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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..394de7a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62198 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62198) diff --git a/old/62198-h.zip b/old/62198-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0b5fb50..0000000 --- a/old/62198-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62198-h/62198-h.htm b/old/62198-h/62198-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 9d2816c..0000000 --- a/old/62198-h/62198-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1053 +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 Quest of Thig, by Basil Wells. - </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; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -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 Quest of Thig, by Basil Wells - -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: Quest of Thig - -Author: Basil Wells - -Release Date: May 22, 2020 [EBook #62198] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEST OF THIG *** - - - - -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="347" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>QUEST OF THIG</h1> - -<h2>By BASIL WELLS</h2> - -<p>Thig of Ortha was the vanguard of the conquering<br /> -"HORDE." He had blasted across trackless space<br /> -to subdue a defenseless world—only to meet on<br /> -Earth emotions that were more deadly than weapons.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Fall 1942.<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>Thig carefully smoothed the dark sand and seaweed of the lonely beach -over the metal lid of the flexible ringed tunnel that linked the grubby -ship from another planet with the upper air. He looked out across the -heaving waters of the Sound toward Connecticut. He stared appraisingly -around at the luxuriant green growth of foliage further inland; and -started toward the little stretch of trees and brush, walking carefully -because of the lesser gravitation.</p> - -<p>Thig was shorter than the average Earthman—although on Ortha he -was well above the average in height—but his body was thick and -powerfully muscled. His skull was well-shaped and large; his features -were regular, perhaps a trifle oversize, and his hair and eyes were -a curiously matching blend of reddish brown. Oddest of all, he wore -no garments, other than the necessary belt and straps to support his -rod-like weapon of white metal and his pouches for food and specimens.</p> - -<p>The Orthan entered the narrow strip of trees and crossed to the -little-used highway on the other side. Here he patiently sat down to -wait for an Earthman or an Earthwoman to pass. His task now was to -bring a native, intact if possible, back to the carefully buried space -cruiser where his two fellows and himself would drain the creature's -mentality of all its knowledge. In this way they could learn whether a -planet was suited for colonization by later swarms of Orthans.</p> - -<p>Already they had charted over a hundred celestial bodies but of them -all only three had proven worthy of consideration. This latest planet, -however, 72-P-3 on the chart, appeared to be an ideal world in every -respect. Sunlight, plenty of water and a dense atmospheric envelope -made of 72-P-3 a paradise among planets.</p> - -<p>The explorer from another world crouched into the concealment of a -leafy shrub. A creature was approaching. Its squat body was covered -with baggy strips of bluish cloth and it carried a jointed rod of metal -and wood in its paw. It walked upright as did the men of Ortha.</p> - -<p>Thig's cold eyes opened a trifle wider as he stared into the thing's -stupid face. It was as though he was looking into a bit of polished -metal at the reflection of himself!</p> - -<p>The Earthman was opposite now and he must waste no more precious -time. The mighty muscles of the Orthan sent him hurtling across the -intervening space in two prodigious bounds, and his hands clamped -across the mouth and neck of the stranger....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Lewis Terry was going fishing. For a week the typewriter mill that had -ground out a thousand assorted yarns of the untamed West and the frigid -desolation of the Northwoods had been silent. Lewis wondered if he was -going stale. He had sat every day for eight hours in front of that -shiny-buttoned bane of the typist, but there were no results. Feebly -he had punched a key two days ago and a $ sign had appeared. He hadn't -dared touch the machine since.</p> - -<p>For Mr. Terry, that hard-hitting writer of two-gun action, had never -been further west of Long Island than Elizabeth, and he had promised -his wife, Ellen, that he would take the three children and herself on -a trailer tour of the <i>West</i> that very summer. Since that promise, he -could not write a word. Visions of whooping red-skinned Apaches and -be-chapped outlaws raiding his little trailer home kept rolling up out -of his subconscious. Yet he <i>had</i> to write at least three novelets and -a fistful of short stories in the next two weeks to finance the great -adventure—or the trip was off.</p> - -<p>So Lewis left the weathered old cottage in the early dawn and headed -for his tubby old boat at the landing in an attempt to work out a -salable yarn....</p> - -<p>"Hey!" he shouted as a naked man sprang out of the bushes beside the -road. "What's the trouble?"</p> - -<p>Then he had no time for further speech, the massive arms of the -stranger had wound around him and two hamlike hands shut off his speech -and his wind. He fought futilely against trained muscles. The hand -clamping his throat relaxed for a moment and hacked along the side of -his head. Blackness flooded the brain of Lewis, and he knew no more.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"There it is," announced Thig, dropping the limp body of the captured -Earthman to the metal deck-plates. "It is a male of the species that -must have built the cities we saw as we landed."</p> - -<p>"He resembles Thig," announced Kam. "But for the strange covering he -wears he might be Thig."</p> - -<p>"Thig will be this creature!" announced Torp. "With a psychic relay we -will transfer the Earthman's memories and meager store of knowledge to -the brain of Thig! He can then go out and scout this world without -arousing suspicion. While he is gone, I will take Kam and explore the -two inner planets."</p> - -<p>"You are the commander," said Thig. "But I wish this beast did not wear -these clumsy sheathing upon his body. On Ortha we do not hamper the use -of our limbs so."</p> - -<p>"Do not question the word of your commander," growled Torp, swelling -out his thick chest menacingly. "It is for the good of our people that -you disguise yourself as an Earthman."</p> - -<p>"For the good of the Horde," Thig intoned almost piously as he lifted -Terry's body and headed for the laboratory.</p> - -<p>Service for the Horde was all that the men of Ortha knew. Carefully -cultured and brought to life in the laboratories of their Horde, they -knew neither father nor mother. Affection and love were entirely -lacking in their early training and later life. They were trained -antlike from childhood that only the growth and power of the Horde -were of any moment. Men and women alike toiled and died like unfeeling -robots of flesh and bone for the Horde. The Horde was their religion, -their love-life, their everything!</p> - -<p>So it was that the bodies of the Earthman and the Orthan were strapped -on two parallel tables of chill metal and the twin helmets, linked to -one another by the intricacies of the psychic relay, put upon their -heads.</p> - -<p>For ten hours or more the droning hum of the relay sucked Terry's brain -dry of knowledge. The shock upon the nervous system of the Earthman -proved too violent and his heart faltered after a time and stopped -completely. Twice, with subtle drugs they restored pseudo-life to his -body and kept the electrical impulses throbbing from his tortured -brain, but after the third suspension of life Thig removed his helmet.</p> - -<p>"There is nothing more to learn," he informed his impassive comrades. -"Now, let us get on with the plastic surgery that is required. My new -body must return to its barbaric household before undue attention is -aroused. And when I return I will take along some of the gleaming -baubles we found on the red planet—these people value them highly."</p> - -<p>An hour later, his scars and altered cartilage already healed and -painless, Thig again scraped sand over the entrance to the space ship -and set out along the moonlit beach toward the nearest path running -inland to his home.</p> - -<p>Memory was laying the country bare about him, Terry's own childhood -memories of this particular section of Long Island. Here was the place -where Jake and Ted had helped him dig for the buried treasure that -old 'Notch-ear' Beggs had told them so exactly about. Remembrance of -that episode gave Thig an idea about the little lump of jewels in his -pocket. He had found them in a chest along the beach!</p> - -<p>He was coming up on the porch now and at the sound of his foot on -the sagging boards the screen door burst open and three little -Earth-creatures were hugging at his legs. An odd sensation, that his -acquired memories labeled as pleasure, sent a warm glow upward from -around his heart.</p> - -<p>Then he saw the slender red-haired shape of a woman, the mate of the -dead man he knew, and confusion struck his well-trained brain. Men -had no mates on Ortha, sex had been overthrown with all the other -primitive impulses of barbarism; so he was incapable of understanding -the emotions that swept through his acquired memory.</p> - -<p>Unsteadily he took her in his arms and felt her warm lips pressed, -trembling, against his own. That same hot wave of pulsing blood choked -achingly up into his throat.</p> - -<p>"Lew, dear," Ellen was asking, "where have you been all day? I called -up at the landing but you were not there. I wanted to let you know that -Saddlebag Publications sent a check for $50 for "Reversed Revolvers" -and three other editors asked for shorts soon."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Shoulda got a hundred bucks for that yarn," grunted Thig, and gasped.</p> - -<p>For the moment he had been Lewis Terry and not Thig! So thoroughly had -he acquired the knowledge of Terry that he found himself unconsciously -adopting the thinking and mannerism of the other. All the better this -way, he realized—more natural.</p> - -<p>"Sorry I was late," he said, digging into his pocket for the -glittering baubles, "but I was poking around on the beach where we used -to hunt treasure and I found an old chest. Inside it I found nothing -but a handful of these."</p> - -<p>He flashed the jewels in front of Ellen's startled eyes and she clung, -unbelieving, to his arm.</p> - -<p>"Why, Lew," she gasped, "they're worth a fortune! We can buy that new -trailer now and have a rebuilt motor in the car. We can go west right -away.... Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, cowboys!"</p> - -<p>"Uh huh," agreed the pseudo Lewis, memories of the ferocious savages -and gunmen of his stories rendering him acutely unhappy. Sincerely he -hoped that the west had reformed.</p> - -<p>"I saved some kraut and weiners," Ellen said. "Get washed up while I'm -warming them up. Kids ate all the bread so I had to borrow some from -the Eskoes. Want coffee, too?"</p> - -<p>"Mmmmmm," came from the depths of the chipped white wash-basin.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Home again," whispered Ellen as she stood beside Thig twelve weeks -later and gazed tearfully at the weathered little gray house. She knelt -beside the front stoop and reached for the key hidden beneath it.</p> - -<p>"The west was wonderful; tremendous, vast and beautiful," she went -on as they climbed the steps, "but nowhere was there any place as -beautiful as our own little strip of sky and water."</p> - -<p>Thig sank into a dusty old swing that hung on creaking chains from the -exposed rafters of the porch roof. He looked down at the dusty gray car -and the bulbous silvery bulk of the trailer that had been their living -quarters for almost three months. Strange thoughts were afloat in the -chaos of his cool Orthan brain.</p> - -<p>Tonight or tomorrow night at the latest he must contact his two fellows -and report that Earth was a planetary paradise. No other world, -including Ortha, was so well-favored and rich. An expeditionary force -to wipe the grotesque civilizations of Earth out of existence would, -of course, be necessary before the first units of new Hordes could be -landed. And there Thig balked. Why must they destroy these people, -imperfect though their civilization might be, to make room for the -Hordes?</p> - -<p>Thig tried to tell himself that it was the transmitted thoughts of the -dead Earthman that made him feel so, but he was not too sure. For three -months he had lived with people who loved, hated, wept and sacrificed -for reasons that he had never known existed. He had learned the heady -glory of thinking for himself and making his own decisions. He had -experienced the primitive joy of matching his wits and tongue against -the wits of other unpredictable human beings. There was no abrupt -division of men and women into definite classes of endeavor. A laborer -thought the same thoughts that a governor might think. Uncertainty -added zest to every day's life.</p> - -<p>The Orthan had come to question the sole devotion of the individual to -the Horde to the exclusion of all other interests. What, he wondered, -would one new world—or a hundred—populated by the Hordes add to -the progress of humanity? For a hundred thousand years the Orthan -civilization had remained static, its energies directed into certain -well-defined channels. They were mindless bees maintaining their vast -mechanical hives.</p> - -<p>There was that moment on the brink of the Grand Canyon when Ellen had -caught his arm breathlessly at all the beauty spread away there beneath -them. There were mornings in the desert when the sun painted in lurid -red the peaks above the harsh black-and-whites of the sagebrush and -cactus slopes. There was the little boy, his body burning with fever, -who nestled trustingly against his tense man's body and slept—the son -of Ellen and the man he had destroyed.</p> - -<p>Thig groaned. He was a weakling to let sentimentality so get the better -of his judgment. He would go now to the space ship and urge them to -blast off for Ortha. He sprang off the porch and strode away down the -road toward the beach.</p> - -<p>The children ran to him; wanted to go along. He sent them away harshly -but they smiled and waved their brown little hands. Ellen came to the -door and called after him.</p> - -<p>"Hurry home, dear," she said. "I'll have a bite ready in about an hour."</p> - -<p>He dared not say anything, for his voice would have broken and she -would have known something was wrong. She was a very wise sort of -person when something was troubling him. He waved his stubby paw of a -hand to show that he had heard, and blindly hurried toward the Sound.</p> - -<p>Oddly enough, as he hurried away along the narrow path through the -autumn woods, his mind busied itself with a new epic of the west that -lived no longer. He mentally titled it: "Rustlers' Riot" and blocked -in the outlines of his plot. One section of his brain was that of the -careless author of gunslinging yarns, a section that seemed to be -sapping the life from his own brain. He knew that the story would never -be written, but he toyed with the idea.</p> - -<p>So far had Thig the emotionless, robot-being from Ortha drifted from -the unquestioning worship of the Horde!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"You have done well," announced Torp when Thig had completed his report -on the resources and temperatures of various sections of Terra. "We now -have located three worlds fit for colonization and so we will return to -Ortha at once.</p> - -<p>"I will recommend the conquest of this planet, 72-P-3 at once and the -complete destruction of all biped life upon it. The mental aberrations -of the barbaric natives might lead to endless complications if they -were permitted to exist outside our ordered way of life. I imagine that -three circuits of the planet about its primary should prove sufficient -for the purposes of complete liquidation."</p> - -<p>"But why," asked Thig slowly, "could we not disarm all the natives and -exile them on one of the less desirable continents, Antarctica for -example or Siberia? They are primitive humans even as our race was once -a race of primitives. It is not our duty to help to attain our own -degree of knowledge and comfort?"</p> - -<p>"Only the good of the Horde matters!" shouted Torp angrily. "Shall a -race of feeble-witted beasts, such as these Earthmen, stand in the way -of a superior race? We want their world, and so we will take it. The -Law of the Horde states that all the universe is ours for the taking."</p> - -<p>"Let us get back to Ortha at once, then," gritted out Thig savagely. -"Never again do I wish to set foot upon the soil of this mad planet. -There are forces at work upon Earth that we of Ortha have long -forgotten."</p> - -<p>"Check the blood of Thig for disease, Kam," ordered Torp shortly. "His -words are highly irrational. Some form of fever perhaps native to this -world. While you examine him I will blast off for Ortha."</p> - -<p>Thig followed Kam into the tiny laboratory and found a seat beside the -squat scientist's desk. His eyes roamed over the familiar instruments -and gauges, each in its own precise position in the cases along the -walls. His gaze lingered longest on the stubby black ugliness of -a decomposition blaster in its rack close to the deck. A blast of -the invisible radiations from that weapon's hot throat and flesh or -vegetable fiber rotted into flaky ashes.</p> - -<p>The ship trembled beneath their feet; it tore free from the feeble -clutch of the sand about it, and they were rocketing skyward. Thig's -broad fingers bit deep into the unyielding metal of his chair. Suddenly -he knew that he must go back to Earth, back to Ellen and the children -of the man he had helped destroy. He loved Ellen, and nothing must -stand between them! The Hordes of Ortha must find some other world, an -empty world—this planet was not for them.</p> - -<p>"Turn back!" he cried wildly. "I must go back to Earth. There is a -woman there, helpless and alone, who needs me! The Horde does not need -this planet."</p> - -<p>Kam eyed him coldly and lifted a shining hypodermic syringe from its -case. He approached Thig warily, aware that disease often made a maniac -of the finest members of the Horde.</p> - -<p>"No human being is more important than the Horde," he stated baldly. -"This woman of whom you speak is merely one unit of the millions we -must eliminate for the good of the Horde."</p> - -<p>Then it was that Thig went berserk. His fists slashed into the thick -jaw of the scientist and his fingers ripped at the hard cords overlying -the Orthan's vital throat tubes. His fingers and thumb gouged deep into -Kam's startled throat and choked off any cry for assistance before it -could be uttered.</p> - -<p>Kam's hand swept down to the holster swung from his intricate harness -and dragged his blaster from it. Thig's other hand clamped over his and -for long moments they swayed there, locked together in silent deadly -struggle. The fate of a world hung in the balance as Kam's other hand -fought against that lone arm of Thig.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The scales swung in favor of Kam. Slowly the flaring snout of his -weapon tilted upward until it reached the level of Thig's waist. Thig -suddenly released his grip and dragged his enemy toward him. A sudden -reversal of pressure on Kam's gun hand sent the weapon swivelling -about full upon its owner's thick torso. Thig's fingers pressed down -upon Kam's button finger, down upon the stud set into the grip of the -decomposition blaster, and Kam's muscles turned to water. He shrieked.</p> - -<p>Before Thig's eyes half of his comrade's body sloughed away into foul -corruption that swiftly gave way to hardened blobs of dessicated -matter. Horror for what he had done—that he had slain one of his own -Horde—made his limbs move woodenly. All of his thoughts were dulled -for the moment. Painfully slow, he turned his body around toward the -control blister, turned around on leaden feet, to look full into the -narrowed icy eyes of his commander.</p> - -<p>He saw the heavy barrel of the blaster slashing down against his -skull but he could not swing a fraction of an inch out of the way. -His body seemed paralyzed. This was the end, he thought as he waited -stupidly for the blow to fall, the end for Ellen and the kids and all -the struggling races of Earth. He would never write another cowboy -yarn—they would all be dead anyhow soon.</p> - -<p>Then a thunderclap exploded against his head and he dropped endlessly -toward the deck. Blows rained against his skull. He wondered if Torp -would ever cease to hammer at him and turn the deadly ray of the weapon -upon him. Blood throbbed and pounded with every blow....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Bam, Bam, Bam, the blood pounded in his ears. Like repeated blows of a -hammer they shook his booming head. No longer was Torp above him. He -was in the corner of the laboratory, a crumpled blood-smeared heap of -bruised flesh and bone. He was unfettered and the blood was caked upon -his skull and in his matted hair. Torp must have thought he had killed -him with those savage blows upon the head.</p> - -<p>Even Torp, thought Thig ruefully, gave way to the primitive rage of his -ancestors at times; but to that very bit of unconscious atavism he now -owed his life. A cool-headed robot of an Orthan would have efficiently -used the blaster to destroy any possibility of remaining life in his -unconscious body.</p> - -<p>Thig rolled slowly over so that his eye found the door into the control -room. Torp would be coming back again to dispose of their bodies -through the refuse lock. Already the body of Kam was gone. He wondered -why he had been left until last. Perhaps Torp wished to take cultures -of his blood and tissues to determine whether a disease was responsible -for his sudden madness.</p> - -<p>The cases of fragile instruments were just above his head. Association -of memories brought him the flash of the heavy blaster in its rack -beneath them. His hand went up and felt the welcome hardness of the -weapon. He tugged it free.</p> - -<p>In a moment he was on his knees crawling across the plates of the deck -toward the door. Halfway across the floor he collapsed on his face, -the metal of the gun making a harsh clang. He heard the feet of Torp -scuffle out of silence and a choked cry in the man's throat squalled -out into a senseless whinny.</p> - -<p>Thig raised himself up on a quivering elbow and slid the black length -of the blaster in front of him. His eyes sought the doorway and stared -full into the glaring vacant orbs of his commander. Torp leaned there -watching him, his breath gurgling brokenly through his deep-bitten -lips. The clawing marks of nails, fingernails, furrowed his face and -chest. He was a madman!</p> - -<p>The deadly attack of Thig; his own violent avenging of Kam's death, and -now the apparent return of the man he had killed come to life had all -served to jolt his rigidly trained brain from its accustomed groove. -The shock had been too much for the established thought-processes of -the Orthan.</p> - -<p>So Thig shot him where he stood, mercifully, before that vacant mad -stare set him, too, to gibbering and shrieking. Then he stepped over -the skeleton-thing that had been Torp, using the new strength that -victory had given him to drive him along.</p> - -<p>He had saved a world's civilization from extinction! The thought -sobered him; yet, somehow, he was pleased that he had done so. After -all, it had been the Earthwoman and the children he had been thinking -of while he battled Kam, a selfish desire to protect them all.</p> - -<p>He went to the desk where Torp had been writing in the ship's log and -read the last few nervously scrawled lines:</p> - -<p><i>Planet 72-P-3 unfit for colonization. Some pernicious disease that -strikes at the brain centers and causes violent insanity is existent -there. Thig, just returned from a survey of the planet, went mad and -destroyed Kam. In turn I was forced to slay him. But it is not ended. -Already I feel the insidious virus of....</i></p> - -<p>And there his writing ended abruptly.</p> - -<p>Thig nodded. That would do it. He set the automatic pilot for the -planet Ortha. Unless a rogue asteroid or a comet crossed the ship's -path she would return safely to Ortha with that mute warning of danger -on 72-P-3. The body of Torp would help to confirm his final message.</p> - -<p>Then Thig crossed the cabin to the auxiliary life boat there, one of -a half-dozen space ships in miniature nested within the great ship's -hull, and cut free from the mother vessel.</p> - -<p>He flipped the drive lever, felt the thrumming of the rockets driving -him from the parent ship. The sensation of free flight against his new -body was strangely exhilerating and heady. It was the newest of the -emotions he had experienced on Earth since that day, so many months -before, when he had felt the warmness of Ellen's lips tight against his.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="387" height="500" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>Thig flipped the drive lever, felt the thrumming of the -rockets driving him from the parent ship.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>He swung about to the port, watched the flaming drive-rockets of the -great exploratory ship hurl it toward far-away Ortha, and there was no -regret in his mind that he was not returning to the planet of his first -existence.</p> - -<p>He thought of the dull greys and blacks of his planet, of the -monotonous routine of existence that had once been his—and his heart -thrilled to the memories of the starry nights and perfect exciting days -he had spent on his three month trip over Earth.</p> - -<p>He made a brief salute to the existence he had known, turned with a -tiny sigh, and his fingers made brief adjustments in the controls. The -rocket-thrum deepened, and the thin whistle of tenuous air clutching -the ship echoed through the hull-plates.</p> - -<p>He thought of many things in those few moments. He watched the -roundness of Earth flatten out, then take on the cup-like illusion -that all planets had for an incoming ship. He reduced the drive of his -rockets to a mere whisper, striving to control the impatience that -crowded his mind.</p> - -<p>He shivered suddenly, remembering his utter callousness the first time -he had sent a space ship whipping down toward the hills and valleys -below. And there was a sickness within him when he fully realized that, -despite his acquired memory and traits, he was an alien from outer -space.</p> - -<p>He fingered the tiny scars that had completely obliterated the slight -differences in his appearance from an Earthman's, and his fingers -trembled a bit, as he bent and stared through the vision port. He said -a brief prayer in his heart to a God whose presence he now felt very -deeply. There were tears in the depths of his eyes, then, and memories -were hot, bitter pains.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Earth was not far below him. As he let gravity suck him earthward, he -heaved a gasp of relief. He was no longer Thig, a creature of a Horde's -creation, but Lewis Terry, writer of lurid gun-smoking tales of the -West. He must remember that always. He had destroyed the real Terry and -now, for the rest of his life, he must make up to the dead man's family.</p> - -<p>The knowledge that Ellen's love was not really meant for him would be -a knife twisting in his heart but for her sake he must endure it. Her -dreams and happiness must never be shattered.</p> - -<p>The bulge of Earth was flattening out now and he could see the outlines -of Long Island in the growing twilight.</p> - -<p>A new plot was growing in the brain of Lewis Terry, a yarn about a -cowboy suddenly transported to another world. He smiled ironically. -He had seen those other worlds. Perhaps some day he would write about -them....</p> - -<p>He was Lewis Terry! He must remember that!</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quest of Thig, by Basil Wells - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEST OF THIG *** - -***** This file should be named 62198-h.htm or 62198-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/1/9/62198/ - -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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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: Quest of Thig - -Author: Basil Wells - -Release Date: May 22, 2020 [EBook #62198] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEST OF THIG *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - QUEST OF THIG - - By BASIL WELLS - - Thig of Ortha was the vanguard of the conquering - "HORDE." He had blasted across trackless space - to subdue a defenseless world--only to meet on - Earth emotions that were more deadly than weapons. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Fall 1942. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Thig carefully smoothed the dark sand and seaweed of the lonely beach -over the metal lid of the flexible ringed tunnel that linked the grubby -ship from another planet with the upper air. He looked out across the -heaving waters of the Sound toward Connecticut. He stared appraisingly -around at the luxuriant green growth of foliage further inland; and -started toward the little stretch of trees and brush, walking carefully -because of the lesser gravitation. - -Thig was shorter than the average Earthman--although on Ortha he -was well above the average in height--but his body was thick and -powerfully muscled. His skull was well-shaped and large; his features -were regular, perhaps a trifle oversize, and his hair and eyes were -a curiously matching blend of reddish brown. Oddest of all, he wore -no garments, other than the necessary belt and straps to support his -rod-like weapon of white metal and his pouches for food and specimens. - -The Orthan entered the narrow strip of trees and crossed to the -little-used highway on the other side. Here he patiently sat down to -wait for an Earthman or an Earthwoman to pass. His task now was to -bring a native, intact if possible, back to the carefully buried space -cruiser where his two fellows and himself would drain the creature's -mentality of all its knowledge. In this way they could learn whether a -planet was suited for colonization by later swarms of Orthans. - -Already they had charted over a hundred celestial bodies but of them -all only three had proven worthy of consideration. This latest planet, -however, 72-P-3 on the chart, appeared to be an ideal world in every -respect. Sunlight, plenty of water and a dense atmospheric envelope -made of 72-P-3 a paradise among planets. - -The explorer from another world crouched into the concealment of a -leafy shrub. A creature was approaching. Its squat body was covered -with baggy strips of bluish cloth and it carried a jointed rod of metal -and wood in its paw. It walked upright as did the men of Ortha. - -Thig's cold eyes opened a trifle wider as he stared into the thing's -stupid face. It was as though he was looking into a bit of polished -metal at the reflection of himself! - -The Earthman was opposite now and he must waste no more precious -time. The mighty muscles of the Orthan sent him hurtling across the -intervening space in two prodigious bounds, and his hands clamped -across the mouth and neck of the stranger.... - - * * * * * - -Lewis Terry was going fishing. For a week the typewriter mill that had -ground out a thousand assorted yarns of the untamed West and the frigid -desolation of the Northwoods had been silent. Lewis wondered if he was -going stale. He had sat every day for eight hours in front of that -shiny-buttoned bane of the typist, but there were no results. Feebly -he had punched a key two days ago and a $ sign had appeared. He hadn't -dared touch the machine since. - -For Mr. Terry, that hard-hitting writer of two-gun action, had never -been further west of Long Island than Elizabeth, and he had promised -his wife, Ellen, that he would take the three children and herself on -a trailer tour of the _West_ that very summer. Since that promise, he -could not write a word. Visions of whooping red-skinned Apaches and -be-chapped outlaws raiding his little trailer home kept rolling up out -of his subconscious. Yet he _had_ to write at least three novelets and -a fistful of short stories in the next two weeks to finance the great -adventure--or the trip was off. - -So Lewis left the weathered old cottage in the early dawn and headed -for his tubby old boat at the landing in an attempt to work out a -salable yarn.... - -"Hey!" he shouted as a naked man sprang out of the bushes beside the -road. "What's the trouble?" - -Then he had no time for further speech, the massive arms of the -stranger had wound around him and two hamlike hands shut off his speech -and his wind. He fought futilely against trained muscles. The hand -clamping his throat relaxed for a moment and hacked along the side of -his head. Blackness flooded the brain of Lewis, and he knew no more. - - * * * * * - -"There it is," announced Thig, dropping the limp body of the captured -Earthman to the metal deck-plates. "It is a male of the species that -must have built the cities we saw as we landed." - -"He resembles Thig," announced Kam. "But for the strange covering he -wears he might be Thig." - -"Thig will be this creature!" announced Torp. "With a psychic relay we -will transfer the Earthman's memories and meager store of knowledge to -the brain of Thig! He can then go out and scout this world without -arousing suspicion. While he is gone, I will take Kam and explore the -two inner planets." - -"You are the commander," said Thig. "But I wish this beast did not wear -these clumsy sheathing upon his body. On Ortha we do not hamper the use -of our limbs so." - -"Do not question the word of your commander," growled Torp, swelling -out his thick chest menacingly. "It is for the good of our people that -you disguise yourself as an Earthman." - -"For the good of the Horde," Thig intoned almost piously as he lifted -Terry's body and headed for the laboratory. - -Service for the Horde was all that the men of Ortha knew. Carefully -cultured and brought to life in the laboratories of their Horde, they -knew neither father nor mother. Affection and love were entirely -lacking in their early training and later life. They were trained -antlike from childhood that only the growth and power of the Horde -were of any moment. Men and women alike toiled and died like unfeeling -robots of flesh and bone for the Horde. The Horde was their religion, -their love-life, their everything! - -So it was that the bodies of the Earthman and the Orthan were strapped -on two parallel tables of chill metal and the twin helmets, linked to -one another by the intricacies of the psychic relay, put upon their -heads. - -For ten hours or more the droning hum of the relay sucked Terry's brain -dry of knowledge. The shock upon the nervous system of the Earthman -proved too violent and his heart faltered after a time and stopped -completely. Twice, with subtle drugs they restored pseudo-life to his -body and kept the electrical impulses throbbing from his tortured -brain, but after the third suspension of life Thig removed his helmet. - -"There is nothing more to learn," he informed his impassive comrades. -"Now, let us get on with the plastic surgery that is required. My new -body must return to its barbaric household before undue attention is -aroused. And when I return I will take along some of the gleaming -baubles we found on the red planet--these people value them highly." - -An hour later, his scars and altered cartilage already healed and -painless, Thig again scraped sand over the entrance to the space ship -and set out along the moonlit beach toward the nearest path running -inland to his home. - -Memory was laying the country bare about him, Terry's own childhood -memories of this particular section of Long Island. Here was the place -where Jake and Ted had helped him dig for the buried treasure that -old 'Notch-ear' Beggs had told them so exactly about. Remembrance of -that episode gave Thig an idea about the little lump of jewels in his -pocket. He had found them in a chest along the beach! - -He was coming up on the porch now and at the sound of his foot on -the sagging boards the screen door burst open and three little -Earth-creatures were hugging at his legs. An odd sensation, that his -acquired memories labeled as pleasure, sent a warm glow upward from -around his heart. - -Then he saw the slender red-haired shape of a woman, the mate of the -dead man he knew, and confusion struck his well-trained brain. Men -had no mates on Ortha, sex had been overthrown with all the other -primitive impulses of barbarism; so he was incapable of understanding -the emotions that swept through his acquired memory. - -Unsteadily he took her in his arms and felt her warm lips pressed, -trembling, against his own. That same hot wave of pulsing blood choked -achingly up into his throat. - -"Lew, dear," Ellen was asking, "where have you been all day? I called -up at the landing but you were not there. I wanted to let you know that -Saddlebag Publications sent a check for $50 for "Reversed Revolvers" -and three other editors asked for shorts soon." - - * * * * * - -"Shoulda got a hundred bucks for that yarn," grunted Thig, and gasped. - -For the moment he had been Lewis Terry and not Thig! So thoroughly had -he acquired the knowledge of Terry that he found himself unconsciously -adopting the thinking and mannerism of the other. All the better this -way, he realized--more natural. - -"Sorry I was late," he said, digging into his pocket for the -glittering baubles, "but I was poking around on the beach where we used -to hunt treasure and I found an old chest. Inside it I found nothing -but a handful of these." - -He flashed the jewels in front of Ellen's startled eyes and she clung, -unbelieving, to his arm. - -"Why, Lew," she gasped, "they're worth a fortune! We can buy that new -trailer now and have a rebuilt motor in the car. We can go west right -away.... Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, cowboys!" - -"Uh huh," agreed the pseudo Lewis, memories of the ferocious savages -and gunmen of his stories rendering him acutely unhappy. Sincerely he -hoped that the west had reformed. - -"I saved some kraut and weiners," Ellen said. "Get washed up while I'm -warming them up. Kids ate all the bread so I had to borrow some from -the Eskoes. Want coffee, too?" - -"Mmmmmm," came from the depths of the chipped white wash-basin. - - * * * * * - -"Home again," whispered Ellen as she stood beside Thig twelve weeks -later and gazed tearfully at the weathered little gray house. She knelt -beside the front stoop and reached for the key hidden beneath it. - -"The west was wonderful; tremendous, vast and beautiful," she went -on as they climbed the steps, "but nowhere was there any place as -beautiful as our own little strip of sky and water." - -Thig sank into a dusty old swing that hung on creaking chains from the -exposed rafters of the porch roof. He looked down at the dusty gray car -and the bulbous silvery bulk of the trailer that had been their living -quarters for almost three months. Strange thoughts were afloat in the -chaos of his cool Orthan brain. - -Tonight or tomorrow night at the latest he must contact his two fellows -and report that Earth was a planetary paradise. No other world, -including Ortha, was so well-favored and rich. An expeditionary force -to wipe the grotesque civilizations of Earth out of existence would, -of course, be necessary before the first units of new Hordes could be -landed. And there Thig balked. Why must they destroy these people, -imperfect though their civilization might be, to make room for the -Hordes? - -Thig tried to tell himself that it was the transmitted thoughts of the -dead Earthman that made him feel so, but he was not too sure. For three -months he had lived with people who loved, hated, wept and sacrificed -for reasons that he had never known existed. He had learned the heady -glory of thinking for himself and making his own decisions. He had -experienced the primitive joy of matching his wits and tongue against -the wits of other unpredictable human beings. There was no abrupt -division of men and women into definite classes of endeavor. A laborer -thought the same thoughts that a governor might think. Uncertainty -added zest to every day's life. - -The Orthan had come to question the sole devotion of the individual to -the Horde to the exclusion of all other interests. What, he wondered, -would one new world--or a hundred--populated by the Hordes add to -the progress of humanity? For a hundred thousand years the Orthan -civilization had remained static, its energies directed into certain -well-defined channels. They were mindless bees maintaining their vast -mechanical hives. - -There was that moment on the brink of the Grand Canyon when Ellen had -caught his arm breathlessly at all the beauty spread away there beneath -them. There were mornings in the desert when the sun painted in lurid -red the peaks above the harsh black-and-whites of the sagebrush and -cactus slopes. There was the little boy, his body burning with fever, -who nestled trustingly against his tense man's body and slept--the son -of Ellen and the man he had destroyed. - -Thig groaned. He was a weakling to let sentimentality so get the better -of his judgment. He would go now to the space ship and urge them to -blast off for Ortha. He sprang off the porch and strode away down the -road toward the beach. - -The children ran to him; wanted to go along. He sent them away harshly -but they smiled and waved their brown little hands. Ellen came to the -door and called after him. - -"Hurry home, dear," she said. "I'll have a bite ready in about an hour." - -He dared not say anything, for his voice would have broken and she -would have known something was wrong. She was a very wise sort of -person when something was troubling him. He waved his stubby paw of a -hand to show that he had heard, and blindly hurried toward the Sound. - -Oddly enough, as he hurried away along the narrow path through the -autumn woods, his mind busied itself with a new epic of the west that -lived no longer. He mentally titled it: "Rustlers' Riot" and blocked -in the outlines of his plot. One section of his brain was that of the -careless author of gunslinging yarns, a section that seemed to be -sapping the life from his own brain. He knew that the story would never -be written, but he toyed with the idea. - -So far had Thig the emotionless, robot-being from Ortha drifted from -the unquestioning worship of the Horde! - - * * * * * - -"You have done well," announced Torp when Thig had completed his report -on the resources and temperatures of various sections of Terra. "We now -have located three worlds fit for colonization and so we will return to -Ortha at once. - -"I will recommend the conquest of this planet, 72-P-3 at once and the -complete destruction of all biped life upon it. The mental aberrations -of the barbaric natives might lead to endless complications if they -were permitted to exist outside our ordered way of life. I imagine that -three circuits of the planet about its primary should prove sufficient -for the purposes of complete liquidation." - -"But why," asked Thig slowly, "could we not disarm all the natives and -exile them on one of the less desirable continents, Antarctica for -example or Siberia? They are primitive humans even as our race was once -a race of primitives. It is not our duty to help to attain our own -degree of knowledge and comfort?" - -"Only the good of the Horde matters!" shouted Torp angrily. "Shall a -race of feeble-witted beasts, such as these Earthmen, stand in the way -of a superior race? We want their world, and so we will take it. The -Law of the Horde states that all the universe is ours for the taking." - -"Let us get back to Ortha at once, then," gritted out Thig savagely. -"Never again do I wish to set foot upon the soil of this mad planet. -There are forces at work upon Earth that we of Ortha have long -forgotten." - -"Check the blood of Thig for disease, Kam," ordered Torp shortly. "His -words are highly irrational. Some form of fever perhaps native to this -world. While you examine him I will blast off for Ortha." - -Thig followed Kam into the tiny laboratory and found a seat beside the -squat scientist's desk. His eyes roamed over the familiar instruments -and gauges, each in its own precise position in the cases along the -walls. His gaze lingered longest on the stubby black ugliness of -a decomposition blaster in its rack close to the deck. A blast of -the invisible radiations from that weapon's hot throat and flesh or -vegetable fiber rotted into flaky ashes. - -The ship trembled beneath their feet; it tore free from the feeble -clutch of the sand about it, and they were rocketing skyward. Thig's -broad fingers bit deep into the unyielding metal of his chair. Suddenly -he knew that he must go back to Earth, back to Ellen and the children -of the man he had helped destroy. He loved Ellen, and nothing must -stand between them! The Hordes of Ortha must find some other world, an -empty world--this planet was not for them. - -"Turn back!" he cried wildly. "I must go back to Earth. There is a -woman there, helpless and alone, who needs me! The Horde does not need -this planet." - -Kam eyed him coldly and lifted a shining hypodermic syringe from its -case. He approached Thig warily, aware that disease often made a maniac -of the finest members of the Horde. - -"No human being is more important than the Horde," he stated baldly. -"This woman of whom you speak is merely one unit of the millions we -must eliminate for the good of the Horde." - -Then it was that Thig went berserk. His fists slashed into the thick -jaw of the scientist and his fingers ripped at the hard cords overlying -the Orthan's vital throat tubes. His fingers and thumb gouged deep into -Kam's startled throat and choked off any cry for assistance before it -could be uttered. - -Kam's hand swept down to the holster swung from his intricate harness -and dragged his blaster from it. Thig's other hand clamped over his and -for long moments they swayed there, locked together in silent deadly -struggle. The fate of a world hung in the balance as Kam's other hand -fought against that lone arm of Thig. - - * * * * * - -The scales swung in favor of Kam. Slowly the flaring snout of his -weapon tilted upward until it reached the level of Thig's waist. Thig -suddenly released his grip and dragged his enemy toward him. A sudden -reversal of pressure on Kam's gun hand sent the weapon swivelling -about full upon its owner's thick torso. Thig's fingers pressed down -upon Kam's button finger, down upon the stud set into the grip of the -decomposition blaster, and Kam's muscles turned to water. He shrieked. - -Before Thig's eyes half of his comrade's body sloughed away into foul -corruption that swiftly gave way to hardened blobs of dessicated -matter. Horror for what he had done--that he had slain one of his own -Horde--made his limbs move woodenly. All of his thoughts were dulled -for the moment. Painfully slow, he turned his body around toward the -control blister, turned around on leaden feet, to look full into the -narrowed icy eyes of his commander. - -He saw the heavy barrel of the blaster slashing down against his -skull but he could not swing a fraction of an inch out of the way. -His body seemed paralyzed. This was the end, he thought as he waited -stupidly for the blow to fall, the end for Ellen and the kids and all -the struggling races of Earth. He would never write another cowboy -yarn--they would all be dead anyhow soon. - -Then a thunderclap exploded against his head and he dropped endlessly -toward the deck. Blows rained against his skull. He wondered if Torp -would ever cease to hammer at him and turn the deadly ray of the weapon -upon him. Blood throbbed and pounded with every blow.... - - * * * * * - -Bam, Bam, Bam, the blood pounded in his ears. Like repeated blows of a -hammer they shook his booming head. No longer was Torp above him. He -was in the corner of the laboratory, a crumpled blood-smeared heap of -bruised flesh and bone. He was unfettered and the blood was caked upon -his skull and in his matted hair. Torp must have thought he had killed -him with those savage blows upon the head. - -Even Torp, thought Thig ruefully, gave way to the primitive rage of his -ancestors at times; but to that very bit of unconscious atavism he now -owed his life. A cool-headed robot of an Orthan would have efficiently -used the blaster to destroy any possibility of remaining life in his -unconscious body. - -Thig rolled slowly over so that his eye found the door into the control -room. Torp would be coming back again to dispose of their bodies -through the refuse lock. Already the body of Kam was gone. He wondered -why he had been left until last. Perhaps Torp wished to take cultures -of his blood and tissues to determine whether a disease was responsible -for his sudden madness. - -The cases of fragile instruments were just above his head. Association -of memories brought him the flash of the heavy blaster in its rack -beneath them. His hand went up and felt the welcome hardness of the -weapon. He tugged it free. - -In a moment he was on his knees crawling across the plates of the deck -toward the door. Halfway across the floor he collapsed on his face, -the metal of the gun making a harsh clang. He heard the feet of Torp -scuffle out of silence and a choked cry in the man's throat squalled -out into a senseless whinny. - -Thig raised himself up on a quivering elbow and slid the black length -of the blaster in front of him. His eyes sought the doorway and stared -full into the glaring vacant orbs of his commander. Torp leaned there -watching him, his breath gurgling brokenly through his deep-bitten -lips. The clawing marks of nails, fingernails, furrowed his face and -chest. He was a madman! - -The deadly attack of Thig; his own violent avenging of Kam's death, and -now the apparent return of the man he had killed come to life had all -served to jolt his rigidly trained brain from its accustomed groove. -The shock had been too much for the established thought-processes of -the Orthan. - -So Thig shot him where he stood, mercifully, before that vacant mad -stare set him, too, to gibbering and shrieking. Then he stepped over -the skeleton-thing that had been Torp, using the new strength that -victory had given him to drive him along. - -He had saved a world's civilization from extinction! The thought -sobered him; yet, somehow, he was pleased that he had done so. After -all, it had been the Earthwoman and the children he had been thinking -of while he battled Kam, a selfish desire to protect them all. - -He went to the desk where Torp had been writing in the ship's log and -read the last few nervously scrawled lines: - -_Planet 72-P-3 unfit for colonization. Some pernicious disease that -strikes at the brain centers and causes violent insanity is existent -there. Thig, just returned from a survey of the planet, went mad and -destroyed Kam. In turn I was forced to slay him. But it is not ended. -Already I feel the insidious virus of...._ - -And there his writing ended abruptly. - -Thig nodded. That would do it. He set the automatic pilot for the -planet Ortha. Unless a rogue asteroid or a comet crossed the ship's -path she would return safely to Ortha with that mute warning of danger -on 72-P-3. The body of Torp would help to confirm his final message. - -Then Thig crossed the cabin to the auxiliary life boat there, one of -a half-dozen space ships in miniature nested within the great ship's -hull, and cut free from the mother vessel. - -He flipped the drive lever, felt the thrumming of the rockets driving -him from the parent ship. The sensation of free flight against his new -body was strangely exhilerating and heady. It was the newest of the -emotions he had experienced on Earth since that day, so many months -before, when he had felt the warmness of Ellen's lips tight against his. - -[Illustration: _Thig flipped the drive lever, felt the thrumming of the -rockets driving him from the parent ship._] - -He swung about to the port, watched the flaming drive-rockets of the -great exploratory ship hurl it toward far-away Ortha, and there was no -regret in his mind that he was not returning to the planet of his first -existence. - -He thought of the dull greys and blacks of his planet, of the -monotonous routine of existence that had once been his--and his heart -thrilled to the memories of the starry nights and perfect exciting days -he had spent on his three month trip over Earth. - -He made a brief salute to the existence he had known, turned with a -tiny sigh, and his fingers made brief adjustments in the controls. The -rocket-thrum deepened, and the thin whistle of tenuous air clutching -the ship echoed through the hull-plates. - -He thought of many things in those few moments. He watched the -roundness of Earth flatten out, then take on the cup-like illusion -that all planets had for an incoming ship. He reduced the drive of his -rockets to a mere whisper, striving to control the impatience that -crowded his mind. - -He shivered suddenly, remembering his utter callousness the first time -he had sent a space ship whipping down toward the hills and valleys -below. And there was a sickness within him when he fully realized that, -despite his acquired memory and traits, he was an alien from outer -space. - -He fingered the tiny scars that had completely obliterated the slight -differences in his appearance from an Earthman's, and his fingers -trembled a bit, as he bent and stared through the vision port. He said -a brief prayer in his heart to a God whose presence he now felt very -deeply. There were tears in the depths of his eyes, then, and memories -were hot, bitter pains. - - * * * * * - -Earth was not far below him. As he let gravity suck him earthward, he -heaved a gasp of relief. He was no longer Thig, a creature of a Horde's -creation, but Lewis Terry, writer of lurid gun-smoking tales of the -West. He must remember that always. He had destroyed the real Terry and -now, for the rest of his life, he must make up to the dead man's family. - -The knowledge that Ellen's love was not really meant for him would be -a knife twisting in his heart but for her sake he must endure it. Her -dreams and happiness must never be shattered. - -The bulge of Earth was flattening out now and he could see the outlines -of Long Island in the growing twilight. - -A new plot was growing in the brain of Lewis Terry, a yarn about a -cowboy suddenly transported to another world. He smiled ironically. -He had seen those other worlds. Perhaps some day he would write about -them.... - -He was Lewis Terry! He must remember that! - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quest of Thig, by Basil Wells - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEST OF THIG *** - -***** This file should be named 62198.txt or 62198.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/1/9/62198/ - -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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