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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/33513-h.zip b/33513-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..06ed03e --- /dev/null +++ b/33513-h.zip diff --git a/33513-h/33513-h.htm b/33513-h/33513-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..894f3bc --- /dev/null +++ b/33513-h/33513-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1222 @@ +<!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"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Frightened Planet, by Sidney Austen. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Frightened Planet, by Sidney Austen + +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 Frightened Planet + +Author: Sidney Austen + +Release Date: August 23, 2010 [EBook #33513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRIGHTENED PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, David J. Cole and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Magazine cover" style="border:0" title="" height="600" width="440" /> +</div> + +<p><br /></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/heave.jpg" alt="Giant idol hurled" style="border:0" title="" height="443" width="600" /> +</div> +<h4>With a tremendous heave, Karn hurled the giant idol to the floor</h4> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p><!-- Page 29 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + + +<h1>The Frightened Planet</h1> + +<h2>By Sidney Austen</h2> + +<h3>Karn was only a savage, but he knew a thing or two</h3> +<h3>about the way justice should be meted out—and he did it</h3> + +<p>Against the blackness of the early morning sky the huge ball traced an +arc of flame. Had Karn been watching the sky he would have seen the ball +slow in its descent and then come to a landing some distance ahead of +him. But he was too busy for that.</p> + +<p>On the back of his neck the short hairs told him that pursuit was still +<!-- Page 30 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>close behind. He put on a fresh burst of speed, his bare feet making no +sound on the trail he followed. Soon the early breeze would shift and +they would lose his scent.</p> + +<p>Until then he was in danger from the males of Tur’s tribe. Tur the +coward, Karn thought. Tur the bully. Tur the leader of the tribe. Tur +had never liked Karn. He had liked him even less as he grew into +magnificent Cro-Magnon manhood. Karn represented the challenge that must +come to every leader sooner or later.</p> + +<p>Then the wind shifted and Karn slowed. They’d give him up now. He was +certain of that. But what to do next? He was all alone, an outcast from +his tribe. For a full-grown man to find another tribe was impossible.</p> + +<p>Still, he wasn’t sorry about the fight. It had been a good one. Tur was +still in his prime. He’d used his teeth and his feet and every trick he +knew. He wasn’t quite as strong as Karn, nor as fast, but he’d had the +advantage of experience.</p> + +<p>Only one thing Tur lacked, in common with the other members of the +tribe, and it was that which had lost him the fight. He had almost no +inventiveness. For Karn’s questing mind Tur hated him. He could not +understand a man who found interest in new situations. And what Tur +could not understand he hated.</p> + +<p>So they had fought. For a while Tur held the upper hand. He had met +every rush of Karn’s and repulsed it. But Karn had noticed that every +attack from Tur’s left was met by a singular twist of the chief’s body.</p> + +<p>Once Tur twisted. Twice; a third time; and a fourth time he swung +around. The fifth time Karn was not there. He’d stopped himself in +mid-stride, reversed himself and caught Tur off balance. Then steel +fingers had fastened on Tur’s throat in unshakable tenacity.</p> + +<p>That was when the other males had charged to his rescue. Tur, they +hated. But Karn they hated more. Karn made up his mind quickly. Glat +alone he could have torn limb from limb. Waan alone would have fared no +better. But they and the others together represented for him a quick and +certain death.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Then it had been run, run, run. Run with all of them after him. Run into +the forest in the night. Only the giant wolf and the saber-tooth there. +But they were not half so deadly as his own blood relatives.</p> + +<p>Now the chase was over. Karn paused, his chest heaving. In a few minutes +his breathing was back to normal. It didn’t take this man long to +recover. Karn grinned into the darkness. It would take Tur longer. He’d +wear those welts on his throat for a while.</p> + +<p>Karn shrugged and sniffed the night air. Better move ahead. No smell of +the big cats. But there was a nest of wolves off to his right. They +slept now, but soon they’d be awake. Up ahead there was a strange scent, +one he didn’t recognize.</p> + +<p>Should he go on or turn aside? Ahead there was a glade where a spring +bubbled. Small animals came to drink there in the morning. That meant +food and water to a man who needed both. Karn moved ahead, but warily.</p> + +<p>The rising sun found him only a short distance from his objective. Now +there were mingled sounds as the forest came awake. Early-opening +flowers filled the air with fresh sweetness. It was good to be alive.</p> + +<p>Then, through a thin screen of trees, Karn saw the great ball. It almost +filled the glade, reached nearly to the height of the trees. Gleaming +gray-green it was, like the eyes of the wolf. The association made Karn +pause. He drifted off to one side, picked a likely tree and hauled +himself up into its lower branches.</p> + +<p>Patience Karn had. He sat immobile, watchful. From inside this strange +<!-- Page 31 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>orb came sounds that were not too faint for Karn’s keen hearing. An +hour passed; two hours. Nothing happened. Still he crouched, waiting.</p> + +<p>His patience was rewarded. An opening appeared in the ball. There was a +puff of air being released from pressure. A figure stepped through the +opening and onto the earth. Another figure followed. What were they?</p> + +<p>They were men! Clad in strange garments that covered them tightly, they +walked upright on two legs. But what puny men!</p> + +<p>Half Karn’s size they were, and hairless. Through their skin-tight +garments the bones of their narrow chests were visible. Their delicate +fingers hovered at their waists over small sticks. The scent of fear was +on them.</p> + +<p>Karn’s nose wrinkled in disgust. No danger here. Then a third figure +stepped out into the light and Karn’s flagging interest reawakened. This +scent he recognized. This was a woman!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>She was taller than the men and her garment clung tight to a rounded +figure that brought a gleam to Karn’s eyes. This one had hair, thicker +than Karn’s own. Her features were more delicate than those of the women +he had known, but somehow more pleasing.</p> + +<p>He realized that the three were speaking. Their mouths did not move, +there was no sound. Yet they spoke. Karn could hear the voices inside +his head. Somehow he understood.</p> + +<p>“What a place to land,” the woman said.</p> + +<p>“Couldn’t be helped,” one of the men replied. “At least it has air. Once +the tanks are full we’ll be on our way again. In a minute or two I’ll +test that liquid to see if we can drink it.”</p> + +<p>“Must you test everything? It looks all right. And why must we stand so +close to the ship?”</p> + +<p>“Because we don’t know what sort of place we’ve landed in,” the second +man said.</p> + +<p>“There’s only one way to find out,” she told him. “By moving around.”</p> + +<p>Her tone was openly contemptuous. Karn found himself agreeing with her. +These men were spineless. They must be so to let a woman talk to them +like this. Listen to the way they bickered. Like three women over a +piece of meat that had fallen from the cave fire.</p> + +<p>Karn’s nose twitched. What was wrong with these people? While they +argued senselessly among themselves their lives hung in the balance. +Couldn’t they smell the gray wolf that was creeping toward them?</p> + +<p>The three stood almost below Karn and jabbered back and forth. And not +twenty feet away gray-green eyes watched them intently. Karn saw the +wolf’s haunches lower. In a moment three hundred and fifty pounds of +carnivore would launch itself upon them.</p> + +<p>Claws would rip their flesh, flashing fangs rend and tear them. Karn was +quite objective as he thought about it. They didn’t have a chance.</p> + +<p>A roar split the air. Karn had known it was coming. But the three below +were taken completely by surprise. Fear rooted them and froze them into +immobility. Crouching, Karn watched death come hurtling toward them.</p> + +<p>But after all, they <i>were</i> his own kind.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Karn met the wolf in mid-leap. No tiger could have made the leap more +surely than he. His plummeting weight landed squarely athwart the +beast’s back, breaking short the trajectory of its bound.</p> + +<p>Together they crashed to earth. Karn’s legs encircled the wolf’s middle +with the strength of a python. Steel fingers found its throat.</p> + +<p>Claws raked at Karn’s thighs, slavering fangs sought his hands. He<!-- Page 32 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +retaliated in kind. His own teeth were at the wolf’s jugular. The animal +rolled, taking Karn along with him, but the man would not loose his +grip.</p> + +<p>Bestial growls rumbled from two chests. Dust-covered and splattered with +gore, they fought across the glade. Karn’s legs tightened inexorably and +the wolf’s growl became an anguished squeal.</p> + +<p>It could not shake the thing that clung to its back. Slowly, surely its +ribs were forced inward until they cracked. Then jagged ends dug at its +lungs, its heart. There was a gush of blood from its nostrils. It lay +still.</p> + +<p>Karn spat out the salt sweat that ran into his mouth and wiped it from +his eyes. Slowly he rose and shook the tension from his leg muscles. +Blood dripped from a shallow gash in his thigh but that concerned him +little. He had suffered worse in the past.</p> + +<p>For the duration of the fight he had forgotten completely the two men +and the woman. Now, turning, he saw them watching him. Fear clouded the +eyes of the men, but in the woman’s gaze he read awed admiration.</p> + +<p>Karn gestured, a motion meant to show peaceful intentions. His move was +misinterpreted, and as he came toward the three the men reached for the +little sticks that hung at their waists. Frantically they waved them at +him.</p> + +<p>Were they trying to frighten him with those things? Anger flushed Karn’s +face and a low growl issued from his throat. One blow from each of his +hands and these puny men would be dead. The woman he liked.</p> + +<p>But the sticks had stopped waving. They were pointing directly at him. +He was caught suddenly in the grip of a force that held him helpless. +Muscles stood out on his neck like tree roots but he could not move.</p> + +<p>Inside his head Karn heard the woman arguing again with her two +companions.</p> + +<p>“A fine way to treat someone who’s just saved our lives!”</p> + +<p>“But he might be dangerous. You saw what he did to that beast. Look at +the size of him. One twist of those hands and he’d tear our heads off +our shoulders.”</p> + +<p>“He <i>is</i> a powerful brute, isn’t he?” But there was no fear in her +voice. Only admiration.</p> + +<p>“Worse than a Green One,” agreed the second of the hairless ones. “We’d +better get back into the ship.”</p> + +<p>They were a little slow about that, Karn thought. In the underbrush +close by he had heard the movements of a heavy body. A saber-tooth had +no need for stealth. And it was coming their way.</p> + +<p>“He’s trying to tell us something,” the woman was saying. “He may be +trying to warn us. Turn off those rays.”</p> + +<p>The men hesitated. Then their fingers moved slightly and Karn was free +to move.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But now there was no time for warnings. Karn gestured over his shoulder +and started for the opening in the huge ball. He sensed that safety lay +inside. Behind him a huge cat snarled.</p> + +<p>The hairless ones hesitated no longer. Leaving the woman to her own +devices they dashed for the ship. She turned to run, tripped and fell. +Karn scooped her up as he ran.</p> + +<p>Almost together, the four reached the ship. The smell of the saber-tooth +was strong in Karn’s nostrils; he could almost feel its breath on his +neck as he dashed up a ramp.</p> + +<p>One of the men was fumbling with a lever. The ramp swung up; the opening +in the ship’s side vanished. Against the gray-green wall the tiger’s +body thudded.</p> + +<p>That danger now behind them, the two men were pointing their sticks at +Karn again. But this time the<!-- Page 33 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> woman halted them before they could +paralyze him.</p> + +<p>“That’s twice he’s saved our lives. How much more proof do we need that +he’s friendly?” She smiled at Karn. “Who are you?”</p> + +<p>“Karn, of the tribe of Tur.”</p> + +<p>“I am Andra, and these men are Harus and Ven. We are of Mahlo. We thank +you for saving our lives.”</p> + +<p>Harus was the smaller of the two men. His face was thin, pinched with +perpetual fear. Ven too seemed always frightened. They stared at Karn +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>“What are we going to do with him?” Harus asked.</p> + +<p>“Maybe we could take him back to his tribe,” Andra suggested. “If it’s +very far we could save him a long trip.”</p> + +<p>Her eyes questioned Karn. He shook his head.</p> + +<p>“No. They would kill me.”</p> + +<p>“Somewhere else, then?”</p> + +<p>Karn shrugged. A full-grown male was no welcome guest in any tribe. +Andra read his thoughts and was sympathetic.</p> + +<p>“You’re really up against it, aren’t you? From what we’ve seen of your +world so far I would guess it was no place for a man without friends.”</p> + +<p>“I will go with you to your people; to Mahlo, wherever that is.”</p> + +<p>“What a notion,” Harus snorted. “Picture this uncouth thing in his wolf +skin on Mahlo! Besides” and the disdain went out of his voice, “we’d be +doing him no favor.”</p> + +<p>Karn grunted. They didn’t think much of him. But there was more of it +than that. The three of them had fallen to arguing again. There was talk +of Mahlo and the Green Ones, whoever <i>they</i> were. The argument droned on +endlessly.</p> + +<p>“Too much talk,” Karn said abruptly.</p> + +<p>The talk stopped. Andra was looking at Karn, a slow smile spreading +across her face. Her breasts rose and fell with a change in her +breathing and Karn felt a warm flush rise within him.</p> + +<p>“I think Karn is right,” she said. “Too much talk.”</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Somewhere in the bowels of the ship a great beast purred. I should not +have let them strap me down, Karn thought. The purring grew louder, the +ship lifted.</p> + +<p>His back pressed against the seat and there was a crushing weight on his +chest. His insides tied themselves in knots. What was happening to him. +What invisible monster held him in its clutch?</p> + +<p>“Afraid?” Andra asked.</p> + +<p>Karn was aware that the weight was off his chest. The purring was +muffled. They had the beast penned. Then Andra unfastened the thongs +that bound Karn.</p> + +<p>“Why should Karn be afraid?” he smiled scornfully.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps now you would rather remain in your own world. There may be +danger on Mahlo.”</p> + +<p>This woman was a fool. Naturally; she was a woman. What was danger to +Karn? What was danger to a man who had lived his life with Tur and the +bull males of the tribe, who roamed the same jungle with the saber-tooth +and the great wolf?</p> + +<p>Yet she was a woman, and one who attracted him. Karn reached out and +drew her to him. Let her feel the might of his arms. She was doing +something strange with her lips, pressing them against his.</p> + +<p>“Now let me go,” she said. Then, sharply, “Let me go!”</p> + +<p>Bewildered, Karn released his grip. He was confused by this creature of +moods. One moment she smiled and the next moment she seemed angry. He +wanted to please her. But how?</p> + +<p>“Well, we’re all right,” Ven said. He came from some other chamber in +the great ship. “We’re running free now. At the next force field we’ll<!-- Page 34 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +cut into Mahlo’s orbit.”</p> + +<p>There was more strange talk which Karn did not understand. More debate, +too. It seemed that these men spent half their time arguing with the +woman.</p> + +<p>Apparently the men held the supremacy, but a very shaky one. The woman +seemed not to know too much about this ship. But she had a good deal to +say nevertheless.</p> + +<p>Then Harus’ voice came out of nowhere. “Better strap in again. We’ve hit +Mahlo’s orbit.”</p> + +<p>Again there was the awful pressure, the crushing weight. Violent forces +shook the ship. Andra moaned softly. Strange words issued from her lips. +Then they were out of the clutch of the awful force.</p> + +<p>“Landing at Nobla,” Ven said. Panels slid away and Karn could see +through the walls of the ship.</p> + +<p>Below them was a city. They dropped toward it and its gargoyle-topped +towers reached up to meet them. Strange birds winged across an azure +sky. They came down over the city and landed gently in a meadow next to +the mouth of a great cavern.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>“Nobody around,” Ven said. “I don’t understand it.”</p> + +<p>“They weren’t expecting us to land at Nobla,” Andra said. “You’re always +worrying about something. Come on, let’s get out.”</p> + +<p>The ramp came down and the four descended, Harus leading the way. Karn +wondered why they moved so warily. This was their own land. What were +they afraid of?</p> + +<p>To one side the mouth of the cavern yawned dark and forbidding as they +went toward it. Andra explained to Karn that it was the mouth of a +tunnel which led to the city proper. There were walls about the city +which were never opened.</p> + +<p>They were almost to the tunnel when the green things came at them. Slimy +beings, as tall as Harus and Ven, covered with green scales and +four-armed, more lizards than men, they poured from the tunnel.</p> + +<p>Emitting bird-like cries they swarmed forward, long spears pointing +ahead at waist level. With a scream of fear, Ven spun around and ran. +Andra and Harus stood petrified.</p> + +<p>Their reactions were typical, apparently, for the Green Ones came on as +though used to encountering little resistance. Even the sight of Karn, +huge of frame and heavy-thewed, draped in his wolfskin, failed to +register. It was a fatal mistake.</p> + +<p>As the first of the Green Ones reached him Karn side-stepped nimbly, +sweeping the spear aside and tearing it from its bearer’s grasp. Karn’s +other hand shot out and connected with a snout. The man-lizard dropped, +its face turned to green and oozing pulp.</p> + +<p>In Karn’s hands the spear became a club. The Green Ones turned toward +him in a body, trying to fend off this unexpected attack. They were met +by a whirling staff that crushed whatever it hit. Karn’s power was +overwhelming. His rush cut a swath of death through the green ranks, +forcing them back.</p> + +<p>He heard Andra calling and looked back over his shoulder. She was +standing at the opening in the ship, screaming to him. In their blind +fear, Harus and Ven were prepared to take off and leave him behind.</p> + +<p>No saber-tooth could have altered the direction of his charge more +quickly than Karn. Before the Green Ones could even attempt to block his +retreat, Karn was through them and past them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Harus and Ven sprawled in their flight chairs, panting as though it were +they who had done the fighting. Only Karn seemed relaxed as the ship +rose and hovered above the Green Ones.</p> + +<p>“Well,” Andra said bitterly, “Nobla<!-- Page 35 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> is gone. There’s only Luma now. And +soon the Green Ones will have that.”</p> + +<p>“Nobla was yours?” Karn asked.</p> + +<p>“All of Mahlo was ours,” Andra told him. “But that was only until the +Green Ones got started. Now we have only one city left, and not many +Mahloans to defend that.”</p> + +<p>Scorn flashed from her eyes at Harus and Ven. “And you saw how brave +they are,” she said to Karn.</p> + +<p>“Where is this Luma?” Karn asked, disregarding her thrust at the two +Mahloans.</p> + +<p>“Not far. After we have a look at what the Green Ones have done to Nobla +we’ll go there.”</p> + +<p>The great ball skimmed over the meadow, lifted above the walls of Nobla +and rose to the height of the tallest towers of the city. For a while it +hovered alongside a great stone gargoyle that peered down into the +street below. Bodies were strewn along the streets, Karn saw. They were +all male.</p> + +<p>“The women escaped,” he observed. He heard Andra suck in a sharp breath +and turned to her.</p> + +<p>She was pointing to a nearby roof. From a doorway there a woman of her +kind had emerged and was running across the roof toward the parapet. +Behind her came three of the Green Ones.</p> + +<p>Only shreds of the woman’s clothes remained. Her face was clearly +visible to Karn. It was the face of a woman crazed by fear and shock. +She reached the parapet, paused, and saw that the Green Ones were almost +on her. Without hesitation she jumped. Karn watched her fall until she +hit the street.</p> + +<p>“This would happen to you too?” he asked Andra.</p> + +<p>“If the Green Ones caught me. And eventually they will.”</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Rage welled up within Karn. The thought of Andra in the clutches of +these slimy things sent the blood roaring through him.</p> + +<p>“They will not get you,” he said.</p> + +<p>“No? After Luma there won’t be any place to retreat. The voyage that +Harus and Ven and I have just made was in search of another world where +we might be safe. But the others are as dangerous as Mahlo.”</p> + +<p>Karn reflected that a people who could not fight these Green Ones had +little hope of survival among the Turs and the beasts of his own world. +Compared to the great wolves and the saber-tooths the Green Ones were +nothing.</p> + +<p>“We will kill the Green Ones,” he decided aloud. “We will fight them and +destroy them.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t make me laugh,” Andra said. “You’ve seen our men when they were +in danger.”</p> + +<p>The ship had lifted and was leaving Nobla behind. Watching the horizon +ahead, Karn saw another city come into view within a short time. It +looked exactly like Nobla. They must be a great people who could build +cities like these, who could make ships that flew through the air.</p> + +<p>But they could hardly be called men. What sort of man was it who did not +have even the instinct for self preservation? What sort was it who would +not defend his woman? Andra read Karn’s thoughts.</p> + +<p>“What kind of men?” she said. “I’ll tell you. They never built the +cities of Mahlo. Those have stood for thousands of generations, erected +by some forgotten ancestors.</p> + +<p>“The men of Mahlo have never had to fight. There was no danger here. So +they spent their time in idle chatter, in philosophy, in the invention +of luxuries. But they retained control of the government. When the Green +Ones came out of the forests of the south and began their conquering +march, our men decreed that we must retreat before them.</p> + +<p>“When only Nobla and Luma remained to us, the men decreed that we must +retreat from Mahlo to a world<!-- Page 36 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> without dangers. Unfortunately there is +no such place.”</p> + +<p>Karn thought for a moment. “What about the Green Ones?”</p> + +<p>“They are more reptile than human, as you saw. But they do have a +rudimentary intelligence. Added to their instinct for aggression it is +sufficient to destroy us. Wait until you see our Council in session. You +won’t wonder then.”</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Luma had turned out en masse to welcome Andra and her two companions. +Karn had been the center of attraction and interest for a few minutes. +But it was the report of the three Mahloans which mattered most.</p> + +<p>Andra gave it to them straight. There was no hope elsewhere. The Green +Ones were only minor terrors among the blood-lusting creatures the +Universe had spawned. Unless the men of Mahlo fought back they were +doomed.</p> + +<p>Yet Karn saw no sign that a fight was even imaginable. Shoulders sagged, +heads dropped in resignation, but that was all. As he and his three +companions walked with the throng to the Council forum, Karn saw brows +knit in contemplation, none in anger.</p> + +<p>There were as many women as men in the great hall of assembly. They cast +no votes, but they had plenty to say.</p> + +<p>“We might consider retreating to the northern deserts,” Ven said after +he had called the meeting to order.</p> + +<p>The women shouted him down. What it was that the women wanted, Karn +could not guess. But the men quailed before them and became confused. +The most important assembly in Mahlo’s history was going to break up +with nothing done.</p> + +<p>“We can only wait, then,” Ven said regretfully. A chorus of assent rose +like a dirge.</p> + +<p>It was all Karn could take. For himself death was nothing. All his life +had been lived in its shadow. But that Andra should fall into the hands +of the Green Ones was another thing. And that these men should allow +their women to meet similar fates filled him with contempt.</p> + +<p>“You can do something!” he shouted, coming to his feet. “You can fight!”</p> + +<p>Beside him Andra pulled at his arm.</p> + +<p>“But we don’t know how. No Mahloan has ever lifted his hand in anger. +Don’t you see?”</p> + +<p>The rest of the women were shrilling the same sentiments, drowning out +the men. Listening to them, Karn began to understand a great deal. But +it was not time for that now.</p> + +<p>“Be silent!” he roared. “I see only that you are all going to die. At +least die like men!”</p> + +<p>The women’s voices shrilled in his ears but he shouted them down. By +sheer lung power he silenced them, and the sight of his giant figure +awed them and kept them silent.</p> + +<p>“I am going to pick one hundred of the men,” Karn told them. “With +nothing but pointed sticks and clubs they are going to follow me. And +they are going to fight! Do you hear? They are going to fight!”</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Darkness held no terrors for Karn. His eyes were sharp, his hearing as +acute as a bird’s, his sense of smell infallible. Beyond Nobla’s wall he +caught the scent of the Green Ones, foul and slightly acrid.</p> + +<p>He had to move fast. The men of Mahlo were not as well equipped as he. +They had to have light to find their way around. And in an hour the sun +would be up.</p> + +<p>Karn moved away from the gates, edged along the high wall until he found +a rough section. His fingers sought crevices. Then, with the agility of +a monkey, he made his way upward. At the top of the wall he waited, +listening to the sounds of deep breathing on his right and below.</p> + +<p>The Green Ones slept. Their guards<!-- Page 37 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> were at the gate as a matter of +course. But they slept secure in the belief that there could be no +attack. Karn grinned into the darkness as he dropped.</p> + +<p>Peering ahead, he saw vague figures and moved toward them on soundless +feet. Only three or four of them here. It would not take long. His hands +reached out and closed on a throat.</p> + +<p>It was ridiculous that the Mahloans should be afraid of these creatures. +But they were afraid of their own women, so it might have been expected. +Yet they were more afraid of Karn than of either.</p> + +<p>He had bunched his muscles and scowled at them. And they had quailed. +They were afraid to follow him. But they were more afraid not to follow. +Karn thought that when the sun rose he would find his men waiting +outside the gates of Nobla.</p> + +<p>Four of the Green Ones lay dead at his feet as he sought for the bolts +that held the gate shut. Very slowly he drew those bolts. All it would +take to open the gates would be the slightest push.</p> + +<p>But it was taking him longer than he had expected. Already the sky was +purpling. Running now, Karn sped down the broad avenue toward a tall, +gargoyle-topped building.</p> + +<p>He found ledges, plenty of hand-holds, but it was a long climb. The +rising sun caught him still twenty feet from the roof. Below, the city +stirred and came awake.</p> + +<p>Green Ones were in the street. Karn prayed that they would not look up. +His prayer proved futile. He moved faster as bird-like cries came up to +him. He had been discovered.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Climbing desperately now, he got a hand over the parapet just as a green +snout poked its way over. Karn struck out and the snout vanished. Then +he was over.</p> + +<p>More of the Green Ones came at him as he gained the roof. Snatching up a +fallen spear, Karn drove them back. By sheer ferocity of his attack he +forced them back through the doorway from which they had emerged. The +door slammed between them.</p> + +<p>They thought he was going to follow. He could hear them chattering among +themselves on the other side of the door. They were trying to decide +what to do. Their discussion gave Karn exactly the time he needed.</p> + +<p>His eyes roved the roof, trying to find something that would be heavy +enough to hold the door against those on the other side. He had to +protect his back. But the roof seemed blank.</p> + +<p>But there was something Karn could use. The gargoyles. Great +architectural excrescenses, they had never served any purpose. They +could serve a purpose now.</p> + +<p>Each was the size of a small boulder, weighing close to six hundred +pounds. Karn lifted one easily, carried it to the door, and set it down. +One more trip and he was safe.</p> + +<p>From the edge of the roof he could see beyond the wall. His hundred were +there, puny indeed from this height. His yell brought them around.</p> + +<p>They could see him, but they were still afraid. Indecision held them +motionless for an instant. Then they began to move. And they moved +forward.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Green Ones had not seen them yet. Their own eyes were turned up at +this shouting giant on the roof. Then the gates of the city swung open +and Karn’s men were in the broad street.</p> + +<p>Swarms of the Green Ones poured from the buildings. They paused to form +a line of attack, their spears poised in readiness. That was when Karn +went into action.</p> + +<p>He ripped a gargoyle loose from the mortar that held it and dropped it +over the parapet. Before it landed he had started another on its way<!-- Page 38 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +down.</p> + +<p>On the Green Ones they fell with devastating suddenness, each one +crushing dozens. Another of the great missiles fell, and another. A half +dozen of them there had been in all, and when the last one landed the +street was a shambles.</p> + +<p>Karn’s men fell on the disorganized remnants of the Green Ones. Hairless +the Mahloans were, and puny. But there was a trace of manhood still in +them. Spears darted and clubs flailed, and the Green Ones fell.</p> + +<p>Karn had known that only the taste of blood was needed. And he had been +right. Now his men knew that they too could fight, and that the Green +Ones were not irresistible.</p> + +<p>By the time Karn reached the ground again the Green Ones were in full +flight. As long as they had held the upper hand they had been brave +enough. In the face of resistance they were cowardly.</p> + +<p>Like Tur, Kara thought. Or like any other bully.</p> + +<p>Then he looked up. A shadow crossed his path and he saw the great ball +skim over the city. Tur was forgotten now. As he went toward the landing +field with his men, Karn knew that he would never return to Earth. As +long as Andra was on Mahlo he wanted to be there too.</p> + +<p>“You beat them!” she cried as she came from the ship.</p> + +<p>“Yes. And we will drive them from every city on Mahlo and back to the +forests from which they came.”</p> + +<p>“But that won’t be necessary. There’s no reason for you to risk your +life. That’s the trouble with—”</p> + +<p>“There is only one trouble,” Karn interrupted. “The women of Mahlo have +turned their men into women too.”</p> + +<p>“You can’t talk to me like that!” Andra flared.</p> + +<p>Karn found his men watching him. He had led them to victory over the +Green Ones. But with women it was another story. Could he stand up to +Andra? They were watching Karn, ready to follow him again. But which way +would he go?</p> + +<p>“Woman,” Karn said, “hold your tongue!”</p> + +<p>Her face reddened with anger, then turned white as Karn took a +threatening step forward. Her head dropped in submission.</p> + +<p>It was victory, complete and final. Before Karn’s eyes the men of Mahlo +seemed to grow inches taller. Their shoulders straightened. For the +first time they were out of bondage. They were men. And it was this man +from another world, Karn, who made them so.</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h5>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</h5> + +<div class="footnote"> +This etext was produced from Amazing Stories October 1948. Extensive +research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this +publication was renewed. +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Frightened Planet, by Sidney Austen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRIGHTENED PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 33513-h.htm or 33513-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/1/33513/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, David J. 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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 Frightened Planet + +Author: Sidney Austen + +Release Date: August 23, 2010 [EBook #33513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRIGHTENED PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, David J. Cole and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: With a tremendous heave, Karn hurled the giant idol to +the floor] + + + + + The Frightened Planet + + By Sidney Austen + + Karn was only a savage, but he knew a thing or two + about the way justice should be meted out--and he did it + + +Against the blackness of the early morning sky the huge ball traced an +arc of flame. Had Karn been watching the sky he would have seen the ball +slow in its descent and then come to a landing some distance ahead of +him. But he was too busy for that. + +On the back of his neck the short hairs told him that pursuit was still +close behind. He put on a fresh burst of speed, his bare feet making no +sound on the trail he followed. Soon the early breeze would shift and +they would lose his scent. + +Until then he was in danger from the males of Tur's tribe. Tur the +coward, Karn thought. Tur the bully. Tur the leader of the tribe. Tur +had never liked Karn. He had liked him even less as he grew into +magnificent Cro-Magnon manhood. Karn represented the challenge that must +come to every leader sooner or later. + +Then the wind shifted and Karn slowed. They'd give him up now. He was +certain of that. But what to do next? He was all alone, an outcast from +his tribe. For a full-grown man to find another tribe was impossible. + +Still, he wasn't sorry about the fight. It had been a good one. Tur was +still in his prime. He'd used his teeth and his feet and every trick he +knew. He wasn't quite as strong as Karn, nor as fast, but he'd had the +advantage of experience. + +Only one thing Tur lacked, in common with the other members of the +tribe, and it was that which had lost him the fight. He had almost no +inventiveness. For Karn's questing mind Tur hated him. He could not +understand a man who found interest in new situations. And what Tur +could not understand he hated. + +So they had fought. For a while Tur held the upper hand. He had met +every rush of Karn's and repulsed it. But Karn had noticed that every +attack from Tur's left was met by a singular twist of the chief's body. + +Once Tur twisted. Twice; a third time; and a fourth time he swung +around. The fifth time Karn was not there. He'd stopped himself in +mid-stride, reversed himself and caught Tur off balance. Then steel +fingers had fastened on Tur's throat in unshakable tenacity. + +That was when the other males had charged to his rescue. Tur, they +hated. But Karn they hated more. Karn made up his mind quickly. Glat +alone he could have torn limb from limb. Waan alone would have fared no +better. But they and the others together represented for him a quick and +certain death. + + * * * * * + +Then it had been run, run, run. Run with all of them after him. Run into +the forest in the night. Only the giant wolf and the saber-tooth there. +But they were not half so deadly as his own blood relatives. + +Now the chase was over. Karn paused, his chest heaving. In a few minutes +his breathing was back to normal. It didn't take this man long to +recover. Karn grinned into the darkness. It would take Tur longer. He'd +wear those welts on his throat for a while. + +Karn shrugged and sniffed the night air. Better move ahead. No smell of +the big cats. But there was a nest of wolves off to his right. They +slept now, but soon they'd be awake. Up ahead there was a strange scent, +one he didn't recognize. + +Should he go on or turn aside? Ahead there was a glade where a spring +bubbled. Small animals came to drink there in the morning. That meant +food and water to a man who needed both. Karn moved ahead, but warily. + +The rising sun found him only a short distance from his objective. Now +there were mingled sounds as the forest came awake. Early-opening +flowers filled the air with fresh sweetness. It was good to be alive. + +Then, through a thin screen of trees, Karn saw the great ball. It almost +filled the glade, reached nearly to the height of the trees. Gleaming +gray-green it was, like the eyes of the wolf. The association made Karn +pause. He drifted off to one side, picked a likely tree and hauled +himself up into its lower branches. + +Patience Karn had. He sat immobile, watchful. From inside this strange +orb came sounds that were not too faint for Karn's keen hearing. An +hour passed; two hours. Nothing happened. Still he crouched, waiting. + +His patience was rewarded. An opening appeared in the ball. There was a +puff of air being released from pressure. A figure stepped through the +opening and onto the earth. Another figure followed. What were they? + +They were men! Clad in strange garments that covered them tightly, they +walked upright on two legs. But what puny men! + +Half Karn's size they were, and hairless. Through their skin-tight +garments the bones of their narrow chests were visible. Their delicate +fingers hovered at their waists over small sticks. The scent of fear was +on them. + +Karn's nose wrinkled in disgust. No danger here. Then a third figure +stepped out into the light and Karn's flagging interest reawakened. This +scent he recognized. This was a woman! + + * * * * * + +She was taller than the men and her garment clung tight to a rounded +figure that brought a gleam to Karn's eyes. This one had hair, thicker +than Karn's own. Her features were more delicate than those of the women +he had known, but somehow more pleasing. + +He realized that the three were speaking. Their mouths did not move, +there was no sound. Yet they spoke. Karn could hear the voices inside +his head. Somehow he understood. + +"What a place to land," the woman said. + +"Couldn't be helped," one of the men replied. "At least it has air. Once +the tanks are full we'll be on our way again. In a minute or two I'll +test that liquid to see if we can drink it." + +"Must you test everything? It looks all right. And why must we stand so +close to the ship?" + +"Because we don't know what sort of place we've landed in," the second +man said. + +"There's only one way to find out," she told him. "By moving around." + +Her tone was openly contemptuous. Karn found himself agreeing with her. +These men were spineless. They must be so to let a woman talk to them +like this. Listen to the way they bickered. Like three women over a +piece of meat that had fallen from the cave fire. + +Karn's nose twitched. What was wrong with these people? While they +argued senselessly among themselves their lives hung in the balance. +Couldn't they smell the gray wolf that was creeping toward them? + +The three stood almost below Karn and jabbered back and forth. And not +twenty feet away gray-green eyes watched them intently. Karn saw the +wolf's haunches lower. In a moment three hundred and fifty pounds of +carnivore would launch itself upon them. + +Claws would rip their flesh, flashing fangs rend and tear them. Karn was +quite objective as he thought about it. They didn't have a chance. + +A roar split the air. Karn had known it was coming. But the three below +were taken completely by surprise. Fear rooted them and froze them into +immobility. Crouching, Karn watched death come hurtling toward them. + +But after all, they _were_ his own kind. + + * * * * * + +Karn met the wolf in mid-leap. No tiger could have made the leap more +surely than he. His plummeting weight landed squarely athwart the +beast's back, breaking short the trajectory of its bound. + +Together they crashed to earth. Karn's legs encircled the wolf's middle +with the strength of a python. Steel fingers found its throat. + +Claws raked at Karn's thighs, slavering fangs sought his hands. He +retaliated in kind. His own teeth were at the wolf's jugular. The animal +rolled, taking Karn along with him, but the man would not loose his +grip. + +Bestial growls rumbled from two chests. Dust-covered and splattered with +gore, they fought across the glade. Karn's legs tightened inexorably and +the wolf's growl became an anguished squeal. + +It could not shake the thing that clung to its back. Slowly, surely its +ribs were forced inward until they cracked. Then jagged ends dug at its +lungs, its heart. There was a gush of blood from its nostrils. It lay +still. + +Karn spat out the salt sweat that ran into his mouth and wiped it from +his eyes. Slowly he rose and shook the tension from his leg muscles. +Blood dripped from a shallow gash in his thigh but that concerned him +little. He had suffered worse in the past. + +For the duration of the fight he had forgotten completely the two men +and the woman. Now, turning, he saw them watching him. Fear clouded the +eyes of the men, but in the woman's gaze he read awed admiration. + +Karn gestured, a motion meant to show peaceful intentions. His move was +misinterpreted, and as he came toward the three the men reached for the +little sticks that hung at their waists. Frantically they waved them at +him. + +Were they trying to frighten him with those things? Anger flushed Karn's +face and a low growl issued from his throat. One blow from each of his +hands and these puny men would be dead. The woman he liked. + +But the sticks had stopped waving. They were pointing directly at him. +He was caught suddenly in the grip of a force that held him helpless. +Muscles stood out on his neck like tree roots but he could not move. + +Inside his head Karn heard the woman arguing again with her two +companions. + +"A fine way to treat someone who's just saved our lives!" + +"But he might be dangerous. You saw what he did to that beast. Look at +the size of him. One twist of those hands and he'd tear our heads off +our shoulders." + +"He _is_ a powerful brute, isn't he?" But there was no fear in her +voice. Only admiration. + +"Worse than a Green One," agreed the second of the hairless ones. "We'd +better get back into the ship." + +They were a little slow about that, Karn thought. In the underbrush +close by he had heard the movements of a heavy body. A saber-tooth had +no need for stealth. And it was coming their way. + +"He's trying to tell us something," the woman was saying. "He may be +trying to warn us. Turn off those rays." + +The men hesitated. Then their fingers moved slightly and Karn was free +to move. + + * * * * * + +But now there was no time for warnings. Karn gestured over his shoulder +and started for the opening in the huge ball. He sensed that safety lay +inside. Behind him a huge cat snarled. + +The hairless ones hesitated no longer. Leaving the woman to her own +devices they dashed for the ship. She turned to run, tripped and fell. +Karn scooped her up as he ran. + +Almost together, the four reached the ship. The smell of the saber-tooth +was strong in Karn's nostrils; he could almost feel its breath on his +neck as he dashed up a ramp. + +One of the men was fumbling with a lever. The ramp swung up; the opening +in the ship's side vanished. Against the gray-green wall the tiger's +body thudded. + +That danger now behind them, the two men were pointing their sticks at +Karn again. But this time the woman halted them before they could +paralyze him. + +"That's twice he's saved our lives. How much more proof do we need that +he's friendly?" She smiled at Karn. "Who are you?" + +"Karn, of the tribe of Tur." + +"I am Andra, and these men are Harus and Ven. We are of Mahlo. We thank +you for saving our lives." + +Harus was the smaller of the two men. His face was thin, pinched with +perpetual fear. Ven too seemed always frightened. They stared at Karn +doubtfully. + +"What are we going to do with him?" Harus asked. + +"Maybe we could take him back to his tribe," Andra suggested. "If it's +very far we could save him a long trip." + +Her eyes questioned Karn. He shook his head. + +"No. They would kill me." + +"Somewhere else, then?" + +Karn shrugged. A full-grown male was no welcome guest in any tribe. +Andra read his thoughts and was sympathetic. + +"You're really up against it, aren't you? From what we've seen of your +world so far I would guess it was no place for a man without friends." + +"I will go with you to your people; to Mahlo, wherever that is." + +"What a notion," Harus snorted. "Picture this uncouth thing in his wolf +skin on Mahlo! Besides" and the disdain went out of his voice, "we'd be +doing him no favor." + +Karn grunted. They didn't think much of him. But there was more of it +than that. The three of them had fallen to arguing again. There was talk +of Mahlo and the Green Ones, whoever _they_ were. The argument droned on +endlessly. + +"Too much talk," Karn said abruptly. + +The talk stopped. Andra was looking at Karn, a slow smile spreading +across her face. Her breasts rose and fell with a change in her +breathing and Karn felt a warm flush rise within him. + +"I think Karn is right," she said. "Too much talk." + + * * * * * + +Somewhere in the bowels of the ship a great beast purred. I should not +have let them strap me down, Karn thought. The purring grew louder, the +ship lifted. + +His back pressed against the seat and there was a crushing weight on his +chest. His insides tied themselves in knots. What was happening to him. +What invisible monster held him in its clutch? + +"Afraid?" Andra asked. + +Karn was aware that the weight was off his chest. The purring was +muffled. They had the beast penned. Then Andra unfastened the thongs +that bound Karn. + +"Why should Karn be afraid?" he smiled scornfully. + +"Perhaps now you would rather remain in your own world. There may be +danger on Mahlo." + +This woman was a fool. Naturally; she was a woman. What was danger to +Karn? What was danger to a man who had lived his life with Tur and the +bull males of the tribe, who roamed the same jungle with the saber-tooth +and the great wolf? + +Yet she was a woman, and one who attracted him. Karn reached out and +drew her to him. Let her feel the might of his arms. She was doing +something strange with her lips, pressing them against his. + +"Now let me go," she said. Then, sharply, "Let me go!" + +Bewildered, Karn released his grip. He was confused by this creature of +moods. One moment she smiled and the next moment she seemed angry. He +wanted to please her. But how? + +"Well, we're all right," Ven said. He came from some other chamber in +the great ship. "We're running free now. At the next force field we'll +cut into Mahlo's orbit." + +There was more strange talk which Karn did not understand. More debate, +too. It seemed that these men spent half their time arguing with the +woman. + +Apparently the men held the supremacy, but a very shaky one. The woman +seemed not to know too much about this ship. But she had a good deal to +say nevertheless. + +Then Harus' voice came out of nowhere. "Better strap in again. We've hit +Mahlo's orbit." + +Again there was the awful pressure, the crushing weight. Violent forces +shook the ship. Andra moaned softly. Strange words issued from her lips. +Then they were out of the clutch of the awful force. + +"Landing at Nobla," Ven said. Panels slid away and Karn could see +through the walls of the ship. + +Below them was a city. They dropped toward it and its gargoyle-topped +towers reached up to meet them. Strange birds winged across an azure +sky. They came down over the city and landed gently in a meadow next to +the mouth of a great cavern. + + * * * * * + +"Nobody around," Ven said. "I don't understand it." + +"They weren't expecting us to land at Nobla," Andra said. "You're always +worrying about something. Come on, let's get out." + +The ramp came down and the four descended, Harus leading the way. Karn +wondered why they moved so warily. This was their own land. What were +they afraid of? + +To one side the mouth of the cavern yawned dark and forbidding as they +went toward it. Andra explained to Karn that it was the mouth of a +tunnel which led to the city proper. There were walls about the city +which were never opened. + +They were almost to the tunnel when the green things came at them. Slimy +beings, as tall as Harus and Ven, covered with green scales and +four-armed, more lizards than men, they poured from the tunnel. + +Emitting bird-like cries they swarmed forward, long spears pointing +ahead at waist level. With a scream of fear, Ven spun around and ran. +Andra and Harus stood petrified. + +Their reactions were typical, apparently, for the Green Ones came on as +though used to encountering little resistance. Even the sight of Karn, +huge of frame and heavy-thewed, draped in his wolfskin, failed to +register. It was a fatal mistake. + +As the first of the Green Ones reached him Karn side-stepped nimbly, +sweeping the spear aside and tearing it from its bearer's grasp. Karn's +other hand shot out and connected with a snout. The man-lizard dropped, +its face turned to green and oozing pulp. + +In Karn's hands the spear became a club. The Green Ones turned toward +him in a body, trying to fend off this unexpected attack. They were met +by a whirling staff that crushed whatever it hit. Karn's power was +overwhelming. His rush cut a swath of death through the green ranks, +forcing them back. + +He heard Andra calling and looked back over his shoulder. She was +standing at the opening in the ship, screaming to him. In their blind +fear, Harus and Ven were prepared to take off and leave him behind. + +No saber-tooth could have altered the direction of his charge more +quickly than Karn. Before the Green Ones could even attempt to block his +retreat, Karn was through them and past them. + + * * * * * + +Harus and Ven sprawled in their flight chairs, panting as though it were +they who had done the fighting. Only Karn seemed relaxed as the ship +rose and hovered above the Green Ones. + +"Well," Andra said bitterly, "Nobla is gone. There's only Luma now. And +soon the Green Ones will have that." + +"Nobla was yours?" Karn asked. + +"All of Mahlo was ours," Andra told him. "But that was only until the +Green Ones got started. Now we have only one city left, and not many +Mahloans to defend that." + +Scorn flashed from her eyes at Harus and Ven. "And you saw how brave +they are," she said to Karn. + +"Where is this Luma?" Karn asked, disregarding her thrust at the two +Mahloans. + +"Not far. After we have a look at what the Green Ones have done to Nobla +we'll go there." + +The great ball skimmed over the meadow, lifted above the walls of Nobla +and rose to the height of the tallest towers of the city. For a while it +hovered alongside a great stone gargoyle that peered down into the +street below. Bodies were strewn along the streets, Karn saw. They were +all male. + +"The women escaped," he observed. He heard Andra suck in a sharp breath +and turned to her. + +She was pointing to a nearby roof. From a doorway there a woman of her +kind had emerged and was running across the roof toward the parapet. +Behind her came three of the Green Ones. + +Only shreds of the woman's clothes remained. Her face was clearly +visible to Karn. It was the face of a woman crazed by fear and shock. +She reached the parapet, paused, and saw that the Green Ones were almost +on her. Without hesitation she jumped. Karn watched her fall until she +hit the street. + +"This would happen to you too?" he asked Andra. + +"If the Green Ones caught me. And eventually they will." + + * * * * * + +Rage welled up within Karn. The thought of Andra in the clutches of +these slimy things sent the blood roaring through him. + +"They will not get you," he said. + +"No? After Luma there won't be any place to retreat. The voyage that +Harus and Ven and I have just made was in search of another world where +we might be safe. But the others are as dangerous as Mahlo." + +Karn reflected that a people who could not fight these Green Ones had +little hope of survival among the Turs and the beasts of his own world. +Compared to the great wolves and the saber-tooths the Green Ones were +nothing. + +"We will kill the Green Ones," he decided aloud. "We will fight them and +destroy them." + +"Don't make me laugh," Andra said. "You've seen our men when they were +in danger." + +The ship had lifted and was leaving Nobla behind. Watching the horizon +ahead, Karn saw another city come into view within a short time. It +looked exactly like Nobla. They must be a great people who could build +cities like these, who could make ships that flew through the air. + +But they could hardly be called men. What sort of man was it who did not +have even the instinct for self preservation? What sort was it who would +not defend his woman? Andra read Karn's thoughts. + +"What kind of men?" she said. "I'll tell you. They never built the +cities of Mahlo. Those have stood for thousands of generations, erected +by some forgotten ancestors. + +"The men of Mahlo have never had to fight. There was no danger here. So +they spent their time in idle chatter, in philosophy, in the invention +of luxuries. But they retained control of the government. When the Green +Ones came out of the forests of the south and began their conquering +march, our men decreed that we must retreat before them. + +"When only Nobla and Luma remained to us, the men decreed that we must +retreat from Mahlo to a world without dangers. Unfortunately there is +no such place." + +Karn thought for a moment. "What about the Green Ones?" + +"They are more reptile than human, as you saw. But they do have a +rudimentary intelligence. Added to their instinct for aggression it is +sufficient to destroy us. Wait until you see our Council in session. You +won't wonder then." + + * * * * * + +Luma had turned out en masse to welcome Andra and her two companions. +Karn had been the center of attraction and interest for a few minutes. +But it was the report of the three Mahloans which mattered most. + +Andra gave it to them straight. There was no hope elsewhere. The Green +Ones were only minor terrors among the blood-lusting creatures the +Universe had spawned. Unless the men of Mahlo fought back they were +doomed. + +Yet Karn saw no sign that a fight was even imaginable. Shoulders sagged, +heads dropped in resignation, but that was all. As he and his three +companions walked with the throng to the Council forum, Karn saw brows +knit in contemplation, none in anger. + +There were as many women as men in the great hall of assembly. They cast +no votes, but they had plenty to say. + +"We might consider retreating to the northern deserts," Ven said after +he had called the meeting to order. + +The women shouted him down. What it was that the women wanted, Karn +could not guess. But the men quailed before them and became confused. +The most important assembly in Mahlo's history was going to break up +with nothing done. + +"We can only wait, then," Ven said regretfully. A chorus of assent rose +like a dirge. + +It was all Karn could take. For himself death was nothing. All his life +had been lived in its shadow. But that Andra should fall into the hands +of the Green Ones was another thing. And that these men should allow +their women to meet similar fates filled him with contempt. + +"You can do something!" he shouted, coming to his feet. "You can fight!" + +Beside him Andra pulled at his arm. + +"But we don't know how. No Mahloan has ever lifted his hand in anger. +Don't you see?" + +The rest of the women were shrilling the same sentiments, drowning out +the men. Listening to them, Karn began to understand a great deal. But +it was not time for that now. + +"Be silent!" he roared. "I see only that you are all going to die. At +least die like men!" + +The women's voices shrilled in his ears but he shouted them down. By +sheer lung power he silenced them, and the sight of his giant figure +awed them and kept them silent. + +"I am going to pick one hundred of the men," Karn told them. "With +nothing but pointed sticks and clubs they are going to follow me. And +they are going to fight! Do you hear? They are going to fight!" + + * * * * * + +Darkness held no terrors for Karn. His eyes were sharp, his hearing as +acute as a bird's, his sense of smell infallible. Beyond Nobla's wall he +caught the scent of the Green Ones, foul and slightly acrid. + +He had to move fast. The men of Mahlo were not as well equipped as he. +They had to have light to find their way around. And in an hour the sun +would be up. + +Karn moved away from the gates, edged along the high wall until he found +a rough section. His fingers sought crevices. Then, with the agility of +a monkey, he made his way upward. At the top of the wall he waited, +listening to the sounds of deep breathing on his right and below. + +The Green Ones slept. Their guards were at the gate as a matter of +course. But they slept secure in the belief that there could be no +attack. Karn grinned into the darkness as he dropped. + +Peering ahead, he saw vague figures and moved toward them on soundless +feet. Only three or four of them here. It would not take long. His hands +reached out and closed on a throat. + +It was ridiculous that the Mahloans should be afraid of these creatures. +But they were afraid of their own women, so it might have been expected. +Yet they were more afraid of Karn than of either. + +He had bunched his muscles and scowled at them. And they had quailed. +They were afraid to follow him. But they were more afraid not to follow. +Karn thought that when the sun rose he would find his men waiting +outside the gates of Nobla. + +Four of the Green Ones lay dead at his feet as he sought for the bolts +that held the gate shut. Very slowly he drew those bolts. All it would +take to open the gates would be the slightest push. + +But it was taking him longer than he had expected. Already the sky was +purpling. Running now, Karn sped down the broad avenue toward a tall, +gargoyle-topped building. + +He found ledges, plenty of hand-holds, but it was a long climb. The +rising sun caught him still twenty feet from the roof. Below, the city +stirred and came awake. + +Green Ones were in the street. Karn prayed that they would not look up. +His prayer proved futile. He moved faster as bird-like cries came up to +him. He had been discovered. + + * * * * * + +Climbing desperately now, he got a hand over the parapet just as a green +snout poked its way over. Karn struck out and the snout vanished. Then +he was over. + +More of the Green Ones came at him as he gained the roof. Snatching up a +fallen spear, Karn drove them back. By sheer ferocity of his attack he +forced them back through the doorway from which they had emerged. The +door slammed between them. + +They thought he was going to follow. He could hear them chattering among +themselves on the other side of the door. They were trying to decide +what to do. Their discussion gave Karn exactly the time he needed. + +His eyes roved the roof, trying to find something that would be heavy +enough to hold the door against those on the other side. He had to +protect his back. But the roof seemed blank. + +But there was something Karn could use. The gargoyles. Great +architectural excrescenses, they had never served any purpose. They +could serve a purpose now. + +Each was the size of a small boulder, weighing close to six hundred +pounds. Karn lifted one easily, carried it to the door, and set it down. +One more trip and he was safe. + +From the edge of the roof he could see beyond the wall. His hundred were +there, puny indeed from this height. His yell brought them around. + +They could see him, but they were still afraid. Indecision held them +motionless for an instant. Then they began to move. And they moved +forward. + + * * * * * + +The Green Ones had not seen them yet. Their own eyes were turned up at +this shouting giant on the roof. Then the gates of the city swung open +and Karn's men were in the broad street. + +Swarms of the Green Ones poured from the buildings. They paused to form +a line of attack, their spears poised in readiness. That was when Karn +went into action. + +He ripped a gargoyle loose from the mortar that held it and dropped it +over the parapet. Before it landed he had started another on its way +down. + +On the Green Ones they fell with devastating suddenness, each one +crushing dozens. Another of the great missiles fell, and another. A half +dozen of them there had been in all, and when the last one landed the +street was a shambles. + +Karn's men fell on the disorganized remnants of the Green Ones. Hairless +the Mahloans were, and puny. But there was a trace of manhood still in +them. Spears darted and clubs flailed, and the Green Ones fell. + +Karn had known that only the taste of blood was needed. And he had been +right. Now his men knew that they too could fight, and that the Green +Ones were not irresistible. + +By the time Karn reached the ground again the Green Ones were in full +flight. As long as they had held the upper hand they had been brave +enough. In the face of resistance they were cowardly. + +Like Tur, Kara thought. Or like any other bully. + +Then he looked up. A shadow crossed his path and he saw the great ball +skim over the city. Tur was forgotten now. As he went toward the landing +field with his men, Karn knew that he would never return to Earth. As +long as Andra was on Mahlo he wanted to be there too. + +"You beat them!" she cried as she came from the ship. + +"Yes. And we will drive them from every city on Mahlo and back to the +forests from which they came." + +"But that won't be necessary. There's no reason for you to risk your +life. That's the trouble with--" + +"There is only one trouble," Karn interrupted. "The women of Mahlo have +turned their men into women too." + +"You can't talk to me like that!" Andra flared. + +Karn found his men watching him. He had led them to victory over the +Green Ones. But with women it was another story. Could he stand up to +Andra? They were watching Karn, ready to follow him again. But which way +would he go? + +"Woman," Karn said, "hold your tongue!" + +Her face reddened with anger, then turned white as Karn took a +threatening step forward. Her head dropped in submission. + +It was victory, complete and final. Before Karn's eyes the men of Mahlo +seemed to grow inches taller. Their shoulders straightened. For the +first time they were out of bondage. They were men. And it was this man +from another world, Karn, who made them so. + + +THE END + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + +This etext was produced from Amazing Stories October 1948. Extensive +research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this +publication was renewed. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Frightened Planet, by Sidney Austen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRIGHTENED PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 33513.txt or 33513.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/1/33513/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, David J. 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