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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..5e7ddfd --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63885 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63885) diff --git a/old/63885-0.txt b/old/63885-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9931be5..0000000 --- a/old/63885-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2370 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Monsters Come, by Ray Cummings - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: The Little Monsters Come - -Author: Ray Cummings - -Release Date: November 26, 2020 [EBook #63885] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MONSTERS COME *** - - - - - THE LITTLE MONSTERS COME - - By RAY CUMMINGS - - Desperately seeking escape from their own - tortured chunk of hell, they needed a specimen - from this great and gracious world they planned - to steal. But swamp-roving, 'gator-fighting - Allen Nixon wasn't the type to be cut up alive! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Winter 1948. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -There was absolutely nothing wrong or weird about the Florida -Everglades at night. At least, not to Allen Nixon. He sat alone in the -stern of a flat-bottomed rowboat paddling calmly, albeit soundlessly, -with one small oar. The moon was down and the tall old pines were so -many black rips and tears in the star-studded gown of the sky. The -stars themselves dropped their fiery pin-points in the glassy surface -of the winding bayou. The tangled banks, where sometimes the cypress -branches dipped heavy and sodden into the water, were shadowed blurs so -that the bayou was a twisted ribbon between them. - -Nothing strange. Nothing unusual. Certainly not to Allen Nixon. -Twenty-four years ago he had been born here, only a score or so miles -north at the fringes of the great swamp, where a little Seminole -village stood beside a bayou just like this. There his white father had -loved and married his Indian mother; there he had lived and gone to -the Mission School and then, in his 'teens, to the High School up in -Jacksonville. Now he and his younger brother Ralph, with their parents -dead, were running a small farm their father had left them. It was back -at the mouth of the bayou, where the Gulf lapped in the starlight on -the sandspits, and the tangled wire-grass was alive at night with the -croaking of the marsh-hens. Ralph had not wanted to come out tonight. -He was tired, perhaps lazy. He said he would have the four 'gators -skinned by the time Allen got back at midnight; and he'd help with -whatever others Allen brought in. Perhaps he would, but more likely he -wouldn't. - -So Allen Nixon, with the moon down, was paddling up into the silent -twistings of the bayou alone. He was a tall, lean fellow, lanky like -his father, with muscles hardened by a lifetime of the work of the -backwoods. He was bareheaded; his sleek, straight, dead-black hair -glistened in the starlight. His grey flannel shirt was open at a -muscular throat. He sat erect, with his legs, clad in dark trousers and -worn leather puttees, stretched out to the shotgun, knife and hatchet -that lay in the bottom of the rowboat. The faint night-breeze fanned -his rugged face, bronzed by the hot Florida sun and swarthy with the -Seminole heritage. - -Now he was rounding a sharp curve in the bayou, and the breeze was -more squarely in his face than ever. That was good. No scent of him -could blow forward to reach any 'gator that might have surfaced on -the starlit stretch ahead. Two was all he hoped for tonight, and -then he would head back. Quietly he shipped his oar and adjusted a -small electric torch on a band around his forehead. Then with its -pencil-point of light sweeping the bayou ahead of him, again he started -paddling. Even more silently, this time, so that there was no drip from -the blade as he skillfully raised it, no least murmur of splash as he -brought it forward and dipped it again. An alligator, lying quiet with -only a tip of nose and eyes at the surface, is more alert, more ready -to scurry away than a mouse. - -There was in Nixon's mind nothing but intentness to see the two little -pin-points of fire in the bayou surface, two among the many that were -reflected stars, yet he would see the difference, the spacing, a little -greener, more glowing fire which would mark them as the eyes of a -drowsing 'gator. He was thinking only that he would get two as soon as -he could and get back to Ralph. That would make ten altogether this -moon--ten salted skins, enough to be worth a trip to the market in -Pensacola. - - * * * * * - -What he did not know was that in the shadows of the bayou bank up ahead -strange little shapes were cautiously moving. Living things that did -not belong here; that had never been here before. - -The night sounds of the lush woods were blended into a voice which -Nixon had heard all his life, so that now he was never aware that he -was hearing it. A 'gator would hear it too--the slither of a rattler; -the flip of a fish or a water moccasin; a marsh-hen croaking; or an -owl's hoot--and the steady blend of the voices of a million million -insects. And that was all that could be heard, for the strange dark -little shapes, along the bank at the next bend, moved very cautiously, -quite soundlessly--little things moving upright. They were only a few -inches tall. Once they stood in a group as though communicating. One of -them carried a tiny light, but its glow was less than a firefly's. - -Now Nixon saw, out in the center of this stretch of the bayou, the two -green dots that were a 'gator's eyes, and his face relaxed a little -with the flicker of a smile of satisfaction. His light swept the water, -reached the eyes and clung, so that the stupid 'gator just lay there -and stared, with the light dazzling him. His brain, not much bigger -than a pea buried in the pulpy mass within his big flat head, held no -thought of danger. - -The twin reptile-eyes were perhaps fifty yards away when Nixon first -saw them. Now he paddled more slowly, with the rowboat gliding forward -soundless as a floating leaf. The grip of his right hand down by the -blade of the oar-paddle tightened. - -The twin eyes there among the stars on the shining water, held -motionless. Presently they were only fifteen or twenty feet away, just -to the right now of the uptilted empty bow of the little rowboat. Nixon -stopped paddling. Slowly he rested the oar in the bottom of the boat -and picked up his shotgun. - -At about eight feet, Nixon fired both barrels almost together with a -great crashing roar. A hundred yards ahead of him, where the bayou made -its bend, there was consternation and terror among the tiny upright -shapes gathered there on the soggy bank--a terror that made them scurry -with tiny cries; and then, when seemingly they were not hurt by the -burst of light and the vast roar, made them stand peering in wonderment -at this gigantic drama out there on the water. - -Nixon knew nothing of that. He was intent only on the splash where -his shot had gone; and he saw that this 'gator did not sink, but was -lunging away, off to the right, toward the bank. A big one, he had -seen that by the spacing of the eyes and now by the water slick and -the splashing as it floundered toward shore. Then he was after it, -paddling with all the power of his arms as he bent forward, until in -the shallows near the bank, where the mortally wounded reptile was now -aimlessly floundering, he came almost on top of it. - -In an instant more he was over the rowboat's side, waist deep in the -water. There was a thrill to this, the lunging of his hands to grip -the writhing, slimy, brainless adversary by the foreleg, threshing -ashore with it as skillfully he avoided the snapping jaws, and -dangerous swishing tail. An eight foot 'gator. Good enough. Its head -was an oozing mass of pulp where his shot had blown into it. Panting, -he hauled it onto the soggy bank, darted back to the rowboat for his -hatchet; then he had hacked into the base of the reptile's spine where -the tail began, cutting into it so that the threshing stopped and the -big green-black adversary lay only quivering. - -Ralph would be pleased. Now if he could get another one as big as this, -and then row back home-- - - * * * * * - -Nixon's thoughts suddenly went blank so that he stood over the dead -'gator with his jaw sagging in amazement. He had jerked off his -headband with the light-torch when he jumped overboard from the -rowboat, but there was enough starlight here for him to see the tiny -upright thing. It was in a silvery patch beside a line of brush back -from the water. A thing in the shape of a man. Hardly that; but it was -upright, oblong with a head and a width of tiny shoulder. It stood -divided at the bottom like two legs and there were two arms. A thing -only a few inches high. The starlight showed it to be brown-black. Then -suddenly Nixon's gasp of astonishment made him suck in his breath as he -blankly stared. The tiny thing seemed to be wearing clothes.... - -To Nixon in those seconds, there was a blur of his mind when he -wasn't thinking, just staring as though this were something not to -be explained, something which didn't have to be explained because it -wasn't real, just a conjuring of his own imagination, a trick of his -vision. His hand went with a puzzled gesture to brush his eyes. He -blinked. One tiny, six-inch man-shape? - -Abruptly he saw that the brush here seemed alive with them. They were -moving now. They emitted tiny squeaks that could have been words; -shouted commands to each other. But up here in the starlight of Nixon's -six foot height, the sounds were like the voices of excited insects. - -Adversaries? There was no such idea in Nixon's mind, those first blank -seconds. Then suddenly, with a tiny hissing flash, a thread of violet -light stabbed up at him. It struck one of his dangling hands with a hot -little flash of tingle like the shock of a weak electric current. Then -he saw where it came from--an edge of a patch of wire-grass. Three of -the brown-black figures were dragging a tiny wheeled thing. A weapon. -It was hardly bigger than Nixon's hand. Its nozzle slanted upward and -spat another tiny violet flash. Then at his feet he felt something hit -against the bottom of his leather puttee. One of the shapes was trying -to climb up his leg. He could feel the weight of it on his shoe. A -surprising weight, as though the six-inch thing were made of lead. - -Nixon was stooping to reach down when a tiny projectile hit him in the -face. It stung, with a scratching little stab of pain. Then others -came. It was like a handful of peas being thrown at him. All in a -few seconds while Nixon had stood blankly staring with incredulous -amazement, what seemed hundreds of the tiny shapes were around him. -Attacking him. With anything normal, Nixon could think quickly. A -'gator's jaws closing on his arm, simple enough to know what to do. But -now suddenly his emotion at this weird attack was only one of puzzled -anger. He stooped swiftly, seized the tiny figure that was at his -ankle. It screamed as his hand closed over it, a thin, high-pitched -squeaking cry. But it was blood-curdling--so nearly human in its -frenzied, agonized sound. As he raised it up, still it was screaming. -A heavy little thing, heavy as though it were of metal. And it was -solid, so solid that his squeezing fingers could have held a leaden -figure. - -For an instant Nixon held the screaming little thing up and stared at -it; and the starlight showed him the contorted features of its tiny -bluish face, its flailing arms. Then he flung it out over the bayou. -There was a little splash. The screaming stopped as the figure sank -like a stone. Now abruptly, the dazed incredulous astonishment of Nixon -dropped from him, and a stab of fear came; fear and a surge of anger -as he realized that this attack was reality. He staggered back from -the rain of tiny missiles pelting him, and another flash of the tiny -wheeled gun. The ground here was black now with the lunging, milling -little shapes. His first backward step trod on two or three of them, -mashed their solid, heavy little bodies into the soggy ground of the -bayou bank. - -As he staggered, there must have been a tree root that caught his heel. -At the same instant, a pellet struck his eye; and as his arm flung -up and he stumbled over the root, suddenly he fell backward to the -soggy sand. It was enough for the alert little figures. Their cry of -triumph sounded as they pounced upon him, swarming over him. A hundred? -It could have been more. Scores of scrambling things. Perhaps, small -though they were, each of them weighed a pound. A hundred pounds of -treading steps and jabbing arms were in an instant upon the fallen -Nixon. He felt himself really frightened now, a fear that he had never -felt before, no matter what the antagonist, fear engendered by the -strangeness of it, the unknown. - - * * * * * - -Nixon tried to get up, but the sheer weight of the swarming little -adversaries seemed pinning him down. Now they were on his throat, on -his face. Tiny things jabbed at his eyes, so that his hands flailed -in a frenzy, plucking them away. But then there were others. He found -himself rolling, mashing them. But he couldn't mash them, he could only -shove them into the ground.... - -Damned persistent, wildly reckless little things. A sweep of his arm -knock a dozen of them away. Some screamed. But always there were -more.... Why didn't he get to his feet? Get up now! Knock them off! Get -up! He found himself partly up, with the scrambling shapes cascading -off him; but he was dizzy, his vision blurred. Another stab of the -tiny weapon came. It struck him on the forehead, a hot stinging, -tingling flash. For an instant it clung, with a wave of dizziness from -it flooding Nixon so that he fell back, kicking, writhing.... They -were tramping over his face now. Then he realized that one of them was -pounding with something heavy at his temple, a rhythmic pounding.... -_Thump_.... _Thump_.... He tried to strike at it.... But now he knew -that he couldn't focus.... The pounding stopped. Of course. He had -knocked the damned thing off.... _Thump_.... _Thump_.... Another had -started it again, every little blow making Nixon's head shudder, -his senses reel and fade, so that now a dull blurred blackness was -coming.... Those cursed, tiny little blows at his temple. - -Suddenly, strange in Nixon's thoughts there was the vision of himself, -a monstrous fallen, wounded giant. Bewildered, dazed, helpless, with a -man standing on the great expanse of his face; a man who was pounding -with a crowbar against the softness of the giant's temple.... You could -fight a 'gator. Sure. You could fight a man your own size. Or several -of them maybe, with your fingers itching to get at their throats and -strangle them.... But there were these jabbing, swarming things by the -hundreds.... - -There was in Nixon's fading mind at last only the damnable realization -of those tiny rhythmic blows at his temple, each just that small -concussion of his brain, another and another until his senses fully -faded and he was swept off into the dark, empty, soundless abyss of -unconsciousness.... - - - II - -It was like the roaring of a waterfall. You could lie near it on the -grassy sward and maybe there would be a little last fading sunlight of -the day to warm you. And your belly could be empty with a gnawing pain, -but that was all right because there was the smell of food cooking and -soon you would have it full. A warrior returned from the hunt, had his -women to cook for him.... - -The phantasmagoria of Nixon's returning consciousness as he listened to -the roaring of the falling water seemed made up of queer things out of -his Indian heritage. But another part of his brain told him that was -absurd--told him that he was lying on something hard, with the feel -of sweat bathing his skin, and pain that slowly was becoming apparent -stabbing at him from scores of tiny wounds on his hands, his face, his -neck. - -Then suddenly Nixon knew that he had opened his eyes. He lay staring, -puzzled, with a blurred scene resolving into outlines that he could -distinguish, but not understand. He was lying on his back, gazing -upward at what seemed a vaulted, shining metal ceiling close over his -head. It was sharply curved, two or three feet above him, as though -now he were lying in a shining, glowing vault. With returning strength -he tried to sit up, but could not. And then he realized that he was -shackled. He could see what looked like finely woven, white metallic -ropes. They wrapped his arms and legs together. - -The waterfall was partly the roaring of weakness in his head; but -that seemed subsiding now and there was only a faintly throbbing hum -somewhere near him. A hum like a dynamo, or at least some sort of -mechanism. Turning his head, he saw that on one side of him the concave -metal wall had a row of small bullseye windows. They were spaced about -a foot apart, each the size of his fist. And in each of them there was -the vision of a black abyss of sky, with white blazing stars. - -Again he tried to sit up. He could bend a little at the waist, and he -was able to get one elbow under him and his head up so that it was -nearly to the ribbed ceiling. At once, from the other side of him, away -from the bullseye windows, there was a faint, hurried scurrying of -little footsteps. - -A voice said, "Careful, giant!" - -And another voice said, "Will he hear us, Tork?" It was a softer voice. -Less harsh. English! But queerly slurred, carefully spoken. And the -voices were tiny, strangely thin, of a pitch totally different from -anything Nixon ever had heard. - -"Tork, will he hear us? He is recovered now. Will he hear us? Oh, Tork, -what will he try to do?" The English words drifted off into a language -totally strange, unintelligible. - - * * * * * - -Nixon saw the two little figures. One was taller, wider than the -other; the big one six inches, the other at least an inch less. They -were standing on the white metal of the floor, down by his thigh. -And now he realized that he was stretched out in the small interior -of a metal cylinder, lying on a floor that crossed the middle of it, -so that he was stretched the length of its top half. It was about a -ten-foot length, and six feet wide. It left a space beside him. Little -metal railings a few inches high ran along the floor, dividing it -into tiny enclosures. A mechanism room; another where supplies seemed -to be stored; another which had what seemed furniture in it. All in -miniature. All peopled with tiny figures that had stopped their tasks, -and were staring at him now in awe and fear. - -"Speak, giant! Can you hear us?" - -"I hear you," Nixon said. His voice rumbled, reverberating in the close -confines of the curved metal walls. The sound startled the little -figures down there at the floor. They peered up, tense, apprehensive. -Two or three scurried away; and now Nixon saw that there were several -holes along the floor where tiny ladder stairs led downward to some -space beneath. Several of the frightened little figures started down -the ladders and then stopped, peering up again. - -"We can kill you," the figure called Tork said. He was still standing -fairly close beside the great curve of Nixon's prone body, with the -smaller figure beside him. Both of them were wary. Nixon could see it. -They stood ready to dart away, not knowing what this trapped, bound -monster might be able to do. "You do not wish that we should kill you?" - -"No," Nixon said. "I sure don't." He said it wryly. He tried to smile. -Kill him? These little creatures? Incredible, him lying here in this -vaulted, tomb-like interior, with tiny things that could talk; things -who had scientific weapons and intelligence to handle them. - -"You did try to kill me," Nixon added abruptly. "I remember it now. -You--what shall I call you--Tork?" - -"Tork, yes," the taller figure said. "And this with me here is Nona. We -did not want to kill you--" - -"Oh, you didn't?" Nixon's temper always sprang readily. He could feel -his hands suddenly tingle. It was absurd that this tiny creature should -speak so calmly of killing him. Why if he had his hands loose, he could -seize the damned little thing, squeeze it until it screamed.... - -Unconsciously Nixon was straining at the metal ropes, with the muscles -under his bronzed skin taut as he held his breath, pulling and -straining. The metal posts bent inward a little with the pull; but the -ropes held.... It was a moment of horrible tenseness for his captors. -He could see it as he slowly strained, exerting all his strength until -the sweat poured out on his forehead and he was panting. A tense -horrible moment, while Tork and Nona stood with their tiny bluish -faces turned upward, with glowing little eyes staring. Then Tork's -face wrinkled into a grotesque smile as he saw Nixon's body relax. The -crucial test had come and passed. They could hold this giant. - -Tork said quietly, "There is a blood-tube in your throat. I could climb -up there and plunge what you call a sword into it." - -Nixon had heard of the jugular vein, of course. A sword, as Tork would -wield it, would be only a needle. But, even so, it could have been -stabbed into his jugular while he was unconscious and he might have -bled to death. Or it could be stabbed into his eyes, blinding him.... - -"All right," Nixon said. "It's hard to realize--I reckon I'm -beginning to understand now--" - -"That we have an intelligence like your own," Tork finished. "What are -you called? You have a name? Is it not so that all Earth people are -named?" - -"Nixon," he said. "Allen Nixon. Look here--what the devil is all -this? Who are you? You've got me here in some sort of thing--" - -"Our Spaceship," Tork said. "We came to Earth to get you." - -"Get me? Came to Earth?" - -But of course! These little creatures, so grotesquely in a sort of -human mould, couldn't belong on Earth. Nixon stared out again through -the tiny bullseyes beside him at the starry abyss of the heavens. -A spaceship, and he and his captors were no longer on Earth now, -but hurtling out somewhere among the stars. Allen Nixon, Floridian -backwoodsman, was far from a scientist. But he had read a great deal. -Atomic bombs. Rockets to the Moon. That sort of thing was no longer a -fantasy. Fantasy or not, he had to accept it now. - -"You came to Earth--to get me?" he repeated. - -"Well, not exactly you," Tork said. "We came for one of you Earth -giants. We landed--a place where there would not be many of you. And -then you came...." - - * * * * * - -Strange facts, which now Nixon's tiny captors were telling him. They -had come from a small world, in that belt of asteroids which lies -beyond Mars. A world which in their language was called something -that sounded like Orana. And they called themselves Orites--a little -civilization of them huddled on a bleak, rocky world. - -This Tork--his counterpart, in our human civilization, would be a -man. And the smaller figure here with him, a woman. Two sexes. But -among the Orites, they were in the minority, for most of the young -born to them, were neuter. And these they called Gorts. Like a slave -class, who grew to maturity trained for work, for servitude. Creatures -of a much lower intelligence, each trained from the beginning to some -simple, standardized task. - -Nixon, as he listened, could identify the Gorts, here among the groups -of tiny figures within the miniature railed enclosures on the spaceship -floor. A hundred or more of them had come up from underneath now, -reassured that the giant was helpless. There was one area down beyond -Nixon's feet where a group of some thirty of them were bending over a -long trough that was high as their knees. They seemed to be eating. -They were about Tork's six-inch size, these Gorts. But broader, more -squarely solid-looking. Their heads were round, shining like polished -leaden balls, with grey-blue faces, square-cut in a grotesque human -mould. Their garments, some grey, others of a brownish-black, seemed -stiff and jointed like a coat of mail. - -"Well, you've got me," Nixon said. "You're taking me now to your world?" - -"Yes, that is it," Tork agreed. - -"Why? What for? And you talk English--how is that?" - -It was only what to them could be called a few years ago, that the -Orites had been able to build a spaceship. An expedition had come to -Earth. It was a spaceship built for their own size--a cylindrical -ship perhaps the size of Nixon's arm. A group of them, including this -Tork, had come, landed and stayed for a time. So small, coming during -Earth's night, remaining hidden, then moving to other places again -during night, it had been easy for them to avoid discovery by the Earth -giants. - -"We found that your world, it is very beautiful," Tork was saying. -"Much better than our own--that you shall see. And perhaps our -mind is different from yours. You do not learn strange language by -listening, and remembering?" - -"Well, yes, but not exactly that." Nixon said. "Children do, I suppose. -So you're taking me back to your world? You say you didn't want to kill -me. Why should you? What do you want of me?" - -He saw Tork turn and gaze at the smaller woman-creature beside him, as -though Tork wasn't sure how he should answer that question. They were -standing now so that as Nixon had relaxed, prone, with his face turned -sidewise, they were only a foot or so away. He could see them more -clearly than before. Their garments were of some flexible, metallic -fabric--a sort of square-cut tunic and trousers on Tork; and on Nona -more of a drape, belted tight at the waist. - -Tork's head was round and shining, like a Gort; hers had a little -growth of white and gleaming hair on it. And Nixon could see other -differences now. The female was curved, broad at the hips, but every -tiny line of the male figure was stiffly angular. It gave Tork, and the -Gorts even more so, a mechanical look--the planes of the face were -all tiny rectangles, as though hewn on metal.... - -"We need you," Tork said at last. "Our scientists need one of the -Earth-giants." - -"Need me? What for?" Nixon demanded. - -"That you shall see," Tork said. He added evasively, "There is so much -about your world that you can tell us." - -"There will be no harm come to you," Nona said suddenly. "My father, he -is leader of the Orites in all things of science. It was he who built -our first spaceship." - -"I am assistant to him," Tork put in. - -"And then they built this giant ship, to bring a giant to our -world," Nona added, "and my father, he is working now on something -else--something that will be so good for all us Orites--" - -"That we can explain later, not now," Tork said hastily. - -Whatever it was, Nixon couldn't make them say any more about it. -The trip now stretched on while around him, down on the floor, -the miniature interior was busy with the routine of the voyage. -Beneath him, he understood now, were the mechanism rooms, the air -renewers, pressure equalizers, temperature controls, and the gravity -engines--whatever they were. Perhaps, if he had been an Earth -scientist, Tork would have tried to find the English words to explain -them. But Tork did not, and Allen Nixon wasn't curious. To him it was -enough that this strange thing was a fact. - -His mind was busy with thoughts of how to escape from these weird -little captors. Certainly he had no desire to be taken to this strange -world. Tork's queer glance at Nona had seemed somehow to have a -gruesome implication. If only he could get Tork within his fingers-- - - * * * * * - -After a time Nixon slept. He was hungry and thirsty when he awoke. -Down on the floor the Gorts were busy with their routine tasks. They -were getting used to the monstrous prisoner now. None seemed to notice -that he had opened his eyes. Then he saw Tork, in the little enclosure -beyond Nixon's feet, where the cylindrical interior narrowed. It seemed -to be the bow of the spaceship. A bullseye port was there, with a vista -of the stars. There was a foot-high bank like an instrument panel, with -rows of tiny dials hardly bigger than his smallest fingernail. They -glowed with faint streams of lights. He saw Tork there, among the tiny -controls. - -"Tork!" he called. - -Presently Tork came running along the floor and stood by Nixon's face. - -"You awaken?" Tork said. "You giants sleep a very long time. We know -that, of course. And you have slept even longer." - -Nixon could well believe it. He was rested now. Far more clear-headed -and alert, he realized, than he had been before, and the many tiny -wounds on him didn't hurt so much now. - -"I'm hungry and thirsty," he said. "I suppose you know that giants eat, -don't you?" - -Tork's weird slit of mouth widened and his bluish face knotted into a -grotesque smile. "We had planned for that before we caught you," he -said. "Water--your earth-water we have in tanks here. We have studied -your food. In Orana our chemists studied it, and we have concentrated -it for you. And perhaps some of our own things you will like." - -Feeding this bound giant was quite a problem. The Gorts struggled now -with a great ladder, resting it against Nixon's shoulder, carrying -pails of water up to his chest, pouring them into his mouth, each -not much more than a thimbleful. Then a long line of them came, each -with a chunk of food, a mouthful for Nixon. But it was gratifying, if -queer-tasting, and at last he had had enough. - -The days slowly passed, while the tiny ship plunged on through the -abyss of space. Days? There was here nothing but the same humming, -glowing interior, and outside through the tiny bullseyes, the vast -unchanging panorama of the stars. Nixon slept when he could; and when -he was thirsty or hungry, he called for Tork to order the Gorts to -their task. A hundred of them, whose only work was to feed him. - -Nixon realized now that these little people slept very often. Watching -them, it seemed that every two or three hours they needed sleep. A -lifespan, probably much shorter than ours. Ten years from birth to old -age, perhaps. This trip to Orana, as Tork once explained, to them was a -very long, tedious voyage. To Nixon it would be while he slept perhaps -twenty or twenty-five times. - -"If you would let one of my hands loose," Nixon told Tork once, "you -wouldn't have to carry the food and water up to me. Have the Gorts put -it beside me, down there on the floor and that's enough." - -He did his best to persuade Tork. After all, what could he do to -escape, even if they turned him loose? A lunge, even an incautious -movement, could wreck this little ship. Kill them all, but it would -kill him too. - -"You don't reckon I'm that foolish," Nixon said. - -"No, I do not," Tork agreed. - -"Then turn me loose. It's silly to keep me shackled like this. Causes -you a lot of trouble." - -But Tork only grinned his grotesque grin and shook his head. - -"Why not?" Nixon argued. "What can I do?" - -"You could reach and seize me," Tork said grimly. "You could hold me -with your fingers. And to save my life, would I not order the Gorts to -turn us back to Earth? That you could do. Have you not thought of it?" - -Nixon had indeed. Something like that was what he had been planning. -These tiny captors weren't so dumb. - -But as the time passed and they told him that now the orbit of Mars was -crossed and presently their world of Orana would lie ahead of them, -Nixon had in some measure won the confidence of Nona. Sometimes when he -called to her she would come and climb the long ladder at his shoulders -and sit on his chest and talk to him. At first she was timid, but then -as her confidence grew she got over it. Under her questions Nixon -passed the long hours telling her about Earth. - -"But you saw a good deal of it yourself, Nona. You made two trips -there." - -"Yes," she agreed. "But it is a world so gigantic, it did not look -anything of the way you tell it to me." - -"And I guess your world will look pretty different to me," he said, -"from the way it does to you." - -But she was queerly reticent about her world. He decided that Tork had -warned her not to talk about it. - -At another time it occurred to Nixon to ask how they had gotten his -huge body into their ship. She described how it had been dragged in -with cables. A dozen little electronic engines, and the pulling of -about five hundred Gorts who were here on board. But to get him out -they had planned it differently. Even though shackled, he could perhaps -hitch himself along, just a little at a time, out through the bow of -the ship which was built so that the whole of it would spread apart. - -"Of course I can," Nixon agreed. "I certainly don't want to make it -hard, Nona. If you people got so you could trust me--" - -"I think my father will trust you," she said suddenly. "Yes, that I -think." - -Then there came the time when Nona gestured toward the front port of -the ship, down past Nixon's feet. "There is Orana," she said. - -He saw it then, a great silvery crescent which had swung into view. -During the hours it enlarged, until presently it was filling all that -area of the sky. And a little later, Nona came climbing up the ladder -to his chest. - -"When you have slept the next time," she said, "we shall be there." - -She seemed frightened. He could interpret more readily the expressions -on her tiny, bluish face now. - -"What's the matter?" he demanded. - -She said, "Tork has seen with the telescope that a storm may be there -when we land." - -"A storm on your world? Oh, I see. Well, we have storms. Wind and rain. -And I told you about a snowstorm--" - -But she burst out: "A storm on Orana--Oh, giant, if only you could -help us! That is what my father thinks--that you will be able to help -us live on our world!" - -A storm on Orana ... somehow it made him shudder, hearing the terror in -her tiny voice. - - - III - -He slept again. And when he awoke the little interior of the Orite -spaceship was busy with the activities of landing. Through one of -the bullseye ports beside him, Nixon stared down at the strange new -world. Beneath them now it was a great, darkly dim expanse of gaunt -naked mountains. A place, by the look of it, seemingly of monstrous -desolation. - -The spaceship settled lower. Now Nixon could see the huge, naked -mountain peaks. They were like greenish polished spires of glass, -towering up into a queer orange-tinted haze of the Orana night. Beneath -the topping spires, the vast gaunt mountains spread out in serrated -ranks. The sides of them were polished cliff-ramps, bleak, precipitous -slopes dropping down into the great chasms of the valleys where the -orange haze was thicker so that the bottoms were an empty blur. - -He found Nona standing down on the floor, between him and the bullseye -port. - -"There--Orana," she said. - -He was puzzled. "But Tork told me it was a very small asteroid," he -said. "Those mountains, those canyons--so huge--" - -A little world, but so monstrously contorted by some great cataclysm -of nature in its birth, that everything on it was tremendous. As -Nixon stared down, it seemed that there could be easily ten miles, as -distance would be measured on Earth, between the tops of these towering -spires and the ragged gashes of deeps between them. A vast world, vast -with the hugeness of this amazing panorama of utter, bleak desolation. -Somehow there was a majesty to it. A brooding landscape, awesome in -its sweep of barren immensity. And it was sinister--the monstrous, -brittle-looking cliff-faces, smooth and green, with the orange hazes -whirling about them, and the shadows in the depths murky with purple -mystery. - -"It looks large to you?" Nolan said. "Then you can understand how much -bigger it looks to us." - -He could try to see it from their viewpoint. To them he was a -seventy-foot giant--and so to them these immense slashed metal -mountains must seem titanic. A harsh world, with nature cruel and -relentless, so that on it these tiny creatures had struggled, were -struggling, for a bare existence.... - -Now the little Spaceship had settled lower so that the swirling orange -haze was like a veil around it. A thousand feet away, outside this -port, Nixon could see a dim blur of smooth almost vertical cliff-face -sliding upward as they sank. - -"Nona, come." It was Tork, here on the floor with Nona. A line of Gorts -went past, dragging a wheeled apparatus. Nixon recognized it as the -little electronic gun which had spat its flash at him, back there on -the bank of the Florida bayou. - -Tork called a command to the Gorts, and then he herded Nona away and -stood looking up into Nixon's down-turned face. "You, giant," he said. -"You will take orders from me now? You will do what I tell you?" - -"Maybe," Nixon said slowly. He had come to dislike Tork's small -arrogance. "Are you going to turn me loose?" - -"That is impossible," Tork said shortly. "I want you to know, if you -are helpful it will be for your good. Can you understand that?" - -"You've said it enough so I reckon I should," Nixon retorted. - -"When we land, I will direct you," Tork said. "The home--the place -where we will keep you--to your size it will be quite close. I will -direct you to it." - -Then the turmoil of the landing drew Tork away. With the orange -mists almost solid outside the little port, presently Nixon felt the -spaceship rock and bump, and then settle quiescent. The interior was -a babble of the excited, tiny voices of the Orites, and the throbbing -grind of mechanisms as the ports were opened. The outer air came in -with a swirling rush, heavy wisps of tinted vapour, spreading like a -visible gas. Nixon's first breath of it was choking. It had a heavy, -chemical smell. He coughed, but after a moment he found that, though it -was dankly oppressive, making his lungs tingle and burn and his head -feel unsteady, he could breathe it. - -For a moment, Nona was here again. "The storm air," she said. - -"The storm is coming?" he said. "Or is this the storm, outside there -now?" - -"No, no, but it is coming." - - * * * * * - -The grind of the interior mechanisms had ceased, but then they began -again. Nixon saw now that the vaulted ceiling of the little Spaceship -was slowly being raised. It seemed hinged at about his waist and from -the bow beyond his feet it was rising up. And then there past his -feet, the bow-section spread apart. The orange mist, danker than ever, -swirled in around him. Beside him, lines of Gorts were hurriedly -carrying things out of the ship. Presently all the tiny figures had -disembarked. Nixon was lying in the narrow, vaulted little cylinder -with its top end down by his feet fully opened. Over him, from the -waist down, there was the tossed, storm-filled murk of the new world--a -blur with only a distant monstrous crag dimly visible. Silence was -around him here, but outside there was the weird muttering voice of the -oncoming storm. - -For that moment a panic struck at Nixon. He was wrapped with metal -ropes from head to foot, and still chained to the little lines of metal -posts beside him. It was as though he were lying bound, here in a -partly opened coffin. Had the Orites abandoned him, scurrying away in -their terror of the storm? - -"Ready," shouted Tork. And as Nixon shifted his head, he saw his captor -standing at the foot of one of the posts that came up past Nixon's ear. -Tork was loosening the cable, casting it off. Then he was at each of -the others. Presently Nixon's bound body was free from its lashings. - -"Careful now, giant!" Tork said. He cast off the last cable, down by -Nixon's feet; and then he darted back, turned and ran hurriedly out of -the opened bow. His shouted voice came in. - -"Come out now," Tork called. "Be careful!" - -Nixon could bend at the waist a little, and bend at the knees. His arms -could move to get an elbow under him when he turned sidewise. Grimly -it occurred to him that he could roll over perhaps, or lunge and wreck -this cursed little cylinder. - -"Come now!" Tork called sharply. "And surely we will kill you if there -is trouble." - -Feet first, slowly, laboriously, Nixon inched his way along and out of -the spread bow of the spaceship. - -The world of Orana. A curious bristling sward was under him. Around -him, the acrid orange air swirled and sucked. At first he could see -nothing but an orange blur. Then off to one side, on a dim slope some -twenty feet away, he saw that a terraced pyramid was standing--a -pyramid with its top third sliced off. The Orite city. A community -dwelling. It was one of three here. Dimly Nixon could make out the -outlines of the other two, further away up the slope. They were all -three about of a size--some fifty feet square at the base and twenty -feet high up their terraced sides to the flat roof. Tiny lights gleamed -like window eyes along the terraces at different levels about a foot -apart; and now Nixon could see the little Orite figures moving there on -the ramparts, with their thin voices babbling, excited by the return of -the Spaceship with its giant from Earth. - -"Keep going," Tork was calling. He was off to one side, down by Nixon's -feet. A crowd of Gorts stood further back, watching. And from the -nearest pyramid, other Orites were coming. Some, the young, were only -an inch or so high. Groups of them clustered timidly around a mother. A -stiff formation of what seemed the slave Gorts was standing in a double -line. Several hundred of them. The little wheeled guns were with them. -The guns pointed at Nixon. Alert Gort commanders stood ready to attack -the giant if it became necessary. - -"Keep going," Tork called again. - - * * * * * - -He stood cautiously to one side, ten feet from Nixon's lashed ankles. -He moved along to keep there, as Nixon moved. Nixon had shifted three -or four lengths of his body from the spaceship now. Suddenly, as for a -moment he relaxed, panting from the effort, he found Nona walking here -on the ground near his face. Of them all, she was the least afraid of -him. She was so close now that a flip of his head could have knocked -her down. - -"Hurry," she urged. "There is a place for you--" - -"How far away? What sort of place?" he demanded. - -"It is, what you call a--" She suddenly checked herself. "Oh giant, you -hear that? The storm--coming now!" - -He heard it. The distant, rumbling storm voice had abruptly -intensified--a rumble that now was separated into a fusillade of -crackling explosions. The orange air was swirling crazily, swirling and -crackling. - -Then in the full intensity of its fury, the Orana storm burst upon -them. - - - IV - -The orange rain came down in a pelting deluge, with a steady blast of -the wind. Under the impact of it Nixon stopped his hitching movement -along the ground and lay motionless. Overhead the clouds were turning -green. Great masses of smoking, turgid vapour swung majestically like -the slow-motion image of a cyclone. - -In the orange-green murk Nixon could see the crowds of little figures -running frantically for the shelter of the pyramid-cities. The nearer -pyramid was dimly visible through the blur. Tiny lights were glowing -there now, seemingly all over it. Not the lights of the windows. He -could still see the little spaced rows of them at the foot-high levels. -This was a purple glow--a sheen of light-fire. It seemed something to -protect the city from the storm. Up at the flat-top roof, fifty feet -above the ground, the purple light-fire stood up in little crossed -beams. - -The heavy orange rain increased. They were queerly solid raindrops. -They stung Nixon's face like hail so that he tried to shield himself -by twisting around. The cries of the running Orites were faint little -screams in the roar. He saw a sucking whirl of wind knock a group -of them down. Then they rose, struggled on, trying to get to the -sheltering doorways of the city. The raindrops were like hail, of -different sizes. He saw an Orite struck by one that to the little -six-inch figure was monstrous. The Orite fell and lay motionless. - -Now the rain-water was coming in rills down the rocky slope. The rills -were rivers to the fleeing Orites. A group of them were cut off. They -milled around in panic, then they came running back toward Nixon. -Suddenly as they neared him, he saw that Nona was among them. She was -running, staggering. A blob of raindrop barely missed felling her. - -He called, "Nona! Nona!" - -The voice of the giant. It rumbled with a roar, mingling with the -roar of the storm. Through the swirling murk, with the haven of the -purple-glowing pyramid blurred in the distance, Nixon could see that -the slope was dotted by fallen figures. Some of them lay with the -cascading rivulets of water tumbling over them; others were being -washed away down the slope. Half of the Orite crowd perhaps had reached -the city. The others were caught out here, surging back in a panic -toward the giant, momentarily more in terror of the storm than of him. -And Nixon knew now what he could do to give them at least partial -shelter. - -"Nona!" he called. "Come over here by me! Tell them--all of them come -here!" - -Then they were coming, and Nixon lay on his side, with his back to -the wind and rain. For them there was shelter, here against the giant -figure so that in a moment a hundred or more of them were huddling -here. He lay tensed, motionless. Down his length he could dimly see -the mass of tiny figures crouched in the lee of his body, with the -choking mists and the rain whirling high above them. Presently he could -feel the rivulets of water backing up against him, as though he were a -monstrous dam stretched here. He realized that his body was blocking -the water, keeping it from surging like a flood upon the Orites he was -sheltering. - -He said, "You're all right now, Nona? Better now?" - -She was crouching against his chest. He heard her answering call. "Yes. -Oh yes, giant." - -He lay through an interval. And now through the storm came a burst of -lightning--a crackling burst with a roar like thunder. But it was very -different lightning from anything Nixon had ever seen! It seemed to -strike one of the distant cliffs. There was a sustained crackling for a -second or two, then an orange-green burst of light. It was like a bomb -striking the cliff-face, with masses of rock hurled into the blur of -the air. A chunk, perhaps as big as Nixon's forearm, fell clattering -across the slope. Now he saw the meaning of the purple light-fire like -a barrage around and above the pyramid-city. It was a barrage of some -strange electronic nature, to act like a lightning rod. Presently a -crackling bolt hit it--a great burst, a blob of pyrotechnics in the air -above the city roof. It crackled for a second and then harmlessly was -swept away, dissipating into the murk. - -An hour passed, with the storm raging while Nixon lay taut with the -crowd of Orites huddled against him. Then it seemed that the wind -and rain were lessening. And presently a rift came in the wheeling -orange clouds--a rift with a pallid opalescent light breaking through. -The Orana moon. As the clouds at last wheeled and swung away, the -firmament of stars was spread overhead--pin-points of fire in the Orana -night-sky, with the moon a huge crescent of opalescent shimmer. It -bathed the glistening wet slope, strewn with the tiny dead figures. -It edged with pallid silver the frowning ramparts of the distant -mountains.... - - * * * * * - -Presently the daylight came. There was a swift, brightening twilight of -flat, pale glow; and then all in a few minutes there was full daylight -as the sun mounted above the cliffs. Out here beyond Mars, it was a -sun small and pale. Nixon's first Orana day. The sunlight had warmth, -a grateful warmth that soon was drying him. In it the bound Nixon lay -quiet. Momentarily the giant was ignored. The wet slope was steaming in -the sunlight. Nona and the Orites whom he had sheltered had fled into -the city as soon as the storm abated. The barrage glow had gone from -the pyramids. Gorts were carrying in the dead and wounded. - -A queer ironic feeling of his helplessness was in Nixon as he lay -waiting, wondering what these strange little captors would try to do -to him next. This world of civilized humans all in miniature, so tiny, -made it seem absurd that he should have to lie here, patiently waiting -for what would happen to him. But every moment as he gazed around at -the busy little Orite world, revealed by the daylight, his respect for -it grew. Quite evidently these were a scientific people. A totally -different science from anything on Earth, so that he could never grasp -it. A science, compared to his own Earth-world, which in many ways was -probably less advanced, yet in other ways more so. - -Beyond the three pyramid-cities he could see tilled fields in which -tiny things were growing. Little furrows ridged them. Gorts were -working there, with miniature machines that scurried like bugs along -the ground. Now after the storm, Orites were trudging in from the -hills, a rural population living out in the recesses of the cliffs, -and in huts along the ground. A few of their little dwellings were -visible in the nearer distance, mounds about a foot high. Some of the -people living out there came carrying those who had been hurt in the -storm--for medical attention in the pyramid-cities, Nixon surmised. -Others evidently came out of curiosity to see the giant from Earth. At -a respectful distance which to Nixon was five or six feet away, a crowd -of them was gathering. Men and women, and the young some of which were -hardly more than an inch high, clinging to a mother as they stared at -the prone giant. It was a jabbering, excited crowd, augmented now by -Orites who streamed out from the cities. - -The nearer cliff of the canyon-side, as Nixon saw it, was fairly close -here. It rose sheer, shining green in the sunlight. There was another -building over there against the cliff bottom--a building which looked -like a small cairn of stones. It was about two or three feet high. Its -tiny oval windows, even now in the daylight, had a violet light in -them; and at a peak from the top of it, colored vapour was streaming up. - -"We are ready to attend to you now, giant." The Orite voice near -Nixon's head startled him. Then he saw that Tork had arrived, and -that Nona was behind him. Other Orites had come from the nearest of -the pyramids and were gathered around Tork. Quite evidently they were -important here. Somehow the look of them suggested advanced age; men a -little bent, shriveled of outline, with robes that were ornamented for -the dignity of their rank. Their wrinkled, bluish faces were solemn -with dignity. There were some twenty of them. They stood in tiny -groups, gazing, whispering to each other. - -"Attend to me?" Nixon said. "It's time you turned me loose, isn't it?" - -If he could only persuade them to free him! From the beginning Nixon -had pondered how he could escape and get back to Earth. Certainly this -had been an extraordinary adventure, but already he had had enough of -it. If the Orites would free him now, it would be simple enough to -force them to take him back in the Spaceship. Or would it? Nixon felt -a queer shuddering, like a premonition. Why had they brought him here? -What were they planning to do with him? - -"Turn you loose," Tork was saying, and Nixon thought he could detect -something like sarcasm in that small voice. - -"Or at least, thank me," Nixon said. He grinned. Among his own kind -on Earth, his was an appealing grin. But the great ruddy expanse of -his face with the black stubble of beard which now was growing on it, -wrinkled by that grin, certainly had no reassuring appeal for these -tiny Orites. And Nixon knew it. - -Absurd that he should have to wheedle these little captors! Nixon -always had a hot temper and it rose in him now as from the Orites there -came only a staring, blank silence. Despite his bonds, he could roll -and lunge and kill hundreds of them! But what would it get him? The -Gorts would mass for battle and kill him. Or if they couldn't--if even -he wrecked all this miniature civilization here, there would be nothing -left for him to do but lie here on this strange little world and starve -to death. - -He mastered his anger. He would have to be docile, do what he was told, -for now at least. - -"I helped you in the storm, didn't I?" he added. "I saved maybe -hundreds of you from being killed. The last thing I want is to hurt any -of you." - -"My father is coming," Nona put in. She had turned at the sound of -a voice calling from the pyramid entrance where other Orites were -emerging. "My father is called Frane," Nona added. "I have told him -that you want to be our friend." She flung a glance at Tork as she said -it; but Tork ignored her and turned away, whispering to some of the -dignitaries. - - * * * * * - -Then Nona's father stood with her. Frane was obviously aged. His -shoulders were square and thin, with an ornate robe draping them. He -bore himself with the commanding dignity of his age and rank as leading -scientist here. - -"I thank you, giant, for what you have done." His voice was thin and -high, his words slow, carefully intoned. "For myself, I would trust -you. But these men who rule us--" His gaze went to the group with whom -Tork was whispering as he added, "have decided against me." - -Tork whirled around. "We do not dare give our world into the keeping -of this monster." - -It brought a babble of agreement from the listening Orites, most of -whom quite evidently understood the Earth language. - -"Why did you bring me here?" Nixon demanded. "You certainly went to -plenty of trouble." - -"To be of help to us," Frane said. "There is no reason why I should not -tell you." - -Frane in his laboratory here, with Tork as his assistant, for years -had been working on a momentous chemical discovery. Drugs to cause a -size-change of the human body; to alter the size of every tiny cell, -without changing its shape. - -Frane gestured. "That is my laboratory, off there." He was indicating -the cairn-like little building with the oval violet windows, at the -base of the cliff. - -A growth-drug. A generation ago they had done it with plants to some -extent. "Perhaps you know," Frane was saying, "that natural growth is -not steady. It comes in spurts, a rapid growth, a resting, then growth -again." - -And this new drug would greatly accelerate the growing periods--a vast -and rapid acceleration into a size far beyond what nature ordinarily -would have attained. Frane's growth-drug was now nearing success. - -"To make us Orites perhaps as large as you," Frane was saying. "Then we -could dominate our world more easily." - -Nixon could understand the desire. This miniature civilization was like -a colony of ants on Earth. He could imagine an anthill swept by an -Earth-storm; a forest fire, with millions of insects scuttling before -it, and millions of others consumed by it. This Orana storm, to Nixon, -had been bad enough; but to many of the Orites it had been fatal. - -"You brought me here," Nixon said, "and yet you hope to make yourselves -as big as I am. Why did you need me?" - -Tork had approached. His face bore a triumphant leer. "They say it is -better to stop this talk with the giant now," he said to Frane. - -Orders from Frane's superiors. It was obvious. "Later, giant," Frane -said. His face was serious, and Tork's leer of triumph, somehow made -Nixon shudder. - -"I beg you, for your own good, cause no trouble," Frane added hastily. -"You understand that, giant?" - -"Yes," Nixon said. - -"We have a home for you," Tork said suavely. - -"A home? Where?" - -"Not far." Tork gestured toward a butte-like rock that rose from the -slope, over in the direction of the nearer cliff. To Nixon it was only -some fifty feet away. "And you will be made quite comfortable," Tork -added smilingly. "Our Gorts will feed you and take care of you." - -Then slowly, feet first, the bound Nixon was hitching himself past the -pyramid-city. A thousand little eyes watched him tensely. The rock -was about twenty feet high. As his feet neared it, Nixon saw that -Orites were up on the rock-ridges some ten feet above the ground. Tiny -apparatus was up there. Nixon hardly noticed the crescent line of -finger-size holes in the ground as he hitched over them. As his feet -neared the bottom of the rock, he heard Tork calling, - -"Enough, giant! Lie quiet!" - -Tork gave a signal. From up on the tiny ledge of rock, the Orites -answered it. The apparatus up there glowed, hummed. From the crescent -line of holes in the rocky ground around Nixon, tiny purple beams of -light, shot up vertically into the air--beams of radiance about six -inches apart. They streamed up, sharp and clear for twenty or thirty -feet and faded into the sunlit air. It was a crescent fence of light, -from one end of the butte, out in a fifteen foot loop around the prone -Nixon, bending until it touched the other end of the butte. - -At the same moment Gorts rushed in, between the six-inch vertical -light-bars. Nixon could feel them with tiny electro-torches burning at -the knots of the ropes binding him. The ropes fell away. He was free. -The Gorts scattered in a panic, running out between the upstanding -purple rays. - -Nixon's clothes were smouldering in several places from the tiny -torches. The flesh of his wrists was burned. He beat out the -smouldering fabric and staggered to his feet. - -"Careful now, giant!" It was Tork's voice coming in to him from beyond -the radiance of the bars of purple light. Somehow Tork's sneering -warning enraged Nixon. Was this a cage? A cage of light-fire in -which these damnable little creatures thought they could hold the -Earth-giant? He'd show them! - -Nixon's rage blurred his reason or he would have been more wary. With -an oath that was thunder to the Orites, he hurled himself against the -purple bars. The Orites' apprehensive cries mingled with a crackling, -hissing shower of sparks. It was as though Nixon had struck something -solid. He was aware of a shock, a resisting thrust, a repulsion that -galvanized all his body as it hurled him backward. - -Enveloped by the spark-shower, with his clothes smouldering and his -flesh burned, he fell writhing in the center of his purple cage. - - * * * * * - -Nixon barely clung to his senses. Then after a moment he knew that -his head was clearing, that he was brushing his smouldering clothes -frantically with his hands. Around him the radiance from the glowing -purple bars was dazzling. But presently he could see between them, and -see the crescent of blue sky overhead. Between two of the bars, in the -six-inch vertical slit of space, an Orite figure appeared. It was Nona. -She came carefully in and stood looking at him. - -"You are not too badly hurt?" she said anxiously. "You should not have -tried that." - -"So they send _you_?" Nixon said bitterly. "What for? To get me ready -for some new trickery?" - -Then Nixon saw that her father was behind her. "We understand your -feelings," Frane said. "I would trust you, but you see I have not -enough power here. I am only a man of science; I have nothing to do -with the government. Not many of the Gorts will take orders from me." - -He seemed wholly sincere, so that Nixon smiled grimly. "All right. I -think I _am_ beginning to understand." - -And Tork, who in rank was only Frane's assistant, seemed to have the -confidence of those Government leaders. - -"The Gorts will come and bring you food and water," Nona said. - -"There will be five hundred Gorts just to be trained for your needs," -Frane offered. "If they come now, you will not harm them so that they -have to attack and kill you?" - -Whatever thoughts of wishful thinking Nixon had had that these little -people could kill him, now certainly were dispelled. "Okay," Nixon -agreed. "You have my promise. I won't hurt the Gorts." - -"Thank you," Frane said gravely. He turned away.... - - - V - -A dozen or more of the Orana days and nights went by. Nona often came -to talk with the giant. Then she brought a young Orite with her named -Loto. He seemed about her own age. He spoke English. He was, Nona said, -studying to be a scientist. From him and Nona, Nixon now learned many -details of the little asteroid world. The rotation of Orana on its -axis gave an alternate daylight and darkness of about six hours each. -There was about the same gravity as Earth, because the asteroid was so -extremely dense. And the moon here was a smaller twin of Orana, one -revolving around the other. - -The days were mostly sunlit, sometimes with swirls of orange and purple -clouds. There was no rain; the rain fell only during the infrequent -storms. The nights were opalescent moonlight; then with a period when -the moon-twin had moved into the hours of the day, and showed only as a -dull crescent in the sunlight. - -Through the glowing purple bars, Nixon could see the miniature Orite -world busy with its routine of life. The cairn-mound of Frane's -laboratory was only a few yards distant along the cliff. Day and night -its tiny oval windows gleamed with the violet radiance. - -Still Nixon had no idea of why he had been brought here. He had -demanded it of Nona and Loto, but always they avoided it. Nona looked -frightened, and the youthful Loto was gravely solemn. To say the least, -their look was anything but reassuring. Then one day, they told him. - -"You are a giant," Nona said. "Originally my father wanted to study the -growth-factors of larger creatures. On our first visit to your Earth, -several of them were brought here. They were very young, not too -terribly big then to be caught and brought here. But they grew so fast." - -Again that queer look was on her face as she added, "They are all dead -now, except one. It is, I think, what you call a panther. It is caged -in a cave--" She gestured. "Out there in a nearby valley--a cave, with -the purple barrage like this across the entrance." - -"Studying the growth of larger creatures," Nixon echoed. "And now these -animals are all dead but one! What you're trying to tell me--your -father and Tork experimented on them. Is that it?" - -"In the interest of science," Loto said hastily. "That is done on your -Earth, isn't it?" - -And then they had realized that, if the growth-drug Frane was after was -to be effective on the human Orites, a human giant from Earth would be -the best on which to experiment. So Tork had been sent to get one. - -Nixon stared. "Keep me here, telling me I'll not be harmed until you're -ready to vivisect me!" - -"No! No--" the Orite girl cried vehemently. "Not that! Never! Father -has promised it!" - -"He has found that his work does not need it," Loto said earnestly. -"Believe us, that is true. The panther has not yet been used. Perhaps -it never will be. And Frane does not need you. He thought that he -would. But now he's almost sure it isn't necessary." - -"And Tork is still trying to persuade your leaders to have Frane--use -me?" Nixon demanded. - -"Yes," Loto admitted. "That is so. You see, the drugs are so terribly -important to us--" - -"But my father needs nothing more," Nona said. "Except perhaps, my -giant, there will be blood samples--" - -"And a little tissue to be studied with our microscopes," Loto put in. -"And secretion, perhaps, from the pituitary gland--" - -A grave little group of scientists, with Frane, came one day for -specimens from the giant. Then they came again. Their tiny surgical -instruments were like needles pricking and Nixon only laughed grimly. - -But would Frane succeed with his experiments? It seemed now as though -Nixon's life hung on that. Then there was a day when Nona said -impulsively, - -"My father is more sure than ever of success. But Tork refuses to -believe it." - -"Refuses?" Nixon echoed. "Look here, what do you mean by that? I reckon -there's still plenty you're not telling me, Nona." - -There was indeed! There was so much going on out there in the busy -little Orite world that the caged giant could not see. Nona and Loto -tried to explain it. - -"Tork is surely planning something," Loto said. "Something more than -just working for the success of the drug." - -There had been rumors of trouble. Talk of plans that were being made by -secret meetings in the night. And Tork's followers seemed increasing. -More and more the rumors involved him as a leader. - -"Planning what?" Nixon demanded. "Is he aiming to seize your -government?" - -Perhaps it was that. Frane himself could not believe that Tork had any -sinister plans; for so many years he had trusted Tork. And Frane was -absorbed with his work. An impractical old man. - -"So are most of our leaders," Loto said bitterly. "Too old. What you -would call rusting on the job." - -"One thing I'm sure," Nixon said. "Whatever that fellow Tork is up to, -he'd mighty well like to tack my hide to his cabin door." - - * * * * * - -The days passed. And Nixon saw himself like a monstrous dumb creature -waiting to be slaughtered. There must be something that he could do -to get out of here! He began planning it and as the plan evolved, the -thing looked feasible, if only he could persuade Nona and the youthful -Loto! - -He put his plan to them one evening when they came to talk to him, as -they now did quite often. In the glow of the purple bars he sat with -the two small figures perched on his upraised knee. - -"Look," Nixon said softly. "I'm not willing to go on like this. And -you--you're just stalling around giving Tork and his men every chance -to pull off what they're after." - -Nixon felt desperate, and he knew he looked it--ragged and dirty, his -clothes tattered where the barrage had burned them, and his face with -sunken cheeks covered by a ragged growth of black beard. And he knew he -was ill. The lack of exercises perhaps, because always on Earth Allen -Nixon had been used to great muscular activity. The food and water the -Gorts brought him, lately had been distasteful. It was strange stuff, -at best. And there was the apprehension of his fate--the damnable -sitting and waiting. - -"Whatever Tork is after," Nixon was saying, "it's something Frane would -not want. Nor you--nor any of those who are like you. For your sake as -well as mine, you've got to go into this with me." - -He persuaded them at last. Loto had the youthful, reckless enthusiasm -of youth. He was like Nixon himself, in that! And they both trusted the -giant. - -"Tonight will be best," Loto said. "Greev will be on duty--" - -Greev was one of the Orite guards in charge of the barrage mechanism. -His little post was back in a recess on a ledge of the butte. From -where Nixon was sitting its cave-entrance was dimly visible off at the -left end where the barrage ended at the rock-face. To Nixon it was -about ten feet up; to the Orites it was a climb of about a hundred -feet, up a steep winding rock-path from the other side of the butte. -Greev was a rough fellow who had seemed much interested in Nona. Often -he had urged her to come up there and sit with him through the long -tedious hours of his duty. - -"What time would be best?" Nixon demanded. - -"I could go soon after the moon-rise," Nona said. - -An hour from now. Nona would talk to the guard. She would contrive that -just for a moment or two they would leave the little cave-entrance, -walking along the ledge in the shimmer of the moon. And, unseen, Loto -would be up there. - -"It can be done," Nixon said. "You're sure you understand the -mechanisms, Loto?" - -"Oh yes, yes." - -Perched on the seated giant's upraised knee, Loto and Nona suddenly -clutched at the huge folds of his trousers to keep from falling as the -knee jerked. And Nixon's hand had gone up to his forehead--a sweep of -wind that was like a little swirl of storm. - -"What's the matter?" Loto demanded anxiously. - -"I don't know," Nixon murmured. "I sure feel sick." - -A wave of nausea and dizziness had swept him, convulsing his muscles. -"This food I get here don't seem to agree with me," Nixon added. -"Lately, I--" - -He sucked in his breath as the inescapable thought came to him. - -"Poison!" he gasped. "That's it! Poisoning me--those damned little--" - -"Not so loud!" Loto murmured. "You're voice is a roar. It could be -heard up there in the control room." - -Poisoning the giant! His body was so tremendous that they could only -give him enough to be slow-acting, making him gradually sick. Nona and -Loto were aghast. More than ever now, this plan to free the giant and -let him rule this world as Frane and the others would want it ruled, -must succeed tonight. - -"Maybe it isn't poison. It could be a sleeping drug," Loto said. - -"Sure! To knock me out and vivisect me!" Nixon rasped grimly. "What -difference?" - - * * * * * - -For a time longer they discussed the details of their plan, while Nixon -sat fighting the weird feelings that were sweeping him. Then Nona and -Loto quietly left, walking out between the upstanding purple bars. -And Nixon was alone, waiting for moon-rise.... This cursed sickness! -He fought with it. He was bathed in cold sweat now, with a shuddering -chill creeping through him. But it was some hours since he had had -anything to eat or drink. He'd certainly take nothing more. - -The minutes slowly dragged, with an apprehension of tenseness in -the waiting Nixon. Now doubts were assailing him. Would Greev be -suspicious, with Nona coming up to visit him tonight when she had -always refused before? Would Loto be able to get into the control room -unseen? Sometimes Gorts were around up there. Would they oppose him? - -And where was Tork tonight? At this time, almost always he was in -his apartment in one of the pyramid-cities. Frane now was in his -laboratory; Tork would join him there later. But sometimes Tork -vanished on one of his mysterious missions. And it occurred to Nixon -that possibly tonight, with poison slowly overcoming the giant, Tork -himself might be planning to do something.... - -Then Nixon suddenly was aware that out through the glowing purple bars, -the stars were paling above the distant cliffs. The moon was rising. -The time had come! Nixon still sat quiet, hunched against the face -of the rock. Diagonally up over his head, the little entrance of the -control room was visible. It glowed with radiance. Occasionally the -tiny blob of Greev showed as he moved about. Was Loto already up there? -He had said that there were places where he could climb up without -using the path. And to a six-inch Orite the ledge up there outside the -control room was broken and crag-strewn so that Loto easily could hide. - -Now Nixon saw the figure of Nona, a pale little blob in the moonlight -as she mounted the path. A moment more and she was in the glowing -recess with Greev. No Gort had challenged her. Good enough! Another -interval and then the guard and Nona came out on the ledge, stood a -moment and then moved along it. - -Loto's chance! Slowly Nixon stood up, stretching as though casually -yawning. His head reeled. His ears were roaring. This accursed -sickness!... But now he saw the blob of Loto in the control room! Nixon -tensed. - -A sudden humming and hissing of current sounded overhead. The barrage -went down! The purple bars of light crackled for an instant and were -gone! - -The giant was free! Overhead he heard the shout of Greev. A spreading -alarm, with the voice of Gorts up on the rock; and others out on the -rocky slope. Nixon leaped. He was aware that it was a staggering step -so that he almost fell. But he recovered himself, staggered on toward -the rock-slope. Everywhere there was a turmoil of frightened little -voices. This damnable dizziness! But it could be conquered. Nixon shook -himself, trying to straighten and get his balance. Now he was aware -that a line of Gorts was before him. Behind him the glow of the barrage -sprang up again, Greev had evidently rushed back to his post. But it -was too late! The giant was out! - -In that confused instant, with all the moonlit scene swaying before -him, Nixon saw that the attacking Gorts were dragging up lines of wires -mounted in foot-high frames. Grids of wire, with cables that led to -little wheeled batteries. And Tork was with them. Nixon heard his voice -and saw his little figure scurrying in the background. Perhaps Tork -had planned this before the barrage went down, or perhaps he had just -come, responding to the alarm.... What matter? Nixon could scatter this -strange little attack with a kicking, scrambling rush.... - -In that second Nixon knew that his thoughts were blurred by the roaring -in his head. He knew that he was staggering ahead to scatter the Gorts. -But there was no time. The grids of wires glowed and crackled. For just -another moment it seemed that they were building up the electronic -potential of a bolt. Then one of them reached it. A little puff of -crackling violet leaped upward. It struck Nixon in the chest. - -Nixon knew nothing except that he was staggering, falling.... - - - VI - -Slowly Nixon realized that he was coming back to consciousness. He felt -that he was lying on the ground. He tried to move, but something was -holding him. At first the roaring in his head was the only sound. Then -he heard Orite voices; and now he could feel the tread of Orite feet -upon his chest. - -He opened his eyes to a swaying glare of light. A foot above his chest -and neck a hooded light cast its lurid orange glare down on him. As his -eyelids fluttered up, the Orite voices, speaking in their own language, -sounded startled. - -Nixon's gaze swung. There were other Orites on the ground, with a -ladder leading up to his chest. And nearby, a crowd of Orites and Gorts -stood watching with awe. Nixon saw that he was approximately where he -thought he had fallen. The rock butte was some twenty feet away, with -the barrage bars futilely standing before it. Again Nixon tried to move -one of his legs, and then he realized that he was chained, with chains -and ropes that were pegged to the ground. - -"You recovered too quickly, giant," Tork's voice said. "For your own -good you should have been unconscious as we planned." - -With a rush of horror, Nixon realized that these little figures up by -his neck were Orite surgeons. Their paraphernalia was mounted there at -the base of his throat. The orange light gleamed on their instruments. -One who was goggled held a tiny circular blade. It whirled with a faint -humming; a revolving knife, electronically heated. Nixon could feel its -radiating heat on the skin of his throat as the surgeon held it poised. - -Vivisection! Nona and Loto had been right. Tork at last had persuaded -the Orite leaders to order this. - -"Wait!" Nixon muttered. He was still dazed, bathed with the sweat of -weakness. "Where is Frane? Get Frane!" - -This damnable roaring in his head made everything seem so blurred and -far away. Nixon's eyelids drooped, but he opened them, fighting the -drowsiness. And it seemed that his head was clearing. The shock of the -violet bolt had knocked him into temporary unconsciousness. But now -the poison, or the drug, was wearing off. If he could stall this for a -time-- - -It was a vague, formless thought that he knew was hopeless. "Frane," he -said again. "Get Frane." - -"He is not needed," Tork's suave voice said. - -From the ground beside Nixon, Frane's voice sounded. He was talking in -his own language, angrily expostulating. Then he called, in English, "I -tell them this is not necessary." - -"But your success with the drug is postponed too long," one of the -Orite leaders said. "Tork says you are doing your best, but--" - -"I will succeed within another night," Frane desperately promised. "One -more experiment--" Surely the aged scientist was doing what he could to -stall this. But they had lost confidence in him. He should have used -the panther, and then this giant man long ago. Frane was a brilliant -chemist, but he had no qualities of dominating leadership. - -"Only this can help you," the leader said. His voice carried -finality. He gestured, added a command in the Orite language to the -surgeons. - -Nixon could feel the figures on his neck moving to begin their -gruesome work on the prone, half-conscious giant. But Nixon was more -conscious, stronger now than they realized. He strained at the cables, -but found that he could move far less than when he had been bound on -the Spaceship. His head could shift a little so that he could glance -sidewise, but that was all. - -"Stop it!" he gasped suddenly. "You damn little butchers--" He'd -frighten them with his voice. Roaring, bellowing and twisting his head. -That was all he could think of to do.... The end of Allen Nixon.... A -vision of the rippleless Florida bayou, his brother Ralph, their cabin -under the grey oaks and cedars came to him.... - -Then suddenly, out in the moonlit distance of the rock-slope between -the pyramid-cities, cries were sounding. The surgeons on Nixon's neck -stood tense, peering, listening. A turmoil of wild cries sounded off -there. It spread to the cities. Cries, then Orites screaming. And in -another moment a huge tawny shape came leaping from the shadows. The -panther! - - * * * * * - -Nixon gasped. Then his roar held his mingled horror and a queer sort of -triumph. "So now you've got something else to worry about!" he shouted. -"There it is--mean and hungry. Take a look at that critter, you damn -butchers, and see what you're going to do about it!" - -The panther was loose. Nixon remembered now, how Loto had said it was -in a cave with a purple barrage barring the entrance. Loto and Nixon -had never thought of it--that when Loto pulled the barrage-switch, for -that moment the panther's barrage had blacked out the same as Nixon's! - -Tork was stammering, "Why I--I sent men to verify that it was still -there! The darkness of the cave--the barrage was only off for a -moment--they must have thought--" - -"Well, it isn't there, it's here!" Nixon roared. "Go ahead--carve me -up, if that panther gives you time!" - -It was the supreme catastrophe, that raging tawny beast loose among the -scurrying, tiny human figures. The screams were horrible as it pounced -on a group of them who were trying to reach the shelter of one of the -pyramids. With sunken sides showing its ribs and madly lashing tail, -the panther gobbled up the tiny figures. Orite humans, each of them -hardly a mouth. Then with another leap, the great amber-eyed cat was -pouncing again. A line of Gorts with suicidal willingness to attack, -stood their ground as it came at them. A sweep of its huge paw knocked -them away. - -Around Nixon, for those few horrible seconds, the Orites stood -stricken. "Go ahead," Nixon said. "Kill it. Why don't you folks kill -it? If you don't it sure as shooting will kill you." - -Now the beast seemed to see the giant figure lying here in the orange -glare. It stood with bared fangs and red-rimmed eyes. Then a rush of -Gorts distracted it, so that it turned and leaped over them. Down on -the ground beside Nixon, the crowd of Orites were milling around in -terror. The surgeons and their assistants were trying to get down the -little ladder at his side. - -"You can't kill it!" Nixon roared. "But _I_ can. Turn me loose, you -little fools!" - -He strained at his bonds. Life or death now, for himself as well as -hundreds of them. Nixon knew it. That panther would be here any minute, -ripping him apart. - -"You can kill it?" Frane gasped from the ground beside him. - -"I'll damn sure try!" - -Frane shouted at the panic-stricken Orite leaders. And suddenly in -their emergency they trusted him. Gorts came rushing, casting loose -the chains so that in a moment Nixon was staggering up. The chains fell -from him with a thin clatter. For a moment dizziness swept him, but -then it passed. He was free. And to Nixon of the bayous freedom was -strength. - -Off across the moonlit slope, strewn with dead and dying Orites, the -panther was crouching. Its purring snarl mingled with the lashing of -its tail as it saw Nixon rise up. Then with a roar it leaped at him. - -Nixon made no move to jump aside. He had ripped off his jacket and -shirt, wound them around his left forearm. There was an instant when -the moonlight gleamed on the beast's wild eyes and opened jaws as it -leaped. Then Nixon thrust his padded, crooked arm outward and up as the -jaws came at his throat. The impact of the huge tawny body knocked him -backward. He felt the jaws closing on his arm as he fell with the beast -on top of him. In a moment they were rolling, with Nixon desperately -squirming and lunging, trying to get a grip on the great cat's throat. -He could feel the claws ripping his clothing, his flesh, with his blood -spurting and white streaks of hot pain shooting into him. - - * * * * * - -Nixon's fingers gripped the loose skin of the panther's neck. But at -once he knew it was no use. The beast's strength was too great. He felt -the rippling muscles under the loose skin resisting his clutch. Then -the great jerking body tore loose; the jaws relaxed their grip, dropped -his arm, came again at his throat.... - -As the giant went down, a horror-stricken cry had gone up from the -crowds of watching Orites. Now the great antagonists were rolling. In a -moment they had crossed from the edge of the rock-slope almost to the -sward where the Spaceship cylinder had landed. Nixon could feel the -crackling sward under him. Hot blood in his eyes blurred everything. He -managed to wipe it away, and thrust out his padded arm again for the -brute's jaws to grip. - -Then Nixon's right hand, brushing the bristling sward, came upon a -jagged sliver of rock in that very fragment blasted from the cliff -by that first storm upon his arrival. Both heavy and sharp, it made -a terrible weapon. With a whirling lunge he jammed that clumsy spear -of rock into the panther's slavering jaws--on down into its hot and -roaring gullet. In a moment the beast's snarls were choked with blood. -With its human antagonist momentarily ignored, the puzzled, choking -brute was staggering, flinging its head from side to side. Then it was -rolling on the ground, with paws frantically fumbling at its mouth. - -It was Nixon's chance now. He flung himself on the beast. His frantic -fingers closed about its windpipe. The panther screamed and writhed, -but Nixon's grip was inexorable. The screams died to slobbering gasps. -At last the tawny shape was lying on its side. For a moment the paws -convulsively jerked. Then it was motionless. - - - VII - -A day had passed since the giant had been released, and night had come -again. The Earth-giant now had become a hero to the awed Orite people. -Or at least, whatever terror of him they had was submerged in their -cheering when the monstrous panther was dead. - -Nixon had found himself a cave-like recess off at the base of the green -cliff a few hundred yards from Frane's laboratory. Soon he would fix -it up to be comfortable. He brought himself food and water now. This -morning he had explored the nearby valley which opened into this one -through a mile-wide defile. Thousands of the Orites lived in the other -valley; their mound-dwellings dotted the slopes at the base of the -enclosing cliffs. A stream of orange water babbled along one side of -the valley floor, and there were strips of vegetation near the water. -Strangely shaped bluish trees about the height of Nixon bore fruits and -pods of several kinds which were edible. - -It was a day of exultation to Nixon, this freedom to roam around and do -things for himself after his long imprisonment. Towering master of this -miniature world. There was another valley where a hundred or so tiny -factories glowed and hummed. Everything stopped when the Earth-giant -appeared, with the workers thronging the little doors and windows, -peering up in awed silence at him.... An exultation to it. And then -suddenly Nixon had felt the sense of responsibility. There was so much -that he would have to learn, and plan, and then put into action. - -Last night, when the panther was dead and the panting, bleeding giant -had stood with crowds of tiny figures cheering him, suddenly Nixon had -found himself making a speech. It was halting, certainly, anything but -fluent. Nixon was always a fellow sparse of words. He tried to tell -them that just because he was so gigantic, no one need fear him. That -now he would live among them for a time, and try to help them in every -way he could. His naive, youthful grin accompanied his words. Then the -Orite leaders had arranged to meet with him presently; and whatever now -he needed for his comfort, he need only ask for it.... - -"The people all want you for our leader," Nona was saying -enthusiastically. "Everyone talks of it. The Gorts look to you for -commands." - -It was mid-evening now as Nixon sat in the mouth of his cave, with Nona -and Loto on his upraised knee. A leader. Fair enough, Nixon thought. -No one can argue with a man seventy feet tall! But Frane's growth-drug -soon would change everything. The Orites would be as big as Nixon. A -whole new civilization to be built in the giant size. - -"I'll do my best," Nixon said earnestly. He added suddenly, "Where is -Tork?" - -In the tumultuous events of the past night and day--the joy of his -release--there had been no time to worry about Tork. - -"Where _is_ Tork?" Nixon demanded. - -Loto and Nona did not know. "Maybe the panther chewed him some," Nixon -said. "I wouldn't mourn none." - -Nona shook her head. "He was with my father, there where you had been -lying." - -"Besides, I saw him an hour after that," Loto said. - -Nixon's eyes flashed. "You can be sure of one thing," he said grimly. -"As soon as I get my bearings around here, we'll get to the bottom of -Tork's monkey-shines." - -Tork's followers, however many of them there might have been, now -certainly seemed to have evaporated. Nixon knew that was natural -enough. Whoever had listened to him, now would probably never admit it. - -And Tork now had vanished. Perhaps he feared that he would be blamed -for having so strongly urged the vivisection of the giant. "He's not at -his job in the laboratory, working with your father?" Nixon suggested. - -"No, father has not seen him," Nona said. "Father sent to his home, but -Tork has not been there." - -Frane had promised that his experiment with the growth-drug this -evening would be the last, his triumph, the final success. It could -come any moment now. And all the little Orite colony knew it, was -waiting with excited expectancy for the waving shaft of violet light -which Frane had said would show from the top of the laboratory building -when the growth-drug was completed. - -Down the length of the glass-like cliff-base, Nixon could see the -little laboratory building about a hundred feet away. It was humming -with activity. - -"Well," Nixon said, "nothing to do but wait and see. I sure hope he -gets it." - - * * * * * - -Tensely they waited; the giant hunched at the mouth of his cave with -the two tiny figures perched on his bent knee. The hours passed. -The moon rose. Then Nixon sucked in his breath, and Nona and Loto -gave their little cries. From the top of the laboratory the little -light-beam was waving. Success! Frane had accomplished it. - -"He did it!" Nixon exulted. - -"Yes, he did it," Nona echoed. "My father, I'm so proud of him." - -"Let's go over there," Nixon said. "I'll carry you." - -He raised them to his shoulder and they clung to the collar of his -shirt. They were halfway there when a tiny scream sounded. Then another. - -"That came from the laboratory!" Loto exclaimed. - -Nixon started running. "Not so fast!" Nona gasped. "The wind up here--" - -He went slower, stopped at the waist-high laboratory building. As -he stooped to put Loto and Nona on the ground, a tiny figure came -scurrying from a side door. Nixon had no chance to seize it. In an -instant it had disappeared into the shadows. - -"Run inside!" Nixon said. "See what happened." - -There was a turmoil in the little building; tiny running footsteps and -the horrified voices of the Orite chemists who had been working there. -Then in a moment a group of them came out. They were carrying Frane. -The sobbing Nona was with them; Loto came, solemn and grim. Silently -the giant Nixon stepped back, then knelt, gazing down in awe at the -miniature tragedy here at his feet. - -[Illustration: _He knelt down in amazement._] - -Loto explained what had happened. Frane had taken the completed drug -into his office. Tork evidently had been lurking, waiting for this -moment. He had killed one of Frane's men who got in his way, darted in -and stabbed the unsuspecting Frane.... - -"Then that was Tork I saw running out," Nixon said. He checked his -impulse to jump up and rush away to seize the damned murderer. How -could you find a tiny, scurrying, six-inch figure in this expanse of -moonlit crags? - -Frane was not dead, but he obviously was dying. They had laid him -on the ground. He saw Nixon's face so high above him, and he called -faintly. - -"Come closer, giant. Tork was triumphant--he told me what he had -planned. I was so stupid--I would never believe ill of him--" - -Tork had planned to organize an expedition to go to Earth. With the -growth-drug, they would go in their normal small size. Then on Earth, -they would use the drugs and get large. There was no real limit to -growth through Frane's drug. Frane had meant it to be governed by -environmental needs but the more one took the larger he would grow. -Giants on Earth! They could make themselves what on Earth would be men -a hundred feet tall. - -"Tork always said your Earth is so much better a world than Orana could -ever be," Frane was saying. "With fighter-Gorts a hundred feet tall on -Earth, he felt surely that your world could be conquered." - -And many of the Orites here, and the Gorts they controlled, had felt -the lure of it. The Orite Government would oppose it. They would have -no desire to embark upon the murderous conquest of a neighboring world. -Then Tork and his followers would have seized the Government. And more -of the Orites would have rallied around him, of course. It is instinct -to follow a successful leader. - -But with the Earth-giant dominating Orana now, Tork's fellow plotters -had melted away. - -"Well," Nixon murmured grimly, "what does he think he can do now?" - -The answer came almost with Nixon's grim question. "Look!" Loto gasped. -"Off there!" - -Then Nixon saw it. In the notch between the towering rocks where the -pass led into the broad adjoining valley, a figure had appeared, not -a tiny six-inch figure but an upright man-shape that seemed about -as high as Nixon's waist. It was Tork, and he was half as big as -the Earth-giant now! Long since, Tork's clothes had burst with tiny -shreds that had dropped away so that his bluish flesh glistened in the -moonlight. - -For an instant Nixon stood transfixed. And as he stared he saw that -Tork was almost visibly growing! Already he seemed a little taller. The -moonlight showed his face; he was leering with triumph. Another giant -to challenge Nixon's mastery of the Orite world! Soon he would be as -big as Nixon ... then larger.... - - * * * * * - -With the shock of realization, Nixon tensed, bounded forward. Instantly -Tork disappeared, ducking back into the pass. Almost at once Nixon -stopped his pursuits. This could be a fatal error, chasing the growing -Tork who might elude him long enough to become so large that he could -kill Nixon easily! - -"Get me some of the drug!" Nixon called. "Run in there, Loto--get it -quick! He'll be larger than I am in a few minutes, by the look of him!" - -"In my office," the dying Frane gasped faintly. "There were three -cylinders." - -Loto and several of the chemists ran in. It seemed an eternity of -waiting, with Nixon's mind picturing his enlarging adversary out there -in the other valley. But it was only a moment before Loto and the -chemists came back. The drug-cylinders were gone! Tork had made away -with them all! - -Nixon turned and ran for the pass. That damnable delay! He cursed -himself for having waited to try and get the drug! Tork by now might -already be too big to handle.... - -The broad valley beyond the pass lay shining in the moonlight. The -lines of trees and the little orange river were off to the left. For -a moment Nixon stood peering. Was Tork here? Evidently the Orites who -lived here had seen him. Their tiny cries sounded. Nixon could see -terrified groups of them running. - -Then the figure of Tork suddenly rose up from a rock-cluster on the -other side of the little river. He had been crouching behind a line -of trees. Now with a cry of triumph he straightened, bounded over the -river. He was about Nixon's size. He shouted, - -"Not a giant any more, are you? Well, this is the end of you, Earthman!" - -Tork was holding a dripping chunk of rock which he had seized from the -river bank. He flung it, but Nixon ducked. The rock went thudding out -across the valley. Then as Nixon held his ground, crouching, Tork's -body struck him. The impact knocked Nixon backward, so that he fell -with Tork on top of him. It startled him; he had not realized that -Tork's body would be so solid, far heavier now than Nixon's. - -Then they were rolling, locked together, jabbing, pummeling. In a rough -and tumble, Nixon had always been very handy. He was exceedingly agile, -and now the heavier Tork could not hold him. In a moment Nixon was up. -He found himself at the edge of the babbling little stream. He seized -a tree. It was thick, half as big as himself. Desperately he wrenched -it up. The knob of heavy roots made it like a maul, a bludgeon. Tork -was scrambling up. Nixon hit him with a swing of the tree root. He -staggered, went down, this time with Nixon on top of him. - -[Illustration: _He wrenched up a tree and swung it._] - -But now Nixon realized that Tork was a full head taller. As they -struggled, with Tork heaving up, trying to ward off Nixon's blows, -Nixon could feel his antagonist's body expanding. It was gruesome. -It shot a fear through Nixon. If he didn't kill Tork now in a moment -or two, he never would! And Tork knew it. He was fighting on the -defensive, just waiting until Nixon would be only a stripling in his -grip. - -Then they were rolling again on the ground. They were close beside the -stream, with the brittle underbrush crackling under their plunging -bodies. Several times Nixon had gotten a grip on Tork's throat, but -always the strength of Tork's big hands had broken it. Now Nixon was -desperately trying to roll Tork into the water. Evidently the Orite -didn't realize it. He lunged, and as Nixon twisted and heaved, Tork -went backward with his head and shoulders splashing. The stream was a -foot or two deep here, babbling over stones. Tork's head went down; the -water splashed over his face. And then again Nixon gripped him by the -throat. In Nixon was the grim thought that this was the way one gripped -'gators under water. His hands pressed down; his body was sprawled, -braced and taut to hold the lunging Tork. - -The orange water was lashed into turgid green foam. Tork was coughing, -choking. It was easier to hold his head down now. His hands tore at -Nixon's wrists but could not break the hold. Then Nixon could feel -the plucking hands and the lunges of Tork's huge body growing weaker. -Through an interval Nixon clung, and then he released his grip and -staggered panting to his feet. In the babbling stream the big body of -Tork lay motionless; a horrible, goggling, staring face blue with the -orange water lapping over it.... - - * * * * * - -An Orana year went by, a succession of brief days and nights while -Nixon worked and planned to help the Orites build their little world -into something safer, more comfortable than it had been before. Frane -had died. The Orite doctors and surgeons could not save him. The -growth-drug was gone. Tork had hidden the tiny cylinders somewhere, -but they had never been found, and no more of the drug could be made. -Certainly not now; Frane and Tork were the only ones who knew the -full details of the process. Nixon felt that was just as well. A thing -diabolic. Like atomic fission, in evil hands it could wreck its world. - -Now, with the year passed, it had been agreed that they were to take -the giant back to Earth. Loto and Nona set out with Nixon along with -a group of the Orite scientists and leaders and a few hundred of the -Gorts, most of whom had been on the trip before. - -It was the same little spaceship. Now the giant need not lie bound, -he could crouch carefully on one elbow, or shift a little if he was -wary of his movements. The trip seemed far quicker than before, with -Loto and Nona to talk to and all his tiny friends here in the humming -interior around him. Then through the bow-port the mellow, crescent -Earth swung into view, a great cloud-mottled disc. - -Then one Earth-night they were sliding down through the stratosphere, -skimming an ocean and over the land ... Florida. Nixon's heart pounded -as he gazed down at it. The Florida moon was brilliant in the sky as -the gleaming little cylinder slid silently into a patch of wire-grass -and rested on the ground. Only a marsh-hen was disturbed, rising with -its discordant cry and winging away. - -The cylinder opened and Nixon rose up and out of it. The top closed -again, and from a lower tiny doorway of the glistening ten-foot shape, -a few of the little Orite figures came out, gazed upward. His friends. - -"Goodbye, my giant," Nona called. They were all waving. - -What was there to say? - -"Goodbye," Nixon spoke softly. "I sure wish you well." - -They turned, went back inside. The port closed. The sleek, tiny ship -slid upward and away into the moonlight. It was a shining little streak -for a moment; then a glistening dot, small as a firefly. Then it was -gone. - -For a moment Nixon stood with a strange sense of loss upon him. But -here was Earth. Home. A light was burning in the cabin across the -sandspit. The bayou glistened in the moonlight. - -Silently Nixon turned and walked up the oyster-shell beach toward his -home. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MONSTERS COME *** - -***** This file should be named 63885-0.txt or 63885-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/8/8/63885/ - -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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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/63885-0.zip b/old/63885-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ba2f50a..0000000 --- a/old/63885-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63885-h.zip b/old/63885-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2aff365..0000000 --- a/old/63885-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63885-h/63885-h.htm b/old/63885-h/63885-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 7a5953d..0000000 --- a/old/63885-h/63885-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2480 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Little Monsters Come, by Ray Cummings. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<pre style='margin-bottom:6em;'>The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Monsters Come, by Ray Cummings - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: The Little Monsters Come - -Author: Ray Cummings - -Release Date: November 26, 2020 [EBook #63885] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MONSTERS COME *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE LITTLE MONSTERS COME</h1> - -<h2>By RAY CUMMINGS</h2> - -<p>Desperately seeking escape from their own<br /> -tortured chunk of hell, they needed a specimen<br /> -from this great and gracious world they planned<br /> -to steal. But swamp-roving, 'gator-fighting<br /> -Allen Nixon wasn't the type to be cut up alive!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Winter 1948.<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>There was absolutely nothing wrong or weird about the Florida -Everglades at night. At least, not to Allen Nixon. He sat alone in the -stern of a flat-bottomed rowboat paddling calmly, albeit soundlessly, -with one small oar. The moon was down and the tall old pines were so -many black rips and tears in the star-studded gown of the sky. The -stars themselves dropped their fiery pin-points in the glassy surface -of the winding bayou. The tangled banks, where sometimes the cypress -branches dipped heavy and sodden into the water, were shadowed blurs so -that the bayou was a twisted ribbon between them.</p> - -<p>Nothing strange. Nothing unusual. Certainly not to Allen Nixon. -Twenty-four years ago he had been born here, only a score or so miles -north at the fringes of the great swamp, where a little Seminole -village stood beside a bayou just like this. There his white father had -loved and married his Indian mother; there he had lived and gone to -the Mission School and then, in his 'teens, to the High School up in -Jacksonville. Now he and his younger brother Ralph, with their parents -dead, were running a small farm their father had left them. It was back -at the mouth of the bayou, where the Gulf lapped in the starlight on -the sandspits, and the tangled wire-grass was alive at night with the -croaking of the marsh-hens. Ralph had not wanted to come out tonight. -He was tired, perhaps lazy. He said he would have the four 'gators -skinned by the time Allen got back at midnight; and he'd help with -whatever others Allen brought in. Perhaps he would, but more likely he -wouldn't.</p> - -<p>So Allen Nixon, with the moon down, was paddling up into the silent -twistings of the bayou alone. He was a tall, lean fellow, lanky like -his father, with muscles hardened by a lifetime of the work of the -backwoods. He was bareheaded; his sleek, straight, dead-black hair -glistened in the starlight. His grey flannel shirt was open at a -muscular throat. He sat erect, with his legs, clad in dark trousers and -worn leather puttees, stretched out to the shotgun, knife and hatchet -that lay in the bottom of the rowboat. The faint night-breeze fanned -his rugged face, bronzed by the hot Florida sun and swarthy with the -Seminole heritage.</p> - -<p>Now he was rounding a sharp curve in the bayou, and the breeze was -more squarely in his face than ever. That was good. No scent of him -could blow forward to reach any 'gator that might have surfaced on -the starlit stretch ahead. Two was all he hoped for tonight, and -then he would head back. Quietly he shipped his oar and adjusted a -small electric torch on a band around his forehead. Then with its -pencil-point of light sweeping the bayou ahead of him, again he started -paddling. Even more silently, this time, so that there was no drip from -the blade as he skillfully raised it, no least murmur of splash as he -brought it forward and dipped it again. An alligator, lying quiet with -only a tip of nose and eyes at the surface, is more alert, more ready -to scurry away than a mouse.</p> - -<p>There was in Nixon's mind nothing but intentness to see the two little -pin-points of fire in the bayou surface, two among the many that were -reflected stars, yet he would see the difference, the spacing, a little -greener, more glowing fire which would mark them as the eyes of a -drowsing 'gator. He was thinking only that he would get two as soon as -he could and get back to Ralph. That would make ten altogether this -moon—ten salted skins, enough to be worth a trip to the market in -Pensacola.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>What he did not know was that in the shadows of the bayou bank up ahead -strange little shapes were cautiously moving. Living things that did -not belong here; that had never been here before.</p> - -<p>The night sounds of the lush woods were blended into a voice which -Nixon had heard all his life, so that now he was never aware that he -was hearing it. A 'gator would hear it too—the slither of a rattler; -the flip of a fish or a water moccasin; a marsh-hen croaking; or an -owl's hoot—and the steady blend of the voices of a million million -insects. And that was all that could be heard, for the strange dark -little shapes, along the bank at the next bend, moved very cautiously, -quite soundlessly—little things moving upright. They were only a few -inches tall. Once they stood in a group as though communicating. One of -them carried a tiny light, but its glow was less than a firefly's.</p> - -<p>Now Nixon saw, out in the center of this stretch of the bayou, the two -green dots that were a 'gator's eyes, and his face relaxed a little -with the flicker of a smile of satisfaction. His light swept the water, -reached the eyes and clung, so that the stupid 'gator just lay there -and stared, with the light dazzling him. His brain, not much bigger -than a pea buried in the pulpy mass within his big flat head, held no -thought of danger.</p> - -<p>The twin reptile-eyes were perhaps fifty yards away when Nixon first -saw them. Now he paddled more slowly, with the rowboat gliding forward -soundless as a floating leaf. The grip of his right hand down by the -blade of the oar-paddle tightened.</p> - -<p>The twin eyes there among the stars on the shining water, held -motionless. Presently they were only fifteen or twenty feet away, just -to the right now of the uptilted empty bow of the little rowboat. Nixon -stopped paddling. Slowly he rested the oar in the bottom of the boat -and picked up his shotgun.</p> - -<p>At about eight feet, Nixon fired both barrels almost together with a -great crashing roar. A hundred yards ahead of him, where the bayou made -its bend, there was consternation and terror among the tiny upright -shapes gathered there on the soggy bank—a terror that made them scurry -with tiny cries; and then, when seemingly they were not hurt by the -burst of light and the vast roar, made them stand peering in wonderment -at this gigantic drama out there on the water.</p> - -<p>Nixon knew nothing of that. He was intent only on the splash where -his shot had gone; and he saw that this 'gator did not sink, but was -lunging away, off to the right, toward the bank. A big one, he had -seen that by the spacing of the eyes and now by the water slick and -the splashing as it floundered toward shore. Then he was after it, -paddling with all the power of his arms as he bent forward, until in -the shallows near the bank, where the mortally wounded reptile was now -aimlessly floundering, he came almost on top of it.</p> - -<p>In an instant more he was over the rowboat's side, waist deep in the -water. There was a thrill to this, the lunging of his hands to grip -the writhing, slimy, brainless adversary by the foreleg, threshing -ashore with it as skillfully he avoided the snapping jaws, and -dangerous swishing tail. An eight foot 'gator. Good enough. Its head -was an oozing mass of pulp where his shot had blown into it. Panting, -he hauled it onto the soggy bank, darted back to the rowboat for his -hatchet; then he had hacked into the base of the reptile's spine where -the tail began, cutting into it so that the threshing stopped and the -big green-black adversary lay only quivering.</p> - -<p>Ralph would be pleased. Now if he could get another one as big as this, -and then row back home—</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nixon's thoughts suddenly went blank so that he stood over the dead -'gator with his jaw sagging in amazement. He had jerked off his -headband with the light-torch when he jumped overboard from the -rowboat, but there was enough starlight here for him to see the tiny -upright thing. It was in a silvery patch beside a line of brush back -from the water. A thing in the shape of a man. Hardly that; but it was -upright, oblong with a head and a width of tiny shoulder. It stood -divided at the bottom like two legs and there were two arms. A thing -only a few inches high. The starlight showed it to be brown-black. Then -suddenly Nixon's gasp of astonishment made him suck in his breath as he -blankly stared. The tiny thing seemed to be wearing clothes....</p> - -<p>To Nixon in those seconds, there was a blur of his mind when he -wasn't thinking, just staring as though this were something not to -be explained, something which didn't have to be explained because it -wasn't real, just a conjuring of his own imagination, a trick of his -vision. His hand went with a puzzled gesture to brush his eyes. He -blinked. One tiny, six-inch man-shape?</p> - -<p>Abruptly he saw that the brush here seemed alive with them. They were -moving now. They emitted tiny squeaks that could have been words; -shouted commands to each other. But up here in the starlight of Nixon's -six foot height, the sounds were like the voices of excited insects.</p> - -<p>Adversaries? There was no such idea in Nixon's mind, those first blank -seconds. Then suddenly, with a tiny hissing flash, a thread of violet -light stabbed up at him. It struck one of his dangling hands with a hot -little flash of tingle like the shock of a weak electric current. Then -he saw where it came from—an edge of a patch of wire-grass. Three of -the brown-black figures were dragging a tiny wheeled thing. A weapon. -It was hardly bigger than Nixon's hand. Its nozzle slanted upward and -spat another tiny violet flash. Then at his feet he felt something hit -against the bottom of his leather puttee. One of the shapes was trying -to climb up his leg. He could feel the weight of it on his shoe. A -surprising weight, as though the six-inch thing were made of lead.</p> - -<p>Nixon was stooping to reach down when a tiny projectile hit him in the -face. It stung, with a scratching little stab of pain. Then others -came. It was like a handful of peas being thrown at him. All in a -few seconds while Nixon had stood blankly staring with incredulous -amazement, what seemed hundreds of the tiny shapes were around him. -Attacking him. With anything normal, Nixon could think quickly. A -'gator's jaws closing on his arm, simple enough to know what to do. But -now suddenly his emotion at this weird attack was only one of puzzled -anger. He stooped swiftly, seized the tiny figure that was at his -ankle. It screamed as his hand closed over it, a thin, high-pitched -squeaking cry. But it was blood-curdling—so nearly human in its -frenzied, agonized sound. As he raised it up, still it was screaming. -A heavy little thing, heavy as though it were of metal. And it was -solid, so solid that his squeezing fingers could have held a leaden -figure.</p> - -<p>For an instant Nixon held the screaming little thing up and stared at -it; and the starlight showed him the contorted features of its tiny -bluish face, its flailing arms. Then he flung it out over the bayou. -There was a little splash. The screaming stopped as the figure sank -like a stone. Now abruptly, the dazed incredulous astonishment of Nixon -dropped from him, and a stab of fear came; fear and a surge of anger -as he realized that this attack was reality. He staggered back from -the rain of tiny missiles pelting him, and another flash of the tiny -wheeled gun. The ground here was black now with the lunging, milling -little shapes. His first backward step trod on two or three of them, -mashed their solid, heavy little bodies into the soggy ground of the -bayou bank.</p> - -<p>As he staggered, there must have been a tree root that caught his heel. -At the same instant, a pellet struck his eye; and as his arm flung -up and he stumbled over the root, suddenly he fell backward to the -soggy sand. It was enough for the alert little figures. Their cry of -triumph sounded as they pounced upon him, swarming over him. A hundred? -It could have been more. Scores of scrambling things. Perhaps, small -though they were, each of them weighed a pound. A hundred pounds of -treading steps and jabbing arms were in an instant upon the fallen -Nixon. He felt himself really frightened now, a fear that he had never -felt before, no matter what the antagonist, fear engendered by the -strangeness of it, the unknown.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nixon tried to get up, but the sheer weight of the swarming little -adversaries seemed pinning him down. Now they were on his throat, on -his face. Tiny things jabbed at his eyes, so that his hands flailed -in a frenzy, plucking them away. But then there were others. He found -himself rolling, mashing them. But he couldn't mash them, he could only -shove them into the ground....</p> - -<p>Damned persistent, wildly reckless little things. A sweep of his arm -knock a dozen of them away. Some screamed. But always there were -more.... Why didn't he get to his feet? Get up now! Knock them off! Get -up! He found himself partly up, with the scrambling shapes cascading -off him; but he was dizzy, his vision blurred. Another stab of the -tiny weapon came. It struck him on the forehead, a hot stinging, -tingling flash. For an instant it clung, with a wave of dizziness from -it flooding Nixon so that he fell back, kicking, writhing.... They -were tramping over his face now. Then he realized that one of them was -pounding with something heavy at his temple, a rhythmic pounding.... -<i>Thump</i>.... <i>Thump</i>.... He tried to strike at it.... But now he knew -that he couldn't focus.... The pounding stopped. Of course. He had -knocked the damned thing off.... <i>Thump</i>.... <i>Thump</i>.... Another had -started it again, every little blow making Nixon's head shudder, -his senses reel and fade, so that now a dull blurred blackness was -coming.... Those cursed, tiny little blows at his temple.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, strange in Nixon's thoughts there was the vision of himself, -a monstrous fallen, wounded giant. Bewildered, dazed, helpless, with a -man standing on the great expanse of his face; a man who was pounding -with a crowbar against the softness of the giant's temple.... You could -fight a 'gator. Sure. You could fight a man your own size. Or several -of them maybe, with your fingers itching to get at their throats and -strangle them.... But there were these jabbing, swarming things by the -hundreds....</p> - -<p>There was in Nixon's fading mind at last only the damnable realization -of those tiny rhythmic blows at his temple, each just that small -concussion of his brain, another and another until his senses fully -faded and he was swept off into the dark, empty, soundless abyss of -unconsciousness....</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>It was like the roaring of a waterfall. You could lie near it on the -grassy sward and maybe there would be a little last fading sunlight of -the day to warm you. And your belly could be empty with a gnawing pain, -but that was all right because there was the smell of food cooking and -soon you would have it full. A warrior returned from the hunt, had his -women to cook for him....</p> - -<p>The phantasmagoria of Nixon's returning consciousness as he listened to -the roaring of the falling water seemed made up of queer things out of -his Indian heritage. But another part of his brain told him that was -absurd—told him that he was lying on something hard, with the feel -of sweat bathing his skin, and pain that slowly was becoming apparent -stabbing at him from scores of tiny wounds on his hands, his face, his -neck.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly Nixon knew that he had opened his eyes. He lay staring, -puzzled, with a blurred scene resolving into outlines that he could -distinguish, but not understand. He was lying on his back, gazing -upward at what seemed a vaulted, shining metal ceiling close over his -head. It was sharply curved, two or three feet above him, as though -now he were lying in a shining, glowing vault. With returning strength -he tried to sit up, but could not. And then he realized that he was -shackled. He could see what looked like finely woven, white metallic -ropes. They wrapped his arms and legs together.</p> - -<p>The waterfall was partly the roaring of weakness in his head; but -that seemed subsiding now and there was only a faintly throbbing hum -somewhere near him. A hum like a dynamo, or at least some sort of -mechanism. Turning his head, he saw that on one side of him the concave -metal wall had a row of small bullseye windows. They were spaced about -a foot apart, each the size of his fist. And in each of them there was -the vision of a black abyss of sky, with white blazing stars.</p> - -<p>Again he tried to sit up. He could bend a little at the waist, and he -was able to get one elbow under him and his head up so that it was -nearly to the ribbed ceiling. At once, from the other side of him, away -from the bullseye windows, there was a faint, hurried scurrying of -little footsteps.</p> - -<p>A voice said, "Careful, giant!"</p> - -<p>And another voice said, "Will he hear us, Tork?" It was a softer voice. -Less harsh. English! But queerly slurred, carefully spoken. And the -voices were tiny, strangely thin, of a pitch totally different from -anything Nixon ever had heard.</p> - -<p>"Tork, will he hear us? He is recovered now. Will he hear us? Oh, Tork, -what will he try to do?" The English words drifted off into a language -totally strange, unintelligible.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nixon saw the two little figures. One was taller, wider than the -other; the big one six inches, the other at least an inch less. They -were standing on the white metal of the floor, down by his thigh. -And now he realized that he was stretched out in the small interior -of a metal cylinder, lying on a floor that crossed the middle of it, -so that he was stretched the length of its top half. It was about a -ten-foot length, and six feet wide. It left a space beside him. Little -metal railings a few inches high ran along the floor, dividing it -into tiny enclosures. A mechanism room; another where supplies seemed -to be stored; another which had what seemed furniture in it. All in -miniature. All peopled with tiny figures that had stopped their tasks, -and were staring at him now in awe and fear.</p> - -<p>"Speak, giant! Can you hear us?"</p> - -<p>"I hear you," Nixon said. His voice rumbled, reverberating in the close -confines of the curved metal walls. The sound startled the little -figures down there at the floor. They peered up, tense, apprehensive. -Two or three scurried away; and now Nixon saw that there were several -holes along the floor where tiny ladder stairs led downward to some -space beneath. Several of the frightened little figures started down -the ladders and then stopped, peering up again.</p> - -<p>"We can kill you," the figure called Tork said. He was still standing -fairly close beside the great curve of Nixon's prone body, with the -smaller figure beside him. Both of them were wary. Nixon could see it. -They stood ready to dart away, not knowing what this trapped, bound -monster might be able to do. "You do not wish that we should kill you?"</p> - -<p>"No," Nixon said. "I sure don't." He said it wryly. He tried to smile. -Kill him? These little creatures? Incredible, him lying here in this -vaulted, tomb-like interior, with tiny things that could talk; things -who had scientific weapons and intelligence to handle them.</p> - -<p>"You did try to kill me," Nixon added abruptly. "I remember it now. -You—what shall I call you—Tork?"</p> - -<p>"Tork, yes," the taller figure said. "And this with me here is Nona. We -did not want to kill you—"</p> - -<p>"Oh, you didn't?" Nixon's temper always sprang readily. He could feel -his hands suddenly tingle. It was absurd that this tiny creature should -speak so calmly of killing him. Why if he had his hands loose, he could -seize the damned little thing, squeeze it until it screamed....</p> - -<p>Unconsciously Nixon was straining at the metal ropes, with the muscles -under his bronzed skin taut as he held his breath, pulling and -straining. The metal posts bent inward a little with the pull; but the -ropes held.... It was a moment of horrible tenseness for his captors. -He could see it as he slowly strained, exerting all his strength until -the sweat poured out on his forehead and he was panting. A tense -horrible moment, while Tork and Nona stood with their tiny bluish -faces turned upward, with glowing little eyes staring. Then Tork's -face wrinkled into a grotesque smile as he saw Nixon's body relax. The -crucial test had come and passed. They could hold this giant.</p> - -<p>Tork said quietly, "There is a blood-tube in your throat. I could climb -up there and plunge what you call a sword into it."</p> - -<p>Nixon had heard of the jugular vein, of course. A sword, as Tork would -wield it, would be only a needle. But, even so, it could have been -stabbed into his jugular while he was unconscious and he might have -bled to death. Or it could be stabbed into his eyes, blinding him....</p> - -<p>"All right," Nixon said. "It's hard to realize—I reckon I'm -beginning to understand now—"</p> - -<p>"That we have an intelligence like your own," Tork finished. "What are -you called? You have a name? Is it not so that all Earth people are -named?"</p> - -<p>"Nixon," he said. "Allen Nixon. Look here—what the devil is all -this? Who are you? You've got me here in some sort of thing—"</p> - -<p>"Our Spaceship," Tork said. "We came to Earth to get you."</p> - -<p>"Get me? Came to Earth?"</p> - -<p>But of course! These little creatures, so grotesquely in a sort of -human mould, couldn't belong on Earth. Nixon stared out again through -the tiny bullseyes beside him at the starry abyss of the heavens. -A spaceship, and he and his captors were no longer on Earth now, -but hurtling out somewhere among the stars. Allen Nixon, Floridian -backwoodsman, was far from a scientist. But he had read a great deal. -Atomic bombs. Rockets to the Moon. That sort of thing was no longer a -fantasy. Fantasy or not, he had to accept it now.</p> - -<p>"You came to Earth—to get me?" he repeated.</p> - -<p>"Well, not exactly you," Tork said. "We came for one of you Earth -giants. We landed—a place where there would not be many of you. And -then you came...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Strange facts, which now Nixon's tiny captors were telling him. They -had come from a small world, in that belt of asteroids which lies -beyond Mars. A world which in their language was called something -that sounded like Orana. And they called themselves Orites—a little -civilization of them huddled on a bleak, rocky world.</p> - -<p>This Tork—his counterpart, in our human civilization, would be a -man. And the smaller figure here with him, a woman. Two sexes. But -among the Orites, they were in the minority, for most of the young -born to them, were neuter. And these they called Gorts. Like a slave -class, who grew to maturity trained for work, for servitude. Creatures -of a much lower intelligence, each trained from the beginning to some -simple, standardized task.</p> - -<p>Nixon, as he listened, could identify the Gorts, here among the groups -of tiny figures within the miniature railed enclosures on the spaceship -floor. A hundred or more of them had come up from underneath now, -reassured that the giant was helpless. There was one area down beyond -Nixon's feet where a group of some thirty of them were bending over a -long trough that was high as their knees. They seemed to be eating. -They were about Tork's six-inch size, these Gorts. But broader, more -squarely solid-looking. Their heads were round, shining like polished -leaden balls, with grey-blue faces, square-cut in a grotesque human -mould. Their garments, some grey, others of a brownish-black, seemed -stiff and jointed like a coat of mail.</p> - -<p>"Well, you've got me," Nixon said. "You're taking me now to your world?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, that is it," Tork agreed.</p> - -<p>"Why? What for? And you talk English—how is that?"</p> - -<p>It was only what to them could be called a few years ago, that the -Orites had been able to build a spaceship. An expedition had come to -Earth. It was a spaceship built for their own size—a cylindrical -ship perhaps the size of Nixon's arm. A group of them, including this -Tork, had come, landed and stayed for a time. So small, coming during -Earth's night, remaining hidden, then moving to other places again -during night, it had been easy for them to avoid discovery by the Earth -giants.</p> - -<p>"We found that your world, it is very beautiful," Tork was saying. -"Much better than our own—that you shall see. And perhaps our -mind is different from yours. You do not learn strange language by -listening, and remembering?"</p> - -<p>"Well, yes, but not exactly that." Nixon said. "Children do, I suppose. -So you're taking me back to your world? You say you didn't want to kill -me. Why should you? What do you want of me?"</p> - -<p>He saw Tork turn and gaze at the smaller woman-creature beside him, as -though Tork wasn't sure how he should answer that question. They were -standing now so that as Nixon had relaxed, prone, with his face turned -sidewise, they were only a foot or so away. He could see them more -clearly than before. Their garments were of some flexible, metallic -fabric—a sort of square-cut tunic and trousers on Tork; and on Nona -more of a drape, belted tight at the waist.</p> - -<p>Tork's head was round and shining, like a Gort; hers had a little -growth of white and gleaming hair on it. And Nixon could see other -differences now. The female was curved, broad at the hips, but every -tiny line of the male figure was stiffly angular. It gave Tork, and the -Gorts even more so, a mechanical look—the planes of the face were -all tiny rectangles, as though hewn on metal....</p> - -<p>"We need you," Tork said at last. "Our scientists need one of the -Earth-giants."</p> - -<p>"Need me? What for?" Nixon demanded.</p> - -<p>"That you shall see," Tork said. He added evasively, "There is so much -about your world that you can tell us."</p> - -<p>"There will be no harm come to you," Nona said suddenly. "My father, he -is leader of the Orites in all things of science. It was he who built -our first spaceship."</p> - -<p>"I am assistant to him," Tork put in.</p> - -<p>"And then they built this giant ship, to bring a giant to our -world," Nona added, "and my father, he is working now on something -else—something that will be so good for all us Orites—"</p> - -<p>"That we can explain later, not now," Tork said hastily.</p> - -<p>Whatever it was, Nixon couldn't make them say any more about it. -The trip now stretched on while around him, down on the floor, -the miniature interior was busy with the routine of the voyage. -Beneath him, he understood now, were the mechanism rooms, the air -renewers, pressure equalizers, temperature controls, and the gravity -engines—whatever they were. Perhaps, if he had been an Earth -scientist, Tork would have tried to find the English words to explain -them. But Tork did not, and Allen Nixon wasn't curious. To him it was -enough that this strange thing was a fact.</p> - -<p>His mind was busy with thoughts of how to escape from these weird -little captors. Certainly he had no desire to be taken to this strange -world. Tork's queer glance at Nona had seemed somehow to have a -gruesome implication. If only he could get Tork within his fingers—</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>After a time Nixon slept. He was hungry and thirsty when he awoke. -Down on the floor the Gorts were busy with their routine tasks. They -were getting used to the monstrous prisoner now. None seemed to notice -that he had opened his eyes. Then he saw Tork, in the little enclosure -beyond Nixon's feet, where the cylindrical interior narrowed. It seemed -to be the bow of the spaceship. A bullseye port was there, with a vista -of the stars. There was a foot-high bank like an instrument panel, with -rows of tiny dials hardly bigger than his smallest fingernail. They -glowed with faint streams of lights. He saw Tork there, among the tiny -controls.</p> - -<p>"Tork!" he called.</p> - -<p>Presently Tork came running along the floor and stood by Nixon's face.</p> - -<p>"You awaken?" Tork said. "You giants sleep a very long time. We know -that, of course. And you have slept even longer."</p> - -<p>Nixon could well believe it. He was rested now. Far more clear-headed -and alert, he realized, than he had been before, and the many tiny -wounds on him didn't hurt so much now.</p> - -<p>"I'm hungry and thirsty," he said. "I suppose you know that giants eat, -don't you?"</p> - -<p>Tork's weird slit of mouth widened and his bluish face knotted into a -grotesque smile. "We had planned for that before we caught you," he -said. "Water—your earth-water we have in tanks here. We have studied -your food. In Orana our chemists studied it, and we have concentrated -it for you. And perhaps some of our own things you will like."</p> - -<p>Feeding this bound giant was quite a problem. The Gorts struggled now -with a great ladder, resting it against Nixon's shoulder, carrying -pails of water up to his chest, pouring them into his mouth, each -not much more than a thimbleful. Then a long line of them came, each -with a chunk of food, a mouthful for Nixon. But it was gratifying, if -queer-tasting, and at last he had had enough.</p> - -<p>The days slowly passed, while the tiny ship plunged on through the -abyss of space. Days? There was here nothing but the same humming, -glowing interior, and outside through the tiny bullseyes, the vast -unchanging panorama of the stars. Nixon slept when he could; and when -he was thirsty or hungry, he called for Tork to order the Gorts to -their task. A hundred of them, whose only work was to feed him.</p> - -<p>Nixon realized now that these little people slept very often. Watching -them, it seemed that every two or three hours they needed sleep. A -lifespan, probably much shorter than ours. Ten years from birth to old -age, perhaps. This trip to Orana, as Tork once explained, to them was a -very long, tedious voyage. To Nixon it would be while he slept perhaps -twenty or twenty-five times.</p> - -<p>"If you would let one of my hands loose," Nixon told Tork once, "you -wouldn't have to carry the food and water up to me. Have the Gorts put -it beside me, down there on the floor and that's enough."</p> - -<p>He did his best to persuade Tork. After all, what could he do to -escape, even if they turned him loose? A lunge, even an incautious -movement, could wreck this little ship. Kill them all, but it would -kill him too.</p> - -<p>"You don't reckon I'm that foolish," Nixon said.</p> - -<p>"No, I do not," Tork agreed.</p> - -<p>"Then turn me loose. It's silly to keep me shackled like this. Causes -you a lot of trouble."</p> - -<p>But Tork only grinned his grotesque grin and shook his head.</p> - -<p>"Why not?" Nixon argued. "What can I do?"</p> - -<p>"You could reach and seize me," Tork said grimly. "You could hold me -with your fingers. And to save my life, would I not order the Gorts to -turn us back to Earth? That you could do. Have you not thought of it?"</p> - -<p>Nixon had indeed. Something like that was what he had been planning. -These tiny captors weren't so dumb.</p> - -<p>But as the time passed and they told him that now the orbit of Mars was -crossed and presently their world of Orana would lie ahead of them, -Nixon had in some measure won the confidence of Nona. Sometimes when he -called to her she would come and climb the long ladder at his shoulders -and sit on his chest and talk to him. At first she was timid, but then -as her confidence grew she got over it. Under her questions Nixon -passed the long hours telling her about Earth.</p> - -<p>"But you saw a good deal of it yourself, Nona. You made two trips -there."</p> - -<p>"Yes," she agreed. "But it is a world so gigantic, it did not look -anything of the way you tell it to me."</p> - -<p>"And I guess your world will look pretty different to me," he said, -"from the way it does to you."</p> - -<p>But she was queerly reticent about her world. He decided that Tork had -warned her not to talk about it.</p> - -<p>At another time it occurred to Nixon to ask how they had gotten his -huge body into their ship. She described how it had been dragged in -with cables. A dozen little electronic engines, and the pulling of -about five hundred Gorts who were here on board. But to get him out -they had planned it differently. Even though shackled, he could perhaps -hitch himself along, just a little at a time, out through the bow of -the ship which was built so that the whole of it would spread apart.</p> - -<p>"Of course I can," Nixon agreed. "I certainly don't want to make it -hard, Nona. If you people got so you could trust me—"</p> - -<p>"I think my father will trust you," she said suddenly. "Yes, that I -think."</p> - -<p>Then there came the time when Nona gestured toward the front port of -the ship, down past Nixon's feet. "There is Orana," she said.</p> - -<p>He saw it then, a great silvery crescent which had swung into view. -During the hours it enlarged, until presently it was filling all that -area of the sky. And a little later, Nona came climbing up the ladder -to his chest.</p> - -<p>"When you have slept the next time," she said, "we shall be there."</p> - -<p>She seemed frightened. He could interpret more readily the expressions -on her tiny, bluish face now.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>She said, "Tork has seen with the telescope that a storm may be there -when we land."</p> - -<p>"A storm on your world? Oh, I see. Well, we have storms. Wind and rain. -And I told you about a snowstorm—"</p> - -<p>But she burst out: "A storm on Orana—Oh, giant, if only you could -help us! That is what my father thinks—that you will be able to help -us live on our world!"</p> - -<p>A storm on Orana ... somehow it made him shudder, hearing the terror in -her tiny voice.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>He slept again. And when he awoke the little interior of the Orite -spaceship was busy with the activities of landing. Through one of -the bullseye ports beside him, Nixon stared down at the strange new -world. Beneath them now it was a great, darkly dim expanse of gaunt -naked mountains. A place, by the look of it, seemingly of monstrous -desolation.</p> - -<p>The spaceship settled lower. Now Nixon could see the huge, naked -mountain peaks. They were like greenish polished spires of glass, -towering up into a queer orange-tinted haze of the Orana night. Beneath -the topping spires, the vast gaunt mountains spread out in serrated -ranks. The sides of them were polished cliff-ramps, bleak, precipitous -slopes dropping down into the great chasms of the valleys where the -orange haze was thicker so that the bottoms were an empty blur.</p> - -<p>He found Nona standing down on the floor, between him and the bullseye -port.</p> - -<p>"There—Orana," she said.</p> - -<p>He was puzzled. "But Tork told me it was a very small asteroid," he -said. "Those mountains, those canyons—so huge—"</p> - -<p>A little world, but so monstrously contorted by some great cataclysm -of nature in its birth, that everything on it was tremendous. As -Nixon stared down, it seemed that there could be easily ten miles, as -distance would be measured on Earth, between the tops of these towering -spires and the ragged gashes of deeps between them. A vast world, vast -with the hugeness of this amazing panorama of utter, bleak desolation. -Somehow there was a majesty to it. A brooding landscape, awesome in -its sweep of barren immensity. And it was sinister—the monstrous, -brittle-looking cliff-faces, smooth and green, with the orange hazes -whirling about them, and the shadows in the depths murky with purple -mystery.</p> - -<p>"It looks large to you?" Nolan said. "Then you can understand how much -bigger it looks to us."</p> - -<p>He could try to see it from their viewpoint. To them he was a -seventy-foot giant—and so to them these immense slashed metal -mountains must seem titanic. A harsh world, with nature cruel and -relentless, so that on it these tiny creatures had struggled, were -struggling, for a bare existence....</p> - -<p>Now the little Spaceship had settled lower so that the swirling orange -haze was like a veil around it. A thousand feet away, outside this -port, Nixon could see a dim blur of smooth almost vertical cliff-face -sliding upward as they sank.</p> - -<p>"Nona, come." It was Tork, here on the floor with Nona. A line of Gorts -went past, dragging a wheeled apparatus. Nixon recognized it as the -little electronic gun which had spat its flash at him, back there on -the bank of the Florida bayou.</p> - -<p>Tork called a command to the Gorts, and then he herded Nona away and -stood looking up into Nixon's down-turned face. "You, giant," he said. -"You will take orders from me now? You will do what I tell you?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe," Nixon said slowly. He had come to dislike Tork's small -arrogance. "Are you going to turn me loose?"</p> - -<p>"That is impossible," Tork said shortly. "I want you to know, if you -are helpful it will be for your good. Can you understand that?"</p> - -<p>"You've said it enough so I reckon I should," Nixon retorted.</p> - -<p>"When we land, I will direct you," Tork said. "The home—the place -where we will keep you—to your size it will be quite close. I will -direct you to it."</p> - -<p>Then the turmoil of the landing drew Tork away. With the orange -mists almost solid outside the little port, presently Nixon felt the -spaceship rock and bump, and then settle quiescent. The interior was -a babble of the excited, tiny voices of the Orites, and the throbbing -grind of mechanisms as the ports were opened. The outer air came in -with a swirling rush, heavy wisps of tinted vapour, spreading like a -visible gas. Nixon's first breath of it was choking. It had a heavy, -chemical smell. He coughed, but after a moment he found that, though it -was dankly oppressive, making his lungs tingle and burn and his head -feel unsteady, he could breathe it.</p> - -<p>For a moment, Nona was here again. "The storm air," she said.</p> - -<p>"The storm is coming?" he said. "Or is this the storm, outside there -now?"</p> - -<p>"No, no, but it is coming."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The grind of the interior mechanisms had ceased, but then they began -again. Nixon saw now that the vaulted ceiling of the little Spaceship -was slowly being raised. It seemed hinged at about his waist and from -the bow beyond his feet it was rising up. And then there past his -feet, the bow-section spread apart. The orange mist, danker than ever, -swirled in around him. Beside him, lines of Gorts were hurriedly -carrying things out of the ship. Presently all the tiny figures had -disembarked. Nixon was lying in the narrow, vaulted little cylinder -with its top end down by his feet fully opened. Over him, from the -waist down, there was the tossed, storm-filled murk of the new world—a -blur with only a distant monstrous crag dimly visible. Silence was -around him here, but outside there was the weird muttering voice of the -oncoming storm.</p> - -<p>For that moment a panic struck at Nixon. He was wrapped with metal -ropes from head to foot, and still chained to the little lines of metal -posts beside him. It was as though he were lying bound, here in a -partly opened coffin. Had the Orites abandoned him, scurrying away in -their terror of the storm?</p> - -<p>"Ready," shouted Tork. And as Nixon shifted his head, he saw his captor -standing at the foot of one of the posts that came up past Nixon's ear. -Tork was loosening the cable, casting it off. Then he was at each of -the others. Presently Nixon's bound body was free from its lashings.</p> - -<p>"Careful now, giant!" Tork said. He cast off the last cable, down by -Nixon's feet; and then he darted back, turned and ran hurriedly out of -the opened bow. His shouted voice came in.</p> - -<p>"Come out now," Tork called. "Be careful!"</p> - -<p>Nixon could bend at the waist a little, and bend at the knees. His arms -could move to get an elbow under him when he turned sidewise. Grimly -it occurred to him that he could roll over perhaps, or lunge and wreck -this cursed little cylinder.</p> - -<p>"Come now!" Tork called sharply. "And surely we will kill you if there -is trouble."</p> - -<p>Feet first, slowly, laboriously, Nixon inched his way along and out of -the spread bow of the spaceship.</p> - -<p>The world of Orana. A curious bristling sward was under him. Around -him, the acrid orange air swirled and sucked. At first he could see -nothing but an orange blur. Then off to one side, on a dim slope some -twenty feet away, he saw that a terraced pyramid was standing—a -pyramid with its top third sliced off. The Orite city. A community -dwelling. It was one of three here. Dimly Nixon could make out the -outlines of the other two, further away up the slope. They were all -three about of a size—some fifty feet square at the base and twenty -feet high up their terraced sides to the flat roof. Tiny lights gleamed -like window eyes along the terraces at different levels about a foot -apart; and now Nixon could see the little Orite figures moving there on -the ramparts, with their thin voices babbling, excited by the return of -the Spaceship with its giant from Earth.</p> - -<p>"Keep going," Tork was calling. He was off to one side, down by Nixon's -feet. A crowd of Gorts stood further back, watching. And from the -nearest pyramid, other Orites were coming. Some, the young, were only -an inch or so high. Groups of them clustered timidly around a mother. A -stiff formation of what seemed the slave Gorts was standing in a double -line. Several hundred of them. The little wheeled guns were with them. -The guns pointed at Nixon. Alert Gort commanders stood ready to attack -the giant if it became necessary.</p> - -<p>"Keep going," Tork called again.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He stood cautiously to one side, ten feet from Nixon's lashed ankles. -He moved along to keep there, as Nixon moved. Nixon had shifted three -or four lengths of his body from the spaceship now. Suddenly, as for a -moment he relaxed, panting from the effort, he found Nona walking here -on the ground near his face. Of them all, she was the least afraid of -him. She was so close now that a flip of his head could have knocked -her down.</p> - -<p>"Hurry," she urged. "There is a place for you—"</p> - -<p>"How far away? What sort of place?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"It is, what you call a—" She suddenly checked herself. "Oh giant, you -hear that? The storm—coming now!"</p> - -<p>He heard it. The distant, rumbling storm voice had abruptly -intensified—a rumble that now was separated into a fusillade of -crackling explosions. The orange air was swirling crazily, swirling and -crackling.</p> - -<p>Then in the full intensity of its fury, the Orana storm burst upon -them.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>The orange rain came down in a pelting deluge, with a steady blast of -the wind. Under the impact of it Nixon stopped his hitching movement -along the ground and lay motionless. Overhead the clouds were turning -green. Great masses of smoking, turgid vapour swung majestically like -the slow-motion image of a cyclone.</p> - -<p>In the orange-green murk Nixon could see the crowds of little figures -running frantically for the shelter of the pyramid-cities. The nearer -pyramid was dimly visible through the blur. Tiny lights were glowing -there now, seemingly all over it. Not the lights of the windows. He -could still see the little spaced rows of them at the foot-high levels. -This was a purple glow—a sheen of light-fire. It seemed something to -protect the city from the storm. Up at the flat-top roof, fifty feet -above the ground, the purple light-fire stood up in little crossed -beams.</p> - -<p>The heavy orange rain increased. They were queerly solid raindrops. -They stung Nixon's face like hail so that he tried to shield himself -by twisting around. The cries of the running Orites were faint little -screams in the roar. He saw a sucking whirl of wind knock a group -of them down. Then they rose, struggled on, trying to get to the -sheltering doorways of the city. The raindrops were like hail, of -different sizes. He saw an Orite struck by one that to the little -six-inch figure was monstrous. The Orite fell and lay motionless.</p> - -<p>Now the rain-water was coming in rills down the rocky slope. The rills -were rivers to the fleeing Orites. A group of them were cut off. They -milled around in panic, then they came running back toward Nixon. -Suddenly as they neared him, he saw that Nona was among them. She was -running, staggering. A blob of raindrop barely missed felling her.</p> - -<p>He called, "Nona! Nona!"</p> - -<p>The voice of the giant. It rumbled with a roar, mingling with the -roar of the storm. Through the swirling murk, with the haven of the -purple-glowing pyramid blurred in the distance, Nixon could see that -the slope was dotted by fallen figures. Some of them lay with the -cascading rivulets of water tumbling over them; others were being -washed away down the slope. Half of the Orite crowd perhaps had reached -the city. The others were caught out here, surging back in a panic -toward the giant, momentarily more in terror of the storm than of him. -And Nixon knew now what he could do to give them at least partial -shelter.</p> - -<p>"Nona!" he called. "Come over here by me! Tell them—all of them come -here!"</p> - -<p>Then they were coming, and Nixon lay on his side, with his back to -the wind and rain. For them there was shelter, here against the giant -figure so that in a moment a hundred or more of them were huddling -here. He lay tensed, motionless. Down his length he could dimly see -the mass of tiny figures crouched in the lee of his body, with the -choking mists and the rain whirling high above them. Presently he could -feel the rivulets of water backing up against him, as though he were a -monstrous dam stretched here. He realized that his body was blocking -the water, keeping it from surging like a flood upon the Orites he was -sheltering.</p> - -<p>He said, "You're all right now, Nona? Better now?"</p> - -<p>She was crouching against his chest. He heard her answering call. "Yes. -Oh yes, giant."</p> - -<p>He lay through an interval. And now through the storm came a burst of -lightning—a crackling burst with a roar like thunder. But it was very -different lightning from anything Nixon had ever seen! It seemed to -strike one of the distant cliffs. There was a sustained crackling for a -second or two, then an orange-green burst of light. It was like a bomb -striking the cliff-face, with masses of rock hurled into the blur of -the air. A chunk, perhaps as big as Nixon's forearm, fell clattering -across the slope. Now he saw the meaning of the purple light-fire like -a barrage around and above the pyramid-city. It was a barrage of some -strange electronic nature, to act like a lightning rod. Presently a -crackling bolt hit it—a great burst, a blob of pyrotechnics in the air -above the city roof. It crackled for a second and then harmlessly was -swept away, dissipating into the murk.</p> - -<p>An hour passed, with the storm raging while Nixon lay taut with the -crowd of Orites huddled against him. Then it seemed that the wind -and rain were lessening. And presently a rift came in the wheeling -orange clouds—a rift with a pallid opalescent light breaking through. -The Orana moon. As the clouds at last wheeled and swung away, the -firmament of stars was spread overhead—pin-points of fire in the Orana -night-sky, with the moon a huge crescent of opalescent shimmer. It -bathed the glistening wet slope, strewn with the tiny dead figures. -It edged with pallid silver the frowning ramparts of the distant -mountains....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Presently the daylight came. There was a swift, brightening twilight of -flat, pale glow; and then all in a few minutes there was full daylight -as the sun mounted above the cliffs. Out here beyond Mars, it was a -sun small and pale. Nixon's first Orana day. The sunlight had warmth, -a grateful warmth that soon was drying him. In it the bound Nixon lay -quiet. Momentarily the giant was ignored. The wet slope was steaming in -the sunlight. Nona and the Orites whom he had sheltered had fled into -the city as soon as the storm abated. The barrage glow had gone from -the pyramids. Gorts were carrying in the dead and wounded.</p> - -<p>A queer ironic feeling of his helplessness was in Nixon as he lay -waiting, wondering what these strange little captors would try to do -to him next. This world of civilized humans all in miniature, so tiny, -made it seem absurd that he should have to lie here, patiently waiting -for what would happen to him. But every moment as he gazed around at -the busy little Orite world, revealed by the daylight, his respect for -it grew. Quite evidently these were a scientific people. A totally -different science from anything on Earth, so that he could never grasp -it. A science, compared to his own Earth-world, which in many ways was -probably less advanced, yet in other ways more so.</p> - -<p>Beyond the three pyramid-cities he could see tilled fields in which -tiny things were growing. Little furrows ridged them. Gorts were -working there, with miniature machines that scurried like bugs along -the ground. Now after the storm, Orites were trudging in from the -hills, a rural population living out in the recesses of the cliffs, -and in huts along the ground. A few of their little dwellings were -visible in the nearer distance, mounds about a foot high. Some of the -people living out there came carrying those who had been hurt in the -storm—for medical attention in the pyramid-cities, Nixon surmised. -Others evidently came out of curiosity to see the giant from Earth. At -a respectful distance which to Nixon was five or six feet away, a crowd -of them was gathering. Men and women, and the young some of which were -hardly more than an inch high, clinging to a mother as they stared at -the prone giant. It was a jabbering, excited crowd, augmented now by -Orites who streamed out from the cities.</p> - -<p>The nearer cliff of the canyon-side, as Nixon saw it, was fairly close -here. It rose sheer, shining green in the sunlight. There was another -building over there against the cliff bottom—a building which looked -like a small cairn of stones. It was about two or three feet high. Its -tiny oval windows, even now in the daylight, had a violet light in -them; and at a peak from the top of it, colored vapour was streaming up.</p> - -<p>"We are ready to attend to you now, giant." The Orite voice near -Nixon's head startled him. Then he saw that Tork had arrived, and -that Nona was behind him. Other Orites had come from the nearest of -the pyramids and were gathered around Tork. Quite evidently they were -important here. Somehow the look of them suggested advanced age; men a -little bent, shriveled of outline, with robes that were ornamented for -the dignity of their rank. Their wrinkled, bluish faces were solemn -with dignity. There were some twenty of them. They stood in tiny -groups, gazing, whispering to each other.</p> - -<p>"Attend to me?" Nixon said. "It's time you turned me loose, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>If he could only persuade them to free him! From the beginning Nixon -had pondered how he could escape and get back to Earth. Certainly this -had been an extraordinary adventure, but already he had had enough of -it. If the Orites would free him now, it would be simple enough to -force them to take him back in the Spaceship. Or would it? Nixon felt -a queer shuddering, like a premonition. Why had they brought him here? -What were they planning to do with him?</p> - -<p>"Turn you loose," Tork was saying, and Nixon thought he could detect -something like sarcasm in that small voice.</p> - -<p>"Or at least, thank me," Nixon said. He grinned. Among his own kind -on Earth, his was an appealing grin. But the great ruddy expanse of -his face with the black stubble of beard which now was growing on it, -wrinkled by that grin, certainly had no reassuring appeal for these -tiny Orites. And Nixon knew it.</p> - -<p>Absurd that he should have to wheedle these little captors! Nixon -always had a hot temper and it rose in him now as from the Orites there -came only a staring, blank silence. Despite his bonds, he could roll -and lunge and kill hundreds of them! But what would it get him? The -Gorts would mass for battle and kill him. Or if they couldn't—if even -he wrecked all this miniature civilization here, there would be nothing -left for him to do but lie here on this strange little world and starve -to death.</p> - -<p>He mastered his anger. He would have to be docile, do what he was told, -for now at least.</p> - -<p>"I helped you in the storm, didn't I?" he added. "I saved maybe -hundreds of you from being killed. The last thing I want is to hurt any -of you."</p> - -<p>"My father is coming," Nona put in. She had turned at the sound of -a voice calling from the pyramid entrance where other Orites were -emerging. "My father is called Frane," Nona added. "I have told him -that you want to be our friend." She flung a glance at Tork as she said -it; but Tork ignored her and turned away, whispering to some of the -dignitaries.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Then Nona's father stood with her. Frane was obviously aged. His -shoulders were square and thin, with an ornate robe draping them. He -bore himself with the commanding dignity of his age and rank as leading -scientist here.</p> - -<p>"I thank you, giant, for what you have done." His voice was thin and -high, his words slow, carefully intoned. "For myself, I would trust -you. But these men who rule us—" His gaze went to the group with whom -Tork was whispering as he added, "have decided against me."</p> - -<p>Tork whirled around. "We do not dare give our world into the keeping -of this monster."</p> - -<p>It brought a babble of agreement from the listening Orites, most of -whom quite evidently understood the Earth language.</p> - -<p>"Why did you bring me here?" Nixon demanded. "You certainly went to -plenty of trouble."</p> - -<p>"To be of help to us," Frane said. "There is no reason why I should not -tell you."</p> - -<p>Frane in his laboratory here, with Tork as his assistant, for years -had been working on a momentous chemical discovery. Drugs to cause a -size-change of the human body; to alter the size of every tiny cell, -without changing its shape.</p> - -<p>Frane gestured. "That is my laboratory, off there." He was indicating -the cairn-like little building with the oval violet windows, at the -base of the cliff.</p> - -<p>A growth-drug. A generation ago they had done it with plants to some -extent. "Perhaps you know," Frane was saying, "that natural growth is -not steady. It comes in spurts, a rapid growth, a resting, then growth -again."</p> - -<p>And this new drug would greatly accelerate the growing periods—a vast -and rapid acceleration into a size far beyond what nature ordinarily -would have attained. Frane's growth-drug was now nearing success.</p> - -<p>"To make us Orites perhaps as large as you," Frane was saying. "Then we -could dominate our world more easily."</p> - -<p>Nixon could understand the desire. This miniature civilization was like -a colony of ants on Earth. He could imagine an anthill swept by an -Earth-storm; a forest fire, with millions of insects scuttling before -it, and millions of others consumed by it. This Orana storm, to Nixon, -had been bad enough; but to many of the Orites it had been fatal.</p> - -<p>"You brought me here," Nixon said, "and yet you hope to make yourselves -as big as I am. Why did you need me?"</p> - -<p>Tork had approached. His face bore a triumphant leer. "They say it is -better to stop this talk with the giant now," he said to Frane.</p> - -<p>Orders from Frane's superiors. It was obvious. "Later, giant," Frane -said. His face was serious, and Tork's leer of triumph, somehow made -Nixon shudder.</p> - -<p>"I beg you, for your own good, cause no trouble," Frane added hastily. -"You understand that, giant?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," Nixon said.</p> - -<p>"We have a home for you," Tork said suavely.</p> - -<p>"A home? Where?"</p> - -<p>"Not far." Tork gestured toward a butte-like rock that rose from the -slope, over in the direction of the nearer cliff. To Nixon it was only -some fifty feet away. "And you will be made quite comfortable," Tork -added smilingly. "Our Gorts will feed you and take care of you."</p> - -<p>Then slowly, feet first, the bound Nixon was hitching himself past the -pyramid-city. A thousand little eyes watched him tensely. The rock -was about twenty feet high. As his feet neared it, Nixon saw that -Orites were up on the rock-ridges some ten feet above the ground. Tiny -apparatus was up there. Nixon hardly noticed the crescent line of -finger-size holes in the ground as he hitched over them. As his feet -neared the bottom of the rock, he heard Tork calling,</p> - -<p>"Enough, giant! Lie quiet!"</p> - -<p>Tork gave a signal. From up on the tiny ledge of rock, the Orites -answered it. The apparatus up there glowed, hummed. From the crescent -line of holes in the rocky ground around Nixon, tiny purple beams of -light, shot up vertically into the air—beams of radiance about six -inches apart. They streamed up, sharp and clear for twenty or thirty -feet and faded into the sunlit air. It was a crescent fence of light, -from one end of the butte, out in a fifteen foot loop around the prone -Nixon, bending until it touched the other end of the butte.</p> - -<p>At the same moment Gorts rushed in, between the six-inch vertical -light-bars. Nixon could feel them with tiny electro-torches burning at -the knots of the ropes binding him. The ropes fell away. He was free. -The Gorts scattered in a panic, running out between the upstanding -purple rays.</p> - -<p>Nixon's clothes were smouldering in several places from the tiny -torches. The flesh of his wrists was burned. He beat out the -smouldering fabric and staggered to his feet.</p> - -<p>"Careful now, giant!" It was Tork's voice coming in to him from beyond -the radiance of the bars of purple light. Somehow Tork's sneering -warning enraged Nixon. Was this a cage? A cage of light-fire in -which these damnable little creatures thought they could hold the -Earth-giant? He'd show them!</p> - -<p>Nixon's rage blurred his reason or he would have been more wary. With -an oath that was thunder to the Orites, he hurled himself against the -purple bars. The Orites' apprehensive cries mingled with a crackling, -hissing shower of sparks. It was as though Nixon had struck something -solid. He was aware of a shock, a resisting thrust, a repulsion that -galvanized all his body as it hurled him backward.</p> - -<p>Enveloped by the spark-shower, with his clothes smouldering and his -flesh burned, he fell writhing in the center of his purple cage.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nixon barely clung to his senses. Then after a moment he knew that -his head was clearing, that he was brushing his smouldering clothes -frantically with his hands. Around him the radiance from the glowing -purple bars was dazzling. But presently he could see between them, and -see the crescent of blue sky overhead. Between two of the bars, in the -six-inch vertical slit of space, an Orite figure appeared. It was Nona. -She came carefully in and stood looking at him.</p> - -<p>"You are not too badly hurt?" she said anxiously. "You should not have -tried that."</p> - -<p>"So they send <i>you</i>?" Nixon said bitterly. "What for? To get me ready -for some new trickery?"</p> - -<p>Then Nixon saw that her father was behind her. "We understand your -feelings," Frane said. "I would trust you, but you see I have not -enough power here. I am only a man of science; I have nothing to do -with the government. Not many of the Gorts will take orders from me."</p> - -<p>He seemed wholly sincere, so that Nixon smiled grimly. "All right. I -think I <i>am</i> beginning to understand."</p> - -<p>And Tork, who in rank was only Frane's assistant, seemed to have the -confidence of those Government leaders.</p> - -<p>"The Gorts will come and bring you food and water," Nona said.</p> - -<p>"There will be five hundred Gorts just to be trained for your needs," -Frane offered. "If they come now, you will not harm them so that they -have to attack and kill you?"</p> - -<p>Whatever thoughts of wishful thinking Nixon had had that these little -people could kill him, now certainly were dispelled. "Okay," Nixon -agreed. "You have my promise. I won't hurt the Gorts."</p> - -<p>"Thank you," Frane said gravely. He turned away....</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>A dozen or more of the Orana days and nights went by. Nona often came -to talk with the giant. Then she brought a young Orite with her named -Loto. He seemed about her own age. He spoke English. He was, Nona said, -studying to be a scientist. From him and Nona, Nixon now learned many -details of the little asteroid world. The rotation of Orana on its -axis gave an alternate daylight and darkness of about six hours each. -There was about the same gravity as Earth, because the asteroid was so -extremely dense. And the moon here was a smaller twin of Orana, one -revolving around the other.</p> - -<p>The days were mostly sunlit, sometimes with swirls of orange and purple -clouds. There was no rain; the rain fell only during the infrequent -storms. The nights were opalescent moonlight; then with a period when -the moon-twin had moved into the hours of the day, and showed only as a -dull crescent in the sunlight.</p> - -<p>Through the glowing purple bars, Nixon could see the miniature Orite -world busy with its routine of life. The cairn-mound of Frane's -laboratory was only a few yards distant along the cliff. Day and night -its tiny oval windows gleamed with the violet radiance.</p> - -<p>Still Nixon had no idea of why he had been brought here. He had -demanded it of Nona and Loto, but always they avoided it. Nona looked -frightened, and the youthful Loto was gravely solemn. To say the least, -their look was anything but reassuring. Then one day, they told him.</p> - -<p>"You are a giant," Nona said. "Originally my father wanted to study the -growth-factors of larger creatures. On our first visit to your Earth, -several of them were brought here. They were very young, not too -terribly big then to be caught and brought here. But they grew so fast."</p> - -<p>Again that queer look was on her face as she added, "They are all dead -now, except one. It is, I think, what you call a panther. It is caged -in a cave—" She gestured. "Out there in a nearby valley—a cave, with -the purple barrage like this across the entrance."</p> - -<p>"Studying the growth of larger creatures," Nixon echoed. "And now these -animals are all dead but one! What you're trying to tell me—your -father and Tork experimented on them. Is that it?"</p> - -<p>"In the interest of science," Loto said hastily. "That is done on your -Earth, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>And then they had realized that, if the growth-drug Frane was after was -to be effective on the human Orites, a human giant from Earth would be -the best on which to experiment. So Tork had been sent to get one.</p> - -<p>Nixon stared. "Keep me here, telling me I'll not be harmed until you're -ready to vivisect me!"</p> - -<p>"No! No—" the Orite girl cried vehemently. "Not that! Never! Father -has promised it!"</p> - -<p>"He has found that his work does not need it," Loto said earnestly. -"Believe us, that is true. The panther has not yet been used. Perhaps -it never will be. And Frane does not need you. He thought that he -would. But now he's almost sure it isn't necessary."</p> - -<p>"And Tork is still trying to persuade your leaders to have Frane—use -me?" Nixon demanded.</p> - -<p>"Yes," Loto admitted. "That is so. You see, the drugs are so terribly -important to us—"</p> - -<p>"But my father needs nothing more," Nona said. "Except perhaps, my -giant, there will be blood samples—"</p> - -<p>"And a little tissue to be studied with our microscopes," Loto put in. -"And secretion, perhaps, from the pituitary gland—"</p> - -<p>A grave little group of scientists, with Frane, came one day for -specimens from the giant. Then they came again. Their tiny surgical -instruments were like needles pricking and Nixon only laughed grimly.</p> - -<p>But would Frane succeed with his experiments? It seemed now as though -Nixon's life hung on that. Then there was a day when Nona said -impulsively,</p> - -<p>"My father is more sure than ever of success. But Tork refuses to -believe it."</p> - -<p>"Refuses?" Nixon echoed. "Look here, what do you mean by that? I reckon -there's still plenty you're not telling me, Nona."</p> - -<p>There was indeed! There was so much going on out there in the busy -little Orite world that the caged giant could not see. Nona and Loto -tried to explain it.</p> - -<p>"Tork is surely planning something," Loto said. "Something more than -just working for the success of the drug."</p> - -<p>There had been rumors of trouble. Talk of plans that were being made by -secret meetings in the night. And Tork's followers seemed increasing. -More and more the rumors involved him as a leader.</p> - -<p>"Planning what?" Nixon demanded. "Is he aiming to seize your -government?"</p> - -<p>Perhaps it was that. Frane himself could not believe that Tork had any -sinister plans; for so many years he had trusted Tork. And Frane was -absorbed with his work. An impractical old man.</p> - -<p>"So are most of our leaders," Loto said bitterly. "Too old. What you -would call rusting on the job."</p> - -<p>"One thing I'm sure," Nixon said. "Whatever that fellow Tork is up to, -he'd mighty well like to tack my hide to his cabin door."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The days passed. And Nixon saw himself like a monstrous dumb creature -waiting to be slaughtered. There must be something that he could do -to get out of here! He began planning it and as the plan evolved, the -thing looked feasible, if only he could persuade Nona and the youthful -Loto!</p> - -<p>He put his plan to them one evening when they came to talk to him, as -they now did quite often. In the glow of the purple bars he sat with -the two small figures perched on his upraised knee.</p> - -<p>"Look," Nixon said softly. "I'm not willing to go on like this. And -you—you're just stalling around giving Tork and his men every chance -to pull off what they're after."</p> - -<p>Nixon felt desperate, and he knew he looked it—ragged and dirty, his -clothes tattered where the barrage had burned them, and his face with -sunken cheeks covered by a ragged growth of black beard. And he knew he -was ill. The lack of exercises perhaps, because always on Earth Allen -Nixon had been used to great muscular activity. The food and water the -Gorts brought him, lately had been distasteful. It was strange stuff, -at best. And there was the apprehension of his fate—the damnable -sitting and waiting.</p> - -<p>"Whatever Tork is after," Nixon was saying, "it's something Frane would -not want. Nor you—nor any of those who are like you. For your sake as -well as mine, you've got to go into this with me."</p> - -<p>He persuaded them at last. Loto had the youthful, reckless enthusiasm -of youth. He was like Nixon himself, in that! And they both trusted the -giant.</p> - -<p>"Tonight will be best," Loto said. "Greev will be on duty—"</p> - -<p>Greev was one of the Orite guards in charge of the barrage mechanism. -His little post was back in a recess on a ledge of the butte. From -where Nixon was sitting its cave-entrance was dimly visible off at the -left end where the barrage ended at the rock-face. To Nixon it was -about ten feet up; to the Orites it was a climb of about a hundred -feet, up a steep winding rock-path from the other side of the butte. -Greev was a rough fellow who had seemed much interested in Nona. Often -he had urged her to come up there and sit with him through the long -tedious hours of his duty.</p> - -<p>"What time would be best?" Nixon demanded.</p> - -<p>"I could go soon after the moon-rise," Nona said.</p> - -<p>An hour from now. Nona would talk to the guard. She would contrive that -just for a moment or two they would leave the little cave-entrance, -walking along the ledge in the shimmer of the moon. And, unseen, Loto -would be up there.</p> - -<p>"It can be done," Nixon said. "You're sure you understand the -mechanisms, Loto?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes, yes."</p> - -<p>Perched on the seated giant's upraised knee, Loto and Nona suddenly -clutched at the huge folds of his trousers to keep from falling as the -knee jerked. And Nixon's hand had gone up to his forehead—a sweep of -wind that was like a little swirl of storm.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" Loto demanded anxiously.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Nixon murmured. "I sure feel sick."</p> - -<p>A wave of nausea and dizziness had swept him, convulsing his muscles. -"This food I get here don't seem to agree with me," Nixon added. -"Lately, I—"</p> - -<p>He sucked in his breath as the inescapable thought came to him.</p> - -<p>"Poison!" he gasped. "That's it! Poisoning me—those damned little—"</p> - -<p>"Not so loud!" Loto murmured. "You're voice is a roar. It could be -heard up there in the control room."</p> - -<p>Poisoning the giant! His body was so tremendous that they could only -give him enough to be slow-acting, making him gradually sick. Nona and -Loto were aghast. More than ever now, this plan to free the giant and -let him rule this world as Frane and the others would want it ruled, -must succeed tonight.</p> - -<p>"Maybe it isn't poison. It could be a sleeping drug," Loto said.</p> - -<p>"Sure! To knock me out and vivisect me!" Nixon rasped grimly. "What -difference?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For a time longer they discussed the details of their plan, while Nixon -sat fighting the weird feelings that were sweeping him. Then Nona and -Loto quietly left, walking out between the upstanding purple bars. -And Nixon was alone, waiting for moon-rise.... This cursed sickness! -He fought with it. He was bathed in cold sweat now, with a shuddering -chill creeping through him. But it was some hours since he had had -anything to eat or drink. He'd certainly take nothing more.</p> - -<p>The minutes slowly dragged, with an apprehension of tenseness in -the waiting Nixon. Now doubts were assailing him. Would Greev be -suspicious, with Nona coming up to visit him tonight when she had -always refused before? Would Loto be able to get into the control room -unseen? Sometimes Gorts were around up there. Would they oppose him?</p> - -<p>And where was Tork tonight? At this time, almost always he was in -his apartment in one of the pyramid-cities. Frane now was in his -laboratory; Tork would join him there later. But sometimes Tork -vanished on one of his mysterious missions. And it occurred to Nixon -that possibly tonight, with poison slowly overcoming the giant, Tork -himself might be planning to do something....</p> - -<p>Then Nixon suddenly was aware that out through the glowing purple bars, -the stars were paling above the distant cliffs. The moon was rising. -The time had come! Nixon still sat quiet, hunched against the face -of the rock. Diagonally up over his head, the little entrance of the -control room was visible. It glowed with radiance. Occasionally the -tiny blob of Greev showed as he moved about. Was Loto already up there? -He had said that there were places where he could climb up without -using the path. And to a six-inch Orite the ledge up there outside the -control room was broken and crag-strewn so that Loto easily could hide.</p> - -<p>Now Nixon saw the figure of Nona, a pale little blob in the moonlight -as she mounted the path. A moment more and she was in the glowing -recess with Greev. No Gort had challenged her. Good enough! Another -interval and then the guard and Nona came out on the ledge, stood a -moment and then moved along it.</p> - -<p>Loto's chance! Slowly Nixon stood up, stretching as though casually -yawning. His head reeled. His ears were roaring. This accursed -sickness!... But now he saw the blob of Loto in the control room! Nixon -tensed.</p> - -<p>A sudden humming and hissing of current sounded overhead. The barrage -went down! The purple bars of light crackled for an instant and were -gone!</p> - -<p>The giant was free! Overhead he heard the shout of Greev. A spreading -alarm, with the voice of Gorts up on the rock; and others out on the -rocky slope. Nixon leaped. He was aware that it was a staggering step -so that he almost fell. But he recovered himself, staggered on toward -the rock-slope. Everywhere there was a turmoil of frightened little -voices. This damnable dizziness! But it could be conquered. Nixon shook -himself, trying to straighten and get his balance. Now he was aware -that a line of Gorts was before him. Behind him the glow of the barrage -sprang up again, Greev had evidently rushed back to his post. But it -was too late! The giant was out!</p> - -<p>In that confused instant, with all the moonlit scene swaying before -him, Nixon saw that the attacking Gorts were dragging up lines of wires -mounted in foot-high frames. Grids of wire, with cables that led to -little wheeled batteries. And Tork was with them. Nixon heard his voice -and saw his little figure scurrying in the background. Perhaps Tork -had planned this before the barrage went down, or perhaps he had just -come, responding to the alarm.... What matter? Nixon could scatter this -strange little attack with a kicking, scrambling rush....</p> - -<p>In that second Nixon knew that his thoughts were blurred by the roaring -in his head. He knew that he was staggering ahead to scatter the Gorts. -But there was no time. The grids of wires glowed and crackled. For just -another moment it seemed that they were building up the electronic -potential of a bolt. Then one of them reached it. A little puff of -crackling violet leaped upward. It struck Nixon in the chest.</p> - -<p>Nixon knew nothing except that he was staggering, falling....</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VI</p> - -<p>Slowly Nixon realized that he was coming back to consciousness. He felt -that he was lying on the ground. He tried to move, but something was -holding him. At first the roaring in his head was the only sound. Then -he heard Orite voices; and now he could feel the tread of Orite feet -upon his chest.</p> - -<p>He opened his eyes to a swaying glare of light. A foot above his chest -and neck a hooded light cast its lurid orange glare down on him. As his -eyelids fluttered up, the Orite voices, speaking in their own language, -sounded startled.</p> - -<p>Nixon's gaze swung. There were other Orites on the ground, with a -ladder leading up to his chest. And nearby, a crowd of Orites and Gorts -stood watching with awe. Nixon saw that he was approximately where he -thought he had fallen. The rock butte was some twenty feet away, with -the barrage bars futilely standing before it. Again Nixon tried to move -one of his legs, and then he realized that he was chained, with chains -and ropes that were pegged to the ground.</p> - -<p>"You recovered too quickly, giant," Tork's voice said. "For your own -good you should have been unconscious as we planned."</p> - -<p>With a rush of horror, Nixon realized that these little figures up by -his neck were Orite surgeons. Their paraphernalia was mounted there at -the base of his throat. The orange light gleamed on their instruments. -One who was goggled held a tiny circular blade. It whirled with a faint -humming; a revolving knife, electronically heated. Nixon could feel its -radiating heat on the skin of his throat as the surgeon held it poised.</p> - -<p>Vivisection! Nona and Loto had been right. Tork at last had persuaded -the Orite leaders to order this.</p> - -<p>"Wait!" Nixon muttered. He was still dazed, bathed with the sweat of -weakness. "Where is Frane? Get Frane!"</p> - -<p>This damnable roaring in his head made everything seem so blurred and -far away. Nixon's eyelids drooped, but he opened them, fighting the -drowsiness. And it seemed that his head was clearing. The shock of the -violet bolt had knocked him into temporary unconsciousness. But now -the poison, or the drug, was wearing off. If he could stall this for a -time—</p> - -<p>It was a vague, formless thought that he knew was hopeless. "Frane," he -said again. "Get Frane."</p> - -<p>"He is not needed," Tork's suave voice said.</p> - -<p>From the ground beside Nixon, Frane's voice sounded. He was talking in -his own language, angrily expostulating. Then he called, in English, "I -tell them this is not necessary."</p> - -<p>"But your success with the drug is postponed too long," one of the -Orite leaders said. "Tork says you are doing your best, but—"</p> - -<p>"I will succeed within another night," Frane desperately promised. "One -more experiment—" Surely the aged scientist was doing what he could to -stall this. But they had lost confidence in him. He should have used -the panther, and then this giant man long ago. Frane was a brilliant -chemist, but he had no qualities of dominating leadership.</p> - -<p>"Only this can help you," the leader said. His voice carried -finality. He gestured, added a command in the Orite language to the -surgeons.</p> - -<p>Nixon could feel the figures on his neck moving to begin their -gruesome work on the prone, half-conscious giant. But Nixon was more -conscious, stronger now than they realized. He strained at the cables, -but found that he could move far less than when he had been bound on -the Spaceship. His head could shift a little so that he could glance -sidewise, but that was all.</p> - -<p>"Stop it!" he gasped suddenly. "You damn little butchers—" He'd -frighten them with his voice. Roaring, bellowing and twisting his head. -That was all he could think of to do.... The end of Allen Nixon.... A -vision of the rippleless Florida bayou, his brother Ralph, their cabin -under the grey oaks and cedars came to him....</p> - -<p>Then suddenly, out in the moonlit distance of the rock-slope between -the pyramid-cities, cries were sounding. The surgeons on Nixon's neck -stood tense, peering, listening. A turmoil of wild cries sounded off -there. It spread to the cities. Cries, then Orites screaming. And in -another moment a huge tawny shape came leaping from the shadows. The -panther!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nixon gasped. Then his roar held his mingled horror and a queer sort of -triumph. "So now you've got something else to worry about!" he shouted. -"There it is—mean and hungry. Take a look at that critter, you damn -butchers, and see what you're going to do about it!"</p> - -<p>The panther was loose. Nixon remembered now, how Loto had said it was -in a cave with a purple barrage barring the entrance. Loto and Nixon -had never thought of it—that when Loto pulled the barrage-switch, for -that moment the panther's barrage had blacked out the same as Nixon's!</p> - -<p>Tork was stammering, "Why I—I sent men to verify that it was still -there! The darkness of the cave—the barrage was only off for a -moment—they must have thought—"</p> - -<p>"Well, it isn't there, it's here!" Nixon roared. "Go ahead—carve me -up, if that panther gives you time!"</p> - -<p>It was the supreme catastrophe, that raging tawny beast loose among the -scurrying, tiny human figures. The screams were horrible as it pounced -on a group of them who were trying to reach the shelter of one of the -pyramids. With sunken sides showing its ribs and madly lashing tail, -the panther gobbled up the tiny figures. Orite humans, each of them -hardly a mouth. Then with another leap, the great amber-eyed cat was -pouncing again. A line of Gorts with suicidal willingness to attack, -stood their ground as it came at them. A sweep of its huge paw knocked -them away.</p> - -<p>Around Nixon, for those few horrible seconds, the Orites stood -stricken. "Go ahead," Nixon said. "Kill it. Why don't you folks kill -it? If you don't it sure as shooting will kill you."</p> - -<p>Now the beast seemed to see the giant figure lying here in the orange -glare. It stood with bared fangs and red-rimmed eyes. Then a rush of -Gorts distracted it, so that it turned and leaped over them. Down on -the ground beside Nixon, the crowd of Orites were milling around in -terror. The surgeons and their assistants were trying to get down the -little ladder at his side.</p> - -<p>"You can't kill it!" Nixon roared. "But <i>I</i> can. Turn me loose, you -little fools!"</p> - -<p>He strained at his bonds. Life or death now, for himself as well as -hundreds of them. Nixon knew it. That panther would be here any minute, -ripping him apart.</p> - -<p>"You can kill it?" Frane gasped from the ground beside him.</p> - -<p>"I'll damn sure try!"</p> - -<p>Frane shouted at the panic-stricken Orite leaders. And suddenly in -their emergency they trusted him. Gorts came rushing, casting loose -the chains so that in a moment Nixon was staggering up. The chains fell -from him with a thin clatter. For a moment dizziness swept him, but -then it passed. He was free. And to Nixon of the bayous freedom was -strength.</p> - -<p>Off across the moonlit slope, strewn with dead and dying Orites, the -panther was crouching. Its purring snarl mingled with the lashing of -its tail as it saw Nixon rise up. Then with a roar it leaped at him.</p> - -<p>Nixon made no move to jump aside. He had ripped off his jacket and -shirt, wound them around his left forearm. There was an instant when -the moonlight gleamed on the beast's wild eyes and opened jaws as it -leaped. Then Nixon thrust his padded, crooked arm outward and up as the -jaws came at his throat. The impact of the huge tawny body knocked him -backward. He felt the jaws closing on his arm as he fell with the beast -on top of him. In a moment they were rolling, with Nixon desperately -squirming and lunging, trying to get a grip on the great cat's throat. -He could feel the claws ripping his clothing, his flesh, with his blood -spurting and white streaks of hot pain shooting into him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Nixon's fingers gripped the loose skin of the panther's neck. But at -once he knew it was no use. The beast's strength was too great. He felt -the rippling muscles under the loose skin resisting his clutch. Then -the great jerking body tore loose; the jaws relaxed their grip, dropped -his arm, came again at his throat....</p> - -<p>As the giant went down, a horror-stricken cry had gone up from the -crowds of watching Orites. Now the great antagonists were rolling. In a -moment they had crossed from the edge of the rock-slope almost to the -sward where the Spaceship cylinder had landed. Nixon could feel the -crackling sward under him. Hot blood in his eyes blurred everything. He -managed to wipe it away, and thrust out his padded arm again for the -brute's jaws to grip.</p> - -<p>Then Nixon's right hand, brushing the bristling sward, came upon a -jagged sliver of rock in that very fragment blasted from the cliff -by that first storm upon his arrival. Both heavy and sharp, it made -a terrible weapon. With a whirling lunge he jammed that clumsy spear -of rock into the panther's slavering jaws—on down into its hot and -roaring gullet. In a moment the beast's snarls were choked with blood. -With its human antagonist momentarily ignored, the puzzled, choking -brute was staggering, flinging its head from side to side. Then it was -rolling on the ground, with paws frantically fumbling at its mouth.</p> - -<p>It was Nixon's chance now. He flung himself on the beast. His frantic -fingers closed about its windpipe. The panther screamed and writhed, -but Nixon's grip was inexorable. The screams died to slobbering gasps. -At last the tawny shape was lying on its side. For a moment the paws -convulsively jerked. Then it was motionless.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VII</p> - -<p>A day had passed since the giant had been released, and night had come -again. The Earth-giant now had become a hero to the awed Orite people. -Or at least, whatever terror of him they had was submerged in their -cheering when the monstrous panther was dead.</p> - -<p>Nixon had found himself a cave-like recess off at the base of the green -cliff a few hundred yards from Frane's laboratory. Soon he would fix -it up to be comfortable. He brought himself food and water now. This -morning he had explored the nearby valley which opened into this one -through a mile-wide defile. Thousands of the Orites lived in the other -valley; their mound-dwellings dotted the slopes at the base of the -enclosing cliffs. A stream of orange water babbled along one side of -the valley floor, and there were strips of vegetation near the water. -Strangely shaped bluish trees about the height of Nixon bore fruits and -pods of several kinds which were edible.</p> - -<p>It was a day of exultation to Nixon, this freedom to roam around and do -things for himself after his long imprisonment. Towering master of this -miniature world. There was another valley where a hundred or so tiny -factories glowed and hummed. Everything stopped when the Earth-giant -appeared, with the workers thronging the little doors and windows, -peering up in awed silence at him.... An exultation to it. And then -suddenly Nixon had felt the sense of responsibility. There was so much -that he would have to learn, and plan, and then put into action.</p> - -<p>Last night, when the panther was dead and the panting, bleeding giant -had stood with crowds of tiny figures cheering him, suddenly Nixon had -found himself making a speech. It was halting, certainly, anything but -fluent. Nixon was always a fellow sparse of words. He tried to tell -them that just because he was so gigantic, no one need fear him. That -now he would live among them for a time, and try to help them in every -way he could. His naive, youthful grin accompanied his words. Then the -Orite leaders had arranged to meet with him presently; and whatever now -he needed for his comfort, he need only ask for it....</p> - -<p>"The people all want you for our leader," Nona was saying -enthusiastically. "Everyone talks of it. The Gorts look to you for -commands."</p> - -<p>It was mid-evening now as Nixon sat in the mouth of his cave, with Nona -and Loto on his upraised knee. A leader. Fair enough, Nixon thought. -No one can argue with a man seventy feet tall! But Frane's growth-drug -soon would change everything. The Orites would be as big as Nixon. A -whole new civilization to be built in the giant size.</p> - -<p>"I'll do my best," Nixon said earnestly. He added suddenly, "Where is -Tork?"</p> - -<p>In the tumultuous events of the past night and day—the joy of his -release—there had been no time to worry about Tork.</p> - -<p>"Where <i>is</i> Tork?" Nixon demanded.</p> - -<p>Loto and Nona did not know. "Maybe the panther chewed him some," Nixon -said. "I wouldn't mourn none."</p> - -<p>Nona shook her head. "He was with my father, there where you had been -lying."</p> - -<p>"Besides, I saw him an hour after that," Loto said.</p> - -<p>Nixon's eyes flashed. "You can be sure of one thing," he said grimly. -"As soon as I get my bearings around here, we'll get to the bottom of -Tork's monkey-shines."</p> - -<p>Tork's followers, however many of them there might have been, now -certainly seemed to have evaporated. Nixon knew that was natural -enough. Whoever had listened to him, now would probably never admit it.</p> - -<p>And Tork now had vanished. Perhaps he feared that he would be blamed -for having so strongly urged the vivisection of the giant. "He's not at -his job in the laboratory, working with your father?" Nixon suggested.</p> - -<p>"No, father has not seen him," Nona said. "Father sent to his home, but -Tork has not been there."</p> - -<p>Frane had promised that his experiment with the growth-drug this -evening would be the last, his triumph, the final success. It could -come any moment now. And all the little Orite colony knew it, was -waiting with excited expectancy for the waving shaft of violet light -which Frane had said would show from the top of the laboratory building -when the growth-drug was completed.</p> - -<p>Down the length of the glass-like cliff-base, Nixon could see the -little laboratory building about a hundred feet away. It was humming -with activity.</p> - -<p>"Well," Nixon said, "nothing to do but wait and see. I sure hope he -gets it."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Tensely they waited; the giant hunched at the mouth of his cave with -the two tiny figures perched on his bent knee. The hours passed. -The moon rose. Then Nixon sucked in his breath, and Nona and Loto -gave their little cries. From the top of the laboratory the little -light-beam was waving. Success! Frane had accomplished it.</p> - -<p>"He did it!" Nixon exulted.</p> - -<p>"Yes, he did it," Nona echoed. "My father, I'm so proud of him."</p> - -<p>"Let's go over there," Nixon said. "I'll carry you."</p> - -<p>He raised them to his shoulder and they clung to the collar of his -shirt. They were halfway there when a tiny scream sounded. Then another.</p> - -<p>"That came from the laboratory!" Loto exclaimed.</p> - -<p>Nixon started running. "Not so fast!" Nona gasped. "The wind up here—"</p> - -<p>He went slower, stopped at the waist-high laboratory building. As -he stooped to put Loto and Nona on the ground, a tiny figure came -scurrying from a side door. Nixon had no chance to seize it. In an -instant it had disappeared into the shadows.</p> - -<p>"Run inside!" Nixon said. "See what happened."</p> - -<p>There was a turmoil in the little building; tiny running footsteps and -the horrified voices of the Orite chemists who had been working there. -Then in a moment a group of them came out. They were carrying Frane. -The sobbing Nona was with them; Loto came, solemn and grim. Silently -the giant Nixon stepped back, then knelt, gazing down in awe at the -miniature tragedy here at his feet.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>He knelt down in amazement.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Loto explained what had happened. Frane had taken the completed drug -into his office. Tork evidently had been lurking, waiting for this -moment. He had killed one of Frane's men who got in his way, darted in -and stabbed the unsuspecting Frane....</p> - -<p>"Then that was Tork I saw running out," Nixon said. He checked his -impulse to jump up and rush away to seize the damned murderer. How -could you find a tiny, scurrying, six-inch figure in this expanse of -moonlit crags?</p> - -<p>Frane was not dead, but he obviously was dying. They had laid him -on the ground. He saw Nixon's face so high above him, and he called -faintly.</p> - -<p>"Come closer, giant. Tork was triumphant—he told me what he had -planned. I was so stupid—I would never believe ill of him—"</p> - -<p>Tork had planned to organize an expedition to go to Earth. With the -growth-drug, they would go in their normal small size. Then on Earth, -they would use the drugs and get large. There was no real limit to -growth through Frane's drug. Frane had meant it to be governed by -environmental needs but the more one took the larger he would grow. -Giants on Earth! They could make themselves what on Earth would be men -a hundred feet tall.</p> - -<p>"Tork always said your Earth is so much better a world than Orana could -ever be," Frane was saying. "With fighter-Gorts a hundred feet tall on -Earth, he felt surely that your world could be conquered."</p> - -<p>And many of the Orites here, and the Gorts they controlled, had felt -the lure of it. The Orite Government would oppose it. They would have -no desire to embark upon the murderous conquest of a neighboring world. -Then Tork and his followers would have seized the Government. And more -of the Orites would have rallied around him, of course. It is instinct -to follow a successful leader.</p> - -<p>But with the Earth-giant dominating Orana now, Tork's fellow plotters -had melted away.</p> - -<p>"Well," Nixon murmured grimly, "what does he think he can do now?"</p> - -<p>The answer came almost with Nixon's grim question. "Look!" Loto gasped. -"Off there!"</p> - -<p>Then Nixon saw it. In the notch between the towering rocks where the -pass led into the broad adjoining valley, a figure had appeared, not -a tiny six-inch figure but an upright man-shape that seemed about -as high as Nixon's waist. It was Tork, and he was half as big as -the Earth-giant now! Long since, Tork's clothes had burst with tiny -shreds that had dropped away so that his bluish flesh glistened in the -moonlight.</p> - -<p>For an instant Nixon stood transfixed. And as he stared he saw that -Tork was almost visibly growing! Already he seemed a little taller. The -moonlight showed his face; he was leering with triumph. Another giant -to challenge Nixon's mastery of the Orite world! Soon he would be as -big as Nixon ... then larger....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>With the shock of realization, Nixon tensed, bounded forward. Instantly -Tork disappeared, ducking back into the pass. Almost at once Nixon -stopped his pursuits. This could be a fatal error, chasing the growing -Tork who might elude him long enough to become so large that he could -kill Nixon easily!</p> - -<p>"Get me some of the drug!" Nixon called. "Run in there, Loto—get it -quick! He'll be larger than I am in a few minutes, by the look of him!"</p> - -<p>"In my office," the dying Frane gasped faintly. "There were three -cylinders."</p> - -<p>Loto and several of the chemists ran in. It seemed an eternity of -waiting, with Nixon's mind picturing his enlarging adversary out there -in the other valley. But it was only a moment before Loto and the -chemists came back. The drug-cylinders were gone! Tork had made away -with them all!</p> - -<p>Nixon turned and ran for the pass. That damnable delay! He cursed -himself for having waited to try and get the drug! Tork by now might -already be too big to handle....</p> - -<p>The broad valley beyond the pass lay shining in the moonlight. The -lines of trees and the little orange river were off to the left. For -a moment Nixon stood peering. Was Tork here? Evidently the Orites who -lived here had seen him. Their tiny cries sounded. Nixon could see -terrified groups of them running.</p> - -<p>Then the figure of Tork suddenly rose up from a rock-cluster on the -other side of the little river. He had been crouching behind a line -of trees. Now with a cry of triumph he straightened, bounded over the -river. He was about Nixon's size. He shouted,</p> - -<p>"Not a giant any more, are you? Well, this is the end of you, Earthman!"</p> - -<p>Tork was holding a dripping chunk of rock which he had seized from the -river bank. He flung it, but Nixon ducked. The rock went thudding out -across the valley. Then as Nixon held his ground, crouching, Tork's -body struck him. The impact knocked Nixon backward, so that he fell -with Tork on top of him. It startled him; he had not realized that -Tork's body would be so solid, far heavier now than Nixon's.</p> - -<p>Then they were rolling, locked together, jabbing, pummeling. In a rough -and tumble, Nixon had always been very handy. He was exceedingly agile, -and now the heavier Tork could not hold him. In a moment Nixon was up. -He found himself at the edge of the babbling little stream. He seized -a tree. It was thick, half as big as himself. Desperately he wrenched -it up. The knob of heavy roots made it like a maul, a bludgeon. Tork -was scrambling up. Nixon hit him with a swing of the tree root. He -staggered, went down, this time with Nixon on top of him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>He wrenched up a tree and swung it.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>But now Nixon realized that Tork was a full head taller. As they -struggled, with Tork heaving up, trying to ward off Nixon's blows, -Nixon could feel his antagonist's body expanding. It was gruesome. -It shot a fear through Nixon. If he didn't kill Tork now in a moment -or two, he never would! And Tork knew it. He was fighting on the -defensive, just waiting until Nixon would be only a stripling in his -grip.</p> - -<p>Then they were rolling again on the ground. They were close beside the -stream, with the brittle underbrush crackling under their plunging -bodies. Several times Nixon had gotten a grip on Tork's throat, but -always the strength of Tork's big hands had broken it. Now Nixon was -desperately trying to roll Tork into the water. Evidently the Orite -didn't realize it. He lunged, and as Nixon twisted and heaved, Tork -went backward with his head and shoulders splashing. The stream was a -foot or two deep here, babbling over stones. Tork's head went down; the -water splashed over his face. And then again Nixon gripped him by the -throat. In Nixon was the grim thought that this was the way one gripped -'gators under water. His hands pressed down; his body was sprawled, -braced and taut to hold the lunging Tork.</p> - -<p>The orange water was lashed into turgid green foam. Tork was coughing, -choking. It was easier to hold his head down now. His hands tore at -Nixon's wrists but could not break the hold. Then Nixon could feel -the plucking hands and the lunges of Tork's huge body growing weaker. -Through an interval Nixon clung, and then he released his grip and -staggered panting to his feet. In the babbling stream the big body of -Tork lay motionless; a horrible, goggling, staring face blue with the -orange water lapping over it....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>An Orana year went by, a succession of brief days and nights while -Nixon worked and planned to help the Orites build their little world -into something safer, more comfortable than it had been before. Frane -had died. The Orite doctors and surgeons could not save him. The -growth-drug was gone. Tork had hidden the tiny cylinders somewhere, -but they had never been found, and no more of the drug could be made. -Certainly not now; Frane and Tork were the only ones who knew the -full details of the process. Nixon felt that was just as well. A thing -diabolic. Like atomic fission, in evil hands it could wreck its world.</p> - -<p>Now, with the year passed, it had been agreed that they were to take -the giant back to Earth. Loto and Nona set out with Nixon along with -a group of the Orite scientists and leaders and a few hundred of the -Gorts, most of whom had been on the trip before.</p> - -<p>It was the same little spaceship. Now the giant need not lie bound, -he could crouch carefully on one elbow, or shift a little if he was -wary of his movements. The trip seemed far quicker than before, with -Loto and Nona to talk to and all his tiny friends here in the humming -interior around him. Then through the bow-port the mellow, crescent -Earth swung into view, a great cloud-mottled disc.</p> - -<p>Then one Earth-night they were sliding down through the stratosphere, -skimming an ocean and over the land ... Florida. Nixon's heart pounded -as he gazed down at it. The Florida moon was brilliant in the sky as -the gleaming little cylinder slid silently into a patch of wire-grass -and rested on the ground. Only a marsh-hen was disturbed, rising with -its discordant cry and winging away.</p> - -<p>The cylinder opened and Nixon rose up and out of it. The top closed -again, and from a lower tiny doorway of the glistening ten-foot shape, -a few of the little Orite figures came out, gazed upward. His friends.</p> - -<p>"Goodbye, my giant," Nona called. They were all waving.</p> - -<p>What was there to say?</p> - -<p>"Goodbye," Nixon spoke softly. "I sure wish you well."</p> - -<p>They turned, went back inside. The port closed. The sleek, tiny ship -slid upward and away into the moonlight. It was a shining little streak -for a moment; then a glistening dot, small as a firefly. Then it was -gone.</p> - -<p>For a moment Nixon stood with a strange sense of loss upon him. But -here was Earth. Home. A light was burning in the cabin across the -sandspit. The bayou glistened in the moonlight.</p> - -<p>Silently Nixon turned and walked up the oyster-shell beach toward his -home.</p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE MONSTERS COME *** - -This file should be named 63885-h.htm or 63885-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/8/8/63885/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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