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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..909cef9 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63783 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63783) diff --git a/old/63783-0.txt b/old/63783-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6c6b82c..0000000 --- a/old/63783-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,783 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Savage Galahad, by Bryce Walton - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Savage Galahad - -Author: Bryce Walton - -Release Date: November 16, 2020 [EBook #63783] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAVAGE GALAHAD *** - - - - - SAVAGE GALAHAD - - By BRYCE WALTON - - Tons of sinuous muscle, buried in fetid - Venusian slime, he knew how to survive. - Equipped with an ageless brain and lightning - instincts, he also knew how to die! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Winter 1946. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -He stirred slightly, the ponderously long, yet smoothly-flowing lines -of his body, trembling vaguely with the undulating rhythm of the tall -pale watergrass. Dim and monstrous shadows floated past, then suddenly -spurted in frenzied speed to devour or be devoured. And the dark blue -tint of the swamp water browned in wavering veins of blood. - -An alien organism had come to his world. Its strange radiations pierced -his brain in waves of bizarre beauty. Its uniqueness was disturbing -the long sleep he was enjoying in the warm soft slime. A being from a -far world, which he read symbolized in her confused mind as EARTH. And -facing certain death, she was utterly disoriented with terror. - -She reacted mentally to his world. The name she applied to it was -Venus, Planet of the Morning and that was beauty of expression. She -was beauty and so were her thoughts; her world must have been of that -nature, too. His world had no beauty anywhere in it; beauty would be -alien here, yet he was tired of ugliness. - -His massive brain circuit contacted hers in its subtle supersonic -way, knowing everything she had known or could know, thinking as she -thought, reacting as she reacted far above him where she wandered -alone along the vaporous fringe of his swamp. And he suddenly realized -how alien she really was, for here on his world she was like a bubble -floating beneath the surface of his lake, on the edge of countless -dangers, confronted by a thousand deaths, but completely unaware of -their nearness or exact nature. This was not her world. It would never -be a world for her species. And abruptly he wanted to see her, touch -her. Touch this beautiful bubble before it burst. For he had never -known beauty before, and he was hungry for it. - -One giant flipper moved softly, and the ponderously sleek form, long -and pointed and glistening through the water, lanced upward, streaking -the depths in a silent blurring arc. - - * * * * * - -He studied her with curious and new emotions through the thick, -heavy-hanging mists, his long serpentine form curled out along the -global swamp, undulating between the spongy swaying trunks of two -bulbous trees, half-buried in the thick iridescent mud, and effectively -hidden from her alien eyes by interlocking crinoids and gigantic -towering ferns. - -Monstrous insects droned broodingly through the sultry vapors and -ventured to light on his gleaming hide. A quick twitch of long steely -tendons blotted them out in lightning grips. But his thickly lidded -eyes remained fixed on the girl who had come from Earth. - -He was not disappointed in her beauty of form. It had a soft, rhythmic -smoothly-flowing curvature. It seemed to him a perfect aesthetic -creation of its kind. The contrast, too, impressed him--her frail, -delicate form treading so fearfully among gigantic flora and fauna of -endless varieties, each vying with the others in size and ferocity. -Because of this contrast she seemed more beautiful here, perhaps, than -she might on her own world. But she should not be here; she would find -only death here. She did not understand this world, and she never would. - -He felt the pangs of an emotion utterly strange to him. He plunged -the supersonic fingers of his brain deeply into hers and found an -expression there that would vaguely define that emotion. LOVE. It was -an abstract symbol that on her own world meant the crystallization of -celestial ideals. - -_And that is what I must feel for this alien creature_, he mused. LOVE. - -The many other emotions that accompanied the symbol, LOVE, on her -world--hate, jealousy, hope, ambition, despair, courage--these did -not enter his massive neural circuits. She felt this great emotion -for another being somewhat like her, very close by. This other -being, he examined only briefly for he was ugly, a frantic figure -pacing nervously in something they both knew as a SHIP that rested -not far away in the swamp. She had wandered away from the SHIP and -could not find her way back to it through the mists. And this other -organism--MAN--was being driven into complete disintegration with -anxiety and fear for her. - -But he knew that the man would never find her. There was no jealousy or -hate or envy as he curled through the swamp, watching her. That would -spoil the beauty of this moment. She would be destroyed soon; other -emotions must not distract from the few moments he had in which to -absorb this aesthetic thrill of her movements. - -_Gruoon!_ The symbol was etched in his mind as a blob of dark dread. -His body tensed into rippling steel. The _Gruoon_ was dropping down -through the mist; his brain could follow every flapping motion of -its great leathery shape as it dropped in a straight driving plunge -directly for the girl. - -His triple-lidded eyes could not see it, but that was not necessary; -because of his supersonic brain, he was a ruler of this swamp world, -and that was why he would survive the dull grey aeons that stretched -ahead. So long as his supersonic brain guided his actions he would rule. - -He tensed, arched high in taut waiting, while the _Gruoon_ plummeted -down in a sighing blur of speed. - -Now he could sense the _Gruoon's_ naked, yellow-scaled claws -outstretched, its toothed beak yawing, and its red-disked eyes shining -with that insatiable blood-thirst that was the scourge of this world. -The scourge of all but himself. - -He tensed the full length of his mighty corded body, his twelve -flippers digging into the glowing mud, his gigantic corded tail curled -in feral silence around into a taut S that could spring outward in a -blinding explosion of power. - -She was experiencing great fear, but still not as much as she should. -This surprised him. Now that he knew how completely helpless and alien -she was on this world of his, how frail and delicate she was, and how -she belonged on a much different sphere than this one. She had no -conception that the _Gruoon_ was even now falling down upon her like a -comet. That those poisonous claws would wrap about her creamy body and -rip her to shreds and carry her away into the smoking peaks. - -She was ignorant of all the countless dangers surrounding her. Fifty -_kimm_ away, hardly more than the length of his own body, was the SHIP -which she was trying to find. But she had not the dimmest concept of -where it was. Such appalling lack of basically protective intuition was -incomprehensible to him. - -She knew nothing of the _Vreed_, and its painless bite which bloated -a living organism rapidly until it burst. And the venomous stinging -of the _Kristons_ that paralzyed to a slow unmoving death. Or the -semi-organic _Trumask_ tree that waited for her approach even now, -immobile, without any visible sign to its victims that its crimson -appendages could suddenly whip into action to trap them, dragging them -into its trunk that opened to reveal a slightly pulsating cavern full -of half-devoured forms. These were only a few of an endless horde of -huge and hideous things, yet she suspected none of the things waiting -in the mists. She could only believe what she saw through her beautiful -eyes. And the mist was thick. - -Suddenly the taut S of his body unleashed itself, whipping straight -upward in an unbending line. His sharp snout speared up through the -swirling vapor until he was balanced momentarily on the tip of his -stiffened tail. Then, at the apex of his spring, his three-jawed mouth -unhinged, gaped and crunched shut on the _Gruoon_. The vapor was -whipped into fretful whirls. The girl sank down, her eyes searching -upward, but blindly through the gloom. - -He sank down once more on his scaled belly, wriggled deeper in the mud. -He dropped the mangled leathery blob that had been a _Gruoon_. Then he -turned his eyes once more on the bit of strange beauty which he had -preserved a little while longer for his aesthetic pleasure. - - * * * * * - -Her eyes kept searching above her. Now the dread silence that had -followed, for an instant, after the piercing shriek of the dying -_Gruoon_, seemed to affect her more than the sound had. She shook -her head, her eyes lowering to look apprehensively about her, then -back to the thick greyness above. She turned indecisively in several -directions, took a few steps in one direction, then hesitated, turned -in another; then abruptly and hysterically changed her previous course -entirely and was running directly toward him. - -Yes, she was completely lost, and that was indeed a strange weakness in -an organism. Only fifty _kimm_ away was the intricate machinery that -had brought her here, and which sheltered more of her kind, including -her lover whom she ached to see again. Incredible. - -And this SHIP mechanism full of her kind, aliens, were intending to -remain here on his world! It was an amazing paradox. They intended -to rely for their survival on a number of synthetic defense methods, -constructed from basic elements and powered by various energy -principles. This girl had just unsheathed such a device for her own -protection--just now, long after the _Gruoon_ had attacked and died! If -she had any inborn protective instincts at all, they were so weakened -from lack of use or by heredity that only now had they gotten around to -warning her. - -And these beings had mechanical detectors based somewhat on his organic -equipment. But they were utterly inadequate to meet the predatory -ferocity of his world. Why had these irrational creatures ventured from -their own comparatively safe world to this? If they actually intended -to remain, their chances of survival depended on almost immediate -adaptation. But that would be impossible, of course. - -He watched her with a lonely and hungry eagerness. She had slowed her -pace to a walk and had already begun edging unwittingly to the right -in what would prove to be a long erratic circle leading away from the -SHIP. But she would not go far, even on the wrong course. She was -walking headlong and blindly into the silently waiting arms of the -bloated, motionless _Trumask_. - -He waited, too, watching her. Somehow she seemed more a thing of beauty -as she approached death. Death lent a sadness that added to her beauty -a kind of poignancy. His eyes half-lidded dreamily as the full softness -of the emotion flowed through him. - -The synthetic defensive mechanism was held out in front of her as she -edged along. She was beautiful as she moved. And on this world of his, -no warmth or softness of her kind could exist. It would die. On his -world the only living thing that remotely suggested this girl from -another planet to his hungry mind was the delicate soft petal of the -_Minon_ blossom. But on close inspection of the unwary or forgetful, -even this spit out a deadly white venom. - -He slid his long writhing length, slithering soundlessly between the -_Trumask_ and the girl. - - * * * * * - -Her deeply buried instinct functioned better this time, but not nearly -quickly enough. Not for this environment. She paused, her head jerking -from side to side, the weapon in her hand clutched tightly and swinging -with the direction of her head. But her eyes swept unsuspectingly past -the _Trumask_. Seemingly, on her world, only organisms promised real -danger. - -A strange world, that--a soft, slow-turning world of dream more than -reality; of hope rather than realization; of delusion taking the place -of struggle. - -Slime strung down from the tentacles of the _Trumask_ as they writhed -toward her in undulating evil shudders. The trunk gaped open. - -All of the girl's reactions went through his brain, and he was amazed -by their pointless complexity. A thousand fragments jostled each other -in her mind. Memories of the past, forgotten mistakes, hopes for the -future with no regard for probability, visions of the lover who waited -in the SHIP. All these and many more, equally irrelevant to this dire -situation. She should be concentrating on one thing--escape. Yet she -was not moving. She was in a kind of paralysis he could not understand. - -Now, _now_, she was acting, but, as usual, far too late. She was trying -to employ the weapon. But one of the bloated red tentacles flipped it -from her hand. She sagged down, her mouth mumbling incoherent symbols. -She dropped on her knees in the oozing scum, digging down frantically -in a sobbing attempt to find the weapon; but three of the viscuous -tentacles encircled her. They dragged her toward the maw of the trunk -that now gaped to its full, cavernous capacity. Her terrified eyes -could see an unrecognizable amorphous shape still struggling weakly -down in that pulsating well. - -He acted as lightning strikes, instinctively. Later he would know why. -In his world thought had to follow action. His huge jaws closed on a -number of the thick tentacles, severed them. They whipped free of the -girl, jerking and contorting, slashing the murky vapor in aimless death -patterns. The girl somehow had staggered out of reach of the remaining -ones. - -He dropped down again, out of sight, writhing away to bury himself -again in mud and fog. He searched her mind. Had she seen him? She must -have. Strange that he could find no reaction. There seemed to be a -kind of shock. She had seen him. Then some mental defense mechanism had -blinded her memory to him. Did she find him ugly? Why? Should not he be -possessed of some kind of beauty, also? He had within him the capacity -to appreciate beauty. At least she should be sympathetic and grateful -and kind to him if she knew he was saving her from death, and pain. -Yet--her mind would not accept him. She had seen him briefly, then -forgotten. - -Her terror and nervous disintegration was acute now. He could save -her from physical dangers, but he could not protect this soft strange -mind and nervous system from breaking apart and losing its balance of -function. - -Yet her beauty still remained, and that was his chief interest. The -fluid motion, contour, symmetry and rhythm remained as before; was the -justification for her continued existence in his eyes. - -Her motions did not follow her mental direction at all now. She reached -her hands out as though trying to part thick mist like a solid web. She -groped about in small circles. Then she stopped, her eyes parted wide, -and she screamed. Through the holocaust of sound--the cries, bellows, -and screeches and hisses of the swamp--her scream was almost soundless. -Yet its mental significance cut into his great brain like a wound. - -_Torrg!_ - -The scream's effect had detracted even his wondrous instinctive -mechanism for an instant. During that second the _Torrg_ heaved itself -up almost beneath her. Something slithered through his brain, rippling -down his long curved length--the closest emotion to fear his nervous -system could approach. He hesitated, flinching away. - -He knew what to do. Why then, did he hesitate before the _Torrg_? - -The girl stood stiff with terror, mindless, muscles drawn tight, nerves -twitching. - -He hesitated. He had about gained the maximum from her beauty. It was a -passing thing. He could not possibly go on appreciating it much longer; -she was a limited art form. And the _Torrg_--even _he_ was apprehensive -of that one. Even _he_ had never challenged the ferocious deadliness -of the giant _Torrg_. It was a mighty, mindless machine of destruction, -and so difficult to kill. Its thick leathery body, slick with green -scum, was almost impossible to pierce, and any one of its twenty -writhing arms was a pounding, sucking, smashing bludgeon of power. He -had five _amphos_ to live ... but if he tried to keep the _Torrg_ from -this alien creature.... - - * * * * * - -He searched her mind, as the _Torrg_ raised up higher and higher from -the thick nest of its pool. Vaguely, beneath her terror-stricken mind, -he saw the symbol SQUID, enlarged many times. Its great green-colored -caudal fins swayed impatiently, fanning huge swirling spirals of -vapor, like smoke, throwing drops of swamp weed and mud until the -groveling girl's beauty was almost buried in the steaming stench. - -Why had she reacted so adversely to that brief sight of him? Why was -he so uncertain about his course of action? If he had a form suitable -for her eyes, if he could look forward to having her always to watch -its perfect rhythm of movement; if he were only assured of her beauty -going on forever, flowering for his pleasure in this world of teeming -ugliness, if-- - -The _Torrg_ acted almost too quickly for his reaction. But that -unexpectedness of the _Torrg's_ move decided him. His instinct guided -him again, guided him in a blinding streaking flash of sheer power. - -He took the muddy squirming figure of the girl between his unhinged -jaws, delicately, but firmly. He accomplished this in an incomparable -burst of energy, continuing on through the finish of the move without -a stop. His body shot beneath the whipping tentacles of the _Torrg_, -toward the SHIP that waited helplessly for her return. - -He felt the _Torrg's_ suckers close on his back as he passed. There was -no pausing to understand why he was exposing himself to certain defeat. -One must get in the initial blow in his world, or lose. His instinct -was guiding him. It had never yet failed him. Later, if he survived, he -could reason out the problem. - -He sat the girl down gently, an inert lump just beneath the bow of the -SHIP. Then he twisted around to try and rake the _Torrg_ from his back. -He had put himself wholly into the mad mindless power of the _Torrg's_ -blood-thirst. He kept trying to turn, but it seemed too late for that. -He felt its twenty arms wrap about his throat and belly and flippers. -Its monstrous weight crawled up his back. Two more of its appendages -clinched about his jaws--his only means of destruction. - -He coiled and uncoiled, unleashing the full force of his great power. -His body twisted, jerked over and over in lightning-fast, explosive -arcs. Simultaneously he rolled in the direction of his swamp lake, at -the bottom which he had lived for all his lonely life. - -Disengaged appendages of the _Torrg_ swung and slapped thunderously -against the swamp surface. Then the two were sliding down through the -thick black depths of his swamp lake. - -In the tepid bubbling water their individual differences were largely -canceled. Here they could battle to the ultimate decision. - -They sank down through the murky, swirling deeps, and he was curling -and snapping his fifty _kimm_ until the entire expanse of his swamp -lake churned and frothed, surging and boiling as though a steam fissure -had blown open beneath it. Dead things floated up past them toward the -surface and were promptly devoured by serpentine things. - -[Illustration: This was his last battle. His instinct told him that.] - -This was his last battle. His instinct told him that. Somehow, though, -his instinct had failed him this time. Taking the girl back to her SHIP -had been an error of instinct. He would never know why he had done it, -because he would not have time to study the psychology of it. - -He felt the great holes being ripped in his belly where his flippers -had been torn out. He felt his thick cold blood streaming out in -rivers, thickening the swamp lake. He noted the darting lusting hunger -of the intent school of killer snakes that were already swimming into -the current of that blood, following up the direction of the final -feeding. - -This knowledge drove him to the great effort that partially dislodged -the appendages from about his jaws. His long sharp head speared around, -closed about that part of the _Torrg_ from which its many eyes stared -cold and lidless. - -They settled together that way into the crawling mud of the lake -bottom. The _Torrg's_ death threshings, the final contracting of its -arms, crushed him, squashing his insides out into the thirsting water. -His jaws were locked about the _Torrg_ in a grip even death could not -undo.... - -Until weakness drove the last spark of reason from his great supersonic -circuit he was reflecting on the psychology of it, of why his instinct -had proven false. Glimmerings of the cause appeared, but then the -ancient brain that had survived so many countless _amphos_ abruptly -ceased to exist. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAVAGE GALAHAD *** - -***** This file should be named 63783-0.txt or 63783-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/7/8/63783/ - -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. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Savage Galahad - -Author: Bryce Walton - -Release Date: November 16, 2020 [EBook #63783] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAVAGE GALAHAD *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>SAVAGE GALAHAD</h1> - -<h2>By BRYCE WALTON</h2> - -<p>Tons of sinuous muscle, buried in fetid<br /> -Venusian slime, he knew how to survive.<br /> -Equipped with an ageless brain and lightning<br /> -instincts, he also knew how to die!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Winter 1946.<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>He stirred slightly, the ponderously long, yet smoothly-flowing lines -of his body, trembling vaguely with the undulating rhythm of the tall -pale watergrass. Dim and monstrous shadows floated past, then suddenly -spurted in frenzied speed to devour or be devoured. And the dark blue -tint of the swamp water browned in wavering veins of blood.</p> - -<p>An alien organism had come to his world. Its strange radiations pierced -his brain in waves of bizarre beauty. Its uniqueness was disturbing -the long sleep he was enjoying in the warm soft slime. A being from a -far world, which he read symbolized in her confused mind as EARTH. And -facing certain death, she was utterly disoriented with terror.</p> - -<p>She reacted mentally to his world. The name she applied to it was -Venus, Planet of the Morning and that was beauty of expression. She -was beauty and so were her thoughts; her world must have been of that -nature, too. His world had no beauty anywhere in it; beauty would be -alien here, yet he was tired of ugliness.</p> - -<p>His massive brain circuit contacted hers in its subtle supersonic -way, knowing everything she had known or could know, thinking as she -thought, reacting as she reacted far above him where she wandered -alone along the vaporous fringe of his swamp. And he suddenly realized -how alien she really was, for here on his world she was like a bubble -floating beneath the surface of his lake, on the edge of countless -dangers, confronted by a thousand deaths, but completely unaware of -their nearness or exact nature. This was not her world. It would never -be a world for her species. And abruptly he wanted to see her, touch -her. Touch this beautiful bubble before it burst. For he had never -known beauty before, and he was hungry for it.</p> - -<p>One giant flipper moved softly, and the ponderously sleek form, long -and pointed and glistening through the water, lanced upward, streaking -the depths in a silent blurring arc.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He studied her with curious and new emotions through the thick, -heavy-hanging mists, his long serpentine form curled out along the -global swamp, undulating between the spongy swaying trunks of two -bulbous trees, half-buried in the thick iridescent mud, and effectively -hidden from her alien eyes by interlocking crinoids and gigantic -towering ferns.</p> - -<p>Monstrous insects droned broodingly through the sultry vapors and -ventured to light on his gleaming hide. A quick twitch of long steely -tendons blotted them out in lightning grips. But his thickly lidded -eyes remained fixed on the girl who had come from Earth.</p> - -<p>He was not disappointed in her beauty of form. It had a soft, rhythmic -smoothly-flowing curvature. It seemed to him a perfect aesthetic -creation of its kind. The contrast, too, impressed him—her frail, -delicate form treading so fearfully among gigantic flora and fauna of -endless varieties, each vying with the others in size and ferocity. -Because of this contrast she seemed more beautiful here, perhaps, than -she might on her own world. But she should not be here; she would find -only death here. She did not understand this world, and she never would.</p> - -<p>He felt the pangs of an emotion utterly strange to him. He plunged -the supersonic fingers of his brain deeply into hers and found an -expression there that would vaguely define that emotion. LOVE. It was -an abstract symbol that on her own world meant the crystallization of -celestial ideals.</p> - -<p><i>And that is what I must feel for this alien creature</i>, he mused. LOVE.</p> - -<p>The many other emotions that accompanied the symbol, LOVE, on her -world—hate, jealousy, hope, ambition, despair, courage—these did -not enter his massive neural circuits. She felt this great emotion -for another being somewhat like her, very close by. This other -being, he examined only briefly for he was ugly, a frantic figure -pacing nervously in something they both knew as a SHIP that rested -not far away in the swamp. She had wandered away from the SHIP and -could not find her way back to it through the mists. And this other -organism—MAN—was being driven into complete disintegration with -anxiety and fear for her.</p> - -<p>But he knew that the man would never find her. There was no jealousy or -hate or envy as he curled through the swamp, watching her. That would -spoil the beauty of this moment. She would be destroyed soon; other -emotions must not distract from the few moments he had in which to -absorb this aesthetic thrill of her movements.</p> - -<p><i>Gruoon!</i> The symbol was etched in his mind as a blob of dark dread. -His body tensed into rippling steel. The <i>Gruoon</i> was dropping down -through the mist; his brain could follow every flapping motion of -its great leathery shape as it dropped in a straight driving plunge -directly for the girl.</p> - -<p>His triple-lidded eyes could not see it, but that was not necessary; -because of his supersonic brain, he was a ruler of this swamp world, -and that was why he would survive the dull grey aeons that stretched -ahead. So long as his supersonic brain guided his actions he would rule.</p> - -<p>He tensed, arched high in taut waiting, while the <i>Gruoon</i> plummeted -down in a sighing blur of speed.</p> - -<p>Now he could sense the <i>Gruoon's</i> naked, yellow-scaled claws -outstretched, its toothed beak yawing, and its red-disked eyes shining -with that insatiable blood-thirst that was the scourge of this world. -The scourge of all but himself.</p> - -<p>He tensed the full length of his mighty corded body, his twelve -flippers digging into the glowing mud, his gigantic corded tail curled -in feral silence around into a taut S that could spring outward in a -blinding explosion of power.</p> - -<p>She was experiencing great fear, but still not as much as she should. -This surprised him. Now that he knew how completely helpless and alien -she was on this world of his, how frail and delicate she was, and how -she belonged on a much different sphere than this one. She had no -conception that the <i>Gruoon</i> was even now falling down upon her like a -comet. That those poisonous claws would wrap about her creamy body and -rip her to shreds and carry her away into the smoking peaks.</p> - -<p>She was ignorant of all the countless dangers surrounding her. Fifty -<i>kimm</i> away, hardly more than the length of his own body, was the SHIP -which she was trying to find. But she had not the dimmest concept of -where it was. Such appalling lack of basically protective intuition was -incomprehensible to him.</p> - -<p>She knew nothing of the <i>Vreed</i>, and its painless bite which bloated -a living organism rapidly until it burst. And the venomous stinging -of the <i>Kristons</i> that paralzyed to a slow unmoving death. Or the -semi-organic <i>Trumask</i> tree that waited for her approach even now, -immobile, without any visible sign to its victims that its crimson -appendages could suddenly whip into action to trap them, dragging them -into its trunk that opened to reveal a slightly pulsating cavern full -of half-devoured forms. These were only a few of an endless horde of -huge and hideous things, yet she suspected none of the things waiting -in the mists. She could only believe what she saw through her beautiful -eyes. And the mist was thick.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the taut S of his body unleashed itself, whipping straight -upward in an unbending line. His sharp snout speared up through the -swirling vapor until he was balanced momentarily on the tip of his -stiffened tail. Then, at the apex of his spring, his three-jawed mouth -unhinged, gaped and crunched shut on the <i>Gruoon</i>. The vapor was -whipped into fretful whirls. The girl sank down, her eyes searching -upward, but blindly through the gloom.</p> - -<p>He sank down once more on his scaled belly, wriggled deeper in the mud. -He dropped the mangled leathery blob that had been a <i>Gruoon</i>. Then he -turned his eyes once more on the bit of strange beauty which he had -preserved a little while longer for his aesthetic pleasure.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Her eyes kept searching above her. Now the dread silence that had -followed, for an instant, after the piercing shriek of the dying -<i>Gruoon</i>, seemed to affect her more than the sound had. She shook -her head, her eyes lowering to look apprehensively about her, then -back to the thick greyness above. She turned indecisively in several -directions, took a few steps in one direction, then hesitated, turned -in another; then abruptly and hysterically changed her previous course -entirely and was running directly toward him.</p> - -<p>Yes, she was completely lost, and that was indeed a strange weakness in -an organism. Only fifty <i>kimm</i> away was the intricate machinery that -had brought her here, and which sheltered more of her kind, including -her lover whom she ached to see again. Incredible.</p> - -<p>And this SHIP mechanism full of her kind, aliens, were intending to -remain here on his world! It was an amazing paradox. They intended -to rely for their survival on a number of synthetic defense methods, -constructed from basic elements and powered by various energy -principles. This girl had just unsheathed such a device for her own -protection—just now, long after the <i>Gruoon</i> had attacked and died! If -she had any inborn protective instincts at all, they were so weakened -from lack of use or by heredity that only now had they gotten around to -warning her.</p> - -<p>And these beings had mechanical detectors based somewhat on his organic -equipment. But they were utterly inadequate to meet the predatory -ferocity of his world. Why had these irrational creatures ventured from -their own comparatively safe world to this? If they actually intended -to remain, their chances of survival depended on almost immediate -adaptation. But that would be impossible, of course.</p> - -<p>He watched her with a lonely and hungry eagerness. She had slowed her -pace to a walk and had already begun edging unwittingly to the right -in what would prove to be a long erratic circle leading away from the -SHIP. But she would not go far, even on the wrong course. She was -walking headlong and blindly into the silently waiting arms of the -bloated, motionless <i>Trumask</i>.</p> - -<p>He waited, too, watching her. Somehow she seemed more a thing of beauty -as she approached death. Death lent a sadness that added to her beauty -a kind of poignancy. His eyes half-lidded dreamily as the full softness -of the emotion flowed through him.</p> - -<p>The synthetic defensive mechanism was held out in front of her as she -edged along. She was beautiful as she moved. And on this world of his, -no warmth or softness of her kind could exist. It would die. On his -world the only living thing that remotely suggested this girl from -another planet to his hungry mind was the delicate soft petal of the -<i>Minon</i> blossom. But on close inspection of the unwary or forgetful, -even this spit out a deadly white venom.</p> - -<p>He slid his long writhing length, slithering soundlessly between the -<i>Trumask</i> and the girl.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Her deeply buried instinct functioned better this time, but not nearly -quickly enough. Not for this environment. She paused, her head jerking -from side to side, the weapon in her hand clutched tightly and swinging -with the direction of her head. But her eyes swept unsuspectingly past -the <i>Trumask</i>. Seemingly, on her world, only organisms promised real -danger.</p> - -<p>A strange world, that—a soft, slow-turning world of dream more than -reality; of hope rather than realization; of delusion taking the place -of struggle.</p> - -<p>Slime strung down from the tentacles of the <i>Trumask</i> as they writhed -toward her in undulating evil shudders. The trunk gaped open.</p> - -<p>All of the girl's reactions went through his brain, and he was amazed -by their pointless complexity. A thousand fragments jostled each other -in her mind. Memories of the past, forgotten mistakes, hopes for the -future with no regard for probability, visions of the lover who waited -in the SHIP. All these and many more, equally irrelevant to this dire -situation. She should be concentrating on one thing—escape. Yet she -was not moving. She was in a kind of paralysis he could not understand.</p> - -<p>Now, <i>now</i>, she was acting, but, as usual, far too late. She was trying -to employ the weapon. But one of the bloated red tentacles flipped it -from her hand. She sagged down, her mouth mumbling incoherent symbols. -She dropped on her knees in the oozing scum, digging down frantically -in a sobbing attempt to find the weapon; but three of the viscuous -tentacles encircled her. They dragged her toward the maw of the trunk -that now gaped to its full, cavernous capacity. Her terrified eyes -could see an unrecognizable amorphous shape still struggling weakly -down in that pulsating well.</p> - -<p>He acted as lightning strikes, instinctively. Later he would know why. -In his world thought had to follow action. His huge jaws closed on a -number of the thick tentacles, severed them. They whipped free of the -girl, jerking and contorting, slashing the murky vapor in aimless death -patterns. The girl somehow had staggered out of reach of the remaining -ones.</p> - -<p>He dropped down again, out of sight, writhing away to bury himself -again in mud and fog. He searched her mind. Had she seen him? She must -have. Strange that he could find no reaction. There seemed to be a -kind of shock. She had seen him. Then some mental defense mechanism had -blinded her memory to him. Did she find him ugly? Why? Should not he be -possessed of some kind of beauty, also? He had within him the capacity -to appreciate beauty. At least she should be sympathetic and grateful -and kind to him if she knew he was saving her from death, and pain. -Yet—her mind would not accept him. She had seen him briefly, then -forgotten.</p> - -<p>Her terror and nervous disintegration was acute now. He could save -her from physical dangers, but he could not protect this soft strange -mind and nervous system from breaking apart and losing its balance of -function.</p> - -<p>Yet her beauty still remained, and that was his chief interest. The -fluid motion, contour, symmetry and rhythm remained as before; was the -justification for her continued existence in his eyes.</p> - -<p>Her motions did not follow her mental direction at all now. She reached -her hands out as though trying to part thick mist like a solid web. She -groped about in small circles. Then she stopped, her eyes parted wide, -and she screamed. Through the holocaust of sound—the cries, bellows, -and screeches and hisses of the swamp—her scream was almost soundless. -Yet its mental significance cut into his great brain like a wound.</p> - -<p><i>Torrg!</i></p> - -<p>The scream's effect had detracted even his wondrous instinctive -mechanism for an instant. During that second the <i>Torrg</i> heaved itself -up almost beneath her. Something slithered through his brain, rippling -down his long curved length—the closest emotion to fear his nervous -system could approach. He hesitated, flinching away.</p> - -<p>He knew what to do. Why then, did he hesitate before the <i>Torrg</i>?</p> - -<p>The girl stood stiff with terror, mindless, muscles drawn tight, nerves -twitching.</p> - -<p>He hesitated. He had about gained the maximum from her beauty. It was a -passing thing. He could not possibly go on appreciating it much longer; -she was a limited art form. And the <i>Torrg</i>—even <i>he</i> was apprehensive -of that one. Even <i>he</i> had never challenged the ferocious deadliness -of the giant <i>Torrg</i>. It was a mighty, mindless machine of destruction, -and so difficult to kill. Its thick leathery body, slick with green -scum, was almost impossible to pierce, and any one of its twenty -writhing arms was a pounding, sucking, smashing bludgeon of power. He -had five <i>amphos</i> to live ... but if he tried to keep the <i>Torrg</i> from -this alien creature....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He searched her mind, as the <i>Torrg</i> raised up higher and higher from -the thick nest of its pool. Vaguely, beneath her terror-stricken mind, -he saw the symbol SQUID, enlarged many times. Its great green-colored -caudal fins swayed impatiently, fanning huge swirling spirals of -vapor, like smoke, throwing drops of swamp weed and mud until the -groveling girl's beauty was almost buried in the steaming stench.</p> - -<p>Why had she reacted so adversely to that brief sight of him? Why was -he so uncertain about his course of action? If he had a form suitable -for her eyes, if he could look forward to having her always to watch -its perfect rhythm of movement; if he were only assured of her beauty -going on forever, flowering for his pleasure in this world of teeming -ugliness, if—</p> - -<p>The <i>Torrg</i> acted almost too quickly for his reaction. But that -unexpectedness of the <i>Torrg's</i> move decided him. His instinct guided -him again, guided him in a blinding streaking flash of sheer power.</p> - -<p>He took the muddy squirming figure of the girl between his unhinged -jaws, delicately, but firmly. He accomplished this in an incomparable -burst of energy, continuing on through the finish of the move without -a stop. His body shot beneath the whipping tentacles of the <i>Torrg</i>, -toward the SHIP that waited helplessly for her return.</p> - -<p>He felt the <i>Torrg's</i> suckers close on his back as he passed. There was -no pausing to understand why he was exposing himself to certain defeat. -One must get in the initial blow in his world, or lose. His instinct -was guiding him. It had never yet failed him. Later, if he survived, he -could reason out the problem.</p> - -<p>He sat the girl down gently, an inert lump just beneath the bow of the -SHIP. Then he twisted around to try and rake the <i>Torrg</i> from his back. -He had put himself wholly into the mad mindless power of the <i>Torrg's</i> -blood-thirst. He kept trying to turn, but it seemed too late for that. -He felt its twenty arms wrap about his throat and belly and flippers. -Its monstrous weight crawled up his back. Two more of its appendages -clinched about his jaws—his only means of destruction.</p> - -<p>He coiled and uncoiled, unleashing the full force of his great power. -His body twisted, jerked over and over in lightning-fast, explosive -arcs. Simultaneously he rolled in the direction of his swamp lake, at -the bottom which he had lived for all his lonely life.</p> - -<p>Disengaged appendages of the <i>Torrg</i> swung and slapped thunderously -against the swamp surface. Then the two were sliding down through the -thick black depths of his swamp lake.</p> - -<p>In the tepid bubbling water their individual differences were largely -canceled. Here they could battle to the ultimate decision.</p> - -<p>They sank down through the murky, swirling deeps, and he was curling -and snapping his fifty <i>kimm</i> until the entire expanse of his swamp -lake churned and frothed, surging and boiling as though a steam fissure -had blown open beneath it. Dead things floated up past them toward the -surface and were promptly devoured by serpentine things.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>This was his last battle. His instinct told him that.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>This was his last battle. His instinct told him that. Somehow, though, -his instinct had failed him this time. Taking the girl back to her SHIP -had been an error of instinct. He would never know why he had done it, -because he would not have time to study the psychology of it.</p> - -<p>He felt the great holes being ripped in his belly where his flippers -had been torn out. He felt his thick cold blood streaming out in -rivers, thickening the swamp lake. He noted the darting lusting hunger -of the intent school of killer snakes that were already swimming into -the current of that blood, following up the direction of the final -feeding.</p> - -<p>This knowledge drove him to the great effort that partially dislodged -the appendages from about his jaws. His long sharp head speared around, -closed about that part of the <i>Torrg</i> from which its many eyes stared -cold and lidless.</p> - -<p>They settled together that way into the crawling mud of the lake -bottom. The <i>Torrg's</i> death threshings, the final contracting of its -arms, crushed him, squashing his insides out into the thirsting water. -His jaws were locked about the <i>Torrg</i> in a grip even death could not -undo....</p> - -<p>Until weakness drove the last spark of reason from his great supersonic -circuit he was reflecting on the psychology of it, of why his instinct -had proven false. Glimmerings of the cause appeared, but then the -ancient brain that had survived so many countless <i>amphos</i> abruptly -ceased to exist.</p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAVAGE GALAHAD *** - -This file should be named 63783-h.htm or 63783-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/7/8/63783/ - -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. 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