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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..f34bc9b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62316 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62316) diff --git a/old/62316-h.zip b/old/62316-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f7aa69f..0000000 --- a/old/62316-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62316-h/62316-h.htm b/old/62316-h/62316-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 1df9555..0000000 --- a/old/62316-h/62316-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2217 +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 Citadel of Lost Ships, by Leigh Brackett. - </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;} - -/* 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; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Citadel of Lost Ships, by Leigh Brackett - -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: Citadel of Lost Ships - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: June 3, 2020 [EBook #62316] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CITADEL OF LOST SHIPS *** - - - - -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="348" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Citadel of Lost Ships</h1> - -<h2>By LEIGH BRACKETT</h2> - -<p>It was a Gypsy world, built of space flotsam,<br /> -peopled with the few free races of the Solar<br /> -System. Roy Campbell, outcast prey of the<br /> -Coalition, entered its depths to seek haven<br /> -for the Kraylens of Venus—only to find that it<br /> -had become a slave trap from which there was no escape.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories March 1943.<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>Roy Campbell woke painfully. His body made a blind, instinctive lunge -for the control panel, and it was only when his hands struck the -smooth, hard mud of the wall that he realized he wasn't in his ship -any longer, and that the Spaceguard wasn't chasing him, their guns -hammering death.</p> - -<p>He leaned against the wall, the perspiration thick on his heavy -chest, his eyes wide and remembering. He could feel again, as though -the running fight were still happening, the bucking of his sleek -Fitz-Sothern beneath the calm control of his hands. He could remember -the pencil rays lashing through the night, searching for him, seeking -his life. He could recall the tiny prayer that lingered in his memory, -as he fought so skillfully, so dangerously, to evade the relentless -pursuer.</p> - -<p>Then there was a hazy period, when a blasting cannon had twisted his -ship like a wind-tossed leaf, and his head had smashed cruelly against -the control panel. And then the slinking minutes when he had raced for -safety—and then the sodden hours when sleep was the only thing in the -Universe that he craved.</p> - -<p>He sank back on the hide-frame cot with something between a laugh -and a curse. He was sweating, and his wiry body twitched. He found a -cigarette, lit it on the second try and sat still, listening to his -heartbeats slow down.</p> - -<p>He began to wonder, then, what had wakened him.</p> - -<p>It was night, the deep indigo night of Venus. Beyond the open hut door, -Campbell could see the <i>liha</i>-trees swaying a little in the hot, slow -breeze. It seemed as though the whole night swayed, like a dark blue -veil.</p> - -<p>For a long time he didn't hear anything but the far-off screaming of -some swamp-beast on the kill. Then, sharp and cruel against the blue -silence, a drum began to beat.</p> - -<p>It made Campbell's heart jerk. The sound wasn't loud, but it had a -tight, hard quality of savagery, something as primal as the swamp and -as alien, no matter how long a man lived with it.</p> - -<p>The drumming stopped. The second, perhaps the third, ritual prelude. -The first must have wakened him. Campbell stared with narrow dark eyes -at the doorway.</p> - -<p>He'd been with the Kraylens only two days this time, and he'd slept -most of that. Now he realized, that in spite of his exhaustion, he had -sensed something wrong in the village.</p> - -<p>Something was wrong, very wrong, when the drum beat that way in the -sticky night.</p> - -<p>He pulled on his short, black spaceman's boots and went out of the hut. -No one moved in the village. Thatch rustled softly in the slow wind, -and that was the only sign of life.</p> - -<p>Campbell turned into a path under the whispering <i>liha</i>-trees. He -wore nothing but the tight black pants of his space garb, and the hot -wind lay on his skin like soft hands. He filled his lungs with it. It -smelled of warm still water and green, growing things, and....</p> - -<p>Freedom. Above all, <i>freedom</i>. This was one place where a man could -still stand on his legs and feel human.</p> - -<p>The drumming started again, like a man's angry heart beating out of the -indigo night. This time it didn't stop. Campbell shivered. The trees -parted presently, showing a round dark hummock.</p> - -<p>It was lit by the hot flare of burning <i>liha</i> pods. Sweet oily smoke -curled up into the branches. There was a sullen glint of water through -the trees, but there were closer glints, brighter, fiercer, more deadly.</p> - -<p>The glinting eyes of men, silent men, standing in a circle around the -hummock.</p> - -<p>There was a little man crouched on the mound in the center. His skin -had the blue-whiteness of skim milk. He wore a kilt of iridescent -scales. His face was subtly reptilian, broad across the cheek-bones and -pointed below.</p> - -<p>A crest of brilliant feathers—they weren't really feathers, but that -was as close as Campbell could get—started just above his brow ridges -and ran clean down his spine to the waist. They were standing erect -now, glowing in the firelight.</p> - -<p>He nursed a drum between his knees. It stopped being just a drum when -he touched it. It was his own heart, singing and throbbing with the -hate in it.</p> - -<p>Campbell stopped short of the circle. His nerves, still tight from his -near-fatal brush with the Spaceguard, stung with little flaring pains. -He'd never seen anything like this before.</p> - -<p>The little man rocked slightly, looking up into the smoke. His eyes -were half closed. The drum was part of him and part of the indigo -night. It was part of Campbell, beating in his blood.</p> - -<p>It was the heart of the swamp, sobbing with hate and a towering anger -that was as naked and simple as Adam on the morning of Creation.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Campbell must have made some involuntary motion, because a man standing -at the edge of the hummock turned his head and saw him. He was tall and -slender, and his crest was pure white, a sign of age.</p> - -<p>He turned and came to Campbell, looking at him with opalescent eyes. -The firelight laid the Earthman's dark face in sharp relief, the lean -hard angles, the high-bridged nose that had been broken and not set -straight, the bitter mouth.</p> - -<p>Campbell said, in pure liquid Venusian, "What is it, Father?"</p> - -<p>The Kraylen's eyes dropped to the Earthman's naked breast. There was -black hair on it, and underneath the hair ran twisting, intricate lines -of silver and deep blue, tattooed with exquisite skill.</p> - -<p>The old man's white crest nodded. Campbell turned and went back down -the path. The wind and the <i>liha</i>-trees, the hot blue night beat with -the anger and the hate of the little man with the drum.</p> - -<p>Neither spoke until they were back in the hut. Campbell lit a smoky -lamp. The old Kraylen drew a long, slow breath.</p> - -<p>"My almost-son," he said, "this is the last time I can give you refuge. -When you are able, you must go and return no more."</p> - -<p>Campbell stared at him. "But, Father! Why?"</p> - -<p>The old man spread long blue-white hands. His voice was heavy.</p> - -<p>"Because we, the Kraylens, shall have ceased to be."</p> - -<p>Campbell didn't say anything for a minute. He sat down on the -hide-frame cot and ran his fingers through his black hair.</p> - -<p>"Tell me, Father," he said quietly, grimly.</p> - -<p>The Kraylen's white crest rippled in the lamplight. "It is not your -fight."</p> - -<p>Campbell got up. "Look. You've saved my neck more times than I can -count. You've accepted me as one of your own. I've been happier here -than any—well, skip that. But don't say it isn't my fight."</p> - -<p>The pale, triangular old face smiled. But the white crest shook.</p> - -<p>"No. There is really no fight. Only death. We're a dying tribe, a mere -scrap of old Venus. What matter if we die now—or later?"</p> - -<p>Campbell lit a cigarette with quick, sharp motions. His voice was hard. -"Tell me, Father. All, and quick."</p> - -<p>Opalescent eyes met his. "It is better not."</p> - -<p>"I said, 'tell me'!"</p> - -<p>"Very well." The old man sighed. "You would hear, after all. You -remember the frontier town of Lhi?"</p> - -<p>"Remember it!" Campbell's white teeth flashed. "Every dirty stone in -it, from the pumping conduits on up. Best place on three planets to -fence the hot stuff."</p> - -<p>He broke off, suddenly embarrassed. The Kraylen said gently,</p> - -<p>"That is your affair, my son. You've been away a long time. Lhi has -changed. The Terra-Venusian Coalition Government has taken it for the -administration center of Tehara Province."</p> - -<p>Campbell's eyes, at mention of the Coalition Government, acquired a -hot, hard brightness. He said, "Go on."</p> - -<p>The old man's face was cut from marble, his voice stiff and distant.</p> - -<p>"There have been men in the swamps. Now word has been sent us. It seems -there is coal here, and oil, and certain minerals that men prize. They -will drain the swamps for many miles, and work them."</p> - -<p>Campbell let smoke out of his lungs, very slowly. "Yeah? And what -becomes of you?"</p> - -<p>The Kraylen turned away and stood framed in the indigo square of the -doorway. The distant drum sobbed and shouted. It was hot, and yet the -sweat turned cold on Campbell's body.</p> - -<p>The old man's voice was distant and throbbing and full of anger, like -the drum. Campbell had to strain to hear it.</p> - -<p>"They will take us and place us in camps in the great cities. Small -groups of us, so that we are divided and split. Many people will pay to -see us, the strange remnants of old Venus. They will pay for our skills -in the curing of <i>leshen</i>-skins and the writing of quaint music, and -tattooing. We will grow rich."</p> - -<p>Campbell dropped the cigarette and ground it on the dirt floor. Knotted -veins stood out on his forehead, and his face was cruel. The old man -whispered:</p> - -<p>"<i>We will die first.</i>"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was a long time since anyone had spoken. The drumming had stopped, -but the echo of it throbbed in Campbell's pulses. He looked at his -spread, sinewy hands on his knees and swallowed because the veins of -his neck were swollen and hurting.</p> - -<p>Presently he said, "Couldn't you go further back into the swamps?"</p> - -<p>The old Kraylen spoke without moving. He still stood in the doorway, -watching the trees sway in the slow wind.</p> - -<p>"The Nahali live there. Besides, there is no clean water and no earth -for crops. We are not lizard eaters."</p> - -<p>"I've seen it happen," said Campbell somberly. "On Earth, and Mars, -and Mercury, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Little people driven -from their homes, robbed of their way of life, exploited and for the -gaping idiots in the trade centers. Little people who didn't care about -progress, and making money. Little people who only wanted to live, and -breathe, and be let alone."</p> - -<p>He got up in a swift savage rush and hurled a gourd of water crashing -into a corner and sat down again. He was shivering. The old Kraylen -turned.</p> - -<p>"Little people like you, my son?"</p> - -<p>Campbell shrugged. "Maybe. We'd worked our farm for three hundred -years. My father didn't want to sell. They condemned it anyhow. It's -under water now, and the dam runs a hell of a big bunch of factories."</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry."</p> - -<p>Campbell looked up, and his face softened. "I've never understood," he -said. "You people are the most law-abiding citizens I ever met. You -don't like strangers. And yet I blunder in here, hot on the lam and -ugly as a swamp-dragon, and you...."</p> - -<p>He stopped. It was probably the excitement that was making his throat -knot up like that. The smoke from the lamp stung his eyes. He blinked -and bent to trim it.</p> - -<p>"You were wounded, my son, and in trouble. Your quarrel with the police -was none of ours. We would have helped anyone. And then, while you had -fever and your guard was down, you showed that more than your body -needed help. We gave you what we could."</p> - -<p>"Yeah," said Campbell huskily. He didn't say it, but he knew well -enough that what the Kraylens had given him had kept him from blowing -his top completely.</p> - -<p>Now the Kraylens were going the way of the others, straws swept before -the great broom of Progress. Nothing could stop it. Earth's empire -surged out across the planets, building, bartering, crashing across -time and custom and race to make money and the shining steel cage of -efficiency.</p> - -<p>A cage wherein a sheep could live happily enough, well-fed and opulent. -But Campbell wasn't a sheep. He'd tried it, and he couldn't bleat in -tune. So he was a wolf, now, alone and worrying the flock.</p> - -<p>Soon there wasn't going to be a place in the Solar System where a man -could stand on his own feet and breathe.</p> - -<p>He felt stifled. He got up and stood in the doorway, watching the trees -stir in the hot indigo gloom. The trees would go. Wells and mines, slag -and soot and clattering machinery, and men in sweat-stained shirts -laboring night and day to get, to grow, to produce.</p> - -<p>Campbell's mouth twisted, bitter and sardonic. He said softly:</p> - -<p>"God help the unconstructive!"</p> - -<p>The old Kraylen murmured, "What happened to those others, my son?"</p> - -<p>Campbell's lean shoulders twitched. "Some of them died. Some of them -submitted. The rest...."</p> - -<p>He turned, so suddenly that the old man flinched. Campbell's dark eyes -had a hot light in them, and his face was sharply alive.</p> - -<p>"The rest," he said evenly, "went to Romany."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He talked, then. Urgently, pacing the hut in nervous catlike strides, -trying to remember things he had heard and not been very much -interested in at the time. When he was through, the Kraylen said:</p> - -<p>"It would be better. Infinitely better. But—" He spread his long pale -hands, and his white crest drooped. "But there is no time. Government -men will come within three days to take us—that was the time set. And -since we will not go...."</p> - -<p>Campbell thought of the things that had happened to other rebellious -tribes. He felt sick. But he made his voice steady.</p> - -<p>"We'll hope it's time, Father. Romany is in an orbit around Venus -now—I nearly crashed it coming in. I'm going to try, anyhow. If I -don't—well, stall as long as you can."</p> - -<p>Remembering the drum and the way the men had looked, he didn't think -that would be long. He pulled on a loose shirt of green spider-silk, -slung the belt of his heavy needle-gun over one shoulder, and picked up -his black tunic.</p> - -<p>He put his hand on the Kraylen's shoulder and smiled. "We'll take care -of it, Father."</p> - -<p>The old man's opalescent eyes were shadowed. "I wish I could stop you. -It's hopeless for us, and you are—<i>hot</i> is that the word?"</p> - -<p>Campbell grinned. "Hot," he said, "is the word. Blistering! The -Coalition gets awfully mad when someone pulls their own hi-jacking -stunt on them. But I'm used to it."</p> - -<p>It was beginning to get light outside. The old man said quietly, "The -gods go with you, my son."</p> - -<p>Campbell went out, thinking he'd need them.</p> - -<p>It was full day when he reached his hidden ship—a sleek, souped-up -Fitts-Sothern that had the legs of almost anything in space. He paused -briefly by the airlock, looking at the sultry green of <i>liha</i>-trees -under a pearl-grey sky, the white mist lapping around his narrow waist.</p> - -<p>He spent a long time over his charts, feeding numbers to the -calculators. When he got a set-up that suited him, he took the -Fitts-Sothern up on purring 'copters, angling out over the deep swamps. -He felt better, with the ship under his hands.</p> - -<p>The Planetary Patrol blanket was thin over the deep swamps, but it was -vigilant. Campbell's nerves were tight. They got tighter as he came -closer to the place where he was going to have to begin his loop over -to the night side.</p> - -<p>He was just reaching for the rocket switch when the little red light -started to flash on the indicator panel.</p> - -<p>Somebody had a detector beam on him. And he was morally certain that -the somebody was flying a Patrol boat.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>There was one thing about the Venusian atmosphere. You couldn't see -through it, even with infra-beams, at very long range. The intensity -needle showed the Patrol ship still far off, probably not suspicious -yet, although stray craft were rare over the swamps.</p> - -<p>In a minute the copper would be calling for information, with his -mass-detectors giving the Fitts-Sothern a massage. Campbell didn't -think he'd wait. He slammed in the drive rockets, holding them down -till the tubes warmed. Even held down, they had plenty.</p> - -<p>The Fitts-Sothern climbed in a whipping spiral. The red light wavered, -died, glowed again. The copper was pretty good with his beam. Campbell -fed in more juice.</p> - -<p>The red light died again. But the Patrol boat had all its beams out -now, spread like a fish net. The Fitts-Sothern struck another, lost it, -struck again, and this time she didn't break out.</p> - -<p>Campbell felt the sudden racking jar all through him. "Tractor beams," -he said. "You think so, buddy?"</p> - -<p>The drive jets were really warming now. He shot it to them. The -Fitts-Sothern hung for a fractional instant, her triple-braced hull -shuddering so that Campbell's teeth rang together.</p> - -<p>Then she broke, blasting up right through the netted beams. Campbell -jockeyed his port and starboard steering jets. The ship leaped and -skittered wildly. The copper didn't have time to focus full power on -her anywhere, and low power to the Fitts-Sothern was a nuisance and -nothing more.</p> - -<p>Campbell went up over the Patrol ship, veered off in the opposite -direction from the one he intended to follow, hung in a tight spiral -until he was sure he was clean, and then dived again.</p> - -<p>The Patrol boat wasn't expecting him to come back. The pilot was -concentrating on where Campbell had gone, not where he had been. -Campbell grinned, opened full throttle, and went skittering over the -curve of the planet to meet the night shadow rushing toward him.</p> - -<p>He didn't meet any more ships. He was way off the trade lanes, and -moving so fast that only blind luck could tag him. He hoped the Patrol -was hunting for him in force, back where they'd lost him. He hoped -they'd hunt a long time.</p> - -<p>Presently he climbed, on slowed and muffled jets, out of the -atmosphere. His black ship melted indistinguishably into the black -shadow of the planet. He slowed still more, just balancing the -Venus-drag, and crawled out toward a spot marked on his astrogation -chart.</p> - -<p>An Outer Patrol boat went by, too far off to bother about. Campbell lit -a cigarette with nervous hands. It was only a quarter smoked when the -object he'd been waiting for loomed up in space.</p> - -<p>His infra-beam showed it clearly. A round, plate-shaped mass about a -mile in diameter, built of three tiers of spaceships. Hulks, ancient, -rusty, pitted things that had died and not been decently buried, welded -together in a solid mass by lengths of pipe let into their carcasses.</p> - -<p>Before, when he had seen it, Campbell had been in too much of a hurry -to do more than curse it for getting in his way. Now he thought it was -the most desolate, Godforsaken mass of junk that had ever made him -wonder why people bothered to live at all.</p> - -<p>He touched the throttle, tempted to go back to the swamps. Then he -thought of what was going to happen back there, and took his hand away.</p> - -<p>"Hell!" he said. "I might as well look inside."</p> - -<p>He didn't know anything about the internal set-up of Romany—what made -it tick, and how. He knew Romany didn't love the Coalition, but whether -they would run to harboring criminals was another thing.</p> - -<p>It wouldn't be strange if they had been given pictures of Roy Campbell -and told to watch for him. Thinking of the size of the reward for him, -Campbell wished he were not quite so famous.</p> - -<p>Romany reminded him of an old-fashioned circular mouse-trap. Once -inside, it wouldn't be easy to get out.</p> - -<p>"Of all the platinum-plated saps!" he snarled suddenly. "Why am I -sticking my neck out for a bunch of semi-human swamp-crawlers, anyhow?"</p> - -<p>He didn't answer that. The leading edge of Romany knifed toward him. -There were lights in some of the hulks, mostly in the top layer. -Campbell reached for the radio.</p> - -<p>He had to contact the big shots. No one else could give him what he -needed. To do that, he had to walk right up to the front door and -announce himself. After that....</p> - -<p>The manual listed the wave-length he wanted. He juggled the dials and -verniers, wishing his hands wouldn't sweat.</p> - -<p>"Spaceship <i>Black Star</i> calling Romany. Calling Romany...."</p> - -<p>His screen flashed, flickered, and cleared. "Romany acknowledging. Who -are you and what do you want?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Campbell's screen showed him a youngish man—a Taxil, he thought, from -some Mercurian backwater. He was ebony-black and handsome, and he -looked as though the sight of Campbell affected him like stale beer.</p> - -<p>Campbell said, "Cordial guy, aren't you? I'm Thomas Black, trader out -of Terra, and I want to come aboard."</p> - -<p>"That requires permission."</p> - -<p>"Yeah? Okay. Connect me with the boss."</p> - -<p>The Taxil now looked as though he smelled something that had been dead -a long time. "Possibly you mean Eran Mak, the Chief Councillor?"</p> - -<p>"Possibly," admitted Campbell, "I do." If the rest of the gypsies were -anything like this one, they sure had a hate on for outsiders.</p> - -<p>Well, he didn't blame them. The screen blurred. It stayed that way -while Campbell smoked three cigarettes and exhausted his excellent -vocabulary. Then it cleared abruptly.</p> - -<p>Eran Mak sounded Martian, but the man pictured on the screen was no -Martian. He was an Earthman, with a face like a wedge of granite and a -frame that was all gaunt bones and thrusting angles.</p> - -<p>His hair was thin, pale-red and fuzzy. His mouth was thin. Even his -eyes were thin, close slits of pale blue with no lashes. Campbell -disliked him instantly.</p> - -<p>"I'm Tredrick," said the Earthman. His voice was thin, with a sound in -it like someone walking on cold gravel. "Terran Overchief. Why do you -wish to land, Mister Black?"</p> - -<p>"I bring a message from the Kraylen people of Venus. They need help."</p> - -<p>Tredrick's eyes became, if possible, thinner and more pale.</p> - -<p>"<i>Help?</i>"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Help." Campbell was struck by a sudden suspicion, something he -caught flickering across Tredrick's granite features when he said -"Kraylen." He went on, slowly, "The Coalition is moving in on them. I -understand you people of Romany help in cases like that."</p> - -<p>There was a small, tight silence.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry," said Tredrick. "There is nothing we can do."</p> - -<p>Campbell's dark face tightened. "Why not? You helped the Shenyat people -on Ganymede and the Drylanders on Mars. That's what Romany is, isn't -it—a refuge for people like that?"</p> - -<p>"As a <i>latnik</i>, there's a lot you don't know. At this time, we cannot -help anyone. Sorry, Black. Please clear ship."</p> - -<p>The screen went dead. Campbell stared at it with sultry eyes. Sorry. -The hell you're sorry. What gives here, anyway?</p> - -<p>He thrust out an angry hand to the transmitter. And then, quite -suddenly, the Taxil was looking at him out of the screen.</p> - -<p>The hostile look was gone. Anger replaced it, but not anger at -Campbell. The Taxil said, in a low, rapid voice:</p> - -<p>"You're not lying about coming from the Kraylens?"</p> - -<p>"No. No, I'm not lying." He opened his shirt to show the tattoo.</p> - -<p>"The dirty scut! Mister Black, clear ship, and then make contact with -one of the outer hulks on the lowest tier. You'll find emergency -hatchways in some of the pipes. Come inside, and wait."</p> - -<p>His dark eyes had a savage glitter. "There are some of us, Mister -Black, who still consider Romany a refuge!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Campbell cleared ship. His nerves were singing in little tight jerks. -He'd stepped into something here. Something big and ugly. There had -been a certain ring in the Taxil's voice.</p> - -<p>The thin, gravelly Mr. Tredrick had something on his mind, too. -Something important, about Kraylens. Why Kraylens, of all the -unimportant people on Venus?</p> - -<p>Trouble on Romany. Romany the gypsy world, the Solar System's -stepchild. Strictly a family affair. What business did a Public Enemy -with a low number and a high valuation have mixing into that?</p> - -<p>Then he thought of the drum beating in the indigo night, and an old man -watching <i>liha</i>-trees stir in a slow, hot wind.</p> - -<p>Roy Campbell called himself a short, bitter name, and sighed, -and reached lean brown hands for the controls. Presently, in the -infra-field, he made out an ancient Krub freighter on the edge of the -lowest level, connected to companion wrecks by sections of twelve-foot -pipe. There was a hatch in one of the pipes, with a hand-wheel.</p> - -<p>The Fitts-Sothern glided with exquisite daintiness to the pipe, touched -it gently, threw out her magnetic grapples and suction flanges, and -hung there. The airlock exactly covered the hatchway.</p> - -<p>Campbell got up. He was sweating and as edgy as a tomcat on the prowl. -With great care he buckled his heavy gun around his narrow hips. Then -he went into the airlock.</p> - -<p>He checked grapples and flanges with inordinate thoroughness. The -hatch-wheel jutted inside. He picked up a spanner and turned it, not -touching the frigid metal.</p> - -<p>There was a crude barrel-lock beyond. Campbell ran his tongue once over -dry lips, shrugged, and climbed in.</p> - -<p>He got through into a space that was black as the Coalsack. The air -was thin and bitingly cold. Campbell shivered in his silk shirt. He -laid his hand on his gun butt and took two cautious steps away from the -bulge of the lock, wishing to hell he were some place else.</p> - -<p>Cold green light exploded out of nowhere behind him. He half turned, -his gun blurring into his palm. But he had no chance to fire it.</p> - -<p>Something whipped down across the nerve-center in the side of his neck. -His body simply faded out of existence. He fell on his face and lay -there, struggling with all his might to move and achieving only a faint -twitching of the muscles.</p> - -<p>He knew vaguely that someone rolled him over. He blinked up into the -green light, and heard a man's deep, soft voice say from the darkness -behind it:</p> - -<p>"What made you think you could get away with it?"</p> - -<p>Campbell tried three times before he could speak. "With what?"</p> - -<p>"Spying. Does Tredrick think we're children?"</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't know." It was easier to speak this time. His body was -beginning to fade in again, like something on a television screen. -He tried to close his hand. It didn't work very well, but it didn't -matter. His gun was gone.</p> - -<p>Something moved across the light. A man's body, a huge, supple, -muscular thing the color of dark bronze. It knelt with a terrible -tigerish ease beside Campbell, the bosses on its leather kilt making a -clinking noise. There was a jeweled gorget of reddish metal around the -base of its throat. The stones had a wicked glitter.</p> - -<p>The deep, soft voice said, "Who are you?"</p> - -<p>Campbell tried to force the returning life faster through his body. The -man's face was in shadow. Campbell looked up with sultry, furious eyes -and achieved a definite motion toward getting up.</p> - -<p>The kneeling giant put out his right arm. The green light burned on it. -Campbell's eyes followed it down toward his throat. His face became a -harsh, irregular mask cut from dark wood.</p> - -<p>The arm was heavily, beautifully muscled. But where the hand should -have been there was a leather harness and a hook of polished Martian -bronze.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Campbell knew what had struck him. The thin, hard curve of that hook, -more potent than the edge of any hand.</p> - -<p>The point pricked his throat, just over the pulse on the left side. The -man said softly:</p> - -<p>"Lie still, little man, and answer."</p> - -<p>Campbell lay still. There was nothing else to do. He said, "I'm Thomas -Black, if that helps. Who are you?"</p> - -<p>"What did Tredrick tell you to do?"</p> - -<p>"To get the hell out. What gives with you?" If that Taxil was spreading -the word about him, he'd better hurry. Campbell decided to take a -chance. The guy with the hook didn't seem to love Tredrick.</p> - -<p>"The black boy in the radio room told me to come aboard and wait. Seems -he's sore at Tredrick, too. So am I. That makes us all pals, doesn't -it?"</p> - -<p>"You lie, little man." The deep voice was quietly certain. "You were -sent to spy. Answer!"</p> - -<p>The point of the hook put the exclamation point on that word. Campbell -winced away. He wished the lug wouldn't call him "little man." He -wouldn't remember ever having felt more hopelessly scared.</p> - -<p>He said, "Damn your eyes, I'm not lying. Check with the Taxil. He'll -tell you."</p> - -<p>"And betray him to Tredrick? You're clumsy, little man."</p> - -<p>The hook bit deeper. Campbell's neck began to bleed. He felt all right -again otherwise. He wondered whether he'd have a chance of kicking the -man in the stomach before his throat was torn out. He tried to draw -farther away, but the pipe wall wouldn't give.</p> - -<p>A woman's voice spoke then, quite suddenly, from beyond the green -light. Campbell jumped. He hadn't even thought about anyone else being -there. Now it was obvious that someone was holding the light.</p> - -<p>The voice said, "Wait, Marah. Zard is calling me now."</p> - -<p>It was a clear, low voice. It had music in it. Campbell would have -loved it if it had croaked, but as it was it made his nerves prick with -sheer ecstasy.</p> - -<p>The hook lifted out of the hole it had made, but it didn't go away. -Campbell raised his head a little. The lower edge of the green light -spilled across a pair of sandalled feet. The bare white legs above them -were as beautiful as the voice, in the same strong clear way.</p> - -<p>There was a long silence. Marah, the man with the hook, turned his face -partly into the light. It was oblong and scarred and hard as beaten -bronze. The eyes in it were smoky ember, set aslant under a tumbled -crest of tawny hair.</p> - -<p>After a long time the woman spoke again. Her voice was different this -time. It was angry, and the anger made it sing and throb like the -Kraylen's drum.</p> - -<p>"The Earthman is telling the truth, Marah. Zard sent him. He's here -about the Kraylens."</p> - -<p>The big man—a Martian Drylander, Campbell thought, from somewhere -around Kesh—got up, fast. "The Kraylens!"</p> - -<p>"He asked for help, and Tredrick sent him away." The light moved -closer. "But that's not all, Marah. Tredrick has found out about—us. -Old Ekla talked. They're waiting for us at the ship!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>Marah turned. His eyes had a greenish, feral glint like those of a lion -on the kill. He said, "I'm sorry, little man."</p> - -<p>Campbell was on his feet, now, and reasonably steady. "Think nothing -of it," he said dourly. "A natural mistake." He looked at the hook and -mopped the blood from his neck, and felt sick. He added, "The name's -Black. Thomas Black."</p> - -<p>"It wouldn't be Campbell?" asked the woman's voice. "Roy Campbell?"</p> - -<p>He squinted into the light, not saying anything. The woman said, "You -are Roy Campbell. The Spaceguard was here not long ago, hunting for -you. They left your picture."</p> - -<p>He shrugged. "All right. I'm Roy Campbell."</p> - -<p>"That," said Marah softly, "helps a lot!" He could have meant it any -way. His hook made a small, savage flash in the green light.</p> - -<p>"There's trouble here on Romany. Civil war. Men are going to be killed -before it's over—perhaps now. Where's your place in it?"</p> - -<p>"How do I know? The Coalition is moving in on the Kraylens. I owe them -something. So I came here for help. Help! Yeah."</p> - -<p>"You'll get it," said the woman. "You'll get it, somehow, if any of us -live."</p> - -<p>Campbell raised his dark brows. "What goes on here, anyhow?"</p> - -<p>The woman's low voice sang and throbbed against the pipe walls. "A -long time ago there were a few ships. Old ships, crowded with people -who had no homes. Little, drifting people who made a living selling -their odd handicrafts in the spaceports, who were cursed as a menace to -navigation and distrusted as thieves. Perhaps they were thieves. They -were also cold, and hungry, and resentful.</p> - -<p>"After a while the ships began to band together. It was easier that -way—they could share food and fuel, and talk, and exchange ideas. -Space wasn't so lonely. More and more ships drifted in. Pretty soon -there were a lot of them. A new world, almost.</p> - -<p>"They called it Romany, after the wandering people of Earth, because -they were gypsies, too, in their own way.</p> - -<p>"They clung to their own ways of life. They traded with the noisy, -trampling people on the planets they had been driven away from because -they had to. But they hated them, and were hated, just as gypsies -always are.</p> - -<p>"It wasn't an easy life, but they were free in it. They could stand -anything, as long as they were free. And always, anywhere in the Solar -System, wherever some little lost tribe was being swallowed up and -needed help, ships from Romany went to help them."</p> - -<p>Her voice dropped. Campbell thought again of the Kraylen's drum, -singing its anger in the indigo night.</p> - -<p>"That was the creed of Romany," she whispered. "Always to help, always -to be a refuge for the little people who couldn't adjust themselves to -progress, who only wanted to die in dignity and peace. And now...."</p> - -<p>"And now," said Marah somberly, "there is civil war."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Campbell drew a long, unsteady breath. The woman's voice throbbed in -him, and his throat was tight. He said "<i>Tredrick?</i>"</p> - -<p>Marah nodded. "Tredrick. But it's more than that. If it were only -Tredrick, it wouldn't be so bad."</p> - -<p>He ran the curve of his hook over his scarred chin, and his eyes burned -like candle flames.</p> - -<p>"Romany is growing old, and soft. That's the real trouble. Decay. -Otherwise, Tredrick would have been kicked into space long ago. There -are old men in the Council, Campbell. They think more of comfort than -they do of—well...."</p> - -<p>"Yeah. I know. What's Tredrick's angle?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. He's a strange man—you can't get a grip on him. -Sometimes I think he's working for the Coalition."</p> - -<p>Campbell scowled. "Could be. You gypsies have a lot of wild talents and -some unique skills—I've met some of 'em. The man that controlled them -would be sitting pretty. The Coalition would like it, too."</p> - -<p>The woman said bitterly, "And they could always exhibit us. Tours, at -so much a head. So quaint—a cross-section of a lost world!"</p> - -<p>"Tredrick's the strong man," Marah went on. "Eran Mak is Chief -Councillor, but he does as Tredrick tells him. The idea is that if -Romany settled down and stops getting into trouble with the Planetary -Coalitions, we can have regular orbits, regular trade, and so on."</p> - -<p>"In other words," said Campbell dryly, "stop being Romany."</p> - -<p>"You understand. A pet freak, a tourist attraction, a fat source of -revenue." Again the savage flash of the hook. "A damned circus!"</p> - -<p>"And Tredrick, I take it, has decided that you're endangering the -future of Romany by rebellion, and put the finger on you."</p> - -<p>"Exactly." Marah's yellow eyes were bright and hard, meeting Campbell's.</p> - -<p>Campbell thought about the Fitts-Sothern outside, and all the lonely -reaches of space where he could go. There were lots of Coalition ships -to rob, a few plague-spots left to spend the loot in. All he had to do -was walk out.</p> - -<p>But there was a woman's voice, with a note in it like a singing, angry -drum. There was an old man's voice, murmuring, "Little people like you, -my son?"</p> - -<p>It was funny, how a guy could be alone and not know he minded it, -and then suddenly walk in on perfect strangers and not be alone any -more—alone inside, that is—and know that he <i>had</i> minded it like hell.</p> - -<p>It had been that way with the Kraylens. It was that way now. Campbell -shrugged. "I'll stick around."</p> - -<p>He added irritably, "Sister, will you for Pete's sake get that light -out of my eyes?"</p> - -<p>She moved it, shining it down. "The name's Moore. Stella Moore."</p> - -<p>He grinned. "Sorry. So you do have a face, after all."</p> - -<p>It wasn't beautiful. It was pale and heart-shaped, framed in a mass of -unruly red-gold hair. There were long, grey eyes under dark-gold brows -that had never been plucked, and a red, sullen mouth.</p> - -<p>Her teeth were white and uneven, when she smiled. He liked them. The -red of her sullen lips was their own. She wore a short tunic the color -of Tokay grapes, and the body under it was long and clean-cut. Her -arms and throat had the whiteness of pearl.</p> - -<p>Marah said quietly, "Contact Zard. Tell him to throw the PA system wide -open and say we're taking the ship, now, to get the Kraylens!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Stella stood absolutely still. Her grey eyes took on an eerie, remote -look, and Campbell shivered slightly. He'd seen telepathy often enough -in the System's backwaters, but it never seemed normal.</p> - -<p>Presently she said, "It's done," and became human again. The green -light went out. "Power," she explained. "Besides, we don't need it. -Give me your hand, Mister Campbell."</p> - -<p>He did, with absolutely no aversion. "My friends," he said, "generally -call me Roy." She laughed, and they started off, moving with quick -sureness in the black, icy darkness.</p> - -<p>The ship, it seemed, was up on the second level, on the edge of the -living quarters. Down here was all the machinery that kept Romany -alive—heat, light, water, air, and cooling systems—and a lot of -storage hulks.</p> - -<p>The third tier was a vast hydroponic farm, growing the grain and fruit -and vegetables that fed the Romany thousands.</p> - -<p>Stumbling through pipes and dismantled hulks that smelled of sacking -and dried vegetables and oil, Campbell filled in the gaps.</p> - -<p>The leaders of the rebel element had held a meeting down here, in -secret. Marah and the girl had been coming from it when Campbell -blundered into them. The decision had been to rescue the Kraylens no -matter what happened.</p> - -<p>They'd known about the Kraylens long before Campbell had. Gypsies -trading in Lhi had brought word. Now the Kraylens were a symbol over -which two points of view were clashing in deadly earnest.</p> - -<p>Remembering Tredrick's thin, harsh face, Campbell wondered uneasily how -many of them <i>would</i> live to take that ship away.</p> - -<p>He became aware gradually of a broken, rhythmic tap and clank -transmitted along the metal walls.</p> - -<p>"Hammers," said Stella softly. "Hammers and riveters and welders, -fighting rust and age to keep Romany alive. There's no scrap of this -world that wasn't discarded as junk, and reclaimed by us."</p> - -<p>Her voice dropped. "Including the people."</p> - -<p>Campbell said, "They're scrapping some beautiful things these days."</p> - -<p>She knew what he meant. She even laughed a little. "I was born on -Romany. There are a lot of Earth people who have no place at home."</p> - -<p>"I know." Campbell remembered his father's farm, with blue cold water -over the fields instead of sky. "And Tredrick?"</p> - -<p>"He was born here, too. But the taint is in him...." She caught her -breath in a sudden sharp cry. "Marah! Marah, <i>it's Zard</i>!"</p> - -<p>They stopped. A pulse began to beat under Campbell's jaw. Stella -whispered, "He's gone. I felt him call, and now he's gone. He was -trying to warn us."</p> - -<p>Marah said grimly, "Tredrick's got him, then. Probably knocked him out -while he was trying to escape from the radio room."</p> - -<p>"He was frightened," said Stella quietly. "Tredrick has done something. -He wanted to warn us."</p> - -<p>Marah grunted. "Have your gun ready, Campbell. We go up, now."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They went up a wooden ladder. It was suddenly getting hot. Campbell -guessed that Romany was in the sun again. The Martian opened a door at -the top, very, very slowly.</p> - -<p>A young, vibrant voice sang out, "All clear!" They piled out of the -doorway. Four or five husky young Paniki barbarians from Venus stood -grinning beside two bound and slumbering Earthmen.</p> - -<p>Campbell stared past them. The air was still and hot, hung with veils -of steamy mist. There was mossy earth dotted with warm pools. There -were <i>liha</i>-trees, sultry green under a pearly light that was still -brightening out of indigo gloom.</p> - -<p>A slow, hot breath of wind stirred the mist and <i>liha</i>-trees. It smelt -of warm still water and growing things, and—freedom.</p> - -<p>Campbell drew a long breath. His eyes stung and the veins in his -neck hurt. He knew it was a dead hulk, with an iron sky above the -pearl-grey mist. But it smelt of freedom.</p> - -<p>He said, "What are we waiting for?"</p> - -<p>Marah laughed, and the young Venusian laughed. Barbarians, going to -fight and laughing about it. Stella's grey eyes held a sultry flame, -and her lips were blood-orange and trembling.</p> - -<p>Campbell kissed them. He laughed, too, softly, and said, "Okay, Gypsy. -Let's go."</p> - -<p>They went, through the seven hulks of the Venusian Quarter. Because of -the Kraylens, most of the Venusians were with the rebels, but even so -there were angry voices raised, and fists, and a few weapons, and some -blood got spilled.</p> - -<p>More tow-headed young men joined them, and squat little upland nomads -who could talk to animals, and three four-armed, serpentine crawlers -from the Lohari swamps.</p> - -<p>They came presently to a huge dismantled Hoyt freighter on the edge of -the Venusian Quarter. There were piles of goods waiting lading through -the row of airlocks into smaller trading ships. Marah stopped, his -gorget shooting wicked jeweled sparks in the sunlight that seared in -through half-shuttered ports, and the others flowed in behind him.</p> - -<p>They were on a narrow gallery about halfway up the inner wall. Campbell -looked down. There were people on the ladders and the two balcony -levels below. A sullen, ugly mob of people from Earth, from Venus, from -Mars and Mercury and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.</p> - -<p>Men and near-men and sheer monstrosities, silent and watching in the -hot light. Here a crest of scarlet antennae burning, there the sinuous -flash of a scaled back, and beyond that the slow ominous weaving of -light-black tentacles.</p> - -<p>A creature like a huge blue spider with a child's face let out a shrill -unearthly scream. "Traitor! Traitor!"</p> - -<p>The whole packed mass on the ladders and the galleries stirred like a -weird tapestry caught in a gust of wind. The rushing whisper of their -movement, their breathing, and their anger sang across Campbell's -nerves in points of fire.</p> - -<p>Anger. Anger in the Kraylen's drum and Stella's voice and Marah's -yellow eyes. Anger like the sunlight, hot and primal. The anger of -little men flogged into greatness.</p> - -<p>A voice spoke from across the deck below, cold, clear, without the -faintest tremor.</p> - -<p>"We want no trouble. Return to your quarters quietly."</p> - -<p>"<i>The Kraylens!</i>"</p> - -<p>The name came thundering out of all those angry throats, beating down -against the gaunt, erect figure standing in the forefront of a circle -of Earthmen guarding the locks with ready guns.</p> - -<p>Tredrick's thin, red head never stirred from its poised erectness. -"The Kraylens are out of your hands, now. They harbored a dangerous -criminal, and they are now being imprisoned in Lhi to answer for it."</p> - -<p>Roy Campbell gripped the iron railing in front of him. It seemed to him -that he could see, across all that space, the cold, bright flame of -satisfaction in Tredrick's eyes.</p> - -<p>The thin, calm voice slid across his eardrums with the cruel -impersonality of a surgeon's knife.</p> - -<p>"That criminal, Roy Campbell, is now on Romany. The Spaceguard is on -its way here now. For the sake of the safety of your families, for the -future of Romany, I advise no one to hide him or help him escape."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>Campbell stood still, not moving or speaking, his hard, dark face -lined and dead, like old wood. From a great distance he heard Marah's -smothered, furious curse, the quick catch of Stella's breath, the -sullen breathing and stirring of the mob that was no longer sure what -it wanted to do.</p> - -<p>But all he could see was the pale, kind face of an old man smiling in -the warm, blue night, and the dirty, sordid stones of Lhi.</p> - -<p>A voice spoke, from beside the circle of armed men. Campbell heard it -with some part of his brain. An old voice, dry and rustling, possessed -of great dignity and great pain.</p> - -<p>"My children," it said. "Have patience. Have faith that we, your -leaders, have the good of Romany at heart."</p> - -<p>Campbell looked with dead, dark eyes at the speaker, standing beside -Tredrick. A small man in a robe of white fur. A Martian from one of the -Polar Cities, frail, black-eyed grave, and gently strong.</p> - -<p>"Remember the cold, the hunger, the uncertainty we have endured. We -have a chance now for security and peace. Let there be no trouble, now -or when the Spaceguard comes. Return to your quarters quietly."</p> - -<p>"Trouble!" Marah's voice roared out across the hot, still air. Every -face down there below turned up toward the balcony. Campbell saw -Tredrick start, and speak to one of the guards. The guard went out, not -too fast. Campbell swore under his breath, and his brain began to tick -over again, swift and hard.</p> - -<p>Marah thundered on, a bronze Titan in the sultry glare. His gorget, his -yellow eyes, the bosses on his kilt held points of angry flame.</p> - -<p>"You, Eran Mak, a Martian! Have you forgotten Kesh, and Balakar, and -the Wells of Tamboina? Can you crawl to the Coalition like a <i>sindar</i> -for the sake of the bones they throw you? You, Tredrick! You've sold -us out. Since when have <i>latniks</i> been called to meddle in Romany's -affairs?"</p> - -<p>Tredrick's cold voice was quite steady. "The Kraylens are beyond reach, -Marah. A revolt will get you nothing. Do you want blood on your hands?"</p> - -<p>"My hand," said Marah softly. His hook made a burning, vicious arc in -the hot light. "If there's blood on this, the Coalition spilled it when -their Frontier Marshal lopped my sword-hand for raising it against him."</p> - -<p>The mob stirred and muttered. And Campbell said swiftly, "Tredrick's -right. But there's still a chance, if you want to take it."</p> - -<p>Stella Moore put a hand on Marah's arm. "How?"</p> - -<p>Tredrick was still pretending he hadn't seen Campbell, pretending there -weren't men crawling through dark tunnels to trap him.</p> - -<p>"It'll mean trouble. It may mean death or imprisonment. It's a -million-to-one shot. You'd better give me up and forget it."</p> - -<p>The point of Marah's hook pricked under his jaw. "Speak quickly, -little man!"</p> - -<p>"Okay. Tell 'em to behave. Then get me out of here, fast!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Tredrick's men knew their way around. A lot of gypsies, moreover, who -weren't with Tredrick, joined the hunt for the <i>latnik</i>. They didn't -want trouble with the Spaceguard.</p> - -<p>Campbell stumbled through a maze of dark and stifling passages, holding -Stella's hand and thinking of the Spaceguard ships sweeping closer. -They were almost caught a dozen times, trying to get across Romany to -the Fitts-Sothern.</p> - -<p>The hunt seemed to be an outlet for the pent feelings of Romany. -Campbell decided he would never go hunting again. And then, just above -where his ship lay, they stepped into a trap.</p> - -<p>They were in the Saturnian Quarter, in the hulk devoted to refugees -from Titan. There were coolers working here. There was snow on the -barren rocks, glimmering in weird light like a dark rainbow.</p> - -<p>"The caves," said Stella Moore. "The Baraki."</p> - -<p>There was an echoing clamor of voices all around them, footsteps -clattering over metal and icy rock. They ran, breathing hard. -There were some low cliffs, and a ledge, and then caves with queer -blue-violet fires burning in them.</p> - -<p>Creatures sat at the cave mouths. They were small, vaguely anthropoid, -dead white, and unpleasantly rubbery. They were quite naked, and their -single eyes were phosphorescent. Marah knelt.</p> - -<p>"Little Fathers, we ask shelter in the name of freedom."</p> - -<p>The shouts and the footsteps were closer. There was sweat on Campbell's -forehead. One of the white things nodded slightly.</p> - -<p>"No disturbance," it whispered. "We will have no disturbance of our -thoughts. You may shelter, to stop this ugly noise."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Little Father." Marah plunged into the cave, with the -others on his heels. Campbell snarled, "They'll come and take us!"</p> - -<p>Stella's sullen lips smiled wolfishly. "No. Watch."</p> - -<p>The cave, the violet fire were suddenly gone. There was a queer -darkness, a small electric shiver across Campbell's skin. He started, -and the girl whispered:</p> - -<p>"Telekinesis. They've built a wall of force around us. On the outside -it seems to be rock like the cave wall."</p> - -<p>Marah moved, the bosses on his kilt clinking slightly. "When the swine -are gone, there's a trap in this hulk leading down to the pipe where -your ship is. Now tell us your plan."</p> - -<p>Campbell made a short, bitter laugh. "Plan, hell. It's a gamble on a -fixed wheel, and you're fools if you play it."</p> - -<p>"And if we don't?"</p> - -<p>"I'm going anyway. The Kraylens—well, I owe them something."</p> - -<p>"Tell us the plan."</p> - -<p>He did, in rapid nervous sentences, crouched behind the shielding wall -of thought from those alien brains. Marah laughed softly.</p> - -<p>"By the gods, little man, you should have been a Keshi!"</p> - -<p>"I can think of a lot of things I should have been," said Campbell -dourly. "Hey, there goes our wall."</p> - -<p>It hadn't been more than four minutes. Long enough for them to look and -go away again. There might still be time, before the Spaceguard came.</p> - -<p>There was, just. The getaway couldn't have been more perfectly timed. -Campbell grinned, feeding power into his jets with exquisite skill.</p> - -<p>He didn't have a Chinaman's chance. He thought probably the gypsies had -less than that of coming through. But the Kraylens weren't going to rot -in the slave-pens of Lhi because of Roy Campbell.</p> - -<p>Not while Roy Campbell was alive to think about it. And that, of -course, might not be long.</p> - -<p>He sent the Fitts-Sothern shooting toward the night side of Venus, in -full view and still throttled down. The Spaceguard ships, nine fast -patrol boats, took out after him, giving Romany the go-by. No use -stopping there. No mistaking that lean, black ship, or whose hands were -on the controls.</p> - -<p>Campbell stroked the firing keys, and the Fitts-Sothern purred under -him like a cat. Just for a second he couldn't see clearly.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, old girl," he said. "But that's how it has to be."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was a beautiful chase. The Guard ships pulled every trick they knew, -and they knew plenty. Campbell hunched over the keys, sweating, his -dark face set in a grin that held no mirth. Only his hands moved, with -nervous, delicate speed.</p> - -<p>It was the ship that did it. They slapped tractors on her, and she -broke them. They tried to encircle her, and she walked away from them. -That slight edge of power, that narrow margin of speed, pulled Roy -Campbell away from what looked like instant, easy capture.</p> - -<p>He got into the shadow, and then the Spaceguard began to get scared -as well as angry. They stopped trying to capture him. They unlimbered -their blasters and went to work.</p> - -<p>Campbell was breathing hard now, through his teeth. His dark skin was -oiled with sweat, pulled tight over the bones and the ridges of muscle -and the knotted veins. Deliberately, he slowed a little.</p> - -<p>A bolt flamed past the starboard ports. He slowed still more, and -veered the slightest bit. The Fitts-Sothern was alive under his hands.</p> - -<p>He didn't speak when the next bolt struck her. Not even to curse. He -didn't know he was crying until he tasted the salt on his lips. He got -up out of the pilot's seat, and then he said one word:</p> - -<p>"<i>Judas!</i>"</p> - -<p>The follow-up of the first shot blasted the control panel. It knocked -him back across the cockpit, seared and scorched from the fusing metal. -He got up, somehow, and down the passage to the lock compartment. There -was a lot of blood running from his cheek, but he didn't care.</p> - -<p>He could feel the ship dying under him. The timers were shot. She was -running away in a crazy, blind spiral, racking her plates apart.</p> - -<p>He climbed into his vac-suit. It was a special one, black even to the -helmet, with a super-powerful harness-rocket with a jet illegally -baffled. He hoped his hands weren't too badly burned.</p> - -<p>The ship checked brutally, flinging him hard into the bulkhead. -Tractors! He clawed toward the lock, an animal whimper in his throat. -He hoped he wasn't going to be sick inside the helmet.</p> - -<p>The panel opened. Air blasted him out, into jet-black space. The tiny -spearing flame of the harness-rocket flickered briefly and died, -unnoticed among the trailing fires of the derelict.</p> - -<p>Campbell lay quite still in the blackened suit. The Spaceguard ships -flared by, playing the Fitts-Sothern like a tarpon on the lines of -their tractor beams. Campbell closed his eyes and cursed them, slowly -and without expression, until the tightness in his throat choked him -off.</p> - -<p>He let them get a long way off. Then he pressed the plunger of the -rocket, heading down for the night-shrouded swamps of Tehara Province.</p> - -<p>He retained no very clear memory of the trip. Once, when he was quite -low, a spaceship blazed by over him, heading toward Lhi. There were -still about eight hours' darkness over the swamps.</p> - -<p>He landed, eventually, in a clearing he was pretty sure only he knew -about. He'd used it before when he'd had stuff to fence in Lhi and -wasn't sure who owned the town at the time. He'd learned to be careful -about those things.</p> - -<p>There was a ship there now, a smallish trader of the inter-lunar type. -He stared at it, not really believing it was there. Then, just in time, -he got the helmet off.</p> - -<p>When the world stopped turning over, he was lying with his head in -Stella Moore's lap. She had changed her tunic for plain spaceman's -black, and it made her face look whiter and lovelier in its frame of -black hair. Her lips were still sullen, and still red.</p> - -<p>Campbell sat up and kissed them. He felt much better. Not good, but he -thought he'd live. Stella laughed and said, "Well! You're recovering."</p> - -<p>He said, "Sister, you're good medicine for anything." A hand which he -recognized as Marah's materialized out of the indigo gloom. It had a -flask in it. Campbell accepted it gladly. Presently the icy deadness -around his stomach thawed out and he could see things better.</p> - -<p>He got up, rather unsteadily, and fumbled for a cigarette. His shirt -had been mostly blown and charred off of him and his hands hurt like -hell. Stella gave him a smoke and a light. He sucked it in gratefully -and said:</p> - -<p>"Okay, kids. Are we all ready?"</p> - -<p>They were.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Campbell led off. He drained the flask and was pleased to find himself -firing on all jets again. He felt empty and relaxed and ready for -anything. He hoped the liquor wouldn't wear off too soon.</p> - -<p>There was a path threaded through the hammocks, the bogs and potholes -and reeds and <i>liha</i>-trees. Only Campbell, who had made it, could have -followed it. Remembering his blind stumbling in the mazes of Romany, he -felt pleased about that. He said, rather smugly:</p> - -<p>"Be careful not to slip. How'd you fix the getaway?"</p> - -<p>Marah made a grim little laugh. "Romany was a madhouse, hunting for -you. Some of the hot-headed boys started minor wars over policy on top -of that. Tredrick had to use most of his men to keep order. Besides, of -course, he thought we were beaten on the Kraylen question."</p> - -<p>"There were only four men guarding the locks," said Stella. "Marah and -a couple of the Paniki boys took care of them."</p> - -<p>Campbell remembered the spaceship flashing toward Lhi. He told them -about it. "Could be Tredrick, coming to supervise our defeat in -person." Defeat! It was because he was a little tight, of course, but -he didn't think anyone could defeat him this night. He laughed.</p> - -<p>Something rippled out of the indigo night to answer his laughter. -Something so infinitely sweet and soft that it made him want to cry, -and then shocked him with the deep and iron power in it. Campbell -looked back over his shoulder. He thought:</p> - -<p>"Me, hell. These are the guys who'll do it, if it's done."</p> - -<p>Stella was behind him. Beyond her was a thin, small man with four arms. -He wore no clothing but his own white fur and his head was crowned with -feathery antennae. Even in the blue night the antennae and the man's -eyes burned living scarlet.</p> - -<p>He came from Callisto and he carried in his four hands a thing vaguely -like a harp, only the strings were double banked. It was the harp that -had spoken. Campbell hoped it would never speak against him.</p> - -<p>Marah brought up the rear, swinging along with no regard for the burden -he bore. Over his naked shoulder, Campbell could see the still white -face of the Baraki from Titan, the Little Father who had saved them -from the hunters. There were tentacles around Marah's big body like -white ropes.</p> - -<p>Four gypsies and a Public Enemy. Five little people against the -Terro-Venusian Coalition. It didn't make sense.</p> - -<p>A hot, slow wind stirred the <i>liha</i>-trees. Campbell breathed it in, -and grinned. "What does?" he wondered, and stooped to part a tangle of -branches. There was a stone-lined tunnel beyond.</p> - -<p>"Here we go, children. Join hands and make like little mousies." He -took Stella's hand in his left. Because it was Stella's he didn't mind -the way it hurt. In his right, he held his gun.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>He led them, quickly and quietly, along the disused branch of an old -drainage system that he had used so often as a private entrance. -Presently they dropped to a lower level and the conduit system proper.</p> - -<p>When the rains were on, the drains would be running full. Now they were -only pumping seepage. They waded in pitch darkness, by-passed a pumping -station through a side tunnel once used for cold storage by one of -Lhi's cautious business men, and then found steep, slippery steps going -up.</p> - -<p>"Careful," whispered Campbell. He stopped them on a narrow ledge and -stood listening. The Callistan murmured, with faint amusement:</p> - -<p>"There is no one beyond."</p> - -<p>Antennae over ears. Campbell grinned and found a hidden spring. "Lhi -is full of these things," he said. "The boys used to keep their little -wars going just for fun, and every smart guy had several bolt holes. -Maps used to sell high."</p> - -<p>They emerged in a very deep, very dark cellar. It was utterly still. -Campbell felt a little sad. He could remember when Martian Mak's was -the busiest thieves' market in Lhi, and a man could hear the fighting -even here. He smiled bitterly and led the way upstairs.</p> - -<p>Presently they looked down on the main gate, the main square, and the -slave pens of Lhi. The surrounding streets were empty, the buildings -mostly dark. The Coalition had certainly cleaned up when it took over -the town. It was horribly depressing.</p> - -<p>Campbell pointed. "Reception committee. Tredrick radioed, anyway. -One'll get you twenty he followed it up in person."</p> - -<p>The gate was floodlighted over a wide area and there were a lot -of tough-looking men with heavy-duty needle guns. In this day of -anaesthetic charges you could do a lot of effective shooting without -doing permanent damage. There were more lights and more men by the -slave pens.</p> - -<p>Campbell couldn't see much over the high stone walls of the pens. Vague -movement, the occasional flash of a brilliant crest. He had known the -Kraylens would be there. It was the only place in Lhi where you could -imprison a lot of people and be sure of keeping them.</p> - -<p>Campbell's dark face was cruel. "Okay," he said. "Let's go."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Down the stone steps to the entrance. Stella's quick breathing in -the hot darkness, the rhythmic clink of the bosses on Marah's kilt. -Campbell saw the eyes of the Callistan harper, glowing red and angry. -He realized he was sweating. He had forgotten his burns.</p> - -<p>Stella opened the heavy steel-sheathed door. Quietly, slowly. The -Baraki whispered, "Put me down."</p> - -<p>Marah set him gently on the stone floor. He folded in upon himself, -tentacles around white, rubbery flesh. His single eye burned with a -cold phosphorescence.</p> - -<p>He whispered, "Now."</p> - -<p>The Callistan harper went to the door. Reflected light painted him -briefly, white fur and scarlet crest and outlandish harp, and the -glowing, angry eyes.</p> - -<p>He vanished. Out of nowhere the harp began to sing.</p> - -<p>Through the partly opened door Campbell had a clear view of the square -and the gate. In all that glare of light on empty stone nothing moved. -And yet the music rippled out.</p> - -<p>The guards. Campbell could see the startled glitter of their eyeballs -in the light. There was nothing to shoot at. The harping was part of -the night, as all-enveloping and intangible.</p> - -<p>Campbell shivered. A pulse beat like a trip-hammer under his jaw. -Stella's voice came to him, a faint breath out of the darkness.</p> - -<p>"The Baraki is shielding him with thought. A wall of force that turns -the light."</p> - -<p>The edge of the faint light touched her cheek, the blackness of her -hair. Marah crouched beyond her, motionless. His hook glinted dully, -curved and cruel.</p> - -<p>They were getting only the feeble backwash of the harping. The -Callistan was aiming his music outward. Campbell felt it sweep and -tremble, blend with the hot slow wind and the indigo sky.</p> - -<p>It was some trick of vibrations, some diabolical thrusting of notes -against the brain like fingers, to press and control. Something about -the double-banked strings thrumming against each other under the -cunning of four skilled hands. But it was like witchcraft.</p> - -<p>"The Harp of Dagda," whispered Stella Moore, and the Irish music in her -voice was older than time. The Scot in Campbell answered it.</p> - -<p>Somewhere outside a man cursed, thickly, like one drugged with sleep -and afraid of it. A gun went off with a sharp slapping sound. Some of -the guards had fallen down.</p> - -<p>The harp sang louder, throbbing along the grey stones. It was the slow -wind, the heat, the deep blue night. It was sleep.</p> - -<p>The floodlights blazed on empty stone, and the guards slept.</p> - -<p>The Baraki sighed and shivered and closed his eye. Campbell saw the -Callistan harper standing in the middle of the square, his scarlet -crest erect, striking the last thrumming note.</p> - -<p>Campbell straightened, catching his breath in a ragged sob. Marah -picked up the Baraki. He was limp, like a tired child. Stella's eyes -were glistening and strange. Campbell went out ahead of them.</p> - -<p>It was a long way across the square, in the silence and the glaring -lights. Campbell thought the harp was a nice weapon. It didn't attract -attention because everyone who heard it slept.</p> - -<p>He flung back the three heavy bars of the slave gate. The pain of his -burned hands jarred him out of the queer mood the harping and his -Celtic blood had put on him. He began to think again.</p> - -<p>"Hurry!" he snarled at the Kraylens. "Hurry up!" They came pouring out -of the gate. Men, women with babies, little children. Their crests -burned in the sullen glare.</p> - -<p>Campbell pointed to Marah. "Follow him." They recognized him, tried to -speak, but he cursed them on. And then an old man said,</p> - -<p>"My son."</p> - -<p>Campbell looked at him, and then down at the stones. "For God's sake, -Father, hurry." A hand touched his shoulder gently. He looked up again, -and grinned. He couldn't see anything. "Get the hell on, will you?" -Somebody found the switch and the nearer lights went out.</p> - -<p>The hand pressed his shoulder, and was gone. He shook his head -savagely. The Kraylens were running now, toward the house. And then, -suddenly, Marah yelled.</p> - -<p>Men were running into the square. Eight or ten of them, probably -the bodyguard of the burly grey-haired man who led them. Beside the -grey-haired man was Tredrick, Overchief of the Terran Quarter of Romany.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They were startled. They hadn't been expecting this. Campbell's -battle-trained eye saw that. Probably they had been making a routine -tour of inspection and just stumbled onto the crash-out.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="650" height="461" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>Campbell swung about, blasted shots at Tredrick and his -men, while Stella pressed the Kraylens to greater speed in escaping.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Campbell fired, from the hip. Anaesthetic needles sprayed into the -close-packed group. Two of them went down. The rest scattered, dropping -flat. Campbell wished there had been time to kill the gate lights. At -least, the shadows made shooting tricky.</p> - -<p>He bent over and began to run, guarding the rear of the Kraylen's line. -Stella, in the cover of the doorway, was laying down a methodical wall -of needles. Campbell grinned.</p> - -<p>Some of the Kraylens caught it and had to be carried. That slowed -things down. Campbell's gun clicked empty. He shoved in another clip, -cursing his burned fingers. A charge sang by him, close enough to stir -his hair. He fired again, blanketing the whole sector where the men -lay. He wished he could blow Tredrick's head off.</p> - -<p>The Kraylens were vanishing into the house. Marah and the Callistan had -gone ahead, leading them. Campbell groaned. Speed was what they needed. -Speed. A child, separated from his mother in the rush, knelt on the -stones and shrieked. Campbell picked him up and ran on.</p> - -<p>Enemy fire was slackening. Stella was doing all right. The last of the -Kraylens shoved through the door. Campbell bounded up the steps. Stella -got up off her belly and smiled at him. Her eyes shone. They were -halfway through the door when the cold voice said behind them,</p> - -<p>"There are lethal needles in my gun. You had better stop."</p> - -<p>Campbell turned slowly. His face was wooden. Tredrick stood at the -bottom of the steps. He must have crawled around the edge of the -square, where the shadows were thick under the walls.</p> - -<p>"Drop your gun, Campbell. And you, Stella Moore."</p> - -<p>Campbell dropped it. Tredrick might be bluffing about those needles. -But a Mickey at this stage of the game would be just as fatal. Stella's -gun clattered beside him. She didn't say anything, but her face was -coldly murderous.</p> - -<p>Tredrick said evenly, "You might as well call them back, Campbell. You -led them in, but you're not going to lead them out."</p> - -<p>It was funny, Campbell thought, how a man's voice could be so cold when -his eyes had fire in them. He said sullenly,</p> - -<p>"Okay, Tredrick. You win. But what's the big idea behind this?"</p> - -<p>Tredrick's face might have been cut from granite, except for the feral -eyes. "I was born on Romany. I froze and starved in those rotten hulks. -I hated it. I hated the darkness, the loneliness, the uncertainty. But -when I said I hated it, I got a beating.</p> - -<p>"Everybody else thought it was worth it. I didn't. They talked about -freedom, but Romany was a prison to me. I wanted to grow, and I was -stifled inside it. Then I got an idea.</p> - -<p>"If I could rule Romany and make a treaty with the Coalition, I'd have -money and power. And I could fix it so no more kids would be brought up -that way, cold and hungry and scared.</p> - -<p>"Marah opposed me, and then the Kraylens became an issue." Tredrick -smiled, but there was no mirth or softness in it. "It's a good thing. -The Coalition can take of Marah and you others who were mixed up in -this. My way is clear."</p> - -<p>Stella Moore said softly between her teeth, "They'll never forgive you -for turning Romany people over to the <i>latniks</i>. There'll be war."</p> - -<p>Tredrick nodded soberly. "No great change is made without bloodshed. -I'm sorry for that. But Romany will be happier."</p> - -<p>"We don't ask to be happy. We only ask to be free."</p> - -<p>Campbell said wearily, "Stella, take the kid, will you?" He held out -the little Kraylen, droopy and quiet now. She looked at him in quick -alarm. His feet were spread but not steady, his head sunk forward.</p> - -<p>She took the child. Campbell's knees sagged. One seared arm in a -tattered green sleeve came up to cover his face. The other groped -blindly along the wall. He dropped, rather slowly, to his knees.</p> - -<p>The groping hand fell across the gun by Stella's foot. In one quick -sweep of motion Campbell got it, threw it, and followed it with his own -body.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The gun missed, but it came close enough to Tredrick's face to make him -move his head. The involuntary muscular contraction of his whole body -spoiled his aim. The charge went past Campbell into the wall.</p> - -<p>They crashed down together on the stones. Campbell gripped Tredrick's -wrist, knew he couldn't hold it, let go with one hand and slashed -backward with his elbow at Tredrick's face.</p> - -<p>The gun let off again, harmlessly, Tredrick groaned. His arm was -weaker. Campbell thrashed over and got his knee on it. Tredrick's other -fist was savaging his already tortured body.</p> - -<p>Campbell brought his fist down into Tredrick's face. He did it twice, -and wept and cursed because he was suddenly too weak to lift his arm -again. Tredrick was bleeding, but far from out. His gun was coming up -again. He didn't have much play, but enough.</p> - -<p>Campbell set his teeth. He couldn't even see Tredrick, but he swung -again. He never knew whether he connected or not.</p> - -<p>Something thrummed past his head. He couldn't say he heard it. It was -more like feeling. But it was something deadly, and strange. Tredrick -didn't make a sound. Campbell knew suddenly that he was dead.</p> - -<p>He got up, very slow, shaking and cold. The Callistan harper stood in -the doorway. He was lowering his hands, and his eyes were living coals. -He didn't say anything. Neither did Stella. But she laughed, and the -child stirred and whimpered in her arms.</p> - -<p>Campbell went to her. She looked at him with queer eyes and whispered, -"I called him with my mind. I knew he'd kill."</p> - -<p>He took her face in his two hands. "Listen, Stella. You've got to lead -them back. You've got to touch my mind with yours and let me guide you -that way, back to the ship."</p> - -<p>Her eyes widened sharply. "But you can come. He's dead. You're free -now."</p> - -<p>"No." He could feel her throat quiver under his hands. Her blood was -beating. So was his. He said harshly,</p> - -<p>"You fool, do you think they'll let you get away with this? You're -tackling the Coalition. They can't afford to look silly. They've got to -have a scapegoat, something to save face!</p> - -<p>"Romany, so far, is beyond planetary control. Slap your tractors on -her, tow her out. Clear out to Saturn if you have to. Nobody saw -the Callistan. Nobody saw anybody but me and the Kraylens and an -unidentifiable somebody up here on the porch. Nobody, that is, but -Tredrick, and he won't talk. Do you understand?"</p> - -<p>She did, but she was still rebellious. Her sullen lips were angry, her -eyes bright with tears and challenging. "But you, Roy!"</p> - -<p>He took his hands away. "Damn you, woman! If I hide out on Romany I -bring you into Spaceguard jurisdiction. I'll be trapped, and Romany's -last chance to stay free will be gone."</p> - -<p>She said stubbornly, "But you can get away. There are ships."</p> - -<p>"Oh, sure. But the Kraylens are there. You can't hide them. The -Coalition will search Romany. They'll ask questions. I tell you they've -got to have a goat!"</p> - -<p>He was really weak, now. He hoped he could hold out. He hoped he -wouldn't do anything disgraceful. He turned away from her, looking out -at the square. Some of the guards were beginning to stir.</p> - -<p>"Will you go?" he said. "Will you get to hell out?"</p> - -<p>She put her hand on him. "Roy...."</p> - -<p>He jerked away. His dark face was set and cruel. "Do you have to make -it harder? Do you think I want to rot on Phobos in their stinking -mines, with shackles on my feet?" He swung around, challenging her with -savage eyes.</p> - -<p>"How else do you think Romany is going to stay free? You can't go on -playing cat and mouse with the big shots this way. They're getting sick -of it. They'll pass laws and tie you down. Somebody's got to spread -Romany all over the Solar System. Somebody's got to pull a publicity -campaign that'll make the great dumb public sit up and think. If public -opinion's with you, you're safe."</p> - -<p>He smiled. "I'm big news, sister. I'm Roy Campbell. I can splash your -lousy little mess of tin cans all over with glamour, so the great dumb -public won't let a hair of your little head be hurt. If you want to, -you can raise a statue to me in the Council hall.</p> - -<p>"And now will you for God's sake go?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She wasn't crying. Her gray eyes had lights in them. "You're wonderful, -Roy. I didn't realize how wonderful."</p> - -<p>He was ashamed, then. "Nuts. In my racket you don't expect to get away -with it forever. Besides, I'm an old dog. I know my way around. I have -a little dough saved up. I won't be in for long."</p> - -<p>"I hope not," she said. "Oh, Roy, it's so stupid! Why do Earthmen have -to change everything they lay their hands on?"</p> - -<p>He looked at Tredrick, lying on the stones. His voice came slow and -sombre.</p> - -<p>"They're building, Stella. When they're finished they'll have a big, -strong, prosperous world extending all across the planets, and the -people who belong to that world will be happy.</p> - -<p>"But before you can build you have to grade and level, destroy the -things that get in your way. We're the things—the tree—stumps and the -rocks that grew one way and can't be changed.</p> - -<p>"They're building, Stella. They're growing. You can't stop that. In the -end, it'll be a good thing, I suppose. But right now, for us...."</p> - -<p>He broke off. He thrust her roughly inside and locked the -steel-sheathed door. "You've got to go now."</p> - -<p>It was dark, and hot. The Kraylen child whimpered. He could feel Stella -close to him. He found her lips and kissed them.</p> - -<p>He said, "So long, kid. And about that statue. You'd better wait till I -come back to pose for it."</p> - -<p>His voice became a longing whisper. "<i>And I'll be back!</i>" he promised.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Citadel of Lost Ships, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CITADEL OF LOST SHIPS *** - -***** This file should be named 62316-h.htm or 62316-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/3/1/62316/ - -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: Citadel of Lost Ships - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: June 3, 2020 [EBook #62316] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CITADEL OF LOST SHIPS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Citadel of Lost Ships - - By LEIGH BRACKETT - - It was a Gypsy world, built of space flotsam, - peopled with the few free races of the Solar - System. Roy Campbell, outcast prey of the - Coalition, entered its depths to seek haven - for the Kraylens of Venus--only to find that it - had become a slave trap from which there was no escape. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories March 1943. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Roy Campbell woke painfully. His body made a blind, instinctive lunge -for the control panel, and it was only when his hands struck the -smooth, hard mud of the wall that he realized he wasn't in his ship -any longer, and that the Spaceguard wasn't chasing him, their guns -hammering death. - -He leaned against the wall, the perspiration thick on his heavy -chest, his eyes wide and remembering. He could feel again, as though -the running fight were still happening, the bucking of his sleek -Fitz-Sothern beneath the calm control of his hands. He could remember -the pencil rays lashing through the night, searching for him, seeking -his life. He could recall the tiny prayer that lingered in his memory, -as he fought so skillfully, so dangerously, to evade the relentless -pursuer. - -Then there was a hazy period, when a blasting cannon had twisted his -ship like a wind-tossed leaf, and his head had smashed cruelly against -the control panel. And then the slinking minutes when he had raced for -safety--and then the sodden hours when sleep was the only thing in the -Universe that he craved. - -He sank back on the hide-frame cot with something between a laugh -and a curse. He was sweating, and his wiry body twitched. He found a -cigarette, lit it on the second try and sat still, listening to his -heartbeats slow down. - -He began to wonder, then, what had wakened him. - -It was night, the deep indigo night of Venus. Beyond the open hut door, -Campbell could see the _liha_-trees swaying a little in the hot, slow -breeze. It seemed as though the whole night swayed, like a dark blue -veil. - -For a long time he didn't hear anything but the far-off screaming of -some swamp-beast on the kill. Then, sharp and cruel against the blue -silence, a drum began to beat. - -It made Campbell's heart jerk. The sound wasn't loud, but it had a -tight, hard quality of savagery, something as primal as the swamp and -as alien, no matter how long a man lived with it. - -The drumming stopped. The second, perhaps the third, ritual prelude. -The first must have wakened him. Campbell stared with narrow dark eyes -at the doorway. - -He'd been with the Kraylens only two days this time, and he'd slept -most of that. Now he realized, that in spite of his exhaustion, he had -sensed something wrong in the village. - -Something was wrong, very wrong, when the drum beat that way in the -sticky night. - -He pulled on his short, black spaceman's boots and went out of the hut. -No one moved in the village. Thatch rustled softly in the slow wind, -and that was the only sign of life. - -Campbell turned into a path under the whispering _liha_-trees. He -wore nothing but the tight black pants of his space garb, and the hot -wind lay on his skin like soft hands. He filled his lungs with it. It -smelled of warm still water and green, growing things, and.... - -Freedom. Above all, _freedom_. This was one place where a man could -still stand on his legs and feel human. - -The drumming started again, like a man's angry heart beating out of the -indigo night. This time it didn't stop. Campbell shivered. The trees -parted presently, showing a round dark hummock. - -It was lit by the hot flare of burning _liha_ pods. Sweet oily smoke -curled up into the branches. There was a sullen glint of water through -the trees, but there were closer glints, brighter, fiercer, more deadly. - -The glinting eyes of men, silent men, standing in a circle around the -hummock. - -There was a little man crouched on the mound in the center. His skin -had the blue-whiteness of skim milk. He wore a kilt of iridescent -scales. His face was subtly reptilian, broad across the cheek-bones and -pointed below. - -A crest of brilliant feathers--they weren't really feathers, but that -was as close as Campbell could get--started just above his brow ridges -and ran clean down his spine to the waist. They were standing erect -now, glowing in the firelight. - -He nursed a drum between his knees. It stopped being just a drum when -he touched it. It was his own heart, singing and throbbing with the -hate in it. - -Campbell stopped short of the circle. His nerves, still tight from his -near-fatal brush with the Spaceguard, stung with little flaring pains. -He'd never seen anything like this before. - -The little man rocked slightly, looking up into the smoke. His eyes -were half closed. The drum was part of him and part of the indigo -night. It was part of Campbell, beating in his blood. - -It was the heart of the swamp, sobbing with hate and a towering anger -that was as naked and simple as Adam on the morning of Creation. - - * * * * * - -Campbell must have made some involuntary motion, because a man standing -at the edge of the hummock turned his head and saw him. He was tall and -slender, and his crest was pure white, a sign of age. - -He turned and came to Campbell, looking at him with opalescent eyes. -The firelight laid the Earthman's dark face in sharp relief, the lean -hard angles, the high-bridged nose that had been broken and not set -straight, the bitter mouth. - -Campbell said, in pure liquid Venusian, "What is it, Father?" - -The Kraylen's eyes dropped to the Earthman's naked breast. There was -black hair on it, and underneath the hair ran twisting, intricate lines -of silver and deep blue, tattooed with exquisite skill. - -The old man's white crest nodded. Campbell turned and went back down -the path. The wind and the _liha_-trees, the hot blue night beat with -the anger and the hate of the little man with the drum. - -Neither spoke until they were back in the hut. Campbell lit a smoky -lamp. The old Kraylen drew a long, slow breath. - -"My almost-son," he said, "this is the last time I can give you refuge. -When you are able, you must go and return no more." - -Campbell stared at him. "But, Father! Why?" - -The old man spread long blue-white hands. His voice was heavy. - -"Because we, the Kraylens, shall have ceased to be." - -Campbell didn't say anything for a minute. He sat down on the -hide-frame cot and ran his fingers through his black hair. - -"Tell me, Father," he said quietly, grimly. - -The Kraylen's white crest rippled in the lamplight. "It is not your -fight." - -Campbell got up. "Look. You've saved my neck more times than I can -count. You've accepted me as one of your own. I've been happier here -than any--well, skip that. But don't say it isn't my fight." - -The pale, triangular old face smiled. But the white crest shook. - -"No. There is really no fight. Only death. We're a dying tribe, a mere -scrap of old Venus. What matter if we die now--or later?" - -Campbell lit a cigarette with quick, sharp motions. His voice was hard. -"Tell me, Father. All, and quick." - -Opalescent eyes met his. "It is better not." - -"I said, 'tell me'!" - -"Very well." The old man sighed. "You would hear, after all. You -remember the frontier town of Lhi?" - -"Remember it!" Campbell's white teeth flashed. "Every dirty stone in -it, from the pumping conduits on up. Best place on three planets to -fence the hot stuff." - -He broke off, suddenly embarrassed. The Kraylen said gently, - -"That is your affair, my son. You've been away a long time. Lhi has -changed. The Terra-Venusian Coalition Government has taken it for the -administration center of Tehara Province." - -Campbell's eyes, at mention of the Coalition Government, acquired a -hot, hard brightness. He said, "Go on." - -The old man's face was cut from marble, his voice stiff and distant. - -"There have been men in the swamps. Now word has been sent us. It seems -there is coal here, and oil, and certain minerals that men prize. They -will drain the swamps for many miles, and work them." - -Campbell let smoke out of his lungs, very slowly. "Yeah? And what -becomes of you?" - -The Kraylen turned away and stood framed in the indigo square of the -doorway. The distant drum sobbed and shouted. It was hot, and yet the -sweat turned cold on Campbell's body. - -The old man's voice was distant and throbbing and full of anger, like -the drum. Campbell had to strain to hear it. - -"They will take us and place us in camps in the great cities. Small -groups of us, so that we are divided and split. Many people will pay to -see us, the strange remnants of old Venus. They will pay for our skills -in the curing of _leshen_-skins and the writing of quaint music, and -tattooing. We will grow rich." - -Campbell dropped the cigarette and ground it on the dirt floor. Knotted -veins stood out on his forehead, and his face was cruel. The old man -whispered: - -"_We will die first._" - - * * * * * - -It was a long time since anyone had spoken. The drumming had stopped, -but the echo of it throbbed in Campbell's pulses. He looked at his -spread, sinewy hands on his knees and swallowed because the veins of -his neck were swollen and hurting. - -Presently he said, "Couldn't you go further back into the swamps?" - -The old Kraylen spoke without moving. He still stood in the doorway, -watching the trees sway in the slow wind. - -"The Nahali live there. Besides, there is no clean water and no earth -for crops. We are not lizard eaters." - -"I've seen it happen," said Campbell somberly. "On Earth, and Mars, -and Mercury, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Little people driven -from their homes, robbed of their way of life, exploited and for the -gaping idiots in the trade centers. Little people who didn't care about -progress, and making money. Little people who only wanted to live, and -breathe, and be let alone." - -He got up in a swift savage rush and hurled a gourd of water crashing -into a corner and sat down again. He was shivering. The old Kraylen -turned. - -"Little people like you, my son?" - -Campbell shrugged. "Maybe. We'd worked our farm for three hundred -years. My father didn't want to sell. They condemned it anyhow. It's -under water now, and the dam runs a hell of a big bunch of factories." - -"I'm sorry." - -Campbell looked up, and his face softened. "I've never understood," he -said. "You people are the most law-abiding citizens I ever met. You -don't like strangers. And yet I blunder in here, hot on the lam and -ugly as a swamp-dragon, and you...." - -He stopped. It was probably the excitement that was making his throat -knot up like that. The smoke from the lamp stung his eyes. He blinked -and bent to trim it. - -"You were wounded, my son, and in trouble. Your quarrel with the police -was none of ours. We would have helped anyone. And then, while you had -fever and your guard was down, you showed that more than your body -needed help. We gave you what we could." - -"Yeah," said Campbell huskily. He didn't say it, but he knew well -enough that what the Kraylens had given him had kept him from blowing -his top completely. - -Now the Kraylens were going the way of the others, straws swept before -the great broom of Progress. Nothing could stop it. Earth's empire -surged out across the planets, building, bartering, crashing across -time and custom and race to make money and the shining steel cage of -efficiency. - -A cage wherein a sheep could live happily enough, well-fed and opulent. -But Campbell wasn't a sheep. He'd tried it, and he couldn't bleat in -tune. So he was a wolf, now, alone and worrying the flock. - -Soon there wasn't going to be a place in the Solar System where a man -could stand on his own feet and breathe. - -He felt stifled. He got up and stood in the doorway, watching the trees -stir in the hot indigo gloom. The trees would go. Wells and mines, slag -and soot and clattering machinery, and men in sweat-stained shirts -laboring night and day to get, to grow, to produce. - -Campbell's mouth twisted, bitter and sardonic. He said softly: - -"God help the unconstructive!" - -The old Kraylen murmured, "What happened to those others, my son?" - -Campbell's lean shoulders twitched. "Some of them died. Some of them -submitted. The rest...." - -He turned, so suddenly that the old man flinched. Campbell's dark eyes -had a hot light in them, and his face was sharply alive. - -"The rest," he said evenly, "went to Romany." - - * * * * * - -He talked, then. Urgently, pacing the hut in nervous catlike strides, -trying to remember things he had heard and not been very much -interested in at the time. When he was through, the Kraylen said: - -"It would be better. Infinitely better. But--" He spread his long pale -hands, and his white crest drooped. "But there is no time. Government -men will come within three days to take us--that was the time set. And -since we will not go...." - -Campbell thought of the things that had happened to other rebellious -tribes. He felt sick. But he made his voice steady. - -"We'll hope it's time, Father. Romany is in an orbit around Venus -now--I nearly crashed it coming in. I'm going to try, anyhow. If I -don't--well, stall as long as you can." - -Remembering the drum and the way the men had looked, he didn't think -that would be long. He pulled on a loose shirt of green spider-silk, -slung the belt of his heavy needle-gun over one shoulder, and picked up -his black tunic. - -He put his hand on the Kraylen's shoulder and smiled. "We'll take care -of it, Father." - -The old man's opalescent eyes were shadowed. "I wish I could stop you. -It's hopeless for us, and you are--_hot_ is that the word?" - -Campbell grinned. "Hot," he said, "is the word. Blistering! The -Coalition gets awfully mad when someone pulls their own hi-jacking -stunt on them. But I'm used to it." - -It was beginning to get light outside. The old man said quietly, "The -gods go with you, my son." - -Campbell went out, thinking he'd need them. - -It was full day when he reached his hidden ship--a sleek, souped-up -Fitts-Sothern that had the legs of almost anything in space. He paused -briefly by the airlock, looking at the sultry green of _liha_-trees -under a pearl-grey sky, the white mist lapping around his narrow waist. - -He spent a long time over his charts, feeding numbers to the -calculators. When he got a set-up that suited him, he took the -Fitts-Sothern up on purring 'copters, angling out over the deep swamps. -He felt better, with the ship under his hands. - -The Planetary Patrol blanket was thin over the deep swamps, but it was -vigilant. Campbell's nerves were tight. They got tighter as he came -closer to the place where he was going to have to begin his loop over -to the night side. - -He was just reaching for the rocket switch when the little red light -started to flash on the indicator panel. - -Somebody had a detector beam on him. And he was morally certain that -the somebody was flying a Patrol boat. - - - II - -There was one thing about the Venusian atmosphere. You couldn't see -through it, even with infra-beams, at very long range. The intensity -needle showed the Patrol ship still far off, probably not suspicious -yet, although stray craft were rare over the swamps. - -In a minute the copper would be calling for information, with his -mass-detectors giving the Fitts-Sothern a massage. Campbell didn't -think he'd wait. He slammed in the drive rockets, holding them down -till the tubes warmed. Even held down, they had plenty. - -The Fitts-Sothern climbed in a whipping spiral. The red light wavered, -died, glowed again. The copper was pretty good with his beam. Campbell -fed in more juice. - -The red light died again. But the Patrol boat had all its beams out -now, spread like a fish net. The Fitts-Sothern struck another, lost it, -struck again, and this time she didn't break out. - -Campbell felt the sudden racking jar all through him. "Tractor beams," -he said. "You think so, buddy?" - -The drive jets were really warming now. He shot it to them. The -Fitts-Sothern hung for a fractional instant, her triple-braced hull -shuddering so that Campbell's teeth rang together. - -Then she broke, blasting up right through the netted beams. Campbell -jockeyed his port and starboard steering jets. The ship leaped and -skittered wildly. The copper didn't have time to focus full power on -her anywhere, and low power to the Fitts-Sothern was a nuisance and -nothing more. - -Campbell went up over the Patrol ship, veered off in the opposite -direction from the one he intended to follow, hung in a tight spiral -until he was sure he was clean, and then dived again. - -The Patrol boat wasn't expecting him to come back. The pilot was -concentrating on where Campbell had gone, not where he had been. -Campbell grinned, opened full throttle, and went skittering over the -curve of the planet to meet the night shadow rushing toward him. - -He didn't meet any more ships. He was way off the trade lanes, and -moving so fast that only blind luck could tag him. He hoped the Patrol -was hunting for him in force, back where they'd lost him. He hoped -they'd hunt a long time. - -Presently he climbed, on slowed and muffled jets, out of the -atmosphere. His black ship melted indistinguishably into the black -shadow of the planet. He slowed still more, just balancing the -Venus-drag, and crawled out toward a spot marked on his astrogation -chart. - -An Outer Patrol boat went by, too far off to bother about. Campbell lit -a cigarette with nervous hands. It was only a quarter smoked when the -object he'd been waiting for loomed up in space. - -His infra-beam showed it clearly. A round, plate-shaped mass about a -mile in diameter, built of three tiers of spaceships. Hulks, ancient, -rusty, pitted things that had died and not been decently buried, welded -together in a solid mass by lengths of pipe let into their carcasses. - -Before, when he had seen it, Campbell had been in too much of a hurry -to do more than curse it for getting in his way. Now he thought it was -the most desolate, Godforsaken mass of junk that had ever made him -wonder why people bothered to live at all. - -He touched the throttle, tempted to go back to the swamps. Then he -thought of what was going to happen back there, and took his hand away. - -"Hell!" he said. "I might as well look inside." - -He didn't know anything about the internal set-up of Romany--what made -it tick, and how. He knew Romany didn't love the Coalition, but whether -they would run to harboring criminals was another thing. - -It wouldn't be strange if they had been given pictures of Roy Campbell -and told to watch for him. Thinking of the size of the reward for him, -Campbell wished he were not quite so famous. - -Romany reminded him of an old-fashioned circular mouse-trap. Once -inside, it wouldn't be easy to get out. - -"Of all the platinum-plated saps!" he snarled suddenly. "Why am I -sticking my neck out for a bunch of semi-human swamp-crawlers, anyhow?" - -He didn't answer that. The leading edge of Romany knifed toward him. -There were lights in some of the hulks, mostly in the top layer. -Campbell reached for the radio. - -He had to contact the big shots. No one else could give him what he -needed. To do that, he had to walk right up to the front door and -announce himself. After that.... - -The manual listed the wave-length he wanted. He juggled the dials and -verniers, wishing his hands wouldn't sweat. - -"Spaceship _Black Star_ calling Romany. Calling Romany...." - -His screen flashed, flickered, and cleared. "Romany acknowledging. Who -are you and what do you want?" - - * * * * * - -Campbell's screen showed him a youngish man--a Taxil, he thought, from -some Mercurian backwater. He was ebony-black and handsome, and he -looked as though the sight of Campbell affected him like stale beer. - -Campbell said, "Cordial guy, aren't you? I'm Thomas Black, trader out -of Terra, and I want to come aboard." - -"That requires permission." - -"Yeah? Okay. Connect me with the boss." - -The Taxil now looked as though he smelled something that had been dead -a long time. "Possibly you mean Eran Mak, the Chief Councillor?" - -"Possibly," admitted Campbell, "I do." If the rest of the gypsies were -anything like this one, they sure had a hate on for outsiders. - -Well, he didn't blame them. The screen blurred. It stayed that way -while Campbell smoked three cigarettes and exhausted his excellent -vocabulary. Then it cleared abruptly. - -Eran Mak sounded Martian, but the man pictured on the screen was no -Martian. He was an Earthman, with a face like a wedge of granite and a -frame that was all gaunt bones and thrusting angles. - -His hair was thin, pale-red and fuzzy. His mouth was thin. Even his -eyes were thin, close slits of pale blue with no lashes. Campbell -disliked him instantly. - -"I'm Tredrick," said the Earthman. His voice was thin, with a sound in -it like someone walking on cold gravel. "Terran Overchief. Why do you -wish to land, Mister Black?" - -"I bring a message from the Kraylen people of Venus. They need help." - -Tredrick's eyes became, if possible, thinner and more pale. - -"_Help?_" - -"Yes. Help." Campbell was struck by a sudden suspicion, something he -caught flickering across Tredrick's granite features when he said -"Kraylen." He went on, slowly, "The Coalition is moving in on them. I -understand you people of Romany help in cases like that." - -There was a small, tight silence. - -"I'm sorry," said Tredrick. "There is nothing we can do." - -Campbell's dark face tightened. "Why not? You helped the Shenyat people -on Ganymede and the Drylanders on Mars. That's what Romany is, isn't -it--a refuge for people like that?" - -"As a _latnik_, there's a lot you don't know. At this time, we cannot -help anyone. Sorry, Black. Please clear ship." - -The screen went dead. Campbell stared at it with sultry eyes. Sorry. -The hell you're sorry. What gives here, anyway? - -He thrust out an angry hand to the transmitter. And then, quite -suddenly, the Taxil was looking at him out of the screen. - -The hostile look was gone. Anger replaced it, but not anger at -Campbell. The Taxil said, in a low, rapid voice: - -"You're not lying about coming from the Kraylens?" - -"No. No, I'm not lying." He opened his shirt to show the tattoo. - -"The dirty scut! Mister Black, clear ship, and then make contact with -one of the outer hulks on the lowest tier. You'll find emergency -hatchways in some of the pipes. Come inside, and wait." - -His dark eyes had a savage glitter. "There are some of us, Mister -Black, who still consider Romany a refuge!" - - * * * * * - -Campbell cleared ship. His nerves were singing in little tight jerks. -He'd stepped into something here. Something big and ugly. There had -been a certain ring in the Taxil's voice. - -The thin, gravelly Mr. Tredrick had something on his mind, too. -Something important, about Kraylens. Why Kraylens, of all the -unimportant people on Venus? - -Trouble on Romany. Romany the gypsy world, the Solar System's -stepchild. Strictly a family affair. What business did a Public Enemy -with a low number and a high valuation have mixing into that? - -Then he thought of the drum beating in the indigo night, and an old man -watching _liha_-trees stir in a slow, hot wind. - -Roy Campbell called himself a short, bitter name, and sighed, -and reached lean brown hands for the controls. Presently, in the -infra-field, he made out an ancient Krub freighter on the edge of the -lowest level, connected to companion wrecks by sections of twelve-foot -pipe. There was a hatch in one of the pipes, with a hand-wheel. - -The Fitts-Sothern glided with exquisite daintiness to the pipe, touched -it gently, threw out her magnetic grapples and suction flanges, and -hung there. The airlock exactly covered the hatchway. - -Campbell got up. He was sweating and as edgy as a tomcat on the prowl. -With great care he buckled his heavy gun around his narrow hips. Then -he went into the airlock. - -He checked grapples and flanges with inordinate thoroughness. The -hatch-wheel jutted inside. He picked up a spanner and turned it, not -touching the frigid metal. - -There was a crude barrel-lock beyond. Campbell ran his tongue once over -dry lips, shrugged, and climbed in. - -He got through into a space that was black as the Coalsack. The air -was thin and bitingly cold. Campbell shivered in his silk shirt. He -laid his hand on his gun butt and took two cautious steps away from the -bulge of the lock, wishing to hell he were some place else. - -Cold green light exploded out of nowhere behind him. He half turned, -his gun blurring into his palm. But he had no chance to fire it. - -Something whipped down across the nerve-center in the side of his neck. -His body simply faded out of existence. He fell on his face and lay -there, struggling with all his might to move and achieving only a faint -twitching of the muscles. - -He knew vaguely that someone rolled him over. He blinked up into the -green light, and heard a man's deep, soft voice say from the darkness -behind it: - -"What made you think you could get away with it?" - -Campbell tried three times before he could speak. "With what?" - -"Spying. Does Tredrick think we're children?" - -"I wouldn't know." It was easier to speak this time. His body was -beginning to fade in again, like something on a television screen. -He tried to close his hand. It didn't work very well, but it didn't -matter. His gun was gone. - -Something moved across the light. A man's body, a huge, supple, -muscular thing the color of dark bronze. It knelt with a terrible -tigerish ease beside Campbell, the bosses on its leather kilt making a -clinking noise. There was a jeweled gorget of reddish metal around the -base of its throat. The stones had a wicked glitter. - -The deep, soft voice said, "Who are you?" - -Campbell tried to force the returning life faster through his body. The -man's face was in shadow. Campbell looked up with sultry, furious eyes -and achieved a definite motion toward getting up. - -The kneeling giant put out his right arm. The green light burned on it. -Campbell's eyes followed it down toward his throat. His face became a -harsh, irregular mask cut from dark wood. - -The arm was heavily, beautifully muscled. But where the hand should -have been there was a leather harness and a hook of polished Martian -bronze. - - * * * * * - -Campbell knew what had struck him. The thin, hard curve of that hook, -more potent than the edge of any hand. - -The point pricked his throat, just over the pulse on the left side. The -man said softly: - -"Lie still, little man, and answer." - -Campbell lay still. There was nothing else to do. He said, "I'm Thomas -Black, if that helps. Who are you?" - -"What did Tredrick tell you to do?" - -"To get the hell out. What gives with you?" If that Taxil was spreading -the word about him, he'd better hurry. Campbell decided to take a -chance. The guy with the hook didn't seem to love Tredrick. - -"The black boy in the radio room told me to come aboard and wait. Seems -he's sore at Tredrick, too. So am I. That makes us all pals, doesn't -it?" - -"You lie, little man." The deep voice was quietly certain. "You were -sent to spy. Answer!" - -The point of the hook put the exclamation point on that word. Campbell -winced away. He wished the lug wouldn't call him "little man." He -wouldn't remember ever having felt more hopelessly scared. - -He said, "Damn your eyes, I'm not lying. Check with the Taxil. He'll -tell you." - -"And betray him to Tredrick? You're clumsy, little man." - -The hook bit deeper. Campbell's neck began to bleed. He felt all right -again otherwise. He wondered whether he'd have a chance of kicking the -man in the stomach before his throat was torn out. He tried to draw -farther away, but the pipe wall wouldn't give. - -A woman's voice spoke then, quite suddenly, from beyond the green -light. Campbell jumped. He hadn't even thought about anyone else being -there. Now it was obvious that someone was holding the light. - -The voice said, "Wait, Marah. Zard is calling me now." - -It was a clear, low voice. It had music in it. Campbell would have -loved it if it had croaked, but as it was it made his nerves prick with -sheer ecstasy. - -The hook lifted out of the hole it had made, but it didn't go away. -Campbell raised his head a little. The lower edge of the green light -spilled across a pair of sandalled feet. The bare white legs above them -were as beautiful as the voice, in the same strong clear way. - -There was a long silence. Marah, the man with the hook, turned his face -partly into the light. It was oblong and scarred and hard as beaten -bronze. The eyes in it were smoky ember, set aslant under a tumbled -crest of tawny hair. - -After a long time the woman spoke again. Her voice was different this -time. It was angry, and the anger made it sing and throb like the -Kraylen's drum. - -"The Earthman is telling the truth, Marah. Zard sent him. He's here -about the Kraylens." - -The big man--a Martian Drylander, Campbell thought, from somewhere -around Kesh--got up, fast. "The Kraylens!" - -"He asked for help, and Tredrick sent him away." The light moved -closer. "But that's not all, Marah. Tredrick has found out about--us. -Old Ekla talked. They're waiting for us at the ship!" - - - III - -Marah turned. His eyes had a greenish, feral glint like those of a lion -on the kill. He said, "I'm sorry, little man." - -Campbell was on his feet, now, and reasonably steady. "Think nothing -of it," he said dourly. "A natural mistake." He looked at the hook and -mopped the blood from his neck, and felt sick. He added, "The name's -Black. Thomas Black." - -"It wouldn't be Campbell?" asked the woman's voice. "Roy Campbell?" - -He squinted into the light, not saying anything. The woman said, "You -are Roy Campbell. The Spaceguard was here not long ago, hunting for -you. They left your picture." - -He shrugged. "All right. I'm Roy Campbell." - -"That," said Marah softly, "helps a lot!" He could have meant it any -way. His hook made a small, savage flash in the green light. - -"There's trouble here on Romany. Civil war. Men are going to be killed -before it's over--perhaps now. Where's your place in it?" - -"How do I know? The Coalition is moving in on the Kraylens. I owe them -something. So I came here for help. Help! Yeah." - -"You'll get it," said the woman. "You'll get it, somehow, if any of us -live." - -Campbell raised his dark brows. "What goes on here, anyhow?" - -The woman's low voice sang and throbbed against the pipe walls. "A -long time ago there were a few ships. Old ships, crowded with people -who had no homes. Little, drifting people who made a living selling -their odd handicrafts in the spaceports, who were cursed as a menace to -navigation and distrusted as thieves. Perhaps they were thieves. They -were also cold, and hungry, and resentful. - -"After a while the ships began to band together. It was easier that -way--they could share food and fuel, and talk, and exchange ideas. -Space wasn't so lonely. More and more ships drifted in. Pretty soon -there were a lot of them. A new world, almost. - -"They called it Romany, after the wandering people of Earth, because -they were gypsies, too, in their own way. - -"They clung to their own ways of life. They traded with the noisy, -trampling people on the planets they had been driven away from because -they had to. But they hated them, and were hated, just as gypsies -always are. - -"It wasn't an easy life, but they were free in it. They could stand -anything, as long as they were free. And always, anywhere in the Solar -System, wherever some little lost tribe was being swallowed up and -needed help, ships from Romany went to help them." - -Her voice dropped. Campbell thought again of the Kraylen's drum, -singing its anger in the indigo night. - -"That was the creed of Romany," she whispered. "Always to help, always -to be a refuge for the little people who couldn't adjust themselves to -progress, who only wanted to die in dignity and peace. And now...." - -"And now," said Marah somberly, "there is civil war." - - * * * * * - -Campbell drew a long, unsteady breath. The woman's voice throbbed in -him, and his throat was tight. He said "_Tredrick?_" - -Marah nodded. "Tredrick. But it's more than that. If it were only -Tredrick, it wouldn't be so bad." - -He ran the curve of his hook over his scarred chin, and his eyes burned -like candle flames. - -"Romany is growing old, and soft. That's the real trouble. Decay. -Otherwise, Tredrick would have been kicked into space long ago. There -are old men in the Council, Campbell. They think more of comfort than -they do of--well...." - -"Yeah. I know. What's Tredrick's angle?" - -"I don't know. He's a strange man--you can't get a grip on him. -Sometimes I think he's working for the Coalition." - -Campbell scowled. "Could be. You gypsies have a lot of wild talents and -some unique skills--I've met some of 'em. The man that controlled them -would be sitting pretty. The Coalition would like it, too." - -The woman said bitterly, "And they could always exhibit us. Tours, at -so much a head. So quaint--a cross-section of a lost world!" - -"Tredrick's the strong man," Marah went on. "Eran Mak is Chief -Councillor, but he does as Tredrick tells him. The idea is that if -Romany settled down and stops getting into trouble with the Planetary -Coalitions, we can have regular orbits, regular trade, and so on." - -"In other words," said Campbell dryly, "stop being Romany." - -"You understand. A pet freak, a tourist attraction, a fat source of -revenue." Again the savage flash of the hook. "A damned circus!" - -"And Tredrick, I take it, has decided that you're endangering the -future of Romany by rebellion, and put the finger on you." - -"Exactly." Marah's yellow eyes were bright and hard, meeting Campbell's. - -Campbell thought about the Fitts-Sothern outside, and all the lonely -reaches of space where he could go. There were lots of Coalition ships -to rob, a few plague-spots left to spend the loot in. All he had to do -was walk out. - -But there was a woman's voice, with a note in it like a singing, angry -drum. There was an old man's voice, murmuring, "Little people like you, -my son?" - -It was funny, how a guy could be alone and not know he minded it, -and then suddenly walk in on perfect strangers and not be alone any -more--alone inside, that is--and know that he _had_ minded it like hell. - -It had been that way with the Kraylens. It was that way now. Campbell -shrugged. "I'll stick around." - -He added irritably, "Sister, will you for Pete's sake get that light -out of my eyes?" - -She moved it, shining it down. "The name's Moore. Stella Moore." - -He grinned. "Sorry. So you do have a face, after all." - -It wasn't beautiful. It was pale and heart-shaped, framed in a mass of -unruly red-gold hair. There were long, grey eyes under dark-gold brows -that had never been plucked, and a red, sullen mouth. - -Her teeth were white and uneven, when she smiled. He liked them. The -red of her sullen lips was their own. She wore a short tunic the color -of Tokay grapes, and the body under it was long and clean-cut. Her -arms and throat had the whiteness of pearl. - -Marah said quietly, "Contact Zard. Tell him to throw the PA system wide -open and say we're taking the ship, now, to get the Kraylens!" - - * * * * * - -Stella stood absolutely still. Her grey eyes took on an eerie, remote -look, and Campbell shivered slightly. He'd seen telepathy often enough -in the System's backwaters, but it never seemed normal. - -Presently she said, "It's done," and became human again. The green -light went out. "Power," she explained. "Besides, we don't need it. -Give me your hand, Mister Campbell." - -He did, with absolutely no aversion. "My friends," he said, "generally -call me Roy." She laughed, and they started off, moving with quick -sureness in the black, icy darkness. - -The ship, it seemed, was up on the second level, on the edge of the -living quarters. Down here was all the machinery that kept Romany -alive--heat, light, water, air, and cooling systems--and a lot of -storage hulks. - -The third tier was a vast hydroponic farm, growing the grain and fruit -and vegetables that fed the Romany thousands. - -Stumbling through pipes and dismantled hulks that smelled of sacking -and dried vegetables and oil, Campbell filled in the gaps. - -The leaders of the rebel element had held a meeting down here, in -secret. Marah and the girl had been coming from it when Campbell -blundered into them. The decision had been to rescue the Kraylens no -matter what happened. - -They'd known about the Kraylens long before Campbell had. Gypsies -trading in Lhi had brought word. Now the Kraylens were a symbol over -which two points of view were clashing in deadly earnest. - -Remembering Tredrick's thin, harsh face, Campbell wondered uneasily how -many of them _would_ live to take that ship away. - -He became aware gradually of a broken, rhythmic tap and clank -transmitted along the metal walls. - -"Hammers," said Stella softly. "Hammers and riveters and welders, -fighting rust and age to keep Romany alive. There's no scrap of this -world that wasn't discarded as junk, and reclaimed by us." - -Her voice dropped. "Including the people." - -Campbell said, "They're scrapping some beautiful things these days." - -She knew what he meant. She even laughed a little. "I was born on -Romany. There are a lot of Earth people who have no place at home." - -"I know." Campbell remembered his father's farm, with blue cold water -over the fields instead of sky. "And Tredrick?" - -"He was born here, too. But the taint is in him...." She caught her -breath in a sudden sharp cry. "Marah! Marah, _it's Zard_!" - -They stopped. A pulse began to beat under Campbell's jaw. Stella -whispered, "He's gone. I felt him call, and now he's gone. He was -trying to warn us." - -Marah said grimly, "Tredrick's got him, then. Probably knocked him out -while he was trying to escape from the radio room." - -"He was frightened," said Stella quietly. "Tredrick has done something. -He wanted to warn us." - -Marah grunted. "Have your gun ready, Campbell. We go up, now." - - * * * * * - -They went up a wooden ladder. It was suddenly getting hot. Campbell -guessed that Romany was in the sun again. The Martian opened a door at -the top, very, very slowly. - -A young, vibrant voice sang out, "All clear!" They piled out of the -doorway. Four or five husky young Paniki barbarians from Venus stood -grinning beside two bound and slumbering Earthmen. - -Campbell stared past them. The air was still and hot, hung with veils -of steamy mist. There was mossy earth dotted with warm pools. There -were _liha_-trees, sultry green under a pearly light that was still -brightening out of indigo gloom. - -A slow, hot breath of wind stirred the mist and _liha_-trees. It smelt -of warm still water and growing things, and--freedom. - -Campbell drew a long breath. His eyes stung and the veins in his -neck hurt. He knew it was a dead hulk, with an iron sky above the -pearl-grey mist. But it smelt of freedom. - -He said, "What are we waiting for?" - -Marah laughed, and the young Venusian laughed. Barbarians, going to -fight and laughing about it. Stella's grey eyes held a sultry flame, -and her lips were blood-orange and trembling. - -Campbell kissed them. He laughed, too, softly, and said, "Okay, Gypsy. -Let's go." - -They went, through the seven hulks of the Venusian Quarter. Because of -the Kraylens, most of the Venusians were with the rebels, but even so -there were angry voices raised, and fists, and a few weapons, and some -blood got spilled. - -More tow-headed young men joined them, and squat little upland nomads -who could talk to animals, and three four-armed, serpentine crawlers -from the Lohari swamps. - -They came presently to a huge dismantled Hoyt freighter on the edge of -the Venusian Quarter. There were piles of goods waiting lading through -the row of airlocks into smaller trading ships. Marah stopped, his -gorget shooting wicked jeweled sparks in the sunlight that seared in -through half-shuttered ports, and the others flowed in behind him. - -They were on a narrow gallery about halfway up the inner wall. Campbell -looked down. There were people on the ladders and the two balcony -levels below. A sullen, ugly mob of people from Earth, from Venus, from -Mars and Mercury and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. - -Men and near-men and sheer monstrosities, silent and watching in the -hot light. Here a crest of scarlet antennae burning, there the sinuous -flash of a scaled back, and beyond that the slow ominous weaving of -light-black tentacles. - -A creature like a huge blue spider with a child's face let out a shrill -unearthly scream. "Traitor! Traitor!" - -The whole packed mass on the ladders and the galleries stirred like a -weird tapestry caught in a gust of wind. The rushing whisper of their -movement, their breathing, and their anger sang across Campbell's -nerves in points of fire. - -Anger. Anger in the Kraylen's drum and Stella's voice and Marah's -yellow eyes. Anger like the sunlight, hot and primal. The anger of -little men flogged into greatness. - -A voice spoke from across the deck below, cold, clear, without the -faintest tremor. - -"We want no trouble. Return to your quarters quietly." - -"_The Kraylens!_" - -The name came thundering out of all those angry throats, beating down -against the gaunt, erect figure standing in the forefront of a circle -of Earthmen guarding the locks with ready guns. - -Tredrick's thin, red head never stirred from its poised erectness. -"The Kraylens are out of your hands, now. They harbored a dangerous -criminal, and they are now being imprisoned in Lhi to answer for it." - -Roy Campbell gripped the iron railing in front of him. It seemed to him -that he could see, across all that space, the cold, bright flame of -satisfaction in Tredrick's eyes. - -The thin, calm voice slid across his eardrums with the cruel -impersonality of a surgeon's knife. - -"That criminal, Roy Campbell, is now on Romany. The Spaceguard is on -its way here now. For the sake of the safety of your families, for the -future of Romany, I advise no one to hide him or help him escape." - - - IV - -Campbell stood still, not moving or speaking, his hard, dark face -lined and dead, like old wood. From a great distance he heard Marah's -smothered, furious curse, the quick catch of Stella's breath, the -sullen breathing and stirring of the mob that was no longer sure what -it wanted to do. - -But all he could see was the pale, kind face of an old man smiling in -the warm, blue night, and the dirty, sordid stones of Lhi. - -A voice spoke, from beside the circle of armed men. Campbell heard it -with some part of his brain. An old voice, dry and rustling, possessed -of great dignity and great pain. - -"My children," it said. "Have patience. Have faith that we, your -leaders, have the good of Romany at heart." - -Campbell looked with dead, dark eyes at the speaker, standing beside -Tredrick. A small man in a robe of white fur. A Martian from one of the -Polar Cities, frail, black-eyed grave, and gently strong. - -"Remember the cold, the hunger, the uncertainty we have endured. We -have a chance now for security and peace. Let there be no trouble, now -or when the Spaceguard comes. Return to your quarters quietly." - -"Trouble!" Marah's voice roared out across the hot, still air. Every -face down there below turned up toward the balcony. Campbell saw -Tredrick start, and speak to one of the guards. The guard went out, not -too fast. Campbell swore under his breath, and his brain began to tick -over again, swift and hard. - -Marah thundered on, a bronze Titan in the sultry glare. His gorget, his -yellow eyes, the bosses on his kilt held points of angry flame. - -"You, Eran Mak, a Martian! Have you forgotten Kesh, and Balakar, and -the Wells of Tamboina? Can you crawl to the Coalition like a _sindar_ -for the sake of the bones they throw you? You, Tredrick! You've sold -us out. Since when have _latniks_ been called to meddle in Romany's -affairs?" - -Tredrick's cold voice was quite steady. "The Kraylens are beyond reach, -Marah. A revolt will get you nothing. Do you want blood on your hands?" - -"My hand," said Marah softly. His hook made a burning, vicious arc in -the hot light. "If there's blood on this, the Coalition spilled it when -their Frontier Marshal lopped my sword-hand for raising it against him." - -The mob stirred and muttered. And Campbell said swiftly, "Tredrick's -right. But there's still a chance, if you want to take it." - -Stella Moore put a hand on Marah's arm. "How?" - -Tredrick was still pretending he hadn't seen Campbell, pretending there -weren't men crawling through dark tunnels to trap him. - -"It'll mean trouble. It may mean death or imprisonment. It's a -million-to-one shot. You'd better give me up and forget it." - -The point of Marah's hook pricked under his jaw. "Speak quickly, -little man!" - -"Okay. Tell 'em to behave. Then get me out of here, fast!" - - * * * * * - -Tredrick's men knew their way around. A lot of gypsies, moreover, who -weren't with Tredrick, joined the hunt for the _latnik_. They didn't -want trouble with the Spaceguard. - -Campbell stumbled through a maze of dark and stifling passages, holding -Stella's hand and thinking of the Spaceguard ships sweeping closer. -They were almost caught a dozen times, trying to get across Romany to -the Fitts-Sothern. - -The hunt seemed to be an outlet for the pent feelings of Romany. -Campbell decided he would never go hunting again. And then, just above -where his ship lay, they stepped into a trap. - -They were in the Saturnian Quarter, in the hulk devoted to refugees -from Titan. There were coolers working here. There was snow on the -barren rocks, glimmering in weird light like a dark rainbow. - -"The caves," said Stella Moore. "The Baraki." - -There was an echoing clamor of voices all around them, footsteps -clattering over metal and icy rock. They ran, breathing hard. -There were some low cliffs, and a ledge, and then caves with queer -blue-violet fires burning in them. - -Creatures sat at the cave mouths. They were small, vaguely anthropoid, -dead white, and unpleasantly rubbery. They were quite naked, and their -single eyes were phosphorescent. Marah knelt. - -"Little Fathers, we ask shelter in the name of freedom." - -The shouts and the footsteps were closer. There was sweat on Campbell's -forehead. One of the white things nodded slightly. - -"No disturbance," it whispered. "We will have no disturbance of our -thoughts. You may shelter, to stop this ugly noise." - -"Thank you, Little Father." Marah plunged into the cave, with the -others on his heels. Campbell snarled, "They'll come and take us!" - -Stella's sullen lips smiled wolfishly. "No. Watch." - -The cave, the violet fire were suddenly gone. There was a queer -darkness, a small electric shiver across Campbell's skin. He started, -and the girl whispered: - -"Telekinesis. They've built a wall of force around us. On the outside -it seems to be rock like the cave wall." - -Marah moved, the bosses on his kilt clinking slightly. "When the swine -are gone, there's a trap in this hulk leading down to the pipe where -your ship is. Now tell us your plan." - -Campbell made a short, bitter laugh. "Plan, hell. It's a gamble on a -fixed wheel, and you're fools if you play it." - -"And if we don't?" - -"I'm going anyway. The Kraylens--well, I owe them something." - -"Tell us the plan." - -He did, in rapid nervous sentences, crouched behind the shielding wall -of thought from those alien brains. Marah laughed softly. - -"By the gods, little man, you should have been a Keshi!" - -"I can think of a lot of things I should have been," said Campbell -dourly. "Hey, there goes our wall." - -It hadn't been more than four minutes. Long enough for them to look and -go away again. There might still be time, before the Spaceguard came. - -There was, just. The getaway couldn't have been more perfectly timed. -Campbell grinned, feeding power into his jets with exquisite skill. - -He didn't have a Chinaman's chance. He thought probably the gypsies had -less than that of coming through. But the Kraylens weren't going to rot -in the slave-pens of Lhi because of Roy Campbell. - -Not while Roy Campbell was alive to think about it. And that, of -course, might not be long. - -He sent the Fitts-Sothern shooting toward the night side of Venus, in -full view and still throttled down. The Spaceguard ships, nine fast -patrol boats, took out after him, giving Romany the go-by. No use -stopping there. No mistaking that lean, black ship, or whose hands were -on the controls. - -Campbell stroked the firing keys, and the Fitts-Sothern purred under -him like a cat. Just for a second he couldn't see clearly. - -"I'm sorry, old girl," he said. "But that's how it has to be." - - * * * * * - -It was a beautiful chase. The Guard ships pulled every trick they knew, -and they knew plenty. Campbell hunched over the keys, sweating, his -dark face set in a grin that held no mirth. Only his hands moved, with -nervous, delicate speed. - -It was the ship that did it. They slapped tractors on her, and she -broke them. They tried to encircle her, and she walked away from them. -That slight edge of power, that narrow margin of speed, pulled Roy -Campbell away from what looked like instant, easy capture. - -He got into the shadow, and then the Spaceguard began to get scared -as well as angry. They stopped trying to capture him. They unlimbered -their blasters and went to work. - -Campbell was breathing hard now, through his teeth. His dark skin was -oiled with sweat, pulled tight over the bones and the ridges of muscle -and the knotted veins. Deliberately, he slowed a little. - -A bolt flamed past the starboard ports. He slowed still more, and -veered the slightest bit. The Fitts-Sothern was alive under his hands. - -He didn't speak when the next bolt struck her. Not even to curse. He -didn't know he was crying until he tasted the salt on his lips. He got -up out of the pilot's seat, and then he said one word: - -"_Judas!_" - -The follow-up of the first shot blasted the control panel. It knocked -him back across the cockpit, seared and scorched from the fusing metal. -He got up, somehow, and down the passage to the lock compartment. There -was a lot of blood running from his cheek, but he didn't care. - -He could feel the ship dying under him. The timers were shot. She was -running away in a crazy, blind spiral, racking her plates apart. - -He climbed into his vac-suit. It was a special one, black even to the -helmet, with a super-powerful harness-rocket with a jet illegally -baffled. He hoped his hands weren't too badly burned. - -The ship checked brutally, flinging him hard into the bulkhead. -Tractors! He clawed toward the lock, an animal whimper in his throat. -He hoped he wasn't going to be sick inside the helmet. - -The panel opened. Air blasted him out, into jet-black space. The tiny -spearing flame of the harness-rocket flickered briefly and died, -unnoticed among the trailing fires of the derelict. - -Campbell lay quite still in the blackened suit. The Spaceguard ships -flared by, playing the Fitts-Sothern like a tarpon on the lines of -their tractor beams. Campbell closed his eyes and cursed them, slowly -and without expression, until the tightness in his throat choked him -off. - -He let them get a long way off. Then he pressed the plunger of the -rocket, heading down for the night-shrouded swamps of Tehara Province. - -He retained no very clear memory of the trip. Once, when he was quite -low, a spaceship blazed by over him, heading toward Lhi. There were -still about eight hours' darkness over the swamps. - -He landed, eventually, in a clearing he was pretty sure only he knew -about. He'd used it before when he'd had stuff to fence in Lhi and -wasn't sure who owned the town at the time. He'd learned to be careful -about those things. - -There was a ship there now, a smallish trader of the inter-lunar type. -He stared at it, not really believing it was there. Then, just in time, -he got the helmet off. - -When the world stopped turning over, he was lying with his head in -Stella Moore's lap. She had changed her tunic for plain spaceman's -black, and it made her face look whiter and lovelier in its frame of -black hair. Her lips were still sullen, and still red. - -Campbell sat up and kissed them. He felt much better. Not good, but he -thought he'd live. Stella laughed and said, "Well! You're recovering." - -He said, "Sister, you're good medicine for anything." A hand which he -recognized as Marah's materialized out of the indigo gloom. It had a -flask in it. Campbell accepted it gladly. Presently the icy deadness -around his stomach thawed out and he could see things better. - -He got up, rather unsteadily, and fumbled for a cigarette. His shirt -had been mostly blown and charred off of him and his hands hurt like -hell. Stella gave him a smoke and a light. He sucked it in gratefully -and said: - -"Okay, kids. Are we all ready?" - -They were. - - * * * * * - -Campbell led off. He drained the flask and was pleased to find himself -firing on all jets again. He felt empty and relaxed and ready for -anything. He hoped the liquor wouldn't wear off too soon. - -There was a path threaded through the hammocks, the bogs and potholes -and reeds and _liha_-trees. Only Campbell, who had made it, could have -followed it. Remembering his blind stumbling in the mazes of Romany, he -felt pleased about that. He said, rather smugly: - -"Be careful not to slip. How'd you fix the getaway?" - -Marah made a grim little laugh. "Romany was a madhouse, hunting for -you. Some of the hot-headed boys started minor wars over policy on top -of that. Tredrick had to use most of his men to keep order. Besides, of -course, he thought we were beaten on the Kraylen question." - -"There were only four men guarding the locks," said Stella. "Marah and -a couple of the Paniki boys took care of them." - -Campbell remembered the spaceship flashing toward Lhi. He told them -about it. "Could be Tredrick, coming to supervise our defeat in -person." Defeat! It was because he was a little tight, of course, but -he didn't think anyone could defeat him this night. He laughed. - -Something rippled out of the indigo night to answer his laughter. -Something so infinitely sweet and soft that it made him want to cry, -and then shocked him with the deep and iron power in it. Campbell -looked back over his shoulder. He thought: - -"Me, hell. These are the guys who'll do it, if it's done." - -Stella was behind him. Beyond her was a thin, small man with four arms. -He wore no clothing but his own white fur and his head was crowned with -feathery antennae. Even in the blue night the antennae and the man's -eyes burned living scarlet. - -He came from Callisto and he carried in his four hands a thing vaguely -like a harp, only the strings were double banked. It was the harp that -had spoken. Campbell hoped it would never speak against him. - -Marah brought up the rear, swinging along with no regard for the burden -he bore. Over his naked shoulder, Campbell could see the still white -face of the Baraki from Titan, the Little Father who had saved them -from the hunters. There were tentacles around Marah's big body like -white ropes. - -Four gypsies and a Public Enemy. Five little people against the -Terro-Venusian Coalition. It didn't make sense. - -A hot, slow wind stirred the _liha_-trees. Campbell breathed it in, -and grinned. "What does?" he wondered, and stooped to part a tangle of -branches. There was a stone-lined tunnel beyond. - -"Here we go, children. Join hands and make like little mousies." He -took Stella's hand in his left. Because it was Stella's he didn't mind -the way it hurt. In his right, he held his gun. - - - V - -He led them, quickly and quietly, along the disused branch of an old -drainage system that he had used so often as a private entrance. -Presently they dropped to a lower level and the conduit system proper. - -When the rains were on, the drains would be running full. Now they were -only pumping seepage. They waded in pitch darkness, by-passed a pumping -station through a side tunnel once used for cold storage by one of -Lhi's cautious business men, and then found steep, slippery steps going -up. - -"Careful," whispered Campbell. He stopped them on a narrow ledge and -stood listening. The Callistan murmured, with faint amusement: - -"There is no one beyond." - -Antennae over ears. Campbell grinned and found a hidden spring. "Lhi -is full of these things," he said. "The boys used to keep their little -wars going just for fun, and every smart guy had several bolt holes. -Maps used to sell high." - -They emerged in a very deep, very dark cellar. It was utterly still. -Campbell felt a little sad. He could remember when Martian Mak's was -the busiest thieves' market in Lhi, and a man could hear the fighting -even here. He smiled bitterly and led the way upstairs. - -Presently they looked down on the main gate, the main square, and the -slave pens of Lhi. The surrounding streets were empty, the buildings -mostly dark. The Coalition had certainly cleaned up when it took over -the town. It was horribly depressing. - -Campbell pointed. "Reception committee. Tredrick radioed, anyway. -One'll get you twenty he followed it up in person." - -The gate was floodlighted over a wide area and there were a lot -of tough-looking men with heavy-duty needle guns. In this day of -anaesthetic charges you could do a lot of effective shooting without -doing permanent damage. There were more lights and more men by the -slave pens. - -Campbell couldn't see much over the high stone walls of the pens. Vague -movement, the occasional flash of a brilliant crest. He had known the -Kraylens would be there. It was the only place in Lhi where you could -imprison a lot of people and be sure of keeping them. - -Campbell's dark face was cruel. "Okay," he said. "Let's go." - - * * * * * - -Down the stone steps to the entrance. Stella's quick breathing in -the hot darkness, the rhythmic clink of the bosses on Marah's kilt. -Campbell saw the eyes of the Callistan harper, glowing red and angry. -He realized he was sweating. He had forgotten his burns. - -Stella opened the heavy steel-sheathed door. Quietly, slowly. The -Baraki whispered, "Put me down." - -Marah set him gently on the stone floor. He folded in upon himself, -tentacles around white, rubbery flesh. His single eye burned with a -cold phosphorescence. - -He whispered, "Now." - -The Callistan harper went to the door. Reflected light painted him -briefly, white fur and scarlet crest and outlandish harp, and the -glowing, angry eyes. - -He vanished. Out of nowhere the harp began to sing. - -Through the partly opened door Campbell had a clear view of the square -and the gate. In all that glare of light on empty stone nothing moved. -And yet the music rippled out. - -The guards. Campbell could see the startled glitter of their eyeballs -in the light. There was nothing to shoot at. The harping was part of -the night, as all-enveloping and intangible. - -Campbell shivered. A pulse beat like a trip-hammer under his jaw. -Stella's voice came to him, a faint breath out of the darkness. - -"The Baraki is shielding him with thought. A wall of force that turns -the light." - -The edge of the faint light touched her cheek, the blackness of her -hair. Marah crouched beyond her, motionless. His hook glinted dully, -curved and cruel. - -They were getting only the feeble backwash of the harping. The -Callistan was aiming his music outward. Campbell felt it sweep and -tremble, blend with the hot slow wind and the indigo sky. - -It was some trick of vibrations, some diabolical thrusting of notes -against the brain like fingers, to press and control. Something about -the double-banked strings thrumming against each other under the -cunning of four skilled hands. But it was like witchcraft. - -"The Harp of Dagda," whispered Stella Moore, and the Irish music in her -voice was older than time. The Scot in Campbell answered it. - -Somewhere outside a man cursed, thickly, like one drugged with sleep -and afraid of it. A gun went off with a sharp slapping sound. Some of -the guards had fallen down. - -The harp sang louder, throbbing along the grey stones. It was the slow -wind, the heat, the deep blue night. It was sleep. - -The floodlights blazed on empty stone, and the guards slept. - -The Baraki sighed and shivered and closed his eye. Campbell saw the -Callistan harper standing in the middle of the square, his scarlet -crest erect, striking the last thrumming note. - -Campbell straightened, catching his breath in a ragged sob. Marah -picked up the Baraki. He was limp, like a tired child. Stella's eyes -were glistening and strange. Campbell went out ahead of them. - -It was a long way across the square, in the silence and the glaring -lights. Campbell thought the harp was a nice weapon. It didn't attract -attention because everyone who heard it slept. - -He flung back the three heavy bars of the slave gate. The pain of his -burned hands jarred him out of the queer mood the harping and his -Celtic blood had put on him. He began to think again. - -"Hurry!" he snarled at the Kraylens. "Hurry up!" They came pouring out -of the gate. Men, women with babies, little children. Their crests -burned in the sullen glare. - -Campbell pointed to Marah. "Follow him." They recognized him, tried to -speak, but he cursed them on. And then an old man said, - -"My son." - -Campbell looked at him, and then down at the stones. "For God's sake, -Father, hurry." A hand touched his shoulder gently. He looked up again, -and grinned. He couldn't see anything. "Get the hell on, will you?" -Somebody found the switch and the nearer lights went out. - -The hand pressed his shoulder, and was gone. He shook his head -savagely. The Kraylens were running now, toward the house. And then, -suddenly, Marah yelled. - -Men were running into the square. Eight or ten of them, probably -the bodyguard of the burly grey-haired man who led them. Beside the -grey-haired man was Tredrick, Overchief of the Terran Quarter of Romany. - - * * * * * - -They were startled. They hadn't been expecting this. Campbell's -battle-trained eye saw that. Probably they had been making a routine -tour of inspection and just stumbled onto the crash-out. - -[Illustration: _Campbell swung about, blasted shots at Tredrick and his -men, while Stella pressed the Kraylens to greater speed in escaping._] - -Campbell fired, from the hip. Anaesthetic needles sprayed into the -close-packed group. Two of them went down. The rest scattered, dropping -flat. Campbell wished there had been time to kill the gate lights. At -least, the shadows made shooting tricky. - -He bent over and began to run, guarding the rear of the Kraylen's line. -Stella, in the cover of the doorway, was laying down a methodical wall -of needles. Campbell grinned. - -Some of the Kraylens caught it and had to be carried. That slowed -things down. Campbell's gun clicked empty. He shoved in another clip, -cursing his burned fingers. A charge sang by him, close enough to stir -his hair. He fired again, blanketing the whole sector where the men -lay. He wished he could blow Tredrick's head off. - -The Kraylens were vanishing into the house. Marah and the Callistan had -gone ahead, leading them. Campbell groaned. Speed was what they needed. -Speed. A child, separated from his mother in the rush, knelt on the -stones and shrieked. Campbell picked him up and ran on. - -Enemy fire was slackening. Stella was doing all right. The last of the -Kraylens shoved through the door. Campbell bounded up the steps. Stella -got up off her belly and smiled at him. Her eyes shone. They were -halfway through the door when the cold voice said behind them, - -"There are lethal needles in my gun. You had better stop." - -Campbell turned slowly. His face was wooden. Tredrick stood at the -bottom of the steps. He must have crawled around the edge of the -square, where the shadows were thick under the walls. - -"Drop your gun, Campbell. And you, Stella Moore." - -Campbell dropped it. Tredrick might be bluffing about those needles. -But a Mickey at this stage of the game would be just as fatal. Stella's -gun clattered beside him. She didn't say anything, but her face was -coldly murderous. - -Tredrick said evenly, "You might as well call them back, Campbell. You -led them in, but you're not going to lead them out." - -It was funny, Campbell thought, how a man's voice could be so cold when -his eyes had fire in them. He said sullenly, - -"Okay, Tredrick. You win. But what's the big idea behind this?" - -Tredrick's face might have been cut from granite, except for the feral -eyes. "I was born on Romany. I froze and starved in those rotten hulks. -I hated it. I hated the darkness, the loneliness, the uncertainty. But -when I said I hated it, I got a beating. - -"Everybody else thought it was worth it. I didn't. They talked about -freedom, but Romany was a prison to me. I wanted to grow, and I was -stifled inside it. Then I got an idea. - -"If I could rule Romany and make a treaty with the Coalition, I'd have -money and power. And I could fix it so no more kids would be brought up -that way, cold and hungry and scared. - -"Marah opposed me, and then the Kraylens became an issue." Tredrick -smiled, but there was no mirth or softness in it. "It's a good thing. -The Coalition can take of Marah and you others who were mixed up in -this. My way is clear." - -Stella Moore said softly between her teeth, "They'll never forgive you -for turning Romany people over to the _latniks_. There'll be war." - -Tredrick nodded soberly. "No great change is made without bloodshed. -I'm sorry for that. But Romany will be happier." - -"We don't ask to be happy. We only ask to be free." - -Campbell said wearily, "Stella, take the kid, will you?" He held out -the little Kraylen, droopy and quiet now. She looked at him in quick -alarm. His feet were spread but not steady, his head sunk forward. - -She took the child. Campbell's knees sagged. One seared arm in a -tattered green sleeve came up to cover his face. The other groped -blindly along the wall. He dropped, rather slowly, to his knees. - -The groping hand fell across the gun by Stella's foot. In one quick -sweep of motion Campbell got it, threw it, and followed it with his own -body. - - * * * * * - -The gun missed, but it came close enough to Tredrick's face to make him -move his head. The involuntary muscular contraction of his whole body -spoiled his aim. The charge went past Campbell into the wall. - -They crashed down together on the stones. Campbell gripped Tredrick's -wrist, knew he couldn't hold it, let go with one hand and slashed -backward with his elbow at Tredrick's face. - -The gun let off again, harmlessly, Tredrick groaned. His arm was -weaker. Campbell thrashed over and got his knee on it. Tredrick's other -fist was savaging his already tortured body. - -Campbell brought his fist down into Tredrick's face. He did it twice, -and wept and cursed because he was suddenly too weak to lift his arm -again. Tredrick was bleeding, but far from out. His gun was coming up -again. He didn't have much play, but enough. - -Campbell set his teeth. He couldn't even see Tredrick, but he swung -again. He never knew whether he connected or not. - -Something thrummed past his head. He couldn't say he heard it. It was -more like feeling. But it was something deadly, and strange. Tredrick -didn't make a sound. Campbell knew suddenly that he was dead. - -He got up, very slow, shaking and cold. The Callistan harper stood in -the doorway. He was lowering his hands, and his eyes were living coals. -He didn't say anything. Neither did Stella. But she laughed, and the -child stirred and whimpered in her arms. - -Campbell went to her. She looked at him with queer eyes and whispered, -"I called him with my mind. I knew he'd kill." - -He took her face in his two hands. "Listen, Stella. You've got to lead -them back. You've got to touch my mind with yours and let me guide you -that way, back to the ship." - -Her eyes widened sharply. "But you can come. He's dead. You're free -now." - -"No." He could feel her throat quiver under his hands. Her blood was -beating. So was his. He said harshly, - -"You fool, do you think they'll let you get away with this? You're -tackling the Coalition. They can't afford to look silly. They've got to -have a scapegoat, something to save face! - -"Romany, so far, is beyond planetary control. Slap your tractors on -her, tow her out. Clear out to Saturn if you have to. Nobody saw -the Callistan. Nobody saw anybody but me and the Kraylens and an -unidentifiable somebody up here on the porch. Nobody, that is, but -Tredrick, and he won't talk. Do you understand?" - -She did, but she was still rebellious. Her sullen lips were angry, her -eyes bright with tears and challenging. "But you, Roy!" - -He took his hands away. "Damn you, woman! If I hide out on Romany I -bring you into Spaceguard jurisdiction. I'll be trapped, and Romany's -last chance to stay free will be gone." - -She said stubbornly, "But you can get away. There are ships." - -"Oh, sure. But the Kraylens are there. You can't hide them. The -Coalition will search Romany. They'll ask questions. I tell you they've -got to have a goat!" - -He was really weak, now. He hoped he could hold out. He hoped he -wouldn't do anything disgraceful. He turned away from her, looking out -at the square. Some of the guards were beginning to stir. - -"Will you go?" he said. "Will you get to hell out?" - -She put her hand on him. "Roy...." - -He jerked away. His dark face was set and cruel. "Do you have to make -it harder? Do you think I want to rot on Phobos in their stinking -mines, with shackles on my feet?" He swung around, challenging her with -savage eyes. - -"How else do you think Romany is going to stay free? You can't go on -playing cat and mouse with the big shots this way. They're getting sick -of it. They'll pass laws and tie you down. Somebody's got to spread -Romany all over the Solar System. Somebody's got to pull a publicity -campaign that'll make the great dumb public sit up and think. If public -opinion's with you, you're safe." - -He smiled. "I'm big news, sister. I'm Roy Campbell. I can splash your -lousy little mess of tin cans all over with glamour, so the great dumb -public won't let a hair of your little head be hurt. If you want to, -you can raise a statue to me in the Council hall. - -"And now will you for God's sake go?" - - * * * * * - -She wasn't crying. Her gray eyes had lights in them. "You're wonderful, -Roy. I didn't realize how wonderful." - -He was ashamed, then. "Nuts. In my racket you don't expect to get away -with it forever. Besides, I'm an old dog. I know my way around. I have -a little dough saved up. I won't be in for long." - -"I hope not," she said. "Oh, Roy, it's so stupid! Why do Earthmen have -to change everything they lay their hands on?" - -He looked at Tredrick, lying on the stones. His voice came slow and -sombre. - -"They're building, Stella. When they're finished they'll have a big, -strong, prosperous world extending all across the planets, and the -people who belong to that world will be happy. - -"But before you can build you have to grade and level, destroy the -things that get in your way. We're the things--the tree--stumps and the -rocks that grew one way and can't be changed. - -"They're building, Stella. They're growing. You can't stop that. In the -end, it'll be a good thing, I suppose. But right now, for us...." - -He broke off. He thrust her roughly inside and locked the -steel-sheathed door. "You've got to go now." - -It was dark, and hot. The Kraylen child whimpered. He could feel Stella -close to him. He found her lips and kissed them. - -He said, "So long, kid. And about that statue. You'd better wait till I -come back to pose for it." - -His voice became a longing whisper. "_And I'll be back!_" he promised. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Citadel of Lost Ships, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CITADEL OF LOST SHIPS *** - -***** This file should be named 62316.txt or 62316.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/3/1/62316/ - -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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