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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/24566-h.zip b/24566-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ea2bf1 --- /dev/null +++ b/24566-h.zip diff --git a/24566-h/24566-h.htm b/24566-h/24566-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dbe0f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/24566-h/24566-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1377 @@ +<!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 Faithfully Yours, by Lou Tabakow. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + a {text-decoration:none; color:blue;} + a:visited {color:gray;} + body {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + h3 {margin:0 auto 0 auto;} + hr {width:65%; margin:2em auto 2em auto; clear:both; text-align:center;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.minor {width: 45%; margin:1em auto 1em auto; clear:both;} + p {margin-top:.75em; text-align:justify; margin-bottom:.75em; text-indent:1.5em;} + p.noin {text-indent:0;} + .b {font-weight:bold;} + .bbox {border:solid 1px; padding:1em; margin:2em 10% 2em 10%;} + .blurb {padding:1em 1em 1em 1em; margin:auto 0 auto 30%; border:6px ridge gray; font-family:sans-serif; font-size:80%;} + .c {text-align:center;} + .figcenter {margin:auto; text-align:center;} + .figleft {float:left; clear:left; margin:1em 1em 1em 0; padding:0; text-align:center;} + .i {font-style:italic;} + .pagenum {position:absolute; left:95%; font-style:normal; font-size:smaller; text-align:right; text-indent:0;} + .sf75 {font-size:75%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Faithfully Yours, by Lou Tabakow + +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: Faithfully Yours + +Author: Lou Tabakow + +Release Date: February 10, 2008 [EBook #24566] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAITHFULLY YOURS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='bbox'> +<h3>Transcriber’s Notes</h3> +<p>This etext was produced from "Astounding Science Fiction" December 1955. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright +on this publication was renewed.</p> + +<p>The original page numbers from the magazine have been retained.</p> +</div> + +<p class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></p> + +<h1>FAITHFULLY YOURS<br /> +<span class='sf75'>BY LOU TABAKOW</span></h1> + +<p class='b c sf75 noin'>Illustrated by Emsh</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 170px;"> +<img src="images/illus1.png" width="170" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="blurb"><p><i>If it's too impossibly difficult to track down and recapture an +escaped criminal ... there's a worse thing one might do....</i> </p></div> + +<p class='noin'>JULY 18, 1949 A.D.</p> + +<div class='i'> +<p>The fugitive lay face down in the fetid undergrowth, drawing in +spasmodic lungfuls of air through cracked and swollen lips. Long before, +his blue workshirt had been ripped to ribbons and his exposed chest +showed a spiderwork of scratches, where branches and brambles had sought +to restrain him in his frenzied flight. Across his back from shoulder to +shoulder ran a deeper cut around which the caked blood attested to the +needle-sharp viciousness of a thorn bush a mile to the north. With each +tortured breath he winced, as drops <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +of sweat ran down, following the spiderwork network and burning like +acid. Incessantly he rubbed his bruised torso with mud-caked palms to +dislodge the gnats and mosquitoes that clung to him, gorging +shamelessly.</p> + +<p>To the east he could see the lights of Fort Mudge where the railroad +cut through on its way to Jacksonville. He had planned to ride the +freight into Jacksonville but by now they were stopping every train and +searching along every foot of the railroad right of way. In the distance +he heard the eerie keen of a train whistle, and visualized the scene as +it was flagged down and searched from engine to caboose.</p> + +<p>Directly before him loomed the forbidding northern boundary of the +Okefenokee Swamp. Unconsciously he strained his ears, then shuddered at +the night noises that issued from the noisome wilderness. A frenzied +threshing, then a splash, then ... silence. What drama of life and death +was being played out in that strange other-world of perpetual shadows?</p> + +<p>In sudden panic he jerked erect and cupped his palm round his ear. Far +off; muted by distance, but still unmistakable; he heard the baying of +bloodhounds. Then this was the end. A sob broke from his throat. What +was he, an animal; to be hunted down as a sport? Tears of self-pity +welled to his eyes as he thought back to a party and a girl and laughter +and cleanliness and the scent of magnolias, like a heady wine. But that +was so long ago—so long ago—and now.... He looked down at his +sweating, lacerated body; his blistered calloused palms; the black +broken nails; the cheap workshoes with hemp laces; the shapeless gray +cotton trousers, now wet to the knees.</p> + +<p>He pulled back his shoulders and resolutely faced west toward the +river, but stopped short in horror as he heard the sudden cacophony of +barks, yelps and howls of a pack of bloodhounds that senses the +beginning of the end. He turned in panic. They couldn't be over half a +mile away. In a panic of indecision he turned first east then west, then +facing due south he hesitated a moment to take one last look at the +clear open skies, and with a muffled prayer plunged into the brooding +depths of the Okefenokee.</p></div> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='noin'>JUNE 13, 427th Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>The building still hummed and vibrated with the dying echoes of the +alarm siren as the biophysicist hurried down the corridor, and without +breaking stride, pushed open the door to the Director's office.</p> + +<p>The Director shuffled the papers before him and sighed heavily. His +chair creaked protestingly as he shifted his bulk and looked up.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"He got away clean," said the biophysicist.</p> + +<p>"Any fix on the direction?"</p> + +<p>"None at all, sir. And he's got at least a two hours' start. That takes +in a pretty big area of space."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +"Hm-m-m! Well there's just a bare chance. That experimental cruiser is +the fastest thing in space and it's equipped with the latest +ethero-radar. If we get started right away, we just might—"</p> + +<p>"That's just it," interrupted the biophysicist. "That's the ship he got +away in."</p> + +<p>The Director jumped angrily to his feet. "How did that happen? How can I +explain to the board?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, sir. He was just too—"</p> + +<p>"<i>You're</i> sorry?" He slumped back in his chair and drummed the desk top +with his fingernails, worrying his lower lip with his teeth. He exhaled +loudly and leaned forward. "Well, only one thing to do. You know the +orders."</p> + +<p>The biophysicist squirmed uncomfortably. "Couldn't we send a squadron of +ships out to search and—"</p> + +<p>"And what?" asked the Director, sarcastically. "You don't think I'd risk +a billion credits worth of equipment on a wild-goose chase like that, do +you? We could use up a year's appropriation of fuel and manpower and +still be unable to adequately search a sector one-tenth that size. If he +just sat still, a thousand ships couldn't find him in a thousand years, +searching at finite speeds. Add to that the fact that the target is +moving at ultra-light speed and the odds against locating him is +multiplied by a billion."</p> + +<p>"I know, but he can't stay in space. He'll have to land somewhere, +sometime."</p> + +<p>"True enough—but where and when?"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we alert all the nearby planets?"</p> + +<p>"You know better than that. He could be halfway across the galaxy before +an ethero-gram reached the nearest planet."</p> + +<p>"Suppose we sent scout ships to the nearer planets and asked them to +inform their neighbors in the same way. We'd soon have an expanding +circle that he <i>couldn't</i> slip through."</p> + +<p>The Director smiled wryly. "Maybe. But who's going to pay for all this. +By the time the circle was a thousand light-years in diameter there +would be ten thousand ships and a million clerks working on recapturing +one escaped prisoner. Another thing; I don't know offhand what he's been +sentenced for, but I'll wager there are ten thousand planets on which +his crime would not be a crime. Do you think we could ever extradite him +from such a planet? And even if by some incredible stroke of fortune one +of our agents happened to land on the right planet, in which city would +he begin his search. Or suppose our quarry lands only on uninhabited +planets? We can't very well alert the whole galaxy in the search for +just one man."</p> + +<p>"I know, but—"</p> + +<p>"But what?" interrupted the Director. "Any other suggestions?"</p> + +<p>"N ... no—"</p> + +<p>"All right, he asked for it. You have the pattern, I presume. <i>Feed it +to Fido!</i>"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +"Yes, sir, but well ... I just don't—"</p> + +<p>"Do you think <i>I</i> like it?" asked the Director, fiercely.</p> + +<p>In the silence that followed, they looked at each other, guiltily.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing else we can do," said the Director. "The orders are +explicit. <i>No one escapes from Hades!</i>"</p> + +<p>"I know," replied the biophysicist. "I'm not blaming you. Only I wish +someone else had my job."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Director, heavily. "You might as well get started." He +nodded his head in dismissal.</p> + +<p>As the biophysicist went out the door, the Director looked down once +more at the pile of papers before him. He pulled the top sheet closer, +and rubber-stamped across its face—CASE CLOSED.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he mused aloud. "Closed for us, but—" He hesitated a moment, and +then sighing once more, signed his name in the space provided.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='noin'>AUGUST 6, 430th Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>Tee Ormond sat morosely at the spaceport bar, and alternately wiped his +forehead with a soggy handkerchief, and sipped at his frosted rainbow, +careful not to disturb the varicolored layers of liquid in the tall +narrow glass. Every now and then he nervously ran his fingers through +his straight black hair, which lay damply plastered to his head. His +jacket was faded and worn, and above the left pocket was emblazoned the +meteor insignia of the spaceman. A dark patch on his back showed where +the perspiration had seeped through. He blinked and rubbed the corner of +his eye as a drop of perspiration ran down and settled there.</p> + +<p>A casual look would have classified him as a very average looking pilot +such as could be found at the bar of any spaceport; i.e. if space pilots +can ever be classified as average. Spacemen are the last true +adventurers in an age where the debilitating culture of a highly +mechanized civilization has pushed to the very borders of the galaxy. +While most men are fearful and indecisive outside their narrow +specialties the spacemen must at all times be ready to deal with the +unexpected and the unusual. The expression—"Steady as a spaceman's +nerves"—had a very real origin.</p> + +<p>A closer look at Tee would have revealed the error of a quick +classification. He gripped his drink too tightly, and his eyes darted +restlessly from side to side, as though searching, searching; yet +dreading to find the object of their search. His expressive face +contorted in a nervous tic each time his eyes swept by the clock hanging +behind the bar. He glanced dispiritedly out the window at the +perpetually cloudy sky and idly watched a rivulet of water race down the +dirty pane. He loosened his collar and futilely mopped at his neck with +the soggy handkerchief, then irritably flung it to the floor.</p> + +<p>"Hey, Jo," he yelled to the bartender. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +"What's the matter with the air-conditioning? I'm burning up."</p> + +<p>"Take it easy," soothed the bartender, consulting a thermometer on the +wall behind him, "it's eighty-five in here. That's as low as the law +allows. Can't have too much difference in the temperature or all my +customers'd pass out when they go outside. Why don't you go into town? +They keep it comfortable under the dome."</p> + +<p>"Don't this planet <i>ever</i> cool off?" asked Tee.</p> + +<p>The bartender chuckled. "I see you don't know too much about Thymis. +Sometimes it drops to ninety at night, but not too often. You ought to +be here sometime when the clouds part for a minute. If you're caught +outside then, it's third-degree burns for sure."</p> + +<p>He glanced down at the nearly empty glass. "How about another rainbow? +If you get enough of them in you, you won't notice the heat—you won't +notice anything." He laughed uproariously at the hoary joke.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>Tee looked at him disgustedly and without answering bent to his drink +once more. He felt someone jostle his elbow and turned sideways to allow +the newcomer access to the bar. After a moment he wiped his forehead on +his sleeve. The bartender placed another rainbow before him.</p> + +<p>"Hey, I didn't order that," he cried.</p> + +<p>The bartender nodded toward the next stool. "On him."</p> + +<p>Tee turned and saw a barrel-chested red-haired giant holding up a drink +in the immemorial bar toast. He raised his own glass gingerly, but his +trembling hand caused the layers to mix and he stared ruefully at the +resultant clayey-looking mess.</p> + +<p>The redhead laughed. "Mix another one, Jo."</p> + +<p>"But—" Tee's face got red.</p> + +<p>"I came in here to talk to you anyway," said the giant. "You own the +<i>Starduster</i>, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yeah, what about it?"</p> + +<p>"Like to get her out of hock?"</p> + +<p>"Who says she's in hock?"</p> + +<p>"Look," said the redhead. "Let's not kid each other. Everybody around +this port knows you blew in from Lemmyt last month and can't raise the +money to pay the port charges, much less the refueling fee. And it's no +secret that you're anxious to leave our fair planet." He winked +conspiringly at Tee.</p> + +<p>"So?"</p> + +<p>The redhead glanced at the bartender who was busy at the other end of +the bar. He leaned closer and whispered. "I know where the <i>Elen of +Troy</i> is."</p> + +<p>"The <i>Elen of Troy</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know about her. Eight months ago she +crashed on an uninhabited planet somewhere in this sector. So far +they've been unable to find her." He leaned closer. "She was carrying +four million in Penryx crystals."</p> + +<p>"What's that to me?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +The redhead looked around briefly to make sure no one was in hearing +distance, then whispered softly, without moving his lips. "I told you, +they can't find her, but <i>I</i> know where she is."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> know? But how—"</p> + +<p>"Look," said the giant, frowning, "I didn't ask you why <i>you're</i> so +anxious to leave."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I'll clear your ship and we can pick up the crystals for the salvage +fee. A million each, and all nice and legal. We can leave by the end of +the week and be back in probably six months."</p> + +<p>"<i>Six months!</i>" Tee stood up. "Sorry!"</p> + +<p>The redhead grabbed his arm in a hamlike palm. "A million each in six +months; what's wrong with that?"</p> + +<p>Tee jerked out of his grasp. "I ... I just can't do it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you're running from," persisted the redhead, "but +with a million credits you can fight extradition for the rest of your +life. This is your big chance, can't you see that. Besides, this planet +has some interesting customs." He winked at Tee. "I can introduce you—"</p> + +<p>"I can't stay here," interrupted Tee. "You just don't understand."</p> + +<p>"Look," cried the redhead exasperatedly, "I'm offering you a full +partnership on a two million credit salvage deal and you want to back +out because it'll take six months. On top of that you're broke and +stranded and your hangar bill gets bigger every day. If you don't take +me up on this deal, you'll still be sitting here six months from now +wondering how to get your ship out of hock—if you don't get caught +first. What do you say? What've you got to lose?"</p> + +<p>What did he have to lose? Tee gripped the edge of the bar till his +knuckles showed white. "No! I just can't do it. Why don't you get +someone else?"</p> + +<p>"The slow tubs around this port would take years for the trip. I can see +the <i>Starduster</i> has class."</p> + +<p>"Fastest thing in the galaxy," said Tee, proudly. Then earnestly, "I'm +sorry, you'll just have to find some other ship."</p> + +<p>"Think it over," said the redhead. "I'll wait. When you change your mind +look me up. Name's Yule Larson." He slapped Tee heavily on the back and +swaggered toward the door. He turned and looked back. "Better go along +with me. After six months they can auction off your ship to pay for the +port charges, you know." The door swung shut behind him.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>Tee sat down again and bent his head, nursing his drink. His eyes darted +nervously around the room and came to rest on the clock. A shudder ran +through him and he lowered his eyes quickly. As he sipped his drink his +eyes returned to the clock continually, as though drawn there against +their will. As he watched, the minute hand jerked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +downward and an involuntary gasp escaped his lips.</p> + +<p>The bartender turned quickly. "Anything wrong?"</p> + +<p>"N ... no, nothing." As he spoke, the minute hand moved again and Tee +started nervously, upsetting his drink. He sat for a moment watching the +bartender mop up the spreading liquid, then abruptly got up and tossed a +half-credit piece on the bar. He hurried outside, steeling himself to +keep from running. He paused just outside the door.</p> + +<p><i>Stand still</i>, he told himself. <i>Mustn't run! Mustn't run! No use +anyway. If I only knew when. If I just could stop and rest. If I had the +time ... Time! Time! That's what I need. Light-years of time ... But +when? When? If only I could be sure.</i> He looked up slowly at the murky +canopy of clouds. <i>If I only knew when!</i> He looked indecisively up and +down the field, then squaring his shoulders resolutely, set out for the +administration building.</p> + +<p>At this hour the office was deserted except for a wispy-haired little +man who sat at a desk fussing with some papers. He looked up +questioningly as Tee came in.</p> + +<p>"Is my ship re-charged and provisioned?" asked Tee.</p> + +<p>"Uh, what's the name please?"</p> + +<p>"Tee Ormond. I own the <i>Starduster</i>."</p> + +<p>The clerk pulled a card from a file on the desk and studied it. "Ah, +yes, the <i>Starduster</i>."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to pay my bill and clear the <i>Starduster</i> for immediate +departure."</p> + +<p>"Uh, very good, Mr. Ormond." He consulted the card again. "That'll be +fourteen hundred and eleven credits." He beamed. "We included a case of +Ruykeser's Concentrate, compliments of the management." He handed a +circular to Tee. "This is a list of our ports and facilities on other +planets. Our accommodations are the finest, and we carry a complete line +of parts." He smiled professionally.</p> + +<p>"What about my key?" asked Tee, pulling out his wallet.</p> + +<p>"Uh, let's see, number thirty-seven." The clerk started for a numbered +board hanging on the wall. He never got there.</p> + +<p>Tee whipped a stun-gun from inside his jacket and waved it at the +clerk's back. It caught him in mid-stride, and unbalanced, he crashed +heavily to the floor. Tee glanced briefly down as he stepped over the +paralyzed form, avoiding the accusing eyes, and snatched the magnetic +key off the hook. He forced himself to walk calmly across the field +toward the hangar that housed the <i>Starduster</i>.</p> + +<p>A uniformed guard stopped him at the hangar door. "May I see your +clearance, sir?" he asked, politely.</p> + +<p>Tee hesitated for a moment. "Oh, I'm just going to get something out of +my ship," he said, smoothly. "The clerk said it was roj."</p> + +<p>"The clerk said? But he can't—" The guard tensed. "Mind if I check, +sir? Orders, you know." He bent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +his head slightly as he pressed a knob on his wrist radio. As his eyes +turned downward, Tee swung the stun-gun in an arc that ended on the back +of the guard's head. As he leaped into the <i>Starduster</i> he was sorry for +a moment that he hadn't had time to recharge the gun, and hoped he +hadn't struck too hard.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus2.png" width="600" height="358" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='noin'>OCTOBER 11, 433rd Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>Tee stepped out of the hangar and surveyed the twin suns. The pale +binaries sat stolidly on the horizon, forty degrees apart. Their mingled +light washed down dimly on the single continent of the planet, Aurora.</p> + +<p>He started, as a man walked around the corner of the hangar. The man +looked at Tee searchingly for a moment, then asked, "Anything troubling +you, Tee?"</p> + +<p>"Why ... why, no, Mr. Jenner. You just startled me, that's all."</p> + +<p>"Well, how's everything coming?"</p> + +<p>"Right on schedule. We'll be ready for the final test by the end of the +week."</p> + +<p>"By the way," asked Jenner, speculatively, "how come you ordered the +ship stocked and provisioned, for the test?"</p> + +<p>"Why ... why I think she should be tested under exactly the same +conditions as she'll encounter in actual use."</p> + +<p>"We could have done it a lot cheaper by just using ballast," said +Jenner. "After this, I want to personally see any voucher for over a +hundred credits before it's cleared."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, but I just didn't want to bother you with details."</p> + +<p>"An expenditure of over two thousand credits isn't just detail; but +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +let it pass. It's already done. Anyway, on the drawing board she's the +fastest thing in the galaxy." He smiled. "If she lives up to +expectations, she'll make your ship look like an old freighter. We've +got four million sunk in her so far, so she'd better check out roj."</p> + +<p>He put his hand on Tee's shoulder. "You're not worried about testing +her, are you? You've been jumpy lately."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, nothing like that, Mr. Jenner. I'm just ... well, I've been up +all night watching them install the gyroscopes. Think I'll get some +sleep." He yawned.</p> + +<p>Jenner cupped his chin in his palm and stood staring after the +retreating figure. As Tee turned and looked back nervously, Jenner +entered the hangar office. He spoke softly into the visiphone and in a +moment the screen lit up.</p> + +<p>"Is this the prison administrator?" asked Jenner.</p> + +<p>"What can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Jenner; Consolidated Spacecraft."</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose an escaped prisoner from Hades landed on Aurora?"</p> + +<p>"<i>No one</i> escapes from Hades Prison."</p> + +<p>"Well, just suppose one did?"</p> + +<p>"I never receive information about escapees."</p> + +<p>"But you're the administrator here."</p> + +<p>"My job, as the title implies, is purely administrative. I merely +arrange transportation for our annual shipment of prisoners to Hades, +and see that the records are kept straight."</p> + +<p>"But whom <i>would</i> they contact in the event of an escape?"</p> + +<p>The administrator pursed his lips in impatience. "Hades has six billion +prisoners at any given time. If one did manage to escape, they couldn't +very well alert a million planets."</p> + +<p>"You mean you wouldn't do anything?"</p> + +<p>"As I said before, my job is purely administrative. Out of my +jurisdiction entirely. Each planet has its own police force and handles +its internal crime in its own way. What's legal on Aurora might very +well be illegal on ten thousand other planets, and vice versa."</p> + +<p>"I see. Thank you." Jenner cut the connection slowly. He flicked the +switch open again, hesitated, and then closed it.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>He walked out to where his gyrocar was parked, and in a few minutes set +it down on the roof of Tee's hotel. Tee was just entering the lobby as +Jenner came in and they went up to his room together.</p> + +<p>"I'll come right to the point, Tee," he said, as soon as the door had +closed. "I just talked to the local prison administrator for Hades." He +looked closely at Tee.</p> + +<p>"What's that got to do with me?" asked Tee, belligerently.</p> + +<p>"Wait until I finish," said Jenner, curtly. "I hired you to test-hop our +new ship because you were the best pilot available. I'm not interested +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +your past, but most of the company's resources are sunk in that ship. +If something goes wrong because the test pilot is disturbed or nervous, +the company will be bankrupt. I'm not saying you're an escaped prisoner, +but if you were, you'd have nothing to worry about."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"The administrator told me he has no jurisdiction over escaped +prisoners, so you see, if you had escaped, you'd have nothing to fear +here. You're out of their jurisdiction."</p> + +<p>Tee began to laugh wildly. "<i>Out of their jurisdiction! Out of their +jurisdiction!</i> So that's the way they put it. <i>Out of their +jurisdiction!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Stop it!" said Jenner, sharply. "Do you want to tell me now?"</p> + +<p>Tee drew in a gasping breath and sobered. "What would I have to tell +you? So I'm the nervous type. So you hired me to test-hop your new ship. +So I'll test-hop it. That's all we agreed on. What more do you want?"</p> + +<p>Jenner sighed. "Roj, Tee, if that's the way you want it, but I wish—"</p> + +<p>The visiphone buzzed, and when Tee flipped the switch, the worried face +of the chief mechanic sprang into focus. "Oh, there you are, Mr. Jenner. +Glad I caught you before you left. We've run into trouble."</p> + +<p>"Well, out with it," barked Jenner. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>The mechanic cleared his throat nervously. "We were testing the main +gyroscope when it threw a blade."</p> + +<p>"How bad is it?" asked Jenner.</p> + +<p>"Pretty bad, I'm afraid. It tore up the subetherscope unit so bad we'll +have to replace it. We can't get any on Aurora either. We'll have to +send to Lennix, and that'll take close to a month."</p> + +<p>"Roj! Knock off until I get there," barked Jenner. He slammed over the +switch, viciously. "Of all the rotten luck!"</p> + +<p>"Can't you get some plant here on Aurora to hand tool one for you?" +asked Tee.</p> + +<p>"No, that's just it," replied Jenner. "It's a special alloy. The owners +of the process wouldn't give us any details on the manufacture. Anyway, +even if we knew how, we couldn't duplicate it without their special +machine tools."</p> + +<p>"Does that mean—"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so. The ship won't be ready for a month, now."</p> + +<p>"<i>A month!</i> I can't wait a month."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> can't wait a month? We've got four million tied up in that ship +and you tell me <i>you</i> can't wait a month."</p> + +<p>"Look, Mr. Jenner, I'll test it without the unit."</p> + +<p>"That's impossible. The ship would vibrate into a billion pieces as soon +as it went into subspace. No! We'll just have to wait."</p> + +<p>"I can't wait," cried Tee. "You'll have to get another pilot."</p> + +<p>"Just a minute! You can't walk out on your contract. If it's a matter of +credits—"</p> + +<p>Tee shook his head. "That's not it at all. I just can't stay that long."</p> + +<p>Jenner looked at him angrily. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +"Well, your contract isn't up till the end of the week anyway. We'll +see what we can do about a replacement then."</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>After Jenner had left, Tee sat smoking in the darkness. He placed his +elbow on the couch arm and cupped his chin in his palm. Then restlessly, +he snuffed out his cigarette and rubbed his hands together. They felt +moist and clammy. He jerked nervously as a click sounded out in the +hall. Only a door opening across the way. He bit the fleshy part of his +middle finger and then began to worry his ring with his teeth. He lit +another cigarette and dropped it into the disposal almost immediately.</p> + +<p>He got up and began to pace the room. Six steps forward. Turn. Six steps +back. Turn. Six steps forward—or was it five this time? The walls +seemed to be closing in, constricting. His head felt light and his +tongue and palate grew dry. He tried to swallow, and a feeling of nausea +came over him. His throat grew tight and he felt as though he were +choking. Rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand it came away wet +with perspiration. He rushed to the window and struggled futilely with +it, forgetting it was sealed shut in the air-conditioned hotel. He flung +himself at the door, wrenching it open and took the escalator three +steps at a time falling to his knees at the ground floor. A surface cab +was sitting outside just beyond the entrance. He flung himself in, +breathing heavily and fumbling to drop a coin in the slot, pulled the +control lever all the way over.</p> + +<p>Twenty minutes later, the <i>Starduster</i> hovered for a moment over Aurora, +then shimmered and vanished as it went into subspace.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='noin'>OCTOBER 2, 435th Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>The <i>Starduster</i> materialized just outside the atmosphere of the planet +Elysia, and fluttered erratically downward, like a wounded bird. A +hundred feet from the surface, the ship hesitated, shuddered throughout +her length, then dropped like a plummet, crashing heavily into a grove +of trees.</p> + +<p>For Tee there was a long period of blessed darkness, of peace, of +non-remembering, then his mind clawed upward toward consciousness. The +fear and uncertainty were with him again—nagging, nibbling, gnawing at +his reason.</p> + +<p>He fought to close his mind and drift back down into the darkness of +peace and forgetting, but contrarily the past marched in review before +his consciousness: The twin worlds of Thole revolving about each other +as he fled down the shallow ravine before the creeping wall of lava, +while the ancient mountain grunted and belched, and coughed up its +insides. The terrible pull of the uncharted black star as it tugged at +the feeble <i>Starduster</i>. The enervating heat and humidity of perpetually +cloudy Thymis. Pyramids of gleaming penryx crystals piled high +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +as mountains, and Yule Larson towering above the landscape, draining +gargantuan rainbows at a single gulp; striding like Paul Bunyan across +the land in mile-long strides and kicking over the pyramids of crystals, +laughing uproariously at the sport. And Jenner, grinning idiotically, +pointing a thick finger at him and repeating over and over: "Out of +their jurisdiction! Nothing to fear! Nothing to fear! Nothing to fear! +Noth—"</p> + +<p>"Stop it! Stop it!" cried Tee, and a brilliant burst of light like a +thousand sky-rockets seemed to go off in his head. He shrieked like an +animal in agony, then fell back sobbing, bathed in perspiration.</p> + +<p>Something cool touched his forehead and he pulled away violently, then +as his head cleared he opened his eyes slowly. A blur of shadows and +light shimmering indistinctly, then suddenly like the picture on a +visiphone the blurs coalesced and formed a clear image, and everything +was normal again, the fear still hovering close, but pushed back for the +time being.</p> + +<p>A girl stood before him smiling rather uncertainly. The sweetness and +cleanness of that smile after his recent ordeal washed over his tortured +mind like a cooling astringent, and he smiled gratefully up at her. She +put a cool palm on his forehead and as she started to withdraw it he +clutched it in an emaciated fist and mumbled indistinctly through +cracked dry lips.</p> + +<p>She smiled down at him and smoothed back his damp hair. She pulled up a +chair beside the bed and continued to stroke his hair until his eyes +closed in sleep.</p> + +<p>He awoke ravenous and thirsty, but lay quietly for a time, luxuriating +in the feel of the clean soft sheets. He was in a simply but tastefully +decorated room. Three of the walls were made of transparent glass and +the warm golden rays of a type G sun bathed the room. Outside he could +see green rolling meadowland, broken here and there by sylvan groves. A +brilliantly colored bird swooped down and preened itself for a moment, +then raised its head and flooded the silence with melody. Faintly from a +grove of trees came an answering treble. The songbird cocked its head to +the side, listening, then swooped upward on wings of flashing color. A +small squirrellike creature bounded nervously up to the transparent wall +and sat on its haunches, surveying the room with bright beady eyes. As +Tee's ears attuned themselves he was suddenly aware of chirpings, +trebles, clearpitched whistles, and from somewhere in the depths of the +grove, a deep-pitched ga-rooph, ga-roomph.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>A chubby little man with a round face and alert twinkling eyes entered +the room. He seemed to radiate happiness and contentment. "Well, I see +the patient's finally come around," he said, cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"What happened?" asked Tee.</p> + +<p>"Your ship crashed just beyond that grove."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +Tee clutched at him. "The ship! How bad is it?"</p> + +<p>"I think you were in worse shape than your ship. You must have had it +under control almost to the end, though how you stayed conscious with +space fever is beyond me."</p> + +<p>"Space fever? So that's it. I remember getting sick and light-headed and +just before I passed out I flipped out of subspace and the automatic +finder, of course, took the ship to the nearest planet. I must have +landed by reflex action. I sure don't remember anything about it."</p> + +<p>"Well," the man laughed, "I <i>have</i> seen better landings, but not when +the pilot had a temperature of one-o-five. Anyway, you're safe now. +Welcome to Elysia."</p> + +<p>There it was again. Safe! Safe! Tee raised up, then fell back weakly.</p> + +<p>"Is anything wrong?" asked the little man, alarmed.</p> + +<p>"N ... nothing, I just ... nothing!"</p> + +<p>The man was looking at him questioningly.</p> + +<p>"Elysia," mused Tee. "I seem to remember an old old myth brought from +the original Earth." He waved toward the sylvan setting, outside.</p> + +<p>The little man smiled. "Yes, the old settlers named our planet well." He +caught himself. "Oh, I'm sorry; I'm Dr. Chensi. This is my home."</p> + +<p>Tee smiled. "Well at least you'll have to admit I showed good judgment +crashing next to a doctor's house." Then more seriously, "Thanks, doc, +thanks for everything."</p> + +<p>"My degrees aren't in medicine," replied Dr. Chensi. "I'm afraid I had +little to do with your recovery. My daughter's the one who nursed you. +Oh, here she is now." He raised his voice. "Come in, Lara."</p> + +<p>Since Dr. Chensi was using the only chair she sat down on the edge of +the bed.</p> + +<p>"Here," said the doctor, teasingly, "what kind of nurse are you, mussing +up your patient's bed?"</p> + +<p>She pouted prettily. "He's <i>my</i> patient." Then looking down at Tee with +a smile, "You'll be up and around in no time now."</p> + +<p>"<i>Time!</i>" cried Tee, raising up. "<i>What's the date? I've got to know!</i>"</p> + +<p>"You've been delirious for two weeks," answered the doctor. "Another two +weeks of convalescence and you ought to be as good as new."</p> + +<p>"But two weeks, I can't—"</p> + +<p>"Can't leave before then anyway," replied the doctor calmly. "I knew +you'd want your ship repaired so I had it hauled to the port. Won't be +ready for two more weeks. So you might as well relax."</p> + +<p>Tee bit his lip, and clenched his fists to keep from trembling. It was a +moment before he could trust himself to speak without a quaver in his +voice. "Nothing else I can do, I guess. Thanks, anyway. And by the way, +there's enough credits in the ship's safe to pay for the repairs, I'm +sure."</p> + +<p>"I think we should start the patient walking tomorrow," said Lara, in a +mock-professional voice. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +punched the ends of Tee's pillow. "Now you'd better get some sleep. +You're still very weak, you know."</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>The days that followed were like an idyll for Tee. With Lara he wandered +through the parklike wooded groves. They sat near shaded pools and ate +wild berries while she told him stories of the founding of Elysia. They +held hands and ran exuberantly across the grassy meadows, and waded like +children in the clear brooks.</p> + +<p>A thousand times, a word, an endearing term, sprang to his lips, and +each time the fear clamped his tongue in a vise of steel. A thousand +times he wanted to touch her, feel the silkiness of her hair, the warmth +of her lips, but each time the fear and uncertainty stood between them +like twin specters of doom, pointing and saying, "Fool! Why torture +yourself?"</p> + +<p>In the daytime when Lara was with him it wasn't so bad, but at night the +fear and uncertainty crowded to the fore and blanked out everything +else. It was then he prayed for the courage to kill himself, and +despised the weakness that made him draw back from the thought. If only +he could stop thinking. Make his mind a blank. But that was death, and +death was what he feared. How long ago was it when he'd first realized +that hope was an illusion, a false god that smiled and lied, and held +out vain promises only to prolong the torture?</p> + +<p>Then one day the word came that his ship was repaired. As though the +word were a catalyst the terrible fear overwhelmed him, drowning out +every other thought, and he knew he had to leave. When he had no means +of leaving the planet he could partially close off his dread and wait +resignedly. But now that the ship was ready, every moment he remained +was an agony.</p> + +<p>He led Lara to their favorite spot by a quiet pool. She looked radiant, +and smiled to herself, as though at a secret. He steeled himself and +finally blurted out, "Lara, I'm leaving tomorrow." He hesitated and bit +his lip. "And ... thanks for everything."</p> + +<p>"Thanks?" She choked on the words.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry—" he trailed off, lamely.</p> + +<p>"But ... but I thought—" She looked down.</p> + +<p>He reached out and gently touched her cheek. "Can't you see I <i>want</i> to +stay?" he pleaded.</p> + +<p>"Then why? Why?" She was crying now.</p> + +<p>"I ... I just can't. It's no good." He stood up.</p> + +<p>She reached out and caught his hand. "Then take me with you. I've heard +you at night pacing in your room. I don't know what it is that drives +you on and on, but if space is what you want, let me go with you. I can +help you, darling. You'll see. And some day when you grow tired of +space, we can come back to Elysia." She was babbling now.</p> + +<p>He pulled roughly away. "No! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +It's no good. I'm—If only I <i>could</i> stay." He brushed her hair +softly with his palm and as she reached out toward him he turned and +walked swiftly toward the house, pitying and hating himself by turn, +while Lara sat forlornly by the pool looking after him.</p> + +<p>He began to sweat before he reached the house and his knees began to +tremble so, he had to stop for a moment, to keep his balance. +Determinedly he started forward again and continued on past the house to +the highway that wound by half a kilometer away. There he hailed a +passing ground car and rode to the spaceport, where a few judiciously +distributed credits facilitated his immediate clearance. Before the ship +had even left the atmosphere he rammed in the subspace control.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='noin'>MAY 4, 437th Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>Tantalus lay far out on a spiral arm, well away from the main stream of +traffic that flowed through the galaxy. It was a fair planet boasting an +equable climate, at least in the tropic zone. But as yet the population +was small, consisting mostly of administrative officials who served +their alloted time and thankfully returned to their home planets closer +to the center of population.</p> + +<p>Tee entered the towering building and after consulting a wall directory +stepped into the antigrav chute and was whisked high up into the heart +of the building. He stepped out before a plain door and as he advanced +the center panel fluoresced briefly with the printed legend—GALACTIC +PRISON AUTHORITY, Ary Mefford, Administrator for Tantalus.</p> + +<p>He hesitated for a moment, then squaring his shoulders stepped forward, +and as he crossed the beam the door swung open before him. The +gray-haired man sitting at the desk studying a paper, looked up and +smiled politely. He indicated a chair with a nod then bent his head +again. After a moment he shoved the paper aside and looked questioningly +at Tee.</p> + +<p>"I want to give myself up," blurted Tee.</p> + +<p>"I'm the administrator for Hades," said the man calmly. "I think you +want the <i>local</i> authorities."</p> + +<p>"You don't understand. I escaped from Hades."</p> + +<p>"No one escapes from Hades," replied the administrator.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> escaped!" insisted Tee. "Ten years ago. You can check. I'm tired of +running. I want to go back."</p> + +<p>"This is most unusual," said the administrator in a disturbed voice. He +looked unbelievingly at Tee. "<i>Ten years</i> ago you say?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Yes! Yes!</i> And I'm ready to go back, before it's too late. Can't you +understand?"</p> + +<p>The administrator shook his head pityingly. "It's already too late. I'm +sorry." He bent his head guiltily and began to fumble with the papers on +his desk.</p> + +<p>Tee started to say something, but the administrator raised his head and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +said slowly, "It was too late the day you left Hades. Nothing I can +do." He looked down again. Tee turned and slowly walked out the door. +The administrator didn't look up.</p> + +<p>As Tee walked aimlessly down the deserted corridor, his footsteps echoed +hollowly like a dirge. A line from an old poem sprang to his mind: "We +are the dead, row on row we lie—" He was the dead, but still he chased +the chimera of hope, yet knowing in his heart it was hopeless.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='noin'>JUNE 11, 437th Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>The <i>Starduster</i>, pocked and pitted from innumerable collisions with +dust particles, sped out and out. The close-packed suns of the central +hub lay far behind. Here at the rim of the galaxy the stars lay +scattered, separated by vast distances. A gaunt hollow-eyed figure sat +in the observation bubble staring half-hopefully, half-despairingly at +the unimaginable depths beyond the rim.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='noin'>JUNE 12, 437th Year GALACTIC ERA</p> + +<p>On and on past the thinning stars raced the patient electronic +bloodhound; invisible, irreversible, indestructible; slowly, but +inexorably accelerating. It flashed by the planet Damocles at multiples +of the speed of light, and sensing the proximity of the prey on which it +was homed, spurted into the intergalactic depths after the receding +ship, intent on meshing with and thereby distorting the encephalograph +pattern of its target. It was quite mindless, and the final pattern its +meshing would create would be something quite strange, and not very +human.</p> + +<p class='b c noin'>THE END</p> +<hr class='full' /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Faithfully Yours, by Lou Tabakow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAITHFULLY YOURS *** + +***** This file should be named 24566-h.htm or 24566-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/6/24566/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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: Faithfully Yours + +Author: Lou Tabakow + +Release Date: February 10, 2008 [EBook #24566] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAITHFULLY YOURS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +FAITHFULLY YOURS + +BY LOU TABAKOW + +Illustrated by Emsh + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note | + | | + | This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction | + | December 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any | + | evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was | + | renewed. | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + _If it's too impossibly difficult to track down and recapture an + escaped criminal ... there's a worse thing one might do...._ + + +[Illustration] + +JULY 18, 1949 A.D. + +_The fugitive lay face down in the fetid undergrowth, drawing in +spasmodic lungfuls of air through cracked and swollen lips. Long before, +his blue workshirt had been ripped to ribbons and his exposed chest +showed a spiderwork of scratches, where branches and brambles had sought +to restrain him in his frenzied flight. Across his back from shoulder to +shoulder ran a deeper cut around which the caked blood attested to the +needle-sharp viciousness of a thorn bush a mile to the north. With each +tortured breath he winced, as drops of sweat ran down, following the +spiderwork network and burning like acid. Incessantly he rubbed his +bruised torso with mud-caked palms to dislodge the gnats and mosquitoes +that clung to him, gorging shamelessly._ + +_To the east he could see the lights of Fort Mudge where the railroad +cut through on its way to Jacksonville. He had planned to ride the +freight into Jacksonville but by now they were stopping every train and +searching along every foot of the railroad right of way. In the distance +he heard the eerie keen of a train whistle, and visualized the scene as +it was flagged down and searched from engine to caboose._ + +_Directly before him loomed the forbidding northern boundary of the +Okefenokee Swamp. Unconsciously he strained his ears, then shuddered at +the night noises that issued from the noisome wilderness. A frenzied +threshing, then a splash, then ... silence. What drama of life and death +was being played out in that strange other-world of perpetual shadows?_ + +_In sudden panic he jerked erect and cupped his palm round his ear. Far +off; muted by distance, but still unmistakable; he heard the baying of +bloodhounds. Then this was the end. A sob broke from his throat. What +was he, an animal; to be hunted down as a sport? Tears of self-pity +welled to his eyes as he thought back to a party and a girl and laughter +and cleanliness and the scent of magnolias, like a heady wine. But that +was so long ago--so long ago--and now.... He looked down at his +sweating, lacerated body; his blistered calloused palms; the black +broken nails; the cheap workshoes with hemp laces; the shapeless gray +cotton trousers, now wet to the knees._ + +_He pulled back his shoulders and resolutely faced west toward the +river, but stopped short in horror as he heard the sudden cacophony of +barks, yelps and howls of a pack of bloodhounds that senses the +beginning of the end. He turned in panic. They couldn't be over half a +mile away. In a panic of indecision he turned first east then west, then +facing due south he hesitated a moment to take one last look at the +clear open skies, and with a muffled prayer plunged into the brooding +depths of the Okefenokee._ + + * * * * * + +JUNE 13, 427th Year GALACTIC ERA + +The building still hummed and vibrated with the dying echoes of the +alarm siren as the biophysicist hurried down the corridor, and without +breaking stride, pushed open the door to the Director's office. + +The Director shuffled the papers before him and sighed heavily. His +chair creaked protestingly as he shifted his bulk and looked up. + +"Well?" + +"He got away clean," said the biophysicist. + +"Any fix on the direction?" + +"None at all, sir. And he's got at least a two hours' start. That takes +in a pretty big area of space." + +"Hm-m-m! Well there's just a bare chance. That experimental cruiser is +the fastest thing in space and it's equipped with the latest +ethero-radar. If we get started right away, we just might--" + +"That's just it," interrupted the biophysicist. "That's the ship he got +away in." + +The Director jumped angrily to his feet. "How did that happen? How can I +explain to the board?" + +"I'm sorry, sir. He was just too--" + +"_You're_ sorry?" He slumped back in his chair and drummed the desk top +with his fingernails, worrying his lower lip with his teeth. He exhaled +loudly and leaned forward. "Well, only one thing to do. You know the +orders." + +The biophysicist squirmed uncomfortably. "Couldn't we send a squadron of +ships out to search and--" + +"And what?" asked the Director, sarcastically. "You don't think I'd risk +a billion credits worth of equipment on a wild-goose chase like that, do +you? We could use up a year's appropriation of fuel and manpower and +still be unable to adequately search a sector one-tenth that size. If he +just sat still, a thousand ships couldn't find him in a thousand years, +searching at finite speeds. Add to that the fact that the target is +moving at ultra-light speed and the odds against locating him is +multiplied by a billion." + +"I know, but he can't stay in space. He'll have to land somewhere, +sometime." + +"True enough--but where and when?" + +"Couldn't we alert all the nearby planets?" + +"You know better than that. He could be halfway across the galaxy before +an ethero-gram reached the nearest planet." + +"Suppose we sent scout ships to the nearer planets and asked them to +inform their neighbors in the same way. We'd soon have an expanding +circle that he _couldn't_ slip through." + +The Director smiled wryly. "Maybe. But who's going to pay for all this. +By the time the circle was a thousand light-years in diameter there +would be ten thousand ships and a million clerks working on recapturing +one escaped prisoner. Another thing; I don't know offhand what he's been +sentenced for, but I'll wager there are ten thousand planets on which +his crime would not be a crime. Do you think we could ever extradite him +from such a planet? And even if by some incredible stroke of fortune one +of our agents happened to land on the right planet, in which city would +he begin his search. Or suppose our quarry lands only on uninhabited +planets? We can't very well alert the whole galaxy in the search for +just one man." + +"I know, but--" + +"But what?" interrupted the Director. "Any other suggestions?" + +"N ... no--" + +"All right, he asked for it. You have the pattern, I presume. _Feed it +to Fido!_" + +"Yes, sir, but well ... I just don't--" + +"Do you think _I_ like it?" asked the Director, fiercely. + +In the silence that followed, they looked at each other, guiltily. + +"There's nothing else we can do," said the Director. "The orders are +explicit. _No one escapes from Hades!_" + +"I know," replied the biophysicist. "I'm not blaming you. Only I wish +someone else had my job." + +"Well," said the Director, heavily. "You might as well get started." He +nodded his head in dismissal. + +As the biophysicist went out the door, the Director looked down once +more at the pile of papers before him. He pulled the top sheet closer, +and rubber-stamped across its face--CASE CLOSED. + +"Yes," he mused aloud. "Closed for us, but--" He hesitated a moment, and +then sighing once more, signed his name in the space provided. + + * * * * * + +AUGUST 6, 430th Year GALACTIC ERA + +Tee Ormond sat morosely at the spaceport bar, and alternately wiped his +forehead with a soggy handkerchief, and sipped at his frosted rainbow, +careful not to disturb the varicolored layers of liquid in the tall +narrow glass. Every now and then he nervously ran his fingers through +his straight black hair, which lay damply plastered to his head. His +jacket was faded and worn, and above the left pocket was emblazoned the +meteor insignia of the spaceman. A dark patch on his back showed where +the perspiration had seeped through. He blinked and rubbed the corner of +his eye as a drop of perspiration ran down and settled there. + +A casual look would have classified him as a very average looking pilot +such as could be found at the bar of any spaceport; i.e. if space pilots +can ever be classified as average. Spacemen are the last true +adventurers in an age where the debilitating culture of a highly +mechanized civilization has pushed to the very borders of the galaxy. +While most men are fearful and indecisive outside their narrow +specialties the spacemen must at all times be ready to deal with the +unexpected and the unusual. The expression--"Steady as a spaceman's +nerves"--had a very real origin. + +A closer look at Tee would have revealed the error of a quick +classification. He gripped his drink too tightly, and his eyes darted +restlessly from side to side, as though searching, searching; yet +dreading to find the object of their search. His expressive face +contorted in a nervous tic each time his eyes swept by the clock hanging +behind the bar. He glanced dispiritedly out the window at the +perpetually cloudy sky and idly watched a rivulet of water race down the +dirty pane. He loosened his collar and futilely mopped at his neck with +the soggy handkerchief, then irritably flung it to the floor. + +"Hey, Jo," he yelled to the bartender. "What's the matter with the +air-conditioning? I'm burning up." + +"Take it easy," soothed the bartender, consulting a thermometer on the +wall behind him, "it's eighty-five in here. That's as low as the law +allows. Can't have too much difference in the temperature or all my +customers'd pass out when they go outside. Why don't you go into town? +They keep it comfortable under the dome." + +"Don't this planet _ever_ cool off?" asked Tee. + +The bartender chuckled. "I see you don't know too much about Thymis. +Sometimes it drops to ninety at night, but not too often. You ought to +be here sometime when the clouds part for a minute. If you're caught +outside then, it's third-degree burns for sure." + +He glanced down at the nearly empty glass. "How about another rainbow? +If you get enough of them in you, you won't notice the heat--you won't +notice anything." He laughed uproariously at the hoary joke. + + * * * * * + +Tee looked at him disgustedly and without answering bent to his drink +once more. He felt someone jostle his elbow and turned sideways to allow +the newcomer access to the bar. After a moment he wiped his forehead on +his sleeve. The bartender placed another rainbow before him. + +"Hey, I didn't order that," he cried. + +The bartender nodded toward the next stool. "On him." + +Tee turned and saw a barrel-chested red-haired giant holding up a drink +in the immemorial bar toast. He raised his own glass gingerly, but his +trembling hand caused the layers to mix and he stared ruefully at the +resultant clayey-looking mess. + +The redhead laughed. "Mix another one, Jo." + +"But--" Tee's face got red. + +"I came in here to talk to you anyway," said the giant. "You own the +_Starduster_, don't you?" + +"Yeah, what about it?" + +"Like to get her out of hock?" + +"Who says she's in hock?" + +"Look," said the redhead. "Let's not kid each other. Everybody around +this port knows you blew in from Lemmyt last month and can't raise the +money to pay the port charges, much less the refueling fee. And it's no +secret that you're anxious to leave our fair planet." He winked +conspiringly at Tee. + +"So?" + +The redhead glanced at the bartender who was busy at the other end of +the bar. He leaned closer and whispered. "I know where the _Elen of +Troy_ is." + +"The _Elen of Troy_?" + +"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know about her. Eight months ago she +crashed on an uninhabited planet somewhere in this sector. So far +they've been unable to find her." He leaned closer. "She was carrying +four million in Penryx crystals." + +"What's that to me?" + +The redhead looked around briefly to make sure no one was in hearing +distance, then whispered softly, without moving his lips. "I told you, +they can't find her, but _I_ know where she is." + +"_You_ know? But how--" + +"Look," said the giant, frowning, "I didn't ask you why _you're_ so +anxious to leave." + +"Well?" + +"I'll clear your ship and we can pick up the crystals for the salvage +fee. A million each, and all nice and legal. We can leave by the end of +the week and be back in probably six months." + +"_Six months!_" Tee stood up. "Sorry!" + +The redhead grabbed his arm in a hamlike palm. "A million each in six +months; what's wrong with that?" + +Tee jerked out of his grasp. "I ... I just can't do it." + +"I don't know what you're running from," persisted the redhead, "but +with a million credits you can fight extradition for the rest of your +life. This is your big chance, can't you see that. Besides, this planet +has some interesting customs." He winked at Tee. "I can introduce you--" + +"I can't stay here," interrupted Tee. "You just don't understand." + +"Look," cried the redhead exasperatedly, "I'm offering you a full +partnership on a two million credit salvage deal and you want to back +out because it'll take six months. On top of that you're broke and +stranded and your hangar bill gets bigger every day. If you don't take +me up on this deal, you'll still be sitting here six months from now +wondering how to get your ship out of hock--if you don't get caught +first. What do you say? What've you got to lose?" + +What did he have to lose? Tee gripped the edge of the bar till his +knuckles showed white. "No! I just can't do it. Why don't you get +someone else?" + +"The slow tubs around this port would take years for the trip. I can see +the _Starduster_ has class." + +"Fastest thing in the galaxy," said Tee, proudly. Then earnestly, "I'm +sorry, you'll just have to find some other ship." + +"Think it over," said the redhead. "I'll wait. When you change your mind +look me up. Name's Yule Larson." He slapped Tee heavily on the back and +swaggered toward the door. He turned and looked back. "Better go along +with me. After six months they can auction off your ship to pay for the +port charges, you know." The door swung shut behind him. + + * * * * * + +Tee sat down again and bent his head, nursing his drink. His eyes darted +nervously around the room and came to rest on the clock. A shudder ran +through him and he lowered his eyes quickly. As he sipped his drink his +eyes returned to the clock continually, as though drawn there against +their will. As he watched, the minute hand jerked downward and an +involuntary gasp escaped his lips. + +The bartender turned quickly. "Anything wrong?" + +"N ... no, nothing." As he spoke, the minute hand moved again and Tee +started nervously, upsetting his drink. He sat for a moment watching the +bartender mop up the spreading liquid, then abruptly got up and tossed a +half-credit piece on the bar. He hurried outside, steeling himself to +keep from running. He paused just outside the door. + +_Stand still_, he told himself. _Mustn't run! Mustn't run! No use +anyway. If I only knew when. If I just could stop and rest. If I had the +time ... Time! Time! That's what I need. Light-years of time ... But +when? When? If only I could be sure._ He looked up slowly at the murky +canopy of clouds. _If I only knew when!_ He looked indecisively up and +down the field, then squaring his shoulders resolutely, set out for the +administration building. + +At this hour the office was deserted except for a wispy-haired little +man who sat at a desk fussing with some papers. He looked up +questioningly as Tee came in. + +"Is my ship re-charged and provisioned?" asked Tee. + +"Uh, what's the name please?" + +"Tee Ormond. I own the _Starduster_." + +The clerk pulled a card from a file on the desk and studied it. "Ah, +yes, the _Starduster_." + +"I'd like to pay my bill and clear the _Starduster_ for immediate +departure." + +"Uh, very good, Mr. Ormond." He consulted the card again. "That'll be +fourteen hundred and eleven credits." He beamed. "We included a case of +Ruykeser's Concentrate, compliments of the management." He handed a +circular to Tee. "This is a list of our ports and facilities on other +planets. Our accommodations are the finest, and we carry a complete line +of parts." He smiled professionally. + +"What about my key?" asked Tee, pulling out his wallet. + +"Uh, let's see, number thirty-seven." The clerk started for a numbered +board hanging on the wall. He never got there. + +Tee whipped a stun-gun from inside his jacket and waved it at the +clerk's back. It caught him in mid-stride, and unbalanced, he crashed +heavily to the floor. Tee glanced briefly down as he stepped over the +paralyzed form, avoiding the accusing eyes, and snatched the magnetic +key off the hook. He forced himself to walk calmly across the field +toward the hangar that housed the _Starduster_. + +A uniformed guard stopped him at the hangar door. "May I see your +clearance, sir?" he asked, politely. + +Tee hesitated for a moment. "Oh, I'm just going to get something out of +my ship," he said, smoothly. "The clerk said it was roj." + +"The clerk said? But he can't--" The guard tensed. "Mind if I check, +sir? Orders, you know." He bent his head slightly as he pressed a knob +on his wrist radio. As his eyes turned downward, Tee swung the stun-gun +in an arc that ended on the back of the guard's head. As he leaped into +the _Starduster_ he was sorry for a moment that he hadn't had time to +recharge the gun, and hoped he hadn't struck too hard. + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 11, 433rd Year GALACTIC ERA + +Tee stepped out of the hangar and surveyed the twin suns. The pale +binaries sat stolidly on the horizon, forty degrees apart. Their mingled +light washed down dimly on the single continent of the planet, Aurora. + +He started, as a man walked around the corner of the hangar. The man +looked at Tee searchingly for a moment, then asked, "Anything troubling +you, Tee?" + +"Why ... why, no, Mr. Jenner. You just startled me, that's all." + +"Well, how's everything coming?" + +"Right on schedule. We'll be ready for the final test by the end of the +week." + +"By the way," asked Jenner, speculatively, "how come you ordered the +ship stocked and provisioned, for the test?" + +"Why ... why I think she should be tested under exactly the same +conditions as she'll encounter in actual use." + +"We could have done it a lot cheaper by just using ballast," said +Jenner. "After this, I want to personally see any voucher for over a +hundred credits before it's cleared." + +"Yes, sir, but I just didn't want to bother you with details." + +"An expenditure of over two thousand credits isn't just detail; but let +it pass. It's already done. Anyway, on the drawing board she's the +fastest thing in the galaxy." He smiled. "If she lives up to +expectations, she'll make your ship look like an old freighter. We've +got four million sunk in her so far, so she'd better check out roj." + +He put his hand on Tee's shoulder. "You're not worried about testing +her, are you? You've been jumpy lately." + +"Oh, no, nothing like that, Mr. Jenner. I'm just ... well, I've been up +all night watching them install the gyroscopes. Think I'll get some +sleep." He yawned. + +Jenner cupped his chin in his palm and stood staring after the +retreating figure. As Tee turned and looked back nervously, Jenner +entered the hangar office. He spoke softly into the visiphone and in a +moment the screen lit up. + +"Is this the prison administrator?" asked Jenner. + +"What can I do for you?" + +"My name is Jenner; Consolidated Spacecraft." + +"Yes?" + +"Suppose an escaped prisoner from Hades landed on Aurora?" + +"_No one_ escapes from Hades Prison." + +"Well, just suppose one did?" + +"I never receive information about escapees." + +"But you're the administrator here." + +"My job, as the title implies, is purely administrative. I merely +arrange transportation for our annual shipment of prisoners to Hades, +and see that the records are kept straight." + +"But whom _would_ they contact in the event of an escape?" + +The administrator pursed his lips in impatience. "Hades has six billion +prisoners at any given time. If one did manage to escape, they couldn't +very well alert a million planets." + +"You mean you wouldn't do anything?" + +"As I said before, my job is purely administrative. Out of my +jurisdiction entirely. Each planet has its own police force and handles +its internal crime in its own way. What's legal on Aurora might very +well be illegal on ten thousand other planets, and vice versa." + +"I see. Thank you." Jenner cut the connection slowly. He flicked the +switch open again, hesitated, and then closed it. + + * * * * * + +He walked out to where his gyrocar was parked, and in a few minutes set +it down on the roof of Tee's hotel. Tee was just entering the lobby as +Jenner came in and they went up to his room together. + +"I'll come right to the point, Tee," he said, as soon as the door had +closed. "I just talked to the local prison administrator for Hades." He +looked closely at Tee. + +"What's that got to do with me?" asked Tee, belligerently. + +"Wait until I finish," said Jenner, curtly. "I hired you to test-hop our +new ship because you were the best pilot available. I'm not interested +in your past, but most of the company's resources are sunk in that +ship. If something goes wrong because the test pilot is disturbed or +nervous, the company will be bankrupt. I'm not saying you're an escaped +prisoner, but if you were, you'd have nothing to worry about." + +"What do you mean?" + +"The administrator told me he has no jurisdiction over escaped +prisoners, so you see, if you had escaped, you'd have nothing to fear +here. You're out of their jurisdiction." + +Tee began to laugh wildly. "_Out of their jurisdiction! Out of their +jurisdiction!_ So that's the way they put it. _Out of their +jurisdiction!_" + +"Stop it!" said Jenner, sharply. "Do you want to tell me now?" + +Tee drew in a gasping breath and sobered. "What would I have to tell +you? So I'm the nervous type. So you hired me to test-hop your new ship. +So I'll test-hop it. That's all we agreed on. What more do you want?" + +Jenner sighed. "Roj, Tee, if that's the way you want it, but I wish--" + +The visiphone buzzed, and when Tee flipped the switch, the worried face +of the chief mechanic sprang into focus. "Oh, there you are, Mr. Jenner. +Glad I caught you before you left. We've run into trouble." + +"Well, out with it," barked Jenner. "What is it?" + +The mechanic cleared his throat nervously. "We were testing the main +gyroscope when it threw a blade." + +"How bad is it?" asked Jenner. + +"Pretty bad, I'm afraid. It tore up the subetherscope unit so bad we'll +have to replace it. We can't get any on Aurora either. We'll have to +send to Lennix, and that'll take close to a month." + +"Roj! Knock off until I get there," barked Jenner. He slammed over the +switch, viciously. "Of all the rotten luck!" + +"Can't you get some plant here on Aurora to hand tool one for you?" +asked Tee. + +"No, that's just it," replied Jenner. "It's a special alloy. The owners +of the process wouldn't give us any details on the manufacture. Anyway, +even if we knew how, we couldn't duplicate it without their special +machine tools." + +"Does that mean--" + +"I'm afraid so. The ship won't be ready for a month, now." + +"_A month!_ I can't wait a month." + +"_You_ can't wait a month? We've got four million tied up in that ship +and you tell me _you_ can't wait a month." + +"Look, Mr. Jenner, I'll test it without the unit." + +"That's impossible. The ship would vibrate into a billion pieces as soon +as it went into subspace. No! We'll just have to wait." + +"I can't wait," cried Tee. "You'll have to get another pilot." + +"Just a minute! You can't walk out on your contract. If it's a matter of +credits--" + +Tee shook his head. "That's not it at all. I just can't stay that long." + +Jenner looked at him angrily. "Well, your contract isn't up till the +end of the week anyway. We'll see what we can do about a replacement +then." + + * * * * * + +After Jenner had left, Tee sat smoking in the darkness. He placed his +elbow on the couch arm and cupped his chin in his palm. Then restlessly, +he snuffed out his cigarette and rubbed his hands together. They felt +moist and clammy. He jerked nervously as a click sounded out in the +hall. Only a door opening across the way. He bit the fleshy part of his +middle finger and then began to worry his ring with his teeth. He lit +another cigarette and dropped it into the disposal almost immediately. + +He got up and began to pace the room. Six steps forward. Turn. Six steps +back. Turn. Six steps forward--or was it five this time? The walls +seemed to be closing in, constricting. His head felt light and his +tongue and palate grew dry. He tried to swallow, and a feeling of nausea +came over him. His throat grew tight and he felt as though he were +choking. Rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand it came away wet +with perspiration. He rushed to the window and struggled futilely with +it, forgetting it was sealed shut in the air-conditioned hotel. He flung +himself at the door, wrenching it open and took the escalator three +steps at a time falling to his knees at the ground floor. A surface cab +was sitting outside just beyond the entrance. He flung himself in, +breathing heavily and fumbling to drop a coin in the slot, pulled the +control lever all the way over. + +Twenty minutes later, the _Starduster_ hovered for a moment over Aurora, +then shimmered and vanished as it went into subspace. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 2, 435th Year GALACTIC ERA + +The _Starduster_ materialized just outside the atmosphere of the planet +Elysia, and fluttered erratically downward, like a wounded bird. A +hundred feet from the surface, the ship hesitated, shuddered throughout +her length, then dropped like a plummet, crashing heavily into a grove +of trees. + +For Tee there was a long period of blessed darkness, of peace, of +non-remembering, then his mind clawed upward toward consciousness. The +fear and uncertainty were with him again--nagging, nibbling, gnawing at +his reason. + +He fought to close his mind and drift back down into the darkness of +peace and forgetting, but contrarily the past marched in review before +his consciousness: The twin worlds of Thole revolving about each other +as he fled down the shallow ravine before the creeping wall of lava, +while the ancient mountain grunted and belched, and coughed up its +insides. The terrible pull of the uncharted black star as it tugged at +the feeble _Starduster_. The enervating heat and humidity of perpetually +cloudy Thymis. Pyramids of gleaming penryx crystals piled high as +mountains, and Yule Larson towering above the landscape, draining +gargantuan rainbows at a single gulp; striding like Paul Bunyan across +the land in mile-long strides and kicking over the pyramids of crystals, +laughing uproariously at the sport. And Jenner, grinning idiotically, +pointing a thick finger at him and repeating over and over: "Out of +their jurisdiction! Nothing to fear! Nothing to fear! Nothing to fear! +Noth--" + +"Stop it! Stop it!" cried Tee, and a brilliant burst of light like a +thousand sky-rockets seemed to go off in his head. He shrieked like an +animal in agony, then fell back sobbing, bathed in perspiration. + +Something cool touched his forehead and he pulled away violently, then +as his head cleared he opened his eyes slowly. A blur of shadows and +light shimmering indistinctly, then suddenly like the picture on a +visiphone the blurs coalesced and formed a clear image, and everything +was normal again, the fear still hovering close, but pushed back for the +time being. + +A girl stood before him smiling rather uncertainly. The sweetness and +cleanness of that smile after his recent ordeal washed over his tortured +mind like a cooling astringent, and he smiled gratefully up at her. She +put a cool palm on his forehead and as she started to withdraw it he +clutched it in an emaciated fist and mumbled indistinctly through +cracked dry lips. + +She smiled down at him and smoothed back his damp hair. She pulled up a +chair beside the bed and continued to stroke his hair until his eyes +closed in sleep. + +He awoke ravenous and thirsty, but lay quietly for a time, luxuriating +in the feel of the clean soft sheets. He was in a simply but tastefully +decorated room. Three of the walls were made of transparent glass and +the warm golden rays of a type G sun bathed the room. Outside he could +see green rolling meadowland, broken here and there by sylvan groves. A +brilliantly colored bird swooped down and preened itself for a moment, +then raised its head and flooded the silence with melody. Faintly from a +grove of trees came an answering treble. The songbird cocked its head to +the side, listening, then swooped upward on wings of flashing color. A +small squirrellike creature bounded nervously up to the transparent wall +and sat on its haunches, surveying the room with bright beady eyes. As +Tee's ears attuned themselves he was suddenly aware of chirpings, +trebles, clearpitched whistles, and from somewhere in the depths of the +grove, a deep-pitched ga-rooph, ga-roomph. + + * * * * * + +A chubby little man with a round face and alert twinkling eyes entered +the room. He seemed to radiate happiness and contentment. "Well, I see +the patient's finally come around," he said, cheerfully. + +"What happened?" asked Tee. + +"Your ship crashed just beyond that grove." + +Tee clutched at him. "The ship! How bad is it?" + +"I think you were in worse shape than your ship. You must have had it +under control almost to the end, though how you stayed conscious with +space fever is beyond me." + +"Space fever? So that's it. I remember getting sick and light-headed and +just before I passed out I flipped out of subspace and the automatic +finder, of course, took the ship to the nearest planet. I must have +landed by reflex action. I sure don't remember anything about it." + +"Well," the man laughed, "I _have_ seen better landings, but not when +the pilot had a temperature of one-o-five. Anyway, you're safe now. +Welcome to Elysia." + +There it was again. Safe! Safe! Tee raised up, then fell back weakly. + +"Is anything wrong?" asked the little man, alarmed. + +"N ... nothing, I just ... nothing!" + +The man was looking at him questioningly. + +"Elysia," mused Tee. "I seem to remember an old old myth brought from +the original Earth." He waved toward the sylvan setting, outside. + +The little man smiled. "Yes, the old settlers named our planet well." He +caught himself. "Oh, I'm sorry; I'm Dr. Chensi. This is my home." + +Tee smiled. "Well at least you'll have to admit I showed good judgment +crashing next to a doctor's house." Then more seriously, "Thanks, doc, +thanks for everything." + +"My degrees aren't in medicine," replied Dr. Chensi. "I'm afraid I had +little to do with your recovery. My daughter's the one who nursed you. +Oh, here she is now." He raised his voice. "Come in, Lara." + +Since Dr. Chensi was using the only chair she sat down on the edge of +the bed. + +"Here," said the doctor, teasingly, "what kind of nurse are you, mussing +up your patient's bed?" + +She pouted prettily. "He's _my_ patient." Then looking down at Tee with +a smile, "You'll be up and around in no time now." + +"_Time!_" cried Tee, raising up. "_What's the date? I've got to know!_" + +"You've been delirious for two weeks," answered the doctor. "Another two +weeks of convalescence and you ought to be as good as new." + +"But two weeks, I can't--" + +"Can't leave before then anyway," replied the doctor calmly. "I knew +you'd want your ship repaired so I had it hauled to the port. Won't be +ready for two more weeks. So you might as well relax." + +Tee bit his lip, and clenched his fists to keep from trembling. It was a +moment before he could trust himself to speak without a quaver in his +voice. "Nothing else I can do, I guess. Thanks, anyway. And by the way, +there's enough credits in the ship's safe to pay for the repairs, I'm +sure." + +"I think we should start the patient walking tomorrow," said Lara, in a +mock-professional voice. She punched the ends of Tee's pillow. "Now +you'd better get some sleep. You're still very weak, you know." + + * * * * * + +The days that followed were like an idyll for Tee. With Lara he wandered +through the parklike wooded groves. They sat near shaded pools and ate +wild berries while she told him stories of the founding of Elysia. They +held hands and ran exuberantly across the grassy meadows, and waded like +children in the clear brooks. + +A thousand times, a word, an endearing term, sprang to his lips, and +each time the fear clamped his tongue in a vise of steel. A thousand +times he wanted to touch her, feel the silkiness of her hair, the warmth +of her lips, but each time the fear and uncertainty stood between them +like twin specters of doom, pointing and saying, "Fool! Why torture +yourself?" + +In the daytime when Lara was with him it wasn't so bad, but at night the +fear and uncertainty crowded to the fore and blanked out everything +else. It was then he prayed for the courage to kill himself, and +despised the weakness that made him draw back from the thought. If only +he could stop thinking. Make his mind a blank. But that was death, and +death was what he feared. How long ago was it when he'd first realized +that hope was an illusion, a false god that smiled and lied, and held +out vain promises only to prolong the torture? + +Then one day the word came that his ship was repaired. As though the +word were a catalyst the terrible fear overwhelmed him, drowning out +every other thought, and he knew he had to leave. When he had no means +of leaving the planet he could partially close off his dread and wait +resignedly. But now that the ship was ready, every moment he remained +was an agony. + +He led Lara to their favorite spot by a quiet pool. She looked radiant, +and smiled to herself, as though at a secret. He steeled himself and +finally blurted out, "Lara, I'm leaving tomorrow." He hesitated and bit +his lip. "And ... thanks for everything." + +"Thanks?" She choked on the words. + +"I'm sorry--" he trailed off, lamely. + +"But ... but I thought--" She looked down. + +He reached out and gently touched her cheek. "Can't you see I _want_ to +stay?" he pleaded. + +"Then why? Why?" She was crying now. + +"I ... I just can't. It's no good." He stood up. + +She reached out and caught his hand. "Then take me with you. I've heard +you at night pacing in your room. I don't know what it is that drives +you on and on, but if space is what you want, let me go with you. I can +help you, darling. You'll see. And some day when you grow tired of +space, we can come back to Elysia." She was babbling now. + +He pulled roughly away. "No! It's no good. I'm--If only I _could_ +stay." He brushed her hair softly with his palm and as she reached out +toward him he turned and walked swiftly toward the house, pitying and +hating himself by turn, while Lara sat forlornly by the pool looking +after him. + +He began to sweat before he reached the house and his knees began to +tremble so, he had to stop for a moment, to keep his balance. +Determinedly he started forward again and continued on past the house to +the highway that wound by half a kilometer away. There he hailed a +passing ground car and rode to the spaceport, where a few judiciously +distributed credits facilitated his immediate clearance. Before the ship +had even left the atmosphere he rammed in the subspace control. + + * * * * * + +MAY 4, 437th Year GALACTIC ERA + +Tantalus lay far out on a spiral arm, well away from the main stream of +traffic that flowed through the galaxy. It was a fair planet boasting an +equable climate, at least in the tropic zone. But as yet the population +was small, consisting mostly of administrative officials who served +their alloted time and thankfully returned to their home planets closer +to the center of population. + +Tee entered the towering building and after consulting a wall directory +stepped into the antigrav chute and was whisked high up into the heart +of the building. He stepped out before a plain door and as he advanced +the center panel fluoresced briefly with the printed legend--GALACTIC +PRISON AUTHORITY, Ary Mefford, Administrator for Tantalus. + +He hesitated for a moment, then squaring his shoulders stepped forward, +and as he crossed the beam the door swung open before him. The +gray-haired man sitting at the desk studying a paper, looked up and +smiled politely. He indicated a chair with a nod then bent his head +again. After a moment he shoved the paper aside and looked questioningly +at Tee. + +"I want to give myself up," blurted Tee. + +"I'm the administrator for Hades," said the man calmly. "I think you +want the _local_ authorities." + +"You don't understand. I escaped from Hades." + +"No one escapes from Hades," replied the administrator. + +"_I_ escaped!" insisted Tee. "Ten years ago. You can check. I'm tired of +running. I want to go back." + +"This is most unusual," said the administrator in a disturbed voice. He +looked unbelievingly at Tee. "_Ten years_ ago you say?" + +"_Yes! Yes!_ And I'm ready to go back, before it's too late. Can't you +understand?" + +The administrator shook his head pityingly. "It's already too late. I'm +sorry." He bent his head guiltily and began to fumble with the papers on +his desk. + +Tee started to say something, but the administrator raised his head and +said slowly, "It was too late the day you left Hades. Nothing I can +do." He looked down again. Tee turned and slowly walked out the door. +The administrator didn't look up. + +As Tee walked aimlessly down the deserted corridor, his footsteps echoed +hollowly like a dirge. A line from an old poem sprang to his mind: "We +are the dead, row on row we lie--" He was the dead, but still he chased +the chimera of hope, yet knowing in his heart it was hopeless. + + * * * * * + +JUNE 11, 437th Year GALACTIC ERA + +The _Starduster_, pocked and pitted from innumerable collisions with +dust particles, sped out and out. The close-packed suns of the central +hub lay far behind. Here at the rim of the galaxy the stars lay +scattered, separated by vast distances. A gaunt hollow-eyed figure sat +in the observation bubble staring half-hopefully, half-despairingly at +the unimaginable depths beyond the rim. + + * * * * * + +JUNE 12, 437th Year GALACTIC ERA + +On and on past the thinning stars raced the patient electronic +bloodhound; invisible, irreversible, indestructible; slowly, but +inexorably accelerating. It flashed by the planet Damocles at multiples +of the speed of light, and sensing the proximity of the prey on which it +was homed, spurted into the intergalactic depths after the receding +ship, intent on meshing with and thereby distorting the encephalograph +pattern of its target. It was quite mindless, and the final pattern its +meshing would create would be something quite strange, and not very +human. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Faithfully Yours, by Lou Tabakow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAITHFULLY YOURS *** + +***** This file should be named 24566.txt or 24566.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/6/24566/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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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