diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-30 21:52:44 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-30 21:52:44 -0800 |
| commit | cd9698cc96ba55890e80d946d953f6ba29ec4617 (patch) | |
| tree | 4ec3e5f4890a52f25e449a82239306b8291679eb | |
| parent | 0d093b3528e14acebf8b9864834d77bc3e07d6be (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62349-h.zip | bin | 558309 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62349-h/62349-h.htm | 1964 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62349-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 335612 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62349-h/images/illus.jpg | bin | 191338 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62349.txt | 1850 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62349.zip | bin | 31596 -> 0 bytes |
9 files changed, 17 insertions, 3814 deletions
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..2a5ec9a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62349 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62349) diff --git a/old/62349-h.zip b/old/62349-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a67c317..0000000 --- a/old/62349-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62349-h/62349-h.htm b/old/62349-h/62349-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index bd553c0..0000000 --- a/old/62349-h/62349-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1964 +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 The Blue Behemoth, 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;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Behemoth, 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: The Blue Behemoth - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: June 8, 2020 [EBook #62349] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE BEHEMOTH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>The Blue Behemoth</h1> - -<h2>By LEIGH BRACKETT</h2> - -<p>Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed<br /> -space-carny leased for a mysterious tour<br /> -of the inner worlds. It made a one-night<br /> -pitch on a Venusian swamp-town—to<br /> -find that death stalked it from the<br /> -jungle in a tiny ball of flame.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories May 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>Bucky Shannon leaned forward across the little hexagonal table. He -knocked over the pitcher of <i>thil</i>, but it didn't matter. The pitcher -was empty. He jabbed me in the breastbone with his forefinger, not -very hard. Not hard enough to jar the ribs clean loose, just enough to -spring them.</p> - -<p>"We," he said, "are broke. We are finished, through. Washed up and -down the drain." He added, as an afterthought, "Destitute."</p> - -<p>I looked at him. I said sourly, "You're kidding!"</p> - -<p>"Kidding." Shannon put his elbows on the table and peered at me through -a curtain of very blond hair that was trying hard to be red. "He says -I'm kidding! With Shannon's Imperial Circus, the Greatest Show in -Space, plastered so thick with attachments...."</p> - -<p>"It's no more plastered than you are." I was sore because he'd been a -lot quicker grabbing the pitcher. "The Greatest Show in Space. Phooey! -I've wet-nursed Shannon's Imperial Circus around the Triangle for -eleven years, and I know. It's lousy, it's mangy, it's broken-down! -Nothing works, from the ship to the roustabouts. In short, it stinks!"</p> - -<p>I must have had the pitcher oftener than I thought. Nobody insults -Buckhalter Shannon's Imperial Circus to Buckhalter Shannon's face -unless he's tired and wants a long rest in a comfy fracture-frame.</p> - -<p>Shannon got up. He got up slowly. I had plenty of time to see his -grey-green eyes get sleepy, and hear the quarter-Earth-blood Martian -girl wailing about love over by the battered piano, and watch the -slanting cat-eyes of the little dark people at the tables swing round -toward us, pleased and kind of hungry.</p> - -<p>I had plenty of time to think how I only weigh one-thirty-seven to -Shannon's one-seventy-five, and how I'm not as young as I used to be.</p> - -<p>I said, "Bucky. Hold on, fella. I...."</p> - -<p>Somebody said, "Excuse me, gentlemen. Is one of you Mister Buckhalter -Shannon?"</p> - -<p>Shannon put his hands down on his belt. He closed his eyes and smiled -pleasantly and said, very gently:</p> - -<p>"Would you be collecting for the feed bill, or the fuel?"</p> - -<p>I shot a glance at the newcomer. He'd saved me from a beating, even if -he was a lousy bill-collecter; and I felt sorry for him. Bucky Shannon -settled his shoulders and hips like a dancer.</p> - -<p>The stranger was a little guy. He even made me look big. He was dressed -in dark-green synthesilk, very conservative. There was a powdering of -grey in his hair and his skin was pink, soft, and shaved painfully -clean. He had the kind of a face that nice maiden-ladies will trust -with their last dime. I looked for his strong-arm squad.</p> - -<p>There didn't seem to be any. The little guy looked at Shannon with pale -blue eyes like a baby, and his voice was softer than Bucky's.</p> - -<p>He said, "I don't think you understand."</p> - -<p>I felt cold, suddenly, between the shoulders. Somebody scraped a chair -back. It sounded like he'd ripped the floor open, it was so quiet. I -got my brassies on, and my hands were sweating. Bucky Shannon sighed, -and let his fist start traveling, a long, deceptive arc.</p> - -<p>Then I saw what the little guy was holding in his hand.</p> - -<p>I yelled and knocked the table over into Bucky. It made a lot of noise. -It knocked him sideways and down, and the little dark men jumped up, -quivering and showing their teeth. The Martian girl screamed.</p> - -<p>Bucky heaved the table off his lap and cursed me. "What's eating you, -Jig? I'm not going to hurt him."</p> - -<p>"Shut up," I said. "Look what he's got there. Money!"</p> - -<p>The little guy looked at me. He hadn't turned a hair. "Yes," he said. -"Money. Quite a lot of it. Would you gentlemen permit me to join you?"</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon got up. He grinned his pleasantest grin. "Delighted. I'm -Shannon. This is Jig Bentley, my business manager." He looked down at -the table. "I'm sorry about that. Mistaken identity."</p> - -<p>The little guy smiled. He did it with his lips. The rest of his face -stayed placid and babyish, almost transparent. I realized with a start -that it wasn't transparent at all. It was the most complete dead-pan I -ever met, and you couldn't see into those innocent blue eyes any more -than you could see through sheet metal.</p> - -<p>I didn't like him. I didn't like him at all. But he had money. I said, -"Howdy. Let's go find a booth. These Marshies make me nervous, looking -like hungry cats at a mouse-hole."</p> - -<p>The little guy nodded. "Excellent idea. My name is Beamish. Simon -Beamish. I wish to—ah—charter your circus."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I looked at Bucky. He looked hungrier than the Marshies did. We didn't -say anything until we got Beamish into a curtained booth with a fresh -pitcher of <i>thil</i> on the table. Then I cleared my throat.</p> - -<p>"What exactly did you have in mind, Mr. Beamish?"</p> - -<p>Beamish sipped his drink, made a polite face, and put it down. "I have -independent means, gentlemen. It has always been my desire to lighten -the burden of life for those less fortunate...."</p> - -<p>Bucky got red around the ears. "Just a minute," he murmured, and -started to get up. I kicked him under the table.</p> - -<p>"Shut up, you lug. Let Mister Beamish finish."</p> - -<p>He sat down, looking like a mean dog waiting for the postman. Beamish -ignored him. He went on, quietly,</p> - -<p>"I have always held that entertainment, of the right sort, is the most -valuable aid humanity can have in its search for the alleviation of -toil and boredom...."</p> - -<p>I said, "Sure, sure. But what was your idea?"</p> - -<p>"There are many towns along the Venusian frontiers where no -entertainment of the—<i>proper</i> sort has been available. I propose to -remedy that. I propose to charter your circus, Mister Shannon, to make -a tour of several settlements along the Tehara Belt."</p> - -<p>Bucky had relaxed. His grey-green eyes began to gleam. He started to -speak, and I kicked him again.</p> - -<p>"That would be expensive, Mister Beamish," I said. "We'd have to cancel -several engagements...."</p> - -<p>He looked at me. I was lying, and he knew it. But he said,</p> - -<p>"I quite understand that. I would be prepared...."</p> - -<p>The curtains were yanked back suddenly. Beamish shut up. Bucky and I -glared at the head and shoulders poking in between the drapes.</p> - -<p>It was Gow, our zoo-man—a big, ugly son-of-a-gun from a Terran -colony on Mercury. I was there once. Gow looks a lot like the -scenery—scowling, unapproachable, and tough. His hands, holding the -curtains apart, had thick black hair on them and were not much larger -than the hams of a Venusian swamp-rhino.</p> - -<p>He said, "Boss, Gertrude's actin' up again."</p> - -<p>"Gertrude be blowed," growled Bucky. "Can't you see I'm busy?"</p> - -<p>Gow's black eyes were unpleasant. "I'm tellin' you, Boss, Gertrude -ain't happy. She ain't had the right food. If something...."</p> - -<p>I said, "That'll all be taken care of, Gow. Run along now."</p> - -<p>He looked at me like he was thinking it wouldn't take much timber to -fit me for a coffin. "Okay! But Gertrude's unhappy. She's lonesome, -see? And if she don't get happier pretty soon I ain't sure your tin-pot -ship'll hold her."</p> - -<p>He pulled the curtains to and departed. Bucky Shannon groaned. Beamish -cleared his throat and said, rather stiffly,</p> - -<p>"Gertrude?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah. She's kind of temperamental." Bucky took a quick drink. I -finished for him.</p> - -<p>"She's the star attraction of our show, Mr. Beamish. A real blue-swamp -Venusian <i>cansin</i>. The only other one on the Triangle belongs to Savitt -Brothers, and she's much smaller than Gertrude."</p> - -<p>She was also much younger, but I didn't go into that. Gertrude may be -a little creaky, but she's still pretty impressive. I only hoped she -wouldn't die on us, because without her we'd have a sicker-looking -circus than even I could stand.</p> - -<p>Beamish looked impressed. "A <i>cansin</i>. Well, well! The mystery -surrounding the origin and species of the <i>cansin</i> is a fascinating -subject. The extreme rarity of the animal...."</p> - -<p>We were getting off the subject. I said tactfully, "We'd have to have -at least a hundred U.C.'s."</p> - -<p>It was twice what we had any right to ask. I was prepared to dicker. -Beamish looked at me with that innocent dead pan. For a fraction of a -second I thought I saw something back of his round blue eyes, and my -stomach jumped like it was shot. Beamish smiled sweetly.</p> - -<p>"I'm not much of a bargainer. One hundred Universal Credits will be -agreeable to me." He dragged out a roll as big as my two fists, peeled -off half a dozen credit slips, and laid them on the table.</p> - -<p>"By way of a retainer, gentleman. My attorney and I will call on you in -the morning with a contract and itinerary. Good night."</p> - -<p>We said good night, trying not to drool. Beamish went away. Bucky made -grab for the money, but I beat him to it.</p> - -<p>"Scram," I said. "There are guys waiting for this. Big guys with clubs. -Here." I gave him a small-denomination slip I'd been holding out. "We -can get lushed enough on this."</p> - -<p>Shannon has a good vocabulary. He used it. When he got his breath back -he said suddenly,</p> - -<p>"Beamish is pulling some kind of a game."</p> - -<p>"Yeah."</p> - -<p>"It may be crooked."</p> - -<p>"Sure. And he may be screwball and on the level. For Pete's sake!" I -yelled. "You want to sit here till we all dry up and blow away?"</p> - -<p>Shannon looked at me, kind of funny. He looked at the bulge in my tunic -where the roll was. He raked back his thick light hair.</p> - -<p>"Yeah," he said. "I hope there'll be enough left to bribe the jury." He -poked his head outside. "Hey, boy! More <i>thildatum</i>!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was pretty late when we got back to the broken-down spaceport where -Shannon's Imperial Circus was crouching beneath its attachments. Late -as it was, they were waiting for us. About twenty of them, sitting -around and smoking and looking very ugly.</p> - -<p>It was awfully lonesome out there, with the desert cold and restless -under the two moons. There's a smell to Mars, like something dead and -dried long past decay, but still waiting. An unhappy smell. The blown -red dust gritted in my teeth.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon walked out into the glare of the light at the entrance to -the roped-off space around the main lock. He was pretty steady on his -feet. He waved and said, "Hiya, boys."</p> - -<p>They got up off the steps, and the packing cases, and came toward us. I -grinned and got into my brassies. We felt we owed those boys a lot more -than money. It grates on a man's pride to have to sneak in and out of -his own property through the sewage lock. This was the first time in -weeks we'd come in at the front door.</p> - -<p>I waved the money in their faces. That stopped them. Very solemnly, -Bucky and I checked the bills, paid them, and pocketed the receipts. -Bucky yawned and stretched sleepily.</p> - -<p>"Now?" he said.</p> - -<p>"Now," I said.</p> - -<p>We had a lot of fun. Some of the boys inside the ship came out to join -in. We raised a lot of dust and nobody got killed, quite. We all went -home happy. They had their money, and we had their blood.</p> - -<p>The news was all over the ship before we got inside. The freaks and the -green girl from Tethys who could roll herself like a hoop, and Zurt the -muscle man from Jupiter, and all the other assorted geeks and kinkers -and joeys that make up the usual corny carnie were doing nip-ups in the -passageways and drooling over the thought of steer and toppings.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon regarded them possessively, wiping blood from his nose. -"They're good guys, Jig. Swell people. They stuck by me, and I've -rewarded them."</p> - -<p>I said, "Sure," rather sourly. Bucky hiccoughed.</p> - -<p>"Let's go see Gertrude."</p> - -<p>I didn't want to see Gertrude. I never got over feeling funny going -into the brute tank, especially at night or out in space. I'm a city -guy, myself. The smell and sound of wildness gives me goose bumps. But -Bucky was looking stubborn, so I shrugged.</p> - -<p>"Okay. But just for a minute. Then we go beddy-bye."</p> - -<p>"You're a pal, Jif. Bes' li'l' guy inna worl'...."</p> - -<p>The fight had just put the topper on him. I was afraid he'd fall down -the ladder and break his neck. That's why I went along. If I hadn't.... -Oh, well, what's a few nightmares among friends?</p> - -<p>It was dark down there in the tank. Way off at the other end, there was -a dim glow. Gow was evidently holding Gertrude's hand. We started down -the long passageway between the rows of cages and glassed-in tanks and -compression units.</p> - -<p>Our footsteps sounded loud and empty on the iron floor. I wasn't -near as happy as Shannon, and my skin began to crawl a little. It's -the smell, I think; rank and sour and wild. And the sound of them, -breathing and rustling in the dark, with the patient hatred walled -around them as strong as the cage bars.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon lurched against me suddenly. I choked back a yell, and -then wiped the sweat off my forehead and cursed. The scream came again. -A high, ragged, whistling screech like nothing this side of hell, -ripping through the musty darkness. Gertrude, on the wailing wall.</p> - -<p>It had been quiet. Now every brute in the place let go at the same -time. My stomach turned clear over. I called Gertrude every name I -could think of, and I couldn't hear myself doing it. Presently a great -metallic clash nearly burst my eardrums, and the beasts shut up. Gow -had them nicely conditioned to that gong.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>But they didn't quiet down. Not really. They were uneasy. You can feel -them inside you when they're uneasy. I think that's why I'm scared of -them. They make me feel like I'm not human as I thought—like I wanted -to put my back-hair up and snarl. Yeah. They were uneasy that night, -all of a sudden....</p> - -<p>Gow glared at us as we came up into the lantern light. "She's gettin' -worse," he said. "She's lonesome."</p> - -<p>"That's tough," said Bucky Shannon. His grey-green eyes looked like an -owl's. He swayed slightly. "That's sure tough." He sniffled.</p> - -<p>I looked at Gertrude. Her cage is the biggest and strongest in the tank -and even so she looked as though she could break it open just taking a -deep breath. I don't know if you've ever seen a <i>cansin</i>. There's only -two of them on the Triangle. If you haven't, nothing I can say will -make much difference.</p> - -<p>They're what the brain gang calls an "end of evolution." Seems old -Dame Nature had an idea that didn't jell. The <i>cansins</i> were pretty -successful for a while, it seems, but something gummed up the works and -now there's only a few left, way in the deep-swamp country, where even -the Venusians hardly ever go. Living fossils.</p> - -<p>I wouldn't know, of course, but Gertrude looks to me like she got stuck -some place between a dinosaur and a grizzly bear, with maybe a little -bird blood thrown in. Anyway, she's big.</p> - -<p>I couldn't help feeling sorry for her. She was crouched in the cage -with her hands—yeah, hands—hanging over her knees and her snaky head -sunk into her shoulders, looking out. Just looking. Not at anything. -Her eyes were way back in deep horny pits, like cold green fire.</p> - -<p>The lantern light was yellow on her blue-black skin, but it made the -mane, or crest, of coarse wide scales that ran from between her eyes -clear down to her flat, short tail, burn all colors. She looked like -old Mother Misery herself, from way back before time began.</p> - -<p>Gow said softly, "She wants a mate. And somebody better get her one."</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon sniffled again. I said irritably, "Be reasonable, Gow! -Nobody's ever seen a male <i>cansin</i>. There may not even be any."</p> - -<p>Gertrude screamed again. She didn't move, not even to raise her head. -The sadness just built up inside her until it had to come out. That -close, the screech was deafening, and it turned me all limp and cold -inside. The loneliness, the sheer stark, simple pain....</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon began to cry. I snarled, "You'll have to snap her out of -this, Gow. She's driving the rest of 'em nuts."</p> - -<p>He hammered on his gong, and things quieted down again. Gow stood -looking out over the tank, sniffing a little, like a hound. Then he -turned to Gertrude.</p> - -<p>"I saved her life," he said. "When we bought her out of Hanak's wreck -and everybody thought she was too hurt to live, I saved her. I know -her. I can do things with her. But this time...."</p> - -<p>He shrugged. He was huge and tough and ugly, and his voice was like a -woman's talking about a sick child.</p> - -<p>"This time," he said, "I ain't sure."</p> - -<p>"Well for Pete's sake, do what you can. We got a charter, and we need -her." I took Shannon's arm. "Come to bed, Bucky darlin'."</p> - -<p>He draped himself over my shoulder and we went off. Gow didn't look at -us. Bucky sobbed.</p> - -<p>"You were right, Jig," he mumbled. "Circus is no good. I know it. But -it's all I got. I love it, Jig. Unnerstan' me? Like Gow there with -Gertrude. She's ugly and no good, but he loves her. I love...."</p> - -<p>"Sure, sure," I told him. "Stop crying down my neck."</p> - -<p>We were a long way from the light, then. The cages and tanks loomed -high and black over us. It was still. The secret, uneasy motion all -around us and the scruffing of our feet only made it stiller.</p> - -<p>Bucky was almost asleep on me. I started to slap him. And then the mist -rose up out of the darkness in little lazy coils, sparkling faintly -with blue, cold fire.</p> - -<p>I yelled, "Gow! Gow, the Vapor snakes! Gow—for God's sake!"</p> - -<p>I started to run, back along the passageway. Bucky weighed on me, limp -and heavy. The noise burst suddenly in a deafening hell of moans and -roars and shrieks, packed in tight by the metal walls, and above it all -I could hear Gertrude's lonely, whistling scream.</p> - -<p>I thought, "<i>Somebody's down here. Somebody let 'em out. Somebody wants -to kill us!</i>" I tried to yell again. It strangled in my throat. I -sobbed, and the sweat was thick and cold on me.</p> - -<p>One of Bucky's dragging, stumbling feet got between mine. We fell. I -rolled on top of him, covering his face, and buried my own face in the -hollow of his shoulder.</p> - -<p>The first snake touched me. It was like a live wire, sliding along the -back of my neck. I screamed. It came down along my cheek, hunting my -mouth. There were more of them, burning me through my clothes.</p> - -<p>Bucky moaned and kicked under me. I remember hanging on and thinking, -"This is it. This is it, and oh God, I'm scared!"</p> - -<p>Then I went out.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>Kanza the Martian croaker, was bending over me when I woke up. His -little brown face was crinkled with laughter. He'd lost most of his -teeth, and he gummed <i>thak</i>-weed. It smelt.</p> - -<p>"You pretty, Mis' Jig," he giggled. "You funny like hell."</p> - -<p>He slapped some cold greasy stuff on my face. It hurt. I cursed him and -said, "Where's Shannon? How is he?"</p> - -<p>"Mis' Bucky okay. You save life. You big hero, Mis' Jig. Mis' Gow come -nickuhtime get snakes. You hero. Haw! You funny like hell!"</p> - -<p>I said, "Yeah," and pushed him away and got up. I almost fell down -a couple of times, but presently I made it to the mirror over the -washstand—I was in my own cell—and I saw what Kanza meant. The damned -snakes had done a good job. I looked like I was upholstered in Scotch -plaid. I felt sick.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon opened the door. He looked white and grim, and there was -a big burn across his neck. He said:</p> - -<p>"Beamish is here with his lawyer."</p> - -<p>I picked up my shirt. "Right with you."</p> - -<p>Kanza went out, still giggling. Bucky closed the door.</p> - -<p>"Jig," he said, "those vapor worms were all right when we went in. -Somebody followed us down and let them out. On purpose."</p> - -<p>I hurt all over. I growled, "With that brain, son, you should go far. -Nobody saw anything, of course?" Bucky shook his head.</p> - -<p>"Question is, Jig, who wants to kill us, and why?"</p> - -<p>"Beamish. He realizes he's been gypped."</p> - -<p>"One hundred U.C.'s," said Bucky softly, "for a few lousy swampedge -mining camps. It stinks, Jig. You think we should back out?"</p> - -<p>I shrugged. "You're the boss man. I'm only the guy that beats off the -creditors."</p> - -<p>"Yeah," Bucky said reflectively. "And I hear starvation isn't a -comfortable death. Okay, Jig. Let's go sign." He put his hand on the -latch and looked at my feet. "And—uh—Jig, I...."</p> - -<p>I said, "Skip it. The next time, just don't trip me up, that's all!"</p> - -<p>We had a nasty trip to Venus. Gertrude kept the brute tank on edge, -and Gow, on the rare occasions he came up for air, went around looking -like a disaster hoping to happen. To make it worse, Zurt the Jovian -strong-man got hurt during the take-off, and the Mercurian cave-cat had -kittens.</p> - -<p>Nobody would have minded that, only one of 'em had only four legs. It -lived just long enough to scare that bunch of superstitious dopes out -of their pants. Circus people are funny that way.</p> - -<p>Shannon and I did a little quiet sleuthing, but it was a waste of time. -Anybody in the gang might have let those electric worms out on us. It -didn't help any to know that somebody, maybe the guy next to you at -dinner, was busy thinking ways to kill you. By the time we hit Venus, I -was ready to do a Brodie out the refuse chute.</p> - -<p>Shannon set the crate down on the edge of Nahru, the first stop on our -itinerary. I stood beside him, looking out the ports at the scenery. It -was Venus, all right. Blue mud and thick green jungle and rain, and a -bunch of ratty-looking plastic shacks huddling together in the middle -of it. Men in slickers were coming out for a look.</p> - -<p>I saw Beamish's sleek yacht parked on a cradle over to the left, and -our router's runabout beside it. Bucky Shannon groaned.</p> - -<p>"A blue one, Jig. A morgue if I ever saw one!"</p> - -<p>I snarled, "What do you want, with this lousy dog-and-pony show!" and -went out. He followed. The gang was converging on the lock, but they -weren't happy. You get so you can feel those things. The steamy Venus -heat was already sneaking into the ship.</p> - -<p>While we passed the hatchway to the brute tank, I could hear Gertrude, -screaming.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The canvasmen were busy setting up the annex, slopping and cursing in -the mud. The paste brigade was heading for the shacks. Shannon and I -stood with the hot rain running off our slickers, looking.</p> - -<p>I heard a noise behind me and looked around. Ahra the Nahali woman was -standing in the mud with her arms up and her head thrown back, and her -triangular mouth open like a thirsty dog. She didn't have anything on -but her blue-green, hard scaled hide, and she was chuckling. It didn't -sound nice.</p> - -<p>You find a lot of Nahali people in side-shows, doing tricks with -the electric power they carry in their own bodies. They're Venusian -middle-swampers, they're not human, and they never forget it.</p> - -<p>Ahra opened her slitted red eyes and looked at me and laughed with -white reptilian teeth.</p> - -<p>"Death," she whispered. "Death and trouble. The jungle tells me. I can -smell it in the swamp wind."</p> - -<p>The hot rain sluiced over her. She shivered, and the pale skin under -her jaw pulsed like a toad's, and her eyes were red.</p> - -<p>"The deep swamps are angry," she whispered. "Something has been taken. -They are angry, and I smell death in the wind!"</p> - -<p>She turned away, laughing, and I cursed her, and my stomach was tight -and cold. Bucky said,</p> - -<p>"Let's eat if they have a bar in this dump."</p> - -<p>We weren't half way across the mud puddle that passed as a landing -field when a man came out of a shack on the edge of the settlement. We -could see him plainly, because he was off to one side of the crowd.</p> - -<p>He fell on his knees in the mud, making noises. It took him three or -four tries to get our names out clear enough to understand.</p> - -<p>Bucky said, "Jig—it's Sam Kapper."</p> - -<p>We started to run. The crowd, mostly big unshaken miners, wheeled -around to see what was happening. People began to close in on the man -who crawled and whimpered in the mud.</p> - -<p>Sam Kapper was a hunter, supplying animals to zoos and circuses and -carnivals. He'd given us good deals a couple of times, when we weren't -too broke, and we were pretty friendly.</p> - -<p>I hadn't seen him for three seasons. I remembered him as a bronzed, -hard-bitten guy, lean and tough as a twist of tung wire. I felt sick, -looking down at him.</p> - -<p>Bucky started to help him up. Kapper was crying, and he jerked all over -like animals I've seen that were scared to death. Some guy leaned over -and put a cigarette in his mouth and lighted it for him.</p> - -<p>I was thinking about Kapper, then, and I didn't pay much attention. I -only caught a glimpse of the man's face as he straightened up. I didn't -realize until later that he looked familiar.</p> - -<p>We got Kapper inside the shack. It turned out to be a cheap bar, with a -couple of curtained booths at the back. We got him into one and pulled -the curtain in a lot of curious faces. Kapper dragged hard on the -cigarette. The man that gave it to him was gone.</p> - -<p>Bucky said gently, "Okay, Sam. Relax. What's the trouble?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Kapper tried to straighten up. He hadn't shaved. The lean hard lines -of his face had gone slack and his eyes were bloodshot. He was covered -with mud, and his mouth twitched like a sick old man's.</p> - -<p>He said thickly, "I found it. I said I'd do it, and I did. I found it -and brought it out."</p> - -<p>The cigarette stub fell out of his mouth. He didn't notice it. "Help -me," he said simply. "I'm scared." His mouth drooled.</p> - -<p>"I got it hidden. They want to find out, but I won't tell 'em. It's -got to go back. Back where I found it. I tried to take it, but they -wouldn't let me, and I was afraid they'd find it...."</p> - -<p>He reached suddenly and grabbed the edge of the table. "I don't know -how they found out about it, but they did. I've got to get it back. -I've got to...."</p> - -<p>Bucky looked at me. Kapper was blue around the mouth. I was scared, -suddenly. I said, "Get what back where?"</p> - -<p>Bucky got up. "I'll get a doctor," he said. "Stick with him." Kapper -grabbed his wrist. Kapper's nails were blue and the cords in his hands -stood out like guy wires.</p> - -<p>"Don't leave me. Got to tell you—where it is. Got to take it back. -Promise you'll take it back." He gasped and struggled over his -breathing.</p> - -<p>"Sure," said Bucky. "Sure, well take it back. What is it?"</p> - -<p>Kapper's face was horrible. I felt sick, listening to him fight for -air. I wanted to go for a doctor anyway, but somehow I knew it was no -use. Kapper whispered,</p> - -<p>"<i>Cansin</i>. Male. Only one. You don't know...! Take him back."</p> - -<p>"Where is it, Sam?"</p> - -<p>I reached across Bucky suddenly and jerked the curtain back. Beamish -was standing there. Beamish, bent over, with his ear cocked. Kapper -made a harsh strangling noise and fell across the table.</p> - -<p>Beamish never changed expression. He didn't move while Bucky felt -Kapper's pulse. Bucky didn't need to say anything. We knew.</p> - -<p>"Heart?" said Beamish finally.</p> - -<p>"Yeah," said Bucky. He looked as bad as I felt. "Poor Sam."</p> - -<p>I looked at the cigarette stub smoldering on the table. I looked at -Beamish with his round dead baby face. I climbed over Shannon and -pushed Beamish suddenly down into his lap.</p> - -<p>"Keep this guy here till I get back," I said.</p> - -<p>Shannon stared at me. Beamish started to get indignant. "Shut up," I -told him. "We got a contract." I yanked the curtains shut and walked -over to the bar.</p> - -<p>I began to notice something, then. There were quite a lot of men in the -place. At first glance they looked okay—a hard-faced, muscular bunch -of miners in dirty shirts and high boots.</p> - -<p>Then I looked at their hands. They were dirty enough. But they never -did any work in a mine, on Venus or anywhere else.</p> - -<p>The place was awfully quiet, for that kind of a place. The bartender -was a big pot-bellied swamp-edger with pale eyes and thick white hair -coiled up on top of his bullet head. He was not happy.</p> - -<p>I leaned on the bar. "<i>Lhak</i>," I said. He poured it, sullenly, out of a -green bottle. I reached for it, casually.</p> - -<p>"That guy we brought in," I said. "He sure has a skinful. Passed out -cold. What's he been spiking his drinks with?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Selak</i>," said a voice in my ear. "As if you didn't know."</p> - -<p>I turned. The man who had given Kapper the cigarette was standing -behind me. And I remembered him, then.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Circus people get around a lot, and the Law supplies us with Wanted -sheets. I remembered this guy from the last batch they handed us on -Mars. Melak Thompson was his name, and he had a reputation.</p> - -<p>He had a face you wouldn't forget. Dark and kind of handsome, with the -Dry-lander blood showing in the heavy bones and the tilted green eyes. -His mouth was smiling and brutal. He nodded at the booth.</p> - -<p>"Let's take a walk," he said.</p> - -<p>We took a walk. The men sitting at the dirty tables were still silent, -and still not miners. I began to sweat.</p> - -<p>The booth was a little crowded with us all in there. I sat jammed up -against Sam Kapper's body. Bucky Shannon's grey-green eyes were sleepy, -and there was a vein beating on his forehead.</p> - -<p>Beamish said to Melak, "Kapper's dead. Dead, without talking."</p> - -<p>"That's tough." Melak shook his dark head. "We was gentle with him."</p> - -<p>"Yeah," I said. Kapper had been a good guy, and I was mad. "Feed -anybody enough <i>selak</i>, and you can afford to be. It's a dirty death."</p> - -<p><i>Selak's</i> made from a Venusian half-cousin of henbane, which is what -scopolamine comes from. It has a terrific effect on the heart. And -Kapper had simply torn himself apart trying to keep from talking while -he was under the influence.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon made a slow, ugly move to get up. Beamish said,</p> - -<p>"Sit down."</p> - -<p>There was something in his voice and his bland blue eyes. Shannon sat -down. Melak was looking at Beamish, still grinning.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said, "I guess your idea was pretty good after all."</p> - -<p>I had a sudden inspiration. The burns were still sore on my body, and -Rapper's tortured face was close to mine, and I took a wild shot at -something I wasn't even sure I saw.</p> - -<p>"Yeah," I said. "A swell idea. Why did you try so hard to butch it, -Melak?"</p> - -<p>He stopped grinning. Beamish looked forward a little. My tongue stuck -in my mouth, but I managed to say.</p> - -<p>"You get it, Bucky. A male <i>cansin</i>, Kapper said. The only one -in captivity, maybe even on Venus. Worth its weight in credit -slips. That's why Beamish was so happy to overpay us to get us out -here—because he thought Gertrude could find her boy friend fast, even -if Kapper didn't talk."</p> - -<p>I turned to Melak again. "A swell idea. Why did you have those vapor -snakes turned loose on us? Did you think Kapper was enough?"</p> - -<p>He struck me, pretty hard, across the mouth. My head banged back -against the booth wall and for a minute I couldn't see anything but -spangles of fire shooting around. I heard Beamish say, from a great -distance,</p> - -<p>"How about it, Melak?"</p> - -<p>It was awfully still in the booth. I swallowed some blood and blinked -my eyes clear enough to see Bucky Shannon poised across the table like -a bow starting to unbend. And suddenly, somewhere far off over the drum -of rain on the flimsy roof, there began to be noises.</p> - -<p>I hadn't been comfortable up till then. I'm no Superman, nor one of -those guys you read about who can stare Death in the eye and shatter -him with a light laugh.</p> - -<p>But all of a sudden I was afraid. Afraid so that all the fear I'd felt -before was nothing. And it was funny, too. I didn't know what it was, -then, but I knew what it wasn't. It wasn't Beamish or Melak or those -hard guys beyond the curtains, or even Kapper's body pressed up against -me.</p> - -<p>I didn't know what it was. But I wanted to get down on the floor and -hide myself in a crack, like a cockroach.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The others felt it, too. I remember the sweat standing out on Bucky -Shannon's forehead, and the sudden tightening of Beamish's jaw, and the -glitter in Melak's green eyes.</p> - -<p>Beyond the curtains there was an uneasy stirring of feet. The confused, -distant noise grew louder. Somewhere, not very far away, a woman began -to scream.</p> - -<p>Beamish said softly, "You dirty double-crossing rat." His face was -still dead-pan, only now it was like something beaten out of iron. His -hands were out of sight under the table.</p> - -<p>Melak smiled. I could feel his body shift and tense beside me. "Sure," -he said. "I double-crossed you. Why not? I planted a guy in the circus -hammer gang and he crawled in the sewage lock and tried to get these -punks. I'm glad now he bungled it. Kapper had guts."</p> - -<p>Beamish whispered, "You're a fool. You don't know what you're playing -with. I've done research, and I do."</p> - -<p>"Too bad you wasted the time," said Melak. "Because you're through."</p> - -<p>He threw himself suddenly aside, lifting the table hard into Beamish. -The curtains ripped away and he rolled in them, twisting like a snake. -I yelled to Bucky and dropped flat. Beamish had drawn a gun under the -table. The blast of it seared my face.</p> - -<p>The next second four heavy blasters spoke at once. Beamish's gun -dropped on the floor. Then it was quiet again, and I could hear the -woman screaming, outside in the beating rain.</p> - -<p>Melak got up. "Sure I double-crossed you," he said softly. "Why should -I split with anybody? Nobody knows about it but us. Kapper couldn't -send word from the swamps when he caught it, and he couldn't send word -from here because he wasn't let.</p> - -<p>"That critter'll bring anything I ask for it. Why should I split with -you?"</p> - -<p>Beamish didn't answer. I don't think Melak thought he would.</p> - -<p>The noise from outside was getting louder. Bucky groaned.</p> - -<p>"It's coming from the pitch, Jig. Trouble. We've got to...."</p> - -<p>The table was yanked from over us. We got up off our knees. Melak -looked at us. He was shaking a little and his green eyes were mean.</p> - -<p>"I don't think," he said, "I really need you guys around, either." He -jerked his head suddenly. "Cripes, I wish that dame would shut up!"</p> - -<p>It was getting on my nerves, too—that monotonous, sawing screech. -Melak stepped aside. "Get 'em, boys. I don't want 'em dragging their -outfit down on our necks."</p> - -<p>Four blaster barrels came up. My insides came up with them. I was way -beyond anything, then—even panic.</p> - -<p>Gow burst in through the doorway.</p> - -<p>He was soaked to the skin, tattered, bleeding, and wild-eyed. He -yelled, "Boss! Gertrude...." Then he saw the guns and stopped.</p> - -<p>It was very still in the place. Outside there was sound rising like a -sullen tide against the walls. The woman's screaming became something -not human, and then stopped, short.</p> - -<p>Gow said, almost absently, "Gertrude went nuts. We'd brought her cage -up from the tank for the show and she—broke out. There wasn't nothin' -we could do. She busted a lot of cages and then disappeared."</p> - -<p>Melak snarled something, I don't know what. The wall behind Gow jarred, -buckled, and split open around the doorway. Bamboo fragments clattered -on the floor. Somebody yelled, and a blaster went off.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="551" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Gertrude stood in the splintered opening. She looked at us with cold, -mad green eyes, towering huge and blue against the low roof, her hands -swinging and her crest erect.</p> - -<p>She let go one wild, whistling screech and came straight toward the -booth. Bucky Shannon touched my arm.</p> - -<p>"Climb into your brassies, kid," he muttered. "Here's our chance!"</p> - -<p>I caught his shoulder. He followed the line of my pointing, and I felt -him tremble.</p> - -<p>Gertrude was coming at us like a rocket express. Behind her wet and -glistening from the hot rain, came three more just like her.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>We scattered, all of us, hunting for a way out. There was only one door -leading to the back, and it was stoppered tight with men cursing and -fighting to get through. Gow was crouched in a corner by the splintered -wall.</p> - -<p>I pulled Bucky along, thinking we might get in back of the <i>cansins</i> -and sneak out. I wondered what they wanted. And I wondered where in -heck you could hide a thing as big as Gertrude and keep anybody from -finding out.</p> - -<p>Somebody screamed briefly. I saw one of the strange <i>cansins</i> toss the -bartender aside like a dry twig. Gow rose up in front of me with a -queer staring look in his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Somethin's wrong," he said. "All wrong. I...." His mouth twitched. He -turned sharply and started to scramble through the wrecked hall. Bucky -and I were right on his heels. I think Melak and some of his lobbygows -were crowding us, but nobody was thinking about things like that any -more.</p> - -<p>I knew what was eating Gow. The fear that had looked out of Kapper's -eyes. The fear that was riding me. Fear that had nothing to do with -anything physical.</p> - -<p>Bucky cursed and stumbled beside me. And suddenly the four <i>cansins</i> -let go a tremendous thundering scream. The hair rose on my neck, and I -turned to look. I just had to.</p> - -<p>Gertrude had turned away from the booth. They stood, the four of -them, their huge black shoulders touching, their crests like rows of -petrified flame, staring at what Gertrude held in her arms.</p> - -<p>It was Kapper's body.</p> - -<p>Slowly, with infinite gentleness, she began to strip him. He hung loose -in the cradle of one great arm, his flesh showing blue-white against -her blueness. Her free hand ripped his clothes away like things made of -paper.</p> - -<p>I don't know why nobody tried to shoot the beasts after the first -second. Sheer panic, I guess. We could have killed them all, then. -But we just stood looking, fascinated by the slow, intent baring of -Kapper's body.</p> - -<p>And the strange fear. It was on us all.</p> - -<p>Kapper lay naked in her black arms. She raised him slowly over her -head, her eyes blind green fires deep under bony brows. The others drew -closer, shivering, and I could hear them whimper.</p> - -<p>Strangers from the deep swamps with no stink of man on them. I thought -of the Nahali woman laughing in the hot rain. Death from the deep -swamps, because something had been taken, and they were angry.</p> - -<p>There was a little black box strapped to Kapper's thin white belly.</p> - -<p>Gertrude shifted her hands a little. The blood hammered in my ears. I -was sick. I didn't want to look any more. I couldn't help it. Bucky -Shannon caught a hard, sobbing breath.</p> - -<p>Gertrude broke Sam Kapper's body in two.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I can still hear the noise it made. The blood ran dark and sluggish -down her arms. It worried me that Kapper's face didn't change -expression. The little black box on his belly split with the rest of -him.</p> - -<p>Something rose out of it. Something no bigger than my forefinger that -carried a cold green blaze around it like a ball of St. Elmo's fire.</p> - -<p>Gertrude threw Kapper away. I heard the two flopping thuds of him -hitting the floor. Some guy was down on his knees close to me. His lips -moved. I don't know if he could remember his prayers. Somebody else was -vomiting, hard. I wanted to, but my stomach felt frozen.</p> - -<p>The cold green fire had a shape inside it. I couldn't make it out -clearly, except that it looked horribly human. It put out four thin -green filaments. Don't ask me if they were physical things like -tentacles, or just beams of light, or maybe thought. I don't know. -Whatever they were, they worked.</p> - -<p>They connected with the four black, snaky heads of the female -<i>cansins</i>. I felt the shock of them connecting with my own nerves. And -it was like something had welded those four brutes together into one.</p> - -<p>They had been four. Separate, with hard outlines. Now they were one. -One single interlocking entity. I guess it was just my being so scared -and sick, but I thought I saw their outlines blur a little.</p> - -<p>Gow spoke suddenly. His voice was pretty loud, and calm.</p> - -<p>"That was it," he said, as though it was the only thing in the world -that mattered. "They ain't complete by themselves. Like the <i>zurats</i> -back home on Mercury. They got a community brain. No wonder Gertrude -was lonesome."</p> - -<p>His voice broke the spell. Somebody screamed, and everybody started to -move at once, clawing in blind panic for the openings. And we all knew, -then, what we were afraid of.</p> - -<p>We were afraid of the little thing in the black box, the thing in a -cloak of fire that had risen from the ruins of Kapper's body, and the -power that lived in it.</p> - -<p>I suppose we thought we were going to fight it, all right. But outside, -where we could breathe. Not in here, with the hugeness of the females -smothering us, penned in with the last male <i>cansin</i> in creation.</p> - -<p>I knew then why Kapper had broken, and why he hadn't told, in spite of -the <i>selak</i>. The thing hadn't let him. And it had called to its kind, -from the deep swamps and Buckhalter Shannon's Imperial Circus.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The deep indigo night of Venus had settled down, in the smell of mud -and jungle and the hot rain. Lights flared crazily here and there out -of open doorways. People were yelling, the tight, animal mob-yell of -fear.</p> - -<p>There was no place to run in Nahru. The jungle held it. The thick green -jungle built on quicksand and crawling with death. Behind us the four -<i>cansins</i> raised a wild whistling screech.</p> - -<p>It was answered, out of the hot night between the little shacks of -Nahru. Brute voices, singing their hate. Suddenly I remembered what Gow -had said. "<i>She busted a lot of cages....</i>"</p> - -<p>God knew what was loose in that town.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon spoke beside me. We were still running, slipping and -floundering in the mud, making toward the ship from sheer instinct. He -gasped,</p> - -<p>"We got to get those babies rounded up. Gow! Gow, you hear me? We got -to get 'em back!"</p> - -<p>Gow's voice came sullenly. "I hear you, boss." We slowed down. It was -suddenly important to hear what more Gow had to say.</p> - -<p>"Don't you get it?" he asked slowly. "Gertrude let 'em out. She wanted -'em—to help her. They know it. They ain't going back."</p> - -<p>Somewhere behind us a plastic shack cracked open like an eggshell. -Human cries were drowned in a whistling screech. Off to the right the -Mercurian cave-cat began to laugh like a crazy woman.</p> - -<p>Slow, patient, animal hate, walled around them, waiting. The feel and -smell of hate in the brute tank. I could feel and smell it now, in -Nahru, only it wasn't patient and waiting any more.</p> - -<p>The time it had waited for was here. Gertrude had set it free.</p> - -<p>Shannon said, very softly, "Mother o' God, what are we going to do?"</p> - -<p>"Get back to the ship. Get back and get out of here!"</p> - -<p>I jumped. It was Melak's voice, sounding hard and ugly. Light spilling -out of a sagging door made a faint silhouette of him in the rain. He -held a blaster in his hand.</p> - -<p>Shannon snarled, "Take off with half my gang stranded here? You go to -hell!"</p> - -<p>Rockets blasted suddenly out on the landing field. Somebody had made it -to Beamish's yacht and gone. The runabout followed it. The circus ship -was still there, and the only one in Nahru.</p> - -<p>I said, "We can't go. Not with a couple hundred credits' worth of -animals running loose in the town."</p> - -<p>"Get on to the ship," said Melak. "Cripes, if I knew how to fly I'd -leave you here! Now move!"</p> - -<p>Shannon was almost crying. He started to rush Melak. I caught him and -said, "Sure. Sure we'll move. All of us. Look behind you!"</p> - -<p>"I was weaned on that one. Move!"</p> - -<p>Well, it was his funeral.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was almost ours, too. Ganymedian puffballs move fast. They had come -out from between two shacks, skimming over the mud on their long white -cilia. There were three of them, rolled up in balls about the size of -my head. They didn't make any noise.</p> - -<p>They came up behind Melak. Two of them unrolled suddenly, whipping -out into lean, fuzzy ropes about five feet long. They went around the -Martian 'breed. The third one came straight at me.</p> - -<p>Melak made a noise that wasn't human and went down. The puffballs -tightened around him, pulsing a little with the pleasure of digestion. -Gow was on the other side of Melak, too far away, and unarmed.</p> - -<p>I jumped, and the mud tripped me. Shannon fell the other way. The -puffball, strung out now like a fuzzy snake, paused a moment, not three -inches from my face. I lay still on my belly, choking on my heart.</p> - -<p>Shannon moved, and it whipped down across his legs.</p> - -<p>He screamed. I could feel the poison from the thing eating into him. I -got to my knees and he cursed me and raised something out of the mud. -It was Melak's blaster. He fired, between his feet.</p> - -<p>The puffball shrivelled to a little stinking wire and dropped away. -Bucky said evenly,</p> - -<p>"That pays me off. Now it's all your party, Jig."</p> - -<p>He fainted. His legs were already swelling. Gow bent over him.</p> - -<p>"He's gotta have the croaker, quick."</p> - -<p>"You take him to the ship, Gow. If you can get there."</p> - -<p>"Me? I'm the zoo-man. I oughta...."</p> - -<p>"Do I look like Superman, to carry that big lug?" I didn't know why it -was so hard to talk. "Get him there. Then round up everybody left at -the ship. Get guns and ropes and torches and come back, quick!"</p> - -<p>He nodded and got Bucky across his shoulders. I gave him the blaster. -Then I turned back. I knew where most of the circus gang would -be—spread out among the bars.</p> - -<p>It was a lot darker, because now all the doors were closed, except two -or three where the people hadn't lived to close them. It was quieter, -too, because there's a limit to the noise a human throat can make. -There was just the hot rain, and the soft jungle undertone of things -padding and slithering in the mud, hunting.</p> - -<p>Up the street somewhere the <i>cansins</i> screamed, and another shack -split open. Instantly the brute clamor went up from the dark alleys, -answering. Animal legions from five different planets, led by a tiny -creature in a cloak of green fire. And man was the common enemy.</p> - -<p>A pair of Martian sand-tigers shot out into the street ahead of me. -They were frolicking like kittens, playing with something dark and -tattered. Then they saw me and dropped it, and came sliding on their -bellies, their six powerful legs sucking in the mud.</p> - -<p>There was no place to go. I don't remember being particularly scared, -but that wasn't because I was brave. It was sheer exhaustion. A guy can -only take so much. Now I was just walking around, seeing and hearing, -but not feeling anything inside. Like a guy that's coked to the ears, -or punchy from a beating.</p> - -<p>I picked up a double handful of mud and slung it in their snarling -pusses, and threw my head back and yelled.</p> - -<p>"Ha-a-y <i>Rube</i>!"</p> - -<p>A door at my left opened three inches, daggering the rain with yellow -light. A voice said,</p> - -<p>"For gossakes get in here!"</p> - -<p>I picked up another handful of mud. The Martian cats were pawing the -last load out of their eyes. I gave them more to play with. I guess -they weren't very hungry, just then. I said,</p> - -<p>"I'm going to get the <i>cansins</i>."</p> - -<p>Just like that. I told you I was out on my feet. Clean nuts. The guy in -the doorway thought so too.</p> - -<p>"Will you come in before you're too dead?"</p> - -<p>"And wait around for those big apes to crack the house open over my -head? The hell with that." More mud sploshed in the cats' faces. -They were beginning to get sore. "The rest of the critters are just -following the <i>cansins</i>. Sort of a mopping-up brigade. Stop the -<i>cansins</i>, and we can round up the others easy."</p> - -<p>"Oh, sure," said the man. "Any time before breakfast. Are you coming, -pal, or do I shut this door again?"</p> - -<p>I don't know how it would have turned out. Probably I'd have wound up -inside the cats. But one of 'em let out a shrill, nasty wail, the kind -they give the trainer when they're challenging him to a finish fight, -and somebody came shouldering out past the man in the doorway.</p> - -<p>The door swung wide, so that there was plenty of light. The six-inch -fangs on the Martian kitties were a beautiful, shining white. The -newcomer said something to the cats in a level undertone and came to me.</p> - -<p>It was Jarin, the Titan who works the cats. He's about half my height, -metallic green in color, and faster on his feet than a rummy grabbing -the first drink. He looks like a walking barrel when he's folded up, -and like nothing on earth when he isn't.</p> - -<p>He was unfolded then. He went up to the cats, light and dainty in the -mud. They were crouching uneasily, coughing and snarling, wanting to -rush him and not quite daring to.</p> - -<p>The male sprang.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>All I could see was a green blur in the rain. I heard the crisp, wicked -smacks of Jarin's tentacles on the tiger. It flopped over in mid-air, -buried its face in the mud and came up yowling, like your Aunt Minnie's -cat when you stepped on its tail.</p> - -<p>It went away from there, fast, with its mate right behind it.</p> - -<p>Jarin chuckled softly. "About the <i>cansins</i>," he hissed. "You had an -idea?"</p> - -<p>Somewhere, quite close to us, there was the familiar sound of a plastic -shack going to pieces. I remembered hearing blasters rip occasionally. -But only Melak's hoods were armed with anything heavy enough to do any -good, and I guessed most of them had beat it to Beamish's yacht. A -<i>cansin</i> has a hell of a tough hide, and their vitality is something -you wouldn't believe if you hadn't seen it.</p> - -<p>The familiar whistling screech went up, and the babel of human screams -and the brute chorus from the rainy alleys. I think, right then, I -began to get scared. The fear began to seep through my dopey calm, like -pain in a new wound.</p> - -<p>I shuddered and said, "No. No ideas."</p> - -<p>There was a soft step in the mud behind me. I spun around, sweating. -Ahra the Nahali woman stood there, red-eyed and laughing.</p> - -<p>"You are frightened," she whispered.</p> - -<p>I didn't deny it.</p> - -<p>"I can help you stop the <i>cansins</i>." Her eyes glittered like wet -rubies, and her teeth were white and sharp. "It may not work, and you -may die. Will you try it?"</p> - -<p>She was daring me. She was hardly more human than the brutes -themselves, and she belonged with the rain and the hot indigo night.</p> - -<p>I said, "You don't want to help, Ahra. You want us to die."</p> - -<p>I could see the pale skin throbbing under her bony jaw. She laughed, -soft alien laughter that made my back hair stir and prickle.</p> - -<p>"You humans," she whispered. "Trampling and spoiling. The middle swamps -have suffered you, greedy after oil and plumes and <i>ti</i>. But you we can -fight."</p> - -<p>She jerked her round, glistening head toward the sound of destruction. -"The death from the deep swamps, no. You deserve to die, you humans. -You went meddling with something too big even for your pride. But -because the <i>cansins</i> killed my mate and our first young...."</p> - -<p>She hunched up. I thought she was going to flop on her belly like a -cayman in the mud. Her teeth gleamed, sharp and savage.</p> - -<p>"Legend says the <i>cansins</i> were once the wisest race on Venus. They -were worshipped as gods by the little pre-human creatures of the swamp -edges. They were going to be the reasoning lords of a planet.</p> - -<p>"But nature made a mistake. Perhaps some mutation that couldn't be -stopped. I don't know. Anyway, the females grew until their one thought -was to find enough food. The males tried to balance this. Most of their -strength was in their minds, anyway. But they couldn't.</p> - -<p>"The <i>cansins</i> took to eating their worshippers. At the same time -the number of eggs they laid grew smaller and smaller. Finally the -swamp-edgers drove them out, back into the deep swamps.</p> - -<p>"They've been there ever since, going farther and farther on the path -of evolution, dwindling in numbers, always hungry, and hating the -humans who robbed them of their future. Even us they hate, because we -go erect and have speech. The females are not independent. The male -controls the community mind—they must have unity to exist at all.</p> - -<p>"If you could control the male...."</p> - -<p>I thought of the little creature in the ball of green fire. I shivered, -and the pit of my stomach pinched up. I said, "Yeah? How?"</p> - -<p>She chuckled at me. "It may mean death. Will you risk it?"</p> - -<p>I didn't have to. I could beat it back to the ship, maybe even rescue -some of the gang, with Jarin's help. Then I thought about Bucky and the -way he cried down my neck that night in the tank and what would happen -to us if we didn't get the animals rounded up. I thought—oh, hell, why -does a guy ever do anything? I don't know. Maybe I thought I'd never -get across the field to the ship anyhow.</p> - -<p>I said, "Spill it, you she-snake. What do I do?"</p> - -<p>"Get Quern," she said, and went off through the hot rain, back into the -plastic shack. The door slammed shut. Jarin and I were alone in the -dark.</p> - -<p>I said, "Will you help me?"</p> - -<p>"Of course."</p> - -<p>I looked down the street toward the landing field. I felt tired, -suddenly. Gone in the knees and weak, and sick to vomiting with fear.</p> - -<p>"Here comes Gow," I said. "He's got seven or eight guys with guns. Just -keep the critters off us until we get through with the <i>cansins</i>, and -try not to kill any more than you can help."</p> - -<p>Good old Jig, thinking about money even then. Gow came up. We talked a -minute, just the things that had to be said, and then I asked,</p> - -<p>"Anybody have an idea where Quern might be?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah," said Gow slowly. "He was in the ginmill next to the one we was -in. Drunk. I heard him singin' when I went by. I think the big apes -wrecked it."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We started off up the muddy street, more as though we'd been wound up -to go somewhere and couldn't stop than like men with a purpose. The -<i>cansins</i> were close. Awful close. You could hear them sucking and -slopping in the muck. The rain fell straight down, almost solid, and -the air was thick and hot.</p> - -<p>We did a lot of shouting. Some men came out of the shacks to join us, -but nobody had seen Quern since the trouble started. We had trouble -with the animals in the streets. The vapor snakes got one man, and an -Ionian <i>hru</i> poisoned one guy so bad he died the next day. We had to -kill a couple of big babies that wouldn't scare off.</p> - -<p>And we found the ginmill. Gow was right. It was wrecked, and there were -things scattered around amongst the splinters. I was glad it was dark.</p> - -<p>"Well," I said, "that's that. We'll just have to do what we can -with the blasters." It wouldn't be much. We didn't carry any heavy -artillery, and a <i>cansin</i> is awfully hard to stop.</p> - -<p>"Any you guys wanta scram, do it now. The rest of you come on."</p> - -<p>I took a step. Something squirmed under my foot, squeaked, and began to -curse in a voice like a katydid's.</p> - -<p>"My God," I said. "It's Quern."</p> - -<p>I picked him up. His rubbery little body was slick with mud. He spat -and hiccoughed, and snarled,</p> - -<p>"Of course it's Quern. Fine thing, leaving me in the mud like that. I -might ha' drowned." He started cursing again in Low Martian, which is -his native tongue. He's a Diran from the sea-bottom pits of Shun.</p> - -<p>Somebody laughed. It sounded hysterical. "The little lush! He don't -even know what's happened!"</p> - -<p>And he didn't. The <i>cansins</i> hadn't even seen him. He'd just been -tromped into the mud and left there, unharmed.</p> - -<p>Gow caught his breath suddenly, and somebody whimpered. I looked up. I -couldn't see much, in the rain and the indigo dark, but I didn't have -to see. I knew what was coming.</p> - -<p>A little vicious splotch of living green against the darkness, and -underneath it four huge shadows, trampling knee-deep in mud, making -toward a plastic hut filled with human beings.</p> - -<p>I said softly, "Quern, I never thought you were such a hell of a -wonderful hypnotist."</p> - -<p>He twinged in my hands. His anger almost burned me. He started to -speak, but I stopped him.</p> - -<p>"Here's your chance to prove it, chum. See that little green light -floating there? Well, go to it, Quern. And it had better be good, or -it's curtains—for Nahru and all of us."</p> - -<p>I walked over toward the <i>cansins</i>, holding Quern in my hands.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The brutes must have sensed us. They stopped and wheeled around. Quern -shivered. He was beginning to understand things. He snarled,</p> - -<p>"How do you expect me to do my act? No platform—nothing! You're crazy, -Jig! Let's get out of here!"</p> - -<p>I shook him. "Put that baby to sleep. Make him and his harem go out of -town, north. There's quicksand there. Go on, damn you!"</p> - -<p>He cursed me. You could smell the fear rising hot from us all. I heard -feet running behind me, and then more, going away. Quern said,</p> - -<p>"All right, you crazy fool. Raise me up. Hold your hands flat."</p> - -<p>I made a platform out of my palms. And the <i>cansins</i> started our way.</p> - -<p>Gow whispered, "Don't shoot. Don't anybody shoot." I don't think he -knew then, that there wasn't anybody left to shoot but himself and -Jarin.</p> - -<p>The <i>cansins</i> were huge and solid, behemoths carved from the night. -They towered over us, and the green light pulsed. My jaw hung open and -I couldn't breathe, and I'd have run only my joints were all water.</p> - -<p>Quern went into his act.</p> - -<p>He began to show color. Out of nothing his body started to glow, -from inside. You could see the round blurred shape of him, and the -phosphorescence of his guts, showing through. First red, savage as a -punch in the face, and then all the rest of the spectrum, sometimes one -color, sometimes a swirl of them.</p> - -<p>His body changed shape. I could feel the queer rubbery movement of it -on my hands. I remembered the rubes I'd seen standing around Quern's -platform, their eyes drawn half out of their heads by the shifting -lines and colors. It worked with them. But not here.</p> - -<p>The <i>cansins</i> came on. The green light flared a little brighter, and -that was all. Habit and control were so strong that not even the -females paid much attention to Quern. I could see the rain smoking off -their huge black shoulders. They were right on top of us.</p> - -<p>Quern gasped, "I can't do it!" His glow deadened. I shook him. I yelled,</p> - -<p>"I knew you were a phony! You two-bit yentzer! Jarin, slow 'em down, -can't you?"</p> - -<p>Quern began to shimmer again. Jarin faded in, hardly visible in the -darkness. I heard his tentacles whiplashing across hard flesh.</p> - -<p>One of the <i>cansins</i> screamed. The green light did a sharp dip and -swirl. And I yelled,</p> - -<p>"Gow! Speak to Gertrude!"</p> - -<p>The terrifying forward march slowed a little. Quern was churning colors -out of his guts as though his life depended on it—which it did. Gow -stepped forward a little.</p> - -<p>"Gertrude," he said. "Gertrude, you ugly, slab-sided, left-handed—"</p> - -<p>He cursed her, affectionately. I never heard anything like his voice. I -wanted to cry. In Quern's faint hypnotic glow I saw the green eyes of -the nearest female watching, looking wide and queer.</p> - -<p>The male was angry, now. Angry and scared. You could tell by the -vicious brightness of him. We decided afterward that his light was the -same kind a glow-worm carries around, only stronger. He was fighting. -Fighting to hold those four minds against the attraction of Quern's -shifting glow.</p> - -<p>He'd have done it, too, if it hadn't been for Gow. Gow, standing in the -hot rain and cursing Gertrude with tears in his voice.</p> - -<p>Gertrude screamed. Suddenly, for no reason, a strange uncertain cry. -She moved. A sort of shudder ran through the other three. It was a -little like a wall cracking. The male burned savagely.</p> - -<p>The females were watching Quern, now. Gertrude had made the breach. -Now the community mind was fastened on the hypnotic little Martian. I -could see their green eyes, wide and glassy, their snaky heads nodding -a little, trying to follow the flowing outlines.</p> - -<p>The male began to dim. He shivered, and lurched a couple of times, -still trying to fight. Gow's voice went on, hoarsely, and Gertrude -whimpered. The male floated a little closer. I could see, suddenly, -what kept him up. Wings, like a hummingbird's, blurred with motion.</p> - -<p>They slowed, and the green light dimmed. He began to bob a little in -the hot rain, watching Quern.</p> - -<p>Quern shivered. "They're under," he sighed. "They're under."</p> - -<p>"Send them out. North, to the quicksands." My arms and shoulders ached -and I was swaying on my feet. I hardly heard Quern's thin, dreamy -voice. I did hear the slow, obedient noise of their great feet slogging -away, the last male <i>cansin</i> a dull green mote above them.</p> - -<p>And I heard Gow crying.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We got the last of the animals back by noon of the next day. We did -what we could for Nahru. Thank God our own beasts hadn't done much -damage. We left a lot of Beamish's credits to help out, and took the -old tub off away from there.</p> - -<p>Bucky Shannon recovered nicely. I'm still herding his Imperial Washout -around the Triangle. We're not doing so hot without Gertrude, but what -the hell—we're used to the sewage lock.</p> - -<p>And if anyone has a <i>cansin</i> he wants to sell.... Thanks, chum, but -we're not in the market. Now, or ever.</p> - -<p>I sometimes wonder if there are any more of them in the deep swamps, -waiting for their mate to come back.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Behemoth, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE BEHEMOTH *** - -***** This file should be named 62349-h.htm or 62349-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/3/4/62349/ - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - 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. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/62349-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/62349-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 48b237f..0000000 --- a/old/62349-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62349-h/images/illus.jpg b/old/62349-h/images/illus.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b300728..0000000 --- a/old/62349-h/images/illus.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62349.txt b/old/62349.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ab51cbe..0000000 --- a/old/62349.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1850 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Behemoth, 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: The Blue Behemoth - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: June 8, 2020 [EBook #62349] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE BEHEMOTH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - The Blue Behemoth - - By LEIGH BRACKETT - - Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed - space-carny leased for a mysterious tour - of the inner worlds. It made a one-night - pitch on a Venusian swamp-town--to - find that death stalked it from the - jungle in a tiny ball of flame. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories May 1943. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Bucky Shannon leaned forward across the little hexagonal table. He -knocked over the pitcher of _thil_, but it didn't matter. The pitcher -was empty. He jabbed me in the breastbone with his forefinger, not -very hard. Not hard enough to jar the ribs clean loose, just enough to -spring them. - -"We," he said, "are broke. We are finished, through. Washed up and -down the drain." He added, as an afterthought, "Destitute." - -I looked at him. I said sourly, "You're kidding!" - -"Kidding." Shannon put his elbows on the table and peered at me through -a curtain of very blond hair that was trying hard to be red. "He says -I'm kidding! With Shannon's Imperial Circus, the Greatest Show in -Space, plastered so thick with attachments...." - -"It's no more plastered than you are." I was sore because he'd been a -lot quicker grabbing the pitcher. "The Greatest Show in Space. Phooey! -I've wet-nursed Shannon's Imperial Circus around the Triangle for -eleven years, and I know. It's lousy, it's mangy, it's broken-down! -Nothing works, from the ship to the roustabouts. In short, it stinks!" - -I must have had the pitcher oftener than I thought. Nobody insults -Buckhalter Shannon's Imperial Circus to Buckhalter Shannon's face -unless he's tired and wants a long rest in a comfy fracture-frame. - -Shannon got up. He got up slowly. I had plenty of time to see his -grey-green eyes get sleepy, and hear the quarter-Earth-blood Martian -girl wailing about love over by the battered piano, and watch the -slanting cat-eyes of the little dark people at the tables swing round -toward us, pleased and kind of hungry. - -I had plenty of time to think how I only weigh one-thirty-seven to -Shannon's one-seventy-five, and how I'm not as young as I used to be. - -I said, "Bucky. Hold on, fella. I...." - -Somebody said, "Excuse me, gentlemen. Is one of you Mister Buckhalter -Shannon?" - -Shannon put his hands down on his belt. He closed his eyes and smiled -pleasantly and said, very gently: - -"Would you be collecting for the feed bill, or the fuel?" - -I shot a glance at the newcomer. He'd saved me from a beating, even if -he was a lousy bill-collecter; and I felt sorry for him. Bucky Shannon -settled his shoulders and hips like a dancer. - -The stranger was a little guy. He even made me look big. He was dressed -in dark-green synthesilk, very conservative. There was a powdering of -grey in his hair and his skin was pink, soft, and shaved painfully -clean. He had the kind of a face that nice maiden-ladies will trust -with their last dime. I looked for his strong-arm squad. - -There didn't seem to be any. The little guy looked at Shannon with pale -blue eyes like a baby, and his voice was softer than Bucky's. - -He said, "I don't think you understand." - -I felt cold, suddenly, between the shoulders. Somebody scraped a chair -back. It sounded like he'd ripped the floor open, it was so quiet. I -got my brassies on, and my hands were sweating. Bucky Shannon sighed, -and let his fist start traveling, a long, deceptive arc. - -Then I saw what the little guy was holding in his hand. - -I yelled and knocked the table over into Bucky. It made a lot of noise. -It knocked him sideways and down, and the little dark men jumped up, -quivering and showing their teeth. The Martian girl screamed. - -Bucky heaved the table off his lap and cursed me. "What's eating you, -Jig? I'm not going to hurt him." - -"Shut up," I said. "Look what he's got there. Money!" - -The little guy looked at me. He hadn't turned a hair. "Yes," he said. -"Money. Quite a lot of it. Would you gentlemen permit me to join you?" - -Bucky Shannon got up. He grinned his pleasantest grin. "Delighted. I'm -Shannon. This is Jig Bentley, my business manager." He looked down at -the table. "I'm sorry about that. Mistaken identity." - -The little guy smiled. He did it with his lips. The rest of his face -stayed placid and babyish, almost transparent. I realized with a start -that it wasn't transparent at all. It was the most complete dead-pan I -ever met, and you couldn't see into those innocent blue eyes any more -than you could see through sheet metal. - -I didn't like him. I didn't like him at all. But he had money. I said, -"Howdy. Let's go find a booth. These Marshies make me nervous, looking -like hungry cats at a mouse-hole." - -The little guy nodded. "Excellent idea. My name is Beamish. Simon -Beamish. I wish to--ah--charter your circus." - - * * * * * - -I looked at Bucky. He looked hungrier than the Marshies did. We didn't -say anything until we got Beamish into a curtained booth with a fresh -pitcher of _thil_ on the table. Then I cleared my throat. - -"What exactly did you have in mind, Mr. Beamish?" - -Beamish sipped his drink, made a polite face, and put it down. "I have -independent means, gentlemen. It has always been my desire to lighten -the burden of life for those less fortunate...." - -Bucky got red around the ears. "Just a minute," he murmured, and -started to get up. I kicked him under the table. - -"Shut up, you lug. Let Mister Beamish finish." - -He sat down, looking like a mean dog waiting for the postman. Beamish -ignored him. He went on, quietly, - -"I have always held that entertainment, of the right sort, is the most -valuable aid humanity can have in its search for the alleviation of -toil and boredom...." - -I said, "Sure, sure. But what was your idea?" - -"There are many towns along the Venusian frontiers where no -entertainment of the--_proper_ sort has been available. I propose to -remedy that. I propose to charter your circus, Mister Shannon, to make -a tour of several settlements along the Tehara Belt." - -Bucky had relaxed. His grey-green eyes began to gleam. He started to -speak, and I kicked him again. - -"That would be expensive, Mister Beamish," I said. "We'd have to cancel -several engagements...." - -He looked at me. I was lying, and he knew it. But he said, - -"I quite understand that. I would be prepared...." - -The curtains were yanked back suddenly. Beamish shut up. Bucky and I -glared at the head and shoulders poking in between the drapes. - -It was Gow, our zoo-man--a big, ugly son-of-a-gun from a Terran -colony on Mercury. I was there once. Gow looks a lot like the -scenery--scowling, unapproachable, and tough. His hands, holding the -curtains apart, had thick black hair on them and were not much larger -than the hams of a Venusian swamp-rhino. - -He said, "Boss, Gertrude's actin' up again." - -"Gertrude be blowed," growled Bucky. "Can't you see I'm busy?" - -Gow's black eyes were unpleasant. "I'm tellin' you, Boss, Gertrude -ain't happy. She ain't had the right food. If something...." - -I said, "That'll all be taken care of, Gow. Run along now." - -He looked at me like he was thinking it wouldn't take much timber to -fit me for a coffin. "Okay! But Gertrude's unhappy. She's lonesome, -see? And if she don't get happier pretty soon I ain't sure your tin-pot -ship'll hold her." - -He pulled the curtains to and departed. Bucky Shannon groaned. Beamish -cleared his throat and said, rather stiffly, - -"Gertrude?" - -"Yeah. She's kind of temperamental." Bucky took a quick drink. I -finished for him. - -"She's the star attraction of our show, Mr. Beamish. A real blue-swamp -Venusian _cansin_. The only other one on the Triangle belongs to Savitt -Brothers, and she's much smaller than Gertrude." - -She was also much younger, but I didn't go into that. Gertrude may be -a little creaky, but she's still pretty impressive. I only hoped she -wouldn't die on us, because without her we'd have a sicker-looking -circus than even I could stand. - -Beamish looked impressed. "A _cansin_. Well, well! The mystery -surrounding the origin and species of the _cansin_ is a fascinating -subject. The extreme rarity of the animal...." - -We were getting off the subject. I said tactfully, "We'd have to have -at least a hundred U.C.'s." - -It was twice what we had any right to ask. I was prepared to dicker. -Beamish looked at me with that innocent dead pan. For a fraction of a -second I thought I saw something back of his round blue eyes, and my -stomach jumped like it was shot. Beamish smiled sweetly. - -"I'm not much of a bargainer. One hundred Universal Credits will be -agreeable to me." He dragged out a roll as big as my two fists, peeled -off half a dozen credit slips, and laid them on the table. - -"By way of a retainer, gentleman. My attorney and I will call on you in -the morning with a contract and itinerary. Good night." - -We said good night, trying not to drool. Beamish went away. Bucky made -grab for the money, but I beat him to it. - -"Scram," I said. "There are guys waiting for this. Big guys with clubs. -Here." I gave him a small-denomination slip I'd been holding out. "We -can get lushed enough on this." - -Shannon has a good vocabulary. He used it. When he got his breath back -he said suddenly, - -"Beamish is pulling some kind of a game." - -"Yeah." - -"It may be crooked." - -"Sure. And he may be screwball and on the level. For Pete's sake!" I -yelled. "You want to sit here till we all dry up and blow away?" - -Shannon looked at me, kind of funny. He looked at the bulge in my tunic -where the roll was. He raked back his thick light hair. - -"Yeah," he said. "I hope there'll be enough left to bribe the jury." He -poked his head outside. "Hey, boy! More _thildatum_!" - - * * * * * - -It was pretty late when we got back to the broken-down spaceport where -Shannon's Imperial Circus was crouching beneath its attachments. Late -as it was, they were waiting for us. About twenty of them, sitting -around and smoking and looking very ugly. - -It was awfully lonesome out there, with the desert cold and restless -under the two moons. There's a smell to Mars, like something dead and -dried long past decay, but still waiting. An unhappy smell. The blown -red dust gritted in my teeth. - -Bucky Shannon walked out into the glare of the light at the entrance to -the roped-off space around the main lock. He was pretty steady on his -feet. He waved and said, "Hiya, boys." - -They got up off the steps, and the packing cases, and came toward us. I -grinned and got into my brassies. We felt we owed those boys a lot more -than money. It grates on a man's pride to have to sneak in and out of -his own property through the sewage lock. This was the first time in -weeks we'd come in at the front door. - -I waved the money in their faces. That stopped them. Very solemnly, -Bucky and I checked the bills, paid them, and pocketed the receipts. -Bucky yawned and stretched sleepily. - -"Now?" he said. - -"Now," I said. - -We had a lot of fun. Some of the boys inside the ship came out to join -in. We raised a lot of dust and nobody got killed, quite. We all went -home happy. They had their money, and we had their blood. - -The news was all over the ship before we got inside. The freaks and the -green girl from Tethys who could roll herself like a hoop, and Zurt the -muscle man from Jupiter, and all the other assorted geeks and kinkers -and joeys that make up the usual corny carnie were doing nip-ups in the -passageways and drooling over the thought of steer and toppings. - -Bucky Shannon regarded them possessively, wiping blood from his nose. -"They're good guys, Jig. Swell people. They stuck by me, and I've -rewarded them." - -I said, "Sure," rather sourly. Bucky hiccoughed. - -"Let's go see Gertrude." - -I didn't want to see Gertrude. I never got over feeling funny going -into the brute tank, especially at night or out in space. I'm a city -guy, myself. The smell and sound of wildness gives me goose bumps. But -Bucky was looking stubborn, so I shrugged. - -"Okay. But just for a minute. Then we go beddy-bye." - -"You're a pal, Jif. Bes' li'l' guy inna worl'...." - -The fight had just put the topper on him. I was afraid he'd fall down -the ladder and break his neck. That's why I went along. If I hadn't.... -Oh, well, what's a few nightmares among friends? - -It was dark down there in the tank. Way off at the other end, there was -a dim glow. Gow was evidently holding Gertrude's hand. We started down -the long passageway between the rows of cages and glassed-in tanks and -compression units. - -Our footsteps sounded loud and empty on the iron floor. I wasn't -near as happy as Shannon, and my skin began to crawl a little. It's -the smell, I think; rank and sour and wild. And the sound of them, -breathing and rustling in the dark, with the patient hatred walled -around them as strong as the cage bars. - -Bucky Shannon lurched against me suddenly. I choked back a yell, and -then wiped the sweat off my forehead and cursed. The scream came again. -A high, ragged, whistling screech like nothing this side of hell, -ripping through the musty darkness. Gertrude, on the wailing wall. - -It had been quiet. Now every brute in the place let go at the same -time. My stomach turned clear over. I called Gertrude every name I -could think of, and I couldn't hear myself doing it. Presently a great -metallic clash nearly burst my eardrums, and the beasts shut up. Gow -had them nicely conditioned to that gong. - - * * * * * - -But they didn't quiet down. Not really. They were uneasy. You can feel -them inside you when they're uneasy. I think that's why I'm scared of -them. They make me feel like I'm not human as I thought--like I wanted -to put my back-hair up and snarl. Yeah. They were uneasy that night, -all of a sudden.... - -Gow glared at us as we came up into the lantern light. "She's gettin' -worse," he said. "She's lonesome." - -"That's tough," said Bucky Shannon. His grey-green eyes looked like an -owl's. He swayed slightly. "That's sure tough." He sniffled. - -I looked at Gertrude. Her cage is the biggest and strongest in the tank -and even so she looked as though she could break it open just taking a -deep breath. I don't know if you've ever seen a _cansin_. There's only -two of them on the Triangle. If you haven't, nothing I can say will -make much difference. - -They're what the brain gang calls an "end of evolution." Seems old -Dame Nature had an idea that didn't jell. The _cansins_ were pretty -successful for a while, it seems, but something gummed up the works and -now there's only a few left, way in the deep-swamp country, where even -the Venusians hardly ever go. Living fossils. - -I wouldn't know, of course, but Gertrude looks to me like she got stuck -some place between a dinosaur and a grizzly bear, with maybe a little -bird blood thrown in. Anyway, she's big. - -I couldn't help feeling sorry for her. She was crouched in the cage -with her hands--yeah, hands--hanging over her knees and her snaky head -sunk into her shoulders, looking out. Just looking. Not at anything. -Her eyes were way back in deep horny pits, like cold green fire. - -The lantern light was yellow on her blue-black skin, but it made the -mane, or crest, of coarse wide scales that ran from between her eyes -clear down to her flat, short tail, burn all colors. She looked like -old Mother Misery herself, from way back before time began. - -Gow said softly, "She wants a mate. And somebody better get her one." - -Bucky Shannon sniffled again. I said irritably, "Be reasonable, Gow! -Nobody's ever seen a male _cansin_. There may not even be any." - -Gertrude screamed again. She didn't move, not even to raise her head. -The sadness just built up inside her until it had to come out. That -close, the screech was deafening, and it turned me all limp and cold -inside. The loneliness, the sheer stark, simple pain.... - -Bucky Shannon began to cry. I snarled, "You'll have to snap her out of -this, Gow. She's driving the rest of 'em nuts." - -He hammered on his gong, and things quieted down again. Gow stood -looking out over the tank, sniffing a little, like a hound. Then he -turned to Gertrude. - -"I saved her life," he said. "When we bought her out of Hanak's wreck -and everybody thought she was too hurt to live, I saved her. I know -her. I can do things with her. But this time...." - -He shrugged. He was huge and tough and ugly, and his voice was like a -woman's talking about a sick child. - -"This time," he said, "I ain't sure." - -"Well for Pete's sake, do what you can. We got a charter, and we need -her." I took Shannon's arm. "Come to bed, Bucky darlin'." - -He draped himself over my shoulder and we went off. Gow didn't look at -us. Bucky sobbed. - -"You were right, Jig," he mumbled. "Circus is no good. I know it. But -it's all I got. I love it, Jig. Unnerstan' me? Like Gow there with -Gertrude. She's ugly and no good, but he loves her. I love...." - -"Sure, sure," I told him. "Stop crying down my neck." - -We were a long way from the light, then. The cages and tanks loomed -high and black over us. It was still. The secret, uneasy motion all -around us and the scruffing of our feet only made it stiller. - -Bucky was almost asleep on me. I started to slap him. And then the mist -rose up out of the darkness in little lazy coils, sparkling faintly -with blue, cold fire. - -I yelled, "Gow! Gow, the Vapor snakes! Gow--for God's sake!" - -I started to run, back along the passageway. Bucky weighed on me, limp -and heavy. The noise burst suddenly in a deafening hell of moans and -roars and shrieks, packed in tight by the metal walls, and above it all -I could hear Gertrude's lonely, whistling scream. - -I thought, "_Somebody's down here. Somebody let 'em out. Somebody wants -to kill us!_" I tried to yell again. It strangled in my throat. I -sobbed, and the sweat was thick and cold on me. - -One of Bucky's dragging, stumbling feet got between mine. We fell. I -rolled on top of him, covering his face, and buried my own face in the -hollow of his shoulder. - -The first snake touched me. It was like a live wire, sliding along the -back of my neck. I screamed. It came down along my cheek, hunting my -mouth. There were more of them, burning me through my clothes. - -Bucky moaned and kicked under me. I remember hanging on and thinking, -"This is it. This is it, and oh God, I'm scared!" - -Then I went out. - - - II - -Kanza the Martian croaker, was bending over me when I woke up. His -little brown face was crinkled with laughter. He'd lost most of his -teeth, and he gummed _thak_-weed. It smelt. - -"You pretty, Mis' Jig," he giggled. "You funny like hell." - -He slapped some cold greasy stuff on my face. It hurt. I cursed him and -said, "Where's Shannon? How is he?" - -"Mis' Bucky okay. You save life. You big hero, Mis' Jig. Mis' Gow come -nickuhtime get snakes. You hero. Haw! You funny like hell!" - -I said, "Yeah," and pushed him away and got up. I almost fell down -a couple of times, but presently I made it to the mirror over the -washstand--I was in my own cell--and I saw what Kanza meant. The damned -snakes had done a good job. I looked like I was upholstered in Scotch -plaid. I felt sick. - -Bucky Shannon opened the door. He looked white and grim, and there was -a big burn across his neck. He said: - -"Beamish is here with his lawyer." - -I picked up my shirt. "Right with you." - -Kanza went out, still giggling. Bucky closed the door. - -"Jig," he said, "those vapor worms were all right when we went in. -Somebody followed us down and let them out. On purpose." - -I hurt all over. I growled, "With that brain, son, you should go far. -Nobody saw anything, of course?" Bucky shook his head. - -"Question is, Jig, who wants to kill us, and why?" - -"Beamish. He realizes he's been gypped." - -"One hundred U.C.'s," said Bucky softly, "for a few lousy swampedge -mining camps. It stinks, Jig. You think we should back out?" - -I shrugged. "You're the boss man. I'm only the guy that beats off the -creditors." - -"Yeah," Bucky said reflectively. "And I hear starvation isn't a -comfortable death. Okay, Jig. Let's go sign." He put his hand on the -latch and looked at my feet. "And--uh--Jig, I...." - -I said, "Skip it. The next time, just don't trip me up, that's all!" - -We had a nasty trip to Venus. Gertrude kept the brute tank on edge, -and Gow, on the rare occasions he came up for air, went around looking -like a disaster hoping to happen. To make it worse, Zurt the Jovian -strong-man got hurt during the take-off, and the Mercurian cave-cat had -kittens. - -Nobody would have minded that, only one of 'em had only four legs. It -lived just long enough to scare that bunch of superstitious dopes out -of their pants. Circus people are funny that way. - -Shannon and I did a little quiet sleuthing, but it was a waste of time. -Anybody in the gang might have let those electric worms out on us. It -didn't help any to know that somebody, maybe the guy next to you at -dinner, was busy thinking ways to kill you. By the time we hit Venus, I -was ready to do a Brodie out the refuse chute. - -Shannon set the crate down on the edge of Nahru, the first stop on our -itinerary. I stood beside him, looking out the ports at the scenery. It -was Venus, all right. Blue mud and thick green jungle and rain, and a -bunch of ratty-looking plastic shacks huddling together in the middle -of it. Men in slickers were coming out for a look. - -I saw Beamish's sleek yacht parked on a cradle over to the left, and -our router's runabout beside it. Bucky Shannon groaned. - -"A blue one, Jig. A morgue if I ever saw one!" - -I snarled, "What do you want, with this lousy dog-and-pony show!" and -went out. He followed. The gang was converging on the lock, but they -weren't happy. You get so you can feel those things. The steamy Venus -heat was already sneaking into the ship. - -While we passed the hatchway to the brute tank, I could hear Gertrude, -screaming. - - * * * * * - -The canvasmen were busy setting up the annex, slopping and cursing in -the mud. The paste brigade was heading for the shacks. Shannon and I -stood with the hot rain running off our slickers, looking. - -I heard a noise behind me and looked around. Ahra the Nahali woman was -standing in the mud with her arms up and her head thrown back, and her -triangular mouth open like a thirsty dog. She didn't have anything on -but her blue-green, hard scaled hide, and she was chuckling. It didn't -sound nice. - -You find a lot of Nahali people in side-shows, doing tricks with -the electric power they carry in their own bodies. They're Venusian -middle-swampers, they're not human, and they never forget it. - -Ahra opened her slitted red eyes and looked at me and laughed with -white reptilian teeth. - -"Death," she whispered. "Death and trouble. The jungle tells me. I can -smell it in the swamp wind." - -The hot rain sluiced over her. She shivered, and the pale skin under -her jaw pulsed like a toad's, and her eyes were red. - -"The deep swamps are angry," she whispered. "Something has been taken. -They are angry, and I smell death in the wind!" - -She turned away, laughing, and I cursed her, and my stomach was tight -and cold. Bucky said, - -"Let's eat if they have a bar in this dump." - -We weren't half way across the mud puddle that passed as a landing -field when a man came out of a shack on the edge of the settlement. We -could see him plainly, because he was off to one side of the crowd. - -He fell on his knees in the mud, making noises. It took him three or -four tries to get our names out clear enough to understand. - -Bucky said, "Jig--it's Sam Kapper." - -We started to run. The crowd, mostly big unshaken miners, wheeled -around to see what was happening. People began to close in on the man -who crawled and whimpered in the mud. - -Sam Kapper was a hunter, supplying animals to zoos and circuses and -carnivals. He'd given us good deals a couple of times, when we weren't -too broke, and we were pretty friendly. - -I hadn't seen him for three seasons. I remembered him as a bronzed, -hard-bitten guy, lean and tough as a twist of tung wire. I felt sick, -looking down at him. - -Bucky started to help him up. Kapper was crying, and he jerked all over -like animals I've seen that were scared to death. Some guy leaned over -and put a cigarette in his mouth and lighted it for him. - -I was thinking about Kapper, then, and I didn't pay much attention. I -only caught a glimpse of the man's face as he straightened up. I didn't -realize until later that he looked familiar. - -We got Kapper inside the shack. It turned out to be a cheap bar, with a -couple of curtained booths at the back. We got him into one and pulled -the curtain in a lot of curious faces. Kapper dragged hard on the -cigarette. The man that gave it to him was gone. - -Bucky said gently, "Okay, Sam. Relax. What's the trouble?" - - * * * * * - -Kapper tried to straighten up. He hadn't shaved. The lean hard lines -of his face had gone slack and his eyes were bloodshot. He was covered -with mud, and his mouth twitched like a sick old man's. - -He said thickly, "I found it. I said I'd do it, and I did. I found it -and brought it out." - -The cigarette stub fell out of his mouth. He didn't notice it. "Help -me," he said simply. "I'm scared." His mouth drooled. - -"I got it hidden. They want to find out, but I won't tell 'em. It's -got to go back. Back where I found it. I tried to take it, but they -wouldn't let me, and I was afraid they'd find it...." - -He reached suddenly and grabbed the edge of the table. "I don't know -how they found out about it, but they did. I've got to get it back. -I've got to...." - -Bucky looked at me. Kapper was blue around the mouth. I was scared, -suddenly. I said, "Get what back where?" - -Bucky got up. "I'll get a doctor," he said. "Stick with him." Kapper -grabbed his wrist. Kapper's nails were blue and the cords in his hands -stood out like guy wires. - -"Don't leave me. Got to tell you--where it is. Got to take it back. -Promise you'll take it back." He gasped and struggled over his -breathing. - -"Sure," said Bucky. "Sure, well take it back. What is it?" - -Kapper's face was horrible. I felt sick, listening to him fight for -air. I wanted to go for a doctor anyway, but somehow I knew it was no -use. Kapper whispered, - -"_Cansin_. Male. Only one. You don't know...! Take him back." - -"Where is it, Sam?" - -I reached across Bucky suddenly and jerked the curtain back. Beamish -was standing there. Beamish, bent over, with his ear cocked. Kapper -made a harsh strangling noise and fell across the table. - -Beamish never changed expression. He didn't move while Bucky felt -Kapper's pulse. Bucky didn't need to say anything. We knew. - -"Heart?" said Beamish finally. - -"Yeah," said Bucky. He looked as bad as I felt. "Poor Sam." - -I looked at the cigarette stub smoldering on the table. I looked at -Beamish with his round dead baby face. I climbed over Shannon and -pushed Beamish suddenly down into his lap. - -"Keep this guy here till I get back," I said. - -Shannon stared at me. Beamish started to get indignant. "Shut up," I -told him. "We got a contract." I yanked the curtains shut and walked -over to the bar. - -I began to notice something, then. There were quite a lot of men in the -place. At first glance they looked okay--a hard-faced, muscular bunch -of miners in dirty shirts and high boots. - -Then I looked at their hands. They were dirty enough. But they never -did any work in a mine, on Venus or anywhere else. - -The place was awfully quiet, for that kind of a place. The bartender -was a big pot-bellied swamp-edger with pale eyes and thick white hair -coiled up on top of his bullet head. He was not happy. - -I leaned on the bar. "_Lhak_," I said. He poured it, sullenly, out of a -green bottle. I reached for it, casually. - -"That guy we brought in," I said. "He sure has a skinful. Passed out -cold. What's he been spiking his drinks with?" - -"_Selak_," said a voice in my ear. "As if you didn't know." - -I turned. The man who had given Kapper the cigarette was standing -behind me. And I remembered him, then. - - * * * * * - -Circus people get around a lot, and the Law supplies us with Wanted -sheets. I remembered this guy from the last batch they handed us on -Mars. Melak Thompson was his name, and he had a reputation. - -He had a face you wouldn't forget. Dark and kind of handsome, with the -Dry-lander blood showing in the heavy bones and the tilted green eyes. -His mouth was smiling and brutal. He nodded at the booth. - -"Let's take a walk," he said. - -We took a walk. The men sitting at the dirty tables were still silent, -and still not miners. I began to sweat. - -The booth was a little crowded with us all in there. I sat jammed up -against Sam Kapper's body. Bucky Shannon's grey-green eyes were sleepy, -and there was a vein beating on his forehead. - -Beamish said to Melak, "Kapper's dead. Dead, without talking." - -"That's tough." Melak shook his dark head. "We was gentle with him." - -"Yeah," I said. Kapper had been a good guy, and I was mad. "Feed -anybody enough _selak_, and you can afford to be. It's a dirty death." - -_Selak's_ made from a Venusian half-cousin of henbane, which is what -scopolamine comes from. It has a terrific effect on the heart. And -Kapper had simply torn himself apart trying to keep from talking while -he was under the influence. - -Bucky Shannon made a slow, ugly move to get up. Beamish said, - -"Sit down." - -There was something in his voice and his bland blue eyes. Shannon sat -down. Melak was looking at Beamish, still grinning. - -"Well," he said, "I guess your idea was pretty good after all." - -I had a sudden inspiration. The burns were still sore on my body, and -Rapper's tortured face was close to mine, and I took a wild shot at -something I wasn't even sure I saw. - -"Yeah," I said. "A swell idea. Why did you try so hard to butch it, -Melak?" - -He stopped grinning. Beamish looked forward a little. My tongue stuck -in my mouth, but I managed to say. - -"You get it, Bucky. A male _cansin_, Kapper said. The only one -in captivity, maybe even on Venus. Worth its weight in credit -slips. That's why Beamish was so happy to overpay us to get us out -here--because he thought Gertrude could find her boy friend fast, even -if Kapper didn't talk." - -I turned to Melak again. "A swell idea. Why did you have those vapor -snakes turned loose on us? Did you think Kapper was enough?" - -He struck me, pretty hard, across the mouth. My head banged back -against the booth wall and for a minute I couldn't see anything but -spangles of fire shooting around. I heard Beamish say, from a great -distance, - -"How about it, Melak?" - -It was awfully still in the booth. I swallowed some blood and blinked -my eyes clear enough to see Bucky Shannon poised across the table like -a bow starting to unbend. And suddenly, somewhere far off over the drum -of rain on the flimsy roof, there began to be noises. - -I hadn't been comfortable up till then. I'm no Superman, nor one of -those guys you read about who can stare Death in the eye and shatter -him with a light laugh. - -But all of a sudden I was afraid. Afraid so that all the fear I'd felt -before was nothing. And it was funny, too. I didn't know what it was, -then, but I knew what it wasn't. It wasn't Beamish or Melak or those -hard guys beyond the curtains, or even Kapper's body pressed up against -me. - -I didn't know what it was. But I wanted to get down on the floor and -hide myself in a crack, like a cockroach. - - * * * * * - -The others felt it, too. I remember the sweat standing out on Bucky -Shannon's forehead, and the sudden tightening of Beamish's jaw, and the -glitter in Melak's green eyes. - -Beyond the curtains there was an uneasy stirring of feet. The confused, -distant noise grew louder. Somewhere, not very far away, a woman began -to scream. - -Beamish said softly, "You dirty double-crossing rat." His face was -still dead-pan, only now it was like something beaten out of iron. His -hands were out of sight under the table. - -Melak smiled. I could feel his body shift and tense beside me. "Sure," -he said. "I double-crossed you. Why not? I planted a guy in the circus -hammer gang and he crawled in the sewage lock and tried to get these -punks. I'm glad now he bungled it. Kapper had guts." - -Beamish whispered, "You're a fool. You don't know what you're playing -with. I've done research, and I do." - -"Too bad you wasted the time," said Melak. "Because you're through." - -He threw himself suddenly aside, lifting the table hard into Beamish. -The curtains ripped away and he rolled in them, twisting like a snake. -I yelled to Bucky and dropped flat. Beamish had drawn a gun under the -table. The blast of it seared my face. - -The next second four heavy blasters spoke at once. Beamish's gun -dropped on the floor. Then it was quiet again, and I could hear the -woman screaming, outside in the beating rain. - -Melak got up. "Sure I double-crossed you," he said softly. "Why should -I split with anybody? Nobody knows about it but us. Kapper couldn't -send word from the swamps when he caught it, and he couldn't send word -from here because he wasn't let. - -"That critter'll bring anything I ask for it. Why should I split with -you?" - -Beamish didn't answer. I don't think Melak thought he would. - -The noise from outside was getting louder. Bucky groaned. - -"It's coming from the pitch, Jig. Trouble. We've got to...." - -The table was yanked from over us. We got up off our knees. Melak -looked at us. He was shaking a little and his green eyes were mean. - -"I don't think," he said, "I really need you guys around, either." He -jerked his head suddenly. "Cripes, I wish that dame would shut up!" - -It was getting on my nerves, too--that monotonous, sawing screech. -Melak stepped aside. "Get 'em, boys. I don't want 'em dragging their -outfit down on our necks." - -Four blaster barrels came up. My insides came up with them. I was way -beyond anything, then--even panic. - -Gow burst in through the doorway. - -He was soaked to the skin, tattered, bleeding, and wild-eyed. He -yelled, "Boss! Gertrude...." Then he saw the guns and stopped. - -It was very still in the place. Outside there was sound rising like a -sullen tide against the walls. The woman's screaming became something -not human, and then stopped, short. - -Gow said, almost absently, "Gertrude went nuts. We'd brought her cage -up from the tank for the show and she--broke out. There wasn't nothin' -we could do. She busted a lot of cages and then disappeared." - -Melak snarled something, I don't know what. The wall behind Gow jarred, -buckled, and split open around the doorway. Bamboo fragments clattered -on the floor. Somebody yelled, and a blaster went off. - -Gertrude stood in the splintered opening. She looked at us with cold, -mad green eyes, towering huge and blue against the low roof, her hands -swinging and her crest erect. - -She let go one wild, whistling screech and came straight toward the -booth. Bucky Shannon touched my arm. - -"Climb into your brassies, kid," he muttered. "Here's our chance!" - -I caught his shoulder. He followed the line of my pointing, and I felt -him tremble. - -Gertrude was coming at us like a rocket express. Behind her wet and -glistening from the hot rain, came three more just like her. - - - III - -We scattered, all of us, hunting for a way out. There was only one door -leading to the back, and it was stoppered tight with men cursing and -fighting to get through. Gow was crouched in a corner by the splintered -wall. - -I pulled Bucky along, thinking we might get in back of the _cansins_ -and sneak out. I wondered what they wanted. And I wondered where in -heck you could hide a thing as big as Gertrude and keep anybody from -finding out. - -Somebody screamed briefly. I saw one of the strange _cansins_ toss the -bartender aside like a dry twig. Gow rose up in front of me with a -queer staring look in his eyes. - -"Somethin's wrong," he said. "All wrong. I...." His mouth twitched. He -turned sharply and started to scramble through the wrecked hall. Bucky -and I were right on his heels. I think Melak and some of his lobbygows -were crowding us, but nobody was thinking about things like that any -more. - -I knew what was eating Gow. The fear that had looked out of Kapper's -eyes. The fear that was riding me. Fear that had nothing to do with -anything physical. - -Bucky cursed and stumbled beside me. And suddenly the four _cansins_ -let go a tremendous thundering scream. The hair rose on my neck, and I -turned to look. I just had to. - -Gertrude had turned away from the booth. They stood, the four of -them, their huge black shoulders touching, their crests like rows of -petrified flame, staring at what Gertrude held in her arms. - -It was Kapper's body. - -Slowly, with infinite gentleness, she began to strip him. He hung loose -in the cradle of one great arm, his flesh showing blue-white against -her blueness. Her free hand ripped his clothes away like things made of -paper. - -I don't know why nobody tried to shoot the beasts after the first -second. Sheer panic, I guess. We could have killed them all, then. -But we just stood looking, fascinated by the slow, intent baring of -Kapper's body. - -And the strange fear. It was on us all. - -Kapper lay naked in her black arms. She raised him slowly over her -head, her eyes blind green fires deep under bony brows. The others drew -closer, shivering, and I could hear them whimper. - -Strangers from the deep swamps with no stink of man on them. I thought -of the Nahali woman laughing in the hot rain. Death from the deep -swamps, because something had been taken, and they were angry. - -There was a little black box strapped to Kapper's thin white belly. - -Gertrude shifted her hands a little. The blood hammered in my ears. I -was sick. I didn't want to look any more. I couldn't help it. Bucky -Shannon caught a hard, sobbing breath. - -Gertrude broke Sam Kapper's body in two. - - * * * * * - -I can still hear the noise it made. The blood ran dark and sluggish -down her arms. It worried me that Kapper's face didn't change -expression. The little black box on his belly split with the rest of -him. - -Something rose out of it. Something no bigger than my forefinger that -carried a cold green blaze around it like a ball of St. Elmo's fire. - -Gertrude threw Kapper away. I heard the two flopping thuds of him -hitting the floor. Some guy was down on his knees close to me. His lips -moved. I don't know if he could remember his prayers. Somebody else was -vomiting, hard. I wanted to, but my stomach felt frozen. - -The cold green fire had a shape inside it. I couldn't make it out -clearly, except that it looked horribly human. It put out four thin -green filaments. Don't ask me if they were physical things like -tentacles, or just beams of light, or maybe thought. I don't know. -Whatever they were, they worked. - -They connected with the four black, snaky heads of the female -_cansins_. I felt the shock of them connecting with my own nerves. And -it was like something had welded those four brutes together into one. - -They had been four. Separate, with hard outlines. Now they were one. -One single interlocking entity. I guess it was just my being so scared -and sick, but I thought I saw their outlines blur a little. - -Gow spoke suddenly. His voice was pretty loud, and calm. - -"That was it," he said, as though it was the only thing in the world -that mattered. "They ain't complete by themselves. Like the _zurats_ -back home on Mercury. They got a community brain. No wonder Gertrude -was lonesome." - -His voice broke the spell. Somebody screamed, and everybody started to -move at once, clawing in blind panic for the openings. And we all knew, -then, what we were afraid of. - -We were afraid of the little thing in the black box, the thing in a -cloak of fire that had risen from the ruins of Kapper's body, and the -power that lived in it. - -I suppose we thought we were going to fight it, all right. But outside, -where we could breathe. Not in here, with the hugeness of the females -smothering us, penned in with the last male _cansin_ in creation. - -I knew then why Kapper had broken, and why he hadn't told, in spite of -the _selak_. The thing hadn't let him. And it had called to its kind, -from the deep swamps and Buckhalter Shannon's Imperial Circus. - - * * * * * - -The deep indigo night of Venus had settled down, in the smell of mud -and jungle and the hot rain. Lights flared crazily here and there out -of open doorways. People were yelling, the tight, animal mob-yell of -fear. - -There was no place to run in Nahru. The jungle held it. The thick green -jungle built on quicksand and crawling with death. Behind us the four -_cansins_ raised a wild whistling screech. - -It was answered, out of the hot night between the little shacks of -Nahru. Brute voices, singing their hate. Suddenly I remembered what Gow -had said. "_She busted a lot of cages...._" - -God knew what was loose in that town. - -Bucky Shannon spoke beside me. We were still running, slipping and -floundering in the mud, making toward the ship from sheer instinct. He -gasped, - -"We got to get those babies rounded up. Gow! Gow, you hear me? We got -to get 'em back!" - -Gow's voice came sullenly. "I hear you, boss." We slowed down. It was -suddenly important to hear what more Gow had to say. - -"Don't you get it?" he asked slowly. "Gertrude let 'em out. She wanted -'em--to help her. They know it. They ain't going back." - -Somewhere behind us a plastic shack cracked open like an eggshell. -Human cries were drowned in a whistling screech. Off to the right the -Mercurian cave-cat began to laugh like a crazy woman. - -Slow, patient, animal hate, walled around them, waiting. The feel and -smell of hate in the brute tank. I could feel and smell it now, in -Nahru, only it wasn't patient and waiting any more. - -The time it had waited for was here. Gertrude had set it free. - -Shannon said, very softly, "Mother o' God, what are we going to do?" - -"Get back to the ship. Get back and get out of here!" - -I jumped. It was Melak's voice, sounding hard and ugly. Light spilling -out of a sagging door made a faint silhouette of him in the rain. He -held a blaster in his hand. - -Shannon snarled, "Take off with half my gang stranded here? You go to -hell!" - -Rockets blasted suddenly out on the landing field. Somebody had made it -to Beamish's yacht and gone. The runabout followed it. The circus ship -was still there, and the only one in Nahru. - -I said, "We can't go. Not with a couple hundred credits' worth of -animals running loose in the town." - -"Get on to the ship," said Melak. "Cripes, if I knew how to fly I'd -leave you here! Now move!" - -Shannon was almost crying. He started to rush Melak. I caught him and -said, "Sure. Sure we'll move. All of us. Look behind you!" - -"I was weaned on that one. Move!" - -Well, it was his funeral. - - * * * * * - -It was almost ours, too. Ganymedian puffballs move fast. They had come -out from between two shacks, skimming over the mud on their long white -cilia. There were three of them, rolled up in balls about the size of -my head. They didn't make any noise. - -They came up behind Melak. Two of them unrolled suddenly, whipping -out into lean, fuzzy ropes about five feet long. They went around the -Martian 'breed. The third one came straight at me. - -Melak made a noise that wasn't human and went down. The puffballs -tightened around him, pulsing a little with the pleasure of digestion. -Gow was on the other side of Melak, too far away, and unarmed. - -I jumped, and the mud tripped me. Shannon fell the other way. The -puffball, strung out now like a fuzzy snake, paused a moment, not three -inches from my face. I lay still on my belly, choking on my heart. - -Shannon moved, and it whipped down across his legs. - -He screamed. I could feel the poison from the thing eating into him. I -got to my knees and he cursed me and raised something out of the mud. -It was Melak's blaster. He fired, between his feet. - -The puffball shrivelled to a little stinking wire and dropped away. -Bucky said evenly, - -"That pays me off. Now it's all your party, Jig." - -He fainted. His legs were already swelling. Gow bent over him. - -"He's gotta have the croaker, quick." - -"You take him to the ship, Gow. If you can get there." - -"Me? I'm the zoo-man. I oughta...." - -"Do I look like Superman, to carry that big lug?" I didn't know why it -was so hard to talk. "Get him there. Then round up everybody left at -the ship. Get guns and ropes and torches and come back, quick!" - -He nodded and got Bucky across his shoulders. I gave him the blaster. -Then I turned back. I knew where most of the circus gang would -be--spread out among the bars. - -It was a lot darker, because now all the doors were closed, except two -or three where the people hadn't lived to close them. It was quieter, -too, because there's a limit to the noise a human throat can make. -There was just the hot rain, and the soft jungle undertone of things -padding and slithering in the mud, hunting. - -Up the street somewhere the _cansins_ screamed, and another shack -split open. Instantly the brute clamor went up from the dark alleys, -answering. Animal legions from five different planets, led by a tiny -creature in a cloak of green fire. And man was the common enemy. - -A pair of Martian sand-tigers shot out into the street ahead of me. -They were frolicking like kittens, playing with something dark and -tattered. Then they saw me and dropped it, and came sliding on their -bellies, their six powerful legs sucking in the mud. - -There was no place to go. I don't remember being particularly scared, -but that wasn't because I was brave. It was sheer exhaustion. A guy can -only take so much. Now I was just walking around, seeing and hearing, -but not feeling anything inside. Like a guy that's coked to the ears, -or punchy from a beating. - -I picked up a double handful of mud and slung it in their snarling -pusses, and threw my head back and yelled. - -"Ha-a-y _Rube_!" - -A door at my left opened three inches, daggering the rain with yellow -light. A voice said, - -"For gossakes get in here!" - -I picked up another handful of mud. The Martian cats were pawing the -last load out of their eyes. I gave them more to play with. I guess -they weren't very hungry, just then. I said, - -"I'm going to get the _cansins_." - -Just like that. I told you I was out on my feet. Clean nuts. The guy in -the doorway thought so too. - -"Will you come in before you're too dead?" - -"And wait around for those big apes to crack the house open over my -head? The hell with that." More mud sploshed in the cats' faces. -They were beginning to get sore. "The rest of the critters are just -following the _cansins_. Sort of a mopping-up brigade. Stop the -_cansins_, and we can round up the others easy." - -"Oh, sure," said the man. "Any time before breakfast. Are you coming, -pal, or do I shut this door again?" - -I don't know how it would have turned out. Probably I'd have wound up -inside the cats. But one of 'em let out a shrill, nasty wail, the kind -they give the trainer when they're challenging him to a finish fight, -and somebody came shouldering out past the man in the doorway. - -The door swung wide, so that there was plenty of light. The six-inch -fangs on the Martian kitties were a beautiful, shining white. The -newcomer said something to the cats in a level undertone and came to me. - -It was Jarin, the Titan who works the cats. He's about half my height, -metallic green in color, and faster on his feet than a rummy grabbing -the first drink. He looks like a walking barrel when he's folded up, -and like nothing on earth when he isn't. - -He was unfolded then. He went up to the cats, light and dainty in the -mud. They were crouching uneasily, coughing and snarling, wanting to -rush him and not quite daring to. - -The male sprang. - - - IV - -All I could see was a green blur in the rain. I heard the crisp, wicked -smacks of Jarin's tentacles on the tiger. It flopped over in mid-air, -buried its face in the mud and came up yowling, like your Aunt Minnie's -cat when you stepped on its tail. - -It went away from there, fast, with its mate right behind it. - -Jarin chuckled softly. "About the _cansins_," he hissed. "You had an -idea?" - -Somewhere, quite close to us, there was the familiar sound of a plastic -shack going to pieces. I remembered hearing blasters rip occasionally. -But only Melak's hoods were armed with anything heavy enough to do any -good, and I guessed most of them had beat it to Beamish's yacht. A -_cansin_ has a hell of a tough hide, and their vitality is something -you wouldn't believe if you hadn't seen it. - -The familiar whistling screech went up, and the babel of human screams -and the brute chorus from the rainy alleys. I think, right then, I -began to get scared. The fear began to seep through my dopey calm, like -pain in a new wound. - -I shuddered and said, "No. No ideas." - -There was a soft step in the mud behind me. I spun around, sweating. -Ahra the Nahali woman stood there, red-eyed and laughing. - -"You are frightened," she whispered. - -I didn't deny it. - -"I can help you stop the _cansins_." Her eyes glittered like wet -rubies, and her teeth were white and sharp. "It may not work, and you -may die. Will you try it?" - -She was daring me. She was hardly more human than the brutes -themselves, and she belonged with the rain and the hot indigo night. - -I said, "You don't want to help, Ahra. You want us to die." - -I could see the pale skin throbbing under her bony jaw. She laughed, -soft alien laughter that made my back hair stir and prickle. - -"You humans," she whispered. "Trampling and spoiling. The middle swamps -have suffered you, greedy after oil and plumes and _ti_. But you we can -fight." - -She jerked her round, glistening head toward the sound of destruction. -"The death from the deep swamps, no. You deserve to die, you humans. -You went meddling with something too big even for your pride. But -because the _cansins_ killed my mate and our first young...." - -She hunched up. I thought she was going to flop on her belly like a -cayman in the mud. Her teeth gleamed, sharp and savage. - -"Legend says the _cansins_ were once the wisest race on Venus. They -were worshipped as gods by the little pre-human creatures of the swamp -edges. They were going to be the reasoning lords of a planet. - -"But nature made a mistake. Perhaps some mutation that couldn't be -stopped. I don't know. Anyway, the females grew until their one thought -was to find enough food. The males tried to balance this. Most of their -strength was in their minds, anyway. But they couldn't. - -"The _cansins_ took to eating their worshippers. At the same time -the number of eggs they laid grew smaller and smaller. Finally the -swamp-edgers drove them out, back into the deep swamps. - -"They've been there ever since, going farther and farther on the path -of evolution, dwindling in numbers, always hungry, and hating the -humans who robbed them of their future. Even us they hate, because we -go erect and have speech. The females are not independent. The male -controls the community mind--they must have unity to exist at all. - -"If you could control the male...." - -I thought of the little creature in the ball of green fire. I shivered, -and the pit of my stomach pinched up. I said, "Yeah? How?" - -She chuckled at me. "It may mean death. Will you risk it?" - -I didn't have to. I could beat it back to the ship, maybe even rescue -some of the gang, with Jarin's help. Then I thought about Bucky and the -way he cried down my neck that night in the tank and what would happen -to us if we didn't get the animals rounded up. I thought--oh, hell, why -does a guy ever do anything? I don't know. Maybe I thought I'd never -get across the field to the ship anyhow. - -I said, "Spill it, you she-snake. What do I do?" - -"Get Quern," she said, and went off through the hot rain, back into the -plastic shack. The door slammed shut. Jarin and I were alone in the -dark. - -I said, "Will you help me?" - -"Of course." - -I looked down the street toward the landing field. I felt tired, -suddenly. Gone in the knees and weak, and sick to vomiting with fear. - -"Here comes Gow," I said. "He's got seven or eight guys with guns. Just -keep the critters off us until we get through with the _cansins_, and -try not to kill any more than you can help." - -Good old Jig, thinking about money even then. Gow came up. We talked a -minute, just the things that had to be said, and then I asked, - -"Anybody have an idea where Quern might be?" - -"Yeah," said Gow slowly. "He was in the ginmill next to the one we was -in. Drunk. I heard him singin' when I went by. I think the big apes -wrecked it." - - * * * * * - -We started off up the muddy street, more as though we'd been wound up -to go somewhere and couldn't stop than like men with a purpose. The -_cansins_ were close. Awful close. You could hear them sucking and -slopping in the muck. The rain fell straight down, almost solid, and -the air was thick and hot. - -We did a lot of shouting. Some men came out of the shacks to join us, -but nobody had seen Quern since the trouble started. We had trouble -with the animals in the streets. The vapor snakes got one man, and an -Ionian _hru_ poisoned one guy so bad he died the next day. We had to -kill a couple of big babies that wouldn't scare off. - -And we found the ginmill. Gow was right. It was wrecked, and there were -things scattered around amongst the splinters. I was glad it was dark. - -"Well," I said, "that's that. We'll just have to do what we can -with the blasters." It wouldn't be much. We didn't carry any heavy -artillery, and a _cansin_ is awfully hard to stop. - -"Any you guys wanta scram, do it now. The rest of you come on." - -I took a step. Something squirmed under my foot, squeaked, and began to -curse in a voice like a katydid's. - -"My God," I said. "It's Quern." - -I picked him up. His rubbery little body was slick with mud. He spat -and hiccoughed, and snarled, - -"Of course it's Quern. Fine thing, leaving me in the mud like that. I -might ha' drowned." He started cursing again in Low Martian, which is -his native tongue. He's a Diran from the sea-bottom pits of Shun. - -Somebody laughed. It sounded hysterical. "The little lush! He don't -even know what's happened!" - -And he didn't. The _cansins_ hadn't even seen him. He'd just been -tromped into the mud and left there, unharmed. - -Gow caught his breath suddenly, and somebody whimpered. I looked up. I -couldn't see much, in the rain and the indigo dark, but I didn't have -to see. I knew what was coming. - -A little vicious splotch of living green against the darkness, and -underneath it four huge shadows, trampling knee-deep in mud, making -toward a plastic hut filled with human beings. - -I said softly, "Quern, I never thought you were such a hell of a -wonderful hypnotist." - -He twinged in my hands. His anger almost burned me. He started to -speak, but I stopped him. - -"Here's your chance to prove it, chum. See that little green light -floating there? Well, go to it, Quern. And it had better be good, or -it's curtains--for Nahru and all of us." - -I walked over toward the _cansins_, holding Quern in my hands. - - * * * * * - -The brutes must have sensed us. They stopped and wheeled around. Quern -shivered. He was beginning to understand things. He snarled, - -"How do you expect me to do my act? No platform--nothing! You're crazy, -Jig! Let's get out of here!" - -I shook him. "Put that baby to sleep. Make him and his harem go out of -town, north. There's quicksand there. Go on, damn you!" - -He cursed me. You could smell the fear rising hot from us all. I heard -feet running behind me, and then more, going away. Quern said, - -"All right, you crazy fool. Raise me up. Hold your hands flat." - -I made a platform out of my palms. And the _cansins_ started our way. - -Gow whispered, "Don't shoot. Don't anybody shoot." I don't think he -knew then, that there wasn't anybody left to shoot but himself and -Jarin. - -The _cansins_ were huge and solid, behemoths carved from the night. -They towered over us, and the green light pulsed. My jaw hung open and -I couldn't breathe, and I'd have run only my joints were all water. - -Quern went into his act. - -He began to show color. Out of nothing his body started to glow, -from inside. You could see the round blurred shape of him, and the -phosphorescence of his guts, showing through. First red, savage as a -punch in the face, and then all the rest of the spectrum, sometimes one -color, sometimes a swirl of them. - -His body changed shape. I could feel the queer rubbery movement of it -on my hands. I remembered the rubes I'd seen standing around Quern's -platform, their eyes drawn half out of their heads by the shifting -lines and colors. It worked with them. But not here. - -The _cansins_ came on. The green light flared a little brighter, and -that was all. Habit and control were so strong that not even the -females paid much attention to Quern. I could see the rain smoking off -their huge black shoulders. They were right on top of us. - -Quern gasped, "I can't do it!" His glow deadened. I shook him. I yelled, - -"I knew you were a phony! You two-bit yentzer! Jarin, slow 'em down, -can't you?" - -Quern began to shimmer again. Jarin faded in, hardly visible in the -darkness. I heard his tentacles whiplashing across hard flesh. - -One of the _cansins_ screamed. The green light did a sharp dip and -swirl. And I yelled, - -"Gow! Speak to Gertrude!" - -The terrifying forward march slowed a little. Quern was churning colors -out of his guts as though his life depended on it--which it did. Gow -stepped forward a little. - -"Gertrude," he said. "Gertrude, you ugly, slab-sided, left-handed--" - -He cursed her, affectionately. I never heard anything like his voice. I -wanted to cry. In Quern's faint hypnotic glow I saw the green eyes of -the nearest female watching, looking wide and queer. - -The male was angry, now. Angry and scared. You could tell by the -vicious brightness of him. We decided afterward that his light was the -same kind a glow-worm carries around, only stronger. He was fighting. -Fighting to hold those four minds against the attraction of Quern's -shifting glow. - -He'd have done it, too, if it hadn't been for Gow. Gow, standing in the -hot rain and cursing Gertrude with tears in his voice. - -Gertrude screamed. Suddenly, for no reason, a strange uncertain cry. -She moved. A sort of shudder ran through the other three. It was a -little like a wall cracking. The male burned savagely. - -The females were watching Quern, now. Gertrude had made the breach. -Now the community mind was fastened on the hypnotic little Martian. I -could see their green eyes, wide and glassy, their snaky heads nodding -a little, trying to follow the flowing outlines. - -The male began to dim. He shivered, and lurched a couple of times, -still trying to fight. Gow's voice went on, hoarsely, and Gertrude -whimpered. The male floated a little closer. I could see, suddenly, -what kept him up. Wings, like a hummingbird's, blurred with motion. - -They slowed, and the green light dimmed. He began to bob a little in -the hot rain, watching Quern. - -Quern shivered. "They're under," he sighed. "They're under." - -"Send them out. North, to the quicksands." My arms and shoulders ached -and I was swaying on my feet. I hardly heard Quern's thin, dreamy -voice. I did hear the slow, obedient noise of their great feet slogging -away, the last male _cansin_ a dull green mote above them. - -And I heard Gow crying. - - * * * * * - -We got the last of the animals back by noon of the next day. We did -what we could for Nahru. Thank God our own beasts hadn't done much -damage. We left a lot of Beamish's credits to help out, and took the -old tub off away from there. - -Bucky Shannon recovered nicely. I'm still herding his Imperial Washout -around the Triangle. We're not doing so hot without Gertrude, but what -the hell--we're used to the sewage lock. - -And if anyone has a _cansin_ he wants to sell.... Thanks, chum, but -we're not in the market. Now, or ever. - -I sometimes wonder if there are any more of them in the deep swamps, -waiting for their mate to come back. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Behemoth, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE BEHEMOTH *** - -***** This file should be named 62349.txt or 62349.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/3/4/62349/ - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - 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. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/62349.zip b/old/62349.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6231cab..0000000 --- a/old/62349.zip +++ /dev/null |
