diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-04 04:55:27 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-04 04:55:27 -0800 |
| commit | 262a14edc2f1dcd5453506fa5ea54cc73d1484d0 (patch) | |
| tree | e93e19d779f0a0d7fe29268dccba7bd1147327f5 | |
| parent | 4ca6ab041932a3880c4cc2e5f448eb2a2c2dc973 (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996-8.txt | 2831 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996-8.zip | bin | 46483 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996-h.zip | bin | 566261 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996-h/62996-h.htm | 2959 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 253879 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996-h/images/illus.jpg | bin | 265233 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996.txt | 2831 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62996.zip | bin | 46461 -> 0 bytes |
11 files changed, 17 insertions, 8621 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3882a4c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62996 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62996) diff --git a/old/62996-8.txt b/old/62996-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 60f92f9..0000000 --- a/old/62996-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2831 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: The Jewel of Bas - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: August 21, 2020 [EBook #62996] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF BAS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE JEWEL OF BAS - - A WEIRD NOVEL OF FASCINATING POWER - - by LEIGH BRACKETT - - There was a boy-God, sleeping through - eternity. And there were his "Stone of - Life" and the androids he had created - of matter and energy. And there was a - world that was to die from the - machinations of the androids' diabolic - minds. There were Mouse and Ciaran to - stem the death-flood--two mortals fighting - the immortals' plans for conquest. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1944. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Mouse stirred the stew in the small iron pot. There wasn't much of it. -She sniffed and said: - -"You could have stolen a bigger joint. We'll go hungry before the next -town." - -"Uh huh," Ciaran grunted lazily. - -Anger began to curl in Mouse's eyes. - -"I suppose it's all right with you if we run out of food," she said -sullenly. - -Ciaran leaned back comfortably against a moss-grown boulder and watched -her with lazy grey eyes. He liked watching Mouse. She was a head -shorter than he, which made her very short indeed, and as thin as -a young girl. Her hair was black and wild, as though only wind ever -combed it. Her eyes were black, too, and very bright. There was a small -red thief's brand between them. She wore a ragged crimson tunic, and -her bare arms and legs were as brown as his own. - -Ciaran grinned. His lip was scarred, and there was a tooth missing -behind it. He said, "It's just as well. I don't want you getting fat -and lazy." - -Mouse, who was sensitive about her thinness, said something pungent and -threw the wooden plate at him. Ciaran drew his shaggy head aside enough -to let it by and then relaxed, stroking the harp on his bare brown -knees. It began to purr softly. - -Ciaran felt good. The heat of the sunballs that floated always, lazy -in a reddish sky, made him pleasantly sleepy. And after the clamor and -crush of the market squares in the border towns, the huge high silence -of the place was wonderful. - -He and Mouse were camped on a tongue of land that licked out from the -Phrygian hills down into the coastal plains of Atlantea. A short cut, -but only gypsies like themselves ever took it. To Ciaran's left, far -below, the sea spread sullen and burning, cloaked in a reddish fog. - -To his right, also far below, were the Forbidden Plains. Flat, -desolate, and barren, reaching away and away to the up-curving rim of -the world, where Ciaran's sharp eyes could just make out a glint of -gold; a mammoth peak reaching for the sky. - -Mouse said suddenly, "Is that it, Kiri? Ben Beatha, the Mountain of -Life." - -Ciaran struck a shivering chord from the harp. "That's it." - -"Let's eat," said Mouse. - -"Scared?" - -"Maybe you want me to go back! Maybe you think a branded thief isn't -good enough for you! Well I can't help where I was born or what my -parents were--and you'd have a brand on your ugly face too, if you -hadn't just been lucky!" - -She threw the ladle. - -This time her aim was better and Ciaran didn't duck quite in time. It -clipped his ear. He sprang up, looking murderous, and started to heave -it back at her. And then, suddenly, Mouse was crying, stamping up and -down and blinking tears out of her eyes. - -"All right, I'm scared! I've never been out of a city before, and -besides...." She looked out over the silent plain, to the distant -glint of Ben Beatha. "Besides," she whispered, "I keep thinking of the -stories they used to tell--about Bas the Immortal, and his androids, -and the grey beasts that served them. And about the Stone of Destiny." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran made a contemptuous mouth. "Legends. Old wive's tales. Songs -to give babies a pleasant shiver." A small glint of avarice came into -his grey eyes. "But the Stone of Destiny--it's a nice story, that one. -A jewel of such power that owning it gives a man rule over the whole -world...." - -He squinted out across the barren plain. "Some day," he said, softly, -"maybe I'll see if that one's true." - -"Oh, Kiri." Mouse came and caught his wrists in her small strong -hands. "You wouldn't. It's forbidden--and no one that's gone into the -Forbidden Plains has ever come back." - -"There's always a first time." He grinned. "But I'm not going now, -Mousie. I'm too hungry." - -She picked up the plate silently and ladled stew into it and set it -down. Ciaran laid his harp down and stretched--a tough, wiry little man -with legs slightly bandy and a good-natured hard face. He wore a yellow -tunic even more ragged than Mouse's. - -They sat down. Ciaran ate noisily with his fingers. Mouse fished out -a hunk of meat and nibbled it moodily. A breeze came up, pushing the -sunballs around a little and bringing tatters of red fog in off the -sea. After a while Mouse said: - -"Did you hear any of the talk in the market squares, Kiri?" - -He shrugged. "They gabble. I don't waste my time with it." - -"All along the border countries they were saying the same thing. -People who live or work along the edge of the Forbidden Plains have -disappeared. Whole towns of them, sometimes." - -"One man falls into a beast-pit," said Ciaran impatiently, "and in two -weeks of gossip the whole country has vanished. Forget it." - -"But it's happened before, Kiri. A long time ago...." - -"A long time ago some wild tribe living on the Plains came in and got -tough, and that's that!" Ciaran wiped his hands on the grass and said -angrily, "If you're going to nag all the time about being scared...." - -He caught the plate out of her hands just in time. She was breathing -hard, glaring at him. She looked like her name, and cute as hell. -Ciaran laughed. - -"Come here, you." - -She came, sulkily. He pulled her down beside him and kissed her and -took the harp on his knees. Mouse put her head on his shoulder. Ciaran -was suddenly very happy. - - * * * * * - -He began to draw music out of the harp. There was a lot of distance -around him, and he tried to fill it up with music, a fine free spate -of it out of the thrumming strings. Then he sang. He had a beautiful -voice, clear and true as a new blade, but soft. It was a simple tune, -about two people in love. Ciaran liked it. - -After a while Mouse reached up and drew his head around, stroking the -scar on his lip so he had to stop singing. She wasn't glaring any -longer. Ciaran bent his head. - -His eyes were closed. But he felt her body stiffen against him, and her -lips broke away from his with a little gasping cry. - -"Kiri--Kiri, look!" - -He jerked his head back, angry and startled. Then the anger faded. - -There was a different quality to the light. The warm, friendly, reddish -sunlight that never dimmed or faded. - -There was a shadow spreading out in the sky over Ben Beatha. It grew -and widened, and the sunballs went out, one by one, and darkness came -toward them over the Forbidden Plains. - -They crouched, clinging together, not speaking, not breathing. An -uneasy breeze sighed over them, moving out. Then, after a long time, -the sunballs sparked and burned again, and the shadow was gone. - -Ciaran dragged down an unsteady breath. He was sweating, but where his -hands and Mouse's touched, locked together, they were cold as death. - -"What was it, Kiri?" - -"I don't know." He got up, slinging the harp across his back without -thinking about it. He felt naked suddenly, up there on the high ridge. -Stripped and unsafe. He pulled Mouse to her feet. Neither of them spoke -again. Their eyes had a queer stunned look. - -This time it was Ciaran that stopped, with the stewpot in his hands, -looking at something behind Mouse. He dropped it and jumped in front -of her, pulling the wicked knife he carried from his girdle. The last -thing he heard was her wild scream. - -But he had time enough to see. To see the creatures climbing up over -the crest of the ridge beside them, fast and silent and grinning, -to ring them in with wands tipped at the point with opals like tiny -sunballs. - -They were no taller than Mouse, but thick and muscular, built like -men. Grey animal fur grew on them like the body-hair of a hairy man, -lengthening into a coarse mane over the skull. Where the skin showed it -was grey and wrinkled and tough. - -Their faces were flat, with black animal nose-buttons. They had -sharp teeth, grey with a bright, healthy greyness. Their eyes were -blood-pink, without whites or visible pupils. - -The eyes were the worst. - -Ciaran yelled and slashed out with his knife. One of the grey brutes -danced in on lithe, quick feet and touched him on the neck with its -jeweled wand. - -Fire exploded in Ciaran's head, and then there was darkness, pierced by -Mouse's scream. As he slid down into it he thought: - -"They're Kalds. The beasts of legend that served Bas the Immortal and -his androids. Kalds, that guarded the Forbidden Plains from man!" - -Ciaran came to, on his feet and walking. From the way he felt he'd been -walking a long time, but his memory was vague and confused. He had been -relieved of his knife, but his harp was still with him. - -Mouse walked beside him. Her black hair hung over her face and her -eyes looked out from behind it, sullen and defiant. - -The grey beasts walked in a rough circle around them, holding their -wands ready. From the way they grinned, Ciaran had an idea they hoped -they'd have an excuse for using them. - -With a definitely uneasy shock, Ciaran realized that they were far out -in the barren waste of the Forbidden Plains. - -He got a little closer to Mouse. "Hello." - -She looked at him. "You and your short cuts! So all that talk in the -border towns was just gabble, huh?" - -"So it's my fault! If that isn't just like a woman...." Ciaran made an -impatient gesture. "All right, all right! That doesn't matter now. What -does matter is where are we going and why?" - -"How should I--Wait a minute. We're stopping." - -The Kalds warned them with their wands to stand. One of the grey -brutes seemed to be listening to something that Ciaran couldn't hear. -Presently it gestured and the party started off again in a slightly -different direction. - -After a minute or two a gully appeared out of nowhere at their feet. -From up on the ridge the Forbidden Plains had looked perfectly flat, -but the gully was fairly wide and cut in clean like a sword gash, -hidden by a slight roll of the land. They scrambled down the steep bank -and went along the bottom. - -Again with an uneasy qualm, Ciaran realized they were headed in the -general direction of Ben Beatha. - -The old legends had been gradually lost in the stream of time, except -to people who cared for such things, or made a living from singing -about them, like Ciaran. But in spite of that Ben Beatha was tabu. - -The chief reason was physical. The Plains, still called Forbidden, -ringed the mountain like a protective wall, and it was an indisputable -fact whether you liked it or not that people who went out onto them -didn't come back. Hunger, thirst, wild beasts, or devils--they didn't -come back. That discouraged a lot of traveling. - -Besides, the only reason for attempting to reach Ben Beatha was the -legend of the Stone of Destiny, and people had long ago lost faith in -that. Nobody had seen it. Nobody had seen Bas the Immortal who was -its god and guardian, nor the androids that were his servants, nor the -Kalds that were slaves to both of them. - -Long, long ago people were supposed to have seen them. In the -beginning, according to the legends, Bas the Immortal had lived in a -distant place--a green world where there was only one huge sunball that -rose and set regularly, where the sky was sometimes blue and sometimes -black and silver, and where the horizon curved down. The manifest -idiocy of all that still tickled people so they liked to hear songs -about it. - -Somewhere on that green world, somehow, Bas had acquired the flaming -stone that gave him the power of life and death and destiny. There were -a lot of conflicting and confused stories about trouble between Bas and -the inhabitants of the funny world with the sky that changed like a -woman's fancy. Eventually he was supposed to have gathered up a lot of -these inhabitants through the power of the stone and transported them -somehow across a great distance to the world where they now lived. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran had found that children loved these yarns particularly. Their -imaginations were still elastic enough not to see the ridiculous side. -He always gave the Distance Cycle a lot of schmaltz. - -So after Bas the Immortal and his Stone of Destiny had got all these -people settled in a new world, Bas created his androids, Khafre and -Steud, and brought the Kalds from somewhere out in that vague Distance; -another world, perhaps. And there were wars and revolts and raiding -parties, and bitter struggles between Bas and the androids and the -humans for power, with Bas always winning because of the Stone. There -was a bottomless well of material there for ballads. Ciaran used it -frequently. - -But the one legend that had always maintained its original shape under -the battering of generations was the one about Ben Beatha, the Mountain -of Life, being the dwelling place of Bas the Immortal and his androids -and the Kalds. And somewhere under Ben Beatha was the Stone, whose -possession could give a man life eternal and the powers of whatever -god you chose to believe in. - -Ciaran had toyed with that one in spite of his skepticism. Now it -looked as though he was going to see for himself. - -He looked at the Kalds, the creatures who didn't exist, and found his -skepticism shaken. Shaken so hard he felt sick with it, like a man -waking up to find a nightmare beside him in the flesh, booting his guts -in. - -If the Kalds were real, the androids were real. From the androids you -went to Bas, and from Bas to the Stone of Destiny. - -Ciaran began to sweat with sheer excitement. - -Mouse jerked her head up suddenly. "Kiri--listen!" - -From somewhere up ahead and to the right there began to come a -rhythmic, swinging clank of metal. Underneath it Ciaran made out the -shuffle of bare or sandalled feet. - -The Kalds urged them on faster with the jewel-tipped wands. The hot -opalescence of the tips struck Ciaran all at once. A jewel-fire that -could shock a man to unconsciousness like the blow of a fist, just by -touching. - -The power of the Stone, perhaps. The Stone of Destiny, sleeping under -Ben Beatha. - -The shuffle and clank got louder. Quite suddenly they came to a place -where the gully met another one almost at right angles, and stopped. -The ears of the Kalds twitched nervously. - -Mouse shrank in closer against Ciaran. She was looking off down the new -cut. Ciaran looked, too. - -There were Kalds coming toward them. About forty of them, with wands. -Walking between their watchful lines were some ninety or a hundred -humans, men and women, shackled together by chains run through loops in -iron collars. They were so close together they had to lock-step, and -any attempt at attacking their guards would have meant the whole column -falling flat. - -Mouse said, with vicious clarity, "One man falls into a beast pit, and -in three weeks of gossip a whole town is gone. Hah!" - -Ciaran's scarred mouth got ugly. "Keep going, Mousie. Just keep it up." -He scowled at the slave gang and added, "But what the hell is it all -about? What do they want us for?" - -"You'll find out," said Mouse. "You and your short cuts." - -Ciaran raised his hand. Mouse ducked and started to swing on him. A -couple of Kalds moved in and touched them apart, very delicately, with -the wands. They didn't want knockouts this time. Just local numbness. - -Ciaran was feeling murderous enough to start something anyway, but a -second flick of the wand on the back of his neck took the starch out of -him. By that time the slave party had come up and stopped. - -Ciaran stumbled over into line and let the Kalds lock the collar around -his neck. The man in front of him was huge, with a mane of red hair -and cords of muscle on his back the size of Ciaran's arm. He hadn't a -stitch on but a leather G-string. His freckled, red-haired skin was -slippery with sweat. Ciaran, pressed up against him, shut his mouth -tight and began to breathe very hard with his face turned as far away -as he could get it. - -They shackled Mouse right in back of him. She put her arms around his -waist, tighter than she really had to. Ciaran squeezed her hands. - - - II - -The Kalds started the line moving again, using the wands like ox-goads. -They shuffled off down the gully, going deeper and deeper into the -Forbidden Plains. - -Very softly, so that nobody but Ciaran could hear her, Mouse whispered, -"These locks are nothing. I can pick them any time." - -Ciaran squeezed her hand again. It occurred to him that Mouse was a -handy girl to have around. - -After a while she said, "Kiri--that shadow. We did see it?" - -"We did." He shivered in spite of himself. - -"What was it?" - -"How should I know? And you better save your breath. Looks like a long -walk ahead of us." - -It was. They threaded their way through a growing maze of cracks in -the plain, cracks that got deeper and deeper, so you had to look -straight up to see the red sky and the little floating suns. Ciaran -found himself watching furtively to make sure they were still shining. -He wished Mousie hadn't reminded him of the shadow. He'd never been -closer to cold, clawing panic than in those moments on the ridge. - -The rest of the slave gang had obviously come a long way already. They -were tired. But the Kalds goaded them on, and it wasn't until about a -third of the line was being held up bodily by those in front or behind -that a halt was called. - -They came to a fairly-wide place where three of the gullies came -together. The Kalds formed the line into a circle, squeezed in on -itself so they were practically sitting in each other's laps, and then -stood by watchfully, lolling pink tongues over their bright grey teeth -and letting the wands flash in the dimmed light. - -Ciaran let his head and shoulders roll over onto Mousie. For some time -he had felt her hands working around her own collar, covered by her -hair and the harp slung across his back. She wore a rather remarkable -metal pin that had other functions than holding her tunic on, and she -knew how to use it. - -Her collar was still in place, but he knew she could slide out of it -now any time she wanted. She bent forward over him as though she was -exhausted. Her black hair fell over his face and neck. Under it her -small quick hands got busy. - -The lock snapped quietly, and the huge red-haired man collapsed slowly -on top of Ciaran. His voice whispered, but there was nothing weak about -it. - -He said, "Now me." - -Ciaran squirmed and cursed. The vast weight crushed him to silence. - -"I'm a hunter. I can hear a rabbit breathing in its warren. I heard the -woman speak. Free me or I'll make trouble." - -Ciaran sighed resignedly, and Mouse went to work. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran looked around the circle of exhausted humans. Charcoal burners, -trappers, hoop-shavers--the lean, tough, hard-bitten riff-raff of the -border wilderness. Even the women were tough. Ciaran began to get -ideas. - -There was a man crushed up against them on the other side--the man who -had hitherto been at the head of the column. He was tall and stringy -like a hungry cat, and just as mean looking, hunched over his knees -with his face buried in his forearms and a shag of iron-grey hair -falling over his shoulders. - -Ciaran nudged him. "You--don't make any sign. Game to take a chance?" - -The shaggy head turned slightly, just enough to unveil an eye. Ciaran -wished suddenly he'd kept his mouth shut. The eye was pale, almost -white, with a queer unhuman look as though it saw only gods or devils, -and nothing in between. - -Ciaran had met hermits before in his wanderings. He knew the signs. -Normally he rather liked hermits, but this one gave him unpleasant -qualms in the stomach. - -The man dragged a rusty voice up from somewhere. "We are enslaved by -devils. Only the pure can overcome devils. Are you pure?" - -Ciaran managed not to choke. "As a bird in its nest," he said. "A -newly-fledged bird. In fact, a bird still in the shell." - -The cold, pale eye looked at him without blinking. - -Ciaran resisted an impulse to punch it and said, "We have a means of -freeing ourselves. If enough could be freed, when the time came we -might rush the Kalds." - -"Only the pure can prevail against devils." - -Ciaran gave him a smile of beatific innocence. The scar and the missing -tooth rather spoiled the effect, but his eyes made up for it in bland -sweetness. - -"You shall lead us, Father," he cooed. "With such purity as yours, we -can't fail." - -The hermit thought about that for a moment and then said, "I will pass -the word. Give me the feke." - -Ciaran's jaw dropped. His eyes got glassy. - -"The feke," said the hermit patiently. "The jiggler." - -Ciaran closed his eyes. "Mouse," he said weakly, "give the gentleman -the picklock." - -Mouse slid it to him, a distance of about two inches. The red-haired -giant took some of his weight off Ciaran. Mouse was looking slightly -dazed herself. - -"Hadn't I better do it for you?" she asked, rather pompously. - -The hermit gave her a cold glance. He bent his head and brought his -hands up between his knees. His collar mate on the other side never -noticed a thing, and the hermit beat Mouse's time by a good third. - -Ciaran laughed. He lay in Mouse's lap and had mild hysterics. Mouse -cuffed him furiously across the back of his neck, and even that didn't -stop him. - -He pulled himself up, looked through streaming eyes at Mouse's -murderous small face, and bit his knuckles to keep from screaming. - -The hermit was already quietly at work on the man next him. - -Ciaran unslung his harp. The grey Kalds hadn't noticed anything yet. -Both Mouse and the hermit were very smooth workers. Ciaran plucked out -a few sonorous minor chords, and the Kalds flicked their blood-pink -eyes at him, but didn't seem to think the harp called for any action. - -Ciaran relaxed and played louder. - -Under cover of the music he explained his plan to the big red hunter, -who nodded and began whispering to his other collar-mate. Ciaran began -to sing. - -He gave them a lament, one of the wild dark things the Cimmerians sing -at the bier of a chief and very appropriate to the occasion. The Kalds -lounged, enjoying the rest. They weren't watching for it, so they -didn't see, as Ciaran did, the breathing of the word of hope around the -circle. - - * * * * * - -Civilized people would have given the show away. But these were -bordermen, as wary and self-contained as animals. It was only in their -eyes that you could see anything. They got busy, under cover of their -huddled bodies and long-haired, bowed-over heads, with every buckle and -pin they could muster. - -Mouse and the hermit passed instructions along the line, and since they -were people who were used to using their hands with skill, it seemed as -though a fair number of locks might get picked. The collars were left -carefully in place. - -Ciaran finished his lament and was half way through another when the -Kalds decided it was time to go. - -They moved in to goad the line back into position. Ciaran's harp -crashed out suddenly in angry challenge, and the close-packed circle -split into a furious confusion. - -Ciaran slung his harp over his shoulder and sprang up, shaking off -the collar. All around him was the clash of chain metal on rock, the -scuffle of feet, the yells and heavy breathing of angry men. The Kalds -came leaping in, their wands flashing. Somebody screamed. Ciaran got a -fistful of Mouse's tunic in his left hand and started to butt through -the mêlée. He had lost track of the hermit and the hunter. - -Then, quite suddenly, it was dark. - -Silence closed down oh the gully. A black, frozen silence, with not -even a sound of breathing in it. Ciaran stood still, looking up at the -dark sky. He didn't even tremble. He was beyond that. - -Black darkness, in a land of eternal light. - -Somewhere then, a woman screamed with a terrible mad strength, and hell -broke loose. - -Ciaran ran. He didn't think about where he was going, only that he had -to get away. He was still gripping Mouse. Bodies thrashed and blundered -and shrieked in the darkness. Twice he and Mouse were knocked kicking. -It didn't stop them. - -They broke through finally into a clear space. There began to be light -again, pale and feeble at first but flickering back toward normal. They -were in a broad gully kicked smooth on the bottom by the passing of -many feet. They ran down it. - -After a while Mouse fell and Ciaran dropped beside her. He lay there, -fighting for breath, twitching and jerking like an animal with sheer -panic. He was crying a little because it was light again. - -Mouse clung to him, pressing tight as though she wanted to merge her -body with his and hide it. She had begun to shake. - -"Kiri," she whispered, over and over again. "Kiri, what was it?" - -Ciaran held her head against his shoulder and stroked it. "I don't -know, honey. But it's all right now. It's gone." - -Gone. But it could come back. It had once. Maybe next time it would -stay. - -Darkness, and the sudden cold. - -The legends began crawling through Ciaran's mind. If Bas the Immortal -was true, and the Stone of Destiny was true, and the Stone gave Bas -power over the life and death of a world ... then...? - -Maybe Bas was getting tired of the world and wanted to throw it away. - -The rational stubbornness in man that says a thing is not because -it's never been before helped Ciaran steady down. But he couldn't kid -himself that there hadn't been darkness where no darkness had even been -dreamed of before. - -He shook his head and started to pull Mouse to her feet, and then his -quick ears caught the sound of someone coming toward them, running. -Several someones. - -There was no place to hide. Ciaran got Mouse behind him and waited, -half crouching. - -It was the hunter, with the hermit loping like a stringy cat at his -heels and a third man behind them both. They all looked a little crazy, -and they didn't seem to be going to stop. - -Ciaran said, "Hey!" - - * * * * * - -They slowed down looking at him with queer, blank eyes. Ciaran blew up, -because he had to relax somehow. - -"It's all over now. What are you scared of? It's gone." He cursed them, -with more feeling than fairness. "What about the Kalds? What happened -back there?" - -The hunter wiped a huge hand across his red-bearded face. "Everybody -went crazy," he said thickly. "Some got killed or hurt. Some got away, -like us. The rest were caught again." He jerked his head back. "They're -coming this way. They're hunting us. They hunt by scent, the grey -beasts do." - -"Then we've got to get going." Ciaran turned around. "Mouse. You, -Mousie! Snap out of it, honey. It's all right now." - -She shivered and choked over her breath, and the hermit fixed them both -with pale, mad eyes. - -"It was a warning," he said. "A portent of judgment, when only the pure -shall be saved." He pointed a bony finger at Ciaran. "I told you that -evil could not prevail against devils!" - -That got through to Mouse. Sense came back into her black eyes. She -took a step toward the hermit and let go. - -"Don't you call him evil--or me either! We've never hurt anybody yet, -beyond lifting a little food or a trinket. And besides, who the hell -are you to talk! Anybody as handy with a picklock as you are has had -plenty of practice...." - -Mouse paused for breath, and Ciaran got a look at the hermit's face. -His stomach quivered. He tried to shut Mouse up, but she was feeling -better and beginning to enjoy herself. She plunged into a detailed -analysis of the hermit's physique and heredity. She had a vivid and -inventive mind. - -Ciaran finally got his hand over her mouth, taking care not to get -bitten. "Nice going," he said, "but we've got to get out of here. You -can finish later." - -She started to heel his shins, and then quite suddenly she stopped and -stiffened up under his hands. She was looking at the hermit. Ciaran -looked, too. His insides knotted, froze, and began to do tricks. - -The hermit said quietly, "You are finished now." His pale eyes held -them, and there was nothing human about his gaze, or the cold calm of -his voice. - -"You are evil. You are thieves--and I know, for I was a thief myself. -You have the filth of the world on you, and no wish to clean it off." - -He moved toward them. It was hardly a step, hardly more than an -inclination of the body, but Ciaran gave back before it. - -"I killed a man. I took a life in sin and anger, and now I have made -my peace. You have not. You will not. And if need comes, I can kill -again--without remorse." - -He could, too. There was nothing ludicrous about him now. He was -stating simple fact, and the dignity of him was awesome. Ciaran scowled -down at the dust. - -"Hell," he said, "we're sorry, Father. Mouse has a quick tongue, and -we've both had a bad scare. She didn't mean it. We respect any man's -conscience." - -There was a cold, hard silence, and then the third man cried out with a -sort of subdued fury: - -"Let's go! Do you want to get caught again?" - -He was a gnarled, knotty, powerful little man, beginning to grizzle but -not to slow down. He wore a kilt of skins. His hide was dark and tough -as leather, his hazel eyes set in nests of wrinkles. - -The hunter, who had been hearing nothing but noises going back and -forth over his head, turned and led off down the gully. The others -followed, still not speaking. - -Ciaran was thinking, He's crazy. He's clear off his head--and of all -the things we didn't need, a crazy hermit heads the list! - -There was a cold spot between his shoulders that wouldn't go away even -when he started sweating with exertion. - - * * * * * - -The gully was evidently a main trail to Somewhere. There were many -signs of recent passage by a lot of people, including an occasional -body kicked off to the side and left to dry. - -The little knotty man, who was a trapper named Ram, examined the bodies -with a terrible stony look in his eyes. - -"My wife and my first son," he said briefly. "The grey beasts took them -while I was gone." - -He turned grimly away. - -Ciaran was glad when the bodies proved to be the wrong ones. - -Ram and the big red hunter took turns scaling the cleft walls for a -look. Mouse said something about taking to the face of the Plain where -they wouldn't be hemmed in. They looked at her grimly. - -"The grey beasts are up there," they said. "Flanking us. If we go up, -they'll only take us and chain us again." - -Ciaran's heart took a big, staggering jump. "In other words, they're -herding us. We're going the way they want us to, so they don't bother -to round us up." - -The hunter nodded professionally. "Is a good plan." - -"Oh, fine!" snarled Ciaran. "What I want to know is, is there any way -out?" - -The hunter shrugged. - -"I'm going on anyway," said Ram. "My wife and son...." - -Ciaran thought about the Stone of Destiny, and was rather glad there -was no decision to make. - -They went on, at an easy jog trot. By bits and pieces Ciaran built up -the picture--raiding gangs of Kalds coming quietly onto isolated border -villages, combing the brush and the forest for stragglers. Where they -took the humans, or why, nobody could guess.[1] froze to a dead stop. -The others crouched behind him, instinctively holding their breath. - -The hunter whispered, "People. Many of them." His flat palm made an -emphatic move for quiet. - -Small cold prickles flared across Ciaran's skin. He found Mouse's hand -in his and squeezed it. Suddenly, with no more voice than the sigh of a -breeze through bracken, the hermit laughed. - -"Judgment," he whispered. "Great things moving." His pale eyes were -fey. "Doom and destruction, a shadow across the world, a darkness and a -dying." - -He looked at them one by one, and threw his head back, laughing without -sound, the stringy cords working in his throat. - -"And of all of you, I _alone_ have no fear!" - -They went on, slowly, moving without sound in small shapeless puddles -of shadow thrown by the floating sunballs. Ciaran found himself almost -in the lead, beside the hunter. - -They edged around a jog in the cleft wall. About ten feet ahead of them -the cleft floor plunged underground, through a low opening shored with -heavy timbers. - -There were two Kalds lounging in front of it, watching their wands -flash in the light. - -The five humans stopped. The Kalds came toward them, almost lazily, -running rough grey tongues over their shiny teeth. Their blood-pink -eyes were bright with pleasure. - -Ciaran groaned. "This is it. Shall we be brave, or just smart?" - -The hunter cocked his huge fists. And then Ram let go a queer animal -moan. He shoved past Ciaran and went to his knees beside something -Ciaran hadn't noticed before. - -A woman lay awkwardly against the base of the cliff. She was brown -and stringy and not very young, with a plain, good face. A squat, -thick-shouldered boy sprawled almost on top of her. There was a livid -burn on the back of his neck. They were both dead. - -Ciaran thought probably the woman had dropped from exhaustion, and the -kid had died fighting to save her. He felt sick. - -Ram put a hand on each of their faces. His own was stony and quite -blank. After the first cry he didn't make a sound. - -He got up and went for the Kald nearest to him. - - - III - -He did it like an animal, quick and without thinking. The Kald was -quick, too. It jabbed the wand at Ram, but the little brown man was -coming so fast that it didn't stop him. He must have died in mid-leap, -but his body knocked the Kald over and bore him down. - -Ciaran followed him in a swift cat leap. - -He heard the hunter grunting and snarling somewhere behind him, and the -thudding of bare feet being very busy. He lost sight of the other Kald. -He lost sight of everything but a muscular grey arm that was trying to -pull a jewel-tipped wand from under Ram's corpse. There was a terrible -stink of burned flesh. - -Ciaran grabbed the grey wrist. He didn't bother with it, or the arm. -He slid his grip up to the fingers, got his other hand beside it, and -started wrenching. - -Bone cracked and split. Ciaran worked desperately, from the thumb and -the little finger. Flesh tore. Splinters of grey bone came through. -Ciaran's hands slipped in the blood. The grey beast opened its mouth, -but no sound came. Ciaran decided then the things were dumb. It was -human enough to sweat. - -Ciaran grabbed the wand. - -A grey paw, the other one, came clawing for his throat around the bulk -of Ram's shoulders. He flicked it with the wand. It went away, and -Ciaran speared the jewel tip down hard against the Kald's throat. - -After a while Mouse's voice came to him from somewhere. "It's done, -Kiri. No use overcooking it." - -It smelled done, all right. Ciaran got up. He looked at the wand in his -hand, holding it away off. He whistled. - -Mouse said, "Stop admiring yourself and get going. The hunter says he -can hear chains." - -Ciaran looked around. The other Kald lay on the ground. Its neck seemed -to be broken. The body of the squat, dark boy lay on top of it. The -hunter said: - -"He didn't feel the wand. I think he'd be glad to be a club for -killing one of them, if he knew it." - -Ciaran said, "Yeah." He looked at Mouse. She seemed perfectly healthy. -"Aren't women supposed to faint at things like this?" - -She snorted. "I was born in the Thieves' Quarter. We used to roll -skulls instead of pennies. They weren't so scarce." - -"I think," said Ciaran, "the next time I get married I'll ask more -questions. Let's go." - -They went down the ramp leading under the Forbidden Plains. The hunter -led, like a wary beast. Ciaran brought up the rear. They both carried -the stolen wands. - -The hermit hadn't spoken a word, or moved a hand to help. - -It was fairly dark there underground, but not cold. In fact, it was -hotter than outside, and got worse as they went down. Ciaran could hear -a sound like a hundred armorers beating on shields. Only louder. There -was a feeling of a lot of people moving around but not talking much, -and an occasional crash or metallic screaming that Ciaran didn't have -any explanation for. He found himself not liking it. - -They went a fairish way on an easy down-slope, and then the light -got brighter. The hunter whispered, "Careful!" and slowed down. They -drifted like four ghosts through an archway into a glow of clear bluish -light. - - * * * * * - -They stood on a narrow ledge. Just here it was hand-smoothed, but -on both sides it ran in nature-eroded roughness into a jumble of -stalactites and wind-galleries. Above the ledge, in near darkness, -was the high roof arch, and straight ahead, there was just space. -Eventually, a long way off, Ciaran made out a wall of rock. - -Below there was a pit. It was roughly barrel-shaped. It was deep. It -was so deep that Ciaran had to crane over the edge to see bottom. -Brilliant blue-white flares made it brighter than daylight about -two-thirds of the way up the barrel. - -There were human beings laboring in the glare. They were tiny things -no bigger than ants from this height. They wore no chains, and Ciaran -couldn't see any guards. But after the first look he quit worrying -about any of that. The Thing growing up in the pit took all his -attention. - -It was built of metal. It rose and spread in intricate swooping curves -of shining whiteness, filling the whole lower part of the cavern. -Ciaran stared at it with a curious numb feeling of awe. - -The thing wasn't finished. He had not the faintest idea what it was -for. But he was suddenly terrified of it. - -It was more than just the sheer crushing size of it, or the unfamiliar -metallic construction that was like nothing he had seen or even dreamed -of before. It was the thing itself. - -It was Power. It was Strength. It was a Titan growing there in the -belly of the world, getting ready to reach out and grip it and play -with it, like Mouse gambling with an empty skull. - -He knew, looking at it, that no human brain in his own scale and time -of existence had conceived that shining monster, nor shaped of itself -one smallest part of it. - -The red hunter said simply, "I'm scared. And this smells like a trap." - -Ciaran swallowed something that might have been his heart. "We're in -it, pal, like it or don't. And we'd better get out of sight before that -chain-gang runs into us." - -Off to the side, along the rough part of the ledge where there were -shadows and holes and pillars of rock, seemed the best bet. There was a -way down to the cavern floor--a dizzy zig-zag of ledges, ladders, and -steps. But once on it you were stuck, and no cover. - -They edged off, going as fast as they dared. Mouse was breathing rather -heavily and her face was white enough to make the brand show like a -blood-drop between her brows. - -The hermit seemed to be moving in a private world of his own. The sight -of the shining giant had brought a queer blaze to his eyes, something -Ciaran couldn't read and didn't like. Otherwise, he might as well have -been dead. He hadn't spoken since he cursed them, back in the gully. - -They crouched down out of sight among a forest of stalactites. Ciaran -watched the ledge. He whispered, "They hunt by scent?" - -The hunter nodded. "I think the other humans will cover us. Too many -scents in this place. But how did they have those two waiting for us -at the cave mouth?" - -Ciaran shrugged. "Telepathy. Thought transference. Lots of the -backwater people have it. Why not the Kalds?" - -"You don't," said the hunter, "think of them as having human minds." - -"Don't kid yourself. They think, all right. They're not human, but -they're not true animals either." - -"Did they think _that_?" The hunter pointed at the pit. - -"No," said Ciaran slowly. "They didn't." - -"Then who--" He broke off. "Quiet! Here they come." - -Ciaran held his breath, peering one-eyed around a stalactite. The -slave-gang, with the grey guards, began to file out of the tunnel and -down the steep descent to the bottom. There was no trouble. There -was no trouble left in any of those people. There were several empty -collars. There were also fewer Kalds. Some had stayed outside to track -down the four murderous fugitives, which meant no escape at that end. - -Ciaran got an idea. When the last of the line and the guards were -safely over the edge he whispered, "Come on. We'll go down right on -their tails." - -Mouse gave him a startled look. He said impatiently, "They won't be -looking back and up--I hope. And there won't be anybody else coming up -while they're going down. You've got a better idea about getting down -off this bloody perch, spill it!" - -She didn't have, and the hunter nodded. "Is good. Let's go." - - * * * * * - -They went, like the very devil. Since all were professionals in their -own line they didn't make any more fuss than so many leaves falling. -The hermit followed silently. His pale eyes went to the shining monster -in the pit at every opportunity. - -He was fermenting some idea in his shaggy head. Ciaran had a hunch the -safest thing would be to quietly trip him off into space. He resisted -it, simply because knifing a man in a brawl was one thing and murdering -an unsuspecting elderly man in cold blood was another. - -Later, he swore a solemn oath to drop humanitarianism, but hard. - -Nobody saw them. The Kalds and the people below were all too busy not -breaking their necks to have eyes for anything else. Nobody came down -behind them--a risk they had had to run. They were careful to keep a -whole section of the descent between them and the slave gang. - -It was a hell of a long way down. The metal monster grew and grew and -slid up beside them, and then above them, towering against the vault. -It was beautiful. Ciaran loved its beauty even while he hated and -feared its strength. - -Then he realized there were people working on it, clinging like -flies to its white beams and arches. Some worked with wands not very -different from the one he carried, fusing metal joints in a sparkle of -hot light. Others guided the huge metal pieces into place, bringing -them up from the floor of the cavern on long ropes and fitting them -delicately. - -With a peculiar dizzy sensation, Ciaran realized there was no more -weight to the metal than if it were feathers. - -He prayed they could get past those workers without being seen, or at -least without having an alarm spread. The four of them crawled down -past two or three groups of them safely, and then one man, working -fairly close to the cliff, raised his head and stared straight at them. - -Ciaran began to make frantic signs. The man paid no attention to them. -Ciaran got a good look at his eyes. He let his hands drop. - -"He doesn't see us," whispered Mouse slowly. "Is he blind?" - -The man turned back to his work. It was an intricate fitting of small -parts into a pierced frame. Work that in all his wanderings Ciaran had -never seen done anywhere, in any fashion. - -He shivered. "No. He just--doesn't see us." - -The big hunter licked his lips nervously, like a beast in a deadfall. -His eyes glittered. The hermit laughed without any sound. They went on. - -It was the same all the way down. Men and women looked at them, but -didn't see. - -In one place they paused to let the slave-gang get farther ahead. There -was a woman working not far out. She looked like a starved cat, gaunt -ribs showing through torn rags. Her face was twisted with the sheer -effort of breathing, but there was no expression in her eyes. - -Quite suddenly, in the middle of an unfinished gesture, she collapsed -like wet leather and fell. Ciaran knew she was dead before her feet -cleared the beam she was sitting on. - -That happened twice more on the way down. Nobody paid any attention. - -Mouse wiped moisture off her forehead and glared at Ciaran. "A fine -place to spend a honeymoon. You and your lousy shortcuts!" - -For once Ciaran had no impulse to cuff her. - - * * * * * - -The last portion of the descent was covered by the backs of metal -lean-tos full of heat and clamor. The four slipped away into dense -shadow between two of them, crouched behind a mound of scrap. They had -a good view of what happened to the slave gang. - -The Kalds guided it out between massive pillars of white metal -that held up the giant web overhead. Fires flared around the cliff -foot. A hot blue-white glare beat down, partly from some unfamiliar -light-sources fastened in the girders, partly from the mouths of -furnaces hot beyond any heat Ciaran had ever dreamed of. - -Men and women toiled sweating in the smoke and glare, and never looked -at the newcomers in their chains. There were no guards. - -The Kalds stopped the line in a clear space beyond the shacks and -waited. They were all facing the same way, expectant, showing their -bright grey teeth and rolling their blood-pink eyes. - -Ciaran's gaze followed theirs. He got rigid suddenly, and the sweat on -him turned cold as dew on a toad's back. - -He thought at first it was a man, walking down between the pillars. It -was man-shaped, tall and slender and strong, and sheathed from crown to -heels in white mesh metal that shimmered like bright water. - -But when it came closer he knew he was wrong. Some animal instinct in -him knew even before his mind did. He wanted to snarl and put up his -hackles, and tuck his tail and run. - - * * * * * - -The creature was sexless. The flesh of its hands and face had a strange -unreal texture, and a dusky yellow tinge that never came in living -flesh. - -Its face was human enough in shape--thin, with light angular bones. -Only it was regular and perfect like something done carefully in -marble, with no human softness or irregularity. The lips were -bloodless. There was no hair, not even any eyelashes. - -The eyes in that face were what set Ciaran's guts to knotting like -a nest of cold snakes. They were not even remotely human. They were -like pools of oil under the lashless lids--black, deep, impenetrable, -without heart or soul or warmth. - -But wise. Wise with a knowledge beyond humanity, and strong with a -cold, terrible strength. And old. There were none of the usual signs -of age. It was more than that. It was a psychic, unhuman feel of -antiquity; a time that ran back and back and still back to an origin as -unnatural as the body it spawned. - -Ciaran knew what it was. He had made songs about the creature and -sung them in crowded market-places and smoky wine-shops. He'd scared -children with it, and made grown people shiver while they laughed. - -He wasn't singing now. He wasn't laughing. He was looking at one of the -androids of Bas the Immortal--a creature born of the mysterious power -of the Stone, with no faintest link to humanity in its body or its -brain. - -Ciaran knew then whose mind had created the shining monster towering -above them. And he knew more than ever that it was evil. - -The android walked out onto a platform facing the slave-gang, so that -it was above them, where they could all see. In its right hand it -carried a staff of white metal with a round ball on top. The staff and -the mesh-metal sheath it wore blazed bright silver in the glare. - -The chained humans raised their heads. Ciaran saw the white scared -glint of their eyeballs, heard the hard suck of breath and the uneasy -clashing of link metal. - -The Kalds made warning gestures with their wands, but they were -watching the android. - -It raised the staff suddenly, high over its head. The gesture put the -ball top out of Ciaran's sight behind a girder. And then the lights -dimmed and went out. - -For a moment there was total darkness, except for the dull marginal -glow of the forges and furnaces. Then, from behind the girder that hid -the top of the staff a glorious opaline light burst out, filling the -space between the giant pillars, reaching out and up into the dim air -with banners of shimmering flame. - -The Kalds crouched down in attitudes of worship, their blood-pink eyes -like sentient coals. A trembling ran through the line of slaves, as -though a wind had passed across them and shaken them like wheat. A few -cried out, but the sounds were muffled quickly to silence. They stood -still, staring up at the light. - -The android neither moved nor spoke, standing like a silver lance. - -Ciaran got up. He didn't know that he did it. He was distantly aware -of Mouse beside him, breathing hard through an open mouth and catching -opaline sparks in her black eyes. There was other movement, but he paid -no attention. - -He wanted to get closer to the light. He wanted to see what made it. He -wanted to bathe in it. He could feel it pulsing in him, sparkling in -his blood. He also wanted to run away, but the desire was stronger than -the fear. It even made the fear rather pleasurable. - -He was starting to climb over the pile of scrap when the android spoke. -Its voice was light, clear, and carrying. There was nothing menacing -about it. But it stopped Ciaran like a blow in the face, penetrating -even through his semi-drugged yearning for the light. - -He knew sound. He knew mood. He was sensitive to them as his own harp -in the way he made his living. He felt what was in that voice; or -rather, what wasn't in it. And he stopped, dead still. - -It was a voice speaking out of a place where no emotion, as humanity -knew the word, had ever existed. It came from a brain as alien and -incomprehensible as darkness in a world of eternal light; a brain no -human could ever touch or understand, except to feel the cold weight of -its strength and cower as a beast cowers before the terrible mystery of -fire. - -"Sleep," said the android. "Sleep, and listen to my voice. Open your -minds, and listen." - - - IV - -Through a swimming rainbow haze Ciaran saw the relaxed, dull faces of -the slaves. - -"You are nothing. You are no one. You exist only to serve; to work; to -obey. Do you hear and understand?" - -The line of humans swayed and made a small moaning sigh. It held -nothing but amazement and desire. They repeated the litany through -thick animal mouths. - -"Your minds are open to mine. You will hear my thoughts. Once told, you -will not forget. You will feel hunger and thirst, but not weariness. -You will have no need to stop and rest, or sleep." - -Again the litany. Ciaran passed a hand over his face. He was sweating. -In spite of himself the light and the soulless, mesmeric voice were -getting him. He hit his own jaw with his knuckles, thanking whatever -gods there were that the source of the light had been hidden from him. -He knew he could never have bucked it. - -More, perhaps, of the power of the Stone of Destiny? - -A sudden sharp rattle of fragments brought his attention to the scrap -heap. The hermit was already half way over it. - -And Mouse was right at his heels. - -Ciaran went after her. The rubble slipped and slid, and she was already -out of reach. He called her name in desperation. She didn't hear him. -She was hungry for the light. - -Ciaran flung himself bodily over the rubbish. Out on the floor, the -nearest Kalds were shaking off their daze of worship. The hermit was -scrambling on all fours, like a huge grey cat. - -Mouse's crimson tunic stayed just out of reach. Ciaran threw a handful -of metal fragments at her back. She turned her head and snarled at him. -She didn't see him. Almost as an automatic reflex she hurled some stuff -at his face, but she didn't even slow down. The hermit cried out, a -high, eerie scream. - -A huge hand closed on Ciaran's ankle and hauled him back. He fought -it, jabbing with the wand he still carried. A second remorseless hand -prisoned his wrist. - -The red hunter said dispassionately, "They come. We go." - -"Mouse! Let me go, damn you! _Mouse!_" - -"You can't help her. We go, quick." - -Ciaran went on kicking and thrashing. - -The hunter banged him over the ear with exquisite judgment, took the -wand out of his limp hand and tossed him over one vast shoulder. The -light hadn't affected the hunter much. He'd been in deeper shadow than -the others, and his half-animal nerves had warned him quicker even than -Ciaran's. Being a wise wild thing, he had shut his eyes at once. - -He doubled behind the metal sheds and began to run in dense shadow. - -Ciaran heard and felt things from a great misty distance. He heard the -hermit yell again, a crazy votive cry of worship. He felt the painful -jarring of his body and smelled the animal rankness of the hunter. - -He heard Mouse scream, just once. - -He tried to move; to get up and do something. The hunter slammed him -hard across the kidneys. Ciaran was aware briefly that the lights were -coming on again. After that it got very dark and very quiet. - -The hunter breathed in his ear, "Quiet! Don't move." - -There wasn't much chance of Ciaran doing anything. The hunter lay on -top of him with one freckled paw covering most of his face. Ciaran -gasped and rolled his eyes. - -They lay in a troughed niche of rough stone. There was black shadow on -them from an overhang, but the blue glare burned beyond it. Even as he -watched it dimmed and flickered and then steadied again. - -High up over his head the shining metal monster reached for the roof of -the cavern. It had grown. It had grown enormously, and a mechanism was -taking shape inside it; a maze of delicate rods and crystal prisms, of -wheels and balances and things Ciaran hadn't any name for. - -Then he remembered about Mouse, and nothing else mattered. - -The hunter lay on him, crushing him to silence. Ciaran's blue eyes -blazed. He'd have killed the hunter then, if there had been any way to -do it. There wasn't. Presently he stopped fighting. - -Again the red giant breathed in his ear: "Look over the edge." - -He took his hand away. Very, very quietly, Ciaran raised his head a few -inches and looked over. - -Their niche was some fifteen feet above the floor of the pit. Below and -to the right was the mouth of a square tunnel. The crowded, sweating -confusion of the forges and workshops spread out before them, with -people swarming like ants after a rain. - -Standing at the tunnel mouth were two creatures in shining metal -sheathes--the androids of Bas the Immortal. - - * * * * * - -Their clear, light voices rose up to where Ciaran and the hunter lay. - -"Did you find out?" - -"Failing--as we judged. Otherwise, no change." - -"No change." One of the slim unhumans turned and looked with its -depthless black eyes at the soaring metal giant. "If we can only finish -it in time!" - -The other said, "We can, Khafre. We must." - -Khafre made a quick, impatient gesture. "We need more slaves! These -human cattle are frail. You drive them, and they die." - -"The Kalds...." - -"Are doing what they can. Two more chains have just come. But it's -still not enough to be safe! I've told the beasts to raid farther in, -even to the border cities if they have to." - -"It won't help if the humans attack us before we're done." - -Khafre laughed. There was nothing pleasant or remotely humorous about -it. - -"_If_ they could track the Kalds this far, we could handle them easily. -After we're finished, of course, they'll be subjugated anyway." - -The other nodded. Faintly uneasy, it said, "If we finish in time. If we -don't...." - -"If we don't," said Khafre, "none of it matters, to them or us or the -Immortal Bas." Something that might have been a shudder passed over its -shining body. Then it threw back its head and laughed again, high and -clear. - -"But we will finish it, Steud! We're unique in the universe, and -nothing can stop us. This means the end of boredom, of servitude and -imprisonment. With this world in our hands, nothing can stop us!" - -Steud whispered, "Nothing!" Then they moved away, disappearing into the -seething clamor of the floor. - -The red hunter said, "What were they talking about?" - -Ciaran shook his head. His eyes were hard and curiously remote. "I -don't know." - -"I don't like the smell of it, little man. It's bad." - -"Yeah." Ciaran's voice was very steady. "What happened to Mouse?" - -"She was taken with the others. Believe me, little man--I had to do -what I did or they'd have taken you, too. There was nothing you could -do to help her." - -"She--followed the light." - -"I think so. But I had to run fast." - -There was a mist over Ciaran's sight. His heart was slugging him. -Not because he particularly cared, he asked, "How did we get away? I -thought I saw the big lights come on ...". - -"They did. And then they went off again, all of a sudden. They weren't -expecting it. I had a head start. The grey beasts hunt by scent, but -in that stewpot there are too many scents. They lost us, and when -the lights came on again I saw this niche and managed to climb to it -without being seen." - -He looked out over the floor, scratching his red beard. "I think -they're too busy to bother about two people. No, three." He chuckled. -"The hermit got away, too. He ran past me in the dark, screaming like -an ape about revelations and The Light. Maybe they've got him again by -now." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran wasn't worrying about the hermit. "Subjugation," he said slowly. -"With this world in their hands, nothing can stop them." He looked out -across the floor of the pit. No guards. You didn't need any guards when -you had a weapon like that light. Frail human cattle driven till they -died, and not knowing about it nor caring. - -The world in their hands. An empty shell for them to play with, to use -as they wanted. No more market places, no more taverns, no more songs. -No more little people living their little lives the way they wanted to. -Just slaves with blank faces, herded by grey beasts with shining wands -and held by the android's light. - -He didn't know why the androids wanted the world or what they were -going to do with it. He only knew that the whole thing made him -sick--sick all through, in a way he'd never felt before. - -The fact that what he was going to do was hopeless and crazy never -occurred to him. Nothing occurred to him, except that somewhere in that -seething slave-pen Mouse was laboring, with eyes that didn't see and a -brain that was only an open channel for orders. Pretty soon, like the -woman up on the girder, she was going to hit her limit and die. - -Ciaran said abruptly, "If you want to kill a snake, what do you do?" - -"Cut off its head, of course." - -Ciaran got his feet under him. "The Stone of Destiny," he whispered. -"The power of life and death. Do you believe in legends?" - -The hunter shrugged. "I believe in my hands. They're all I know." - -"I'm going to need your hands, to help me break one legend and build -another!" - -"They're yours, little man. Where do we go?" - -"Down that tunnel. Because, if I'm not clear off, that leads to Ben -Beatha, and Bas the Immortal--and the Stone." - -Almost as though it were a signal, the blue glare dimmed and flickered. -In the semi-darkness Ciaran and the hunter dropped down from the niche -and went into the tunnel. - -It was dark, with only a tiny spot of blue radiance at wide intervals -along the walls. They had gone quite a distance before these -strengthened to their normal brightness, and even then it was fairly -dark. It seemed to be deserted. - -The hunter kept stopping to listen. When Ciaran asked irritably what -was wrong, he said: - -"I think there's someone behind us. I'm not sure." - -"Well, give him a jab with the wand if he gets too close. Hurry up!" - -The tunnel led straight toward Ben Beatha, judging from its position in -the pit. Ciaran was almost running when the hunter caught his shoulder -urgently. - -"Wait! There's movement up ahead...." - -He motioned Ciaran down. On their hands and knees they crawled forward, -holding their wands ready. - -A slight bend in the tunnel revealed a fork. One arm ran straight -ahead. The other bent sharply upward, toward the surface. - -There were four Kalds crouched on the rock between them, playing some -obscure game with human finger bones. - -Ciaran got his weight over his toes and moved fast. The hunter went -beside him. Neither of them made a sound. The Kalds were intent on -their game and not expecting trouble. - -The two men might have got away with it, only that suddenly from behind -them, someone screamed like an angry cat. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran's head jerked around, just long enough to let him see the hermit -standing in the tunnel, with his stringy arms lifted and his grey hair -flying, and a light of pure insanity blazing in his pale eyes. - -"Evil!" he shrieked. "You are evil to defy The Light, and the servants -of The Light!" - -He seemed to have forgotten all about calling the Kalds demons a little -while before. - -The grey beasts leaped up, moving quickly in with their wands ready. -Ciaran yelled with sheer fury. He went for them, the rags of his yellow -tunic streaming. - -He wasn't quite clear about what happened after that. There was a lot -of motion, grey bodies leaping and twisting and jewel-tips flashing. -Something flicked him stunningly across the temple. He fought in a sort -of detached fog where everything was blurred and distant. The hermit -went on screaming about Evil and The Light. The hunter bellowed a -couple of times, things thudded and crashed, and once Ciaran poked his -wand straight into a blood-pink eye. - -Sometime right after that there was a confused rush of running feet -back in the tunnel. The hunter was down. And Ciaran found himself -running up the incline, because the other way was suddenly choked with -Kalds. - -He got away. He was never sure how. Probably instinct warned him to -go in time so that, in the confusion he was out of sight before the -reinforcements saw him. Three of the original four Kalds were down and -the fourth was busy with the hermit. Anyway, for the moment, he made -it. - -When he staggered finally from the mouth of the ramp, drenched with -sweat and gasping, he was back on the Forbidden Plain, and Ben Beatha -towered above him--a great golden Titan reaching for the red sky. - -The tumbled yellow rock of its steep slopes was barren of any growing -thing. There were no signs of buildings, or anything built by hands, -human or otherwise. High up, almost in the apex of the triangular peak, -was a square, balconied opening that might have been only a wind-eroded -niche in the cliff-face. - -Ciaran stood on widespread legs, studying the mountain with sullen -stubborn eyes. He believed in legend, now. It was all he believed -in. Somewhere under the golden peak was the Stone of Destiny and the -demigod who was its master. - -Behind him were the creatures of that demigod, and the monster they -were building--and a little black-haired Mouse who was going to die -unless something was done about it. - -A lot of other people, too. A whole sane comfortable world. But Mouse -was about all he could handle, just then. - -He wasn't Ciaran the bard any longer. He wasn't a human, attached to -a normal human world. He moved in a strange land of gods and demons, -where everything was as mad as a drunkard's nightmare, and Mouse was -the only thing that held him at all to the memory of a life wherein men -and women fought and laughed and loved. - -His scarred mouth twitched and tightened. He started off across the -rolling, barren rise to Ben Beatha--a tough, bandy-legged little man -in yellow rags, with a brown, expressionless face and a forgotten harp -slung between his shoulders, moving at a steady gypsy lope. - -A wind sighed over the Forbidden Plain, rolling the sunballs in the red -sky. And then, from the crest of Ben Beatha, the darkness came. - -This time Ciaran didn't stop to be afraid. There was nothing left -inside him to be afraid with. He remembered the hermit's words: -_Judgment. Great things moving. Doom and destruction, a shadow across -the world, a darkness and a dying._ Something of the same feeling came -to him, but he wasn't human any longer. He was beyond fear. Fate -moved, and he was part of it. - -Stones and shale tricked his feet in the darkness. All across the -Forbidden Plains there was night and a wailing wind and a sharp chill -of cold. Far, far away there was a faint red glow on the sky where the -sea burned with its own fire. - -Ciaran went on. - -Overhead, then, the sunballs began to flicker. Little striving ripples -of light went out across them, lighting the barrens with an eerie -witch-glow. The flickering was worse than the darkness. It was like the -last struggling pulse of a dying man's heart. Ciaran was aware of a -coldness in him beyond the chill of the wind. - -_A shadow across the world, a darkness and a dying...._ - -He began to climb Ben Beatha. - - - V - -The stone was rough and fairly broken, and Ciaran had climbed mountains -before. He crawled upward, through the sick light and the cold wind -that screamed and fought him harder the higher he got. He retained no -very clear memory of the climb. Only after a long, long time he fell -inward over the wall of a balcony and lay still. - -He was bleeding from rock-tears and his heart kicked him like the heel -of a vicious horse. But he didn't care. The balcony was man-made, the -passage back of it led somewhere--and the light had come back in the -sky. - -It wasn't quite the same, though. It was weaker, and less warm. - -When he could stand up he went in along the passage, square-hewn in the -living rock of Ben Beatha, the Mountain of Life. - -It led straight in, lighted by a soft opaline glow from hidden -light-sources. Presently it turned at right angles and became a spiral -ramp, leading down. - -Corridors led back from it at various levels, but Ciaran didn't bother -about them. They were dark, and the dust of ages lay unmarked on their -floors. - -Down and down, a long, long way. Silence. The deep uncaring silence of -death and the eternal rock--dark titans who watched the small furious -ant-scurryings of man and never, never, for one moment, gave a damn. - -And then the ramp flattened into a broad high passage cut deep in the -belly of the mountain. And the passage led to a door of gold, twelve -feet high and intricately graved and pierced, set with symbols that -Ciaran had heard of only in legend: the _Hun-Lahun-Mehen_, the Snake, -the Circle, and the Cross, blazing in hot jewel-fires. - -But above them, crushing and dominant on both valves of the great -door, was the _crux ansata_, the symbol of eternal life, cut from some -lustreless stone so black it was like a pattern of blindness on the -eyeball. - -Ciaran shivered and drew a deep, unsteady breath. One brief moment of -human terror came to him. Then he set his two hands on the door and -pushed it open. - -He came into a small room hung with tapestries and lighted dimly by the -same opaline glow as the hallway. The half-seen pictures showed men and -beasts and battles against a background at once tantalizingly familiar -and frighteningly alien. - -There was a rug on the floor. It was made from the head and hide of a -creature Ciaran had never even dreamed of before--a thing like a huge -tawny cat with a dark mane and great, shining fangs. - -Ciaran padded softly across it and pushed aside the heavy curtains at -the other end. - - * * * * * - -At first there was only darkness. It seemed to fill a large space; -Ciaran had an instinctive feeling of size. He went out into it, very -cautiously, and then his eyes found a pale glow ahead in the blackness, -as though someone had crushed a pearl with his thumb and smeared it -across the dark. - -He was a thief and a gypsy. He made no more sound than a wisp of cloud, -drifting toward it. His feet touched a broad, shallow step, and then -another. He climbed, and the pearly glow grew stronger and became a -curving wall of radiance. - -He stopped just short of touching it, on a level platform high above -the floor. He squinted against its curdled, milky thickness, trying to -see through. - -Wrapped in the light, cradled and protected by it like a bird in the -heart of a shining cloud, a boy slept on a couch made soft with furs -and colored silks. He was quite naked, his limbs flung out carelessly -with the slim angular grace of his youth. His skin was white as milk, -catching a pale warmth from the light. - -He slept deeply. He might almost have been dead, except for the slight -rise and fall of his breathing. His head was rolled over so that he -faced Ciaran, his cheek pillowed on his upflung arm. - -His hair, thick, curly, and black almost to blueness, had grown out -long across his forearm, across the white fur beneath it, and down onto -his wide slim shoulders. The nails of his lax hand, palm up above his -head, stood up through the hair. They were inches long. - -His face was just a boy's face. A good face, even rather handsome, with -strong bone just beginning to show under the roundness. His cheek was -still soft as a girl's, the lashes of his closed lids dark and heavy. - -He looked peaceful, even happy. His mouth was curved in a vague smile, -as though his dreams were pleasant. And yet there was something -there.... - -A shadow. Something unseen and untouchable, something as fragile as the -note of a shepherd's pipe brought from far off on a vagrant breeze. -Something as indescribable as death--and as broodingly powerful. Ciaran -sensed it, and his nerves throbbed suddenly like the strings of his own -harp. - -He saw then that the couch the boy slept on was a huge _crux ansata_, -cut from the dead-black stone, with the arms stretching from under his -shoulders and the loop like a monstrous halo above his head. - -The legends whispered through Ciaran's head. The songs, the tales, the -folklore. The symbolism, and the image-patterns. - -Bas the Immortal was always described as a giant, like the mountain -he lived in, and old, because Immortal suggests age. Awe, fear, and -unbelief spoke through those legends, and the child-desire to build -tall. But there was an older legend.... - -Ciaran, because he was a gypsy and a thief and had music in him like -a drunkard has wine, had heard it, deep in the black forests of -Hyperborea where even gypsies seldom go. The oldest legend of all--the -tale of the Shining Youth from Beyond, who walked in beauty and power, -who never grew old, and who carried in his heart a bitter darkness -that no man could understand. - -The Shining Youth from Beyond. A boy sleeping with a smile on his face, -walled in living light. - -Ciaran stood still, staring. His face was loose and quite blank. His -heartbeats shook him slightly, and his breath had a rusty sound in his -open mouth. - -After a long time he started forward, into the light. - -It struck him, hurled him back numbed and dazed. Thinking of Mouse, he -tried it twice more before he was convinced. Then he tried yelling. His -voice crashed back at him from the unseen walls, but the sleeping boy -never stirred, never altered even the rhythm of his breathing. - -After that Ciaran crouched in the awful laxness of impotency, and -thought about Mouse, and cried. - -Then, quite suddenly, without any warning at all, the wall of light -vanished. - - * * * * * - -He didn't believe it. But he put his his hand out again, and nothing -stopped it, so he rushed forward in the pitch blackness until he hit -the stone arm of the cross. And behind him, and all around him, the -light began to glow again. - -Only now it was different. It flickered and dimmed and struggled, like -something fighting not to die. Like something else.... - -Like the sunballs. Like the light in the sky that meant life to -a world. Flickering and feeble like an old man's heart, the last -frightened wing-beats of a dying bird.... - -A terror took Ciaran by the throat and stopped the breath in it, and -turned his body colder than a corpse. He watched.... - -The light glowed and pulsed, and grew stronger. Presently he was walled -in by it, but it seemed fainter than before. - -A terrible feeling of urgency came over Ciaran, a need for haste. The -words of the androids came back to him: _Failing, as we judged. If we -finish in time. If we don't, none of it matters._ - -A shadow across the world, a darkness and a dying. Mouse slaving with -empty eyes to build a shining monster that would harness the world to -the wills of non-human brains. - -It didn't make sense, but it meant something. Something deadly -important. And the key to the whole mad jumble was here--a dark-haired -boy dreaming on a stone cross. - -Ciaran moved closer. He saw then that the boy had stirred, very -slightly, and that his face was troubled. It was as though the dimming -of the light had disturbed him. Then he sighed and smiled again, -nestling his head deeper into the bend of his arm. - -"Bas," said Ciaran. "Lord Bas!" - -His voice sounded hoarse and queer. The boy didn't hear him. He called -again, louder. Then he put his hand on one slim white shoulder and -shook it hesitantly at first, and then hard, and harder. - -The boy Bas didn't even flicker his eyelids. - -Ciaran beat his fists against the empty air and cursed without any -voice. Then, almost instinctively, he crouched on the stone platform -and took his harp in his hands. - -It wasn't because he expected to do anything with it. It was simply -that harping was as natural to him as breathing, and what was inside -him had to come out some way. He wasn't thinking about music. He was -thinking about Mouse, and it just added up to the same thing. - -Random chords at first, rippling up against the wall of milky light. -Then the agony in him began to run out through his finger-tips onto the -strings, and he sent it thrumming strong across the still air. It sang -wild and savage, but underneath it there was the sound of his own heart -breaking, and the fall of tears. - -There was no time. There wasn't even any Ciaran. There was only the -harp crying a dirge for a black-haired Mouse and the world she lived -in. Nothing mattered but that. Nothing would ever matter. - -Then finally there wasn't anything left for the harp to cry about. The -last quiver of the strings went throbbing off into a dull emptiness, -and there was only an ugly little man in yellow rags crouched silent by -a stone cross, hiding his face in his hands. - -Then, faint and distant, like the echo of words spoken in another -world, another time: - -_Don't draw the veil. Marsali--don't...!_ - -Ciaran looked up, stiffening. The boy's lips moved. His face, the eyes -still closed, was twisted in an agony of pleading. His hands were -raised, reaching, trying to hold something that slipped through his -fingers like mist. - -Dark mist. The mist of dreams. It was still in his eyes when he opened -them. Grey eyes, clouded and veiled, and then with the dream-mist -thickening into tears.... - -He cried out, "_Marsali!_" as though his heart was ripped out of him -with the breath that said it. Then he lay still on the couch, his eyes, -staring unfocused at the milky light, with the tears running out of -them. - -Ciaran said softly, "Lord Bas...." - -"Awake," whispered the boy. "I'm awake again. Music--a harp crying -out.... I didn't want to wake! Oh, God, I didn't want to!" - -He sat up suddenly. The rage, the sheer blind fury in his young face -rocked Ciaran like the blow of a fist. - -"Who waked me? Who dared to wake me?" - -There was no place to run. The light held him. And there was Mouse. -Ciaran said: - -"I did, Lord Bas. There was need to." - -The boy's grey eyes came slowly to focus on his face. Ciaran's heart -kicked once and stopped beating. A great cold stillness breathed from -somewhere beyond the world and walled him in, closer and tighter than -the milky light. Close and tight, like the packed earth of a grave. - -A boy's face, round and smooth and soft. No shadow even of down on the -cheeks, the lips still pink and girlish. Long dark lashes, and under -them.... - -Grey eyes. Old with suffering, old with pain, old with an age beyond -human understanding. Eyes that had seen birth and life and death in an -endless stream, flowing by just out of reach, just beyond hearing. Eyes -looking out between the bars of a private hell that was never built for -any man before. - -One strong young hand reached down among the furs and silks and felt -for something, and Ciaran knew the thing was death. - -Ciaran, suddenly, was furious himself. - -He struck a harsh, snarling chord on the harpstrings, thinking of -Mouse. He poured his fury out in bitter, pungent words, the gypsy argot -of the Quarters, and all the time Bas fumbled to get the hidden weapon -in his hands. - -It was the long nails that saved Ciaran's life. They kept Bas from -closing his fingers, and in the meantime some of Ciaran's vibrant rage -had penetrated. Bas whispered: - -"You love a woman." - -"Yeah," said Ciaran. "Yeah." - -"So do I. A woman I created, and made to live in my dreams. Do you know -what you did when you waked me?" - -"Maybe I saved the world. If the legends are right, you built it. You -haven't any right to let it die so you can sleep." - -"I built another world, little man. Marsali's world. I don't want to -leave it." He bent forward, toward Ciaran. "I was happy in that world. -I built it to suit me. I belong in it. Do you know why? Because it's -made from my own dreams, as I want it. Even the people. Even Marsali. -Even myself. - -"They drove me away from one world. I built another, but it was no -different. I'm not human. I don't belong with humans, nor in any world -they live in. So I learned to sleep, and dream." - -He lay back on the couch. He looked pitifully young, with the long -lashes hiding his eyes. - -"Go away. Let your little world crumble. It's doomed anyway. What -difference do a few life-spans make in eternity? Let me sleep." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran struck the harp again. "_No!_ Listen...." - -He told Bas about the slave-gangs, the androids, the shining monster in -the pit--and the darkness that swept over the world. It was the last -that caught the boy's attention. - -He sat up slowly. "Darkness? You! How did you get to me, past the -light?" - -Ciaran told him. - -"The Stone of Destiny," whispered the Immortal. Suddenly he laughed. -He laughed to fill the whole dark space beyond the light; terrible -laughter, full of hate and a queer perverted triumph. - -He stopped, as suddenly as he had begun, and spread his hands flat -on the colored silks, the long nails gleaming like knives. His eyes -widened, grey windows into a deep hell, and his voice was no more than -a breath. - -"Could that mean that I will die, too?" - -Ciaran's scarred mouth twitched. "The Stone of Destiny...." - -The boy leaped up from his couch. His hand swept over some hidden -control in the arm of the stone cross, and the milky light died out. At -the same time, an opaline glow suffused the darkness beyond. - -Bas the Immortal ran down the steps--a dark-haired, graceful boy -running naked in the heart of an opal. - -Ciaran followed. - -They came to the hollow core of Ben Beatha--a vast pyramidal space cut -in the yellow rock. Bas stopped, and Ciaran stopped behind him. - -The whole space was laced and twined and webbed with crystal. Rods -of it, screens of it, meshes of it. A shining helix ran straight up -overhead, into a shaft that seemed to go clear through to open air. - -In the crystal, pulsing along it like the life-blood in a man's veins, -there was light. - -It was like no light Ciaran had ever seen before. It was no color, and -every color. It seared the eye with heat, and yet it was cold and pure -like still water. It throbbed and beat. It was alive. - -Ciaran followed the crystal maze down and down, to the base of it. -There, in the very heart of it, lying at the hub of a shining web, lay -_something_. - -Like a black hand slammed across the eyeballs, darkness fell. - -For a moment he was blind, and through the blindness came a soft -whisper of movement. Then there was light again; a vague smeared spot -of it on the pitch black. - -It glowed and faded and glowed again. The rusty gleam slid across the -half-crouched body of Bas the Immortal, pressed close against the -crystal web. It caught in his eyes, turning them hot and lambent like -beast-eyes in the dark of a cave-mouth. - -Little sparks of hell-fire in a boy's face, staring at the Stone of -Destiny. - -A stone no bigger than a man's heart, with power in it. Even dying, it -had power. Power to build a world, or smash it. Power never born of -Ciaran's planet, or any planet, but something naked and perfect--an egg -from the womb of space itself. - -It fought to live, lying in its crystal web. It was like watching -somebody's heart stripped clean and struggling to beat. - -The fire in it flickered and flared, sending pale witch-lights dancing -up along the crystal maze. - -Outside, Ciaran knew, all across the world, the sunballs were pulsing -and flickering to the dying beat of the Stone. - -Bas whispered, "It's over. Over and done." - - * * * * * - -Without knowing it, Ciaran touched the harpstrings and made them -shudder. "The legends were right, then. The Stone of Destiny kept the -world alive." - -"Alive. It gave light and warmth, and before that it powered the -ship that brought me here across space, from the third planet of our -sun to the tenth. It sealed the gaps in the planet's crust and drove -the machinery that filled the hollow core inside with air. It was my -strength. It built my world; _my_ world, where I would be loved and -respected--all right, and worshipped!" - -He laughed, a small bitter sob. - -"A child I was. After all those centuries, still a child playing with a -toy." - -His voice rang out louder across the flickering dimness. A boy's voice, -clear and sweet. He wasn't talking to Ciaran. He wasn't even talking to -himself. He was talking to Fate, and cursing it. - -"I took a walk one morning. That was all I did. I was just a -fisherman's son walking on the green hills of Atlantis above the -sea. That was all I wanted to be--a fisherman's son, someday to be a -fisherman myself, with sons of my own. And then from nowhere, out of -the sky, the meteorite fell. There was thunder, and a great light, and -then darkness. And when I woke again I was a god. - -"I took the Stone of Destiny out of its broken shell. The light from it -burned in me, and I was a god. And I was happy. _I didn't know._ - -"I was too young to be a god. A boy who never grew older. A boy who -wanted to play with other boys, and couldn't. A boy who wanted to age, -to grow a beard and a man's voice, and find a woman to love. It was -hell, after the thrill wore off. It was worse, when my mind and heart -grew up, and my body didn't. - -"And they said I was no god, but a blasphemy, a freak. - -"The priests of Dagon, of all the temples of Atlantis, spoke against -me. I had to run away. I roamed the whole earth before the Flood, -carrying the Stone. Sometimes I ruled for centuries, a god-king, but -always the people tired of me and rose against me. They hated me, -because I lived forever and never grew old. - -"A man they might have accepted. But a boy! A brain with all the wisdom -it could borrow from time, grown so far from theirs that it was hard to -talk to them--and a body too young even for the games of manhood!" - -Ciaran stood frozen, shrinking from the hell in the boy-God's agonized -voice. - -"So I grew to hate them, and when they drove me out I turned on them, -and used the power of the Stone to destroy. I know what happened to -the cities of the Gobi, to Angkor, and the temples of Mayapan! So the -people hated me more because they feared me more, and I was alone. No -one has ever been alone as I was. - -"So I built my own world, here in the heart of a dead planet. And in -the end it was the same, because the people were human and I was not. -I created the androids, freaks like myself, to stand between me and -my people--my own creatures, that I could trust. And I built a third -world, in my dreams. - -"And now the Stone of Destiny has come to the end of its strength. Its -atoms are eaten away by its own fire. The world it powered will die. -And what will happen to me? I will go on living, even after my body is -frozen in the cold dark?" - -Silence, then. The pulsing beat of light in the crystal rods. The heart -of a world on its deathbed. - -Ciaran's harp crashed out. It made the crystal sing. His voice came -with it: - -"Bas! The monster in the pit, that the androids are building--I know -now what it is! They knew the Stone was dying. They're going to have -power of their own, and take the world. You can't let them, Bas! You -brought us here. We're your people. You can't let the androids have us!" - -The boy laughed, a low, bitter sound. "What do I care for your world or -your people? I only want to sleep." He caught his breath in and turned -around, as though he was going back to the place of the stone cross. - - - VI - -Ciaran stroked the harpstrings. "Wait...." It was all humanity crying -out of the harp. Little people, lost and frightened and pleading for -help. No voice could have said what it said. It was Ciaran himself, a -channel for the unthinking pain inside him. - -"Wait--You were human once. You were young. You laughed and quarrelled -and ate and slept, and you were free. That's all we ask. Just those -things. Remember Bas the fisherman's son, and help us!" - -Grey eyes looking at him. Grey eyes looking from a boy's face. "How -could I help you even if I wanted to?" - -"There's some power left in the Stone. And the androids are your -creatures. You made them. You can destroy them. If you could do it -before they finish this thing--from the way they spoke, they mean to -destroy you with it." - -Bas laughed. - -Ciaran's hand struck a terrible chord from the harp, and fell away. - -Bas said heavily, "They'll draw power from the gravitic force of the -planet and broadcast it the same way. It will never stop as long as the -planet spins. If they finish it in time, the world will live. If they -don't...." He shrugged. "What difference does it make?" - -"So," whispered Ciaran, "we have a choice of a quick death, or a -lingering one. We can die free, on our own feet, or we can die slaves." -His voice rose to a full-throated shout. "_God! You're no god!_ You're -a selfish brat sulking in a corner. All right, go back to your Marsali! -And I'll play god for a minute." - -He raised the harp. - -"I'll play god, and give 'em the clean way out!" - -He drew his arm back to throw--to smash the crystal web. And then, with -blinding suddenness, there was light again. - -They stood frozen, the two of them, blinking in the hot opalescence. -Then their eyes were drawn to the crystal web. - -The Stone of Destiny still fluttered like a dying heart, and the -crystal rods were dim. - -Ciaran whispered, "It's too late. They're finished." - -Silence again. They stood almost as though they were waiting for -something, hardly breathing, with Ciaran still holding the silent harp -in his hand. - -Very, very faintly, under his fingers, the strings began to thrum. - -Vibration. In a minute Ciaran could hear it in the crystal. It was like -the buzz and strum of insects just out of earshot. He said: - -"What's that?" - -The boy's ears were duller than his. But presently he smiled and said, -"So that's how they're going to do it. Vibration, that will shake Ben -Beatha into a cloud of dust, and me with it. They must believe I'm -still asleep." He shrugged. "What matter? It's death." - -Ciaran slung the harp across his back. There was a curious finality in -the action. - -"There's a way from here into the pit. Where is it?" - -Bas pointed across the open space. Ciaran started walking. He didn't -say anything. - -Bas said, "Where are you going?" - -"Back to Mouse," said Ciaran simply. - -"To die with her." The crystal maze bummed eerily. "I wish I could see -Marsali again." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran stopped. He spoke over his shoulder, without expression. "The -death of the Stone doesn't mean your death, does it?" - -"No. The first exposure to its light when it landed, blazing with the -heat of friction, made permanent changes in the cell structure of my -body. I'm independent of it--as the androids are of the culture vats -they grew in." - -"And the new power source will take up where the Stone left off?" - -"Yes. Even the wall of rays that protected me and fed my body while I -slept will go on. The power of the Stone was broadcast to it, and to -the sunballs. There were no mechanical leads." - -Ciaran said softly, "And you love this Marsali? You're happy in this -dream world you created? You could go back there?" - -"Yes," whispered Bas. "Yes. Yes!" - -Ciaran turned. "Then help us destroy the androids. Give us our world, -and we'll give you yours. If we fail--well, we have nothing to lose." - -Silence. The crystal web hummed and sang--death whispering across the -world. The Stone of Destiny throbbed like the breast of a dying bird. -The boy's grey eyes were veiled and remote. It seemed almost that he -was asleep. - -Then he smiled--the drowsy smile of pleasure he had worn when Ciaran -found him, dreaming on the stone cross. - -"Marsali," he whispered. "Marsali." - -He moved forward then, reaching out across the crystal web. The long -nails on his fingers scooped up the Stone of Destiny, cradled it, caged -it in. - -Bas the Immortal said, "Let's go, little man." - -Ciaran didn't say anything. He looked at Bas. His eyes were wet. Then -he got the harp in his hands again and struck it, and the thundering -chords shook the crystal maze to answering music. - -It drowned the faint death-whisper. And then, caught between two -vibrations, the shining rods split and fell, with a shiver of sound -like the ringing of distant bells. - -Ciaran turned and went down the passage to the pit. Behind him came the -dark-haired boy with the Stone of Destiny in his hands. - -They came along the lower arm of the fork where Ciaran and the hunter -had fought the Kalds. There were four of the grey beasts still on guard. - -Ciaran had pulled the wand from his girdle. The Kalds started up, and -Ciaran got ready to fight them. But Bas said, "Wait." - -He stepped forward. The Kalds watched him with their blood-pink eyes, -yawning and whimpering with animal nervousness. The boy's dark gaze -burned. The grey brutes cringed and shivered and then dropped flat, -hiding their faces against the stone. - -"Telepaths," said Bas to Ciaran, "and obedient to the strongest -mind. The androids know that. The Kalds weren't put there to stop me -physically, but to send the androids warning if I came." - -Ciaran shivered. "So they'll be waiting." - -"Yes, little man. They'll be waiting." - -They went down the long tunnel and stepped out on the floor of the pit. - - * * * * * - -It was curiously silent. The fires had died in the forges. There was -no sound of hammering, no motion. Only blazing lights and a great -stillness, like someone holding his breath. There was no one in sight. - -The metal monster climbed up the pit. It was finished now. The -intricate maze of grids and balances in its belly murmured with the -strength that spun up through it from the core of the planet. It was -like a vast spider, making an invisible thread of power to wrap around -the world and hold it, to be sucked dry. - -An army of Kalds began to move on silent feet, out from the screening -tangle of sheds and machinery. - -The androids weren't serious about that. It was just a skirmish, a test -to see whether Bas had been weakened by his age-long sleep. He hadn't -been. The Kalds looked at the Stone of Destiny and from there to Bas' -grey eyes, cringed, whimpered, and lay flat. - -Bas whispered, "Their minds are closed to me, but I can feel--the -androids are working, preparing some trap...." - -His eyes were closed now, his young face set with concentration. "They -don't want me to see, but my mind is older than theirs, and better -trained, and I have the power of the Stone. I can see a control panel. -It directs the force of their machine...." - -He began to move, then, rapidly, out across the floor. His eyes were -still closed. It seemed he didn't need them for seeing. - -People began to come out from behind the sheds and the cooling forges. -Blank-faced people with empty eyes. Many of them, making a wall of -themselves against Bas. - -Ciaran cried out, "_Mouse...!_" - -She was there. Her body was there, thin and erect in the crimson tunic. -Her black hair was still wild around her small brown face. But Mouse, -the Mouse that Ciaran knew, was dead behind her dull black eyes. Ciaran -whispered, "_Mouse_...." - -The slaves flowed in and held the two of them, clogged in a mass of -unresponsive bodies. - -"Can't you free them, Bas?" - -"Not yet. Not now. There isn't time." - -"Can't you do with them what you did with the Kalds?" - -"The androids control their minds through hypnosis. If I fought that -control, the struggle would blast their minds to death or idiocy. And -there isn't time...." There was sweat on his smooth young forehead. -"I've got to get through. I don't want to kill them...." - -Ciaran looked at Mouse. "No," he said hoarsely. - -"But I may have to, unless.... Wait! I can channel the power of the -Stone through my own brain, because there's an affinity between us. -Vibration, cell to cell. The androids won't have made a definite -command against music. Perhaps I can jar their minds open, just enough, -so that you can call them with your harp, as you called me." - -A tremor almost of pain ran through the boy's body. - -"Lead them away, Ciaran. Lead them as far as you can. Otherwise many of -them will die. And hurry!" - -Bas raised the Stone of Destiny in his clasped hands and pressed it to -his forehead. And Ciaran took his harp. - -He was looking at Mouse when he set the strings to singing. That was -why it wasn't hard to play as he did. It was something from him to -Mouse. A prayer. A promise. His heart held out on a song. - -The music rippled out across the packed mass of humanity. At first -they didn't hear it. Then there was a stirring and a sigh, a dumb, -blind reaching. Somewhere the message was getting through the darkness -clouding their minds. A message of hope. A memory of red sunlight on -green hills, of laughter and home and love. - -Ciaran let the music die to a whisper under his fingers, and the people -moved forward, toward him, wanting to hear. - -He began to walk away, slowly, trailing the harp-song over his -shoulder--and they followed. Haltingly, in twos and threes, until the -whole mass broke and flowed like water in his wake. - -Bas was gone, his slim young body slipping fast through the broken -ranks of the crowd. - -Ciaran caught one more glimpse of Mouse before he lost her among the -others. She was crying, without knowing or remembering why. - -If Bas died, if Bas was defeated, she would never know nor remember. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran led them as far as he could, clear to the wall of the pit. He -stopped playing. They stopped, too, standing like cattle, looking at -nothing, with eyes turned inward to their clouded dreams. - -Ciaran left them there, running out alone across the empty floor. - -He followed the direction Bas had taken. He ran, fast, but it was like -a nightmare where you run and run and never get anywhere. The lights -glared down and the metal monster sighed and churned high up over his -head, and there was no other sound, no other movement but his own. - -Then, abruptly, the lights went out. - -He stumbled on, hitting brutally against unseen pillars, falling and -scrambling in scrap heaps. And after an eternity he saw light again, up -ahead. - -The Light he had seen before, here in the pit. The glorious opalescent -light that drew a man's mind and held it fast to be chained. - -Ciaran crept in closer. - -There was a control panel on a stone dais--a meaningless jumbled mass -of dials and wires. The androids stood before it. One of them was bent -over, its yellowish hands working delicately with the controls. The -other stood erect beside it, holding a staff. The metal ball at the top -was open, spilling the opalescent blaze into the darkness. - -Ciaran crouched in the shelter of a pillar, shielding his eyes. Even -now he wanted to walk into that light and be its slave. - -The android with the staff said harshly, "Can't you find the wave -length? He should have been dead by now." - -The bending one tensed and then straightened, the burning light -sparkling across its metal sheath. Its eyes were black and limitless, -like evil itself, and no more human. - -"Yes," it said. "I have it." - -The light began to burst stronger from the staff, a swirling dangerous -fury of it. - -Ciaran was hardly breathing. The light-source, whatever it was, was -part of the power of the Stone of Destiny. Wave lengths meant nothing -to him, but it seemed the danger was to the Stone--and Bas carried it. - -The android touched the staff. The light died, clipped off as the metal -ball closed. - -"If there's any power left in the Stone," it whispered, "our power-wave -will blast its subatomic reserve--and Bas the Immortal with it!" - -Silence. And then in the pitch darkness a coal began to glow. - -It came closer. It grew brighter, and a smudged reflection behind and -above it became the head and shoulders of Bas the Immortal. - -The android whispered, "Stronger! _Hurry!_" - -A yellowish hand made a quick adjustment. The Stone of Destiny burned -brighter. It burst with light. It was like a sunball, stabbing its hot -fury into the darkness. - -The android whispered, "_More!_" - -The Stone filled all the pit with a deadly blaze of glory. - -Bas stopped, looking up at the dais. He grinned. A naked boy, beautiful -with youth, his grey eyes veiled and sleepy under dark lashes. - -He threw the Stone of Destiny up on the dais. An idle boy tossing -stones at a treetop. - -Light. An explosion of it, without sound, without physical force. -Ciaran dropped flat on his face behind the pillar. After a long time he -raised his head again. The overhead lights were on, and Bas stood on -the dais beside two twisted, shining lumps of man-made soulless men. - -The android flesh had taken the radiation as leather takes heat, -warping, twisting, turning black. - -"Poor freaks," said Bas softly. "They were like me, with no place in -the universe that belonged to them. So they dreamed, too--only their -dreams were evil." - -He stooped and picked up something--a dull, dark stone, a thing with no -more life nor light than a waterworn pebble. - -He sighed and rolled it once between his palms, and let it drop. - -"If they had had time to learn their new machine a little better, I -would never have lived to reach them in time." He glanced down at -Ciaran, standing uncertainly below. "Thanks to you, little man, they -didn't have quite time enough." - -He gestured to a staff. "Bring it, and I'll free your Mouse." - - - VII - -A long time afterward Mouse and Ciaran and Bas the Immortal stood in -the opal-tinted glow of the great room of the _crux ansata_. Outside -the world was normal again, and safe. Bas had left full instructions -about controlling and tending the centrifugal power plant. - -The slaves were freed, going home across the Forbidden -Plains--forbidden no longer. The Kalds were sleeping, mercifully; the -big sleep from which they would never wake. The world was free, for -humanity to make or mar on its own responsibility. - -Mouse stood very close to Ciaran, her arm around his waist, his around -her shoulders. Crimson rags mingling with yellow; fair shaggy hair -mixing with black. Bas smiled at them. - -"Now," he said, "I can be happy, until the planet itself is dead." - -"You won't stay with us? Our gratitude, our love...." - -"Will be gone with the coming generations. No, little man. I built -myself a world where I belong--the only world where I can ever belong. -And I'll be happier in it than any of you, because it is my world--free -of strife and ugliness and suffering. A beautiful world, for me and -Marsali." - -There was a radiance about him that Ciaran would put into a song some -day, only half understanding. - -"I don't envy you," whispered Bas, and smiled. Youth smiling in a -spring dawn. "Think of us sometimes, and be jealous." - -He turned and walked away, going lightly over the wide stone floor and -up the steps to the dais. Ciaran struck the harpstrings. He sent the -music flooding up against the high vault, filling all the rocky space -with a thrumming melody. - -He sang. The tune he had sung for Mouse, on the ridge above the burning -sea. A simple tune, about two people in love. - -Bas lay down on the couch of furs and colored silks, soft on the shaft -of the stone cross. He looked back at them once, smiling. One slim -white arm raised in a brief salute and swept down across the black -stone. - -The milky light rose on the platform. It wavered, curdled, and -thickened to a wall of warm pearl. Through it, for a moment, they could -see him, his dark head pillowed on his forearm, his body sprawled in -careless, angular grace. Then there was only the warm, soft shell of -light. - -Ciaran's harp whispered to silence. The tunnel into the pit was sealed. -Mouse and Ciaran went out through the golden doors and closed them, -very quietly--doors that would never be opened again as long as the -world lived. - -Then they came into each other's arms, and kissed. - -Rough, tight arms on living flesh, lips that bruised and breaths that -mingled, hot with life. Temper and passion, empty bellies, a harp that -sang in crowded market squares, and no roof to fight under but the open -sky. - -And Ciaran didn't envy the dark-haired boy, dreaming on the stone cross. - - * * * * * - -[Footnote 1: Transcriber's note: text missing from original: The red hunter froze to a dead stop. ] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF BAS *** - -***** This file should be named 62996-8.txt or 62996-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/9/9/62996/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/62996-8.zip b/old/62996-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 90fe277..0000000 --- a/old/62996-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62996-h.zip b/old/62996-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8720596..0000000 --- a/old/62996-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62996-h/62996-h.htm b/old/62996-h/62996-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index f3bd65a..0000000 --- a/old/62996-h/62996-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2959 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -/* Footnotes */ -.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; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: The Jewel of Bas - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: August 21, 2020 [EBook #62996] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF BAS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE JEWEL OF BAS</h1> - -<p>A WEIRD NOVEL OF FASCINATING POWER</p> - -<h2>by LEIGH BRACKETT</h2> - -<p>There was a boy-God, sleeping through<br /> -eternity. And there were his "Stone of<br /> -Life" and the androids he had created<br /> -of matter and energy. And there was a<br /> -world that was to die from the<br /> -machinations of the androids' diabolic<br /> -minds. There were Mouse and Ciaran to<br /> -stem the death-flood—two mortals fighting<br /> -the immortals' plans for conquest.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Spring 1944.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Mouse stirred the stew in the small iron pot. There wasn't much of it. -She sniffed and said:</p> - -<p>"You could have stolen a bigger joint. We'll go hungry before the next -town."</p> - -<p>"Uh huh," Ciaran grunted lazily.</p> - -<p>Anger began to curl in Mouse's eyes.</p> - -<p>"I suppose it's all right with you if we run out of food," she said -sullenly.</p> - -<p>Ciaran leaned back comfortably against a moss-grown boulder and watched -her with lazy grey eyes. He liked watching Mouse. She was a head -shorter than he, which made her very short indeed, and as thin as -a young girl. Her hair was black and wild, as though only wind ever -combed it. Her eyes were black, too, and very bright. There was a small -red thief's brand between them. She wore a ragged crimson tunic, and -her bare arms and legs were as brown as his own.</p> - -<p>Ciaran grinned. His lip was scarred, and there was a tooth missing -behind it. He said, "It's just as well. I don't want you getting fat -and lazy."</p> - -<p>Mouse, who was sensitive about her thinness, said something pungent and -threw the wooden plate at him. Ciaran drew his shaggy head aside enough -to let it by and then relaxed, stroking the harp on his bare brown -knees. It began to purr softly.</p> - -<p>Ciaran felt good. The heat of the sunballs that floated always, lazy -in a reddish sky, made him pleasantly sleepy. And after the clamor and -crush of the market squares in the border towns, the huge high silence -of the place was wonderful.</p> - -<p>He and Mouse were camped on a tongue of land that licked out from the -Phrygian hills down into the coastal plains of Atlantea. A short cut, -but only gypsies like themselves ever took it. To Ciaran's left, far -below, the sea spread sullen and burning, cloaked in a reddish fog.</p> - -<p>To his right, also far below, were the Forbidden Plains. Flat, -desolate, and barren, reaching away and away to the up-curving rim of -the world, where Ciaran's sharp eyes could just make out a glint of -gold; a mammoth peak reaching for the sky.</p> - -<p>Mouse said suddenly, "Is that it, Kiri? Ben Beatha, the Mountain of -Life."</p> - -<p>Ciaran struck a shivering chord from the harp. "That's it."</p> - -<p>"Let's eat," said Mouse.</p> - -<p>"Scared?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe you want me to go back! Maybe you think a branded thief isn't -good enough for you! Well I can't help where I was born or what my -parents were—and you'd have a brand on your ugly face too, if you -hadn't just been lucky!"</p> - -<p>She threw the ladle.</p> - -<p>This time her aim was better and Ciaran didn't duck quite in time. It -clipped his ear. He sprang up, looking murderous, and started to heave -it back at her. And then, suddenly, Mouse was crying, stamping up and -down and blinking tears out of her eyes.</p> - -<p>"All right, I'm scared! I've never been out of a city before, and -besides...." She looked out over the silent plain, to the distant -glint of Ben Beatha. "Besides," she whispered, "I keep thinking of the -stories they used to tell—about Bas the Immortal, and his androids, -and the grey beasts that served them. And about the Stone of Destiny."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran made a contemptuous mouth. "Legends. Old wive's tales. Songs -to give babies a pleasant shiver." A small glint of avarice came into -his grey eyes. "But the Stone of Destiny—it's a nice story, that one. -A jewel of such power that owning it gives a man rule over the whole -world...."</p> - -<p>He squinted out across the barren plain. "Some day," he said, softly, -"maybe I'll see if that one's true."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Kiri." Mouse came and caught his wrists in her small strong -hands. "You wouldn't. It's forbidden—and no one that's gone into the -Forbidden Plains has ever come back."</p> - -<p>"There's always a first time." He grinned. "But I'm not going now, -Mousie. I'm too hungry."</p> - -<p>She picked up the plate silently and ladled stew into it and set it -down. Ciaran laid his harp down and stretched—a tough, wiry little man -with legs slightly bandy and a good-natured hard face. He wore a yellow -tunic even more ragged than Mouse's.</p> - -<p>They sat down. Ciaran ate noisily with his fingers. Mouse fished out -a hunk of meat and nibbled it moodily. A breeze came up, pushing the -sunballs around a little and bringing tatters of red fog in off the -sea. After a while Mouse said:</p> - -<p>"Did you hear any of the talk in the market squares, Kiri?"</p> - -<p>He shrugged. "They gabble. I don't waste my time with it."</p> - -<p>"All along the border countries they were saying the same thing. -People who live or work along the edge of the Forbidden Plains have -disappeared. Whole towns of them, sometimes."</p> - -<p>"One man falls into a beast-pit," said Ciaran impatiently, "and in two -weeks of gossip the whole country has vanished. Forget it."</p> - -<p>"But it's happened before, Kiri. A long time ago...."</p> - -<p>"A long time ago some wild tribe living on the Plains came in and got -tough, and that's that!" Ciaran wiped his hands on the grass and said -angrily, "If you're going to nag all the time about being scared...."</p> - -<p>He caught the plate out of her hands just in time. She was breathing -hard, glaring at him. She looked like her name, and cute as hell. -Ciaran laughed.</p> - -<p>"Come here, you."</p> - -<p>She came, sulkily. He pulled her down beside him and kissed her and -took the harp on his knees. Mouse put her head on his shoulder. Ciaran -was suddenly very happy.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He began to draw music out of the harp. There was a lot of distance -around him, and he tried to fill it up with music, a fine free spate -of it out of the thrumming strings. Then he sang. He had a beautiful -voice, clear and true as a new blade, but soft. It was a simple tune, -about two people in love. Ciaran liked it.</p> - -<p>After a while Mouse reached up and drew his head around, stroking the -scar on his lip so he had to stop singing. She wasn't glaring any -longer. Ciaran bent his head.</p> - -<p>His eyes were closed. But he felt her body stiffen against him, and her -lips broke away from his with a little gasping cry.</p> - -<p>"Kiri—Kiri, look!"</p> - -<p>He jerked his head back, angry and startled. Then the anger faded.</p> - -<p>There was a different quality to the light. The warm, friendly, reddish -sunlight that never dimmed or faded.</p> - -<p>There was a shadow spreading out in the sky over Ben Beatha. It grew -and widened, and the sunballs went out, one by one, and darkness came -toward them over the Forbidden Plains.</p> - -<p>They crouched, clinging together, not speaking, not breathing. An -uneasy breeze sighed over them, moving out. Then, after a long time, -the sunballs sparked and burned again, and the shadow was gone.</p> - -<p>Ciaran dragged down an unsteady breath. He was sweating, but where his -hands and Mouse's touched, locked together, they were cold as death.</p> - -<p>"What was it, Kiri?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know." He got up, slinging the harp across his back without -thinking about it. He felt naked suddenly, up there on the high ridge. -Stripped and unsafe. He pulled Mouse to her feet. Neither of them spoke -again. Their eyes had a queer stunned look.</p> - -<p>This time it was Ciaran that stopped, with the stewpot in his hands, -looking at something behind Mouse. He dropped it and jumped in front -of her, pulling the wicked knife he carried from his girdle. The last -thing he heard was her wild scream.</p> - -<p>But he had time enough to see. To see the creatures climbing up over -the crest of the ridge beside them, fast and silent and grinning, -to ring them in with wands tipped at the point with opals like tiny -sunballs.</p> - -<p>They were no taller than Mouse, but thick and muscular, built like -men. Grey animal fur grew on them like the body-hair of a hairy man, -lengthening into a coarse mane over the skull. Where the skin showed it -was grey and wrinkled and tough.</p> - -<p>Their faces were flat, with black animal nose-buttons. They had -sharp teeth, grey with a bright, healthy greyness. Their eyes were -blood-pink, without whites or visible pupils.</p> - -<p>The eyes were the worst.</p> - -<p>Ciaran yelled and slashed out with his knife. One of the grey brutes -danced in on lithe, quick feet and touched him on the neck with its -jeweled wand.</p> - -<p>Fire exploded in Ciaran's head, and then there was darkness, pierced by -Mouse's scream. As he slid down into it he thought:</p> - -<p>"They're Kalds. The beasts of legend that served Bas the Immortal and -his androids. Kalds, that guarded the Forbidden Plains from man!"</p> - -<p>Ciaran came to, on his feet and walking. From the way he felt he'd been -walking a long time, but his memory was vague and confused. He had been -relieved of his knife, but his harp was still with him.</p> - -<p>Mouse walked beside him. Her black hair hung over her face and her -eyes looked out from behind it, sullen and defiant.</p> - -<p>The grey beasts walked in a rough circle around them, holding their -wands ready. From the way they grinned, Ciaran had an idea they hoped -they'd have an excuse for using them.</p> - -<p>With a definitely uneasy shock, Ciaran realized that they were far out -in the barren waste of the Forbidden Plains.</p> - -<p>He got a little closer to Mouse. "Hello."</p> - -<p>She looked at him. "You and your short cuts! So all that talk in the -border towns was just gabble, huh?"</p> - -<p>"So it's my fault! If that isn't just like a woman...." Ciaran made an -impatient gesture. "All right, all right! That doesn't matter now. What -does matter is where are we going and why?"</p> - -<p>"How should I—Wait a minute. We're stopping."</p> - -<p>The Kalds warned them with their wands to stand. One of the grey -brutes seemed to be listening to something that Ciaran couldn't hear. -Presently it gestured and the party started off again in a slightly -different direction.</p> - -<p>After a minute or two a gully appeared out of nowhere at their feet. -From up on the ridge the Forbidden Plains had looked perfectly flat, -but the gully was fairly wide and cut in clean like a sword gash, -hidden by a slight roll of the land. They scrambled down the steep bank -and went along the bottom.</p> - -<p>Again with an uneasy qualm, Ciaran realized they were headed in the -general direction of Ben Beatha.</p> - -<p>The old legends had been gradually lost in the stream of time, except -to people who cared for such things, or made a living from singing -about them, like Ciaran. But in spite of that Ben Beatha was tabu.</p> - -<p>The chief reason was physical. The Plains, still called Forbidden, -ringed the mountain like a protective wall, and it was an indisputable -fact whether you liked it or not that people who went out onto them -didn't come back. Hunger, thirst, wild beasts, or devils—they didn't -come back. That discouraged a lot of traveling.</p> - -<p>Besides, the only reason for attempting to reach Ben Beatha was the -legend of the Stone of Destiny, and people had long ago lost faith in -that. Nobody had seen it. Nobody had seen Bas the Immortal who was -its god and guardian, nor the androids that were his servants, nor the -Kalds that were slaves to both of them.</p> - -<p>Long, long ago people were supposed to have seen them. In the -beginning, according to the legends, Bas the Immortal had lived in a -distant place—a green world where there was only one huge sunball that -rose and set regularly, where the sky was sometimes blue and sometimes -black and silver, and where the horizon curved down. The manifest -idiocy of all that still tickled people so they liked to hear songs -about it.</p> - -<p>Somewhere on that green world, somehow, Bas had acquired the flaming -stone that gave him the power of life and death and destiny. There were -a lot of conflicting and confused stories about trouble between Bas and -the inhabitants of the funny world with the sky that changed like a -woman's fancy. Eventually he was supposed to have gathered up a lot of -these inhabitants through the power of the stone and transported them -somehow across a great distance to the world where they now lived.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran had found that children loved these yarns particularly. Their -imaginations were still elastic enough not to see the ridiculous side. -He always gave the Distance Cycle a lot of schmaltz.</p> - -<p>So after Bas the Immortal and his Stone of Destiny had got all these -people settled in a new world, Bas created his androids, Khafre and -Steud, and brought the Kalds from somewhere out in that vague Distance; -another world, perhaps. And there were wars and revolts and raiding -parties, and bitter struggles between Bas and the androids and the -humans for power, with Bas always winning because of the Stone. There -was a bottomless well of material there for ballads. Ciaran used it -frequently.</p> - -<p>But the one legend that had always maintained its original shape under -the battering of generations was the one about Ben Beatha, the Mountain -of Life, being the dwelling place of Bas the Immortal and his androids -and the Kalds. And somewhere under Ben Beatha was the Stone, whose -possession could give a man life eternal and the powers of whatever -god you chose to believe in.</p> - -<p>Ciaran had toyed with that one in spite of his skepticism. Now it -looked as though he was going to see for himself.</p> - -<p>He looked at the Kalds, the creatures who didn't exist, and found his -skepticism shaken. Shaken so hard he felt sick with it, like a man -waking up to find a nightmare beside him in the flesh, booting his guts -in.</p> - -<p>If the Kalds were real, the androids were real. From the androids you -went to Bas, and from Bas to the Stone of Destiny.</p> - -<p>Ciaran began to sweat with sheer excitement.</p> - -<p>Mouse jerked her head up suddenly. "Kiri—listen!"</p> - -<p>From somewhere up ahead and to the right there began to come a -rhythmic, swinging clank of metal. Underneath it Ciaran made out the -shuffle of bare or sandalled feet.</p> - -<p>The Kalds urged them on faster with the jewel-tipped wands. The hot -opalescence of the tips struck Ciaran all at once. A jewel-fire that -could shock a man to unconsciousness like the blow of a fist, just by -touching.</p> - -<p>The power of the Stone, perhaps. The Stone of Destiny, sleeping under -Ben Beatha.</p> - -<p>The shuffle and clank got louder. Quite suddenly they came to a place -where the gully met another one almost at right angles, and stopped. -The ears of the Kalds twitched nervously.</p> - -<p>Mouse shrank in closer against Ciaran. She was looking off down the new -cut. Ciaran looked, too.</p> - -<p>There were Kalds coming toward them. About forty of them, with wands. -Walking between their watchful lines were some ninety or a hundred -humans, men and women, shackled together by chains run through loops in -iron collars. They were so close together they had to lock-step, and -any attempt at attacking their guards would have meant the whole column -falling flat.</p> - -<p>Mouse said, with vicious clarity, "One man falls into a beast pit, and -in three weeks of gossip a whole town is gone. Hah!"</p> - -<p>Ciaran's scarred mouth got ugly. "Keep going, Mousie. Just keep it up." -He scowled at the slave gang and added, "But what the hell is it all -about? What do they want us for?"</p> - -<p>"You'll find out," said Mouse. "You and your short cuts."</p> - -<p>Ciaran raised his hand. Mouse ducked and started to swing on him. A -couple of Kalds moved in and touched them apart, very delicately, with -the wands. They didn't want knockouts this time. Just local numbness.</p> - -<p>Ciaran was feeling murderous enough to start something anyway, but a -second flick of the wand on the back of his neck took the starch out of -him. By that time the slave party had come up and stopped.</p> - -<p>Ciaran stumbled over into line and let the Kalds lock the collar around -his neck. The man in front of him was huge, with a mane of red hair -and cords of muscle on his back the size of Ciaran's arm. He hadn't a -stitch on but a leather G-string. His freckled, red-haired skin was -slippery with sweat. Ciaran, pressed up against him, shut his mouth -tight and began to breathe very hard with his face turned as far away -as he could get it.</p> - -<p>They shackled Mouse right in back of him. She put her arms around his -waist, tighter than she really had to. Ciaran squeezed her hands.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>The Kalds started the line moving again, using the wands like ox-goads. -They shuffled off down the gully, going deeper and deeper into the -Forbidden Plains.</p> - -<p>Very softly, so that nobody but Ciaran could hear her, Mouse whispered, -"These locks are nothing. I can pick them any time."</p> - -<p>Ciaran squeezed her hand again. It occurred to him that Mouse was a -handy girl to have around.</p> - -<p>After a while she said, "Kiri—that shadow. We did see it?"</p> - -<p>"We did." He shivered in spite of himself.</p> - -<p>"What was it?"</p> - -<p>"How should I know? And you better save your breath. Looks like a long -walk ahead of us."</p> - -<p>It was. They threaded their way through a growing maze of cracks in -the plain, cracks that got deeper and deeper, so you had to look -straight up to see the red sky and the little floating suns. Ciaran -found himself watching furtively to make sure they were still shining. -He wished Mousie hadn't reminded him of the shadow. He'd never been -closer to cold, clawing panic than in those moments on the ridge.</p> - -<p>The rest of the slave gang had obviously come a long way already. They -were tired. But the Kalds goaded them on, and it wasn't until about a -third of the line was being held up bodily by those in front or behind -that a halt was called.</p> - -<p>They came to a fairly-wide place where three of the gullies came -together. The Kalds formed the line into a circle, squeezed in on -itself so they were practically sitting in each other's laps, and then -stood by watchfully, lolling pink tongues over their bright grey teeth -and letting the wands flash in the dimmed light.</p> - -<p>Ciaran let his head and shoulders roll over onto Mousie. For some time -he had felt her hands working around her own collar, covered by her -hair and the harp slung across his back. She wore a rather remarkable -metal pin that had other functions than holding her tunic on, and she -knew how to use it.</p> - -<p>Her collar was still in place, but he knew she could slide out of it -now any time she wanted. She bent forward over him as though she was -exhausted. Her black hair fell over his face and neck. Under it her -small quick hands got busy.</p> - -<p>The lock snapped quietly, and the huge red-haired man collapsed slowly -on top of Ciaran. His voice whispered, but there was nothing weak about -it.</p> - -<p>He said, "Now me."</p> - -<p>Ciaran squirmed and cursed. The vast weight crushed him to silence.</p> - -<p>"I'm a hunter. I can hear a rabbit breathing in its warren. I heard the -woman speak. Free me or I'll make trouble."</p> - -<p>Ciaran sighed resignedly, and Mouse went to work.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran looked around the circle of exhausted humans. Charcoal burners, -trappers, hoop-shavers—the lean, tough, hard-bitten riff-raff of the -border wilderness. Even the women were tough. Ciaran began to get -ideas.</p> - -<p>There was a man crushed up against them on the other side—the man who -had hitherto been at the head of the column. He was tall and stringy -like a hungry cat, and just as mean looking, hunched over his knees -with his face buried in his forearms and a shag of iron-grey hair -falling over his shoulders.</p> - -<p>Ciaran nudged him. "You—don't make any sign. Game to take a chance?"</p> - -<p>The shaggy head turned slightly, just enough to unveil an eye. Ciaran -wished suddenly he'd kept his mouth shut. The eye was pale, almost -white, with a queer unhuman look as though it saw only gods or devils, -and nothing in between.</p> - -<p>Ciaran had met hermits before in his wanderings. He knew the signs. -Normally he rather liked hermits, but this one gave him unpleasant -qualms in the stomach.</p> - -<p>The man dragged a rusty voice up from somewhere. "We are enslaved by -devils. Only the pure can overcome devils. Are you pure?"</p> - -<p>Ciaran managed not to choke. "As a bird in its nest," he said. "A -newly-fledged bird. In fact, a bird still in the shell."</p> - -<p>The cold, pale eye looked at him without blinking.</p> - -<p>Ciaran resisted an impulse to punch it and said, "We have a means of -freeing ourselves. If enough could be freed, when the time came we -might rush the Kalds."</p> - -<p>"Only the pure can prevail against devils."</p> - -<p>Ciaran gave him a smile of beatific innocence. The scar and the missing -tooth rather spoiled the effect, but his eyes made up for it in bland -sweetness.</p> - -<p>"You shall lead us, Father," he cooed. "With such purity as yours, we -can't fail."</p> - -<p>The hermit thought about that for a moment and then said, "I will pass -the word. Give me the feke."</p> - -<p>Ciaran's jaw dropped. His eyes got glassy.</p> - -<p>"The feke," said the hermit patiently. "The jiggler."</p> - -<p>Ciaran closed his eyes. "Mouse," he said weakly, "give the gentleman -the picklock."</p> - -<p>Mouse slid it to him, a distance of about two inches. The red-haired -giant took some of his weight off Ciaran. Mouse was looking slightly -dazed herself.</p> - -<p>"Hadn't I better do it for you?" she asked, rather pompously.</p> - -<p>The hermit gave her a cold glance. He bent his head and brought his -hands up between his knees. His collar mate on the other side never -noticed a thing, and the hermit beat Mouse's time by a good third.</p> - -<p>Ciaran laughed. He lay in Mouse's lap and had mild hysterics. Mouse -cuffed him furiously across the back of his neck, and even that didn't -stop him.</p> - -<p>He pulled himself up, looked through streaming eyes at Mouse's -murderous small face, and bit his knuckles to keep from screaming.</p> - -<p>The hermit was already quietly at work on the man next him.</p> - -<p>Ciaran unslung his harp. The grey Kalds hadn't noticed anything yet. -Both Mouse and the hermit were very smooth workers. Ciaran plucked out -a few sonorous minor chords, and the Kalds flicked their blood-pink -eyes at him, but didn't seem to think the harp called for any action.</p> - -<p>Ciaran relaxed and played louder.</p> - -<p>Under cover of the music he explained his plan to the big red hunter, -who nodded and began whispering to his other collar-mate. Ciaran began -to sing.</p> - -<p>He gave them a lament, one of the wild dark things the Cimmerians sing -at the bier of a chief and very appropriate to the occasion. The Kalds -lounged, enjoying the rest. They weren't watching for it, so they -didn't see, as Ciaran did, the breathing of the word of hope around the -circle.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Civilized people would have given the show away. But these were -bordermen, as wary and self-contained as animals. It was only in their -eyes that you could see anything. They got busy, under cover of their -huddled bodies and long-haired, bowed-over heads, with every buckle and -pin they could muster.</p> - -<p>Mouse and the hermit passed instructions along the line, and since they -were people who were used to using their hands with skill, it seemed as -though a fair number of locks might get picked. The collars were left -carefully in place.</p> - -<p>Ciaran finished his lament and was half way through another when the -Kalds decided it was time to go.</p> - -<p>They moved in to goad the line back into position. Ciaran's harp -crashed out suddenly in angry challenge, and the close-packed circle -split into a furious confusion.</p> - -<p>Ciaran slung his harp over his shoulder and sprang up, shaking off -the collar. All around him was the clash of chain metal on rock, the -scuffle of feet, the yells and heavy breathing of angry men. The Kalds -came leaping in, their wands flashing. Somebody screamed. Ciaran got a -fistful of Mouse's tunic in his left hand and started to butt through -the mêlée. He had lost track of the hermit and the hunter.</p> - -<p>Then, quite suddenly, it was dark.</p> - -<p>Silence closed down oh the gully. A black, frozen silence, with not -even a sound of breathing in it. Ciaran stood still, looking up at the -dark sky. He didn't even tremble. He was beyond that.</p> - -<p>Black darkness, in a land of eternal light.</p> - -<p>Somewhere then, a woman screamed with a terrible mad strength, and hell -broke loose.</p> - -<p>Ciaran ran. He didn't think about where he was going, only that he had -to get away. He was still gripping Mouse. Bodies thrashed and blundered -and shrieked in the darkness. Twice he and Mouse were knocked kicking. -It didn't stop them.</p> - -<p>They broke through finally into a clear space. There began to be light -again, pale and feeble at first but flickering back toward normal. They -were in a broad gully kicked smooth on the bottom by the passing of -many feet. They ran down it.</p> - -<p>After a while Mouse fell and Ciaran dropped beside her. He lay there, -fighting for breath, twitching and jerking like an animal with sheer -panic. He was crying a little because it was light again.</p> - -<p>Mouse clung to him, pressing tight as though she wanted to merge her -body with his and hide it. She had begun to shake.</p> - -<p>"Kiri," she whispered, over and over again. "Kiri, what was it?"</p> - -<p>Ciaran held her head against his shoulder and stroked it. "I don't -know, honey. But it's all right now. It's gone."</p> - -<p>Gone. But it could come back. It had once. Maybe next time it would -stay.</p> - -<p>Darkness, and the sudden cold.</p> - -<p>The legends began crawling through Ciaran's mind. If Bas the Immortal -was true, and the Stone of Destiny was true, and the Stone gave Bas -power over the life and death of a world ... then...?</p> - -<p>Maybe Bas was getting tired of the world and wanted to throw it away.</p> - -<p>The rational stubbornness in man that says a thing is not because -it's never been before helped Ciaran steady down. But he couldn't kid -himself that there hadn't been darkness where no darkness had even been -dreamed of before.</p> - -<p>He shook his head and started to pull Mouse to her feet, and then his -quick ears caught the sound of someone coming toward them, running. -Several someones.</p> - -<p>There was no place to hide. Ciaran got Mouse behind him and waited, -half crouching.</p> - -<p>It was the hunter, with the hermit loping like a stringy cat at his -heels and a third man behind them both. They all looked a little crazy, -and they didn't seem to be going to stop.</p> - -<p>Ciaran said, "Hey!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They slowed down looking at him with queer, blank eyes. Ciaran blew up, -because he had to relax somehow.</p> - -<p>"It's all over now. What are you scared of? It's gone." He cursed them, -with more feeling than fairness. "What about the Kalds? What happened -back there?"</p> - -<p>The hunter wiped a huge hand across his red-bearded face. "Everybody -went crazy," he said thickly. "Some got killed or hurt. Some got away, -like us. The rest were caught again." He jerked his head back. "They're -coming this way. They're hunting us. They hunt by scent, the grey -beasts do."</p> - -<p>"Then we've got to get going." Ciaran turned around. "Mouse. You, -Mousie! Snap out of it, honey. It's all right now."</p> - -<p>She shivered and choked over her breath, and the hermit fixed them both -with pale, mad eyes.</p> - -<p>"It was a warning," he said. "A portent of judgment, when only the pure -shall be saved." He pointed a bony finger at Ciaran. "I told you that -evil could not prevail against devils!"</p> - -<p>That got through to Mouse. Sense came back into her black eyes. She -took a step toward the hermit and let go.</p> - -<p>"Don't you call him evil—or me either! We've never hurt anybody yet, -beyond lifting a little food or a trinket. And besides, who the hell -are you to talk! Anybody as handy with a picklock as you are has had -plenty of practice...."</p> - -<p>Mouse paused for breath, and Ciaran got a look at the hermit's face. -His stomach quivered. He tried to shut Mouse up, but she was feeling -better and beginning to enjoy herself. She plunged into a detailed -analysis of the hermit's physique and heredity. She had a vivid and -inventive mind.</p> - -<p>Ciaran finally got his hand over her mouth, taking care not to get -bitten. "Nice going," he said, "but we've got to get out of here. You -can finish later."</p> - -<p>She started to heel his shins, and then quite suddenly she stopped and -stiffened up under his hands. She was looking at the hermit. Ciaran -looked, too. His insides knotted, froze, and began to do tricks.</p> - -<p>The hermit said quietly, "You are finished now." His pale eyes held -them, and there was nothing human about his gaze, or the cold calm of -his voice.</p> - -<p>"You are evil. You are thieves—and I know, for I was a thief myself. -You have the filth of the world on you, and no wish to clean it off."</p> - -<p>He moved toward them. It was hardly a step, hardly more than an -inclination of the body, but Ciaran gave back before it.</p> - -<p>"I killed a man. I took a life in sin and anger, and now I have made -my peace. You have not. You will not. And if need comes, I can kill -again—without remorse."</p> - -<p>He could, too. There was nothing ludicrous about him now. He was -stating simple fact, and the dignity of him was awesome. Ciaran scowled -down at the dust.</p> - -<p>"Hell," he said, "we're sorry, Father. Mouse has a quick tongue, and -we've both had a bad scare. She didn't mean it. We respect any man's -conscience."</p> - -<p>There was a cold, hard silence, and then the third man cried out with a -sort of subdued fury:</p> - -<p>"Let's go! Do you want to get caught again?"</p> - -<p>He was a gnarled, knotty, powerful little man, beginning to grizzle but -not to slow down. He wore a kilt of skins. His hide was dark and tough -as leather, his hazel eyes set in nests of wrinkles.</p> - -<p>The hunter, who had been hearing nothing but noises going back and -forth over his head, turned and led off down the gully. The others -followed, still not speaking.</p> - -<p>Ciaran was thinking, He's crazy. He's clear off his head—and of all -the things we didn't need, a crazy hermit heads the list!</p> - -<p>There was a cold spot between his shoulders that wouldn't go away even -when he started sweating with exertion.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The gully was evidently a main trail to Somewhere. There were many -signs of recent passage by a lot of people, including an occasional -body kicked off to the side and left to dry.</p> - -<p>The little knotty man, who was a trapper named Ram, examined the bodies -with a terrible stony look in his eyes.</p> - -<p>"My wife and my first son," he said briefly. "The grey beasts took them -while I was gone."</p> - -<p>He turned grimly away.</p> - -<p>Ciaran was glad when the bodies proved to be the wrong ones.</p> - -<p>Ram and the big red hunter took turns scaling the cleft walls for a -look. Mouse said something about taking to the face of the Plain where -they wouldn't be hemmed in. They looked at her grimly.</p> - -<p>"The grey beasts are up there," they said. "Flanking us. If we go up, -they'll only take us and chain us again."</p> - -<p>Ciaran's heart took a big, staggering jump. "In other words, they're -herding us. We're going the way they want us to, so they don't bother -to round us up."</p> - -<p>The hunter nodded professionally. "Is a good plan."</p> - -<p>"Oh, fine!" snarled Ciaran. "What I want to know is, is there any way -out?"</p> - -<p>The hunter shrugged.</p> - -<p>"I'm going on anyway," said Ram. "My wife and son...."</p> - -<p>Ciaran thought about the Stone of Destiny, and was rather glad there -was no decision to make.</p> - -<p>They went on, at an easy jog trot. By bits and pieces Ciaran built up -the picture—raiding gangs of Kalds coming quietly onto isolated border -villages, combing the brush and the forest for stragglers. Where they -took the humans, or why, nobody could guess.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> froze to a dead stop. -The others crouched behind him, instinctively holding their breath.</p> - -<p>The hunter whispered, "People. Many of them." His flat palm made an -emphatic move for quiet.</p> - -<p>Small cold prickles flared across Ciaran's skin. He found Mouse's hand -in his and squeezed it. Suddenly, with no more voice than the sigh of a -breeze through bracken, the hermit laughed.</p> - -<p>"Judgment," he whispered. "Great things moving." His pale eyes were -fey. "Doom and destruction, a shadow across the world, a darkness and a -dying."</p> - -<p>He looked at them one by one, and threw his head back, laughing without -sound, the stringy cords working in his throat.</p> - -<p>"And of all of you, I <i>alone</i> have no fear!"</p> - -<p>They went on, slowly, moving without sound in small shapeless puddles -of shadow thrown by the floating sunballs. Ciaran found himself almost -in the lead, beside the hunter.</p> - -<p>They edged around a jog in the cleft wall. About ten feet ahead of them -the cleft floor plunged underground, through a low opening shored with -heavy timbers.</p> - -<p>There were two Kalds lounging in front of it, watching their wands -flash in the light.</p> - -<p>The five humans stopped. The Kalds came toward them, almost lazily, -running rough grey tongues over their shiny teeth. Their blood-pink -eyes were bright with pleasure.</p> - -<p>Ciaran groaned. "This is it. Shall we be brave, or just smart?"</p> - -<p>The hunter cocked his huge fists. And then Ram let go a queer animal -moan. He shoved past Ciaran and went to his knees beside something -Ciaran hadn't noticed before.</p> - -<p>A woman lay awkwardly against the base of the cliff. She was brown -and stringy and not very young, with a plain, good face. A squat, -thick-shouldered boy sprawled almost on top of her. There was a livid -burn on the back of his neck. They were both dead.</p> - -<p>Ciaran thought probably the woman had dropped from exhaustion, and the -kid had died fighting to save her. He felt sick.</p> - -<p>Ram put a hand on each of their faces. His own was stony and quite -blank. After the first cry he didn't make a sound.</p> - -<p>He got up and went for the Kald nearest to him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>He did it like an animal, quick and without thinking. The Kald was -quick, too. It jabbed the wand at Ram, but the little brown man was -coming so fast that it didn't stop him. He must have died in mid-leap, -but his body knocked the Kald over and bore him down.</p> - -<p>Ciaran followed him in a swift cat leap.</p> - -<p>He heard the hunter grunting and snarling somewhere behind him, and the -thudding of bare feet being very busy. He lost sight of the other Kald. -He lost sight of everything but a muscular grey arm that was trying to -pull a jewel-tipped wand from under Ram's corpse. There was a terrible -stink of burned flesh.</p> - -<p>Ciaran grabbed the grey wrist. He didn't bother with it, or the arm. -He slid his grip up to the fingers, got his other hand beside it, and -started wrenching.</p> - -<p>Bone cracked and split. Ciaran worked desperately, from the thumb and -the little finger. Flesh tore. Splinters of grey bone came through. -Ciaran's hands slipped in the blood. The grey beast opened its mouth, -but no sound came. Ciaran decided then the things were dumb. It was -human enough to sweat.</p> - -<p>Ciaran grabbed the wand.</p> - -<p>A grey paw, the other one, came clawing for his throat around the bulk -of Ram's shoulders. He flicked it with the wand. It went away, and -Ciaran speared the jewel tip down hard against the Kald's throat.</p> - -<p>After a while Mouse's voice came to him from somewhere. "It's done, -Kiri. No use overcooking it."</p> - -<p>It smelled done, all right. Ciaran got up. He looked at the wand in his -hand, holding it away off. He whistled.</p> - -<p>Mouse said, "Stop admiring yourself and get going. The hunter says he -can hear chains."</p> - -<p>Ciaran looked around. The other Kald lay on the ground. Its neck seemed -to be broken. The body of the squat, dark boy lay on top of it. The -hunter said:</p> - -<p>"He didn't feel the wand. I think he'd be glad to be a club for -killing one of them, if he knew it."</p> - -<p>Ciaran said, "Yeah." He looked at Mouse. She seemed perfectly healthy. -"Aren't women supposed to faint at things like this?"</p> - -<p>She snorted. "I was born in the Thieves' Quarter. We used to roll -skulls instead of pennies. They weren't so scarce."</p> - -<p>"I think," said Ciaran, "the next time I get married I'll ask more -questions. Let's go."</p> - -<p>They went down the ramp leading under the Forbidden Plains. The hunter -led, like a wary beast. Ciaran brought up the rear. They both carried -the stolen wands.</p> - -<p>The hermit hadn't spoken a word, or moved a hand to help.</p> - -<p>It was fairly dark there underground, but not cold. In fact, it was -hotter than outside, and got worse as they went down. Ciaran could hear -a sound like a hundred armorers beating on shields. Only louder. There -was a feeling of a lot of people moving around but not talking much, -and an occasional crash or metallic screaming that Ciaran didn't have -any explanation for. He found himself not liking it.</p> - -<p>They went a fairish way on an easy down-slope, and then the light -got brighter. The hunter whispered, "Careful!" and slowed down. They -drifted like four ghosts through an archway into a glow of clear bluish -light.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They stood on a narrow ledge. Just here it was hand-smoothed, but -on both sides it ran in nature-eroded roughness into a jumble of -stalactites and wind-galleries. Above the ledge, in near darkness, -was the high roof arch, and straight ahead, there was just space. -Eventually, a long way off, Ciaran made out a wall of rock.</p> - -<p>Below there was a pit. It was roughly barrel-shaped. It was deep. It -was so deep that Ciaran had to crane over the edge to see bottom. -Brilliant blue-white flares made it brighter than daylight about -two-thirds of the way up the barrel.</p> - -<p>There were human beings laboring in the glare. They were tiny things -no bigger than ants from this height. They wore no chains, and Ciaran -couldn't see any guards. But after the first look he quit worrying -about any of that. The Thing growing up in the pit took all his -attention.</p> - -<p>It was built of metal. It rose and spread in intricate swooping curves -of shining whiteness, filling the whole lower part of the cavern. -Ciaran stared at it with a curious numb feeling of awe.</p> - -<p>The thing wasn't finished. He had not the faintest idea what it was -for. But he was suddenly terrified of it.</p> - -<p>It was more than just the sheer crushing size of it, or the unfamiliar -metallic construction that was like nothing he had seen or even dreamed -of before. It was the thing itself.</p> - -<p>It was Power. It was Strength. It was a Titan growing there in the -belly of the world, getting ready to reach out and grip it and play -with it, like Mouse gambling with an empty skull.</p> - -<p>He knew, looking at it, that no human brain in his own scale and time -of existence had conceived that shining monster, nor shaped of itself -one smallest part of it.</p> - -<p>The red hunter said simply, "I'm scared. And this smells like a trap."</p> - -<p>Ciaran swallowed something that might have been his heart. "We're in -it, pal, like it or don't. And we'd better get out of sight before that -chain-gang runs into us."</p> - -<p>Off to the side, along the rough part of the ledge where there were -shadows and holes and pillars of rock, seemed the best bet. There was a -way down to the cavern floor—a dizzy zig-zag of ledges, ladders, and -steps. But once on it you were stuck, and no cover.</p> - -<p>They edged off, going as fast as they dared. Mouse was breathing rather -heavily and her face was white enough to make the brand show like a -blood-drop between her brows.</p> - -<p>The hermit seemed to be moving in a private world of his own. The sight -of the shining giant had brought a queer blaze to his eyes, something -Ciaran couldn't read and didn't like. Otherwise, he might as well have -been dead. He hadn't spoken since he cursed them, back in the gully.</p> - -<p>They crouched down out of sight among a forest of stalactites. Ciaran -watched the ledge. He whispered, "They hunt by scent?"</p> - -<p>The hunter nodded. "I think the other humans will cover us. Too many -scents in this place. But how did they have those two waiting for us -at the cave mouth?"</p> - -<p>Ciaran shrugged. "Telepathy. Thought transference. Lots of the -backwater people have it. Why not the Kalds?"</p> - -<p>"You don't," said the hunter, "think of them as having human minds."</p> - -<p>"Don't kid yourself. They think, all right. They're not human, but -they're not true animals either."</p> - -<p>"Did they think <i>that</i>?" The hunter pointed at the pit.</p> - -<p>"No," said Ciaran slowly. "They didn't."</p> - -<p>"Then who—" He broke off. "Quiet! Here they come."</p> - -<p>Ciaran held his breath, peering one-eyed around a stalactite. The -slave-gang, with the grey guards, began to file out of the tunnel and -down the steep descent to the bottom. There was no trouble. There -was no trouble left in any of those people. There were several empty -collars. There were also fewer Kalds. Some had stayed outside to track -down the four murderous fugitives, which meant no escape at that end.</p> - -<p>Ciaran got an idea. When the last of the line and the guards were -safely over the edge he whispered, "Come on. We'll go down right on -their tails."</p> - -<p>Mouse gave him a startled look. He said impatiently, "They won't be -looking back and up—I hope. And there won't be anybody else coming up -while they're going down. You've got a better idea about getting down -off this bloody perch, spill it!"</p> - -<p>She didn't have, and the hunter nodded. "Is good. Let's go."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They went, like the very devil. Since all were professionals in their -own line they didn't make any more fuss than so many leaves falling. -The hermit followed silently. His pale eyes went to the shining monster -in the pit at every opportunity.</p> - -<p>He was fermenting some idea in his shaggy head. Ciaran had a hunch the -safest thing would be to quietly trip him off into space. He resisted -it, simply because knifing a man in a brawl was one thing and murdering -an unsuspecting elderly man in cold blood was another.</p> - -<p>Later, he swore a solemn oath to drop humanitarianism, but hard.</p> - -<p>Nobody saw them. The Kalds and the people below were all too busy not -breaking their necks to have eyes for anything else. Nobody came down -behind them—a risk they had had to run. They were careful to keep a -whole section of the descent between them and the slave gang.</p> - -<p>It was a hell of a long way down. The metal monster grew and grew and -slid up beside them, and then above them, towering against the vault. -It was beautiful. Ciaran loved its beauty even while he hated and -feared its strength.</p> - -<p>Then he realized there were people working on it, clinging like -flies to its white beams and arches. Some worked with wands not very -different from the one he carried, fusing metal joints in a sparkle of -hot light. Others guided the huge metal pieces into place, bringing -them up from the floor of the cavern on long ropes and fitting them -delicately.</p> - -<p>With a peculiar dizzy sensation, Ciaran realized there was no more -weight to the metal than if it were feathers.</p> - -<p>He prayed they could get past those workers without being seen, or at -least without having an alarm spread. The four of them crawled down -past two or three groups of them safely, and then one man, working -fairly close to the cliff, raised his head and stared straight at them.</p> - -<p>Ciaran began to make frantic signs. The man paid no attention to them. -Ciaran got a good look at his eyes. He let his hands drop.</p> - -<p>"He doesn't see us," whispered Mouse slowly. "Is he blind?"</p> - -<p>The man turned back to his work. It was an intricate fitting of small -parts into a pierced frame. Work that in all his wanderings Ciaran had -never seen done anywhere, in any fashion.</p> - -<p>He shivered. "No. He just—doesn't see us."</p> - -<p>The big hunter licked his lips nervously, like a beast in a deadfall. -His eyes glittered. The hermit laughed without any sound. They went on.</p> - -<p>It was the same all the way down. Men and women looked at them, but -didn't see.</p> - -<p>In one place they paused to let the slave-gang get farther ahead. There -was a woman working not far out. She looked like a starved cat, gaunt -ribs showing through torn rags. Her face was twisted with the sheer -effort of breathing, but there was no expression in her eyes.</p> - -<p>Quite suddenly, in the middle of an unfinished gesture, she collapsed -like wet leather and fell. Ciaran knew she was dead before her feet -cleared the beam she was sitting on.</p> - -<p>That happened twice more on the way down. Nobody paid any attention.</p> - -<p>Mouse wiped moisture off her forehead and glared at Ciaran. "A fine -place to spend a honeymoon. You and your lousy shortcuts!"</p> - -<p>For once Ciaran had no impulse to cuff her.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The last portion of the descent was covered by the backs of metal -lean-tos full of heat and clamor. The four slipped away into dense -shadow between two of them, crouched behind a mound of scrap. They had -a good view of what happened to the slave gang.</p> - -<p>The Kalds guided it out between massive pillars of white metal -that held up the giant web overhead. Fires flared around the cliff -foot. A hot blue-white glare beat down, partly from some unfamiliar -light-sources fastened in the girders, partly from the mouths of -furnaces hot beyond any heat Ciaran had ever dreamed of.</p> - -<p>Men and women toiled sweating in the smoke and glare, and never looked -at the newcomers in their chains. There were no guards.</p> - -<p>The Kalds stopped the line in a clear space beyond the shacks and -waited. They were all facing the same way, expectant, showing their -bright grey teeth and rolling their blood-pink eyes.</p> - -<p>Ciaran's gaze followed theirs. He got rigid suddenly, and the sweat on -him turned cold as dew on a toad's back.</p> - -<p>He thought at first it was a man, walking down between the pillars. It -was man-shaped, tall and slender and strong, and sheathed from crown to -heels in white mesh metal that shimmered like bright water.</p> - -<p>But when it came closer he knew he was wrong. Some animal instinct in -him knew even before his mind did. He wanted to snarl and put up his -hackles, and tuck his tail and run.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The creature was sexless. The flesh of its hands and face had a strange -unreal texture, and a dusky yellow tinge that never came in living -flesh.</p> - -<p>Its face was human enough in shape—thin, with light angular bones. -Only it was regular and perfect like something done carefully in -marble, with no human softness or irregularity. The lips were -bloodless. There was no hair, not even any eyelashes.</p> - -<p>The eyes in that face were what set Ciaran's guts to knotting like -a nest of cold snakes. They were not even remotely human. They were -like pools of oil under the lashless lids—black, deep, impenetrable, -without heart or soul or warmth.</p> - -<p>But wise. Wise with a knowledge beyond humanity, and strong with a -cold, terrible strength. And old. There were none of the usual signs -of age. It was more than that. It was a psychic, unhuman feel of -antiquity; a time that ran back and back and still back to an origin as -unnatural as the body it spawned.</p> - -<p>Ciaran knew what it was. He had made songs about the creature and -sung them in crowded market-places and smoky wine-shops. He'd scared -children with it, and made grown people shiver while they laughed.</p> - -<p>He wasn't singing now. He wasn't laughing. He was looking at one of the -androids of Bas the Immortal—a creature born of the mysterious power -of the Stone, with no faintest link to humanity in its body or its -brain.</p> - -<p>Ciaran knew then whose mind had created the shining monster towering -above them. And he knew more than ever that it was evil.</p> - -<p>The android walked out onto a platform facing the slave-gang, so that -it was above them, where they could all see. In its right hand it -carried a staff of white metal with a round ball on top. The staff and -the mesh-metal sheath it wore blazed bright silver in the glare.</p> - -<p>The chained humans raised their heads. Ciaran saw the white scared -glint of their eyeballs, heard the hard suck of breath and the uneasy -clashing of link metal.</p> - -<p>The Kalds made warning gestures with their wands, but they were -watching the android.</p> - -<p>It raised the staff suddenly, high over its head. The gesture put the -ball top out of Ciaran's sight behind a girder. And then the lights -dimmed and went out.</p> - -<p>For a moment there was total darkness, except for the dull marginal -glow of the forges and furnaces. Then, from behind the girder that hid -the top of the staff a glorious opaline light burst out, filling the -space between the giant pillars, reaching out and up into the dim air -with banners of shimmering flame.</p> - -<p>The Kalds crouched down in attitudes of worship, their blood-pink eyes -like sentient coals. A trembling ran through the line of slaves, as -though a wind had passed across them and shaken them like wheat. A few -cried out, but the sounds were muffled quickly to silence. They stood -still, staring up at the light.</p> - -<p>The android neither moved nor spoke, standing like a silver lance.</p> - -<p>Ciaran got up. He didn't know that he did it. He was distantly aware -of Mouse beside him, breathing hard through an open mouth and catching -opaline sparks in her black eyes. There was other movement, but he paid -no attention.</p> - -<p>He wanted to get closer to the light. He wanted to see what made it. He -wanted to bathe in it. He could feel it pulsing in him, sparkling in -his blood. He also wanted to run away, but the desire was stronger than -the fear. It even made the fear rather pleasurable.</p> - -<p>He was starting to climb over the pile of scrap when the android spoke. -Its voice was light, clear, and carrying. There was nothing menacing -about it. But it stopped Ciaran like a blow in the face, penetrating -even through his semi-drugged yearning for the light.</p> - -<p>He knew sound. He knew mood. He was sensitive to them as his own harp -in the way he made his living. He felt what was in that voice; or -rather, what wasn't in it. And he stopped, dead still.</p> - -<p>It was a voice speaking out of a place where no emotion, as humanity -knew the word, had ever existed. It came from a brain as alien and -incomprehensible as darkness in a world of eternal light; a brain no -human could ever touch or understand, except to feel the cold weight of -its strength and cower as a beast cowers before the terrible mystery of -fire.</p> - -<p>"Sleep," said the android. "Sleep, and listen to my voice. Open your -minds, and listen."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>Through a swimming rainbow haze Ciaran saw the relaxed, dull faces of -the slaves.</p> - -<p>"You are nothing. You are no one. You exist only to serve; to work; to -obey. Do you hear and understand?"</p> - -<p>The line of humans swayed and made a small moaning sigh. It held -nothing but amazement and desire. They repeated the litany through -thick animal mouths.</p> - -<p>"Your minds are open to mine. You will hear my thoughts. Once told, you -will not forget. You will feel hunger and thirst, but not weariness. -You will have no need to stop and rest, or sleep."</p> - -<p>Again the litany. Ciaran passed a hand over his face. He was sweating. -In spite of himself the light and the soulless, mesmeric voice were -getting him. He hit his own jaw with his knuckles, thanking whatever -gods there were that the source of the light had been hidden from him. -He knew he could never have bucked it.</p> - -<p>More, perhaps, of the power of the Stone of Destiny?</p> - -<p>A sudden sharp rattle of fragments brought his attention to the scrap -heap. The hermit was already half way over it.</p> - -<p>And Mouse was right at his heels.</p> - -<p>Ciaran went after her. The rubble slipped and slid, and she was already -out of reach. He called her name in desperation. She didn't hear him. -She was hungry for the light.</p> - -<p>Ciaran flung himself bodily over the rubbish. Out on the floor, the -nearest Kalds were shaking off their daze of worship. The hermit was -scrambling on all fours, like a huge grey cat.</p> - -<p>Mouse's crimson tunic stayed just out of reach. Ciaran threw a handful -of metal fragments at her back. She turned her head and snarled at him. -She didn't see him. Almost as an automatic reflex she hurled some stuff -at his face, but she didn't even slow down. The hermit cried out, a -high, eerie scream.</p> - -<p>A huge hand closed on Ciaran's ankle and hauled him back. He fought -it, jabbing with the wand he still carried. A second remorseless hand -prisoned his wrist.</p> - -<p>The red hunter said dispassionately, "They come. We go."</p> - -<p>"Mouse! Let me go, damn you! <i>Mouse!</i>"</p> - -<p>"You can't help her. We go, quick."</p> - -<p>Ciaran went on kicking and thrashing.</p> - -<p>The hunter banged him over the ear with exquisite judgment, took the -wand out of his limp hand and tossed him over one vast shoulder. The -light hadn't affected the hunter much. He'd been in deeper shadow than -the others, and his half-animal nerves had warned him quicker even than -Ciaran's. Being a wise wild thing, he had shut his eyes at once.</p> - -<p>He doubled behind the metal sheds and began to run in dense shadow.</p> - -<p>Ciaran heard and felt things from a great misty distance. He heard the -hermit yell again, a crazy votive cry of worship. He felt the painful -jarring of his body and smelled the animal rankness of the hunter.</p> - -<p>He heard Mouse scream, just once.</p> - -<p>He tried to move; to get up and do something. The hunter slammed him -hard across the kidneys. Ciaran was aware briefly that the lights were -coming on again. After that it got very dark and very quiet.</p> - -<p>The hunter breathed in his ear, "Quiet! Don't move."</p> - -<p>There wasn't much chance of Ciaran doing anything. The hunter lay on -top of him with one freckled paw covering most of his face. Ciaran -gasped and rolled his eyes.</p> - -<p>They lay in a troughed niche of rough stone. There was black shadow on -them from an overhang, but the blue glare burned beyond it. Even as he -watched it dimmed and flickered and then steadied again.</p> - -<p>High up over his head the shining metal monster reached for the roof of -the cavern. It had grown. It had grown enormously, and a mechanism was -taking shape inside it; a maze of delicate rods and crystal prisms, of -wheels and balances and things Ciaran hadn't any name for.</p> - -<p>Then he remembered about Mouse, and nothing else mattered.</p> - -<p>The hunter lay on him, crushing him to silence. Ciaran's blue eyes -blazed. He'd have killed the hunter then, if there had been any way to -do it. There wasn't. Presently he stopped fighting.</p> - -<p>Again the red giant breathed in his ear: "Look over the edge."</p> - -<p>He took his hand away. Very, very quietly, Ciaran raised his head a few -inches and looked over.</p> - -<p>Their niche was some fifteen feet above the floor of the pit. Below and -to the right was the mouth of a square tunnel. The crowded, sweating -confusion of the forges and workshops spread out before them, with -people swarming like ants after a rain.</p> - -<p>Standing at the tunnel mouth were two creatures in shining metal -sheathes—the androids of Bas the Immortal.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Their clear, light voices rose up to where Ciaran and the hunter lay.</p> - -<p>"Did you find out?"</p> - -<p>"Failing—as we judged. Otherwise, no change."</p> - -<p>"No change." One of the slim unhumans turned and looked with its -depthless black eyes at the soaring metal giant. "If we can only finish -it in time!"</p> - -<p>The other said, "We can, Khafre. We must."</p> - -<p>Khafre made a quick, impatient gesture. "We need more slaves! These -human cattle are frail. You drive them, and they die."</p> - -<p>"The Kalds...."</p> - -<p>"Are doing what they can. Two more chains have just come. But it's -still not enough to be safe! I've told the beasts to raid farther in, -even to the border cities if they have to."</p> - -<p>"It won't help if the humans attack us before we're done."</p> - -<p>Khafre laughed. There was nothing pleasant or remotely humorous about -it.</p> - -<p>"<i>If</i> they could track the Kalds this far, we could handle them easily. -After we're finished, of course, they'll be subjugated anyway."</p> - -<p>The other nodded. Faintly uneasy, it said, "If we finish in time. If we -don't...."</p> - -<p>"If we don't," said Khafre, "none of it matters, to them or us or the -Immortal Bas." Something that might have been a shudder passed over its -shining body. Then it threw back its head and laughed again, high and -clear.</p> - -<p>"But we will finish it, Steud! We're unique in the universe, and -nothing can stop us. This means the end of boredom, of servitude and -imprisonment. With this world in our hands, nothing can stop us!"</p> - -<p>Steud whispered, "Nothing!" Then they moved away, disappearing into the -seething clamor of the floor.</p> - -<p>The red hunter said, "What were they talking about?"</p> - -<p>Ciaran shook his head. His eyes were hard and curiously remote. "I -don't know."</p> - -<p>"I don't like the smell of it, little man. It's bad."</p> - -<p>"Yeah." Ciaran's voice was very steady. "What happened to Mouse?"</p> - -<p>"She was taken with the others. Believe me, little man—I had to do -what I did or they'd have taken you, too. There was nothing you could -do to help her."</p> - -<p>"She—followed the light."</p> - -<p>"I think so. But I had to run fast."</p> - -<p>There was a mist over Ciaran's sight. His heart was slugging him. -Not because he particularly cared, he asked, "How did we get away? I -thought I saw the big lights come on ...".</p> - -<p>"They did. And then they went off again, all of a sudden. They weren't -expecting it. I had a head start. The grey beasts hunt by scent, but -in that stewpot there are too many scents. They lost us, and when -the lights came on again I saw this niche and managed to climb to it -without being seen."</p> - -<p>He looked out over the floor, scratching his red beard. "I think -they're too busy to bother about two people. No, three." He chuckled. -"The hermit got away, too. He ran past me in the dark, screaming like -an ape about revelations and The Light. Maybe they've got him again by -now."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran wasn't worrying about the hermit. "Subjugation," he said slowly. -"With this world in their hands, nothing can stop them." He looked out -across the floor of the pit. No guards. You didn't need any guards when -you had a weapon like that light. Frail human cattle driven till they -died, and not knowing about it nor caring.</p> - -<p>The world in their hands. An empty shell for them to play with, to use -as they wanted. No more market places, no more taverns, no more songs. -No more little people living their little lives the way they wanted to. -Just slaves with blank faces, herded by grey beasts with shining wands -and held by the android's light.</p> - -<p>He didn't know why the androids wanted the world or what they were -going to do with it. He only knew that the whole thing made him -sick—sick all through, in a way he'd never felt before.</p> - -<p>The fact that what he was going to do was hopeless and crazy never -occurred to him. Nothing occurred to him, except that somewhere in that -seething slave-pen Mouse was laboring, with eyes that didn't see and a -brain that was only an open channel for orders. Pretty soon, like the -woman up on the girder, she was going to hit her limit and die.</p> - -<p>Ciaran said abruptly, "If you want to kill a snake, what do you do?"</p> - -<p>"Cut off its head, of course."</p> - -<p>Ciaran got his feet under him. "The Stone of Destiny," he whispered. -"The power of life and death. Do you believe in legends?"</p> - -<p>The hunter shrugged. "I believe in my hands. They're all I know."</p> - -<p>"I'm going to need your hands, to help me break one legend and build -another!"</p> - -<p>"They're yours, little man. Where do we go?"</p> - -<p>"Down that tunnel. Because, if I'm not clear off, that leads to Ben -Beatha, and Bas the Immortal—and the Stone."</p> - -<p>Almost as though it were a signal, the blue glare dimmed and flickered. -In the semi-darkness Ciaran and the hunter dropped down from the niche -and went into the tunnel.</p> - -<p>It was dark, with only a tiny spot of blue radiance at wide intervals -along the walls. They had gone quite a distance before these -strengthened to their normal brightness, and even then it was fairly -dark. It seemed to be deserted.</p> - -<p>The hunter kept stopping to listen. When Ciaran asked irritably what -was wrong, he said:</p> - -<p>"I think there's someone behind us. I'm not sure."</p> - -<p>"Well, give him a jab with the wand if he gets too close. Hurry up!"</p> - -<p>The tunnel led straight toward Ben Beatha, judging from its position in -the pit. Ciaran was almost running when the hunter caught his shoulder -urgently.</p> - -<p>"Wait! There's movement up ahead...."</p> - -<p>He motioned Ciaran down. On their hands and knees they crawled forward, -holding their wands ready.</p> - -<p>A slight bend in the tunnel revealed a fork. One arm ran straight -ahead. The other bent sharply upward, toward the surface.</p> - -<p>There were four Kalds crouched on the rock between them, playing some -obscure game with human finger bones.</p> - -<p>Ciaran got his weight over his toes and moved fast. The hunter went -beside him. Neither of them made a sound. The Kalds were intent on -their game and not expecting trouble.</p> - -<p>The two men might have got away with it, only that suddenly from behind -them, someone screamed like an angry cat.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran's head jerked around, just long enough to let him see the hermit -standing in the tunnel, with his stringy arms lifted and his grey hair -flying, and a light of pure insanity blazing in his pale eyes.</p> - -<p>"Evil!" he shrieked. "You are evil to defy The Light, and the servants -of The Light!"</p> - -<p>He seemed to have forgotten all about calling the Kalds demons a little -while before.</p> - -<p>The grey beasts leaped up, moving quickly in with their wands ready. -Ciaran yelled with sheer fury. He went for them, the rags of his yellow -tunic streaming.</p> - -<p>He wasn't quite clear about what happened after that. There was a lot -of motion, grey bodies leaping and twisting and jewel-tips flashing. -Something flicked him stunningly across the temple. He fought in a sort -of detached fog where everything was blurred and distant. The hermit -went on screaming about Evil and The Light. The hunter bellowed a -couple of times, things thudded and crashed, and once Ciaran poked his -wand straight into a blood-pink eye.</p> - -<p>Sometime right after that there was a confused rush of running feet -back in the tunnel. The hunter was down. And Ciaran found himself -running up the incline, because the other way was suddenly choked with -Kalds.</p> - -<p>He got away. He was never sure how. Probably instinct warned him to -go in time so that, in the confusion he was out of sight before the -reinforcements saw him. Three of the original four Kalds were down and -the fourth was busy with the hermit. Anyway, for the moment, he made -it.</p> - -<p>When he staggered finally from the mouth of the ramp, drenched with -sweat and gasping, he was back on the Forbidden Plain, and Ben Beatha -towered above him—a great golden Titan reaching for the red sky.</p> - -<p>The tumbled yellow rock of its steep slopes was barren of any growing -thing. There were no signs of buildings, or anything built by hands, -human or otherwise. High up, almost in the apex of the triangular peak, -was a square, balconied opening that might have been only a wind-eroded -niche in the cliff-face.</p> - -<p>Ciaran stood on widespread legs, studying the mountain with sullen -stubborn eyes. He believed in legend, now. It was all he believed -in. Somewhere under the golden peak was the Stone of Destiny and the -demigod who was its master.</p> - -<p>Behind him were the creatures of that demigod, and the monster they -were building—and a little black-haired Mouse who was going to die -unless something was done about it.</p> - -<p>A lot of other people, too. A whole sane comfortable world. But Mouse -was about all he could handle, just then.</p> - -<p>He wasn't Ciaran the bard any longer. He wasn't a human, attached to -a normal human world. He moved in a strange land of gods and demons, -where everything was as mad as a drunkard's nightmare, and Mouse was -the only thing that held him at all to the memory of a life wherein men -and women fought and laughed and loved.</p> - -<p>His scarred mouth twitched and tightened. He started off across the -rolling, barren rise to Ben Beatha—a tough, bandy-legged little man -in yellow rags, with a brown, expressionless face and a forgotten harp -slung between his shoulders, moving at a steady gypsy lope.</p> - -<p>A wind sighed over the Forbidden Plain, rolling the sunballs in the red -sky. And then, from the crest of Ben Beatha, the darkness came.</p> - -<p>This time Ciaran didn't stop to be afraid. There was nothing left -inside him to be afraid with. He remembered the hermit's words: -<i>Judgment. Great things moving. Doom and destruction, a shadow across -the world, a darkness and a dying.</i> Something of the same feeling came -to him, but he wasn't human any longer. He was beyond fear. Fate -moved, and he was part of it.</p> - -<p>Stones and shale tricked his feet in the darkness. All across the -Forbidden Plains there was night and a wailing wind and a sharp chill -of cold. Far, far away there was a faint red glow on the sky where the -sea burned with its own fire.</p> - -<p>Ciaran went on.</p> - -<p>Overhead, then, the sunballs began to flicker. Little striving ripples -of light went out across them, lighting the barrens with an eerie -witch-glow. The flickering was worse than the darkness. It was like the -last struggling pulse of a dying man's heart. Ciaran was aware of a -coldness in him beyond the chill of the wind.</p> - -<p><i>A shadow across the world, a darkness and a dying....</i></p> - -<p>He began to climb Ben Beatha.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>The stone was rough and fairly broken, and Ciaran had climbed mountains -before. He crawled upward, through the sick light and the cold wind -that screamed and fought him harder the higher he got. He retained no -very clear memory of the climb. Only after a long, long time he fell -inward over the wall of a balcony and lay still.</p> - -<p>He was bleeding from rock-tears and his heart kicked him like the heel -of a vicious horse. But he didn't care. The balcony was man-made, the -passage back of it led somewhere—and the light had come back in the -sky.</p> - -<p>It wasn't quite the same, though. It was weaker, and less warm.</p> - -<p>When he could stand up he went in along the passage, square-hewn in the -living rock of Ben Beatha, the Mountain of Life.</p> - -<p>It led straight in, lighted by a soft opaline glow from hidden -light-sources. Presently it turned at right angles and became a spiral -ramp, leading down.</p> - -<p>Corridors led back from it at various levels, but Ciaran didn't bother -about them. They were dark, and the dust of ages lay unmarked on their -floors.</p> - -<p>Down and down, a long, long way. Silence. The deep uncaring silence of -death and the eternal rock—dark titans who watched the small furious -ant-scurryings of man and never, never, for one moment, gave a damn.</p> - -<p>And then the ramp flattened into a broad high passage cut deep in the -belly of the mountain. And the passage led to a door of gold, twelve -feet high and intricately graved and pierced, set with symbols that -Ciaran had heard of only in legend: the <i>Hun-Lahun-Mehen</i>, the Snake, -the Circle, and the Cross, blazing in hot jewel-fires.</p> - -<p>But above them, crushing and dominant on both valves of the great -door, was the <i>crux ansata</i>, the symbol of eternal life, cut from some -lustreless stone so black it was like a pattern of blindness on the -eyeball.</p> - -<p>Ciaran shivered and drew a deep, unsteady breath. One brief moment of -human terror came to him. Then he set his two hands on the door and -pushed it open.</p> - -<p>He came into a small room hung with tapestries and lighted dimly by the -same opaline glow as the hallway. The half-seen pictures showed men and -beasts and battles against a background at once tantalizingly familiar -and frighteningly alien.</p> - -<p>There was a rug on the floor. It was made from the head and hide of a -creature Ciaran had never even dreamed of before—a thing like a huge -tawny cat with a dark mane and great, shining fangs.</p> - -<p>Ciaran padded softly across it and pushed aside the heavy curtains at -the other end.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>At first there was only darkness. It seemed to fill a large space; -Ciaran had an instinctive feeling of size. He went out into it, very -cautiously, and then his eyes found a pale glow ahead in the blackness, -as though someone had crushed a pearl with his thumb and smeared it -across the dark.</p> - -<p>He was a thief and a gypsy. He made no more sound than a wisp of cloud, -drifting toward it. His feet touched a broad, shallow step, and then -another. He climbed, and the pearly glow grew stronger and became a -curving wall of radiance.</p> - -<p>He stopped just short of touching it, on a level platform high above -the floor. He squinted against its curdled, milky thickness, trying to -see through.</p> - -<p>Wrapped in the light, cradled and protected by it like a bird in the -heart of a shining cloud, a boy slept on a couch made soft with furs -and colored silks. He was quite naked, his limbs flung out carelessly -with the slim angular grace of his youth. His skin was white as milk, -catching a pale warmth from the light.</p> - -<p>He slept deeply. He might almost have been dead, except for the slight -rise and fall of his breathing. His head was rolled over so that he -faced Ciaran, his cheek pillowed on his upflung arm.</p> - -<p>His hair, thick, curly, and black almost to blueness, had grown out -long across his forearm, across the white fur beneath it, and down onto -his wide slim shoulders. The nails of his lax hand, palm up above his -head, stood up through the hair. They were inches long.</p> - -<p>His face was just a boy's face. A good face, even rather handsome, with -strong bone just beginning to show under the roundness. His cheek was -still soft as a girl's, the lashes of his closed lids dark and heavy.</p> - -<p>He looked peaceful, even happy. His mouth was curved in a vague smile, -as though his dreams were pleasant. And yet there was something -there....</p> - -<p>A shadow. Something unseen and untouchable, something as fragile as the -note of a shepherd's pipe brought from far off on a vagrant breeze. -Something as indescribable as death—and as broodingly powerful. Ciaran -sensed it, and his nerves throbbed suddenly like the strings of his own -harp.</p> - -<p>He saw then that the couch the boy slept on was a huge <i>crux ansata</i>, -cut from the dead-black stone, with the arms stretching from under his -shoulders and the loop like a monstrous halo above his head.</p> - -<p>The legends whispered through Ciaran's head. The songs, the tales, the -folklore. The symbolism, and the image-patterns.</p> - -<p>Bas the Immortal was always described as a giant, like the mountain -he lived in, and old, because Immortal suggests age. Awe, fear, and -unbelief spoke through those legends, and the child-desire to build -tall. But there was an older legend....</p> - -<p>Ciaran, because he was a gypsy and a thief and had music in him like -a drunkard has wine, had heard it, deep in the black forests of -Hyperborea where even gypsies seldom go. The oldest legend of all—the -tale of the Shining Youth from Beyond, who walked in beauty and power, -who never grew old, and who carried in his heart a bitter darkness -that no man could understand.</p> - -<p>The Shining Youth from Beyond. A boy sleeping with a smile on his face, -walled in living light.</p> - -<p>Ciaran stood still, staring. His face was loose and quite blank. His -heartbeats shook him slightly, and his breath had a rusty sound in his -open mouth.</p> - -<p>After a long time he started forward, into the light.</p> - -<p>It struck him, hurled him back numbed and dazed. Thinking of Mouse, he -tried it twice more before he was convinced. Then he tried yelling. His -voice crashed back at him from the unseen walls, but the sleeping boy -never stirred, never altered even the rhythm of his breathing.</p> - -<p>After that Ciaran crouched in the awful laxness of impotency, and -thought about Mouse, and cried.</p> - -<p>Then, quite suddenly, without any warning at all, the wall of light -vanished.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He didn't believe it. But he put his his hand out again, and nothing -stopped it, so he rushed forward in the pitch blackness until he hit -the stone arm of the cross. And behind him, and all around him, the -light began to glow again.</p> - -<p>Only now it was different. It flickered and dimmed and struggled, like -something fighting not to die. Like something else....</p> - -<p>Like the sunballs. Like the light in the sky that meant life to -a world. Flickering and feeble like an old man's heart, the last -frightened wing-beats of a dying bird....</p> - -<p>A terror took Ciaran by the throat and stopped the breath in it, and -turned his body colder than a corpse. He watched....</p> - -<p>The light glowed and pulsed, and grew stronger. Presently he was walled -in by it, but it seemed fainter than before.</p> - -<p>A terrible feeling of urgency came over Ciaran, a need for haste. The -words of the androids came back to him: <i>Failing, as we judged. If we -finish in time. If we don't, none of it matters.</i></p> - -<p>A shadow across the world, a darkness and a dying. Mouse slaving with -empty eyes to build a shining monster that would harness the world to -the wills of non-human brains.</p> - -<p>It didn't make sense, but it meant something. Something deadly -important. And the key to the whole mad jumble was here—a dark-haired -boy dreaming on a stone cross.</p> - -<p>Ciaran moved closer. He saw then that the boy had stirred, very -slightly, and that his face was troubled. It was as though the dimming -of the light had disturbed him. Then he sighed and smiled again, -nestling his head deeper into the bend of his arm.</p> - -<p>"Bas," said Ciaran. "Lord Bas!"</p> - -<p>His voice sounded hoarse and queer. The boy didn't hear him. He called -again, louder. Then he put his hand on one slim white shoulder and -shook it hesitantly at first, and then hard, and harder.</p> - -<p>The boy Bas didn't even flicker his eyelids.</p> - -<p>Ciaran beat his fists against the empty air and cursed without any -voice. Then, almost instinctively, he crouched on the stone platform -and took his harp in his hands.</p> - -<p>It wasn't because he expected to do anything with it. It was simply -that harping was as natural to him as breathing, and what was inside -him had to come out some way. He wasn't thinking about music. He was -thinking about Mouse, and it just added up to the same thing.</p> - -<p>Random chords at first, rippling up against the wall of milky light. -Then the agony in him began to run out through his finger-tips onto the -strings, and he sent it thrumming strong across the still air. It sang -wild and savage, but underneath it there was the sound of his own heart -breaking, and the fall of tears.</p> - -<p>There was no time. There wasn't even any Ciaran. There was only the -harp crying a dirge for a black-haired Mouse and the world she lived -in. Nothing mattered but that. Nothing would ever matter.</p> - -<p>Then finally there wasn't anything left for the harp to cry about. The -last quiver of the strings went throbbing off into a dull emptiness, -and there was only an ugly little man in yellow rags crouched silent by -a stone cross, hiding his face in his hands.</p> - -<p>Then, faint and distant, like the echo of words spoken in another -world, another time:</p> - -<p><i>Don't draw the veil. Marsali—don't...!</i></p> - -<p>Ciaran looked up, stiffening. The boy's lips moved. His face, the eyes -still closed, was twisted in an agony of pleading. His hands were -raised, reaching, trying to hold something that slipped through his -fingers like mist.</p> - -<p>Dark mist. The mist of dreams. It was still in his eyes when he opened -them. Grey eyes, clouded and veiled, and then with the dream-mist -thickening into tears....</p> - -<p>He cried out, "<i>Marsali!</i>" as though his heart was ripped out of him -with the breath that said it. Then he lay still on the couch, his eyes, -staring unfocused at the milky light, with the tears running out of -them.</p> - -<p>Ciaran said softly, "Lord Bas...."</p> - -<p>"Awake," whispered the boy. "I'm awake again. Music—a harp crying -out.... I didn't want to wake! Oh, God, I didn't want to!"</p> - -<p>He sat up suddenly. The rage, the sheer blind fury in his young face -rocked Ciaran like the blow of a fist.</p> - -<p>"Who waked me? Who dared to wake me?"</p> - -<p>There was no place to run. The light held him. And there was Mouse. -Ciaran said:</p> - -<p>"I did, Lord Bas. There was need to."</p> - -<p>The boy's grey eyes came slowly to focus on his face. Ciaran's heart -kicked once and stopped beating. A great cold stillness breathed from -somewhere beyond the world and walled him in, closer and tighter than -the milky light. Close and tight, like the packed earth of a grave.</p> - -<p>A boy's face, round and smooth and soft. No shadow even of down on the -cheeks, the lips still pink and girlish. Long dark lashes, and under -them....</p> - -<p>Grey eyes. Old with suffering, old with pain, old with an age beyond -human understanding. Eyes that had seen birth and life and death in an -endless stream, flowing by just out of reach, just beyond hearing. Eyes -looking out between the bars of a private hell that was never built for -any man before.</p> - -<p>One strong young hand reached down among the furs and silks and felt -for something, and Ciaran knew the thing was death.</p> - -<p>Ciaran, suddenly, was furious himself.</p> - -<p>He struck a harsh, snarling chord on the harpstrings, thinking of -Mouse. He poured his fury out in bitter, pungent words, the gypsy argot -of the Quarters, and all the time Bas fumbled to get the hidden weapon -in his hands.</p> - -<p>It was the long nails that saved Ciaran's life. They kept Bas from -closing his fingers, and in the meantime some of Ciaran's vibrant rage -had penetrated. Bas whispered:</p> - -<p>"You love a woman."</p> - -<p>"Yeah," said Ciaran. "Yeah."</p> - -<p>"So do I. A woman I created, and made to live in my dreams. Do you know -what you did when you waked me?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe I saved the world. If the legends are right, you built it. You -haven't any right to let it die so you can sleep."</p> - -<p>"I built another world, little man. Marsali's world. I don't want to -leave it." He bent forward, toward Ciaran. "I was happy in that world. -I built it to suit me. I belong in it. Do you know why? Because it's -made from my own dreams, as I want it. Even the people. Even Marsali. -Even myself.</p> - -<p>"They drove me away from one world. I built another, but it was no -different. I'm not human. I don't belong with humans, nor in any world -they live in. So I learned to sleep, and dream."</p> - -<p>He lay back on the couch. He looked pitifully young, with the long -lashes hiding his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Go away. Let your little world crumble. It's doomed anyway. What -difference do a few life-spans make in eternity? Let me sleep."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran struck the harp again. "<i>No!</i> Listen...."</p> - -<p>He told Bas about the slave-gangs, the androids, the shining monster in -the pit—and the darkness that swept over the world. It was the last -that caught the boy's attention.</p> - -<p>He sat up slowly. "Darkness? You! How did you get to me, past the -light?"</p> - -<p>Ciaran told him.</p> - -<p>"The Stone of Destiny," whispered the Immortal. Suddenly he laughed. -He laughed to fill the whole dark space beyond the light; terrible -laughter, full of hate and a queer perverted triumph.</p> - -<p>He stopped, as suddenly as he had begun, and spread his hands flat -on the colored silks, the long nails gleaming like knives. His eyes -widened, grey windows into a deep hell, and his voice was no more than -a breath.</p> - -<p>"Could that mean that I will die, too?"</p> - -<p>Ciaran's scarred mouth twitched. "The Stone of Destiny...."</p> - -<p>The boy leaped up from his couch. His hand swept over some hidden -control in the arm of the stone cross, and the milky light died out. At -the same time, an opaline glow suffused the darkness beyond.</p> - -<p>Bas the Immortal ran down the steps—a dark-haired, graceful boy -running naked in the heart of an opal.</p> - -<p>Ciaran followed.</p> - -<p>They came to the hollow core of Ben Beatha—a vast pyramidal space cut -in the yellow rock. Bas stopped, and Ciaran stopped behind him.</p> - -<p>The whole space was laced and twined and webbed with crystal. Rods -of it, screens of it, meshes of it. A shining helix ran straight up -overhead, into a shaft that seemed to go clear through to open air.</p> - -<p>In the crystal, pulsing along it like the life-blood in a man's veins, -there was light.</p> - -<p>It was like no light Ciaran had ever seen before. It was no color, and -every color. It seared the eye with heat, and yet it was cold and pure -like still water. It throbbed and beat. It was alive.</p> - -<p>Ciaran followed the crystal maze down and down, to the base of it. -There, in the very heart of it, lying at the hub of a shining web, lay -<i>something</i>.</p> - -<p>Like a black hand slammed across the eyeballs, darkness fell.</p> - -<p>For a moment he was blind, and through the blindness came a soft -whisper of movement. Then there was light again; a vague smeared spot -of it on the pitch black.</p> - -<p>It glowed and faded and glowed again. The rusty gleam slid across the -half-crouched body of Bas the Immortal, pressed close against the -crystal web. It caught in his eyes, turning them hot and lambent like -beast-eyes in the dark of a cave-mouth.</p> - -<p>Little sparks of hell-fire in a boy's face, staring at the Stone of -Destiny.</p> - -<p>A stone no bigger than a man's heart, with power in it. Even dying, it -had power. Power to build a world, or smash it. Power never born of -Ciaran's planet, or any planet, but something naked and perfect—an egg -from the womb of space itself.</p> - -<p>It fought to live, lying in its crystal web. It was like watching -somebody's heart stripped clean and struggling to beat.</p> - -<p>The fire in it flickered and flared, sending pale witch-lights dancing -up along the crystal maze.</p> - -<p>Outside, Ciaran knew, all across the world, the sunballs were pulsing -and flickering to the dying beat of the Stone.</p> - -<p>Bas whispered, "It's over. Over and done."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Without knowing it, Ciaran touched the harpstrings and made them -shudder. "The legends were right, then. The Stone of Destiny kept the -world alive."</p> - -<p>"Alive. It gave light and warmth, and before that it powered the -ship that brought me here across space, from the third planet of our -sun to the tenth. It sealed the gaps in the planet's crust and drove -the machinery that filled the hollow core inside with air. It was my -strength. It built my world; <i>my</i> world, where I would be loved and -respected—all right, and worshipped!"</p> - -<p>He laughed, a small bitter sob.</p> - -<p>"A child I was. After all those centuries, still a child playing with a -toy."</p> - -<p>His voice rang out louder across the flickering dimness. A boy's voice, -clear and sweet. He wasn't talking to Ciaran. He wasn't even talking to -himself. He was talking to Fate, and cursing it.</p> - -<p>"I took a walk one morning. That was all I did. I was just a -fisherman's son walking on the green hills of Atlantis above the -sea. That was all I wanted to be—a fisherman's son, someday to be a -fisherman myself, with sons of my own. And then from nowhere, out of -the sky, the meteorite fell. There was thunder, and a great light, and -then darkness. And when I woke again I was a god.</p> - -<p>"I took the Stone of Destiny out of its broken shell. The light from it -burned in me, and I was a god. And I was happy. <i>I didn't know.</i></p> - -<p>"I was too young to be a god. A boy who never grew older. A boy who -wanted to play with other boys, and couldn't. A boy who wanted to age, -to grow a beard and a man's voice, and find a woman to love. It was -hell, after the thrill wore off. It was worse, when my mind and heart -grew up, and my body didn't.</p> - -<p>"And they said I was no god, but a blasphemy, a freak.</p> - -<p>"The priests of Dagon, of all the temples of Atlantis, spoke against -me. I had to run away. I roamed the whole earth before the Flood, -carrying the Stone. Sometimes I ruled for centuries, a god-king, but -always the people tired of me and rose against me. They hated me, -because I lived forever and never grew old.</p> - -<p>"A man they might have accepted. But a boy! A brain with all the wisdom -it could borrow from time, grown so far from theirs that it was hard to -talk to them—and a body too young even for the games of manhood!"</p> - -<p>Ciaran stood frozen, shrinking from the hell in the boy-God's agonized -voice.</p> - -<p>"So I grew to hate them, and when they drove me out I turned on them, -and used the power of the Stone to destroy. I know what happened to -the cities of the Gobi, to Angkor, and the temples of Mayapan! So the -people hated me more because they feared me more, and I was alone. No -one has ever been alone as I was.</p> - -<p>"So I built my own world, here in the heart of a dead planet. And in -the end it was the same, because the people were human and I was not. -I created the androids, freaks like myself, to stand between me and -my people—my own creatures, that I could trust. And I built a third -world, in my dreams.</p> - -<p>"And now the Stone of Destiny has come to the end of its strength. Its -atoms are eaten away by its own fire. The world it powered will die. -And what will happen to me? I will go on living, even after my body is -frozen in the cold dark?"</p> - -<p>Silence, then. The pulsing beat of light in the crystal rods. The heart -of a world on its deathbed.</p> - -<p>Ciaran's harp crashed out. It made the crystal sing. His voice came -with it:</p> - -<p>"Bas! The monster in the pit, that the androids are building—I know -now what it is! They knew the Stone was dying. They're going to have -power of their own, and take the world. You can't let them, Bas! You -brought us here. We're your people. You can't let the androids have us!"</p> - -<p>The boy laughed, a low, bitter sound. "What do I care for your world or -your people? I only want to sleep." He caught his breath in and turned -around, as though he was going back to the place of the stone cross.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VI</p> - -<p>Ciaran stroked the harpstrings. "Wait...." It was all humanity crying -out of the harp. Little people, lost and frightened and pleading for -help. No voice could have said what it said. It was Ciaran himself, a -channel for the unthinking pain inside him.</p> - -<p>"Wait—You were human once. You were young. You laughed and quarrelled -and ate and slept, and you were free. That's all we ask. Just those -things. Remember Bas the fisherman's son, and help us!"</p> - -<p>Grey eyes looking at him. Grey eyes looking from a boy's face. "How -could I help you even if I wanted to?"</p> - -<p>"There's some power left in the Stone. And the androids are your -creatures. You made them. You can destroy them. If you could do it -before they finish this thing—from the way they spoke, they mean to -destroy you with it."</p> - -<p>Bas laughed.</p> - -<p>Ciaran's hand struck a terrible chord from the harp, and fell away.</p> - -<p>Bas said heavily, "They'll draw power from the gravitic force of the -planet and broadcast it the same way. It will never stop as long as the -planet spins. If they finish it in time, the world will live. If they -don't...." He shrugged. "What difference does it make?"</p> - -<p>"So," whispered Ciaran, "we have a choice of a quick death, or a -lingering one. We can die free, on our own feet, or we can die slaves." -His voice rose to a full-throated shout. "<i>God! You're no god!</i> You're -a selfish brat sulking in a corner. All right, go back to your Marsali! -And I'll play god for a minute."</p> - -<p>He raised the harp.</p> - -<p>"I'll play god, and give 'em the clean way out!"</p> - -<p>He drew his arm back to throw—to smash the crystal web. And then, with -blinding suddenness, there was light again.</p> - -<p>They stood frozen, the two of them, blinking in the hot opalescence. -Then their eyes were drawn to the crystal web.</p> - -<p>The Stone of Destiny still fluttered like a dying heart, and the -crystal rods were dim.</p> - -<p>Ciaran whispered, "It's too late. They're finished."</p> - -<p>Silence again. They stood almost as though they were waiting for -something, hardly breathing, with Ciaran still holding the silent harp -in his hand.</p> - -<p>Very, very faintly, under his fingers, the strings began to thrum.</p> - -<p>Vibration. In a minute Ciaran could hear it in the crystal. It was like -the buzz and strum of insects just out of earshot. He said:</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>The boy's ears were duller than his. But presently he smiled and said, -"So that's how they're going to do it. Vibration, that will shake Ben -Beatha into a cloud of dust, and me with it. They must believe I'm -still asleep." He shrugged. "What matter? It's death."</p> - -<p>Ciaran slung the harp across his back. There was a curious finality in -the action.</p> - -<p>"There's a way from here into the pit. Where is it?"</p> - -<p>Bas pointed across the open space. Ciaran started walking. He didn't -say anything.</p> - -<p>Bas said, "Where are you going?"</p> - -<p>"Back to Mouse," said Ciaran simply.</p> - -<p>"To die with her." The crystal maze bummed eerily. "I wish I could see -Marsali again."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran stopped. He spoke over his shoulder, without expression. "The -death of the Stone doesn't mean your death, does it?"</p> - -<p>"No. The first exposure to its light when it landed, blazing with the -heat of friction, made permanent changes in the cell structure of my -body. I'm independent of it—as the androids are of the culture vats -they grew in."</p> - -<p>"And the new power source will take up where the Stone left off?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Even the wall of rays that protected me and fed my body while I -slept will go on. The power of the Stone was broadcast to it, and to -the sunballs. There were no mechanical leads."</p> - -<p>Ciaran said softly, "And you love this Marsali? You're happy in this -dream world you created? You could go back there?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," whispered Bas. "Yes. Yes!"</p> - -<p>Ciaran turned. "Then help us destroy the androids. Give us our world, -and we'll give you yours. If we fail—well, we have nothing to lose."</p> - -<p>Silence. The crystal web hummed and sang—death whispering across the -world. The Stone of Destiny throbbed like the breast of a dying bird. -The boy's grey eyes were veiled and remote. It seemed almost that he -was asleep.</p> - -<p>Then he smiled—the drowsy smile of pleasure he had worn when Ciaran -found him, dreaming on the stone cross.</p> - -<p>"Marsali," he whispered. "Marsali."</p> - -<p>He moved forward then, reaching out across the crystal web. The long -nails on his fingers scooped up the Stone of Destiny, cradled it, caged -it in.</p> - -<p>Bas the Immortal said, "Let's go, little man."</p> - -<p>Ciaran didn't say anything. He looked at Bas. His eyes were wet. Then -he got the harp in his hands again and struck it, and the thundering -chords shook the crystal maze to answering music.</p> - -<p>It drowned the faint death-whisper. And then, caught between two -vibrations, the shining rods split and fell, with a shiver of sound -like the ringing of distant bells.</p> - -<p>Ciaran turned and went down the passage to the pit. Behind him came the -dark-haired boy with the Stone of Destiny in his hands.</p> - -<p>They came along the lower arm of the fork where Ciaran and the hunter -had fought the Kalds. There were four of the grey beasts still on guard.</p> - -<p>Ciaran had pulled the wand from his girdle. The Kalds started up, and -Ciaran got ready to fight them. But Bas said, "Wait."</p> - -<p>He stepped forward. The Kalds watched him with their blood-pink eyes, -yawning and whimpering with animal nervousness. The boy's dark gaze -burned. The grey brutes cringed and shivered and then dropped flat, -hiding their faces against the stone.</p> - -<p>"Telepaths," said Bas to Ciaran, "and obedient to the strongest -mind. The androids know that. The Kalds weren't put there to stop me -physically, but to send the androids warning if I came."</p> - -<p>Ciaran shivered. "So they'll be waiting."</p> - -<p>"Yes, little man. They'll be waiting."</p> - -<p>They went down the long tunnel and stepped out on the floor of the pit.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was curiously silent. The fires had died in the forges. There was -no sound of hammering, no motion. Only blazing lights and a great -stillness, like someone holding his breath. There was no one in sight.</p> - -<p>The metal monster climbed up the pit. It was finished now. The -intricate maze of grids and balances in its belly murmured with the -strength that spun up through it from the core of the planet. It was -like a vast spider, making an invisible thread of power to wrap around -the world and hold it, to be sucked dry.</p> - -<p>An army of Kalds began to move on silent feet, out from the screening -tangle of sheds and machinery.</p> - -<p>The androids weren't serious about that. It was just a skirmish, a test -to see whether Bas had been weakened by his age-long sleep. He hadn't -been. The Kalds looked at the Stone of Destiny and from there to Bas' -grey eyes, cringed, whimpered, and lay flat.</p> - -<p>Bas whispered, "Their minds are closed to me, but I can feel—the -androids are working, preparing some trap...."</p> - -<p>His eyes were closed now, his young face set with concentration. "They -don't want me to see, but my mind is older than theirs, and better -trained, and I have the power of the Stone. I can see a control panel. -It directs the force of their machine...."</p> - -<p>He began to move, then, rapidly, out across the floor. His eyes were -still closed. It seemed he didn't need them for seeing.</p> - -<p>People began to come out from behind the sheds and the cooling forges. -Blank-faced people with empty eyes. Many of them, making a wall of -themselves against Bas.</p> - -<p>Ciaran cried out, "<i>Mouse...!</i>"</p> - -<p>She was there. Her body was there, thin and erect in the crimson tunic. -Her black hair was still wild around her small brown face. But Mouse, -the Mouse that Ciaran knew, was dead behind her dull black eyes. Ciaran -whispered, "<i>Mouse</i>...."</p> - -<p>The slaves flowed in and held the two of them, clogged in a mass of -unresponsive bodies.</p> - -<p>"Can't you free them, Bas?"</p> - -<p>"Not yet. Not now. There isn't time."</p> - -<p>"Can't you do with them what you did with the Kalds?"</p> - -<p>"The androids control their minds through hypnosis. If I fought that -control, the struggle would blast their minds to death or idiocy. And -there isn't time...." There was sweat on his smooth young forehead. -"I've got to get through. I don't want to kill them...."</p> - -<p>Ciaran looked at Mouse. "No," he said hoarsely.</p> - -<p>"But I may have to, unless.... Wait! I can channel the power of the -Stone through my own brain, because there's an affinity between us. -Vibration, cell to cell. The androids won't have made a definite -command against music. Perhaps I can jar their minds open, just enough, -so that you can call them with your harp, as you called me."</p> - -<p>A tremor almost of pain ran through the boy's body.</p> - -<p>"Lead them away, Ciaran. Lead them as far as you can. Otherwise many of -them will die. And hurry!"</p> - -<p>Bas raised the Stone of Destiny in his clasped hands and pressed it to -his forehead. And Ciaran took his harp.</p> - -<p>He was looking at Mouse when he set the strings to singing. That was -why it wasn't hard to play as he did. It was something from him to -Mouse. A prayer. A promise. His heart held out on a song.</p> - -<p>The music rippled out across the packed mass of humanity. At first -they didn't hear it. Then there was a stirring and a sigh, a dumb, -blind reaching. Somewhere the message was getting through the darkness -clouding their minds. A message of hope. A memory of red sunlight on -green hills, of laughter and home and love.</p> - -<p>Ciaran let the music die to a whisper under his fingers, and the people -moved forward, toward him, wanting to hear.</p> - -<p>He began to walk away, slowly, trailing the harp-song over his -shoulder—and they followed. Haltingly, in twos and threes, until the -whole mass broke and flowed like water in his wake.</p> - -<p>Bas was gone, his slim young body slipping fast through the broken -ranks of the crowd.</p> - -<p>Ciaran caught one more glimpse of Mouse before he lost her among the -others. She was crying, without knowing or remembering why.</p> - -<p>If Bas died, if Bas was defeated, she would never know nor remember.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ciaran led them as far as he could, clear to the wall of the pit. He -stopped playing. They stopped, too, standing like cattle, looking at -nothing, with eyes turned inward to their clouded dreams.</p> - -<p>Ciaran left them there, running out alone across the empty floor.</p> - -<p>He followed the direction Bas had taken. He ran, fast, but it was like -a nightmare where you run and run and never get anywhere. The lights -glared down and the metal monster sighed and churned high up over his -head, and there was no other sound, no other movement but his own.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, the lights went out.</p> - -<p>He stumbled on, hitting brutally against unseen pillars, falling and -scrambling in scrap heaps. And after an eternity he saw light again, up -ahead.</p> - -<p>The Light he had seen before, here in the pit. The glorious opalescent -light that drew a man's mind and held it fast to be chained.</p> - -<p>Ciaran crept in closer.</p> - -<p>There was a control panel on a stone dais—a meaningless jumbled mass -of dials and wires. The androids stood before it. One of them was bent -over, its yellowish hands working delicately with the controls. The -other stood erect beside it, holding a staff. The metal ball at the top -was open, spilling the opalescent blaze into the darkness.</p> - -<p>Ciaran crouched in the shelter of a pillar, shielding his eyes. Even -now he wanted to walk into that light and be its slave.</p> - -<p>The android with the staff said harshly, "Can't you find the wave -length? He should have been dead by now."</p> - -<p>The bending one tensed and then straightened, the burning light -sparkling across its metal sheath. Its eyes were black and limitless, -like evil itself, and no more human.</p> - -<p>"Yes," it said. "I have it."</p> - -<p>The light began to burst stronger from the staff, a swirling dangerous -fury of it.</p> - -<p>Ciaran was hardly breathing. The light-source, whatever it was, was -part of the power of the Stone of Destiny. Wave lengths meant nothing -to him, but it seemed the danger was to the Stone—and Bas carried it.</p> - -<p>The android touched the staff. The light died, clipped off as the metal -ball closed.</p> - -<p>"If there's any power left in the Stone," it whispered, "our power-wave -will blast its subatomic reserve—and Bas the Immortal with it!"</p> - -<p>Silence. And then in the pitch darkness a coal began to glow.</p> - -<p>It came closer. It grew brighter, and a smudged reflection behind and -above it became the head and shoulders of Bas the Immortal.</p> - -<p>The android whispered, "Stronger! <i>Hurry!</i>"</p> - -<p>A yellowish hand made a quick adjustment. The Stone of Destiny burned -brighter. It burst with light. It was like a sunball, stabbing its hot -fury into the darkness.</p> - -<p>The android whispered, "<i>More!</i>"</p> - -<p>The Stone filled all the pit with a deadly blaze of glory.</p> - -<p>Bas stopped, looking up at the dais. He grinned. A naked boy, beautiful -with youth, his grey eyes veiled and sleepy under dark lashes.</p> - -<p>He threw the Stone of Destiny up on the dais. An idle boy tossing -stones at a treetop.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Light. An explosion of it, without sound, without physical force. -Ciaran dropped flat on his face behind the pillar. After a long time he -raised his head again. The overhead lights were on, and Bas stood on -the dais beside two twisted, shining lumps of man-made soulless men.</p> - -<p>The android flesh had taken the radiation as leather takes heat, -warping, twisting, turning black.</p> - -<p>"Poor freaks," said Bas softly. "They were like me, with no place in -the universe that belonged to them. So they dreamed, too—only their -dreams were evil."</p> - -<p>He stooped and picked up something—a dull, dark stone, a thing with no -more life nor light than a waterworn pebble.</p> - -<p>He sighed and rolled it once between his palms, and let it drop.</p> - -<p>"If they had had time to learn their new machine a little better, I -would never have lived to reach them in time." He glanced down at -Ciaran, standing uncertainly below. "Thanks to you, little man, they -didn't have quite time enough."</p> - -<p>He gestured to a staff. "Bring it, and I'll free your Mouse."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VII</p> - -<p>A long time afterward Mouse and Ciaran and Bas the Immortal stood in -the opal-tinted glow of the great room of the <i>crux ansata</i>. Outside -the world was normal again, and safe. Bas had left full instructions -about controlling and tending the centrifugal power plant.</p> - -<p>The slaves were freed, going home across the Forbidden -Plains—forbidden no longer. The Kalds were sleeping, mercifully; the -big sleep from which they would never wake. The world was free, for -humanity to make or mar on its own responsibility.</p> - -<p>Mouse stood very close to Ciaran, her arm around his waist, his around -her shoulders. Crimson rags mingling with yellow; fair shaggy hair -mixing with black. Bas smiled at them.</p> - -<p>"Now," he said, "I can be happy, until the planet itself is dead."</p> - -<p>"You won't stay with us? Our gratitude, our love...."</p> - -<p>"Will be gone with the coming generations. No, little man. I built -myself a world where I belong—the only world where I can ever belong. -And I'll be happier in it than any of you, because it is my world—free -of strife and ugliness and suffering. A beautiful world, for me and -Marsali."</p> - -<p>There was a radiance about him that Ciaran would put into a song some -day, only half understanding.</p> - -<p>"I don't envy you," whispered Bas, and smiled. Youth smiling in a -spring dawn. "Think of us sometimes, and be jealous."</p> - -<p>He turned and walked away, going lightly over the wide stone floor and -up the steps to the dais. Ciaran struck the harpstrings. He sent the -music flooding up against the high vault, filling all the rocky space -with a thrumming melody.</p> - -<p>He sang. The tune he had sung for Mouse, on the ridge above the burning -sea. A simple tune, about two people in love.</p> - -<p>Bas lay down on the couch of furs and colored silks, soft on the shaft -of the stone cross. He looked back at them once, smiling. One slim -white arm raised in a brief salute and swept down across the black -stone.</p> - -<p>The milky light rose on the platform. It wavered, curdled, and -thickened to a wall of warm pearl. Through it, for a moment, they could -see him, his dark head pillowed on his forearm, his body sprawled in -careless, angular grace. Then there was only the warm, soft shell of -light.</p> - -<p>Ciaran's harp whispered to silence. The tunnel into the pit was sealed. -Mouse and Ciaran went out through the golden doors and closed them, -very quietly—doors that would never be opened again as long as the -world lived.</p> - -<p>Then they came into each other's arms, and kissed.</p> - -<p>Rough, tight arms on living flesh, lips that bruised and breaths that -mingled, hot with life. Temper and passion, empty bellies, a harp that -sang in crowded market squares, and no roof to fight under but the open -sky.</p> - -<p>And Ciaran didn't envy the dark-haired boy, dreaming on the stone cross.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Transcriber's note: text missing from original: -The red hunter froze to a dead stop.</p></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF BAS *** - -***** This file should be named 62996-h.htm or 62996-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/9/9/62996/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/62996-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/62996-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index de2d842..0000000 --- a/old/62996-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62996-h/images/illus.jpg b/old/62996-h/images/illus.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 13848f8..0000000 --- a/old/62996-h/images/illus.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62996.txt b/old/62996.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f414bb0..0000000 --- a/old/62996.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2831 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: The Jewel of Bas - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: August 21, 2020 [EBook #62996] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF BAS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE JEWEL OF BAS - - A WEIRD NOVEL OF FASCINATING POWER - - by LEIGH BRACKETT - - There was a boy-God, sleeping through - eternity. And there were his "Stone of - Life" and the androids he had created - of matter and energy. And there was a - world that was to die from the - machinations of the androids' diabolic - minds. There were Mouse and Ciaran to - stem the death-flood--two mortals fighting - the immortals' plans for conquest. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1944. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Mouse stirred the stew in the small iron pot. There wasn't much of it. -She sniffed and said: - -"You could have stolen a bigger joint. We'll go hungry before the next -town." - -"Uh huh," Ciaran grunted lazily. - -Anger began to curl in Mouse's eyes. - -"I suppose it's all right with you if we run out of food," she said -sullenly. - -Ciaran leaned back comfortably against a moss-grown boulder and watched -her with lazy grey eyes. He liked watching Mouse. She was a head -shorter than he, which made her very short indeed, and as thin as -a young girl. Her hair was black and wild, as though only wind ever -combed it. Her eyes were black, too, and very bright. There was a small -red thief's brand between them. She wore a ragged crimson tunic, and -her bare arms and legs were as brown as his own. - -Ciaran grinned. His lip was scarred, and there was a tooth missing -behind it. He said, "It's just as well. I don't want you getting fat -and lazy." - -Mouse, who was sensitive about her thinness, said something pungent and -threw the wooden plate at him. Ciaran drew his shaggy head aside enough -to let it by and then relaxed, stroking the harp on his bare brown -knees. It began to purr softly. - -Ciaran felt good. The heat of the sunballs that floated always, lazy -in a reddish sky, made him pleasantly sleepy. And after the clamor and -crush of the market squares in the border towns, the huge high silence -of the place was wonderful. - -He and Mouse were camped on a tongue of land that licked out from the -Phrygian hills down into the coastal plains of Atlantea. A short cut, -but only gypsies like themselves ever took it. To Ciaran's left, far -below, the sea spread sullen and burning, cloaked in a reddish fog. - -To his right, also far below, were the Forbidden Plains. Flat, -desolate, and barren, reaching away and away to the up-curving rim of -the world, where Ciaran's sharp eyes could just make out a glint of -gold; a mammoth peak reaching for the sky. - -Mouse said suddenly, "Is that it, Kiri? Ben Beatha, the Mountain of -Life." - -Ciaran struck a shivering chord from the harp. "That's it." - -"Let's eat," said Mouse. - -"Scared?" - -"Maybe you want me to go back! Maybe you think a branded thief isn't -good enough for you! Well I can't help where I was born or what my -parents were--and you'd have a brand on your ugly face too, if you -hadn't just been lucky!" - -She threw the ladle. - -This time her aim was better and Ciaran didn't duck quite in time. It -clipped his ear. He sprang up, looking murderous, and started to heave -it back at her. And then, suddenly, Mouse was crying, stamping up and -down and blinking tears out of her eyes. - -"All right, I'm scared! I've never been out of a city before, and -besides...." She looked out over the silent plain, to the distant -glint of Ben Beatha. "Besides," she whispered, "I keep thinking of the -stories they used to tell--about Bas the Immortal, and his androids, -and the grey beasts that served them. And about the Stone of Destiny." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran made a contemptuous mouth. "Legends. Old wive's tales. Songs -to give babies a pleasant shiver." A small glint of avarice came into -his grey eyes. "But the Stone of Destiny--it's a nice story, that one. -A jewel of such power that owning it gives a man rule over the whole -world...." - -He squinted out across the barren plain. "Some day," he said, softly, -"maybe I'll see if that one's true." - -"Oh, Kiri." Mouse came and caught his wrists in her small strong -hands. "You wouldn't. It's forbidden--and no one that's gone into the -Forbidden Plains has ever come back." - -"There's always a first time." He grinned. "But I'm not going now, -Mousie. I'm too hungry." - -She picked up the plate silently and ladled stew into it and set it -down. Ciaran laid his harp down and stretched--a tough, wiry little man -with legs slightly bandy and a good-natured hard face. He wore a yellow -tunic even more ragged than Mouse's. - -They sat down. Ciaran ate noisily with his fingers. Mouse fished out -a hunk of meat and nibbled it moodily. A breeze came up, pushing the -sunballs around a little and bringing tatters of red fog in off the -sea. After a while Mouse said: - -"Did you hear any of the talk in the market squares, Kiri?" - -He shrugged. "They gabble. I don't waste my time with it." - -"All along the border countries they were saying the same thing. -People who live or work along the edge of the Forbidden Plains have -disappeared. Whole towns of them, sometimes." - -"One man falls into a beast-pit," said Ciaran impatiently, "and in two -weeks of gossip the whole country has vanished. Forget it." - -"But it's happened before, Kiri. A long time ago...." - -"A long time ago some wild tribe living on the Plains came in and got -tough, and that's that!" Ciaran wiped his hands on the grass and said -angrily, "If you're going to nag all the time about being scared...." - -He caught the plate out of her hands just in time. She was breathing -hard, glaring at him. She looked like her name, and cute as hell. -Ciaran laughed. - -"Come here, you." - -She came, sulkily. He pulled her down beside him and kissed her and -took the harp on his knees. Mouse put her head on his shoulder. Ciaran -was suddenly very happy. - - * * * * * - -He began to draw music out of the harp. There was a lot of distance -around him, and he tried to fill it up with music, a fine free spate -of it out of the thrumming strings. Then he sang. He had a beautiful -voice, clear and true as a new blade, but soft. It was a simple tune, -about two people in love. Ciaran liked it. - -After a while Mouse reached up and drew his head around, stroking the -scar on his lip so he had to stop singing. She wasn't glaring any -longer. Ciaran bent his head. - -His eyes were closed. But he felt her body stiffen against him, and her -lips broke away from his with a little gasping cry. - -"Kiri--Kiri, look!" - -He jerked his head back, angry and startled. Then the anger faded. - -There was a different quality to the light. The warm, friendly, reddish -sunlight that never dimmed or faded. - -There was a shadow spreading out in the sky over Ben Beatha. It grew -and widened, and the sunballs went out, one by one, and darkness came -toward them over the Forbidden Plains. - -They crouched, clinging together, not speaking, not breathing. An -uneasy breeze sighed over them, moving out. Then, after a long time, -the sunballs sparked and burned again, and the shadow was gone. - -Ciaran dragged down an unsteady breath. He was sweating, but where his -hands and Mouse's touched, locked together, they were cold as death. - -"What was it, Kiri?" - -"I don't know." He got up, slinging the harp across his back without -thinking about it. He felt naked suddenly, up there on the high ridge. -Stripped and unsafe. He pulled Mouse to her feet. Neither of them spoke -again. Their eyes had a queer stunned look. - -This time it was Ciaran that stopped, with the stewpot in his hands, -looking at something behind Mouse. He dropped it and jumped in front -of her, pulling the wicked knife he carried from his girdle. The last -thing he heard was her wild scream. - -But he had time enough to see. To see the creatures climbing up over -the crest of the ridge beside them, fast and silent and grinning, -to ring them in with wands tipped at the point with opals like tiny -sunballs. - -They were no taller than Mouse, but thick and muscular, built like -men. Grey animal fur grew on them like the body-hair of a hairy man, -lengthening into a coarse mane over the skull. Where the skin showed it -was grey and wrinkled and tough. - -Their faces were flat, with black animal nose-buttons. They had -sharp teeth, grey with a bright, healthy greyness. Their eyes were -blood-pink, without whites or visible pupils. - -The eyes were the worst. - -Ciaran yelled and slashed out with his knife. One of the grey brutes -danced in on lithe, quick feet and touched him on the neck with its -jeweled wand. - -Fire exploded in Ciaran's head, and then there was darkness, pierced by -Mouse's scream. As he slid down into it he thought: - -"They're Kalds. The beasts of legend that served Bas the Immortal and -his androids. Kalds, that guarded the Forbidden Plains from man!" - -Ciaran came to, on his feet and walking. From the way he felt he'd been -walking a long time, but his memory was vague and confused. He had been -relieved of his knife, but his harp was still with him. - -Mouse walked beside him. Her black hair hung over her face and her -eyes looked out from behind it, sullen and defiant. - -The grey beasts walked in a rough circle around them, holding their -wands ready. From the way they grinned, Ciaran had an idea they hoped -they'd have an excuse for using them. - -With a definitely uneasy shock, Ciaran realized that they were far out -in the barren waste of the Forbidden Plains. - -He got a little closer to Mouse. "Hello." - -She looked at him. "You and your short cuts! So all that talk in the -border towns was just gabble, huh?" - -"So it's my fault! If that isn't just like a woman...." Ciaran made an -impatient gesture. "All right, all right! That doesn't matter now. What -does matter is where are we going and why?" - -"How should I--Wait a minute. We're stopping." - -The Kalds warned them with their wands to stand. One of the grey -brutes seemed to be listening to something that Ciaran couldn't hear. -Presently it gestured and the party started off again in a slightly -different direction. - -After a minute or two a gully appeared out of nowhere at their feet. -From up on the ridge the Forbidden Plains had looked perfectly flat, -but the gully was fairly wide and cut in clean like a sword gash, -hidden by a slight roll of the land. They scrambled down the steep bank -and went along the bottom. - -Again with an uneasy qualm, Ciaran realized they were headed in the -general direction of Ben Beatha. - -The old legends had been gradually lost in the stream of time, except -to people who cared for such things, or made a living from singing -about them, like Ciaran. But in spite of that Ben Beatha was tabu. - -The chief reason was physical. The Plains, still called Forbidden, -ringed the mountain like a protective wall, and it was an indisputable -fact whether you liked it or not that people who went out onto them -didn't come back. Hunger, thirst, wild beasts, or devils--they didn't -come back. That discouraged a lot of traveling. - -Besides, the only reason for attempting to reach Ben Beatha was the -legend of the Stone of Destiny, and people had long ago lost faith in -that. Nobody had seen it. Nobody had seen Bas the Immortal who was -its god and guardian, nor the androids that were his servants, nor the -Kalds that were slaves to both of them. - -Long, long ago people were supposed to have seen them. In the -beginning, according to the legends, Bas the Immortal had lived in a -distant place--a green world where there was only one huge sunball that -rose and set regularly, where the sky was sometimes blue and sometimes -black and silver, and where the horizon curved down. The manifest -idiocy of all that still tickled people so they liked to hear songs -about it. - -Somewhere on that green world, somehow, Bas had acquired the flaming -stone that gave him the power of life and death and destiny. There were -a lot of conflicting and confused stories about trouble between Bas and -the inhabitants of the funny world with the sky that changed like a -woman's fancy. Eventually he was supposed to have gathered up a lot of -these inhabitants through the power of the stone and transported them -somehow across a great distance to the world where they now lived. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran had found that children loved these yarns particularly. Their -imaginations were still elastic enough not to see the ridiculous side. -He always gave the Distance Cycle a lot of schmaltz. - -So after Bas the Immortal and his Stone of Destiny had got all these -people settled in a new world, Bas created his androids, Khafre and -Steud, and brought the Kalds from somewhere out in that vague Distance; -another world, perhaps. And there were wars and revolts and raiding -parties, and bitter struggles between Bas and the androids and the -humans for power, with Bas always winning because of the Stone. There -was a bottomless well of material there for ballads. Ciaran used it -frequently. - -But the one legend that had always maintained its original shape under -the battering of generations was the one about Ben Beatha, the Mountain -of Life, being the dwelling place of Bas the Immortal and his androids -and the Kalds. And somewhere under Ben Beatha was the Stone, whose -possession could give a man life eternal and the powers of whatever -god you chose to believe in. - -Ciaran had toyed with that one in spite of his skepticism. Now it -looked as though he was going to see for himself. - -He looked at the Kalds, the creatures who didn't exist, and found his -skepticism shaken. Shaken so hard he felt sick with it, like a man -waking up to find a nightmare beside him in the flesh, booting his guts -in. - -If the Kalds were real, the androids were real. From the androids you -went to Bas, and from Bas to the Stone of Destiny. - -Ciaran began to sweat with sheer excitement. - -Mouse jerked her head up suddenly. "Kiri--listen!" - -From somewhere up ahead and to the right there began to come a -rhythmic, swinging clank of metal. Underneath it Ciaran made out the -shuffle of bare or sandalled feet. - -The Kalds urged them on faster with the jewel-tipped wands. The hot -opalescence of the tips struck Ciaran all at once. A jewel-fire that -could shock a man to unconsciousness like the blow of a fist, just by -touching. - -The power of the Stone, perhaps. The Stone of Destiny, sleeping under -Ben Beatha. - -The shuffle and clank got louder. Quite suddenly they came to a place -where the gully met another one almost at right angles, and stopped. -The ears of the Kalds twitched nervously. - -Mouse shrank in closer against Ciaran. She was looking off down the new -cut. Ciaran looked, too. - -There were Kalds coming toward them. About forty of them, with wands. -Walking between their watchful lines were some ninety or a hundred -humans, men and women, shackled together by chains run through loops in -iron collars. They were so close together they had to lock-step, and -any attempt at attacking their guards would have meant the whole column -falling flat. - -Mouse said, with vicious clarity, "One man falls into a beast pit, and -in three weeks of gossip a whole town is gone. Hah!" - -Ciaran's scarred mouth got ugly. "Keep going, Mousie. Just keep it up." -He scowled at the slave gang and added, "But what the hell is it all -about? What do they want us for?" - -"You'll find out," said Mouse. "You and your short cuts." - -Ciaran raised his hand. Mouse ducked and started to swing on him. A -couple of Kalds moved in and touched them apart, very delicately, with -the wands. They didn't want knockouts this time. Just local numbness. - -Ciaran was feeling murderous enough to start something anyway, but a -second flick of the wand on the back of his neck took the starch out of -him. By that time the slave party had come up and stopped. - -Ciaran stumbled over into line and let the Kalds lock the collar around -his neck. The man in front of him was huge, with a mane of red hair -and cords of muscle on his back the size of Ciaran's arm. He hadn't a -stitch on but a leather G-string. His freckled, red-haired skin was -slippery with sweat. Ciaran, pressed up against him, shut his mouth -tight and began to breathe very hard with his face turned as far away -as he could get it. - -They shackled Mouse right in back of him. She put her arms around his -waist, tighter than she really had to. Ciaran squeezed her hands. - - - II - -The Kalds started the line moving again, using the wands like ox-goads. -They shuffled off down the gully, going deeper and deeper into the -Forbidden Plains. - -Very softly, so that nobody but Ciaran could hear her, Mouse whispered, -"These locks are nothing. I can pick them any time." - -Ciaran squeezed her hand again. It occurred to him that Mouse was a -handy girl to have around. - -After a while she said, "Kiri--that shadow. We did see it?" - -"We did." He shivered in spite of himself. - -"What was it?" - -"How should I know? And you better save your breath. Looks like a long -walk ahead of us." - -It was. They threaded their way through a growing maze of cracks in -the plain, cracks that got deeper and deeper, so you had to look -straight up to see the red sky and the little floating suns. Ciaran -found himself watching furtively to make sure they were still shining. -He wished Mousie hadn't reminded him of the shadow. He'd never been -closer to cold, clawing panic than in those moments on the ridge. - -The rest of the slave gang had obviously come a long way already. They -were tired. But the Kalds goaded them on, and it wasn't until about a -third of the line was being held up bodily by those in front or behind -that a halt was called. - -They came to a fairly-wide place where three of the gullies came -together. The Kalds formed the line into a circle, squeezed in on -itself so they were practically sitting in each other's laps, and then -stood by watchfully, lolling pink tongues over their bright grey teeth -and letting the wands flash in the dimmed light. - -Ciaran let his head and shoulders roll over onto Mousie. For some time -he had felt her hands working around her own collar, covered by her -hair and the harp slung across his back. She wore a rather remarkable -metal pin that had other functions than holding her tunic on, and she -knew how to use it. - -Her collar was still in place, but he knew she could slide out of it -now any time she wanted. She bent forward over him as though she was -exhausted. Her black hair fell over his face and neck. Under it her -small quick hands got busy. - -The lock snapped quietly, and the huge red-haired man collapsed slowly -on top of Ciaran. His voice whispered, but there was nothing weak about -it. - -He said, "Now me." - -Ciaran squirmed and cursed. The vast weight crushed him to silence. - -"I'm a hunter. I can hear a rabbit breathing in its warren. I heard the -woman speak. Free me or I'll make trouble." - -Ciaran sighed resignedly, and Mouse went to work. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran looked around the circle of exhausted humans. Charcoal burners, -trappers, hoop-shavers--the lean, tough, hard-bitten riff-raff of the -border wilderness. Even the women were tough. Ciaran began to get -ideas. - -There was a man crushed up against them on the other side--the man who -had hitherto been at the head of the column. He was tall and stringy -like a hungry cat, and just as mean looking, hunched over his knees -with his face buried in his forearms and a shag of iron-grey hair -falling over his shoulders. - -Ciaran nudged him. "You--don't make any sign. Game to take a chance?" - -The shaggy head turned slightly, just enough to unveil an eye. Ciaran -wished suddenly he'd kept his mouth shut. The eye was pale, almost -white, with a queer unhuman look as though it saw only gods or devils, -and nothing in between. - -Ciaran had met hermits before in his wanderings. He knew the signs. -Normally he rather liked hermits, but this one gave him unpleasant -qualms in the stomach. - -The man dragged a rusty voice up from somewhere. "We are enslaved by -devils. Only the pure can overcome devils. Are you pure?" - -Ciaran managed not to choke. "As a bird in its nest," he said. "A -newly-fledged bird. In fact, a bird still in the shell." - -The cold, pale eye looked at him without blinking. - -Ciaran resisted an impulse to punch it and said, "We have a means of -freeing ourselves. If enough could be freed, when the time came we -might rush the Kalds." - -"Only the pure can prevail against devils." - -Ciaran gave him a smile of beatific innocence. The scar and the missing -tooth rather spoiled the effect, but his eyes made up for it in bland -sweetness. - -"You shall lead us, Father," he cooed. "With such purity as yours, we -can't fail." - -The hermit thought about that for a moment and then said, "I will pass -the word. Give me the feke." - -Ciaran's jaw dropped. His eyes got glassy. - -"The feke," said the hermit patiently. "The jiggler." - -Ciaran closed his eyes. "Mouse," he said weakly, "give the gentleman -the picklock." - -Mouse slid it to him, a distance of about two inches. The red-haired -giant took some of his weight off Ciaran. Mouse was looking slightly -dazed herself. - -"Hadn't I better do it for you?" she asked, rather pompously. - -The hermit gave her a cold glance. He bent his head and brought his -hands up between his knees. His collar mate on the other side never -noticed a thing, and the hermit beat Mouse's time by a good third. - -Ciaran laughed. He lay in Mouse's lap and had mild hysterics. Mouse -cuffed him furiously across the back of his neck, and even that didn't -stop him. - -He pulled himself up, looked through streaming eyes at Mouse's -murderous small face, and bit his knuckles to keep from screaming. - -The hermit was already quietly at work on the man next him. - -Ciaran unslung his harp. The grey Kalds hadn't noticed anything yet. -Both Mouse and the hermit were very smooth workers. Ciaran plucked out -a few sonorous minor chords, and the Kalds flicked their blood-pink -eyes at him, but didn't seem to think the harp called for any action. - -Ciaran relaxed and played louder. - -Under cover of the music he explained his plan to the big red hunter, -who nodded and began whispering to his other collar-mate. Ciaran began -to sing. - -He gave them a lament, one of the wild dark things the Cimmerians sing -at the bier of a chief and very appropriate to the occasion. The Kalds -lounged, enjoying the rest. They weren't watching for it, so they -didn't see, as Ciaran did, the breathing of the word of hope around the -circle. - - * * * * * - -Civilized people would have given the show away. But these were -bordermen, as wary and self-contained as animals. It was only in their -eyes that you could see anything. They got busy, under cover of their -huddled bodies and long-haired, bowed-over heads, with every buckle and -pin they could muster. - -Mouse and the hermit passed instructions along the line, and since they -were people who were used to using their hands with skill, it seemed as -though a fair number of locks might get picked. The collars were left -carefully in place. - -Ciaran finished his lament and was half way through another when the -Kalds decided it was time to go. - -They moved in to goad the line back into position. Ciaran's harp -crashed out suddenly in angry challenge, and the close-packed circle -split into a furious confusion. - -Ciaran slung his harp over his shoulder and sprang up, shaking off -the collar. All around him was the clash of chain metal on rock, the -scuffle of feet, the yells and heavy breathing of angry men. The Kalds -came leaping in, their wands flashing. Somebody screamed. Ciaran got a -fistful of Mouse's tunic in his left hand and started to butt through -the melee. He had lost track of the hermit and the hunter. - -Then, quite suddenly, it was dark. - -Silence closed down oh the gully. A black, frozen silence, with not -even a sound of breathing in it. Ciaran stood still, looking up at the -dark sky. He didn't even tremble. He was beyond that. - -Black darkness, in a land of eternal light. - -Somewhere then, a woman screamed with a terrible mad strength, and hell -broke loose. - -Ciaran ran. He didn't think about where he was going, only that he had -to get away. He was still gripping Mouse. Bodies thrashed and blundered -and shrieked in the darkness. Twice he and Mouse were knocked kicking. -It didn't stop them. - -They broke through finally into a clear space. There began to be light -again, pale and feeble at first but flickering back toward normal. They -were in a broad gully kicked smooth on the bottom by the passing of -many feet. They ran down it. - -After a while Mouse fell and Ciaran dropped beside her. He lay there, -fighting for breath, twitching and jerking like an animal with sheer -panic. He was crying a little because it was light again. - -Mouse clung to him, pressing tight as though she wanted to merge her -body with his and hide it. She had begun to shake. - -"Kiri," she whispered, over and over again. "Kiri, what was it?" - -Ciaran held her head against his shoulder and stroked it. "I don't -know, honey. But it's all right now. It's gone." - -Gone. But it could come back. It had once. Maybe next time it would -stay. - -Darkness, and the sudden cold. - -The legends began crawling through Ciaran's mind. If Bas the Immortal -was true, and the Stone of Destiny was true, and the Stone gave Bas -power over the life and death of a world ... then...? - -Maybe Bas was getting tired of the world and wanted to throw it away. - -The rational stubbornness in man that says a thing is not because -it's never been before helped Ciaran steady down. But he couldn't kid -himself that there hadn't been darkness where no darkness had even been -dreamed of before. - -He shook his head and started to pull Mouse to her feet, and then his -quick ears caught the sound of someone coming toward them, running. -Several someones. - -There was no place to hide. Ciaran got Mouse behind him and waited, -half crouching. - -It was the hunter, with the hermit loping like a stringy cat at his -heels and a third man behind them both. They all looked a little crazy, -and they didn't seem to be going to stop. - -Ciaran said, "Hey!" - - * * * * * - -They slowed down looking at him with queer, blank eyes. Ciaran blew up, -because he had to relax somehow. - -"It's all over now. What are you scared of? It's gone." He cursed them, -with more feeling than fairness. "What about the Kalds? What happened -back there?" - -The hunter wiped a huge hand across his red-bearded face. "Everybody -went crazy," he said thickly. "Some got killed or hurt. Some got away, -like us. The rest were caught again." He jerked his head back. "They're -coming this way. They're hunting us. They hunt by scent, the grey -beasts do." - -"Then we've got to get going." Ciaran turned around. "Mouse. You, -Mousie! Snap out of it, honey. It's all right now." - -She shivered and choked over her breath, and the hermit fixed them both -with pale, mad eyes. - -"It was a warning," he said. "A portent of judgment, when only the pure -shall be saved." He pointed a bony finger at Ciaran. "I told you that -evil could not prevail against devils!" - -That got through to Mouse. Sense came back into her black eyes. She -took a step toward the hermit and let go. - -"Don't you call him evil--or me either! We've never hurt anybody yet, -beyond lifting a little food or a trinket. And besides, who the hell -are you to talk! Anybody as handy with a picklock as you are has had -plenty of practice...." - -Mouse paused for breath, and Ciaran got a look at the hermit's face. -His stomach quivered. He tried to shut Mouse up, but she was feeling -better and beginning to enjoy herself. She plunged into a detailed -analysis of the hermit's physique and heredity. She had a vivid and -inventive mind. - -Ciaran finally got his hand over her mouth, taking care not to get -bitten. "Nice going," he said, "but we've got to get out of here. You -can finish later." - -She started to heel his shins, and then quite suddenly she stopped and -stiffened up under his hands. She was looking at the hermit. Ciaran -looked, too. His insides knotted, froze, and began to do tricks. - -The hermit said quietly, "You are finished now." His pale eyes held -them, and there was nothing human about his gaze, or the cold calm of -his voice. - -"You are evil. You are thieves--and I know, for I was a thief myself. -You have the filth of the world on you, and no wish to clean it off." - -He moved toward them. It was hardly a step, hardly more than an -inclination of the body, but Ciaran gave back before it. - -"I killed a man. I took a life in sin and anger, and now I have made -my peace. You have not. You will not. And if need comes, I can kill -again--without remorse." - -He could, too. There was nothing ludicrous about him now. He was -stating simple fact, and the dignity of him was awesome. Ciaran scowled -down at the dust. - -"Hell," he said, "we're sorry, Father. Mouse has a quick tongue, and -we've both had a bad scare. She didn't mean it. We respect any man's -conscience." - -There was a cold, hard silence, and then the third man cried out with a -sort of subdued fury: - -"Let's go! Do you want to get caught again?" - -He was a gnarled, knotty, powerful little man, beginning to grizzle but -not to slow down. He wore a kilt of skins. His hide was dark and tough -as leather, his hazel eyes set in nests of wrinkles. - -The hunter, who had been hearing nothing but noises going back and -forth over his head, turned and led off down the gully. The others -followed, still not speaking. - -Ciaran was thinking, He's crazy. He's clear off his head--and of all -the things we didn't need, a crazy hermit heads the list! - -There was a cold spot between his shoulders that wouldn't go away even -when he started sweating with exertion. - - * * * * * - -The gully was evidently a main trail to Somewhere. There were many -signs of recent passage by a lot of people, including an occasional -body kicked off to the side and left to dry. - -The little knotty man, who was a trapper named Ram, examined the bodies -with a terrible stony look in his eyes. - -"My wife and my first son," he said briefly. "The grey beasts took them -while I was gone." - -He turned grimly away. - -Ciaran was glad when the bodies proved to be the wrong ones. - -Ram and the big red hunter took turns scaling the cleft walls for a -look. Mouse said something about taking to the face of the Plain where -they wouldn't be hemmed in. They looked at her grimly. - -"The grey beasts are up there," they said. "Flanking us. If we go up, -they'll only take us and chain us again." - -Ciaran's heart took a big, staggering jump. "In other words, they're -herding us. We're going the way they want us to, so they don't bother -to round us up." - -The hunter nodded professionally. "Is a good plan." - -"Oh, fine!" snarled Ciaran. "What I want to know is, is there any way -out?" - -The hunter shrugged. - -"I'm going on anyway," said Ram. "My wife and son...." - -Ciaran thought about the Stone of Destiny, and was rather glad there -was no decision to make. - -They went on, at an easy jog trot. By bits and pieces Ciaran built up -the picture--raiding gangs of Kalds coming quietly onto isolated border -villages, combing the brush and the forest for stragglers. Where they -took the humans, or why, nobody could guess.[1] froze to a dead stop. -The others crouched behind him, instinctively holding their breath. - -The hunter whispered, "People. Many of them." His flat palm made an -emphatic move for quiet. - -Small cold prickles flared across Ciaran's skin. He found Mouse's hand -in his and squeezed it. Suddenly, with no more voice than the sigh of a -breeze through bracken, the hermit laughed. - -"Judgment," he whispered. "Great things moving." His pale eyes were -fey. "Doom and destruction, a shadow across the world, a darkness and a -dying." - -He looked at them one by one, and threw his head back, laughing without -sound, the stringy cords working in his throat. - -"And of all of you, I _alone_ have no fear!" - -They went on, slowly, moving without sound in small shapeless puddles -of shadow thrown by the floating sunballs. Ciaran found himself almost -in the lead, beside the hunter. - -They edged around a jog in the cleft wall. About ten feet ahead of them -the cleft floor plunged underground, through a low opening shored with -heavy timbers. - -There were two Kalds lounging in front of it, watching their wands -flash in the light. - -The five humans stopped. The Kalds came toward them, almost lazily, -running rough grey tongues over their shiny teeth. Their blood-pink -eyes were bright with pleasure. - -Ciaran groaned. "This is it. Shall we be brave, or just smart?" - -The hunter cocked his huge fists. And then Ram let go a queer animal -moan. He shoved past Ciaran and went to his knees beside something -Ciaran hadn't noticed before. - -A woman lay awkwardly against the base of the cliff. She was brown -and stringy and not very young, with a plain, good face. A squat, -thick-shouldered boy sprawled almost on top of her. There was a livid -burn on the back of his neck. They were both dead. - -Ciaran thought probably the woman had dropped from exhaustion, and the -kid had died fighting to save her. He felt sick. - -Ram put a hand on each of their faces. His own was stony and quite -blank. After the first cry he didn't make a sound. - -He got up and went for the Kald nearest to him. - - - III - -He did it like an animal, quick and without thinking. The Kald was -quick, too. It jabbed the wand at Ram, but the little brown man was -coming so fast that it didn't stop him. He must have died in mid-leap, -but his body knocked the Kald over and bore him down. - -Ciaran followed him in a swift cat leap. - -He heard the hunter grunting and snarling somewhere behind him, and the -thudding of bare feet being very busy. He lost sight of the other Kald. -He lost sight of everything but a muscular grey arm that was trying to -pull a jewel-tipped wand from under Ram's corpse. There was a terrible -stink of burned flesh. - -Ciaran grabbed the grey wrist. He didn't bother with it, or the arm. -He slid his grip up to the fingers, got his other hand beside it, and -started wrenching. - -Bone cracked and split. Ciaran worked desperately, from the thumb and -the little finger. Flesh tore. Splinters of grey bone came through. -Ciaran's hands slipped in the blood. The grey beast opened its mouth, -but no sound came. Ciaran decided then the things were dumb. It was -human enough to sweat. - -Ciaran grabbed the wand. - -A grey paw, the other one, came clawing for his throat around the bulk -of Ram's shoulders. He flicked it with the wand. It went away, and -Ciaran speared the jewel tip down hard against the Kald's throat. - -After a while Mouse's voice came to him from somewhere. "It's done, -Kiri. No use overcooking it." - -It smelled done, all right. Ciaran got up. He looked at the wand in his -hand, holding it away off. He whistled. - -Mouse said, "Stop admiring yourself and get going. The hunter says he -can hear chains." - -Ciaran looked around. The other Kald lay on the ground. Its neck seemed -to be broken. The body of the squat, dark boy lay on top of it. The -hunter said: - -"He didn't feel the wand. I think he'd be glad to be a club for -killing one of them, if he knew it." - -Ciaran said, "Yeah." He looked at Mouse. She seemed perfectly healthy. -"Aren't women supposed to faint at things like this?" - -She snorted. "I was born in the Thieves' Quarter. We used to roll -skulls instead of pennies. They weren't so scarce." - -"I think," said Ciaran, "the next time I get married I'll ask more -questions. Let's go." - -They went down the ramp leading under the Forbidden Plains. The hunter -led, like a wary beast. Ciaran brought up the rear. They both carried -the stolen wands. - -The hermit hadn't spoken a word, or moved a hand to help. - -It was fairly dark there underground, but not cold. In fact, it was -hotter than outside, and got worse as they went down. Ciaran could hear -a sound like a hundred armorers beating on shields. Only louder. There -was a feeling of a lot of people moving around but not talking much, -and an occasional crash or metallic screaming that Ciaran didn't have -any explanation for. He found himself not liking it. - -They went a fairish way on an easy down-slope, and then the light -got brighter. The hunter whispered, "Careful!" and slowed down. They -drifted like four ghosts through an archway into a glow of clear bluish -light. - - * * * * * - -They stood on a narrow ledge. Just here it was hand-smoothed, but -on both sides it ran in nature-eroded roughness into a jumble of -stalactites and wind-galleries. Above the ledge, in near darkness, -was the high roof arch, and straight ahead, there was just space. -Eventually, a long way off, Ciaran made out a wall of rock. - -Below there was a pit. It was roughly barrel-shaped. It was deep. It -was so deep that Ciaran had to crane over the edge to see bottom. -Brilliant blue-white flares made it brighter than daylight about -two-thirds of the way up the barrel. - -There were human beings laboring in the glare. They were tiny things -no bigger than ants from this height. They wore no chains, and Ciaran -couldn't see any guards. But after the first look he quit worrying -about any of that. The Thing growing up in the pit took all his -attention. - -It was built of metal. It rose and spread in intricate swooping curves -of shining whiteness, filling the whole lower part of the cavern. -Ciaran stared at it with a curious numb feeling of awe. - -The thing wasn't finished. He had not the faintest idea what it was -for. But he was suddenly terrified of it. - -It was more than just the sheer crushing size of it, or the unfamiliar -metallic construction that was like nothing he had seen or even dreamed -of before. It was the thing itself. - -It was Power. It was Strength. It was a Titan growing there in the -belly of the world, getting ready to reach out and grip it and play -with it, like Mouse gambling with an empty skull. - -He knew, looking at it, that no human brain in his own scale and time -of existence had conceived that shining monster, nor shaped of itself -one smallest part of it. - -The red hunter said simply, "I'm scared. And this smells like a trap." - -Ciaran swallowed something that might have been his heart. "We're in -it, pal, like it or don't. And we'd better get out of sight before that -chain-gang runs into us." - -Off to the side, along the rough part of the ledge where there were -shadows and holes and pillars of rock, seemed the best bet. There was a -way down to the cavern floor--a dizzy zig-zag of ledges, ladders, and -steps. But once on it you were stuck, and no cover. - -They edged off, going as fast as they dared. Mouse was breathing rather -heavily and her face was white enough to make the brand show like a -blood-drop between her brows. - -The hermit seemed to be moving in a private world of his own. The sight -of the shining giant had brought a queer blaze to his eyes, something -Ciaran couldn't read and didn't like. Otherwise, he might as well have -been dead. He hadn't spoken since he cursed them, back in the gully. - -They crouched down out of sight among a forest of stalactites. Ciaran -watched the ledge. He whispered, "They hunt by scent?" - -The hunter nodded. "I think the other humans will cover us. Too many -scents in this place. But how did they have those two waiting for us -at the cave mouth?" - -Ciaran shrugged. "Telepathy. Thought transference. Lots of the -backwater people have it. Why not the Kalds?" - -"You don't," said the hunter, "think of them as having human minds." - -"Don't kid yourself. They think, all right. They're not human, but -they're not true animals either." - -"Did they think _that_?" The hunter pointed at the pit. - -"No," said Ciaran slowly. "They didn't." - -"Then who--" He broke off. "Quiet! Here they come." - -Ciaran held his breath, peering one-eyed around a stalactite. The -slave-gang, with the grey guards, began to file out of the tunnel and -down the steep descent to the bottom. There was no trouble. There -was no trouble left in any of those people. There were several empty -collars. There were also fewer Kalds. Some had stayed outside to track -down the four murderous fugitives, which meant no escape at that end. - -Ciaran got an idea. When the last of the line and the guards were -safely over the edge he whispered, "Come on. We'll go down right on -their tails." - -Mouse gave him a startled look. He said impatiently, "They won't be -looking back and up--I hope. And there won't be anybody else coming up -while they're going down. You've got a better idea about getting down -off this bloody perch, spill it!" - -She didn't have, and the hunter nodded. "Is good. Let's go." - - * * * * * - -They went, like the very devil. Since all were professionals in their -own line they didn't make any more fuss than so many leaves falling. -The hermit followed silently. His pale eyes went to the shining monster -in the pit at every opportunity. - -He was fermenting some idea in his shaggy head. Ciaran had a hunch the -safest thing would be to quietly trip him off into space. He resisted -it, simply because knifing a man in a brawl was one thing and murdering -an unsuspecting elderly man in cold blood was another. - -Later, he swore a solemn oath to drop humanitarianism, but hard. - -Nobody saw them. The Kalds and the people below were all too busy not -breaking their necks to have eyes for anything else. Nobody came down -behind them--a risk they had had to run. They were careful to keep a -whole section of the descent between them and the slave gang. - -It was a hell of a long way down. The metal monster grew and grew and -slid up beside them, and then above them, towering against the vault. -It was beautiful. Ciaran loved its beauty even while he hated and -feared its strength. - -Then he realized there were people working on it, clinging like -flies to its white beams and arches. Some worked with wands not very -different from the one he carried, fusing metal joints in a sparkle of -hot light. Others guided the huge metal pieces into place, bringing -them up from the floor of the cavern on long ropes and fitting them -delicately. - -With a peculiar dizzy sensation, Ciaran realized there was no more -weight to the metal than if it were feathers. - -He prayed they could get past those workers without being seen, or at -least without having an alarm spread. The four of them crawled down -past two or three groups of them safely, and then one man, working -fairly close to the cliff, raised his head and stared straight at them. - -Ciaran began to make frantic signs. The man paid no attention to them. -Ciaran got a good look at his eyes. He let his hands drop. - -"He doesn't see us," whispered Mouse slowly. "Is he blind?" - -The man turned back to his work. It was an intricate fitting of small -parts into a pierced frame. Work that in all his wanderings Ciaran had -never seen done anywhere, in any fashion. - -He shivered. "No. He just--doesn't see us." - -The big hunter licked his lips nervously, like a beast in a deadfall. -His eyes glittered. The hermit laughed without any sound. They went on. - -It was the same all the way down. Men and women looked at them, but -didn't see. - -In one place they paused to let the slave-gang get farther ahead. There -was a woman working not far out. She looked like a starved cat, gaunt -ribs showing through torn rags. Her face was twisted with the sheer -effort of breathing, but there was no expression in her eyes. - -Quite suddenly, in the middle of an unfinished gesture, she collapsed -like wet leather and fell. Ciaran knew she was dead before her feet -cleared the beam she was sitting on. - -That happened twice more on the way down. Nobody paid any attention. - -Mouse wiped moisture off her forehead and glared at Ciaran. "A fine -place to spend a honeymoon. You and your lousy shortcuts!" - -For once Ciaran had no impulse to cuff her. - - * * * * * - -The last portion of the descent was covered by the backs of metal -lean-tos full of heat and clamor. The four slipped away into dense -shadow between two of them, crouched behind a mound of scrap. They had -a good view of what happened to the slave gang. - -The Kalds guided it out between massive pillars of white metal -that held up the giant web overhead. Fires flared around the cliff -foot. A hot blue-white glare beat down, partly from some unfamiliar -light-sources fastened in the girders, partly from the mouths of -furnaces hot beyond any heat Ciaran had ever dreamed of. - -Men and women toiled sweating in the smoke and glare, and never looked -at the newcomers in their chains. There were no guards. - -The Kalds stopped the line in a clear space beyond the shacks and -waited. They were all facing the same way, expectant, showing their -bright grey teeth and rolling their blood-pink eyes. - -Ciaran's gaze followed theirs. He got rigid suddenly, and the sweat on -him turned cold as dew on a toad's back. - -He thought at first it was a man, walking down between the pillars. It -was man-shaped, tall and slender and strong, and sheathed from crown to -heels in white mesh metal that shimmered like bright water. - -But when it came closer he knew he was wrong. Some animal instinct in -him knew even before his mind did. He wanted to snarl and put up his -hackles, and tuck his tail and run. - - * * * * * - -The creature was sexless. The flesh of its hands and face had a strange -unreal texture, and a dusky yellow tinge that never came in living -flesh. - -Its face was human enough in shape--thin, with light angular bones. -Only it was regular and perfect like something done carefully in -marble, with no human softness or irregularity. The lips were -bloodless. There was no hair, not even any eyelashes. - -The eyes in that face were what set Ciaran's guts to knotting like -a nest of cold snakes. They were not even remotely human. They were -like pools of oil under the lashless lids--black, deep, impenetrable, -without heart or soul or warmth. - -But wise. Wise with a knowledge beyond humanity, and strong with a -cold, terrible strength. And old. There were none of the usual signs -of age. It was more than that. It was a psychic, unhuman feel of -antiquity; a time that ran back and back and still back to an origin as -unnatural as the body it spawned. - -Ciaran knew what it was. He had made songs about the creature and -sung them in crowded market-places and smoky wine-shops. He'd scared -children with it, and made grown people shiver while they laughed. - -He wasn't singing now. He wasn't laughing. He was looking at one of the -androids of Bas the Immortal--a creature born of the mysterious power -of the Stone, with no faintest link to humanity in its body or its -brain. - -Ciaran knew then whose mind had created the shining monster towering -above them. And he knew more than ever that it was evil. - -The android walked out onto a platform facing the slave-gang, so that -it was above them, where they could all see. In its right hand it -carried a staff of white metal with a round ball on top. The staff and -the mesh-metal sheath it wore blazed bright silver in the glare. - -The chained humans raised their heads. Ciaran saw the white scared -glint of their eyeballs, heard the hard suck of breath and the uneasy -clashing of link metal. - -The Kalds made warning gestures with their wands, but they were -watching the android. - -It raised the staff suddenly, high over its head. The gesture put the -ball top out of Ciaran's sight behind a girder. And then the lights -dimmed and went out. - -For a moment there was total darkness, except for the dull marginal -glow of the forges and furnaces. Then, from behind the girder that hid -the top of the staff a glorious opaline light burst out, filling the -space between the giant pillars, reaching out and up into the dim air -with banners of shimmering flame. - -The Kalds crouched down in attitudes of worship, their blood-pink eyes -like sentient coals. A trembling ran through the line of slaves, as -though a wind had passed across them and shaken them like wheat. A few -cried out, but the sounds were muffled quickly to silence. They stood -still, staring up at the light. - -The android neither moved nor spoke, standing like a silver lance. - -Ciaran got up. He didn't know that he did it. He was distantly aware -of Mouse beside him, breathing hard through an open mouth and catching -opaline sparks in her black eyes. There was other movement, but he paid -no attention. - -He wanted to get closer to the light. He wanted to see what made it. He -wanted to bathe in it. He could feel it pulsing in him, sparkling in -his blood. He also wanted to run away, but the desire was stronger than -the fear. It even made the fear rather pleasurable. - -He was starting to climb over the pile of scrap when the android spoke. -Its voice was light, clear, and carrying. There was nothing menacing -about it. But it stopped Ciaran like a blow in the face, penetrating -even through his semi-drugged yearning for the light. - -He knew sound. He knew mood. He was sensitive to them as his own harp -in the way he made his living. He felt what was in that voice; or -rather, what wasn't in it. And he stopped, dead still. - -It was a voice speaking out of a place where no emotion, as humanity -knew the word, had ever existed. It came from a brain as alien and -incomprehensible as darkness in a world of eternal light; a brain no -human could ever touch or understand, except to feel the cold weight of -its strength and cower as a beast cowers before the terrible mystery of -fire. - -"Sleep," said the android. "Sleep, and listen to my voice. Open your -minds, and listen." - - - IV - -Through a swimming rainbow haze Ciaran saw the relaxed, dull faces of -the slaves. - -"You are nothing. You are no one. You exist only to serve; to work; to -obey. Do you hear and understand?" - -The line of humans swayed and made a small moaning sigh. It held -nothing but amazement and desire. They repeated the litany through -thick animal mouths. - -"Your minds are open to mine. You will hear my thoughts. Once told, you -will not forget. You will feel hunger and thirst, but not weariness. -You will have no need to stop and rest, or sleep." - -Again the litany. Ciaran passed a hand over his face. He was sweating. -In spite of himself the light and the soulless, mesmeric voice were -getting him. He hit his own jaw with his knuckles, thanking whatever -gods there were that the source of the light had been hidden from him. -He knew he could never have bucked it. - -More, perhaps, of the power of the Stone of Destiny? - -A sudden sharp rattle of fragments brought his attention to the scrap -heap. The hermit was already half way over it. - -And Mouse was right at his heels. - -Ciaran went after her. The rubble slipped and slid, and she was already -out of reach. He called her name in desperation. She didn't hear him. -She was hungry for the light. - -Ciaran flung himself bodily over the rubbish. Out on the floor, the -nearest Kalds were shaking off their daze of worship. The hermit was -scrambling on all fours, like a huge grey cat. - -Mouse's crimson tunic stayed just out of reach. Ciaran threw a handful -of metal fragments at her back. She turned her head and snarled at him. -She didn't see him. Almost as an automatic reflex she hurled some stuff -at his face, but she didn't even slow down. The hermit cried out, a -high, eerie scream. - -A huge hand closed on Ciaran's ankle and hauled him back. He fought -it, jabbing with the wand he still carried. A second remorseless hand -prisoned his wrist. - -The red hunter said dispassionately, "They come. We go." - -"Mouse! Let me go, damn you! _Mouse!_" - -"You can't help her. We go, quick." - -Ciaran went on kicking and thrashing. - -The hunter banged him over the ear with exquisite judgment, took the -wand out of his limp hand and tossed him over one vast shoulder. The -light hadn't affected the hunter much. He'd been in deeper shadow than -the others, and his half-animal nerves had warned him quicker even than -Ciaran's. Being a wise wild thing, he had shut his eyes at once. - -He doubled behind the metal sheds and began to run in dense shadow. - -Ciaran heard and felt things from a great misty distance. He heard the -hermit yell again, a crazy votive cry of worship. He felt the painful -jarring of his body and smelled the animal rankness of the hunter. - -He heard Mouse scream, just once. - -He tried to move; to get up and do something. The hunter slammed him -hard across the kidneys. Ciaran was aware briefly that the lights were -coming on again. After that it got very dark and very quiet. - -The hunter breathed in his ear, "Quiet! Don't move." - -There wasn't much chance of Ciaran doing anything. The hunter lay on -top of him with one freckled paw covering most of his face. Ciaran -gasped and rolled his eyes. - -They lay in a troughed niche of rough stone. There was black shadow on -them from an overhang, but the blue glare burned beyond it. Even as he -watched it dimmed and flickered and then steadied again. - -High up over his head the shining metal monster reached for the roof of -the cavern. It had grown. It had grown enormously, and a mechanism was -taking shape inside it; a maze of delicate rods and crystal prisms, of -wheels and balances and things Ciaran hadn't any name for. - -Then he remembered about Mouse, and nothing else mattered. - -The hunter lay on him, crushing him to silence. Ciaran's blue eyes -blazed. He'd have killed the hunter then, if there had been any way to -do it. There wasn't. Presently he stopped fighting. - -Again the red giant breathed in his ear: "Look over the edge." - -He took his hand away. Very, very quietly, Ciaran raised his head a few -inches and looked over. - -Their niche was some fifteen feet above the floor of the pit. Below and -to the right was the mouth of a square tunnel. The crowded, sweating -confusion of the forges and workshops spread out before them, with -people swarming like ants after a rain. - -Standing at the tunnel mouth were two creatures in shining metal -sheathes--the androids of Bas the Immortal. - - * * * * * - -Their clear, light voices rose up to where Ciaran and the hunter lay. - -"Did you find out?" - -"Failing--as we judged. Otherwise, no change." - -"No change." One of the slim unhumans turned and looked with its -depthless black eyes at the soaring metal giant. "If we can only finish -it in time!" - -The other said, "We can, Khafre. We must." - -Khafre made a quick, impatient gesture. "We need more slaves! These -human cattle are frail. You drive them, and they die." - -"The Kalds...." - -"Are doing what they can. Two more chains have just come. But it's -still not enough to be safe! I've told the beasts to raid farther in, -even to the border cities if they have to." - -"It won't help if the humans attack us before we're done." - -Khafre laughed. There was nothing pleasant or remotely humorous about -it. - -"_If_ they could track the Kalds this far, we could handle them easily. -After we're finished, of course, they'll be subjugated anyway." - -The other nodded. Faintly uneasy, it said, "If we finish in time. If we -don't...." - -"If we don't," said Khafre, "none of it matters, to them or us or the -Immortal Bas." Something that might have been a shudder passed over its -shining body. Then it threw back its head and laughed again, high and -clear. - -"But we will finish it, Steud! We're unique in the universe, and -nothing can stop us. This means the end of boredom, of servitude and -imprisonment. With this world in our hands, nothing can stop us!" - -Steud whispered, "Nothing!" Then they moved away, disappearing into the -seething clamor of the floor. - -The red hunter said, "What were they talking about?" - -Ciaran shook his head. His eyes were hard and curiously remote. "I -don't know." - -"I don't like the smell of it, little man. It's bad." - -"Yeah." Ciaran's voice was very steady. "What happened to Mouse?" - -"She was taken with the others. Believe me, little man--I had to do -what I did or they'd have taken you, too. There was nothing you could -do to help her." - -"She--followed the light." - -"I think so. But I had to run fast." - -There was a mist over Ciaran's sight. His heart was slugging him. -Not because he particularly cared, he asked, "How did we get away? I -thought I saw the big lights come on ...". - -"They did. And then they went off again, all of a sudden. They weren't -expecting it. I had a head start. The grey beasts hunt by scent, but -in that stewpot there are too many scents. They lost us, and when -the lights came on again I saw this niche and managed to climb to it -without being seen." - -He looked out over the floor, scratching his red beard. "I think -they're too busy to bother about two people. No, three." He chuckled. -"The hermit got away, too. He ran past me in the dark, screaming like -an ape about revelations and The Light. Maybe they've got him again by -now." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran wasn't worrying about the hermit. "Subjugation," he said slowly. -"With this world in their hands, nothing can stop them." He looked out -across the floor of the pit. No guards. You didn't need any guards when -you had a weapon like that light. Frail human cattle driven till they -died, and not knowing about it nor caring. - -The world in their hands. An empty shell for them to play with, to use -as they wanted. No more market places, no more taverns, no more songs. -No more little people living their little lives the way they wanted to. -Just slaves with blank faces, herded by grey beasts with shining wands -and held by the android's light. - -He didn't know why the androids wanted the world or what they were -going to do with it. He only knew that the whole thing made him -sick--sick all through, in a way he'd never felt before. - -The fact that what he was going to do was hopeless and crazy never -occurred to him. Nothing occurred to him, except that somewhere in that -seething slave-pen Mouse was laboring, with eyes that didn't see and a -brain that was only an open channel for orders. Pretty soon, like the -woman up on the girder, she was going to hit her limit and die. - -Ciaran said abruptly, "If you want to kill a snake, what do you do?" - -"Cut off its head, of course." - -Ciaran got his feet under him. "The Stone of Destiny," he whispered. -"The power of life and death. Do you believe in legends?" - -The hunter shrugged. "I believe in my hands. They're all I know." - -"I'm going to need your hands, to help me break one legend and build -another!" - -"They're yours, little man. Where do we go?" - -"Down that tunnel. Because, if I'm not clear off, that leads to Ben -Beatha, and Bas the Immortal--and the Stone." - -Almost as though it were a signal, the blue glare dimmed and flickered. -In the semi-darkness Ciaran and the hunter dropped down from the niche -and went into the tunnel. - -It was dark, with only a tiny spot of blue radiance at wide intervals -along the walls. They had gone quite a distance before these -strengthened to their normal brightness, and even then it was fairly -dark. It seemed to be deserted. - -The hunter kept stopping to listen. When Ciaran asked irritably what -was wrong, he said: - -"I think there's someone behind us. I'm not sure." - -"Well, give him a jab with the wand if he gets too close. Hurry up!" - -The tunnel led straight toward Ben Beatha, judging from its position in -the pit. Ciaran was almost running when the hunter caught his shoulder -urgently. - -"Wait! There's movement up ahead...." - -He motioned Ciaran down. On their hands and knees they crawled forward, -holding their wands ready. - -A slight bend in the tunnel revealed a fork. One arm ran straight -ahead. The other bent sharply upward, toward the surface. - -There were four Kalds crouched on the rock between them, playing some -obscure game with human finger bones. - -Ciaran got his weight over his toes and moved fast. The hunter went -beside him. Neither of them made a sound. The Kalds were intent on -their game and not expecting trouble. - -The two men might have got away with it, only that suddenly from behind -them, someone screamed like an angry cat. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran's head jerked around, just long enough to let him see the hermit -standing in the tunnel, with his stringy arms lifted and his grey hair -flying, and a light of pure insanity blazing in his pale eyes. - -"Evil!" he shrieked. "You are evil to defy The Light, and the servants -of The Light!" - -He seemed to have forgotten all about calling the Kalds demons a little -while before. - -The grey beasts leaped up, moving quickly in with their wands ready. -Ciaran yelled with sheer fury. He went for them, the rags of his yellow -tunic streaming. - -He wasn't quite clear about what happened after that. There was a lot -of motion, grey bodies leaping and twisting and jewel-tips flashing. -Something flicked him stunningly across the temple. He fought in a sort -of detached fog where everything was blurred and distant. The hermit -went on screaming about Evil and The Light. The hunter bellowed a -couple of times, things thudded and crashed, and once Ciaran poked his -wand straight into a blood-pink eye. - -Sometime right after that there was a confused rush of running feet -back in the tunnel. The hunter was down. And Ciaran found himself -running up the incline, because the other way was suddenly choked with -Kalds. - -He got away. He was never sure how. Probably instinct warned him to -go in time so that, in the confusion he was out of sight before the -reinforcements saw him. Three of the original four Kalds were down and -the fourth was busy with the hermit. Anyway, for the moment, he made -it. - -When he staggered finally from the mouth of the ramp, drenched with -sweat and gasping, he was back on the Forbidden Plain, and Ben Beatha -towered above him--a great golden Titan reaching for the red sky. - -The tumbled yellow rock of its steep slopes was barren of any growing -thing. There were no signs of buildings, or anything built by hands, -human or otherwise. High up, almost in the apex of the triangular peak, -was a square, balconied opening that might have been only a wind-eroded -niche in the cliff-face. - -Ciaran stood on widespread legs, studying the mountain with sullen -stubborn eyes. He believed in legend, now. It was all he believed -in. Somewhere under the golden peak was the Stone of Destiny and the -demigod who was its master. - -Behind him were the creatures of that demigod, and the monster they -were building--and a little black-haired Mouse who was going to die -unless something was done about it. - -A lot of other people, too. A whole sane comfortable world. But Mouse -was about all he could handle, just then. - -He wasn't Ciaran the bard any longer. He wasn't a human, attached to -a normal human world. He moved in a strange land of gods and demons, -where everything was as mad as a drunkard's nightmare, and Mouse was -the only thing that held him at all to the memory of a life wherein men -and women fought and laughed and loved. - -His scarred mouth twitched and tightened. He started off across the -rolling, barren rise to Ben Beatha--a tough, bandy-legged little man -in yellow rags, with a brown, expressionless face and a forgotten harp -slung between his shoulders, moving at a steady gypsy lope. - -A wind sighed over the Forbidden Plain, rolling the sunballs in the red -sky. And then, from the crest of Ben Beatha, the darkness came. - -This time Ciaran didn't stop to be afraid. There was nothing left -inside him to be afraid with. He remembered the hermit's words: -_Judgment. Great things moving. Doom and destruction, a shadow across -the world, a darkness and a dying._ Something of the same feeling came -to him, but he wasn't human any longer. He was beyond fear. Fate -moved, and he was part of it. - -Stones and shale tricked his feet in the darkness. All across the -Forbidden Plains there was night and a wailing wind and a sharp chill -of cold. Far, far away there was a faint red glow on the sky where the -sea burned with its own fire. - -Ciaran went on. - -Overhead, then, the sunballs began to flicker. Little striving ripples -of light went out across them, lighting the barrens with an eerie -witch-glow. The flickering was worse than the darkness. It was like the -last struggling pulse of a dying man's heart. Ciaran was aware of a -coldness in him beyond the chill of the wind. - -_A shadow across the world, a darkness and a dying...._ - -He began to climb Ben Beatha. - - - V - -The stone was rough and fairly broken, and Ciaran had climbed mountains -before. He crawled upward, through the sick light and the cold wind -that screamed and fought him harder the higher he got. He retained no -very clear memory of the climb. Only after a long, long time he fell -inward over the wall of a balcony and lay still. - -He was bleeding from rock-tears and his heart kicked him like the heel -of a vicious horse. But he didn't care. The balcony was man-made, the -passage back of it led somewhere--and the light had come back in the -sky. - -It wasn't quite the same, though. It was weaker, and less warm. - -When he could stand up he went in along the passage, square-hewn in the -living rock of Ben Beatha, the Mountain of Life. - -It led straight in, lighted by a soft opaline glow from hidden -light-sources. Presently it turned at right angles and became a spiral -ramp, leading down. - -Corridors led back from it at various levels, but Ciaran didn't bother -about them. They were dark, and the dust of ages lay unmarked on their -floors. - -Down and down, a long, long way. Silence. The deep uncaring silence of -death and the eternal rock--dark titans who watched the small furious -ant-scurryings of man and never, never, for one moment, gave a damn. - -And then the ramp flattened into a broad high passage cut deep in the -belly of the mountain. And the passage led to a door of gold, twelve -feet high and intricately graved and pierced, set with symbols that -Ciaran had heard of only in legend: the _Hun-Lahun-Mehen_, the Snake, -the Circle, and the Cross, blazing in hot jewel-fires. - -But above them, crushing and dominant on both valves of the great -door, was the _crux ansata_, the symbol of eternal life, cut from some -lustreless stone so black it was like a pattern of blindness on the -eyeball. - -Ciaran shivered and drew a deep, unsteady breath. One brief moment of -human terror came to him. Then he set his two hands on the door and -pushed it open. - -He came into a small room hung with tapestries and lighted dimly by the -same opaline glow as the hallway. The half-seen pictures showed men and -beasts and battles against a background at once tantalizingly familiar -and frighteningly alien. - -There was a rug on the floor. It was made from the head and hide of a -creature Ciaran had never even dreamed of before--a thing like a huge -tawny cat with a dark mane and great, shining fangs. - -Ciaran padded softly across it and pushed aside the heavy curtains at -the other end. - - * * * * * - -At first there was only darkness. It seemed to fill a large space; -Ciaran had an instinctive feeling of size. He went out into it, very -cautiously, and then his eyes found a pale glow ahead in the blackness, -as though someone had crushed a pearl with his thumb and smeared it -across the dark. - -He was a thief and a gypsy. He made no more sound than a wisp of cloud, -drifting toward it. His feet touched a broad, shallow step, and then -another. He climbed, and the pearly glow grew stronger and became a -curving wall of radiance. - -He stopped just short of touching it, on a level platform high above -the floor. He squinted against its curdled, milky thickness, trying to -see through. - -Wrapped in the light, cradled and protected by it like a bird in the -heart of a shining cloud, a boy slept on a couch made soft with furs -and colored silks. He was quite naked, his limbs flung out carelessly -with the slim angular grace of his youth. His skin was white as milk, -catching a pale warmth from the light. - -He slept deeply. He might almost have been dead, except for the slight -rise and fall of his breathing. His head was rolled over so that he -faced Ciaran, his cheek pillowed on his upflung arm. - -His hair, thick, curly, and black almost to blueness, had grown out -long across his forearm, across the white fur beneath it, and down onto -his wide slim shoulders. The nails of his lax hand, palm up above his -head, stood up through the hair. They were inches long. - -His face was just a boy's face. A good face, even rather handsome, with -strong bone just beginning to show under the roundness. His cheek was -still soft as a girl's, the lashes of his closed lids dark and heavy. - -He looked peaceful, even happy. His mouth was curved in a vague smile, -as though his dreams were pleasant. And yet there was something -there.... - -A shadow. Something unseen and untouchable, something as fragile as the -note of a shepherd's pipe brought from far off on a vagrant breeze. -Something as indescribable as death--and as broodingly powerful. Ciaran -sensed it, and his nerves throbbed suddenly like the strings of his own -harp. - -He saw then that the couch the boy slept on was a huge _crux ansata_, -cut from the dead-black stone, with the arms stretching from under his -shoulders and the loop like a monstrous halo above his head. - -The legends whispered through Ciaran's head. The songs, the tales, the -folklore. The symbolism, and the image-patterns. - -Bas the Immortal was always described as a giant, like the mountain -he lived in, and old, because Immortal suggests age. Awe, fear, and -unbelief spoke through those legends, and the child-desire to build -tall. But there was an older legend.... - -Ciaran, because he was a gypsy and a thief and had music in him like -a drunkard has wine, had heard it, deep in the black forests of -Hyperborea where even gypsies seldom go. The oldest legend of all--the -tale of the Shining Youth from Beyond, who walked in beauty and power, -who never grew old, and who carried in his heart a bitter darkness -that no man could understand. - -The Shining Youth from Beyond. A boy sleeping with a smile on his face, -walled in living light. - -Ciaran stood still, staring. His face was loose and quite blank. His -heartbeats shook him slightly, and his breath had a rusty sound in his -open mouth. - -After a long time he started forward, into the light. - -It struck him, hurled him back numbed and dazed. Thinking of Mouse, he -tried it twice more before he was convinced. Then he tried yelling. His -voice crashed back at him from the unseen walls, but the sleeping boy -never stirred, never altered even the rhythm of his breathing. - -After that Ciaran crouched in the awful laxness of impotency, and -thought about Mouse, and cried. - -Then, quite suddenly, without any warning at all, the wall of light -vanished. - - * * * * * - -He didn't believe it. But he put his his hand out again, and nothing -stopped it, so he rushed forward in the pitch blackness until he hit -the stone arm of the cross. And behind him, and all around him, the -light began to glow again. - -Only now it was different. It flickered and dimmed and struggled, like -something fighting not to die. Like something else.... - -Like the sunballs. Like the light in the sky that meant life to -a world. Flickering and feeble like an old man's heart, the last -frightened wing-beats of a dying bird.... - -A terror took Ciaran by the throat and stopped the breath in it, and -turned his body colder than a corpse. He watched.... - -The light glowed and pulsed, and grew stronger. Presently he was walled -in by it, but it seemed fainter than before. - -A terrible feeling of urgency came over Ciaran, a need for haste. The -words of the androids came back to him: _Failing, as we judged. If we -finish in time. If we don't, none of it matters._ - -A shadow across the world, a darkness and a dying. Mouse slaving with -empty eyes to build a shining monster that would harness the world to -the wills of non-human brains. - -It didn't make sense, but it meant something. Something deadly -important. And the key to the whole mad jumble was here--a dark-haired -boy dreaming on a stone cross. - -Ciaran moved closer. He saw then that the boy had stirred, very -slightly, and that his face was troubled. It was as though the dimming -of the light had disturbed him. Then he sighed and smiled again, -nestling his head deeper into the bend of his arm. - -"Bas," said Ciaran. "Lord Bas!" - -His voice sounded hoarse and queer. The boy didn't hear him. He called -again, louder. Then he put his hand on one slim white shoulder and -shook it hesitantly at first, and then hard, and harder. - -The boy Bas didn't even flicker his eyelids. - -Ciaran beat his fists against the empty air and cursed without any -voice. Then, almost instinctively, he crouched on the stone platform -and took his harp in his hands. - -It wasn't because he expected to do anything with it. It was simply -that harping was as natural to him as breathing, and what was inside -him had to come out some way. He wasn't thinking about music. He was -thinking about Mouse, and it just added up to the same thing. - -Random chords at first, rippling up against the wall of milky light. -Then the agony in him began to run out through his finger-tips onto the -strings, and he sent it thrumming strong across the still air. It sang -wild and savage, but underneath it there was the sound of his own heart -breaking, and the fall of tears. - -There was no time. There wasn't even any Ciaran. There was only the -harp crying a dirge for a black-haired Mouse and the world she lived -in. Nothing mattered but that. Nothing would ever matter. - -Then finally there wasn't anything left for the harp to cry about. The -last quiver of the strings went throbbing off into a dull emptiness, -and there was only an ugly little man in yellow rags crouched silent by -a stone cross, hiding his face in his hands. - -Then, faint and distant, like the echo of words spoken in another -world, another time: - -_Don't draw the veil. Marsali--don't...!_ - -Ciaran looked up, stiffening. The boy's lips moved. His face, the eyes -still closed, was twisted in an agony of pleading. His hands were -raised, reaching, trying to hold something that slipped through his -fingers like mist. - -Dark mist. The mist of dreams. It was still in his eyes when he opened -them. Grey eyes, clouded and veiled, and then with the dream-mist -thickening into tears.... - -He cried out, "_Marsali!_" as though his heart was ripped out of him -with the breath that said it. Then he lay still on the couch, his eyes, -staring unfocused at the milky light, with the tears running out of -them. - -Ciaran said softly, "Lord Bas...." - -"Awake," whispered the boy. "I'm awake again. Music--a harp crying -out.... I didn't want to wake! Oh, God, I didn't want to!" - -He sat up suddenly. The rage, the sheer blind fury in his young face -rocked Ciaran like the blow of a fist. - -"Who waked me? Who dared to wake me?" - -There was no place to run. The light held him. And there was Mouse. -Ciaran said: - -"I did, Lord Bas. There was need to." - -The boy's grey eyes came slowly to focus on his face. Ciaran's heart -kicked once and stopped beating. A great cold stillness breathed from -somewhere beyond the world and walled him in, closer and tighter than -the milky light. Close and tight, like the packed earth of a grave. - -A boy's face, round and smooth and soft. No shadow even of down on the -cheeks, the lips still pink and girlish. Long dark lashes, and under -them.... - -Grey eyes. Old with suffering, old with pain, old with an age beyond -human understanding. Eyes that had seen birth and life and death in an -endless stream, flowing by just out of reach, just beyond hearing. Eyes -looking out between the bars of a private hell that was never built for -any man before. - -One strong young hand reached down among the furs and silks and felt -for something, and Ciaran knew the thing was death. - -Ciaran, suddenly, was furious himself. - -He struck a harsh, snarling chord on the harpstrings, thinking of -Mouse. He poured his fury out in bitter, pungent words, the gypsy argot -of the Quarters, and all the time Bas fumbled to get the hidden weapon -in his hands. - -It was the long nails that saved Ciaran's life. They kept Bas from -closing his fingers, and in the meantime some of Ciaran's vibrant rage -had penetrated. Bas whispered: - -"You love a woman." - -"Yeah," said Ciaran. "Yeah." - -"So do I. A woman I created, and made to live in my dreams. Do you know -what you did when you waked me?" - -"Maybe I saved the world. If the legends are right, you built it. You -haven't any right to let it die so you can sleep." - -"I built another world, little man. Marsali's world. I don't want to -leave it." He bent forward, toward Ciaran. "I was happy in that world. -I built it to suit me. I belong in it. Do you know why? Because it's -made from my own dreams, as I want it. Even the people. Even Marsali. -Even myself. - -"They drove me away from one world. I built another, but it was no -different. I'm not human. I don't belong with humans, nor in any world -they live in. So I learned to sleep, and dream." - -He lay back on the couch. He looked pitifully young, with the long -lashes hiding his eyes. - -"Go away. Let your little world crumble. It's doomed anyway. What -difference do a few life-spans make in eternity? Let me sleep." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran struck the harp again. "_No!_ Listen...." - -He told Bas about the slave-gangs, the androids, the shining monster in -the pit--and the darkness that swept over the world. It was the last -that caught the boy's attention. - -He sat up slowly. "Darkness? You! How did you get to me, past the -light?" - -Ciaran told him. - -"The Stone of Destiny," whispered the Immortal. Suddenly he laughed. -He laughed to fill the whole dark space beyond the light; terrible -laughter, full of hate and a queer perverted triumph. - -He stopped, as suddenly as he had begun, and spread his hands flat -on the colored silks, the long nails gleaming like knives. His eyes -widened, grey windows into a deep hell, and his voice was no more than -a breath. - -"Could that mean that I will die, too?" - -Ciaran's scarred mouth twitched. "The Stone of Destiny...." - -The boy leaped up from his couch. His hand swept over some hidden -control in the arm of the stone cross, and the milky light died out. At -the same time, an opaline glow suffused the darkness beyond. - -Bas the Immortal ran down the steps--a dark-haired, graceful boy -running naked in the heart of an opal. - -Ciaran followed. - -They came to the hollow core of Ben Beatha--a vast pyramidal space cut -in the yellow rock. Bas stopped, and Ciaran stopped behind him. - -The whole space was laced and twined and webbed with crystal. Rods -of it, screens of it, meshes of it. A shining helix ran straight up -overhead, into a shaft that seemed to go clear through to open air. - -In the crystal, pulsing along it like the life-blood in a man's veins, -there was light. - -It was like no light Ciaran had ever seen before. It was no color, and -every color. It seared the eye with heat, and yet it was cold and pure -like still water. It throbbed and beat. It was alive. - -Ciaran followed the crystal maze down and down, to the base of it. -There, in the very heart of it, lying at the hub of a shining web, lay -_something_. - -Like a black hand slammed across the eyeballs, darkness fell. - -For a moment he was blind, and through the blindness came a soft -whisper of movement. Then there was light again; a vague smeared spot -of it on the pitch black. - -It glowed and faded and glowed again. The rusty gleam slid across the -half-crouched body of Bas the Immortal, pressed close against the -crystal web. It caught in his eyes, turning them hot and lambent like -beast-eyes in the dark of a cave-mouth. - -Little sparks of hell-fire in a boy's face, staring at the Stone of -Destiny. - -A stone no bigger than a man's heart, with power in it. Even dying, it -had power. Power to build a world, or smash it. Power never born of -Ciaran's planet, or any planet, but something naked and perfect--an egg -from the womb of space itself. - -It fought to live, lying in its crystal web. It was like watching -somebody's heart stripped clean and struggling to beat. - -The fire in it flickered and flared, sending pale witch-lights dancing -up along the crystal maze. - -Outside, Ciaran knew, all across the world, the sunballs were pulsing -and flickering to the dying beat of the Stone. - -Bas whispered, "It's over. Over and done." - - * * * * * - -Without knowing it, Ciaran touched the harpstrings and made them -shudder. "The legends were right, then. The Stone of Destiny kept the -world alive." - -"Alive. It gave light and warmth, and before that it powered the -ship that brought me here across space, from the third planet of our -sun to the tenth. It sealed the gaps in the planet's crust and drove -the machinery that filled the hollow core inside with air. It was my -strength. It built my world; _my_ world, where I would be loved and -respected--all right, and worshipped!" - -He laughed, a small bitter sob. - -"A child I was. After all those centuries, still a child playing with a -toy." - -His voice rang out louder across the flickering dimness. A boy's voice, -clear and sweet. He wasn't talking to Ciaran. He wasn't even talking to -himself. He was talking to Fate, and cursing it. - -"I took a walk one morning. That was all I did. I was just a -fisherman's son walking on the green hills of Atlantis above the -sea. That was all I wanted to be--a fisherman's son, someday to be a -fisherman myself, with sons of my own. And then from nowhere, out of -the sky, the meteorite fell. There was thunder, and a great light, and -then darkness. And when I woke again I was a god. - -"I took the Stone of Destiny out of its broken shell. The light from it -burned in me, and I was a god. And I was happy. _I didn't know._ - -"I was too young to be a god. A boy who never grew older. A boy who -wanted to play with other boys, and couldn't. A boy who wanted to age, -to grow a beard and a man's voice, and find a woman to love. It was -hell, after the thrill wore off. It was worse, when my mind and heart -grew up, and my body didn't. - -"And they said I was no god, but a blasphemy, a freak. - -"The priests of Dagon, of all the temples of Atlantis, spoke against -me. I had to run away. I roamed the whole earth before the Flood, -carrying the Stone. Sometimes I ruled for centuries, a god-king, but -always the people tired of me and rose against me. They hated me, -because I lived forever and never grew old. - -"A man they might have accepted. But a boy! A brain with all the wisdom -it could borrow from time, grown so far from theirs that it was hard to -talk to them--and a body too young even for the games of manhood!" - -Ciaran stood frozen, shrinking from the hell in the boy-God's agonized -voice. - -"So I grew to hate them, and when they drove me out I turned on them, -and used the power of the Stone to destroy. I know what happened to -the cities of the Gobi, to Angkor, and the temples of Mayapan! So the -people hated me more because they feared me more, and I was alone. No -one has ever been alone as I was. - -"So I built my own world, here in the heart of a dead planet. And in -the end it was the same, because the people were human and I was not. -I created the androids, freaks like myself, to stand between me and -my people--my own creatures, that I could trust. And I built a third -world, in my dreams. - -"And now the Stone of Destiny has come to the end of its strength. Its -atoms are eaten away by its own fire. The world it powered will die. -And what will happen to me? I will go on living, even after my body is -frozen in the cold dark?" - -Silence, then. The pulsing beat of light in the crystal rods. The heart -of a world on its deathbed. - -Ciaran's harp crashed out. It made the crystal sing. His voice came -with it: - -"Bas! The monster in the pit, that the androids are building--I know -now what it is! They knew the Stone was dying. They're going to have -power of their own, and take the world. You can't let them, Bas! You -brought us here. We're your people. You can't let the androids have us!" - -The boy laughed, a low, bitter sound. "What do I care for your world or -your people? I only want to sleep." He caught his breath in and turned -around, as though he was going back to the place of the stone cross. - - - VI - -Ciaran stroked the harpstrings. "Wait...." It was all humanity crying -out of the harp. Little people, lost and frightened and pleading for -help. No voice could have said what it said. It was Ciaran himself, a -channel for the unthinking pain inside him. - -"Wait--You were human once. You were young. You laughed and quarrelled -and ate and slept, and you were free. That's all we ask. Just those -things. Remember Bas the fisherman's son, and help us!" - -Grey eyes looking at him. Grey eyes looking from a boy's face. "How -could I help you even if I wanted to?" - -"There's some power left in the Stone. And the androids are your -creatures. You made them. You can destroy them. If you could do it -before they finish this thing--from the way they spoke, they mean to -destroy you with it." - -Bas laughed. - -Ciaran's hand struck a terrible chord from the harp, and fell away. - -Bas said heavily, "They'll draw power from the gravitic force of the -planet and broadcast it the same way. It will never stop as long as the -planet spins. If they finish it in time, the world will live. If they -don't...." He shrugged. "What difference does it make?" - -"So," whispered Ciaran, "we have a choice of a quick death, or a -lingering one. We can die free, on our own feet, or we can die slaves." -His voice rose to a full-throated shout. "_God! You're no god!_ You're -a selfish brat sulking in a corner. All right, go back to your Marsali! -And I'll play god for a minute." - -He raised the harp. - -"I'll play god, and give 'em the clean way out!" - -He drew his arm back to throw--to smash the crystal web. And then, with -blinding suddenness, there was light again. - -They stood frozen, the two of them, blinking in the hot opalescence. -Then their eyes were drawn to the crystal web. - -The Stone of Destiny still fluttered like a dying heart, and the -crystal rods were dim. - -Ciaran whispered, "It's too late. They're finished." - -Silence again. They stood almost as though they were waiting for -something, hardly breathing, with Ciaran still holding the silent harp -in his hand. - -Very, very faintly, under his fingers, the strings began to thrum. - -Vibration. In a minute Ciaran could hear it in the crystal. It was like -the buzz and strum of insects just out of earshot. He said: - -"What's that?" - -The boy's ears were duller than his. But presently he smiled and said, -"So that's how they're going to do it. Vibration, that will shake Ben -Beatha into a cloud of dust, and me with it. They must believe I'm -still asleep." He shrugged. "What matter? It's death." - -Ciaran slung the harp across his back. There was a curious finality in -the action. - -"There's a way from here into the pit. Where is it?" - -Bas pointed across the open space. Ciaran started walking. He didn't -say anything. - -Bas said, "Where are you going?" - -"Back to Mouse," said Ciaran simply. - -"To die with her." The crystal maze bummed eerily. "I wish I could see -Marsali again." - - * * * * * - -Ciaran stopped. He spoke over his shoulder, without expression. "The -death of the Stone doesn't mean your death, does it?" - -"No. The first exposure to its light when it landed, blazing with the -heat of friction, made permanent changes in the cell structure of my -body. I'm independent of it--as the androids are of the culture vats -they grew in." - -"And the new power source will take up where the Stone left off?" - -"Yes. Even the wall of rays that protected me and fed my body while I -slept will go on. The power of the Stone was broadcast to it, and to -the sunballs. There were no mechanical leads." - -Ciaran said softly, "And you love this Marsali? You're happy in this -dream world you created? You could go back there?" - -"Yes," whispered Bas. "Yes. Yes!" - -Ciaran turned. "Then help us destroy the androids. Give us our world, -and we'll give you yours. If we fail--well, we have nothing to lose." - -Silence. The crystal web hummed and sang--death whispering across the -world. The Stone of Destiny throbbed like the breast of a dying bird. -The boy's grey eyes were veiled and remote. It seemed almost that he -was asleep. - -Then he smiled--the drowsy smile of pleasure he had worn when Ciaran -found him, dreaming on the stone cross. - -"Marsali," he whispered. "Marsali." - -He moved forward then, reaching out across the crystal web. The long -nails on his fingers scooped up the Stone of Destiny, cradled it, caged -it in. - -Bas the Immortal said, "Let's go, little man." - -Ciaran didn't say anything. He looked at Bas. His eyes were wet. Then -he got the harp in his hands again and struck it, and the thundering -chords shook the crystal maze to answering music. - -It drowned the faint death-whisper. And then, caught between two -vibrations, the shining rods split and fell, with a shiver of sound -like the ringing of distant bells. - -Ciaran turned and went down the passage to the pit. Behind him came the -dark-haired boy with the Stone of Destiny in his hands. - -They came along the lower arm of the fork where Ciaran and the hunter -had fought the Kalds. There were four of the grey beasts still on guard. - -Ciaran had pulled the wand from his girdle. The Kalds started up, and -Ciaran got ready to fight them. But Bas said, "Wait." - -He stepped forward. The Kalds watched him with their blood-pink eyes, -yawning and whimpering with animal nervousness. The boy's dark gaze -burned. The grey brutes cringed and shivered and then dropped flat, -hiding their faces against the stone. - -"Telepaths," said Bas to Ciaran, "and obedient to the strongest -mind. The androids know that. The Kalds weren't put there to stop me -physically, but to send the androids warning if I came." - -Ciaran shivered. "So they'll be waiting." - -"Yes, little man. They'll be waiting." - -They went down the long tunnel and stepped out on the floor of the pit. - - * * * * * - -It was curiously silent. The fires had died in the forges. There was -no sound of hammering, no motion. Only blazing lights and a great -stillness, like someone holding his breath. There was no one in sight. - -The metal monster climbed up the pit. It was finished now. The -intricate maze of grids and balances in its belly murmured with the -strength that spun up through it from the core of the planet. It was -like a vast spider, making an invisible thread of power to wrap around -the world and hold it, to be sucked dry. - -An army of Kalds began to move on silent feet, out from the screening -tangle of sheds and machinery. - -The androids weren't serious about that. It was just a skirmish, a test -to see whether Bas had been weakened by his age-long sleep. He hadn't -been. The Kalds looked at the Stone of Destiny and from there to Bas' -grey eyes, cringed, whimpered, and lay flat. - -Bas whispered, "Their minds are closed to me, but I can feel--the -androids are working, preparing some trap...." - -His eyes were closed now, his young face set with concentration. "They -don't want me to see, but my mind is older than theirs, and better -trained, and I have the power of the Stone. I can see a control panel. -It directs the force of their machine...." - -He began to move, then, rapidly, out across the floor. His eyes were -still closed. It seemed he didn't need them for seeing. - -People began to come out from behind the sheds and the cooling forges. -Blank-faced people with empty eyes. Many of them, making a wall of -themselves against Bas. - -Ciaran cried out, "_Mouse...!_" - -She was there. Her body was there, thin and erect in the crimson tunic. -Her black hair was still wild around her small brown face. But Mouse, -the Mouse that Ciaran knew, was dead behind her dull black eyes. Ciaran -whispered, "_Mouse_...." - -The slaves flowed in and held the two of them, clogged in a mass of -unresponsive bodies. - -"Can't you free them, Bas?" - -"Not yet. Not now. There isn't time." - -"Can't you do with them what you did with the Kalds?" - -"The androids control their minds through hypnosis. If I fought that -control, the struggle would blast their minds to death or idiocy. And -there isn't time...." There was sweat on his smooth young forehead. -"I've got to get through. I don't want to kill them...." - -Ciaran looked at Mouse. "No," he said hoarsely. - -"But I may have to, unless.... Wait! I can channel the power of the -Stone through my own brain, because there's an affinity between us. -Vibration, cell to cell. The androids won't have made a definite -command against music. Perhaps I can jar their minds open, just enough, -so that you can call them with your harp, as you called me." - -A tremor almost of pain ran through the boy's body. - -"Lead them away, Ciaran. Lead them as far as you can. Otherwise many of -them will die. And hurry!" - -Bas raised the Stone of Destiny in his clasped hands and pressed it to -his forehead. And Ciaran took his harp. - -He was looking at Mouse when he set the strings to singing. That was -why it wasn't hard to play as he did. It was something from him to -Mouse. A prayer. A promise. His heart held out on a song. - -The music rippled out across the packed mass of humanity. At first -they didn't hear it. Then there was a stirring and a sigh, a dumb, -blind reaching. Somewhere the message was getting through the darkness -clouding their minds. A message of hope. A memory of red sunlight on -green hills, of laughter and home and love. - -Ciaran let the music die to a whisper under his fingers, and the people -moved forward, toward him, wanting to hear. - -He began to walk away, slowly, trailing the harp-song over his -shoulder--and they followed. Haltingly, in twos and threes, until the -whole mass broke and flowed like water in his wake. - -Bas was gone, his slim young body slipping fast through the broken -ranks of the crowd. - -Ciaran caught one more glimpse of Mouse before he lost her among the -others. She was crying, without knowing or remembering why. - -If Bas died, if Bas was defeated, she would never know nor remember. - - * * * * * - -Ciaran led them as far as he could, clear to the wall of the pit. He -stopped playing. They stopped, too, standing like cattle, looking at -nothing, with eyes turned inward to their clouded dreams. - -Ciaran left them there, running out alone across the empty floor. - -He followed the direction Bas had taken. He ran, fast, but it was like -a nightmare where you run and run and never get anywhere. The lights -glared down and the metal monster sighed and churned high up over his -head, and there was no other sound, no other movement but his own. - -Then, abruptly, the lights went out. - -He stumbled on, hitting brutally against unseen pillars, falling and -scrambling in scrap heaps. And after an eternity he saw light again, up -ahead. - -The Light he had seen before, here in the pit. The glorious opalescent -light that drew a man's mind and held it fast to be chained. - -Ciaran crept in closer. - -There was a control panel on a stone dais--a meaningless jumbled mass -of dials and wires. The androids stood before it. One of them was bent -over, its yellowish hands working delicately with the controls. The -other stood erect beside it, holding a staff. The metal ball at the top -was open, spilling the opalescent blaze into the darkness. - -Ciaran crouched in the shelter of a pillar, shielding his eyes. Even -now he wanted to walk into that light and be its slave. - -The android with the staff said harshly, "Can't you find the wave -length? He should have been dead by now." - -The bending one tensed and then straightened, the burning light -sparkling across its metal sheath. Its eyes were black and limitless, -like evil itself, and no more human. - -"Yes," it said. "I have it." - -The light began to burst stronger from the staff, a swirling dangerous -fury of it. - -Ciaran was hardly breathing. The light-source, whatever it was, was -part of the power of the Stone of Destiny. Wave lengths meant nothing -to him, but it seemed the danger was to the Stone--and Bas carried it. - -The android touched the staff. The light died, clipped off as the metal -ball closed. - -"If there's any power left in the Stone," it whispered, "our power-wave -will blast its subatomic reserve--and Bas the Immortal with it!" - -Silence. And then in the pitch darkness a coal began to glow. - -It came closer. It grew brighter, and a smudged reflection behind and -above it became the head and shoulders of Bas the Immortal. - -The android whispered, "Stronger! _Hurry!_" - -A yellowish hand made a quick adjustment. The Stone of Destiny burned -brighter. It burst with light. It was like a sunball, stabbing its hot -fury into the darkness. - -The android whispered, "_More!_" - -The Stone filled all the pit with a deadly blaze of glory. - -Bas stopped, looking up at the dais. He grinned. A naked boy, beautiful -with youth, his grey eyes veiled and sleepy under dark lashes. - -He threw the Stone of Destiny up on the dais. An idle boy tossing -stones at a treetop. - -Light. An explosion of it, without sound, without physical force. -Ciaran dropped flat on his face behind the pillar. After a long time he -raised his head again. The overhead lights were on, and Bas stood on -the dais beside two twisted, shining lumps of man-made soulless men. - -The android flesh had taken the radiation as leather takes heat, -warping, twisting, turning black. - -"Poor freaks," said Bas softly. "They were like me, with no place in -the universe that belonged to them. So they dreamed, too--only their -dreams were evil." - -He stooped and picked up something--a dull, dark stone, a thing with no -more life nor light than a waterworn pebble. - -He sighed and rolled it once between his palms, and let it drop. - -"If they had had time to learn their new machine a little better, I -would never have lived to reach them in time." He glanced down at -Ciaran, standing uncertainly below. "Thanks to you, little man, they -didn't have quite time enough." - -He gestured to a staff. "Bring it, and I'll free your Mouse." - - - VII - -A long time afterward Mouse and Ciaran and Bas the Immortal stood in -the opal-tinted glow of the great room of the _crux ansata_. Outside -the world was normal again, and safe. Bas had left full instructions -about controlling and tending the centrifugal power plant. - -The slaves were freed, going home across the Forbidden -Plains--forbidden no longer. The Kalds were sleeping, mercifully; the -big sleep from which they would never wake. The world was free, for -humanity to make or mar on its own responsibility. - -Mouse stood very close to Ciaran, her arm around his waist, his around -her shoulders. Crimson rags mingling with yellow; fair shaggy hair -mixing with black. Bas smiled at them. - -"Now," he said, "I can be happy, until the planet itself is dead." - -"You won't stay with us? Our gratitude, our love...." - -"Will be gone with the coming generations. No, little man. I built -myself a world where I belong--the only world where I can ever belong. -And I'll be happier in it than any of you, because it is my world--free -of strife and ugliness and suffering. A beautiful world, for me and -Marsali." - -There was a radiance about him that Ciaran would put into a song some -day, only half understanding. - -"I don't envy you," whispered Bas, and smiled. Youth smiling in a -spring dawn. "Think of us sometimes, and be jealous." - -He turned and walked away, going lightly over the wide stone floor and -up the steps to the dais. Ciaran struck the harpstrings. He sent the -music flooding up against the high vault, filling all the rocky space -with a thrumming melody. - -He sang. The tune he had sung for Mouse, on the ridge above the burning -sea. A simple tune, about two people in love. - -Bas lay down on the couch of furs and colored silks, soft on the shaft -of the stone cross. He looked back at them once, smiling. One slim -white arm raised in a brief salute and swept down across the black -stone. - -The milky light rose on the platform. It wavered, curdled, and -thickened to a wall of warm pearl. Through it, for a moment, they could -see him, his dark head pillowed on his forearm, his body sprawled in -careless, angular grace. Then there was only the warm, soft shell of -light. - -Ciaran's harp whispered to silence. The tunnel into the pit was sealed. -Mouse and Ciaran went out through the golden doors and closed them, -very quietly--doors that would never be opened again as long as the -world lived. - -Then they came into each other's arms, and kissed. - -Rough, tight arms on living flesh, lips that bruised and breaths that -mingled, hot with life. Temper and passion, empty bellies, a harp that -sang in crowded market squares, and no roof to fight under but the open -sky. - -And Ciaran didn't envy the dark-haired boy, dreaming on the stone cross. - - * * * * * - -[Footnote 1: Transcriber's note: text missing from original: The red hunter froze to a dead stop. ] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Jewel of Bas, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF BAS *** - -***** This file should be named 62996.txt or 62996.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/9/9/62996/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/62996.zip b/old/62996.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5e7d475..0000000 --- a/old/62996.zip +++ /dev/null |
