diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 22534 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-h/22882-h.htm | 1236 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p136.png | bin | 0 -> 34656 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p137.png | bin | 0 -> 64458 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p138.png | bin | 0 -> 63234 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p139.png | bin | 0 -> 69445 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p140.png | bin | 0 -> 62492 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p141.png | bin | 0 -> 64113 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p142.png | bin | 0 -> 53739 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p143.png | bin | 0 -> 66796 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p144.png | bin | 0 -> 63987 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p145.png | bin | 0 -> 69766 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p146.png | bin | 0 -> 70842 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p147.png | bin | 0 -> 65007 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p148.png | bin | 0 -> 62494 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p149.png | bin | 0 -> 58462 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p150.png | bin | 0 -> 62251 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p151.png | bin | 0 -> 64463 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p152.png | bin | 0 -> 66820 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p153.png | bin | 0 -> 69046 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882-page-images/p154.png | bin | 0 -> 39893 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882.txt | 1121 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 22882.zip | bin | 0 -> 21698 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
26 files changed, 2373 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22882-h.zip b/22882-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f9aa46 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-h.zip diff --git a/22882-h/22882-h.htm b/22882-h/22882-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e2167f --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-h/22882-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1236 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Image of the Gods, by Alan E. Nourse + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + h1 {text-align: left; clear: both; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin: 2em auto; clear: both;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + + .trans1 {border: solid 1px; margin: 2em 15% 4em; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; + font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Image of the Gods, by Alan Edward Nourse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Image of the Gods + +Author: Alan Edward Nourse + +Release Date: October 3, 2007 [EBook #22882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMAGE OF THE GODS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="trans1"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /> +This etext was produced from <i>The Counterfeit Man More Science Fiction +Stories by Alan E. Nourse</i> published in 1963. Extensive research did +not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was +renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected +without note.</div> + + + + +<h1>Image<br /> +of<br /> +the<br /> +Gods</h1> + + + + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It</span> was nearly winter when the ship arrived. Pete Farnam +never knew if the timing had been planned that way or not. +It might have been coincidence that it came just when the +colony was predicting its first real bumper crop of all time. +When it was all over, Pete and Mario and the rest tried to +figure it out, but none of them ever knew for sure just <i>what</i> +had happened back on Earth, or <i>when</i> it had actually happened. +There was too little information to go on, and practically +none that they could trust. All Pete Farnam really knew, +that day, was that this was the wrong year for a ship from +Earth to land on Baron IV.</p> + +<p>Pete was out on the plantation when it landed. As usual, +his sprayer had gotten clogged; tarring should have been +started earlier, before it got so cold that the stuff clung to the +nozzle and hardened before the spray could settle into the +dusty soil. The summer past had been the colony's finest in the +fourteen years he'd been there, a warm, still summer with +plenty of rain to keep the dirt down and let the <i>taaro</i> get well +rooted and grow up tall and gray against the purple sky. But +now the <i>taaro</i> was harvested. It was waiting, compressed and +crated, ready for shipment, and the heavy black clouds were +scudding nervously across the sky, faster with every passing +day. Two days ago Pete had asked Mario to see about firing +up the little furnaces the Dusties had built to help them fight +the winter. All that remained now was tarring the fields, and +then buckling down beneath the wind shields before the first +winter storms struck.</p> + +<p>Pete was trying to get the nozzle of the tar sprayer cleaned +out when Mario's jeep came roaring down the rutted road +from the village in a cloud of dust. In the back seat a couple +of Dusties were bouncing up and down like happy five-year-olds. +The brakes squealed and Mario bellowed at him from +the road. "Pete! The ship's in! Better get hopping!"</p> + +<p>Pete nodded and started to close up the sprayer. One of +the Dusties tumbled out of the jeep and scampered across the +field to give him a hand. It was an inexpert hand to say the +least, but the Dusties seemed so proud of the little they were +able to learn about mechanized farming that nobody had the +heart to shoo them away. Pete watched the fuzzy brown creature +get its paws thoroughly gummed up with tar before he +pulled him loose and sent him back to the jeep with a whack +on the backside. He finished the job himself, grabbed his coat +from the back of the sprayer, and pulled himself into the front +seat of the jeep.</p> + +<p>Mario started the little car back down the road. The young +colonist's face was coated with dust, emphasizing the lines of +worry around his eyes. "I don't like it, Pete. There isn't any +ship due this year."</p> + +<p>"When did it land?"</p> + +<p>"About twenty minutes ago. Won't be cool for a while yet."</p> + +<p>Pete laughed. "Maybe Old Schooner is just getting lonesome +to swap tall stories with us. Maybe he's even bringing us a +locker of T-bones. Who knows?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Mario without conviction.</p> + +<p>Pete looked at him, and shrugged. "Why complain if they're +early? Maybe they've found some new way to keep our fields +from blowing away on us every winter." He stared across at +the heavy windbreaks between the fields—long, ragged structures +built in hope of outwitting the vicious winds that howled +across the land during the long winter. Pete picked bits of tar +from his beard, and wiped the dirt from his forehead with +the back of his hand. "This tarring is mean," he said wearily. +"Glad to take a break."</p> + +<p>"Maybe Cap Schooner will know something about the rumors +we've been hearing," Mario said gloomily.</p> + +<p>Pete looked at him sharply. "About Earth?"</p> + +<p>Mario nodded. "Schooner's a pretty good guy, I guess. I +mean, he'd tell us if anything was <i>really</i> wrong back home, +wouldn't he?"</p> + +<p>Pete nodded, and snapped his fingers. One of the Dusties +hopped over into his lap and began gawking happily at the +broad fields as the jeep jogged along. Pete stroked the creature's +soft brown fur with his tar-caked fingers. "Maybe someday +these little guys will show us where <i>they</i> go for the winter," +he said. "They must have it down to a science."</p> + +<p>Somehow the idea was funny, and both men roared. If the +Dusties had <i>anything</i> down to a science, nobody knew what. +Mario grinned and tweaked the creature's tail. "They sure do +beat the winter, though," he said.</p> + +<p>"So do we. Only we have to do it the human way. These +fellas grew up in the climate." Pete lapsed into silence as the +village came into view. The ship had landed quite a way out, +resting on its skids on the long shallow groove the colonists +had bulldozed out for it years before, the first year they had +arrived on Baron IV. Slowly Pete turned Mario's words over +in his mind, allowing himself to worry a little. There <i>had</i> +been rumors of trouble back on Earth, persistent rumors he +had taken care to soft-pedal, as mayor of the colony. There +were other things, too, like the old newspapers and magazines +that had been brought in by the lad from Baron II, and the +rare radio message they could pick up through their atmospheric +disturbance. Maybe something <i>was</i> going wrong back +home. But somehow political upheavals on Earth seemed remote +to these hardened colonists. Captain Schooner's visits +were always welcome, but they were few and far between. The +colony was small; one ship every three years could supply it, +and even then the <i>taaro</i> crates wouldn't half fill up the storage +holds. There were other colonies far closer to home that sent +back more <i>taaro</i> in one year than Baron IV could grow in ten.</p> + +<p>But when a ship did come down, it was a time of high +excitement. It meant fresh food from Earth, meat from the +frozen lockers, maybe even a little candy and salt. And always +for Pete a landing meant a long evening of palaver with the +captain about things back home and things on Baron IV.</p> + +<p>Pete smiled to himself as he thought of it. He could remember +Earth, of course, with a kind of vague nostalgia, but +Baron IV was home to him now and he knew he would never +leave it. He had too many hopes invested there, too many +years of heartache and desperate hard work, too much deep +satisfaction in having cut a niche for himself on this dusty, +hostile world, ever to think much about Earth any more.</p> + +<p>Mario stopped in front of the offices, and one of the Dusties +hopped out ahead of Pete. The creature strode across the rough +gravel to the door, pulling tar off his fingers just as he had +seen Pete do. Pete followed him to the door, and then stopped, +frowning. There should have been a babble of voices inside, +with Captain Schooner's loud laugh roaring above the excitement. +But Pete could hear nothing. A chill of uneasiness ran +through him; he pushed open the door and walked inside. A +dozen of his friends looked up silently, avoiding the eyes of +the uniformed stranger in the center of the room. When he +saw the man, Pete Farnam knew something was wrong indeed.</p> + +<p>It wasn't Captain Schooner. It was a man he'd never seen +before.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Dustie ran across the room in front of Pete and hopped +up on the desk as though he owned it, throwing his hands on his +hips and staring at the stranger curiously. Pete took off his +cap and parka and dropped them on a chair. "Well," he said. +"This is a surprise. We weren't expecting a ship so soon."</p> + +<p>The man inclined his head stiffly and glanced down at the +paper he held in his hand. "You're Peter Farnam, I suppose? +Mayor of this colony?"</p> + +<p>"That's right. And you?"</p> + +<p>"Varga is the name," the captain said shortly. "Earth Security +and Supply." He nodded toward the small, frail-looking +man in civilian clothes, sitting beside him. "This is Rupert +Nathan, of the Colonial Service. You'll be seeing a great deal +of him." He held out a small wallet of papers. "Our credentials, +Farnam. Be so good as to examine them."</p> + +<p>Pete glanced around the room. John Tegan and Hank Mario +were watching him uneasily. Mary Turner was following the +proceedings with her sharp little eyes, missing nothing, and +Mel Dorfman stood like a rock, his heavy face curiously expressionless +as he watched the visitors. Pete reached out for +the papers, flipped through them, and handed them back with +a long look at Captain Varga.</p> + +<p>He was younger than Captain Schooner, with sandy hair +and pale eyes that looked up at Pete from a soft baby face. +Clean-shaven, his whole person seemed immaculate as he +leaned back calmly in the chair. His civilian companion, however, +had indecision written in every line of his pink face. His +hands fluttered nervously, and he avoided the colonist's eyes.</p> + +<p>Pete turned to the captain. "The papers say you're our +official supply ship," he said. "You're early, but an Earth ship +is always good news." He clucked at the Dustie, who was about +to go after one of the shiny buttons on the captain's blouse. +The little brown creature hopped over and settled on Pete's +knee. "We've been used to seeing Captain Schooner."</p> + +<p>The captain and Nathan exchanged glances. "Captain +Schooner has retired from Security Service," the captain said +shortly. "You won't be seeing him again. But we have a cargo +for your colony. You may send these people over to the ship +to start unloading now, if you wish—" his eye swept the circle +of windburned faces—"while Nathan and I discuss certain +matters with you here."</p> + +<p>Nobody moved for a moment. Then Pete nodded to Mario. +"Take the boys out to unload, Jack. We'll see you back here +in an hour or so."</p> + +<p>"Pete, are you sure—"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry. Take Mel and Hank along to lend a hand." +Pete turned back to Captain Varga. "Suppose we go inside to +more comfortable quarters," he said. "We're always glad to +have word from Earth."</p> + +<p>They passed through a dark, smelly corridor into Pete's +personal quarters. For a colony house, if wasn't bad—good +plastic chairs, a hand-made rug on the floor, even one of Mary +Turner's paintings on the wall, and several of the weird, stylized +carvings the Dusties had done for Pete. But the place smelled +of tar and sweat, and Captain Varga's nose wrinkled in distaste. +Nathan drew out a large silk handkerchief and wiped +his pink hands, touching his nose daintily.</p> + +<p>The Dustie hopped into the room ahead of them and settled +into the biggest, most comfortable chair. Pete snapped his fingers +sharply, and the brown creature jumped down again like +a naughty child and climbed up on Pete's knee. The captain +glanced at the chair with disgust and sat down in another. +"Do you actually let those horrid creatures have the run of +your house?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" Pete said. "We have the run of their planet. +They're quite harmless, really. And quite clean."</p> + +<p>The captain sniffed. "Nasty things. Might find a use for the +furs, though. They look quite soft."</p> + +<p>"We don't kill Dusties," said Pete coolly. "They're friendly, +and intelligent too, in a childish sort of way." He looked at +the captain and Nathan, and decided not to put on the coffee +pot. "Now what's the trouble?"</p> + +<p>"No trouble at all," the captain said, "except the trouble +you choose to make. You have your year's <i>taaro</i> ready for +shipping?"</p> + +<p>"Of course."</p> + +<p>The captain took out a small pencil on a chain and began to +twirl it. "How much, to be exact?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty thousand, Earth weight."</p> + +<p>"Tons?"</p> + +<p>Pete shook his head. "Hundredweight."</p> + +<p>The captain raised his eyebrows. "I see. And there are—" +he consulted the papers in his hand—"roughly two hundred +and twenty colonists here on Baron IV. Is that right?"</p> + +<p>"That's right."</p> + +<p>"Seventy-four men, eighty-one women, and fifty-nine children, +to be exact?"</p> + +<p>"I'd have to look it up. Margaret Singman had twins the +other night."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't be ridiculous," snapped the captain. "On a +planet the size of Baron IV, with seventy-four men, you should +be producing a dozen times the <i>taaro</i> you stated. We'll consider +that your quota for a starter, at least. You have ample seed, +according to my records. I should think, with the proper equipment—"</p> + +<p>"Now wait a minute," Pete said softly. "We're fighting a +climate here, captain. You should know that. We have only a +two-planting season, and the 'proper equipment,' as you call +it, doesn't operate too well out here. It has a way of clogging +up with dust in the summer, and rusting in the winter."</p> + +<p>"Really," said Captain Varga. "As I was saying, with the +proper equipment, you could cultivate a great deal more land +than you seem to be using. This would give you the necessary +heavier yield. Wouldn't you say so, Nathan?"</p> + +<p>The little nervous man nodded. "Certainly, captain. With +the proper organization of labor."</p> + +<p>"That's nonsense," Pete said, suddenly angry. "Nobody can +get that kind of yield from this planet. The ground won't give +it, and the men won't grow it."</p> + +<p>The captain gave him a long look. "Really?" he said. "I +think you're wrong. I think the men will grow it."</p> + +<p>Pete stood up slowly. "What are you trying to say? This +business about quotas and organization of labor—"</p> + +<p>"You didn't read our credentials as we instructed you, +Farnam. Mr. Nathan is the official governor of the colony on +Baron IV, as of now. You'll find him most co-operative, I'm +sure, but he's answerable directly to me in all matters. My job +is administration of the entire Baron system. Clear enough?"</p> + +<p>Pete's eyes were dark. "I think you'd better draw me a +picture," he said tightly. "A very clear picture."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Baron IV is not paying for its upkeep. <i>Taaro</i>, +after all, is not the most necessary of crops in the universe. +It has value, but not very much value, all things considered. +If the production of <i>taaro</i> here is not increased sharply, it may +be necessary to close down the colony altogether."</p> + +<p>"You're a liar," said Pete shortly. "The Colonization Board +makes no production demands on the colonies. Nor does it +farm out systems for personal exploitation."</p> + +<p>The captain smiled. "The Colonization Board, as you call +it, has undergone a slight reorganization," he said.</p> + +<p>"<i>Reorganization!</i> It's a top-level board in the Earth Government! +Nothing could reorganize it but a wholesale—" He broke +off, his jaw sagging as the implication sank in.</p> + +<p>"You're rather out on a limb, you see," said the captain +coolly. "Poor communications and all that. The fact is that +the entire Earth Government has undergone a slight reorganization +also."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Dustie knew that something had happened.</p> + +<p>Pete didn't know how he knew. The Dusties couldn't talk, +couldn't make <i>any</i> noise, as far as Pete knew. But they always +seemed to know when something unusual was happening. It +was wrong, really, to consider them unintelligent animals. +There are other sorts of intelligence than human, and other +sorts of communication, and other sorts of culture. The Baron +IV colonists had never understood the queer perceptive sense +that the Dusties seemed to possess, any more than they knew +how many Dusties there were, or what they ate, or where on the +planet they lived. All they knew was that when they landed on +Baron IV, the Dusties were there.</p> + +<p>At first the creatures had been very timid. For weeks the +men and women, busy with their building, had paid little attention +to the skittering brown forms that crept down from +the rocky hills to watch them with big, curious eyes. They were +about half the size of men, and strangely humanoid in appearance, +not in the sense that a monkey is humanoid (for +they did <i>not</i> resemble monkeys) but in some way the colonists +could not quite pin down. It may have been the way they +walked around on their long, fragile hind legs, the way they +stroked their pointed chins as they sat and watched and listened +with their pointed ears lifted alertly, watching with soft gray +eyes, or the way they handled objects with their little four-fingered +hands. They were so remarkably human-like in their +elfin way that the colonists couldn't help but be drawn to the +creatures.</p> + +<p>That whole first summer, when the colonists were building +the village and the landing groove for the ships, the Dusties +were among them, trying pathetically to help, so eager for +friendship that even occasional rebuffs failed to drive them +away. They <i>liked</i> the colony. They seemed, somehow, to savor +the atmosphere, moving about like solemn, fuzzy overseers as +the work progressed through the summer. Pete Farnam thought +that they had even tried to warn the people about the winter. +But the colonists couldn't understand, of course. Not until +later. The Dusties became a standing joke, and were tolerated +with considerable amusement—until the winter struck.</p> + +<p>It had come with almost unbelievable ferocity. The houses +had not been completed when the first hurricanes came, and +they were smashed into toothpicks. The winds came, vicious +winds full of dust and sleet and ice, wild erratic twisting gales +that ripped the village to shreds, tearing off the topsoil that +had been broken and fertilized—merciless, never-ending winds +that wailed and screamed the planet's protest. The winds drove +sand and dirt and ice into the heart of the generators, and the +heating units corroded and jammed and went dead. The jeeps +and tractors and bulldozers were scored and rusted. The people +began dying by the dozens as they huddled down in the pitiful +little pits they had dug to try to keep the winds away.</p> + +<p>Few of them were still conscious when the Dusties had come +silently, in the blizzard, eyes closed tight against the blast, to +drag the people up into the hills, into caves and hollows that +still showed the fresh marks of carving tools. They had brought +food—what kind of food nobody knew, for the colony's food +had been destroyed by the first blast of the hurricane—but +whatever it was it had kept them alive. And somehow, the +colonists had survived the winter which seemed never to end. +There were frozen legs and ruined eyes; there was pneumonia +so swift and virulent that even the antibiotics they managed to +salvage could not stop it; there was near-starvation—but they +were kept alive, until the winds began to die, and they walked +out of their holes in the ground to see the ruins of their first +village.</p> + +<p>From that winter on, nobody considered the Dusties funny +any more. What had motivated them no one knew, but the +colony owed them their lives. The Dusties tried to help the +people rebuild. They showed them how to build windshields +that would keep houses intact and anchored to the ground +when the winds came again. They built little furnaces out of +dirt and rock which defied the winds and gave great heat. They +showed the colonists a dozen things they needed to know for +life on the rugged planet. The colonists in turn tried to teach +the Dusties something about Earth, and how the colonists had +lived, and why they had come. But there was a barrier of intelligence +that could not be crossed. The Dusties learned simple +things, but only slowly and imperfectly. They seemed content +to take on their mock overseer's role, moving in and about +the village, approving or disapproving, but always trying to +help. Some became personal pets, though "pet" was the wrong +word, because it was more of a strange personal friendship +limited by utter lack of communication, than any animal-and-master +relationship. The colonists made sure that the Dusties +were granted the respect due them as rightful masters of Baron +IV. And somehow the Dusties perceived this attitude, and were +so grateful for the acceptance and friendship that there seemed +nothing they wouldn't do for the colonists.</p> + +<p>There had been many discussions about them. "You'd think +they'd resent our moving in on them," Jack Mario had said +one day. "After all, we <i>are</i> usurpers. And they treat us like +kings. Have you noticed the way they mimic us? I saw one +chewing tobacco the other day. He hated the stuff, but he +chewed away, and spat like a trooper."</p> + +<p>One of the Dusties had been sitting on Pete's knee when +Captain Varga had been talking, and he had known that something +terrible was wrong. Now he sat on the desk in the office, +moving uneasily back and forth as Pete looked up at Mario's +dark face, and then across at John Tegan and Mel Dorfman. +John's face was dark with anger as he ran his fingers through +the heavy gray beard that fell to his chest. Mel sat stunned, +shaking his head helplessly. Mario was unable to restrain himself. +His face was bitter as he stomped across the room, then +returned to shake his fist under Pete's nose. "But did you see +him?" he choked. "Governor of the colony! What does he +know about growing <i>taaro</i> in this kind of soil? Did you see +those hands? Soft, dainty, pink! How could a man with hands +like that govern a colony?"</p> + +<p>Pete looked over at John Tegan. "Well, John?"</p> + +<p>The big man looked up, his eyes hollow under craggy brows. +"It's below the belt, Pete. But if the government's been overthrown, +then the captain is right. It leaves us out on a limb."</p> + +<p>Pete shook his head. "<i>I</i> can't give him an answer," he said. +"The answer has got to come from the colony. All I can do +is speak for the colony."</p> + +<p>Tegan stared at the floor. "We're an Earth colony," he said +softly. "I know that. I was born in New York. I lived there for +many years. But Earth isn't my home any more. This is." He +looked at Pete. "I built it, and so did you. All of us built it, +even when things were getting stormy back home. Maybe that's +why we came, maybe somehow we saw the handwriting on the +wall."</p> + +<p>"But when did it happen?" Mel burst out suddenly. "How +could <i>anything</i> so big happen so fast?"</p> + +<p>"Speed was the secret," Pete said gloomily. "It was quick, +it was well organized, and the government was unstable. We're +just caught in the edge of it. Pity the ones living there, now. +But the new government considers the colonies as areas for +exploitation instead of development."</p> + +<p>"Well, they can't do it," Mario cried. "This is <i>our</i> land, <i>our</i> +home. Nobody can tell us what to grow in our fields."</p> + +<p>Pete's fist slammed down on the desk. "Well, how are you +going to stop them? The law of the land is sitting out there in +that ship. Tomorrow morning he's coming back here to install +his fat little friend as governor. He has guns and soldiers on that +ship to back him up. What are you going to do about it?"</p> + +<p>"Fight it," Mario said.</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>Jack Mario looked around the room. "There are only a +dozen men on that ship," he said softly. "We've got seventy-four. +When Varga comes back to the village tomorrow, we +tell him to take his friend back to the ship and shove off. We +give him five minutes to get turned around, and if he doesn't, +we start shooting."</p> + +<p>"Just one little thing," said Pete quietly. "What about the +supplies? Even if we fought them off and won, what about +the food, the clothing, the replacement parts for the machines?"</p> + +<p>"We don't need machinery to farm this land," said Mario +eagerly. "There's food here, food we can live on; the Dusties +showed us that the first winter. And we can farm the land for +our own use and let the machinery rust. There's nothing they +can bring us from Earth that we can't do without."</p> + +<p>"We couldn't get away with it!" Mel Dorfman shook his +head bitterly. "You're asking us to cut ourselves off from Earth +completely. But they'd never let us. They'd send ships to bomb +us out."</p> + +<p>"We could hide, and rebuild after they had finished."</p> + +<p>Pete Farnam sighed. "They'd never leave us alone, Jack. +Didn't you see that captain? His kind of mind can't stand opposition. +We'd just be a thorn in the side of the new Earth +Government. They don't want <i>any</i> free colonies."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's give them one." Mario sat down tiredly, snapping +his fingers at the Dustie. "Furs!" he snarled. He looked up, +his dark eyes burning. "It's no good, Pete. We can't let them +get away with it. Produce for them, yes. Try to raise the yield +for them, yes. But not a governor. If they insist on that we can +throw them out, and keep them out."</p> + +<p>"I don't think so. They'd kill every one of us first."</p> + +<p>John Tegan sat up, and looked Pete Farnam straight in the +eye. "In that case, Peter, it might just be better if they did."</p> + +<p>Pete stared at him for a moment and slowly stood up. "All +right," he said. "Call a general colony meeting. We'll see what +the women think. Then we'll make our plans."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The ship's jeep skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust. Captain +Varga peered through the windshield. Then he stood up, staring +at the three men blocking the road at the edge of the +village. The little pink-faced man at his side turned white when +he saw their faces, and his fingers began to tremble. Each of +the men had a gun.</p> + +<p>"You'd better clear the road," the captain snapped. "We're +driving through."</p> + +<p>Pete Farnam stepped forward. He pointed to Nathan. "Take +your friend there back to the ship. Leave him there. We don't +want him here."</p> + +<p>Nathan turned to Varga. "I told you," he said viciously. +"Too big for their boots. Go on through."</p> + +<p>The captain laughed and gunned the motor, started straight +for the men blocking the road. Then Jack Mario shot a hole +in his front tire. The jeep lurched to a stop. Captain Varga +stood up, glaring at the men. "Farnam, step out here," he said.</p> + +<p>"You heard us," Pete said, without moving. "Crops, yes. +We'll try to increase our yield. But no overseer. Leave him here +and we'll kill him."</p> + +<p>"Once more," said the captain, "clear the way. This man +is your new governor. He will be regarded as the official agent +of the Earth Government until the final production capacity of +this colony is determined. Now clear out."</p> + +<p>The men didn't move. Without another word, the captain +threw the jeep into reverse, jerked back in a curve, and started +the jeep, flat tire and all, back toward the ship in a billow of +dust.</p> + +<p>Abruptly the village exploded into activity. Four men took +up places behind the row of windbreaks beyond the first row +of cabins. Pete turned and ran back into the village. He found +John Tegan commandeering a squad of ten dirty-faced men. +"Are the women and children all out?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"All taken care of." Tegan spat tobacco juice, and wiped +his mouth with the back of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Where's Mel?"</p> + +<p>"Left flank. He'll try to move in behind them. Gonna be +tough, Pete, they've got good weapons."</p> + +<p>"What about the boys last night?"</p> + +<p>John was checking the bolt on his ancient rifle. "Hank and +Ringo? Just got back an hour ago. If Varga wants to get his +surface planes into action, he's going to have to dismantle them +and rebuild them outside. The boys jammed up the launching +ports for good." He spat again. "Don't worry, Pete. This is +going to be a ground fight."</p> + +<p>"Okay." Pete held out his hand to the old man. "This may +be it. And if we turn them back, there's bound to be more +later."</p> + +<p>"There's a lot of planet to hide on," said Tegan. "They may +come back, but after a while they'll go again."</p> + +<p>Pete nodded. "I just hope we'll still be here when they do."</p> + +<p>They waited. It seemed like hours. Pete moved from post +to post among the men, heavy-faced men he had known all +his life, it seemed. They waited with whatever weapons they +had available—pistols, home-made revolvers, ortho-guns, an +occasional rifle, even knives and clubs. Pete's heart sank. They +were bitter men, but they were a mob with no organization, +no training for fighting. They would be facing a dozen of +Security's best-disciplined shock troops, armed with the latest +weapons from Earth's electronics laboratories. The colonists +didn't stand a chance.</p> + +<p>Pete got his rifle and made his way up the rise of ground +overlooking the right flank of the village. Squinting, he could +spot the cloud of dust rising up near the glistening ship, moving +toward the village. And then, for the first time, he realized +that he hadn't seen any Dusties all day.</p> + +<p>It puzzled him. They had been in the village in abundance +an hour before dawn, while the plans were being laid out. He +glanced around, hoping to see one of the fuzzy brown forms +at his elbow, but he saw nothing. And then, as he stared at the +cloud of dust coming across the valley, he thought he saw the +ground moving.</p> + +<p>He blinked, and rubbed his eyes. With a gasp he dragged +out his binoculars and peered down at the valley floor. There +were thousands of them, hundreds of thousands, their brown +bodies moving slowly out from the hills surrounding the village, +converging into a broad, liquid column between the +village and the ship. Even as he watched, the column grew +thicker, like a heavy blanket being drawn across the road, a +multitude of Dusties lining up.</p> + +<p>Pete's hair prickled on the back of his neck. They knew so +little about the creatures, so <i>very</i> little. As he watched the +brown carpet rolling out, he tried to think. Could there be a +weapon in their hands, could they somehow have perceived +the evil that came from the ship, somehow sensed the desperation +in the men's voices as they had laid their plans? Pete +stared, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. They were +there in the road, thousands upon thousands of them, standing +there, waiting—for what?</p> + +<p>Three columns of dust were coming from the road now. +Through the glasses Pete could see the jeeps, filled with men +in their gleaming gray uniforms, crash helmets tight about their +heads, blasters glistening in the pale light. They moved in +deadly convoy along the rutted road, closer and closer to the +crowd of Dusties overflowing the road.</p> + +<p>The Dusties just stood there. They didn't move. They didn't +shift, or turn. They just waited.</p> + +<p>The captain's car was first in line. He pulled up before the +line with a screech of brakes, and stared at the sea of creatures +before him. "Get out of there!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The Dusties didn't move.</p> + +<p>The captain turned to his men. "Fire into them," he snapped. +"Clear a path."</p> + +<p>There was a blaze of fire, and a half a dozen Dusties slid to +the ground, convulsing. Pete felt a chill pass through him, staring +in disbelief. The Dusties had a weapon, he kept telling +himself, they <i>must</i> have a weapon, something the colonists had +never dreamed of. The guns came up again, and another volley +echoed across the valley, and a dozen more Dusties fell to the +ground. For every one that fell, another moved stolidly into +its place.</p> + +<p>With a curse the captain sat down in the seat, gunned the +motor, and started forward. The jeep struck the fallen bodies, +rolled over them, and plunged straight into the wall of Dusties. +Still they didn't move. The car slowed and stopped, mired +down. The other cars picked up momentum and plunged into +the brown river of creatures. They too ground to a stop.</p> + +<p>The captain started roaring at his men. "Cut them down! +We're going to get through here!" Blasters began roaring into +the faces of the Dusties, and as they fell the jeeps moved forward +a few feet until more of the creatures blocked their path.</p> + +<p>Pete heard a cry below him, and saw Jack Mario standing +in the road, gun on the ground, hands out in front of him, +staring in horror as the Dusties kept moving into the fire. "Do +you see what they're doing!" he screamed. "They'll be slaughtered, +every one of them!" And then he was running down the +road, shouting at them to stop, and so were Pete and Tegan +and the rest of the men.</p> + +<p>Something hit Pete in the shoulder as he ran. He spun +around and fell into the dusty road. A dozen Dusties closed in +around him, lifted him up bodily, and started back through the +village with him. He tried to struggle, but vaguely he saw that +the other men were being carried back also, while the river +of brown creatures held the jeeps at bay. The Dusties were +hurrying, half carrying and half dragging him back through +the village and up a long ravine into the hills beyond. At last +they set Pete on his feet again, plucking urgently at his shirt +sleeve as they hurried him along.</p> + +<p>He followed them willingly, then, with the rest of the colonists +at his heels. He didn't know what the Dusties were doing, +but he knew they were trying to save him. Finally they reached +a cave, a great cleft in the rock that Pete knew for certain had +not been there when he had led exploring parties through these +hills years before. It was a huge opening, and already a dozen +of the men were there, waiting, dazed by what they had witnessed +down in the valley, while more were stumbling up the +rocky incline, tugged along by the fuzzy brown creatures.</p> + +<p>Inside the cavern, steps led down the side of the rock, deep +into the dark coolness of the earth. Down and down they went, +until they suddenly found themselves in a mammoth room lit +by blazing torches. Pete stopped and stared at his friends who +had already arrived. Jack Mario was sitting on the floor, his +face in his hands, sobbing. Tegan was sitting, too, blinking at +Pete as if he were a stranger, and Dorfman was trembling like +a leaf. Pete stared about him through the dim light, and then +looked where Tegan was pointing at the end of the room.</p> + +<p>He couldn't see it clearly, at first. Finally, he made out a +raised platform with four steps leading up. A torch lighted +either side of a dais at the top, and between the torches, rising +high into the gloom, stood a statue.</p> + +<p>It was a beautifully carved thing, hewn from the heavy granite +that made up the core of this planet, with the same curious +styling as other carving the Dusties had done. The design was +intricate, the lines carefully turned and polished. At first Pete +thought it was a statue of a Dustie, but when he moved forward +and squinted in the dim light, he suddenly realized that +it was something else indeed. And in that moment he realized +why they were there and why the Dusties had done this incredible +thing to protect them.</p> + +<p>The statue was weirdly beautiful, the work of a dedicated +master sculptor. It was a figure, standing with five-fingered +hands on hips, head raised high. Not a portrait, but an image +seen through other eyes than human, standing high in the +room with the lights burning reverently at its feet.</p> + +<p>Unmistakably it was the statue of a man.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>They heard the bombs, much later. The granite roof and +floor of the cavern trembled, and the men and women stared +at each other, helpless and sick as they huddled in that great +hall. But presently the bombing stopped. Later, when they +stumbled out of that grotto into the late afternoon light, the +ship was gone.</p> + +<p>They knew it would be back. Possibly it would bring back +search parties to hunt down the rebels in the hills; perhaps it +would just wait and again bomb out the new village when it +rose. But searching parties would never find their quarry, and +the village would rise again and again, if necessary.</p> + +<p>And in the end, somehow, Pete knew that the colonists +would find a way to survive here and live free as they had +always lived. It might be a bitter struggle, but no matter how +hard the fight, there would be one strange and wonderful thing +they could count on.</p> + +<p>No matter what they had to do, he knew the Dusties would +help them.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Image of the Gods, by Alan Edward Nourse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMAGE OF THE GODS *** + +***** This file should be named 22882-h.htm or 22882-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/8/22882/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/22882-page-images/p136.png b/22882-page-images/p136.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4622a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p136.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p137.png b/22882-page-images/p137.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a35725 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p137.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p138.png b/22882-page-images/p138.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4487f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p138.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p139.png b/22882-page-images/p139.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c62be1f --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p139.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p140.png b/22882-page-images/p140.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c1566b --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p140.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p141.png b/22882-page-images/p141.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73bf6ec --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p141.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p142.png b/22882-page-images/p142.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f67da6 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p142.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p143.png b/22882-page-images/p143.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bcb797b --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p143.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p144.png b/22882-page-images/p144.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6a79b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p144.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p145.png b/22882-page-images/p145.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6641763 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p145.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p146.png b/22882-page-images/p146.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3a8e92 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p146.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p147.png b/22882-page-images/p147.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f16c57 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p147.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p148.png b/22882-page-images/p148.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfa377c --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p148.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p149.png b/22882-page-images/p149.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3d1532 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p149.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p150.png b/22882-page-images/p150.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8609591 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p150.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p151.png b/22882-page-images/p151.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9e5fd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p151.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p152.png b/22882-page-images/p152.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe86e3a --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p152.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p153.png b/22882-page-images/p153.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4372d9f --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p153.png diff --git a/22882-page-images/p154.png b/22882-page-images/p154.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..311203d --- /dev/null +++ b/22882-page-images/p154.png diff --git a/22882.txt b/22882.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..283779b --- /dev/null +++ b/22882.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1121 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Image of the Gods, by Alan Edward Nourse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Image of the Gods + +Author: Alan Edward Nourse + +Release Date: October 3, 2007 [EBook #22882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMAGE OF THE GODS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _The Counterfeit Man More Science + Fiction Stories by Alan E. Nourse_ published in 1963. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on + this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical + errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + Image + of + the + Gods + + + + +It was nearly winter when the ship arrived. Pete Farnam never knew if +the timing had been planned that way or not. It might have been +coincidence that it came just when the colony was predicting its first +real bumper crop of all time. When it was all over, Pete and Mario and +the rest tried to figure it out, but none of them ever knew for sure +just _what_ had happened back on Earth, or _when_ it had actually +happened. There was too little information to go on, and practically +none that they could trust. All Pete Farnam really knew, that day, was +that this was the wrong year for a ship from Earth to land on Baron IV. + +Pete was out on the plantation when it landed. As usual, his sprayer had +gotten clogged; tarring should have been started earlier, before it got +so cold that the stuff clung to the nozzle and hardened before the spray +could settle into the dusty soil. The summer past had been the colony's +finest in the fourteen years he'd been there, a warm, still summer with +plenty of rain to keep the dirt down and let the _taaro_ get well rooted +and grow up tall and gray against the purple sky. But now the _taaro_ +was harvested. It was waiting, compressed and crated, ready for +shipment, and the heavy black clouds were scudding nervously across the +sky, faster with every passing day. Two days ago Pete had asked Mario to +see about firing up the little furnaces the Dusties had built to help +them fight the winter. All that remained now was tarring the fields, and +then buckling down beneath the wind shields before the first winter +storms struck. + +Pete was trying to get the nozzle of the tar sprayer cleaned out when +Mario's jeep came roaring down the rutted road from the village in a +cloud of dust. In the back seat a couple of Dusties were bouncing up and +down like happy five-year-olds. The brakes squealed and Mario bellowed +at him from the road. "Pete! The ship's in! Better get hopping!" + +Pete nodded and started to close up the sprayer. One of the Dusties +tumbled out of the jeep and scampered across the field to give him a +hand. It was an inexpert hand to say the least, but the Dusties seemed +so proud of the little they were able to learn about mechanized farming +that nobody had the heart to shoo them away. Pete watched the fuzzy +brown creature get its paws thoroughly gummed up with tar before he +pulled him loose and sent him back to the jeep with a whack on the +backside. He finished the job himself, grabbed his coat from the back of +the sprayer, and pulled himself into the front seat of the jeep. + +Mario started the little car back down the road. The young colonist's +face was coated with dust, emphasizing the lines of worry around his +eyes. "I don't like it, Pete. There isn't any ship due this year." + +"When did it land?" + +"About twenty minutes ago. Won't be cool for a while yet." + +Pete laughed. "Maybe Old Schooner is just getting lonesome to swap tall +stories with us. Maybe he's even bringing us a locker of T-bones. Who +knows?" + +"Maybe," said Mario without conviction. + +Pete looked at him, and shrugged. "Why complain if they're early? Maybe +they've found some new way to keep our fields from blowing away on us +every winter." He stared across at the heavy windbreaks between the +fields--long, ragged structures built in hope of outwitting the vicious +winds that howled across the land during the long winter. Pete picked +bits of tar from his beard, and wiped the dirt from his forehead with +the back of his hand. "This tarring is mean," he said wearily. "Glad to +take a break." + +"Maybe Cap Schooner will know something about the rumors we've been +hearing," Mario said gloomily. + +Pete looked at him sharply. "About Earth?" + +Mario nodded. "Schooner's a pretty good guy, I guess. I mean, he'd tell +us if anything was _really_ wrong back home, wouldn't he?" + +Pete nodded, and snapped his fingers. One of the Dusties hopped over +into his lap and began gawking happily at the broad fields as the jeep +jogged along. Pete stroked the creature's soft brown fur with his +tar-caked fingers. "Maybe someday these little guys will show us where +_they_ go for the winter," he said. "They must have it down to a +science." + +Somehow the idea was funny, and both men roared. If the Dusties had +_anything_ down to a science, nobody knew what. Mario grinned and +tweaked the creature's tail. "They sure do beat the winter, though," he +said. + +"So do we. Only we have to do it the human way. These fellas grew up in +the climate." Pete lapsed into silence as the village came into view. +The ship had landed quite a way out, resting on its skids on the long +shallow groove the colonists had bulldozed out for it years before, the +first year they had arrived on Baron IV. Slowly Pete turned Mario's +words over in his mind, allowing himself to worry a little. There _had_ +been rumors of trouble back on Earth, persistent rumors he had taken +care to soft-pedal, as mayor of the colony. There were other things, +too, like the old newspapers and magazines that had been brought in by +the lad from Baron II, and the rare radio message they could pick up +through their atmospheric disturbance. Maybe something _was_ going wrong +back home. But somehow political upheavals on Earth seemed remote to +these hardened colonists. Captain Schooner's visits were always welcome, +but they were few and far between. The colony was small; one ship every +three years could supply it, and even then the _taaro_ crates wouldn't +half fill up the storage holds. There were other colonies far closer to +home that sent back more _taaro_ in one year than Baron IV could grow in +ten. + +But when a ship did come down, it was a time of high excitement. It +meant fresh food from Earth, meat from the frozen lockers, maybe even a +little candy and salt. And always for Pete a landing meant a long +evening of palaver with the captain about things back home and things on +Baron IV. + +Pete smiled to himself as he thought of it. He could remember Earth, of +course, with a kind of vague nostalgia, but Baron IV was home to him now +and he knew he would never leave it. He had too many hopes invested +there, too many years of heartache and desperate hard work, too much +deep satisfaction in having cut a niche for himself on this dusty, +hostile world, ever to think much about Earth any more. + +Mario stopped in front of the offices, and one of the Dusties hopped out +ahead of Pete. The creature strode across the rough gravel to the door, +pulling tar off his fingers just as he had seen Pete do. Pete followed +him to the door, and then stopped, frowning. There should have been a +babble of voices inside, with Captain Schooner's loud laugh roaring +above the excitement. But Pete could hear nothing. A chill of uneasiness +ran through him; he pushed open the door and walked inside. A dozen of +his friends looked up silently, avoiding the eyes of the uniformed +stranger in the center of the room. When he saw the man, Pete Farnam +knew something was wrong indeed. + +It wasn't Captain Schooner. It was a man he'd never seen before. + + * * * * * + +The Dustie ran across the room in front of Pete and hopped up on the +desk as though he owned it, throwing his hands on his hips and staring +at the stranger curiously. Pete took off his cap and parka and dropped +them on a chair. "Well," he said. "This is a surprise. We weren't +expecting a ship so soon." + +The man inclined his head stiffly and glanced down at the paper he held +in his hand. "You're Peter Farnam, I suppose? Mayor of this colony?" + +"That's right. And you?" + +"Varga is the name," the captain said shortly. "Earth Security and +Supply." He nodded toward the small, frail-looking man in civilian +clothes, sitting beside him. "This is Rupert Nathan, of the Colonial +Service. You'll be seeing a great deal of him." He held out a small +wallet of papers. "Our credentials, Farnam. Be so good as to examine +them." + +Pete glanced around the room. John Tegan and Hank Mario were watching +him uneasily. Mary Turner was following the proceedings with her sharp +little eyes, missing nothing, and Mel Dorfman stood like a rock, his +heavy face curiously expressionless as he watched the visitors. Pete +reached out for the papers, flipped through them, and handed them back +with a long look at Captain Varga. + +He was younger than Captain Schooner, with sandy hair and pale eyes that +looked up at Pete from a soft baby face. Clean-shaven, his whole person +seemed immaculate as he leaned back calmly in the chair. His civilian +companion, however, had indecision written in every line of his pink +face. His hands fluttered nervously, and he avoided the colonist's eyes. + +Pete turned to the captain. "The papers say you're our official supply +ship," he said. "You're early, but an Earth ship is always good news." +He clucked at the Dustie, who was about to go after one of the shiny +buttons on the captain's blouse. The little brown creature hopped over +and settled on Pete's knee. "We've been used to seeing Captain +Schooner." + +The captain and Nathan exchanged glances. "Captain Schooner has retired +from Security Service," the captain said shortly. "You won't be seeing +him again. But we have a cargo for your colony. You may send these +people over to the ship to start unloading now, if you wish--" his eye +swept the circle of windburned faces--"while Nathan and I discuss +certain matters with you here." + +Nobody moved for a moment. Then Pete nodded to Mario. "Take the boys out +to unload, Jack. We'll see you back here in an hour or so." + +"Pete, are you sure--" + +"Don't worry. Take Mel and Hank along to lend a hand." Pete turned back +to Captain Varga. "Suppose we go inside to more comfortable quarters," +he said. "We're always glad to have word from Earth." + +They passed through a dark, smelly corridor into Pete's personal +quarters. For a colony house, if wasn't bad--good plastic chairs, a +hand-made rug on the floor, even one of Mary Turner's paintings on the +wall, and several of the weird, stylized carvings the Dusties had done +for Pete. But the place smelled of tar and sweat, and Captain Varga's +nose wrinkled in distaste. Nathan drew out a large silk handkerchief and +wiped his pink hands, touching his nose daintily. + +The Dustie hopped into the room ahead of them and settled into the +biggest, most comfortable chair. Pete snapped his fingers sharply, and +the brown creature jumped down again like a naughty child and climbed up +on Pete's knee. The captain glanced at the chair with disgust and sat +down in another. "Do you actually let those horrid creatures have the +run of your house?" he asked. + +"Why not?" Pete said. "We have the run of their planet. They're quite +harmless, really. And quite clean." + +The captain sniffed. "Nasty things. Might find a use for the furs, +though. They look quite soft." + +"We don't kill Dusties," said Pete coolly. "They're friendly, and +intelligent too, in a childish sort of way." He looked at the captain +and Nathan, and decided not to put on the coffee pot. "Now what's the +trouble?" + +"No trouble at all," the captain said, "except the trouble you choose to +make. You have your year's _taaro_ ready for shipping?" + +"Of course." + +The captain took out a small pencil on a chain and began to twirl it. +"How much, to be exact?" + +"Twenty thousand, Earth weight." + +"Tons?" + +Pete shook his head. "Hundredweight." + +The captain raised his eyebrows. "I see. And there are--" he consulted +the papers in his hand--"roughly two hundred and twenty colonists here +on Baron IV. Is that right?" + +"That's right." + +"Seventy-four men, eighty-one women, and fifty-nine children, to be +exact?" + +"I'd have to look it up. Margaret Singman had twins the other night." + +"Well, don't be ridiculous," snapped the captain. "On a planet the size +of Baron IV, with seventy-four men, you should be producing a dozen +times the _taaro_ you stated. We'll consider that your quota for a +starter, at least. You have ample seed, according to my records. I +should think, with the proper equipment--" + +"Now wait a minute," Pete said softly. "We're fighting a climate here, +captain. You should know that. We have only a two-planting season, and +the 'proper equipment,' as you call it, doesn't operate too well out +here. It has a way of clogging up with dust in the summer, and rusting +in the winter." + +"Really," said Captain Varga. "As I was saying, with the proper +equipment, you could cultivate a great deal more land than you seem to +be using. This would give you the necessary heavier yield. Wouldn't you +say so, Nathan?" + +The little nervous man nodded. "Certainly, captain. With the proper +organization of labor." + +"That's nonsense," Pete said, suddenly angry. "Nobody can get that kind +of yield from this planet. The ground won't give it, and the men won't +grow it." + +The captain gave him a long look. "Really?" he said. "I think you're +wrong. I think the men will grow it." + +Pete stood up slowly. "What are you trying to say? This business about +quotas and organization of labor--" + +"You didn't read our credentials as we instructed you, Farnam. Mr. +Nathan is the official governor of the colony on Baron IV, as of now. +You'll find him most co-operative, I'm sure, but he's answerable +directly to me in all matters. My job is administration of the entire +Baron system. Clear enough?" + +Pete's eyes were dark. "I think you'd better draw me a picture," he said +tightly. "A very clear picture." + +"Very well. Baron IV is not paying for its upkeep. _Taaro_, after all, +is not the most necessary of crops in the universe. It has value, but +not very much value, all things considered. If the production of _taaro_ +here is not increased sharply, it may be necessary to close down the +colony altogether." + +"You're a liar," said Pete shortly. "The Colonization Board makes no +production demands on the colonies. Nor does it farm out systems for +personal exploitation." + +The captain smiled. "The Colonization Board, as you call it, has +undergone a slight reorganization," he said. + +"_Reorganization!_ It's a top-level board in the Earth Government! +Nothing could reorganize it but a wholesale--" He broke off, his jaw +sagging as the implication sank in. + +"You're rather out on a limb, you see," said the captain coolly. "Poor +communications and all that. The fact is that the entire Earth +Government has undergone a slight reorganization also." + + * * * * * + +The Dustie knew that something had happened. + +Pete didn't know how he knew. The Dusties couldn't talk, couldn't make +_any_ noise, as far as Pete knew. But they always seemed to know when +something unusual was happening. It was wrong, really, to consider them +unintelligent animals. There are other sorts of intelligence than human, +and other sorts of communication, and other sorts of culture. The Baron +IV colonists had never understood the queer perceptive sense that the +Dusties seemed to possess, any more than they knew how many Dusties +there were, or what they ate, or where on the planet they lived. All +they knew was that when they landed on Baron IV, the Dusties were there. + +At first the creatures had been very timid. For weeks the men and women, +busy with their building, had paid little attention to the skittering +brown forms that crept down from the rocky hills to watch them with big, +curious eyes. They were about half the size of men, and strangely +humanoid in appearance, not in the sense that a monkey is humanoid (for +they did _not_ resemble monkeys) but in some way the colonists could not +quite pin down. It may have been the way they walked around on their +long, fragile hind legs, the way they stroked their pointed chins as +they sat and watched and listened with their pointed ears lifted +alertly, watching with soft gray eyes, or the way they handled objects +with their little four-fingered hands. They were so remarkably +human-like in their elfin way that the colonists couldn't help but be +drawn to the creatures. + +That whole first summer, when the colonists were building the village +and the landing groove for the ships, the Dusties were among them, +trying pathetically to help, so eager for friendship that even +occasional rebuffs failed to drive them away. They _liked_ the colony. +They seemed, somehow, to savor the atmosphere, moving about like solemn, +fuzzy overseers as the work progressed through the summer. Pete Farnam +thought that they had even tried to warn the people about the winter. +But the colonists couldn't understand, of course. Not until later. The +Dusties became a standing joke, and were tolerated with considerable +amusement--until the winter struck. + +It had come with almost unbelievable ferocity. The houses had not been +completed when the first hurricanes came, and they were smashed into +toothpicks. The winds came, vicious winds full of dust and sleet and +ice, wild erratic twisting gales that ripped the village to shreds, +tearing off the topsoil that had been broken and fertilized--merciless, +never-ending winds that wailed and screamed the planet's protest. The +winds drove sand and dirt and ice into the heart of the generators, and +the heating units corroded and jammed and went dead. The jeeps and +tractors and bulldozers were scored and rusted. The people began dying +by the dozens as they huddled down in the pitiful little pits they had +dug to try to keep the winds away. + +Few of them were still conscious when the Dusties had come silently, in +the blizzard, eyes closed tight against the blast, to drag the people up +into the hills, into caves and hollows that still showed the fresh marks +of carving tools. They had brought food--what kind of food nobody knew, +for the colony's food had been destroyed by the first blast of the +hurricane--but whatever it was it had kept them alive. And somehow, the +colonists had survived the winter which seemed never to end. There were +frozen legs and ruined eyes; there was pneumonia so swift and virulent +that even the antibiotics they managed to salvage could not stop it; +there was near-starvation--but they were kept alive, until the winds +began to die, and they walked out of their holes in the ground to see +the ruins of their first village. + +From that winter on, nobody considered the Dusties funny any more. What +had motivated them no one knew, but the colony owed them their lives. +The Dusties tried to help the people rebuild. They showed them how to +build windshields that would keep houses intact and anchored to the +ground when the winds came again. They built little furnaces out of dirt +and rock which defied the winds and gave great heat. They showed the +colonists a dozen things they needed to know for life on the rugged +planet. The colonists in turn tried to teach the Dusties something about +Earth, and how the colonists had lived, and why they had come. But there +was a barrier of intelligence that could not be crossed. The Dusties +learned simple things, but only slowly and imperfectly. They seemed +content to take on their mock overseer's role, moving in and about the +village, approving or disapproving, but always trying to help. Some +became personal pets, though "pet" was the wrong word, because it was +more of a strange personal friendship limited by utter lack of +communication, than any animal-and-master relationship. The colonists +made sure that the Dusties were granted the respect due them as rightful +masters of Baron IV. And somehow the Dusties perceived this attitude, +and were so grateful for the acceptance and friendship that there seemed +nothing they wouldn't do for the colonists. + +There had been many discussions about them. "You'd think they'd resent +our moving in on them," Jack Mario had said one day. "After all, we +_are_ usurpers. And they treat us like kings. Have you noticed the way +they mimic us? I saw one chewing tobacco the other day. He hated the +stuff, but he chewed away, and spat like a trooper." + +One of the Dusties had been sitting on Pete's knee when Captain Varga +had been talking, and he had known that something terrible was wrong. +Now he sat on the desk in the office, moving uneasily back and forth as +Pete looked up at Mario's dark face, and then across at John Tegan and +Mel Dorfman. John's face was dark with anger as he ran his fingers +through the heavy gray beard that fell to his chest. Mel sat stunned, +shaking his head helplessly. Mario was unable to restrain himself. His +face was bitter as he stomped across the room, then returned to shake +his fist under Pete's nose. "But did you see him?" he choked. "Governor +of the colony! What does he know about growing _taaro_ in this kind of +soil? Did you see those hands? Soft, dainty, pink! How could a man with +hands like that govern a colony?" + +Pete looked over at John Tegan. "Well, John?" + +The big man looked up, his eyes hollow under craggy brows. "It's below +the belt, Pete. But if the government's been overthrown, then the +captain is right. It leaves us out on a limb." + +Pete shook his head. "_I_ can't give him an answer," he said. "The +answer has got to come from the colony. All I can do is speak for the +colony." + +Tegan stared at the floor. "We're an Earth colony," he said softly. "I +know that. I was born in New York. I lived there for many years. But +Earth isn't my home any more. This is." He looked at Pete. "I built it, +and so did you. All of us built it, even when things were getting stormy +back home. Maybe that's why we came, maybe somehow we saw the +handwriting on the wall." + +"But when did it happen?" Mel burst out suddenly. "How could _anything_ +so big happen so fast?" + +"Speed was the secret," Pete said gloomily. "It was quick, it was well +organized, and the government was unstable. We're just caught in the +edge of it. Pity the ones living there, now. But the new government +considers the colonies as areas for exploitation instead of +development." + +"Well, they can't do it," Mario cried. "This is _our_ land, _our_ home. +Nobody can tell us what to grow in our fields." + +Pete's fist slammed down on the desk. "Well, how are you going to stop +them? The law of the land is sitting out there in that ship. Tomorrow +morning he's coming back here to install his fat little friend as +governor. He has guns and soldiers on that ship to back him up. What are +you going to do about it?" + +"Fight it," Mario said. + +"How?" + +Jack Mario looked around the room. "There are only a dozen men on that +ship," he said softly. "We've got seventy-four. When Varga comes back to +the village tomorrow, we tell him to take his friend back to the ship +and shove off. We give him five minutes to get turned around, and if he +doesn't, we start shooting." + +"Just one little thing," said Pete quietly. "What about the supplies? +Even if we fought them off and won, what about the food, the clothing, +the replacement parts for the machines?" + +"We don't need machinery to farm this land," said Mario eagerly. +"There's food here, food we can live on; the Dusties showed us that the +first winter. And we can farm the land for our own use and let the +machinery rust. There's nothing they can bring us from Earth that we +can't do without." + +"We couldn't get away with it!" Mel Dorfman shook his head bitterly. +"You're asking us to cut ourselves off from Earth completely. But they'd +never let us. They'd send ships to bomb us out." + +"We could hide, and rebuild after they had finished." + +Pete Farnam sighed. "They'd never leave us alone, Jack. Didn't you see +that captain? His kind of mind can't stand opposition. We'd just be a +thorn in the side of the new Earth Government. They don't want _any_ +free colonies." + +"Well, let's give them one." Mario sat down tiredly, snapping his +fingers at the Dustie. "Furs!" he snarled. He looked up, his dark eyes +burning. "It's no good, Pete. We can't let them get away with it. +Produce for them, yes. Try to raise the yield for them, yes. But not a +governor. If they insist on that we can throw them out, and keep them +out." + +"I don't think so. They'd kill every one of us first." + +John Tegan sat up, and looked Pete Farnam straight in the eye. "In that +case, Peter, it might just be better if they did." + +Pete stared at him for a moment and slowly stood up. "All right," he +said. "Call a general colony meeting. We'll see what the women think. +Then we'll make our plans." + + * * * * * + +The ship's jeep skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust. Captain Varga +peered through the windshield. Then he stood up, staring at the three +men blocking the road at the edge of the village. The little pink-faced +man at his side turned white when he saw their faces, and his fingers +began to tremble. Each of the men had a gun. + +"You'd better clear the road," the captain snapped. "We're driving +through." + +Pete Farnam stepped forward. He pointed to Nathan. "Take your friend +there back to the ship. Leave him there. We don't want him here." + +Nathan turned to Varga. "I told you," he said viciously. "Too big for +their boots. Go on through." + +The captain laughed and gunned the motor, started straight for the men +blocking the road. Then Jack Mario shot a hole in his front tire. The +jeep lurched to a stop. Captain Varga stood up, glaring at the men. +"Farnam, step out here," he said. + +"You heard us," Pete said, without moving. "Crops, yes. We'll try to +increase our yield. But no overseer. Leave him here and we'll kill him." + +"Once more," said the captain, "clear the way. This man is your new +governor. He will be regarded as the official agent of the Earth +Government until the final production capacity of this colony is +determined. Now clear out." + +The men didn't move. Without another word, the captain threw the jeep +into reverse, jerked back in a curve, and started the jeep, flat tire +and all, back toward the ship in a billow of dust. + +Abruptly the village exploded into activity. Four men took up places +behind the row of windbreaks beyond the first row of cabins. Pete turned +and ran back into the village. He found John Tegan commandeering a +squad of ten dirty-faced men. "Are the women and children all out?" he +shouted. + +"All taken care of." Tegan spat tobacco juice, and wiped his mouth with +the back of his hand. + +"Where's Mel?" + +"Left flank. He'll try to move in behind them. Gonna be tough, Pete, +they've got good weapons." + +"What about the boys last night?" + +John was checking the bolt on his ancient rifle. "Hank and Ringo? Just +got back an hour ago. If Varga wants to get his surface planes into +action, he's going to have to dismantle them and rebuild them outside. +The boys jammed up the launching ports for good." He spat again. "Don't +worry, Pete. This is going to be a ground fight." + +"Okay." Pete held out his hand to the old man. "This may be it. And if +we turn them back, there's bound to be more later." + +"There's a lot of planet to hide on," said Tegan. "They may come back, +but after a while they'll go again." + +Pete nodded. "I just hope we'll still be here when they do." + +They waited. It seemed like hours. Pete moved from post to post among +the men, heavy-faced men he had known all his life, it seemed. They +waited with whatever weapons they had available--pistols, home-made +revolvers, ortho-guns, an occasional rifle, even knives and clubs. +Pete's heart sank. They were bitter men, but they were a mob with no +organization, no training for fighting. They would be facing a dozen of +Security's best-disciplined shock troops, armed with the latest weapons +from Earth's electronics laboratories. The colonists didn't stand a +chance. + +Pete got his rifle and made his way up the rise of ground overlooking +the right flank of the village. Squinting, he could spot the cloud of +dust rising up near the glistening ship, moving toward the village. And +then, for the first time, he realized that he hadn't seen any Dusties +all day. + +It puzzled him. They had been in the village in abundance an hour before +dawn, while the plans were being laid out. He glanced around, hoping to +see one of the fuzzy brown forms at his elbow, but he saw nothing. And +then, as he stared at the cloud of dust coming across the valley, he +thought he saw the ground moving. + +He blinked, and rubbed his eyes. With a gasp he dragged out his +binoculars and peered down at the valley floor. There were thousands of +them, hundreds of thousands, their brown bodies moving slowly out from +the hills surrounding the village, converging into a broad, liquid +column between the village and the ship. Even as he watched, the column +grew thicker, like a heavy blanket being drawn across the road, a +multitude of Dusties lining up. + +Pete's hair prickled on the back of his neck. They knew so little about +the creatures, so _very_ little. As he watched the brown carpet rolling +out, he tried to think. Could there be a weapon in their hands, could +they somehow have perceived the evil that came from the ship, somehow +sensed the desperation in the men's voices as they had laid their plans? +Pete stared, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. They were +there in the road, thousands upon thousands of them, standing there, +waiting--for what? + +Three columns of dust were coming from the road now. Through the glasses +Pete could see the jeeps, filled with men in their gleaming gray +uniforms, crash helmets tight about their heads, blasters glistening in +the pale light. They moved in deadly convoy along the rutted road, +closer and closer to the crowd of Dusties overflowing the road. + +The Dusties just stood there. They didn't move. They didn't shift, or +turn. They just waited. + +The captain's car was first in line. He pulled up before the line with a +screech of brakes, and stared at the sea of creatures before him. "Get +out of there!" he shouted. + +The Dusties didn't move. + +The captain turned to his men. "Fire into them," he snapped. "Clear a +path." + +There was a blaze of fire, and a half a dozen Dusties slid to the +ground, convulsing. Pete felt a chill pass through him, staring in +disbelief. The Dusties had a weapon, he kept telling himself, they +_must_ have a weapon, something the colonists had never dreamed of. The +guns came up again, and another volley echoed across the valley, and a +dozen more Dusties fell to the ground. For every one that fell, another +moved stolidly into its place. + +With a curse the captain sat down in the seat, gunned the motor, and +started forward. The jeep struck the fallen bodies, rolled over them, +and plunged straight into the wall of Dusties. Still they didn't move. +The car slowed and stopped, mired down. The other cars picked up +momentum and plunged into the brown river of creatures. They too ground +to a stop. + +The captain started roaring at his men. "Cut them down! We're going to +get through here!" Blasters began roaring into the faces of the Dusties, +and as they fell the jeeps moved forward a few feet until more of the +creatures blocked their path. + +Pete heard a cry below him, and saw Jack Mario standing in the road, gun +on the ground, hands out in front of him, staring in horror as the +Dusties kept moving into the fire. "Do you see what they're doing!" he +screamed. "They'll be slaughtered, every one of them!" And then he was +running down the road, shouting at them to stop, and so were Pete and +Tegan and the rest of the men. + +Something hit Pete in the shoulder as he ran. He spun around and fell +into the dusty road. A dozen Dusties closed in around him, lifted him up +bodily, and started back through the village with him. He tried to +struggle, but vaguely he saw that the other men were being carried back +also, while the river of brown creatures held the jeeps at bay. The +Dusties were hurrying, half carrying and half dragging him back through +the village and up a long ravine into the hills beyond. At last they +set Pete on his feet again, plucking urgently at his shirt sleeve as +they hurried him along. + +He followed them willingly, then, with the rest of the colonists at his +heels. He didn't know what the Dusties were doing, but he knew they were +trying to save him. Finally they reached a cave, a great cleft in the +rock that Pete knew for certain had not been there when he had led +exploring parties through these hills years before. It was a huge +opening, and already a dozen of the men were there, waiting, dazed by +what they had witnessed down in the valley, while more were stumbling up +the rocky incline, tugged along by the fuzzy brown creatures. + +Inside the cavern, steps led down the side of the rock, deep into the +dark coolness of the earth. Down and down they went, until they suddenly +found themselves in a mammoth room lit by blazing torches. Pete stopped +and stared at his friends who had already arrived. Jack Mario was +sitting on the floor, his face in his hands, sobbing. Tegan was sitting, +too, blinking at Pete as if he were a stranger, and Dorfman was +trembling like a leaf. Pete stared about him through the dim light, and +then looked where Tegan was pointing at the end of the room. + +He couldn't see it clearly, at first. Finally, he made out a raised +platform with four steps leading up. A torch lighted either side of a +dais at the top, and between the torches, rising high into the gloom, +stood a statue. + +It was a beautifully carved thing, hewn from the heavy granite that made +up the core of this planet, with the same curious styling as other +carving the Dusties had done. The design was intricate, the lines +carefully turned and polished. At first Pete thought it was a statue of +a Dustie, but when he moved forward and squinted in the dim light, he +suddenly realized that it was something else indeed. And in that moment +he realized why they were there and why the Dusties had done this +incredible thing to protect them. + +The statue was weirdly beautiful, the work of a dedicated master +sculptor. It was a figure, standing with five-fingered hands on hips, +head raised high. Not a portrait, but an image seen through other eyes +than human, standing high in the room with the lights burning reverently +at its feet. + +Unmistakably it was the statue of a man. + + * * * * * + +They heard the bombs, much later. The granite roof and floor of the +cavern trembled, and the men and women stared at each other, helpless +and sick as they huddled in that great hall. But presently the bombing +stopped. Later, when they stumbled out of that grotto into the late +afternoon light, the ship was gone. + +They knew it would be back. Possibly it would bring back search parties +to hunt down the rebels in the hills; perhaps it would just wait and +again bomb out the new village when it rose. But searching parties would +never find their quarry, and the village would rise again and again, if +necessary. + +And in the end, somehow, Pete knew that the colonists would find a way +to survive here and live free as they had always lived. It might be a +bitter struggle, but no matter how hard the fight, there would be one +strange and wonderful thing they could count on. + +No matter what they had to do, he knew the Dusties would help them. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Image of the Gods, by Alan Edward Nourse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMAGE OF THE GODS *** + +***** This file should be named 22882.txt or 22882.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/8/22882/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/22882.zip b/22882.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15bfdcf --- /dev/null +++ b/22882.zip 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..52b16cb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #22882 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22882) |
