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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f642ca5 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63398 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63398) diff --git a/old/63398-h.zip b/old/63398-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9fd1ad8..0000000 --- a/old/63398-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63398-h/63398-h.htm b/old/63398-h/63398-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 0e2ebdd..0000000 --- a/old/63398-h/63398-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1131 +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 Hairy Ones, by Basil Wells. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hairy Ones, by Basil Wells - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Hairy Ones - -Author: Basil Wells - -Release Date: October 7, 2020 [EBook #63398] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAIRY ONES *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>THE HAIRY ONES</h1> - -<h2>by BASIL WELLS</h2> - -<p>Marooned on a world within a world, aided<br /> -by a slim girl and an old warrior, Patrolman<br /> -Sisko Rolf was fighting his greatest<br /> -battle—to bring life to dying Mars.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Winter 1944.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"The outlaw ships are attacking!" Old Garmon Nash's harsh voice snapped -like a thunderclap in the cramped rocket flyer's cabin. "Five or six of -them. Cut the searchlights!"</p> - -<p>Sisko Rolf's stocky body was a blur of motion as he cut the rocket -jets, doused the twin searchlights, and switched over to the audio -beams that served so well on the surface when blind flying was in -order. But here in the cavern world, thirty-seventh in the linked -series of vast caves that underlie the waterless wastes of Mars, the -reflected waves of sound were of little value. Distances were far too -cramped—disaster might loom but a few hundred feet away.</p> - -<p>"Trapped us neatly," Rolf said through clenched teeth. "Tolled into -their underground hideout by that water-runner we tried to capture. We -can't escape, that's certain. They know these caverns better than.... -We'll down some of them, though."</p> - -<p>"Right!" That was old Garmon Nash, his fellow patrolman aboard the -Planet Patrol ship as he swung the deadly slimness of his rocket -blast's barrel around to center on the fiery jets that betrayed the -approaching outlaw flyers.</p> - -<p>Three times he fired the gun, the rocket projectiles blasting off with -their invisible preliminary jets of gas, and three times an enemy craft -flared up into an intolerable torch of flame before they realized the -patrol ship had fired upon them. Then a barrage of enemy rocket shells -exploded into life above and before them.</p> - -<p>Rolf swung the lax controls over hard as the bursts of fire revealed a -looming barrier of stone dead ahead, and then he felt the tough skin -of the flyer crumple inward. The cabin seemed to telescope about him. -In a slow sort of wonder Rolf felt the scrape of rock against metal, -and then the screeching of air through the myriad rents in the cabin's -meralloy walls grew to a mad whining wail.</p> - -<p>Down plunged the battered ship, downward ever downward. Somehow Rolf -found the strength to wrap his fingers around the control levers and -snap on a quick burst from the landing rockets. Their mad speed checked -momentarily, but the nose of the vertically plunging ship dissolved -into an inferno of flame.</p> - -<p>The ship struck; split open like a rotten squash, and Rolf felt himself -being flung far outward through thick blackness. For an eternity it -seemed he hung in the darkness before something smashed the breath and -feeling from his nerveless body. With a last glimmer of sanity he knew -that he lay crushed against a rocky wall.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Much later Rolf groaned with the pain of bruised muscles and tried to -rise. To his amazement he could move all his limbs. Carefully he came -to his knees and so to his feet. Not a bone was broken, unless the -sharp breathlessness that strained at his chest meant cracked ribs.</p> - -<p>There was light in the narrow pit in which he found himself, light and -heat from the yet-glowing debris of the rocket flyer. The outlaws had -blasted the crashed ship, his practiced eyes told him, and Garmon Nash -must have died in the wreckage. He was alone in the waterless trap of a -deep crevice.</p> - -<p>In the fading glow of the super-heated metal the vertical walls above -mocked him. There could be no ascent from this natural prison-pit, and -even if there were he could never hope to reach the surface forty miles -and more overhead. The floors of the thirty-seven caves through which -they had so carefully jetted were a splintered, creviced series of -canyon-like wastes, and as he ascended the rarefied atmosphere of the -higher levels would spell death.</p> - -<p>Rolf laughed. Without a pressure mask on the surface of Mars an -Earthman was licked. Without water and food certain death grinned in -his face, for beyond the sand-buried entrance to these lost equatorial -caves there were no pressure domes for hundreds of miles. Here at -least the air was thick enough to support life, and somewhere nearby -the outlaws who smuggled their precious contraband water into the -water-starved domes of North Mars lay hidden.</p> - -<p>The young patrolman unzippered his jacket pocket and felt for the -emergency concentrate bars that were standard equipment. Half of the -oval bar he crushed between his teeth, and when the concentrated energy -flooded into his muscles he set off around the irregular wall of the -pit.</p> - -<p>He found the opening less than ten paces from the starting point, an -empty cavity higher than a man and half as wide. The glow from the -gutted ship was failing and he felt for the solar torch that hugged -flatly against his hip. He uncapped the torch and the miniature sun -glowed redly from its lensed prison to reveal the rocky corridor -stretching out ahead.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Light! How many hours later it was when the first faint glow of white -light reached his eyes Rolf did not know—it had seemed an eternity of -endless plodding along that smooth-floored descending tunnel.</p> - -<p>Rolf capped the solar torch. No use wasting the captive energy -needlessly he reasoned. And he loosened the expoder in its holster as -he moved carefully forward. The outlaw headquarters might be close -ahead, headquarters where renegade Frogs, Venusians from the southern -sunken marshes of Mars, and Earthmen from dusty North Mars, concealed -their precious hoard of water from the thirsty colonists of North Mars.</p> - -<p>"They may have found the sunken seas of Mars," thought Rolf as he moved -alertly forward, "water that would give the mining domes new life." His -fists clenched dryly. "Water that should be free!"</p> - -<p>Then the light brightened before him as he rounded a shouldering wall -of smoothly trimmed stone, and the floor fell away beneath his feet! -He found himself shooting downward into a vast void that glowed softly -with a mysterious all-pervading radiance.</p> - -<p>His eyes went searching out, out into undreamed distance. For miles -below him there was nothing but emptiness, and for miles before him -there was that same glowing vacancy. Above the cavern's roof soared -majestically upward; he could see the narrow dark slit through which -his feet had betrayed him, and he realized that he had fallen through -the vaulted rocky dome of this fantastic abyss.</p> - -<p>It was then, even as he snapped the release of his spinner and the -nested blades spun free overhead, that he saw the slowly turning bulk -of the cloud-swathed world, a tiny five mile green ball of a planet!</p> - -<p>The weird globe was divided equally into hemispheres, and as the tiny -world turned between its confining columns a green, lake-dotted half -alternated with a blasted, splintered black waste of rocky desert. As -the spinner dropped him slowly down into the vast emptiness of the -great shining gulf, Rolf could see that a broad band of stone divided -the green fertile plains and forests from the desolate desert wastes of -the other half. Toward this barrier the spinner bore him, and Rolf was -content to let it move in that direction—from the heights of the wall -he could scout out the country beyond.</p> - -<p>The wall expanded as he came nearer to the pygmy planet. The spinner -had slowed its speed; it seemed to Rolf that he must be falling free -in space for a time, but the feeble gravity of the tiny world tugged -at him more strongly as he neared the wall. And the barrier became a -jumbled mass of roughly-dressed stone slabs, from whose earth-filled -crevices sprouted green life.</p> - -<p>So slowly was the spinner dropping that the blackened desolation of the -other hemisphere came sliding up beneath his boots. He looked down into -great gashes in the blackness of the desert and saw there the green of -sunken oases and watered canyons. He drifted slowly toward the opposite -loom of the mysterious wall with a swift wind off the desert behind him.</p> - -<p>A hundred yards from the base of the rocky wall his feet scraped -through black dust, and he came to a stop. Deftly Rolf nested the -spinners again in their pack before he set out toward the heaped-up -mass of stone blocks that was the wall.</p> - -<p>Ten steps he took before an excited voice called out shrilly from the -rocks ahead. Rolf's slitted gray eyes narrowed yet more and his hand -dropped to the compact expoder machine-gun holstered at his hip. There -was the movement of a dark shape behind the screen of vines and ragged -bushes.</p> - -<p>"Down, Altha," a deeper voice rumbled from above, "it's one of the -Enemy."</p> - -<p>The voice had spoken in English! Rolf took a step forward eagerly and -then doubt made his feet falter. There were Earthmen as well as Frogs -among the outlaws. This mysterious world that floated above the cavern -floor might be their headquarters.</p> - -<p>"But, Mark," the voice that was now unmistakably feminine argued, "he -wears the uniform of a patrolman."</p> - -<p>"May be a trick." The deep voice was doubtful. "You know their leader, -Cannon, wanted you. This may be a trick to join the Outcasts and -kidnap you."</p> - -<p>The girl's voice was merry. "Come on Spider-legs," she said.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Rolf found himself staring, open-mouthed, at the sleek-limbed vision -that parted the bushes and came toward him. A beautiful woman she was, -with the long burnished copper of her hair down around her waist, but -beneath the meager shortness of the skin tunic he saw that her firm -flesh was covered with a fine reddish coat of hair. Even her face was -sleek and gleaming with its coppery covering of down.</p> - -<p>"Hello, patrol-a-man," she said shyly.</p> - -<p>An elongated pencil-ray of a man bounced nervously out to her side. -"Altha," he scolded, scrubbing at his reddened bald skull with a -long-fingered hand, "why do you never listen to me? I promised your -father I'd look after you." He hitched at his tattered skin robe.</p> - -<p>The girl laughed, a low liquid sound that made Rolf's heart pump -faster. "This Mark Tanner of mine," she explained to the patrolman, -"is always afraid for me. He does not remember that I can see into the -minds of others."</p> - -<p>She smiled again as Rolf's face slowly reddened. "Do not be ashamed," -she said. "I am not angry that you think I am—well, not too -unattractive."</p> - -<p>Rolf threw up the mental block that was the inheritance from his -grueling years of training on Earth Base. His instructors there -had known that a few gifted mortals possess the power of a limited -telepathy, and the secrets of the Planet Patrol must be guarded.</p> - -<p>"That is better, perhaps." The girl's face was demure. "And now perhaps -you will visit us in the safety of the vaults of ancient Aryk."</p> - -<p>"Sorry," said the tall man as Rolf sprang easily from the ground to -their side. "I'm always forgetting the mind-reading abilities of the -Hairy People."</p> - -<p>"She one of them?" Rolf's voice was low, but he saw Altha's lip twitch.</p> - -<p>"Mother was." Mark Tanner's voice was louder. "Father was Wayne Stark. -Famous explorer you know. I was his assistant."</p> - -<p>"Sure." Rolf nodded. "Lost in equatorial wastelands—uh, about twenty -years ago—2053, I believe."</p> - -<p>"Only we were not lost on the surface," explained Tanner, his booming -voice much too powerful for his reedy body, "Wayne Stark was searching -for the lost seas of Mars. Traced them underground. Found them too." He -paused to look nervously out across the blasted wasteland.</p> - -<p>"We ran out of fuel here on Lomihi," he finished, "with the vanished -surface waters of Mars less than four miles beneath us."</p> - -<p>Rolf followed the direction of the other's pale blue eyes. Overhead now -hung the bottom of the cavern. An almost circular island of pale yellow -lifted above the restless dark waters of a vast sea. Rolf realized with -a wrench of sudden fear that they actually hung head downward like -flies walking across a ceiling.</p> - -<p>"There," roared Tanner's voice, "is one of the seas of Mars."</p> - -<p>"One," repeated Rolf slowly. "You mean there are more?"</p> - -<p>"Dozens of them," the older man's voice throbbed with helpless rage. -"Enough to make the face of Mars green again. Cavern after cavern lies -beyond this first one, their floors flooded with water."</p> - -<p>Rolf felt new strength pump into his tired bruised muscles. Here lay -the salvation of Earth's thirsting colonies almost within reach. Once -he could lead the scientists of North Mars to this treasure trove of -water....</p> - -<p>"Mark!" The girl's voice was tense. Rolf felt her arm tug at his sleeve -and he dropped beside her in the shelter of a clump of coarse-leaved -gray bushes. "The Furry Women attack!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A hundred paces away Rolf made the dark shapes of armed warriors as -they filed downward from the Barrier into the blackened desolation of -the desert half of Lomihi.</p> - -<p>"Enemies?" he whispered to Mark Tanner hoarsely.</p> - -<p>"Right." The older man was slipping the stout bowstring into its -notched recess on the upper end of his long bow. "They cross the -Barrier from the fertile plains of Nyd to raid the Hairy People. They -take them for slaves."</p> - -<p>"I must warn them." Altha's lips thinned and her brown-flecked eyes -flamed.</p> - -<p>"The outlaws may capture," warned Tanner. "They have taken over the -canyons of Gur and Norpar, remember."</p> - -<p>"I will take the glider." Altha was on her feet, her body crouched -over to take advantage of the sheltering shrubs. She threaded her way -swiftly back along a rocky corridor in the face of the Barrier toward -the ruins of ancient Aryk.</p> - -<p>Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "What can I do? Altha has the blood -of the Hairy People in her veins. She will warn them even though the -outlaws have turned her people against her."</p> - -<p>Rolf watched the column of barbarically clad warriors file out upon the -barren desert and swing to the right along the base of the Barrier. -Spear tips and bared swords glinted dully.</p> - -<p>"They will pass within a few feet!" he hissed.</p> - -<p>"Right." Tanner's fingers bit into Rolf's arm. "Pray that the wind does -not shift, their nostrils are sensitive as those of the weasels they -resemble."</p> - -<p>Rolf's eyes slitted. There was something vaguely unhuman about those -gracefully marching figures. He wondered what Tanner had meant by -calling them weasels, wondered until they came closer.</p> - -<p>Then he knew. Above half naked feminine bodies, sinuous and supple -as the undulating coils of a serpent, rose the snaky ditigrade head -of a weasel-brute! Their necks were long and wide, merging into -the gray-furred muscles of their narrow bodies until they seemed -utterly shoulderless, and beneath their furry pelts the ripples of -smooth-flowing muscles played rhythmically. There was a stench, a musky -penetrating scent that made the flesh of his body crawl.</p> - -<p>"See!" Tanner's voice was muted. "Giffa, Queen of the Furry Ones!"</p> - -<p>Borne on a carved and polished litter of ebon-hued wood and yellowed -bone lolled the hideous queen of that advancing horde. Gaunt of body -she was, her scarred gray-furred hide hanging loose upon her breastless -frame. One eye was gone but the other gleamed, black and beady, from -her narrow earless skull. And the skulls of rodents and men alike -linked together into ghastly festoons about her heavy, short-legged -litter.</p> - -<p>Men bore the litter, eight broad-shouldered red-haired men whose arms -had been cut off at the shoulders and whose naked backs bore the weals -of countless lashes. Their bodies, like that of Altha, were covered -with a silky coat of reddish hair.</p> - -<p>Rolf raised his expoder, red anger clouding his eyes as he saw these -maimed beasts of burden, but the hand of Mark Tanner pressed down -firmly across his arm. The older man shook his head.</p> - -<p>"Not yet," he said. "When Altha has warned the Hairy People we can cut -off their retreat. After they have passed I will arouse the Outcasts -who live here upon the Barrier. Though their blood is that of the two -races mingled they hate the Furry Ones."</p> - -<p>A shadow passed over their hiding place. The Furry Amazons too saw the -indistinct darkness and looked up. High overhead drifted the narrow -winged shape of a glider, and the warrior women shrieked their hatred. -Gone now was their chance for a surprise attack on the isolated canyons -of the Hairy People.</p> - -<p>They halted, clustered about their leader. Giffa snarled quick orders -at them, her chisel-teeth clicking savagely. The column swung out into -the wasteland toward the nearest sunken valleys of the Hairy People. -Rolf and Mark Tanner came to their feet.</p> - -<p>Abruptly, then, the wind veered. From behind the two Earthmen it came, -bearing the scent of their bodies out to the sensitive nostrils of the -beast-women. Again the column turned. They glimpsed the two men and a -hideous scrawling battle-cry burst from their throats.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Rolf's expoder rattled briefly like a high-speed sewing machine as he -flicked its muzzle back and forth along the ranks of attacking Furry -Ones. Dozens of the hideous weasel creatures fell as the needles of -explosive blasted them but hundreds more were swarming over their -fallen sisters. Mark Tanner's bow twanged again and again as he drove -arrows at the bloodthirsty warrior women. But the Furry Ones ran -fearlessly into that rain of death.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>The expoder hammered in Rolf's heavy fist.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Tanner smashed an elbow into Rolf's side. "Retreat!" he gasped.</p> - -<p>The Furry Amazons swarmed up over the lower terraces of rocks, their -snaky heads thrust forward and their swords slashing. The two Earthmen -bounded up and backward to the next jumbled layer of giant blocks -behind them, their powerful earthly muscles negating Lomihi's feeble -gravity. Spears showered thick about them and then they dropped behind -the sheltering bulk of a rough square boulder.</p> - -<p>"Now where?" Rolf snapped another burst of expoder needles at the furry -attackers as he asked.</p> - -<p>"To the vaults beneath the Forbidden City," Mark Tanner cried. "None -but the Outcasts and we two have entered the streets of deserted Aryk."</p> - -<p>The bald scientist slung his bow over his head and one shoulder and -went bounding away along a shadowy crevice that plunged raggedly into -the heart of the Barrier. Rolf blasted another spurt of explosive -needles at the Furry Ones and followed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Darkness thickened as they penetrated into the maze of the Barrier's -shattered heart. An unseen furry shape sprang upon Rolf's shoulders -and as he sank to his knees he felt hot saliva drip like acid upon his -neck. His fist sent the attacker's bulk smashing against the rocky -floor before fangs or claws could rip at his tender flesh, and he heard -a choked snarl that ended convulsively in silence.</p> - -<p>Bat-winged blobs of life dragged wet leathery hide across his face, and -beneath his feet slimy wriggling things crushed into quivering pulp. -Then there was faint light again, and the high-vaulted roof of a rock -dungeon rose above him.</p> - -<p>Mark Tanner was peering out a slitted embrasure that overlooked the -desolate land of the Hairy People.</p> - -<p>Tanner's finger pointed. "Altha!" Rolf saw the graceful wings of the -glider riding the thermals back toward the Barrier. "She had warned the -Hairy People, and now she returns."</p> - -<p>"The weasel heads won't follow us here?" asked Rolf.</p> - -<p>Tanner laughed. "Hardly. They fear the spirits of the Ancients too much -for that. They believe the invisible powers will drink their souls."</p> - -<p>"Then how about telling me about this hanging world?"</p> - -<p>"Simply the whim of an ancient Martian ruler. As I have learned from -the inscriptions and metal tablets here in Aryk he could not conquer -all of Mars so he created a world that would be all his own."</p> - -<p>Rolf laughed. "Like the pleasure globes of the wealthy on Earth."</p> - -<p>"Right." Tanner kept his eyes on the enlarging winged shape of Altha's -flyer as he spoke. "Later, when the nations of Mars began draining off -the seas and hoarding them in their underground caverns, Lomihi became -a fortress for the few thousand aristocrats and slaves who escaped the -surface wars.</p> - -<p>"The Hairy People were the rulers," he went on, "and the Furry Ones -were their slaves. In the revolt that eventually split Lomihi into two -warring races this city, Aryk, was destroyed by a strange vegetable -blight and the ancient knowledge was lost to both races."</p> - -<p>"But," Rolf frowned thoughtfully, "what keeps Lomihi from crashing into -the island? Surely the two columns at either end cannot support it?"</p> - -<p>"The island is the answer," said Tanner. "Somehow it blocks the force -of gravity—shields Lomihi from...." He caught his breath suddenly.</p> - -<p>"The outlaws!" he cried. "They're after Altha."</p> - -<p>Rolf caught a glimpse of a sleek rocket flyer diving upon Altha's frail -wing. He saw the girl go gliding steeply down toward a ragged jumble -of volcanic spurs and pits and disappear from view. He turned to see -the old man pushing another crudely constructed glider toward the outer -wall of the rock chamber.</p> - -<p>Tanner tugged at a silvery metal bar inset into the stone wall. A -section of the wall swung slowly inward. Rolf sprang to his side.</p> - -<p>"Let me follow," he said. "I can fly a glider, and I have my expoder."</p> - -<p>The older man's eyes were hot. He jerked at Rolf's hands and then -suddenly thought better of it. "You're right," he agreed. "Help her if -you can. Your weapon is our only hope now."</p> - -<p>Rolf pushed up and outward with all the strength of his weary muscles. -The glider knifed forward with that first swift impetus, and drove out -over the Barrier. The Furry Ones were struggling insect shapes below -him, and he saw with a thrill that larger bodied warriors, whose bodies -glinted with a dull bronze, were attacking them from the burnt-out -wastelands. The Hairy People had come to battle the invaders.</p> - -<p>He guided the frail wing toward the shattered badlands where the girl -had taken shelter, noting as he did so that the rocket flyer had landed -near its center in a narrow strip of rocky gulch. A sudden thought made -him grin. He drove directly toward the grounded ship. With this rocket -flyer he could escape from Lomihi, return through the thirty-seven -caverns to the upper world, and give to thirsty Mars the gift of -limitless water again.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A man stood on guard just outside the flyer's oval door. Rolf lined up -his expoder and his jaw tensed. He guided the tiny soarer closer with -one hand. If he could crash the glider into the guard, well and good. -There would be no explosion of expoder needles to warn the fellow's -comrades. But if the outlaw saw him Rolf knew that he would be the -first to fire—his was the element of surprise.</p> - -<p>A score of feet lay between them, and suddenly the outlaw whirled -about. Rolf pressed the firing button; the expoder clicked over once -and the trimmer key jammed, and the doughy-faced Venusian swung up his -own long-barreled expoder!</p> - -<p>Rolf snapped his weapon overhand at the Frog's hairless skull. The -fish-bellied alien ducked but his expoder swung off the target -momentarily. In that instant Rolf launched himself from the open -framework of the slowly diving glider, full upon the Venusian.</p> - -<p>They went down, Rolf swinging his fist like a hammer. He felt the Frog -go limp and he loosed a relieved whistle. Now with a rocket flyer and -the guard's rifle expoder in his grasp the problem of escape from -the inner caverns was solved. He would rescue the girl, stop at the -Forbidden City for Mark Tanner, and blast off for the upper crust forty -miles and more overhead.</p> - -<p>He knelt over the prostrate Venusian, using his belt and a strip torn -from his greenish tunic to bind the unconscious man. The knots were -not too tight, the man could free himself in the course of a few hours. -He shrugged his shoulders wearily and started to get up.</p> - -<p>A foot scraped on stone behind him. He spun on bent knees and flung -himself fifty feet to the further side of the narrow gulch with the -same movement. Expoder needles splintered the rocks about him as he -dropped behind a sheltering rocky ledge, and he caught a glimpse of two -green-clad men dragging the bronze-haired body of the girl he had come -to save into the shelter of the flyer.</p> - -<p>A green bulge showed around the polished fuselage and Rolf pressed his -captured weapon's firing button. A roar of pain came from the wounded -man, and he saw an outflung arm upon the rocky ground that clenched -tightly twice and relaxed to move no more. The outlaw weapon must have -been loaded with a drum of poisoned needles, the expoder needles had -not blasted a vital spot in the man's body.</p> - -<p>The odds were evening, he thought triumphantly. There might be another -outlaw somewhere out there in the badlands, but no more than that. The -flyer was built to accommodate no more than five passengers and four -was the usual number. He shifted his expoder to cover the opposite end -of the ship's squatty fuselage.</p> - -<p>And something that felt like a mountain smashed into his back. He was -crushed downward, breathless, his eyes glimpsing briefly the soiled -greenish trousers of his attacker as they locked on either side of -his neck, and then blackness engulfed him as a mighty sledge battered -endlessly at his skull.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>This sledge was hammering relentlessly as Rolf sensed his first -glimmer of returning light. There were two sledges, one of them that -he identified as the hammering of blood in his throbbing temples, and -the other the measured blasting pulse of rocket jets. He opened his -eyes slowly to find himself staring at the fine-crusted metal plates -of a flyer's deck. His nose was grinding into the oily muck that only -undisciplined men would have permitted to accumulate.</p> - -<p>Cautiously his head twisted until he could look forward toward the -controls. The bound body of Altha Stark faced him, and he saw her lips -twist into a brief smile of recognition. She shook her head and frowned -as he moved his arm. But Rolf had learned that his limbs were not -bound—apparently the outlaws had considered him out of the blasting -for the moment.</p> - -<p>By degrees Rolf worked his arm down to his belt where his solar torch -was hooked. His fingers made careful adjustments within the inset base -of the torch, pushing a lever here and adjusting a tension screw there.</p> - -<p>The ship bumped gently as it landed and the thrum of rockets ceased. -The cabin shifted with the weight of bodies moving from their seats. -Rolf heard voices from a distance and the answering triumphant bawling -of his two captors. The moment had come. He turned the cap of the solar -torch away from his body and freed it.</p> - -<p>Heat blasted at his body as the stepped-up output of the torch made the -oily floor flame. He lay unmoving while the thick smoke rolled over him.</p> - -<p>"Fire!" There was panic in the outlaw's voice. Rolf came to his knees -in the blanketing fog and looked forward.</p> - -<p>One of the men flung himself out the door, but the other reached -for the extinguisher close at hand. His thoughts were on the oily -smoke; not on the prisoners, and so the impact of Rolf's horizontally -propelled body drove the breath from his lungs before his hand could -drop to his belted expoder.</p> - -<p>The outlaw was game. His fists slammed back at Rolf, and his knees -jolted upward toward the patrolman's vulnerable middle. But Rolf -bored in, his own knotted hands pumping, and his trained body weaving -instinctively aside from the crippling blows aimed at his body. For a -moment they fought, coughing and choking from the thickening pall of -smoke, and then the fingers of the outlaw clamped around Rolf's throat -and squeezed hard.</p> - -<p>The patrolman was weary; the wreck in the upper cavern and the long -trek afterward through the dark tunnels had sapped his strength, and -now he felt victory slipping from his grasp.</p> - -<p>He felt something soft bump against his legs, legs so far below that he -could hardly realize that they were his, and then he was falling with -the relentless fingers still about his throat. As from a great distant -he heard a cry of pain and the blessed air gulped into his raw throat. -His eyes cleared.</p> - -<p>He saw Altha's bound body and head. Her jaws were clamped upon the -arm of the outlaw and even as he fought for more of the reeking smoky -air of the cabin he saw the man's clenched fist batter at her face. -Rolf swung, all the weight of his stocky body behind the blow, and the -outlaw thudded limply against the opposite wall of the little cabin.</p> - -<p>No time to ask the girl if she were injured. The patrolman flung -himself into the spongy control chair's cushions and sent the ship -rocketing skyward. Behind him the thin film of surface oil no longer -burned and the conditioning unit was clearing the air.</p> - -<p>"Patrolman," the girl's voice was beside him. "We're safe!"</p> - -<p>"Everything bongo?" Rolf wanted to know.</p> - -<p>"Of course," she smiled crookedly.</p> - -<p>"Glad of that." Rolf felt the warmth of her body so close beside him. A -sudden strange restlessness came with the near contact.</p> - -<p>Altha smiled shyly and winced with pain. "Do you know," she said, "even -yet I do not know your name."</p> - -<p>Rolf grinned up at her. "Need to?" he asked.</p> - -<p>The girl's eyes widened. A responsive spark blazed in them. "Handier -than calling you <i>Shorty</i> all the time," she quipped.</p> - -<p>Then they were over the Barrier and Rolf saw the last of the beaten -Furry Ones racing back across the great wall toward the Plains of -Nyd. He nosed the captured ship down toward the ruined plaza of -the Forbidden City. Once Mark Tanner was aboard they would blast -surfaceward with their thrilling news that all Mars could have water in -plenty again.</p> - -<p>Rolf snorted. "Shorty," he said disgustedly as they landed, but his arm -went out toward the girl's red-haired slimness, and curved around it.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hairy Ones, by Basil Wells - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAIRY ONES *** - -***** This file should be named 63398-h.htm or 63398-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/3/9/63398/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Hairy Ones - -Author: Basil Wells - -Release Date: October 7, 2020 [EBook #63398] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAIRY ONES *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE HAIRY ONES - - by BASIL WELLS - - Marooned on a world within a world, aided - by a slim girl and an old warrior, Patrolman - Sisko Rolf was fighting his greatest - battle--to bring life to dying Mars. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Winter 1944. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -"The outlaw ships are attacking!" Old Garmon Nash's harsh voice snapped -like a thunderclap in the cramped rocket flyer's cabin. "Five or six of -them. Cut the searchlights!" - -Sisko Rolf's stocky body was a blur of motion as he cut the rocket -jets, doused the twin searchlights, and switched over to the audio -beams that served so well on the surface when blind flying was in -order. But here in the cavern world, thirty-seventh in the linked -series of vast caves that underlie the waterless wastes of Mars, the -reflected waves of sound were of little value. Distances were far too -cramped--disaster might loom but a few hundred feet away. - -"Trapped us neatly," Rolf said through clenched teeth. "Tolled into -their underground hideout by that water-runner we tried to capture. We -can't escape, that's certain. They know these caverns better than.... -We'll down some of them, though." - -"Right!" That was old Garmon Nash, his fellow patrolman aboard the -Planet Patrol ship as he swung the deadly slimness of his rocket -blast's barrel around to center on the fiery jets that betrayed the -approaching outlaw flyers. - -Three times he fired the gun, the rocket projectiles blasting off with -their invisible preliminary jets of gas, and three times an enemy craft -flared up into an intolerable torch of flame before they realized the -patrol ship had fired upon them. Then a barrage of enemy rocket shells -exploded into life above and before them. - -Rolf swung the lax controls over hard as the bursts of fire revealed a -looming barrier of stone dead ahead, and then he felt the tough skin -of the flyer crumple inward. The cabin seemed to telescope about him. -In a slow sort of wonder Rolf felt the scrape of rock against metal, -and then the screeching of air through the myriad rents in the cabin's -meralloy walls grew to a mad whining wail. - -Down plunged the battered ship, downward ever downward. Somehow Rolf -found the strength to wrap his fingers around the control levers and -snap on a quick burst from the landing rockets. Their mad speed checked -momentarily, but the nose of the vertically plunging ship dissolved -into an inferno of flame. - -The ship struck; split open like a rotten squash, and Rolf felt himself -being flung far outward through thick blackness. For an eternity it -seemed he hung in the darkness before something smashed the breath and -feeling from his nerveless body. With a last glimmer of sanity he knew -that he lay crushed against a rocky wall. - - * * * * * - -Much later Rolf groaned with the pain of bruised muscles and tried to -rise. To his amazement he could move all his limbs. Carefully he came -to his knees and so to his feet. Not a bone was broken, unless the -sharp breathlessness that strained at his chest meant cracked ribs. - -There was light in the narrow pit in which he found himself, light and -heat from the yet-glowing debris of the rocket flyer. The outlaws had -blasted the crashed ship, his practiced eyes told him, and Garmon Nash -must have died in the wreckage. He was alone in the waterless trap of a -deep crevice. - -In the fading glow of the super-heated metal the vertical walls above -mocked him. There could be no ascent from this natural prison-pit, and -even if there were he could never hope to reach the surface forty miles -and more overhead. The floors of the thirty-seven caves through which -they had so carefully jetted were a splintered, creviced series of -canyon-like wastes, and as he ascended the rarefied atmosphere of the -higher levels would spell death. - -Rolf laughed. Without a pressure mask on the surface of Mars an -Earthman was licked. Without water and food certain death grinned in -his face, for beyond the sand-buried entrance to these lost equatorial -caves there were no pressure domes for hundreds of miles. Here at -least the air was thick enough to support life, and somewhere nearby -the outlaws who smuggled their precious contraband water into the -water-starved domes of North Mars lay hidden. - -The young patrolman unzippered his jacket pocket and felt for the -emergency concentrate bars that were standard equipment. Half of the -oval bar he crushed between his teeth, and when the concentrated energy -flooded into his muscles he set off around the irregular wall of the -pit. - -He found the opening less than ten paces from the starting point, an -empty cavity higher than a man and half as wide. The glow from the -gutted ship was failing and he felt for the solar torch that hugged -flatly against his hip. He uncapped the torch and the miniature sun -glowed redly from its lensed prison to reveal the rocky corridor -stretching out ahead. - - * * * * * - -Light! How many hours later it was when the first faint glow of white -light reached his eyes Rolf did not know--it had seemed an eternity of -endless plodding along that smooth-floored descending tunnel. - -Rolf capped the solar torch. No use wasting the captive energy -needlessly he reasoned. And he loosened the expoder in its holster as -he moved carefully forward. The outlaw headquarters might be close -ahead, headquarters where renegade Frogs, Venusians from the southern -sunken marshes of Mars, and Earthmen from dusty North Mars, concealed -their precious hoard of water from the thirsty colonists of North Mars. - -"They may have found the sunken seas of Mars," thought Rolf as he moved -alertly forward, "water that would give the mining domes new life." His -fists clenched dryly. "Water that should be free!" - -Then the light brightened before him as he rounded a shouldering wall -of smoothly trimmed stone, and the floor fell away beneath his feet! -He found himself shooting downward into a vast void that glowed softly -with a mysterious all-pervading radiance. - -His eyes went searching out, out into undreamed distance. For miles -below him there was nothing but emptiness, and for miles before him -there was that same glowing vacancy. Above the cavern's roof soared -majestically upward; he could see the narrow dark slit through which -his feet had betrayed him, and he realized that he had fallen through -the vaulted rocky dome of this fantastic abyss. - -It was then, even as he snapped the release of his spinner and the -nested blades spun free overhead, that he saw the slowly turning bulk -of the cloud-swathed world, a tiny five mile green ball of a planet! - -The weird globe was divided equally into hemispheres, and as the tiny -world turned between its confining columns a green, lake-dotted half -alternated with a blasted, splintered black waste of rocky desert. As -the spinner dropped him slowly down into the vast emptiness of the -great shining gulf, Rolf could see that a broad band of stone divided -the green fertile plains and forests from the desolate desert wastes of -the other half. Toward this barrier the spinner bore him, and Rolf was -content to let it move in that direction--from the heights of the wall -he could scout out the country beyond. - -The wall expanded as he came nearer to the pygmy planet. The spinner -had slowed its speed; it seemed to Rolf that he must be falling free -in space for a time, but the feeble gravity of the tiny world tugged -at him more strongly as he neared the wall. And the barrier became a -jumbled mass of roughly-dressed stone slabs, from whose earth-filled -crevices sprouted green life. - -So slowly was the spinner dropping that the blackened desolation of the -other hemisphere came sliding up beneath his boots. He looked down into -great gashes in the blackness of the desert and saw there the green of -sunken oases and watered canyons. He drifted slowly toward the opposite -loom of the mysterious wall with a swift wind off the desert behind him. - -A hundred yards from the base of the rocky wall his feet scraped -through black dust, and he came to a stop. Deftly Rolf nested the -spinners again in their pack before he set out toward the heaped-up -mass of stone blocks that was the wall. - -Ten steps he took before an excited voice called out shrilly from the -rocks ahead. Rolf's slitted gray eyes narrowed yet more and his hand -dropped to the compact expoder machine-gun holstered at his hip. There -was the movement of a dark shape behind the screen of vines and ragged -bushes. - -"Down, Altha," a deeper voice rumbled from above, "it's one of the -Enemy." - -The voice had spoken in English! Rolf took a step forward eagerly and -then doubt made his feet falter. There were Earthmen as well as Frogs -among the outlaws. This mysterious world that floated above the cavern -floor might be their headquarters. - -"But, Mark," the voice that was now unmistakably feminine argued, "he -wears the uniform of a patrolman." - -"May be a trick." The deep voice was doubtful. "You know their leader, -Cannon, wanted you. This may be a trick to join the Outcasts and -kidnap you." - -The girl's voice was merry. "Come on Spider-legs," she said. - - * * * * * - -Rolf found himself staring, open-mouthed, at the sleek-limbed vision -that parted the bushes and came toward him. A beautiful woman she was, -with the long burnished copper of her hair down around her waist, but -beneath the meager shortness of the skin tunic he saw that her firm -flesh was covered with a fine reddish coat of hair. Even her face was -sleek and gleaming with its coppery covering of down. - -"Hello, patrol-a-man," she said shyly. - -An elongated pencil-ray of a man bounced nervously out to her side. -"Altha," he scolded, scrubbing at his reddened bald skull with a -long-fingered hand, "why do you never listen to me? I promised your -father I'd look after you." He hitched at his tattered skin robe. - -The girl laughed, a low liquid sound that made Rolf's heart pump -faster. "This Mark Tanner of mine," she explained to the patrolman, -"is always afraid for me. He does not remember that I can see into the -minds of others." - -She smiled again as Rolf's face slowly reddened. "Do not be ashamed," -she said. "I am not angry that you think I am--well, not too -unattractive." - -Rolf threw up the mental block that was the inheritance from his -grueling years of training on Earth Base. His instructors there -had known that a few gifted mortals possess the power of a limited -telepathy, and the secrets of the Planet Patrol must be guarded. - -"That is better, perhaps." The girl's face was demure. "And now perhaps -you will visit us in the safety of the vaults of ancient Aryk." - -"Sorry," said the tall man as Rolf sprang easily from the ground to -their side. "I'm always forgetting the mind-reading abilities of the -Hairy People." - -"She one of them?" Rolf's voice was low, but he saw Altha's lip twitch. - -"Mother was." Mark Tanner's voice was louder. "Father was Wayne Stark. -Famous explorer you know. I was his assistant." - -"Sure." Rolf nodded. "Lost in equatorial wastelands--uh, about twenty -years ago--2053, I believe." - -"Only we were not lost on the surface," explained Tanner, his booming -voice much too powerful for his reedy body, "Wayne Stark was searching -for the lost seas of Mars. Traced them underground. Found them too." He -paused to look nervously out across the blasted wasteland. - -"We ran out of fuel here on Lomihi," he finished, "with the vanished -surface waters of Mars less than four miles beneath us." - -Rolf followed the direction of the other's pale blue eyes. Overhead now -hung the bottom of the cavern. An almost circular island of pale yellow -lifted above the restless dark waters of a vast sea. Rolf realized with -a wrench of sudden fear that they actually hung head downward like -flies walking across a ceiling. - -"There," roared Tanner's voice, "is one of the seas of Mars." - -"One," repeated Rolf slowly. "You mean there are more?" - -"Dozens of them," the older man's voice throbbed with helpless rage. -"Enough to make the face of Mars green again. Cavern after cavern lies -beyond this first one, their floors flooded with water." - -Rolf felt new strength pump into his tired bruised muscles. Here lay -the salvation of Earth's thirsting colonies almost within reach. Once -he could lead the scientists of North Mars to this treasure trove of -water.... - -"Mark!" The girl's voice was tense. Rolf felt her arm tug at his sleeve -and he dropped beside her in the shelter of a clump of coarse-leaved -gray bushes. "The Furry Women attack!" - - * * * * * - -A hundred paces away Rolf made the dark shapes of armed warriors as -they filed downward from the Barrier into the blackened desolation of -the desert half of Lomihi. - -"Enemies?" he whispered to Mark Tanner hoarsely. - -"Right." The older man was slipping the stout bowstring into its -notched recess on the upper end of his long bow. "They cross the -Barrier from the fertile plains of Nyd to raid the Hairy People. They -take them for slaves." - -"I must warn them." Altha's lips thinned and her brown-flecked eyes -flamed. - -"The outlaws may capture," warned Tanner. "They have taken over the -canyons of Gur and Norpar, remember." - -"I will take the glider." Altha was on her feet, her body crouched -over to take advantage of the sheltering shrubs. She threaded her way -swiftly back along a rocky corridor in the face of the Barrier toward -the ruins of ancient Aryk. - -Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "What can I do? Altha has the blood -of the Hairy People in her veins. She will warn them even though the -outlaws have turned her people against her." - -Rolf watched the column of barbarically clad warriors file out upon the -barren desert and swing to the right along the base of the Barrier. -Spear tips and bared swords glinted dully. - -"They will pass within a few feet!" he hissed. - -"Right." Tanner's fingers bit into Rolf's arm. "Pray that the wind does -not shift, their nostrils are sensitive as those of the weasels they -resemble." - -Rolf's eyes slitted. There was something vaguely unhuman about those -gracefully marching figures. He wondered what Tanner had meant by -calling them weasels, wondered until they came closer. - -Then he knew. Above half naked feminine bodies, sinuous and supple -as the undulating coils of a serpent, rose the snaky ditigrade head -of a weasel-brute! Their necks were long and wide, merging into -the gray-furred muscles of their narrow bodies until they seemed -utterly shoulderless, and beneath their furry pelts the ripples of -smooth-flowing muscles played rhythmically. There was a stench, a musky -penetrating scent that made the flesh of his body crawl. - -"See!" Tanner's voice was muted. "Giffa, Queen of the Furry Ones!" - -Borne on a carved and polished litter of ebon-hued wood and yellowed -bone lolled the hideous queen of that advancing horde. Gaunt of body -she was, her scarred gray-furred hide hanging loose upon her breastless -frame. One eye was gone but the other gleamed, black and beady, from -her narrow earless skull. And the skulls of rodents and men alike -linked together into ghastly festoons about her heavy, short-legged -litter. - -Men bore the litter, eight broad-shouldered red-haired men whose arms -had been cut off at the shoulders and whose naked backs bore the weals -of countless lashes. Their bodies, like that of Altha, were covered -with a silky coat of reddish hair. - -Rolf raised his expoder, red anger clouding his eyes as he saw these -maimed beasts of burden, but the hand of Mark Tanner pressed down -firmly across his arm. The older man shook his head. - -"Not yet," he said. "When Altha has warned the Hairy People we can cut -off their retreat. After they have passed I will arouse the Outcasts -who live here upon the Barrier. Though their blood is that of the two -races mingled they hate the Furry Ones." - -A shadow passed over their hiding place. The Furry Amazons too saw the -indistinct darkness and looked up. High overhead drifted the narrow -winged shape of a glider, and the warrior women shrieked their hatred. -Gone now was their chance for a surprise attack on the isolated canyons -of the Hairy People. - -They halted, clustered about their leader. Giffa snarled quick orders -at them, her chisel-teeth clicking savagely. The column swung out into -the wasteland toward the nearest sunken valleys of the Hairy People. -Rolf and Mark Tanner came to their feet. - -Abruptly, then, the wind veered. From behind the two Earthmen it came, -bearing the scent of their bodies out to the sensitive nostrils of the -beast-women. Again the column turned. They glimpsed the two men and a -hideous scrawling battle-cry burst from their throats. - - * * * * * - -Rolf's expoder rattled briefly like a high-speed sewing machine as he -flicked its muzzle back and forth along the ranks of attacking Furry -Ones. Dozens of the hideous weasel creatures fell as the needles of -explosive blasted them but hundreds more were swarming over their -fallen sisters. Mark Tanner's bow twanged again and again as he drove -arrows at the bloodthirsty warrior women. But the Furry Ones ran -fearlessly into that rain of death. - -[Illustration: _The expoder hammered in Rolf's heavy fist._] - -Tanner smashed an elbow into Rolf's side. "Retreat!" he gasped. - -The Furry Amazons swarmed up over the lower terraces of rocks, their -snaky heads thrust forward and their swords slashing. The two Earthmen -bounded up and backward to the next jumbled layer of giant blocks -behind them, their powerful earthly muscles negating Lomihi's feeble -gravity. Spears showered thick about them and then they dropped behind -the sheltering bulk of a rough square boulder. - -"Now where?" Rolf snapped another burst of expoder needles at the furry -attackers as he asked. - -"To the vaults beneath the Forbidden City," Mark Tanner cried. "None -but the Outcasts and we two have entered the streets of deserted Aryk." - -The bald scientist slung his bow over his head and one shoulder and -went bounding away along a shadowy crevice that plunged raggedly into -the heart of the Barrier. Rolf blasted another spurt of explosive -needles at the Furry Ones and followed. - - * * * * * - -Darkness thickened as they penetrated into the maze of the Barrier's -shattered heart. An unseen furry shape sprang upon Rolf's shoulders -and as he sank to his knees he felt hot saliva drip like acid upon his -neck. His fist sent the attacker's bulk smashing against the rocky -floor before fangs or claws could rip at his tender flesh, and he heard -a choked snarl that ended convulsively in silence. - -Bat-winged blobs of life dragged wet leathery hide across his face, and -beneath his feet slimy wriggling things crushed into quivering pulp. -Then there was faint light again, and the high-vaulted roof of a rock -dungeon rose above him. - -Mark Tanner was peering out a slitted embrasure that overlooked the -desolate land of the Hairy People. - -Tanner's finger pointed. "Altha!" Rolf saw the graceful wings of the -glider riding the thermals back toward the Barrier. "She had warned the -Hairy People, and now she returns." - -"The weasel heads won't follow us here?" asked Rolf. - -Tanner laughed. "Hardly. They fear the spirits of the Ancients too much -for that. They believe the invisible powers will drink their souls." - -"Then how about telling me about this hanging world?" - -"Simply the whim of an ancient Martian ruler. As I have learned from -the inscriptions and metal tablets here in Aryk he could not conquer -all of Mars so he created a world that would be all his own." - -Rolf laughed. "Like the pleasure globes of the wealthy on Earth." - -"Right." Tanner kept his eyes on the enlarging winged shape of Altha's -flyer as he spoke. "Later, when the nations of Mars began draining off -the seas and hoarding them in their underground caverns, Lomihi became -a fortress for the few thousand aristocrats and slaves who escaped the -surface wars. - -"The Hairy People were the rulers," he went on, "and the Furry Ones -were their slaves. In the revolt that eventually split Lomihi into two -warring races this city, Aryk, was destroyed by a strange vegetable -blight and the ancient knowledge was lost to both races." - -"But," Rolf frowned thoughtfully, "what keeps Lomihi from crashing into -the island? Surely the two columns at either end cannot support it?" - -"The island is the answer," said Tanner. "Somehow it blocks the force -of gravity--shields Lomihi from...." He caught his breath suddenly. - -"The outlaws!" he cried. "They're after Altha." - -Rolf caught a glimpse of a sleek rocket flyer diving upon Altha's frail -wing. He saw the girl go gliding steeply down toward a ragged jumble -of volcanic spurs and pits and disappear from view. He turned to see -the old man pushing another crudely constructed glider toward the outer -wall of the rock chamber. - -Tanner tugged at a silvery metal bar inset into the stone wall. A -section of the wall swung slowly inward. Rolf sprang to his side. - -"Let me follow," he said. "I can fly a glider, and I have my expoder." - -The older man's eyes were hot. He jerked at Rolf's hands and then -suddenly thought better of it. "You're right," he agreed. "Help her if -you can. Your weapon is our only hope now." - -Rolf pushed up and outward with all the strength of his weary muscles. -The glider knifed forward with that first swift impetus, and drove out -over the Barrier. The Furry Ones were struggling insect shapes below -him, and he saw with a thrill that larger bodied warriors, whose bodies -glinted with a dull bronze, were attacking them from the burnt-out -wastelands. The Hairy People had come to battle the invaders. - -He guided the frail wing toward the shattered badlands where the girl -had taken shelter, noting as he did so that the rocket flyer had landed -near its center in a narrow strip of rocky gulch. A sudden thought made -him grin. He drove directly toward the grounded ship. With this rocket -flyer he could escape from Lomihi, return through the thirty-seven -caverns to the upper world, and give to thirsty Mars the gift of -limitless water again. - - * * * * * - -A man stood on guard just outside the flyer's oval door. Rolf lined up -his expoder and his jaw tensed. He guided the tiny soarer closer with -one hand. If he could crash the glider into the guard, well and good. -There would be no explosion of expoder needles to warn the fellow's -comrades. But if the outlaw saw him Rolf knew that he would be the -first to fire--his was the element of surprise. - -A score of feet lay between them, and suddenly the outlaw whirled -about. Rolf pressed the firing button; the expoder clicked over once -and the trimmer key jammed, and the doughy-faced Venusian swung up his -own long-barreled expoder! - -Rolf snapped his weapon overhand at the Frog's hairless skull. The -fish-bellied alien ducked but his expoder swung off the target -momentarily. In that instant Rolf launched himself from the open -framework of the slowly diving glider, full upon the Venusian. - -They went down, Rolf swinging his fist like a hammer. He felt the Frog -go limp and he loosed a relieved whistle. Now with a rocket flyer and -the guard's rifle expoder in his grasp the problem of escape from -the inner caverns was solved. He would rescue the girl, stop at the -Forbidden City for Mark Tanner, and blast off for the upper crust forty -miles and more overhead. - -He knelt over the prostrate Venusian, using his belt and a strip torn -from his greenish tunic to bind the unconscious man. The knots were -not too tight, the man could free himself in the course of a few hours. -He shrugged his shoulders wearily and started to get up. - -A foot scraped on stone behind him. He spun on bent knees and flung -himself fifty feet to the further side of the narrow gulch with the -same movement. Expoder needles splintered the rocks about him as he -dropped behind a sheltering rocky ledge, and he caught a glimpse of two -green-clad men dragging the bronze-haired body of the girl he had come -to save into the shelter of the flyer. - -A green bulge showed around the polished fuselage and Rolf pressed his -captured weapon's firing button. A roar of pain came from the wounded -man, and he saw an outflung arm upon the rocky ground that clenched -tightly twice and relaxed to move no more. The outlaw weapon must have -been loaded with a drum of poisoned needles, the expoder needles had -not blasted a vital spot in the man's body. - -The odds were evening, he thought triumphantly. There might be another -outlaw somewhere out there in the badlands, but no more than that. The -flyer was built to accommodate no more than five passengers and four -was the usual number. He shifted his expoder to cover the opposite end -of the ship's squatty fuselage. - -And something that felt like a mountain smashed into his back. He was -crushed downward, breathless, his eyes glimpsing briefly the soiled -greenish trousers of his attacker as they locked on either side of -his neck, and then blackness engulfed him as a mighty sledge battered -endlessly at his skull. - - * * * * * - -This sledge was hammering relentlessly as Rolf sensed his first -glimmer of returning light. There were two sledges, one of them that -he identified as the hammering of blood in his throbbing temples, and -the other the measured blasting pulse of rocket jets. He opened his -eyes slowly to find himself staring at the fine-crusted metal plates -of a flyer's deck. His nose was grinding into the oily muck that only -undisciplined men would have permitted to accumulate. - -Cautiously his head twisted until he could look forward toward the -controls. The bound body of Altha Stark faced him, and he saw her lips -twist into a brief smile of recognition. She shook her head and frowned -as he moved his arm. But Rolf had learned that his limbs were not -bound--apparently the outlaws had considered him out of the blasting -for the moment. - -By degrees Rolf worked his arm down to his belt where his solar torch -was hooked. His fingers made careful adjustments within the inset base -of the torch, pushing a lever here and adjusting a tension screw there. - -The ship bumped gently as it landed and the thrum of rockets ceased. -The cabin shifted with the weight of bodies moving from their seats. -Rolf heard voices from a distance and the answering triumphant bawling -of his two captors. The moment had come. He turned the cap of the solar -torch away from his body and freed it. - -Heat blasted at his body as the stepped-up output of the torch made the -oily floor flame. He lay unmoving while the thick smoke rolled over him. - -"Fire!" There was panic in the outlaw's voice. Rolf came to his knees -in the blanketing fog and looked forward. - -One of the men flung himself out the door, but the other reached -for the extinguisher close at hand. His thoughts were on the oily -smoke; not on the prisoners, and so the impact of Rolf's horizontally -propelled body drove the breath from his lungs before his hand could -drop to his belted expoder. - -The outlaw was game. His fists slammed back at Rolf, and his knees -jolted upward toward the patrolman's vulnerable middle. But Rolf -bored in, his own knotted hands pumping, and his trained body weaving -instinctively aside from the crippling blows aimed at his body. For a -moment they fought, coughing and choking from the thickening pall of -smoke, and then the fingers of the outlaw clamped around Rolf's throat -and squeezed hard. - -The patrolman was weary; the wreck in the upper cavern and the long -trek afterward through the dark tunnels had sapped his strength, and -now he felt victory slipping from his grasp. - -He felt something soft bump against his legs, legs so far below that he -could hardly realize that they were his, and then he was falling with -the relentless fingers still about his throat. As from a great distant -he heard a cry of pain and the blessed air gulped into his raw throat. -His eyes cleared. - -He saw Altha's bound body and head. Her jaws were clamped upon the -arm of the outlaw and even as he fought for more of the reeking smoky -air of the cabin he saw the man's clenched fist batter at her face. -Rolf swung, all the weight of his stocky body behind the blow, and the -outlaw thudded limply against the opposite wall of the little cabin. - -No time to ask the girl if she were injured. The patrolman flung -himself into the spongy control chair's cushions and sent the ship -rocketing skyward. Behind him the thin film of surface oil no longer -burned and the conditioning unit was clearing the air. - -"Patrolman," the girl's voice was beside him. "We're safe!" - -"Everything bongo?" Rolf wanted to know. - -"Of course," she smiled crookedly. - -"Glad of that." Rolf felt the warmth of her body so close beside him. A -sudden strange restlessness came with the near contact. - -Altha smiled shyly and winced with pain. "Do you know," she said, "even -yet I do not know your name." - -Rolf grinned up at her. "Need to?" he asked. - -The girl's eyes widened. A responsive spark blazed in them. "Handier -than calling you _Shorty_ all the time," she quipped. - -Then they were over the Barrier and Rolf saw the last of the beaten -Furry Ones racing back across the great wall toward the Plains of -Nyd. He nosed the captured ship down toward the ruined plaza of -the Forbidden City. Once Mark Tanner was aboard they would blast -surfaceward with their thrilling news that all Mars could have water in -plenty again. - -Rolf snorted. "Shorty," he said disgustedly as they landed, but his arm -went out toward the girl's red-haired slimness, and curved around it. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hairy Ones, by Basil Wells - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAIRY ONES *** - -***** This file should be named 63398.txt or 63398.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/3/9/63398/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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