
+face.
+
+The Ryzga's final thought clicked into place: _Decision!_ He turned
+toward the switchboard behind him, reaching with practised certainty for
+one spot upon it.
+
+Neena screamed.
+
+Between the Ryzga and the control panel a nightmare shape reared up
+seven feet tall, flapping black amorphous limbs and flashing red eyes
+and white fangs. The Ryzga recoiled, and the weapon in his hand came up.
+There was an instantaneous glare like heat lightning, and the monster
+crumpled in on itself, twitched briefly and vanished.
+
+But in that moment a light of inspiration had flashed upon Var, and it
+remained. As the Ryzga stretched out his hand again, Var acted. The
+Ryzga froze, teetering off balance and almost falling, as a numbing grip
+closed down on all his motor nerves.
+
+Holding that grip, Var strode across the floor and looked straight into
+the Ryzga's frantic eyes. They glared back at him with such hatred and
+such evil that for an instant he almost faltered. But the Ryzga's
+efforts, as he strove to free himself from the neural hold, were as
+misdirected and unavailing as those of a child who has not learned to
+wrestle with the mind.
+
+Var had guessed right. When Neena in her terror had flung a dream
+monster into the Ryzga's way--a mere child's bogey out of a fairy
+tale--the Ryzga had not recognized it as such, but had taken it for a
+real being. Var laughed aloud, and with great care, as one communicates
+with an infant, he projected his thoughts into the other's mind. "There
+will be no new beginning for you in _our_ world, Ryzga! In two thousand
+years, we've learned some new things. Now at last I understand why you
+built so many machines, such complicated arrangements of matter and
+energy to do simple tasks--it was because you knew no other way."
+
+Behind the hate-filled eyes the cold brain tried to reason still.
+"Barbarians...? Our party was wrong after all. After us the machine
+civilization could never rise again, because it was a fire that consumed
+its fuel. After us _man_ could not survive on the Earth, because the
+conditions that made him great were gone. The survivors must be
+something else--capacities undeveloped by our science--after us the end
+of man, the beginning.... But those of us who chose to die were right."
+
+The tide of hate and sick desire rose up to drown all coherence. The
+Ryzga made a savage, wholly futile effort to lift the weapon in his
+paralyzed hand. Then his eyes rolled upward, and abruptly he went limp
+and fell in a heap, like a mechanical doll whose motive power has
+failed.
+
+Var felt Neena beside him, and drew her close. As she sobbed her relief,
+he continued to look down absently at the dead man. When at last he
+raised his head, he saw that the drama's end had had a further audience.
+In the outer doorway, backed by his clansmen, stood Groz, gazing first
+in stupefaction at the fallen Ryzga, then with something like awe at
+Var.
+
+Var eyed him for a long moment; then he smiled, and asked, "Well, Groz?
+Is our feud finished, or does your ambition for a worthy son-in-law go
+beyond the conqueror of the Ryzgas?"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's When the Mountain Shook, by Robert Abernathy
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN THE MOUNTAIN SHOOK ***
+
+***** This file should be named 32836.txt or 32836.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/3/32836/
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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.