1 files changed, 657 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/40964-0.txt b/40964-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..609f282
--- /dev/null
+++ b/40964-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,657 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40964 ***
+
+TONY and the BEETLES
+
+by Philip K. Dick
+
+[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Orbit volume 1
+number 2, 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+[Illustration: A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY GROWS UP FAST WHEN HISTORY CATCHES UP
+WITH THE HUMAN RACE.]
+
+
+Reddish-yellow sunlight filtered through the thick quartz windows into
+the sleep-compartment. Tony Rossi yawned, stirred a little, then opened
+his black eyes and sat up quickly. With one motion he tossed the covers
+back and slid to the warm metal floor. He clicked off his alarm clock
+and hurried to the closet.
+
+It looked like a nice day. The landscape outside was motionless,
+undisturbed by winds or dust-shift. The boy's heart pounded excitedly.
+He pulled his trousers on, zipped up the reinforced mesh, struggled into
+his heavy canvas shirt, and then sat down on the edge of the cot to tug
+on his boots. He closed the seams around their tops and then did the
+same with his gloves. Next he adjusted the pressure on his pump unit and
+strapped it between his shoulder blades. He grabbed his helmet from the
+dresser, and he was ready for the day.
+
+In the dining-compartment his mother and father had finished breakfast.
+Their voices drifted to him as he clattered down the ramp. A disturbed
+murmur; he paused to listen. What were they talking about? Had he done
+something wrong, again?
+
+And then he caught it. Behind their voices was another voice. Static and
+crackling pops. The all-system audio signal from Rigel IV. They had it
+turned up full blast; the dull thunder of the monitor's voice boomed
+loudly. The war. Always the war. He sighed, and stepped out into the
+dining-compartment.
+
+"Morning," his father muttered.
+
+"Good morning, dear," his mother said absently. She sat with her head
+turned to one side, wrinkles of concentration webbing her forehead. Her
+thin lips were drawn together in a tight line of concern. His father had
+pushed his dirty dishes back and was smoking, elbows on the table, dark
+hairy arms bare and muscular. He was scowling, intent on the jumbled
+roar from the speaker above the sink.
+
+"How's it going?" Tony asked. He slid into his chair and reached
+automatically for the ersatz grapefruit. "Any news from Orion?"
+
+Neither of them answered. They didn't hear him. He began to eat his
+grapefruit. Outside, beyond the little metal and plastic housing unit,
+sounds of activity grew. Shouts and muffled crashes, as rural merchants
+and their trucks rumbled along the highway toward Karnet. The reddish
+daylight swelled; Betelgeuse was rising quietly and majestically.
+
+"Nice day," Tony said. "No flux wind. I think I'll go down to the
+n-quarter awhile. We're building a neat spaceport, a model, of course,
+but we've been able to get enough materials to lay out strips for--"
+
+With a savage snarl his father reached out and struck the audio roar
+immediately died. "I knew it!" He got up and moved angrily away from the
+table. "I told them it would happen. They shouldn't have moved so soon.
+Should have built up Class A supply bases, first."
+
+"Isn't our main fleet moving in from Bellatrix?" Tony's mother fluttered
+anxiously. "According to last night's summary the worst that can happen
+is Orion IX and X will be dumped."
+
+Joseph Rossi laughed harshly. "The hell with last night's summary. They
+know as well as I do what's happening."
+
+"What's happening?" Tony echoed, as he pushed aside his grapefruit and
+began to ladle out dry cereal. "Are we losing the battle?"
+
+"Yes!" His father's lips twisted. "Earthmen, losing to--to _beetles_. I
+told them. But they couldn't wait. My God, there's ten good years left
+in this system. Why'd they have to push on? Everybody knew Orion would
+be tough. The whole damn beetle fleet's strung out around there. Waiting
+for us. And we have to barge right in."
+
+"But nobody ever thought beetles would fight," Leah Rossi protested
+mildly. "Everybody thought they'd just fire a few blasts and then--"
+
+"They _have_ to fight! Orion's the last jump-off. If they don't fight
+here, where the hell can they fight?" Rossi swore savagely. "Of course
+they're fighting. We have all their planets except the inner Orion
+string--not that they're worth much, but it's the principle of the
+thing. If we'd built up strong supply bases, we could have broken up the
+beetle fleet and really clobbered it."
+
+"Don't say 'beetle,'" Tony murmured, as he finished his cereal. "They're
+Pas-udeti, same as here. The word 'beetle' comes from Betelgeuse. An
+Arabian word we invented ourselves."
+
+Joe Rossi's mouth opened and closed. "What are you, a goddamn
+beetle-lover?"
+
+"Joe," Leah snapped. "For heaven's sake."
+
+Rossi moved toward the door. "If I was ten years younger I'd be out
+there. I'd really show those shiny-shelled insects what the hell they're
+up against. Them and their junky beat-up old hulks. Converted
+freighters!" His eyes blazed. "When I think of them shooting down Terran
+cruisers with _our_ boys in them--"
+
+"Orion's their system," Tony murmured.
+
+"_Their_ system! When the hell did you get to be an authority on space
+law? Why, I ought to--" He broke off, choked with rage. "My own kid," he
+muttered. "One more crack out of you today and I'll hang one on you
+you'll feel the rest of the week."
+
+Tony pushed his chair back. "I won't be around here today. I'm going
+into Karnet, with my EEP."
+
+"Yeah, to play with beetles!"
+
+Tony said nothing. He was already sliding his helmet in place and
+snapping the clamps tight. As he pushed through the back door, into the
+lock membrane, he unscrewed his oxygen tap and set the tank filter into
+action. An automatic response, conditioned by a lifetime spent on a
+colony planet in an alien system.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A faint flux wind caught at him and swept yellow-red dust around his
+boots. Sunlight glittered from the metal roof of his family's housing
+unit, one of endless rows of squat boxes set in the sandy slope,
+protected by the line of ore-refining installations against the horizon.
+He made an impatient signal, and from the storage shed his EEP came
+gliding out, catching the sunlight on its chrome trim.
+
+"We're going down into Karnet," Tony said, unconsciously slipping into
+the Pas dialect. "Hurry up!"
+
+The EEP took up its position behind him, and he started briskly down the
+slope, over the shifting sand, toward the road. There were quite a few
+traders out, today. It was a good day for the market; only a fourth of
+the year was fit for travel. Betelgeuse was an erratic and undependable
+sun, not at all like Sol (according to the edutapes, fed to Tony four
+hours a day, six days a week--he had never seen Sol himself).
+
+He reached the noisy road. Pas-udeti were everywhere. Whole groups of
+them, with their primitive combustion-driven trucks, battered and
+filthy, motors grinding protestingly. He waved at the trucks as they
+pushed past him. After a moment one slowed down. It was piled with
+_tis_, bundled heaps of gray vegetables dried, and prepared for the
+table. A staple of the Pas-udeti diet. Behind the wheel lounged a
+dark-faced elderly Pas, one arm over the open window, a rolled leaf
+between his lips. He was like all other Pas-udeti; lank and
+hard-shelled, encased in a brittle sheath in which he lived and died.
+
+"You want a ride?" the Pas murmured--required protocol when an Earthman
+on foot was encountered.
+
+"Is there room for my EEP?"
+
+The Pas made a careless motion with his claw. "It can run behind."
+Sardonic amusement touched his ugly old face. "If it gets to Karnet
+we'll sell it for scrap. We can use a few condensers and relay tubing.
+We're short on electronic maintenance stuff."
+
+"I know," Tony said solemnly, as he climbed into the cabin of the truck.
+"It's all been sent to the big repair base at Orion I. For your
+warfleet."
+
+Amusement vanished from the leathery face. "Yes, the warfleet." He
+turned away and started up the truck again. In the back, Tony's EEP had
+scrambled up on the load of _tis_ and was gripping precariously with its
+magnetic lines.
+
+Tony noticed the Pas-udeti's sudden change of expression, and he was
+puzzled. He started to speak to him--but now he noticed unusual
+quietness among the other Pas, in the other trucks, behind and in front
+of his own. The war, of course. It had swept through this system a
+century ago; these people had been left behind. Now all eyes were on
+Orion, on the battle between the Terran warfleet and the Pas-udeti
+collection of armed freighters.
+
+"Is it true," Tony asked carefully, "that you're winning?"
+
+The elderly Pas grunted. "We hear rumors."
+
+Tony considered. "My father says Terra went ahead too fast. He says we
+should have consolidated. We didn't assemble adequate supply bases. He
+used to be an officer, when he was younger. He was with the fleet for
+two years."
+
+The Pas was silent a moment. "It's true," he said at last, "that when
+you're so far from home, supply is a great problem. We, on the other
+hand, don't have that. We have no distances to cover."
+
+"Do you know anybody fighting?"
+
+"I have distant relatives." The answer was vague; the Pas obviously
+didn't want to talk about it.
+
+"Have you ever seen your warfleet?"
+
+"Not as it exists now. When this system was defeated most of our units
+were wiped out. Remnants limped to Orion and joined the Orion fleet."
+
+"Your relatives were with the remnants?"
+
+"That's right."
+
+"Then you were alive when this planet was taken?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" The old Pas quivered violently. "What business is it
+of yours?"
+
+Tony leaned out and watched the walls and buildings of Karnet grow ahead
+of them. Karnet was an old city. It had stood thousands of years. The
+Pas-udeti civilization was stable; it had reached a certain point of
+technocratic development and then leveled off. The Pas had inter-system
+ships that had carried people and freight between planets in the days
+before the Terran Confederation. They had combustion-driven cars,
+audiophones, a power network of a magnetic type. Their plumbing was
+satisfactory and their medicine was highly advanced. They had art forms,
+emotional and exciting. They had a vague religion.
+
+"Who do you think will win the battle?" Tony asked.
+
+"I don't know." With a sudden jerk the old Pas brought the truck to a
+crashing halt. "This is as far as I go. Please get out and take your
+EEP with you."
+
+Tony faltered in surprise. "But aren't you going--?"
+
+"No farther!"
+
+Tony pushed the door open. He was vaguely uneasy; there was a hard,
+fixed expression on the leathery face, and the old creature's voice had
+a sharp edge he had never heard before. "Thanks," he murmured. He hopped
+down into the red dust and signaled his EEP. It released its magnetic
+lines, and instantly the truck started up with a roar, passing on inside
+the city.
+
+Tony watched it go, still dazed. The hot dust lapped at his ankles; he
+automatically moved his feet and slapped at his trousers. A truck
+honked, and his EEP quickly moved him from the road, up to the level
+pedestrian ramp. Pas-udeti in swarms moved by, endless lines of rural
+people hurrying into Karnet on their daily business. A massive public
+bus had stopped by the gate and was letting off passengers. Male and
+female Pas. And children. They laughed and shouted; the sounds of their
+voices blended with the low hum of the city.
+
+"Going in?" a sharp Pas-udeti voice sounded close behind him. "Keep
+moving--you're blocking the ramp."
+
+It was a young female, with a heavy armload clutched in her claws. Tony
+felt embarrassed; female Pas had a certain telepathic ability, part of
+their sexual make-up. It was effective on Earthmen at close range.
+
+"Here," she said. "Give me a hand."
+
+Tony nodded his head, and the EEP accepted the female's heavy armload.
+"I'm visiting the city," Tony said, as they moved with the crowd toward
+the gates. "I got a ride most of the way, but the driver let me off out
+here."
+
+"You're from the settlement?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+She eyed him critically. "You've always lived here, haven't you?"
+
+"I was born here. My family came here from Earth four years before I was
+born. My father was an officer in the fleet. He earned an Emigration
+Priority."
+
+"So you've never seen your own planet. How old are you?"
+
+"Ten years. Terran."
+
+"You shouldn't have asked the driver so many questions."
+
+They passed through the decontamination shield and into the city. An
+information square loomed ahead; Pas men and women were packed around
+it. Moving chutes and transport cars rumbled everywhere. Buildings and
+ramps and open-air machinery; the city was sealed in a protective
+dust-proof envelope. Tony unfastened his helmet and clipped it to his
+belt. The air was stale-smelling, artificial, but usable.
+
+"Let me tell you something," the young female said carefully, as she
+strode along the foot-ramp beside Tony. "I wonder if this is a good day
+for you to come into Karnet. I know you've been coming here regularly to
+play with your friends. But perhaps today you ought to stay at home, in
+your settlement."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because today everybody is upset."
+
+"I know," Tony said. "My mother and father were upset. They were
+listening to the news from our base in the Rigel system."
+
+"I don't mean your family. Other people are listening, too. These people
+here. My race."
+
+"They're upset, all right," Tony admitted. "But I come here all the
+time. There's nobody to play with at the settlement, and anyhow we're
+working on a project."
+
+"A model spaceport."
+
+"That's right." Tony was envious. "I sure wish I was a telepath. It must
+be fun."
+
+The female Pas-udeti was silent. She was deep in thought. "What would
+happen," she asked, "if your family left here and returned to Earth?"
+
+"That couldn't happen. There's no room for us on Earth. C-bombs
+destroyed most of Asia and North America back in the Twentieth Century."
+
+"Suppose you _had_ to go back?"
+
+Tony did not understand. "But we can't. Habitable portions of Earth are
+overcrowded. Our main problem is finding places for Terrans to live, in
+other systems." He added, "And anyhow, I don't particularly want to go
+to Terra. I'm used to it here. All my friends are here."
+
+"I'll take my packages," the female said. "I go this other way, down
+this third-level ramp."
+
+Tony nodded to his EEP and it lowered the bundles into the female's
+claws. She lingered a moment, trying to find the right words.
+
+"Good luck," she said.
+
+"With what?"
+
+She smiled faintly, ironically. "With your model spaceport. I hope you
+and your friends get to finish it."
+
+"Of course we'll finish it," Tony said, surprised. "It's almost done."
+What did she mean?
+
+The Pas-udeti woman hurried off before he could ask her. Tony was
+troubled and uncertain; more doubts filled him. After a moment he headed
+slowly into the lane that took him toward the residential section of the
+city. Past the stores and factories, to the place where his friends
+lived.
+
+The group of Pas-udeti children eyed him silently as he approached. They
+had been playing in the shade of an immense _hengelo_, whose ancient
+branches drooped and swayed with the air currents pumped through the
+city. Now they sat unmoving.
+
+"I didn't expect you today," B'prith said, in an expressionless voice.
+
+Tony halted awkwardly, and his EEP did the same. "How are things?" he
+murmured.
+
+"Fine."
+
+"I got a ride part way."
+
+"Fine."
+
+Tony squatted down in the shade. None of the Pas children stirred. They
+were small, not as large as Terran children. Their shells had not
+hardened, had not turned dark and opaque, like horn. It gave them a
+soft, unformed appearance, but at the same time it lightened their load.
+They moved more easily than their elders; they could hop and skip
+around, still. But they were not skipping right now.
+
+"What's the matter?" Tony demanded. "What's wrong with everybody?"
+
+No one answered.
+
+"Where's the model?" he asked. "Have you fellows been working on it?"
+
+After a moment Llyre nodded slightly.
+
+Tony felt dull anger rise up inside him. "Say something! What's the
+matter? What're you all mad about?"
+
+"Mad?" B'prith echoed. "We're not mad."
+
+Tony scratched aimlessly in the dust. He knew what it was. The war,
+again. The battle going on near Orion. His anger burst up wildly.
+"Forget the war. Everything was fine yesterday, before the battle."
+
+"Sure," Llyre said. "It was fine."
+
+Tony caught the edge to his voice. "It happened a hundred years ago.
+It's not my fault."
+
+"Sure," B'prith said.
+
+"This is my home. Isn't it? Haven't I got as much right here as anybody
+else? I was born here."
+
+"Sure," Llyre said, tonelessly.
+
+Tony appealed to them helplessly. "Do you have to act this way? You
+didn't act this way yesterday. I was here yesterday--all of us were here
+yesterday. What's happened since yesterday?"
+
+"The battle," B'prith said.
+
+"What difference does _that_ make? Why does that change everything?
+There's always war. There've been battles all the time, as long as I can
+remember. What's different about this?"
+
+B'prith broke apart a clump of dirt with his strong claws. After a
+moment he tossed it away and got slowly to his feet. "Well," he said
+thoughtfully, "according to our audio relay, it looks as if our fleet is
+going to win, this time."
+
+"Yes," Tony agreed, not understanding. "My father says we didn't build
+up adequate supply bases. We'll probably have to fall back to...." And
+then the impact hit him. "You mean, for the first time in a hundred
+years--"
+
+"Yes," Llyre said, also getting up. The others got up, too. They moved
+away from Tony, toward the near-by house. "We're winning. The Terran
+flank was turned, half an hour ago. Your right wing has folded
+completely."
+
+Tony was stunned. "And it matters. It matters to all of you."
+
+"Matters!" B'prith halted, suddenly blazing out in fury. "Sure it
+matters! For the first time--in a century. The first time in our lives
+we're beating you. We have you on the run, you--" He choked out the
+word, almost spat it out. "You white-grubs!"
+
+They disappeared into the house. Tony sat gazing stupidly down at the
+ground, his hands still moving aimlessly. He had heard the word before,
+seen it scrawled on walls and in the dust near the settlement.
+_White-grubs._ The Pas term of derision for Terrans. Because of their
+softness, their whiteness. Lack of hard shells. Pulpy, doughy skin. But
+they had never dared say it out loud, before. To an Earthman's face.
+
+Beside him, his EEP stirred restlessly. Its intricate radio mechanism
+sensed the hostile atmosphere. Automatic relays were sliding into place;
+circuits were opening and closing.
+
+"It's all right," Tony murmured, getting slowly up. "Maybe we'd better
+go back."
+
+He moved unsteadily toward the ramp, completely shaken. The EEP walked
+calmly ahead, its metal face blank and confident, feeling nothing,
+saying nothing. Tony's thoughts were a wild turmoil; he shook his head,
+but the crazy spinning kept up. He couldn't make his mind slow down,
+lock in place.
+
+"Wait a minute," a voice said. B'prith's voice, from the open doorway.
+Cold and withdrawn, almost unfamiliar.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+B'prith came toward him, claws behind his back in the formal Pas-udeti
+posture, used between total strangers. "You shouldn't have come here,
+today."
+
+"I know," Tony said.
+
+B'prith got out a bit of _tis_ stalk and began to roll it into a tube.
+He pretended to concentrate on it. "Look," he said. "You said you have a
+right here. But you don't."
+
+"I--" Tony murmured.
+
+"Do you understand why not? You said it isn't your fault. I guess not.
+But it's not my fault, either. Maybe it's nobody's fault. I've known you
+a long time."
+
+"Five years. Terran."
+
+B'prith twisted the stalk up and tossed it away. "Yesterday we played
+together. We worked on the spaceport. But we can't play today. My family
+said to tell you not to come here any more." He hesitated, and did not
+look Tony in the face. "I was going to tell you, anyhow. Before they
+said anything."
+
+"Oh," Tony said.
+
+"Everything that's happened today--the battle, our fleet's stand. We
+didn't know. We didn't dare hope. You see? A century of running. First
+this system. Then the Rigel system, all the planets. Then the other
+Orion stars. We fought here and there--scattered fights. Those that got
+away joined up. We supplied the base at Orion--you people didn't know.
+But there was no hope; at least, nobody thought there was." He was
+silent a moment. "Funny," he said, "what happens when your back's to the
+wall, and there isn't any further place to go. Then you have to fight."
+
+"If our supply bases--" Tony began thickly, but B'prith cut him off
+savagely.
+
+"Your supply bases! Don't you understand? We're beating you! Now you'll
+have to get out! All you white-grubs. Out of our system!"
+
+Tony's EEP moved forward ominously. B'prith saw it. He bent down,
+snatched up a rock, and hurled it straight at the EEP. The rock clanged
+off the metal hull and bounced harmlessly away. B'prith snatched up
+another rock. Llyre and the others came quickly out of the house. An
+adult Pas loomed up behind them. Everything was happening too fast. More
+rocks crashed against the EEP. One struck Tony on the arm.
+
+"Get out!" B'prith screamed. "Don't come back! This is our planet!" His
+claws snatched at Tony. "We'll tear you to pieces if you--"
+
+Tony smashed him in the chest. The soft shell gave like rubber, and the
+Pas stumbled back. He wobbled and fell over, gasping and screeching.
+
+"_Beetle_," Tony breathed hoarsely. Suddenly he was terrified. A crowd
+of Pas-udeti was forming rapidly. They surged on all sides, hostile
+faces, dark and angry, a rising thunder of rage.
+
+More stones showered. Some struck the EEP, others fell around Tony, near
+his boots. One whizzed past his face. Quickly he slid his helmet in
+place. He was scared. He knew his EEP's E-signal had already gone out,
+but it would be minutes before a ship could come. Besides, there were
+other Earthmen in the city to be taken care of; there were Earthmen all
+over the planet. In all the cities. On all the twenty-three Betelgeuse
+planets. On the fourteen Rigel planets. On the other Orion planets.
+
+"We have to get out of here," he muttered to the EEP. "Do something!"
+
+A stone hit him on the helmet. The plastic cracked; air leaked out, and
+then the autoseal filmed over. More stones were falling. The Pas swarmed
+close, a yelling, seething mass of black-sheathed creatures. He could
+smell them, the acrid body-odor of insects, hear their claws snap, feel
+their weight.
+
+The EEP threw its heat beam on. The beam shifted in a wide band toward
+the crowd of Pas-udeti. Crude hand weapons appeared. A clatter of
+bullets burst around Tony; they were firing at the EEP. He was dimly
+aware of the metal body beside him. A shuddering crash--the EEP was
+toppled over. The crowd poured over it; the metal hull was lost from
+sight.
+
+Like a demented animal, the crowd tore at the struggling EEP. A few of
+them smashed in its head; others tore off struts and shiny arm-sections.
+The EEP ceased struggling. The crowd moved away, panting and clutching
+jagged remains. They saw Tony.
+
+As the first line of them reached for him, the protective envelope high
+above them shattered. A Terran scout ship thundered down, heat beam
+screaming. The crowd scattered in confusion, some firing, some throwing
+stones, others leaping for safety.
+
+Tony picked himself up and made his way unsteadily toward the spot where
+the scout was landing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I'm sorry," Joe Rossi said gently. He touched his son on the shoulder.
+"I shouldn't have let you go down there today. I should have known."
+
+Tony sat hunched over in the big plastic easychair. He rocked back and
+forth, face pale with shock. The scout ship which had rescued him had
+immediately headed back toward Karnet; there were other Earthmen to
+bring out, besides this first load. The boy said nothing. His mind was
+blank. He still heard the roar of the crowd, felt its hate--a century of
+pent-up fury and resentment. The memory drove out everything else; it
+was all around him, even now. And the sight of the floundering EEP, the
+metallic ripping sound, as its arms and legs were torn off and carried
+away.
+
+His mother dabbed at his cuts and scratches with antiseptic. Joe Rossi
+shakily lit a cigarette and said, "If your EEP hadn't been along they'd
+have killed you. Beetles." He shuddered. "I never should have let you go
+down there. All this time.... They might have done it any time, any day.
+Knifed you. Cut you open with their filthy goddamn claws."
+
+Below the settlement the reddish-yellow sunlight glinted on gunbarrels.
+Already, dull booms echoed against the crumbling hills. The defense ring
+was going into action. Black shapes darted and scurried up the side of
+the slope. Black patches moved out from Karnet, toward the Terran
+settlement, across the dividing line the Confederation surveyors had set
+up a century ago. Karnet was a bubbling pot of activity. The whole city
+rumbled with feverish excitement.
+
+Tony raised his head. "They--they turned our flank."
+
+"Yeah." Joe Rossi stubbed out his cigarette. "They sure did. That was at
+one o'clock. At two they drove a wedge right through the center of our
+line. Split the fleet in half. Broke it up--sent it running. Picked us
+off one by one as we fell back. Christ, they're like maniacs. Now that
+they've got the scent, the taste of our blood."
+
+"But it's getting better," Leah fluttered. "Our main fleet units are
+beginning to appear."
+
+"We'll get them," Joe muttered. "It'll take a while. But by God we'll
+wipe them out. Every last one of them. If it takes a thousand years.
+We'll follow every last ship down--we'll get them all." His voice rose
+in frenzy. "Beetles! Goddamn insects! When I think of them, trying to
+hurt my kid, with their filthy black claws--"
+
+"If you were younger, you'd be in the line," Leah said. "It's not your
+fault you're too old. The heart strain's too great. You did your job.
+They can't let an older person take chances. It's not your fault."
+
+Joe clenched his fists. "I feel so--futile. If there was only something
+I could do."
+
+"The fleet will take care of them," Leah said soothingly. "You said so
+yourself. They'll hunt every one of them down. Destroy them all. There's
+nothing to worry about."
+
+Joe sagged miserably. "It's no use. Let's cut it out. Let's stop kidding
+ourselves."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Face it! We're not going to win, not this time. We went too far. Our
+time's come."
+
+There was silence.
+
+Tony sat up a little. "When did you know?"
+
+"I've known a long time."
+
+"I found out today. I didn't understand, at first. This is--stolen
+ground. I was born here, but it's stolen ground."
+
+"Yes. It's stolen. It doesn't belong to us."
+
+"We're here because we're stronger. But now we're not stronger. We're
+being beaten."
+
+"They know Terrans can be licked. Like anybody else." Joe Rossi's face
+was gray and flabby. "We took their planets away from them. Now they're
+taking them back. It'll be a while, of course. We'll retreat slowly.
+It'll be another five centuries going back. There're a lot of systems
+between here and Sol."
+
+Tony shook his head, still uncomprehending. "Even Llyre and B'prith. All
+of them. Waiting for their time to come. For us to lose and go away
+again. Where we came from."
+
+Joe Rossi paced back and forth. "Yeah, we'll be retreating from now on.
+Giving ground, instead of taking it. It'll be like this today--losing
+fights, draws. Stalemates and worse."
+
+He raised his feverish eyes toward the ceiling of the little metal
+housing unit, face wild with passion and misery.
+
+"But, by God, we'll give them a run for their money. All the way back!
+Every inch!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tony and the Beetles, by Philip K. Dick
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40964 ***