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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..6eb7e71 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63899 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63899) diff --git a/old/63899-0.txt b/old/63899-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 782cf43..0000000 --- a/old/63899-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1181 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Giants Return, by Robert Abernathy - -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 Giants Return - -Author: Robert Abernathy - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63899] - -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 GIANTS RETURN *** - - - - - THE GIANTS RETURN - - By ROBERT ABERNATHY - - Earth set itself grimly to meet them with - corrosive fire, determined to blast them - back to the stars. But they erred in thinking - the Old Ones were too big to be clever. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Fall 1949. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -In the last hours the star ahead had grown brighter by many magnitudes, -and had changed its color from a dazzling blue through white to the -normal yellow, of a GO sun. That was the Doppler effect as the star's -radial velocity changed relative to the _Quest III_, as for forty hours -the ship had decelerated. - -They had seen many such stars come near out of the galaxy's glittering -backdrop, and had seen them dwindle, turn red and go out as the _Quest -III_ drove on its way once more, lashed by despair toward the speed of -light, leaving behind the mockery of yet another solitary and lifeless -luminary unaccompanied by worlds where men might dwell. They had grown -sated with the sight of wonders--of multiple systems of giant stars, of -nebulae that sprawled in empty flame across light years. - -But now unwonted excitement possessed the hundred-odd members of the -_Quest III's_ crew. It was a subdued excitement; men and women, they -came and stood quietly gazing into the big vision screens that showed -the oncoming star, and there were wide-eyed children who had been born -in the ship and had never seen a planet. The grownups talked in low -voices, in tones of mingled eagerness and apprehension, of what might -lie at the long journey's end. For the _Quest III_ was coming home; the -sun ahead was _the_ Sun, whose rays had warmed their lives' beginning. - - * * * * * - -Knof Llud, the _Quest III's_ captain, came slowly down the narrow -stair from the observatory, into the big rotunda that was now the main -recreation room, where most of the people gathered. The great chamber, -a full cross-section of the vessel, had been at first a fuel hold. At -the voyage's beginning eighty per cent of the fifteen-hundred-foot -cylinder had been engines and fuel; but as the immense stores were -spent and the holds became radioactively safe, the crew had spread -out from its original cramped quarters. Now the interstellar ship was -little more than a hollow shell. - -Eyes lifted from the vision screens to interrogate Knof Llud; he met -them with an impassive countenance, and announced quietly, "We've -sighted Earth." - -A feverish buzz arose; the captain gestured for silence and went on, -"It is still only a featureless disk to the telescope. Zost Relyul has -identified it--no more." - -But this time the clamor was not to be settled. People pressed round -the screens, peering into them as if with the naked eye they could -pick out the atom of reflected light that was Earth, home. They wrung -each other's hands, kissed, shouted, wept. For the present their fears -were forgotten and exaltation prevailed. - -Knof Llud smiled wryly. The rest of the little speech he had been about -to make didn't matter anyway, and it might have spoiled this moment. - -He turned to go, and was halted by the sight of his wife, standing at -his elbow. His wry smile took on warmth; he asked, "How do _you_ feel, -Lesra?" - -She drew an uncertain breath and released it in a faint sigh. "I don't -know. It's good that Earth's still there." She was thinking, he judged -shrewdly, of Knof Jr. and Delza, who save from pictures could not -remember sunlit skies or grassy fields or woods in summer.... - -He said, with a touch of tolerant amusement, "What did you think might -have happened to Earth? After all, it's only been nine hundred years." - -"That's just it," said Lesra shakily. "Nine hundred years have gone -by--_there_--and nothing will be the same. It won't be the same world -we left, the world we knew and fitted in...." - -The captain put an arm round her with comforting pressure. "Don't -worry. Things may have changed--but we'll manage." But his face had -hardened against registering the gnawing of that same doubtful fear -within him. He let his arm fall. "I'd better get up to the bridge. -There's a new course to be set now--for Earth." - -He left her and began to climb the stairway again. Someone switched -off the lights, and a charmed whisper ran through the big room as the -people saw each other's faces by the pale golden light of Earth's own -Sun, mirrored and multiplied by the screens. In that light Lesra's eyes -gleamed with unshed tears. - -Captain Llud found Navigator Gwar Den looking as smug as the cat -that ate the canary. Gwar Den was finding that the actual observed -positions of the planets thus far located agreed quite closely with -his extrapolations from long unused charts of the Solar System. He had -already set up on the calculator a course that would carry them to -Earth. - -Llud nodded curt approval, remarking, "Probably we'll be intercepted -before we get that far." - -Den was jolted out of his happy abstraction. "Uh, Captain," he said -hesitantly. "What kind of a reception do you suppose we'll get?" - -Llud shook his head slowly. "Who knows? We don't know whether any -of the other _Quests_ returned successful, or if they returned at -all. And we don't know what changes have taken place on Earth. It's -possible--not likely, though--that something has happened to break -civilization's continuity to the point where our expedition has been -forgotten altogether." - - * * * * * - -He turned away grim-lipped and left the bridge. From his private -office-cabin, he sent a message to Chief Astronomer Zost Relyul to -notify him as soon as Earth's surface features became clear; then he -sat idle, alone with his thoughts. - -The ship's automatic mechanisms had scant need of tending; Knof Llud -found himself wishing that he could find some back-breaking task for -everyone on board, himself included, to fill up the hours that remained. - -There was an extensive and well-chosen film library in the cabin, but -he couldn't persuade himself to kill time that way. He could go down -and watch the screens, or to the family apartment where he might find -Lesra and the children--but somehow he didn't want to do that either. - -He felt empty, drained--like his ship. As the _Quest III's_ fuel stores -and the hope of success in man's mightiest venture had dwindled, so the -strength had gone out of him. Now the last fuel compartment was almost -empty and Captain Knof Llud felt tired and old. - -Perhaps, he thought, he was feeling the weight of his nine hundred -Earth years--though physically he was only forty now, ten years older -than when the voyage had begun. That was the foreshortening along the -time axis of a space ship approaching the speed of light. Weeks and -months had passed for the _Quest III_ in interstellar flight while -years and decades had raced by on the home world. - -Bemusedly Llud got to his feet and stood surveying a cabinet with -built-in voice recorder and pigeonholes for records. There were about -three dozen film spools there--his personal memoirs of the great -expedition, a segment of his life and of history. He might add that to -the ship's official log and its collections of scientific data, as a -report to whatever powers might be on Earth now--if such powers were -still interested. - -Llud selected a spool from among the earliest. It was one he had made -shortly after leaving Procyon, end of the first leg of the trip. He -slid it onto the reproducer. - -His own voice came from the speaker, fresher, more vibrant and -confident than he knew it was now. - -"One light-day out from Procyon, the thirty-third day by ship's time -since leaving Earth. - -"Our visit to Procyon drew a blank. There is only one huge planet, twice -the size of Jupiter, and like Jupiter utterly unfit to support a colony. - -"Our hopes were dashed--and I think all of us, even remembering the -Centaurus Expedition's failure, hoped more than we cared to admit. If -Procyon had possessed a habitable planet, we could have returned after -an absence of not much over twenty years Earth time. - -"It is cheering to note that the crew seems only more resolute. We go -on to Capella; its spectrum, so like our own Sun's, beckons. If success -comes there, a century will have passed before we can return to Earth; -friends, relatives, all the generation that launched the _Quest_ ships -will be long since dead. Nevertheless we go on. Our generation's dream, -humanity's dream, lives in us and in the ship forever...." - -Presently Knof Llud switched off that younger voice of his and leaned -back, an ironic smile touching his lips. That fervent idealism seemed -remote and foreign to him now. The fanfares of departure must still -have been ringing in his ears. - -He rose, slipped the record back in its niche and picked out another, -later, one. - -"One week since we passed close enough to Aldebaran to ascertain that -that system, too, is devoid of planets. - -"We face the unpleasant realization that what was feared is probably -true--that worlds such as the Sun's are a rare accident, and that we -may complete our search without finding even one new Earth. - -"It makes no difference, of course; we cannot betray the plan.... -This may be man's last chance of escaping his pitiful limitation to -one world in all the Universe. Certainly the building of this ship -and its two sisters, the immense expenditure of time and labor and -energy stores that went into them, left Earth's economy drained and -exhausted. Only once in a long age does mankind rise to such a selfless -and transcendent effort--the effort of Egypt that built the pyramids, -or the war efforts of the nations in the last great conflicts of the -twentieth century. - -"Looked at historically, such super-human outbursts of energy are -the result of a population's outgrowing its room and resources, and -therefore signalize the beginning of the end. Population can be -limited, but the price is a deadly frustration, because growth alone is -life.... In our day the end of man's room for growth on the Earth was -in sight--so we launched the _Quests_. Perhaps our effort will prove as -futile as pyramid-building, less practical than orgies of slaughter to -reduce pressure.... In any case, it would be impossible to transport -very many people to other stars; but Earth could at least go into -its decline with the knowledge that its race went onward and upward, -expanding limitlessly into the Universe.... - -"Hopeless, unless we find planets!" - - * * * * * - -Knof Llud shook his head sorrowfully and took off the spool. That -was from the time when he had grown philosophical after the first -disappointments. - -He frowned thoughtfully, choosing one more spool that was only four -years old. The recorded voice sounded weary, yet alive with a strange -longing.... - -"We are in the heart of Pleiades; a hundred stars show brilliant on -the screens, each star encircled by a misty halo like lights glowing -through fog, for we are traversing a vast diffuse nebula. - -"According to plan, the _Quest III_ has reached its furthest point from -Earth. Now we turn back along a curve that will take us past many more -stars and stellar systems--but hope is small that any of those will -prove a home for man, as have none of the thousands of stars examined -already. - -"But what are a few thousand stars in a galaxy of billions? We have -only, as it were, visited a handful of the outlying villages of the -Universe, while the lights of its great cities still blaze far ahead -along the Milky Way. - -"On flimsy excuses I have had Zost Relyul make observations of the -globular cluster Omega Centauri. There are a hundred thousand stars -there in a volume of space where one finds a few dozen in the Sun's -neighborhood; there if anywhere must circle the planets we seek! But -Omega Centauri is twenty thousand light years away.... - -"Even so--by expending its remaining fuel freely, the _Quest III_ could -achieve a velocity that would take us there without dying of senility -of aging too greatly. It would be a one-way journey--even if enough -fuel remained, there would be little point in returning to Earth after -more than forty thousand years. By then our civilization certainly, and -perhaps the human race itself, would have perished from memory. - -"That was why the planners limited our voyage, and those of the other -_Quests_, to less than a thousand years Earth time. Even now, according -to the sociodynamic predictions made then, our civilization--if the -other expeditions failed also--will have reached a dangerously unstable -phase, and before we can get back it may have collapsed completely from -overpopulation. - -"Why go back, then with the news of our failure? Why not forget about -Earth and go on to Omega Centauri? What use is quixotic loyalty to a -decree five thousand years old, whose makers are dead and which may be -forgotten back there? - -"Would the crew be willing? I don't know--some of them still show signs -of homesickness, though they know with their minds that everything that -was once 'home' has probably been swept away.... - -"It doesn't matter. Today I gave orders to swing the ship." - -Savagely Knof Llud stabbed the button that shut off the speaker. Then -he sat for a time with head resting in his hands, staring into nothing. - -The memory of that fierce impulse to go on still had power to shake -him. A couple of lines of poetry came into his head, as he read them -once in translation from the ancient English.... - - ... for my purpose holds - To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths - Of all the western stars, until I die. - - * * * * * - -Llud sighed. He still couldn't say just why he had given the order to -turn back. The stars had claimed his heart--but he was still a part of -Earth, and not even nine hundred years of space and time had been able -to alter that. - -He wondered if there would still be a quiet stream and a green -shady place beside it where a death-weary man, relieved at last of -responsibility, could rest and dream no more.... Those things went -on, if men didn't change them. And a pine forest where he and young -Knof could go camping, and lie on their backs at night and gaze at the -glittering constellations, far away, out of reach.... He wasn't sure he -would want to do that, though. - -Suddenly a faint cushioned jar went through the great ship; it seemed -to falter one moment in flight. - - * * * * * - -The captain was on his feet instantly, but then his movements became -unhurried. Whatever it had been was past, and he had a good idea -what it had been--a meteoroid, nothing unusual in the vicinity of -the Sun, though in interstellar space and around planetless stars -such collisions were rare to the vanishing point. No harm could have -been done. The _Quest III's_ collision armor was nonmaterial and for -practical purposes invulnerable. - -Just as he took his finger off the button that opened the door, the -intercommunication phone shrilled imperatively. Knof Llud wheeled, -frowning--surely a meteoroid impact wasn't that serious. Coincidence, -maybe--it might be Zost Relyul calling as instructed. - -He reached the phone at the moment when another, heavier jolt shook -the vessel. Llud snatched up the receiver with the speed of a scalded -cat. - -"Captain?" It was Gwar Den's voice, stammering a little. "Captain, -we're being attacked!" - -"Sound the alarm. Emergency stations." He had said it automatically, -then felt a curious detached relief at the knowledge that after all -these years he could still respond quickly and smoothly to a crisis. -There was a moment's silence, and he heard the alarm start--three -short buzzes and repeat, ringing through all the great length of the -interstellar ship. Knowing that Gwar Den was still there, he said, -"Now--attacked by what?" - -"Ships," said Gwar Den helplessly. "Five of them so far. No, there's a -sixth now." Repeated blows quivered the _Quest III's_ framework. The -navigator said, obviously striving for calm, "They're light craft, not -fifty feet long, but they move fast. The detectors hardly had time to -show them before they opened up. Can't get a telescope beam on them -long enough to tell much." - -"If they're that small," said Knof Llud deliberately, "they can't carry -anything heavy enough to hurt us. Hold to course. I'll be right up." - -In the open doorway he almost fell over his son. Young Knof's eyes were -big; he had heard his father's words. - -"Something's happened," he judged with deadly twelve-year-old -seriousness and, without wasting time on questions, "Can I go with you, -huh, Dad?" - -Llud hesitated, said, "All right. Come along and keep out of the way." -He headed for the bridge with strides that the boy could not match. - -There were people running in the corridors, heading for their posts. -Their faces were set, scared, uncomprehending. The _Quest III_ -shuddered, again and again, under blows that must have had millions -of horsepower behind them; but it plunged on toward Earth, its mighty -engines still steadily braking its interstellar velocity. - -To a man, the ship's responsible officers were already on the bridge, -most of them breathless. To a man they looked appeal at Captain Knof -Llud. - -"Well?" he snapped. "What are they doing?" - -Gwar Den spoke. "There are thirteen of them out there now, sir, and -they're all banging away at us." - -The captain stared into the black star-strewn depths of a vision screen -where occasional blue points of light winked ominously, never twice -from the same position. - -Knof Jr. flattened himself against the metal wall and watched silently. -His young face was less anxious than his elders'; he had confidence in -his father. - -"If they had anything heavier," surmised the captain, "they'd have -unlimbered it by now. They're out to get us. But at this rate, they -can't touch us as long as our power lasts--or until they bring up some -bigger stuff." - - * * * * * - -The mild shocks went on--whether from projectiles or energy-charges, -would be hard to find out and it didn't matter; whatever was hitting -the _Quest III's_ shell was doing it at velocities where the -distinction between matter and radiation practically ceases to exist. - -But that shell was tough. It was an extension of the gravitic drive -field which transmitted the engines' power equally to every atom of -the ship; forces impinging on the outside of the field were similarly -transmitted and rendered harmless. The effect was as if the vessel and -all space inside its field were a single perfectly elastic body. A -meteoroid, for example, on striking it rebounded--usually vaporized by -the impact--and the ship, in obedience to the law of equal and opposite -forces, rebounded too, but since its mass was so much greater, its -deflection was negligible. - -The people in the _Quest III_ would have felt nothing at all of -the vicious onslaught being hurled against them, save that their -inertialess drive, at its normal thrust of two hundred gravities, -was intentionally operated at one half of one per cent efficiency to -provide the illusion of Earthly gravitation. - -One of the officers said shakily, "It's as if they've been lying in -wait for us. But why on Earth--" - -"That," said the captain grimly, "is what we have to find out. Why--on -Earth. At least, I suspect the answer's there." - -The _Quest III_ bored steadily on through space, decelerating. Even if -one were no fatalist, there seemed no reason to stop decelerating or -change course. There was nowhere else to go and too little fuel left -if there had been; come what might, this was journey's end--perhaps -in a more violent and final way than had been anticipated. All around -wheeled the pigmy enemies, circling, maneuvering, and attacking, -always attacking, with the senseless fury of maddened hornets. The -interstellar ship bore no offensive weapons--but suddenly on one of the -vision screens a speck of light flared into nova-brilliance, dazzling -the watchers for the brief moment in which its very atoms were torn -apart. - -Knof Jr. whooped ecstatically and then subsided warily, but no one was -paying attention to him. The men on the _Quest III's_ bridge looked -questions at each other, as the thought of help from outside flashed -into many minds at once. But Captain Llud said soberly, "It must have -caught one of their own shots, reflected. Maybe its own, if it scored -too direct a hit." - -He studied the data so far gathered. A few blurred pictures had been -got, which showed cylindrical space ships much like the _Quest III_, -except that they were rocket-propelled and of far lesser size. Their -size was hard to ascertain, because you needed to know their distance -and speed--but detector-beam echoes gave the distance, and likewise, by -the Doppler method, the velocity of directly receding or approaching -ships. It was apparent that the enemy vessels were even smaller than -Gwar Den had at first supposed--not large enough to hold even one man. -Tiny, deadly hornets with a colossal sting. - -"Robot craft, no doubt," said Knof Llud, but a chill ran down his spine -as it occurred to him that perhaps the attackers weren't of human -origin. They had seen no recognizable life in the part of the galaxy -they had explored, but one of the other _Quests_ might have encountered -and been traced home by some unhuman race that was greedy and able to -conquer. - - * * * * * - -It became evident, too, that the bombardment was being kept up by a -constant arrival of fresh attackers, while others raced away into -space, presumably returning to base to replenish their ammunition. That -argued a planned and prepared interception with virulent hatred behind -it. - -Elsuz Llug, the gravitic engineer, calculated dismally, "At the rate -we're having to shed energy, the fuel will be gone in six or eight -hours." - -"We'll have reached Earth before then," Gwar Den said hopefully. - -"If they don't bring out the heavy artillery first." - -"We're under the psychological disadvantage," said the captain, "of not -knowing why we're being attacked." - -Knof Jr. burst out, spluttering slightly with the violence of a -thought too important to suppress, "But we're under a ps-psychological -advantage, too!" - -His father raised an eyebrow. "What's that? I don't seem to have -noticed it." - -"They're mad and we aren't, yet," said the boy. Then, seeing that he -hadn't made himself clear, "In a fight, if a guy gets mad he starts -swinging wild and then you nail him." - -Smiles splintered the ice of tension. Captain Llud said, "Maybe you've -got something there. They seem to be mad, all right. But we're not in -a position to throw any punches." He turned back to the others. "As I -was going to say--I think we'd better try to parley with the enemy. At -least we may find out who he is and why he's determined to smash us." - -And now instead of tight-beam detectors the ship was broadcasting on an -audio carrier wave that shifted through a wide range of frequencies, -repeating on each the same brief recorded message: - -"Who are you? What do you want? We are the interstellar expedition -_Quest III_...." And so on, identifying themselves and protesting that -they were unarmed and peaceful, that there must be some mistake, and -querying again, "Who are _you_?" - -There was no answer. The ship drove on, its fuel trickling away under -multiplied demands. Those outside were squandering vastly greater -amounts of energy in the effort to batter down its defenses, but -converting that energy into harmless gravitic impulses was costing the -_Quest III_ too. Once more Knof Llud had the insidious sense of his own -nerves and muscles and will weakening along with the power-sinews of -his ship. - -Zost Relyul approached him apologetically. "If you have time, -Captain--I've got some data on Earth now." - -Eagerly Llud took the sheaf of photographs made with the telescope. But -they told him nothing; only the continental outlines were clear, and -those were as they had been nine hundred years ago.... He looked up -inquiringly at Zost Relyul. - -"There are some strange features," said the astronomer carefully. -"First of all--there are no lights on the night side. And on the -daylight face, our highest magnification should already reveal traces -of cities, canals, and the like--but it does not. - -"The prevailing color of the land masses, you see, is the normal -green vegetation. But the diffraction spectrum is queer. It indicates -reflecting surfaces less than one-tenth millimeter wide--so the -vegetation there can't be trees or grass, but must be more like a fine -moss or even a coarse mold." - -"Is that all?" demanded Llud. - -"Isn't it enough?" said Zost Relyul blankly. "Well--we tried -photography by invisible light, of course. The infra-red shows nothing -and likewise the ultraviolet up to the point where the atmosphere is -opaque to it." - -The captain sighed wearily. "Good work," he said. "Keep it up; perhaps -you can answer some of these riddles before--" - -"_We know who you are_," interrupted a harshly crackling voice with a -strange accent, "_and pleading will do you no good._" - - * * * * * - -Knof Llud whirled to the radio apparatus, his weariness dropping from -him once more. He snapped, "But who are you?" and the words blended -absurdly with the same words in his own voice on the still repeating -tape. - -He snapped off the record; as he did so the speaker, still crackling -with space static, said, "It may interest you to know that you are the -last. The two other interstellar expeditions that went out have already -returned and been destroyed, as you will soon be--the sooner, if you -continue toward Earth." - -Knof Llud's mind was clicking again. The voice--which must be coming -from Earth, relayed by one of the midget ships--was not very smart; it -had already involuntarily told him a couple of things--that it was not -as sure of itself as it sounded he deduced from the fact it had deigned -to speak at all, and from its last remark he gathered that the _Quest -III's_ ponderous and unswerving progress toward Earth had somehow -frightened it. So it was trying to frighten them. - -He shoved those facts back for future use. Just now he had to know -something, so vitally that he asked it as a bald question, "_Are you -human?_" - -The voice chuckled sourly. "We are human," it answered, "but you are -not." - -The captain was momentarily silent, groping for an adequate reply. -Behind him somebody made a choked noise, the only sound in the stunned -hush, and the ship jarred slightly as a thunderbolt slammed vengefully -into its field. - -"Suppose we settle this argument about humanity," said Knof Llud -woodenly. He named a vision frequency. - -"Very well." The tone was like a shrug. The voice went on in its -language that was quite intelligible, but alien-sounding with the -changes that nine hundred years had wrought. "Perhaps, if you realize -your position, you will follow the intelligent example of the _Quest -I's_ commander." - -Knof Llud stiffened. The _Quest I_, launched toward Arcturus and the -star cloud called Berenice's Hair, had been after the _Quest III_ the -most hopeful of the expeditions--and its captain had been a good friend -of Llud's, nine hundred years ago.... He growled, "What happened to -him?" - -"He fought off our interceptors, which are around you now, for some -time," said the voice lightly. "When he saw that it was hopeless, he -preferred suicide to defeat, and took his ship into the Sun." A short -pause. "The vision connection is ready." - -Knof Llud switched on the screen at the named wavelength, and a -picture formed there. The face and figure that appeared were ugly, -but undeniably a man's. His features and his light-brown skin showed -the same racial characteristics possessed by those aboard the _Quest -III_, but he had an elusive look of deformity. Most obviously, his head -seemed too big for his body, and his eyes in turn too big for his head. - -He grinned nastily at Knof Llud. "Have you any other last wishes?" - -"Yes," said Llud with icy control. "You haven't answered one question. -Why do you want to kill us? You can see we're as human as you are." - -The big-headed man eyed him with a speculative look in his great -eyes, behind which the captain glimpsed the flickering raw fire of a -poisonous hatred. - -"It is enough for you to know that you must die." - -[Illustration: "_It is enough for you to know that you must die._"] - - * * * * * - -Llud frowned darkly--then an incredible light burst in his brain. -He stared at the pictured figure with quite new and indescribable -sensations. "You," he said slowly, "are not on Earth, as I was -assuming; if you were, there'd be a time lag of quite a few minutes -in this conversation. You must be on one of those miniature ships out -there--which aren't big enough to hold a man!" - -He saw the uncanny hate flare closer to the surface this time. - -"You are clever," said the big-headed man spitefully. "Very well, -then--in your screen you see some of the differences between me, who am -human, and you, who are not any more. The main difference, which you do -not see, is that I am three point sixty-two millimeters high, and you -are more like two meters." - -Knof Llud was speechless. The man who had just said he was an eighth -of an inch tall grinned unpleasantly again at his amazement. "Yes," he -said. "I am one of the New Humanity, which has replaced your kind on -the Earth. You are the last of the old, subhuman race of giants, which -will very shortly be extinct." - -"It's impossible," whispered Llud. But he had to remember that he had -been on the verge of deducing the thing himself. - -The little man folded his arms and gazed at him with mocking -superiority. "You have the mentality of nine hundred years ago. Your -age would have called size reduction impossible, even though they -already had most of the biophysical and genetic knowledge needed. They -suffered from increasing overpopulation, but they were blind to the -obvious answer--so Earth went through the wasteful folly of launching -the interstellar ships. We are descended from dull-witted giants like -you." - -Cautiously, out of sight of the screen, Llud extended a hand and found -a pad of memo blanks and a pencil. Without taking his eyes off the -magnified, bragging image, he began to write. He thought he had the -answer now to this murderous welcome. - -"_We_ have found the solution of the problem of growth," the image was -saying. "For seven hundred years now, each generation has been smaller -than the one before, so that there is constantly more room on the -planet, relatively speaking; and the process still goes on. There are -six hundred trillion of us on Earth now. In another two generations -there will be a quadrillion human beings only two millimeters tall--and -no overcrowding. - -"But," the little man snarled venomously, "we have no room for you -giants!" - -Knof Llud sighed. The sagging lines of his face were calculated to -reassure the other and his superiors on Earth, to whom the sight-sound -conversation was undoubtedly being relayed. Llud said tiredly, "But -you don't have any reason for destroying us. Why not let us land on -one of the worthless outer planets, and make an attempt to live there? -Or, if you will give us a little atomic fuel, we will leave the Solar -System again and trouble you no more. In exchange we have a great deal -of knowledge, data on the stars of the Taurus Cluster and beyond, to -offer...." - - * * * * * - -As he spoke, he was beckoning Gwar Den to him, handing the navigator -the brief order he had scrawled on the pad. - -The little man laughed shortly. "As if we could trust you--or wanted -your worthless knowledge of stars! No, we will not bargain with giants." - -The captain said slowly, for there was still time to be gained in order -that the gamble he had decided on might have its chance, "You're very -sure that you _can_ smash us. Remember, we control gravitic forces, a -science you have evidently lost." - -He saw the look of sneering triumph waver a little; then the image -snapped, "We destroyed the others. Your screen, whatever it is, is not -impenetrable; we have power to break through it." - -That was true, of course. The drive-field would collapse when the fuel -ran out, desperately soon now. - -Llud started to speak again; then he felt the nearly imperceptible -lurch that meant the _Quest III_ had applied a terrific acceleration at -an angle to its line of flight. Gwar Den had done a quick job. - -The impacts of enemy fire ceased; the ship's abrupt swerve had -temporarily shaken off its rocket-driven tormentors. - -Almost simultaneously the image on the screen looked startled. The -man turned as if listening to some one else. "So you've begun a -frantic attempt to dodge. It won't help you--" His jaw dropped and -he listened again; this time he was a little longer overcoming his -surprise. Knof Llud knew what the second message had been as surely as -if he had been there--that the _Quest III_, far from doubling back, was -still heading for Earth, from a slightly different angle, and was even -accelerating. The side thrust had already ceased. That expenditure of -fuel reduced the chances, but it had to be risked. - -The little man faced Knof Llud again and smiled savagely. "Whatever -you're trying, we're ready for you!" - -"No doubt," thought the captain with some satisfaction. He sat up -straighter and gazed at the little man. His discouraged air was gone -and the look in his eyes was the distillate of cold, searing scorn. He -said, biting off the words with deliberate emphasis, to that one and -the others who would be listening, "You pitiful pigmies." - -The face in the screen grew darker with rage; it opened its mouth and -closed it with a snap. - -"You pitiful pigmies," repeated Knof Llud. "You're pigmies not only in -physical size, but in everything else. You've thrown away everything -that made being human worthwhile, all for the sake of your one pigmy -ambition--to multiply your crawling little lives and become more and -more at the same time that you become less and less. You've shrunk into -vermin. In the end you'll probably shrink away to nothing, and good -riddance." - -With sudden change of pace he shot out a question: "What's the longest -wave length of visible light?" - -"2100 angstroms," the answer was mechanical. Then, "You--" - -The captain smiled a smile of weary disdain. "I thought so. Six -hundred trillion of you, eh? Crawling around down there in the dark, -because you see in the far ultraviolet--and the atmosphere stops those -frequencies. You can't see the stars! For thousands of years men -watched the stars and wanted them and were kept trying by sight of -them--but you can't see the stars any more." - -The face stared at him with great eyes full of unspeakable hate, and -spat a word which had not been in the language when the _Quest III_ was -launched. The screen went suddenly blank. - - * * * * * - -Knof Llud turned away, and his eyes fell on another vision screen. -Earth was clear in it, dead ahead, a disk so near that land and sea -were distinguishable with the naked eye, and coming rapidly nearer. The -sight cost him a moment's nostalgic pain; then he thought of the little -men, swarming ant-like over every square foot of habitable land.... -Vermin he had called them; vermin they were. - -He found himself, for no sensible reason, counting seconds. He had -got to seventeen when the screen that showed Earth dissolved into a -featureless and blinding glare. - -At the same instant a force too tremendous for the senses to register -smote the _Quest III_. The interior of the ship, everything and -everyone in it seemed to stretch and distort like rubber as the -gravitic field was strained beyond its elastic limit. The lights went -out as the drive units claimed the last erg of available energy and -shrieked their overloaded protest through the crushing and twisted -darkness. - -But then the lights went on again and the ship was hurtling free in -space. Its people picked themselves up dazedly and tried to understand -why they were still alive. - -"Gee, Dad," young Knof said admiringly as he dabbed at a blackening -eye, "what did you do?" - -"_I_ didn't do much," said the captain. "The fireworks were from our -little friends. I just took your advice about getting the other fellow -mad, and it worked. They just shut their eyes and swung with everything -they had." - -The boy gazed at the vision screen where the Sun was already a star -again. He whistled. "They had plenty." - -"I thought the heavy artillery must be ready on Earth in case we kept -going that way. It was--enough of it to knock us right out of the -System at close to the speed of light. Just how close I don't know -yet ... ah." He took a couple of sheets of figures from the hands of -Gwar Den, and devoured them rapidly. He nodded with satisfaction to the -anxious faces around. "We must have been hit simultaneously by fire -from all over one hemisphere--and the forces' resultant, which is now -our course, came out as I had hoped.... Our velocity is close enough; -the journey will take about fourteen years, ship's time, but most of us -can expect to live that long--" - -"Where are we going?" demanded Knof Jr., unable to contain his -curiosity. - -Captain Knof Llud smiled down at his son with a touch of wistfulness. -The memory of Earth, dwindling into infinite smallness behind, still -hurt him; but young Knof would never know that hurt. And, after -fourteen years, the captain would be about ready to leave his dream in -younger hands.... He laid an arm about the boy's shoulders and pointed -silently to the forward vision screen, to a faint blurred light dead in -its center. - -"Omega Centauri," he said, and there was a new confidence in his voice. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIANTS RETURN *** - -***** This file should be named 63899-0.txt or 63899-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/8/9/63899/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: The Giants Return - -Author: Robert Abernathy - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63899] - -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 GIANTS RETURN *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE GIANTS RETURN</h1> - -<h2>By ROBERT ABERNATHY</h2> - -<p>Earth set itself grimly to meet them with<br /> -corrosive fire, determined to blast them<br /> -back to the stars. But they erred in thinking<br /> -the Old Ones were too big to be clever.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Fall 1949.<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>In the last hours the star ahead had grown brighter by many magnitudes, -and had changed its color from a dazzling blue through white to the -normal yellow, of a GO sun. That was the Doppler effect as the star's -radial velocity changed relative to the <i>Quest III</i>, as for forty hours -the ship had decelerated.</p> - -<p>They had seen many such stars come near out of the galaxy's glittering -backdrop, and had seen them dwindle, turn red and go out as the <i>Quest -III</i> drove on its way once more, lashed by despair toward the speed of -light, leaving behind the mockery of yet another solitary and lifeless -luminary unaccompanied by worlds where men might dwell. They had grown -sated with the sight of wonders—of multiple systems of giant stars, of -nebulae that sprawled in empty flame across light years.</p> - -<p>But now unwonted excitement possessed the hundred-odd members of the -<i>Quest III's</i> crew. It was a subdued excitement; men and women, they -came and stood quietly gazing into the big vision screens that showed -the oncoming star, and there were wide-eyed children who had been born -in the ship and had never seen a planet. The grownups talked in low -voices, in tones of mingled eagerness and apprehension, of what might -lie at the long journey's end. For the <i>Quest III</i> was coming home; the -sun ahead was <i>the</i> Sun, whose rays had warmed their lives' beginning.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Knof Llud, the <i>Quest III's</i> captain, came slowly down the narrow -stair from the observatory, into the big rotunda that was now the main -recreation room, where most of the people gathered. The great chamber, -a full cross-section of the vessel, had been at first a fuel hold. At -the voyage's beginning eighty per cent of the fifteen-hundred-foot -cylinder had been engines and fuel; but as the immense stores were -spent and the holds became radioactively safe, the crew had spread -out from its original cramped quarters. Now the interstellar ship was -little more than a hollow shell.</p> - -<p>Eyes lifted from the vision screens to interrogate Knof Llud; he met -them with an impassive countenance, and announced quietly, "We've -sighted Earth."</p> - -<p>A feverish buzz arose; the captain gestured for silence and went on, -"It is still only a featureless disk to the telescope. Zost Relyul has -identified it—no more."</p> - -<p>But this time the clamor was not to be settled. People pressed round -the screens, peering into them as if with the naked eye they could -pick out the atom of reflected light that was Earth, home. They wrung -each other's hands, kissed, shouted, wept. For the present their fears -were forgotten and exaltation prevailed.</p> - -<p>Knof Llud smiled wryly. The rest of the little speech he had been about -to make didn't matter anyway, and it might have spoiled this moment.</p> - -<p>He turned to go, and was halted by the sight of his wife, standing at -his elbow. His wry smile took on warmth; he asked, "How do <i>you</i> feel, -Lesra?"</p> - -<p>She drew an uncertain breath and released it in a faint sigh. "I don't -know. It's good that Earth's still there." She was thinking, he judged -shrewdly, of Knof Jr. and Delza, who save from pictures could not -remember sunlit skies or grassy fields or woods in summer....</p> - -<p>He said, with a touch of tolerant amusement, "What did you think might -have happened to Earth? After all, it's only been nine hundred years."</p> - -<p>"That's just it," said Lesra shakily. "Nine hundred years have gone -by—<i>there</i>—and nothing will be the same. It won't be the same world -we left, the world we knew and fitted in...."</p> - -<p>The captain put an arm round her with comforting pressure. "Don't -worry. Things may have changed—but we'll manage." But his face had -hardened against registering the gnawing of that same doubtful fear -within him. He let his arm fall. "I'd better get up to the bridge. -There's a new course to be set now—for Earth."</p> - -<p>He left her and began to climb the stairway again. Someone switched -off the lights, and a charmed whisper ran through the big room as the -people saw each other's faces by the pale golden light of Earth's own -Sun, mirrored and multiplied by the screens. In that light Lesra's eyes -gleamed with unshed tears.</p> - -<p>Captain Llud found Navigator Gwar Den looking as smug as the cat -that ate the canary. Gwar Den was finding that the actual observed -positions of the planets thus far located agreed quite closely with -his extrapolations from long unused charts of the Solar System. He had -already set up on the calculator a course that would carry them to -Earth.</p> - -<p>Llud nodded curt approval, remarking, "Probably we'll be intercepted -before we get that far."</p> - -<p>Den was jolted out of his happy abstraction. "Uh, Captain," he said -hesitantly. "What kind of a reception do you suppose we'll get?"</p> - -<p>Llud shook his head slowly. "Who knows? We don't know whether any -of the other <i>Quests</i> returned successful, or if they returned at -all. And we don't know what changes have taken place on Earth. It's -possible—not likely, though—that something has happened to break -civilization's continuity to the point where our expedition has been -forgotten altogether."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He turned away grim-lipped and left the bridge. From his private -office-cabin, he sent a message to Chief Astronomer Zost Relyul to -notify him as soon as Earth's surface features became clear; then he -sat idle, alone with his thoughts.</p> - -<p>The ship's automatic mechanisms had scant need of tending; Knof Llud -found himself wishing that he could find some back-breaking task for -everyone on board, himself included, to fill up the hours that remained.</p> - -<p>There was an extensive and well-chosen film library in the cabin, but -he couldn't persuade himself to kill time that way. He could go down -and watch the screens, or to the family apartment where he might find -Lesra and the children—but somehow he didn't want to do that either.</p> - -<p>He felt empty, drained—like his ship. As the <i>Quest III's</i> fuel stores -and the hope of success in man's mightiest venture had dwindled, so the -strength had gone out of him. Now the last fuel compartment was almost -empty and Captain Knof Llud felt tired and old.</p> - -<p>Perhaps, he thought, he was feeling the weight of his nine hundred -Earth years—though physically he was only forty now, ten years older -than when the voyage had begun. That was the foreshortening along the -time axis of a space ship approaching the speed of light. Weeks and -months had passed for the <i>Quest III</i> in interstellar flight while -years and decades had raced by on the home world.</p> - -<p>Bemusedly Llud got to his feet and stood surveying a cabinet with -built-in voice recorder and pigeonholes for records. There were about -three dozen film spools there—his personal memoirs of the great -expedition, a segment of his life and of history. He might add that to -the ship's official log and its collections of scientific data, as a -report to whatever powers might be on Earth now—if such powers were -still interested.</p> - -<p>Llud selected a spool from among the earliest. It was one he had made -shortly after leaving Procyon, end of the first leg of the trip. He -slid it onto the reproducer.</p> - -<p>His own voice came from the speaker, fresher, more vibrant and -confident than he knew it was now.</p> - -<p>"One light-day out from Procyon, the thirty-third day by ship's time -since leaving Earth.</p> - -<p>"Our visit to Procyon drew a blank. There is only one huge planet, twice -the size of Jupiter, and like Jupiter utterly unfit to support a colony.</p> - -<p>"Our hopes were dashed—and I think all of us, even remembering the -Centaurus Expedition's failure, hoped more than we cared to admit. If -Procyon had possessed a habitable planet, we could have returned after -an absence of not much over twenty years Earth time.</p> - -<p>"It is cheering to note that the crew seems only more resolute. We go -on to Capella; its spectrum, so like our own Sun's, beckons. If success -comes there, a century will have passed before we can return to Earth; -friends, relatives, all the generation that launched the <i>Quest</i> ships -will be long since dead. Nevertheless we go on. Our generation's dream, -humanity's dream, lives in us and in the ship forever...."</p> - -<p>Presently Knof Llud switched off that younger voice of his and leaned -back, an ironic smile touching his lips. That fervent idealism seemed -remote and foreign to him now. The fanfares of departure must still -have been ringing in his ears.</p> - -<p>He rose, slipped the record back in its niche and picked out another, -later, one.</p> - -<p>"One week since we passed close enough to Aldebaran to ascertain that -that system, too, is devoid of planets.</p> - -<p>"We face the unpleasant realization that what was feared is probably -true—that worlds such as the Sun's are a rare accident, and that we -may complete our search without finding even one new Earth.</p> - -<p>"It makes no difference, of course; we cannot betray the plan.... -This may be man's last chance of escaping his pitiful limitation to -one world in all the Universe. Certainly the building of this ship -and its two sisters, the immense expenditure of time and labor and -energy stores that went into them, left Earth's economy drained and -exhausted. Only once in a long age does mankind rise to such a selfless -and transcendent effort—the effort of Egypt that built the pyramids, -or the war efforts of the nations in the last great conflicts of the -twentieth century.</p> - -<p>"Looked at historically, such super-human outbursts of energy are -the result of a population's outgrowing its room and resources, and -therefore signalize the beginning of the end. Population can be -limited, but the price is a deadly frustration, because growth alone is -life.... In our day the end of man's room for growth on the Earth was -in sight—so we launched the <i>Quests</i>. Perhaps our effort will prove as -futile as pyramid-building, less practical than orgies of slaughter to -reduce pressure.... In any case, it would be impossible to transport -very many people to other stars; but Earth could at least go into -its decline with the knowledge that its race went onward and upward, -expanding limitlessly into the Universe....</p> - -<p>"Hopeless, unless we find planets!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Knof Llud shook his head sorrowfully and took off the spool. That -was from the time when he had grown philosophical after the first -disappointments.</p> - -<p>He frowned thoughtfully, choosing one more spool that was only four -years old. The recorded voice sounded weary, yet alive with a strange -longing....</p> - -<p>"We are in the heart of Pleiades; a hundred stars show brilliant on -the screens, each star encircled by a misty halo like lights glowing -through fog, for we are traversing a vast diffuse nebula.</p> - -<p>"According to plan, the <i>Quest III</i> has reached its furthest point from -Earth. Now we turn back along a curve that will take us past many more -stars and stellar systems—but hope is small that any of those will -prove a home for man, as have none of the thousands of stars examined -already.</p> - -<p>"But what are a few thousand stars in a galaxy of billions? We have -only, as it were, visited a handful of the outlying villages of the -Universe, while the lights of its great cities still blaze far ahead -along the Milky Way.</p> - -<p>"On flimsy excuses I have had Zost Relyul make observations of the -globular cluster Omega Centauri. There are a hundred thousand stars -there in a volume of space where one finds a few dozen in the Sun's -neighborhood; there if anywhere must circle the planets we seek! But -Omega Centauri is twenty thousand light years away....</p> - -<p>"Even so—by expending its remaining fuel freely, the <i>Quest III</i> could -achieve a velocity that would take us there without dying of senility -of aging too greatly. It would be a one-way journey—even if enough -fuel remained, there would be little point in returning to Earth after -more than forty thousand years. By then our civilization certainly, and -perhaps the human race itself, would have perished from memory.</p> - -<p>"That was why the planners limited our voyage, and those of the other -<i>Quests</i>, to less than a thousand years Earth time. Even now, according -to the sociodynamic predictions made then, our civilization—if the -other expeditions failed also—will have reached a dangerously unstable -phase, and before we can get back it may have collapsed completely from -overpopulation.</p> - -<p>"Why go back, then with the news of our failure? Why not forget about -Earth and go on to Omega Centauri? What use is quixotic loyalty to a -decree five thousand years old, whose makers are dead and which may be -forgotten back there?</p> - -<p>"Would the crew be willing? I don't know—some of them still show signs -of homesickness, though they know with their minds that everything that -was once 'home' has probably been swept away....</p> - -<p>"It doesn't matter. Today I gave orders to swing the ship."</p> - -<p>Savagely Knof Llud stabbed the button that shut off the speaker. Then -he sat for a time with head resting in his hands, staring into nothing.</p> - -<p>The memory of that fierce impulse to go on still had power to shake -him. A couple of lines of poetry came into his head, as he read them -once in translation from the ancient English....</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>... for my purpose holds</i></div> - <div class="verse"><i>To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths</i></div> - <div class="verse"><i>Of all the western stars, until I die.</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Llud sighed. He still couldn't say just why he had given the order to -turn back. The stars had claimed his heart—but he was still a part of -Earth, and not even nine hundred years of space and time had been able -to alter that.</p> - -<p>He wondered if there would still be a quiet stream and a green -shady place beside it where a death-weary man, relieved at last of -responsibility, could rest and dream no more.... Those things went -on, if men didn't change them. And a pine forest where he and young -Knof could go camping, and lie on their backs at night and gaze at the -glittering constellations, far away, out of reach.... He wasn't sure he -would want to do that, though.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a faint cushioned jar went through the great ship; it seemed -to falter one moment in flight.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The captain was on his feet instantly, but then his movements became -unhurried. Whatever it had been was past, and he had a good idea -what it had been—a meteoroid, nothing unusual in the vicinity of -the Sun, though in interstellar space and around planetless stars -such collisions were rare to the vanishing point. No harm could have -been done. The <i>Quest III's</i> collision armor was nonmaterial and for -practical purposes invulnerable.</p> - -<p>Just as he took his finger off the button that opened the door, the -intercommunication phone shrilled imperatively. Knof Llud wheeled, -frowning—surely a meteoroid impact wasn't that serious. Coincidence, -maybe—it might be Zost Relyul calling as instructed.</p> - -<p>He reached the phone at the moment when another, heavier jolt shook -the vessel. Llud snatched up the receiver with the speed of a scalded -cat.</p> - -<p>"Captain?" It was Gwar Den's voice, stammering a little. "Captain, -we're being attacked!"</p> - -<p>"Sound the alarm. Emergency stations." He had said it automatically, -then felt a curious detached relief at the knowledge that after all -these years he could still respond quickly and smoothly to a crisis. -There was a moment's silence, and he heard the alarm start—three -short buzzes and repeat, ringing through all the great length of the -interstellar ship. Knowing that Gwar Den was still there, he said, -"Now—attacked by what?"</p> - -<p>"Ships," said Gwar Den helplessly. "Five of them so far. No, there's a -sixth now." Repeated blows quivered the <i>Quest III's</i> framework. The -navigator said, obviously striving for calm, "They're light craft, not -fifty feet long, but they move fast. The detectors hardly had time to -show them before they opened up. Can't get a telescope beam on them -long enough to tell much."</p> - -<p>"If they're that small," said Knof Llud deliberately, "they can't carry -anything heavy enough to hurt us. Hold to course. I'll be right up."</p> - -<p>In the open doorway he almost fell over his son. Young Knof's eyes were -big; he had heard his father's words.</p> - -<p>"Something's happened," he judged with deadly twelve-year-old -seriousness and, without wasting time on questions, "Can I go with you, -huh, Dad?"</p> - -<p>Llud hesitated, said, "All right. Come along and keep out of the way." -He headed for the bridge with strides that the boy could not match.</p> - -<p>There were people running in the corridors, heading for their posts. -Their faces were set, scared, uncomprehending. The <i>Quest III</i> -shuddered, again and again, under blows that must have had millions -of horsepower behind them; but it plunged on toward Earth, its mighty -engines still steadily braking its interstellar velocity.</p> - -<p>To a man, the ship's responsible officers were already on the bridge, -most of them breathless. To a man they looked appeal at Captain Knof -Llud.</p> - -<p>"Well?" he snapped. "What are they doing?"</p> - -<p>Gwar Den spoke. "There are thirteen of them out there now, sir, and -they're all banging away at us."</p> - -<p>The captain stared into the black star-strewn depths of a vision screen -where occasional blue points of light winked ominously, never twice -from the same position.</p> - -<p>Knof Jr. flattened himself against the metal wall and watched silently. -His young face was less anxious than his elders'; he had confidence in -his father.</p> - -<p>"If they had anything heavier," surmised the captain, "they'd have -unlimbered it by now. They're out to get us. But at this rate, they -can't touch us as long as our power lasts—or until they bring up some -bigger stuff."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The mild shocks went on—whether from projectiles or energy-charges, -would be hard to find out and it didn't matter; whatever was hitting -the <i>Quest III's</i> shell was doing it at velocities where the -distinction between matter and radiation practically ceases to exist.</p> - -<p>But that shell was tough. It was an extension of the gravitic drive -field which transmitted the engines' power equally to every atom of -the ship; forces impinging on the outside of the field were similarly -transmitted and rendered harmless. The effect was as if the vessel and -all space inside its field were a single perfectly elastic body. A -meteoroid, for example, on striking it rebounded—usually vaporized by -the impact—and the ship, in obedience to the law of equal and opposite -forces, rebounded too, but since its mass was so much greater, its -deflection was negligible.</p> - -<p>The people in the <i>Quest III</i> would have felt nothing at all of -the vicious onslaught being hurled against them, save that their -inertialess drive, at its normal thrust of two hundred gravities, -was intentionally operated at one half of one per cent efficiency to -provide the illusion of Earthly gravitation.</p> - -<p>One of the officers said shakily, "It's as if they've been lying in -wait for us. But why on Earth—"</p> - -<p>"That," said the captain grimly, "is what we have to find out. Why—on -Earth. At least, I suspect the answer's there."</p> - -<p>The <i>Quest III</i> bored steadily on through space, decelerating. Even if -one were no fatalist, there seemed no reason to stop decelerating or -change course. There was nowhere else to go and too little fuel left -if there had been; come what might, this was journey's end—perhaps -in a more violent and final way than had been anticipated. All around -wheeled the pigmy enemies, circling, maneuvering, and attacking, -always attacking, with the senseless fury of maddened hornets. The -interstellar ship bore no offensive weapons—but suddenly on one of the -vision screens a speck of light flared into nova-brilliance, dazzling -the watchers for the brief moment in which its very atoms were torn -apart.</p> - -<p>Knof Jr. whooped ecstatically and then subsided warily, but no one was -paying attention to him. The men on the <i>Quest III's</i> bridge looked -questions at each other, as the thought of help from outside flashed -into many minds at once. But Captain Llud said soberly, "It must have -caught one of their own shots, reflected. Maybe its own, if it scored -too direct a hit."</p> - -<p>He studied the data so far gathered. A few blurred pictures had been -got, which showed cylindrical space ships much like the <i>Quest III</i>, -except that they were rocket-propelled and of far lesser size. Their -size was hard to ascertain, because you needed to know their distance -and speed—but detector-beam echoes gave the distance, and likewise, by -the Doppler method, the velocity of directly receding or approaching -ships. It was apparent that the enemy vessels were even smaller than -Gwar Den had at first supposed—not large enough to hold even one man. -Tiny, deadly hornets with a colossal sting.</p> - -<p>"Robot craft, no doubt," said Knof Llud, but a chill ran down his spine -as it occurred to him that perhaps the attackers weren't of human -origin. They had seen no recognizable life in the part of the galaxy -they had explored, but one of the other <i>Quests</i> might have encountered -and been traced home by some unhuman race that was greedy and able to -conquer.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It became evident, too, that the bombardment was being kept up by a -constant arrival of fresh attackers, while others raced away into -space, presumably returning to base to replenish their ammunition. That -argued a planned and prepared interception with virulent hatred behind -it.</p> - -<p>Elsuz Llug, the gravitic engineer, calculated dismally, "At the rate -we're having to shed energy, the fuel will be gone in six or eight -hours."</p> - -<p>"We'll have reached Earth before then," Gwar Den said hopefully.</p> - -<p>"If they don't bring out the heavy artillery first."</p> - -<p>"We're under the psychological disadvantage," said the captain, "of not -knowing why we're being attacked."</p> - -<p>Knof Jr. burst out, spluttering slightly with the violence of a -thought too important to suppress, "But we're under a ps-psychological -advantage, too!"</p> - -<p>His father raised an eyebrow. "What's that? I don't seem to have -noticed it."</p> - -<p>"They're mad and we aren't, yet," said the boy. Then, seeing that he -hadn't made himself clear, "In a fight, if a guy gets mad he starts -swinging wild and then you nail him."</p> - -<p>Smiles splintered the ice of tension. Captain Llud said, "Maybe you've -got something there. They seem to be mad, all right. But we're not in -a position to throw any punches." He turned back to the others. "As I -was going to say—I think we'd better try to parley with the enemy. At -least we may find out who he is and why he's determined to smash us."</p> - -<p>And now instead of tight-beam detectors the ship was broadcasting on an -audio carrier wave that shifted through a wide range of frequencies, -repeating on each the same brief recorded message:</p> - -<p>"Who are you? What do you want? We are the interstellar expedition -<i>Quest III</i>...." And so on, identifying themselves and protesting that -they were unarmed and peaceful, that there must be some mistake, and -querying again, "Who are <i>you</i>?"</p> - -<p>There was no answer. The ship drove on, its fuel trickling away under -multiplied demands. Those outside were squandering vastly greater -amounts of energy in the effort to batter down its defenses, but -converting that energy into harmless gravitic impulses was costing the -<i>Quest III</i> too. Once more Knof Llud had the insidious sense of his own -nerves and muscles and will weakening along with the power-sinews of -his ship.</p> - -<p>Zost Relyul approached him apologetically. "If you have time, -Captain—I've got some data on Earth now."</p> - -<p>Eagerly Llud took the sheaf of photographs made with the telescope. But -they told him nothing; only the continental outlines were clear, and -those were as they had been nine hundred years ago.... He looked up -inquiringly at Zost Relyul.</p> - -<p>"There are some strange features," said the astronomer carefully. -"First of all—there are no lights on the night side. And on the -daylight face, our highest magnification should already reveal traces -of cities, canals, and the like—but it does not.</p> - -<p>"The prevailing color of the land masses, you see, is the normal -green vegetation. But the diffraction spectrum is queer. It indicates -reflecting surfaces less than one-tenth millimeter wide—so the -vegetation there can't be trees or grass, but must be more like a fine -moss or even a coarse mold."</p> - -<p>"Is that all?" demanded Llud.</p> - -<p>"Isn't it enough?" said Zost Relyul blankly. "Well—we tried -photography by invisible light, of course. The infra-red shows nothing -and likewise the ultraviolet up to the point where the atmosphere is -opaque to it."</p> - -<p>The captain sighed wearily. "Good work," he said. "Keep it up; perhaps -you can answer some of these riddles before—"</p> - -<p>"<i>We know who you are</i>," interrupted a harshly crackling voice with a -strange accent, "<i>and pleading will do you no good.</i>"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Knof Llud whirled to the radio apparatus, his weariness dropping from -him once more. He snapped, "But who are you?" and the words blended -absurdly with the same words in his own voice on the still repeating -tape.</p> - -<p>He snapped off the record; as he did so the speaker, still crackling -with space static, said, "It may interest you to know that you are the -last. The two other interstellar expeditions that went out have already -returned and been destroyed, as you will soon be—the sooner, if you -continue toward Earth."</p> - -<p>Knof Llud's mind was clicking again. The voice—which must be coming -from Earth, relayed by one of the midget ships—was not very smart; it -had already involuntarily told him a couple of things—that it was not -as sure of itself as it sounded he deduced from the fact it had deigned -to speak at all, and from its last remark he gathered that the <i>Quest -III's</i> ponderous and unswerving progress toward Earth had somehow -frightened it. So it was trying to frighten them.</p> - -<p>He shoved those facts back for future use. Just now he had to know -something, so vitally that he asked it as a bald question, "<i>Are you -human?</i>"</p> - -<p>The voice chuckled sourly. "We are human," it answered, "but you are -not."</p> - -<p>The captain was momentarily silent, groping for an adequate reply. -Behind him somebody made a choked noise, the only sound in the stunned -hush, and the ship jarred slightly as a thunderbolt slammed vengefully -into its field.</p> - -<p>"Suppose we settle this argument about humanity," said Knof Llud -woodenly. He named a vision frequency.</p> - -<p>"Very well." The tone was like a shrug. The voice went on in its -language that was quite intelligible, but alien-sounding with the -changes that nine hundred years had wrought. "Perhaps, if you realize -your position, you will follow the intelligent example of the <i>Quest -I's</i> commander."</p> - -<p>Knof Llud stiffened. The <i>Quest I</i>, launched toward Arcturus and the -star cloud called Berenice's Hair, had been after the <i>Quest III</i> the -most hopeful of the expeditions—and its captain had been a good friend -of Llud's, nine hundred years ago.... He growled, "What happened to -him?"</p> - -<p>"He fought off our interceptors, which are around you now, for some -time," said the voice lightly. "When he saw that it was hopeless, he -preferred suicide to defeat, and took his ship into the Sun." A short -pause. "The vision connection is ready."</p> - -<p>Knof Llud switched on the screen at the named wavelength, and a -picture formed there. The face and figure that appeared were ugly, -but undeniably a man's. His features and his light-brown skin showed -the same racial characteristics possessed by those aboard the <i>Quest -III</i>, but he had an elusive look of deformity. Most obviously, his head -seemed too big for his body, and his eyes in turn too big for his head.</p> - -<p>He grinned nastily at Knof Llud. "Have you any other last wishes?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Llud with icy control. "You haven't answered one question. -Why do you want to kill us? You can see we're as human as you are."</p> - -<p>The big-headed man eyed him with a speculative look in his great -eyes, behind which the captain glimpsed the flickering raw fire of a -poisonous hatred.</p> - -<p>"It is enough for you to know that you must die."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>"It is enough for you to know that you must die."</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Llud frowned darkly—then an incredible light burst in his brain. -He stared at the pictured figure with quite new and indescribable -sensations. "You," he said slowly, "are not on Earth, as I was -assuming; if you were, there'd be a time lag of quite a few minutes -in this conversation. You must be on one of those miniature ships out -there—which aren't big enough to hold a man!"</p> - -<p>He saw the uncanny hate flare closer to the surface this time.</p> - -<p>"You are clever," said the big-headed man spitefully. "Very well, -then—in your screen you see some of the differences between me, who am -human, and you, who are not any more. The main difference, which you do -not see, is that I am three point sixty-two millimeters high, and you -are more like two meters."</p> - -<p>Knof Llud was speechless. The man who had just said he was an eighth -of an inch tall grinned unpleasantly again at his amazement. "Yes," he -said. "I am one of the New Humanity, which has replaced your kind on -the Earth. You are the last of the old, subhuman race of giants, which -will very shortly be extinct."</p> - -<p>"It's impossible," whispered Llud. But he had to remember that he had -been on the verge of deducing the thing himself.</p> - -<p>The little man folded his arms and gazed at him with mocking -superiority. "You have the mentality of nine hundred years ago. Your -age would have called size reduction impossible, even though they -already had most of the biophysical and genetic knowledge needed. They -suffered from increasing overpopulation, but they were blind to the -obvious answer—so Earth went through the wasteful folly of launching -the interstellar ships. We are descended from dull-witted giants like -you."</p> - -<p>Cautiously, out of sight of the screen, Llud extended a hand and found -a pad of memo blanks and a pencil. Without taking his eyes off the -magnified, bragging image, he began to write. He thought he had the -answer now to this murderous welcome.</p> - -<p>"<i>We</i> have found the solution of the problem of growth," the image was -saying. "For seven hundred years now, each generation has been smaller -than the one before, so that there is constantly more room on the -planet, relatively speaking; and the process still goes on. There are -six hundred trillion of us on Earth now. In another two generations -there will be a quadrillion human beings only two millimeters tall—and -no overcrowding.</p> - -<p>"But," the little man snarled venomously, "we have no room for you -giants!"</p> - -<p>Knof Llud sighed. The sagging lines of his face were calculated to -reassure the other and his superiors on Earth, to whom the sight-sound -conversation was undoubtedly being relayed. Llud said tiredly, "But -you don't have any reason for destroying us. Why not let us land on -one of the worthless outer planets, and make an attempt to live there? -Or, if you will give us a little atomic fuel, we will leave the Solar -System again and trouble you no more. In exchange we have a great deal -of knowledge, data on the stars of the Taurus Cluster and beyond, to -offer...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As he spoke, he was beckoning Gwar Den to him, handing the navigator -the brief order he had scrawled on the pad.</p> - -<p>The little man laughed shortly. "As if we could trust you—or wanted -your worthless knowledge of stars! No, we will not bargain with giants."</p> - -<p>The captain said slowly, for there was still time to be gained in order -that the gamble he had decided on might have its chance, "You're very -sure that you <i>can</i> smash us. Remember, we control gravitic forces, a -science you have evidently lost."</p> - -<p>He saw the look of sneering triumph waver a little; then the image -snapped, "We destroyed the others. Your screen, whatever it is, is not -impenetrable; we have power to break through it."</p> - -<p>That was true, of course. The drive-field would collapse when the fuel -ran out, desperately soon now.</p> - -<p>Llud started to speak again; then he felt the nearly imperceptible -lurch that meant the <i>Quest III</i> had applied a terrific acceleration at -an angle to its line of flight. Gwar Den had done a quick job.</p> - -<p>The impacts of enemy fire ceased; the ship's abrupt swerve had -temporarily shaken off its rocket-driven tormentors.</p> - -<p>Almost simultaneously the image on the screen looked startled. The -man turned as if listening to some one else. "So you've begun a -frantic attempt to dodge. It won't help you—" His jaw dropped and -he listened again; this time he was a little longer overcoming his -surprise. Knof Llud knew what the second message had been as surely as -if he had been there—that the <i>Quest III</i>, far from doubling back, was -still heading for Earth, from a slightly different angle, and was even -accelerating. The side thrust had already ceased. That expenditure of -fuel reduced the chances, but it had to be risked.</p> - -<p>The little man faced Knof Llud again and smiled savagely. "Whatever -you're trying, we're ready for you!"</p> - -<p>"No doubt," thought the captain with some satisfaction. He sat up -straighter and gazed at the little man. His discouraged air was gone -and the look in his eyes was the distillate of cold, searing scorn. He -said, biting off the words with deliberate emphasis, to that one and -the others who would be listening, "You pitiful pigmies."</p> - -<p>The face in the screen grew darker with rage; it opened its mouth and -closed it with a snap.</p> - -<p>"You pitiful pigmies," repeated Knof Llud. "You're pigmies not only in -physical size, but in everything else. You've thrown away everything -that made being human worthwhile, all for the sake of your one pigmy -ambition—to multiply your crawling little lives and become more and -more at the same time that you become less and less. You've shrunk into -vermin. In the end you'll probably shrink away to nothing, and good -riddance."</p> - -<p>With sudden change of pace he shot out a question: "What's the longest -wave length of visible light?"</p> - -<p>"2100 angstroms," the answer was mechanical. Then, "You—"</p> - -<p>The captain smiled a smile of weary disdain. "I thought so. Six -hundred trillion of you, eh? Crawling around down there in the dark, -because you see in the far ultraviolet—and the atmosphere stops those -frequencies. You can't see the stars! For thousands of years men -watched the stars and wanted them and were kept trying by sight of -them—but you can't see the stars any more."</p> - -<p>The face stared at him with great eyes full of unspeakable hate, and -spat a word which had not been in the language when the <i>Quest III</i> was -launched. The screen went suddenly blank.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Knof Llud turned away, and his eyes fell on another vision screen. -Earth was clear in it, dead ahead, a disk so near that land and sea -were distinguishable with the naked eye, and coming rapidly nearer. The -sight cost him a moment's nostalgic pain; then he thought of the little -men, swarming ant-like over every square foot of habitable land.... -Vermin he had called them; vermin they were.</p> - -<p>He found himself, for no sensible reason, counting seconds. He had -got to seventeen when the screen that showed Earth dissolved into a -featureless and blinding glare.</p> - -<p>At the same instant a force too tremendous for the senses to register -smote the <i>Quest III</i>. The interior of the ship, everything and -everyone in it seemed to stretch and distort like rubber as the -gravitic field was strained beyond its elastic limit. The lights went -out as the drive units claimed the last erg of available energy and -shrieked their overloaded protest through the crushing and twisted -darkness.</p> - -<p>But then the lights went on again and the ship was hurtling free in -space. Its people picked themselves up dazedly and tried to understand -why they were still alive.</p> - -<p>"Gee, Dad," young Knof said admiringly as he dabbed at a blackening -eye, "what did you do?"</p> - -<p>"<i>I</i> didn't do much," said the captain. "The fireworks were from our -little friends. I just took your advice about getting the other fellow -mad, and it worked. They just shut their eyes and swung with everything -they had."</p> - -<p>The boy gazed at the vision screen where the Sun was already a star -again. He whistled. "They had plenty."</p> - -<p>"I thought the heavy artillery must be ready on Earth in case we kept -going that way. It was—enough of it to knock us right out of the -System at close to the speed of light. Just how close I don't know -yet ... ah." He took a couple of sheets of figures from the hands of -Gwar Den, and devoured them rapidly. He nodded with satisfaction to the -anxious faces around. "We must have been hit simultaneously by fire -from all over one hemisphere—and the forces' resultant, which is now -our course, came out as I had hoped.... Our velocity is close enough; -the journey will take about fourteen years, ship's time, but most of us -can expect to live that long—"</p> - -<p>"Where are we going?" demanded Knof Jr., unable to contain his -curiosity.</p> - -<p>Captain Knof Llud smiled down at his son with a touch of wistfulness. -The memory of Earth, dwindling into infinite smallness behind, still -hurt him; but young Knof would never know that hurt. And, after -fourteen years, the captain would be about ready to leave his dream in -younger hands.... He laid an arm about the boy's shoulders and pointed -silently to the forward vision screen, to a faint blurred light dead in -its center.</p> - -<p>"Omega Centauri," he said, and there was a new confidence in his voice.</p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIANTS RETURN *** - -This file should be named 63899-h.htm or 63899-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/8/9/63899/ - -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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