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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..5a43b3e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63686 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63686) diff --git a/old/63686-h.zip b/old/63686-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cf764e3..0000000 --- a/old/63686-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63686-h/63686-h.htm b/old/63686-h/63686-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index b33d169..0000000 --- a/old/63686-h/63686-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3273 +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 Last Call For Sector 9G, by Leigh Brackett. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -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 Last Call From Sector 9G, 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: Last Call From Sector 9G - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: November 8, 2020 [EBook #63686] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST CALL FROM SECTOR 9G *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>LAST CALL FOR SECTOR 9G</h1> - -<h2>By LEIGH BRACKETT</h2> - -<p><i>Out there in the green star system; far beyond<br /> -the confining grip of the Federation, moved the<br /> -feared Bitter Star, for a thousand frigid years the<br /> -dark and sinister manipulator of war-weary planets.</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Summer 1955.<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>Artie said monotonously, "There is someone at the door sir shall I -answer? There is someone at the door sir shall I—"</p> - -<p>Durham grunted. What he wanted to say was go away and let me alone. -But he could only grunt, and Artie kept repeating the stupid question. -Artie was a cheap off-brand make, and bought used, and he lacked some -cogs. Any first class servall would have seen that the master had -passed out in his chair and was in no condition to receive guests. But -Artie did not, and presently Durham got one eye open and then he began -to hear the persistent knocking, the annunciator being naturally out of -order. And he said quite clearly.</p> - -<p>"If it's a creditor, I'm not in."</p> - -<p>"—shall I answer?"</p> - -<p>Durham made a series of noises. Artie took them for an affirmative and -trundled off. Durham put his face in his hands and struggled with the -pangs of returning consciousness. He could hear a mutter of voices in -the hall. He thought suddenly that he recognized them, and he sprang, -or rather stumbled up in alarm, hastily combing his hair with his -fingers and trying to pull the wrinkles out of his tunic. Through a -thick haze he saw the bottle on the table and he picked it up and hid -it under a chair, ashamed not of its emptiness but of its label. A -gentleman should not be drunk on stuff like that.</p> - -<p>Paulsen and Burke came in.</p> - -<p>Durham stood stiffly beside the table, hanging on. He looked at the -two men. "Well," he said. "It's been quite a long time." He turned to -Artie. "The gentlemen are leaving."</p> - -<p>Burke stepped quickly behind the servall and pushed the main toggle -to OFF. Artie stopped, with a sound ridiculously like a tired sigh. -Paulsen went past him and locked the door. Then both of them turned -again to face Durham.</p> - -<p>Durham scowled. "What the devil do you think you're doing?"</p> - -<p>Burke and Paulsen glanced at each other, as though resolve had carried -them this far but had now run out, leaving them irresolute in the face -of some distasteful task. Both men wore black dominos, with the cowls -thrown back.</p> - -<p>"Were you afraid you'd be recognized coming here?" Durham said. A small -pulse of fright began to beat in him, and this was idiotic. It made him -angry. "What do you want?"</p> - -<p>Paulsen said in a reluctant voice, not looking at him, "<i>I</i> don't -want anything, Durham, believe me." Durham had once been engaged to -Paulsen's sister, a thing both of them preferred not to remember but -couldn't quite forget. He went on, "We were sent here."</p> - -<p>Durham tried to think who might have sent them. Certainly not any of -the girls; certainly not any one of the people he owed money to. Two -members of the Terran World Embassy corps, even young and still obscure -members in the lower echelons, were above either of those missions.</p> - -<p>"Who sent you?"</p> - -<p>Burke said, "Hawtree."</p> - -<p>"No," said Durham. "Oh no, you got the name wrong. Hawtree wouldn't -send for me if I was the last man in the galaxy. Hawtree, indeed."</p> - -<p>"Hawtree," said Paulsen. He drew a deep breath and threw aside his -domino. "Come on, Burke."</p> - -<p>Burke took off his domino. They came on together.</p> - -<p>Durham drew back. His shoulders dropped and his fists came up. "Look -out," he said. "What you going to do? Look out!"</p> - -<p>"All right," said Burke, and they both jumped together and caught his -arms, not because Durham was so big or so powerful that he frightened -them, but because they disliked the idea of brawling with a drunken -man. Paulsen said,</p> - -<p>"Hawtree wants you tonight, and he wants you sober, and that, damn it, -is the way he's going to get you."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>An hour and seven minutes later Durham sat beside Paulsen in a 'copter -with no insigne and watched the roof of his apartment tower fall away -beneath him.</p> - -<p>Burke had stayed behind, and Durham wore the Irishman's domino with -the cowl up over his head. Under the domino was his good suit, the -one he had not sent to the pawnbroker because he could not, as yet, -quite endure being without one good suit. He was scrubbed and shaved -and perfectly sober. Outside he did not look too bad. Inside he was a -shambles.</p> - -<p>The 'copter fitted itself into a north-south lane. Paulsen, muffled in -his cowl, sat silent. Durham felt a similar reluctance to speak. He -looked out over The Hub, and tried to keep from thinking. Don't run -to meet it, don't get your hopes up. Whatever it is, let it happen, -quietly.</p> - -<p>The city was beautiful. Its official name was Galactic Center, but it -was called The Hub because that is what it was, the hub and focus of a -galaxy. It was the biggest city in the Milky Way. It covered almost the -entire land area of the third planet of a Type G star that someone with -a sense of humor had christened Pax. The planet was chosen originally -because it was centrally located and had no inhabitants, and because it -was within the limits of tolerance for the humanoid races. The others -mostly needed special accommodations anyway.</p> - -<p>And so from a sweet green airy world with nothing on it but trees -and grass and a few mild-natured animals, The Hub had grown to have a -population of something like ten billion people, spread horizontally -and stacked up vertically and dug in underneath, and every one of them -was engaged in some governmental function, or in espionage, or in both. -Intrigue was as much a part of life in The Hub as corpuscles are a part -of blood. The Hub boasted that it was the only inhabited world in space -where no single grain of wheat or saddle of mutton was grown, where -nothing was manufactured and nobody worked at a manual job.</p> - -<p>Durham loved it passionately.</p> - -<p>Both moons were in the sky now. One was small and low, like a white -pearl hung just out of reach. The other was enormous. It had an -atmosphere, and it served as storehouse and supply base for the planet -city, handling the billions of tons of shipping that kept it going. -The two of them made a glorious spectacle overhead, but Durham did not -bother to see them. The vast glow of the city paled them, made them -unimportant. He was remembering how he had seen it when he was fresh -from Earth, for the first time—the supreme capital, beside which the -world capitals were only toy cities, the heart and center of the galaxy -where the decisions were made and the great men came and went. He was -remembering how he had felt, how he had been so sure of the future that -he never gave it a second thought.</p> - -<p>But something happened.</p> - -<p>What?</p> - -<p>Liquor, they said.</p> - -<p>No, not liquor, the hell with them. I could always carry my drinks.</p> - -<p>Liquor, they said, and the accident.</p> - -<p>The accident. Well, what of it? Didn't other people have accidents? -And anyway, nobody really got hurt out of it. He didn't, and the girl -didn't—what if she wasn't his fiancee?—and the confidential file he -had in the 'copter hadn't fallen into anybody's hands. So there wasn't -anything to that.</p> - -<p>No. Not liquor and not the accident, no matter what they said. It was -Hawtree, and a personal grudge because he, Durham, had had Hawtree's -daughter out with him in the 'copter that night. And so what? He was -only engaged to Willa Paulsen, not married to her, and anyway Susan -Hawtree knew what she was doing. She knew darn well.</p> - -<p>Hawtree, a grudge, and a little bad luck. That's what happened. And -that's all.</p> - -<p>The 'copter swerved and dropped onto a private landing stage attached -to a penthouse. Durham knew it well, though he hadn't seen it for over -a year. He got out, aware of palpitations and a gone feeling in the -knees. He needed a drink, but he knew that he would have to go inside -first and he forced himself to stand up and walk beside Paulsen as -though nothing had ever happened. The head high, the face proud and -calm, just a touch of bitterness but not too much.</p> - -<p>Hawtree was alone in the living room. He glanced at Durham as he came -in through the long glass doors. There was a servall standing in the -corner, and Hawtree said to it, "A drink for the gentleman, straight -and stiff."</p> - -<p>A small anger stirred in Durham. Hawtree might at least have given him -the choice. He said sharply, "No thanks."</p> - -<p>Hawtree said, "Don't be a fool." He looked tired, but then he always -had. Tired and keyed up, full of the drive and the brittle excitement -of one who has juggled peoples and nations, expressed as black marks on -sheets of varicolored paper, for so long that it has become a habit as -necessary and destructive as hashish. To Paulsen he said, "I'll ring -when I need you."</p> - -<p>Paulsen went out. The servall placed the drink in Durham's hand. He did -not refuse it.</p> - -<p>"Sit down," said Hawtree, and Durham sat. Hawtree dismissed the -servall. Durham drank part of his drink and felt better.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said. "I'm listening."</p> - -<p>"You were a great disappointment to me, Durham."</p> - -<p>"What am I supposed to say to that?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing. Go ahead, finish your drink, I want to talk to a man, not a -zombie."</p> - -<p>Durham finished it angrily. "If you brought me all the way here to -shake your finger at me, I'm going home again." That was what he said -aloud. Inside, he wanted to get down and embrace Hawtree's knees and -beg him for another chance.</p> - -<p>"I brought you here," said Hawtree, "to offer you a job. If you do it, -it might mean that certain doors could be opened for you again."</p> - -<p>Durham sat perfectly still. For a moment he did not trust himself to -speak. Then he said, "I'll take it."</p> - -<p>Certain doors. That's what I've waited for, living like a bum, dodging -creditors, hocking my shoes, waiting for those doors to open again.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He tried not to show how he felt, sitting stiffly at ease in the chair, -but a red flush began to burn in his cheeks and his hands moved. About -time. About time, damn you, Hawtree, that you remembered me.</p> - -<p>Damn you, oh damn you for making me sweat so long!</p> - -<p>Hawtree said, "Did you ever hear of Nanta Dik?"</p> - -<p>"No. What is it?"</p> - -<p>"A planet. It belongs to a green star system, chart designation KL421, -Sub-sector 9G, Sector 80, Quadrant 7. It's a very isolated system, the -only inhabited one in 9G, as a matter of fact. 9G is a Terran quota -sector, and since Nanta Dik is humanoid, it's become headquarters for -our nationals who are engaged in business in that sub-sector."</p> - -<p>Durham nodded. Unassimilated territory lying outside the Federation was -divided among Federation members, allowing them to engage in trade only -in their allotted sectors and subject to local law and license. This -eliminated competitive friction between Federation worlds, threw open -new areas to development, and eventually—usually under the sponsorship -of the federated world—brought the quota sectors into the vast family -of suns that had already spread over more than half the galaxy. There -were abuses now and again, but on the whole, as a system, it worked -pretty well.</p> - -<p>"I take it that Nanta Dik is where I'm going."</p> - -<p>"Yes. Now listen. First thing in the morning, go and book a third-class -passage to Earth on the <i>Sylvania Merchant</i>, leaving on the day -following. Let your friends know you're going home. They won't be -surprised."</p> - -<p>"Don't rub it in."</p> - -<p>"Sorry. When you reach the spaceport, walk across the main rotunda near -the newsstand. Drop your ticket and your passport, folded together, -go on to the newsstand and wait. They will be returned to you by a -uniformed attendant, only your passport will be in a different name and -your ticket will now be on a freighter outbound for Nanta Dik. You will -then embark at once. Is that all clear?"</p> - -<p>"Everything but the reason."</p> - -<p>"I'll come to that. How good is your memory?"</p> - -<p>"As good as it ever was."</p> - -<p>"All right. When you reach Nanta Dik a man will meet you as you leave -the ship. He will ask if you are the ornithologist. You will say yes. -Then—pay close attention to this—you will say, <i>The darkbirds will -soon fly</i>. Got that?"</p> - -<p>"The darkbirds will soon fly. Simple enough. What's it mean?"</p> - -<p>"9G is a rich sector, isolated, improperly policed, underpopulated. -There has been a certain amount of trouble, poaching, claim jumping, -outright piracy. The 'darkbirds' are a couple of suspected ships. We -want to set a trap for them, and you know how things are on The Hub. -If a man buys a pair of socks, the news is all across the galaxy in a -week. That's the reason for all the secrecy."</p> - -<p>"Is that all?"</p> - -<p>"No." Hawtree got up, turning his back on Durham. He said harshly, -"Listen, Lloyd." It was the first time he had used Durham's Christian -name. "This is an important job. It may not seem like one, but it is. -Do it. There's somebody else who wanted you to have another chance."</p> - -<p>Durham did not say anything. He waited for Hawtree to turn around and -face him and say the name. But he didn't, and finally Durham said,</p> - -<p>"Susan?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know what she sees in you," said Hawtree, and pushed a button. -Paulsen came in. Hawtree jerked a thumb at Durham. "Take him back. And -tell Burke to give him the money."</p> - -<p>Durham went out and got into the 'copter. He felt dizzy, and this time -it was not from drinks or the lack of them. He sat, and Paulsen took -the 'copter off.</p> - -<p>Hawtree watched it from inside the glass doors until it was out of -sight above the roof. And another man came from behind a door that led -into Hawtree's private study, and watched it with him.</p> - -<p>"Are you sure about him?" asked the man.</p> - -<p>"I know him," Hawtree said. "He's a slob."</p> - -<p>"But are you sure?"</p> - -<p>"Don't worry, Morrison," Hawtree said. "I know him. He'll talk. Bet you -a hundred he never even makes the spaceport."</p> - -<p>"Blessed are the fools," said Morrison, "for they shall inherit -nothing."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>Baya sat on the bed and watched him pack. She was from one of the -worlds of Mintaka, and as humanoid as they came, not very tall but very -well shaped, and colored one beautiful shade of old bronze from the -crown of her head to the soles of her feet, except for her mouth, which -was a vivid red.</p> - -<p>"It seems funny," she said, "to think of you not being here tomorrow."</p> - -<p>"Will you die of missing me?"</p> - -<p>"Probably, for a day or two. I was comfortable. I hate upheavals."</p> - -<p>Durham reached across her for his small stack of underwear. She was -wearing the yellow silk thing that made her skin glow by contrast. He -saw that it was dubiously clean about the neck, and when he paused -to kiss her he noticed the tiny lines around her mouth and eyes, the -indefinable look of wear and hardness that was more destructive to -beauty than the mere passing of years. Yesterday they had been two -of a kind, part of the vast backwash left behind by other people's -successes. Today he was far above her. And he was glad.</p> - -<p>"The least you could do," she said, "would be to make this a really big -evening. But I suppose you couldn't run to that."</p> - -<p>"I've got money." Burke had given him some, but that was for expenses -and he would neither mention it nor touch it. "Artie brought a pretty -good price, so did the furniture." There was nothing left in the -apartment but the bed, and even that was sold. He had bought back a few -of his better belongings, and he still had a wad of credits. He felt -good. He felt joyous and expansive. He felt like a man again.</p> - -<p>He poured two drinks and handed one to Baya.</p> - -<p>"All right," he said, "here's to a big last evening. The biggest."</p> - -<p>They had cocktails in a bar called The Moonraker because it was the -highest point in that hemisphere of the city. It was the hour between -sunset and moonrise, when the towers stood sharply defined against a -sky of incredible dark blueness, with the brighter stars pricked out -in it, and the dim canyons at the feet of the towers were lost in the -new night, spectral, soft and lovely. And the night deepened, and the -lights came on.</p> - -<p>They wandered for a while among the high flung walkways that spanned -the upper levels of the towers so that people need not spend half their -lives in elevators. They skirted the vast green concourse from which -the halls of government rose up white and unadorned and splendid. -They only skirted one corner of it, because this galactic Capitol -Hill ran for miles, dominating the whole official complex, and one -enormous building of it was fitted up so that the non-humanoid Members -of Universal Parliament could "attend" the sessions in comfort, never -leaving their especially pressurized and congenially poisonous suites. -Between humanoid and non-humanoid there were many scientific gradations -of form. But for governmental purposes it boiled down simply to -oxygen-breather or non-oxygen-breather.</p> - -<p>"Human or not," said Durham, standing on an upper span, with the good -liquor burning bright inside him, "human or not, they're only men like -me. What they've done, I can do."</p> - -<p>"This is dull," said Baya.</p> - -<p>"Dull," said Durham. He shook his head in wonderment, staring at her. -She was beautiful. Tonight she wore white, and her hair curled softly -on her neck, and her mouth was languorous, and her eyes—her eyes were -hard. They were always hard, always making a liar out of that pliant, -generous mouth. "Dull," he said. "No wonder you never got anywhere."</p> - -<p>She flared up at that, and said a few things about him. He knew they -were no longer true, so he could afford to be amused by them. He smiled -and said,</p> - -<p>"Let's not quarrel, Baya. This is good-bye, remember. Come on, we'll -have a drink at the Miran."</p> - -<p>They floated down on the bright spider web levels of the walkways, -drifting east, stopping at the Miran and then going on to another -drinking place, and then to another. The walks were thronged with other -people, people from hundreds of stars, thousands of worlds. People -of an infinite variety of sizes, shapes and colors, dressed in every -imaginable and unimaginable fashion. Ambassadors, MP's, wives and -mistresses, couriers, calculator jockeys, topologists and graph men, -office girls, hair-dressers, janitors, pimps, you-name-it. Durham saw -them through a golden haze, and loved them, because they were the city -and he was a part of them again.</p> - -<p>He was out of the backwash of not-being. Hawtree had had to give in, -and this footling errand to some dust speck nobody ever heard of was -simply a necessary device to save his own face. All right, Hawtree, -fine. We will go along with the gag. And you may inform the haughty -Miss Hawtree, who can, believe us, be also the naughty Miss Hawtree, -that we don't know if we want her back or not. We'll see.</p> - -<p>"—take me with you," Baya was saying.</p> - -<p>Durham shook his head. "Lone trip, honey. Can't possibly."</p> - -<p>"Are you ashamed of me, Lloyd? That's it, you're ashamed to take me to -Earth."</p> - -<p>"No. No. Now, Baya—"</p> - -<p>He looked at her. His vision was a bit blurred by now, he could see -just enough background to wonder how the devil they'd got to this -closed-in-looking drinking place. But Baya's face was clear enough. She -was crying.</p> - -<p>"Now, Baya, honey, it's not that—it's not that at all."</p> - -<p>"Then why can't I go with you to Earth?"</p> - -<p>"Because—listen, Baya, can you keep a secret?" He laughed, and his own -laughter sounded blurred too. "Promise?"</p> - -<p>"Promise."</p> - -<p>"I—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dead stop. The words rattled on his tongue, but remained unspoken. Why? -Was it because of Baya's eyes, that wept tears but had no sorrow in -them? He could see them quite clearly, and they were not sorrowful at -all, but avid.</p> - -<p>"I promised, Lloyd. You can tell me."</p> - -<p>There was a table under his hands, with an exotically patterned cloth -on it. He had no memory of having sat down at it. There was a wall of -plasticoid cement covered with a crude mural in bright primaries. There -was a low, vaulted ceiling, also painted. There were no windows.</p> - -<p>"How did we get here?" Durham asked stupidly. "It's underground."</p> - -<p>"It's just a place," Baya said impatiently. And then she said sharply, -"What's the matter with you?"</p> - -<p>Blood and fumes hammered together in his bulging temples, and his back -felt cold. "Where's the men's room, Baya?"</p> - -<p>Her mouth set in anger and disgust. She called, "Varnik!"</p> - -<p>A tall powerful man with a very long neck and skin the color of a ripe -plum came up to the table. He wore an apron.</p> - -<p>Baya said, "Better take him there, Varnik."</p> - -<p>The plum colored man took him and ran him to a door and put him through -it. From there a servall took over. It was very efficient.</p> - -<p>"Are you through, sir?"</p> - -<p>"God, no. Not nearly."</p> - -<p>One more word and you would have been through. Forever. Drunken -blabbermouth Durham, smart aleck Durham, would-be big shot Durham, -ready to babble out his secret and blow his last chance of a comeback. -But why did Baya have to be so insistently curious?</p> - -<p>Why, indeed?</p> - -<p>He began to feel both sick and scared. After a time he made it to the -row of basins and splashed cold water on his face and head. There was a -mirror above the basin. He looked into it. "Hello, bum," he said.</p> - -<p>Face it, Durham. You're a drunken bum. You are exactly what Willa -Paulsen said you were, what Susan Hawtree said you were, what they all -said you were. You get a second chance, and you go right out and get -drunk and blow it. Or, almost. Another minute and you'd have blabbed -everything you know to Baya.</p> - -<p>Baya, who cried because he wouldn't tell her; who had brought him to -this rathole.</p> - -<p>He took a clearer look at it when he went shakily out of the men's -room. The place was almost empty, and it had a close, smothery feeling. -Durham had never liked these underground streets, this vaguely unsavory -demi-world that wound itself around the foundations of the city. It was -considered smart to go slumming here, but this place was somehow wrong.</p> - -<p>There were a man and woman at a table across the room, a young, pale -green couple who pretended too carefully not to see him. There was -Varnik, the plum colored proprietor, at a tall desk beside the main -door. And there was Baya at their table.</p> - -<p>She handed him a glass when he came over. "Feel better? I ordered you a -sedative."</p> - -<p>Without sitting down he put the glass to his lips. It did not taste -like any sedative he could remember, and he thought he had tried them -all.</p> - -<p>"I don't want it."</p> - -<p>"Don't be a fool, Lloyd. Take it." Her eyes were cold now, and he was -suddenly quite sure why he had been brought here.</p> - -<p>Durham said softly, "Good night, tramp. Good night and good-bye." He -ran around the table and made a rush for the entrance.</p> - -<p>Varnik stepped from the tall desk to bar his way, holding out a piece -of paper. "Sir," he said. "Your check."</p> - -<p>Durham heard three chairs scrape behind him. He did not pause. He bent -and drove the point of his shoulder as hard as he could at a spot just -above Varnik's wide belt. Varnik let go a gasping sigh and wheeled -away. Durham went out the door.</p> - -<p>The underground street was brightly lighted. It ran straight to right -and left, under a low roof, and disappeared on either hand around a -right angle turn. Durham went to the left for no particular reason. -There were people on the street. He dodged among them, running. They -stopped and stared at him, and there was an echo of other feet behind -him, also running. He sped around the corner, and it occurred to him -that he was completely lost, that he did not even know what part of the -city lay above him, or how far. There were different levels to this -under-city, following down the foundations, the conduits and tubes -and sewers and pumping stations. For the first time he began to feel -genuinely trapped, and genuinely afraid.</p> - -<p>The street ran straight ahead until it ended against a buttressed -foundation wall. There were doors and windows on either side of it. -People lived here. There were joints, some fancy-exotic for the -carriage trade, others just joints. A couple of smaller streets opened -off it, darker and more winding. Durham plunged into one, pausing -briefly to look back. Fleeting like deer around the corner were the -young pale green couple who had sat at the other table in Varnik's. -There was something about the purposeful way they ran that sent a -quiver of pure terror through Durham's insides.</p> - -<p>He ran again, as hard as he could, wondering who the devil they were -and what they wanted with him.</p> - -<p>What did anyone want with him, and the small bit of a secret that he -carried?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The narrow street wound and twined. Clearly echoing along the vault -of the roof he could hear footsteps. One. Two. Coming fast. He saw an -opening no wider than a crack in the wall. He turned into it. It was -quite dark in there and he knew he could not go much farther, and that -fact added to his burden of shame. There had been a time when this much -of a sprint would hardly have breathed him. He tottered on, looking -for a place to hide in, and there wasn't any, and his heart banged and -floundered against his ribs, and the muscles of his thighs were like -wet strings.</p> - -<p>There was a square opening with blank walls all around it and a great -big manhole cover in the middle. There was the way he had come in, and -there was another narrow way he might have come out, but Varnik was -coming through it, running a little crooked and breathing hard. He -stopped when he saw Durham. Baya, panting up behind, almost ran into -him. Varnik grunted and sprang.</p> - -<p>With feeble fierceness, Durham resisted. It got him nowhere. The plum -colored man struck him several times out of pure pique, cursing Durham -for making trouble, for bruising his gut, for making him run like this. -Baya stood by and watched.</p> - -<p>"Will you behave now?" Varnik demanded. He whacked Durham again, and -Durham glared at him out of dazed eyes and felt the world tilt and -slide away from him.</p> - -<p>Suddenly there were new voices, footsteps, confusion. He fell, what -seemed a long way but was really only to his hands and knees.</p> - -<p>The young couple had come into the square space. They were small lithe -people, muscled like ocelots, and their skin color was a pale green, -very pretty, and characteristic of several different races, but no good -for identification here. The girl's tunic had slipped aside over the -breast, and the skin there was a clear gold, like new country butter. -They both had guns in their strong little fists, and they were speaking -over Durham to Varnik and Baya.</p> - -<p>"We will question this man alone."</p> - -<p>"Oh, no," said Varnik angrily. "You don't get away with that." Baya -bent over Durham. "Come on, lover," she said. "Get up." Her voice was -cooing. To the strangers she said, "That wasn't our deal at all."</p> - -<p>"You failed," said the girl with the two-colored skin, and she fired a -beam with frightening accuracy, exactly between them. A piece of the -wall behind them fused and flared. Varnik's eyes came wide open.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said. "Well, if that's the way you feel about it."</p> - -<p>He turned. Baya hesitated, and the muzzle of the gun began to move her -way. She snarled something in her own language and decided to go after -Varnik.</p> - -<p>Durham got his hands and feet bunched under him. He didn't know what he -was going to do, but he knew that once he was left alone with the two -small fleet strangers he would eventually talk, and after that it would -not matter much what happened to him.</p> - -<p>He said to them, hopefully, "You have the wrong man. I don't know—"</p> - -<p>There were the five of them in the small space. There were the two -couples facing each other, and Durham on his knees between them. And -then there was something else.</p> - -<p>There was a spiky shadow, perfectly black, of undetermined size and -nameless shape, except that it was spiky.</p> - -<p>Baya did not quite scream. She pressed against Varnik, and they both -recoiled into the alley mouth. The young couple paled under their -greenness, and they, too, drew back. Durham crouched on the ground.</p> - -<p>The shadow bounded and rolled and leaped through the air and hung -cloudlike over Durham's head. Suddenly it shrieked out, in a high, -toneless voice like that of a deaf child, a clatter of gibberish in -which one syllable stood clear, repeated several times.</p> - -<p>"Jubb!" said the shadow. "Jubb! Jubb! Jubb!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>Jubb.</p> - -<p>It might have been a name, a curse, or a battle cry. Whatever it was, -the young couple did not like it. Their faces twisted into slim masks -of hate. They raised their guns at the shadow, and the shadow laughed. -Abruptly it bunched up small and shot at them.</p> - -<p>Durham heard them yell, in pain or fright or both, and he heard their -running feet, but he did not see what happened to them. He was going -away himself, down the narrow alley that Varnik and Baya were no longer -interested in blocking. When he reached the end of the alley he came -out onto a well lighted street with lots of people on it, but he still -did not feel safe.</p> - -<p>Varnik and Baya were not far away. Baya was leaning against a wall, -with her mouth wide open. She was not used to running. Varnik was -standing beside her looking sulky. He scowled at Durham when he came -out of the alley. Durham stopped, bracing himself and ready to yell for -help. But Varnik shook his head. "Nyuh!" he said.</p> - -<p>Baya panted. "What's the matter, you afraid?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Varnik. "Those two little green ones, they are not playing -for fun. And that black one—" He quivered all over. "I'm afraid. I see -you again, Baya."</p> - -<p>He went away. Baya was close onto tears, partly from her own fright, -partly from sheer fury and frustration. But she did not cry. She turned -and looked at Durham.</p> - -<p>"What got into you?" she said. "It was all set, and then you had to -louse it up." She cursed him. "It's just like you, Lloyd, to cost me a -nice chunk of money."</p> - -<p>"Who are those people, Baya?"</p> - -<p>"They didn't tell me. I didn't ask."</p> - -<p>"Total strangers, eh?"</p> - -<p>"Turned up this afternoon at my apartment. I should think you could -tell. They're not the type <i>I</i> run with."</p> - -<p>"No." He frowned, still breathing hard and wiping sweat from his face. -"How did they know about us?"</p> - -<p>She shrugged, and said maliciously, "Somebody must have told them. -Well, so long, Lloyd. I wish you all the luck you deserve."</p> - -<p>She walked off slowly, patting her hair into place, straightening the -line of her white dress. She did not look back. Durham watched her for -a second. Then he began to walk as fast as he could in the opposite -direction, keeping in the brightest lights. After a bit he found a -stairwalk. He rode up on it through two levels, and all the while the -roots of his hair were prickling and he was darting nervous glances -over his shoulder and into the air over his head.</p> - -<p>Jubb. Jubb. Jubb.</p> - -<p>He envied Varnik who could go away and forget the whole thing.</p> - -<p>It was still night when he reached the surface. The shadow did not -seem to have followed him, but how could you tell? Even a city as -brilliantly lighted as The Hub always has shadowy corners by night. He -kept listening for that high, flat, hooting voice. It did not speak to -him, and he hailed a skycab, appalled by how little time he had left to -catch the pre-dawn ferry.</p> - -<p>He made it with no minutes to spare. He found a place on the dark side -and settled himself for the four-hour run, and then everything caught -up to him at once and he began to shake. He sat there in the grip -of a violent reaction, living over again Hawtree's instructions and -the evening with Baya and the nightmare run through the underground -streets, and the coming of the shadow. <i>The darkbirds will soon fly.</i> -Was that enough for people to kill for? It might be if they had an -interest in those ships, but the young couple did not look the type. -And the shadow?</p> - -<p>He shivered and looked out the port. The long thin shadow of the ship -extended itself indefinitely into space, but all around it there was -light, and the curve of the planet below was a blaze of gold. Down -there was Hawtree and a big part of his life. Above and ahead was the -huge cool face of the moon, and that was the future, all unexplored. -Durham clenched his cold hands together between his knees and thought, -I've got to do this, stay sober and do it, a little for Hawtree but -mostly for myself. A man can't look at himself twice the way I did -tonight. Once is all he can stand. And once ought to be enough.</p> - -<p>The brightness blurred and swam. Presently he slept, and his dreams -were thronged with shadows hooting, "Jubb! Jubb! Jubb!"</p> - -<p>Four hours later Durham walked across the vast main rotunda of the -lunar spaceport, dropping his little bundle of passport and ticket -as casually as he could. He continued on to the newsstand and made a -pretense of looking over the half credit microbooks, waiting.</p> - -<p>While he waited he wondered. He wondered how the young couple had known -about Baya. He wondered what the shadow was and where it came from, and -why it had defended him from the young couple, and what was the meaning -of the rather ridiculous word "Jubb." He wondered if he wasn't crazy -not to pick up his ticket to Earth and use it.</p> - -<p>He wanted a drink very badly.</p> - -<p>A uniformed attendant came and said, "I think you dropped this, sir."</p> - -<p>He held out a passport with a ticket folded in it. Durham examined -them, put them in his pocket, and tipped the attendant, who went away. -Durham bought three microbooks and moved on. He could not see anybody -watching him, and he told himself it was only nerves that made the skin -creep on his back as though eyes were boring into it.</p> - -<p>The switch had been made all right on his papers. His name was now John -Mills Watson and he had a passage to Nanta Dik aboard the freighter -<i>Margaretta K</i>. He still wanted a drink. He was determined that he -would not go and get it, and he headed grimly for a stairwalk that led -down to the port cab system. He had almost stepped onto it, and then -from the loudspeakers all over the huge rotunda a voice boomed out, -saying,</p> - -<p>"Mr. Lloyd Durham, please come to the Information Desk."</p> - -<p>Durham flinched as though somebody had struck him. He thought, -Hawtree's sent word to recall me. Perhaps it was a trap.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He approached the desk cautiously, while his name continued to blare -forth from the loudspeakers. Somebody was standing there. A woman, with -her back to him. He had not seen that back for over a year, not since -the night of the accident, but he had not forgotten it.</p> - -<p>"Hello, Susan," he said.</p> - -<p>She turned around, and he added bitterly, "He needn't have sent <i>you</i>." -He was convinced now that she had come to call him back.</p> - -<p>She seemed surprised. "Who?"</p> - -<p>"Your father."</p> - -<p>"Dad? Good heavens, Lloyd, you don't suppose he knows I'm here!" She -was tall, as he remembered her, and handsome, and beautifully dressed, -and very self-assured. She smiled, one of those brittle things with no -humor in it, and then she asked, "How long have you before take-off?"</p> - -<p>Durham said slowly, "Time enough."</p> - -<p>"We can't talk here."</p> - -<p>"No. Come on, I'll buy you a drink."</p> - -<p>They walked in silence to the crowded, noisy spaceport bar. They found -a place and sat down. Durham ordered. Susan Hawtree sat opening and -closing her handbag as though the operation was of the most absorbing -interest.</p> - -<p>He asked, "Why did you come here?"</p> - -<p>"It seemed as though somebody ought to say good-bye."</p> - -<p>"Who told you I was leaving?"</p> - -<p>"I have a friend in the travel office. She tells me if anybody I know -books passage home."</p> - -<p>"Convenient."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>The drinks came. There was a clatter of voices, speaking in a thousand -tongues, laughing, crying, saying hello and good-bye and till we meet -again. Susan turned her glass round and round in her fingers, and -Durham watched her.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Lloyd. Sorry everything could not have turned out better."</p> - -<p>"Yes. So am I."</p> - -<p>"I hope you'll have better luck at home."</p> - -<p>"Thanks."</p> - -<p>Another silence in which Durham tried hard to figure her angle.</p> - -<p>He said, "I heard you tried to talk your father into giving me another -chance. Thanks for that."</p> - -<p>She stared at him blankly and shook her head. "You know how Dad feels -about you. I've never dared mention your name."</p> - -<p>A cold feeling settled in the pit of Durham's stomach. <i>There's -somebody else, Lloyd, who wanted you to have another chance.</i> Fatherly -intuition?</p> - -<p>Or a big fat lie?</p> - -<p>Let's face it, Durham, why would Hawtree send you on a mission to the -dog pound? There are ten billion people on The Hub. He could have found -somebody else.</p> - -<p>The whole business smells. It reeks.</p> - -<p>But wait. Suppose he sent Susan here to test me; to see if I'd talk? -Not too believable, but a pleasanter belief than the alternative. Let's -see.</p> - -<p>"Susan. Look, I can say this now because I'm going home and that's the -end of it. We won't see each other any more. I should never have got -engaged to Willa, I didn't love her. It was you all the time."</p> - -<p>He caught the quick glint of tears in her eyes and was appalled. Tears -for him? From Susan Hawtree?</p> - -<p>"That's why I went with you that night," she whispered. "I thought I -could take you from her. I thought I could make you be what you ought -to be—oh, damn you, Lloyd, I should never have come here!"</p> - -<p>She jumped up and walked rapidly away from the table. He followed her, -with his eyes and his mouth both wide open and something very strange -happening inside him.</p> - -<p>One thing sure. She was no plant.</p> - -<p>"Susan."</p> - -<p>"Don't you have to get aboard, or something?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, but—Susan, ride down with me, I want to talk to you."</p> - -<p>"There's nothing to talk about."</p> - -<p>But she went to the stairwalk with him, and rode down, her face turned -away and her head held so high she seemed to tower over him.</p> - -<p>"Susan," he said. "Do you think—could you give me—"</p> - -<p>No, that's not the gambit. But what do you say—Susan, I'm a changed -man. Susan, wait for me?</p> - -<p>The stairwalk slid them gently off onto a very long platform. There was -a crowd on it, sorting itself into the endless lines of purple monorail -taxis that moved along both sides.</p> - -<p>"Susan."</p> - -<p>"Good-bye, Lloyd."</p> - -<p>"No, wait a minute. Please. I don't know quite how—"</p> - -<p>Suddenly they were not alone. A young couple had joined them. The color -of their skin had changed from pale green to a warm burnt orange, -and their clothing was different, but Durham recognized them without -difficulty. A hard object prodded him in the side, and the young man, -smiling, said to him, "Get into that cab." The young woman, also -smiling, said to Susan Hawtree, "Don't scream. Keep perfectly quiet."</p> - -<p>Susan's face went white. She looked at Durham, and Durham said to the -young man, "Let her go, she has nothing to do with this!"</p> - -<p>"Get in the cab," said the young man. "Both of you."</p> - -<p>"I think," said Susan, "we'd better do it."</p> - -<p>They got in. The doors closed automatically behind them. The young man, -with his free hand, took out a ticket and laid it in the scanner slot, -with the code number of the ship's docking area uppermost. The taxi -clicked, hummed, and took off smoothly.</p> - -<p>Durham saw the ticket as the young man removed it from the scanner. It -was a passage to Nanta Dik aboard the freighter <i>Margaretta K</i>.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>The monorails came out onto the surface in bunches like very massive -cables and then began to branch out, the separate "wires" of the cables -eventually spreading into a network that covered the entire moon. The -taxi picked up speed, clicking over points as it swerved and swung, -feeling its way onto the one clear track that led where its scanner -had told it to go. Durham was aware obliquely of other monorail taxis -in uncountable numbers going like the devil in all directions, and of -other types of machines moving below on the surface, and of mobile -cranes that walked like buildings, and of a horizon filled with the -upthrust noses of great ships like the towers of some fantastic city. -Beside him Susan Hawtree sat, rigid and quivering, and before him on -the opposite seat were the two young people with the guns.</p> - -<p>Durham said, in a voice thick with anger and fright, "Why did you have -to drag her into it?"</p> - -<p>The man shrugged. "She is perhaps part of the conspiracy. In any case, -she would have made an alarm."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean, conspiracy? I'm going home to Earth. She came to say -good-bye—" Durham leaned forward. "You're the same two bastards from -last night. What do you—"</p> - -<p>"Please," said the man, contemptuously. He gestured with the gun. "You -will both sit still with your hands behind your heads. So, Wanbecq-ai -will search you. If either one should attempt to interfere, the other -will suffer for it."</p> - -<p>The wiry young woman did her work swiftly and efficiently. "No -weapons," she said. "Hai! Wanbecq, look here!" She began to gabble in a -strange tongue, pointing to Durham's passport and ticket, and then to -Susan's ID card. Wanbecq's narrow eyes narrowed still further.</p> - -<p>"So," he said to Durham. "Your name has changed since yesterday, Mr. -Watson. And for one who returns to Sol III, you choose a long way -around."</p> - -<p>Susan stared hard at Durham. "What's he talking about?"</p> - -<p>"Never mind. Listen, you—Wanbecq, is that your name? Miss Hawtree has -nothing to do with any of this. Her father—"</p> - -<p>"Is a part of the embassy which sent you out," said Wanbecq, flicking -Susan's ID card with his finger. "Do not expect me to believe -foolishness, Mr. Watson-Durham." He spoke rapidly to Wanbecq-ai. She -nodded, and they both turned to Susan.</p> - -<p>"Obviously you were sent with instructions for Mr. Durham. Will you -tell us now what they were?"</p> - -<p>Susan's face was such a blank of amazement that Durham would have -laughed if the situation had not been so extremely unfunny.</p> - -<p>"Nobody sent me with anything. Nobody even knows I came. Lloyd, are -these people crazy? Are you crazy? What's going on here?"</p> - -<p>He said, "I'm not sure myself. But I think there are only two -possibilities. One, your father is a scoundrel. Two, he's a fool being -used by scoundrels. Take your pick. In either case, I'm the goat."</p> - -<p>Her white cheeks turned absolutely crimson. She tried twice to say -something to Durham. Then she turned and said to the Wanbecqs, "I've -had enough of this. Let me out."</p> - -<p>They merely glanced at her and went on talking.</p> - -<p>"You might as well relax," said Durham to her, in colloquial English, -hoping the Wanbecqs could not understand it. "I'm sorry you got into -this, and I'll try to get you out, but don't do anything silly."</p> - -<p>She called him a name she had never learned in the Embassy drawing -rooms. There was a manual switch recessed in the body of the taxi, high -up, and sealed in with a special plastic. It said EMERGENCY on it. -Susan took off her shoe and swung.</p> - -<p>The plastic shattered. Susan dropped the shoe and grabbed for the -switch. Wanbecq yelled. Wanbecq-ai leaped headlong for Susan and bore -her back onto the seat. She was using her gun flatwise in her hand, -solely as a club. Susan let out one furious wail.</p> - -<p>And Durham, moving more by instinct than by conscious thought, grabbed -Wanbecq-ai's uplifted arm and pulled her over squalling onto his lap.</p> - -<p>Wanbecq started forward from the opposite seat.</p> - -<p>"Don't," said Durham. He had Wanbecq-ai's wrist in one hand and her -neck in the other, and he was not being gentle. Wanbecq-ai covered him, -and the two of them together covered Susan. Wanbecq stood with his -knees bent for a spring, his gun flicking back and forth uncertainly. -Wanbecq-ai had stopped squalling. Her face was turning dark. Susan -huddled where she was, half stunned. Durham shifted his grip on -Wanbecq-ai's arm and got the gun into his own hand.</p> - -<p>"Now," he said to Wanbecq. "Drop it."</p> - -<p>Wanbecq dropped it.</p> - -<p>Durham scrabbled it in with his heel until it was between his own feet. -Then he heaved Wanbecq-ai forcibly at her husband. It was like heaving -a rag doll, and while Wanbecq was dealing with her Durham managed to -pick up the other gun.</p> - -<p>Susan lifted her head. She looked around with glassy eyes and then, -with single-minded persistence, she got up.</p> - -<p>Durham said sharply, "Sit down!"</p> - -<p>Susan reached up for the emergency.</p> - -<p>Durham smacked her across the stomach with the back of his left hand, -not daring to take his eyes off the Wanbecqs. She doubled over it and -sat down again. Durham said, "All right now, damn it, all of you—sit -still!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The taxi sped on its humming rail, farther and farther into the reaches -of the spaceport. Below there were the wide clear spaces of the landing -aprons, and great ships standing in them, their tails down and their -noses high in the air, high above the monorail, towering over the -freight belts and the multitude of machines that served them.</p> - -<p>Ahead there was the onracing edge of twilight, and beyond it, coming -swiftly, was the lunar night.</p> - -<p>Durham said to Wanbecq, "What's this all about?"</p> - -<p>Wanbecq sneered.</p> - -<p>"You know," said Durham, "there's a law against changing the color of -your skin for the purpose of committing criminal acts. That's so the -wrong people won't get blamed. There's a law against carrying lethal -weapons. There is even, humorously enough, a law against espionage on -The Hub. You know I'm going to turn you over to the authorities?"</p> - -<p>Again Wanbecq sneered. He was a hateful little man, but he looked so -young and so proudly martyred that Durham almost felt sorry for him.</p> - -<p>Almost. Not quite.</p> - -<p>"On second thought," he said, "I guess I'll save you both for Jubb."</p> - -<p>That was a random shot, prompted by the memory of how their faces -looked when the shadow-thing had squealed that word at them. It hit. -Wanbecq's face became distorted with a fanatic hatred, and Wanbecq-ai, -rubbing her throat, croaked, "Then you <i>are</i> in league with The Beast."</p> - -<p>She pronounced that name with unmistakable capitals.</p> - -<p>"Who said I was?" asked Durham.</p> - -<p>"The darkbird came to help you. It told us Jubb had claimed you."</p> - -<p>"It did," said Durham softly, "did it?" The dark birds will soon fly. -The dark birds merely refer to a couple of ships engaged in poaching. -That's what you say, Mr. Hawtree.</p> - -<p>"What is a darkbird? You mean that shadow thing?"</p> - -<p>"They are the servants, the familiars of The Beast," said Wanbecq. "The -instruments by which he hopes to enslave all humanity. Do not pretend, -Mr. Durham."</p> - -<p>"I'm not. This Jubb—what is he beside The Beast?"</p> - -<p>Wanbecq stared at him, and Durham made a menacing gesture. "Come on, I -want to know."</p> - -<p>"Jubb is the ruler of Senya Dik."</p> - -<p>"And Senya Dik?"</p> - -<p>"Our sister planet. A dark and evil sister, plotting our destruction. A -demon sister, Mr. Durham. Have you ever heard of the Bitter Star?"</p> - -<p>"I never heard of any of it but I find it very interesting. Go on."</p> - -<p>"Whoever controls the darkbirds controls the Star, and whoever controls -the Star can destroy anything he wishes. This is Jubb." Wanbecq thrust -out his hands. "You're human, Mr. Durham. If you have sold your soul, -take it back again. Fight with us, not against us."</p> - -<p>"I assume," said Durham, "that Jubb is not human."</p> - -<p>Wanbecq-ai made an abrupt sound of disgust. "This is silly, Mr. Durham. -If you know so little why are you going to Nanta Dik at all?"</p> - -<p>Durham did not answer. He did not have any answer to that one. Wondered -if ever he would have it.</p> - -<p>"If you are so ignorant," continued Wanbecq-ai viciously, "of course -you don't know that the Terran consul Karlovic is over his head -in intrigue, conniving with Jubb in order to make this treaty of -Federation."</p> - -<p>Durham sat up straight. "A treaty of <i>what</i>?"</p> - -<p>"The sector," said Wanbecq slowly, "will belong either to the human -race or to the beast, but it cannot belong to both."</p> - -<p>"Federation," said Durham, answering his own question. And suddenly -many formless things began to fit together into a shape that was still -cloudy but had a sinister solidity. In order for a solar system to -become a member of the Federation its member planets were required -to have achieved unity among themselves, with common citizenship, a -common council, common laws. And in order for a sub-sector to become -federated, all its solar systems must have reached a like accord.</p> - -<p>In this case, since the system of the two Diks was the only inhabited -one in the sub-sector, the two things were the same. The fate of 9G -rested solely on the behavior of two planets.</p> - -<p>If 9G remained unfederated, the company or companies engaged in mining -or other business under local license could continue to operate in -almost any way they chose as long as they kept the local officials -happy. They could strip the whole area of its mineral resources, pile -up incredible fortunes, and leave the native worlds with nothing. -But if 9G became a member of the Federation, Federation law would -immediately step in, and Federation enforcement of same, and if there -were any abuses of native rights, the people responsible would suffer -for it.</p> - -<p>Postulate a company. Postulate a connection between it and Hawtree. -Postulate and postulate.</p> - -<p>At around three hundred miles an hour the taxi plunged into the -twilight zone. Light sprang on automatically. Outside it became dark -very swiftly, and the darkness roared, and glittered with a million -lamps.</p> - -<p>"Who," asked Durham, "is principally against your two worlds uniting so -that the treaty can go through?"</p> - -<p>"All of us," said Wanbecq fiercely. "Shall we give up our rights, our -independence, our human institutions, everything our race has stood -for—"</p> - -<p>Wanbecq-ai cried out, "We will never unite, never! No one can force us -to betray our species!"</p> - -<p>Susan began to cry.</p> - -<p>"Please," said Durham. "Baby. You're all right."</p> - -<p>"You hit me."</p> - -<p>"I had to. I'll apologize later. Be quiet now, Susan, please." He -turned back to the Wanbecqs. "Everybody on Nanta Dik feels that way?"</p> - -<p>"There are traitors everywhere," said Wanbecq darkly. "Some of them, -unfortunately, are in positions of power."</p> - -<p>"They won't be for long," said Wanbecq-ai. "Look here, Mr. Durham, -you're going to Nanta Dik with a message. We aren't the only ones who -want to know what it is. Jubb has sent a darkbird for you. Take my -advice. Tell us your message and go back to The Hub."</p> - -<p>Susan said in a nasty muffled voice, "You're insane. Nobody would trust -him with a message to the milkman. He lost his job because he couldn't -be trusted."</p> - -<p>Without rancor, Durham said, "You're absolutely right, darling. And -wouldn't it be strangely fitting if that's why I got my job back -again?" He said to the Wanbecqs, "Somebody tipped you off about me. -Who?"</p> - -<p>"We know him only as a friend of humanity."</p> - -<p>"Somebody must have sent you here from Nanta Dik."</p> - -<p>"On our world there are many friends of humanity. Think of them, Mr. -Durham, when you kiss the Bitter Star."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The taxi slowed, strongly, smoothly. The blurred panorama of lights and -ships became separable into individual shapes. Durham stared out ahead. -There was the squat form of a freighter, ugly and immensely powerful, -on a landing apron only partially lighted. The <i>Margaretta K</i>.</p> - -<p>Durham asked, "Who owns her?"</p> - -<p>"Universal Minerals."</p> - -<p>"And who owns Universal Minerals?"</p> - -<p>"Several people, I think, all Earthmen."</p> - -<p>"Who speaks for Universal Minerals on Nanta Dik?"</p> - -<p>A little reluctantly, Wanbecq said "There is a man named Morrison."</p> - -<p>The name rang no bell in Durham's mind. It brought no visible reaction -to Susan's face either, though he was watching it closely.</p> - -<p>"And how," he asked, "does Morrison feel about humanity?"</p> - -<p>"Ask the Bitter Star," said Wanbecq, and the taxi slid to a halt beside -the platform on which Durham now saw that several men were standing. -Wanbecq and Wanbecq-ai hunched forward expectantly.</p> - -<p>"No," said Durham. "I'm getting out, but you're not." He nudged Susan. -"Get ready."</p> - -<p>The doors slid open automatically. Susan scrambled out. Durham went -right behind her, twisted like a cat in the opening, and splashed a -brief warning blast off the floor at the feet of the Wanbecqs, who had -raised a frantic cry and were trying to follow.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Susan said breathlessly, "Oh!"</p> - -<p>The men who had been standing on the platform were now rushing forward. -Three were lean and butter-colored. One was a burly Earthman, who said -in a tone of amazement, "What the hell—"</p> - -<p>"Hold it!" Durham shouted. He swept Susan behind him and tried to cover -all fronts at once, not knowing whether the men were there to capture -him or were only there by chance and responding to the Wanbecqs' cry -for help. "These people attacked us. I have passage on your ship—"</p> - -<p>From out of the night there came a shrill, flat, hooting cry of "Jubb! -Jubb! Jubb!"</p> - -<p>The butter-colored men yelled. They scattered away and out, their -feet scrabbling on the platform. The Earthman was slower and more -belligerent. He turned around and the spiky little blob of darkness -came leaping at him. He put up his hands and struck at it, and the -darkbird hooted as the fists passed through it, crackling. The Earthman -opened his mouth in a round shocked O and went rigid, rising up on the -tips of his toes. The darkbird seemed to merge with his skull for the -fraction of a second, and he crumpled down with his mouth still open -and his chest rising and falling heavily. The darkbird swooped toward -Durham.</p> - -<p>Durham fired at it.</p> - -<p>It soaked up part of the beam and left the rest, like a well-fed cat -rejecting an overplus of milk. It darted past Durham and into the -taxi, where it bounced agilely, once and twice. Wanbecq and Wanbecq-ai -fell down on the floor. The doors closed softly and the taxi mechanism -whirred and the rail hummed as it took off, heading back to the main -terminal. The darkbird returned to Durham.</p> - -<p>Susan said in a strange voice, "What is that?"</p> - -<p>"Never mind now. Come on."</p> - -<p>He started to drag her toward the ramp that led down from the platform. -She fought him. She was getting hysterical, and he didn't blame her. -The darkbird followed along behind. When they reached the level, Susan -planted her feet mulishly and refused to go any farther.</p> - -<p>"I don't dare leave you alone out here," he said desperately. "Come -along to the ship and the captain will see that you get back safely—"</p> - -<p>The darkbird circled and dived at Susan. She bolted. It dived at -Durham. He bolted too, off to the right, to the edge of the apron, -where he caught up with Susan again. They ran between the storage -sheds, onto a spur of the freight-belt system. It was still now, not -carrying any freight. They tried to run across it to the other side, -but the darkbird drove them back. It was immediately apparent, of -course, that the thing was herding them. He shouted at it to let Susan -alone, but it did not pay any attention to him. And he thought, it -wants us to go somewhere, so it won't knock us out. Maybe? It's worth a -try.</p> - -<p>He took Susan and jumped off the belt and ran.</p> - -<p>The darkbird touched him, ever so gently. He tried to yell, gave up, -and tottered back where it wanted him to go, with every nerve in him -pulled taut and twangling in a horrible half-pleasurable fashion that -made his legs and arms move unnaturally, as though he were dancing. The -darkbird followed, once again placid and unconcerned.</p> - -<p>They went along the belt for some distance. It was limber, sagging a -bit between the giant rollers, and it boomed under their feet with a -sharp slapping sound. Susan stumbled so often he picked her up and -carried her. There was nobody to call to, nobody to ask for help. The -towering ships were far away.</p> - -<p>The darkbird nudged him again at last, out across a landing apron where -a very strange looking ship stood in the solitary majesty of impending -take-off. The flood lights were blinking at twenty-second intervals, -visual warning to stand clear, and Durham ran staggering as through a -strobo-scopic nightmare, with the white-faced girl in his arms.</p> - -<p>Dark, light. Black, bright. A haze of exhaustion swam before his eyes. -Things moved in it, jerky shapes in an old film, in an antique penny -peep show. Day, night. Dark, bright. The things moved closer, unhuman -things clad in fantastic pressure suits. Durham screamed.</p> - -<p>He tried to run again, and the darkbird touched him. Once more there -was the unbearable twitching of the nerves and he danced in the black, -bright, day, night. He danced into a large box that was waiting for -him, and he kept going until he struck the end wall of hard metal. He -turned then, and saw the very thick door go sighing shut and the dogs -go slipping into place snick-snick one after the other, and it was too -late even to try to get out again.</p> - -<p>He set Susan down as gently as he could and sank down beside her. The -floor moved up under him sharply. There was a bonging and clattering -of tackle overhead, and then a sickening sidewise lurch. The on-off -pattern of the light changed outside the two round windows that were in -the box. It became a steady green, in which his hands showed like two -sickly-white butterflies on his knees. There were more noises, hollow -and far away, and then a second lurch, a lift, a drop, and after that -a larger motion encompassing the box and the entire locus in which it -stood.</p> - -<p>Durham put his face in his hands and gave up.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>Susan was screaming. Let me out, let me out. She was pounding on -something. Durham started up. He must have slept or passed out. The box -was perfectly still now. There was no sense of motion. But he could -tell by the change in gravity that the ship was in space.</p> - -<p>Susan was by one of the windows. She was pounding on it with her -favorite implement, the heel of her shoe. Durham went to her and -glanced out. Cold sweat broke out on him, and he grabbed her hand.</p> - -<p>"Stop it! Are you crazy?" He wrenched the shoe from her and threw it -across the small space of the box. Then he felt of the glass, peering -at it, frantic lest she should have cracked it.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to get out," said Susan grimly, and groped around for -something heavier.</p> - -<p>"Look." He shook her and turned her face to the window. "Do you see -that air out there?"</p> - -<p>The box now stood in a large empty hold. He could see the curve of the -ship's hull, ribbed with tremendous struts of steel, and a deck of -metal plates, glistening in the green light. <i>Green</i> light? Earth ships -have a yellow-white type light, the kind that the sun gives off. Well, -yes—but suppose that the sun was green?</p> - -<p>Nanta Dik circles a green star.</p> - -<p>So does Senya Dik. Those creatures outside the ship were anything but -humanoid. Jubb's darkbird herded us in here. Easy. Now we know.</p> - -<p>"What about the air?" asked Susan. "Let go of me."</p> - -<p>"It's poisonous. Can't you tell by looking at it?" It rolled and -roiled and sluggishly shifted in vapors of thick chartreuse and vivid -green. "And don't you remember, they were wearing pressure suits? They -couldn't live in our atmosphere. We surely couldn't live in theirs."</p> - -<p>There was no answer.</p> - -<p>"Susan. Susan?"</p> - -<p>"I want to go home," she said, and began to cry.</p> - -<p>"There now, Susie. Take it—"</p> - -<p>"Don't call me Susie!"</p> - -<p>"All right, but take it easy. I'll find out what the situation is and -then I'll—"</p> - -<p>"You'll what? You'll make a mess of things just like you always have. -You'll get me into more trouble, just like you got me into this. You're -no good, Lloyd, and I wish I'd never seen you. I wish I'd never come to -say good-bye!" She rushed to the window and began to pound on it again, -this time with her fists.</p> - -<p>Durham hauled her away and shook her until her jaw rattled together. -"I'm sorry you came too," he said savagely. "You're the last person in -the galaxy I'd pick to be in trouble with. A damned spoiled female with -no honesty, no courage, no nothing but your father's position to trade -on." He wrapped his arms tight around her. "Hell, this is no time to be -quarrelling. Let's both keep our mouths shut. Come on, honey, we're not -dead yet."</p> - -<p>She choked a little, and stood trembling against him. Then she said,</p> - -<p>"I think I fell over a chair a while ago. Maybe there's a lamp. Let's -look."</p> - -<p>The green light was dim, but their eyes were used to it. They found a -lamp and turned it on. The box was flooded with a clear white glare, -very grateful to Earthly senses. Durham looked around and said slowly, -"I'll be damned."</p> - -<p>The box was about the size of a small room. It had in it an armchair, -a bunk, compact cupboards and lockers, a sink and hotplate, and a -curtained-off corner with a sanitary device. Durham turned on one of -the sink taps. Water came out. He turned it off and went and sat down -in the armchair.</p> - -<p>"I'm damned," he said again.</p> - -<p>"Freezer," said Susan, looking into things. "Food concentrates. Pots -and pans. Blanket. Change of clothes—all men's. Booze, two bottles of -it. Rack of microbooks. Somebody went to a lot of trouble."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Pretty comfortable. Everything you need, all self-contained."</p> - -<p>"Uh."</p> - -<p>"But Lloyd—it's only for one."</p> - -<p>He said dismally, "We'll take turns on the bunk." But it wasn't the -bunk that worried him. He went and looked out of the other window. By -craning his head he could see an assembly of storage tanks, pressure -tanks, pumps, purifiers, blower units, all tightly sealed against any -admixture of Senyan air. That, too, was only for one. A most ghastly -claustrophobia came over Durham, and for a moment he saw Susan, not as -a spoiled and pretty girl, but as his rival for the oxygen that was -life.</p> - -<p>Susan said, "Lloyd. Something is coming in."</p> - -<p>For an instant he thought she meant into the box, and then he realized -that the reverberating clang he heard must be the hatch door of the -hold. He joined her at the opposite window.</p> - -<p>There were two—no, three dark shapes coming toward the box, moving -swiftly through the green and chartreuse vapors. They undulated on two -pairs of stubby legs set fore and aft under a flexible lower body. -Their upper bodies, carried erect, were rather bulbous and tall, with -well-defined heads and two sets of specialized arms, the lower ones -thick and powerful for heavy work, the upper ones as delicate as an -engraver's fine tools. Their skin was a glossy black, almost like -patent leather. They wore neat harnesses of what looked like metal -webbing in the way of dress, and on the breast strap each one carried -an insigne.</p> - -<p>"Ship's officers," Durham guessed. "Probably one of them's the -captain."</p> - -<p>"They're horrible," said Susan. She backed away from the window until -the end of the bunk caught her behind the knees and she sat down.</p> - -<p>Durham laughed. "Fine pair of cosmopolites we are. We're used to the -idea of non-humanoids. There are a lot of them on The Hub, but they're -mostly segregated by necessity, so we practically never really see any. -But now we're the ones who have to be segregated. And the reality is -quite another thing from the idea, isn't it?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He backed away himself, a step or two, until shame made him stop. The -three non-humanoids came and looked with large iridescent eyes, through -the window. Their oddly shaped mouths moved rapidly, so he knew that -they were talking, and their slender upper arms were as mobile and -expressive as the hands of so many girls at a sorority tea. Then one -of them turned and did something to the wall of the box, and suddenly -Durham could hear them clearly. There was a speaker device beside the -window. Durham sprang at it.</p> - -<p>"Can you hear me? Can you hear me out there? Listen, you have no right -to do this, you've got to take us back! Miss Hawtree is the daughter -of—"</p> - -<p>"Mr. Durham." The voice was unhuman but strong, and the esperanto it -spoke was perfectly understandable. "Please calm yourself and listen to -what I have to say. I appreciate your feelings—"</p> - -<p>"Hah!"</p> - -<p>"—but there is nothing I can do about it. I have my orders, and I can -assure you—"</p> - -<p>"From Jubb?"</p> - -<p>"You'll be fully informed when you reach Senya Dik. Meanwhile, I can -assure you that no harm will come to you, now or later. So please put -your fears at rest. A little patience—"</p> - -<p>Susan had leaped up. Now she flung herself upon the speaker mike. "What -about me?"</p> - -<p>"Your presence was unexpected, and I fear it's going to be rather -difficult for you both. But you must make the best of it. In regard -to air and water, I must caution you that the supply will hardly be -adequate for you both unless you are extremely careful."</p> - -<p>This had not occurred to Susan before. "You mean—"</p> - -<p>"I mean that you must use no more water than is absolutely necessary -for drinking and preparing your food. The food you must share between -you, on half rations. As for the air—"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Durham. "What about the air?"</p> - -<p>"I believe that activity has the effect of increasing your metabolism, -thereby consuming more oxygen. So I would advise you both to move and -speak as little as possible. Remain calm. Remain quiet. In that way -you should be able to survive. It is not that we are grudging. It is -simply that we cannot share any of our supplies with you, because you -are alien life forms and totally incompatible. If we had known there -would be two, we would have prepared. As it is, you must work together -to conserve."</p> - -<p>"But," said Susan, "but this isn't fair, it isn't right! You'll take me -back or my father will see to it—"</p> - -<p>"Keep this speaker open," said the Senyan, "so that you will be sure to -hear the audio signal, a sustained note repeated at intervals of forty -seconds. Prepare to enter overdrive."</p> - -<p>He did not say good-bye. He merely went away with his two officers. -Susan screamed after them. Durham clapped his hand over her mouth, and -took her forcibly and put her on the bunk.</p> - -<p>"Lie there," he said. "Quiet. Didn't you hear him? Don't move, don't -talk."</p> - -<p>He sat down in the chair, consciously trying not to breathe deeply.</p> - -<p>"But—"</p> - -<p>"Shut up."</p> - -<p>"Don't you say shut up to me, Lloyd. This is all your fault."</p> - -<p>"My fault? Mine? Because you had to shove yourself in—"</p> - -<p>"Shove myself? Father was right about you. And it is your fault. If you -hadn't asked me to ride down with you—"</p> - -<p>"Oh, shut up, damn it, that's just like a woman! If you knew your next -breath was your last one you'd still have to use it for talk. You want -to asphyxiate us both with your gabbling?"</p> - -<p>She was quiet for a long while. Then he realized that she was crying.</p> - -<p>"Lloyd, I'm scared."</p> - -<p>"So am I." He began to laugh. "When I come to think of it, it was your -father that got us both into this. I hope he sweats blood in great gory -streams."</p> - -<p>"You're a drunken ungrateful swine! If dad really did give you another -chance—"</p> - -<p>"Ah ah! Remember the oxygen! He did. And I was such a fatheaded idiot -I thought it was on the level. I even reformed." He laughed again, -briefly. "Overcome with gratitude, I did exactly what I was supposed -not to do. I sobered up and held my tongue."</p> - -<p>"I don't understand at all."</p> - -<p>"I was supposed to talk, Susan. I was given a message, and I was -supposed to babble it all over The Hub. I don't know exactly what that -message was intended to trigger off when it got into circulation. -Probably a war. But I'll bet I know what I triggered off by not -talking. Trouble for your old man."</p> - -<p>"I don't believe a word of it."</p> - -<p>Durham shrugged. It was very little effort to reach out and lift a -bottle from a nearby cupboard. He opened it and took a long pull. Then -he looked at the bottle, shook his head, and passed it to Susan.</p> - -<p>She made a derisive noise, and he shrugged again.</p> - -<p>"That's right. Funny thing. First I was stricken with remorse and -determined to be worthy. Now I'm just mad. Before I get through, I'm -going to hang your father higher than Haman."</p> - -<p>The audio signal, shrill and insistent and sounding somehow as unhuman -as the voices of the Senyans, came piercingly through the speaker.</p> - -<p>Susan gasped. "Wherever they're taking us—they're not going to kill -us, are they?"</p> - -<p>"I think they want to question us. I think some dirty work is going -on, one of those million-credit-swindle things you hear about once in -a while, and I think your father is right up to his neck in it. If I'm -right, that's the chief reason you were brought along."</p> - -<p>"I think you're a dirty low down liar," she said, in a voice he could -hardly hear.</p> - -<p>The signal continued to squeal. Durham moved to the bunk.</p> - -<p>"Slide over."</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>But she did not fight him when he pushed himself in beside her and took -her in his arms.</p> - -<p>"The haughty Miss Hawtree," he said, and smiled. "You're a mess. Hair -in your eyes. Make-up all smeared. Tears dripping off the end of your -nose."</p> - -<p>The light dimmed, became strange and eerie.</p> - -<p>"They could have made this damned bunk a little wider."</p> - -<p>"It doesn't matter. After a trip like this, I won't have any reputation -left, anyway. Nobody would believe me on oath."</p> - -<p>The fabric of the ship shifted, strained, slipped, moved. The fabric of -Durham's body did likewise. He set his teeth and said,</p> - -<p>"Don't worry, dear. I can always ask the captain to marry us."</p> - -<p>By the time the audio-signal shrilled again, heralding a return to -solar system speeds and space, it seemed that ages had passed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They did not talk about marriage now, even in jest. They hated each -other. "Cabin fever," they had said politely for a while, making -excuses. But they did not bother with excuses any more. They just had -simply and quietly loathed each other, as the long, timeless time went -by.</p> - -<p>Pity, too, thought Durham, looking at Susan where she lay in the bunk. -She's really a handsome wench, even without all the makeup and the -hairdo and those incredible undergarments that women use, as though -they were semi-liquescent. Just lying there in her slip now, she looks -younger, gentler, nice and soft, as though she'd be pleasant to hold -in your arms again if you had the strength and the oxygen and if you -didn't hate her so.</p> - -<p>"Lloyd?"</p> - -<p>"Huh?"</p> - -<p>"How long before we land?"</p> - -<p>"How should I know?"</p> - -<p>"Well, you could find out."</p> - -<p>"You find out. You can yell as loud as I can. Louder."</p> - -<p>"I'll yell," said Susan ominously. "The second I get out of here, I'll -yell so loud the whole galaxy will hear me."</p> - -<p>"I should think they've already heard you clear out to Andromeda."</p> - -<p>The lights dimmed. The peculiar noises and wrenchings that went with -coming out of overdrive began. Durham braced himself.</p> - -<p>"It's too bad you reformed," said Susan. "You used to be amusing -company, at least. Now you're sour and bad tempered. You're also—"</p> - -<p>What he was also Durham never heard. There was a crashing, roaring, -rending impact. The chair went out from under him so that he fell face -up into the ceiling. The lights went out entirely. He heard a thin -faint sound that might have been Susan screaming. Then the ceiling slid -away from him and spilled him down a wall. As he went scrabbling past -the window he looked out and saw that there were now long vertical -rents in the outer hull through which the stars were shining.</p> - -<p>The pumps had stopped.</p> - -<p>A long settling groan and then silence. The antigrav field was dead. -Durham floated, along with everything else that was not bolted down.</p> - -<p>"Susan," he said. "Susan?"</p> - -<p>"Here."</p> - -<p>They met and clung together in mid air while the hull began a slow -axial rotation around them.</p> - -<p>"What happened?"</p> - -<p>"We hit something."</p> - -<p>"The Senyans—"</p> - -<p>"They must all be done for. The hull is split open. Head-on ram, I -think, just as we came out of overdrive. They wouldn't have had time to -get space armor."</p> - -<p>"Then are we—"</p> - -<p>"Hush. Don't talk. Just wait and see."</p> - -<p>They clung together, silent. The hull turned without sound, and the -stars shone in through the long slits, into the empty vacuum of the -hold.</p> - -<p>"Lloyd, I can't breathe."</p> - -<p>"Yes you can. We still have as much air as ever. It just isn't -circulating now."</p> - -<p>"I don't know if I can stand this, Lloyd. It's such an awful way."</p> - -<p>"There isn't any way that's good. It won't be so bad, really. You'll -just go off to sleep."</p> - -<p>"Hold onto me?"</p> - -<p>"Sure."</p> - -<p>"Lloyd."</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry."</p> - -<p>"So am I."</p> - -<p>The hull turned and the stars glittered. The vitiated air grew foul, -grew thick and leaden. The man and woman floated in the closed space, -their arms tight around each other, their faces close together.</p> - -<p>Something jarred against the hull.</p> - -<p>"Lloyd! I see a light!"</p> - -<p>"It's only a star."</p> - -<p>"No. Look through the window. Moving—"</p> - -<p>Men, humans, wearing pressure suits, had come into the hull. Two of -them were dragging oxygen bottles. They came up to the box and flashed -their lights in through the windows. They knocked and made reassuring -signs. After a minute or two fresh oxygen hissed in under pressure -through the air duct. Susan laughed a little and then fainted. Durham -still held her in his arms. Everything got pleasantly dark and far -away, lost in the single simple joy of breathing.</p> - -<p>There were sounds and motions but he did not pay much attention to -them, and he was mildly surprised when he happened to float past a -window and noticed that now there was only space outside, very large -and full of hot and splendid lights. When he passed the other window he -saw part of a ship, and he understood that the box was being hoisted -across the interval between it and the wreck. It seemed a remarkably -kind dispensation of fortune to have provided a ship at exactly the -right time and place, and not just any ship but one equipped with the -specialized tackle required for moving heavy loads in space.</p> - -<p>A mighty cargo hatch swallowed the box. Susan came to, and they waited, -weakly hysterical, Durham not even noticing that a spiky shadow had -slipped in with the box. Suddenly again there was man-made light, and -then the sound of heavy air pumps reached them. The pumps stopped, and, -quite simply, men came in and opened the door of the box.</p> - -<p>There was a considerable noise and confusion, everybody talking at -once. Durham lost track of Susan. He was only partly conscious of -what he was doing, but he felt that everybody was in a hurry to get -something done. Then there was a cabin with a port in it, and beyond -the port there was space, and in that space a great light flared -blindingly and was gone.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VI</p> - -<p>Morrison said, "Murder is a harsh word, Durham. After all, they weren't -human."</p> - -<p>"There's no such difference under Federation law."</p> - -<p>"We're not under Federation law here."</p> - -<p>"No. And you're engaged in a life-or-death struggle to make sure you -don't come under it. This happened to be one of the death parts."</p> - -<p>Morrison looked at him in mild surprise. "You figured that out, -Durham?" He was a lean gray, kindly looking man, the conventional -father type. Susan was staring at him in blank horror, as though she -could not believe what she was hearing. "I wasn't told you were that -bright. Well, you're right. Universal Minerals and its various dummy -corporations in this sub-sector are making such profits as you wouldn't -believe if I told you, and we have no intention of giving it up."</p> - -<p>"Even if you have to slaughter a whole ship's crew. What did you do, -tow an asteroid into position?"</p> - -<p>Morrison shrugged. "Special debris is not uncommon."</p> - -<p>"You could have killed us, too, you know," Durham said angrily. "You -could have killed her. Hawtree wouldn't have liked that."</p> - -<p>"It was a risk we had to take. It was a reasonably small one." He -looked Durham up and down. "You made us one whale of a mess of trouble. -If my yacht wasn't a good bit faster than Jubb's ship, we'd have been -whipped. What happened to you? Why didn't you talk like you were -supposed to?"</p> - -<p>"You'd die laughing."</p> - -<p>"I can control my emotions. Go ahead."</p> - -<p>Durham told him. "Virtue," he finished sourly, "is sure enough its -own reward. I should have stayed drunk. I was happier that way. What -happened to the Wanbecqs?"</p> - -<p>Morrison was still laughing. "They had not come to when their taxi -reached the terminus. The port police picked them up." He took a bottle -out of a locker and pushed it and a glass across the cabin table to -Durham. "Here. You've earned it. Wait till I tell Hawtree. And he was -so sure of you. Just goes to show you can't trust anybody."</p> - -<p>Susan said, "But <i>why</i>?" Shock was making her mind move slowly. It was -a minute before they realized she was referring to the Senyan ship.</p> - -<p>She added, very slowly, "It's true about my father?"</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid it is," said Morrison. "But I wouldn't worry about it too -much. He's a very rich man. He's also a shrewd one, and it looks now as -though he's going to be all right. Give her a drink, Durham, she needs -it. Would you like to lie down, Miss Hawtree? All right, then, I'll -tell you why."</p> - -<p>He leaned over her with no look of kindness at all. "Get this all -clearly in mind, Miss Hawtree, so you'll understand that if at any -time you try to hang me, you'll hang your father too. We're partners, -equally guilty. You understand that."</p> - -<p>"Yes." She looked so white that Durham was frightened. But she sat -quietly and listened.</p> - -<p>"For years now," Morrison said, "I have managed the company here, and -Hawtree has used his position with the Embassy to see that I have a -free hand. He sees that no complaints get to ears higher up. He sees -that any annoying red tape is taken care of. Most important of all, -he sees that any official communication from either of the Diks that -might be unfavorable to us is permanently lost in the files—including -all requests for aid in achieving Federation status. Our connection, -naturally, is one of the best kept secrets in the galaxy.</p> - -<p>"We had very easy sailing until Jubb rose to power on Senya Dik. Jubb -is an able leader. He knows what's happening to the resources of the -sector, and he knows the only way to put a stop to it. Unfortunately -for us, all the leaders on Nanta Dik aren't fools either, and there is -a growing movement toward unification. Jubb has pushed it and pushed -it, so that we've been forced to take more and more vigorous steps. -The human supremacy groups, made up of such people as the Wanbecqs, -have been very useful. And of course Senya Dik has its lunatic fringe -too, in reverse but equally useful. But Jubb started a campaign of -petitioning the Embassy. He poured it on so hard that Hawtree knew -he wasn't going to be able to pigeonhole all the petitions forever. -Furthermore, it was obvious that Jubb knew there must be collusion -somewhere and was hammering away to find it. So Hawtree sent for me."</p> - -<p>"And," said Durham, "you said, 'Let's start a war between the two -planets. Then unification can't possibly take place, and Jubb will have -too much on his hands to bother us.' Maybe he'll even be eliminated. -And you went looking for a goat."</p> - -<p>"Exactly. You were given a message about dark birds that would have -significance only to a Nantan. The Wanbecqs were put on your trail. All -you had to do was talk."</p> - -<p>"What if I had talked too much?"</p> - -<p>"How could you? You didn't know anything. And Hawtree's story would be -that he had simply given you passage home, which you had bought."</p> - -<p>"And anyway," said Durham thoughtfully, "I would have been either dead -in an alley somewhere, or aboard a ship going to Nanta Dik—which I -would not have reached."</p> - -<p>"It was a flexible situation."</p> - -<p>Susan said, "Then you admit that you—" She could not finish.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Morrison turned on her irritably. "You very nearly wrecked us, Miss -Hawtree. Durham's disappearance wouldn't have raised a ripple, but the -daughter of a highly placed diplomat vanishing was quite another thing. -Your father had to think fast and talk faster, or public curiosity -would have forced an investigation right then. Fortunately the Wanbecqs -helped. They painted a pretty dark picture of Jubb, and Hawtree was -able to smooth things over since everybody knew you'd been sweet on -Durham and had obviously gone to say good-bye. Hawtree did such a good -job, in fact, that he had the whole Hub seething with indignation -against Jubb even before I left. So it turned out well, in spite of -you."</p> - -<p>"But why did you have to wreck the ship?"</p> - -<p>"Well, we had to get you back. We couldn't let Jubb have Mr. Durham to -use as a witness against us, and we certainly couldn't let him have -Hawtree's daughter to use as a club over Hawtree. Now, you see, the -situation is this."</p> - -<p>He nodded to the cabin port beyond which the bright flare had come and -gone, leaving nothing but emptiness.</p> - -<p>"There's nothing left of the ship but atoms, and no one can say what -happened to it. Jubb does not have you two, but he can't prove it as -long as you're kept out of sight. So we keep you out of sight, and -at the same time press demands to Jubb for your return. It looks as -though he's hiding you, or has killed you, in fear of the storm he has -raised. The more he doesn't give you up the more human opinion turns -against him, and the more his own people figure he's made them nothing -but trouble. Meanwhile, the Wanbecqs are on their way home with a big -story. We can still have our war if we want it. And Jubb's days are -numbered."</p> - -<p>Durham said slowly, "What if he decides to use the Bitter Star?"</p> - -<p>Morrison stared at him, and then laughed. "Don't try to frighten -me with my own bogeyman. I took a story a thousand years old and -resurrected it and talked it up until it caught. But that's all it is, -a story."</p> - -<p>"Are you sure? And what about the darkbirds? They seem to get around. -Won't they tell Jubb where we are?"</p> - -<p>"He'd have a hard time proving it on the word of a shadow. Besides, -there are defenses against them. They won't interfere."</p> - -<p>"I suppose," said Durham, taking the bottle into his hand as though to -pour again, "that it wouldn't bother you to know that one of them is in -here now."</p> - -<p>Morrison did not take his eyes from Durham's face. "Hawtree made a -stinking choice in you. Put down that bottle."</p> - -<p>Durham grinned. He raised the bottle higher and chanted, "Jubb, Jubb, -Jubb!"</p> - -<p>Morrison said between his teeth, "This would have had to be done -anyway." Still watching Durham, he reached one swift hand into the belt -of his tunic. Susan made a muffled cry and started to get up. None -of the motions were finished. A shadow came out from the darkness of -a corner behind Morrison's chair. It flicked against him and he fell -across the table, quite still. The darkbird came and hung in the air in -front of Durham.</p> - -<p>"Jubb," it said.</p> - -<p>Durham put down the bottle and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He -looked at the darkbird, feeling cold and hollow.</p> - -<p>"I want to go to him. You understand? To Jubb."</p> - -<p>Up and down it bounced, like the nodding of a head.</p> - -<p>Susan said, "What are you going to do?"</p> - -<p>"Try and steal a lifeboat."</p> - -<p>"I'm going with you."</p> - -<p>"No. Morrison doesn't want to kill you, but don't push him too far. You -stay. Then if I don't make it you'll still be—" He broke off. "That's -taking a lot for granted, isn't it? After all, Hawtree is your father."</p> - -<p>She whispered, "I don't care."</p> - -<p>"It's the biggest decision you'll ever make. Don't make it too fast." -He kissed her. "Besides, if you wait, you may not have to make it at -all."</p> - -<p>He took Morrison's gun and went out, and the darkbird went with him, -bunched small and darting so swiftly that the two men it struck down -never saw it. Durham turned aside into the communications room, and the -darkbird saw to it that there was no alarm. He damaged radio and radar -so that it would take some time to fix them. Then he went on down the -corridor to the plainly marked hatch that led to Lifeboat No. 1. He got -into it, with the darkbird. As soon as the boat hatch itself was shut, -automatic relays blew him free of the pod on a blast of air.</p> - -<p>"Jubb," said the darkbird. It touched him, and to his amazement there -was no shock, only a chilly tingling that was not unpleasant. Then it -simply oozed out through the solid hull, the way smoke oozes through a -filter, and was gone.</p> - -<p>Durham had no time for any more astonishments. The controls of the -lifeboat were designedly very simple and plainly marked. Durham got -himself going and away from Morrison's ship as fast as he could. But -he knew that it was not going to be anything like fast enough if the -darkbird didn't hurry.</p> - -<p>It hurried. And Durham was closer to Senya Dik than he realized. In -less than three hours he was in touch with a planetary patrol ship, -following it in toward the green blaze of KL421, and a dim cool planet -that circled it, farther out than the orbit of Earth around Sol, but -not quite so far as Mars.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VII</p> - -<p>The spaceport was in a vast flat plain. Far across the plain Durham -could see the dark outline of a city. He stood at the edge of the -landing area, between two Senyan officers from the ship. He wore a -pressure suit from the lifeboat's equipment, and the wind blew hard, -beating and picking and pushing at the suit and the bubble helmet. It -was difficult for Durham to stand up, but the Senyans, braced on their -four sturdy legs, stood easily and swayed their upper bodies back and -forth like trees.</p> - -<p>They were big. He had not really understood how big they were until -he stood beside them. He gathered that they were waiting for a ground -conveyance, and he was not surprised. Light air cabs were hardly suited -to their build.</p> - -<p>He had talked briefly to Karlovic by radio, and he was impatient to get -to the consulate where Karlovic was waiting for him. The minute or two -in which they waited for the truck seemed interminable. But it came, a -great powerful thing like a moving van, and one of the Senyans said,</p> - -<p>"Permit me?"</p> - -<p>With his two lower arms he lifted Durham onto the platform. The two -Senyans spoke to the driver and then got on themselves. The truck took -off, going very fast in spite of its size. The Senyans held Durham -between them, because there was nothing for a human to hang to, and -nowhere to sit down.</p> - -<p>They left the spaceport. Huge storage buildings lined the road, and -then smaller buildings, and then patches of open country, inexpressibly -dreary to Durham's eyes. High overhead the sun burned green and small -in a sky of cloudy vapor from which fell showers of glinting rain. -Poison rain from a poison sky. Durham shivered, and a deep depression -settled on him. Nothing hopeful would be done in this place. Not by -humans.</p> - -<p>The truck roared on. Durham watched the city grow on the murky horizon, -rising up into huge ugly towers and blocky structures like old prisons -greatly magnified. It was a big city. It was a frightening city. He -wished he had never seen it. He wished he was back in The Hub, standing -on a high walk with the good hot sun pouring on him and no barriers -between him and the good clean air. He wanted to weep with mingled -weariness and claustrophobia. Then he noticed that little crowds had -collected along the way into the city. They shouted at the truck going -by, and waved their arms, and some of them threw stones that rattled -off the sides.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" Durham asked.</p> - -<p>"They are members of the anti-human party. Prejudice cuts both ways, -a thing our neighbors of Nanta Dik do not seem to understand. Human -and non-human are intellectual concepts. On the emotional level it is -simply us or not-us. You are not-us, and as such quite distasteful to -some. What I do not understand is how they knew you were coming."</p> - -<p>"Morrison must have got his radio working. He's been using the -extremists here just like the ones on Nanta Dik, to make trouble."</p> - -<p>"There are times—" said the Senyan grimly. "But then I make myself -remember that there are scoundrels among us, too."</p> - -<p>The truck rumbled through the traffic of wide boulevards, between -rows of massive buildings that had obviously never been designed with -anything so small and frail as human beings in mind. There were Senyans -on the streets, apparently going about whatever business they did, and -Durham wondered what their home life was like, what games the children -played, what they ate and how they thought, what things they worried -about in the dark hours of the night. He felt absolutely alien. It was -not a nice feeling.</p> - -<p>Presently the truck turned into an open circle surrounded by mighty -walls of stone. In one place bright light shone cheerfully from the -windows, and the Senyan said, "That is the consulate."</p> - -<p>They set him off and showed him where the airlock was. Durham performed -the ritual of the lock chamber, frantic to get out of the confining -suit. When the inner door swung open he began to tear at the helmet, -and a man came in saying, "Let me help."</p> - -<p>When Durham was free of the suit, the man looked at him with very -tired, very angry eyes. "I'm Karlovic. Jubb's waiting. Come on."</p> - -<p>He led Durham down an echoing corridor that dwarfed them by its size. -The colors of the polished wood and stone were not keyed to the glaring -yellow light, and the rooms that Durham could see into as he passed -were not keyed to the small incongruous furnishings that had been -forced upon them. Somewhere below there was a throbbing of pumps, and -the air smelled of refresher chemicals.</p> - -<p>Durham said, "You knew I was being brought here, didn't you?"</p> - -<p>Karlovic nodded. "You, yes. The girl, no. She was an overzealous -mistake on the part of the darkbird. Yes, I was in on it. I hoped that -finally we could get proof, a witness against whoever in the Embassy -was working with Morrison. Hawtree, is it? I'm glad to know his name."</p> - -<p>He pushed open a door. The room beyond it was only half a room, cut -in the middle by a partition of heavy glass. On the other side of the -glass wall was the thick green native air, and three Senyans, one of -whom came forward when Durham and Karlovic came in. A darkbird hovered -close above him. He said to Durham,</p> - -<p>"I am Jubb."</p> - -<p>There were communicator discs set in the glass. Jubb motioned Durham to -a chair beside one. "First let me offer the apology that is due you. -You were carrying a message which was not true, which would have made -the people of Nanta Dik believe that we were about to come against them -with the Bitter Star. The darkbirds warned me, and I felt that I had no -choice. I could not let that message be delivered."</p> - -<p>Durham said, "No one could blame you for that."</p> - -<p>"You understand, I had another motive, too."</p> - -<p>"Yes. I don't think you could be blamed for that, either."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jubb looked at him with his large inscrutable eyes, totally alien, -unmistakably intelligent. "I didn't know what you would be like, Mr. -Durham, whether you would be in sympathy with your employers or not. -Now of course it is evident that you can't be."</p> - -<p>Durham said quietly, "I've been to a lot of trouble already to put a -rope around their necks. I'm ready to go to a lot more. They've used me -like—" He could not think of the right word. Jubb nodded.</p> - -<p>"Contempt is not an easy thing to take. I know. Then you will help?"</p> - -<p>"In any way I can."</p> - -<p>"I want you to go back with me to The Hub, Mr. Durham. Before, I was -helpless without proof. Now, as head of a planetary government, I can -insist on seeing the ranking Ambassador himself, and I can bypass -Hawtree now that I know who he is. I want you to be my witness."</p> - -<p>"Nothing," said Durham, "would please me more."</p> - -<p>"Good," said Jubb. "Good. Karlovic, it looks as though the end of our -long fight may be in sight at last. Take good care of Mr. Durham. He is -more precious than gold.</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile, Morrison had made us a problem on transportation. We -provided that particular ship for the consul's comfort, when there was -reason for him to travel in our territory, and we had planned to refit -it so that it would accommodate two on the return journey. Now I must -ask a ship from our friends on Nanta Dik, and that may take a little -time. So rest well, Mr. Durham."</p> - -<p>He went out, and Karlovic led Durham back into the hall and from there -into a tall gloomy chamber that had a shiny little kitchen lost in one -corner of it. There was a table and chairs. Durham sat down and watched -Karlovic busy himself with packages of food.</p> - -<p>"You don't look very happy about all this," he said.</p> - -<p>"I'm not unhappy. I'm worried."</p> - -<p>"About what? Morrison can't do anything now."</p> - -<p>"No? Listen, Mr. Durham, the emperors of Rome only ruled part of one -little world, but they didn't give it up easily. Morrison won't, -either. Remember, things are so bad for him now they can't possibly get -any worse, only better."</p> - -<p>Durham looked out the window. It was a double one, with a vacuum -between the panes and protective mesh on the outside. The green air -pressed thick against it. The sun had wheeled far over, and the shadows -of the buildings were long and black.</p> - -<p>"Do you stay here much?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"I have lately," said Karlovic. "I had to. My life wasn't safe on -Nanta Dik. You've no idea how high their feelings run there, thanks to -Morrison." He began to set the table. Durham made no move to help. He -was tired. He watched the shadows lengthen and fill the circle of lofty -walls with their darkness.</p> - -<p>"Couldn't the government there protect you?"</p> - -<p>"Only part of the government wants to. And Morrison is working hard to -frighten them with all this propaganda about the Bitter Star."</p> - -<p>"Propaganda. That's what he said. Is it?"</p> - -<p>"Absolutely—as far as the Senyans using it is concerned. But the thing -itself is real. It's in the city here. I've seen it."</p> - -<p>Karlovic put the heated containers on the table and sat down. He began -methodically to eat.</p> - -<p>"It's kind of a weird story. Probably it could only have happened on a -world like this, with a totally non-human, bio-chemical set-up. Senyan -science started early and advanced fast, a good deal faster than it did -on Nanta Dik, for some reason. They did a lot of experimenting with -solar energy and atomics and the forces that lie just on the borderline -of life—or maybe intelligence would be a better word."</p> - -<p>"Aren't the two more or less synonymous?"</p> - -<p>"A hunk of platinum sponge or a mess of colloids can be intelligent, -but never alive. The Star is. The darkbirds are. They're not matter, -they're merely a nexus of interacting particles. But they live and -think."</p> - -<p>"What about the Star?"</p> - -<p>"The scientists were trying for an energy matrix that would absorb -solar power and store it like a battery. Something slipped, and the -result was the Bitter Star. It absorbs solar power, all right, but in -the form of heat, and it will take heat from anything. And it doesn't -give it up. It merely absorbs more and more until every living thing -near it is frozen and there's no more heat to be had. The Senyan -scientists didn't know quite what to do with this thing they had -created, but they didn't want to destroy it, either. It had too many -angles they wanted to study. So they made the darkbirds, on the same -pattern but without the heat-hunger, and with a readier intelligence, -to be a bridge between themselves and the Star, to control it. They -studied the thing until it proved too dangerous, and they prisoned it -by simply starving it at a temperature of absolute zero. So it has -stayed ever since, but the darkbirds still guard it in case anything -should happen to free it again. They almost seem to love it, in some -odd unfleshly way."</p> - -<p>Durham frowned. "Then it <i>could</i> be used against Nanta Dik."</p> - -<p>"Oh yes," said Karlovic sombrely. "In fact it was, once. The Star shone -in their sky in midsummer, and the crops blackened and the rivers -froze, and men died where they stood in the fields. The Senyans won the -war. That was a thousand years ago, but the Nantans never quite forgot -it."</p> - -<p>He got up and went morosely to the sink, carrying dishes. "I keep -telling Jubb he ought to get rid of the thing. It's a sore point. But—"</p> - -<p>Somewhere below there was a very loud noise. The floor rose up and -then settled again. Almost at once the air was full of dust, and an -alarm bell began a strident ringing. Karlovic's mouth opened and closed -twice, as though he was trying to say something. He let the dishes fall -clattering around his feet, and then he ran with all his might out of -the room and along the hall.</p> - -<p>Durham followed him. There was now no sound at all from below. The -pumps had stopped.</p> - -<p>Karlovic found his tongue. "Cover your face. Don't breathe."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Durham saw a thin lazy whorl of greenish mist moving into the hall. He -pressed his handkerchief over his mouth and nose and made his legs go, -hard and fast. He was right on top of Karlovic when they stumbled into -the airlock. It was still clear.</p> - -<p>They helped each other into their suits, panting in the stagnant air. -Then, through the helmet audio, Durham could hear sounds from outside, -muffled shouts and tramplings. Karlovic went back into the consulate -where the green mist was already clinging around his knees, and looked -out a window into the circle. Over his shoulder Durham could see -Senyans milling around and he thought they were rioters, but Karlovic -said, "It's all right, they're Jubb's guards."</p> - -<p>They went back to the airlock, and from there into the open circle. -Senyans escorted them hastily into the adjoining building, and Durham -saw that guard posts were being set up. There was a gaping hole in the -side of the consulate and the pavement was shattered, and there were -pieces of machinery and stuff lying around. Durham figured rapidly -in his head how much oxygen he had in his suit pack, and how long it -would take to repair the consulate and get the air conditioning working -again, and how long it would be before a ship could get here from Nanta -Dik. He looked at Karlovic, whose face was white as chalk inside his -helmet.</p> - -<p>"The lifeboat," he said.</p> - -<p>Karlovic nodded. Some color came back into his face. "Yes, the -lifeboat. We can live in it until the ship comes." He ran his tongue -over his lips as though they were very dry. "Didn't I tell you Morrison -wouldn't give up easy? Oh lord, the lifeboat!" He began to jabber -urgently at the Senyans in their own tongue, and again his expression -was agonized. Durham didn't need to be told what he was thinking. If -anything happened to that lifeboat, they were two dead men on a world -where humans had no biological right to be.</p> - -<p>They were brought into a room where Jubb was busy with a bank of -communicators and a batch of harried aides. The room was enormous, -but it did not dwarf the Senyans, and the sombre colors did not seem -depressing in their own light. Jubb said, as they came in the door,</p> - -<p>"I've had a heavy guard set on your lifeboat. I don't think anyone can -repeat that hit-and-run bombing—" He cursed in a remarkably human -fashion, naming Morrison and the Senyan fools who let themselves be -used. "You are all right, Karlovic—Mr. Durham? Quite safe? I've -ordered a motor convoy. There are signs of unrest all over the -city—apparently word has gone out that you, Durham, are carrying -the unification agreement for my signature, and that the terms are a -complete surrender on our part to human rule. Does it cheer you two to -know that the human race is not alone in producing fools and madmen? -Once on the spaceport you will be safe, my naval units will see to -that, and my troops are already in the streets. They have orders to -look out for you. Go with fortune."</p> - -<p>They were taken out another way, where three heavy trucks and several -smaller vehicles were drawn up. The Senyans in them wore a distinctive -harness and were armed, and the vehicles all had armor plated bodies. -Durham and Karlovic were lifted into one of the trucks, which was -already filled with Senyan soldiers. The convoy moved off.</p> - -<p>Durham braced himself in a corner and looked at Karlovic. "Happened -fast, didn't it? Awfully fast."</p> - -<p>"Violent things always do. You're not much used to violence, are you? -Neither am I. Neither are most people. They get it shoved at them."</p> - -<p>"I don't think we're through with it yet," said Durham.</p> - -<p>Karlovic said, "I told you."</p> - -<p>For some time there was only the rushing and jolting of the truck, the -roar of motors and a kind of dim uneasy background of sound as though -the whole city stirred and seethed. Durham was frightened. The food he -had eaten had turned against him, he was stifling in his own sweat, and -he thought of Morrison cruising comfortably somewhere out in space, -smoking cigarettes and drinking good whiskey and sending down a message -now and then, the way a man pokes with a stick at a brace of beetles, -stirring them casually toward death. He ground his jaws together in an -agony of hate and fear, and the taste of them was sour in his mouth.</p> - -<p>Somebody said to them, "We're on the spaceport highway now. It won't be -long."</p> - -<p>A minute later somebody shouted and Karlovic caught the Senyan word and -echoed it. "Barricade!" The truck rocked and whirled about and there -were great crashes in the night that had fallen. Durham was thrown to -his knees. The truck raced at full speed. There were sounds of fighting -that now rose and now grew faint, and the truck lurched and swerved, -and then there were more roars and crashes and it came violently to -a halt. The Senyans began firing out of the loopholes in the armored -sides. Some of them leaped out of the truck, beckoning Durham and -Karlovic to come after them. A large force of rioters was attacking -what remained of the convoy, which had been forced back into the city. -Four of the Senyan soldiers ran with the two men into a side street, -but a small body of rioters caught up with them. The soldiers turned to -fight, and Karlovic said in a voice that was now curiously calm,</p> - -<p>"If we're quick enough they may lose sight of us in the darkness."</p> - -<p>He turned into an areaway between two buildings, and then into another, -and Durham ran beside him through the cold green mist and the dim glow -of lamps that glimmered on the alien walls. The sound of the fighting -died away. They turned more corners, hunting always for the darkest -shadows, hoping to meet a patrol. But the streets were deserted and all -the doors barred tight. Finally Durham stopped.</p> - -<p>"How much oxygen you got left?"</p> - -<p>Karlovic peered at the illuminated indicator on the wrist of his suit. -"Hour. Maybe less."</p> - -<p>Both men were breathing hard, panting, burning up the precious stuff of -life. Durham said,</p> - -<p>"I won't last that long. Listen, Karlovic. Where is the Bitter Star?"</p> - -<p>Karlovic's face was a pale blur inside his helmet. "You crazy? You -can't—"</p> - -<p>Durham put his two hands on the shoulders of Karlovic's suit and leaned -his helmet close so that it clicked on Karlovic's.</p> - -<p>"Maybe I'm crazy. In thirty, forty minutes I'll be dead, so what will -it matter then? Listen, Karlovic, I want to live." He pointed back the -way they had come. "You think we can walk through that to the spaceport -in time?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"We got anyplace else to go?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"All right then. Let's give 'em hell."</p> - -<p>"But they're not all our enemies. Jubb, my friends—"</p> - -<p>"Friend or enemy, they'll clear the way. We might just make it, -Karlovic. You said the darkbirds control it, and you can talk to them." -He shook Karlovic viciously. "Where is it? Don't you understand? If we -use it we can hound Morrison out of space!"</p> - -<p>Karlovic turned and began to walk fast, sobbing as he went. "The -darkbirds will never let us. You don't know what you're doing."</p> - -<p>"I know one thing. I'm sick of being pushed, pushed, pushed, into -corners, into holes, where I can't breathe. I'm going to—" He shut his -teeth tight together and walked fast beside Karlovic, starting at every -sound and shadow.</p> - -<p>By twining alleys and streets where nothing moved for fear of the -violence that was abroad that night, Karlovic led Durham to an open -space like a park with vast locked gates that could keep a Senyan out -but not a little agile human who could climb like a monkey with the -fear of death upon him. Beyond the gates great wrinkled lichens as tall -as trees grew in orderly rows, and a walk led inward. The lichens bent -and rustled in the wind, and Durham's suit was wet with a poisonous dew.</p> - -<p>The walk ended in a portico, and the portico was part of a building, -round and squat as though a portion of its mass was underground. They -passed through a narrow door into a place of utter silence, and a -darkbird hung there, barring their way.</p> - -<p>"Jubb," said Durham. "Tell it Jubb has sent us. Tell it the Bitter Star -must be freed again to destroy Jubb's enemies."</p> - -<p>Karlovic spoke to the shadow. Others came to join it. There was a -flurry of hooting and chittering, and then the one Karlovic had been -speaking to disappeared in the uncanny fashion of its kind. The others -stayed, a barrier between the two men and a ramp that led steeply down.</p> - -<p>Karlovic sat down wearily on the chill stone. "It isn't any use," he -said. "I knew it wouldn't be. The darkbird has gone to ask Jubb if what -we say is true."</p> - -<p>Durham sat down, too. He did not even bother to look at the indicator -on his wrist. No use. The end. Finish. He shut his eyes.</p> - -<p>There was a stir and a hooting in the air. Karlovic gasped. Then he -began to shake Durham, laughing like a woman who has heard a risque -story. "Didn't you hear? The bird came back, and Jubb said—Jubb said -Morrison has been preaching the war of the Bitter Star, so let him have -it."</p> - -<p>He grasped Durham's suit by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet, -and they ran with the cloud of shadows, down into the dimness below.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VIII</p> - -<p>There was a small sealed chamber with a thick window, and beyond it -was a circular space, not too large, walled with triple walls of glass -with a vacuum between. The air was full of darkbirds, moving without -hindrance through the walls or hovering where they chose, above the -thing that slept inside.</p> - -<p>Durham blinked and turned his head away, and then looked back again. -And Karlovic said softly, "Beautiful, isn't it? But sad, too, somehow, -I don't know why."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Durham felt it, a subliminal feeling without any reason to it, like -the sadness of a summer night or of birth and laughter or of gull's -wings white and swift against the sky. The Star shone, palely, gently. -He tried to see if it was round or any other shape, if it was solid or -vaporous, but he could not see anything but that soft shining, like -mist around a winter moon.</p> - -<p>Durham shook himself and wondered why, when he was already so sure of -death, he should be so afraid. "All right," he said. "How is it freed?"</p> - -<p>"The darkbirds do that. Watch."</p> - -<p>He spoke to them, one word, and in the glass-walled prison there was -a stirring and a swirling of shadows around the soft shining of the -Star. Durham saw a disc set in the metal overhead. One of the darkbirds -touched it. There was an intense blue flare of light, and Durham felt -the throbbing of hidden dynamos, a secret surge of power. The glass -walls darkened and grew dim, the low roof turned and opened to the sky. -And through the barrier window, Durham watched the waking of a star.</p> - -<p>He saw the frosty shining brighten and spread out in slow unfurling -veils. There was a moment when the whole building seemed filled with -moonfire as cold as the breath of outer space and as beautiful as the -face of a dream, and then it was gone, and the darkbirds were gone with -it.</p> - -<p>"Come on," said Karlovic, a harsh incongruous voice in the stunned -darkness that was left behind, and Durham came, up the ramp and out -into the parklike space beyond, and all the tall lichens were standing -dead and sheathed in ice.</p> - -<p>High above, burning cold over the city, a new star shone.</p> - -<p>They followed it, through a silence as deep as the end of the world. -Everything had taken cover at the rising of that star, and only the -two men moved, the thermal units of their suits turned on high, -through streets all glazed with ice and cluttered here and there with -the wreckage and the dead of the rioting. The darkbirds were forcing -the Star to stay high, but even so nothing could live long without -protection in that sudden, terrible winter.</p> - -<p>The road to the port lay blank and bare. They found one of the smaller -vehicles, its driver dead beside it. Karlovic got it going, moving the -great levers with Durham's help. After that they rushed faster through -the empty night. Durham shut his eyes, thinking.</p> - -<p>He opened them, and the spaceport of Senya Dik lay black and deserted -around him, and Karlovic was gasping to him for help. Together they -pulled down the lever that stopped their conveyance. They scrambled -down and ran out toward the small lifeboat, slipping and stumbling, -dying inside their suits. They fell into the airlock, and Durham -slammed the door and spun the wheel, waiting out the agonizing seconds -while the tiny chamber cleared and then refilled, and they could tear -off their helmets and breathe again. They looked at each other and -laughed, and hugged each other, and laughed again, and then went in to -the cabin.</p> - -<p>The communicator was flashing its light and burring stridently.</p> - -<p>Durham switched it on. Jubb's face appeared in the tiny screen. "You -are safe? Good, good. For a moment I thought—! Listen. I have word -from my patrol that Morrison has other ships with him now, spread out -to catch you if by chance you get through. That is what decided me to -use the Bitter Star. I am angry, Karlovic. I am tired of mockery and -lies and secret violence. I am tired of peace which is only a cloak for -another man's aggression."</p> - -<p>A darkbird came into the cabin and hung over Durham's shoulder. "It -will carry your messages," said Jubb. "I am leaving now for the port, -and my own flagship. We go together. Good luck."</p> - -<p>The screen went dead. Durham said, "Strap in, we're taking off."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Star, with its herding pack of shadows, set a course that took them -steeply up out of Senya Dik's shadow, into the full flood of the green -sun's light. The darkbird spoke by Durham's shoulder, and Karlovic said,</p> - -<p>"The Star must feed—or recharge itself, as you would say, with solar -heat. Watch it, Durham. Watch it grow."</p> - -<p>He watched. The Star spread out its misty substance, spreading it wide -to the sun, and the soft shining of it brightened to an angry glare -that grew and widened and became like a burning cloud, not green like -the sunlight but white as pearl.</p> - -<p>Far off to one side of it Durham saw the glinting of a ship's hull. He -pointed to it.</p> - -<p>Karlovic worked with the communicator. In a minute the screen lit up, -and Morrison's face was in it.</p> - -<p>"Hello, Morrison," he said. "Hello, thief."</p> - -<p>Morrison's face was as hard and white as something carved from bone.</p> - -<p>"It wasn't just an old wive's tale, Morrison," he said. "It was true, -and here it is. The Bitter Star, Morrison."</p> - -<p>Karlovic reached over and shook him, pointing out the viewport. Coming -swiftly in toward them was a small ship, curiously shaped before.</p> - -<p>"Space-sweep," Karlovic said. "Those funny bulges are torpedo tubes, -and the torpedoes carry heavy scatter charges to clear away debris so -the ore ships can come in."</p> - -<p>Durham said to the image in the screen, "Call him off."</p> - -<p>Morrison showed the edges of his teeth, and asked, "Why should I?"</p> - -<p>Durham nodded to Karlovic, who spoke to the darkbird. It disappeared. -Within a few seconds the Star had begun to move. It moved fast, the -angry gleaming of its body making a streak like a white comet across -the green-lit void. It wrapped itself around the space-sweep, and then -it lifted and the ship continued on its way unchanged.</p> - -<p>Morrison laughed.</p> - -<p>The sweep rushed on toward the lifeboat. Its tubes were open, but -nothing came out of them. Durham shifted course to clear it, and it -blundered on by. In the screen, Morrison's image turned and spoke to -someone, and the someone answered, "I can't, they just aren't there."</p> - -<p>Morrison turned again to Durham, or rather to the image of him that was -on his own screen. "I know what I'm supposed to say now, but I'm not -going to say it. I've got Miss Hawtree with me, had you forgotten that? -I don't think you've suddenly acquired that kind of guts."</p> - -<p>Durham shook his head. "I don't need them. I want you alive, Morrison. -But I don't give a tinker's damn what happens to anybody else in this -whole backside of nowhere you call 9G. Nobody and nothing. And I have -the Bitter Star to back me up. I am wondering how many loyal employees -of Universal Minerals, and how many stupid Wanbecqs are going to -sacrifice their lives just to keep me from getting my hands on you. -Call them up, Morrison, and count them out, and we'll send the Star to -see them."</p> - -<p>The Star glowed and glimmered and grew to a great shining, and a look -of worry deepened on Karlovic's face. Morrison did not answer, and -Durham could see the thoughts going round and round in his mind, the -possibilities being weighed and evaluated. Then the someone who was -behind Morrison and out of scanner range said in a queer flat voice,</p> - -<p>"The tug <i>Varney</i> calling in, sir. They boarded the sweep."</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"All dead, sir. Frozen. Even the air was frozen. They said to tell you -they're going home."</p> - -<p>"All right," said Morrison softly. "Durham, I'm going home too, to -Nanta Dik. Let's see if you can follow me there."</p> - -<p>He broke contact. In the distance, Durham saw the bright speck that -was Morrison's ship make a wheeling curve and speed away. Durham said -grimly to Karlovic,</p> - -<p>"Tell the darkbirds to follow with the Star. And then get hold of -somebody on Nanta Dik, somebody with authority. Tell them everything -that's happened. Tell them Morrison is all we want. We'll see how close -they let him get to home."</p> - -<p>"I don't know," said Karlovic, and got busy with the communicator. Half -an hour later he sighed and blanked the screen. "They're sending up a -squadron to intercept Morrison. But they're scared. They're scared of -the Star. I've promised them—and nothing had better happen, Durham."</p> - -<p>Durham said, "We'd better send word to Jubb."</p> - -<p>For what seemed an eternity they fled through the green blaze of the -sun, after the ship Durham could no longer see. And ahead of the -lifeboat, a light and a portent in the void, went the Bitter Star with -its attendant shadows. And Durham, too, began to worry, he was not -sure why. Jubb's flagship closed up to them, a vast dark whale beside -a minnow. And after a while a tiny bright ball that was a planet came -spinning toward them. Karlovic pointed.</p> - -<p>Hung like a net across space, between them and the planet, was a series -of glittering metallic flecks.</p> - -<p>"The squadron."</p> - -<p>The communicator buzzed. Karlovic snapped it on, and the face of a -Nantan officer appeared on the screen.</p> - -<p>"We have Morrison," he said. "Come no closer with the Star."</p> - -<p>Karlovic spoke to the darkbird. Durham's hands, heavy with weariness, -slowed the lifeboat until it hung almost motionless. Jubb's great dark -cruiser slowed also. Above and between them burned the Bitter Star. It -had ceased to move.</p> - -<p>Durham said, "The Star will come no closer."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Karlovic," said the Nantan. "Bring your lifeboat in slowly, and -alone."</p> - -<p>The lifeboat came in among the ships of the squadron.</p> - -<p>"Now," said the Nantan officer, "withdraw the Star."</p> - -<p>Karlovic said, "Jubb will do so—"</p> - -<p>"No," said Durham suddenly, "Jubb will not. Look there!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Shining with a furious light, the Star had torn itself away from the -clustering shadows that hung around it.</p> - -<p>Durham's heart congealed with a foretaste of icy death. The face of the -Nantan officer paled, and Karlovic said in a voice that was not like -his voice at all, "I must talk to Jubb."</p> - -<p>He reached out to shift their single screen, and the Nantan officer -said, "Wait, he is speaking on our alternate. I can adjust the -scanner—"</p> - -<p>The picture flopped, blurred, and cleared again, showing now in -addition to the officer a part of the Nantan's alternate-channel -screen. Jubb was speaking, and it seemed to Durham that the Senyan's -strange face was clearly, humanly alarmed.</p> - -<p>He said, "I cannot withdraw the Star. No, this is not a lie, a -trick—hold your fire, you idiots! I'm the only hope you have now. The -Star has profited by the lesson of its docility a thousand years ago, -when it let itself be led back into captivity. Now it has grown, too -much. It cannot be brought back to any world."</p> - -<p>Durham looked out at the beautiful deadly thing blazing so splendidly -in the void. "Can it be destroyed?"</p> - -<p>"The darkbirds can destroy it," said Jubb. "If they will."</p> - -<p>The Nantan officer, speaking from lips the color of ashes, said to the -image of Jubb on the screen, "You have one minute to get it out of here -before I fire."</p> - -<p>Jubb turned his face away and spoke, to something they could not see.</p> - -<p>Durham turned to Karlovic. "He said, 'If they will.' Does that mean—"</p> - -<p>"I told you," said Karlovic, looking out the port, "that the darkbirds -were created to guard the Star. And that, in a way, they love it. Who -can say how much?"</p> - -<p>They watched.</p> - -<p>Out in space the little cloud of darkbirds moved toward the Star. Then, -hesitantly, they stopped.</p> - -<p>"They won't," said Karlovic, in a whisper. "Not even for Jubb."</p> - -<p>Again Jubb spoke to the unseen messenger, as quietly as though it was -a casual order. And presently a troubled movement rippled the swirling -darkbirds.</p> - -<p>Suddenly they moved, again herding the Star. Slowly at first, then -more and more swiftly until it was only a streak of brilliant light, -the darkbirds drove the Star straight toward the sun. And it was less -a driving than an urging, a tempting, a promise of glory, a sweet -betraying call from the mouth of the eternal Judas. The darkbirds led -it, and it followed them.</p> - -<p>In a moment, in that greater blaze, the Star was lost to view.</p> - -<p>Karlovic's breath came out of him in a long sigh. "The only way it -could be destroyed. Even its appetite for thermal energy could not -swallow a sun."</p> - -<p>"The darkbirds are coming back," Durham said. Then, wonderingly, "But -they're not—"</p> - -<p>The darkbirds were coming back from the green sun, but not toward -Jubb's ship. And not toward any planet. They were flying like blurring -shadows toward outer space, and if they heard Jubb's calling voice they -paid no heed at all.</p> - -<p>"They're gone," Karlovic said, unbelievingly.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Jubb, very slowly. "They obeyed that order, but it was the -last." He looked at the humans facing him, the men of Earth and the men -of Nanta Dik, and he said, "Do you see now that there is no difference -between us, that we of Senya Dik can teach betrayal just like men?"</p> - -<p>Durham looked out into the shining void, but there was no sign now -of the fleet and flying shadows. Intelligences, minds, beyond the -understanding of heavy creatures like himself and Jubb. He wondered how -far they would go, how long they would live, what things they would see.</p> - -<p><i>Darkbirds, darkbirds, will you come back some day when we of flesh are -ghosts and shadows, to frolic on our lonely worlds?</i></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Last Call From Sector 9G, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST CALL FROM SECTOR 9G *** - -***** This file should be named 63686-h.htm or 63686-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/6/8/63686/ - -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: Last Call From Sector 9G - -Author: Leigh Brackett - -Release Date: November 8, 2020 [EBook #63686] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST CALL FROM SECTOR 9G *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - LAST CALL FOR SECTOR 9G - - By LEIGH BRACKETT - - _Out there in the green star system; far beyond - the confining grip of the Federation, moved the - feared Bitter Star, for a thousand frigid years the - dark and sinister manipulator of war-weary planets._ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1955. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Artie said monotonously, "There is someone at the door sir shall I -answer? There is someone at the door sir shall I--" - -Durham grunted. What he wanted to say was go away and let me alone. -But he could only grunt, and Artie kept repeating the stupid question. -Artie was a cheap off-brand make, and bought used, and he lacked some -cogs. Any first class servall would have seen that the master had -passed out in his chair and was in no condition to receive guests. But -Artie did not, and presently Durham got one eye open and then he began -to hear the persistent knocking, the annunciator being naturally out of -order. And he said quite clearly. - -"If it's a creditor, I'm not in." - -"--shall I answer?" - -Durham made a series of noises. Artie took them for an affirmative and -trundled off. Durham put his face in his hands and struggled with the -pangs of returning consciousness. He could hear a mutter of voices in -the hall. He thought suddenly that he recognized them, and he sprang, -or rather stumbled up in alarm, hastily combing his hair with his -fingers and trying to pull the wrinkles out of his tunic. Through a -thick haze he saw the bottle on the table and he picked it up and hid -it under a chair, ashamed not of its emptiness but of its label. A -gentleman should not be drunk on stuff like that. - -Paulsen and Burke came in. - -Durham stood stiffly beside the table, hanging on. He looked at the -two men. "Well," he said. "It's been quite a long time." He turned to -Artie. "The gentlemen are leaving." - -Burke stepped quickly behind the servall and pushed the main toggle -to OFF. Artie stopped, with a sound ridiculously like a tired sigh. -Paulsen went past him and locked the door. Then both of them turned -again to face Durham. - -Durham scowled. "What the devil do you think you're doing?" - -Burke and Paulsen glanced at each other, as though resolve had carried -them this far but had now run out, leaving them irresolute in the face -of some distasteful task. Both men wore black dominos, with the cowls -thrown back. - -"Were you afraid you'd be recognized coming here?" Durham said. A small -pulse of fright began to beat in him, and this was idiotic. It made him -angry. "What do you want?" - -Paulsen said in a reluctant voice, not looking at him, "_I_ don't -want anything, Durham, believe me." Durham had once been engaged to -Paulsen's sister, a thing both of them preferred not to remember but -couldn't quite forget. He went on, "We were sent here." - -Durham tried to think who might have sent them. Certainly not any of -the girls; certainly not any one of the people he owed money to. Two -members of the Terran World Embassy corps, even young and still obscure -members in the lower echelons, were above either of those missions. - -"Who sent you?" - -Burke said, "Hawtree." - -"No," said Durham. "Oh no, you got the name wrong. Hawtree wouldn't -send for me if I was the last man in the galaxy. Hawtree, indeed." - -"Hawtree," said Paulsen. He drew a deep breath and threw aside his -domino. "Come on, Burke." - -Burke took off his domino. They came on together. - -Durham drew back. His shoulders dropped and his fists came up. "Look -out," he said. "What you going to do? Look out!" - -"All right," said Burke, and they both jumped together and caught his -arms, not because Durham was so big or so powerful that he frightened -them, but because they disliked the idea of brawling with a drunken -man. Paulsen said, - -"Hawtree wants you tonight, and he wants you sober, and that, damn it, -is the way he's going to get you." - - * * * * * - -An hour and seven minutes later Durham sat beside Paulsen in a 'copter -with no insigne and watched the roof of his apartment tower fall away -beneath him. - -Burke had stayed behind, and Durham wore the Irishman's domino with -the cowl up over his head. Under the domino was his good suit, the -one he had not sent to the pawnbroker because he could not, as yet, -quite endure being without one good suit. He was scrubbed and shaved -and perfectly sober. Outside he did not look too bad. Inside he was a -shambles. - -The 'copter fitted itself into a north-south lane. Paulsen, muffled in -his cowl, sat silent. Durham felt a similar reluctance to speak. He -looked out over The Hub, and tried to keep from thinking. Don't run -to meet it, don't get your hopes up. Whatever it is, let it happen, -quietly. - -The city was beautiful. Its official name was Galactic Center, but it -was called The Hub because that is what it was, the hub and focus of a -galaxy. It was the biggest city in the Milky Way. It covered almost the -entire land area of the third planet of a Type G star that someone with -a sense of humor had christened Pax. The planet was chosen originally -because it was centrally located and had no inhabitants, and because it -was within the limits of tolerance for the humanoid races. The others -mostly needed special accommodations anyway. - -And so from a sweet green airy world with nothing on it but trees -and grass and a few mild-natured animals, The Hub had grown to have a -population of something like ten billion people, spread horizontally -and stacked up vertically and dug in underneath, and every one of them -was engaged in some governmental function, or in espionage, or in both. -Intrigue was as much a part of life in The Hub as corpuscles are a part -of blood. The Hub boasted that it was the only inhabited world in space -where no single grain of wheat or saddle of mutton was grown, where -nothing was manufactured and nobody worked at a manual job. - -Durham loved it passionately. - -Both moons were in the sky now. One was small and low, like a white -pearl hung just out of reach. The other was enormous. It had an -atmosphere, and it served as storehouse and supply base for the planet -city, handling the billions of tons of shipping that kept it going. -The two of them made a glorious spectacle overhead, but Durham did not -bother to see them. The vast glow of the city paled them, made them -unimportant. He was remembering how he had seen it when he was fresh -from Earth, for the first time--the supreme capital, beside which the -world capitals were only toy cities, the heart and center of the galaxy -where the decisions were made and the great men came and went. He was -remembering how he had felt, how he had been so sure of the future that -he never gave it a second thought. - -But something happened. - -What? - -Liquor, they said. - -No, not liquor, the hell with them. I could always carry my drinks. - -Liquor, they said, and the accident. - -The accident. Well, what of it? Didn't other people have accidents? -And anyway, nobody really got hurt out of it. He didn't, and the girl -didn't--what if she wasn't his fiancee?--and the confidential file he -had in the 'copter hadn't fallen into anybody's hands. So there wasn't -anything to that. - -No. Not liquor and not the accident, no matter what they said. It was -Hawtree, and a personal grudge because he, Durham, had had Hawtree's -daughter out with him in the 'copter that night. And so what? He was -only engaged to Willa Paulsen, not married to her, and anyway Susan -Hawtree knew what she was doing. She knew darn well. - -Hawtree, a grudge, and a little bad luck. That's what happened. And -that's all. - -The 'copter swerved and dropped onto a private landing stage attached -to a penthouse. Durham knew it well, though he hadn't seen it for over -a year. He got out, aware of palpitations and a gone feeling in the -knees. He needed a drink, but he knew that he would have to go inside -first and he forced himself to stand up and walk beside Paulsen as -though nothing had ever happened. The head high, the face proud and -calm, just a touch of bitterness but not too much. - -Hawtree was alone in the living room. He glanced at Durham as he came -in through the long glass doors. There was a servall standing in the -corner, and Hawtree said to it, "A drink for the gentleman, straight -and stiff." - -A small anger stirred in Durham. Hawtree might at least have given him -the choice. He said sharply, "No thanks." - -Hawtree said, "Don't be a fool." He looked tired, but then he always -had. Tired and keyed up, full of the drive and the brittle excitement -of one who has juggled peoples and nations, expressed as black marks on -sheets of varicolored paper, for so long that it has become a habit as -necessary and destructive as hashish. To Paulsen he said, "I'll ring -when I need you." - -Paulsen went out. The servall placed the drink in Durham's hand. He did -not refuse it. - -"Sit down," said Hawtree, and Durham sat. Hawtree dismissed the -servall. Durham drank part of his drink and felt better. - -"Well," he said. "I'm listening." - -"You were a great disappointment to me, Durham." - -"What am I supposed to say to that?" - -"Nothing. Go ahead, finish your drink, I want to talk to a man, not a -zombie." - -Durham finished it angrily. "If you brought me all the way here to -shake your finger at me, I'm going home again." That was what he said -aloud. Inside, he wanted to get down and embrace Hawtree's knees and -beg him for another chance. - -"I brought you here," said Hawtree, "to offer you a job. If you do it, -it might mean that certain doors could be opened for you again." - -Durham sat perfectly still. For a moment he did not trust himself to -speak. Then he said, "I'll take it." - -Certain doors. That's what I've waited for, living like a bum, dodging -creditors, hocking my shoes, waiting for those doors to open again. - - * * * * * - -He tried not to show how he felt, sitting stiffly at ease in the chair, -but a red flush began to burn in his cheeks and his hands moved. About -time. About time, damn you, Hawtree, that you remembered me. - -Damn you, oh damn you for making me sweat so long! - -Hawtree said, "Did you ever hear of Nanta Dik?" - -"No. What is it?" - -"A planet. It belongs to a green star system, chart designation KL421, -Sub-sector 9G, Sector 80, Quadrant 7. It's a very isolated system, the -only inhabited one in 9G, as a matter of fact. 9G is a Terran quota -sector, and since Nanta Dik is humanoid, it's become headquarters for -our nationals who are engaged in business in that sub-sector." - -Durham nodded. Unassimilated territory lying outside the Federation was -divided among Federation members, allowing them to engage in trade only -in their allotted sectors and subject to local law and license. This -eliminated competitive friction between Federation worlds, threw open -new areas to development, and eventually--usually under the sponsorship -of the federated world--brought the quota sectors into the vast family -of suns that had already spread over more than half the galaxy. There -were abuses now and again, but on the whole, as a system, it worked -pretty well. - -"I take it that Nanta Dik is where I'm going." - -"Yes. Now listen. First thing in the morning, go and book a third-class -passage to Earth on the _Sylvania Merchant_, leaving on the day -following. Let your friends know you're going home. They won't be -surprised." - -"Don't rub it in." - -"Sorry. When you reach the spaceport, walk across the main rotunda near -the newsstand. Drop your ticket and your passport, folded together, -go on to the newsstand and wait. They will be returned to you by a -uniformed attendant, only your passport will be in a different name and -your ticket will now be on a freighter outbound for Nanta Dik. You will -then embark at once. Is that all clear?" - -"Everything but the reason." - -"I'll come to that. How good is your memory?" - -"As good as it ever was." - -"All right. When you reach Nanta Dik a man will meet you as you leave -the ship. He will ask if you are the ornithologist. You will say yes. -Then--pay close attention to this--you will say, _The darkbirds will -soon fly_. Got that?" - -"The darkbirds will soon fly. Simple enough. What's it mean?" - -"9G is a rich sector, isolated, improperly policed, underpopulated. -There has been a certain amount of trouble, poaching, claim jumping, -outright piracy. The 'darkbirds' are a couple of suspected ships. We -want to set a trap for them, and you know how things are on The Hub. -If a man buys a pair of socks, the news is all across the galaxy in a -week. That's the reason for all the secrecy." - -"Is that all?" - -"No." Hawtree got up, turning his back on Durham. He said harshly, -"Listen, Lloyd." It was the first time he had used Durham's Christian -name. "This is an important job. It may not seem like one, but it is. -Do it. There's somebody else who wanted you to have another chance." - -Durham did not say anything. He waited for Hawtree to turn around and -face him and say the name. But he didn't, and finally Durham said, - -"Susan?" - -"I don't know what she sees in you," said Hawtree, and pushed a button. -Paulsen came in. Hawtree jerked a thumb at Durham. "Take him back. And -tell Burke to give him the money." - -Durham went out and got into the 'copter. He felt dizzy, and this time -it was not from drinks or the lack of them. He sat, and Paulsen took -the 'copter off. - -Hawtree watched it from inside the glass doors until it was out of -sight above the roof. And another man came from behind a door that led -into Hawtree's private study, and watched it with him. - -"Are you sure about him?" asked the man. - -"I know him," Hawtree said. "He's a slob." - -"But are you sure?" - -"Don't worry, Morrison," Hawtree said. "I know him. He'll talk. Bet you -a hundred he never even makes the spaceport." - -"Blessed are the fools," said Morrison, "for they shall inherit -nothing." - - - II - -Baya sat on the bed and watched him pack. She was from one of the -worlds of Mintaka, and as humanoid as they came, not very tall but very -well shaped, and colored one beautiful shade of old bronze from the -crown of her head to the soles of her feet, except for her mouth, which -was a vivid red. - -"It seems funny," she said, "to think of you not being here tomorrow." - -"Will you die of missing me?" - -"Probably, for a day or two. I was comfortable. I hate upheavals." - -Durham reached across her for his small stack of underwear. She was -wearing the yellow silk thing that made her skin glow by contrast. He -saw that it was dubiously clean about the neck, and when he paused -to kiss her he noticed the tiny lines around her mouth and eyes, the -indefinable look of wear and hardness that was more destructive to -beauty than the mere passing of years. Yesterday they had been two -of a kind, part of the vast backwash left behind by other people's -successes. Today he was far above her. And he was glad. - -"The least you could do," she said, "would be to make this a really big -evening. But I suppose you couldn't run to that." - -"I've got money." Burke had given him some, but that was for expenses -and he would neither mention it nor touch it. "Artie brought a pretty -good price, so did the furniture." There was nothing left in the -apartment but the bed, and even that was sold. He had bought back a few -of his better belongings, and he still had a wad of credits. He felt -good. He felt joyous and expansive. He felt like a man again. - -He poured two drinks and handed one to Baya. - -"All right," he said, "here's to a big last evening. The biggest." - -They had cocktails in a bar called The Moonraker because it was the -highest point in that hemisphere of the city. It was the hour between -sunset and moonrise, when the towers stood sharply defined against a -sky of incredible dark blueness, with the brighter stars pricked out -in it, and the dim canyons at the feet of the towers were lost in the -new night, spectral, soft and lovely. And the night deepened, and the -lights came on. - -They wandered for a while among the high flung walkways that spanned -the upper levels of the towers so that people need not spend half their -lives in elevators. They skirted the vast green concourse from which -the halls of government rose up white and unadorned and splendid. -They only skirted one corner of it, because this galactic Capitol -Hill ran for miles, dominating the whole official complex, and one -enormous building of it was fitted up so that the non-humanoid Members -of Universal Parliament could "attend" the sessions in comfort, never -leaving their especially pressurized and congenially poisonous suites. -Between humanoid and non-humanoid there were many scientific gradations -of form. But for governmental purposes it boiled down simply to -oxygen-breather or non-oxygen-breather. - -"Human or not," said Durham, standing on an upper span, with the good -liquor burning bright inside him, "human or not, they're only men like -me. What they've done, I can do." - -"This is dull," said Baya. - -"Dull," said Durham. He shook his head in wonderment, staring at her. -She was beautiful. Tonight she wore white, and her hair curled softly -on her neck, and her mouth was languorous, and her eyes--her eyes were -hard. They were always hard, always making a liar out of that pliant, -generous mouth. "Dull," he said. "No wonder you never got anywhere." - -She flared up at that, and said a few things about him. He knew they -were no longer true, so he could afford to be amused by them. He smiled -and said, - -"Let's not quarrel, Baya. This is good-bye, remember. Come on, we'll -have a drink at the Miran." - -They floated down on the bright spider web levels of the walkways, -drifting east, stopping at the Miran and then going on to another -drinking place, and then to another. The walks were thronged with other -people, people from hundreds of stars, thousands of worlds. People -of an infinite variety of sizes, shapes and colors, dressed in every -imaginable and unimaginable fashion. Ambassadors, MP's, wives and -mistresses, couriers, calculator jockeys, topologists and graph men, -office girls, hair-dressers, janitors, pimps, you-name-it. Durham saw -them through a golden haze, and loved them, because they were the city -and he was a part of them again. - -He was out of the backwash of not-being. Hawtree had had to give in, -and this footling errand to some dust speck nobody ever heard of was -simply a necessary device to save his own face. All right, Hawtree, -fine. We will go along with the gag. And you may inform the haughty -Miss Hawtree, who can, believe us, be also the naughty Miss Hawtree, -that we don't know if we want her back or not. We'll see. - -"--take me with you," Baya was saying. - -Durham shook his head. "Lone trip, honey. Can't possibly." - -"Are you ashamed of me, Lloyd? That's it, you're ashamed to take me to -Earth." - -"No. No. Now, Baya--" - -He looked at her. His vision was a bit blurred by now, he could see -just enough background to wonder how the devil they'd got to this -closed-in-looking drinking place. But Baya's face was clear enough. She -was crying. - -"Now, Baya, honey, it's not that--it's not that at all." - -"Then why can't I go with you to Earth?" - -"Because--listen, Baya, can you keep a secret?" He laughed, and his own -laughter sounded blurred too. "Promise?" - -"Promise." - -"I--" - - * * * * * - -Dead stop. The words rattled on his tongue, but remained unspoken. Why? -Was it because of Baya's eyes, that wept tears but had no sorrow in -them? He could see them quite clearly, and they were not sorrowful at -all, but avid. - -"I promised, Lloyd. You can tell me." - -There was a table under his hands, with an exotically patterned cloth -on it. He had no memory of having sat down at it. There was a wall of -plasticoid cement covered with a crude mural in bright primaries. There -was a low, vaulted ceiling, also painted. There were no windows. - -"How did we get here?" Durham asked stupidly. "It's underground." - -"It's just a place," Baya said impatiently. And then she said sharply, -"What's the matter with you?" - -Blood and fumes hammered together in his bulging temples, and his back -felt cold. "Where's the men's room, Baya?" - -Her mouth set in anger and disgust. She called, "Varnik!" - -A tall powerful man with a very long neck and skin the color of a ripe -plum came up to the table. He wore an apron. - -Baya said, "Better take him there, Varnik." - -The plum colored man took him and ran him to a door and put him through -it. From there a servall took over. It was very efficient. - -"Are you through, sir?" - -"God, no. Not nearly." - -One more word and you would have been through. Forever. Drunken -blabbermouth Durham, smart aleck Durham, would-be big shot Durham, -ready to babble out his secret and blow his last chance of a comeback. -But why did Baya have to be so insistently curious? - -Why, indeed? - -He began to feel both sick and scared. After a time he made it to the -row of basins and splashed cold water on his face and head. There was a -mirror above the basin. He looked into it. "Hello, bum," he said. - -Face it, Durham. You're a drunken bum. You are exactly what Willa -Paulsen said you were, what Susan Hawtree said you were, what they all -said you were. You get a second chance, and you go right out and get -drunk and blow it. Or, almost. Another minute and you'd have blabbed -everything you know to Baya. - -Baya, who cried because he wouldn't tell her; who had brought him to -this rathole. - -He took a clearer look at it when he went shakily out of the men's -room. The place was almost empty, and it had a close, smothery feeling. -Durham had never liked these underground streets, this vaguely unsavory -demi-world that wound itself around the foundations of the city. It was -considered smart to go slumming here, but this place was somehow wrong. - -There were a man and woman at a table across the room, a young, pale -green couple who pretended too carefully not to see him. There was -Varnik, the plum colored proprietor, at a tall desk beside the main -door. And there was Baya at their table. - -She handed him a glass when he came over. "Feel better? I ordered you a -sedative." - -Without sitting down he put the glass to his lips. It did not taste -like any sedative he could remember, and he thought he had tried them -all. - -"I don't want it." - -"Don't be a fool, Lloyd. Take it." Her eyes were cold now, and he was -suddenly quite sure why he had been brought here. - -Durham said softly, "Good night, tramp. Good night and good-bye." He -ran around the table and made a rush for the entrance. - -Varnik stepped from the tall desk to bar his way, holding out a piece -of paper. "Sir," he said. "Your check." - -Durham heard three chairs scrape behind him. He did not pause. He bent -and drove the point of his shoulder as hard as he could at a spot just -above Varnik's wide belt. Varnik let go a gasping sigh and wheeled -away. Durham went out the door. - -The underground street was brightly lighted. It ran straight to right -and left, under a low roof, and disappeared on either hand around a -right angle turn. Durham went to the left for no particular reason. -There were people on the street. He dodged among them, running. They -stopped and stared at him, and there was an echo of other feet behind -him, also running. He sped around the corner, and it occurred to him -that he was completely lost, that he did not even know what part of the -city lay above him, or how far. There were different levels to this -under-city, following down the foundations, the conduits and tubes -and sewers and pumping stations. For the first time he began to feel -genuinely trapped, and genuinely afraid. - -The street ran straight ahead until it ended against a buttressed -foundation wall. There were doors and windows on either side of it. -People lived here. There were joints, some fancy-exotic for the -carriage trade, others just joints. A couple of smaller streets opened -off it, darker and more winding. Durham plunged into one, pausing -briefly to look back. Fleeting like deer around the corner were the -young pale green couple who had sat at the other table in Varnik's. -There was something about the purposeful way they ran that sent a -quiver of pure terror through Durham's insides. - -He ran again, as hard as he could, wondering who the devil they were -and what they wanted with him. - -What did anyone want with him, and the small bit of a secret that he -carried? - - * * * * * - -The narrow street wound and twined. Clearly echoing along the vault -of the roof he could hear footsteps. One. Two. Coming fast. He saw an -opening no wider than a crack in the wall. He turned into it. It was -quite dark in there and he knew he could not go much farther, and that -fact added to his burden of shame. There had been a time when this much -of a sprint would hardly have breathed him. He tottered on, looking -for a place to hide in, and there wasn't any, and his heart banged and -floundered against his ribs, and the muscles of his thighs were like -wet strings. - -There was a square opening with blank walls all around it and a great -big manhole cover in the middle. There was the way he had come in, and -there was another narrow way he might have come out, but Varnik was -coming through it, running a little crooked and breathing hard. He -stopped when he saw Durham. Baya, panting up behind, almost ran into -him. Varnik grunted and sprang. - -With feeble fierceness, Durham resisted. It got him nowhere. The plum -colored man struck him several times out of pure pique, cursing Durham -for making trouble, for bruising his gut, for making him run like this. -Baya stood by and watched. - -"Will you behave now?" Varnik demanded. He whacked Durham again, and -Durham glared at him out of dazed eyes and felt the world tilt and -slide away from him. - -Suddenly there were new voices, footsteps, confusion. He fell, what -seemed a long way but was really only to his hands and knees. - -The young couple had come into the square space. They were small lithe -people, muscled like ocelots, and their skin color was a pale green, -very pretty, and characteristic of several different races, but no good -for identification here. The girl's tunic had slipped aside over the -breast, and the skin there was a clear gold, like new country butter. -They both had guns in their strong little fists, and they were speaking -over Durham to Varnik and Baya. - -"We will question this man alone." - -"Oh, no," said Varnik angrily. "You don't get away with that." Baya -bent over Durham. "Come on, lover," she said. "Get up." Her voice was -cooing. To the strangers she said, "That wasn't our deal at all." - -"You failed," said the girl with the two-colored skin, and she fired a -beam with frightening accuracy, exactly between them. A piece of the -wall behind them fused and flared. Varnik's eyes came wide open. - -"Well," he said. "Well, if that's the way you feel about it." - -He turned. Baya hesitated, and the muzzle of the gun began to move her -way. She snarled something in her own language and decided to go after -Varnik. - -Durham got his hands and feet bunched under him. He didn't know what he -was going to do, but he knew that once he was left alone with the two -small fleet strangers he would eventually talk, and after that it would -not matter much what happened to him. - -He said to them, hopefully, "You have the wrong man. I don't know--" - -There were the five of them in the small space. There were the two -couples facing each other, and Durham on his knees between them. And -then there was something else. - -There was a spiky shadow, perfectly black, of undetermined size and -nameless shape, except that it was spiky. - -Baya did not quite scream. She pressed against Varnik, and they both -recoiled into the alley mouth. The young couple paled under their -greenness, and they, too, drew back. Durham crouched on the ground. - -The shadow bounded and rolled and leaped through the air and hung -cloudlike over Durham's head. Suddenly it shrieked out, in a high, -toneless voice like that of a deaf child, a clatter of gibberish in -which one syllable stood clear, repeated several times. - -"Jubb!" said the shadow. "Jubb! Jubb! Jubb!" - - - III - -Jubb. - -It might have been a name, a curse, or a battle cry. Whatever it was, -the young couple did not like it. Their faces twisted into slim masks -of hate. They raised their guns at the shadow, and the shadow laughed. -Abruptly it bunched up small and shot at them. - -Durham heard them yell, in pain or fright or both, and he heard their -running feet, but he did not see what happened to them. He was going -away himself, down the narrow alley that Varnik and Baya were no longer -interested in blocking. When he reached the end of the alley he came -out onto a well lighted street with lots of people on it, but he still -did not feel safe. - -Varnik and Baya were not far away. Baya was leaning against a wall, -with her mouth wide open. She was not used to running. Varnik was -standing beside her looking sulky. He scowled at Durham when he came -out of the alley. Durham stopped, bracing himself and ready to yell for -help. But Varnik shook his head. "Nyuh!" he said. - -Baya panted. "What's the matter, you afraid?" - -"Yes," said Varnik. "Those two little green ones, they are not playing -for fun. And that black one--" He quivered all over. "I'm afraid. I see -you again, Baya." - -He went away. Baya was close onto tears, partly from her own fright, -partly from sheer fury and frustration. But she did not cry. She turned -and looked at Durham. - -"What got into you?" she said. "It was all set, and then you had to -louse it up." She cursed him. "It's just like you, Lloyd, to cost me a -nice chunk of money." - -"Who are those people, Baya?" - -"They didn't tell me. I didn't ask." - -"Total strangers, eh?" - -"Turned up this afternoon at my apartment. I should think you could -tell. They're not the type _I_ run with." - -"No." He frowned, still breathing hard and wiping sweat from his face. -"How did they know about us?" - -She shrugged, and said maliciously, "Somebody must have told them. -Well, so long, Lloyd. I wish you all the luck you deserve." - -She walked off slowly, patting her hair into place, straightening the -line of her white dress. She did not look back. Durham watched her for -a second. Then he began to walk as fast as he could in the opposite -direction, keeping in the brightest lights. After a bit he found a -stairwalk. He rode up on it through two levels, and all the while the -roots of his hair were prickling and he was darting nervous glances -over his shoulder and into the air over his head. - -Jubb. Jubb. Jubb. - -He envied Varnik who could go away and forget the whole thing. - -It was still night when he reached the surface. The shadow did not -seem to have followed him, but how could you tell? Even a city as -brilliantly lighted as The Hub always has shadowy corners by night. He -kept listening for that high, flat, hooting voice. It did not speak to -him, and he hailed a skycab, appalled by how little time he had left to -catch the pre-dawn ferry. - -He made it with no minutes to spare. He found a place on the dark side -and settled himself for the four-hour run, and then everything caught -up to him at once and he began to shake. He sat there in the grip -of a violent reaction, living over again Hawtree's instructions and -the evening with Baya and the nightmare run through the underground -streets, and the coming of the shadow. _The darkbirds will soon fly._ -Was that enough for people to kill for? It might be if they had an -interest in those ships, but the young couple did not look the type. -And the shadow? - -He shivered and looked out the port. The long thin shadow of the ship -extended itself indefinitely into space, but all around it there was -light, and the curve of the planet below was a blaze of gold. Down -there was Hawtree and a big part of his life. Above and ahead was the -huge cool face of the moon, and that was the future, all unexplored. -Durham clenched his cold hands together between his knees and thought, -I've got to do this, stay sober and do it, a little for Hawtree but -mostly for myself. A man can't look at himself twice the way I did -tonight. Once is all he can stand. And once ought to be enough. - -The brightness blurred and swam. Presently he slept, and his dreams -were thronged with shadows hooting, "Jubb! Jubb! Jubb!" - -Four hours later Durham walked across the vast main rotunda of the -lunar spaceport, dropping his little bundle of passport and ticket -as casually as he could. He continued on to the newsstand and made a -pretense of looking over the half credit microbooks, waiting. - -While he waited he wondered. He wondered how the young couple had known -about Baya. He wondered what the shadow was and where it came from, and -why it had defended him from the young couple, and what was the meaning -of the rather ridiculous word "Jubb." He wondered if he wasn't crazy -not to pick up his ticket to Earth and use it. - -He wanted a drink very badly. - -A uniformed attendant came and said, "I think you dropped this, sir." - -He held out a passport with a ticket folded in it. Durham examined -them, put them in his pocket, and tipped the attendant, who went away. -Durham bought three microbooks and moved on. He could not see anybody -watching him, and he told himself it was only nerves that made the skin -creep on his back as though eyes were boring into it. - -The switch had been made all right on his papers. His name was now John -Mills Watson and he had a passage to Nanta Dik aboard the freighter -_Margaretta K_. He still wanted a drink. He was determined that he -would not go and get it, and he headed grimly for a stairwalk that led -down to the port cab system. He had almost stepped onto it, and then -from the loudspeakers all over the huge rotunda a voice boomed out, -saying, - -"Mr. Lloyd Durham, please come to the Information Desk." - -Durham flinched as though somebody had struck him. He thought, -Hawtree's sent word to recall me. Perhaps it was a trap. - - * * * * * - -He approached the desk cautiously, while his name continued to blare -forth from the loudspeakers. Somebody was standing there. A woman, with -her back to him. He had not seen that back for over a year, not since -the night of the accident, but he had not forgotten it. - -"Hello, Susan," he said. - -She turned around, and he added bitterly, "He needn't have sent _you_." -He was convinced now that she had come to call him back. - -She seemed surprised. "Who?" - -"Your father." - -"Dad? Good heavens, Lloyd, you don't suppose he knows I'm here!" She -was tall, as he remembered her, and handsome, and beautifully dressed, -and very self-assured. She smiled, one of those brittle things with no -humor in it, and then she asked, "How long have you before take-off?" - -Durham said slowly, "Time enough." - -"We can't talk here." - -"No. Come on, I'll buy you a drink." - -They walked in silence to the crowded, noisy spaceport bar. They found -a place and sat down. Durham ordered. Susan Hawtree sat opening and -closing her handbag as though the operation was of the most absorbing -interest. - -He asked, "Why did you come here?" - -"It seemed as though somebody ought to say good-bye." - -"Who told you I was leaving?" - -"I have a friend in the travel office. She tells me if anybody I know -books passage home." - -"Convenient." - -"Yes." - -The drinks came. There was a clatter of voices, speaking in a thousand -tongues, laughing, crying, saying hello and good-bye and till we meet -again. Susan turned her glass round and round in her fingers, and -Durham watched her. - -"I'm sorry, Lloyd. Sorry everything could not have turned out better." - -"Yes. So am I." - -"I hope you'll have better luck at home." - -"Thanks." - -Another silence in which Durham tried hard to figure her angle. - -He said, "I heard you tried to talk your father into giving me another -chance. Thanks for that." - -She stared at him blankly and shook her head. "You know how Dad feels -about you. I've never dared mention your name." - -A cold feeling settled in the pit of Durham's stomach. _There's -somebody else, Lloyd, who wanted you to have another chance._ Fatherly -intuition? - -Or a big fat lie? - -Let's face it, Durham, why would Hawtree send you on a mission to the -dog pound? There are ten billion people on The Hub. He could have found -somebody else. - -The whole business smells. It reeks. - -But wait. Suppose he sent Susan here to test me; to see if I'd talk? -Not too believable, but a pleasanter belief than the alternative. Let's -see. - -"Susan. Look, I can say this now because I'm going home and that's the -end of it. We won't see each other any more. I should never have got -engaged to Willa, I didn't love her. It was you all the time." - -He caught the quick glint of tears in her eyes and was appalled. Tears -for him? From Susan Hawtree? - -"That's why I went with you that night," she whispered. "I thought I -could take you from her. I thought I could make you be what you ought -to be--oh, damn you, Lloyd, I should never have come here!" - -She jumped up and walked rapidly away from the table. He followed her, -with his eyes and his mouth both wide open and something very strange -happening inside him. - -One thing sure. She was no plant. - -"Susan." - -"Don't you have to get aboard, or something?" - -"Yes, but--Susan, ride down with me, I want to talk to you." - -"There's nothing to talk about." - -But she went to the stairwalk with him, and rode down, her face turned -away and her head held so high she seemed to tower over him. - -"Susan," he said. "Do you think--could you give me--" - -No, that's not the gambit. But what do you say--Susan, I'm a changed -man. Susan, wait for me? - -The stairwalk slid them gently off onto a very long platform. There was -a crowd on it, sorting itself into the endless lines of purple monorail -taxis that moved along both sides. - -"Susan." - -"Good-bye, Lloyd." - -"No, wait a minute. Please. I don't know quite how--" - -Suddenly they were not alone. A young couple had joined them. The color -of their skin had changed from pale green to a warm burnt orange, -and their clothing was different, but Durham recognized them without -difficulty. A hard object prodded him in the side, and the young man, -smiling, said to him, "Get into that cab." The young woman, also -smiling, said to Susan Hawtree, "Don't scream. Keep perfectly quiet." - -Susan's face went white. She looked at Durham, and Durham said to the -young man, "Let her go, she has nothing to do with this!" - -"Get in the cab," said the young man. "Both of you." - -"I think," said Susan, "we'd better do it." - -They got in. The doors closed automatically behind them. The young man, -with his free hand, took out a ticket and laid it in the scanner slot, -with the code number of the ship's docking area uppermost. The taxi -clicked, hummed, and took off smoothly. - -Durham saw the ticket as the young man removed it from the scanner. It -was a passage to Nanta Dik aboard the freighter _Margaretta K_. - - - IV - -The monorails came out onto the surface in bunches like very massive -cables and then began to branch out, the separate "wires" of the cables -eventually spreading into a network that covered the entire moon. The -taxi picked up speed, clicking over points as it swerved and swung, -feeling its way onto the one clear track that led where its scanner -had told it to go. Durham was aware obliquely of other monorail taxis -in uncountable numbers going like the devil in all directions, and of -other types of machines moving below on the surface, and of mobile -cranes that walked like buildings, and of a horizon filled with the -upthrust noses of great ships like the towers of some fantastic city. -Beside him Susan Hawtree sat, rigid and quivering, and before him on -the opposite seat were the two young people with the guns. - -Durham said, in a voice thick with anger and fright, "Why did you have -to drag her into it?" - -The man shrugged. "She is perhaps part of the conspiracy. In any case, -she would have made an alarm." - -"What do you mean, conspiracy? I'm going home to Earth. She came to say -good-bye--" Durham leaned forward. "You're the same two bastards from -last night. What do you--" - -"Please," said the man, contemptuously. He gestured with the gun. "You -will both sit still with your hands behind your heads. So, Wanbecq-ai -will search you. If either one should attempt to interfere, the other -will suffer for it." - -The wiry young woman did her work swiftly and efficiently. "No -weapons," she said. "Hai! Wanbecq, look here!" She began to gabble in a -strange tongue, pointing to Durham's passport and ticket, and then to -Susan's ID card. Wanbecq's narrow eyes narrowed still further. - -"So," he said to Durham. "Your name has changed since yesterday, Mr. -Watson. And for one who returns to Sol III, you choose a long way -around." - -Susan stared hard at Durham. "What's he talking about?" - -"Never mind. Listen, you--Wanbecq, is that your name? Miss Hawtree has -nothing to do with any of this. Her father--" - -"Is a part of the embassy which sent you out," said Wanbecq, flicking -Susan's ID card with his finger. "Do not expect me to believe -foolishness, Mr. Watson-Durham." He spoke rapidly to Wanbecq-ai. She -nodded, and they both turned to Susan. - -"Obviously you were sent with instructions for Mr. Durham. Will you -tell us now what they were?" - -Susan's face was such a blank of amazement that Durham would have -laughed if the situation had not been so extremely unfunny. - -"Nobody sent me with anything. Nobody even knows I came. Lloyd, are -these people crazy? Are you crazy? What's going on here?" - -He said, "I'm not sure myself. But I think there are only two -possibilities. One, your father is a scoundrel. Two, he's a fool being -used by scoundrels. Take your pick. In either case, I'm the goat." - -Her white cheeks turned absolutely crimson. She tried twice to say -something to Durham. Then she turned and said to the Wanbecqs, "I've -had enough of this. Let me out." - -They merely glanced at her and went on talking. - -"You might as well relax," said Durham to her, in colloquial English, -hoping the Wanbecqs could not understand it. "I'm sorry you got into -this, and I'll try to get you out, but don't do anything silly." - -She called him a name she had never learned in the Embassy drawing -rooms. There was a manual switch recessed in the body of the taxi, high -up, and sealed in with a special plastic. It said EMERGENCY on it. -Susan took off her shoe and swung. - -The plastic shattered. Susan dropped the shoe and grabbed for the -switch. Wanbecq yelled. Wanbecq-ai leaped headlong for Susan and bore -her back onto the seat. She was using her gun flatwise in her hand, -solely as a club. Susan let out one furious wail. - -And Durham, moving more by instinct than by conscious thought, grabbed -Wanbecq-ai's uplifted arm and pulled her over squalling onto his lap. - -Wanbecq started forward from the opposite seat. - -"Don't," said Durham. He had Wanbecq-ai's wrist in one hand and her -neck in the other, and he was not being gentle. Wanbecq-ai covered him, -and the two of them together covered Susan. Wanbecq stood with his -knees bent for a spring, his gun flicking back and forth uncertainly. -Wanbecq-ai had stopped squalling. Her face was turning dark. Susan -huddled where she was, half stunned. Durham shifted his grip on -Wanbecq-ai's arm and got the gun into his own hand. - -"Now," he said to Wanbecq. "Drop it." - -Wanbecq dropped it. - -Durham scrabbled it in with his heel until it was between his own feet. -Then he heaved Wanbecq-ai forcibly at her husband. It was like heaving -a rag doll, and while Wanbecq was dealing with her Durham managed to -pick up the other gun. - -Susan lifted her head. She looked around with glassy eyes and then, -with single-minded persistence, she got up. - -Durham said sharply, "Sit down!" - -Susan reached up for the emergency. - -Durham smacked her across the stomach with the back of his left hand, -not daring to take his eyes off the Wanbecqs. She doubled over it and -sat down again. Durham said, "All right now, damn it, all of you--sit -still!" - - * * * * * - -The taxi sped on its humming rail, farther and farther into the reaches -of the spaceport. Below there were the wide clear spaces of the landing -aprons, and great ships standing in them, their tails down and their -noses high in the air, high above the monorail, towering over the -freight belts and the multitude of machines that served them. - -Ahead there was the onracing edge of twilight, and beyond it, coming -swiftly, was the lunar night. - -Durham said to Wanbecq, "What's this all about?" - -Wanbecq sneered. - -"You know," said Durham, "there's a law against changing the color of -your skin for the purpose of committing criminal acts. That's so the -wrong people won't get blamed. There's a law against carrying lethal -weapons. There is even, humorously enough, a law against espionage on -The Hub. You know I'm going to turn you over to the authorities?" - -Again Wanbecq sneered. He was a hateful little man, but he looked so -young and so proudly martyred that Durham almost felt sorry for him. - -Almost. Not quite. - -"On second thought," he said, "I guess I'll save you both for Jubb." - -That was a random shot, prompted by the memory of how their faces -looked when the shadow-thing had squealed that word at them. It hit. -Wanbecq's face became distorted with a fanatic hatred, and Wanbecq-ai, -rubbing her throat, croaked, "Then you _are_ in league with The Beast." - -She pronounced that name with unmistakable capitals. - -"Who said I was?" asked Durham. - -"The darkbird came to help you. It told us Jubb had claimed you." - -"It did," said Durham softly, "did it?" The dark birds will soon fly. -The dark birds merely refer to a couple of ships engaged in poaching. -That's what you say, Mr. Hawtree. - -"What is a darkbird? You mean that shadow thing?" - -"They are the servants, the familiars of The Beast," said Wanbecq. "The -instruments by which he hopes to enslave all humanity. Do not pretend, -Mr. Durham." - -"I'm not. This Jubb--what is he beside The Beast?" - -Wanbecq stared at him, and Durham made a menacing gesture. "Come on, I -want to know." - -"Jubb is the ruler of Senya Dik." - -"And Senya Dik?" - -"Our sister planet. A dark and evil sister, plotting our destruction. A -demon sister, Mr. Durham. Have you ever heard of the Bitter Star?" - -"I never heard of any of it but I find it very interesting. Go on." - -"Whoever controls the darkbirds controls the Star, and whoever controls -the Star can destroy anything he wishes. This is Jubb." Wanbecq thrust -out his hands. "You're human, Mr. Durham. If you have sold your soul, -take it back again. Fight with us, not against us." - -"I assume," said Durham, "that Jubb is not human." - -Wanbecq-ai made an abrupt sound of disgust. "This is silly, Mr. Durham. -If you know so little why are you going to Nanta Dik at all?" - -Durham did not answer. He did not have any answer to that one. Wondered -if ever he would have it. - -"If you are so ignorant," continued Wanbecq-ai viciously, "of course -you don't know that the Terran consul Karlovic is over his head -in intrigue, conniving with Jubb in order to make this treaty of -Federation." - -Durham sat up straight. "A treaty of _what_?" - -"The sector," said Wanbecq slowly, "will belong either to the human -race or to the beast, but it cannot belong to both." - -"Federation," said Durham, answering his own question. And suddenly -many formless things began to fit together into a shape that was still -cloudy but had a sinister solidity. In order for a solar system to -become a member of the Federation its member planets were required -to have achieved unity among themselves, with common citizenship, a -common council, common laws. And in order for a sub-sector to become -federated, all its solar systems must have reached a like accord. - -In this case, since the system of the two Diks was the only inhabited -one in the sub-sector, the two things were the same. The fate of 9G -rested solely on the behavior of two planets. - -If 9G remained unfederated, the company or companies engaged in mining -or other business under local license could continue to operate in -almost any way they chose as long as they kept the local officials -happy. They could strip the whole area of its mineral resources, pile -up incredible fortunes, and leave the native worlds with nothing. -But if 9G became a member of the Federation, Federation law would -immediately step in, and Federation enforcement of same, and if there -were any abuses of native rights, the people responsible would suffer -for it. - -Postulate a company. Postulate a connection between it and Hawtree. -Postulate and postulate. - -At around three hundred miles an hour the taxi plunged into the -twilight zone. Light sprang on automatically. Outside it became dark -very swiftly, and the darkness roared, and glittered with a million -lamps. - -"Who," asked Durham, "is principally against your two worlds uniting so -that the treaty can go through?" - -"All of us," said Wanbecq fiercely. "Shall we give up our rights, our -independence, our human institutions, everything our race has stood -for--" - -Wanbecq-ai cried out, "We will never unite, never! No one can force us -to betray our species!" - -Susan began to cry. - -"Please," said Durham. "Baby. You're all right." - -"You hit me." - -"I had to. I'll apologize later. Be quiet now, Susan, please." He -turned back to the Wanbecqs. "Everybody on Nanta Dik feels that way?" - -"There are traitors everywhere," said Wanbecq darkly. "Some of them, -unfortunately, are in positions of power." - -"They won't be for long," said Wanbecq-ai. "Look here, Mr. Durham, -you're going to Nanta Dik with a message. We aren't the only ones who -want to know what it is. Jubb has sent a darkbird for you. Take my -advice. Tell us your message and go back to The Hub." - -Susan said in a nasty muffled voice, "You're insane. Nobody would trust -him with a message to the milkman. He lost his job because he couldn't -be trusted." - -Without rancor, Durham said, "You're absolutely right, darling. And -wouldn't it be strangely fitting if that's why I got my job back -again?" He said to the Wanbecqs, "Somebody tipped you off about me. -Who?" - -"We know him only as a friend of humanity." - -"Somebody must have sent you here from Nanta Dik." - -"On our world there are many friends of humanity. Think of them, Mr. -Durham, when you kiss the Bitter Star." - - * * * * * - -The taxi slowed, strongly, smoothly. The blurred panorama of lights and -ships became separable into individual shapes. Durham stared out ahead. -There was the squat form of a freighter, ugly and immensely powerful, -on a landing apron only partially lighted. The _Margaretta K_. - -Durham asked, "Who owns her?" - -"Universal Minerals." - -"And who owns Universal Minerals?" - -"Several people, I think, all Earthmen." - -"Who speaks for Universal Minerals on Nanta Dik?" - -A little reluctantly, Wanbecq said "There is a man named Morrison." - -The name rang no bell in Durham's mind. It brought no visible reaction -to Susan's face either, though he was watching it closely. - -"And how," he asked, "does Morrison feel about humanity?" - -"Ask the Bitter Star," said Wanbecq, and the taxi slid to a halt beside -the platform on which Durham now saw that several men were standing. -Wanbecq and Wanbecq-ai hunched forward expectantly. - -"No," said Durham. "I'm getting out, but you're not." He nudged Susan. -"Get ready." - -The doors slid open automatically. Susan scrambled out. Durham went -right behind her, twisted like a cat in the opening, and splashed a -brief warning blast off the floor at the feet of the Wanbecqs, who had -raised a frantic cry and were trying to follow. - -Susan said breathlessly, "Oh!" - -The men who had been standing on the platform were now rushing forward. -Three were lean and butter-colored. One was a burly Earthman, who said -in a tone of amazement, "What the hell--" - -"Hold it!" Durham shouted. He swept Susan behind him and tried to cover -all fronts at once, not knowing whether the men were there to capture -him or were only there by chance and responding to the Wanbecqs' cry -for help. "These people attacked us. I have passage on your ship--" - -From out of the night there came a shrill, flat, hooting cry of "Jubb! -Jubb! Jubb!" - -The butter-colored men yelled. They scattered away and out, their -feet scrabbling on the platform. The Earthman was slower and more -belligerent. He turned around and the spiky little blob of darkness -came leaping at him. He put up his hands and struck at it, and the -darkbird hooted as the fists passed through it, crackling. The Earthman -opened his mouth in a round shocked O and went rigid, rising up on the -tips of his toes. The darkbird seemed to merge with his skull for the -fraction of a second, and he crumpled down with his mouth still open -and his chest rising and falling heavily. The darkbird swooped toward -Durham. - -Durham fired at it. - -It soaked up part of the beam and left the rest, like a well-fed cat -rejecting an overplus of milk. It darted past Durham and into the -taxi, where it bounced agilely, once and twice. Wanbecq and Wanbecq-ai -fell down on the floor. The doors closed softly and the taxi mechanism -whirred and the rail hummed as it took off, heading back to the main -terminal. The darkbird returned to Durham. - -Susan said in a strange voice, "What is that?" - -"Never mind now. Come on." - -He started to drag her toward the ramp that led down from the platform. -She fought him. She was getting hysterical, and he didn't blame her. -The darkbird followed along behind. When they reached the level, Susan -planted her feet mulishly and refused to go any farther. - -"I don't dare leave you alone out here," he said desperately. "Come -along to the ship and the captain will see that you get back safely--" - -The darkbird circled and dived at Susan. She bolted. It dived at -Durham. He bolted too, off to the right, to the edge of the apron, -where he caught up with Susan again. They ran between the storage -sheds, onto a spur of the freight-belt system. It was still now, not -carrying any freight. They tried to run across it to the other side, -but the darkbird drove them back. It was immediately apparent, of -course, that the thing was herding them. He shouted at it to let Susan -alone, but it did not pay any attention to him. And he thought, it -wants us to go somewhere, so it won't knock us out. Maybe? It's worth a -try. - -He took Susan and jumped off the belt and ran. - -The darkbird touched him, ever so gently. He tried to yell, gave up, -and tottered back where it wanted him to go, with every nerve in him -pulled taut and twangling in a horrible half-pleasurable fashion that -made his legs and arms move unnaturally, as though he were dancing. The -darkbird followed, once again placid and unconcerned. - -They went along the belt for some distance. It was limber, sagging a -bit between the giant rollers, and it boomed under their feet with a -sharp slapping sound. Susan stumbled so often he picked her up and -carried her. There was nobody to call to, nobody to ask for help. The -towering ships were far away. - -The darkbird nudged him again at last, out across a landing apron where -a very strange looking ship stood in the solitary majesty of impending -take-off. The flood lights were blinking at twenty-second intervals, -visual warning to stand clear, and Durham ran staggering as through a -strobo-scopic nightmare, with the white-faced girl in his arms. - -Dark, light. Black, bright. A haze of exhaustion swam before his eyes. -Things moved in it, jerky shapes in an old film, in an antique penny -peep show. Day, night. Dark, bright. The things moved closer, unhuman -things clad in fantastic pressure suits. Durham screamed. - -He tried to run again, and the darkbird touched him. Once more there -was the unbearable twitching of the nerves and he danced in the black, -bright, day, night. He danced into a large box that was waiting for -him, and he kept going until he struck the end wall of hard metal. He -turned then, and saw the very thick door go sighing shut and the dogs -go slipping into place snick-snick one after the other, and it was too -late even to try to get out again. - -He set Susan down as gently as he could and sank down beside her. The -floor moved up under him sharply. There was a bonging and clattering -of tackle overhead, and then a sickening sidewise lurch. The on-off -pattern of the light changed outside the two round windows that were in -the box. It became a steady green, in which his hands showed like two -sickly-white butterflies on his knees. There were more noises, hollow -and far away, and then a second lurch, a lift, a drop, and after that -a larger motion encompassing the box and the entire locus in which it -stood. - -Durham put his face in his hands and gave up. - - - V - -Susan was screaming. Let me out, let me out. She was pounding on -something. Durham started up. He must have slept or passed out. The box -was perfectly still now. There was no sense of motion. But he could -tell by the change in gravity that the ship was in space. - -Susan was by one of the windows. She was pounding on it with her -favorite implement, the heel of her shoe. Durham went to her and -glanced out. Cold sweat broke out on him, and he grabbed her hand. - -"Stop it! Are you crazy?" He wrenched the shoe from her and threw it -across the small space of the box. Then he felt of the glass, peering -at it, frantic lest she should have cracked it. - -"I'm going to get out," said Susan grimly, and groped around for -something heavier. - -"Look." He shook her and turned her face to the window. "Do you see -that air out there?" - -The box now stood in a large empty hold. He could see the curve of the -ship's hull, ribbed with tremendous struts of steel, and a deck of -metal plates, glistening in the green light. _Green_ light? Earth ships -have a yellow-white type light, the kind that the sun gives off. Well, -yes--but suppose that the sun was green? - -Nanta Dik circles a green star. - -So does Senya Dik. Those creatures outside the ship were anything but -humanoid. Jubb's darkbird herded us in here. Easy. Now we know. - -"What about the air?" asked Susan. "Let go of me." - -"It's poisonous. Can't you tell by looking at it?" It rolled and -roiled and sluggishly shifted in vapors of thick chartreuse and vivid -green. "And don't you remember, they were wearing pressure suits? They -couldn't live in our atmosphere. We surely couldn't live in theirs." - -There was no answer. - -"Susan. Susan?" - -"I want to go home," she said, and began to cry. - -"There now, Susie. Take it--" - -"Don't call me Susie!" - -"All right, but take it easy. I'll find out what the situation is and -then I'll--" - -"You'll what? You'll make a mess of things just like you always have. -You'll get me into more trouble, just like you got me into this. You're -no good, Lloyd, and I wish I'd never seen you. I wish I'd never come to -say good-bye!" She rushed to the window and began to pound on it again, -this time with her fists. - -Durham hauled her away and shook her until her jaw rattled together. -"I'm sorry you came too," he said savagely. "You're the last person in -the galaxy I'd pick to be in trouble with. A damned spoiled female with -no honesty, no courage, no nothing but your father's position to trade -on." He wrapped his arms tight around her. "Hell, this is no time to be -quarrelling. Let's both keep our mouths shut. Come on, honey, we're not -dead yet." - -She choked a little, and stood trembling against him. Then she said, - -"I think I fell over a chair a while ago. Maybe there's a lamp. Let's -look." - -The green light was dim, but their eyes were used to it. They found a -lamp and turned it on. The box was flooded with a clear white glare, -very grateful to Earthly senses. Durham looked around and said slowly, -"I'll be damned." - -The box was about the size of a small room. It had in it an armchair, -a bunk, compact cupboards and lockers, a sink and hotplate, and a -curtained-off corner with a sanitary device. Durham turned on one of -the sink taps. Water came out. He turned it off and went and sat down -in the armchair. - -"I'm damned," he said again. - -"Freezer," said Susan, looking into things. "Food concentrates. Pots -and pans. Blanket. Change of clothes--all men's. Booze, two bottles of -it. Rack of microbooks. Somebody went to a lot of trouble." - -"Yes." - -"Pretty comfortable. Everything you need, all self-contained." - -"Uh." - -"But Lloyd--it's only for one." - -He said dismally, "We'll take turns on the bunk." But it wasn't the -bunk that worried him. He went and looked out of the other window. By -craning his head he could see an assembly of storage tanks, pressure -tanks, pumps, purifiers, blower units, all tightly sealed against any -admixture of Senyan air. That, too, was only for one. A most ghastly -claustrophobia came over Durham, and for a moment he saw Susan, not as -a spoiled and pretty girl, but as his rival for the oxygen that was -life. - -Susan said, "Lloyd. Something is coming in." - -For an instant he thought she meant into the box, and then he realized -that the reverberating clang he heard must be the hatch door of the -hold. He joined her at the opposite window. - -There were two--no, three dark shapes coming toward the box, moving -swiftly through the green and chartreuse vapors. They undulated on two -pairs of stubby legs set fore and aft under a flexible lower body. -Their upper bodies, carried erect, were rather bulbous and tall, with -well-defined heads and two sets of specialized arms, the lower ones -thick and powerful for heavy work, the upper ones as delicate as an -engraver's fine tools. Their skin was a glossy black, almost like -patent leather. They wore neat harnesses of what looked like metal -webbing in the way of dress, and on the breast strap each one carried -an insigne. - -"Ship's officers," Durham guessed. "Probably one of them's the -captain." - -"They're horrible," said Susan. She backed away from the window until -the end of the bunk caught her behind the knees and she sat down. - -Durham laughed. "Fine pair of cosmopolites we are. We're used to the -idea of non-humanoids. There are a lot of them on The Hub, but they're -mostly segregated by necessity, so we practically never really see any. -But now we're the ones who have to be segregated. And the reality is -quite another thing from the idea, isn't it?" - - * * * * * - -He backed away himself, a step or two, until shame made him stop. The -three non-humanoids came and looked with large iridescent eyes, through -the window. Their oddly shaped mouths moved rapidly, so he knew that -they were talking, and their slender upper arms were as mobile and -expressive as the hands of so many girls at a sorority tea. Then one -of them turned and did something to the wall of the box, and suddenly -Durham could hear them clearly. There was a speaker device beside the -window. Durham sprang at it. - -"Can you hear me? Can you hear me out there? Listen, you have no right -to do this, you've got to take us back! Miss Hawtree is the daughter -of--" - -"Mr. Durham." The voice was unhuman but strong, and the esperanto it -spoke was perfectly understandable. "Please calm yourself and listen to -what I have to say. I appreciate your feelings--" - -"Hah!" - -"--but there is nothing I can do about it. I have my orders, and I can -assure you--" - -"From Jubb?" - -"You'll be fully informed when you reach Senya Dik. Meanwhile, I can -assure you that no harm will come to you, now or later. So please put -your fears at rest. A little patience--" - -Susan had leaped up. Now she flung herself upon the speaker mike. "What -about me?" - -"Your presence was unexpected, and I fear it's going to be rather -difficult for you both. But you must make the best of it. In regard -to air and water, I must caution you that the supply will hardly be -adequate for you both unless you are extremely careful." - -This had not occurred to Susan before. "You mean--" - -"I mean that you must use no more water than is absolutely necessary -for drinking and preparing your food. The food you must share between -you, on half rations. As for the air--" - -"Yes," said Durham. "What about the air?" - -"I believe that activity has the effect of increasing your metabolism, -thereby consuming more oxygen. So I would advise you both to move and -speak as little as possible. Remain calm. Remain quiet. In that way -you should be able to survive. It is not that we are grudging. It is -simply that we cannot share any of our supplies with you, because you -are alien life forms and totally incompatible. If we had known there -would be two, we would have prepared. As it is, you must work together -to conserve." - -"But," said Susan, "but this isn't fair, it isn't right! You'll take me -back or my father will see to it--" - -"Keep this speaker open," said the Senyan, "so that you will be sure to -hear the audio signal, a sustained note repeated at intervals of forty -seconds. Prepare to enter overdrive." - -He did not say good-bye. He merely went away with his two officers. -Susan screamed after them. Durham clapped his hand over her mouth, and -took her forcibly and put her on the bunk. - -"Lie there," he said. "Quiet. Didn't you hear him? Don't move, don't -talk." - -He sat down in the chair, consciously trying not to breathe deeply. - -"But--" - -"Shut up." - -"Don't you say shut up to me, Lloyd. This is all your fault." - -"My fault? Mine? Because you had to shove yourself in--" - -"Shove myself? Father was right about you. And it is your fault. If you -hadn't asked me to ride down with you--" - -"Oh, shut up, damn it, that's just like a woman! If you knew your next -breath was your last one you'd still have to use it for talk. You want -to asphyxiate us both with your gabbling?" - -She was quiet for a long while. Then he realized that she was crying. - -"Lloyd, I'm scared." - -"So am I." He began to laugh. "When I come to think of it, it was your -father that got us both into this. I hope he sweats blood in great gory -streams." - -"You're a drunken ungrateful swine! If dad really did give you another -chance--" - -"Ah ah! Remember the oxygen! He did. And I was such a fatheaded idiot -I thought it was on the level. I even reformed." He laughed again, -briefly. "Overcome with gratitude, I did exactly what I was supposed -not to do. I sobered up and held my tongue." - -"I don't understand at all." - -"I was supposed to talk, Susan. I was given a message, and I was -supposed to babble it all over The Hub. I don't know exactly what that -message was intended to trigger off when it got into circulation. -Probably a war. But I'll bet I know what I triggered off by not -talking. Trouble for your old man." - -"I don't believe a word of it." - -Durham shrugged. It was very little effort to reach out and lift a -bottle from a nearby cupboard. He opened it and took a long pull. Then -he looked at the bottle, shook his head, and passed it to Susan. - -She made a derisive noise, and he shrugged again. - -"That's right. Funny thing. First I was stricken with remorse and -determined to be worthy. Now I'm just mad. Before I get through, I'm -going to hang your father higher than Haman." - -The audio signal, shrill and insistent and sounding somehow as unhuman -as the voices of the Senyans, came piercingly through the speaker. - -Susan gasped. "Wherever they're taking us--they're not going to kill -us, are they?" - -"I think they want to question us. I think some dirty work is going -on, one of those million-credit-swindle things you hear about once in -a while, and I think your father is right up to his neck in it. If I'm -right, that's the chief reason you were brought along." - -"I think you're a dirty low down liar," she said, in a voice he could -hardly hear. - -The signal continued to squeal. Durham moved to the bunk. - -"Slide over." - -"No." - -But she did not fight him when he pushed himself in beside her and took -her in his arms. - -"The haughty Miss Hawtree," he said, and smiled. "You're a mess. Hair -in your eyes. Make-up all smeared. Tears dripping off the end of your -nose." - -The light dimmed, became strange and eerie. - -"They could have made this damned bunk a little wider." - -"It doesn't matter. After a trip like this, I won't have any reputation -left, anyway. Nobody would believe me on oath." - -The fabric of the ship shifted, strained, slipped, moved. The fabric of -Durham's body did likewise. He set his teeth and said, - -"Don't worry, dear. I can always ask the captain to marry us." - -By the time the audio-signal shrilled again, heralding a return to -solar system speeds and space, it seemed that ages had passed. - - * * * * * - -They did not talk about marriage now, even in jest. They hated each -other. "Cabin fever," they had said politely for a while, making -excuses. But they did not bother with excuses any more. They just had -simply and quietly loathed each other, as the long, timeless time went -by. - -Pity, too, thought Durham, looking at Susan where she lay in the bunk. -She's really a handsome wench, even without all the makeup and the -hairdo and those incredible undergarments that women use, as though -they were semi-liquescent. Just lying there in her slip now, she looks -younger, gentler, nice and soft, as though she'd be pleasant to hold -in your arms again if you had the strength and the oxygen and if you -didn't hate her so. - -"Lloyd?" - -"Huh?" - -"How long before we land?" - -"How should I know?" - -"Well, you could find out." - -"You find out. You can yell as loud as I can. Louder." - -"I'll yell," said Susan ominously. "The second I get out of here, I'll -yell so loud the whole galaxy will hear me." - -"I should think they've already heard you clear out to Andromeda." - -The lights dimmed. The peculiar noises and wrenchings that went with -coming out of overdrive began. Durham braced himself. - -"It's too bad you reformed," said Susan. "You used to be amusing -company, at least. Now you're sour and bad tempered. You're also--" - -What he was also Durham never heard. There was a crashing, roaring, -rending impact. The chair went out from under him so that he fell face -up into the ceiling. The lights went out entirely. He heard a thin -faint sound that might have been Susan screaming. Then the ceiling slid -away from him and spilled him down a wall. As he went scrabbling past -the window he looked out and saw that there were now long vertical -rents in the outer hull through which the stars were shining. - -The pumps had stopped. - -A long settling groan and then silence. The antigrav field was dead. -Durham floated, along with everything else that was not bolted down. - -"Susan," he said. "Susan?" - -"Here." - -They met and clung together in mid air while the hull began a slow -axial rotation around them. - -"What happened?" - -"We hit something." - -"The Senyans--" - -"They must all be done for. The hull is split open. Head-on ram, I -think, just as we came out of overdrive. They wouldn't have had time to -get space armor." - -"Then are we--" - -"Hush. Don't talk. Just wait and see." - -They clung together, silent. The hull turned without sound, and the -stars shone in through the long slits, into the empty vacuum of the -hold. - -"Lloyd, I can't breathe." - -"Yes you can. We still have as much air as ever. It just isn't -circulating now." - -"I don't know if I can stand this, Lloyd. It's such an awful way." - -"There isn't any way that's good. It won't be so bad, really. You'll -just go off to sleep." - -"Hold onto me?" - -"Sure." - -"Lloyd." - -"What?" - -"I'm sorry." - -"So am I." - -The hull turned and the stars glittered. The vitiated air grew foul, -grew thick and leaden. The man and woman floated in the closed space, -their arms tight around each other, their faces close together. - -Something jarred against the hull. - -"Lloyd! I see a light!" - -"It's only a star." - -"No. Look through the window. Moving--" - -Men, humans, wearing pressure suits, had come into the hull. Two of -them were dragging oxygen bottles. They came up to the box and flashed -their lights in through the windows. They knocked and made reassuring -signs. After a minute or two fresh oxygen hissed in under pressure -through the air duct. Susan laughed a little and then fainted. Durham -still held her in his arms. Everything got pleasantly dark and far -away, lost in the single simple joy of breathing. - -There were sounds and motions but he did not pay much attention to -them, and he was mildly surprised when he happened to float past a -window and noticed that now there was only space outside, very large -and full of hot and splendid lights. When he passed the other window he -saw part of a ship, and he understood that the box was being hoisted -across the interval between it and the wreck. It seemed a remarkably -kind dispensation of fortune to have provided a ship at exactly the -right time and place, and not just any ship but one equipped with the -specialized tackle required for moving heavy loads in space. - -A mighty cargo hatch swallowed the box. Susan came to, and they waited, -weakly hysterical, Durham not even noticing that a spiky shadow had -slipped in with the box. Suddenly again there was man-made light, and -then the sound of heavy air pumps reached them. The pumps stopped, and, -quite simply, men came in and opened the door of the box. - -There was a considerable noise and confusion, everybody talking at -once. Durham lost track of Susan. He was only partly conscious of -what he was doing, but he felt that everybody was in a hurry to get -something done. Then there was a cabin with a port in it, and beyond -the port there was space, and in that space a great light flared -blindingly and was gone. - - - VI - -Morrison said, "Murder is a harsh word, Durham. After all, they weren't -human." - -"There's no such difference under Federation law." - -"We're not under Federation law here." - -"No. And you're engaged in a life-or-death struggle to make sure you -don't come under it. This happened to be one of the death parts." - -Morrison looked at him in mild surprise. "You figured that out, -Durham?" He was a lean gray, kindly looking man, the conventional -father type. Susan was staring at him in blank horror, as though she -could not believe what she was hearing. "I wasn't told you were that -bright. Well, you're right. Universal Minerals and its various dummy -corporations in this sub-sector are making such profits as you wouldn't -believe if I told you, and we have no intention of giving it up." - -"Even if you have to slaughter a whole ship's crew. What did you do, -tow an asteroid into position?" - -Morrison shrugged. "Special debris is not uncommon." - -"You could have killed us, too, you know," Durham said angrily. "You -could have killed her. Hawtree wouldn't have liked that." - -"It was a risk we had to take. It was a reasonably small one." He -looked Durham up and down. "You made us one whale of a mess of trouble. -If my yacht wasn't a good bit faster than Jubb's ship, we'd have been -whipped. What happened to you? Why didn't you talk like you were -supposed to?" - -"You'd die laughing." - -"I can control my emotions. Go ahead." - -Durham told him. "Virtue," he finished sourly, "is sure enough its -own reward. I should have stayed drunk. I was happier that way. What -happened to the Wanbecqs?" - -Morrison was still laughing. "They had not come to when their taxi -reached the terminus. The port police picked them up." He took a bottle -out of a locker and pushed it and a glass across the cabin table to -Durham. "Here. You've earned it. Wait till I tell Hawtree. And he was -so sure of you. Just goes to show you can't trust anybody." - -Susan said, "But _why_?" Shock was making her mind move slowly. It was -a minute before they realized she was referring to the Senyan ship. - -She added, very slowly, "It's true about my father?" - -"I'm afraid it is," said Morrison. "But I wouldn't worry about it too -much. He's a very rich man. He's also a shrewd one, and it looks now as -though he's going to be all right. Give her a drink, Durham, she needs -it. Would you like to lie down, Miss Hawtree? All right, then, I'll -tell you why." - -He leaned over her with no look of kindness at all. "Get this all -clearly in mind, Miss Hawtree, so you'll understand that if at any -time you try to hang me, you'll hang your father too. We're partners, -equally guilty. You understand that." - -"Yes." She looked so white that Durham was frightened. But she sat -quietly and listened. - -"For years now," Morrison said, "I have managed the company here, and -Hawtree has used his position with the Embassy to see that I have a -free hand. He sees that no complaints get to ears higher up. He sees -that any annoying red tape is taken care of. Most important of all, -he sees that any official communication from either of the Diks that -might be unfavorable to us is permanently lost in the files--including -all requests for aid in achieving Federation status. Our connection, -naturally, is one of the best kept secrets in the galaxy. - -"We had very easy sailing until Jubb rose to power on Senya Dik. Jubb -is an able leader. He knows what's happening to the resources of the -sector, and he knows the only way to put a stop to it. Unfortunately -for us, all the leaders on Nanta Dik aren't fools either, and there is -a growing movement toward unification. Jubb has pushed it and pushed -it, so that we've been forced to take more and more vigorous steps. -The human supremacy groups, made up of such people as the Wanbecqs, -have been very useful. And of course Senya Dik has its lunatic fringe -too, in reverse but equally useful. But Jubb started a campaign of -petitioning the Embassy. He poured it on so hard that Hawtree knew -he wasn't going to be able to pigeonhole all the petitions forever. -Furthermore, it was obvious that Jubb knew there must be collusion -somewhere and was hammering away to find it. So Hawtree sent for me." - -"And," said Durham, "you said, 'Let's start a war between the two -planets. Then unification can't possibly take place, and Jubb will have -too much on his hands to bother us.' Maybe he'll even be eliminated. -And you went looking for a goat." - -"Exactly. You were given a message about dark birds that would have -significance only to a Nantan. The Wanbecqs were put on your trail. All -you had to do was talk." - -"What if I had talked too much?" - -"How could you? You didn't know anything. And Hawtree's story would be -that he had simply given you passage home, which you had bought." - -"And anyway," said Durham thoughtfully, "I would have been either dead -in an alley somewhere, or aboard a ship going to Nanta Dik--which I -would not have reached." - -"It was a flexible situation." - -Susan said, "Then you admit that you--" She could not finish. - - * * * * * - -Morrison turned on her irritably. "You very nearly wrecked us, Miss -Hawtree. Durham's disappearance wouldn't have raised a ripple, but the -daughter of a highly placed diplomat vanishing was quite another thing. -Your father had to think fast and talk faster, or public curiosity -would have forced an investigation right then. Fortunately the Wanbecqs -helped. They painted a pretty dark picture of Jubb, and Hawtree was -able to smooth things over since everybody knew you'd been sweet on -Durham and had obviously gone to say good-bye. Hawtree did such a good -job, in fact, that he had the whole Hub seething with indignation -against Jubb even before I left. So it turned out well, in spite of -you." - -"But why did you have to wreck the ship?" - -"Well, we had to get you back. We couldn't let Jubb have Mr. Durham to -use as a witness against us, and we certainly couldn't let him have -Hawtree's daughter to use as a club over Hawtree. Now, you see, the -situation is this." - -He nodded to the cabin port beyond which the bright flare had come and -gone, leaving nothing but emptiness. - -"There's nothing left of the ship but atoms, and no one can say what -happened to it. Jubb does not have you two, but he can't prove it as -long as you're kept out of sight. So we keep you out of sight, and -at the same time press demands to Jubb for your return. It looks as -though he's hiding you, or has killed you, in fear of the storm he has -raised. The more he doesn't give you up the more human opinion turns -against him, and the more his own people figure he's made them nothing -but trouble. Meanwhile, the Wanbecqs are on their way home with a big -story. We can still have our war if we want it. And Jubb's days are -numbered." - -Durham said slowly, "What if he decides to use the Bitter Star?" - -Morrison stared at him, and then laughed. "Don't try to frighten -me with my own bogeyman. I took a story a thousand years old and -resurrected it and talked it up until it caught. But that's all it is, -a story." - -"Are you sure? And what about the darkbirds? They seem to get around. -Won't they tell Jubb where we are?" - -"He'd have a hard time proving it on the word of a shadow. Besides, -there are defenses against them. They won't interfere." - -"I suppose," said Durham, taking the bottle into his hand as though to -pour again, "that it wouldn't bother you to know that one of them is in -here now." - -Morrison did not take his eyes from Durham's face. "Hawtree made a -stinking choice in you. Put down that bottle." - -Durham grinned. He raised the bottle higher and chanted, "Jubb, Jubb, -Jubb!" - -Morrison said between his teeth, "This would have had to be done -anyway." Still watching Durham, he reached one swift hand into the belt -of his tunic. Susan made a muffled cry and started to get up. None -of the motions were finished. A shadow came out from the darkness of -a corner behind Morrison's chair. It flicked against him and he fell -across the table, quite still. The darkbird came and hung in the air in -front of Durham. - -"Jubb," it said. - -Durham put down the bottle and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He -looked at the darkbird, feeling cold and hollow. - -"I want to go to him. You understand? To Jubb." - -Up and down it bounced, like the nodding of a head. - -Susan said, "What are you going to do?" - -"Try and steal a lifeboat." - -"I'm going with you." - -"No. Morrison doesn't want to kill you, but don't push him too far. You -stay. Then if I don't make it you'll still be--" He broke off. "That's -taking a lot for granted, isn't it? After all, Hawtree is your father." - -She whispered, "I don't care." - -"It's the biggest decision you'll ever make. Don't make it too fast." -He kissed her. "Besides, if you wait, you may not have to make it at -all." - -He took Morrison's gun and went out, and the darkbird went with him, -bunched small and darting so swiftly that the two men it struck down -never saw it. Durham turned aside into the communications room, and the -darkbird saw to it that there was no alarm. He damaged radio and radar -so that it would take some time to fix them. Then he went on down the -corridor to the plainly marked hatch that led to Lifeboat No. 1. He got -into it, with the darkbird. As soon as the boat hatch itself was shut, -automatic relays blew him free of the pod on a blast of air. - -"Jubb," said the darkbird. It touched him, and to his amazement there -was no shock, only a chilly tingling that was not unpleasant. Then it -simply oozed out through the solid hull, the way smoke oozes through a -filter, and was gone. - -Durham had no time for any more astonishments. The controls of the -lifeboat were designedly very simple and plainly marked. Durham got -himself going and away from Morrison's ship as fast as he could. But -he knew that it was not going to be anything like fast enough if the -darkbird didn't hurry. - -It hurried. And Durham was closer to Senya Dik than he realized. In -less than three hours he was in touch with a planetary patrol ship, -following it in toward the green blaze of KL421, and a dim cool planet -that circled it, farther out than the orbit of Earth around Sol, but -not quite so far as Mars. - - - VII - -The spaceport was in a vast flat plain. Far across the plain Durham -could see the dark outline of a city. He stood at the edge of the -landing area, between two Senyan officers from the ship. He wore a -pressure suit from the lifeboat's equipment, and the wind blew hard, -beating and picking and pushing at the suit and the bubble helmet. It -was difficult for Durham to stand up, but the Senyans, braced on their -four sturdy legs, stood easily and swayed their upper bodies back and -forth like trees. - -They were big. He had not really understood how big they were until -he stood beside them. He gathered that they were waiting for a ground -conveyance, and he was not surprised. Light air cabs were hardly suited -to their build. - -He had talked briefly to Karlovic by radio, and he was impatient to get -to the consulate where Karlovic was waiting for him. The minute or two -in which they waited for the truck seemed interminable. But it came, a -great powerful thing like a moving van, and one of the Senyans said, - -"Permit me?" - -With his two lower arms he lifted Durham onto the platform. The two -Senyans spoke to the driver and then got on themselves. The truck took -off, going very fast in spite of its size. The Senyans held Durham -between them, because there was nothing for a human to hang to, and -nowhere to sit down. - -They left the spaceport. Huge storage buildings lined the road, and -then smaller buildings, and then patches of open country, inexpressibly -dreary to Durham's eyes. High overhead the sun burned green and small -in a sky of cloudy vapor from which fell showers of glinting rain. -Poison rain from a poison sky. Durham shivered, and a deep depression -settled on him. Nothing hopeful would be done in this place. Not by -humans. - -The truck roared on. Durham watched the city grow on the murky horizon, -rising up into huge ugly towers and blocky structures like old prisons -greatly magnified. It was a big city. It was a frightening city. He -wished he had never seen it. He wished he was back in The Hub, standing -on a high walk with the good hot sun pouring on him and no barriers -between him and the good clean air. He wanted to weep with mingled -weariness and claustrophobia. Then he noticed that little crowds had -collected along the way into the city. They shouted at the truck going -by, and waved their arms, and some of them threw stones that rattled -off the sides. - -"What's the matter?" Durham asked. - -"They are members of the anti-human party. Prejudice cuts both ways, -a thing our neighbors of Nanta Dik do not seem to understand. Human -and non-human are intellectual concepts. On the emotional level it is -simply us or not-us. You are not-us, and as such quite distasteful to -some. What I do not understand is how they knew you were coming." - -"Morrison must have got his radio working. He's been using the -extremists here just like the ones on Nanta Dik, to make trouble." - -"There are times--" said the Senyan grimly. "But then I make myself -remember that there are scoundrels among us, too." - -The truck rumbled through the traffic of wide boulevards, between -rows of massive buildings that had obviously never been designed with -anything so small and frail as human beings in mind. There were Senyans -on the streets, apparently going about whatever business they did, and -Durham wondered what their home life was like, what games the children -played, what they ate and how they thought, what things they worried -about in the dark hours of the night. He felt absolutely alien. It was -not a nice feeling. - -Presently the truck turned into an open circle surrounded by mighty -walls of stone. In one place bright light shone cheerfully from the -windows, and the Senyan said, "That is the consulate." - -They set him off and showed him where the airlock was. Durham performed -the ritual of the lock chamber, frantic to get out of the confining -suit. When the inner door swung open he began to tear at the helmet, -and a man came in saying, "Let me help." - -When Durham was free of the suit, the man looked at him with very -tired, very angry eyes. "I'm Karlovic. Jubb's waiting. Come on." - -He led Durham down an echoing corridor that dwarfed them by its size. -The colors of the polished wood and stone were not keyed to the glaring -yellow light, and the rooms that Durham could see into as he passed -were not keyed to the small incongruous furnishings that had been -forced upon them. Somewhere below there was a throbbing of pumps, and -the air smelled of refresher chemicals. - -Durham said, "You knew I was being brought here, didn't you?" - -Karlovic nodded. "You, yes. The girl, no. She was an overzealous -mistake on the part of the darkbird. Yes, I was in on it. I hoped that -finally we could get proof, a witness against whoever in the Embassy -was working with Morrison. Hawtree, is it? I'm glad to know his name." - -He pushed open a door. The room beyond it was only half a room, cut -in the middle by a partition of heavy glass. On the other side of the -glass wall was the thick green native air, and three Senyans, one of -whom came forward when Durham and Karlovic came in. A darkbird hovered -close above him. He said to Durham, - -"I am Jubb." - -There were communicator discs set in the glass. Jubb motioned Durham to -a chair beside one. "First let me offer the apology that is due you. -You were carrying a message which was not true, which would have made -the people of Nanta Dik believe that we were about to come against them -with the Bitter Star. The darkbirds warned me, and I felt that I had no -choice. I could not let that message be delivered." - -Durham said, "No one could blame you for that." - -"You understand, I had another motive, too." - -"Yes. I don't think you could be blamed for that, either." - - * * * * * - -Jubb looked at him with his large inscrutable eyes, totally alien, -unmistakably intelligent. "I didn't know what you would be like, Mr. -Durham, whether you would be in sympathy with your employers or not. -Now of course it is evident that you can't be." - -Durham said quietly, "I've been to a lot of trouble already to put a -rope around their necks. I'm ready to go to a lot more. They've used me -like--" He could not think of the right word. Jubb nodded. - -"Contempt is not an easy thing to take. I know. Then you will help?" - -"In any way I can." - -"I want you to go back with me to The Hub, Mr. Durham. Before, I was -helpless without proof. Now, as head of a planetary government, I can -insist on seeing the ranking Ambassador himself, and I can bypass -Hawtree now that I know who he is. I want you to be my witness." - -"Nothing," said Durham, "would please me more." - -"Good," said Jubb. "Good. Karlovic, it looks as though the end of our -long fight may be in sight at last. Take good care of Mr. Durham. He is -more precious than gold. - -"Meanwhile, Morrison had made us a problem on transportation. We -provided that particular ship for the consul's comfort, when there was -reason for him to travel in our territory, and we had planned to refit -it so that it would accommodate two on the return journey. Now I must -ask a ship from our friends on Nanta Dik, and that may take a little -time. So rest well, Mr. Durham." - -He went out, and Karlovic led Durham back into the hall and from there -into a tall gloomy chamber that had a shiny little kitchen lost in one -corner of it. There was a table and chairs. Durham sat down and watched -Karlovic busy himself with packages of food. - -"You don't look very happy about all this," he said. - -"I'm not unhappy. I'm worried." - -"About what? Morrison can't do anything now." - -"No? Listen, Mr. Durham, the emperors of Rome only ruled part of one -little world, but they didn't give it up easily. Morrison won't, -either. Remember, things are so bad for him now they can't possibly get -any worse, only better." - -Durham looked out the window. It was a double one, with a vacuum -between the panes and protective mesh on the outside. The green air -pressed thick against it. The sun had wheeled far over, and the shadows -of the buildings were long and black. - -"Do you stay here much?" he asked. - -"I have lately," said Karlovic. "I had to. My life wasn't safe on -Nanta Dik. You've no idea how high their feelings run there, thanks to -Morrison." He began to set the table. Durham made no move to help. He -was tired. He watched the shadows lengthen and fill the circle of lofty -walls with their darkness. - -"Couldn't the government there protect you?" - -"Only part of the government wants to. And Morrison is working hard to -frighten them with all this propaganda about the Bitter Star." - -"Propaganda. That's what he said. Is it?" - -"Absolutely--as far as the Senyans using it is concerned. But the thing -itself is real. It's in the city here. I've seen it." - -Karlovic put the heated containers on the table and sat down. He began -methodically to eat. - -"It's kind of a weird story. Probably it could only have happened on a -world like this, with a totally non-human, bio-chemical set-up. Senyan -science started early and advanced fast, a good deal faster than it did -on Nanta Dik, for some reason. They did a lot of experimenting with -solar energy and atomics and the forces that lie just on the borderline -of life--or maybe intelligence would be a better word." - -"Aren't the two more or less synonymous?" - -"A hunk of platinum sponge or a mess of colloids can be intelligent, -but never alive. The Star is. The darkbirds are. They're not matter, -they're merely a nexus of interacting particles. But they live and -think." - -"What about the Star?" - -"The scientists were trying for an energy matrix that would absorb -solar power and store it like a battery. Something slipped, and the -result was the Bitter Star. It absorbs solar power, all right, but in -the form of heat, and it will take heat from anything. And it doesn't -give it up. It merely absorbs more and more until every living thing -near it is frozen and there's no more heat to be had. The Senyan -scientists didn't know quite what to do with this thing they had -created, but they didn't want to destroy it, either. It had too many -angles they wanted to study. So they made the darkbirds, on the same -pattern but without the heat-hunger, and with a readier intelligence, -to be a bridge between themselves and the Star, to control it. They -studied the thing until it proved too dangerous, and they prisoned it -by simply starving it at a temperature of absolute zero. So it has -stayed ever since, but the darkbirds still guard it in case anything -should happen to free it again. They almost seem to love it, in some -odd unfleshly way." - -Durham frowned. "Then it _could_ be used against Nanta Dik." - -"Oh yes," said Karlovic sombrely. "In fact it was, once. The Star shone -in their sky in midsummer, and the crops blackened and the rivers -froze, and men died where they stood in the fields. The Senyans won the -war. That was a thousand years ago, but the Nantans never quite forgot -it." - -He got up and went morosely to the sink, carrying dishes. "I keep -telling Jubb he ought to get rid of the thing. It's a sore point. But--" - -Somewhere below there was a very loud noise. The floor rose up and -then settled again. Almost at once the air was full of dust, and an -alarm bell began a strident ringing. Karlovic's mouth opened and closed -twice, as though he was trying to say something. He let the dishes fall -clattering around his feet, and then he ran with all his might out of -the room and along the hall. - -Durham followed him. There was now no sound at all from below. The -pumps had stopped. - -Karlovic found his tongue. "Cover your face. Don't breathe." - - * * * * * - -Durham saw a thin lazy whorl of greenish mist moving into the hall. He -pressed his handkerchief over his mouth and nose and made his legs go, -hard and fast. He was right on top of Karlovic when they stumbled into -the airlock. It was still clear. - -They helped each other into their suits, panting in the stagnant air. -Then, through the helmet audio, Durham could hear sounds from outside, -muffled shouts and tramplings. Karlovic went back into the consulate -where the green mist was already clinging around his knees, and looked -out a window into the circle. Over his shoulder Durham could see -Senyans milling around and he thought they were rioters, but Karlovic -said, "It's all right, they're Jubb's guards." - -They went back to the airlock, and from there into the open circle. -Senyans escorted them hastily into the adjoining building, and Durham -saw that guard posts were being set up. There was a gaping hole in the -side of the consulate and the pavement was shattered, and there were -pieces of machinery and stuff lying around. Durham figured rapidly -in his head how much oxygen he had in his suit pack, and how long it -would take to repair the consulate and get the air conditioning working -again, and how long it would be before a ship could get here from Nanta -Dik. He looked at Karlovic, whose face was white as chalk inside his -helmet. - -"The lifeboat," he said. - -Karlovic nodded. Some color came back into his face. "Yes, the -lifeboat. We can live in it until the ship comes." He ran his tongue -over his lips as though they were very dry. "Didn't I tell you Morrison -wouldn't give up easy? Oh lord, the lifeboat!" He began to jabber -urgently at the Senyans in their own tongue, and again his expression -was agonized. Durham didn't need to be told what he was thinking. If -anything happened to that lifeboat, they were two dead men on a world -where humans had no biological right to be. - -They were brought into a room where Jubb was busy with a bank of -communicators and a batch of harried aides. The room was enormous, -but it did not dwarf the Senyans, and the sombre colors did not seem -depressing in their own light. Jubb said, as they came in the door, - -"I've had a heavy guard set on your lifeboat. I don't think anyone can -repeat that hit-and-run bombing--" He cursed in a remarkably human -fashion, naming Morrison and the Senyan fools who let themselves be -used. "You are all right, Karlovic--Mr. Durham? Quite safe? I've -ordered a motor convoy. There are signs of unrest all over the -city--apparently word has gone out that you, Durham, are carrying -the unification agreement for my signature, and that the terms are a -complete surrender on our part to human rule. Does it cheer you two to -know that the human race is not alone in producing fools and madmen? -Once on the spaceport you will be safe, my naval units will see to -that, and my troops are already in the streets. They have orders to -look out for you. Go with fortune." - -They were taken out another way, where three heavy trucks and several -smaller vehicles were drawn up. The Senyans in them wore a distinctive -harness and were armed, and the vehicles all had armor plated bodies. -Durham and Karlovic were lifted into one of the trucks, which was -already filled with Senyan soldiers. The convoy moved off. - -Durham braced himself in a corner and looked at Karlovic. "Happened -fast, didn't it? Awfully fast." - -"Violent things always do. You're not much used to violence, are you? -Neither am I. Neither are most people. They get it shoved at them." - -"I don't think we're through with it yet," said Durham. - -Karlovic said, "I told you." - -For some time there was only the rushing and jolting of the truck, the -roar of motors and a kind of dim uneasy background of sound as though -the whole city stirred and seethed. Durham was frightened. The food he -had eaten had turned against him, he was stifling in his own sweat, and -he thought of Morrison cruising comfortably somewhere out in space, -smoking cigarettes and drinking good whiskey and sending down a message -now and then, the way a man pokes with a stick at a brace of beetles, -stirring them casually toward death. He ground his jaws together in an -agony of hate and fear, and the taste of them was sour in his mouth. - -Somebody said to them, "We're on the spaceport highway now. It won't be -long." - -A minute later somebody shouted and Karlovic caught the Senyan word and -echoed it. "Barricade!" The truck rocked and whirled about and there -were great crashes in the night that had fallen. Durham was thrown to -his knees. The truck raced at full speed. There were sounds of fighting -that now rose and now grew faint, and the truck lurched and swerved, -and then there were more roars and crashes and it came violently to -a halt. The Senyans began firing out of the loopholes in the armored -sides. Some of them leaped out of the truck, beckoning Durham and -Karlovic to come after them. A large force of rioters was attacking -what remained of the convoy, which had been forced back into the city. -Four of the Senyan soldiers ran with the two men into a side street, -but a small body of rioters caught up with them. The soldiers turned to -fight, and Karlovic said in a voice that was now curiously calm, - -"If we're quick enough they may lose sight of us in the darkness." - -He turned into an areaway between two buildings, and then into another, -and Durham ran beside him through the cold green mist and the dim glow -of lamps that glimmered on the alien walls. The sound of the fighting -died away. They turned more corners, hunting always for the darkest -shadows, hoping to meet a patrol. But the streets were deserted and all -the doors barred tight. Finally Durham stopped. - -"How much oxygen you got left?" - -Karlovic peered at the illuminated indicator on the wrist of his suit. -"Hour. Maybe less." - -Both men were breathing hard, panting, burning up the precious stuff of -life. Durham said, - -"I won't last that long. Listen, Karlovic. Where is the Bitter Star?" - -Karlovic's face was a pale blur inside his helmet. "You crazy? You -can't--" - -Durham put his two hands on the shoulders of Karlovic's suit and leaned -his helmet close so that it clicked on Karlovic's. - -"Maybe I'm crazy. In thirty, forty minutes I'll be dead, so what will -it matter then? Listen, Karlovic, I want to live." He pointed back the -way they had come. "You think we can walk through that to the spaceport -in time?" - -"No." - -"We got anyplace else to go?" - -"No." - -"All right then. Let's give 'em hell." - -"But they're not all our enemies. Jubb, my friends--" - -"Friend or enemy, they'll clear the way. We might just make it, -Karlovic. You said the darkbirds control it, and you can talk to them." -He shook Karlovic viciously. "Where is it? Don't you understand? If we -use it we can hound Morrison out of space!" - -Karlovic turned and began to walk fast, sobbing as he went. "The -darkbirds will never let us. You don't know what you're doing." - -"I know one thing. I'm sick of being pushed, pushed, pushed, into -corners, into holes, where I can't breathe. I'm going to--" He shut his -teeth tight together and walked fast beside Karlovic, starting at every -sound and shadow. - -By twining alleys and streets where nothing moved for fear of the -violence that was abroad that night, Karlovic led Durham to an open -space like a park with vast locked gates that could keep a Senyan out -but not a little agile human who could climb like a monkey with the -fear of death upon him. Beyond the gates great wrinkled lichens as tall -as trees grew in orderly rows, and a walk led inward. The lichens bent -and rustled in the wind, and Durham's suit was wet with a poisonous dew. - -The walk ended in a portico, and the portico was part of a building, -round and squat as though a portion of its mass was underground. They -passed through a narrow door into a place of utter silence, and a -darkbird hung there, barring their way. - -"Jubb," said Durham. "Tell it Jubb has sent us. Tell it the Bitter Star -must be freed again to destroy Jubb's enemies." - -Karlovic spoke to the shadow. Others came to join it. There was a -flurry of hooting and chittering, and then the one Karlovic had been -speaking to disappeared in the uncanny fashion of its kind. The others -stayed, a barrier between the two men and a ramp that led steeply down. - -Karlovic sat down wearily on the chill stone. "It isn't any use," he -said. "I knew it wouldn't be. The darkbird has gone to ask Jubb if what -we say is true." - -Durham sat down, too. He did not even bother to look at the indicator -on his wrist. No use. The end. Finish. He shut his eyes. - -There was a stir and a hooting in the air. Karlovic gasped. Then he -began to shake Durham, laughing like a woman who has heard a risque -story. "Didn't you hear? The bird came back, and Jubb said--Jubb said -Morrison has been preaching the war of the Bitter Star, so let him have -it." - -He grasped Durham's suit by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet, -and they ran with the cloud of shadows, down into the dimness below. - - - VIII - -There was a small sealed chamber with a thick window, and beyond it -was a circular space, not too large, walled with triple walls of glass -with a vacuum between. The air was full of darkbirds, moving without -hindrance through the walls or hovering where they chose, above the -thing that slept inside. - -Durham blinked and turned his head away, and then looked back again. -And Karlovic said softly, "Beautiful, isn't it? But sad, too, somehow, -I don't know why." - -Durham felt it, a subliminal feeling without any reason to it, like -the sadness of a summer night or of birth and laughter or of gull's -wings white and swift against the sky. The Star shone, palely, gently. -He tried to see if it was round or any other shape, if it was solid or -vaporous, but he could not see anything but that soft shining, like -mist around a winter moon. - -Durham shook himself and wondered why, when he was already so sure of -death, he should be so afraid. "All right," he said. "How is it freed?" - -"The darkbirds do that. Watch." - -He spoke to them, one word, and in the glass-walled prison there was -a stirring and a swirling of shadows around the soft shining of the -Star. Durham saw a disc set in the metal overhead. One of the darkbirds -touched it. There was an intense blue flare of light, and Durham felt -the throbbing of hidden dynamos, a secret surge of power. The glass -walls darkened and grew dim, the low roof turned and opened to the sky. -And through the barrier window, Durham watched the waking of a star. - -He saw the frosty shining brighten and spread out in slow unfurling -veils. There was a moment when the whole building seemed filled with -moonfire as cold as the breath of outer space and as beautiful as the -face of a dream, and then it was gone, and the darkbirds were gone with -it. - -"Come on," said Karlovic, a harsh incongruous voice in the stunned -darkness that was left behind, and Durham came, up the ramp and out -into the parklike space beyond, and all the tall lichens were standing -dead and sheathed in ice. - -High above, burning cold over the city, a new star shone. - -They followed it, through a silence as deep as the end of the world. -Everything had taken cover at the rising of that star, and only the -two men moved, the thermal units of their suits turned on high, -through streets all glazed with ice and cluttered here and there with -the wreckage and the dead of the rioting. The darkbirds were forcing -the Star to stay high, but even so nothing could live long without -protection in that sudden, terrible winter. - -The road to the port lay blank and bare. They found one of the smaller -vehicles, its driver dead beside it. Karlovic got it going, moving the -great levers with Durham's help. After that they rushed faster through -the empty night. Durham shut his eyes, thinking. - -He opened them, and the spaceport of Senya Dik lay black and deserted -around him, and Karlovic was gasping to him for help. Together they -pulled down the lever that stopped their conveyance. They scrambled -down and ran out toward the small lifeboat, slipping and stumbling, -dying inside their suits. They fell into the airlock, and Durham -slammed the door and spun the wheel, waiting out the agonizing seconds -while the tiny chamber cleared and then refilled, and they could tear -off their helmets and breathe again. They looked at each other and -laughed, and hugged each other, and laughed again, and then went in to -the cabin. - -The communicator was flashing its light and burring stridently. - -Durham switched it on. Jubb's face appeared in the tiny screen. "You -are safe? Good, good. For a moment I thought--! Listen. I have word -from my patrol that Morrison has other ships with him now, spread out -to catch you if by chance you get through. That is what decided me to -use the Bitter Star. I am angry, Karlovic. I am tired of mockery and -lies and secret violence. I am tired of peace which is only a cloak for -another man's aggression." - -A darkbird came into the cabin and hung over Durham's shoulder. "It -will carry your messages," said Jubb. "I am leaving now for the port, -and my own flagship. We go together. Good luck." - -The screen went dead. Durham said, "Strap in, we're taking off." - - * * * * * - -The Star, with its herding pack of shadows, set a course that took them -steeply up out of Senya Dik's shadow, into the full flood of the green -sun's light. The darkbird spoke by Durham's shoulder, and Karlovic said, - -"The Star must feed--or recharge itself, as you would say, with solar -heat. Watch it, Durham. Watch it grow." - -He watched. The Star spread out its misty substance, spreading it wide -to the sun, and the soft shining of it brightened to an angry glare -that grew and widened and became like a burning cloud, not green like -the sunlight but white as pearl. - -Far off to one side of it Durham saw the glinting of a ship's hull. He -pointed to it. - -Karlovic worked with the communicator. In a minute the screen lit up, -and Morrison's face was in it. - -"Hello, Morrison," he said. "Hello, thief." - -Morrison's face was as hard and white as something carved from bone. - -"It wasn't just an old wive's tale, Morrison," he said. "It was true, -and here it is. The Bitter Star, Morrison." - -Karlovic reached over and shook him, pointing out the viewport. Coming -swiftly in toward them was a small ship, curiously shaped before. - -"Space-sweep," Karlovic said. "Those funny bulges are torpedo tubes, -and the torpedoes carry heavy scatter charges to clear away debris so -the ore ships can come in." - -Durham said to the image in the screen, "Call him off." - -Morrison showed the edges of his teeth, and asked, "Why should I?" - -Durham nodded to Karlovic, who spoke to the darkbird. It disappeared. -Within a few seconds the Star had begun to move. It moved fast, the -angry gleaming of its body making a streak like a white comet across -the green-lit void. It wrapped itself around the space-sweep, and then -it lifted and the ship continued on its way unchanged. - -Morrison laughed. - -The sweep rushed on toward the lifeboat. Its tubes were open, but -nothing came out of them. Durham shifted course to clear it, and it -blundered on by. In the screen, Morrison's image turned and spoke to -someone, and the someone answered, "I can't, they just aren't there." - -Morrison turned again to Durham, or rather to the image of him that was -on his own screen. "I know what I'm supposed to say now, but I'm not -going to say it. I've got Miss Hawtree with me, had you forgotten that? -I don't think you've suddenly acquired that kind of guts." - -Durham shook his head. "I don't need them. I want you alive, Morrison. -But I don't give a tinker's damn what happens to anybody else in this -whole backside of nowhere you call 9G. Nobody and nothing. And I have -the Bitter Star to back me up. I am wondering how many loyal employees -of Universal Minerals, and how many stupid Wanbecqs are going to -sacrifice their lives just to keep me from getting my hands on you. -Call them up, Morrison, and count them out, and we'll send the Star to -see them." - -The Star glowed and glimmered and grew to a great shining, and a look -of worry deepened on Karlovic's face. Morrison did not answer, and -Durham could see the thoughts going round and round in his mind, the -possibilities being weighed and evaluated. Then the someone who was -behind Morrison and out of scanner range said in a queer flat voice, - -"The tug _Varney_ calling in, sir. They boarded the sweep." - -"Well?" - -"All dead, sir. Frozen. Even the air was frozen. They said to tell you -they're going home." - -"All right," said Morrison softly. "Durham, I'm going home too, to -Nanta Dik. Let's see if you can follow me there." - -He broke contact. In the distance, Durham saw the bright speck that -was Morrison's ship make a wheeling curve and speed away. Durham said -grimly to Karlovic, - -"Tell the darkbirds to follow with the Star. And then get hold of -somebody on Nanta Dik, somebody with authority. Tell them everything -that's happened. Tell them Morrison is all we want. We'll see how close -they let him get to home." - -"I don't know," said Karlovic, and got busy with the communicator. Half -an hour later he sighed and blanked the screen. "They're sending up a -squadron to intercept Morrison. But they're scared. They're scared of -the Star. I've promised them--and nothing had better happen, Durham." - -Durham said, "We'd better send word to Jubb." - -For what seemed an eternity they fled through the green blaze of the -sun, after the ship Durham could no longer see. And ahead of the -lifeboat, a light and a portent in the void, went the Bitter Star with -its attendant shadows. And Durham, too, began to worry, he was not -sure why. Jubb's flagship closed up to them, a vast dark whale beside -a minnow. And after a while a tiny bright ball that was a planet came -spinning toward them. Karlovic pointed. - -Hung like a net across space, between them and the planet, was a series -of glittering metallic flecks. - -"The squadron." - -The communicator buzzed. Karlovic snapped it on, and the face of a -Nantan officer appeared on the screen. - -"We have Morrison," he said. "Come no closer with the Star." - -Karlovic spoke to the darkbird. Durham's hands, heavy with weariness, -slowed the lifeboat until it hung almost motionless. Jubb's great dark -cruiser slowed also. Above and between them burned the Bitter Star. It -had ceased to move. - -Durham said, "The Star will come no closer." - -"Mr. Karlovic," said the Nantan. "Bring your lifeboat in slowly, and -alone." - -The lifeboat came in among the ships of the squadron. - -"Now," said the Nantan officer, "withdraw the Star." - -Karlovic said, "Jubb will do so--" - -"No," said Durham suddenly, "Jubb will not. Look there!" - - * * * * * - -Shining with a furious light, the Star had torn itself away from the -clustering shadows that hung around it. - -Durham's heart congealed with a foretaste of icy death. The face of the -Nantan officer paled, and Karlovic said in a voice that was not like -his voice at all, "I must talk to Jubb." - -He reached out to shift their single screen, and the Nantan officer -said, "Wait, he is speaking on our alternate. I can adjust the -scanner--" - -The picture flopped, blurred, and cleared again, showing now in -addition to the officer a part of the Nantan's alternate-channel -screen. Jubb was speaking, and it seemed to Durham that the Senyan's -strange face was clearly, humanly alarmed. - -He said, "I cannot withdraw the Star. No, this is not a lie, a -trick--hold your fire, you idiots! I'm the only hope you have now. The -Star has profited by the lesson of its docility a thousand years ago, -when it let itself be led back into captivity. Now it has grown, too -much. It cannot be brought back to any world." - -Durham looked out at the beautiful deadly thing blazing so splendidly -in the void. "Can it be destroyed?" - -"The darkbirds can destroy it," said Jubb. "If they will." - -The Nantan officer, speaking from lips the color of ashes, said to the -image of Jubb on the screen, "You have one minute to get it out of here -before I fire." - -Jubb turned his face away and spoke, to something they could not see. - -Durham turned to Karlovic. "He said, 'If they will.' Does that mean--" - -"I told you," said Karlovic, looking out the port, "that the darkbirds -were created to guard the Star. And that, in a way, they love it. Who -can say how much?" - -They watched. - -Out in space the little cloud of darkbirds moved toward the Star. Then, -hesitantly, they stopped. - -"They won't," said Karlovic, in a whisper. "Not even for Jubb." - -Again Jubb spoke to the unseen messenger, as quietly as though it was -a casual order. And presently a troubled movement rippled the swirling -darkbirds. - -Suddenly they moved, again herding the Star. Slowly at first, then -more and more swiftly until it was only a streak of brilliant light, -the darkbirds drove the Star straight toward the sun. And it was less -a driving than an urging, a tempting, a promise of glory, a sweet -betraying call from the mouth of the eternal Judas. The darkbirds led -it, and it followed them. - -In a moment, in that greater blaze, the Star was lost to view. - -Karlovic's breath came out of him in a long sigh. "The only way it -could be destroyed. Even its appetite for thermal energy could not -swallow a sun." - -"The darkbirds are coming back," Durham said. Then, wonderingly, "But -they're not--" - -The darkbirds were coming back from the green sun, but not toward -Jubb's ship. And not toward any planet. They were flying like blurring -shadows toward outer space, and if they heard Jubb's calling voice they -paid no heed at all. - -"They're gone," Karlovic said, unbelievingly. - -"Yes," said Jubb, very slowly. "They obeyed that order, but it was the -last." He looked at the humans facing him, the men of Earth and the men -of Nanta Dik, and he said, "Do you see now that there is no difference -between us, that we of Senya Dik can teach betrayal just like men?" - -Durham looked out into the shining void, but there was no sign now -of the fleet and flying shadows. Intelligences, minds, beyond the -understanding of heavy creatures like himself and Jubb. He wondered how -far they would go, how long they would live, what things they would see. - -_Darkbirds, darkbirds, will you come back some day when we of flesh are -ghosts and shadows, to frolic on our lonely worlds?_ - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Last Call From Sector 9G, by Leigh Brackett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST CALL FROM SECTOR 9G *** - -***** This file should be named 63686.txt or 63686.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/6/8/63686/ - -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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