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diff --git a/32696.txt b/32696.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d183e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/32696.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2372 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Planet of the Gods, by Robert Moore Williams + +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: Planet of the Gods + +Author: Robert Moore Williams + +Release Date: June 5, 2010 [EBook #32696] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLANET OF THE GODS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + PLANET OF THE GODS + + By Robert Moore Williams + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories December +1942. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: Two planets circling Vega! But a more amazing discovery +waited the explorers when they landed!] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +"What do you make of it?" Commander Jed Hargraves asked huskily. + +Ron Val, busy at the telescope, was too excited to look up from the +eye-piece. "There are at least two planets circling Vega!" he said +quickly. "There may be other planets farther out, but I can see two +plainly. And Jed, the nearest planet, the one we are approaching, has an +atmosphere. The telescope reveals a blur that could only be caused by an +atmosphere. And--Jed, this may seem so impossible you won't believe +it--but I can see several large spots on the surface that are almost +certainly lakes. They are not big enough to be called oceans or seas. +But I am almost positive they are lakes!" + +According to the preconceptions of astronomers, formed before they had a +chance to go see for themselves, solar systems were supposed to be rare +birds. Not every sun had a chance to give birth to planets. Not one sun +in a thousand, maybe not one in a million; maybe, with the exception of +Sol, not another one in the whole universe. + +And here the first sun approached by the Third Interstellar Expedition +was circled by planets! + +The sight was enough to drive an astronomer insane. + +Ron Val tore his eyes away from the telescope long enough to stare at +Captain Hargraves. "Air and water on this planet!" he gasped. "Jed, do +you realize what this may mean?" + +Jed Hargraves grinned. His face was lean and brown, and the grin, +spreading over it, relaxed a little from the tension that had been +present for months. + +"Easy, old man," he said, clapping Ron Val on the shoulder. "There is +nothing to get so excited about." + +"But a solar system--" + +"We came from one." + +"I know we did. But just the same, finding another will put our names in +all the books on astronomy. They aren't the commonest things in the +universe, you know. And to find one of the planets of this new system +with air and water--Jed, where there is air and water there may be +life!" + +"There probably is. Life, in some form, seems to be everywhere. Remember +we found spores being kicked around by light waves in the deepest depths +of space. And Pluto, in our own system, has mosses and lichens that the +biologists insist are alive. It won't be surprising if we find life out +there." He gestured through the port at the world swimming through space +toward them. + +"I mean intelligent life," Ron Val corrected. + +"Don't bet on it. The old boys had the idea they would find intelligent +life on Mars, until they got there. Then they discovered that +intelligent creatures had once lived on the Red Planet. Cities, canals, +and stuff. But the people who had built the cities and canals had died +of starvation long before humans got to Mars. So it isn't a good bet +that we shall find intelligence here." + + * * * * * + +The astronomer's face drooped a little. But not for long. "That was true +of Mars," he said. "But it isn't necessarily true here. And even if Mars +was dead, Venus wasn't. Nor is Earth. If there is life on two of the +planets of our own solar system, there may be life on one of the planets +of Vega. Why not?" he challenged. + +"Hey, wait a minute," Hargraves answered. "I'm not trying to start an +argument." + +"Why not?" + +"If you mean why not an argument--" + +"I mean, why not life here?" + +"I don't know why not," Hargraves shrugged. "For that matter, I don't +know _why_, either." He looked closely at Ron Val. "You ape! I believe +you're hoping we will find life here." + +"Of course that's what I'm hoping," Ron Val answered quickly. "It would +mean a lot to find people here. We could exchange experiences, learn a +lot. I know it's probably too much to hope for." He broke off. "Jed, are +we going to land here?" + +"Certainly we're going to land here!" Jed Hargraves said emphatically. +"Why in the hell do you think we've crossed thirty light years if we +don't land on a world when we find one? This is an exploring +expedition--" + +Hargraves saw that he had no listener. Ron Val had listened only long +enough to learn what he wanted to know, then had dived back to his +beloved telescope to watch the world spiraling up through space toward +them. That world meant a lot to Ron Val, the thrill of discovery, of +exploring where a human foot had never trod in all the history of the +universe. + +New lands in the sky! The Third Interstellar Expedition--third because +two others were winging out across space, one toward Sirius, the other +toward Cygnus--was approaching land! The fact also meant something to +Jed Hargraves, possibly a little less than it did to Ron Val because +Hargraves had more responsibilities. He was captain of the ship, +commander of the expedition. It was his duty to take the ship to Vega, +and to bring it safely home. + +Half of his task was done. Vega was bright in the sky ahead and the +tough bubble of steel and quartz that was the ship was dropping down to +rest on one of Vega's planets. Hargraves started to leave the nook that +housed Ron Val and his telescope. + +The ship's loudspeaker system shouted with sudden sound. + +"Jed! Jed Hargraves! Come to the bridge at once." + +That was Red Nielson's voice. He was speaking from the control room in +the nose of the ship. Nielson sounded excited. + +Hargraves pushed a button under the loudspeaker. The system was two-way, +allowing for intercommunication. + +"Hargraves speaking. What's wrong?" + +"A ship is approaching. It is coming straight toward us." + +"A ship! Are you out of your head? This is Vega." + +"I don't give a damn if it's Brooklyn! I know a space ship when I see +one. And this is one. Either get up here and take command or tell me +what you want done." + +Discipline among the personnel of this expedition was so nearly perfect +there was no need for it. Consequently there was none. Before leaving +earth, skilled mental analysts had aided in the selection of this crew, +and had welded it together so artfully that it thought, acted, and +functioned as a unit. Jed Hargraves was captain, but he had never heard +the word spoken, and never wanted to hear it. No one had ever put "sir" +after his name. Nor had anyone ever questioned an order, after it was +given. Violent argument there might be, before an order was given, with +Hargraves filtering the pros and cons through his rigidly logical mind, +but the instant he reached a decision the argument stopped. He was one +of the crew, and the crew knew it. The crew was one with him, and he +knew it. + +He might question Nielson's facts, once, in surprise. But not twice. If +Nielson said a ship was approaching, a ship _was_ approaching. + + * * * * * + +"I'm coming," Hargraves rapped into the mike. "Turn full power into the +defense screen. Warn the engine room to be ready for an emergency. Sound +the call to stations. And Red, hold us away from this planet." + +Almost before he had finished speaking, a siren was wailing through the +ship. Although he had used the microphone in the nook that housed the +telescope, Ron Val had been so interested in the world they were +approaching that he had not heard the captain's orders. He heard the +siren. + +"What is it, Jed?" + +Hargraves didn't have time to explain. He was diving out the door and +racing toward the bridge in the nose of the ship. "Come on," he flung +back over his shoulder at Ron Val. "Your post is at the fore negatron." + +Ron Val took one despairing glance at his telescope, then followed the +commander. + +As he ran toward the control room, Hargraves heard the ship begin to +radiate a new tempo of sound. The siren was dying into silence, its +warning task finished. Other sounds were taking its place. From the +engine room in the stern was coming a spiteful hiss, like steam escaping +under great pressure from a tiny vent valve. That was the twin atomics, +loading up, building up the inconceivable pressures they would feed to +the Kruchek drivers. A slight rumble went through the ship, a rumble +seemingly radiated from every molecule, from every atom, in the vessel. +It _was_ radiated from every molecule! That rumble came from the Kruchek +drivers warping the ship in response to the controls on the bridge. Bill +Kruchek's going-faster-than-hell engines, engineers called them. A +fellow by the name of Bill Kruchek had invented them. When Bill +Krucheck's going-faster-than-hell drivers dug their toes into the +lattice of space and put brawny shoulders behind every molecule within +the field they generated, a ship within that field went faster than +light. The Kruchek drivers, given the juice they needed in such +tremendous quantities, took you from hell to yonder in a mighty hurry. +They had been idling, drifting the ship slowly in toward the planet. +Now, in response to an impulse from Nielson on the bridge, they +grumbled, and hunching mighty shoulders for the load, prepared to hurl +the ship away from the planet. Hargraves could feel the vessel surge in +response to the speed. Then there was a distant thud, and he could feel +the surge no longer. The anti-accelerators had been cut in, neutralizing +the effect of inertia. + +Shoving open a heavy door, Hargraves was in the control room. A glance +showed him Nielson on the bridge. Leaning over, his fingers on the bank +of buttons that controlled the ship, he was peering through the heavy +quartzite observation port at something approaching from the right. +Beside him, on his right, a man was standing ready at the radio panel. +And to the left of the bridge two men had already jerked the covers from +the negatron and were standing ready beside it. + + * * * * * + +Ron Val leaped past Hargraves, dived for a seat on the negatron. That +was his post. He had been chosen for it because of his familiarity with +optical instruments. Along the top of the negatron was a sighting +telescope. Ron Val looked once to see where the man on the bridge was +looking, then his fingers flew to the adjusting levers of the telescope. +The negatron swung around to the right, centered on something there. + +"Ready," Ron Val said, not taking his eyes from the 'scope. + +"Hold your fire," Hargraves ordered. + +He was on the bridge, standing beside Red Nielson. Off to the right he +could see the enemy ship. Odd that he should think of it as an enemy. It +wasn't. It was merely a strange ship. But there were relics in his mind, +vague racial memories, of the days when stranger and enemy were +synonymous. The times when this was true were gone forever, but the +thoughts remained. + +"Shall we run for it?" Nielson questioned, his hands on the controls +that would turn full power into the drivers. + +"No. If we run, they will think we have some reason for running. That +might be all they would need to conclude we are up to no good. Is the +defense screen on full power?" + +"Yes." Nielson pushed the lever again to be sure. "I'm giving it all it +will take." + +Hargraves could barely see the screen out there a half mile from the +ship. It was twinkling dimly as it swept up cosmic dust.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Originally devised as a protection against meteors, it was +a field of force that would disintegrate any solid particle that struck +it, always presuming it did not tangle with an asteroid or a meteor too +big for it to handle. A blood brother of the negatron, it made space +flight, if not a first-class insurance risk, at least fairly safe.--Ed.] + +The oncoming ship had been a dot in the sky. Now it was a round ball. + +"Try them on the radio," Hargraves said. "They probably won't understand +us but at least they will know we're trying to communicate with them." + +There was a swirl of action at the radio panel. + +"No answer," the radio operator said. + +"Keep trying." + +"Look!" Nielson shouted. "They've changed course. They're coming +straight toward us." + +The ball had bobbled in its smooth flight. As though caught in the +attraction of a magnet it was coming straight toward them. + +For an instant, Hargraves stared. Should he run or should he wait? He +didn't want to run and he didn't want to fight. On the other hand, he +did not want to take chances with the safety of the men under his +command. + +His mission was peaceful. Entirely so. But the ball was driving straight +toward them. How big it was he could not estimate. It wasn't very big. +Oddly, it presented a completely blank surface. No ports. And, so far as +he could tell, there was no discharge from driving engines. The latter +meant nothing. Their own ship showed no discharge from the Kruchek +drivers. But no ports-- + +It came so fast he couldn't see it come. The flash of light! It came +from the ball. For the fractional part of a second, the defense screen +twinkled where the flash of light hit it. But--the defense screen was +not designed to turn light or any other form of radiation. The light +came through. It wasn't light. It carried a component of visible +radiation but it wasn't light. The beam struck the earth ship. + +_Clang!_ + + * * * * * + +From the stern came a sudden scream of tortured metal. The ship rocked, +careened, tried to spin on its axis. On the control panels, a dozen red +lights flashed, winked off, winked on again. Heavy thuds echoed through +the vessel. Emergency compartments closing. + +Hargraves hesitated no longer. + +"Full speed ahead!" he shouted at Red Nielson. + +"Ron Val. Fire!" + +This was an attack. This was a savage, vicious attack, delivered without +warning, with no attempt to parley. The ship had been hit. How badly it +had been damaged he did not know. But unless the damage was too heavy +they could outrun this ball, flash away from it faster than light, +disappear in the sky, vanish. The ship had legs to run. There was no +limit to her speed. She could go fast, then she could go faster. + +"Full speed--" + +Nielson looked up from the bank of buttons. His face was ashen. "She +doesn't respond, Jed. The drivers are off. The engine room is knocked +out." + +There was no rumble from Bill Kruchek's going-faster-than-hell engines. +The hiss of the atomics was still faintly audible. Short of +annihilation, nothing could knock them out. Energy was being generated +but it wasn't getting to the drive. Leaping to the controls, Hargraves +tried them himself. + +They didn't respond. + +"Engine room!" he shouted into the communication system. + +There was no answer. + +The ship began to yaw, to drop away toward the planet below them. The +planet was far distant as yet, but the grasping fingers of its gravity +were reaching toward the vessel, pulling it down. + +Voices shouted within the ship. + +"Jed!" + +"What happened?" + +"Jed, we're falling!" + +"That ball, Jed--" + +Voices calling to Jed Hargraves, asking him what to do. He couldn't +answer. There was no answer. There was only--the ball! It was the +answer. + +Through the observation port, he could see the circular ship. It was +getting ready to attack again. The sphere was moving leisurely toward +its already crippled prey, getting ready to deliver the final stroke. It +would answer all questions of this crew, answer them unmistakably. It +leered at them. + +_Wham!_ + +The ship vibrated to a sudden gust of sound. Something lashed out from +the vessel. Hargraves did not see it go because it, too, went faster +than the eye could follow. But he knew what it was. The sound told him. +He saw the hole appear in the sphere. A round hole that opened inward. +Dust puffed outward. + +_Wham, wham, wham!_ + +The negatron! The blood brother of the defense screen, its energies +concentrated into a pencil of radiation. Faster than anyone could see it +happen, three more holes appeared in the sphere, driving through its +outer shell, punching into the machinery at its heart. + +The sphere shuddered under the impact. It turned. Light spewed out of +it, beaming viciously into this alien sky without direction. Smoke +boiled from the ball. Turning it seemed to roll along the sky. It looked +like a huge burning snowball rolling down some vast hill. + +Ron Val lifted a white face from the sighting 'scope of the negatron. + +"Did--did I get him?" + +"I'll say you did!" Hargraves heard somebody shout exultantly. He was +surprised to discover his own voice was doing the shouting. The sphere +was finished, done for. It was out of the fight, rolling down the vast +hill of the sky, it would smash on the planet below. + +They were following it. + +There was still no answer from the engine room. + +"Space suits!" Hargraves ordered. "Nielson, you stay here. Ron Val, you +others, come with me." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Vegan World + + +The engine room was crammed to the roof with machinery. The bulked +housings of the atomics, their heavy screens shutting off the deadly +radiations generated in the heart of energy seething within the twin +domes, were at the front. They looked like two blast furnaces that had +somehow wandered into a space ship by mistake and hadn't been able to +find their way out again. The fires of hell, hotter than any blast +furnace had ever been, seethed within them. + +Behind the atomics were the Kruchek drivers, twin brawny giants chained +to the treadmill they pushed through the skies. Silent now. Not +grumbling at their task. Loafing. Like lazy slaves conscious of their +power, they worked only when the lash was on them. + +Between the drivers was the control panel. Ninety-nine percent +automatic, those controls. They needed little human attention, and got +little. There were never more than three men on duty here. This engine +room almost operated itself. + +It had ceased to operate itself, Jed Hargraves saw, as he forced open +the last stubborn air-tight door separating the engine room from the +rest of the ship. Ceased because--Involuntarily he cried out. + +He could see the sky. + +A great V-shaped notch straddled the back of the ship. Something, +striking high on the curve of the hull, had driven through inches of +magna steel, biting a gigantic chunk out of the ship. The beam from the +sphere! That flashing streak of light that had driven through the +defense screen. It had struck here. + +"Jed! They're dead!" + +That was Ron Val's voice, choking over the radio. One of the men in this +engine room had been Hal Sarkoff, a black-browed giant from somewhere in +Montana. Engines had behaved for Sarkoff. Intuitively he had seemed to +know mechanics. + +He and Ron Val had been particular friends. + +"The air went," Hargraves said. "When that hole was knocked in the hull, +the air went. The automatic doors blocked off the rest of the ship. The +poor devils--" + +The air had gone and the cold had come. He could see Sarkoff's body +lying beside one of the drivers. The two other men were across the room. +A door to the stern compartment was there. They were crumpled against +it. + +Hargraves winced with pain. He should have ordered everyone into space +suits. The instant Nielson reported the approach of the sphere, +Hargraves should have shouted, "Space suits" into the mike. He hadn't. + +The receiver in his space suit crisped with sound. + +"Jed! Have you got into that engine room yet? For cripes sake, Jed, +we're falling." + +That was Nielson, on the bridge. He sounded frantic. + +Sixteen feet the first second, then thirty-two, then sixty-four. They +had miles to fall, but their rate of fall progressed geometrically. They +had spent many minutes fighting their way through the air tight doors. +One hundred and twenty-eight feet the fourth second. Jed's mind was +racing. + +No, by thunder, that was acceleration under an earth gravity. They +didn't know the gravity here. It might be less. + +It might be more. + +Ron Val had run forward and was kneeling beside Sarkoff. + +"Let them go," Hargraves said roughly. "Ron Val, you check the drivers. +You--" Swiftly he assigned them tasks, reserving the control panel for +himself. + + * * * * * + +They were specialists. Noble, the blond youth, frantically examining the +atomics, was a bio-chemist. Ushur, the powerfully built man who had +stood at Ron Val's right hand on the negatron, was an archeologist. + +They were engineers now. They had to be. + +"Nothing seems to be wrong here." That was Ron Val, from the drivers. + +"The atomics are working." That was Noble reporting. + +"Then what the hell is wrong?" At the control panel, Hargraves saw what +was wrong. The damned controls were automatic, with temperature and air +pressure cut-offs. When the air had gone from the engine room, that +meant something was wrong. The controls had automatically cut off the +drivers. The ship had stopped moving. + +A manual control was provided. Hargraves shoved the switch home. An +oil-immersed control thudded. The loafing giants grunted as the lash +struck them, roared with pain as they got hastily to work on their +treadmill. + +The ship moved forward. + +"We're moving!" That was Red Nielson shouting. The controls on the +bridge were responding now. "I'm going to burn a hole in space getting +us away from here." + +"No!" said Hargraves. + +"What?" There was incredulous doubt in Nielson's voice. "That damned +sphere came from this planet." + +"Can't help it. We've got to land." + +"Land here, now!" + +"There's a hole as big as the side of a house in the ship. No air in the +engine room. Without air, we can't control the temperature. If we go +into space, the engine room temperature will drop almost to absolute +zero. These drivers are not designed to work in that temperature, and +they won't work in it. We have to land and repair the ship before we +dare go into space." + +"But--" + +"We land here!" + +There was a split second of silence. "Okay, Jed," Nielson said. "But if +we run into another of those spheres--" + +"We'll know what to do about it. Ron Val. Ushur. Back to the bridge and +man the negatron. If you see anything that even looks suspicious, beam +it." + +Ron Val and Usher dived through the door that led forward. + +"Stern observation post. Are you alive back there?" + +"We heard you, Jed. We're alive all right." + +Back of the engine room, tucked away in the stern, was another negatron. + +"Shoot on sight!" Hargraves said. + +The Third Interstellar Expedition was coming in to land--with her fangs +bared. + +Jed Hargraves called a volunteer to hold the switch--it had to be held +in by hand, otherwise it would automatically kick out again--and went +forward to the bridge. Red Nielson gladly relinquished the controls to +him. + +"The sphere crashed over there," Nielson said, waving vaguely to the +right. + + * * * * * + +Not until he stepped on the bridge did Jed Hargraves realize how close a +call they had had. The fight had started well outside the upper limits +of the atmosphere. They were well inside it now. Another few minutes and +they would have screamed to a flaming crash here on this world and the +Third Interstellar Expedition would have accomplished only half its +mission, the least important half. + +He shoved the nose of the ship down, the giants working eagerly at their +treadmill now, as if they realized they had been caught loafing on the +job and were trying to make amends. The planet swam up toward them. He +barely heard the voice of Noble reporting a chemical test of the air +that was now swirling around the ship. "--oxygen, so much; water vapor; +nitrogen--" The air was breathable. They would not have to attempt +repairs in space suits, then. + +Abruptly, as they dropped lower, the contour of the planet seemed to +change from the shape of a ball to the shape of a cup. The eyes did +that. The eyes were tricky. But Jed knew his eyes were not tricking him +when they brought him impressions of the surface below them. + +A gently rolling world sweeping away into the distance, moving league +after league into dim infinities, appeared before his eyes. No +mountains, no hills, even. Gentle slopes rolling slowly downward into +plains. No large rivers. Small streams winding among trees. Almost +immediately below them was one of the lakes Ron Val had seen through +his telescope. The lake was alive with blue light reflected from +the--No, the light came from Vega, not Sol. They were light years away +from the warming rays of the friendly sun. + +Jed lowered the ship until she barely cleared the ground, sent her +slowly forward seeking what he wanted. There was a grove of giant trees +beside the lake. Overhead their foliage closed in an arch that would cut +out the sight of the sky. This was what he wanted. He turned the ship +around. + +"Hey!" said Nielson. + +"I'm going to back her out of sight among those trees," Hargraves +answered. "I'm hunting a hole to hide in while we lie up and lick our +wounds." + +Overhead, boughs crashed as the ship slid out of sight. Gently he +relaxed the controls, let her drop an inch at a time until she rested on +the ground. Then he opened the switches, and grunting with relief, the +giants laid themselves down on their treadmill and promptly went to +sleep. For the first time in months the ship was silent. + +"Negatron crews remain at your posts. I'm going to take a look." + +The lock hissed as it opened before him. Hargraves, Nielson, Noble, +stepped out, the captain going first. The ground was only a couple of +feet away but he lowered himself to it with the precise caution that a +twenty-foot jump would have necessitated. He was not unaware of the +implications of this moment. His was the first human foot to tread the +soil of a planet circling Vega. The great-grand-children of his +great-grand-children would tell their sons about this. + +The soil was springy under his feet, possessing an elasticity that he +had not remembered as natural with turf. Opening his helmet, he sniffed +the air. It was cool and alive with a heady fragrance that came from +growing vegetation, a quality the ship's synthesizers, for all the +ingenuity incorporated in them, could not duplicate. Tasting the air, +the cells of his lungs eagerly shouted for more. He sucked it in, and +the tensions that kept his body all steel springs and whipcord relaxed a +little. A breeze stirred among the trees. + +"Sweet Pete!" he gasped. + +"That's what I was trying to tell you as we landed," Nielson said. "This +is not a forest. This is a grove. These trees didn't just grow here in +straight orderly lines. They were _planted_! We are hiding in what may +be the equivalent of somebody's apple orchard." + +The trees were giants. Twenty feet through at the butt, they rose a +hundred feet into the air. Diminishing in the distance, they moved in +regular rows down to the shore of the lake, forming a pleasant grove +miles in extent. A reddish fruit, not unlike apples, grew on them. + +If this was an orchard, where was the owner? + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Four Visitors + + +"Somebody coming!" the lookout called. + +Jed Hargraves dropped the shovel. Behind him the hiss of an electric +cutting torch and the whang of a heavy hammer went into sudden silence. +Back there, a hundreds yards away, they had already begun work on the +ship, attempting to repair the hole gouged in the stout magna steel of +the hull. They had heard the call of the lookout and were dropping tools +to pick up weapons. Jed's hand slid down to his belt to the compact +vibration pistol holstered there. He pulled the gun, held it ready in +his hand. Ron Val and Nielson did the same. + +Vega, slanting downward, was near the western horizon. The grove was a +mass of shadows. Through the shadows something was coming. + +"They're human!" Ron Val gasped. + +Hargraves said nothing. His fingers tightened around the butt of the +pistol as he waited. He saw them clearly now. There were four of them. +They looked like--old men. Four tribal gray-beards out for a stroll in +the cool of the late afternoon. Each carried a staff. They were walking +toward the ship. Then they saw the little group that stood apart and +turned toward them. + +"The teletron. Will you go get it, please, Ron Val?" + +Nodding, the astro-navigator ran back to the ship. The teletron was a +new gadget, invented just before the expedition left earth. Far from +perfection as yet, it was intended to aid in establishing telepathic +communication between persons who had no common language. Sometimes it +worked, a little. More often it didn't. But it might be useful here. Ron +Val was panting when he returned with it. + +"Are you going to talk to them, Jed?" + +"I'm going to try." + +The four figures approached. Hargraves smiled. That was to show his good +intentions. A smile ought to be common language everywhere. + +The four strangers did not return his smile. They just stopped and +looked at him with no trace of emotion on their faces. + +[Illustration: What strange thing was this? Who were these people and +what was their power?] + +They looked human. They weren't, of course. Parallel evolution accounted +for the resemblance, like causes producing like results. + +Nielson was watching them like a hawk. Without making an aggressive +move, the way he held his gun showed he was ready to go into action at a +moment's notice. Behind them, the ship was silent, its crew alert. +Hargraves bent to manipulate the complicated tuning of the teletron. + +"I am Thulon," a voice whispered in his brain. "No need for that." + +Jed Hargraves' leaped to his feet. He caught startled glances from Ron +Val and Nielson and knew they had heard and understood too. Understood, +rather. There had been nothing for the ears to hear. + +"Thulon! No need for--_I understood you without_--" + +Thulon smiled. He was taller than the average human, and very slender. +"We are natural telepaths. So there is no need to use your instrument." + +"Uh? Natural telepaths! Well, I'm damned!" + +"Damned? I cannot quite grasp the meaning of the word. Your mind is +radiating on an emotional level. Do you wish to indicate surprise? I +cannot grasp your thinking." + +Hargraves choked, fought for control of his mind. For a minute it had +run away with him. He brought it to heel. + +"What are you doing here?" Thulon asked. + + * * * * * + +Hargraves blinked at the directness of the question. They certainly +wasted no time getting down to business. "We--" He caught himself. No +telling how much they could take directly from his mind! + +"We came from--far away." He tried to force his thoughts into narrow +channels. "We--" + +"There is no need to be afraid." Thulon smiled gently. Or was there +wiliness in that smile? Was this stranger attempting to lure him into a +feeling of false security? + +"I meant, what are you doing _here_?" Thulon continued. His eyes went +down to the ground. + +There was only one shovel on the ground. One shovel was all there had +been in the ship. Thulon's glance went to it, went on. + +There were three mounds. The soft mould had dug easily. It had all been +patted back into place. On the middle mound Ron Val had finished placing +a small cross that he had hastily improvised from the ship's stores. +Scratched in the metal was a name: Hal Sarkoff. + +"We had an outbreak of buboes," Hargraves said. "That's a disease. Three +of our companions died and we landed here to bury them. We had just +finished doing this when you arrived." + +"Died! Three of you died? And you hid them under these mounds?" + +"Yes. Of course. There was nothing else we could--" + +"You are going to leave them here in the ground!" + +"Certainly." Hargraves was wondering if this method of disposing of the +dead violated some tribal taboo of this people. Different races disposed +of their dead in different ways. He did not know the customs of the +inhabitants of this world. "If we have offended against your customs, we +are sorry." + +"No. There was no offense." Thulon blanketed his thoughts. Hargraves +could almost feel the blanket slip into place. + +"You came in that ship?" Thulon pointed toward the vessel. + +"Yes." It was impossible to conceal this fact. + +"Ah." Thulon hesitated, seemed to grope through his mind for the exact +shade of expression he wished to convey. Hargraves was aware that the +stranger's eyes probed through him, measured him. "It would interest us +to examine the vessel. Would you permit this?" + +"Certainly." Hargraves knew that Red Nielson jerked startled eyes toward +him. + +"Jed!" Nielson spoke in protest. + +"Shut up!" Hargraves snapped. His body and his mind was a mass of +tightly wound springs but his face was calm and his voice was suave. He +turned to Thulon. "I will be glad to take you through our ship. However, +I do not recommend it." + +"No?" + +"It might be dangerous, for you and your companions. We have had three +cases of buboes, resulting in three deaths. All of us have had shots of +immunizing serum and we hope we will have no more cases. However, the +germs are unquestionably present in the atmosphere of the ship. Since +you probably have no immunity to the disease, to breathe the tainted air +would almost certainly result in an attack. This disease is fatal in +nine cases out of ten. I therefore suggest you do not enter the ship. In +fact," Hargraves concluded, "I was about to say that it might not be +wise for you and your companions even to come near us, because of the +possibility that you might contract the disease." + + * * * * * + +Had he gotten the story over it? Was it convincing? Out of the corner of +his eyes he saw Ron Val glance at him. When he had said their companions +had died of buboes, Ron Val had looked as if he thought he was out of +his mind. Now Ron Val understood. "Good going, Jed," his glance seemed +to say. + +"Hargraves--" This was Nielson speaking. His face was black. + +"I suggest," said Jed casually, "that you let me handle this." + +Nielson gulped. "Yes. Yes, sir," he said. + +Thulon's companions had been paying attention to the conversation. But +all the time they were stealing glances at the ship. With half their +minds, they seemed to be listening to what was being said. But the other +half of their minds was interested in that silent ship hidden under the +trees. Were they merely curious, such as any savage might be? Or was +this group making a reconnaissance? Hargraves did not know. It did not +look like a reconnaissance in force. + +"Do you really think we might contract this disease?" Thulon asked. + +Hargraves shrugged. "I'm not certain. You might not. It would all depend +on the way your bodies reacted to the organism causing the disease." + +"Under such circumstances, you show little consideration for our welfare +by bringing a plague ship to land here." + +"We didn't know you existed. I assure you, however, that if you will +remain away from the ship until we have an opportunity to disinfect it +thoroughly, any danger to your people will be very slight. On the other +hand, if you wish to look our vessel over, to assure yourselves that we +are not a menace to you--which we are not--I shall be glad to take you +through the ship." + +Was he drawing it too fine? He spoke clearly and forcefully. The words, +of course, would carry no meaning. But the thought that went along with +them would convey what he wanted to say. + +"Ah." The thought came from Thulon. "Perhaps--" Again the blanket came +over his mind and Hargraves had the impression Thulon was conferring +with his companions. + +The silent conference ended. + +"Perhaps," Thulon said. "It would be better if we returned to visit you +tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow." + +He bowed. Without another word he and his silent companions turned and +began to walk slowly away. Not until he saw the little group slipping +away into the dusk did Jed realize he had been holding his breath. + +"Hargraves!" Nielson's voice was harsh. "Are you going to let them get +away? You fool! That sphere came from this world. Have you forgotten?" + +"I have forgotten nothing, I hope." + +"But you offered to take them through the ship! They would have seen how +badly damaged she is." + +"Of course I offered to take them through the ship, then made it +impossible for them to accept. We can't stick up 'No Trespassing' signs +here. This is their world. We don't know a damned thing about it, or +about them. We can't run and we don't want to fight, if we can help it. +Furthermore, Nielson, I want you to learn to control your tongue. +Remember that in the future, will you?" + +For a second, Nielson glared at him. "Yes, sir." + +"All right. Go on back to the ship." + + * * * * * + +Nielson went clumping back toward the vessel. Hargraves turned to Ron +Val. + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I don't know, Jed. There is something about it that I don't like a +little bit. They can read minds. Maybe that is what I don't like because +I don't know how to react to it. Jed, it may be that we are in great +danger here." + +"There is little doubt about _that_," Hargraves answered. "Tonight we +will stand watches. Tomorrow we will make a reconnaissance of our own." + +Dusk came over the grove. Vega hesitated on the horizon as though trying +to make up its mind, then abruptly took the plunge and dived from sight +beyond the rim of the world. Night came abruptly, hiding the ship and +its occupants. In the sky overhead, stars twinkled like the eyes of +watchful wolves. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Monster + + +They blacked out the ship before they moved it, carefully covering each +port with paper, then showing no lights. Hargraves handled the controls +himself, slowly turning current into the drivers so their grunting would +not reveal what was happening. + +"Are we going to take her up high for tonight?" Ushur, the archeologist +asked. "She will fly all right as long as we stay in the atmosphere. We +would be safer up high, it seems to me." + +"Safer from ground attack, yes," Hargraves said thoughtfully. "However, +I'm afraid we would be more exposed to attack from a ship." + +"Oh! That damned sphere. I had forgotten about it." + +Hargraves moved the ship less than a mile, carefully hid her among the +trees. Then he posted guards outside all the ports. He took the first +watch himself, in the control room. Ron Val was waiting for him there. +The astro-navigator's face was grave. "Jed," he said. "I've been talking +to several of the fellows. They don't believe you are taking a +sufficiently realistic view of our situation. They don't believe you are +facing the facts." + +"Um. What facts have I been evading?" + +"You apparently don't realize that it will take months--if it can be +done at all--to repair the damage to the ship." + +Hargraves settled deep into his chair. He looked at the astro-navigator. +Ron Val wasn't angry. Nor was he mutinous. He wasn't challenging +authority. He was just scared. + +"Ron," he said, "according to the agreement under which we sailed, any +time the majority of the members of this expedition wants a new captain, +they can have him." + +"It isn't that." + +"I know. You fellows are scared. Hells bells, man! What do you think I +am?" + +Ron Val's eyes popped open. "Jed! Are you? You don't show it. You don't +seem even to appreciate the spot we're in." + +Hargraves slowly lit a cigarette. The fingers holding the tiny lighter +did not shake. "If I had been the type to show it, do you think I would +have been selected to head this expedition?" + +"No. But--" + +"Because I haven't made an official announcement that we may not be able +to repair the ship, you seem to think I don't realize the fact. I know +how big a hole has been ripped in our hull. I know the ship is made of +magna steel, the toughest, hardest, most beautiful metal yet invented. I +know the odds are we can't repair the hole in the hull. We don't have +the metal. We don't have the tools to work it. I know these things. When +I didn't call it to your attention, I assumed it was equally obvious to +everyone else that we may never leave this planet." + +"Jed! Never leave this planet! Never--go home! That can't be right." + +"See," said Hargraves. "When you get the truth flung in your face, even +you crack wide open. Yes, it's the truth. The fact you fellows think I'm +not facing--the one you don't dare face--is that we may be marooned here +for the rest of our lives." + +That was that. Ron Val went aft. Hargraves took up his vigil on the +bridge. At midnight Ron Val came forward to relieve him. + +"I told them what you said, Jed," the astro-navigator said. "We're back +of you one hundred per cent." + +Hargraves grinned a little. "Thanks," he said. "We were selected to work +together as a unit. As long as we remain a unit, we will have a chance +against any enemy." + + * * * * * + +Dog-tired, he went to his bunk and rolled in. It seemed to him he had +barely closed his eyes before a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and a +shaken voice shouted in his ear. "Jed! Wake up." + +"Who is it? What's wrong?" The room was dark and he couldn't see who was +shaking him. + +"Ron Val." The astro-navigator's voice was hoarse with the maddest, +wildest fright Hargraves had ever heard. "The--the damnedest thing has +happened!" + +"What?" + +"Hal Sarkoff--" That was as far as Ron Val could get. + +"What about him?" + +"_He's outside trying to get in!_" + +"Have you gone insane? Sarkoff is dead. You helped me bury him." + +"I know it. Jed, he's outside. He wants in." + +Hargraves had gone to bed without removing even his shoes. He ran +forward to the control room, Ron Val pounding behind him. Lights had +been turned on here, in defiance of orders. Someone had summoned the +crew. They were all here, all eighteen who remained alive. The inner +door of the lock was open. A dazed guard, who had been on watch outside +the lock, was standing in the door. He had a pistol in his hand but he +looked as if he didn't know what to do with it. + +In the center of a group of men too frightened to move was a +black-haired, rugged giant. + +"Sarkoff!" Hargraves gasped. + +The giant's head turned until his gaze was centered on the captain. "You +moved the ship," he said accusingly. "I had the damnedest time finding +it in the dark. What did you move the ship for, Jed?" + +If some super-magician had cast a spell over the little group he could +not have produced a more complete stasis. No one moved. No one seemed to +breathe. All motion, all action, all thinking, had stopped. + +Sarkoff's face went from face to face. + +"What the heck is the matter with you guys?" he demanded. "Am I poison, +or something?" + +He seemed bewildered. + +"Where--where are the others?" Ron Val stammered. + +"What others? What the heck are you talking about, Ron?" + +"Nevins and Reese. We--we buried them with you. Where are they?" + +"How the hell do I kn----_You buried them with me?_" Sarkoff's face went +from bewilderment to inexplicable good nature. "Trying to pull my leg, +huh? Okay. I can go along with a gag." He looked again at Hargraves. +"But I can't go along with that gag of moving the ship after you sent me +out scouting. Why didn't you wait for me? Wandering around among all +these trees, I might have got lost and got myself killed. Why did you do +that, Jed?" he finished angrily. + +"We were--ah--afraid of an attack," Hargraves choked out. "Sorry, Hal, +but we--we had to move the ship. We would have--hunted you up, +tomorrow." + + * * * * * + +Sarkoff was not a man who was ever long angry about anything. The +apology satisfied him. He grinned. "Okay, Jed. Forget it. Jeepers! I'm +so hungry I could eat a cow. How about a couple of those synthetic +steaks we got in the ice-box?" His eyes went around the group, came to +rest on the astro-navigator. "How about it, Ron? How about me and you +fixing us up some chow?" + +"Sure," said Hargraves. "Go on back to the galley and start fixing +yourself whatever you want. You go with him, Ron. I'll handle your job +up here while you're gone." + +Nodding dumbly, Ron Val started to follow Sarkoff toward the galley. +"One minute," Hargraves called after him. "I want to check something +with you before you go!" + +Sarkoff kept going. Ron Val returned. "Take your cues from him," +Hargraves said. "You know him better than anyone else. Whatever he says, +you agree. Casually bring up past events and watch his reaction. _Your +job is to find out if that is really Hal Sarkoff!_" + +The astro-navigator, his face white, clumped toward the galley. + +Hargraves faced a torrent of questions. + +"Jed! We buried him." + +"Jed. He had been in that engine room without air for at least ten +minutes before we got there. He can't be alive." + +"No air. Temperature diving toward absolute zero. He was frozen stiff, +Jed, before we moved him. We left him where he was until long after we +landed." + +"I know," Hargraves said. "There is no doubt about it. I used a +stethoscope on him as soon as I could get to it after we landed. _He was +dead._ There wasn't a sign of life." + +Frightened faces looked at him. Awed faces. Bewildered faces. + +"What did you mean when you told Ron Val to find out if that is really +Sarkoff?" + +"Just what I said. That may be Sarkoff. It may be something that looks +like Sarkoff, acts like him, talks like him--_but isn't he_!" + +"That--that's impossible." + +"How do we know what is possible here and what isn't?" + +"What are we going to do?" + +"We're going to act just as we would if that were Sarkoff. We're going +to pick up our cues from him? You remember he said he was out scouting. +That is his story. We will not question it. We will act as though it +were true, until we know what is happening. Now everybody back to his +post. Act as if nothing had happened. And for the love of Pete, don't +ask me what is going on. I don't know any more than you do." + +They didn't want to obey that order. They had just seen a dead man +walking, had heard him talking, had spoken to him. There was comfort in +just being with each other. Hargraves walked to the bridge, waited. +Eventually, discipline sent them back to their posts. He kept on +waiting. Ron Val returned. + +"I don't know, Jed. I just don't know. We were in school together. I +brought up incidents that happened in school, things that only Hal and I +knew. _Jed, he knew them._" + + * * * * * + +With the exception of a hooded blue lamp on the bridge, all lights had +been turned off again. The control room was in darkness. Ron Val was an +uneasy shadow talking from dim blackness. + +"Then you think that it is really Sarkoff?" + +"I don't know." + +"But if he remembers things that only Hal could know--" + +"He remembers things that he can't know." + +"Um. What things?" + +"He asked me how much progress had been made in repairing the ship. Jed, +he must have died before he knew the ship had been damaged." + +"Not necessarily," said Hargraves thoughtfully. "He might have been +conscious for one or two minutes after the beam struck us. He would know +that the ship had been damaged. What did you tell him?" + +"I changed the subject." + +"Good for you. If he isn't Sarkoff, the one thing he might want to know +is whether the ship has been repaired. What else?" + +"Jed, he remembers _everything_ that happened after the ship was +attacked. We almost crashed before we got the engines started. He +remembers that. He remembers hiding the ship among the trees." + +Hargraves stirred. The keen logic of his mind was being blunted by facts +that would not fit into any logical pattern. He tried to think. His mind +refused the effort. Dead men ought not to remember things that happened +after they died. But a dead man had remembered! + +For an instant panic walked through the captain's mind. Then he got it +under control. There was always an answer to every question, a solution +to every problem. Or was there? He went hunting facts. + +"Does he remember being buried?" + +Even in the darkness he could feel Ron Val shiver. "No," Ron Val said. +"He doesn't remember. Just as soon as we landed, he thinks you sent him +out, to scout the surrounding territory for possible enemies." + +"Does he know that we had visitors in his absence?" + +"No. Or if he does, he didn't mention it, and I didn't ask. He says he +was returning when he saw the ship being moved. He says he tried to +follow, but lost it in the darkness. He says he had the devil's own time +finding it again, and he's still hot about being left behind." + +Again Hargraves had to fight the panic in his mind. This much seemed +obvious. Sarkoff's memory was accurate--until the ship landed. Then it +went into fantasy, into error. If one thing was certain, he had not been +sent out to scout for enemies. If there was another fact that was +immutable, he had been buried. + +"Where is he now?" Hargraves asked abruptly. + +"In his bunk, snoring. He ate enough for two men, yawned, said he was +sleepy. He was sound asleep almost as soon as he touched the blankets." + +Ron Val's voice relapsed into silence. The whole ship was silent. + +"Jed, what are we going to do?" + +"You bunk with him, don't you?" + +"Yes. Jed! You don't mean--" + +Hargraves cleared his throat. "This is not an order. You don't have to +do it if you don't want to. But Sarkoff must be watched. Are you willing +to go back to the room you two shared together and get into the upper +deck of your bunk just as if nothing has happened?" + +"Yes," said Ron Val. + +"Somebody must be with him--all the time. You stay awake. When he gets +up, you get up. Whatever he does, you stay with him. I'll have you +relieved as soon as possible. And, Ron--" + +"Yes." + +"You have something a man could use for courage." + +Silently, Ron Val walked out of the control room. He fumbled his way +through the door and his steps echoed down the corridor that led to the +sleeping quarters. + +Hargraves sat in thought. Then he, too, left the control room. + +"Noble, you're a bio-chemist. You come with me. Nielson, you take over +here in the control room. In my absence you are in command." + +"Yes sir," Nielson said. "But what are you going to do?" + +"See what is in a grave we dug yesterday," Hargraves answered. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +What the Graves Revealed + + +Hargraves carried the shovel. He and Noble were armed, and very much +alert. + +"When you ask me if it is chemically possible for a man--or an +animal--to freeze, die, be buried, then rise again and live, I cannot +answer," Noble said. "So far as I know, it is not possible. The physical +act of freezing will involve tremendous and seemingly irreversible +changes in the body cells. Thawing will produce almost immediate +bacterial action, which also seems irreversible. All I can say is, if +Hal Sarkoff is alive, we have seen a miracle that contradicts chemical +laws as we know them." + +"And if he is not alive, we face a miracle of duplication. Whatever it +is that is sleeping back in the ship, it looks, talks, acts, like Hal +Sarkoff, even to memory. Can you suggest any method by which flesh and +bone could be so speedily moulded into a living image of a man whom we +know died?" + +"No," said Noble bluntly. "Jed, do you realize all the possible +implications of this situation?" + +"Probably not," Hargraves answered. "Some that I do recognize, I exclude +from my thoughts." + +His tone was so harsh that Noble said nothing more. + +Dawn was already breaking over this Vegan world. The sky in the east was +the color of pearl. In the trees over them, creatures that sounded like +birds were beginning to chirp. + +They reached the place where they had buried Hal Sarkoff and his two +companions. + +The graves were empty. + +No effort had been made to conceal the fact that the graves had been +opened. The dirt had been shoveled out again and had not been shoveled +back. + +There were marks in the dirt, the tracks of sandaled feet. "Thulon, the +three who were with him, wore sandals!" Hargraves rasped. "They came +back here. They opened these graves." + +"But what happened after that? Are you suggesting those primitive +gray-beards resurrected Hal Sarkoff?" + +"I'm not suggesting anything because I don't know anything," Hargraves +answered. "I am just remembering that Thulon and the three who were with +him _looked human too_! I am also remembering that the sphere which +attacked us seemingly was without a crew. Our beams blasted it wide +open. It was seemingly filled with machinery. Nothing else. If there +were any intelligent creatures in it, they were in no form that we +recognize. Come on!" Hargraves started running toward the ship. + +The ship, badly damaged as it was, represented their sole hope of +survival. Without it, they would be helpless. + +Hal Sarkoff was with the ship. Or the thing that was masquerading as +Sarkoff. Thulon had looked human too. Possibly Sarkoff and his two dead +comrades had been removed from their graves in order to make possible a +perfect duplication of their bodies, the probing of cell structure, both +body and brain. Perhaps the things that lurked here on this world could +read memories from dead minds. That might be the explanation of +Sarkoff's memory. + +The important fact was that Sarkoff's body was not in its grave. Where +so much was unknown, this was one indisputable fact. The thing that was +on the ship must be placed not only under heavy guard but in a cage from +which escape was impossible. Then an examination could begin. + +There was evil on this world. The trees, the vegetation, the ground +under his racing feet, was evil. In his calmer moments Jed Hargraves +would have said that evil was another word for danger. He wasn't calm +now. The panic he had been rigidly excluding from his mind had burst the +dam he had built before it. He could feel danger in the air. It was in +the dawn, in the light of the sky. It was everywhere. He and his +companions were aliens on this world, and the planet was striking at +them, striving to eliminate them, contriving to destroy them. + +He heard it before he saw it. + +Something was grunting in the air. Above the tops of the trees something +was grunting. He needed seconds to recognize the sound. Then he +recognized it. And jerked himself to a halt, his eyes wildly probing +upward. + +He saw it. + + * * * * * + +The ship. The grunting roar had come from the Kruchek drivers fighting +the gravity of the planet. + +The ship had taken off without them. + +Had Nielson gone mad? Had he seen danger approaching and jumped the ship +into the sky to escape it? + +"Wait! Nielson! Pick us up!" + +The ship flew on. Gaining speed, it passed over their heads. They caught +another glimpse of it as it passed over an opening in the branches of +the trees. Then it was gone, the throb of the drivers dying quickly +away. + +"Nielson will come back for us." Noble's voice, usually poised and +assured, was garbled. "He'll return and pick us up. He won't leave us +here." + +"He had some reason for taking off," Hargraves heard himself saying. +"He'll come back. He has to." Subconsciously he knew that this, at the +very best, was wishful thinking. + +The ship had no more than vanished until another sound came to their +ears, that of men shouting. A group came into sight among the trees, +following along the ground the course the ship had taken through the +air. + +"They're our fellows!" Hargraves heard Noble gasp. + +"What happened?" the captain demanded, as the group approached. + +Nielson was in the lead. There was a bruise on his cheek and his right +eye was already beginning to turn black. "I'll tell you what happened!" +he said savagely. "Sarkoff and Ron Val took over the ship, that's what +happened!" + +"Ron Val!" + +"That's what I said. Ron Val was helping him. They pulled guns. Before +we knew what was happening, they had herded us together and were shoving +us outside. I tried to stop it and Sarkoff took a poke at me." + +"It wasn't really Sarkoff, then?" Noble whispered. + +"Any damned fool would have known that!" Nielson answered. He spoke to +the bio-chemist but his eyes were on Hargraves. "I'm going to repeat +that, so there won't be any misunderstanding of my meaning. Any damned +fool would have known that a dead man doesn't get up out of his grave +and come to life again. Except you, Hargraves. You always were a sucker +for fairy stories." + +Jed Hargraves winced with every word that was spoken. They kept on +coming. + +"You ought to have known that thing wasn't Hal Sarkoff. Any man in his +right senses would have known it instantly. Any man fit to command would +have taken measures to meet the situation, either by destroying that +thing, or locking it up. But you were running things, Hargraves. You +were in charge. And you had to sit back and think before you would act. +You had to make sure you were right, before you went ahead. Your +negligence, Hargraves, cost us our only chance of ever returning home." + +Nielson's voice was harsh with anger. And--Hargraves recognized the +bitter truth--every word Nielson uttered was correct. Whatever the thing +was that had come to the ship, he should have recognized it as a source +of danger. He had so recognized it. But he had not acted. + +"I--" + +"Shut up!" Nielson snapped. "According to our agreement, any time you +are shown to be unfit to command, you may be removed by a vote of the +majority. There is no question but that you have shown yourself unfit to +be in charge of this expedition." + + * * * * * + +No time was wasted in reaching a decision. To Nielson's question as to +whether Hargraves should be removed from command, there was a chorus of +"Ayes." + +"No," said one voice. It was Usher, the archeologist. + +"State your objection," Nielson rasped. + +"The old one about changing horses in mid-stream," the archeologist +answered. "Also the old one about not jumping to conclusions before all +the evidence is in." + +"What evidence isn't in?" + +"We don't know why Ron Val joined Sarkoff," the archeologist answered. + +"What difference does that make? We don't even know that Ron Val was +still himself. The thing that looked like Ron Val might have been +another monstrosity like Sarkoff." + +"So it might," the archeologist shrugged. "Anyhow my vote is not +important. I'm just putting it in for the sake of the record, if there +ever is a record. I would also like to mention that if ever we needed +discipline and unity, now is the time." + +"We will have discipline, I promise you," Nielson said. "Hargraves, you +are removed from command, understand?" + +"Yes," said Hargraves steadily. + +Only one ballot was needed to put Nielson in charge. + +"All right," said Ushur to the new captain. "You're the boss now. We're +all behind you. What are you going to do?" + +"Do? I--" Nielson looked startled. He glanced at Hargraves. + +The former captain sighed. It was easy enough to elect a new leader. +Vehemently he wished that all problems could be solved so easily. + +"I suggest," he said, "--and this is only a suggestion--that we attempt +to find the ship, and if possible, to regain possession of her. She is +the only tool we have to work with." + +"That is exactly what I was going to say," Nielson said emphatically. +"Find the ship." + +To give him credit, he set about the job in a workmanlike manner, +sending two scouts ahead of the main group, throwing out a scout on each +flank. The only way they could hope to find the ship was by following +the course it had taken through the air. Since Sarkoff, in taking over +the vessel, had not disarmed them, each possessed a vibration pistol. In +a fight against ordinary enemies they would be able to give a good +account of themselves. But would any enemy they met likely be ordinary? + +Hargraves drew Usher aside. "I would like to talk to you," he said. +"What actually happened when the ship was taken?" + +"I don't know, Jed," the archeologist ruefully answered. "I was in my +cabin. The first thing I knew I heard a hell of a hullabaloo going on up +in the control room. I dashed up there to see what was going on." + +"What was happening?" + +"Nielson, Rodney, Turner, and a couple of others were there. So +were--well, they looked like Sarkoff and Ron Val. Nielson was getting up +off the floor. Sarkoff and Ron Val had both drawn their guns and were +covering the group. When I came charging in, Sarkoff covered me. Before +I could recover from my surprise, he and Ron Val had kicked every one of +us out of the ship. Then they took off." The archeologist shook his +shaggy head. + +"Ron Val was helping?" + +"No question about it. Which means, of course, that he was either under +some subtle form of hypnosis, or _it_ wasn't Ron Val. I would bet my +life on his loyalty." + + * * * * * + +"So would I," said Hargraves. And the memory came back of how thrilled +Ron Val had been at the prospect of landing on this, world. "It would +mean a lot to find people here. We could exchange experiences, learn a +lot," Ron Val had said, his face glowing at the thought. All the others +had felt the same way. The Third Interstellar Expedition had no military +ambitions. It was not bent on conquest. The solar system had outgrown +military expeditions, war, and the thought of war, and cruisers went out +from it not to fight but to learn. Knowledge was the thing they sought, +all knowledge, so the human race could determine its place in the +cosmos, could know the history of all things past, could possibly +forecast the shape of things to come. + +The landing of the Third Interstellar Expedition on this Vegan world had +been a part of a vast evolution, a march that, starting on earth so long +ago that all history of it was forever lost, was now reaching out across +the cosmos. A new evolution! Ron Val had always been talking about this +new evolution. It was one of his favorite subjects. + +"What do you make of this world?" Hargraves asked abruptly. "The only +sign of civilization we have seen is this vast grove. No cities, no +industrial plants, no evidence of progress. Yet the spherical ship that +attacked us certainly indicates a highly mechanical civilization. Of +course there may be cities here that we haven't seen, but as we landed +we saw a large land area. No roads were visible, no canals, not even any +cultivated fields. What does all this mean to you, as an archeologist?" + +"Nothing," Usher answered promptly. "I would say this country is a +wilderness. But the trees planted in regular rows disprove this. On +earth, at least, centuries would be required for trees as large as these +to grow. Forestry, planned centuries in advance, can only come from a +high and stable culture. However, as you say, all other signs of this +high culture are absent, no cities, no transportation facilities, +apparently damned few inhabitants--we have seen only four. All +civilizations with which we are familiar move through recognized stages, +first the nomadic stage, which involves tending flocks and herds. Then +comes the tilling of the soil, in which farming is the principal +occupation of most of the people. After that, with industrialization, we +have cities developing. If there is another stage we have not reached it +on earth." + +"Do you think they might have reached the final stage here?" Hargraves +questioned. + +"I don't know what the final stage may be," the archeologist answered. +"Also, and this is more important, I can't begin to guess at the real +nature of the inhabitants of this world. Until I do know their real +nature, what they look like, what they eat, where they sleep, what they +think, I can't even guess intelligently about them. However," Usher +broke off with a wry grin, "all these philosophical observations are of +no importance while our own necks are threatened with the ax." + +Vega was straight overhead when they found the ship. One of the advance +scouts came hurrying back with the information. + +"She is lying in a little meadow beside the lake," the scout reported. +"They're doing something to her. I can't tell what. But the trees extend +to within fifty yards of her. We can approach that near without being +seen." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Capture of the Ship + + +Nielson made his dispositions with care. The ship lay in a little meadow +where the trees bent inward from the blue water of the lake to form a +cove. Her nose was pointed toward the water and her tail was almost in +the trees. Nielson sent three men on a wide circuit. They were to attack +from the farther side. It was to be a feint. While the three men drew +attention to them, the main body was to charge. + +"We have every chance of succeeding," Nielson said. "And if we do gain +the ship again, this time we won't stay here. Vega has at least two +planets. The ship will fly to the other one without repairs. You should +have thought of that, Hargraves." + +"There are a lot of things I should have thought of and didn't," +Hargraves answered. There was no animosity in his tone. "What I would +like to know is what they are doing there beside the ship?" + +Thulon and his three companions were visible beside the vessel. They +were busily engaged in setting up a device of some kind. Others of their +species had joined them until there were possibly thirty or forty +present. Through the the gaping hole in the hull, still others could be +seen peering out. What they were doing Hargraves could not discern. + +"Odd," said Usher beside him. + +"What is?" + +"It's odd that they should still seem to be human in form," the +archeologist answered. "Ah. Perhaps there is the reason." + +Both locks were open. The thing that looked like Hal Sarkoff had just +emerged from the nearest one. He went directly to the main group. They +were erecting something that looked like a tripod. Several were carrying +pieces of metal from the ship which they were fastening together to form +the legs of the tripod. At the apex of the tripod something that looked +like a box was coming into existence. + +"They are completely unarmed," Hargraves heard Nielson say. "There isn't +a weapon in the whole damned bunch. We'll blast them senseless before +they even know they're being attacked." + +"If they don't succeed in manning the negatron," Usher pointed out. + +"They don't know how to operate the negatron." + +"Don't they? I might mention that they seem to know everything that +Sarkoff knew. And Hal certainly knew how that negatron operated. He +could take it apart and put it back together blind-folded." + +"That's so," Nielson admitted. For a second unease showed on his lean +face. "Well, that only means we will have to lick them before they can +get that negatron into operation. One thing is certain--we have to have +the ship." + +"You're right on that score," Usher grimly said. + +Seconds ticked away into minutes. The group busy about the ship had no +intimation they were about to be attacked. They were careless to the +point of foolhardiness. No sentries had been posted, no effort had been +made to hide the vessel. + +"What are they, really?" Hargraves thought. He wondered if they were +some strange form of water-dwelling life that lived in the lakes of this +planet. Perhaps that was what they were! Perhaps the transition from the +fish to the mammal had never been made on this planet, the fish-form +developing keen intelligence. Certainly there was intelligence on this +world. But it seemed to be an intelligence humans could not comprehend. + + * * * * * + +The signal for the attack sounded. Fierce shouts came from the other +side of the ship. The shouters were hidden, but there was no mistaking +the sounds. They came from human throats. + +"Give 'em hell, boys!" + +"Tear 'em to pieces!" + +The harsh throbbing of vibration pistols split the quiet air. + +"Steady!" Nielson said. "Wait until they go to see what's happening." + +The group busy around the ship raised startled faces from their task. +They seemed to listen. Then they turned and ran around the bow of the +vessel. + +"Come on!" cried Nielson, leaping from concealment. + +There wasn't a person left in sight to oppose them. Fifty yards to +cross. Fifty yards to the ship! Fifty yards to a fighting chance for +life! + +Under their racing feet the soft turf was soundless. + +Twenty-five yards to go now. Ten yards. Ten feet to the open lock. + +Thulon appeared in the lock. He looked in surprise at the charging men. + +Except for the rough staff that he carried he was weaponless. + +Nielson didn't give the command to fire, didn't need to give it. Every +vibration pistol had been drawn long before the men leaped from cover. +Every pistol came up at the same instant, every index finger squeezed a +trigger. + +Only Thulon stood between them and a fighting chance for life. They came +of warrior races, these men. No bugles urged them on. They needed no +bugles. + +A howling vortex of radiation smashed at the figure in the lock. + +One vibration pistol would destroy a man, smash him to bloody bits. More +than a dozen pistols were centered on the figure standing before them. + +Thulon stood unharmed. + +Staff in front of him he stood facing the fingers of hell reaching for +him. The flaming fingers grasped, and did not touch him. + +The shooting stopped as abruptly as it began. The charge stopped. +Hargraves saw Nielson staring dazedly from the figure in the lock to the +pistol in his hand as if the two were irreconcilable. The pistol ought +to have destroyed Thulon. It hadn't destroyed him. For a mad moment, +Hargraves felt sorry for the new captain. He, too, had run headlong into +a logical impossibility. + +All sounds were suddenly stilled, all shouting stopped, all noises died +away. + +Around the bow of the ship Hal Sarkoff came running. He saw the group +and looked bewildered. "Hey! How did you guys get here?" + +"Blast him!" Nielson said, centering his pistol on this new target. + +From the staff in Thulon's hand came a soft tinkle, a bell-like sound. +Nothing seemed to happen but Nielson staggered as if he had been hit a +sharp blow. The pistol flew out of his hand and landed twenty feet away. + + * * * * * + +"Listen, you apes," Sarkoff shouted at the top of his voice. "I'm Hal +Sarkoff. I've always been Hal Sarkoff. I'll never be anybody else but +Hal Sarkoff. Do you get it?" + +They didn't get it. + +"If you--" Nielson whispered. "If you are really Sarkoff, then +who--what--is he?" He pointed toward Thulon still standing in the lock. + +"Him?" The grin on the craggy face belonged to Hal Sarkoff and to no one +else. "Meet a god," he said. + +"A god?" That was Usher speaking now, his voice a tense whisper. + +Sarkoff continued grinning. "Well, he resurrected me when I was deader +than hell. I guess that makes him a god." + +"You--you know you were dead?" + +"Yep. At least I guess I know it. The last thing I remember is trying to +get back to the control panel when we got that hole knocked in the ship, +so I could cut the drivers back in. After that everything gets kind of +hazy. The next thing I remember is my pal here," he gestured toward +Thulon, "and a lot of his buddies chirping like sparrows while they +worked over me. And believe me, they were working me over plenty. I felt +like I had been turned inside out, wrung out, hung out to dry, then +stuffed all over again." + +"But when you came back to the ship," Hargraves spoke, "you said you +remembered everything that had happened, the crash of the ship, our +hiding her. If you were dead, how did you learn these things?" + +"He told me," Sarkoff answered, nodding toward Thulon. "He filled out my +memory for me with dope he had taken from your mind while you were +talking. Reading minds is one of that old boy's minor accomplishments." + +"Then why didn't you tell us the truth?" Hargraves exploded. "You said +you had been sent out scouting. Why didn't you tell us what had really +happened?" Mentally he added, "If it happened!" + +"Because you apes wouldn't have believed me!" Sarkoff answered. "To your +knowledge--mine, too, until it happened--dead men don't get up out of +their graves and walk. If I had told you the truth, you wouldn't have +believed a word of it. If I told you something you knew wasn't true, +that you had sent me out on a scouting trip, you would know I was lying, +you would figure it was a trick of some kind, and you would wait around +and try to discover the trick. While you were waiting around trying to +catch me, I could get in some missionary work on Ron Val. I knew I could +convert him, if I had a chance to talk to him. With him on my side, we +could convince the rest of you. It would have worked too. All it needed +was a little time for you boys to get used to the idea of a dead man +coming back to life." He looked at Nielson. "Remind me to black that +other eye of yours one of these days." + +"What?" said Hargraves. "What's this?" + +"Our pal Nielson," Sarkoff said. "If _you_ think before you act, _he_ +acts before he thinks. You had no sooner gone chasing off to see if I +was really where you had buried me, which was what I thought you would +do, until Nielson comes poking into where Ron Val and I were holding a +conference. Nielson had a gun. He had it out ready to use. He figured +the only safe thing to do was to shoot me. So," Sarkoff shrugged, "I had +to smack him. He had forced my hand." + +[Illustration: Fists lashed out, weapons appeared, and cries of fury +rent the air] + +There was a slight stir among the group. This was news to all of them. + +"Is this true?" Hargraves said. + +"Yes," said Nielson defiantly. "And I was right. I should have killed +him. He isn't Hal Sarkoff. He isn't telling the truth about coming back +to life. Sarkoff is dead." + + * * * * * + +Sarkoff glanced up at Thulon who was still standing in the lock looking +down at the men before him. There was a ghost of a smile on his face. + +"See!" said Sarkoff, addressing Thulon. "I told you we couldn't tell +these boys anything. They have to see, they have to feel, they have to +be shown." + +"Well," the thought came from Thulon to everyone. "Why don't you show +them?" + +"Okay," Sarkoff answered. "Nevins!" he shouted. "Reese! Come out of that +ship." + +Nevins and Reese were the two engineers who had died with Sarkoff. + +Thulon moved a little to one side. Nevins and Reese came out of the +ship. They were grinning. + +"Feel us!" Sarkoff shouted. "Pinch us. Cut off a slice of skin and +examine it under a microscope. Make blood tests. Use X-rays. Do whatever +you damned please." He shoved a brawny arm under Nielson's nose. "Here. +Pinch this and see if you think it's real." + +Nielson shrank away. + +Nevins and Reese passed among the men, offering themselves in evidence. +Startled voices called softly in answer to other startled voices. +"They're real." + +"This is no lie. This is the truth." + +"I've known this man for years. This is Eddie Nevins." + +"And this is Sam Reese." + +Hargraves heard the voices, saw the conclusion they were reaching. + +"One moment," he said. + +The voices went into silence. Eyes turned questioningly to him. + +"Even if these men are really Hal Sarkoff and Eddie Nevins and Sam +Reese, if they are the companions we knew as dead who have miraculously +been returned to us, there are still facts that do not fit into a +logical pattern. Even here on this world the laws of logic must hold +true." + +Silence fell. Men looked at him and at each other. Where there had been +wonder on their faces, new doubts were appearing. + +"What facts, Jed?" Sarkoff questioned. + +"The sphere that attacked us, that attempted to destroy us, without +warning. This is a fact that does not fit." + +"The sphere?" Uncertainty showed on Sarkoff's face. Then he grinned +again and turned to Thulon. "You tell him about that sphere." + +"Gladly," Thulon's thoughts came. "As you know, Vega has two planets. +Long ago we were at war with the inhabitants of this other planet. Part +of our defenses around our own planet were floating fortresses. The war +is done but we have left guards in the sky to protect us if we are +attacked. The sphere that attacked you was one of our automatic forts +which we had left in the sky." + +"Ah!" said Hargraves. The cold logic of his mind sought a pattern that +would include fortresses in the sky. Presuming war between two planets, +such fortresses were logical. But-- + +"The construction of such a sphere indicates vast technical knowledge, +tremendous workshops. I have seen no laboratories and no industrial +centers that could produce such a fortress. I have, moreover, seen no +civilization that will serve as a background for such construction." + + * * * * * + +He waited for an answer. Usher, the archeologist, looked suddenly at +him, then looked at Thulon. + +"The fortresses were built long ago," Thulon said. "In those past +milleniums we had industrial centers. We no longer need them and we no +longer have them." + +"Then there _is_ another stage!" the archeologist gasped. "You are past +the city stage in your evolutionary process. You are beyond the metal +age. What--" Usher eagerly asked. "What comes after that?" + +"We are beyond the age of cities," Thulon answered. "The next but +possibly not final stage is a return to nature. We live in the groves +and the fields, beside the lakes, under the trees. We need no protection +from the elements because we are in unison with them. There are no +enemies on this world, no dangers, almost no death. In your thinking you +can only describe us as gods. Our activities are almost entirely mental. +Our only concession of materialism is this." He lifted the staff. "When +you fired at me, this staff canceled your beams. It would have canceled +them if they had been a thousand times stronger. When one of you +attempted to destroy Sarkoff, force went out from this staff, knocking +the weapon from his hand. There are certain powers leashed within this +staff, certain arrangements of crystals that are very nearly ultimate +matter. Through this staff my will is worked. Some day," he smiled, "we +will even be able to discard the staff. That is the goal of our +evolution." + +The thoughts went into soft silence and Thulon looked down at them. +"Does that satisfy you?" His eyes went among the group, came to rest on +Hargraves. "No, I see it does not. There is still one fact that you +cannot fit into your pattern." + +"Yes," said Hargraves. "If all that you have told us is true, why was +the ship stolen?" + +"Everything has to fit for you?" Sarkoff answered. "Well, that's why you +are our leader. I can answer this question. I took the ship so I could +have it repaired. Then, when I brought it back to you, fit to fly again, +all of us would have evidence that we could not deny. You might doubt my +identity, you might doubt me, but you would not doubt a ship that had +been repaired. Thulon," Sarkoff ended, "will you do your stuff?" + + * * * * * + +Standing a little apart from the rest Hargraves watched. Thulon and his +comrades brought metal from the vessel. How they used the tripod he +could not see but in some way they seemed to use it to melt the metal. +This was magna steel. They worked it as if it were pure tin. It didn't +seem to be hot but they spread sheets of it over the gaping hole in the +hull. They closed the hole. He knew the ship had been repaired but still +he did not move. On the ground before him was something that looked like +an ant hill. He watched this, his mind reaching out and grasping a +bigger problem. The ants, he could see, were swarming. + +Nielson detached himself from the group at the ship and came to him. + +"Jed," he said hesitatingly. + +"What?" + +"Jed, what Hal said about me attacking him was right. I thought--I +thought he wasn't Sarkoff. I thought I was doing what was right." + +"I don't doubt you," Hargraves answered. His mind was not on what +Nielson was saying. + +"Jed." + +"Uh?" + +"Jed. I--" + +"What is it?" + +"Jed, will you take over command again?" The words came fast. "I--" + +"Huh? Take over command? Don't you like the job?" + +Nielson shivered. "No. I'm not ready for it yet. Jed, will you take it +over, please?" + +"Huh? Oh, sure, if that is what the fellows want." + +"They want it. So do I." + +"Okay then." Hargraves was scarcely aware that Nielson had left. Nor did +he notice Ron Val approaching. + +"Jed." + +"Huh?" + +"Jed, I've been talking to Thulon." The astro-navigator's voice was +trembling with excitement. "Jed, do you know that Thulon and his people +_belong to our race_?" + +"What?" the startled captain gasped. "Oh, damn it, Ron Val, you're +dreaming again." + + * * * * * + +It would be a wonderful dream come true, Hargraves knew, if it was true. +The human race had kin folks in the universe! Man did not stand alone. +There was something breath-taking in the very thought of it. + +"Thulon says the tests he ran on Hal Sarkoff proved it. He says his +people sent out exploring expeditions long ago, just like we are doing, +only the groups they sent out were more colonists than explorers. He +says one of these groups landed on earth and that we are the descendants +of that group, sons of colonists come back to the mother world after +uncounted centuries of absence--" + +Ron Val was babbling, the words were tumbling over each other on his +lips. + +"Oh, hell, Ron Val, it doesn't fit," Jed Hargraves said. "We can trace +our evolutionary chain back to the fish in the seas--" + +"Sure," Ron Val interrupted. "But we don't know that those fish came +from the seas of earth!" + +"Huh?" Hargraves gasped. "Well, I'll be damned! I never thought of that +possibility." He looked at the lakes dancing in the Vegan sunshine. From +these lakes, from these seas, had come the original fish-like creature +that eventually became human in form! The thought was startling. + +"The colonists landed on earth thousands of years ago," Ron Val said. +"Maybe they smashed their ship in landing, had to learn to live off the +country. Maybe they forgot who they were, in time. Jed, we have legends +that we are the children of God. Maybe--Oh, Jed, Thulon says it's true." + +Hargraves hesitated, torn between doubt and longing. He looked down. On +the ground in front of him the ants were still swarming. Hundreds of +them were coming from the ant hill and were flying off. There were +thousands of them. Eventually, in the recesses of this vast grove, there +would be new colonies, which would swarm in their turn. He watched them +flying away. The air was bright with the glint of their wings. + +He looked up. Thulon was coming toward them. Thulon was smiling. +"Welcome home," his voice whispered in their minds. "Welcome home." + +Hargraves began to smile. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Planet of the Gods, by Robert Moore Williams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLANET OF THE GODS *** + +***** This file should be named 32696.txt or 32696.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/9/32696/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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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