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diff --git a/old/53034.txt b/old/53034.txt deleted file mode 100644 index abf4c0a..0000000 --- a/old/53034.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,618 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The God-Plllnk, by Jerome Bixby - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The God-Plllnk - -Author: Jerome Bixby - -Illustrator: Bruno - -Release Date: September 12, 2016 [EBook #53034] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOD-PLLLNK *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE GOD-PLLLNK - - BY JEROME BIXBY - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of Tomorrow December 1963 - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - Astronauts and cosmonauts! When you finally reach - Mars, please be very careful what you look like! - - -In the shadows of a crater-wall on Phobos, moon of Mars, Grg and Yrl -waited to greet the God. - -If the God continued its present rate of approach, it would land within -moments. - -Grg and Yrl had journeyed all night, with their eyes on that distant -glinting speck in the sky. Over cold-crusted sand dunes and jagged -crater walls they had flowed, crept, bounded, oozed, toward the spot -where the God must land if its course held true. - -Grg was a Fsgh, which is the equivalent of High Priest, Yrl was a -Ffssgghh, or Much Higher Priest. The best wishes of their people had -gone with them on their tremendous mission. - -Now, at the place, they trembled in every tentacle as they peered -upward. The rust-red orb of Mars rode the black horizon. - -Mars was, as Grg and Yrl had learned from their Elders and now taught -their Youngers, the stern Seeing-All Eye of It Who Was the Universe. - -From that great Eye, a day ago, had sprung a shining Messenger, an -Emissary, a God that must be coming on a purposeful visit. - -It had been detected at the half-way point of its trip. But there -could be no doubt regarding its origin, its nature, its destination-- - -For, in the matter of form, the God was a close replica of Grg and -Yrl--of all the creatures of their race! It was octopidal, with sinewy -double tentacles, and a thinking trunk, and a reproduction pouch! - -The only significant difference was that the God gleamed mysteriously, -as if its angular, hard-line representation of normal form were cast in -shining stone. As it flew it reflected starlight--and the red glow of -the Universal Eye behind it--from its sleek surfaces. - -Grg and Yrl blinked their own dull-surfaced, astronomically -far-sighted, rust-red eyes at each other in supreme excitement and -anticipation. - -What would the God tell them? What would it reveal? Would it divulge -the Cosmic Secret? Would it tell them the place and destiny of their -lowly race? Had it come to punish them for not being good enough, for -over-reproducing, for worshipping improperly? - -From a selfish standpoint, it might even tell them how to get rid of -the _plllnk_--a subject of constant prayer. - -How smoothly it flew! While Grg and Yrl and their people could bound -about with a great agility in Phobos' light gravity, they could not -_fly_. - -"How wonderful it would be to fly," said Yrl. - -"Perhaps," said Grg, "we have been found ready to be taught!" - -Then Grg twitched as a _plllnk_ bit him, just under the front left -double-tentacle. He combed the light fur there, found the _plllnk_, -and shredded it, casting the pieces round-about so that no two of them -might combine to form another _plllnk_. - -How wonderful it would be also if the God could tell them how to get -rid of the itching, crawling, parasitic _plllnk_, whose bite, in -sufficient numbers, was often fatal!... - -The God began to land. - -It shot red flame downward from its mouth, on the underside of its -gleaming body. Red flickers and sharp-edged black shadows danced about -the two who waited below. They shrank back, fearful that the display -might be a disapproving communication--yet they held their ground, -knowing they had lived good lives and deserved no condemnation on any -score they could imagine. - -The God lowered, on its belching tongue of flame--the flame that seemed -a tiny part, a sliver, of the Universal Eye that Watched. - -Strange marks were on the side of the God's body. They were: 1st MARS -EXPEDITION--U. S. SPACE FORCE--PLANET-TO-SATELLITE CREWBOAT NO. 2. - - * * * * * - -The last few moments of the God's descent were quite rapid. -Simultaneously, the darting red flames seemed to lessen in intensity -and length. Then, at the second of impact, they brightened again to -previous power--but too late. The impact was hard. - -Grg and Yrl gasped as one of the God's double-tentacles buckled, -crumpled, with a glinting of shiny-hard material. The flames stopped. - -The God, unable to remain erect with its injury, slowly toppled. Its -body thudded silently, stirring pumice dust. It was motionless. - -Grg and Yrl stared at each other. - -Was the God fatally injured? Dying? Dead? (For a broken tentacle meant -that fluids would seep out, and soon the dry-death would occur.) - -The God stirred. - -It braced two sets of tentacles against the ground, as if trying -to push itself erect. The effort was not successful. Again it -was motionless. The two double-tentacles remained outstretched, -however--and they pointed at the shadows where Grg and Yrl waited and -watched. - -Grg and Yrl sighed in relief. - -The God had assumed conversation-position. - -It must have healed its broken tentacle--truly a God! Soon it would be -as good as new; for otherwise, agony would forbid conversation. - -It was ready to address them. Now. - -This was the greatest moment of Grg's and Yrl's lives. - -They waited for the God to speak. - -It was silent. - -A long time passed. The God remained motionless, though in -conversation-position, and silent. A _very_ long time passed. - -Then a tiny hole appeared in the God's side. It grew -larger--larger--and then it stopped growing larger. - -Something appeared at the hole. It paused, then dropped to the surface -of Phobos, where it began to crawl about. - -It bore considerable resemblance to a _plllnk_, except for its -shiny-wrinkled grey skin (_plllnks_ were purple.) And this thing was -huge--_Huge_. It was one-fifth the size of the God's body. - -Caught by horror, and fearing the worst, Grg and Yrl waited for the God -to speak. - -(_Damn_, John Cotter was thinking. _That was a neat bit of sloppiness, -that landing.... Carruthers will chew me out and in again!_ Pause: -_Holy cats, I hope the radio isn't busted, or I'll have a helluva wait -before they follow up and find me!..._) - - * * * * * - -The God was dead. - -Killed by the giant _plllnk_--a scourge from which, evidently, even -the Gods were not spared. The huge _plllnk_, even now creeping -around--wrinkle-skinned and detestable, its coloration the same as the -God's; the most loathsome sight imaginable ... a god-_plllnk_! - -Grg and Yrl moved into view, from the shadows of the crater wall. -Their thinking trunks tingled with misery, sorrow, bitter anger and -disappointment. - -The _plllnk_ stopped, having sensed them. Then it darted for the hole -it had eaten in the God. - -Yrl moved to intercept it. The _plllnk_ changed course and headed -swiftly up a sand dune. With a great bound, impelled by outrage, Yrl -was upon it. - -While Grg touched tentacles with the dead God, in reverent mourning, -in terrible sorrow, in loss, in supplication, Yrl shredded the -god-_plllnk_. - - * * * * * - -Two days later, a second God was detected. It silently circled Phobos -from the Universal Eye. - -It did not land. It silently circled Phobos, and then returned to the -Eye. - -Within the day, it was back, in the company of eleven other Gods. They -landed. Joyfully, mortals went forth to meet them. - -It was quite a battle while it lasted. - -Joy quickly ended, as the Gods died one by one, each of them showing -the holes eaten in their sides by the insatiable _plllnks_. - -Likewise, eventually, died all the _plllnks_, which presumably had -killed the Gods. They fought with strange white flares and crackling -blue flashes, which only tickled the hides of the faithful. Then they -were shredded. - -Religious beliefs on Phobos underwent certain basic changes. Such as: -the Gods, or at least their Messengers, were known not to be immortal. - -Nor were the special variety of _plllnk_ which afflicted them.... - -On Earth, twenty years afterward, word is anxiously awaited of the 4th -Mars Expedition. - -END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The God-Plllnk, by Jerome Bixby - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOD-PLLLNK *** - -***** This file should be named 53034.txt or 53034.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/0/3/53034/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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