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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23799-h.zip b/23799-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff58d84 --- /dev/null +++ b/23799-h.zip diff --git a/23799-h/23799-h.htm b/23799-h/23799-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d931cf6 --- /dev/null +++ b/23799-h/23799-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1628 @@ +<!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 Cry from a Far Planet, by Tom Godwin + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + h1,h2 {text-align: left;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin: 2em auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-bottom: 2em; clear: both;} + + .rgt {text-align: right;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; font-size: small;} + + .trans1 {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + + img {border: none} + + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; + font-size: 300%; line-height: .8em;} + + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + + .illo {margin-bottom: 3em; margin-top: 2em; font-size: smaller; font-weight: bold;} + .tease {line-height: 1.5em; word-spacing: .3em;} + .hrtse {width: 14em; margin: 0 auto;} + .theend {text-align: right; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 2em;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cry from a Far Planet, by Tom Godwin + +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: Cry from a Far Planet + +Author: Tom Godwin + +Illustrator: Martinez + +Release Date: December 10, 2007 [EBook #23799] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRY FROM A FAR PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figright" style="width: 545px;"> +<img src="images/001.png" width="545" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +Was the cat native to the planet, or to his imagination?</div> + +<h1>CRY FROM A<br /> +FAR PLANET</h1> + +<h2><small>By TOM GODWIN</small></h2> + +<p class="illo">ILLUSTRATOR MARTINEZ</p> + +<hr class="hrtse" /> + +<p class="tease"><i>The problem of separating the +friends from the enemies was +a major one in the conquest of +space as many a dead spacer +could have testified. A tough +job when you could see an +alien and judge appearances; +far tougher when they were +only whispers on the wind.</i></p> + +<hr class="hrtse" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>A smile of friendship is a baring +of the teeth. So is a snarl of +menace. It can be fatal to mistake +the latter for the former.</i></p> + +<p><i>Harm an alien being only under +circumstances of self-defense.</i></p> + +<p><i>TRUST NO ALIEN BEING +UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.</i></p> + +<p class="rgt">—From <i>Exploration Ship's Handbook</i>.</p></div> + + + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">He listened</span> in the silence +of the Exploration ship's +control room. He heard nothing +but that was what bothered +him; an ominous quiet when +there should have been a multitude +of sounds from the nearby +village for the viewscreen's audio-pickups +to transmit. And it +was more than six hours past +the time when the native, +Throon, should have come to sit +with him outside the ship as +they resumed the laborious attempt +to learn each other's language.</p> + + + + + +<p>The viewscreen was black in +the light of the control room, +even though it was high noon +outside. The dull red sun was +always invisible through the +world's thick atmosphere and to +human eyes full day was no +more than a red-tinged darkness.</p> + +<p>He switched on the ship's +outside floodlights and the viewscreen +came to bright white life, +showing the empty glades reaching +away between groves of +purple alien trees. He noticed, +absently, that the trees seemed +to have changed a little in color +since his arrival.</p> + +<p>The village was hidden from +view by the outer trees but +there should have been some activity +in the broad area visible +to him. There was none, not +even along the distant segment +of what should have been a busy +road. The natives were up to +something and he knew, from +hard experience on other alien +worlds, that it would be nothing +good. It would be another misunderstanding +of some kind and +he didn't know enough of their +incomprehensible language to +ask them what it was—</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Suddenly, as it always came, +he felt someone or something +standing close behind him and +peering over his shoulder. He +dropped his hand to the blaster +he had taken to wearing at all +times and whirled.</p> + +<p>Nothing was behind him. +There never was. The control +room was empty, with no hiding +place for anything, and the door +was closed, locked by the remote-control +button beside him. There +was nothing.</p> + +<p>The sensation of being watched +faded, as though the watcher +had withdrawn to a greater distance. +It was perhaps the hundredth +time within six days that +he had felt the sensation. And +when he slept at night something +came to nuzzle at his +mind; faceless, formless, utterly +alien. For the past three nights +he had not let the blaster get +beyond quick reach of his hand, +even when in bed.</p> + +<p>But whatever it was, it could +not be on the ship. He had +searched the ship twice, a methodical +compartment-by-compartment +search that had found +nothing. It had to be the work +of the natives from outside the +ship. Except....</p> + +<p>Why, if the natives were +telepathic, did the one called +Throon go through the weary +pretense of trying to learn a mutually +understandable form of +communication?</p> + +<p>There was one other explanation, +which he could not accept: +that he was following in the +footsteps of Will Garret of Ship +Nine who had deliberately gone +into a white sun two months +after the death of his twin +brother.</p> + +<p>He looked at the chair beside +his own, Johnny's chair, which +would forever be empty, and his +thoughts went back down the +old, bitter paths. The Exploration +Board had been wrong when +they thought the close bond between +identical twins would +make them the ideal two-man +crews for the lonely, lifetime +journeys of the Exploration +Ships. Identical twins were too +close; when one of them died, +the other died in part with him.</p> + +<p>They had crossed a thousand +light-years of space together, he +and Johnny, when they came to +the bleak planet that he would +name Johnny's World. He should +never have let Johnny go alone +up the slope of the honey-combed +mountain—but Johnny had +wanted to take the routine record +photographs of the black, +tiger-like beasts which they had +called cave cats and the things +had seemed harmless and shy, +despite their ferocious appearance.</p> + +<p>"I'm taking them a sack of +food that I think they might +like," Johnny had said. "I want +to try to get some good close-up +shots of them."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later he heard +the distant snarl of Johnny's +blaster. He ran up the mountainside, +knowing already that he +was too late. He found two of +the cave cats lying where Johnny +had killed them. Then he +found Johnny, at the foot of a +high cliff. He was dead, his neck +broken by the fall. Scattered all +around him from the torn sack +was the food he had wanted to +give to the cats.</p> + +<p>He buried Johnny the next +day, while a cold wind moaned +under a lead-gray sky. He built +a monument for him; a little +mound of frosty stones that only +the wild animals would ever +see—</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A chime rang, high and clear, +and the memories were shattered. +The orange light above the +hyperspace communicator was +flashing; the signal that meant +the Exploration Board was calling +him from Earth.</p> + +<p>He flipped the switch and said, +"Paul Jameson, Exploration +Ship One."</p> + +<p>The familiar voice of Brender +spoke:</p> + +<p>"It's been some time since +your preliminary report. Is +everything all right?"</p> + +<p>"In a way," he answered. "I +was going to give you the detailed +report tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Give me a brief sketch of it +now."</p> + +<p>"Except for their short brown +fur, the natives are humanoid in +appearance. But there are basic +differences. Their body temperature +is cool, like their climate. +Their vision range is from just +within the visible red on into the +infrared. They'll shade their +eyes from the light of anything +as hot as boiling water but +they'll look square into the +ship's floodlights and never see +them."</p> + +<p>"And their knowledge of science?" +Brender asked.</p> + +<p>"They have a good understanding +of it, but along lines +entirely different from what our +own were at their stage of development. +For example: they +power their machines with +chemicals but there is no steam, +heat, or exhaust."</p> + +<p>"That's what we want to find—worlds +where branches of research +unknown to our science +are being explored. How about +their language?"</p> + +<p>"No progress with it yet." He +told Brender of the silence in +the village and added, "Even if +Throon should show up I could +not ask him what was wrong. +I've learned a few words but +they have so many different +definitions that I can't use +them."</p> + +<p>"I know," Brender said. "Variable +and unrelated definitions, +undetectable shades of inflection—and +sometimes a language that +has no discernibly separate +words. The Singer brothers of +Ship Eight ran into the latter. +We've given them up as lost."</p> + +<p>"The Singers—dead?" he exclaimed. +"Good God—it's been +only a month since the Ramon +brothers were killed."</p> + +<p>"The circumstances were +similar," Brender said. "They +always are. There is no way the +Exploration men can tell the +natives that they mean them no +harm and the suspicion of the +natives grows into dangerous +hostility. The Singers reported +the natives on that world to be +both suspicious and possessing +powerful weapons. The Singers +were proceeding warily, their +own weapons always at hand. +But, somehow, the natives +caught them off-guard—their +last report was four months +ago."</p> + +<p>There was a silence, then +Brender added, "Their ship was +the ninth—and we had only fifteen."</p> + +<p>He did not reply to the implications +of Brender's statement. +It was obvious to them all what +the end of the Plan would be. +What it had to be.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It had been only three years +since the fifteen heavily armed +Exploration ships set out to +lead the way for Terran expansion +across the galaxy; to answer +a cry from far planets, and +to find all the worlds that held +intelligent life. That was the +ultimate goal of the Plan: to +accumulate and correlate all the +diverse knowledge of all the intelligent +life-forms in the galaxy. +Among the achievements +resulting from that tremendous +mass of data would be a ship's +drive faster even than hyperspace; +the Third Level Drive +which would bring all the galaxies +of the universe within +reach.</p> + +<p>And now nine ships were gone +out of fifteen and nineteen men +out of thirty....</p> + +<p>"The communication barrier," +Brender said. "The damned +communication barrier has been +the cause behind the loss of +every ship. And there is nothing +we can do about it. We're +stymied by it...."</p> + +<p>The conversation was terminated +shortly afterward and he +moved about the room restlessly, +wishing it was time to lift ship +again. With Johnny not there +the dark world was like a +smothering tomb. He would like +to leave it behind and drive +again into the star clouds of the +galaxy; drive on and on into +them—</p> + +<p>A ghostly echo touched his +mind; restless, poignantly yearning. +He swung to face the locked +door, knowing there could be +nothing behind it. The first real +fear came to him as he did so. +The thing was lonely—the thing +that watched him was as lonely +as he was....</p> + +<p>What else could any of it be +but the product of a mind in the +first stage of insanity?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The natives came ten minutes +later.</p> + +<p>The viewscreen showed their +chemically-powered vehicle +emerge from the trees and roll +swiftly across the glade. Four +natives were in it while a fifth +one lay on the floor, apparently +badly injured.</p> + +<p>The vehicle stopped a short +distance in front of the airlock +and he recognized the native on +the floor. It was Throon, the one +with whom he had been exchanging +language lessons.</p> + +<p>They were waiting for him +when he emerged from the ship, +pistol-like weapons in their belts +and grim accusation in their +manner.</p> + +<p>Throon was muttering unintelligibly, +unconscious. His skin, +where not covered by the brown +fur, was abnormal in appearance. +He was dying.</p> + +<p>The leader of the four indicated +Throon and said in a quick, +brittle voice: "<i>Ko reegar feen +no-dran!</i>"</p> + +<p>Only one word was familiar: +<i>Ko</i>, which meant "you" and +"yesterday" and a great many +other things. The question was +utterly meaningless to him.</p> + +<p>He dropped his hand a little +nearer his blaster as the leader +spoke again; a quick succession +of unknown words that ended +with a harshly demanding "<i>kreson!</i>"</p> + +<p><i>Kreson</i> meant "now," or "very +quickly." All the other words +were unfamiliar to him. They +waited, the grim menace about +them increasing when he did not +answer. He tried in vain to find +some way of explaining to them +he was not responsible for +Throon's sickness and could not +cure it.</p> + +<p>Then he saw the spray of +leaves that had caught on the +corner of the vehicle when it +came through the farther trees.</p> + +<p>They were of a deep purple +color. All the trees around the +ship were almost gray by contrast.</p> + +<p>Which meant that he <i>was</i> responsible +for Throon's condition.</p> + +<p>The cold white light of the +ship's floodlights, under which +he and Throon had sat for day +after day, contained radiations +that went through the violet and +far into the ultraviolet. To the +animal and vegetable life of the +dark world such radiations were +invisibly short and deadly.</p> + +<p>Throon was dying of hard-radiation +sickness.</p> + +<p>It was something he should +have foreseen and avoided—and +that would not have happened +had he accepted old Throon's +pantomimed invitation, in the +beginning, to go with him into +the village to work at the language +study. There he would +have used a harmless battery +lamp for illumination ... but +there was no certainty that the +natives were not planning to lay +a trap for him in the village and +he had refused to go.</p> + +<p>It did not matter—there was +a complex radiation-neutralizer +and cell-reconstructor in the ship +which would return Throon to +full, normal health a few hours +after he was placed in its chamber.</p> + +<p>He turned to the leader of the +four natives and motioned from +Throon to the airlock. "Go—there," +he said in the native language.</p> + +<p>"<i>Bron!</i>" the leader answered. +The word meant "No" and there +was a determination in the way +he said it that showed he would +not move from it.</p> + +<p>At the end of five minutes his +attempts to persuade them to +take Throon into the ship had +increased their suspicion of his +motives to the point of critical +danger. If only he could tell them +<i>why</i> he wanted Throon taken +into the ship ... But he could +not and would have to take +Throon by first disposing of the +four without injuring them. +This he could do by procuring +one of the paralyzing needle-guns +from the ship.</p> + +<p>He took a step toward the ship +and spoke the words that to the +best of his knowledge meant: "I +come back."</p> + +<p>"<i>Feswin ilt k'la.</i>"</p> + +<p>Their reply was to snatch at +their weapons in desperate +haste, even as the leader uttered +a hoarse word of command. He +brought up the blaster with the +quick motion that long training +had perfected and their weapons +were only half drawn when +his warning came:</p> + +<p>"<i>Bron!</i>"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>They froze, but did not release +their weapons. He walked +backward to the airlock, his +blaster covering them, the tensely +waiting manner in which +they watched his progress telling +him that the slightest relaxation +of his vigilance would mean his +death. He did not let the muzzle +of the blaster waver until he was +inside the airlock and the outer +door had slid shut.</p> + +<p>He was sure that the natives +would be gone when he returned. +And he was sure of another +thing: That whatever he had +said to them, it was not what he +had thought he was saying.</p> + +<p>He saw that the glade was +empty when he opened the airlock +again. At the same time a +bomb-like missile struck the +ship just above the airlock and +exploded with a savage crash. +He jabbed the <i>Close</i> button and +the door clicked shut barely in +advance of three more missiles +which hammered at its impervious +armor.</p> + +<p>So that, he thought wearily, +is that.</p> + +<p>He laid the useless needle-gun +aside. The stage was past when +he could hope to use it. He could +save Throon only by killing some +of the others—or he could lift +ship and leave Throon to die. +Either action would make the +natives hate and fear Terrans; +a hatred and fear that would be +there to greet all future Terran +ships.</p> + +<p>That was not the way a race +gave birth to peaceful galactic +empire, was not the purpose behind +the Plan. But always, +wherever the Exploration men +went, they encountered the deadly +barrier; the intangible, unassailable +communication barrier. +With the weapons an Exploration +man carried in his +ship he had the power to destroy +a world—but not the power to +ask the simple questions that +would prevent fatal misunderstandings.</p> + +<p>And before another three +years had passed the last Exploration +man would die, the last +Exploration ship would be lost.</p> + +<p>He felt the full force of hopelessness +for the first time. When +Johnny had been alive it had +been different; Johnny, who had +laughed whenever the outlook +was the darkest and said, "<i>We'll +find a way, Paul—</i>"</p> + +<p>The thought broke as suddenly, +unexpectedly, he felt that +Johnny was very near. With the +feeling came the soft enclosure +of a dream-like peace in which +Johnny's death was vague and +faraway; only something that +had happened in another dream. +He knew, without wondering +why, that Johnny was in the control +room.</p> + +<p>A part of his mind tried to +reject the thought as an illusion. +He did not listen—he did not +want to listen. He ran to the +ship's elevator, stumbling like +one not fully awake. Johnny was +waiting for him in the control +room—alive—alive—</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He spoke as he stepped into +the control room:</p> + +<p>"Johnny—"</p> + +<p>Something moved at the control +board, black and alien, +standing tall as a man on short +hind legs. Yellow eyes blazed in +a feline face.</p> + +<p>It was a cave cat, like the +ones that had killed Johnny.</p> + +<p>Realization was a wrenching +shock and a terrible disillusionment. +Johnny was not waiting +for him—not alive—</p> + +<p>He brought up the blaster, the +dream-like state gone. The paw +of the cave cat flashed out and +struck the ship's master light +switch with a movement faster +than his own. The room was instantly, +totally, dark.</p> + +<p>He fired and pale blue fire +lanced across the room, to reveal +that the cave cat was gone. +He fired again, quickly and immediately +in front of him. The +pale beam revealed only the +ripped metal floor.</p> + +<p>"<i>I am not where you think.</i>"</p> + +<p>The words spoke clearly in his +mind but there was no directional +source. He held his breath, listening +for the whisper of padded +feet as the cave cat flashed in +for the kill, and made a swift +analysis of the situation.</p> + +<p>The cave cat was telepathic +and highly intelligent and had +been on the ship all the time. It +and the others had wanted the +ship and had killed Johnny to +reduce opposition to the minimum. +He, himself, had been permitted +to live until the cave cat +learned from his mind how to +operate the almost-automatic +controls. Now, he had served his +purpose—</p> + +<p>"<i>You are wrong.</i>"</p> + +<p>Again there was no way he +could determine the direction +from which the thought came. +He listened again, and wondered +why it had not waylaid him at +the door.</p> + +<p>Its thought came:</p> + +<p>"<i>I had to let you see me or +you would not have believed I +existed. It was only here that I +could extinguish all lights and +have time to speak before you +killed me. I let you think your +brother was here....</i>" There was +a little pause. "<i>I am sorry. I +am sorry. I should have used +some other method of luring you +here.</i>"</p> + +<p>He swung the blaster toward +what seemed to be a faint sound +near the astrogator unit across +the room.</p> + +<p>"<i>We did not intend to kill +your brother.</i>"</p> + +<p>He did not believe it and did +not reply.</p> + +<p>"<i>When we made first telepathic +contact with him, he +jerked up his blaster and fired. +In his mind was the conviction +that we had pretended to be +harmless animals so that we +could catch him off-guard and +kill him. One of us leaped at him +as he fired the second time, to +knock the blaster from his hand. +We needed only a few minutes +in which to explain—but he +would not trust us that long. +There was a misjudgment of +distance and he was knocked off +the cliff.</i>"</p> + +<p>Again he did not reply.</p> + +<p>"<i>We did not intend to kill your +brother</i>," the thought came, +"<i>but you do not believe me</i>."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He spoke for the first time. +"No, I don't believe you. You are +physically like cats and cats +don't misjudge distances. Now, +you want something from me before +you try to kill me, too. What +is it?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I will have to tell you of my +race for you to understand. We +call ourselves the Varn, in so far +as it can be translated into a +spoken word, and we are a very +old race. In the beginning we did +not live in caves but there came +a long period of time, for thousands +of years, when the climate +on our world was so violent that +we were forced to live in the +caves. It was completely dark +there but our sense of smell became +very acute, together with +sufficient sensitivity to temperature +changes that we could detect +objects in our immediate vicinity. +There were subterranean +plants in the caves and food was +no problem.</i>"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"<i>We had always been slightly +telepathic and it was during our +long stay in the caves that our +intelligence and telepathic powers +became fully developed. We +had only our minds—physical +science is not created in dark +caves with clumsy paws.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>The time finally came when +we could leave the caves but it +was of little help to us. There +were no resources on our world +but earth and stone and the thin +grass of the plains. We wondered +about the universe and we +knew the stars were distant +suns because one of our own suns +became a star each winter. We +studied as best we could but we +could see the stars only as the +little wild animals saw them. +There was so much we wanted +to learn and by then we were +past our zenith and already dying +out. But our environment +was a prison from which we +could never escape.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>When your ship arrived we +thought we might soon be free. +We wanted to ask you to take +some of us with you and arrange +for others of your race to stop +by on our world. But you dismissed +us as animals, useful +only for making warm fur +coats, because we lived in caves +and had no science, no artifacts—nothing. +You had the power to +destroy us and we did not know +what your reaction would be +when you learned we were intelligent +and telepathic. A telepathic +race must have a high +code of ethics and never intrude +unwanted—but would you have +believed that?</i>"</p> + +<p>He did not answer.</p> + +<p>"<i>The death of your brother +changed everything. You were +going to leave so soon that there +would be no time to learn more +about you. I hid on the ship so +I could study you and wait until +I could prove to you that you +needed me. Now, I can—Throon +is dying and I can give you the +proper words of explanation that +will cause the others to bring +him into the ship.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Your real purpose—what is +it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"<i>To show you that men need +the Varn. You want to explore +the galaxy, and learn. So do the +Varn. You have the ships and +we have the telepathic ability +that will end the communication +problem. Your race and mine +can succeed only if we go together.</i>"</p> + +<p>He searched for the true, and +hidden, purpose behind the Varn +proposal and saw what it would +have to be.</p> + +<p>"The long-range goal—you +failed to mention that ... your +ultimate aim."</p> + +<p>"<i>I know what you are thinking. +How can I prove you wrong—now?</i>"</p> + +<p>There was no way for the +Varn to prove him wrong, nor +for him to prove the treachery +behind the Varn proposal. The +proof would come only with +time, when the Terran-Varn co-operation +had transformed Terrans +into a slave race.</p> + +<p>The Varn spoke again. "<i>You +refuse to believe I am sincere?</i>"</p> + +<p>"I would be a naive fool to +believe you."</p> + +<p>"<i>It will be too late to save +Throon unless we act very quickly. +I have told you why I am +here. There is nothing more I +can do to convince you but be +the first to show trust. When I +switch on the lights it will be +within your power to kill me.</i>"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Varn was gambling its +life in a game in which he would +be gambling the Plan and his +race. It was a game he would +end at the first sound of movement +from the astrogator unit +across the room....</p> + +<p>"<i>I have been here beside you +all the time.</i>"</p> + +<p>A furry paw brushed his face, +claws flicked gently but grimly +reminding along his throat.</p> + +<p>He whirled and fired. He was +too late—the Varn had already +leaped silently away and the +beam found only the bare floor. +Then the lights came on, glaringly +bright after the darkness, +and he saw the Varn.</p> + +<p>It was standing by the control +board, its huge yellow eyes +watching him. He brought the +blaster into line with it, his finger +on the firing stud. It waited, +not moving or shrinking from +what was coming. The translucent +golden eyes looked at him +and beyond him, as though they +saw something not in the room. +He wondered if it was in contact +with its own kind on +Johnny's World and was telling +them it had made the gamble for +high stakes, and had lost.</p> + +<p>It was not afraid—not asking +for mercy....</p> + +<p>The killing of it was suddenly +an act without savor. It was +something he would do in the +immediate future but first he +would let it live long enough to +save Throon.</p> + +<p>He motioned with the blaster +and said, "Lead the way to the +airlock."</p> + +<p>"<i>And afterward—you will kill +me?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Lead the way," he repeated +harshly.</p> + +<p>It said no more but went +obediently past him and trotted +down the corridor like a great, +black dog.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He stood in the open airlock, +the Varn against the farther +wall where he had ordered it to +stand. Throon was in the radiation +chamber and he had held +his first intelligible conversation +with the natives that day.</p> + +<p>The Varn was facing into the +red-black gloom outside the +lighted airlock, where the departing +natives could be heard +crossing the glade. "<i>Their +thoughts no longer hold fear +and suspicion</i>," it said. "<i>The misunderstanding +is ended.</i>"</p> + +<p>He raised the muzzle of the +blaster in his hand. The black +head lifted and the golden eyes +looked up at him.</p> + +<p>"I made you no promise," he +said.</p> + +<p>"<i>I could demand none.</i>"</p> + +<p>"I can't stop to take you back +to your own world and I can't +leave you alive on this one—with +what you've learned from +my mind you would have the natives +build the Varn a disintegrator-equipped +space fleet equal +to our own ships."</p> + +<p>"<i>We want only to go with +you.</i>"</p> + +<p>He told it what he wanted it +to know before he killed it, wondering +why he should care:</p> + +<p>"I would like to believe you +are sincere—and you know why +I don't dare to. Trusting a telepathic +race would be too dangerous. +The Varn would know +everything we knew and only the +Varn would be able to communicate +with each new alien race. +We would have to believe what +the Varn told us—we would +have to trust the Varn to see for +us and speak for us and not deceive +us as we went across the +galaxy. And then, in the end, +Terrans would no longer be +needed except as a subject race. +They would be enslaved.</p> + +<p>"We would have laid the +groundwork for an empire—the +Varn Empire."</p> + +<p>There was a silence, in which +his words hung like something +cold and invisible between them.</p> + +<p>Then the Varn asked, very +quietly:</p> + +<p>"<i>Why is the Plan failing?</i>"</p> + +<p>"You already know," he said. +"Because of the barrier—the +communication barrier that +causes aliens to misunderstand +the intentions of Exploration +men and fear them."</p> + +<p>"<i>There is no communication +barrier between you and I—yet +you fear me and are going to +kill me.</i>"</p> + +<p>"I have to kill you. You represent +a danger to my race."</p> + +<p>"<i>Isn't that the same reason +why aliens kill Exploration men?</i>"</p> + +<p>He did not answer and its +thought came, quickly, "<i>How +does an Exploration man appear +to the natives of alien worlds?</i>"</p> + +<p>How did he appear?... He +landed on their world in a ship +that could smash it into oblivion; +he stepped out of his ship +carrying weapons that could +level a city; he represented +irresistible power for destruction +and he trusted no one and +nothing.</p> + +<p>And in return he hoped to find +welcome and friendship and co-operation....</p> + +<p>"<i>There</i>," the Varn said, "<i>is +your true barrier—your own distrust +and suspicion. You, yourselves, +create it on each new +world. Now you are going to +erect it between my race and +yours by killing me and advising +the Exploration Board to +quarantine my world and never +let another ship land there.</i>"</p> + +<p>Again there was a silence as +he thought of what the Varn +had said and of what it had said +earlier: "<i>We are a very old race....</i>" +There was wisdom in the +Varn's analysis of the cause of +the Plan's failure and with the +Varn to vanquish the communication +stalemate, the new approach +could be tried. They +could go a long way together, +men and Varn, a long, long +way....</p> + +<p>Or they could create the Varn +Empire ... and how could he +know which it would be?</p> + +<p>How could anyone know—except +the telepathic Varn?</p> + +<p>The muzzle of the blaster had +dropped and he brought it back +up. He forced the dangerous indecision +aside, knowing he would +have to kill the Varn at once or +he might weaken again, and said +harshly to it:</p> + +<p>"The risk is too great. I want +to believe you—but all your talk +of trust and good intentions is +only talk and my race would be +the only one that had to trust."</p> + +<p>He touched the firing stud as +the last thought of the Varn +came:</p> + +<p>"<i>Let me speak once more.</i>"</p> + +<p>He waited, the firing stud cold +and metallic under his finger.</p> + +<p>"<i>You are wrong. We have already +set the example of faith +in you by asking to go with you. +I told you we did not intend to +hurt your brother and I told you +we saw the stars only as the +little wild animals saw them. +The years in the dark caves—you +do not understand—</i>"</p> + +<p>The eyes of the Varn looked +into his and beyond him; beautiful, +expressionless, like polished +gold.</p> + +<p>"<i>The Varn are blind.</i>"</p> + + +<p class="theend">THE END</p> + + + +<div class="trans1"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /> + +This etext was produced from <i>Amazing Science Fiction Stories</i> +September 1958. 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> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cry from a Far Planet, by Tom Godwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRY FROM A FAR PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 23799-h.htm or 23799-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/9/23799/ + +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. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cry from a Far Planet + +Author: Tom Godwin + +Illustrator: Martinez + +Release Date: December 10, 2007 [EBook #23799] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRY FROM A FAR PLANET *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + CRY FROM A + FAR PLANET + + By TOM GODWIN + + ILLUSTRATOR MARTINEZ + + * * * * * + +_The problem of separating the friends from the enemies was a major one +in the conquest of space as many a dead spacer could have testified. A +tough job when you could see an alien and judge appearances; far tougher +when they were only whispers on the wind._ + + * * * * * + + _A smile of friendship is a baring of the teeth. So is a snarl of + menace. It can be fatal to mistake the latter for the former._ + + _Harm an alien being only under circumstances of self-defense._ + + _TRUST NO ALIEN BEING UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES._ + + --From _Exploration Ship's Handbook_. + + +He listened in the silence of the Exploration ship's control room. He +heard nothing but that was what bothered him; an ominous quiet when +there should have been a multitude of sounds from the nearby village +for the viewscreen's audio-pickups to transmit. And it was more than six +hours past the time when the native, Throon, should have come to sit +with him outside the ship as they resumed the laborious attempt to learn +each other's language. + +[Illustration: Was the cat native to the planet, or to his imagination?] + +The viewscreen was black in the light of the control room, even though +it was high noon outside. The dull red sun was always invisible through +the world's thick atmosphere and to human eyes full day was no more than +a red-tinged darkness. + +He switched on the ship's outside floodlights and the viewscreen came to +bright white life, showing the empty glades reaching away between groves +of purple alien trees. He noticed, absently, that the trees seemed to +have changed a little in color since his arrival. + +The village was hidden from view by the outer trees but there should +have been some activity in the broad area visible to him. There was +none, not even along the distant segment of what should have been a busy +road. The natives were up to something and he knew, from hard experience +on other alien worlds, that it would be nothing good. It would be +another misunderstanding of some kind and he didn't know enough of their +incomprehensible language to ask them what it was-- + + * * * * * + +Suddenly, as it always came, he felt someone or something standing close +behind him and peering over his shoulder. He dropped his hand to the +blaster he had taken to wearing at all times and whirled. + +Nothing was behind him. There never was. The control room was empty, +with no hiding place for anything, and the door was closed, locked by +the remote-control button beside him. There was nothing. + +The sensation of being watched faded, as though the watcher had +withdrawn to a greater distance. It was perhaps the hundredth time +within six days that he had felt the sensation. And when he slept at +night something came to nuzzle at his mind; faceless, formless, utterly +alien. For the past three nights he had not let the blaster get beyond +quick reach of his hand, even when in bed. + +But whatever it was, it could not be on the ship. He had searched the +ship twice, a methodical compartment-by-compartment search that had +found nothing. It had to be the work of the natives from outside the +ship. Except.... + +Why, if the natives were telepathic, did the one called Throon go +through the weary pretense of trying to learn a mutually understandable +form of communication? + +There was one other explanation, which he could not accept: that he was +following in the footsteps of Will Garret of Ship Nine who had +deliberately gone into a white sun two months after the death of his +twin brother. + +He looked at the chair beside his own, Johnny's chair, which would +forever be empty, and his thoughts went back down the old, bitter paths. +The Exploration Board had been wrong when they thought the close bond +between identical twins would make them the ideal two-man crews for the +lonely, lifetime journeys of the Exploration Ships. Identical twins were +too close; when one of them died, the other died in part with him. + +They had crossed a thousand light-years of space together, he and +Johnny, when they came to the bleak planet that he would name Johnny's +World. He should never have let Johnny go alone up the slope of the +honey-combed mountain--but Johnny had wanted to take the routine record +photographs of the black, tiger-like beasts which they had called cave +cats and the things had seemed harmless and shy, despite their ferocious +appearance. + +"I'm taking them a sack of food that I think they might like," Johnny +had said. "I want to try to get some good close-up shots of them." + +Ten minutes later he heard the distant snarl of Johnny's blaster. He ran +up the mountainside, knowing already that he was too late. He found two +of the cave cats lying where Johnny had killed them. Then he found +Johnny, at the foot of a high cliff. He was dead, his neck broken by the +fall. Scattered all around him from the torn sack was the food he had +wanted to give to the cats. + +He buried Johnny the next day, while a cold wind moaned under a +lead-gray sky. He built a monument for him; a little mound of frosty +stones that only the wild animals would ever see-- + + * * * * * + +A chime rang, high and clear, and the memories were shattered. The +orange light above the hyperspace communicator was flashing; the signal +that meant the Exploration Board was calling him from Earth. + +He flipped the switch and said, "Paul Jameson, Exploration Ship One." + +The familiar voice of Brender spoke: + +"It's been some time since your preliminary report. Is everything all +right?" + +"In a way," he answered. "I was going to give you the detailed report +tomorrow." + +"Give me a brief sketch of it now." + +"Except for their short brown fur, the natives are humanoid in +appearance. But there are basic differences. Their body temperature is +cool, like their climate. Their vision range is from just within the +visible red on into the infrared. They'll shade their eyes from the +light of anything as hot as boiling water but they'll look square into +the ship's floodlights and never see them." + +"And their knowledge of science?" Brender asked. + +"They have a good understanding of it, but along lines entirely +different from what our own were at their stage of development. For +example: they power their machines with chemicals but there is no steam, +heat, or exhaust." + +"That's what we want to find--worlds where branches of research unknown +to our science are being explored. How about their language?" + +"No progress with it yet." He told Brender of the silence in the village +and added, "Even if Throon should show up I could not ask him what was +wrong. I've learned a few words but they have so many different +definitions that I can't use them." + +"I know," Brender said. "Variable and unrelated definitions, +undetectable shades of inflection--and sometimes a language that has no +discernibly separate words. The Singer brothers of Ship Eight ran into +the latter. We've given them up as lost." + +"The Singers--dead?" he exclaimed. "Good God--it's been only a month +since the Ramon brothers were killed." + +"The circumstances were similar," Brender said. "They always are. There +is no way the Exploration men can tell the natives that they mean them +no harm and the suspicion of the natives grows into dangerous hostility. +The Singers reported the natives on that world to be both suspicious and +possessing powerful weapons. The Singers were proceeding warily, their +own weapons always at hand. But, somehow, the natives caught them +off-guard--their last report was four months ago." + +There was a silence, then Brender added, "Their ship was the ninth--and +we had only fifteen." + +He did not reply to the implications of Brender's statement. It was +obvious to them all what the end of the Plan would be. What it had to +be. + + * * * * * + +It had been only three years since the fifteen heavily armed Exploration +ships set out to lead the way for Terran expansion across the galaxy; to +answer a cry from far planets, and to find all the worlds that held +intelligent life. That was the ultimate goal of the Plan: to accumulate +and correlate all the diverse knowledge of all the intelligent +life-forms in the galaxy. Among the achievements resulting from that +tremendous mass of data would be a ship's drive faster even than +hyperspace; the Third Level Drive which would bring all the galaxies of +the universe within reach. + +And now nine ships were gone out of fifteen and nineteen men out of +thirty.... + +"The communication barrier," Brender said. "The damned communication +barrier has been the cause behind the loss of every ship. And there is +nothing we can do about it. We're stymied by it...." + +The conversation was terminated shortly afterward and he moved about the +room restlessly, wishing it was time to lift ship again. With Johnny not +there the dark world was like a smothering tomb. He would like to leave +it behind and drive again into the star clouds of the galaxy; drive on +and on into them-- + +A ghostly echo touched his mind; restless, poignantly yearning. He swung +to face the locked door, knowing there could be nothing behind it. The +first real fear came to him as he did so. The thing was lonely--the +thing that watched him was as lonely as he was.... + +What else could any of it be but the product of a mind in the first +stage of insanity? + + * * * * * + +The natives came ten minutes later. + +The viewscreen showed their chemically-powered vehicle emerge from the +trees and roll swiftly across the glade. Four natives were in it while a +fifth one lay on the floor, apparently badly injured. + +The vehicle stopped a short distance in front of the airlock and he +recognized the native on the floor. It was Throon, the one with whom he +had been exchanging language lessons. + +They were waiting for him when he emerged from the ship, pistol-like +weapons in their belts and grim accusation in their manner. + +Throon was muttering unintelligibly, unconscious. His skin, where not +covered by the brown fur, was abnormal in appearance. He was dying. + +The leader of the four indicated Throon and said in a quick, brittle +voice: "_Ko reegar feen no-dran!_" + +Only one word was familiar: _Ko_, which meant "you" and "yesterday" and +a great many other things. The question was utterly meaningless to him. + +He dropped his hand a little nearer his blaster as the leader spoke +again; a quick succession of unknown words that ended with a harshly +demanding "_kreson!_" + +_Kreson_ meant "now," or "very quickly." All the other words were +unfamiliar to him. They waited, the grim menace about them increasing +when he did not answer. He tried in vain to find some way of explaining +to them he was not responsible for Throon's sickness and could not cure +it. + +Then he saw the spray of leaves that had caught on the corner of the +vehicle when it came through the farther trees. + +They were of a deep purple color. All the trees around the ship were +almost gray by contrast. + +Which meant that he _was_ responsible for Throon's condition. + +The cold white light of the ship's floodlights, under which he and +Throon had sat for day after day, contained radiations that went through +the violet and far into the ultraviolet. To the animal and vegetable +life of the dark world such radiations were invisibly short and deadly. + +Throon was dying of hard-radiation sickness. + +It was something he should have foreseen and avoided--and that would not +have happened had he accepted old Throon's pantomimed invitation, in the +beginning, to go with him into the village to work at the language +study. There he would have used a harmless battery lamp for illumination +... but there was no certainty that the natives were not planning to lay +a trap for him in the village and he had refused to go. + +It did not matter--there was a complex radiation-neutralizer and +cell-reconstructor in the ship which would return Throon to full, normal +health a few hours after he was placed in its chamber. + +He turned to the leader of the four natives and motioned from Throon to +the airlock. "Go--there," he said in the native language. + +"_Bron!_" the leader answered. The word meant "No" and there was a +determination in the way he said it that showed he would not move from +it. + +At the end of five minutes his attempts to persuade them to take Throon +into the ship had increased their suspicion of his motives to the point +of critical danger. If only he could tell them _why_ he wanted Throon +taken into the ship ... But he could not and would have to take Throon +by first disposing of the four without injuring them. This he could do +by procuring one of the paralyzing needle-guns from the ship. + +He took a step toward the ship and spoke the words that to the best of +his knowledge meant: "I come back." + +"_Feswin ilt k'la._" + +Their reply was to snatch at their weapons in desperate haste, even as +the leader uttered a hoarse word of command. He brought up the blaster +with the quick motion that long training had perfected and their weapons +were only half drawn when his warning came: + +"_Bron!_" + + * * * * * + +They froze, but did not release their weapons. He walked backward to the +airlock, his blaster covering them, the tensely waiting manner in which +they watched his progress telling him that the slightest relaxation of +his vigilance would mean his death. He did not let the muzzle of the +blaster waver until he was inside the airlock and the outer door had +slid shut. + +He was sure that the natives would be gone when he returned. And he was +sure of another thing: That whatever he had said to them, it was not +what he had thought he was saying. + +He saw that the glade was empty when he opened the airlock again. At +the same time a bomb-like missile struck the ship just above the airlock +and exploded with a savage crash. He jabbed the _Close_ button and the +door clicked shut barely in advance of three more missiles which +hammered at its impervious armor. + +So that, he thought wearily, is that. + +He laid the useless needle-gun aside. The stage was past when he could +hope to use it. He could save Throon only by killing some of the +others--or he could lift ship and leave Throon to die. Either action +would make the natives hate and fear Terrans; a hatred and fear that +would be there to greet all future Terran ships. + +That was not the way a race gave birth to peaceful galactic empire, was +not the purpose behind the Plan. But always, wherever the Exploration +men went, they encountered the deadly barrier; the intangible, +unassailable communication barrier. With the weapons an Exploration man +carried in his ship he had the power to destroy a world--but not the +power to ask the simple questions that would prevent fatal +misunderstandings. + +And before another three years had passed the last Exploration man would +die, the last Exploration ship would be lost. + +He felt the full force of hopelessness for the first time. When Johnny +had been alive it had been different; Johnny, who had laughed whenever +the outlook was the darkest and said, "_We'll find a way, Paul--_" + +The thought broke as suddenly, unexpectedly, he felt that Johnny was +very near. With the feeling came the soft enclosure of a dream-like +peace in which Johnny's death was vague and faraway; only something that +had happened in another dream. He knew, without wondering why, that +Johnny was in the control room. + +A part of his mind tried to reject the thought as an illusion. He did +not listen--he did not want to listen. He ran to the ship's elevator, +stumbling like one not fully awake. Johnny was waiting for him in the +control room--alive--alive-- + + * * * * * + +He spoke as he stepped into the control room: + +"Johnny--" + +Something moved at the control board, black and alien, standing tall as +a man on short hind legs. Yellow eyes blazed in a feline face. + +It was a cave cat, like the ones that had killed Johnny. + +Realization was a wrenching shock and a terrible disillusionment. Johnny +was not waiting for him--not alive-- + +He brought up the blaster, the dream-like state gone. The paw of the +cave cat flashed out and struck the ship's master light switch with a +movement faster than his own. The room was instantly, totally, dark. + +He fired and pale blue fire lanced across the room, to reveal that the +cave cat was gone. He fired again, quickly and immediately in front of +him. The pale beam revealed only the ripped metal floor. + +"_I am not where you think._" + +The words spoke clearly in his mind but there was no directional source. +He held his breath, listening for the whisper of padded feet as the cave +cat flashed in for the kill, and made a swift analysis of the situation. + +The cave cat was telepathic and highly intelligent and had been on the +ship all the time. It and the others had wanted the ship and had killed +Johnny to reduce opposition to the minimum. He, himself, had been +permitted to live until the cave cat learned from his mind how to +operate the almost-automatic controls. Now, he had served his purpose-- + +"_You are wrong._" + +Again there was no way he could determine the direction from which the +thought came. He listened again, and wondered why it had not waylaid him +at the door. + +Its thought came: + +"_I had to let you see me or you would not have believed I existed. It +was only here that I could extinguish all lights and have time to speak +before you killed me. I let you think your brother was here...._" There +was a little pause. "_I am sorry. I am sorry. I should have used some +other method of luring you here._" + +He swung the blaster toward what seemed to be a faint sound near the +astrogator unit across the room. + +"_We did not intend to kill your brother._" + +He did not believe it and did not reply. + +"_When we made first telepathic contact with him, he jerked up his +blaster and fired. In his mind was the conviction that we had pretended +to be harmless animals so that we could catch him off-guard and kill +him. One of us leaped at him as he fired the second time, to knock the +blaster from his hand. We needed only a few minutes in which to +explain--but he would not trust us that long. There was a misjudgment of +distance and he was knocked off the cliff._" + +Again he did not reply. + +"_We did not intend to kill your brother_," the thought came, "_but you +do not believe me_." + + * * * * * + +He spoke for the first time. "No, I don't believe you. You are +physically like cats and cats don't misjudge distances. Now, you want +something from me before you try to kill me, too. What is it?" + +"_I will have to tell you of my race for you to understand. We call +ourselves the Varn, in so far as it can be translated into a spoken +word, and we are a very old race. In the beginning we did not live in +caves but there came a long period of time, for thousands of years, when +the climate on our world was so violent that we were forced to live in +the caves. It was completely dark there but our sense of smell became +very acute, together with sufficient sensitivity to temperature changes +that we could detect objects in our immediate vicinity. There were +subterranean plants in the caves and food was no problem._" + + * * * * * + +"_We had always been slightly telepathic and it was during our long stay +in the caves that our intelligence and telepathic powers became fully +developed. We had only our minds--physical science is not created in +dark caves with clumsy paws._ + +"_The time finally came when we could leave the caves but it was of +little help to us. There were no resources on our world but earth and +stone and the thin grass of the plains. We wondered about the universe +and we knew the stars were distant suns because one of our own suns +became a star each winter. We studied as best we could but we could see +the stars only as the little wild animals saw them. There was so much we +wanted to learn and by then we were past our zenith and already dying +out. But our environment was a prison from which we could never escape._ + +"_When your ship arrived we thought we might soon be free. We wanted to +ask you to take some of us with you and arrange for others of your race +to stop by on our world. But you dismissed us as animals, useful only +for making warm fur coats, because we lived in caves and had no science, +no artifacts--nothing. You had the power to destroy us and we did not +know what your reaction would be when you learned we were intelligent +and telepathic. A telepathic race must have a high code of ethics and +never intrude unwanted--but would you have believed that?_" + +He did not answer. + +"_The death of your brother changed everything. You were going to leave +so soon that there would be no time to learn more about you. I hid on +the ship so I could study you and wait until I could prove to you that +you needed me. Now, I can--Throon is dying and I can give you the proper +words of explanation that will cause the others to bring him into the +ship._" + +"Your real purpose--what is it?" he asked. + +"_To show you that men need the Varn. You want to explore the galaxy, +and learn. So do the Varn. You have the ships and we have the telepathic +ability that will end the communication problem. Your race and mine can +succeed only if we go together._" + +He searched for the true, and hidden, purpose behind the Varn proposal +and saw what it would have to be. + +"The long-range goal--you failed to mention that ... your ultimate aim." + +"_I know what you are thinking. How can I prove you wrong--now?_" + +There was no way for the Varn to prove him wrong, nor for him to prove +the treachery behind the Varn proposal. The proof would come only with +time, when the Terran-Varn co-operation had transformed Terrans into a +slave race. + +The Varn spoke again. "_You refuse to believe I am sincere?_" + +"I would be a naive fool to believe you." + +"_It will be too late to save Throon unless we act very quickly. I have +told you why I am here. There is nothing more I can do to convince you +but be the first to show trust. When I switch on the lights it will be +within your power to kill me._" + + * * * * * + +The Varn was gambling its life in a game in which he would be gambling +the Plan and his race. It was a game he would end at the first sound of +movement from the astrogator unit across the room.... + +"_I have been here beside you all the time._" + +A furry paw brushed his face, claws flicked gently but grimly reminding +along his throat. + +He whirled and fired. He was too late--the Varn had already leaped +silently away and the beam found only the bare floor. Then the lights +came on, glaringly bright after the darkness, and he saw the Varn. + +It was standing by the control board, its huge yellow eyes watching him. +He brought the blaster into line with it, his finger on the firing stud. +It waited, not moving or shrinking from what was coming. The translucent +golden eyes looked at him and beyond him, as though they saw something +not in the room. He wondered if it was in contact with its own kind on +Johnny's World and was telling them it had made the gamble for high +stakes, and had lost. + +It was not afraid--not asking for mercy.... + +The killing of it was suddenly an act without savor. It was something he +would do in the immediate future but first he would let it live long +enough to save Throon. + +He motioned with the blaster and said, "Lead the way to the airlock." + +"_And afterward--you will kill me?_" + +"Lead the way," he repeated harshly. + +It said no more but went obediently past him and trotted down the +corridor like a great, black dog. + + * * * * * + +He stood in the open airlock, the Varn against the farther wall where he +had ordered it to stand. Throon was in the radiation chamber and he had +held his first intelligible conversation with the natives that day. + +The Varn was facing into the red-black gloom outside the lighted +airlock, where the departing natives could be heard crossing the glade. +"_Their thoughts no longer hold fear and suspicion_," it said. "_The +misunderstanding is ended._" + +He raised the muzzle of the blaster in his hand. The black head lifted +and the golden eyes looked up at him. + +"I made you no promise," he said. + +"_I could demand none._" + +"I can't stop to take you back to your own world and I can't leave you +alive on this one--with what you've learned from my mind you would have +the natives build the Varn a disintegrator-equipped space fleet equal to +our own ships." + +"_We want only to go with you._" + +He told it what he wanted it to know before he killed it, wondering why +he should care: + +"I would like to believe you are sincere--and you know why I don't dare +to. Trusting a telepathic race would be too dangerous. The Varn would +know everything we knew and only the Varn would be able to communicate +with each new alien race. We would have to believe what the Varn told +us--we would have to trust the Varn to see for us and speak for us and +not deceive us as we went across the galaxy. And then, in the end, +Terrans would no longer be needed except as a subject race. They would +be enslaved. + +"We would have laid the groundwork for an empire--the Varn Empire." + +There was a silence, in which his words hung like something cold and +invisible between them. + +Then the Varn asked, very quietly: + +"_Why is the Plan failing?_" + +"You already know," he said. "Because of the barrier--the communication +barrier that causes aliens to misunderstand the intentions of +Exploration men and fear them." + +"_There is no communication barrier between you and I--yet you fear me +and are going to kill me._" + +"I have to kill you. You represent a danger to my race." + +"_Isn't that the same reason why aliens kill Exploration men?_" + +He did not answer and its thought came, quickly, "_How does an +Exploration man appear to the natives of alien worlds?_" + +How did he appear?... He landed on their world in a ship that could +smash it into oblivion; he stepped out of his ship carrying weapons that +could level a city; he represented irresistible power for destruction +and he trusted no one and nothing. + +And in return he hoped to find welcome and friendship and +co-operation.... + +"_There_," the Varn said, "_is your true barrier--your own distrust and +suspicion. You, yourselves, create it on each new world. Now you are +going to erect it between my race and yours by killing me and advising +the Exploration Board to quarantine my world and never let another ship +land there._" + +Again there was a silence as he thought of what the Varn had said and +of what it had said earlier: "_We are a very old race...._" There was +wisdom in the Varn's analysis of the cause of the Plan's failure and +with the Varn to vanquish the communication stalemate, the new approach +could be tried. They could go a long way together, men and Varn, a long, +long way.... + +Or they could create the Varn Empire ... and how could he know which it +would be? + +How could anyone know--except the telepathic Varn? + +The muzzle of the blaster had dropped and he brought it back up. He +forced the dangerous indecision aside, knowing he would have to kill the +Varn at once or he might weaken again, and said harshly to it: + +"The risk is too great. I want to believe you--but all your talk of +trust and good intentions is only talk and my race would be the only one +that had to trust." + +He touched the firing stud as the last thought of the Varn came: + +"_Let me speak once more._" + +He waited, the firing stud cold and metallic under his finger. + +"_You are wrong. We have already set the example of faith in you by +asking to go with you. I told you we did not intend to hurt your brother +and I told you we saw the stars only as the little wild animals saw +them. The years in the dark caves--you do not understand--_" + +The eyes of the Varn looked into his and beyond him; beautiful, +expressionless, like polished gold. + +"_The Varn are blind._" + + THE END + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_ + September 1958. 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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cry from a Far Planet, by Tom Godwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRY FROM A FAR PLANET *** + +***** This file should be named 23799.txt or 23799.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/9/23799/ + +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. 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