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diff --git a/31326.txt b/31326.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da0afc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/31326.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1189 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wealth of Echindul, by Noel Miller Loomis + +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: The Wealth of Echindul + +Author: Noel Miller Loomis + +Release Date: February 19, 2010 [EBook #31326] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEALTH OF ECHINDUL *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Planet Stories July 1952. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on + this publication was renewed. + + + The WEALTH OF ECHINDUL + + + By NOEL LOOMIS + + + _Though he carried with him the loot of the ages, who in The + Pass--that legalized city of vice and corruption--would dare + risk his neck to help Russell, the Hard Luck Man of the + Swamps?_ + + * * * * * + + + + +He came up out of the Great Sea-Swamp of Venus like old Father +Neptune. He was covered with mud and slime. Seaweed hung from his +cheap diving-suit. Brine dripped from his arms that hung limp and +weary; it ran from his torso and made a dark trail in the sand. + +[Illustration: _A flash of intuition hit Russell. He knew now how to +win this fight._] + +Without even looking back, he stood for a moment as if fighting to +keep on his feet, while the brine made a small puddle in the green +sand. Finally he unscrewed the helmet and took it off. He turned +around slowly and looked back across the two hundred miles of deadly +swamp, at the flaming craters of the Red Lava Range from which he had +come. + +With fingers that would hardly function from weariness he took off his +diving-suit and straightened up. His stooping shoulders were free of +that weight for the first time in forty days. He was a small man, +hardly over four feet tall, and not well formed. It seemed incredible +that he had crossed the Great Sea-Swamp on foot. + +And as he looked back at the distant rim of green fire that marked the +mountains it seemed incredible to him too. A great sigh of relief and +gratefulness shook his unsymmetrical body, and all the nerve and +colossal will-power that had carried him for six months, suddenly +flowed out of him in a single wave and left him empty. He forgot about +the ordeal that still lay ahead. He forgot everything. He pitched +forward on his face in the sand, and slept. + +Some hours later a whistling noise awoke him. He rolled over, awake +instantly, for in past months his ears had saved his life as often as +had his eyes. High in the sky he picked out a cannibal fish from the +Acid Sea. It had set its great wings in a dive. + +He raised his heat-gun, fired once, saw the feathers burst into blue +flame, saw it falling; then he rolled over and went back to sleep. Not +even the thud of its heavy body on the sand disturbed him, but an hour +later he heard another warning--a rasping sound--and through the +stench of the ancient swamp he smelled a fetidness that meant danger. + +This time as he turned he rolled to his feet. He saw the huge coils of +the Venusian water-constrictor. One lidless phosphorescent eye gleamed +evilly at him, but its great jaws were spread and the dead fish was +half-way down its bone-plated throat. + +Grant Russell relaxed. Ordinarily he would have been scared to death +to be within miles of the big saurian. But now for a few hours, with +the fish in its throat it would be comparatively harmless. + +Grant rubbed his eyes and stretched. How wonderful sleep could be! For +six weeks he had been in the swamp where he never had dared to take +off his diving-suit even when he was resting on a clump of floating +grass, for fear it would suddenly sink and drop him into a hundred +feet of brown water; six weeks walking through mud sometimes over his +head, with the brown, infested water above that; six weeks pitting all +his swamp lore against sudden death in a thousand forms, with only the +light gravity of Venus to aid him, and his indomitable determination +to keep him going. But now he felt like a million. + +No man had ever crossed the Great Swamp alone on foot before. Few had +crossed it in any fashion. Few would have tried it but Grant Russell +because few wanted to do it as much as he did. In spite of his small +size and his scrawny muscles, in spite of Venus which catered to big +men and strong men, he had done it. + + * * * * * + +The food problem alone would have stopped most men, but Grant had +spent a lot of time around the swamps of Venus. Often he had gone +prospecting with food enough for only one week because he couldn't buy +more, and he had stayed four, five, six weeks. + +To do that he had had to experiment. He'd eaten all sorts of things. +Sometimes he had been ill but he had acquired immunity to certain +poisonous plants that contained food values. + +The oxygen problem for a diving-suit for forty days would have stopped +most men but Grant had solved that too. If he had not, he never could +have gone to the Red Lava Range after the fabulous gizzard-stones of +Venus's prehistoric echindul. + +For oxygen, he had discovered a plant that grew in the bottom of the +swamp. You could cut its stalk into sections and put them in a +container and they would exude oxygen for several hours. But he had to +carry at least one extra stalk all the time, and he had to keep his +eyes sharp for more. Sometimes it had been close. + +Grant looked at the Red Lava Range and felt the precious leather bag +inside his shirt and smiled. Yes, he'd done it. He'd found one of the +fabulous nests of the echindul--and it had been loaded with stones, +just as ancient Venusian legend insisted. + +The extinct echindul had been a sort of flying lizard that had nested +in the mysterious, almost inaccessible Red Lava Range. Every echindul +had had two gizzard-stones, and each matched pair of stones had an +unusual property. + +Grant reached in his watch-pocket and brought out the one he had kept +out of the bag. He held it up and watched the sunlight, filtering +through Venus's thick clouds, and the firelight, reflected from Red +Lava Range two hundred miles away, play on the chatoyant interior of +the stone as if they were chasing each other. + +Those stones would be worth forty thousand Earth dollars a pair if he +could get them to a reputable dealer in Aphrodite, Venus's largest +city. Therein lay Grant Russell's next problem, and in spite of the +satisfaction he felt at emerging from the Great Swamp, he knew that +getting safely to Aphrodite might be an even more serious problem. + +Aphrodite's only approach over the Lead Vapor Mountains from the +southern hemisphere was through The Pass, a legalized city of vice. On +one side The Pass was flanked by the Bubbling Zinc Pits and on the +other side it was skirted by the Fluoride River, and man had not yet +devised any way to navigate either of these. It was doubtful, even, +that any species native to Venus could cross those two areas, but on +this authorities did not agree for in the year 2542 Venus and its +natives were still largely unknown. + +Not so far unknown, however, that Grant Russell failed to recognize +the single luminous eye that had risen out of the water on a long, +slender stalk. "A fish," he thought, or as some would have said, a +Venusian. It saw that he was looking at it, and it dropped out of +sight. There was the swirl of brown water that marked its +under-surface progress. It swam like a fish, but it wasn't really a +fish. It was one of Venus's four dominant species and the most "human" +of all. + +The swirl moved fast across the surface of the water and disappeared +in the direction of Aphrodite but Grant knew that its place would be +taken within a few minutes by another. And if Grant had had any +forlorn hope that he might be able to slip through The Pass, he gave +it up, for he knew now that his movements were reported hourly and +that his possession of the fabulous stones was undoubtedly known to +Relegar, the Uranian. + +Relegar was the master of The Pass. He was no human and he had no +human feelings. Killings and stealing were a business to him, and he +had the most efficient spying system on any planet. It was well known +unofficially that he kept an underground factory busy extracting a +drug from the stamen of the swamp-orchid. The drug was labeled +"Venus-snow," and Relegar found it highly profitable to trade it to +the fish in the Sea-Swamp on the southwest and to the semi-aquatic +people in the great Gallium Bogs to the southeast--some called them +"frogs"--for information. + +Relegar's spy-system was a monopoly by reason of a peculiar fact: the +fish-people talked in a high sound-range that no solar being but a +Uranian could hear; no Uranian trusted another Uranian, and so Relegar +was the only entity in The Pass who knew the dialect of the +fish-people. Seldom did any person or any entity find anything of +value in the bottom half of Venus that was not promptly reported to +the Uranian. + +Therefore Grant Russell did not dare enter The Pass with the stones on +his person. This was a quick way to lose them--and perhaps his life. +Some day, thought Grant wishfully, some big-shot would come along and +clean out The Pass and then the little honest men would be safe. On +the rare occasions when a prospector did find something of value and +get back to land he would be allowed to keep it. Grant wished he had a +lot of power or a lot of money. He'd take over the clean-up job. But a +fellow like him, without friends, without influence, without money, +didn't have a chance. + + * * * * * + +Grant had thought about that a good many times on his long trip across +the swamp, but he had worried more about how to dispose of his own +stones before Relegar got hold of him. He would of course have to use +deception. But how? If he could hide the stones some place he could go +on into The Pass empty-handed and pretend that he'd had the usual lack +of luck. Then he could see Netse, the Jovian fence, and make a deal +for protection. He'd have to give up half, but that was the easiest +way out, for Relegar would keep hands off if Netse got there first. + +But where could he hide the stones? There was too much continual +volcanic subterranean activity in the swamp, and on what little dry +land Venus had it was doubtful that any hiding-place could be called +permanent. It might be solid today and swallowed by an earthquake +tomorrow. + +The only real solution was to have somebody else keep them for a +while, Grant thought, and that was a discouraging thought, for whom +could he trust in The Pass even if he could reach them? For that +matter, who in The Pass would risk his life to help out Grant Russell, +the Hard-Luck Man of the Swamp? + +He'd been known as a hard-luck man as far back as he could remember. +His parents had been killed in a rocket crash on a trip to Mars; he'd +been raised by one relative after another and they'd each one gotten +rid of him as soon as they could. Finally he had married a nice girl +and they had been happy until their daughter was born. Then the mother +had died. + +Grant had gone to pieces for a while. When he came to, he was broke, +hungry, ragged. Then when it was too late he had become frantic over +the safety of his small daughter, Beth. He found that she was safe in +a child welfare home in New Jersey, but they would not release her to +him until he could pay what he owed for her care and have enough left +over to establish himself as a substantial citizen. + +He had told her goodby. She was the image of her mother, and she had +held onto his hand as long as she could and said between sobs, "Daddy, +can we have a farm some day, and raise strawberries, and have just us +two? I don't want to be an orphan." He had gulped and said, "Sure," +and then he had come to Venus. It was a new planet, largely +unexplored, full of opportunity. + +That had been three years ago. Things had been tough at times but now +he could afford to smile. He'd hit the jackpot--a million-year-old +nest of the echindul, with sixteen pairs of stones. He put the one +stone safely back in his watch-pocket. He was keeping that one. When +he sold the others he would have the dealer pick out the mate to this +one, and he and Beth would keep this pair. They would be well able to +afford it. + +He felt the bag at his side. The stones didn't weigh much, perhaps a +couple of ounces apiece, but the famous telepathic stones of Venus +were well known on Earth. Wealthy young lovers would carry a pair, if +they could get them, so that each could know what the other was +thinking. + +Scientists said the stones were matched crystals so that each pair, in +effect, was tuned in together. They said also that the stones were +little more than nature's ultimate extension of man's feeble attempts +at radio communication. + +Grant Russell knew little about that. What he did know was that those +stones were worth half a million dollars. He gathered up his patched +diving-suit and packed it, from long habit. He raised his head and saw +another eye watching him from the swamp. He watched the eye and +listened to the rasping of the bone-plates in the constrictor's +throat. + +Ordinarily he would have tried to kill the big saurian, for its skin +had the property of turning slightly radioactive after death and it +was worth a couple of hundred dollars delivered in Aphrodite, but a +thought occurred to him. He watched the saurian and began to smile. +The constrictor could be worth a lot more than two hundred dollars to +him. + +He flipped a handful of green sand at the eye in the swamp and it +withdrew abruptly into the water. He ran, making a wide circle around +the constrictor's powerful tail. He darted in to the head and stood +above the lidless eye. Three years ago he would not have walked this +close to a _dead_ constrictor, but now--well, he'd learned not to be +scared until there was need of it. He bent down. The fish was well +inside the saurian's mouth. The constrictor's jaws were distended and +it was helpless. + +Grant whipped the bag of stones from inside of his jacket and tied the +leather thong to one leg of the fish. He made sure he had the one +single stone in his watch-pocket. That one he had to keep to be able +to find the others. He went back to the edge of the swamp and waited +until he saw an eye come up, whereupon he flipped another handful of +sand at it. + +He stayed there for two hours, until the bag of stones was well down +the saurian's throat. Then he set out for The Pass. He was painfully +hungry now, but he was light-hearted. Never again would he have to +risk the death that infested the Great Sea-Swamp. Within thirty days +he would be home--home on Earth. He and Beth would get a little house +out in the country and have a little garden, and he could relax and +watch his daughter grow up. She was only seven now. It wasn't too +late. + + * * * * * + +It was dark when he got to The Pass, the sinister city where he'd seen +men killed for a twenty-dollar bill, where girls had been sold over +the counter for fifty. He knew better than to go directly to Netse, +for the Jovian and the Uranian had a sort of throat-cutting +partnership in the underworld, and while Grant was sure Netse would +help him directly to get a bigger cut, he knew also that Netse +wouldn't want to be too obvious about it. + +So Grant, by this time weary in the shoulders from carrying his +equipment, turned down Thorium Avenue toward Nellie's Boarding House. +But under the first streetlight he was stopped by a grimy boy. This +was notable, because the boy was an Earthman. There weren't too many +Earthmen in The Pass. + +"Where you been, Hard-Luck Russell?" the boy asked insolently. + +Grant's throat was dry. He knew what that meant. Nobody who knew +Hard-Luck Russell would bother to stop him unless they had orders to +do it--orders that came from Relegar. + +"In the Swamp," Russell said, swallowing hard. + +The kid stared at the diving-suit in Grant's hand, stared at Grant's +face with a sharp, penetrating, unashamed inquisitiveness that made +Grant use all of his will-power to stare back. The kid suddenly +disappeared. + +Grant forced himself not to walk faster. The kid had put the finger on +him. It was the first time Relegar had ever done that. Those damned +eyes! Relegar must know what Grant had found, and the knowledge that +the Uranian knew about the stones made him weak. Relegar was a bad +spider. + +Grant's impulse was to run but he forced himself to be steady. Now he +didn't dare go straight to Netse. He went on to Nellie's place and +hammered on the door. "Oh, it's you. Come on in." Nellie opened the +door. Nellie was a Martian, a century-plant, and nobody knew whether +it was he or she or whether it made any difference, but they called it +"she" and they called it "Nellie." + +Grant went in. Nellie's leaves rustled and that queer whispery voice +came from her. "Do you want a cot?" + +"I'll have a room this time," said Grant. "How much?" + +"A buck," said Nellie's leaves. "Pay now." + +She collected. He took his diving-suit to the room. He didn't like the +smell of cabbage and garlic, and the fumes of chlorine were so strong +he nearly choked. A Saturnian must be pickling insects somewhere up on +the second floor. He sat down. He was starved but he didn't want to go +outside until he had a chance to figure things out. He thought maybe +the first thing to do was to see Netse. + +From the sounds he thought the two girls across the hall were getting +ready to go out. He lay down on the bed to rest. + +At ten o'clock they left, jabbering. It was good to hear Earth-people +talk, even if it was French, which he didn't understand. As soon as +the front door closed after the girls he tiptoed across the hall and +tried the doorknob. It was locked. He opened it with his skeleton key. +The room was dark and he did not turn on a light. He opened the window +and dropped softly to the ground in a narrow space between two +buildings. + +A grating voice said, "Where you going, punk?" + +Grant froze. He wanted to run but couldn't. He turned. Back at the +alley, in the light, was a medium-size, solidly built man with black +hair and a long scar on his left cheek. Grant wheeled, but stopped +short. In front of him, at the street end, was a huge Neptunian. It +was ten feet high. Grant shuddered. He didn't want that thing too +close to him with its razor-sharp teeth and its fondness for blood. He +walked toward the Earthman. + + * * * * * + +They took him into a snow-joint over on Chloride Street. The man led, +the Neptunian followed. They went down many flights of stairs carved +in the solid purple lava and finally into an elevator. They went +farther down. + +This, then, was Relegar's headquarters. The Uranian couldn't stand +radiation for any length of time. Out on Uranus they had almost none, +and so Venus, with its very heavy clouds that filtered the sunlight, +was one of the few planets where a Uranian could live. Even so, the +Uranians on Venus, having an instinctive dread of sunlight because +sunlight usually meant radiation, preferred to stay underground. +Perhaps it was more like their native world that way, for they lived +underground even on Uranus. + +They got out of the elevator in a rock cavern and walked a hundred +feet. They passed two guards and went through a steel door. They were +in a big room, dimly lighted by red bulbs. Giant didn't like the +dimness and he didn't like the smell. He tried to see. + +"Here he is," said the man. + +There was an odd bass rambling which Grant recognized as the voice of +a Uranian. He shivered. Then there were words, and Grant knew the +Uranian, wherever he was--maybe in a different room--was using a +modifier to turn his sounds into Earth-language: "Walk closer," +ordered the queer voice. "I want to watch your face." + +It scraped the marrow in his bones, that queer voice. He saw a big +tunnel, and at the far end of it, barely discernible in the dim light, +was Relegar. Grant stared, chilled. His eyes became used to the queer +light, and then he began to make out details. The tunnel was round and +big enough so that a man could have walked into it, and at the far end +the big Uranian seemed to be standing on his side, with his sixteen +huge jointed legs supporting him, half of them on the floor and half +on the ceiling. His purple, hairy body was supported in the middle +almost as from a web. His two semi-globular eyes, seemingly opaque, +were surrounded by six smaller ones. Grant knew the smaller ones could +detect infra-red, and now he felt his face growing warm and knew they +had on infra spot on him. + +"What did you find in the swamp?" asked that dissonant voice. + +Grant swallowed and licked his lips. "Nothing," he said finally. + +The great maw of the spider, rimmed in red, opened wide as if the +Uranian was yawning. It showed long, curving white fangs. Then Relegar +said, "You found stones of the echindul." + +"I have only one," said Grant, and held it out fearfully. + +A curious red began to creep over Relegar's body. His next words were +deadly: "One is no good. You found many. What did you do with them?" + +Grant watched the great, gray poison-mandibles lift, and he was +terrified. He wanted to speak but he could not. + +"You've hidden them somewhere," said the horrible voice. "You intended +to go back after them. Well, I am going to let you do that. But I +shall be after you. I, in person, shall be on your trail. How will you +like that?" + +"I--I haven't got them. I don't know where they are," Grant insisted, +which, in a manner of speaking, was true. + +Relegar's two big bulbous eyes seemed to grow bigger and bigger, but +still the light was reflected only from their surface. Grant took a +step backward. Relegar swayed his body toward him, but the legs did +not move. "Go get your stones," he said. "But whenever you do, I'll be +right behind you. And don't try to go to Aphrodite." + +The lights went out. The giant Neptunian was at Grant's side. Grant +felt the leathery skin against his hand. They took him up and kicked +him out on the street. + +Grant got dazedly to his feet. He had to see Netse the Jovian, quick. +Netse would exact a steep price as soon as he found out that Relegar +had threatened, but even one-third of the money would be better than +nothing. And he knew what it meant to be trailed by Relegar. No being +from any planet had ever come back sane from being hunted by Relegar. +Most of them didn't come back. + +He stopped at the big jewelry house over on Curium Avenue. He saw that +it was now nearly one o'clock in the morning, and of course the +jewelry store was closed, but he knew that Netse seldom slept and that +the Jovian probably did more business at night than during the day. He +pressed the night button and waited. + +The square of sidewalk dropped. Grant walked between X-ray scanners +and remembered to deposit his heat-gun. He was met by an Earthman who +took him up a long escalator. They went into a well-lighted room hung +with rich tapestries and golden drapes. The man escorted Grant to a +pedestal in the center of the room. The lights went out and it was +inky black. + +Then suddenly there sprang into sight on the pedestal a transparent +dome the size of a small goldfish bowl. It was lighted by ultra-violet +from the bottom. In the center of the dome a small golden ball hung by +a platinum wire, and on the ball was a tiny butterfly--Netse the +Jovian. Netse's wings moved slowly as he walked around the ball, and +the violet light brought out the delicate green luminous tracery in +his wings. Grant involuntarily stepped back. + +There were whistling words and Grant was aware that they came through +a speaker and amplification system. He knew the dome that protected +the Jovian was almost indestructible. "You wished to see me?" The +wings moved slowly back and forth. Each one had a purple spot in the +center like an eye. + +Grant gulped. "Yes. I--I have something to show you. I need your +help." He wondered if the purple spots actually were eyes. + +"Most people do," said Netse dryly. + +Grant, inordinately ill at ease, fumbled in his watch-pocket. It was +incredible that this tiny butterfly that would hardly outweigh a +cigarette paper should have the brain to conduct a ramified business +such as this one, and it was even more incredible that men and +everything else--except perhaps Relegar--would yield to its will. +Will, of course, was the key factor. Will was dominant and men obeyed. + + * * * * * + +Grant held out the echindul stone. "This is one of a pair," he said. +"I found the other one too." + +"You have just come back from the Red Lava Range," said the whistling +voice. "How many pairs did you find?" + +Grant stared at the butterfly. Some thought the Jovians could read +minds. Grant wondered. Then he decided to be honest. "Sixteen." + +Netse's wings quit moving for a minute. "What do you want me to do?" + +"I want you to assure me safe passage to your office. I will give you +three-fourths of them," Grant blurted. He had not meant to make an +offer like that. He had intended to let Netse ask but the delicacy of +his situation hit him abruptly and fully and he was weighed down with +sudden desperation. + +"How can you find the others?" asked Netse. + +"I--" Grant got cautious. "I have provided for that." + +The butterfly fluttered to the top of the dome and hung upside down +for a moment. Then the whistling came again. "I am sorry. I do not see +where I can be of any assistance." + +Grant was stunned. He held out both hands. "But--" + +The lights went out. The Earthman was at his side, leading him out. He +was given his heat-gun. "But what--why?--I don't understand," Grant +said, bewildered. + +His escort looked at him, opened his mouth, and showed Grant he was +tongueless. He positioned Grant on the square and a moment later Grant +was back on the sidewalk. + +Discouragement was on him like a great weight. It deadened him. It +smothered him. He paced the streets and eventually found himself +before a restaurant. He remembered then that he had not eaten for a +long time. He went in and ordered oysters. That was about the only +meat you could buy in The Pass and be sure of not eating some sentient +being. Then, waiting, he sat in a booth with his head between his +hands. + +It was apparent they didn't want him to have any part of his +stones--the stones he had spent six months and risked his life +for--the stones that meant so much to him and to Beth. They wanted all +of his stones. The dirty Shylocks. They weren't willing to take half, +or two-thirds, or three-fourths. They wanted all. They weren't willing +for him to have any part of them. He would have settled for ten per +cent, which would have been over fifty thousand dollars, but they +didn't offer him ten per cent. They offered nothing. They wanted all. + +Netse must have been contacted by Relegar and told to keep hands off. +That was why Grant had wanted to see Netse first. But he had not +dreamed that Netse would refuse him entirely. He had thought it would +be merely a matter of the price. + +Now what could he do? He didn't dare let the constrictor have more +than three day's head-start, for the saurian would finish digesting +the fish in about five days. That meant Grant would have to start back +to the swamp tomorrow. But Relegar's spies would report every move. +The minute he set out, Relegar would be notified. And Relegar would +come after him. Grant shuddered. Where his hands touched his face his +finger tips were cold. + +Relegar would find him. The spider had a locator sense that was +infallible. He could set out days later and find Grant unerringly. And +how could one fight the Uranian when they met? Relegar's nervous +system was so constructed that he was practically impossible to kill. +You could boil him or freeze him without injuring him. Uranians had +been boiled alive in prussic acid for forty hours without ill effects. +You could cut off legs and even sever the head and they would still +live. So what could a man do? + +There was only one thing Grant knew. That was to go after the stones. +They were his and he would never give them up. They might take the +stones away from him, but he would never give them up. + +So the next morning he overhauled his suit and patched it. He got +fresh oxygen and bought a meager supply of food. He had one more good +meal and started out south again with the single stone in his +watch-pocket. + +It took him seven hours to reach the place where he had left the +constrictor. It was gone, of course. How far, he could not know. He +took the one telepathic stone from his pocket. He found a spot where +he could sit in the open, cross-legged, with his eyes fixed on the +stone. From the corner of his eye he saw a brown detached eye on a +stalk pop up from the surface of the water, but he paid no attention. +He concentrated on the stone. + +The stone had a fair polish. He looked at its surface and shut out all +the normal sounds from his ears. The stone seemed to be in motion on +the inside, and presently that motion communicated itself to his mind. +He had a picture of a constrictor, lying sleepily in a pool of brown +water surrounded by heavy, deep grass that hung over the banks and +grew down into the water. + +He heard now the distant bellow of a swamp-ox, the buzzing of aquatic +bees. Slowly he turned the stone on its edge and revolved it +carefully. When the picture was clearest in his mind he picked out an +orientation point in the distant mountains. Then, well pleased, he put +the stone in his pocket, got into his diving-suit, screwed on the +helmet, adjusted the oxygen, and stepped off into the brown water of +the swamp. + +The bottom here was steep but it was good. It was hard and not more +than knee-deep in mud. He traveled carefully, freezing on occasion +when huge shadows moved above him. He was in fifty feet of water and +he liked that better because it was easier to go unnoticed. He avoided +a patch of electric cactus, for the spines would have electrocuted him +even through the suit, and he went far around an area of white +bull-root, shaped like women's legs, because he knew the bull-root was +always infested with swamp-razors that would cut through the seams of +his diving-suit. + +When he came out of the water he found his orientation point and kept +going. He came to a wide stretch of water, and with the wind at his +back, made fast time by climbing on an island of floating grass and +going straight across. This was important. He needed to find the +constrictor by the time Relegar started after him. + +The spider could travel much faster than Grant for it walked on water +where Grant was forced to wade on the bottom. But Relegar would wait a +while. He wouldn't want to be on the surface of Venus any longer than +necessary, even for half a million dollars, so he would give Grant +plenty of time, since there was no danger of his getting away. + +Grant was encouraged by the fact that the constrictor did not appear +to be far away. Everything here depended on his reaching the saurian +two days ahead of Relegar. Not that he expected to run. That was +hopeless. But he did have a partial plan. He thought he knew how to +recover the stones and to face the Uranian without being immediately +killed. And he hoped for some now unforeseen development that +subsequently would help him to get through The Pass. + +That last item was a weak point, a very weak point, but there was +nothing he could do about it now. He could not wait for a plan. He had +to go ahead and trust his own ingenuity to devise a means of getting +to Aphrodite later. If he could keep Relegar from going back to The +Pass until he himself could get through The Pass, then he would be +unmolested, for Relegar was master of The Pass, and no entity of any +sort, not even as powerful a one as Netse, would touch any being in +whom Relegar was interested unless Relegar himself should order it. + +If Grant could get through The Pass and across Division Street he +would be safe, for Aphrodite proper was under the jurisdiction of the +Planetary Police, and even Relegar respected them. + + * * * * * + +Grant found the constrictor on the second day, lying in a shallow pool +with only its dorsal spines showing. Working slowly and carefully and +entirely under water, he located the saurian's head, concealed in a +clump of floating grass. The reptile was still in something of a +torpor from its meal, and Grant had no difficulty in approaching it +through the water and attacking it with the heat-gun on the soft part +of the neck below the head. + +The first bolt must have gone through and severed its spinal column, +but Grant risked destruction from the threshing body long enough to +burn the head off entirely. He got out on solid ground and waited +until sundown for the monster's contortions to die. Then he worked +fast. The flying scavenger-foxes were already settling on the +constrictor's back and tearing out great chunks of flesh. He went back +under water and cut out the saurian's gizzard with the heat-ray. He +dragged it off to one side and tremblingly cut it open with his knife, +and he was relieved and exultant when he recovered all fifteen of the +stones. The bag had disintegrated, but he put the stones carefully in +his pockets. + +Then he went back once more. He cut off a piece of the hide two feet +square. He took only the outer hide, which was dry and which held the +great iridescent scales that formed isotopes after death. From some +marsh-bamboo and some wire-vines he formed a shield. By that time it +was midnight. He turned his light on the pool where the saurian had +been, and shuddered. The water was dull red, and alive with creatures +fighting each other to get to the carcass. The surface was covered +with flying things, some small, some huge, all fighting, fighting. +Life on Venus was an eternal, bloody fight. This slaughter, once +started, would go on for weeks, until the fighting creatures in this +immediate area of the swamp were exhausted. + +Grant snapped off the light as clouds of flying things arose. He +started down the neck of dry land and walked all night, going as far +as he could without submerging, getting out of range of the holocaust +around the dead constrictor. Eventually he came to a lavawood tree. He +examined it carefully, then climbed it. He found a crotch in the +limbs. He lay down and hung his arms and legs over the limbs, pulled +the shield over him, and went to sleep. + +From the brilliant, blinding light of the sun even through the clouds, +and the vapor arising from the surface of the swamp, he knew it was +mid-afternoon when he awoke. He started up, but long habit stopped him +almost as soon as he moved. He opened his eyes and was fully awake, +listening for the sound that had awakened him. He heard it, a rasping +noise like the sound of a knife-blade scraped against the grain of a +fresh hog-skin. He looked across the swamp. Less than fifty yards away +was Relegar, walking toward him on the water. The sound came from the +scraping of his gray poison-mandibles against each other. + +Relegar's mouth, as wide as his body, was open. The two bulbous eyes +gleamed like pieces of polished metal. They saw Grant. The spider's +sixteen jointed legs, that held his purple body three feet above the +water, moved too fast for Grant to follow them. The Uranian skittered +across a hundred feet of water and walked out on the land. + +His bone-scraping voice came to Grant in the tree. "I'll take the +stones now." It was a sinister voice. Grant felt a crawling, +instinctive horror as the spider came toward him, its jointed legs +moving delicately. "You've saved me some trouble by finding them." + +Grant overcame his paralysis and reached for the heat-gun. Relegar saw +the motion and stopped. "You can't hurt me with that heat-projector," +he said. "You might shoot off a leg, but I'd have you half eaten +before you could fire a second bolt." + +The knowledge hit Grant with what was almost a shock that there was +some way he could get the best of Relegar, otherwise the big spider +would not have spoken at all. He well knew that he couldn't kill +Relegar with the heat-gun. He could burn off a leg, yes, but he +doubted that the infra-rays would affect the spider's body at all. He +moved a little on the limbs, got a hold on the snake-skin shield, and +dropped to the ground. + +Relegar darted forward to meet him. But ten feet away the spider +stopped, and Grant knew he had felt the radiation from the snake-skin. +Relegar's mouth hung open, his white fangs gleaming in the red maw. +The two bulbous eyes were suddenly shot with the red fire of anger. +Grant did not hesitate. As he landed on the ground he fired a +heat-bolt at one of Relegar's left legs. It smoked. There was an odor +of burned hair. The queer material of the leg glowed white for an +instant and then burned in two and the bottom part dropped off. + +Relegar squealed. His two eyes almost exploded in a rage of red. He +wasn't permanently injured--he would grow a new leg--but he was +furious because he dared not come close to the shield. The radiation +would paralyze him within a couple of seconds. Grant saw his body sag +a little on the corner where the leg had been, and then he had one of +those flashes of intuition that every being had to have, to live long +in the swamp. He knew how to win this fight. He trained the heat-gun +on the second leg on the same side and pressed the trigger. That leg +burned in two and Relegar's body sagged still more. + +Grant started on the third one. A feeling of triumph was growing in +him. Then Relegar charged. + +Grant hadn't expected that. There was little he could do but hold the +shield frantically before him to try to ward off the fangs and the +mandibles. + +He had had no idea that the Uranian's body was so heavy. It seemed to +Grant the thing must weigh three or four hundred pounds. It thundered +into him and knocked him over as if he had been a straw. The heavy +hoofs galloped over him. He was surprised, but he rolled on over and +came to his feet, shooting. + +He got the fourth and fifth legs this time. Relegar's body sagged +considerably, but the spider, his entire body turning red with rage, +spun around and charged again. This time the great mouth was open, the +fangs ready, and the mandibles were extended. Grant left himself open +until he could feel the spider's fetid breath in his face, then he +flung out his shield. + +The sharp fangs struck it. Relegar turned into a tornado of fury for +perhaps a second, trying to shake the skin from his teeth. But it was +too late. The skin came loose, but the radiation had paralyzed the +spider. He sank feebly to the ground with the shield under him. His +eyes glared with unutterable malignant hate, but that was all. His +muscles were impotent. + +Grant stood a few feet away, getting his breath, feeling the +trip-hammer in his temple slow down to normal. Then he aimed. The +sixth, seventh, and eighth legs burned off. He put the pistol in its +holster. + +"I'm not going to try to kill you," he said. "I suppose that's +impossible anyway, short of cutting you up into small pieces, and I +don't relish that idea. But I'll leave you the snake-skin. It will +have passed the peak of its radioactivity by tomorrow and you can +start back for The Pass. But you won't go back very fast. You've got +legs on only one side. It's going to be slow navigating, especially on +water. In fact, I think maybe you'll have to wait until you grow some +new legs." + +He patted his pockets filled with half a million dollars' worth of +echindul stones. "Long before that I'll be in Aphrodite depositing my +stones at the First Interplanetary Bank." + +He watched Relegar's eyes turn dead, cold black, then he screwed on +his helmet, adjusted the oxygen, and stepped off into the brown water. +He felt rather good, wading through the mud at the bottom of the +swamp. He was somewhat astonished that it had fallen to him, a nobody, +to be the means of breaking up Relegar's hold on The Pass. But it was +a very satisfactory feeling. He thought about Beth and New Jersey and +strawberries with fresh cream. He sighed happily. His luck had +changed. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wealth of Echindul, by Noel Miller Loomis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEALTH OF ECHINDUL *** + +***** This file should be named 31326.txt or 31326.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/2/31326/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, 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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