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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/31833-h.zip b/31833-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc16d67 --- /dev/null +++ b/31833-h.zip diff --git a/31833-h/31833-h.htm b/31833-h/31833-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5f3975 --- /dev/null +++ b/31833-h/31833-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1062 @@ +<!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" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title>The Wedge, by Horace Brown Fyfe—A Project Gutenberg eBook</title> + <style type="text/css"> +body { + margin-left: 22%; + margin-right: 22%; +} + +.text-block { max-width: 40em; margin: 120px auto; } + +h1 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + font-weight: bold; + margin: 0.2em auto 0em auto; + font-family: sans-serif; + font-size: 350%; + white-space: nowrap; +} + +p { + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; +} + +p.noindent { + text-indent: 0em; +} + +p.tb { + margin-top: 2em; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +p.tb .first-word { + text-transform: uppercase; +} + +p.tb:first-letter { + font-size: 275%; + float: left; + margin: 0.15em 0.05em 0em 0em; + line-height: 0.5em; +} + + +hr { + visibility: hidden; + display: none; + width: 15em; + height: 1px; + margin: 2em auto; + clear: both; + color: black; + background-color: black; + border: none; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + /* define the position */ + position: absolute; + right: 3%; + margin-right: 0em; + text-align: right; + /* remove any special formating that could be inherited */ + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + letter-spacing: 0em; + text-decoration: none; + text-indent: 0em; + font-size: x-small; + /* never wrap this */ + white-space: nowrap; +} /* page numbers */ +.pagenum span { /* do not show text that is meant for non-css version*/ + visibility: hidden; +} +.pagenum a { + display: inline-block; + color: #808080; + border: 1px solid silver; + padding: 1px 4px 1px 4px; +} + +.right { text-align: right; } + +em { + font-style: italic; + font-weight: normal; +} + +.tnote { + text-align: justify; + border: 1px dashed #808080; + background-color: #eee; + padding: 0.7em; + margin: 60px 5% 60px 5%; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +a:link { text-decoration: none; } +a:visited { text-decoration: none; } +a:link:hover { text-decoration: underline; } +a:visited:hover { text-decoration: underline; } +a:link:active { text-decoration: underline; } +a:visited:active { text-decoration: underline; } +.pagenum a:hover { text-decoration: none; } +.pagenum a:active { text-decoration: none; } + + @media print { + body{ + margin-left: 4%; + margin-right: 9%; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-bottom: 1%; + } + + .text-block { max-width: 40em; margin: 0em auto; } + + pre { + visibility: hidden; + display: none; + } + + .pagenum a { + color: #202020; + border: 0px; + padding: 0px; + } + + a:link { text-decoration: none; color: black; } + a:visited { text-decoration: none; color: black; } + a:hover { text-decoration: none; color: black; } + a:active { text-decoration: none; color: black; } + .pagenum a:hover { text-decoration: none; } + .pagenum a:active { text-decoration: none; } + + .break-before { page-break-before: always; } + .break-after { page-break-after: always; } + } + </style> + </head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wedge, by Horace Brown Fyfe + +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 Wedge + +Author: Horace Brown Fyfe + +Release Date: March 31, 2010 [EBook #31833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEDGE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Alexander Bauer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="text-block"> +<p class="tnote" style="margin-top: 5em; margin-bottom: 6em;"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /><br /> + +This e-text was produced from the September 1960 issue of If. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.<br /><br /> + +Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully +as possible. +</p> + +<div class="break-before"> </div> + +<div style="float: right; width: 302px; padding: 1em;"> +<p class="right" style="font-size: 140%; margin-bottom: -1em; font-weight: bold; font-family: sans-serif;">By H. B. FYFE</p> +<img src="images/triangle.png" width="302" height="354" alt="Decoration" /> +<p class="noindent" style="font-size: 125%;"><i>Finding his way out of this +maze was only half the job.</i></p> +<h1>The Wedge</h1> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><span>[Page </span><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a><span>] </span></span></p> +<p class="tb"><span class="first-word">When</span> the concealed gong +sounded, the man sitting +on the floor sighed. He continued, +however, to slump +loosely against the curving, +pearly plastic of the wall, and +took care not to glance toward +the translucent ovals he +knew to be observation +panels.</p> + +<p>He was a large man, but +thin and bony-faced. His +dirty gray coverall bore the +name “Barnsley” upon grimy +white tape over the heart. Except +at the shoulders, it looked +too big for him. His hair was +dark brown, but the sandy +ginger of his two-week beard +seemed a better match for his +blue eyes.</p> + +<p>Finally, he satisfied the +softly insistent gong by standing +up and gazing in turn at +each of the three doors spaced +around the cylindrical chamber. +He deliberately adopted +an expression of simple-minded +anticipation as he ambled +over to the nearest one.</p> + +<p>The door was round, about +four feet in diameter, and set +in a flattened part of the wall +with its lower edge tangent +with the floor. Rods about two +inches thick projected a +hand's breadth at four, eight, +and twelve o'clock. The markings +around them suggested +that each could be rotated +to three different positions. +Barnsley squatted on his heels +to study these.</p> + +<p>Noting that all the rods +were set at the position he +had learned to think of as +“one,” he reached out to +touch the door. It felt slightly +warm, so he allowed his fingertips +to slide over the upper +handle. A tentative tug produced +no movement of the +door.</p> + +<p>“That's it, though,” he +mumbled quietly. “Well, now +to do our little act with the +others!”</p> + +<p>He moved to the second +door, where all the rods were +<span class="pagenum"><span>[Page </span><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a><span>] </span></span>set at “two.” Here he fell to +manipulating the rod handles, +pausing now and then to +shove hopefully against the +door. Some twenty minutes +later, he tried the same routine +at the third door.</p> + +<p>Eventually, he returned to +his starting point and rotated +the rods there at random for +a few minutes. Having, apparently +by accident, arranged +them in a sequence of +one-two-three, he contrived to +lean against the door at the +crucial instant. As it gave beneath +his weight, he grabbed +the two lower handles and +pushed until the door rose to +a horizontal position level +with its hinged top. It settled +there with a loud click.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="tb"><span class="first-word">Barnsley</span> stooped to +crawl through into an +arched passage of the same +pearly plastic. He straightened +up and walked along for +about twenty feet, flashing a +white-toothed grin through +his beard while muttering +curses behind it. Presently, he +arrived at a small, round bay, +to be confronted by three +more doors.</p> + +<p>“Bet there's a dozen of you +three-eyed clods peeping at +me,” he growled. “How'd you +like me to poke a boot +through the panel in front of +you and kick you blubber-balls +in all directions? Do you +have a page in your data +books for that?”</p> + +<p>He forced himself to <em>feel</em> +sufficiently dull-witted to +waste ten minutes opening +one of the doors. The walls of +the succeeding passage were +greenish, and the tunnel +curved gently downward to +the left. Besides being somewhat +warmer, the air exuded +a faint blend of heated machine +oil and something like +ripe fish. The next time +Barnsley came to a set of +doors, he found also a black +plastic cube about two feet +high. He squatted on his heels +to examine it.</p> + +<p><em>I'd better look inside or +they'll be disappointed</em>, he +told himself.</p> + +<p>From the corner of his eye, +he watched the movement of +shadows behind the translucent +panels in the walls. He +could picture the observers +there: blubbery bipeds with +three-jointed arms and legs +ending in clusters of stubby +but flexible tentacles. Their +broad, spine-crested heads +would be thrust forward and +each would have two of his +three protruding eyes directed +at Barnsley's slightest +move. They had probably been +staring at him in relays every +second since picking up his +scout ship in the neighboring +star system.</p> + +<p>That is, Barnsley thought, +it must have been the next +system whose fourth planet +he had been photo-mapping +for the Terran Colonial Service. +He hoped he had not +been wrong about that.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><span>[Page </span><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a><span>] </span></span><em>Doesn't matter</em>, he consoled +himself, <em>as long as the Service +can trace me. These slobs +certainly aren't friendly.</em></p> + +<p>He reconsidered the scanty +evidence of previous contact +in this volume of space, light-years +from Terra's nearest +colony. Two exploratory ships +had disappeared. There had +been a garbled, fragmentary +message picked up by the recorders +of the colony's satellite +beacon, which some +experts interpreted as a hasty +warning. As far as he knew, +Barnsley was the only Terran +to reach this planet alive.</p> + +<p>To judge from his peculiar +imprisonment, his captors had +recovered from their initial +dismay at encountering another +intelligent race—at +least to the extent of desiring +a specimen for study. In +Barnsley's opinion, that put +him more or less ahead of the +game.</p> + +<p>“They're gonna learn a +lot!” he muttered, grinning +vindictively.</p> + +<p>He finished worrying the +cover off the black box. Inside +was a plastic sphere of water +and several varieties of food +his captors probably considered +edible. The latter ranged +from a leafy stalk bearing a +number of small pods to a +crumbling mass resembling +moldy cheese. Barnsley hesitated.</p> + +<p>“I haven't had the guts to +try this one yet,” he reminded +himself, picking out what +looked like a cluster of long, +white roots.</p> + +<p>The roots squirmed feebly +in his grasp. Barnsley returned +them to the box instantly.</p> + +<p>Having selected, instead, a +fruit that could have been a +purple cucumber, he put it +with the water container into +a pocket of his coverall and +closed the box.</p> + +<p><em>Maybe they won't remember +that I took the same thing +once before</em>, he thought. <em>Oh, +hell, of course they will! But +why be too consistent?</em></p> + +<p>He opened one of the doors +and walked along a bluish +passage that twisted to the +left, chewing on the purple +fruit as he went. It was +tougher than it looked and +nearly tasteless. At the next +junction, he unscrewed the +cap of the water sphere, +drained it slowly, and flipped +the empty container at one of +the oval panels. A dim shadow +blurred out of sight, as if +someone had stepped hastily +backward.</p> + +<p>“Why not?” growled Barnsley. +“It's time they were +shaken up a little!”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="tb"><span class="first-word">Pretending</span> to have seen +something where the container +had struck the wall, he +ran over and began to feel +along the edge of the panel. +When his fingertips encountered +only the slightest of +seams, he doubled his fists +and pounded. He thought he +could detect a faint scurrying +<span class="pagenum"><span>[Page </span><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a><span>] </span></span>on the other side of the wall.</p> + +<p>Barnsley laughed aloud. He +raised one foot almost waist-high +and drove the heel of his +boot through the translucent +observation panel. Seizing the +splintered edges of the hole, +he tugged and heaved until +he had torn out enough of the +thin wall to step through to +the other side. He found himself +entering a room not much +larger than the passage behind +him.</p> + +<p>To his left, there was a +flicker of blue from a crack +in the wall. The crack widened +momentarily, emitting a +gabble of mushy voices. The +blue cloth was twitched away +by a cluster of stubby tentacles, +whereupon the crack +closed to an almost imperceptible +line. Barnsley fingered +his beard to hide a grin and +turned the other way.</p> + +<p>He stumbled into a number +of low stools surmounted by +spongy, spherical cushions. +One of these he tore off for a +pillow before going on. At the +end of the little room, he +sought for another crack, +kicked the panel a bit to loosen +it, and succeeded in sliding +back a section of wall. The +passage revealed was about +the size of those he had been +forced to explore during the +past two weeks, but it had an +unfinished, behind-the-scenes +crudeness in appearance. +Barnsley pottered along for +about fifteen minutes, during +which time the walls resounded +with distant running and +he encountered several obviously +improvised barriers.</p> + +<p>He kicked his way through +one, squeezed through an +opening that had not been +closed quite in time, restrained +a wicked impulse to cross +some wiring that must have +been electrical, and at last allowed +himself to be diverted +into a passage leading back +to his original cell. He amused +himself by trying to picture +the disruption he had caused +to the honeycomb of passageways.</p> + +<p>“There!” he grinned to himself. +“That should keep them +from bothering me for a few +hours. Maybe one or two of +them will get in trouble over +it—I hope!”</p> + +<p>He arranged his stolen +cushion where the wall met +the floor and lay down.</p> + +<p>A thought struck him. He +sat up to examine the cushion +suspiciously. It appeared to be +an equivalent to foam rubber. +He prodded and twisted until +convinced that no wires or +other unexpected objects were +concealed inside. Not till then +did he resume his relaxed position.</p> + +<p>Presently one of his hands +located and pinched a tiny +switch buried in the lobe of +his left ear. Barnsley concentrated +upon keeping his features +blank as a rushing +sound seemed to grow in his +ear. He yawned casually, moving +one hand from behind +<span class="pagenum"><span>[Page </span><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a><span>] </span></span>his head to cover his mouth.</p> + +<p>Having practiced many +times before a mirror, he did +not think that any possible +watcher would have noticed +how his thumb slipped briefly +inside his mouth to give one +eyetooth a slight twist.</p> + +<p>A strong humming inundated +his hearing. It continued +for perhaps two minutes, +paused, and began again. +Barnsley waited through two +repetitions before he “yawned” +again and sleepily rolled +over to hide his face in his +folded arms.</p> + +<p>“Did you get it all?” he +murmured.</p> + +<p>“Clear as a bell,” replied a +tiny voice in his left ear. +“Was that your whole day's +recording?”</p> + +<p>“I guess so,” said Barnsley. +“To tell the truth, I lose track +a bit after two weeks without +a watch. Who's this? Sanchez?”</p> + +<p>“That's right. You seem to +come in on my watch pretty +nearly every twenty-four +hours. Okay, I'll tape a slowed-down +version of your blast +for the boys in the back room. +You're doing fine.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="tb"><span class="first-word">“Not</span> for much longer,” +Barnsley told him. +“When do I get out of here?”</p> + +<p style="clear: both;">“Any day,” Sanchez reassured +him. “It was some job +to learn an alien language +with just your recordings and +some of your educated guesses +to go on. We've had a regular +mob sweating on it night and +day.”</p> + +<p>“How is it coming?”</p> + +<p>“It turns out they're nothing +to worry about. The fleet +is close enough now to pick +up their surface broadcasting. +Believe me, your stupid act +has them thoroughly confused. +They hold debates over +whether you could possibly be +intelligent enough to belong +in a spaceship.”</p> + +<p>“Meanwhile, I'm slowly +starving,” said Barnsley.</p> + +<p>“Just hang on for a couple +of days. Now that we know +where they are, they're in for +a shock. One of these mornings, +they're going to hear +voices from all over their +skies, demanding to know +what kind of savages they are +to have kidnapped you—and +in their own language!”</p> + +<p>Barnsley grinned into his +improvised pillow as Sanchez +signed off. Things would really +work out after all. He was +set for an immensely lucrative +position; whether as +ambassador, trade consultant, +or colonial governor depended +upon how well the experts +bluffed the blubber-heads. +Well, it seemed only his due +for the risks he had taken.</p> + +<p>“Omigosh!” he grunted, sitting +up as he pictured the +horde of Terran Colonial experts +descending upon the +planet. “I'll be the only one +here that hasn't learned to +speak the language!”</p> + +<p style="float:right; margin-bottom: 5em; font-family: sans-serif;" class="noindent"><b>END</b></p> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wedge, by Horace Brown Fyfe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEDGE *** + +***** This file should be named 31833-h.htm or 31833-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/3/31833/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Alexander Bauer 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: The Wedge + +Author: Horace Brown Fyfe + +Release Date: March 31, 2010 [EBook #31833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEDGE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Alexander Bauer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [ Transcriber's Note: + + This e-text was produced from the September 1960 issue of If. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully + as possible. + + Text that was _italic_ in the original is marked with _.] + + + + + The Wedge + + Finding his way out of this maze was only half the job. + + By H. B. FYFE + + [Illustration] + + +When the concealed gong sounded, the man sitting on the floor sighed. He +continued, however, to slump loosely against the curving, pearly plastic +of the wall, and took care not to glance toward the translucent ovals he +knew to be observation panels. + +He was a large man, but thin and bony-faced. His dirty gray coverall +bore the name "Barnsley" upon grimy white tape over the heart. Except at +the shoulders, it looked too big for him. His hair was dark brown, but +the sandy ginger of his two-week beard seemed a better match for his +blue eyes. + +Finally, he satisfied the softly insistent gong by standing up and +gazing in turn at each of the three doors spaced around the cylindrical +chamber. He deliberately adopted an expression of simple-minded +anticipation as he ambled over to the nearest one. + +The door was round, about four feet in diameter, and set in a flattened +part of the wall with its lower edge tangent with the floor. Rods about +two inches thick projected a hand's breadth at four, eight, and twelve +o'clock. The markings around them suggested that each could be rotated +to three different positions. Barnsley squatted on his heels to study +these. + +Noting that all the rods were set at the position he had learned to +think of as "one," he reached out to touch the door. It felt slightly +warm, so he allowed his fingertips to slide over the upper handle. A +tentative tug produced no movement of the door. + +"That's it, though," he mumbled quietly. "Well, now to do our little act +with the others!" + +He moved to the second door, where all the rods were set at "two." Here +he fell to manipulating the rod handles, pausing now and then to shove +hopefully against the door. Some twenty minutes later, he tried the same +routine at the third door. + +Eventually, he returned to his starting point and rotated the rods there +at random for a few minutes. Having, apparently by accident, arranged +them in a sequence of one-two-three, he contrived to lean against the +door at the crucial instant. As it gave beneath his weight, he grabbed +the two lower handles and pushed until the door rose to a horizontal +position level with its hinged top. It settled there with a loud click. + + * * * * * + +Barnsley stooped to crawl through into an arched passage of the same +pearly plastic. He straightened up and walked along for about twenty +feet, flashing a white-toothed grin through his beard while muttering +curses behind it. Presently, he arrived at a small, round bay, to be +confronted by three more doors. + +"Bet there's a dozen of you three-eyed clods peeping at me," he growled. +"How'd you like me to poke a boot through the panel in front of you and +kick you blubber-balls in all directions? Do you have a page in your +data books for that?" + +He forced himself to _feel_ sufficiently dull-witted to waste ten +minutes opening one of the doors. The walls of the succeeding passage +were greenish, and the tunnel curved gently downward to the left. +Besides being somewhat warmer, the air exuded a faint blend of heated +machine oil and something like ripe fish. The next time Barnsley came to +a set of doors, he found also a black plastic cube about two feet high. +He squatted on his heels to examine it. + +_I'd better look inside or they'll be disappointed_, he told himself. + +From the corner of his eye, he watched the movement of shadows behind +the translucent panels in the walls. He could picture the observers +there: blubbery bipeds with three-jointed arms and legs ending in +clusters of stubby but flexible tentacles. Their broad, spine-crested +heads would be thrust forward and each would have two of his three +protruding eyes directed at Barnsley's slightest move. They had probably +been staring at him in relays every second since picking up his scout +ship in the neighboring star system. + +That is, Barnsley thought, it must have been the next system whose +fourth planet he had been photo-mapping for the Terran Colonial Service. +He hoped he had not been wrong about that. + +_Doesn't matter_, he consoled himself, _as long as the Service can trace +me. These slobs certainly aren't friendly._ + +He reconsidered the scanty evidence of previous contact in this volume +of space, light-years from Terra's nearest colony. Two exploratory ships +had disappeared. There had been a garbled, fragmentary message picked up +by the recorders of the colony's satellite beacon, which some experts +interpreted as a hasty warning. As far as he knew, Barnsley was the only +Terran to reach this planet alive. + +To judge from his peculiar imprisonment, his captors had recovered from +their initial dismay at encountering another intelligent race--at least +to the extent of desiring a specimen for study. In Barnsley's opinion, +that put him more or less ahead of the game. + +"They're gonna learn a lot!" he muttered, grinning vindictively. + +He finished worrying the cover off the black box. Inside was a plastic +sphere of water and several varieties of food his captors probably +considered edible. The latter ranged from a leafy stalk bearing a number +of small pods to a crumbling mass resembling moldy cheese. Barnsley +hesitated. + +"I haven't had the guts to try this one yet," he reminded himself, +picking out what looked like a cluster of long, white roots. + +The roots squirmed feebly in his grasp. Barnsley returned them to the +box instantly. + +Having selected, instead, a fruit that could have been a purple +cucumber, he put it with the water container into a pocket of his +coverall and closed the box. + +_Maybe they won't remember that I took the same thing once before_, he +thought. _Oh, hell, of course they will! But why be too consistent?_ + +He opened one of the doors and walked along a bluish passage that +twisted to the left, chewing on the purple fruit as he went. It was +tougher than it looked and nearly tasteless. At the next junction, he +unscrewed the cap of the water sphere, drained it slowly, and flipped +the empty container at one of the oval panels. A dim shadow blurred out +of sight, as if someone had stepped hastily backward. + +"Why not?" growled Barnsley. "It's time they were shaken up a little!" + + * * * * * + +Pretending to have seen something where the container had struck the +wall, he ran over and began to feel along the edge of the panel. When +his fingertips encountered only the slightest of seams, he doubled his +fists and pounded. He thought he could detect a faint scurrying on the +other side of the wall. + +Barnsley laughed aloud. He raised one foot almost waist-high and drove +the heel of his boot through the translucent observation panel. Seizing +the splintered edges of the hole, he tugged and heaved until he had torn +out enough of the thin wall to step through to the other side. He found +himself entering a room not much larger than the passage behind him. + +To his left, there was a flicker of blue from a crack in the wall. The +crack widened momentarily, emitting a gabble of mushy voices. The blue +cloth was twitched away by a cluster of stubby tentacles, whereupon the +crack closed to an almost imperceptible line. Barnsley fingered his +beard to hide a grin and turned the other way. + +He stumbled into a number of low stools surmounted by spongy, spherical +cushions. One of these he tore off for a pillow before going on. At the +end of the little room, he sought for another crack, kicked the panel +a bit to loosen it, and succeeded in sliding back a section of wall. +The passage revealed was about the size of those he had been forced +to explore during the past two weeks, but it had an unfinished, +behind-the-scenes crudeness in appearance. Barnsley pottered along +for about fifteen minutes, during which time the walls resounded with +distant running and he encountered several obviously improvised +barriers. + +He kicked his way through one, squeezed through an opening that had not +been closed quite in time, restrained a wicked impulse to cross some +wiring that must have been electrical, and at last allowed himself to be +diverted into a passage leading back to his original cell. He amused +himself by trying to picture the disruption he had caused to the +honeycomb of passageways. + +"There!" he grinned to himself. "That should keep them from bothering me +for a few hours. Maybe one or two of them will get in trouble over it--I +hope!" + +He arranged his stolen cushion where the wall met the floor and lay +down. + +A thought struck him. He sat up to examine the cushion suspiciously. +It appeared to be an equivalent to foam rubber. He prodded and twisted +until convinced that no wires or other unexpected objects were concealed +inside. Not till then did he resume his relaxed position. + +Presently one of his hands located and pinched a tiny switch buried +in the lobe of his left ear. Barnsley concentrated upon keeping his +features blank as a rushing sound seemed to grow in his ear. He yawned +casually, moving one hand from behind his head to cover his mouth. + +Having practiced many times before a mirror, he did not think that any +possible watcher would have noticed how his thumb slipped briefly inside +his mouth to give one eyetooth a slight twist. + +A strong humming inundated his hearing. It continued for perhaps two +minutes, paused, and began again. Barnsley waited through two repetitions +before he "yawned" again and sleepily rolled over to hide his face in his +folded arms. + +"Did you get it all?" he murmured. + +"Clear as a bell," replied a tiny voice in his left ear. "Was that your +whole day's recording?" + +"I guess so," said Barnsley. "To tell the truth, I lose track a bit +after two weeks without a watch. Who's this? Sanchez?" + +"That's right. You seem to come in on my watch pretty nearly every +twenty-four hours. Okay, I'll tape a slowed-down version of your blast +for the boys in the back room. You're doing fine." + + * * * * * + +"Not for much longer," Barnsley told him. "When do I get out of here?" + +"Any day," Sanchez reassured him. "It was some job to learn an alien +language with just your recordings and some of your educated guesses to +go on. We've had a regular mob sweating on it night and day." + +"How is it coming?" + +"It turns out they're nothing to worry about. The fleet is close enough +now to pick up their surface broadcasting. Believe me, your stupid act +has them thoroughly confused. They hold debates over whether you could +possibly be intelligent enough to belong in a spaceship." + +"Meanwhile, I'm slowly starving," said Barnsley. + +"Just hang on for a couple of days. Now that we know where they are, +they're in for a shock. One of these mornings, they're going to hear +voices from all over their skies, demanding to know what kind of savages +they are to have kidnapped you--and in their own language!" + +Barnsley grinned into his improvised pillow as Sanchez signed off. +Things would really work out after all. He was set for an immensely +lucrative position; whether as ambassador, trade consultant, or colonial +governor depended upon how well the experts bluffed the blubber-heads. +Well, it seemed only his due for the risks he had taken. + +"Omigosh!" he grunted, sitting up as he pictured the horde of Terran +Colonial experts descending upon the planet. "I'll be the only one here +that hasn't learned to speak the language!" + + END + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wedge, by Horace Brown Fyfe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEDGE *** + +***** This file should be named 31833.txt or 31833.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/3/31833/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Alexander Bauer 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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