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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-28 05:09:50 -0800 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..930a33c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61907 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61907) diff --git a/old/61907-h.zip b/old/61907-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0ae217c..0000000 --- a/old/61907-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61907-h/61907-h.htm b/old/61907-h/61907-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 824fba6..0000000 --- a/old/61907-h/61907-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1395 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Genesis!, by R. R. Winterbotham. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Genesis!, by R.R. Winterbotham - -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/license - - -Title: Genesis! - -Author: R.R. Winterbotham - -Release Date: April 24, 2020 [EBook #61907] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GENESIS! *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>GENESIS!</h1> - -<h2>By R. R. WINTERBOTHAM</h2> - -<p>Renzu was mad, certainly! From Venus' lifeless<br /> -clay he dreamed of moulding a mighty race; a<br /> -new Creation, with himself as God!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Summer 1941.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The unreal silence of outer space closed in about <i>The Traveler</i>. In -front of the huge atom-powered space rocket hung the sun's dazzling -disc and behind the pale, silver face of the earth echoed the light. -Captain Vic Arlen was a god in the heavens; Dave McFerson, the -engineer, was a demi-god. And what was Harry Renzu? It was hard to -call a great scientist a devil.</p> - -<p>There was Gheal—neither god nor devil, only a poor, hideous, -half-human slave that had been brought with Renzu to the earth from a -previous expedition to Venus. Captain Arlen quit trying to classify -himself and his passengers. They were neither gods nor devils. Not even -men, taking the group as a whole.</p> - -<p>An ominous chill seemed to reach through the beryllium hull of the ship -from outer space, caressing Arlen's backbone. A faint cry sounded in -the passageway that led to the sleeping quarters behind the control -room.</p> - -<p>The captain tripped the controls into neutral. The acceleration was -complete and from now until the braking rockets were fired, the craft -would follow its carefully calculated orbit.</p> - -<p>Again came the cry, a groan of pain and a moaning sob. The captain -strode into the passage.</p> - -<p>"Gheal!" he called, recognizing the Venusian's hoarse voice. "Gheal! -What's the matter?"</p> - -<p>A repetition of the cry was the only answer. The passageway was open, -but the sobs seemed to be coming from the cabin of Harry Renzu, the -scientist who had chartered the moon rocket for his second expedition -to Venus.</p> - -<p>The captain paused before the cabin door, listening. The cry came again -and he pushed open the door.</p> - -<p>The hideous Venusian was on the floor, looking upward with his two -light-sensitive eye-glands at Renzu, who stood over him with an -upraised cane.</p> - -<p>Gheal's rubbery, lipless mouth was agape, revealing his long, sharp -teeth. He had raised one of his long, rope-muscled arms to catch the -descending blow. His hairless, leathery body trembled slightly with -pain.</p> - -<p>"You dumb, dim-witted chunk of Venusian protoplasm!" Renzu snarled as -he brought the cane crashing over the monster's shoulders. "When I want -a thing done, I want it done!"</p> - -<p>Arlen pushed into the room and seized Renzu's arm before the scientist -could strike again.</p> - -<p>"Hold on, Renzu!" Arlen commanded, pushing the scientist back and -seizing the cane. "Lay off! Can't you treat this miserable wretch with -decency?"</p> - -<p>Renzu's face flushed angrily. His deep-set eyes burned with fury.</p> - -<p>"This is none of your affair!" Renzu snapped. "Go back to your business -of running this ship. I didn't hire you to run my business."</p> - -<p>"This may be your expedition," Arlen replied stubbornly, "but while -we're in space, I'm the captain of this ship and my orders are to be -obeyed. My orders are to give this Venusian beast humane treatment."</p> - -<p>A whimpering sob broke from the throat of the brute on the floor.</p> - -<p>Renzu sullenly twisted his arm loose from the captain's grasp. He -appeared more calm now.</p> - -<p>"You are right, Arlen," he said. "Your orders are to be obeyed. But you -aren't a scientist. You don't know Gheal. He's not like the animals we -know on the earth. He has to be beaten."</p> - -<p>"Not while we're in space. I won't stand for it."</p> - -<p>"You can't stand in the way of science, Arlen. I shall whip Gheal, if I -deem it necessary." Renzu ended his words with a suggestive snap of his -fingers in Gheal's direction. The monster cringed into a corner of the -stateroom.</p> - -<p>"Come with me, Gheal," Arlen ordered, beckoning to the monster.</p> - -<p>The creature, seeming to understand, rose to his feet and followed -Arlen out of the door.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The captain took the Venusian forward into the control room, where he -daubed the welts on the creature's naked shoulders with arnica.</p> - -<p>McFerson, easy-going, but dependable old spaceman, watched the -operation critically. Gheal winced as the arnica touched his skin. He -squirmed and tried to resist.</p> - -<p>"Hold on a minute, Cap," McFerson said. "Look at the right shoulder, -where you put the arnica; it's red and inflamed."</p> - -<p>"So it is, but arnica ought to help."</p> - -<p>"Look at the left shoulder, where you haven't put any arnica."</p> - -<p>"Great guns! It's almost healed!"</p> - -<p>"I'd say maybe arnica wasn't the best treatment."</p> - -<p>Captain Arlen corked the bottle and put it aside. "Gheal looks like a -man. Sometimes he acts like a man. Yet he's entirely different most of -the time.</p> - -<p>"I've been watching him, Cap. I somehow get the idea that Gheal finds -it unhandy, most of the time, to be built like a man."</p> - -<p>The captain laughed. He took Gheal's arm and held it up. "Look at that. -Good, human bones, but the body of a monster. I wish you could talk, -Gheal. I wish you could tell us more about yourself. Why are you almost -a man yet the farthest point south?"</p> - -<p>Gheal uttered a sort of deep-throated growl.</p> - -<p>"Renzu says you can be vicious—that you're a killer at heart. Renzu -said one of your kind killed Jimmy Brooks on the first expedition. You -don't look like a killer. Brooks was a big man. You'd have a hard time -killing him."</p> - -<p>Gheal's sight-glands stared from Arlen to McFerson.</p> - -<p>Arlen laughed and patted Gheal's hairless head and pointed to a -built-in seat in the corner.</p> - -<p>"You're welcome to stay here as long as you don't bother us," he said.</p> - -<p>Gheal shuffled uneasily and whimpered, but he did not go to the -seat. Instead, he turned and moved toward the door. The creature -looked ridiculous, clad as he was only in a pair of Renzu's discarded -trousers, which had been rolled at the bottom to fit his stubby legs.</p> - -<p>At the door the Venusian hesitated and glanced back at the captain. -Then he slowly turned and shuffled down the passageway.</p> - -<p>"Hey you!" Captain Arlen shouted. "Come back here!"</p> - -<p>Gheal did not stop. He was striding to Renzu's room. He pushed open the -door.</p> - -<p>A fear for Renzu's safety rushed into the captain's mind. He ran after -the creature and entered Renzu's cabin. But as he opened the door he -gasped in astonishment.</p> - -<p>Gheal was crawling into a corner of the room, while Renzu stood nearby -laughing.</p> - -<p>"You see, Arlen," smiled Renzu, "I'm his master. He recognizes my -authority and no one else's. He would not desert me, no matter how I -treated him."</p> - -<p>Renzu picked up the cane that Arlen had tossed on the bunk a few -minutes before. As the scientist shook the stick at Gheal, Arlen -thought he saw a look of satisfaction creep into the creature's face.</p> - -<p>"Just the same," Arlen said, "I can't stand your beating him. He may -enjoy it. He may be a masochist at heart, but I won't stand for it."</p> - -<p>"Your mind is provincially human, Arlen," said Renzu. "When you look -at Gheal you see the product of an entirely different evolution. You -see a creature without emotions, without ethics. He's devoid of every -terrestrial feeling, especially gratitude. He may even hate you for -taking his side against me."</p> - -<p>There was a trace of bitterness in Renzu's voice.</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't be too sure, Renzu," Arlen said. "If the laws of physics -apply on Venus, as well as the earth, why couldn't biological and -psychological laws apply there also. Even the lowest of creatures show -understandable reactions on earth. Why not on Venus?"</p> - -<p>"Because Gheal has been made differently," Renzu said, with a repulsive -grin.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Hour by hour Captain Arlen watched Venus grow in size. The planet -expanded from a glowing crescent to the size of the moon as seen from -the earth; soon it floated large in space, filling half the sky ahead -of the ship, a billowing, fluffy ball of shining clouds. Its surface -was entirely obscured by its misty atmosphere.</p> - -<p>Arlen began braking the ship and he called Renzu into the control room -for a conference on where to pierce the cloud blanket.</p> - -<p>Renzu, huge and muscular, overdid himself in graciousness as he greeted -Arlen in the control room. The scientist seemed to radiate exaltation -and he strained himself to appear congenial.</p> - -<p>The man was excited, Arlen decided, for Arlen himself was thrilled -at the prospect of adventure, of seeing strange sights on a strange -planet. But the reaction was different in Arlen. Where Renzu swelled -and swaggered, Arlen looked dreamily into the clouds ahead.</p> - -<p>"I'm bringing the ship around to the sunward side," Arlen said. "It's -best to land about noon—that is the noon point. The planet turns once -in thirty hours and that will give us a little more than seven hours of -daylight to orient ourselves after the landing."</p> - -<p>Renzu nodded in agreement. All this had been threshed out before.</p> - -<p>"Very well," he said, "but it is best that you pierce the clouds at -about forty-five degrees north latitude. There's ocean there that -nearly circles the planet and there's fewer chances of running into -mountains beneath the clouds. Once we're through the cloud belt, we'll -have no difficulty. The clouds are three or four miles above the -surface and there's plenty of room to maneuver beneath them."</p> - -<p>Arlen twisted the valves and the deceleration became uncomfortably -violent. Renzu's first trip had determined the existence of a -breathable atmosphere on the surface of Venus, although the cloud belt -was filled with gases given off by Venusian volcanoes, and many of -these gases were poisonous to man.</p> - -<p>In a few minutes the rocket ship stood off just above the cloud belt. -McFerson checked the landing mechanism and made his final report to the -captain. Arlen checked the gravity gauge, which now would be used as an -altimeter during the blind flying in the Venusian clouds.</p> - -<p>"Okay!" Captain Arlen called.</p> - -<p>"Okay!" echoed McFerson.</p> - -<p><i>The Traveler</i> nosed downward into the rolling clouds. A whistling -whine arose as the craft struck the atoms of the atmosphere. Repulsion -jets set up their thunder and the landing operation began.</p> - -<p>The ship settled slowly through the clouds. The mist completely -obscured everything outside the craft and Arlen flew blind, trusting -his meteor detection devices to warn him of mountain peaks, which he -feared despite Renzu's assurance that there were no high ranges at this -latitude.</p> - -<p>At last the craft dropped through the wispy canopy to float serenely -over a calm ocean which bulged upward toward them in the solar flood -tide.</p> - -<p>To the northwest was a dim coastline. High mountains were faintly -visible against the horizon.</p> - -<p>"Perfect!" said Renzu. "That is my continent—our destination. Sail -toward it."</p> - -<p>The ship zoomed toward the land at the comparatively slow speed of five -hundred miles an hour. In a few minutes it was decelerating again, with -the continent before them.</p> - -<p>The high mountain range clambered up from a narrow plain that skirted -the sea. This plain was sandy, a desert waste, but Renzu indicated it -was the spot for the landing.</p> - -<p>Arlen brought <i>The Traveler</i> down gently alongside a broad stream that -emptied into the sea. When the dust of the landing cleared away, he -looked with dumbfounded amazement at the Venusian scene.</p> - -<p>As far as his eyes could see were barren rocks and sand: there were -no trees, no grass, no signs of life. The planet was as sterile as an -antiseptic solution. Even seaweed and mosses were missing from the -seashore.</p> - -<p>"Maybe you know what you're doing, Renzu," Arlen said, "but it looks to -me as if you've directed us to the edge of a desert."</p> - -<p>"'Tain't no small desert, either," chimed McFerson.</p> - -<p>"My dear Arlen," Renzu replied, cracking his lips in another of his -irritating smiles, "this is one of the most fertile spots on the entire -planet. You must remember, Venus is much different from the earth."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Immediately after the landing all hands, including Renzu, were busy -with the routine duties that the expedition required. Gheal was given -simple tasks, such as unpacking boxes of equipment to be used by the -expedition, but the Venusian seemed to attend to these in a preoccupied -manner. He worked in sort of a daze, frequently whimpering like a -sick dog, and turning his globular eyes from time to time out of the -porthole at the landscape of his native planet.</p> - -<p>"He's homesick," McFerson suggested to Arlen. "But look! What's he got -in his hand?"</p> - -<p>It was a long white bar of metal. Arlen quickly seized the bar and -examined it. It was pure silver. Gheal had been unpacking a box -crammed with silver bars of assorted lengths and thicknesses, ranging -from the size of small wire up to rods half an inch thick and a foot or -more in length. A fortune in silver had been transported to Venus.</p> - -<p>"Well, that's Renzu's business, not mine," Arlen decided.</p> - -<p>He returned to his duties. There was much to do: the engines had to be -recharged, preparatory to a quick takeoff, should conditions arise to -make the planet untenable for earthmen.</p> - -<p>Tests of the soil revealed utter sterility of all forms of life. It -was baffling. Some sort of bacteria should have been in the soil, even -though the place was only a desert.</p> - -<p>Arlen opened the arms chest and issued small but powerful atomic -disintegrators to McFerson, Renzu and himself. He did not give Gheal -one of the weapons, for Gheal did not appear to have the skill -necessary to operate it. His uncanny ignorance was so obvious.</p> - -<p>The disintegrators were simple magnetic mechanisms capable of -collapsing atoms of atmosphere and sending the resultant force of -energy in a directed stream toward a target. Fire from disintegrators -could melt large rocks almost instantly and it could destroy any living -creature known to man.</p> - -<p>Renzu strapped his weapon at his side and turned to Arlen.</p> - -<p>"I'm going outside for a walk with Gheal," he said. "Gheal seems -nervous and uneasy. Perhaps his actions are due to his return to his -native land. A walk might make him happier, in his own peculiar way."</p> - -<p>Arlen nodded and went back to the control room to talk to McFerson. He -found the engineer looking out of a porthole.</p> - -<p>"Look!" McFerson said, pointing out the porthole.</p> - -<p>Trudging along the beach, carrying the case containing the silver rods, -were Renzu and Gheal. The Venusian was walking with difficulty, but as -he faltered, Renzu would kick him unmercifully and force him on.</p> - -<p>"The devil!" Captain Arlen said. "He doesn't dare beat Gheal when he -knows I'm watching."</p> - -<p>McFerson shook his head.</p> - -<p>"Maybe he's right, treating Gheal that way," he said. "After all, -Renzu is a scientist and he knows more about Gheal than we do. Maybe -he's right in saying beating is the only treatment Gheal understands. -Besides, I don't know if I trust Gheal. Since we've landed he's acted -like a tiger in a cage. Gheal's a Venusian and Venusians are supposed -to have murdered Renzu's partner on the first expedition."</p> - -<p>"But even the worst creature on earth—except man, perhaps—doesn't -kill without a reason. And even man sometimes has a reason, when -apparently he hasn't."</p> - -<p>Darkness descended rapidly on Venus and Renzu did not return. The two -spacemen decided it was unnecessary to stand guard and turned in. Renzu -knew how to operate the space locks from the outside of the ship and -could enter when he returned. Gheal, whose clumsy fingers were too -unwieldly even to operate a disintegrator gun, would not be able to -operate the locks, nor would any creature like him.</p> - -<p>It was still dark when Arlen awakened. The long, fifteen-hour Venusian -night was completed and still Renzu had not returned.</p> - -<p>The captain awakened McFerson. They ate a light breakfast and did minor -chores on the ship until daylight suddenly lighted the landscape.</p> - -<p>"Do you suppose we ought to look for them? Maybe Gheal went haywire. -Maybe something's happened."</p> - -<p>Arlen considered. Renzu was armed, while Gheal was not. Renzu claimed -complete mastery over the Venusian, yet something might have happened -to give Gheal the upper hand. Not that Renzu didn't deserve it.</p> - -<p>"I'll go outside and look around," Arlen said.</p> - -<p>Arlen stepped through the locks. The warm Venusian air was -invigorating. He took a deep breath.</p> - -<p>A shuffling sound behind him caused the captain to turn. There, -rounding the end of the ship was a creature, fully naked, staring at -him with gland-like eyes and baring his teeth in a vicious snarl.</p> - -<p>"Gheal!" Arlen cried. "Gheal! Where's Renzu?"</p> - -<p>The creature did not reply. Instead, it advanced slowly with a -shuffling crouch, stretching his arms menacingly toward Arlen.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Arlen's hand went to his disintegrator. The creature resembled Gheal, -but it did not act like Gheal. The captain's eyes swept over the animal -again. No, it wasn't Gheal. There were differences. It was another of -Gheal's race.</p> - -<p>Arlen hesitated to kill the creature. If there were a tribe of the -creatures in the vicinity, such an act would arouse enmity. It would -lead to complications that would endanger Renzu, who was away from -the ship. Yet, Arlen could not be sure what reaction would follow a -slaying. Renzu had said that Venusians had no emotions, in the sense -that man has them. But Gheal certainly had been nostalgic on the day -before. That at least was understandable in a human sense.</p> - -<p>Arlen leveled his pistol. Suddenly another figure appeared.</p> - -<p>A low-voiced whine sounded as the second figure darted forward.</p> - -<p>It was the real Gheal. He was still wearing Renzu's trousers.</p> - -<p>The first Venusian turned. He hesitated stupidly, undecided whether -to continue his charge toward Arlen, or to meet the foe who came from -behind. Finally, the beast apparently decided that Arlen was the most -tempting.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="392" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The animal sprang at the captain.</p> - -<p>Arlen held his gun ready to fire, but the Venusian had acted with a -swiftness that belied his clumsy appearance. Before Arlen could fire, a -heavy, rubbery arm crashed down on his skull. A meteor shower seemed to -flash through Arlen's brain, and then darkness closed in about him as -he tumbled to the sandy beach.</p> - -<p>Arlen opened his eyes. He had no way of telling how long he had lain -on the ground. On Venus one never sees the sun; daylight appears and -daylight fades, but there is no way of telling the time of day from the -position of the sun overhead.</p> - -<p>The captain's head ached as he lifted himself from the ground. He shook -his head to clear away the haze and he stretched his arms to rise. His -fingers struck something leathery and cold.</p> - -<p>There at his side lay the Venusian monster who had attacked him. A wave -of nausea swept over him as he saw the lifeless body horribly mutilated -and torn. The sandy soil of the beach was torn with the struggle that -had taken place.</p> - -<p>Arlen forgot his aching head at he examined the dead Venusian. His -disintegrator had not slain the Venusian; clearly Gheal had done the -job.</p> - -<p>"So Gheal came to my rescue!" Arlen exclaimed. "Renzu must have been -wrong. These Venusians do have gratitude."</p> - -<p>His eyes saw something else as they traveled over the body.</p> - -<p>Protruding from the body was a silver rod. Gingerly Arlen tried to pull -the rod from the animal's body, but it would not budge. Was it a weapon?</p> - -<p>Arlen saw other rods sticking from the animal, covered with blood. All -of them seemed firmly set in the body of the Venusian.</p> - -<p>Arlen looked behind him. The locks of the space ship were open. He -moved wearily to the door and stuck his head inside.</p> - -<p>"McFerson!" he called.</p> - -<p>There was no answer.</p> - -<p>Arlen entered the ship. He carried his disintegrator in his hand. -Venusians might have entered the ship ahead of him. Lights were still -burning in the living quarters, but McFerson was gone.</p> - -<p>Arlen moved on; he searched each cabin, but there was no sign of -McFerson, until he reached the control room. There furniture had been -overturned, instruments smashed, and a pool of blood lay on the floor.</p> - -<p>Gheal had done this. Arlen was sure that no other Venusian could have -entered the ship and crept up on McFerson without arousing suspicion. -McFerson's disintegrator lay on the floor beside the pool of blood, -indicating that McFerson had grown suspicious too late. The gun had not -been discharged.</p> - -<p>The first thing Arlen had to do was to protect himself from further -attack. He drew his own gun and closed the outer locks. The next thing -would be to decide what had happened and what to do.</p> - -<p>Renzu probably had suffered the same fate as McFerson, Arlen decided. -He was alone, in a strange world, face to face with a race of -mankilling monsters. The only thing in his favor was that one of these -monsters had befriended him. But how long and how far could Arlen trust -this friendship?</p> - -<p>There was, however, a chance that McFerson or Renzu still might be -living. He had to know for sure about this before he did anything else. -And the only way to learn was to investigate.</p> - -<p>He left the ship, carefully closing the locks and fastening them behind -him. He found many tracks leading away from the ship, along the banks -of the stream that flowed from the mountains.</p> - -<p>From among the tracks he picked out Renzu's bootprints. There were -tracks of Gheal going away, coming back, and going away again. He -distinguished the two sets of Gheal's prints leading toward the -mountains by the fact that one set was more deeply imprinted in the -moist sand than the other. Gheal had been carrying McFerson's body.</p> - -<p>But what was this? There was another set of tracks coming toward the -space ship. They were not Gheal's prints, for they were three toed. -Gheal had five toes. Gheal and the creature who had attacked Arlen were -different—one had three, the other five toes.</p> - -<p>Gheal might not have rescued Arlen out of gratitude after all. A -natural enmity might have existed between the two races of Venusians. -Arlen's rescue might have been an accident.</p> - -<p>Arlen studied. There was something else that fitted into the picture. -If he could fit it correctly, he would have the answer. Somehow, now, -he doubted if Gheal had rescued him out of gratitude; yet, he doubted -if the rescue had been purely accidental.</p> - -<p>Arlen returned to the space ship and loaded a haversack with food. He -was going into the mountains to get to the bottom of the mystery. He -scribbled a note and left it in the control cabin in case Renzu or -McFerson returned; if either were alive.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The captain followed the stream into a deep-walled canyon opening -into the mountains. A short distance from the ship he found Gheal's -discarded trousers, indicating beyond a doubt that the Venusian had -come this way after Arlen had been knocked unconscious in the sand.</p> - -<p>A mile or so farther on he saw a print where Gheal had placed McFerson -on the ground. Then, a thrill of gratitude swept over Arlen, another -set of boot prints appeared on the trail. McFerson was not dead. He -was walking.</p> - -<p>The daylight was fading and Arlen realized he would not have much more -time to follow the tracks without the aid of his flashlight. The walls -of the gorge were almost perpendicular now and nearly a mile high on -each side of the stream. The river boiled and churned over the barren -rocks, but its movement was the only animation of the scene. Nowhere -were there signs of life, excepting the footprints on the trail.</p> - -<p>At last the trail forked upward from the stream, following a narrow -ledge of rock along the canyon wall. The footprints of the slain -Venusian now were wide apart and deeply imprinted in the sand, -indicating that the creature had run rapidly down the path.</p> - -<p>"He probably spotted our ship landing and headed toward us right away," -muttered Arlen. "His presence outside the craft may have been what made -Gheal so uneasy yesterday. Gheal sensed an enemy near at hand." But -this didn't seem to be the answer, either.</p> - -<p>Beyond the next curve the canyon walls slid back and the ledge widened -into a gentle slope leading to the top of the canyon. As Arlen climbed -over the rim he found himself on a plateau.</p> - -<p>It was dark now, but the place was lighted by a huge campfire not far -away. Huddled around the campfire were four figures. In the still air -of the night, Arlen heard guttural grunts of Venusians and above these -tones he heard the sharp voice of Harry Renzu issuing commands to these -alien beasts.</p> - -<p>Arlen crept forward and concealed himself behind a rock. There were -three Venusians. He saw something else, too. McFerson, his head swathed -in bandages, was sitting in the shadow of a huge square stone.</p> - -<p>Arlen watched. He could not hear Renzu's words and he moved forward to -obtain a better view, when his hand sank into a sticky mass of slime.</p> - -<p>"Ugh!" he grunted in disgust, lifting his hand.</p> - -<p>It was covered with a thick, viscous jelly. It was sticky and as he -turned his flashlight on the stuff he saw that it was colorless and -translucent. It was not a plant or an animal. It did not move, it was -cold, and had no structure, nor roots.</p> - -<p>Shielding his light so that it could not be seen from the campfire, -Arlen examined the ground around him. There were other small pools of -the stuff in the hollows of rocks and in thick masses on the ground.</p> - -<p>The captain examined the material more closely. It looked strangely -familiar, and some of the text-book science he had learned in -college came back to him. He remembered examining stuff like this -once under a microscope. It was not petroleum, but something vastly -different—something that was synonymous with life.</p> - -<p>It was protoplasm!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Vic Arlen gasped.</p> - -<p>"Protoplasm! Inanimate protoplasm!"</p> - -<p>He forgot he had been nauseated by the slime a moment before and began -to examine the stuff closely. Of course, it was protoplasm, it couldn't -be anything else. Vic Arlen had studied it. He knew. Nothing could hold -water granules in suspension in exactly the same way; nothing had the -same baffling construction.</p> - -<p>But there was a question: scientists admitted life could not exist -without protoplasm, but could protoplasm exist without life?</p> - -<p>In living protoplasm, death alters the structure. But other processes -than life could, conceivably, preserve the stability of the substance. -This would explain the existence of inanimate protoplasm on Venus.</p> - -<p>And why didn't inanimate protoplasm exist on the earth? Arlen thought -for a moment and had the answer for that too. Animal life lives on -protoplasm, as well as being protoplasm itself. Animate protoplasm -can reproduce its kind, but the inanimate kind can neither fight back -nor replace its losses. The inanimate protoplasm on the earth had -disappeared with the appearance of the first animal life. The coming of -the first microbes had caused it to "decay."</p> - -<p>If protoplasm existed on the face of Venus it meant there were no -bacteria, no germs of any sort—<i>no life!</i></p> - -<p>How could Arlen explain Gheal without evolution from the simple to the -complex? Was evolution working differently on Venus? Again Arlen had -run up a blind alley.</p> - -<p>The campfire cast a flickering red glow against the clouds. In spots -above the skies were tinted with other glows from the craters of -Venusian volcanoes. It was not absolutely dark, but it was far from -being as light as a moonlit night on the earth.</p> - -<p>Arlen crept closer to the scene. He could see the Venusians plainly -now. Two of them had three toes, while one had five. The five-toed one -was Gheal.</p> - -<p>Renzu stood before them, grasping his cane. He would make sharp -commands and the Venusians would rise. If they disobeyed, he would -strike them with the cane. They would shriek with pain. At last these -maneuvers ceased and Renzu turned to McFerson.</p> - -<p>"They have to be taught everything," he said. "They have no reflex -actions, no emotions, no instinct—nothing that the lowest creatures on -earth may have. Yet they have everything that makes those things in the -creatures of the earth."</p> - -<p>McFerson did not reply. He was watching with staring eyes; eyes filled -with horror.</p> - -<p>Renzu reached behind a rock. He drew what appeared to be a human -skeleton from the shadow. As Arlen looked a second time, he saw that -it was not a human skeleton, but an imitation built of the silver rods -and wires that Renzu had transported to Venus. The truth was dawning on -Arlen, but it was unnecessary now, for Renzu was explaining.</p> - -<p>"I have created life, McFerson. I have moulded a human likeness out of -protoplasm and fitted it over bones of silver. An electrical device I -have made starts the biological processes going and the protoplasm, -working with chemical exactitude, reforms itself into glands, organs, -muscles and nerves. The product is a beast, inferior to man but -superior to the highest animal on earth, except that he is totally -devoid of such things as reflexes, instincts, emotions and other -survival psychological processes."</p> - -<p>As he spoke, Renzu was moulding some of the protoplasm over the -framework of bones. Arlen understood now why the silver rods had -protruded from the Venusian he had found on the beach. Those pieces of -silver had been the creature's bones.</p> - -<p>"I made four of the creatures on my previous expedition. Brooks helped -me construct three of them, including the creature that attacked -and killed Arlen on the beach. I made Gheal myself. Gheal was a -masterpiece. He was almost, but not quite human. That is why I took him -to earth with me."</p> - -<p>"You're inhuman, Renzu!" McFerson managed to say. "You're less human -than Gheal!"</p> - -<p>"Gheal was more human than you think, McFerson. Brooks, you know, was -killed by one of his creations. The same monster that killed Arlen -accounted for him. Yet that monster, in some ways, was above average. -At least he had the beginnings of an instinct. He wanted to kill. After -Brooks was killed, I used his bones for Gheal's skeleton."</p> - -<p>Arlen stared in speechless horror and amazement.</p> - -<p>"And that isn't all. I'm going to use Arlen's bones for a creature -more human than Gheal. Perhaps, McFerson, your bones may be used for -something greater still. I will make other men, and women, from silver -wire and protoplasm, and create a race of Venusians that will bring -life to this planet. Think of a planet that has evolution beginning -with man and ending with something greater than man has ever dreamed. -And I, McFerson, will be the god of this race!"</p> - -<p>McFerson tried to rise, but Gheal rose with a low throated growl, and -the spaceman sank back on the ground.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Renzu had finished moulding the protoplasm over the silver bones. With -the help of one of the Venusians he lifted the still form into the air -and placed it carefully inside the stone behind McFerson.</p> - -<p>The stone had been hollowed to form a rock sarcophagus.</p> - -<p>Arlen saw in the firelight that electric wires ran from a small battery -beside the box.</p> - -<p>Renzu touched the switch.</p> - -<p>There was a flash of blinding light and sparks flew over the box. Then -Renzu turned off the current and opened the sarcophagus. He worked -rapidly with his hands and then stepped back, holding his cane before -him.</p> - -<p>From the box emerged another Venusian. A replica of Gheal's three-toed -companions.</p> - -<p>For a moment the creature stood motionless, staring from the sight -glands at his surroundings. Renzu struck the monster sharply with his -cane. The brute moved. Again Renzu struck and the creature moved. At -last it seemed to understand, after Renzu struck it repeatedly. The -beast got out of the box.</p> - -<p>Renzu belabored his creation unmercifully with the cane, each movement -had to be directed.</p> - -<p>"They have to be taught everything," Renzu said. "They understand -nothing but pain. I have to beat instincts and reflexes into their dumb -brains, for they have no inherited ones."</p> - -<p>That also explained why Renzu was a complete master over Gheal. The -Venusian depended on Renzu for everything.</p> - -<p>So interested was Arlen watching Renzu train the newly made Venusian, -that the captain did not hear the scrape of a leathery hide on the -rocks behind him. He was unaware of the danger until a ropy cord of -some vile, repulsive tentacle seized him, pulled him off his feet to -the ground and dragged him toward the camp fire.</p> - -<p>The rays of the firelight revealed Arlen's captor: a serpent as large -as a python which held him in the crushing folds of its body as it -moved deliberately toward Renzu.</p> - -<p>Renzu was amazed at the sight of Arlen.</p> - -<p>"I thought you were dead!" he gasped.</p> - -<p>"No," Arlen said. "Your creation didn't quite succeed in killing me."</p> - -<p>Renzu smiled. "But I see that you did bring your fine bones to me after -all!" He struck the serpent sharply with his cane and the monster -released his grip on Arlen. "The animal that caught you, captain, was -one of our first experiments. It was by charging a string of protoplasm -with electricity, that we discovered that we could make it live. The -result was the pseudo-python, who makes a good watchdog, if nothing -else. It's entirely harmless, since it feeds entirely on inanimate -protoplasm. Unfortunately for Brooks, it was this creature that caught -him and held him while No. 3—the Venusian—killed him."</p> - -<p>"It was deliberate murder," said Arlen.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps terrestrial law would define it as murder," Renzu said. "But -here on Venus there is no law. It was a scientific experiment."</p> - -<p>"And you will murder McFerson and me?"</p> - -<p>"I need your skeletons. They will be a fine heritage for future races -of Venusians. Think how you and McFerson will be glorified in Venusian -mythology."</p> - -<p>Renzu's eyes were glowing in the firelight with madness. Arlen looked -at the hideous Venusians, seated nearby, watching idiotically. It was -diabolical!</p> - -<p>"Now comes an important decision. Shall I use you, or McFerson, first?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>McFerson closed his eyes.</p> - -<p>"The man's insane, Cap!"</p> - -<p>Arlen looked about him. The python was nearby, coiled neatly beside a -rock, ready to spring if he tried to escape.</p> - -<p>One of the Venusians rose and threw some shale on the fire. It was -crude petroleum shale. An idea came to Arlen. If he could put out the -fire, he might be able to escape in the darkness.</p> - -<p>Then Arlen remembered. His disintegrator was still in his pocket. -Renzu, interested in his experiment, had forgotten to search him, -believing perhaps that Arlen had been disarmed in the attack on the -beach.</p> - -<p>Arlen was tempted to use the weapon now, and to blast Renzu and his -hideous tribe of monsters out of existence. But to kill a man without -giving him a chance was not Arlen's way of doing things. The Venusians, -too, now had a right to live. Had they attacked, Arlen would not have -hesitated to kill, but Arlen realized that the only vicious Venusian -was dead. Perhaps Renzu himself had taught that single Venusian how to -kill.</p> - -<p>"McFerson," spoke Arlen, "are you all right? Did Gheal hurt you?"</p> - -<p>"He bloodied my nose and knocked me out," McFerson said. "He didn't -mean to harm me. Gheal really is gentle as a kitten."</p> - -<p>"I think I will use your bones first, Arlen," said Renzu. "You may sit -down beside McFerson. I may as well warn you that there is no chance of -escape. The python guards the only way back and my Venusians enjoy the -creation of another of their kind. They won't let a chance to see it be -spoiled."</p> - -<p>Renzu began filling some woven baskets with the inanimate protoplasm as -Arlen sat down beside his companion.</p> - -<p>"Could you run for it, if I knocked out the campfire?" Arlen asked.</p> - -<p>"I can run, but how will you knock out the fire?"</p> - -<p>Vic Arlen acted quickly. His hand brought the disintegrator out of -his pocket and he fired straight into the center of the campfire. The -atomic blast instantly consumed the inflammable material in the fire -and the plateau was dark.</p> - -<p>"Run!" Arlen cried. "And look out for the python."</p> - -<p>Arlen sprang forward. He heard a leathery scrape ahead of him. It was -the serpent. He dodged back. Suddenly from behind came a hoarse cry.</p> - -<p>Arlen turned, ready to blast the Venusian that had shouted. But the -Venusian did not attack. Instead, it darted forward, and with a flying -leap it sprang upon the python. A roar came from the Venusian's throat.</p> - -<p>It was Gheal. Arlen would have recognized the voice anywhere.</p> - -<p>The faint glow from the volcanoes showed him the edge of the plateau.</p> - -<p>Renzu was screaming behind him and he heard the pad-pad of the running -feet of the three remaining Venusians. But Arlen was clear and McFerson -was running beside him.</p> - -<p>Arlen took his flashlight from his pocket and used it to follow the -narrow ledge down the mountain into the canyon. Behind the two men, -sounds of pursuit grew fainter.</p> - -<p>"We're safe," Arlen said, slackening his pace. "Renzu won't follow us -as long as he knows we're armed."</p> - -<p>"He's armed, too," McFerson said.</p> - -<p>"He wants our bones too badly to use a disintegrator on us," Arlen -laughed.</p> - -<p>The two men traveled on. The Venusian dawn came swiftly.</p> - -<p>"You see, Mac," Arlen went on, "we're not human beings to Renzu, -but part of an experiment. Science has overshadowed Renzu's sense -of values. Perhaps he murdered Jimmy Brooks; we know he would have -murdered us to perfect an experiment. Renzu was creating life, and he -would kill to do it. He wanted to be the god of a world that started -with a complex organism instead of a simple microbe."</p> - -<p>"The only trouble is that the life lacked instincts that it took -terrestrial animals millions of years to acquire," McFerson added.</p> - -<p>"That's what creation may be, Mac," said Arlen. "We did more in a few -minutes than Renzu did with all his scientific knowledge. Gheal learned -the meaning of gratitude. I treated him kindly, and he repaid me by -helping us escape."</p> - -<p>They reached the ship. The sea was boiling over the sands. Here and -there, along the water's edge as the dawn broke over Venus, they -saw globose formations of inanimate Venusian protoplasm, seemingly -awaiting the spark that would turn them into living organisms.</p> - -<p>Venus was in an azoic age, but life was beginning to appear. It was -life created by a human god, who also was a human devil, a monster. -Future generations of Venusians might worship Harry Renzu, unknowing -that it was the lowly Gheal that brought the first worthwhile instinct -to their race.</p> - -<p>Somewhere, far behind in the canyon, were four hideous monsters and a -beast that resembled a serpent. This stampede of protoplasmic creation -was led by its mad god, driven onward by the lust of this insane -demiurge for the bones of his fellow deities.</p> - -<p>"Okay!" said Arlen, priming the rockets.</p> - -<p>"Okay!" shouted McFerson.</p> - -<p><i>The Traveler</i> was ready to rocket home.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Genesis!, by R.R. 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Winterbotham - -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/license - - -Title: Genesis! - -Author: R.R. Winterbotham - -Release Date: April 24, 2020 [EBook #61907] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GENESIS! *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - GENESIS! - - By R. R. WINTERBOTHAM - - Renzu was mad, certainly! From Venus' lifeless - clay he dreamed of moulding a mighty race; a - new Creation, with himself as God! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1941. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -The unreal silence of outer space closed in about _The Traveler_. In -front of the huge atom-powered space rocket hung the sun's dazzling -disc and behind the pale, silver face of the earth echoed the light. -Captain Vic Arlen was a god in the heavens; Dave McFerson, the -engineer, was a demi-god. And what was Harry Renzu? It was hard to -call a great scientist a devil. - -There was Gheal--neither god nor devil, only a poor, hideous, -half-human slave that had been brought with Renzu to the earth from a -previous expedition to Venus. Captain Arlen quit trying to classify -himself and his passengers. They were neither gods nor devils. Not even -men, taking the group as a whole. - -An ominous chill seemed to reach through the beryllium hull of the ship -from outer space, caressing Arlen's backbone. A faint cry sounded in -the passageway that led to the sleeping quarters behind the control -room. - -The captain tripped the controls into neutral. The acceleration was -complete and from now until the braking rockets were fired, the craft -would follow its carefully calculated orbit. - -Again came the cry, a groan of pain and a moaning sob. The captain -strode into the passage. - -"Gheal!" he called, recognizing the Venusian's hoarse voice. "Gheal! -What's the matter?" - -A repetition of the cry was the only answer. The passageway was open, -but the sobs seemed to be coming from the cabin of Harry Renzu, the -scientist who had chartered the moon rocket for his second expedition -to Venus. - -The captain paused before the cabin door, listening. The cry came again -and he pushed open the door. - -The hideous Venusian was on the floor, looking upward with his two -light-sensitive eye-glands at Renzu, who stood over him with an -upraised cane. - -Gheal's rubbery, lipless mouth was agape, revealing his long, sharp -teeth. He had raised one of his long, rope-muscled arms to catch the -descending blow. His hairless, leathery body trembled slightly with -pain. - -"You dumb, dim-witted chunk of Venusian protoplasm!" Renzu snarled as -he brought the cane crashing over the monster's shoulders. "When I want -a thing done, I want it done!" - -Arlen pushed into the room and seized Renzu's arm before the scientist -could strike again. - -"Hold on, Renzu!" Arlen commanded, pushing the scientist back and -seizing the cane. "Lay off! Can't you treat this miserable wretch with -decency?" - -Renzu's face flushed angrily. His deep-set eyes burned with fury. - -"This is none of your affair!" Renzu snapped. "Go back to your business -of running this ship. I didn't hire you to run my business." - -"This may be your expedition," Arlen replied stubbornly, "but while -we're in space, I'm the captain of this ship and my orders are to be -obeyed. My orders are to give this Venusian beast humane treatment." - -A whimpering sob broke from the throat of the brute on the floor. - -Renzu sullenly twisted his arm loose from the captain's grasp. He -appeared more calm now. - -"You are right, Arlen," he said. "Your orders are to be obeyed. But you -aren't a scientist. You don't know Gheal. He's not like the animals we -know on the earth. He has to be beaten." - -"Not while we're in space. I won't stand for it." - -"You can't stand in the way of science, Arlen. I shall whip Gheal, if I -deem it necessary." Renzu ended his words with a suggestive snap of his -fingers in Gheal's direction. The monster cringed into a corner of the -stateroom. - -"Come with me, Gheal," Arlen ordered, beckoning to the monster. - -The creature, seeming to understand, rose to his feet and followed -Arlen out of the door. - -<tb> - -The captain took the Venusian forward into the control room, where he -daubed the welts on the creature's naked shoulders with arnica. - -McFerson, easy-going, but dependable old spaceman, watched the -operation critically. Gheal winced as the arnica touched his skin. He -squirmed and tried to resist. - -"Hold on a minute, Cap," McFerson said. "Look at the right shoulder, -where you put the arnica; it's red and inflamed." - -"So it is, but arnica ought to help." - -"Look at the left shoulder, where you haven't put any arnica." - -"Great guns! It's almost healed!" - -"I'd say maybe arnica wasn't the best treatment." - -Captain Arlen corked the bottle and put it aside. "Gheal looks like a -man. Sometimes he acts like a man. Yet he's entirely different most of -the time. - -"I've been watching him, Cap. I somehow get the idea that Gheal finds -it unhandy, most of the time, to be built like a man." - -The captain laughed. He took Gheal's arm and held it up. "Look at that. -Good, human bones, but the body of a monster. I wish you could talk, -Gheal. I wish you could tell us more about yourself. Why are you almost -a man yet the farthest point south?" - -Gheal uttered a sort of deep-throated growl. - -"Renzu says you can be vicious--that you're a killer at heart. Renzu -said one of your kind killed Jimmy Brooks on the first expedition. You -don't look like a killer. Brooks was a big man. You'd have a hard time -killing him." - -Gheal's sight-glands stared from Arlen to McFerson. - -Arlen laughed and patted Gheal's hairless head and pointed to a -built-in seat in the corner. - -"You're welcome to stay here as long as you don't bother us," he said. - -Gheal shuffled uneasily and whimpered, but he did not go to the -seat. Instead, he turned and moved toward the door. The creature -looked ridiculous, clad as he was only in a pair of Renzu's discarded -trousers, which had been rolled at the bottom to fit his stubby legs. - -At the door the Venusian hesitated and glanced back at the captain. -Then he slowly turned and shuffled down the passageway. - -"Hey you!" Captain Arlen shouted. "Come back here!" - -Gheal did not stop. He was striding to Renzu's room. He pushed open the -door. - -A fear for Renzu's safety rushed into the captain's mind. He ran after -the creature and entered Renzu's cabin. But as he opened the door he -gasped in astonishment. - -Gheal was crawling into a corner of the room, while Renzu stood nearby -laughing. - -"You see, Arlen," smiled Renzu, "I'm his master. He recognizes my -authority and no one else's. He would not desert me, no matter how I -treated him." - -Renzu picked up the cane that Arlen had tossed on the bunk a few -minutes before. As the scientist shook the stick at Gheal, Arlen -thought he saw a look of satisfaction creep into the creature's face. - -"Just the same," Arlen said, "I can't stand your beating him. He may -enjoy it. He may be a masochist at heart, but I won't stand for it." - -"Your mind is provincially human, Arlen," said Renzu. "When you look -at Gheal you see the product of an entirely different evolution. You -see a creature without emotions, without ethics. He's devoid of every -terrestrial feeling, especially gratitude. He may even hate you for -taking his side against me." - -There was a trace of bitterness in Renzu's voice. - -"I wouldn't be too sure, Renzu," Arlen said. "If the laws of physics -apply on Venus, as well as the earth, why couldn't biological and -psychological laws apply there also. Even the lowest of creatures show -understandable reactions on earth. Why not on Venus?" - -"Because Gheal has been made differently," Renzu said, with a repulsive -grin. - -<tb> - -Hour by hour Captain Arlen watched Venus grow in size. The planet -expanded from a glowing crescent to the size of the moon as seen from -the earth; soon it floated large in space, filling half the sky ahead -of the ship, a billowing, fluffy ball of shining clouds. Its surface -was entirely obscured by its misty atmosphere. - -Arlen began braking the ship and he called Renzu into the control room -for a conference on where to pierce the cloud blanket. - -Renzu, huge and muscular, overdid himself in graciousness as he greeted -Arlen in the control room. The scientist seemed to radiate exaltation -and he strained himself to appear congenial. - -The man was excited, Arlen decided, for Arlen himself was thrilled -at the prospect of adventure, of seeing strange sights on a strange -planet. But the reaction was different in Arlen. Where Renzu swelled -and swaggered, Arlen looked dreamily into the clouds ahead. - -"I'm bringing the ship around to the sunward side," Arlen said. "It's -best to land about noon--that is the noon point. The planet turns once -in thirty hours and that will give us a little more than seven hours of -daylight to orient ourselves after the landing." - -Renzu nodded in agreement. All this had been threshed out before. - -"Very well," he said, "but it is best that you pierce the clouds at -about forty-five degrees north latitude. There's ocean there that -nearly circles the planet and there's fewer chances of running into -mountains beneath the clouds. Once we're through the cloud belt, we'll -have no difficulty. The clouds are three or four miles above the -surface and there's plenty of room to maneuver beneath them." - -Arlen twisted the valves and the deceleration became uncomfortably -violent. Renzu's first trip had determined the existence of a -breathable atmosphere on the surface of Venus, although the cloud belt -was filled with gases given off by Venusian volcanoes, and many of -these gases were poisonous to man. - -In a few minutes the rocket ship stood off just above the cloud belt. -McFerson checked the landing mechanism and made his final report to the -captain. Arlen checked the gravity gauge, which now would be used as an -altimeter during the blind flying in the Venusian clouds. - -"Okay!" Captain Arlen called. - -"Okay!" echoed McFerson. - -_The Traveler_ nosed downward into the rolling clouds. A whistling -whine arose as the craft struck the atoms of the atmosphere. Repulsion -jets set up their thunder and the landing operation began. - -The ship settled slowly through the clouds. The mist completely -obscured everything outside the craft and Arlen flew blind, trusting -his meteor detection devices to warn him of mountain peaks, which he -feared despite Renzu's assurance that there were no high ranges at this -latitude. - -At last the craft dropped through the wispy canopy to float serenely -over a calm ocean which bulged upward toward them in the solar flood -tide. - -To the northwest was a dim coastline. High mountains were faintly -visible against the horizon. - -"Perfect!" said Renzu. "That is my continent--our destination. Sail -toward it." - -The ship zoomed toward the land at the comparatively slow speed of five -hundred miles an hour. In a few minutes it was decelerating again, with -the continent before them. - -The high mountain range clambered up from a narrow plain that skirted -the sea. This plain was sandy, a desert waste, but Renzu indicated it -was the spot for the landing. - -Arlen brought _The Traveler_ down gently alongside a broad stream that -emptied into the sea. When the dust of the landing cleared away, he -looked with dumbfounded amazement at the Venusian scene. - -As far as his eyes could see were barren rocks and sand: there were -no trees, no grass, no signs of life. The planet was as sterile as an -antiseptic solution. Even seaweed and mosses were missing from the -seashore. - -"Maybe you know what you're doing, Renzu," Arlen said, "but it looks to -me as if you've directed us to the edge of a desert." - -"'Tain't no small desert, either," chimed McFerson. - -"My dear Arlen," Renzu replied, cracking his lips in another of his -irritating smiles, "this is one of the most fertile spots on the entire -planet. You must remember, Venus is much different from the earth." - -<tb> - -Immediately after the landing all hands, including Renzu, were busy -with the routine duties that the expedition required. Gheal was given -simple tasks, such as unpacking boxes of equipment to be used by the -expedition, but the Venusian seemed to attend to these in a preoccupied -manner. He worked in sort of a daze, frequently whimpering like a -sick dog, and turning his globular eyes from time to time out of the -porthole at the landscape of his native planet. - -"He's homesick," McFerson suggested to Arlen. "But look! What's he got -in his hand?" - -It was a long white bar of metal. Arlen quickly seized the bar and -examined it. It was pure silver. Gheal had been unpacking a box -crammed with silver bars of assorted lengths and thicknesses, ranging -from the size of small wire up to rods half an inch thick and a foot or -more in length. A fortune in silver had been transported to Venus. - -"Well, that's Renzu's business, not mine," Arlen decided. - -He returned to his duties. There was much to do: the engines had to be -recharged, preparatory to a quick takeoff, should conditions arise to -make the planet untenable for earthmen. - -Tests of the soil revealed utter sterility of all forms of life. It -was baffling. Some sort of bacteria should have been in the soil, even -though the place was only a desert. - -Arlen opened the arms chest and issued small but powerful atomic -disintegrators to McFerson, Renzu and himself. He did not give Gheal -one of the weapons, for Gheal did not appear to have the skill -necessary to operate it. His uncanny ignorance was so obvious. - -The disintegrators were simple magnetic mechanisms capable of -collapsing atoms of atmosphere and sending the resultant force of -energy in a directed stream toward a target. Fire from disintegrators -could melt large rocks almost instantly and it could destroy any living -creature known to man. - -Renzu strapped his weapon at his side and turned to Arlen. - -"I'm going outside for a walk with Gheal," he said. "Gheal seems -nervous and uneasy. Perhaps his actions are due to his return to his -native land. A walk might make him happier, in his own peculiar way." - -Arlen nodded and went back to the control room to talk to McFerson. He -found the engineer looking out of a porthole. - -"Look!" McFerson said, pointing out the porthole. - -Trudging along the beach, carrying the case containing the silver rods, -were Renzu and Gheal. The Venusian was walking with difficulty, but as -he faltered, Renzu would kick him unmercifully and force him on. - -"The devil!" Captain Arlen said. "He doesn't dare beat Gheal when he -knows I'm watching." - -McFerson shook his head. - -"Maybe he's right, treating Gheal that way," he said. "After all, -Renzu is a scientist and he knows more about Gheal than we do. Maybe -he's right in saying beating is the only treatment Gheal understands. -Besides, I don't know if I trust Gheal. Since we've landed he's acted -like a tiger in a cage. Gheal's a Venusian and Venusians are supposed -to have murdered Renzu's partner on the first expedition." - -"But even the worst creature on earth--except man, perhaps--doesn't -kill without a reason. And even man sometimes has a reason, when -apparently he hasn't." - -Darkness descended rapidly on Venus and Renzu did not return. The two -spacemen decided it was unnecessary to stand guard and turned in. Renzu -knew how to operate the space locks from the outside of the ship and -could enter when he returned. Gheal, whose clumsy fingers were too -unwieldly even to operate a disintegrator gun, would not be able to -operate the locks, nor would any creature like him. - -It was still dark when Arlen awakened. The long, fifteen-hour Venusian -night was completed and still Renzu had not returned. - -The captain awakened McFerson. They ate a light breakfast and did minor -chores on the ship until daylight suddenly lighted the landscape. - -"Do you suppose we ought to look for them? Maybe Gheal went haywire. -Maybe something's happened." - -Arlen considered. Renzu was armed, while Gheal was not. Renzu claimed -complete mastery over the Venusian, yet something might have happened -to give Gheal the upper hand. Not that Renzu didn't deserve it. - -"I'll go outside and look around," Arlen said. - -Arlen stepped through the locks. The warm Venusian air was -invigorating. He took a deep breath. - -A shuffling sound behind him caused the captain to turn. There, -rounding the end of the ship was a creature, fully naked, staring at -him with gland-like eyes and baring his teeth in a vicious snarl. - -"Gheal!" Arlen cried. "Gheal! Where's Renzu?" - -The creature did not reply. Instead, it advanced slowly with a -shuffling crouch, stretching his arms menacingly toward Arlen. - -<tb> - -Arlen's hand went to his disintegrator. The creature resembled Gheal, -but it did not act like Gheal. The captain's eyes swept over the animal -again. No, it wasn't Gheal. There were differences. It was another of -Gheal's race. - -Arlen hesitated to kill the creature. If there were a tribe of the -creatures in the vicinity, such an act would arouse enmity. It would -lead to complications that would endanger Renzu, who was away from -the ship. Yet, Arlen could not be sure what reaction would follow a -slaying. Renzu had said that Venusians had no emotions, in the sense -that man has them. But Gheal certainly had been nostalgic on the day -before. That at least was understandable in a human sense. - -Arlen leveled his pistol. Suddenly another figure appeared. - -A low-voiced whine sounded as the second figure darted forward. - -It was the real Gheal. He was still wearing Renzu's trousers. - -The first Venusian turned. He hesitated stupidly, undecided whether -to continue his charge toward Arlen, or to meet the foe who came from -behind. Finally, the beast apparently decided that Arlen was the most -tempting. - -The animal sprang at the captain. - -Arlen held his gun ready to fire, but the Venusian had acted with a -swiftness that belied his clumsy appearance. Before Arlen could fire, a -heavy, rubbery arm crashed down on his skull. A meteor shower seemed to -flash through Arlen's brain, and then darkness closed in about him as -he tumbled to the sandy beach. - -Arlen opened his eyes. He had no way of telling how long he had lain -on the ground. On Venus one never sees the sun; daylight appears and -daylight fades, but there is no way of telling the time of day from the -position of the sun overhead. - -The captain's head ached as he lifted himself from the ground. He shook -his head to clear away the haze and he stretched his arms to rise. His -fingers struck something leathery and cold. - -There at his side lay the Venusian monster who had attacked him. A wave -of nausea swept over him as he saw the lifeless body horribly mutilated -and torn. The sandy soil of the beach was torn with the struggle that -had taken place. - -Arlen forgot his aching head at he examined the dead Venusian. His -disintegrator had not slain the Venusian; clearly Gheal had done the -job. - -"So Gheal came to my rescue!" Arlen exclaimed. "Renzu must have been -wrong. These Venusians do have gratitude." - -His eyes saw something else as they traveled over the body. - -Protruding from the body was a silver rod. Gingerly Arlen tried to pull -the rod from the animal's body, but it would not budge. Was it a weapon? - -Arlen saw other rods sticking from the animal, covered with blood. All -of them seemed firmly set in the body of the Venusian. - -Arlen looked behind him. The locks of the space ship were open. He -moved wearily to the door and stuck his head inside. - -"McFerson!" he called. - -There was no answer. - -Arlen entered the ship. He carried his disintegrator in his hand. -Venusians might have entered the ship ahead of him. Lights were still -burning in the living quarters, but McFerson was gone. - -Arlen moved on; he searched each cabin, but there was no sign of -McFerson, until he reached the control room. There furniture had been -overturned, instruments smashed, and a pool of blood lay on the floor. - -Gheal had done this. Arlen was sure that no other Venusian could have -entered the ship and crept up on McFerson without arousing suspicion. -McFerson's disintegrator lay on the floor beside the pool of blood, -indicating that McFerson had grown suspicious too late. The gun had not -been discharged. - -The first thing Arlen had to do was to protect himself from further -attack. He drew his own gun and closed the outer locks. The next thing -would be to decide what had happened and what to do. - -Renzu probably had suffered the same fate as McFerson, Arlen decided. -He was alone, in a strange world, face to face with a race of -mankilling monsters. The only thing in his favor was that one of these -monsters had befriended him. But how long and how far could Arlen trust -this friendship? - -There was, however, a chance that McFerson or Renzu still might be -living. He had to know for sure about this before he did anything else. -And the only way to learn was to investigate. - -He left the ship, carefully closing the locks and fastening them behind -him. He found many tracks leading away from the ship, along the banks -of the stream that flowed from the mountains. - -From among the tracks he picked out Renzu's bootprints. There were -tracks of Gheal going away, coming back, and going away again. He -distinguished the two sets of Gheal's prints leading toward the -mountains by the fact that one set was more deeply imprinted in the -moist sand than the other. Gheal had been carrying McFerson's body. - -But what was this? There was another set of tracks coming toward the -space ship. They were not Gheal's prints, for they were three toed. -Gheal had five toes. Gheal and the creature who had attacked Arlen were -different--one had three, the other five toes. - -Gheal might not have rescued Arlen out of gratitude after all. A -natural enmity might have existed between the two races of Venusians. -Arlen's rescue might have been an accident. - -Arlen studied. There was something else that fitted into the picture. -If he could fit it correctly, he would have the answer. Somehow, now, -he doubted if Gheal had rescued him out of gratitude; yet, he doubted -if the rescue had been purely accidental. - -Arlen returned to the space ship and loaded a haversack with food. He -was going into the mountains to get to the bottom of the mystery. He -scribbled a note and left it in the control cabin in case Renzu or -McFerson returned; if either were alive. - -<tb> - -The captain followed the stream into a deep-walled canyon opening -into the mountains. A short distance from the ship he found Gheal's -discarded trousers, indicating beyond a doubt that the Venusian had -come this way after Arlen had been knocked unconscious in the sand. - -A mile or so farther on he saw a print where Gheal had placed McFerson -on the ground. Then, a thrill of gratitude swept over Arlen, another -set of boot prints appeared on the trail. McFerson was not dead. He -was walking. - -The daylight was fading and Arlen realized he would not have much more -time to follow the tracks without the aid of his flashlight. The walls -of the gorge were almost perpendicular now and nearly a mile high on -each side of the stream. The river boiled and churned over the barren -rocks, but its movement was the only animation of the scene. Nowhere -were there signs of life, excepting the footprints on the trail. - -At last the trail forked upward from the stream, following a narrow -ledge of rock along the canyon wall. The footprints of the slain -Venusian now were wide apart and deeply imprinted in the sand, -indicating that the creature had run rapidly down the path. - -"He probably spotted our ship landing and headed toward us right away," -muttered Arlen. "His presence outside the craft may have been what made -Gheal so uneasy yesterday. Gheal sensed an enemy near at hand." But -this didn't seem to be the answer, either. - -Beyond the next curve the canyon walls slid back and the ledge widened -into a gentle slope leading to the top of the canyon. As Arlen climbed -over the rim he found himself on a plateau. - -It was dark now, but the place was lighted by a huge campfire not far -away. Huddled around the campfire were four figures. In the still air -of the night, Arlen heard guttural grunts of Venusians and above these -tones he heard the sharp voice of Harry Renzu issuing commands to these -alien beasts. - -Arlen crept forward and concealed himself behind a rock. There were -three Venusians. He saw something else, too. McFerson, his head swathed -in bandages, was sitting in the shadow of a huge square stone. - -Arlen watched. He could not hear Renzu's words and he moved forward to -obtain a better view, when his hand sank into a sticky mass of slime. - -"Ugh!" he grunted in disgust, lifting his hand. - -It was covered with a thick, viscous jelly. It was sticky and as he -turned his flashlight on the stuff he saw that it was colorless and -translucent. It was not a plant or an animal. It did not move, it was -cold, and had no structure, nor roots. - -Shielding his light so that it could not be seen from the campfire, -Arlen examined the ground around him. There were other small pools of -the stuff in the hollows of rocks and in thick masses on the ground. - -The captain examined the material more closely. It looked strangely -familiar, and some of the text-book science he had learned in -college came back to him. He remembered examining stuff like this -once under a microscope. It was not petroleum, but something vastly -different--something that was synonymous with life. - -It was protoplasm! - -<tb> - -Vic Arlen gasped. - -"Protoplasm! Inanimate protoplasm!" - -He forgot he had been nauseated by the slime a moment before and began -to examine the stuff closely. Of course, it was protoplasm, it couldn't -be anything else. Vic Arlen had studied it. He knew. Nothing could hold -water granules in suspension in exactly the same way; nothing had the -same baffling construction. - -But there was a question: scientists admitted life could not exist -without protoplasm, but could protoplasm exist without life? - -In living protoplasm, death alters the structure. But other processes -than life could, conceivably, preserve the stability of the substance. -This would explain the existence of inanimate protoplasm on Venus. - -And why didn't inanimate protoplasm exist on the earth? Arlen thought -for a moment and had the answer for that too. Animal life lives on -protoplasm, as well as being protoplasm itself. Animate protoplasm -can reproduce its kind, but the inanimate kind can neither fight back -nor replace its losses. The inanimate protoplasm on the earth had -disappeared with the appearance of the first animal life. The coming of -the first microbes had caused it to "decay." - -If protoplasm existed on the face of Venus it meant there were no -bacteria, no germs of any sort--_no life!_ - -How could Arlen explain Gheal without evolution from the simple to the -complex? Was evolution working differently on Venus? Again Arlen had -run up a blind alley. - -The campfire cast a flickering red glow against the clouds. In spots -above the skies were tinted with other glows from the craters of -Venusian volcanoes. It was not absolutely dark, but it was far from -being as light as a moonlit night on the earth. - -Arlen crept closer to the scene. He could see the Venusians plainly -now. Two of them had three toes, while one had five. The five-toed one -was Gheal. - -Renzu stood before them, grasping his cane. He would make sharp -commands and the Venusians would rise. If they disobeyed, he would -strike them with the cane. They would shriek with pain. At last these -maneuvers ceased and Renzu turned to McFerson. - -"They have to be taught everything," he said. "They have no reflex -actions, no emotions, no instinct--nothing that the lowest creatures on -earth may have. Yet they have everything that makes those things in the -creatures of the earth." - -McFerson did not reply. He was watching with staring eyes; eyes filled -with horror. - -Renzu reached behind a rock. He drew what appeared to be a human -skeleton from the shadow. As Arlen looked a second time, he saw that -it was not a human skeleton, but an imitation built of the silver rods -and wires that Renzu had transported to Venus. The truth was dawning on -Arlen, but it was unnecessary now, for Renzu was explaining. - -"I have created life, McFerson. I have moulded a human likeness out of -protoplasm and fitted it over bones of silver. An electrical device I -have made starts the biological processes going and the protoplasm, -working with chemical exactitude, reforms itself into glands, organs, -muscles and nerves. The product is a beast, inferior to man but -superior to the highest animal on earth, except that he is totally -devoid of such things as reflexes, instincts, emotions and other -survival psychological processes." - -As he spoke, Renzu was moulding some of the protoplasm over the -framework of bones. Arlen understood now why the silver rods had -protruded from the Venusian he had found on the beach. Those pieces of -silver had been the creature's bones. - -"I made four of the creatures on my previous expedition. Brooks helped -me construct three of them, including the creature that attacked -and killed Arlen on the beach. I made Gheal myself. Gheal was a -masterpiece. He was almost, but not quite human. That is why I took him -to earth with me." - -"You're inhuman, Renzu!" McFerson managed to say. "You're less human -than Gheal!" - -"Gheal was more human than you think, McFerson. Brooks, you know, was -killed by one of his creations. The same monster that killed Arlen -accounted for him. Yet that monster, in some ways, was above average. -At least he had the beginnings of an instinct. He wanted to kill. After -Brooks was killed, I used his bones for Gheal's skeleton." - -Arlen stared in speechless horror and amazement. - -"And that isn't all. I'm going to use Arlen's bones for a creature -more human than Gheal. Perhaps, McFerson, your bones may be used for -something greater still. I will make other men, and women, from silver -wire and protoplasm, and create a race of Venusians that will bring -life to this planet. Think of a planet that has evolution beginning -with man and ending with something greater than man has ever dreamed. -And I, McFerson, will be the god of this race!" - -McFerson tried to rise, but Gheal rose with a low throated growl, and -the spaceman sank back on the ground. - -<tb> - -Renzu had finished moulding the protoplasm over the silver bones. With -the help of one of the Venusians he lifted the still form into the air -and placed it carefully inside the stone behind McFerson. - -The stone had been hollowed to form a rock sarcophagus. - -Arlen saw in the firelight that electric wires ran from a small battery -beside the box. - -Renzu touched the switch. - -There was a flash of blinding light and sparks flew over the box. Then -Renzu turned off the current and opened the sarcophagus. He worked -rapidly with his hands and then stepped back, holding his cane before -him. - -From the box emerged another Venusian. A replica of Gheal's three-toed -companions. - -For a moment the creature stood motionless, staring from the sight -glands at his surroundings. Renzu struck the monster sharply with his -cane. The brute moved. Again Renzu struck and the creature moved. At -last it seemed to understand, after Renzu struck it repeatedly. The -beast got out of the box. - -Renzu belabored his creation unmercifully with the cane, each movement -had to be directed. - -"They have to be taught everything," Renzu said. "They understand -nothing but pain. I have to beat instincts and reflexes into their dumb -brains, for they have no inherited ones." - -That also explained why Renzu was a complete master over Gheal. The -Venusian depended on Renzu for everything. - -So interested was Arlen watching Renzu train the newly made Venusian, -that the captain did not hear the scrape of a leathery hide on the -rocks behind him. He was unaware of the danger until a ropy cord of -some vile, repulsive tentacle seized him, pulled him off his feet to -the ground and dragged him toward the camp fire. - -The rays of the firelight revealed Arlen's captor: a serpent as large -as a python which held him in the crushing folds of its body as it -moved deliberately toward Renzu. - -Renzu was amazed at the sight of Arlen. - -"I thought you were dead!" he gasped. - -"No," Arlen said. "Your creation didn't quite succeed in killing me." - -Renzu smiled. "But I see that you did bring your fine bones to me after -all!" He struck the serpent sharply with his cane and the monster -released his grip on Arlen. "The animal that caught you, captain, was -one of our first experiments. It was by charging a string of protoplasm -with electricity, that we discovered that we could make it live. The -result was the pseudo-python, who makes a good watchdog, if nothing -else. It's entirely harmless, since it feeds entirely on inanimate -protoplasm. Unfortunately for Brooks, it was this creature that caught -him and held him while No. 3--the Venusian--killed him." - -"It was deliberate murder," said Arlen. - -"Perhaps terrestrial law would define it as murder," Renzu said. "But -here on Venus there is no law. It was a scientific experiment." - -"And you will murder McFerson and me?" - -"I need your skeletons. They will be a fine heritage for future races -of Venusians. Think how you and McFerson will be glorified in Venusian -mythology." - -Renzu's eyes were glowing in the firelight with madness. Arlen looked -at the hideous Venusians, seated nearby, watching idiotically. It was -diabolical! - -"Now comes an important decision. Shall I use you, or McFerson, first?" - -<tb> - -McFerson closed his eyes. - -"The man's insane, Cap!" - -Arlen looked about him. The python was nearby, coiled neatly beside a -rock, ready to spring if he tried to escape. - -One of the Venusians rose and threw some shale on the fire. It was -crude petroleum shale. An idea came to Arlen. If he could put out the -fire, he might be able to escape in the darkness. - -Then Arlen remembered. His disintegrator was still in his pocket. -Renzu, interested in his experiment, had forgotten to search him, -believing perhaps that Arlen had been disarmed in the attack on the -beach. - -Arlen was tempted to use the weapon now, and to blast Renzu and his -hideous tribe of monsters out of existence. But to kill a man without -giving him a chance was not Arlen's way of doing things. The Venusians, -too, now had a right to live. Had they attacked, Arlen would not have -hesitated to kill, but Arlen realized that the only vicious Venusian -was dead. Perhaps Renzu himself had taught that single Venusian how to -kill. - -"McFerson," spoke Arlen, "are you all right? Did Gheal hurt you?" - -"He bloodied my nose and knocked me out," McFerson said. "He didn't -mean to harm me. Gheal really is gentle as a kitten." - -"I think I will use your bones first, Arlen," said Renzu. "You may sit -down beside McFerson. I may as well warn you that there is no chance of -escape. The python guards the only way back and my Venusians enjoy the -creation of another of their kind. They won't let a chance to see it be -spoiled." - -Renzu began filling some woven baskets with the inanimate protoplasm as -Arlen sat down beside his companion. - -"Could you run for it, if I knocked out the campfire?" Arlen asked. - -"I can run, but how will you knock out the fire?" - -Vic Arlen acted quickly. His hand brought the disintegrator out of -his pocket and he fired straight into the center of the campfire. The -atomic blast instantly consumed the inflammable material in the fire -and the plateau was dark. - -"Run!" Arlen cried. "And look out for the python." - -Arlen sprang forward. He heard a leathery scrape ahead of him. It was -the serpent. He dodged back. Suddenly from behind came a hoarse cry. - -Arlen turned, ready to blast the Venusian that had shouted. But the -Venusian did not attack. Instead, it darted forward, and with a flying -leap it sprang upon the python. A roar came from the Venusian's throat. - -It was Gheal. Arlen would have recognized the voice anywhere. - -The faint glow from the volcanoes showed him the edge of the plateau. - -Renzu was screaming behind him and he heard the pad-pad of the running -feet of the three remaining Venusians. But Arlen was clear and McFerson -was running beside him. - -Arlen took his flashlight from his pocket and used it to follow the -narrow ledge down the mountain into the canyon. Behind the two men, -sounds of pursuit grew fainter. - -"We're safe," Arlen said, slackening his pace. "Renzu won't follow us -as long as he knows we're armed." - -"He's armed, too," McFerson said. - -"He wants our bones too badly to use a disintegrator on us," Arlen -laughed. - -The two men traveled on. The Venusian dawn came swiftly. - -"You see, Mac," Arlen went on, "we're not human beings to Renzu, -but part of an experiment. Science has overshadowed Renzu's sense -of values. Perhaps he murdered Jimmy Brooks; we know he would have -murdered us to perfect an experiment. Renzu was creating life, and he -would kill to do it. He wanted to be the god of a world that started -with a complex organism instead of a simple microbe." - -"The only trouble is that the life lacked instincts that it took -terrestrial animals millions of years to acquire," McFerson added. - -"That's what creation may be, Mac," said Arlen. "We did more in a few -minutes than Renzu did with all his scientific knowledge. Gheal learned -the meaning of gratitude. I treated him kindly, and he repaid me by -helping us escape." - -They reached the ship. The sea was boiling over the sands. Here and -there, along the water's edge as the dawn broke over Venus, they -saw globose formations of inanimate Venusian protoplasm, seemingly -awaiting the spark that would turn them into living organisms. - -Venus was in an azoic age, but life was beginning to appear. It was -life created by a human god, who also was a human devil, a monster. -Future generations of Venusians might worship Harry Renzu, unknowing -that it was the lowly Gheal that brought the first worthwhile instinct -to their race. - -Somewhere, far behind in the canyon, were four hideous monsters and a -beast that resembled a serpent. This stampede of protoplasmic creation -was led by its mad god, driven onward by the lust of this insane -demiurge for the bones of his fellow deities. - -"Okay!" said Arlen, priming the rockets. - -"Okay!" shouted McFerson. - -_The Traveler_ was ready to rocket home. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Genesis!, by R.R. 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