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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..70f9daa --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63695 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63695) diff --git a/old/63695-h.zip b/old/63695-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1dd4c47..0000000 --- a/old/63695-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63695-h/63695-h.htm b/old/63695-h/63695-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 6195280..0000000 --- a/old/63695-h/63695-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1680 +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 Prodigal Weapon, by Vaseleos Garson. - </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; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Prodigal Weapon, by Vaseleos Garson - -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: Prodigal Weapon - -Author: Vaseleos Garson - -Release Date: November 9, 2020 [EBook #63695] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRODIGAL WEAPON *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>PRODIGAL WEAPON</h1> - -<h2>by VASELEOS GARSON</h2> - -<p>They were the pitiful remnants of a proud world,<br /> -huddled into slave quarters on Karrar, dying<br /> -before the cold brutality of the Kraks, seeking<br /> -the Achilles' heel in the armor of their<br /> -masters. One man alone still fought them—even<br /> -he knowing he battled with a lance of straw.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Summer 1945.<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>Nothing new ... this. The viewpoint, maybe, was different, this time. -The script was the same, only there were new actors in the cast of -characters.</p> - -<p>Human historians had written the story over and over. Even the <i>Kraks</i> -probably had a parallel story in their world.</p> - -<p>Sean McKenna flinched a little as the beam of the thin yellow light bit -into his left shoulder, burning a crooked X into the tanned flesh. Then -with a shrug, Sean nodded his red-thatched head slightly, moved into -the rapidly growing queue of humans who watched the Krak counters with -varied expressions, most of them quietly despairing.</p> - -<p>Sean accepted his destiny with a slanted smile.</p> - -<p>He, too, stared steadily at the impassive-faced <i>Kraks</i> whose naked -torsos and hairless round heads glistened with sweat in the afternoon -of Earth's sun.</p> - -<p>He thought: They have two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, one body, -two arms and two legs just like us humans. But they are something apart -from us, for they are the masters and we—his mind shrugged—are the -slaves.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Sean fixed his green eyes on the scarlet-kilted Krak whose light had -so emotionlessly added him to the cargo of slaves for the Krak's home -planet somewhere out in the reaches of space.</p> - -<p>Sean grew aware of the monotonous voice of a Krak, tolling out what -must be numbers as the yellow lights in the hands of other Kraks -flicked haphazardly among the other residents of Sean's village. -Then the monotonous voice sharpened, and the yellow lights stopped -flickering.</p> - -<p>There was silence then for a brief moment, while the eyes of those -chosen and those left behind touched briefly, despairingly. In that -silence, Sean heard her voice and the quietness with which he had -accepted the end of his earthly life almost vanished.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Sean," she cried. "They didn't take me!" Sean's eyes darted to -the edge of the crowd to where she stood, her arms stretched out -supplicatingly to him; her soft red lips quivering; her blue eyes -brimming; her soft black hair caressed by the afternoon wind.</p> - -<p>Sean broke out of line then, almost running toward her. The -scarlet-kilted Krak who had marked him reached out a restraining hand. -His fingers bit into Sean's arm until the blood spurted; the shock of -pain from his arm held in the Krak's unbreakable hold halted him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>He looked at her quietly then shrugged, and marched back to his place -in the line.</p> - -<p>He was unmindful of the pain in his wrenched arm as he moved along with -the rest up the slanted walk to the oval door of the space ship. At the -top he turned, and his voice rose above the murmur of the crowd.</p> - -<p>"I'll come back, Maureen," he said, and blew her a kiss from his -fingertips. Then he stepped into the darkness, following those others -before him.</p> - -<p>In the gloom, someone said: "Always the gallant one, eh, Sean? You know -damn well that you'll never see Earth again. No one who ever left on -these slave ships has ever come back."</p> - -<p>"I think I recognize Michael O'Hara, the village pessimist," Sean -replied and there was almost a lightness in his voice. They moved -deeper into the bowels of the ship, aware of the curious scraping sound -the Krak guards made as they walked with them.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They were all quiet, these men, women and children whom the Kraks had -carelessly chosen, as they marched into the huge dark room that was -to be their home for the journey to Karrar. The scraping noise moved -through the room, then to the door of the hole. The portal shut with -the dull sound of heavy metal. The scraping noise grew fainter, then it -was gone.</p> - -<p>Not until then did the humans give vent to their emotions. The sound -of despair was hesitant at first—in a far corner a child gasped, -coughed and then sobbed. It was the signal—and the mingled sounds of -hysterical laughter, weeping, groaning were ragged knives twisting in -Sean McKenna's heart. A rending cacophony of lost hope.</p> - -<p>"Shut up," he shouted hoarsely. "This is no time for weeping and -wailing; this is the time to think, to plan." For a moment the awful -symphony subsided; then someone said wearily:</p> - -<p>"Against the Kraks? What did planning ever do against them? They are -invulnerable. We used atomic power, guns, knives, bow and arrows, even -our fists against them. And they crushed us like rats in a corner."</p> - -<p>The cacophony resumed, and Sean's shouting voice could not stop it -now—he could not even hear his own voice. A hand touched his arm -gently:</p> - -<p>"Easy, Sean," Michael O'Hara whispered in his ear. "They are right. -If we couldn't beat them as free men, how can we even think of it as -slaves?"</p> - -<p>"The fools," Sean said savagely. "No matter how weak they are, they can -keep fighting, keep probing for a chink in their armor."</p> - -<p>"No, Sean, for fifteen years we fought, seeking that chink, and failed -to find it. Deep down in your heart you know the Kraks cannot be -beaten. Physically, they are to us as we are to new-born babes—no -weapon of man can touch them, and did you ever hear of a Krak dying of -disease?</p> - -<p>"No, we met a better adversary. Mother of Erin, Sean, we deserve to be -slaves, we haven't the accoutrements to take on the Universe Champion."</p> - -<p>"There's nothing anywhere that hasn't a weakness, Mike. I aim to find -the weakness."</p> - -<p>Mike O'Hara grunted: "Why this sudden fervor to destroy the Kraks, -anyway? Until today, you were content to go fishing and hunting without -thought of them. Now you've done a right-about-face."</p> - -<p>"I know," said Sean, and there was chagrin in his voice. "Until today, -they hadn't bothered me."</p> - -<p>"So you want to embroil the whole human race in your fight, eh?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, hell, Mike, it's not my fight—it's humanity's battle for -self-preservation. You know that as well as I do. Besides, wouldn't you -like to see Jane again?"</p> - -<p>"That hurt, Sean," Mike said softly.</p> - -<p>Sean touched him lightly on the shoulder: "Sorry, Mike, but don't you -see? All of us want to see the ones we love again. And we won't, if we -let despair grab us."</p> - -<p>"All right," said Mike. "I'll go along with you. But it's no go just -the same."</p> - -<p>"Pessimist," Sean said and laughed softly. But he was glad the blocky, -black-haired Mike was with him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The uprooting of these humans from their home of ages had been simple -enough, Sean decided. Except for the nausea that held the stomach in -noisome fingers when the Krak ship broke loose from the earth.</p> - -<p>Were there more captives this time than in the long years before? Were -there 1,000 Krak ships—instead of 500—transplanting men and women and -children to that scarlet land of Karrar?</p> - -<p>Sean said as much to Mike, and Mike said: "I heard before we left that -this would be the biggest batch." Mike looked harried in the yellow -wall light. "Sean," he said quickly, with a twist on his lips: "How's -the search coming?"</p> - -<p>Sean jerked his red-thatched head around, stared at him.</p> - -<p>"Why the sudden earnestness?" Mike licked his lips quickly. "I didn't -know it before, but just now when I was looking over the people here, I -found Marcia, and she's sick."</p> - -<p>"Marcia?" Sean repeated. "I thought you and she had busted up that -romance?"</p> - -<p>Mike nodded: "She did," he said quietly. "But I'll never stop loving -her."</p> - -<p>"Mike, how about Jane? You and she were to be married—tomorrow, wasn't -it?"</p> - -<p>"I know, I know," Mike said hurriedly. "But Marcia's sick, and she -looked at me so appealingly when I recognized her, it all came back. -The least I can do is comfort her."</p> - -<p>"Sure, sure ..." Sean said. That curious scraping sound that marked the -coming of a Krak interrupted them.</p> - -<p>It was the scarlet-kilted Krak who had marked Sean for the trip. He -stood inside the open prison door, his naked torso gleaming in the -yellow light and his hairless round head turning.</p> - -<p>His round head stopped turning as his dark eyes above the wide flat -nose fastened on Sean's red hair.</p> - -<p>"You," he mouthed, "with the red hair. Come!"</p> - -<p>Sean moved forward cautiously, his nerves atingle, his strong hands -doubled into fists.</p> - -<p>He followed the scarlet kilt out of the packed prison room, along an -interminable series of passageways that led upward, and finally entered -a room about twenty feet wide and thirty feet long.</p> - -<p>It was innocent of furniture or decoration. There were no windows.</p> - -<p>But standing in the middle of the room was an eight-foot Krak, dwarfing -even the seven-foot bulk of his guide.</p> - -<p>The scarlet-kilted Krak turned to him.</p> - -<p>"Find your answer," the scarlet-kilted Krak said cryptically. He -pointed to the Krak, naked save for a kind of breechclout about his -loins. "He is your subject."</p> - -<p>Sean was staring at his guide, startled out of his usual acceptance of -the bizarre and the trite.</p> - -<p>"Our audios picked up your plotting," the scarlet-kilted one said. "We -do not wish to kill you, you are much more valuable on Karrar. But we -cannot have restless humans fired by one like you who thinks we are -vulnerable.</p> - -<p>"There is a Krak. Kill him if you can." The scarlet-kilted Krak turned -to the other standing in the center of the room.</p> - -<p>"You have understood my words, Klash? You understand that you will -allow this human to do all in his power to kill you. Allow him all -liberties until you are convinced that he has run out of ways in which -to take your life."</p> - -<p>"Yes, O, Ralk." Klash bent his huge bald head.</p> - -<p>Ralk called aloud in his own tongue. Another Krak appeared pushing a -plastic crate before him. He pushed the crate into the room. Then he -went out, followed by Ralk. At the door Ralk stopped and said:</p> - -<p>"Human, there are many weapons there. Use them, and see if you can kill -one of us." Then he went out.</p> - -<p>Sean McKenna was alone with the brute called Klash.</p> - -<p>He moved to the box, looked in.</p> - -<p>He looked up then at Klash, and whistled. "You must be tough, brother." -Then he hauled the array of weapons from the crate. He laid them on the -duralloy deck beneath his feet.</p> - -<p>A high-powered rifle, a meat ax, a sledge hammer, an acetylene torch, -a sword, a rope, a crowbar. Then a grenade. Sean laid the last item -gently aside, and remarked, "That'd kill <i>me</i>."</p> - -<p>Then he dumped the whole mass of weapons out on the deck.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was a very good collection of various Earth and Krak weapons. -Besides diverse types of guns, powder, electric and air operated, there -were blowguns of all lengths, complete with quivers of poison-dipped -arrows. There were many weapons made by the Kraks, only one or two of -which Sean recognized.</p> - -<p>He picked up the little hand-gun that emitted the burning ray.</p> - -<p>He trained it on the Krak's chest, nicked the little button wide open. -Such power exploded a human being, instantly converting the moisture in -his system to steam.</p> - -<p>Klash stood there, impassive. Sean pumped a full round of bullets at -the Krak from the high-powered rifle, then hurled himself on the floor -to dodge the richocheting bullets. He got up, a rueful grin on his thin -lips, and shot assorted poisonous darts through the blowguns.</p> - -<p>The poison was sudden death to any earthly thing.</p> - -<p>Klash was impassive.</p> - -<p>Sean hefted a battle-ax that the Kraks apparently had filched from -some museum. He walked up slowly toward Klash, the double-bitted ax -swinging heavily in his hand.</p> - -<p>Sean took a stance, spat on his palms, and swung the ax, unmindful that -he ripped open the wound Ralk had made when he stopped him from moving -toward Maureen.</p> - -<p>The bright blade gleamed in the yellow light, the muscles, lean and -sinewy across Sean's back rippled and tore his tunic across the back. -The head of the ax hit Klash waist-high and bounced, flipping Sean to -the deck. Klash rocked a little on his feet from the shock. That was -all.</p> - -<p>Sean, a desperate grin tightening his lips, threw the book at Klash—he -tied the hemp rope about his neck and tried to strangle the Krak; he -put the crowbar in Klash's mouth, tried to break the jaws; turned the -blow torch against his chest. No response.</p> - -<p>At long last, after he exhausted almost the complete roster of weapons, -Sean looked thoughtfully at the grenade. Then he shook his head.</p> - -<p>Sean walked up to Klash, stared up at his towering bulk. Klash looked -down at him, impassive. Sean laughed then and hurled himself upward, -lashing out with his bony fists at the Krak's neck and shoulders.</p> - -<p>The impassivity vanished from Klash's face. It twisted, almost as if in -pain, Sean thought, before the Earthman's senses were washed out in a -rocking shock as one big fist lashed against the side of his head. The -echo of his own laughter was the last sound he heard.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sean still saw that strange look on Klash's face when he opened his -eyes into the glaring yellow light. But the picture vanished as pain -shuddered through his body.</p> - -<p>Mike's voice worked its way through his pain.</p> - -<p>"Mother of Erin, Sean, what did they do to you?"</p> - -<p>"Uh," grunted Sean and moved to a sitting position against the wall and -looked down at his body and legs. He was covered with bruises, yellow -and red and blue and black, and each throbbed its own special melody of -hurt.</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Mike. I passed out when Klash hit me."</p> - -<p>Mike said: "Old Doc Perkins said there isn't a square inch of your -body that hasn't a bruise. What he can't figure is how you took such -punishment without getting a bone broken."</p> - -<p>"Hah," Sean tried to laugh through bruised lips. "Doc's wrong. They -busted every bone in my body. Then they glued me together again." He -paused.</p> - -<p>"Mike, I found it."</p> - -<p>"Sure, Sean," Mike put in gently. "You found it. That nice little pot -of gold at the end of the rainbow. Only it blew up in your face."</p> - -<p>"No, Mike, I found that chink."</p> - -<p>Mike gasped once, then sat there very quietly staring at the red-headed -Sean.</p> - -<p>Finally, he said, "Give me the solution."</p> - -<p>"It's the bone from the shoulder to neck, Mike. That's the vulnerable -part." He launched into a description of his hopeless task of trying to -destroy Klash. "Then at the end, Mike, I jumped up and socked him in -the neck and in that hollow in the shoulder.</p> - -<p>"He winced, Mike, and I'll swear that he flinched in pain. Then he -knocked me out."</p> - -<p>"But how do you know it isn't the neck?"</p> - -<p>"I told you I had that rope around his neck."</p> - -<p>"Maybe he had a stomach ache or something that brought that look to his -face."</p> - -<p>"Holy Mother, Mike, if he'd eaten something that didn't agree with him, -do you think he'd wait until then to feel painful?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe it was the poison, Sean, just taking hold?"</p> - -<p>"No, Mike, he grimaced just when my fist struck that bone. It was the -first sign of pain during the whole time. That's got to be it, Mike. -Kraks aren't invulnerable. They've just been careful not to let us find -out."</p> - -<p>"Why didn't they kill you then, when you found out?"</p> - -<p>Sean shrugged the thought away. "Maybe Klash didn't tell them. Maybe -it's just luck. I don't know. But I do know this, Mike, it's the first -time that a Krak ever departed from that poker face."</p> - -<p>Mike sat there, pessimism fighting with this new thread of hope.</p> - -<p>"Okay," he said finally. "I guess we can try it, anyway. Though I don't -think much of the idea. But it's a chance. And I sure would like to get -Marcia back on earth."</p> - -<p>"To meet Jane?" Sean asked quietly. Mike looked at him, almost like a -boy caught with his hand in the jam jar.</p> - -<p>It was some hours later, when Sean slapped the sandal against the palm -of his hand and muttered:</p> - -<p>"Sandals aren't much good as weapons, but they'll have to do." He -looked at Mike and the other eleven men that the two of them had -convinced, in whispers so that the audios would pick up only sounds and -not the words of their plan.</p> - -<p>Mike said: "He's due along here any minute now."</p> - -<p>Sean nodded and slapped the sandal against the palm of his hand again.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Afar off at first it was, that curious scraping sound the thighs of -Kraks make as they walk. The thirteen men tensed, their palms sweating -against the leather soles of the sandals they gripped so tightly.</p> - -<p>The excitement had deadened the pain of Sean's bruises and he was -waiting just as tensely as the others.</p> - -<p>The other Earth people packed into the huge cell were staring at them, -some licking their lips, some with questions fighting through the -despair in their eyes—all of them dejectedly looking.</p> - -<p>The cry was in Sean's mind: Oh, to destroy their despair that they -might see once more with eyes of hope!</p> - -<p>The scrape-scrape came closer. It halted outside the heavy metal door. -Smaller bits of metal rattled; then the door opened inward.</p> - -<p>Sean, being closest to the opening portal, swung his sandal first. It -made a curious spatting sound. Forgetful of the wrenching pain, he -leaped, wrapped an arm around the Krak's neck and lashed out with the -sandal again and again.</p> - -<p>The Krak reached up one powerful arm, ripped the red-headed Earthman -from his perch. The other dozen Earthmen leaped on him then, their -sandals flailing.</p> - -<p>Sean, flung against the wall, tried to move, but his muscles were tar -and wouldn't respond. He watched the battle, trying desperately to move.</p> - -<p>Of a sudden then, he was biting his lips, and tears of chagrin were -blinding his eyes. For the Krak still towered there, impassive and -invulnerable, smashing the Earthmen down with his huge fists. One of -the thirteen, Bill Hawkins, lay on the deck of the prison, his head -split open like a ruptured muskmelon.</p> - -<p>Another moaned on the floor, helplessly trying to move both his broken -arms. Mike fought to the last, but even his driving fists were stopped -when the Krak pounded him on the side of the head and drove him to the -floor.</p> - -<p>The Krak looked around the prison room impassively, his bald head -moving slowly, effortlessly.</p> - -<p>Then he went out.</p> - -<p>The tar that was his muscles finally set and Sean could move. He -crawled to where Mike lay spread-eagled on the floor, took the -black-topped head in his lap, rocked with it. "Oh, Mike, I'm sorry. I -was so sure."</p> - -<p>Tiny fists pounded on his bruised back. Sean started to turn. Then -fingers were entwined in his red hair, yanking, bringing painful tears -to his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Get away from him, you beast." Sean saw tiny, blonde Marcia, her soft -face twisted into harsh lines, pulling him away from Mike. He let -Mike's head drop gently to the deck. Then he stood up. Instantly Marcia -was beside Mike, touching him, talking to him softly.</p> - -<p>Sean looked at Bill Hawkins lying dead there on the floor, the dark -dead stuff smearing the polished surface. He looked at those others -there. Despair was still there in their eyes, but something else, too.</p> - -<p>They looked away from him, deliberately avoiding his eyes. The soft -moaning of Jack Wilson turned him around.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Jack. It's my fault. I was so sure that was the vulnerable -point."</p> - -<p>Jack's pain-filled eyes looked down on his broken arms, then fastened -on Sean.</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't mind so much," Jack said through tight lips, "if it had -worked." Then he looked away.</p> - -<p>Sean turned to Mike and Marcia. Mike was sitting up now, shaking his -head dazedly.</p> - -<p>He saw Sean.</p> - -<p>Mike said just one word before he stood up and walked away with Marcia.</p> - -<p>The word was: "Satisfied?"</p> - -<p>For the rest of the trip, Sean McKenna had plenty of room to stretch -his body out. As if by pre-arranged signal, he was given a wide berth, -and those Earth people near him constantly tried to keep their backs to -him.</p> - -<p>Impassively, the Kraks had come, and when they left, the body of Bill -Hawkins went with them, leaving only that dark dried stain on the -prison deck as a reminder. Perhaps it hadn't been deliberate, but the -prisoners had made a lane through so that each time Sean McKenna lifted -his harried green eyes he saw the spot where Hawkins had died.</p> - -<p>Hawkins' death twisted at Sean's heart, but it was always overshadowed -by his conviction that the Kraks were vulnerable. Sean's mind probed, -trying to find the answer to why Klash, the huge Krak, had flinched -when Sean's fists had struck him.</p> - -<p>If ever he had seen pain, Sean swore to himself, it had been on Klash's -face then. But what had caused it?</p> - -<p>What had made an invulnerable Krak wince at the blows from an -Earthman's fist?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There were no earthly words to describe Karrar, the home planet of the -Kraks.</p> - -<p>Karrar was Karrar—a stupendous planet, brooded over by a sullen sun, a -land of harsh reds and blacks. Impassive it was—as indestructible as -its spawn of Kraks.</p> - -<p>They'd known when the landing had been made, for the Kraks, their blank -faces rigid, had come into the prison room and roughly strapped a metal -contrivance on the back of each Earth person, man, woman and child.</p> - -<p>For such a sullen-looking planet, Sean decided, the weather was -exceedingly cold, striking at his flesh and bones like tiny needles.</p> - -<p>The Kraks herded the long line of humans through the airlock out onto -the huge expanse of the space port. There were thousands of ship -cradles, it seemed, and they were packed with other ships unloading -their cargo. As far as his green eyes could see, Sean recognized only -human beings—thousands of them moving single file out of the maws of -the swollen Krak ships. Those files were converging at a huge gate at -the far end of the port.</p> - -<p>They looked, Sean thought, like long lines of ants moving toward their -hill. Then he, too, was moving toward the same gate.</p> - -<p>Perhaps only he, of those thousands, was different. For he was not -squeezed into the line. The human ahead of him and the human behind -were a good four feet from him, as if keeping as far from a carrier of -the plague as possible.</p> - -<p>Sean grinned wryly. He kept his eyes fixed ahead where black buildings -shoved their coarse heavy structures against the lowering scarlet sky.</p> - -<p>They moved through the mammoth portal at last, and finally Sean was -swept into the mass of humans who clogged the way. They stumbled -through the black block-paved streets and the few Kraks who were on the -street gave those humans only cursory glances.</p> - -<p>Nothing new to them, Sean thought grimly. And the urgency of his -conviction that these Kraks could be destroyed put buoyancy in his step -and set his mind to working frantically. He towered above the other -humans around him, his flame-hair blazing like a torch.</p> - -<p>A Krak saw that flame head. Sean didn't know it then, but he learned -shortly.</p> - -<p>Finally those thousands of humans were herded into an open-air -compound, surrounded by heavy, black stone walls that lifted -breathtakingly above them. Other humans were there, men bearded and -filthy, women, even in their despair, trying to keep some semblance of -beauty.</p> - -<p>The clothes of these older prisoners were almost gone, only that metal -contrivance on their backs shone brightly. Many of the children, even -in the cold of Karrar, moved about listlessly, naked. Sean counted -seven fist and kick fights going on in the compound as he entered.</p> - -<p>Much of the decency of man had been destroyed by the Kraks; there -seemed no joy, no laughter, no comradeship, only an all-pervading air -of despair. That light of intelligence had left many a human's eyes in -that inclosure to be replaced by a blank stare.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sean shuddered a little, and the wry twist came to his mouth. Somehow, -he thought, and the coldness of the thought was like a knife of chilled -steel, the Kraks must be destroyed and punished for this terrible blow -to the dignity of man.</p> - -<p>The cold hand of a Krak on his shoulder roused him from his bitter -thoughts. He followed the Krak, wonderingly.</p> - -<p>The guide and he moved out of the compound, across the black street, -pushing through the massed humans who were being poured into the -compound, into what was apparently a barracks for warrior Kraks. -Through the barracks to a large office at the end they went.</p> - -<p>Ralk, the scarlet-kilted Krak, who had engineered his little fiasco -with Klash was there. And another Krak, not white-skinned like those on -the space ship, but a pastel pink with features less coarse. This Krak -was bald, but he wore a long black robe.</p> - -<p>Ralk said shortly:</p> - -<p>"Red-headed one, you are blessed. Shel Lur has chosen you for her own. -Thank your hair, Earthman, that shines like Karrar's sun."</p> - -<p>There was no expression on Shel Lur's face, but her bald head, painted -a darker pink than her skin, inclined.</p> - -<p>Sean wondered if the woe-begone expression on his face was apparent -to Shel Lur. This—this thing a woman of the Krak race? Sean's lips -twisted—no wonder the Kraks looked so gloomy.</p> - -<p>Mother of Erin, he would prefer being in the compound than in the -company of this huge creature. He said so to Ralk.</p> - -<p>Ralk's voice was impassive. "Do not be mistaken, Earthman. Shel Lur -does not want you for a husband; but as something to look at." He spoke -quickly in his native tongue to Shel Lur. The female Krak nodded, moved -toward him.</p> - -<p>As Shel Lur's big cold hand seized his arm and steered him out of the -door of the office, Sean was, for the first time in twenty-five years -of life, not smiling at the events facing him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It wasn't so bad, Sean reflected some weeks later, but it wasn't -anything to laugh about—this being doll to a lady of the Kraks. He was -fed well, and he slept well, even if it were on the cold black floor.</p> - -<p>But he couldn't stand that impassive stare when Shel Lur gazed at him -three times a day—once in the morning when she prodded him awake with -her foot, once in the afternoon when she brought him down to the dinner -table to stare and once in the evening just before she undressed for -the night and lay down on her air pallet.</p> - -<p>He had stood it for a week, then he tried to teach her the English -language only to find out that she knew enough of it as she wanted. -He'd talked to her, trying to describe Earth to her—telling her how -different women there were. And she had just nodded and said, "<i>Yess?</i>"</p> - -<p>Why in the name of Earth's sun had she picked him out—of every -other human? There must have been hundreds of red-heads in the human -procession. He looked up at Shel Lur's pink face and said very heatedly:</p> - -<p>"Oh, hell...."</p> - -<p>Shel Lur looked at him impassively.</p> - -<p>He had plenty of time to think now and to watch. The picture of the -giant Klash ever was with him, that look of pain pricking and tickling -at his mind.</p> - -<p>Once he asked Shel Lur: "Can't you be killed?"</p> - -<p>In her atrociously accented English she said:</p> - -<p>"No, I cannot be killed. No Krak ever killed."</p> - -<p>"Don't you ever die?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, yess. We die."</p> - -<p>"How?"</p> - -<p>Shel Lur merely shrugged and repeated: "We die." And looked at him -impassively.</p> - -<p>He liked those rare occasions when she sent him out with the laundry -to the section laundry where the humans toiled day and night with the -heavy garments. It was good to see your own kind, he thought, even if -they are slaves.</p> - -<p>Once he tried to lose himself in the city, but an unerring Krak came -straight to his hiding spot behind an eating place, lifted him out of -his lair, and returned him to Shel Lur.</p> - -<p>Shel Lur had not even chided him on his long absence, but had merely -looked at him impassively.</p> - -<p>This day began differently. Shel Lur woke him by prodding him with her -big foot and when he sat up on the cold floor, she pointed, her face a -blank:</p> - -<p>"See?" she said.</p> - -<p>He twisted his aching neck sharply, and almost gasped:</p> - -<p>"Marcia! What—how did you get here?"</p> - -<p>"Woman," Shel Lur said tonelessly. "Your woman."</p> - -<p>Tiny Marcia, her blonde hair awry, her blue eyes frightened, her tiny -hands twisting.</p> - -<p>Her words stumbled out: "A Krak came; took me from beside Mike in the -laundry."</p> - -<p>Sean looked from Marcia to Shel Lur.</p> - -<p>Shel Lur nodded: "Your woman," she said again.</p> - -<p>"No," Sean said, "my friend's woman."</p> - -<p>"Yess?" said Shel Lur. "Your woman, I say it." She took Marcia by the -arm, pushed her against Sean. Then she walked out and shut the door.</p> - -<p>Sean stood in the center of the room, running his hands through his -flame hair.</p> - -<p>"I'm damned if I know what she's driving at. Oh, well," he said and -shrugged.</p> - -<p>He looked at Marcia, commented: "You look better than you did on the -ship."</p> - -<p>Marcia looked at him, her lips quivering, her eyes brimming with tears:</p> - -<p>"Oh, Sean," she said. "What kind of hellish world is this?" Then she -threw herself into Sean's arms, her breasts heaving, sobs like tiny pin -cushions tearing at her throat.</p> - -<p>Awkwardly, Sean patted her shoulder. "Easy, Marcia, easy."</p> - -<p>Shel Lur came back in again. Without emotion, she looked at Marcia -clasped in Sean's arms, said tonelessly:</p> - -<p>"Good. You will not run away again."</p> - -<p>Marcia turned her head to stare at the Krak woman. Sean's eyes were -thoughtful.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sean McKenna awoke suddenly, jarred from sleep by an almost tangible -thought. Half-awake, the fingers of his mind reached into his dream and -tried to form it into wakeful reality.</p> - -<p>Almost, he thought bitterly. I almost had it. He'd been dreaming about -his attempts to destroy a Krak, living it over again, and for a single -fleeting moment, he would have sworn he found the chink in the Krak -armor of invulnerability. Then it was gone.</p> - -<p>Over in the opposite corner, Marcia stirred. Nightmare, probably, but -who wouldn't have a nightmare? But that dream, so real and in it he had -been so sure of the Krak's vulnerability. And now that was gone.</p> - -<p>He drifted off to sleep again.</p> - -<p>When he awakened, he was surprised. It had not been by Shel Lur's -dainty hoof. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he turned toward Marcia's -corner.</p> - -<p>Instantly he was on his feet. She was gone! He darted from the bare -room, through the door into Shel Lur's chamber.</p> - -<p>Striding into the center of the Krak's sleeping chamber, Sean McKenna -halted abruptly, almost as if he had bumped up against an unseen, -immovable force.</p> - -<p>A woman's laughter, dancing on joyous toes, stopped him. Marcia's -laughter! Then his heart froze into a lump of dry ice within his chest. -Only for fleeting moments had that laughter been joyous, now it was a -mad, maudlin thing, twisted by the frightening fingers of hysteria.</p> - -<p>Sean sprinted across the huge sleeping room, blasted through the door -of the dressing chamber.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Marcia, her tiny body a limp blob lay on the cold floor, mad laughter -dripping from her lips.</p> - -<p>Shel Lur sat impassively in the high-backed bench, a wig of human hair -fixed on her head, her dark eyes staring at him. Around her neck was a -necklace of black triangular shaped stones that winked evilly in the -sullen light of the sun.</p> - -<p>Sean tried to comfort the sobbing, screaming Marcia, but her soft face -was twisted and torn with frightful agony and her tiny red mouth still -burbled raucous laughter.</p> - -<p>Sean turned coldly to Shel Lur.</p> - -<p>"What have you done?" he lipped, his green eyes stabbing flame.</p> - -<p>Shel Lur stared at him impassively, her wide-lipped mouth lax.</p> - -<p>It was then that Sean felt that latent hope for the Krak's -vulnerability flare in his heart.</p> - -<p>Shel Lur was dead.</p> - -<p>His quick mind spun through a million queries. How had she died? Was it -a Krak's ordinary death? What had happened to cast the life from her?</p> - -<p>Sean looked down at Marcia's contorted, writhing body.</p> - -<p>His answer lay there.</p> - -<p>With a cold mind, Sean bent down, jerked Marcia roughly to her feet.</p> - -<p>His strong palm lashed out, once, twice in snapping blows to Marcia's -soft cheeks. The girl whimpered at the first blow; at the second, her -sobbing slowed; and at the third, a semblance of intelligence brought a -spark to her blue eyes.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sean held her shoulders gripped tightly in his hands. He shook her -gently.</p> - -<p>"Marcia," he said softly. "Marcia."</p> - -<p>Marcia's eyes reached up to his. She said dully:</p> - -<p>"It was awful, Sean." Then she was in his arms sobbing. Sean let the -sobbing run its course, though his mind was champing to ask her what -happened. The hysteria was gone from her voice finally when she said:</p> - -<p>"I killed her, Sean, with the touch of my hand." She held up the tiny -hand with the long tapering fingers and flexed it.</p> - -<p>"Marcia." Sean forced himself to speak slowly. "How did you kill her? -What spot did you touch?"</p> - -<p>He was breathless. He'd been right after all, there was a vulnerable -spot on the Krak's invulnerable body. Was it the same spot he'd thought -from his battle with Klash?</p> - -<p>Marcia spoke quickly: "I don't know, Sean. She woke me, gave me that -wig, told me to fix her head like mine. I did it, only I drew two -strands of the hair down under her chin and tied it in a bow.</p> - -<p>"It didn't look quite right, so I put my hands on her shoulders and -drew the bow wider. But it looked so funny under her chin, I laughed -and pushed against her to keep from falling."</p> - -<p>"Where did you touch her?"</p> - -<p>"I don't remember, Sean, I don't remember. Anyway, right then her whole -face twisted into awful knots and her throat worked as if she couldn't -get enough air to breath. Her face turned white and then blue and back -to pink again.</p> - -<p>"Her face, o-o-oh, it was terrible looking and frightened me so much," -Marcia pushed closer to Sean, her tiny arms twisted tightly about him.</p> - -<p>Sean was unaware of Marcia's warm body pressing against him.</p> - -<p>For he was remembering.</p> - -<p>It was only a tickle at first, then it grew and bubbled and the -laughter pushed Sean's mouth open. The chink! His mind was shrieking. -I've found it!</p> - -<p>He laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. It was the first time -in many weeks that Sean McKenna had laughed like that—full-throated -and joyous.</p> - -<p>Abruptly, he sobered.</p> - -<p>"Marcia," he said. "Help me dump Shel Lur into a laundry hamper. We'll -have to get her out of here. Get her to where other Earth people, -Mike and the rest of them, may see her—a dead Krak. An unkillable, -unburnable Krak, dead violently. Then they will listen to me."</p> - -<p>Marcia raised puzzled eyes to him.</p> - -<p>"But what part of her did I touch to kill her?"</p> - -<p>"No time for explanations. Only this much. It's you the Earth should -thank for finding the chink in the Krak's armor. The answer was there, -but me, I was the guy who couldn't see the trees for the forest."</p> - -<p>As he talked, Sean was dragging the tall plastic clothes hamper to the -side of the dead Shel Lur.</p> - -<p>It strained every muscle of Sean's lean tough body to transfer Shel -Lur's bulk from the high-backed bench to the hamper. Marcia brought -some soiled clothes that they arranged around Shel Lur's body, doubled -up in the hamper.</p> - -<p>The thick plastic rollers squeaked under the weight as he worked it to -the hallway outside Shel Lur's apartments, Marcia trailing behind him.</p> - -<p>The two Krak guards flicked their eyes at them, but remained impassive. -It was nothing unusual to see an Earthling delivering clothes to the -laundry.</p> - -<p>Sean masked the effort as he trundled the hamper by the guards. It -might arouse suspicions if they thought he was disclosing undue stress.</p> - -<p>He was sweating as he worked the hamper step by step down the long -stairway leading to the street. He was desperately afraid that the -hamper would overbalance and topple Shel Lur's body out on the landing -before the two guards near the main gate. But Marcia strained her tiny -body against the hamper, relieving some of the drag.</p> - -<p>The Kraks did not even glance at them. Outside with the door closed, -Sean straightened, blew a breath of relief through his tight lips.</p> - -<p>Of a sudden, Marcia pulled his head, kissed him firmly on the lips. -Sean jerked away abruptly.</p> - -<p>"Don't you like me?" she asked petulantly. "I like you."</p> - -<p>"How about Mike?"</p> - -<p>Marcia shrugged. For a moment, Sean wanted to take her tiny body and -shake some sense into it; but then he remembered that it was she who -had given him the key to the enigma of the Krak's invulnerability.</p> - -<p>Trust a woman to find a man's Achilles heel! He grinned wryly, and -asked:</p> - -<p>"Which way to Mike's laundry?" Marcia pointed, still pouting a little.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Mike saw them first as they pushed the hamper into the spraying room.</p> - -<p>His dark face, the dark hair crowning it like a thick cap, lighted at -the sight of Marcia, and harshened when he saw Sean.</p> - -<p>Mike moved quickly toward them, his eyes fixed on Marcia's face. His -arms were outstretched. Sean was looking at Marcia out of the corner of -his green eyes. At Mike's approach she moved closer to Sean, tugged at -his arm.</p> - -<p>"Marcia!" Mike said, and his voice carried his heart with it. "I was -scared stiff when they took you. How...?" Mike's dark eyes saw Marcia's -fingers flexing on Sean's arm.</p> - -<p>He took a step forward, his bulging muscles rippling, his dark eyes -snapping. Sean, wordlessly, dumped over the hamper.</p> - -<p>Shel Lur's body spilling out on the damp floor stopped him instantly.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Mike O'Hara stared at the body of the Krak, then at Sean's smiling lips.</p> - -<p>"Dead." Sean's voice was quiet.</p> - -<p>"Dead?"</p> - -<p>Their soft voices brought other Earthlings crowding from the various -parts of the spraying room. They, too, stared at the dead bulk of the -pink-skinned Krak.</p> - -<p>"How?" Mike breathed the word like a prayer.</p> - -<p>Sean jerked a thumb at Marcia. "Marcia did it, and showed me how."</p> - -<p>Marcia broke in: "But I don't know how I did it, Sean."</p> - -<p>Sean shrugged as Mike moved closer to Marcia.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Marcia," Mike said softly. "You found the way." His arms reached -out as if to clasp her, but she ducked under them, put her arm around -Sean's waist.</p> - -<p>Sean's fingers pushed her arm loose, but Mike was a fury before him.</p> - -<p>"So," Mike growled. "I must think of Jane. I must forget Marcia." He -sniffed loudly. "Well, friend, how about Maureen? I suppose she'll -greet Marcia with open arms?" He paused a moment.</p> - -<p>"'I'll come back, Maureen,'" Mike mimicked Sean's last words to his -black-haired Maureen when the Earthlings had first been driven aboard -the Krak ship many weeks before.</p> - -<p>Then Mike's big fist lashed out. Sean's strong hands reached out, -caught the arm, pushed it to Mike's side as he said quietly:</p> - -<p>"Easy, Mike, easy." He added: "There are more important things to -consider now than jealousy." A movement from Marcia turned Sean's head -quickly. Then he smiled that slanted grin.</p> - -<p>"Look, Mike, she's just a feather, blown about by what takes her -fancy." Sean jerked his flame head at Marcia. She was smiling up at -a tall, slim blond—a stranger to Sean who had been hovering in the -background.</p> - -<p>Mike looked, and the fire in his dark eyes died a little. Muscles -worked in the sides of his jaw. His barrel chest lifted in a deep -breath. Then he grinned a little shamefacedly.</p> - -<p>His voice was abrupt then.</p> - -<p>"How did the Krak die, Sean?"</p> - -<p>Sean said enigmatically: "By an Earthling's cruelest weapon. A weapon -which has been lost to most humans since the Kraks came. A sort of -prodigal weapon. I used it once on Klash, and didn't know it. I -couldn't see it then. But Marcia's killing Shel Lur gave me the answer."</p> - -<p>Sean McKenna took Mike's arm, led him to the door.</p> - -<p>They moved outside where two Krak guardsmen stood.</p> - -<p>They paced out into the black paved street.</p> - -<p>"Watch them," Sean said softly, triumph in his voice.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sean McKenna began to laugh, the deep waves of it pouring up out of his -chest, filling the sullen air with its joy. There it was, he thought -humbly, the weapon. <i>Laughter!</i></p> - -<p>The two Kraks stood impassive. Their dark eyes were quiet. They were -unperturbed.</p> - -<p>Sean stopped laughing. His bright green eyes were dull as he turned to -Mike O'Hara.</p> - -<p>"It doesn't work," he said. They were just words. There was no emotion -in them. He might have been talking about the weather. "I was sure this -was it. Laughter. David's sling against Goliath."</p> - -<p>Then Sean McKenna shrugged. His voice was flippant now. His green eyes -stared at Mike's dark ones unblinkingly. He wondered: Are my eyes as -blank and dull as Mike's? He said:</p> - -<p>"I could think of the worse places for mankind to die—" he swept his -left arm encompassing the red sky and black city—"but not many." He -laughed again. This time his voice was high-pitched, almost with a note -of hysteria in it.</p> - -<p>"You were right, Mike, we didn't have much chance against the Universe -Champion."</p> - -<p>"Wait!" Mike said urgently. "Look!"</p> - -<p>The two Krak guardsmen were staggering drunkenly toward them. This Sean -saw as he turned. Their faces were twisted, working convulsively.</p> - -<p>"Stop it," the foremost one muttered hoarsely. "It hurts the ears."</p> - -<p>His figure towered over Sean, clutching fingers reaching. Sean darted -aside. The second Krak had fallen, huge spatulate fingers scrabbling at -the black-paved blocks. The first one turned hesitantly as if he could -no longer control his feet, stumbled after Sean.</p> - -<p>He lunged at Sean, succeeded only in tearing that metal contrivance -from his back. A great weight suddenly pulled Sean to the pavement, -seemed to triple the weight of his own body. It was pain to move his -head, but Sean's red-thatch twisted so his green eyes could see.</p> - -<p>The pursuing Krak toppled against the black bricks beside Sean, his -bald head making a dull sound. The usually impassive eyes were staring -at Sean's green orbs. There was pain and—was it defeat?—in them.</p> - -<p>Every sinewy muscle in Sean's body strained as he tried to get to his -feet. So that was what the metal pack was for, he decided irrelevantly, -an anti-gravity device. He threw his body toward it.</p> - -<p>Before he reached it, however, Mike had picked it up, was strapping it -haphazardly on his back. The tremendous weight lifted and he crawled to -his feet.</p> - -<p>"You were right after all," Mike said, and there was a caress in it. -"Laughter."</p> - -<p>Sean stood a long moment, looking at the fallen Kraks.</p> - -<p>Sean began to chuckle, the chuckle drifted into laughter. It was true! -Humanity had forgotten its greatest weapon.</p> - -<p>"God," said Mike softly. "Laughter did it. Laughter." His dark eyes -were staring at Sean. Then he, too, was laughing, joining his bass with -Sean's baritone.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Earthlings moved out of the laundry, their eyes wide. They, too, fired -by the infectious roarings began to laugh. On the wings of the wind, -the laughter spread, working its way building by building, street by -street, block by block through the city, as other humans picked it up, -flung it on joyfully.</p> - -<p>And as the Earthly laughter bubbled and rolled through the sullen city -of Karrar, Kraks died—only a few at first, but more and more as the -bursts of laughter swelled and swelled until even the black and red -stone echoed with it.</p> - -<p>Mike O'Hara placed his big hand on Sean McKenna's arm.</p> - -<p>"You found the chink, Sean," he said. "Was it the sound of the -laughter? That doesn't sound right." He chuckled a little at the -unexpected pun.</p> - -<p>Sean grinned. "I know what you're driving at, Mike. Laughter is scaled -so low on the vibration scale that the Kraks must have encountered -other vibrations of the same intensity at many times in the past. That -it?"</p> - -<p>Mike nodded.</p> - -<p>Sean grinned impishly. "Laugh once, Mike, and listen to your laughter." -Mike laughed, his brow furrowed.</p> - -<p>"No idea bloomed," he said when he stopped laughing.</p> - -<p>"Burlesque it," Sean said. "Do it in slow motion." He demonstrated. -"Like this. Ha—ha—ha—ha."</p> - -<p>"Got it!" Mike exclaimed. "It's not a single sound. It's a series of -them. It's the old story of the soldiers crossing the bridge. It's not -each individual soldier; it's the cadence. Not ha, but ha—ha—ha."</p> - -<p>"Like kicking at the lock of a door instead of pushing on it steadily -to get it open; like chipping at a rock instead of trying to smash it -with one blow—there's a slough of analogies if we wanted to go on with -it."</p> - -<p>"That one Krak muttered something about his ears," Mike put in.</p> - -<p>Sean nodded. "That, I think, marks the spot of their Achilles heel. -They're like us in many ways—but one difference apparently lies in -their ears. I'll get old Doc Perkins to dissect some of them.</p> - -<p>"My own idea is that their balance canals are constituted differently -somehow than ours. Those two Kraks gave all the appearance of being -unable to maintain their balance. In us, those ear canals are -gyroscopes. That's why even blind persons are aware when they begin to -deviate from an upright position.</p> - -<p>"Both our canals of balance and those of the Kraks probably function -the same way, but the extra gravity of this planet may have wrought the -chink which we found. With study and experimentation we should find out -for sure just what happens." Sean stopped talking, gazed at the people -around him who were laughing.</p> - -<p>He felt his chest swelling with pride. Man was on the road back—back -to Earth with its rolling green hills, its blue skies, its brown -mountains, its myriad sounds and smells and sights. Man was going home -with a weapon to cast out the invader.</p> - -<p>He stood for a long time, Mike's hand on his arm, watching these happy -humans. Even the black and red of Karrar was softened by the joyous -light in their clear unfilmed eyes.</p> - -<p>Finally, Sean McKenna said,</p> - -<p>"We have a new task, Mike. We've got to take them home."</p> - -<p>The sullen red sun dipped behind the black hills. The black mist of -night flowed over the lowering sky dimming it, finally enveloping it. -The black mist thickened, formed silently into the night sky with its -countless planets, its myriad suns.</p> - -<p>Somewhere in that star-scattered vastness is Earth, Sean McKenna -thought.</p> - -<p>Earth. And Maureen with the soft black hair and eyes that are blue -flames.</p> - -<p><i>Earth!</i></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prodigal Weapon, by Vaseleos Garson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRODIGAL WEAPON *** - -***** This file should be named 63695-h.htm or 63695-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/6/9/63695/ - -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: Prodigal Weapon - -Author: Vaseleos Garson - -Release Date: November 9, 2020 [EBook #63695] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRODIGAL WEAPON *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - PRODIGAL WEAPON - - by VASELEOS GARSON - - They were the pitiful remnants of a proud world, - huddled into slave quarters on Karrar, dying - before the cold brutality of the Kraks, seeking - the Achilles' heel in the armor of their - masters. One man alone still fought them--even - he knowing he battled with a lance of straw. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1945. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Nothing new ... this. The viewpoint, maybe, was different, this time. -The script was the same, only there were new actors in the cast of -characters. - -Human historians had written the story over and over. Even the _Kraks_ -probably had a parallel story in their world. - -Sean McKenna flinched a little as the beam of the thin yellow light bit -into his left shoulder, burning a crooked X into the tanned flesh. Then -with a shrug, Sean nodded his red-thatched head slightly, moved into -the rapidly growing queue of humans who watched the Krak counters with -varied expressions, most of them quietly despairing. - -Sean accepted his destiny with a slanted smile. - -He, too, stared steadily at the impassive-faced _Kraks_ whose naked -torsos and hairless round heads glistened with sweat in the afternoon -of Earth's sun. - -He thought: They have two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, one body, -two arms and two legs just like us humans. But they are something apart -from us, for they are the masters and we--his mind shrugged--are the -slaves. - -Sean fixed his green eyes on the scarlet-kilted Krak whose light had -so emotionlessly added him to the cargo of slaves for the Krak's home -planet somewhere out in the reaches of space. - -Sean grew aware of the monotonous voice of a Krak, tolling out what -must be numbers as the yellow lights in the hands of other Kraks -flicked haphazardly among the other residents of Sean's village. -Then the monotonous voice sharpened, and the yellow lights stopped -flickering. - -There was silence then for a brief moment, while the eyes of those -chosen and those left behind touched briefly, despairingly. In that -silence, Sean heard her voice and the quietness with which he had -accepted the end of his earthly life almost vanished. - -"Oh, Sean," she cried. "They didn't take me!" Sean's eyes darted to -the edge of the crowd to where she stood, her arms stretched out -supplicatingly to him; her soft red lips quivering; her blue eyes -brimming; her soft black hair caressed by the afternoon wind. - -Sean broke out of line then, almost running toward her. The -scarlet-kilted Krak who had marked him reached out a restraining hand. -His fingers bit into Sean's arm until the blood spurted; the shock of -pain from his arm held in the Krak's unbreakable hold halted him. - -He looked at her quietly then shrugged, and marched back to his place -in the line. - -He was unmindful of the pain in his wrenched arm as he moved along with -the rest up the slanted walk to the oval door of the space ship. At the -top he turned, and his voice rose above the murmur of the crowd. - -"I'll come back, Maureen," he said, and blew her a kiss from his -fingertips. Then he stepped into the darkness, following those others -before him. - -In the gloom, someone said: "Always the gallant one, eh, Sean? You know -damn well that you'll never see Earth again. No one who ever left on -these slave ships has ever come back." - -"I think I recognize Michael O'Hara, the village pessimist," Sean -replied and there was almost a lightness in his voice. They moved -deeper into the bowels of the ship, aware of the curious scraping sound -the Krak guards made as they walked with them. - - * * * * * - -They were all quiet, these men, women and children whom the Kraks had -carelessly chosen, as they marched into the huge dark room that was -to be their home for the journey to Karrar. The scraping noise moved -through the room, then to the door of the hole. The portal shut with -the dull sound of heavy metal. The scraping noise grew fainter, then it -was gone. - -Not until then did the humans give vent to their emotions. The sound -of despair was hesitant at first--in a far corner a child gasped, -coughed and then sobbed. It was the signal--and the mingled sounds of -hysterical laughter, weeping, groaning were ragged knives twisting in -Sean McKenna's heart. A rending cacophony of lost hope. - -"Shut up," he shouted hoarsely. "This is no time for weeping and -wailing; this is the time to think, to plan." For a moment the awful -symphony subsided; then someone said wearily: - -"Against the Kraks? What did planning ever do against them? They are -invulnerable. We used atomic power, guns, knives, bow and arrows, even -our fists against them. And they crushed us like rats in a corner." - -The cacophony resumed, and Sean's shouting voice could not stop it -now--he could not even hear his own voice. A hand touched his arm -gently: - -"Easy, Sean," Michael O'Hara whispered in his ear. "They are right. -If we couldn't beat them as free men, how can we even think of it as -slaves?" - -"The fools," Sean said savagely. "No matter how weak they are, they can -keep fighting, keep probing for a chink in their armor." - -"No, Sean, for fifteen years we fought, seeking that chink, and failed -to find it. Deep down in your heart you know the Kraks cannot be -beaten. Physically, they are to us as we are to new-born babes--no -weapon of man can touch them, and did you ever hear of a Krak dying of -disease? - -"No, we met a better adversary. Mother of Erin, Sean, we deserve to be -slaves, we haven't the accoutrements to take on the Universe Champion." - -"There's nothing anywhere that hasn't a weakness, Mike. I aim to find -the weakness." - -Mike O'Hara grunted: "Why this sudden fervor to destroy the Kraks, -anyway? Until today, you were content to go fishing and hunting without -thought of them. Now you've done a right-about-face." - -"I know," said Sean, and there was chagrin in his voice. "Until today, -they hadn't bothered me." - -"So you want to embroil the whole human race in your fight, eh?" - -"Oh, hell, Mike, it's not my fight--it's humanity's battle for -self-preservation. You know that as well as I do. Besides, wouldn't you -like to see Jane again?" - -"That hurt, Sean," Mike said softly. - -Sean touched him lightly on the shoulder: "Sorry, Mike, but don't you -see? All of us want to see the ones we love again. And we won't, if we -let despair grab us." - -"All right," said Mike. "I'll go along with you. But it's no go just -the same." - -"Pessimist," Sean said and laughed softly. But he was glad the blocky, -black-haired Mike was with him. - - * * * * * - -The uprooting of these humans from their home of ages had been simple -enough, Sean decided. Except for the nausea that held the stomach in -noisome fingers when the Krak ship broke loose from the earth. - -Were there more captives this time than in the long years before? Were -there 1,000 Krak ships--instead of 500--transplanting men and women and -children to that scarlet land of Karrar? - -Sean said as much to Mike, and Mike said: "I heard before we left that -this would be the biggest batch." Mike looked harried in the yellow -wall light. "Sean," he said quickly, with a twist on his lips: "How's -the search coming?" - -Sean jerked his red-thatched head around, stared at him. - -"Why the sudden earnestness?" Mike licked his lips quickly. "I didn't -know it before, but just now when I was looking over the people here, I -found Marcia, and she's sick." - -"Marcia?" Sean repeated. "I thought you and she had busted up that -romance?" - -Mike nodded: "She did," he said quietly. "But I'll never stop loving -her." - -"Mike, how about Jane? You and she were to be married--tomorrow, wasn't -it?" - -"I know, I know," Mike said hurriedly. "But Marcia's sick, and she -looked at me so appealingly when I recognized her, it all came back. -The least I can do is comfort her." - -"Sure, sure ..." Sean said. That curious scraping sound that marked the -coming of a Krak interrupted them. - -It was the scarlet-kilted Krak who had marked Sean for the trip. He -stood inside the open prison door, his naked torso gleaming in the -yellow light and his hairless round head turning. - -His round head stopped turning as his dark eyes above the wide flat -nose fastened on Sean's red hair. - -"You," he mouthed, "with the red hair. Come!" - -Sean moved forward cautiously, his nerves atingle, his strong hands -doubled into fists. - -He followed the scarlet kilt out of the packed prison room, along an -interminable series of passageways that led upward, and finally entered -a room about twenty feet wide and thirty feet long. - -It was innocent of furniture or decoration. There were no windows. - -But standing in the middle of the room was an eight-foot Krak, dwarfing -even the seven-foot bulk of his guide. - -The scarlet-kilted Krak turned to him. - -"Find your answer," the scarlet-kilted Krak said cryptically. He -pointed to the Krak, naked save for a kind of breechclout about his -loins. "He is your subject." - -Sean was staring at his guide, startled out of his usual acceptance of -the bizarre and the trite. - -"Our audios picked up your plotting," the scarlet-kilted one said. "We -do not wish to kill you, you are much more valuable on Karrar. But we -cannot have restless humans fired by one like you who thinks we are -vulnerable. - -"There is a Krak. Kill him if you can." The scarlet-kilted Krak turned -to the other standing in the center of the room. - -"You have understood my words, Klash? You understand that you will -allow this human to do all in his power to kill you. Allow him all -liberties until you are convinced that he has run out of ways in which -to take your life." - -"Yes, O, Ralk." Klash bent his huge bald head. - -Ralk called aloud in his own tongue. Another Krak appeared pushing a -plastic crate before him. He pushed the crate into the room. Then he -went out, followed by Ralk. At the door Ralk stopped and said: - -"Human, there are many weapons there. Use them, and see if you can kill -one of us." Then he went out. - -Sean McKenna was alone with the brute called Klash. - -He moved to the box, looked in. - -He looked up then at Klash, and whistled. "You must be tough, brother." -Then he hauled the array of weapons from the crate. He laid them on the -duralloy deck beneath his feet. - -A high-powered rifle, a meat ax, a sledge hammer, an acetylene torch, -a sword, a rope, a crowbar. Then a grenade. Sean laid the last item -gently aside, and remarked, "That'd kill _me_." - -Then he dumped the whole mass of weapons out on the deck. - - * * * * * - -It was a very good collection of various Earth and Krak weapons. -Besides diverse types of guns, powder, electric and air operated, there -were blowguns of all lengths, complete with quivers of poison-dipped -arrows. There were many weapons made by the Kraks, only one or two of -which Sean recognized. - -He picked up the little hand-gun that emitted the burning ray. - -He trained it on the Krak's chest, nicked the little button wide open. -Such power exploded a human being, instantly converting the moisture in -his system to steam. - -Klash stood there, impassive. Sean pumped a full round of bullets at -the Krak from the high-powered rifle, then hurled himself on the floor -to dodge the richocheting bullets. He got up, a rueful grin on his thin -lips, and shot assorted poisonous darts through the blowguns. - -The poison was sudden death to any earthly thing. - -Klash was impassive. - -Sean hefted a battle-ax that the Kraks apparently had filched from -some museum. He walked up slowly toward Klash, the double-bitted ax -swinging heavily in his hand. - -Sean took a stance, spat on his palms, and swung the ax, unmindful that -he ripped open the wound Ralk had made when he stopped him from moving -toward Maureen. - -The bright blade gleamed in the yellow light, the muscles, lean and -sinewy across Sean's back rippled and tore his tunic across the back. -The head of the ax hit Klash waist-high and bounced, flipping Sean to -the deck. Klash rocked a little on his feet from the shock. That was -all. - -Sean, a desperate grin tightening his lips, threw the book at Klash--he -tied the hemp rope about his neck and tried to strangle the Krak; he -put the crowbar in Klash's mouth, tried to break the jaws; turned the -blow torch against his chest. No response. - -At long last, after he exhausted almost the complete roster of weapons, -Sean looked thoughtfully at the grenade. Then he shook his head. - -Sean walked up to Klash, stared up at his towering bulk. Klash looked -down at him, impassive. Sean laughed then and hurled himself upward, -lashing out with his bony fists at the Krak's neck and shoulders. - -The impassivity vanished from Klash's face. It twisted, almost as if in -pain, Sean thought, before the Earthman's senses were washed out in a -rocking shock as one big fist lashed against the side of his head. The -echo of his own laughter was the last sound he heard. - - * * * * * - -Sean still saw that strange look on Klash's face when he opened his -eyes into the glaring yellow light. But the picture vanished as pain -shuddered through his body. - -Mike's voice worked its way through his pain. - -"Mother of Erin, Sean, what did they do to you?" - -"Uh," grunted Sean and moved to a sitting position against the wall and -looked down at his body and legs. He was covered with bruises, yellow -and red and blue and black, and each throbbed its own special melody of -hurt. - -"I don't know, Mike. I passed out when Klash hit me." - -Mike said: "Old Doc Perkins said there isn't a square inch of your -body that hasn't a bruise. What he can't figure is how you took such -punishment without getting a bone broken." - -"Hah," Sean tried to laugh through bruised lips. "Doc's wrong. They -busted every bone in my body. Then they glued me together again." He -paused. - -"Mike, I found it." - -"Sure, Sean," Mike put in gently. "You found it. That nice little pot -of gold at the end of the rainbow. Only it blew up in your face." - -"No, Mike, I found that chink." - -Mike gasped once, then sat there very quietly staring at the red-headed -Sean. - -Finally, he said, "Give me the solution." - -"It's the bone from the shoulder to neck, Mike. That's the vulnerable -part." He launched into a description of his hopeless task of trying to -destroy Klash. "Then at the end, Mike, I jumped up and socked him in -the neck and in that hollow in the shoulder. - -"He winced, Mike, and I'll swear that he flinched in pain. Then he -knocked me out." - -"But how do you know it isn't the neck?" - -"I told you I had that rope around his neck." - -"Maybe he had a stomach ache or something that brought that look to his -face." - -"Holy Mother, Mike, if he'd eaten something that didn't agree with him, -do you think he'd wait until then to feel painful?" - -"Maybe it was the poison, Sean, just taking hold?" - -"No, Mike, he grimaced just when my fist struck that bone. It was the -first sign of pain during the whole time. That's got to be it, Mike. -Kraks aren't invulnerable. They've just been careful not to let us find -out." - -"Why didn't they kill you then, when you found out?" - -Sean shrugged the thought away. "Maybe Klash didn't tell them. Maybe -it's just luck. I don't know. But I do know this, Mike, it's the first -time that a Krak ever departed from that poker face." - -Mike sat there, pessimism fighting with this new thread of hope. - -"Okay," he said finally. "I guess we can try it, anyway. Though I don't -think much of the idea. But it's a chance. And I sure would like to get -Marcia back on earth." - -"To meet Jane?" Sean asked quietly. Mike looked at him, almost like a -boy caught with his hand in the jam jar. - -It was some hours later, when Sean slapped the sandal against the palm -of his hand and muttered: - -"Sandals aren't much good as weapons, but they'll have to do." He -looked at Mike and the other eleven men that the two of them had -convinced, in whispers so that the audios would pick up only sounds and -not the words of their plan. - -Mike said: "He's due along here any minute now." - -Sean nodded and slapped the sandal against the palm of his hand again. - - * * * * * - -Afar off at first it was, that curious scraping sound the thighs of -Kraks make as they walk. The thirteen men tensed, their palms sweating -against the leather soles of the sandals they gripped so tightly. - -The excitement had deadened the pain of Sean's bruises and he was -waiting just as tensely as the others. - -The other Earth people packed into the huge cell were staring at them, -some licking their lips, some with questions fighting through the -despair in their eyes--all of them dejectedly looking. - -The cry was in Sean's mind: Oh, to destroy their despair that they -might see once more with eyes of hope! - -The scrape-scrape came closer. It halted outside the heavy metal door. -Smaller bits of metal rattled; then the door opened inward. - -Sean, being closest to the opening portal, swung his sandal first. It -made a curious spatting sound. Forgetful of the wrenching pain, he -leaped, wrapped an arm around the Krak's neck and lashed out with the -sandal again and again. - -The Krak reached up one powerful arm, ripped the red-headed Earthman -from his perch. The other dozen Earthmen leaped on him then, their -sandals flailing. - -Sean, flung against the wall, tried to move, but his muscles were tar -and wouldn't respond. He watched the battle, trying desperately to move. - -Of a sudden then, he was biting his lips, and tears of chagrin were -blinding his eyes. For the Krak still towered there, impassive and -invulnerable, smashing the Earthmen down with his huge fists. One of -the thirteen, Bill Hawkins, lay on the deck of the prison, his head -split open like a ruptured muskmelon. - -Another moaned on the floor, helplessly trying to move both his broken -arms. Mike fought to the last, but even his driving fists were stopped -when the Krak pounded him on the side of the head and drove him to the -floor. - -The Krak looked around the prison room impassively, his bald head -moving slowly, effortlessly. - -Then he went out. - -The tar that was his muscles finally set and Sean could move. He -crawled to where Mike lay spread-eagled on the floor, took the -black-topped head in his lap, rocked with it. "Oh, Mike, I'm sorry. I -was so sure." - -Tiny fists pounded on his bruised back. Sean started to turn. Then -fingers were entwined in his red hair, yanking, bringing painful tears -to his eyes. - -"Get away from him, you beast." Sean saw tiny, blonde Marcia, her soft -face twisted into harsh lines, pulling him away from Mike. He let -Mike's head drop gently to the deck. Then he stood up. Instantly Marcia -was beside Mike, touching him, talking to him softly. - -Sean looked at Bill Hawkins lying dead there on the floor, the dark -dead stuff smearing the polished surface. He looked at those others -there. Despair was still there in their eyes, but something else, too. - -They looked away from him, deliberately avoiding his eyes. The soft -moaning of Jack Wilson turned him around. - -"I'm sorry, Jack. It's my fault. I was so sure that was the vulnerable -point." - -Jack's pain-filled eyes looked down on his broken arms, then fastened -on Sean. - -"I wouldn't mind so much," Jack said through tight lips, "if it had -worked." Then he looked away. - -Sean turned to Mike and Marcia. Mike was sitting up now, shaking his -head dazedly. - -He saw Sean. - -Mike said just one word before he stood up and walked away with Marcia. - -The word was: "Satisfied?" - -For the rest of the trip, Sean McKenna had plenty of room to stretch -his body out. As if by pre-arranged signal, he was given a wide berth, -and those Earth people near him constantly tried to keep their backs to -him. - -Impassively, the Kraks had come, and when they left, the body of Bill -Hawkins went with them, leaving only that dark dried stain on the -prison deck as a reminder. Perhaps it hadn't been deliberate, but the -prisoners had made a lane through so that each time Sean McKenna lifted -his harried green eyes he saw the spot where Hawkins had died. - -Hawkins' death twisted at Sean's heart, but it was always overshadowed -by his conviction that the Kraks were vulnerable. Sean's mind probed, -trying to find the answer to why Klash, the huge Krak, had flinched -when Sean's fists had struck him. - -If ever he had seen pain, Sean swore to himself, it had been on Klash's -face then. But what had caused it? - -What had made an invulnerable Krak wince at the blows from an -Earthman's fist? - - * * * * * - -There were no earthly words to describe Karrar, the home planet of the -Kraks. - -Karrar was Karrar--a stupendous planet, brooded over by a sullen sun, a -land of harsh reds and blacks. Impassive it was--as indestructible as -its spawn of Kraks. - -They'd known when the landing had been made, for the Kraks, their blank -faces rigid, had come into the prison room and roughly strapped a metal -contrivance on the back of each Earth person, man, woman and child. - -For such a sullen-looking planet, Sean decided, the weather was -exceedingly cold, striking at his flesh and bones like tiny needles. - -The Kraks herded the long line of humans through the airlock out onto -the huge expanse of the space port. There were thousands of ship -cradles, it seemed, and they were packed with other ships unloading -their cargo. As far as his green eyes could see, Sean recognized only -human beings--thousands of them moving single file out of the maws of -the swollen Krak ships. Those files were converging at a huge gate at -the far end of the port. - -They looked, Sean thought, like long lines of ants moving toward their -hill. Then he, too, was moving toward the same gate. - -Perhaps only he, of those thousands, was different. For he was not -squeezed into the line. The human ahead of him and the human behind -were a good four feet from him, as if keeping as far from a carrier of -the plague as possible. - -Sean grinned wryly. He kept his eyes fixed ahead where black buildings -shoved their coarse heavy structures against the lowering scarlet sky. - -They moved through the mammoth portal at last, and finally Sean was -swept into the mass of humans who clogged the way. They stumbled -through the black block-paved streets and the few Kraks who were on the -street gave those humans only cursory glances. - -Nothing new to them, Sean thought grimly. And the urgency of his -conviction that these Kraks could be destroyed put buoyancy in his step -and set his mind to working frantically. He towered above the other -humans around him, his flame-hair blazing like a torch. - -A Krak saw that flame head. Sean didn't know it then, but he learned -shortly. - -Finally those thousands of humans were herded into an open-air -compound, surrounded by heavy, black stone walls that lifted -breathtakingly above them. Other humans were there, men bearded and -filthy, women, even in their despair, trying to keep some semblance of -beauty. - -The clothes of these older prisoners were almost gone, only that metal -contrivance on their backs shone brightly. Many of the children, even -in the cold of Karrar, moved about listlessly, naked. Sean counted -seven fist and kick fights going on in the compound as he entered. - -Much of the decency of man had been destroyed by the Kraks; there -seemed no joy, no laughter, no comradeship, only an all-pervading air -of despair. That light of intelligence had left many a human's eyes in -that inclosure to be replaced by a blank stare. - - * * * * * - -Sean shuddered a little, and the wry twist came to his mouth. Somehow, -he thought, and the coldness of the thought was like a knife of chilled -steel, the Kraks must be destroyed and punished for this terrible blow -to the dignity of man. - -The cold hand of a Krak on his shoulder roused him from his bitter -thoughts. He followed the Krak, wonderingly. - -The guide and he moved out of the compound, across the black street, -pushing through the massed humans who were being poured into the -compound, into what was apparently a barracks for warrior Kraks. -Through the barracks to a large office at the end they went. - -Ralk, the scarlet-kilted Krak, who had engineered his little fiasco -with Klash was there. And another Krak, not white-skinned like those on -the space ship, but a pastel pink with features less coarse. This Krak -was bald, but he wore a long black robe. - -Ralk said shortly: - -"Red-headed one, you are blessed. Shel Lur has chosen you for her own. -Thank your hair, Earthman, that shines like Karrar's sun." - -There was no expression on Shel Lur's face, but her bald head, painted -a darker pink than her skin, inclined. - -Sean wondered if the woe-begone expression on his face was apparent -to Shel Lur. This--this thing a woman of the Krak race? Sean's lips -twisted--no wonder the Kraks looked so gloomy. - -Mother of Erin, he would prefer being in the compound than in the -company of this huge creature. He said so to Ralk. - -Ralk's voice was impassive. "Do not be mistaken, Earthman. Shel Lur -does not want you for a husband; but as something to look at." He spoke -quickly in his native tongue to Shel Lur. The female Krak nodded, moved -toward him. - -As Shel Lur's big cold hand seized his arm and steered him out of the -door of the office, Sean was, for the first time in twenty-five years -of life, not smiling at the events facing him. - - * * * * * - -It wasn't so bad, Sean reflected some weeks later, but it wasn't -anything to laugh about--this being doll to a lady of the Kraks. He was -fed well, and he slept well, even if it were on the cold black floor. - -But he couldn't stand that impassive stare when Shel Lur gazed at him -three times a day--once in the morning when she prodded him awake with -her foot, once in the afternoon when she brought him down to the dinner -table to stare and once in the evening just before she undressed for -the night and lay down on her air pallet. - -He had stood it for a week, then he tried to teach her the English -language only to find out that she knew enough of it as she wanted. -He'd talked to her, trying to describe Earth to her--telling her how -different women there were. And she had just nodded and said, "_Yess?_" - -Why in the name of Earth's sun had she picked him out--of every -other human? There must have been hundreds of red-heads in the human -procession. He looked up at Shel Lur's pink face and said very heatedly: - -"Oh, hell...." - -Shel Lur looked at him impassively. - -He had plenty of time to think now and to watch. The picture of the -giant Klash ever was with him, that look of pain pricking and tickling -at his mind. - -Once he asked Shel Lur: "Can't you be killed?" - -In her atrociously accented English she said: - -"No, I cannot be killed. No Krak ever killed." - -"Don't you ever die?" - -"Oh, yess. We die." - -"How?" - -Shel Lur merely shrugged and repeated: "We die." And looked at him -impassively. - -He liked those rare occasions when she sent him out with the laundry -to the section laundry where the humans toiled day and night with the -heavy garments. It was good to see your own kind, he thought, even if -they are slaves. - -Once he tried to lose himself in the city, but an unerring Krak came -straight to his hiding spot behind an eating place, lifted him out of -his lair, and returned him to Shel Lur. - -Shel Lur had not even chided him on his long absence, but had merely -looked at him impassively. - -This day began differently. Shel Lur woke him by prodding him with her -big foot and when he sat up on the cold floor, she pointed, her face a -blank: - -"See?" she said. - -He twisted his aching neck sharply, and almost gasped: - -"Marcia! What--how did you get here?" - -"Woman," Shel Lur said tonelessly. "Your woman." - -Tiny Marcia, her blonde hair awry, her blue eyes frightened, her tiny -hands twisting. - -Her words stumbled out: "A Krak came; took me from beside Mike in the -laundry." - -Sean looked from Marcia to Shel Lur. - -Shel Lur nodded: "Your woman," she said again. - -"No," Sean said, "my friend's woman." - -"Yess?" said Shel Lur. "Your woman, I say it." She took Marcia by the -arm, pushed her against Sean. Then she walked out and shut the door. - -Sean stood in the center of the room, running his hands through his -flame hair. - -"I'm damned if I know what she's driving at. Oh, well," he said and -shrugged. - -He looked at Marcia, commented: "You look better than you did on the -ship." - -Marcia looked at him, her lips quivering, her eyes brimming with tears: - -"Oh, Sean," she said. "What kind of hellish world is this?" Then she -threw herself into Sean's arms, her breasts heaving, sobs like tiny pin -cushions tearing at her throat. - -Awkwardly, Sean patted her shoulder. "Easy, Marcia, easy." - -Shel Lur came back in again. Without emotion, she looked at Marcia -clasped in Sean's arms, said tonelessly: - -"Good. You will not run away again." - -Marcia turned her head to stare at the Krak woman. Sean's eyes were -thoughtful. - - * * * * * - -Sean McKenna awoke suddenly, jarred from sleep by an almost tangible -thought. Half-awake, the fingers of his mind reached into his dream and -tried to form it into wakeful reality. - -Almost, he thought bitterly. I almost had it. He'd been dreaming about -his attempts to destroy a Krak, living it over again, and for a single -fleeting moment, he would have sworn he found the chink in the Krak -armor of invulnerability. Then it was gone. - -Over in the opposite corner, Marcia stirred. Nightmare, probably, but -who wouldn't have a nightmare? But that dream, so real and in it he had -been so sure of the Krak's vulnerability. And now that was gone. - -He drifted off to sleep again. - -When he awakened, he was surprised. It had not been by Shel Lur's -dainty hoof. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he turned toward Marcia's -corner. - -Instantly he was on his feet. She was gone! He darted from the bare -room, through the door into Shel Lur's chamber. - -Striding into the center of the Krak's sleeping chamber, Sean McKenna -halted abruptly, almost as if he had bumped up against an unseen, -immovable force. - -A woman's laughter, dancing on joyous toes, stopped him. Marcia's -laughter! Then his heart froze into a lump of dry ice within his chest. -Only for fleeting moments had that laughter been joyous, now it was a -mad, maudlin thing, twisted by the frightening fingers of hysteria. - -Sean sprinted across the huge sleeping room, blasted through the door -of the dressing chamber. - -Marcia, her tiny body a limp blob lay on the cold floor, mad laughter -dripping from her lips. - -Shel Lur sat impassively in the high-backed bench, a wig of human hair -fixed on her head, her dark eyes staring at him. Around her neck was a -necklace of black triangular shaped stones that winked evilly in the -sullen light of the sun. - -Sean tried to comfort the sobbing, screaming Marcia, but her soft face -was twisted and torn with frightful agony and her tiny red mouth still -burbled raucous laughter. - -Sean turned coldly to Shel Lur. - -"What have you done?" he lipped, his green eyes stabbing flame. - -Shel Lur stared at him impassively, her wide-lipped mouth lax. - -It was then that Sean felt that latent hope for the Krak's -vulnerability flare in his heart. - -Shel Lur was dead. - -His quick mind spun through a million queries. How had she died? Was it -a Krak's ordinary death? What had happened to cast the life from her? - -Sean looked down at Marcia's contorted, writhing body. - -His answer lay there. - -With a cold mind, Sean bent down, jerked Marcia roughly to her feet. - -His strong palm lashed out, once, twice in snapping blows to Marcia's -soft cheeks. The girl whimpered at the first blow; at the second, her -sobbing slowed; and at the third, a semblance of intelligence brought a -spark to her blue eyes. - - * * * * * - -Sean held her shoulders gripped tightly in his hands. He shook her -gently. - -"Marcia," he said softly. "Marcia." - -Marcia's eyes reached up to his. She said dully: - -"It was awful, Sean." Then she was in his arms sobbing. Sean let the -sobbing run its course, though his mind was champing to ask her what -happened. The hysteria was gone from her voice finally when she said: - -"I killed her, Sean, with the touch of my hand." She held up the tiny -hand with the long tapering fingers and flexed it. - -"Marcia." Sean forced himself to speak slowly. "How did you kill her? -What spot did you touch?" - -He was breathless. He'd been right after all, there was a vulnerable -spot on the Krak's invulnerable body. Was it the same spot he'd thought -from his battle with Klash? - -Marcia spoke quickly: "I don't know, Sean. She woke me, gave me that -wig, told me to fix her head like mine. I did it, only I drew two -strands of the hair down under her chin and tied it in a bow. - -"It didn't look quite right, so I put my hands on her shoulders and -drew the bow wider. But it looked so funny under her chin, I laughed -and pushed against her to keep from falling." - -"Where did you touch her?" - -"I don't remember, Sean, I don't remember. Anyway, right then her whole -face twisted into awful knots and her throat worked as if she couldn't -get enough air to breath. Her face turned white and then blue and back -to pink again. - -"Her face, o-o-oh, it was terrible looking and frightened me so much," -Marcia pushed closer to Sean, her tiny arms twisted tightly about him. - -Sean was unaware of Marcia's warm body pressing against him. - -For he was remembering. - -It was only a tickle at first, then it grew and bubbled and the -laughter pushed Sean's mouth open. The chink! His mind was shrieking. -I've found it! - -He laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. It was the first time -in many weeks that Sean McKenna had laughed like that--full-throated -and joyous. - -Abruptly, he sobered. - -"Marcia," he said. "Help me dump Shel Lur into a laundry hamper. We'll -have to get her out of here. Get her to where other Earth people, -Mike and the rest of them, may see her--a dead Krak. An unkillable, -unburnable Krak, dead violently. Then they will listen to me." - -Marcia raised puzzled eyes to him. - -"But what part of her did I touch to kill her?" - -"No time for explanations. Only this much. It's you the Earth should -thank for finding the chink in the Krak's armor. The answer was there, -but me, I was the guy who couldn't see the trees for the forest." - -As he talked, Sean was dragging the tall plastic clothes hamper to the -side of the dead Shel Lur. - -It strained every muscle of Sean's lean tough body to transfer Shel -Lur's bulk from the high-backed bench to the hamper. Marcia brought -some soiled clothes that they arranged around Shel Lur's body, doubled -up in the hamper. - -The thick plastic rollers squeaked under the weight as he worked it to -the hallway outside Shel Lur's apartments, Marcia trailing behind him. - -The two Krak guards flicked their eyes at them, but remained impassive. -It was nothing unusual to see an Earthling delivering clothes to the -laundry. - -Sean masked the effort as he trundled the hamper by the guards. It -might arouse suspicions if they thought he was disclosing undue stress. - -He was sweating as he worked the hamper step by step down the long -stairway leading to the street. He was desperately afraid that the -hamper would overbalance and topple Shel Lur's body out on the landing -before the two guards near the main gate. But Marcia strained her tiny -body against the hamper, relieving some of the drag. - -The Kraks did not even glance at them. Outside with the door closed, -Sean straightened, blew a breath of relief through his tight lips. - -Of a sudden, Marcia pulled his head, kissed him firmly on the lips. -Sean jerked away abruptly. - -"Don't you like me?" she asked petulantly. "I like you." - -"How about Mike?" - -Marcia shrugged. For a moment, Sean wanted to take her tiny body and -shake some sense into it; but then he remembered that it was she who -had given him the key to the enigma of the Krak's invulnerability. - -Trust a woman to find a man's Achilles heel! He grinned wryly, and -asked: - -"Which way to Mike's laundry?" Marcia pointed, still pouting a little. - - * * * * * - -Mike saw them first as they pushed the hamper into the spraying room. - -His dark face, the dark hair crowning it like a thick cap, lighted at -the sight of Marcia, and harshened when he saw Sean. - -Mike moved quickly toward them, his eyes fixed on Marcia's face. His -arms were outstretched. Sean was looking at Marcia out of the corner of -his green eyes. At Mike's approach she moved closer to Sean, tugged at -his arm. - -"Marcia!" Mike said, and his voice carried his heart with it. "I was -scared stiff when they took you. How...?" Mike's dark eyes saw Marcia's -fingers flexing on Sean's arm. - -He took a step forward, his bulging muscles rippling, his dark eyes -snapping. Sean, wordlessly, dumped over the hamper. - -Shel Lur's body spilling out on the damp floor stopped him instantly. - -Mike O'Hara stared at the body of the Krak, then at Sean's smiling lips. - -"Dead." Sean's voice was quiet. - -"Dead?" - -Their soft voices brought other Earthlings crowding from the various -parts of the spraying room. They, too, stared at the dead bulk of the -pink-skinned Krak. - -"How?" Mike breathed the word like a prayer. - -Sean jerked a thumb at Marcia. "Marcia did it, and showed me how." - -Marcia broke in: "But I don't know how I did it, Sean." - -Sean shrugged as Mike moved closer to Marcia. - -"Oh, Marcia," Mike said softly. "You found the way." His arms reached -out as if to clasp her, but she ducked under them, put her arm around -Sean's waist. - -Sean's fingers pushed her arm loose, but Mike was a fury before him. - -"So," Mike growled. "I must think of Jane. I must forget Marcia." He -sniffed loudly. "Well, friend, how about Maureen? I suppose she'll -greet Marcia with open arms?" He paused a moment. - -"'I'll come back, Maureen,'" Mike mimicked Sean's last words to his -black-haired Maureen when the Earthlings had first been driven aboard -the Krak ship many weeks before. - -Then Mike's big fist lashed out. Sean's strong hands reached out, -caught the arm, pushed it to Mike's side as he said quietly: - -"Easy, Mike, easy." He added: "There are more important things to -consider now than jealousy." A movement from Marcia turned Sean's head -quickly. Then he smiled that slanted grin. - -"Look, Mike, she's just a feather, blown about by what takes her -fancy." Sean jerked his flame head at Marcia. She was smiling up at -a tall, slim blond--a stranger to Sean who had been hovering in the -background. - -Mike looked, and the fire in his dark eyes died a little. Muscles -worked in the sides of his jaw. His barrel chest lifted in a deep -breath. Then he grinned a little shamefacedly. - -His voice was abrupt then. - -"How did the Krak die, Sean?" - -Sean said enigmatically: "By an Earthling's cruelest weapon. A weapon -which has been lost to most humans since the Kraks came. A sort of -prodigal weapon. I used it once on Klash, and didn't know it. I -couldn't see it then. But Marcia's killing Shel Lur gave me the answer." - -Sean McKenna took Mike's arm, led him to the door. - -They moved outside where two Krak guardsmen stood. - -They paced out into the black paved street. - -"Watch them," Sean said softly, triumph in his voice. - - * * * * * - -Sean McKenna began to laugh, the deep waves of it pouring up out of his -chest, filling the sullen air with its joy. There it was, he thought -humbly, the weapon. _Laughter!_ - -The two Kraks stood impassive. Their dark eyes were quiet. They were -unperturbed. - -Sean stopped laughing. His bright green eyes were dull as he turned to -Mike O'Hara. - -"It doesn't work," he said. They were just words. There was no emotion -in them. He might have been talking about the weather. "I was sure this -was it. Laughter. David's sling against Goliath." - -Then Sean McKenna shrugged. His voice was flippant now. His green eyes -stared at Mike's dark ones unblinkingly. He wondered: Are my eyes as -blank and dull as Mike's? He said: - -"I could think of the worse places for mankind to die--" he swept his -left arm encompassing the red sky and black city--"but not many." He -laughed again. This time his voice was high-pitched, almost with a note -of hysteria in it. - -"You were right, Mike, we didn't have much chance against the Universe -Champion." - -"Wait!" Mike said urgently. "Look!" - -The two Krak guardsmen were staggering drunkenly toward them. This Sean -saw as he turned. Their faces were twisted, working convulsively. - -"Stop it," the foremost one muttered hoarsely. "It hurts the ears." - -His figure towered over Sean, clutching fingers reaching. Sean darted -aside. The second Krak had fallen, huge spatulate fingers scrabbling at -the black-paved blocks. The first one turned hesitantly as if he could -no longer control his feet, stumbled after Sean. - -He lunged at Sean, succeeded only in tearing that metal contrivance -from his back. A great weight suddenly pulled Sean to the pavement, -seemed to triple the weight of his own body. It was pain to move his -head, but Sean's red-thatch twisted so his green eyes could see. - -The pursuing Krak toppled against the black bricks beside Sean, his -bald head making a dull sound. The usually impassive eyes were staring -at Sean's green orbs. There was pain and--was it defeat?--in them. - -Every sinewy muscle in Sean's body strained as he tried to get to his -feet. So that was what the metal pack was for, he decided irrelevantly, -an anti-gravity device. He threw his body toward it. - -Before he reached it, however, Mike had picked it up, was strapping it -haphazardly on his back. The tremendous weight lifted and he crawled to -his feet. - -"You were right after all," Mike said, and there was a caress in it. -"Laughter." - -Sean stood a long moment, looking at the fallen Kraks. - -Sean began to chuckle, the chuckle drifted into laughter. It was true! -Humanity had forgotten its greatest weapon. - -"God," said Mike softly. "Laughter did it. Laughter." His dark eyes -were staring at Sean. Then he, too, was laughing, joining his bass with -Sean's baritone. - - * * * * * - -Earthlings moved out of the laundry, their eyes wide. They, too, fired -by the infectious roarings began to laugh. On the wings of the wind, -the laughter spread, working its way building by building, street by -street, block by block through the city, as other humans picked it up, -flung it on joyfully. - -And as the Earthly laughter bubbled and rolled through the sullen city -of Karrar, Kraks died--only a few at first, but more and more as the -bursts of laughter swelled and swelled until even the black and red -stone echoed with it. - -Mike O'Hara placed his big hand on Sean McKenna's arm. - -"You found the chink, Sean," he said. "Was it the sound of the -laughter? That doesn't sound right." He chuckled a little at the -unexpected pun. - -Sean grinned. "I know what you're driving at, Mike. Laughter is scaled -so low on the vibration scale that the Kraks must have encountered -other vibrations of the same intensity at many times in the past. That -it?" - -Mike nodded. - -Sean grinned impishly. "Laugh once, Mike, and listen to your laughter." -Mike laughed, his brow furrowed. - -"No idea bloomed," he said when he stopped laughing. - -"Burlesque it," Sean said. "Do it in slow motion." He demonstrated. -"Like this. Ha--ha--ha--ha." - -"Got it!" Mike exclaimed. "It's not a single sound. It's a series of -them. It's the old story of the soldiers crossing the bridge. It's not -each individual soldier; it's the cadence. Not ha, but ha--ha--ha." - -"Like kicking at the lock of a door instead of pushing on it steadily -to get it open; like chipping at a rock instead of trying to smash it -with one blow--there's a slough of analogies if we wanted to go on with -it." - -"That one Krak muttered something about his ears," Mike put in. - -Sean nodded. "That, I think, marks the spot of their Achilles heel. -They're like us in many ways--but one difference apparently lies in -their ears. I'll get old Doc Perkins to dissect some of them. - -"My own idea is that their balance canals are constituted differently -somehow than ours. Those two Kraks gave all the appearance of being -unable to maintain their balance. In us, those ear canals are -gyroscopes. That's why even blind persons are aware when they begin to -deviate from an upright position. - -"Both our canals of balance and those of the Kraks probably function -the same way, but the extra gravity of this planet may have wrought the -chink which we found. With study and experimentation we should find out -for sure just what happens." Sean stopped talking, gazed at the people -around him who were laughing. - -He felt his chest swelling with pride. Man was on the road back--back -to Earth with its rolling green hills, its blue skies, its brown -mountains, its myriad sounds and smells and sights. Man was going home -with a weapon to cast out the invader. - -He stood for a long time, Mike's hand on his arm, watching these happy -humans. Even the black and red of Karrar was softened by the joyous -light in their clear unfilmed eyes. - -Finally, Sean McKenna said, - -"We have a new task, Mike. We've got to take them home." - -The sullen red sun dipped behind the black hills. The black mist of -night flowed over the lowering sky dimming it, finally enveloping it. -The black mist thickened, formed silently into the night sky with its -countless planets, its myriad suns. - -Somewhere in that star-scattered vastness is Earth, Sean McKenna -thought. - -Earth. And Maureen with the soft black hair and eyes that are blue -flames. - -_Earth!_ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prodigal Weapon, by Vaseleos Garson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRODIGAL WEAPON *** - -***** This file should be named 63695.txt or 63695.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/6/9/63695/ - -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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