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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..f762660 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63950 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63950) diff --git a/old/63950-h.zip b/old/63950-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 29c9156..0000000 --- a/old/63950-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63950-h/63950-h.htm b/old/63950-h/63950-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 4a8d0e6..0000000 --- a/old/63950-h/63950-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2141 +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 Star Ship, by Poul Anderson. - </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> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Star Ship, by Poul Anderson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Star Ship - -Author: Poul Anderson - -Release Date: December 3, 2020 [EBook #63950] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR SHIP *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>STAR SHIP</h1> - -<h2>By POUL ANDERSON</h2> - -<p>The strangest space-castaways of all! The Terrans<br /> -left their great interstellar ship unmanned in<br /> -a tight orbit around Khazak—descended, all of<br /> -them, in a lifeboat to investigate that weird,<br /> -Iron Age world—<i>and the lifeboat cracked up!</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Fall 1950.<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 class="ph1">I</p> - -<p>With sunset, there was rain. When Dougald Anson brought his boat in to -Krakenau harbor, there was only a vast wet darkness around him.</p> - -<p>He swore in a sulfurous mixture of Krakenaui, Volgazani, and half a -dozen other languages, including some spaceman's Terrestrial, and let -down the sail. The canvas was heavy and awkward in the drenching rain; -it was all he could do to lash it around the boom. Then he picked up -the long wooden sweep and began sculling his boat in toward the dock.</p> - -<p>Lightning flared bluely through the rain, and he saw the great bay in -one livid flash, filled with galleys at anchor and the little schooners -of the fishing fleet. Beyond the wharfs, the land climbed steeply -toward the sky, and he saw the dark mass of the town reaching up to the -citadel on the hilltop. Dark—dark! Hardly a light showed in the gloom.</p> - -<p>What in the name of Shantuzik was up? The waterfront, at least, should -have been alive with torches and music and bawdy merriment. And the -newly installed street lights should have been twinkling along the main -avenues leading up to the castle. Instead Krakenau lay crouched in -night, and—</p> - -<p>He scowled, and drove the light vessel shoreward with rhythmic sweeps -of the long oar. Uneasiness prickled along his spine. It wasn't right. -He'd only been gone a few days. What had happened in the meantime?</p> - -<p>When he reached the pier, he made fast with a quietness unusual to him. -Maybe he was being overcautious. Maybe it was only that the king had -died or some other reason for restrained conduct had arisen. But a man -didn't spend years warring among the pirates of the outer islands and -the neighboring kingdoms around Krakenau without learning to be careful.</p> - -<p>He ducked under the awning in the bows which was the boat's only -shelter, and got a towel from the sea chest and rubbed his rain-wet -body dry. He'd only been wearing a tattered pair of breeches, and the -water ran along his ribs and down his flanks. Then he shrugged on a -tunic, and a coat of ring-mail over that. A flat-bladed sword at his -side and a helmet over his long yellow hair completed his outfit. He -felt secure now, and jumped up to the pier.</p> - -<p>For a moment he stood in thought. The steady rain washed down over -his leather cape, blurring vision a few meters away, and only the -intermittent flicker of lightning broke the darkness. Where to go? -His father's house was the logical place, perhaps. But the Masefield -dwelling was a little closer to here, and Ellen—</p> - -<p>He grinned and set out at a long stride. Masefield's be it.</p> - -<p>The street onto which he turned opened before him like a tunnel of -night. The high steep-roofed houses lay dark on either side, walling it -in, and the fluoroglobes were unlit. When the lightning blinked, the -wet cobblestones gleamed; otherwise there was only darkness and rain.</p> - -<p>He passed one of the twisting alleys, and glanced at it with automatic -caution. The next instant he had thrown himself to the ground, and the -javelin whipped through the place where his belly had been.</p> - -<p>He rolled over and bounded to his feet, crouched low, the sword whining -out of its scabbard into his hand. Four Khazaki sprang from the alley -and darted at him.</p> - -<p>Dougald Anson grunted, backed up against a wall. The natives were armed -and mailed, they were warriors, and they had all the unhuman swiftness -of their species. Four of them—!</p> - -<p>The leading attacker met his sword in a clang of steel. Dougald let him -come lunging in, took the cut on his mailed ribs, and swept his own -weapon murderously out. Faster than a man could think, the Khazaki had -his own blade up to parry the sweeping blow. But he wasn't quite fast -enough; he met it at an awkward angle and the Terrestrial's sheer power -sent the sword spinning from his hand. The hand went too, a fractional -second later, and he screamed and fell back and away.</p> - -<p>The others were upon Anson. For moments it was parry and slash, three -against one, with no time to feel afraid or notice the cuts in his arms -and legs. A remote part of his brain told him bleakly: This is all. -<i>You're finished. No lone Earthling ever stood up long to more than two -Khazaki.</i> But he hardly noticed.</p> - -<p>Suddenly there were only two in front of him. He darted forth from -the wall, his sword crashing down with all the power of his huge body -behind it. The warrior tried to skip aside—too late. The tremendous -blow smashed his own parry down and sang in his skullbones.</p> - -<p>And the last of the attackers died. He tumbled over beside the second, -and each of them had a feathered shaft between his ribs.</p> - -<p>The bowman came loping through the rain. He paused, in typical Khazak -fashion, to slit the throat of the wounded being, and then came up to -where Dougald Anson stood panting.</p> - -<p>The human strained through the rainy dark. Lightning glimmered in the -sky, and he recognized the newcomer. "Janazik!"</p> - -<p>"And Anson," nodded the Khazaki. His sharp white teeth gleamed in his -shadowed face. "You seem to have met a warm welcome."</p> - -<p>"Too warm. But—thanks!" Anson bent over the nearest of the corpses, -and only now did the realization penetrate his brain. They all wore -black mail of a certain pattern, spiked helmets, red cloaks—Gods of -Gorzak! They were all royal guardsmen!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He looked up to the dark form of Janazik, and his lean face was -suddenly tight. "What is this?" he asked slowly. "I thought maybe -bandits or some enemy state had managed to enter the city—"</p> - -<p>"That would be hard to do, now that we have the guns," said Janazik. -"No, these are within our own walls. If you'll look closely, you'll see -they wear a gold-colored brassard."</p> - -<p>"Prince Volakech—but he—"</p> - -<p>"There's more to this than Volakech, and more than a question of the -throne," said Janazik. Then suddenly, urgently: "But we can't stay here -to talk. They're patrolling the streets, it's dangerous to be abroad. -Let's get to shelter."</p> - -<p>"What's happened?" Anson got up, towering over the native by a good -quarter meter, his voice suddenly rough. "What happened? How is -everyone?"</p> - -<p>"Not well. Come on, now."</p> - -<p>"Ellen? Masefield Ellen?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. Nobody knows. Now come on!"</p> - -<p>They slipped into the alley. Anson was blind in the gloom, and -Janazik's slim six-fingered hand took his to guide him. The Khazaki -were smaller than Terrestrials and lacked the sheer strength and -endurance which Earth's higher gravity gave; but they could move like -the wind, they had an utter grace and balance beside which humans were -clumsy cattle, and they saw in the dark.</p> - -<p>Dougald Anson's mind whirred in desperate speculation. If Volakech had -gotten enough guardsmen and soldiers on his side to swing a palace -revolution, it was bad. But matters looked worse than that. Why should -Volakech's men have assaulted a human? Why should Janazik have to sneak -him into a hiding place? How had the revolutionists gotten control in -the first place, against King Aligan's new weapons? What powers did -they have now?</p> - -<p>What had become of the human community in Krakenau? What of his father, -his brother and sisters, his friends? What of Masefield Ellen? What of -Ellen?</p> - -<p>He grew aware that Janazik had halted. They were in an evil-smelling, -refuse-littered courtyard, surrounded by tumble-down structures, dark -and silent as the rest of the city. Anson realized that all Krakenau -was blacked out. In such times of danger, the old Khazaki clandom -reasserted itself. Families barricaded themselves in their dwellings, -prepared to fight all comers till the danger was past. The city was -awake, yes—it was crouched in breathless tension all around him—but -not a light showed, not a hand stirred, not a voice spoke. They were -all waiting.</p> - -<p>Janazik crouched at the base of one of the old buildings and lifted a -trapdoor. Light gleamed dimly up from a cellar. He dropped lightly down -and Anson followed, closing the door behind him.</p> - -<p>There was only one smoky lamp in the dank gloom. Shadows were thick -and huge around the guttering wick. The red flame picked out faces, -shimmered off cold steel, and lost itself in darkness.</p> - -<p>Anson's eyes scanned the faces. Half a dozen humans: Chiang Chung-Chen, -DuFrere Marie, Gonzales Alonzo and his wife Nora who was Anson's -sister, Dougald Joan, Masefield Philip—No sign of Ellen.</p> - -<p>"Anse! Anse!" The voices almost sobbed out of the dim-lit hollowness. -Joan and Nora sprang forward as if to touch their brother, make sure he -was alive and no vision of the night, but Janazik waved them back with -his sword.</p> - -<p>"No noise," hissed the Khazaki's fierce whisper. "No noise, by all the -thirteen hells! Volakech's <i>burats</i> are all over the city. If a patrol -finds us—"</p> - -<p>"Ellen!" Anson's blue eyes searched for Masefield Philip, crouched near -the lamp. "Where's your sister, Phil?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," whispered the boy. "We're all who seem to've escaped. -They may have caught her—I don't know—"</p> - -<p>"Father." Joan's voice caught with a dry sob. "Anse, Father and Jamie -are dead. The rebels killed them."</p> - -<p>For a moment, Anson couldn't grasp the reality of that. It just wasn't -possible that his big laughing father and young Jamie-the-brat should -be killed—<i>no!</i></p> - -<p>But—</p> - -<p>He looked up, and then looked away. When he turned back to face -them, his visage had gone hard and expressionless, and only the -white-knuckled grip on his sword showed he was not a stranger.</p> - -<p>"All right," he said slowly, very slowly and steadily. "All right. Give -me the story. What is it? What's happened in Krakenau?"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>Janazik padded around to stand before him. He was not the only Khazaki -in the cellar; there were a good dozen others. Mostly they were young -males, and Anse recognized them. Bolazan, Pragakech, Slavatozik—he'd -played with them as a child, he'd fared out with them as a youth and a -man to the wars, to storm the high citadel of Zarganau and smite the -warriors of Volgazan and pirate the commerce of the outer islands. They -were good comrades, yes. But Father and Jamie were dead. Ellen, Ellen -was vanished. Only a fragment of the human community remained; his -world had suddenly come down in ruin about him.</p> - -<p>Well—his old bleak resolution came back to him, and he met the yellow -slit-pupilled gaze of Janazik with a challenging stare.</p> - -<p>They were a strange contrast, these two, for all that they had fought -shoulder to shoulder halfway round the planet, had sung and played and -roistered from Krakenau to Gorgazan. Comrades in arms, blood brothers -maybe, but neither was human from the viewpoint of the other.</p> - -<p>Dougald Anson was big even for a Terrestrial; his tawny head rode at -full two meters and his wide shoulders strained the chain mail he -wore. He was young, but his face had had the youth burned out of it -by strange suns and wild winds around the world, was lean and brown -and marked with an old scar across the forehead. His eyes were almost -intolerably bright and direct in their blue stare, the eyes of a bird -of prey.</p> - -<p>The Khazaki was humanoid, to be sure—shorter than the Terrestrial -average, but slim and lithe. Soft golden fur covered his sinewy body, -and a slender tail switched restlessly against his legs. His head was -the least human part of him, with its sloping forehead, narrow chin, -and blunt-muzzled face. The long whiskers around his mouth and above -the amber cat-eyes twitched continuously, sensitive to minute shifts -in air currents and temperature. Along the top of his skull, the fur -grew up in a cockatoo plume that swept back down his neck, a secondary -sexual characteristic that females lacked.</p> - -<p>Janazik was something of a dandy, and even now he wore the baggy -silk-like trousers, long red sash, and elaborately embroidered blouse -and vest of a Krakenaui noble. It was woefully muddy, but he managed -to retain an air of fastidious elegance. The bow and quiver across his -back, the sword and dirk at his side, somehow looked purely ornamental -when he wore them.</p> - -<p>He was almost dwarfed by Anse's huge-thewed height. But old Chiang -Chung-Chen noticed, not for the first time, that the human wore -clothing and carried weapons of Khazaki pattern, and that the -harsh syllables of Krakenaui came more easily to his lips than the -Terrestrial of his fathers. And the old man nodded, gravely and a -little wearily.</p> - -<p>Janazik spoke rapidly: "Volakech must have been plotting his return -from exile a long time. He managed to raise a small army of pirates, -mercenaries, and outlawed Krakenaui, and he made bargains with groups -within the city. Two days ago, certain of the guards seized the new -guns and let Volakech and his men in. Others revolted within the town. -I think King Aligan was killed; at least I've seen or heard nothing -of him since. There's been some fighting between rebels and loyalists -but the rebels got all the Earth-weapons when they captured the royal -arsenal and since then they've just about crushed resistance. Loyalists -who could, fled the city. The rest are in hiding. Volakech is king."</p> - -<p>"But—why us? The Terrestrials—what have we to do with—"</p> - -<p>Janazik's yellow eyes blazed at him. "You aren't stupid, -blood-brother. Think!"</p> - -<p>After a moment Anse nodded bleakly. "<i>The Star Ship</i>—"</p> - -<p>"Of course! Volakech has seized the rocket boat. No Terrestrial in his -right mind would show him how to use it, so he had to capture someone -who understood its operation and force them to take him out to the -Star Ship. Old Masefield Henry was killed resisting arrest—you know -how bloody guardsmen are, in spite of orders to take someone alive. -Volakech ordered the arrest of all Terrestrials then. A few surrendered -to him, a few were killed resisting, most were captured by force. As -far as we know, this group is all which escaped."</p> - -<p>"Then Ellen—?"</p> - -<p>"That's the weird thing. I don't believe she has been caught. -Volakech's men are still scouring the city for 'an Earthling woman' -as the orders read. And who could it be but Ellen? No other woman -represents any danger or any desirable capture to Volakech."</p> - -<p>"Ellen understands astrogation," said Anse slowly. "She learned it from -her grandfather."</p> - -<p>"Yes. And now that he is dead, she is the only human—the only being on -this planet—who can get that rocket up to the Star Ship. And Masefield -Carson knows it."</p> - -<p>"Carson? Ellen's older brother? What—"</p> - -<p>Janazik's voice was cold as Winter: "Masefield Carson was with -Volakech. He led the rebels inside the city. Now he's the new king's -lieutenant."</p> - -<p>"Carson! No!"</p> - -<p>"Carson—yes!" Janazik's smile was without mirth or pity. His eyes -sought out Philip, huddled miserably beside the lamp. "Isn't that the -truth?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The boy nodded, too choked with his own unhappiness to cry. "Carse -always was a friend of Volakech, before King Aligan outlawed him," he -mumbled. "And he always said how it was a shame, and how Volakech would -know better what to do with the Star Ship than anyone now. Then—that -night—" His voice trailed off, he sat dumbly staring into the flame.</p> - -<p>"Carson led the rebel guardsmen in their seizure of the city guns," -said Janazik. "He also rode to the Masefield house at the head of a -troop of them and called on his people to surrender on promise of good -treatment. Joe and the mother did, and I suppose they're held somewhere -in the citadel now. Phil and Ellen happened to be out at the time. -When Phil heard of the uprising, he was afraid to give himself up, in -spite of the heralds that went about promising safety to those who -did. He heard how the rebels had been killing his friends. He went to -Slavatozik here, whom he could trust, and later they got in touch with -me. I'd used this hiding place before, and gathered all the fugitives I -could find here." Janazik shrugged, a sinuous unhuman gesture. "Since -then I've seen Carse, at a distance, riding around like a prince of the -blood, with a troop of his own personal guardsmen. I suspect he really -runs things now. Volakech wants power, but only Carse can show him how -to get it."</p> - -<p>"And Ellen—?"</p> - -<p>"No sign of her. But as I said, I think she's in hiding somewhere, -or the guards wouldn't be out looking for a woman. She wouldn't give -herself up."</p> - -<p>"Not Ellen." A grim pride lifted Anse's head.</p> - -<p>"Remains the problem of finding her before they do," said Gonzales -Alonzo. "If they catch her and make her plot an orbit for the rocket, -they'll have the Star Ship—which means power over the whole planet."</p> - -<p>"Not that I care who's king," growled Pragakech. "But you know that -Masefield Carson never did want to use the ship to get out to the -stars. And I want to see those other worlds before I die."</p> - -<p>"To the thirteenth hell with the other worlds," snarled Bolazan. -"Aligan was my king, and it's for me to avenge him and put his rightful -heir on the throne."</p> - -<p>"We all have our motives for wanting the blood of Volakech and Carson," -said Janazik. "Never mind that now; the important thing is how to -get at their livers. We're few, Anse. Here are all the free humans -we know of, except Masefield Ellen. There can't be more than two or -three at large, and perhaps ten dead. That means the enemy holds -almost a hundred humans captive. Discounting children and others who -are ignorant of Terrestrial science, it still means they'll be able to -operate the guns, the steel mill, the atomic-power plant—all the new -machines except the rocket boat, and they only need Ellen for that."</p> - -<p>Anse nodded, slowly. "What is our strength?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"I don't know. Not much. I know where about a hundred Khazaki warriors -are hiding, ready to follow us whenever we call on them, and there will -be many more sitting at home now who'll rise if someone else takes the -lead. But the enemy has all the guns. It would be suicide."</p> - -<p>"What about the Khazaki who fled?" Usually, in one of the planet's -violent changes of governments, the refugees were powerful nobles -who would be slain as a safety measure if they stayed at home but -who could, in exile, raise strong forces for a comeback. Such a one -had Volakech himself been, barely escaping with his life after his -disastrous attempt to seize the throne a few years back.</p> - -<p>"Don't be more stupid than you can help," snorted Janazik. "By the time -they can have rallied enough to do any good, Volakech and Carson will -have the Star Ship, one way or another, and then the whole world is at -their mercy."</p> - -<p>"That means we have to strike back somehow—quickly!" Anse stood for a -moment in thought.</p> - -<p>The habits of his warring, wandering years were coming back to him. He -had faced death and despair before, and with strength and cunning and -bluff and sheer luck had come through alive. This was another problem, -more desperate and more urgent, but still another problem.</p> - -<p>No—there was more to it than that.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>His face grew bleak, and it was as if a coldness touched his heart. -Carson was Ellen's older brother, and even if they had quarreled from -time to time he knew she had always felt deeply bound to him. <i>Carse is -everything I never was. He stayed in Krakenau and studied and became -an educated man and a skilled engineer while I went hallooing over -the world. He's brave and a good fighter—so am I—but he's so much -more than that. I imagine it was his example that made Ellen learn the -astrogation only her grandfather knew.</i></p> - -<p><i>And now I'm back from roaming and roving with Janazik, and I'm -trying hard to settle down and learn something so that I won't be -just a barbarian, a wild Khazaki in human skin, when we go out to the -civilization of the stars. So that I won't be too utterly ashamed to -ask Ellen to marry me. And it was all going pretty well until now.</i></p> - -<p><i>But now—I'm fighting her brother—</i></p> - -<p>Well—he pushed the thought out of his brain. After all, apparently she -was in opposition to Carse's plans too.</p> - -<p>"I wonder why they tried to kill me?" he asked aloud, more to fill in -the time while he thought than out of curiosity.</p> - -<p>"You'd be of no use to Carson, having no technical education," said -Janazik, "while your knowledge of fighting and your connections with -warlike groups make you dangerous to him. Also, I don't think he ever -liked your paying attention to Ellen."</p> - -<p>"No—he always said I was a waster. Called me a—an absorbed Khazaki. -I'd've split his skull if he hadn't been Ellen's brother—No matter -now. We've more important things to talk over."</p> - -<p><i>Have we, now?</i> he thought sickly. <i>Carson must know Ellen well, better -than I do. If he thinks he can have me killed without making her hate -him, then—maybe I never had any chance with her then—</i></p> - -<p>"How'd you happen by?" he asked tonelessly.</p> - -<p>"I've been out from time to time, looking for Ellen and killing -guardsmen whenever I could catch them alone." Janazik's white fangs -gleamed in a carnivore's smile. "And, of course, I expected you back -from your fishing trip about this time, and watched for you lest you -blunder into their hands."</p> - -<p>Anse began to pace the floor, back and forth, his head bent to avoid -the basement rafters. If Carson was in control, and out to kill him.... -There was more to it than that, of course. The whole future of the -planet Khazak, perhaps of the fabulous Galactic civilization itself, -was balanced on the edge of a sword. If Volakech or a descendant of -his took the warlike race out among the stars, with a high level of -industry to back a scheme of conquest—</p> - -<p>But it didn't matter. All the universe didn't matter. There was only -Ellen, and his own dead kin, and himself.</p> - -<p>A man's heart can only hold so much.</p> - -<p>Janazik stood quietly back, watching his friend's restless prowling. -He had seen that pacing before, and he knew that some scheme would come -out of it, crazy and reckless and desperate, with his own cool unhuman -intelligence to temper it and make it workable. He and Anse made a good -team. They made the best damned fighting team Khazak had ever seen.</p> - -<p>Presently the human lifted his head. There was silence in the hiding -place, thick and taut, so that they could hear their own breathing and -the steady drum of rain on the trapdoor.</p> - -<p>"I have an idea," said Anse.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>The long night wore on. Janazik had sent most of his Khazaki out to -alert the other loyalists in their hiding places, but only they had a -chance of slipping unobserved past the enemy patrols. Humans, obviously -alien, slow-footed and clumsy beside the flitting shadows of Khazak, -would never get far. They had to wait.</p> - -<p>Anse was glad of the opportunity for conference with Janazik, planning -the assault on the citadel. Neither of them was very familiar with the -layout, but Alonzo, as an engineer on the rocket building project, and -old Chiang had been there often enough to know it intimately.</p> - -<p>It was impossible that a few hundred warriors armed with the primitive -weapons of Khazak could take the stronghold. Its walls were manned by -more fighters than that, and there were the terrible Earth-type guns -as well. Alonzo had a blaster with a couple of charges, but otherwise -there was nothing modern in the loyalist force.</p> - -<p>But still that futile assault was necessary—</p> - -<p>"It's taking a desperate chance," said Dougald Joan. She was young yet, -hardly out of girlhood, but her voice had an indomitable ring. The true -warriors among the five Earthling families were all Dougald thought -Janazik. "Suppose Ellen doesn't come out of hiding? Suppose she's dead -or—or captured already, in spite of what we think."</p> - -<p>"We'll just have to try and destroy the rocket then," said Alonzo. -"Certainly we can't let Volakech get to the Star Ship." He sighed, -heavily. "And the labor of another generation will be gone."</p> - -<p>"It wouldn't take us long to build another boat," said his wife. "We -know how, now, and we have the industry to do it."</p> - -<p>"There are only a few who really know how to handle and build the -Terrestrial machines, and most of them are in the enemy's hands," -reminded old Chiang. "I'm sure I couldn't tell you much about atomic -engines, even though I was on the Star Ship herself once. If those -few are killed, we may never be able to duplicate our efforts. What -Terrestrials survive will sink back into barbarism, become simply -another part of Khazaki culture."</p> - -<p>"I don't know—" said Nora.</p> - -<p>"I know, because I've seen it happen," insisted Chiang. "In the fifty -years since we were marooned here, two generations have been born on -Khazak. They've grown up among Khazaki, played with native children, -worked and fought with Khazaki natives, adopted the dress and speech -and whole outlook of Krakenau. Only a few in this third generation have -consciously tried to remain—Terrestrial. I must admit that Masefield -Carson is one such. Ellen is another. But few others."</p> - -<p>"Would you have us wall ourselves out from the world?" asked Anse with -a bridling anger.</p> - -<p>"No. I don't see how the situation could be helped. We are a minority -in an alien culture with which we've had to cooperate. It's only -natural that we'd be more assimilated than assimilating. Even at that, -we've wrought immense changes."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Janazik nodded. The stranded Terrestrials had found themselves in an -early Iron Age civilization of city-states, among a race naturally -violent and predatory. For their own survival, they had had to league -forces with the state in which they found themselves—Krakenau, as it -happened. Before they could build the industry they needed, they had -to have some security—which meant that they must teach the Krakenaui -military principles and means of making new weapons which would make -them superior to their neighbors. After that—well, it took an immense -technology to build even a small spaceship. The superalloys which could -stand the combustion of rocket fuel required unheard-of elements such -as manganese and chromium, which required means of mining and refining -them, which required a considerable chemical plant, which required—How -far down do you have to start? And there were a hundred or a thousand -other requirements of equal importance and difficulty.</p> - -<p>Besides, the Terrestrials had had to learn much from scratch -themselves. None of them had ever built a rocketship, had ever seen one -in action even. It was centuries obsolete in Galactic civilization. But -gravity drives were out of the question. So—they'd had to design the -ship from the ground up. Which meant years of painstaking research ... -and only a few interested humans and Khazaki to do it. The rest were -too busy with their own affairs in the brawling barbaric culture.</p> - -<p>Ten years ago, the first spaceboat had blasted off toward the Star -Ship—and exploded in mid-acceleration. More designing, more testing, -more slow building—and now the second one lay ready. Perhaps it could -reach the Star Ship.</p> - -<p>The Star Ship—faster than light, weightless when it chose to be for -all its enormous mass, armed with atomic guns that could blast a -city to superheated vapor. Whoever controlled that ship could get to -Galactic stars in a matter of weeks. Or could rule all Khazaki if he -chose.</p> - -<p>No wonder Carson and Volakech had struck now, before the rocket boat -was launched. When <i>they</i> had the ship—</p> - -<p>But only Ellen knew the figures of its orbit and the complicated -calculations by which the boat would plot a course to get there. A bold -warrior might make a try at reaching the ship by seat-of-the-pants -piloting, but he wouldn't have much chance of making it. So Ellen, and -the rocket boat, were the fulcrum of the future.</p> - -<p>"Strange," mused Chiang. "Strange that we should have had that -accident...."</p> - -<p>They had heard the story a hundred times before, but they gathered -around to listen; there was nothing else to do while the slow hours -dragged on.</p> - -<p>"We were ten, all told, five men and their wives. Exploratory -expeditions are often out for years at a time, so the Service makes it -a policy to man the ships with married couples. It's hard for a Khazaki -to appreciate the absolute equality between the sexes which human -civilization has achieved. It's due to the advanced technology, of -course, and we're losing it as we go back to barbarism—"</p> - -<p>Anse felt a small hand laid on his arm. He looked down into the dark -eyes of DuFrere Marie. She was a pretty girl, a little younger than he, -and until he'd really noticed Ellen he'd been paying her some attention.</p> - -<p>"I don't care about equality," she whispered. "A woman shouldn't try to -be a man. I'd want only to cook and keep house for my man, and bear his -children."</p> - -<p>It was, Anse realized, a typical Khazaki attitude. But—he remembered -with a sudden pity that Carson had been courting Marie. "This is pretty -tough on you," he muttered. "I'll try to see that Carse is saved.... If -we win," he added wryly.</p> - -<p>"Him? I don't care about that Masefield. Let them hang him. But -Anse—be careful—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He looked away, his face hot in the gloom, realizing suddenly why -Masefield Carson hated him. Briefly, he wished he hadn't had such -consistent luck with women. But the accident that there was a -preponderance of females in the second and third generations of Khazaki -humans had made it more or less inevitable, and he—well, he was only -human. There'd been Earthling girls; and not a few Khazaki women had -been intrigued by the big Terrestrial. <i>Yes, I was lucky</i>, he thought -bitterly. <i>Lucky in all except the one that mattered.</i></p> - -<p>"—we'd been a few weeks out of Avandar—it was an obscure outpost -then, though I imagine it's grown since—when we detected this Sol-type -sun. Seeing that there was an Earth-like planet, we decided to -investigate. And since we were all tired of being cooped in the ship, -and telescopes showed that any natives which might exist would be too -primitive to endanger us, we all went down in the lifeboat.</p> - -<p>"And the one-in-a-billion chance happened ... the atomic converters -went out of control and we barely escaped from the boat before it was -utterly consumed. We were stranded on an alien planet, with nothing but -our clothes and a few hand weapons—and with our ship that would go -faster than light circling in its orbit not ten thousand kilometers -above us!</p> - -<p>"No chance of rescue. There are just too many suns for the Galactic -Coordinators to hope to find a ship that doesn't come back. Expansion -into this region of space wasn't scheduled for another two centuries. -So there we were, and until we could build a boat which would take us -back to our ship—there we stayed!</p> - -<p>"And it's taken us fifty years so far...."</p> - -<p>Pragakech came in with the rain glistening on his fur and running in -small puddles about his padding feet. "We're ready," he said. "Every -warrior whose hiding place we knew has been contacted."</p> - -<p>"Then we might as well go." Janazik got up and stretched luxuriously. -His eyes were like molten gold in the murky light.</p> - -<p>"So soon?" Marie held Anse back with anxious hands. "This same night?"</p> - -<p>"The sooner the better," Anse said grimly. "Every day that goes by, -more of our friends will be found out and killed, more places will be -searched for Ellen, Volakech's grip on the city will grow stronger." He -put the spiked helmet back on his head, and buckled the sword about his -mailed waist. "Come on, Janazik. The rest stay here and wait for word. -If we're utterly defeated, such of us as survive will manage to get -back and lead you out of Krakenau—somehow."</p> - -<p>Marie started to say something, then shook her head as if the words -hurt her throat and drew Anse's face down to hers. "Goodbye, then," she -whispered. "Goodbye, and the gods be with you."</p> - -<p>He kissed her more awkwardly than was his wont, feeling himself a -thorough scoundrel. Then he followed Pragakech and Janazik out the -trapdoor.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>The courtyard was filled with Khazaki warriors, standing silently in -the slow heavy rain. It was the darkness of early morning, and only an -occasional wan lightning flash, gleaming on spears and axes, broke the -chill gloom. Anse was aware of softly-moving supple bodies pressing -around him, of night-seeing eyes watching him with an impassive stare. -It was he and Janazik who had the plan, and who had the most experience -in warfare, and the rest looked to them for leadership. It was not -easy to stand under that cool, judging scrutiny, and Anse strode forth -into the street with a feeling of relief at the prospect of action.</p> - -<p>As they moved toward the castle, along the narrow cobbled lanes winding -up the hills, their army grew. Warriors came loping from alleys, came -slipping out of the dark barricaded houses, seemed to rise out of -the rainy night around them. All Krakenau was abroad, it seemed, but -quietly, quietly.</p> - -<p>And throughout the town other such forces were on the move, gathering -under the lead of anyone who could be trusted, converging on the -citadel and the rocketship it guarded.</p> - -<p><i>Tonight—victory, or destruction of the boat and a drawn battle ... or -repulsion and ultimate shattering defeat. The gods are abroad tonight.</i></p> - -<p>Somewhere, faint and far through the dull washing of rain, a trumpet -blew a harsh challenge, once and again. After it came a distance-muted -shouting of voices and a clattering of swords.</p> - -<p>"One of our bands has come across a patrol," said Janazik -unnecessarily. "Now all hell will be loose in Krakenau. Come on!"</p> - -<p>They broke into a trot up the hill. Rounding a sharp turn in the -street, they saw a close-ranked mass of warriors with spears aloft.</p> - -<p>Guardsmen!</p> - -<p>The two forces let out a simultaneous yell and charged at each other -in the disorderly Khazaki fashion. It was beginning to lighten just a -little; Anse could make out enough for purposes of battle. Hai-ah—here -we go!</p> - -<p>He smashed into a leading guard, who stabbed at him with his long pike. -The edge grazed off Anse's heavy chain mail as the Earthling chopped -out with his sword. He knocked the shaft aside and thrust in, hewing -at the Khazaki's neck. The guard intercepted the blow with his shield, -and suddenly rammed it forward. The murderous spike on its boss thudded -against the Terrestrial's broad chest and the linked rings gave under -that blow—just a little, just enough to draw blood. Anse roared and -chopped down across the other's right arm. The Khazaki howled his pain -and stumbled back.</p> - -<p>Another was on the Earthling like a spitting cat. Swords hummed and -clashed together. Leaping and dodging, the Khazaki lashed out with a -blade like a flickering flame, and none of Anse's blows could land on -him.</p> - -<p>The Khazaki leaped in suddenly, his edge reaching for the human's -unprotected throat. Anse parried with his sword, while his left fist -shot out like an iron cannonball. It hit the native full in the face, -with a crunch of splintering bones. The guard's head snapped back and -he fell to the blood-running street.</p> - -<p>Janazik was fighting two at once, his sword never resting. He leaped -and danced like the shadow of a flame in the wind, and he was -laughing—laughing! Anse hewed out, and one of the foemen's heads -sprang from its neck. Janazik darted in, there was a blur of steel, and -the other guardsman toppled.</p> - -<p>Axe and sword! Spear and dagger and flying arrows! The fight rolled -back and forth between the darkling walls of houses. It grew with time; -Volakech's patrols were drawn by the noise, loyalists crouched in -hiding heard of the attack and sped to join it. Anse and Janazik fought -side by side, human brawn and Khazaki swiftness, and the corpses were -heaped where they went.</p> - -<p>A pike raked Anse's hand. He dropped his sword and the enemy leaped in -with drawn knife. Anse did not reach for his own dirk—no human had a -chance in a knife fight with a Khazaki—but his arms snaked out, his -hands closed on the native's waist, and he lifted the enemy up and -hurled him against another. They both went down in a crash of denting -armor and snapping bones. Anse roared his war-cry and picked up his -sword again.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Janazik leaped and darted and fenced, grinning as he fought, -demon-lights in his yellow eyes. A spear was hurled at him. He picked -it out of the air, one-handed, and threw it back, even as he fought -another guardsman. The rebel took advantage of it to get in under -Janazik's guard. Swifter than thought, the warrior's dagger was in his -left hand—and into the rebel's throat.</p> - -<p>Back and forth the battle swayed, roaring, trampling, and the rain -mingled with blood between the cobblestones. Thunder of weapons, -shrieking of wounded, shouting of challenges—lightning dancing -overhead!</p> - -<p>Suddenly it was over.</p> - -<p>Anse looked up from his last victim and saw that the confusion no -longer snarled around him. The street was heaped with dead and wounded, -and a few individual battles were still going on. But the surviving -guardsmen were in full flight, and the victorious warriors were -shouting their triumph.</p> - -<p>"That was a fight!" panted Janazik. He quivered with feral eagerness. -"Now on to the castle!"</p> - -<p>"I think," said Slavatozik thoughtfully, "that this was the decisive -struggle as far as the city is concerned. Look at how many were -involved. Almost all the patrols must have come here—and now they're -beaten. We hold the city!"</p> - -<p>"Not much good to us while Volakech is in the castle," said Anse. "He -need only sally forth with the Earth-weapons—" He leaned on his sword, -gasping great lungfuls of the cool wet air into him. "But where's -Ellen?"</p> - -<p>"We've had heralds out shouting for her, as you suggested," said -Slavatozik. "Now that the city is in our control, she should come out. -If not—"</p> - -<p>"—then I know how to blow up the boat," said Gonzales Alonzo bleakly. -"If we can get inside the citadel to it."</p> - -<p>The loyalists were reassembling their forces. Warriors moved over the -scene of battle, plundering dead guardsmen, cutting the throats of -wounded enemies and badly mutilated friends. It was a small army that -was crowding around Anse's tall form.</p> - -<p>His worried eyes probed into the dull gray light of the rainy dawn. -Of a sudden, he stiffened and peered more closely. Someone was -coming down the street, thrusting through the assembled warriors. -Someone—someone—he knew that bright bronze hair....</p> - -<p><i>Ellen.</i></p> - -<p>He stood waiting, letting her come up to him, and his eyes were hungry. -She was tall and full-bodied and supple, graceful almost as a Khazaki, -and her wide-set eyes were calm and gray under a broad clear forehead -and there was a dusting of freckles over her straight nose and her -mouth was wide and strong and generous and—</p> - -<p>"Ellen," he said wonderingly. "Ellen."</p> - -<p>"What are you doing?" she asked. "What have you planned?"</p> - -<p>No question of how he was, no look at the blood trickling along his -sides and splashed over his face and arms—well—"Where were you?" -he asked, and cursed himself for not being able to think of a better -greeting.</p> - -<p>"I hid with the family of Azakhagar," she said. "I lay in their loft -when the patrolmen came searching for me. Then I heard your heralds -going through the streets, calling on me to come out in your name. So I -came."</p> - -<p>"How did you know it wasn't a trick of Volakech's?" asked someone.</p> - -<p>"I told the heralds to use my name and add after it—well—something -that only she and I knew," said Anse uncomfortably.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Janazik remained impassive, but he recalled that the phrase had been -"Dougald Anson, who once told you something on a sunny day down by -Zamanaui River." He could guess what the something had been. Well, it -seemed to happen to all Earthmen sooner or later, and it meant the end -of the old unregenerate days. He sighed, a little wistfully.</p> - -<p>"But what did you want me for?" asked Ellen. She stood before Anse in -her short, close-fitting tunic, the raindrops glittering in her heavy -coppery hair, and he thought wryly that the question was in one sense -superfluous. But in another sense, and with time so desperately short—</p> - -<p>"You're the only one of us who can plot a course for the rocket," he -said. "Alonzo here, or almost anyone, should be able to pilot it, but -you're the only one who can take it to the Star Ship. So that, of -course, is why Carson and Volakech were after you, and why we had to -have you too. If we can get into the citadel, capture the rocket and -get up to the Star Ship, it'll be easy to overthrow Volakech. But if he -gets there first, all Khazak couldn't win against him."</p> - -<p>She nodded, slowly and wearily. Her gray eyes were haunted. "I wonder -if it matters who gets there," she said. "I wonder why we're fighting -and killing each other. Over who shall sit on the throne of an obscure -city-state on an insignificant planet? Over the exact disposition to -be made of one little spaceship? It isn't worth it." She looked around -at the sprawled corpses, lying on the bloody cobblestones with rain -falling in their gaping mouths, and shuddered. "It isn't worth that."</p> - -<p>"There's more to it than that," said Janazik bleakly. "Masefield Carson -and his friend—his puppet, I think—Volakech would use the ship to -bring all the world under their rule. Then they would mold it into a -pattern suited for conquering a small empire among the neighboring -stars."</p> - -<p>"Volakech always talked that way, before his first revolution," said -Ellen. "And Carse used to say—but that can't be right! He can't have -meant it. And even if he did—what of it? Is it worth enough for -brothers to slay each other over?"</p> - -<p>"Yes." Janazik's voice was pitiless. "Shall the freemen of Khazak -become the regimented hordes of a tyrant? Let all this world be blown -asunder first!"</p> - -<p>"Shall the innocent folk of the other stars become his victims?" urged -Alonzo. "Shall Khazak become a menace to the Galaxy, one which must -be destroyed—or must itself destroy? Shall there be war with—Earth -herself?"</p> - -<p>"To Shantuzik with that," growled Anse. "These are our enemies, to be -fought and beaten. Out there is the great civilization of the Galaxy, -and they would keep us from it for generations yet, and make it in the -end our foe. And Volakech is a murderer with no right to the throne of -Krakenau. I say let's get at his liver!"</p> - -<p>"Well—" Ellen looked away. When she turned back, there was torment in -her eyes, but her voice was low and steady: "I'm with you in whatever -you plan. But on one condition. Carse is not to be harmed."</p> - -<p>"Not harmed!" exploded Janazik. "Why, that dirty traitor deserves—"</p> - -<p>"He is still my brother," said Ellen. "When Volakech is beaten, he -will not be able to do any more harm, and he will see that he was -wrong." Her eyes flashed coldly. "Whoever hurts Carse will have me for -blood-enemy!"</p> - -<p>"As you will," shrugged Anse, trying to hide the pain in his heart. -"But now.... Our plan is to storm the citadel. We can't hope to take -it, but we'll keep the garrison busy. Meanwhile a few of us break in, -get the rocket, and take it back out here, where you will have an orbit -plotted—"</p> - -<p>"I can't make one that quickly. And who can pilot it well enough to -land it here without cracking it up?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They looked at each other, and then eyes turned to Gonzales Alonzo. He -smiled mirthlessly. "I can try," he said. "But I'm only an engineer; I -never imagined I'd have to fly the thing. Chiang Ching-Wei was supposed -to be the pilot, but he's a prisoner now."</p> - -<p>"If we smash the rocket—well, then we smash it," said Anse heavily. -"It'll mean a long and hard war against Volakech from outside, and -he'll have all the advantages of the new weapons. We may never -overthrow him before he gets another boat built. Still—we'll just have -to try."</p> - -<p>Ellen said quietly: "I can pilot it."</p> - -<p>"You!"</p> - -<p>"Of course. I've been working on the second boat from the beginning. I -know it as well as anyone, every seam and rivet and wiring diagram. I -was aboard when Chiang took her on a practice run only a few days ago. -I'll fly it for you!"</p> - -<p>"You can't—we have to fight our way into the castle itself, the very -heart of Volakech's power—you'd be killed!"</p> - -<p>"It's the best chance. If you think we can get in at all, I stand as -good a chance of living through it as anyone else."</p> - -<p>"She's right," said Janazik. "And while we waste time here arguing, the -citadel is getting ready. Come on!"</p> - -<p>Automatically, Anse broke into movement, trotting along beside Janazik, -and the army formed its ranks and followed them.</p> - -<p>He had time for a few hurried words with Ellen, whispered as they went -up the hill: "Stay close by me. There'll be a small group of us getting -in, picked fighters, and we'll make a ring about you."</p> - -<p>"Of course," she nodded. Her gray eyes shone, and she was breathing -quickly. "I begin to see why you were a rover all those years, Anse. -It's mad and desperate and terrible—but before Cosmos, we're alive!"</p> - -<p>"Most recruits are frightened green before their first battle," he -said. "You have a warrior's heart, Ellen—" He broke off, hearing the -banality of his own words.</p> - -<p>"Listen, my dearest," he said then, quickly. "We may not come alive -through all this. But remember what I did say, down by the river that -day. I love you."</p> - -<p>She was silent. He went on, fumbling for words: "You wouldn't answer me -then—"</p> - -<p>"I thought it was just your usual talk to women."</p> - -<p>"It may have been—then," he admitted. "But it hasn't been since, and -it isn't now." His sword-calloused hand found hers. "Don't forget, -Ellen. I love you. I will always love you."</p> - -<p>"Anse—" She turned toward him, and he saw her eyes alight. "Anse—"</p> - -<p>A bugle shrilled through the rain, high and harsh ahead of them. Dimly, -they made out the monstrous bulk of the castle, looming through the -misty gray light, its towers lost in the vague sky. Janazik's sword -flashed from its sheath.</p> - -<p>"The battle begins," said a voice out of the blurring rain.</p> - -<p>Anse drew Ellen over against a wall and kissed her. Her lips were cool -and firm under his, wet with rain; he would never forget that kiss -while life was in him.</p> - -<p>They looked at each other for a moment of wonder, and then broke apart -and followed Janazik.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>The loyalists charged in a living wave that roared as it surfed against -the castle walls and spattered a foam of blood and steel. From three -sides they came, weaving in and out of the hailing arrows, lifting -shields above them, leaving their dead behind them.</p> - -<p>The blaster cannon mounted on the walls spouted flame and thunder. -Warriors were mowed down before that whirling white fury, armor melted -when the lightning-like discharges played over it, but still the -assault went on with all the grim bitter courage of the Khazaki race.</p> - -<p>Old siege engines were appearing, dragged out of storehouses and hiding -places where they had been kept against such a day of need. Now the -great catapults and ballistae were mounted; stones and fireballs and -iron-headed bolts were raking the walls. A testudo moved awkwardly -forth up the steep hill toward the gates. It was blasted to flaming -molten ruin, but another got underneath the walls and the crash of a -battering ram came from under its roof.</p> - -<p>Shadowlike in the blinding rain, the warriors flitted up toward the -walls. No spot of cover was too small for one of those ghostly shapes; -they seemed to carry their own invisibility with them. Under the -walls—scaling ladders appearing as if out of nowhere—up the walls and -into the castle!</p> - -<p>The ladders were hurled down. The warriors who gained the walls were -blasted by cannon, cut down by superior numbers, lost in a swirl of -battle and death. Boiling water rained down over the walls on those -below, spears and arrows and the roaring blaster bolts. But still they -came. Still the howling, screeching demons of Krakenau came, and died, -and came again.</p> - -<p>Anse cursed, softly, luridly, pain croaking in his voice: "We can't be -with them. They're being slaughtered and we can't be with them."</p> - -<p>"We're needed worse here," said Janazik curtly. "If only Pragakech can -maintain the assault for an hour—"</p> - -<p>He and Anse loped in the forefront. Behind them came Gonzales, Ellen, -and a dozen picked young Khazaki. They wove through a maze of alleys -and streets and deserted market squares, working around behind the -castle. The roar of battle came to them out of the gray mist of rain; -otherwise there was only the padding and splashing of their own feet, -the breath rasping harsh in their lungs, the faint clank and jingle -of their harness. All Krakenau not at the storming of the citadel had -withdrawn into the mysterious shells of the houses, lay watching and -waiting and whetting knives in the dark.</p> - -<p>The paths dipped steeply downward, until, when they came around behind -the citadel and stood peering out of a tunnel-like alley, there was a -sheer cliff-face before them. On this side the castle was impregnable. -The only approach was a knife-edged trail winding up the cliff, barely -wide enough for one man at a time. At its top, flush with the precipice -edge, the wall was built. Against this wall, commanding the trail, -there had in the old days been an archer post, but lately a cannon had -been mounted there.</p> - -<p>Yet that very security, thought Anse, might be a weakness. Except for -that gun, the approach wouldn't be watched, especially with the fight -going on elsewhere. So—</p> - -<p>"Give me your weapon, Alonzo," said Janazik.</p> - -<p>"Here." Gonzales handed him the blaster pistol. "But it only has two -charges left in it."</p> - -<p>"That may be enough." Janazik slipped it under his cloak. Then he wound -a gold brassard about his arm and started up the trail. A couple of his -Khazaki came behind them, then Anse, Ellen, and Alonzo, and finally the -rest of the warriors.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The trail was steep and slippery, water swirling down it, loose rocks -moving uneasily beneath the feet—and it was a dizzying drop off the -sheer edge to the ground below. They wound upward slowly, panting, -cursing, wondering how much of a chance their desperate scheme really -had.</p> - -<p>Ellen slipped a little. Anse reached back and caught her hand. He -smiled lop-sidedly. "Now I don't want to let go," he said.</p> - -<p>"I wonder—" Ellen looked away, then back to him, and her eyes were -wide and puzzled. "I wonder if I want you to, Anse."</p> - -<p>His heart seemed to jump up into his throat, but he let her go and said -wryly: "I'm afraid I have to right now. But wait till later."</p> - -<p>Up and up—<i>Later! Will there ever be a later?</i></p> - -<p><i>And if there is, what then? I'm still more than half a Khazaki. Can we -live together in the great civilization I hardly comprehend?</i></p> - -<p><i>It was simpler when Janazik and I were warring over the planet ... -Janazik! I wonder if two beings of the same race could ever know as -close a friendship as that between us two aliens. We've fought and -laughed and sung together, we've saved each other's lives, sweated and -suffered and been afraid, together. We know each other as we will never -know any other being.</i></p> - -<p><i>Well, it passes. We'll always remain close friends, I suppose. But the -old comradeship—I'll have to give that up.</i></p> - -<p><i>But Ellen—</i></p> - -<p>Up and up—</p> - -<p>Janazik whistled, long and loud, and called: "Hail Volakech! Friends!"</p> - -<p>He could dimly see the looming bulk of the blaster cannon, crouched -behind its iron shield. Above it the walls of the castle were high and -dark and—empty.</p> - -<p>The voice came from ahead of him, taut with nervousness: "Who goes -there?"</p> - -<p>"A friend. I have a message for His Highness." Janazik moved forward -almost casually. His eyes gleamed with mirth. It tickled his heart, -this dicing with death. Someday he'd overreach himself and that would -be the end, but until then he was having fun.</p> - -<p>"Advance.... No, no one else. Just you alone."</p> - -<p>Janazik sauntered forward until he stood only a meter from the blunt -ugly muzzle. He had his left arm out of his cloak, so that the golden -brassard shone in plain view. Underneath, his right hand thumbed the -catch of Alonzo's pistol.</p> - -<p>"Who are you?" challenged the voice from behind the shield.</p> - -<p>"A messenger for His Highness from his allies in Volgazan," said -Janazik. "Seeing that there was still fighting going on, I and my men -decided to come in the back way."</p> - -<p>"Well—I suppose I can let you in, under guard. But your men, will have -to stay out here."</p> - -<p>"Very well." Janazik strolled over behind the shield.</p> - -<p>There were three warriors crouched there, in front of a small door in -the wall. One of them was about to blow his trumpet for a guard detail. -The other two poised their spears near Janazik's throat. None of them -thought that anyone outside the citadel might possess an Earth-weapon.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Janazik shot right through his cloak. In that narrow space, the -ravenous discharge blinded and blistered him, stung his face with -flying particles of molten iron. The hammer-blow of concussion sent him -reeling back against the wall. His cloak caught afire; he ripped it off -and flung it down on the three blackened corpses before him.</p> - -<p>Vision returned to his dazzled eyes. These Earth-weapons were hideous -things, he thought; they made nothing of courage or strength or even -cunning. He wondered what changes Galactic civilization would bring to -old Khazak, and didn't think he'd like most of them. Maybe Volakech was -right.</p> - -<p>But Anse was his comrade and Aligan had been his king. He whistled, and -the others came running up.</p> - -<p>"Quick," rasped Janazik. "The noise may draw somebody—quick, inside!"</p> - -<p>"Can't we swing this lightning thrower around and blast them?" wondered -a Khazaki.</p> - -<p>"No, it's fixed in place." Anse threw his brawny shoulders against -the solid mass of the door. It swung ponderously back and they dashed -through the tunnel in the thick wall—out into the open courtyard of -the castle!</p> - -<p>The noises of the fight rose high from here, but there were only a few -warriors in sight, scurrying back and forth on their errands without -noticing the newcomers—a fact which did not surprise Anse or Janazik, -who knew what vast confusion a battle was. The human remembered the -layout now—the rocket would be over by the machine shops, near the -donjon keep—"This way!"</p> - -<p>They trotted across the court, around the gray stone bulk of the -citadel's buildings and towers, toward the long wooden shed which -housed the new machine shop. The rain was beginning to slacken now, and -the sun was up behind its gray veil, so that there was light shining -through slanting silver. Against the dark walls, the lean torpedo shape -of the rocket boat gleamed like a polished spearhead.</p> - -<p>"Now—ahead!" Janazik broke into a run toward the boat, and they -followed him in a close ring about Ellen.</p> - -<p>A band of fighters came around the corner of the machine shop, in front -of the rocket. The wet light shone off their brassards. Janazik swore -bitterly, and his hand dropped to his sword.</p> - -<p>One of the enemy warriors let out a yell. "Earthlings—two—three of -them! Not ours—"</p> - -<p>The blaster crashed in Janazik's hand, and five dropped their charred -bodies on the ground. With a spine-shivering yell, Janazik bounded -forward, and after him came Anse, Alonzo, and a round dozen of the -fiercest fighters in Krakenau. The blaster was exhausted now—but they -had their swords!</p> - -<p>The leader of the enemy band was a huge Khazaki, dark-furred and -green-eyed. His men were scattering in panic, but he roared a -bull-voiced command and they rallied about him and stood before the -rocket.</p> - -<p>Volakech. By all the thirteen hells, <i>Volakech</i>!</p> - -<p>He must have been leading reinforcements to a threatened point on -the wall, thought Anse in a fleeting moment, and his sharp mind had -instantly deduced that the invaders were after the rocket—and that -they could have no more blaster charges, or they would be using them. -And Volakech's band was still larger than theirs, and he had all the -forces of the citadel behind him if he could summon them!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The two bands crashed together and steel began to fly. Anse stood -before Ellen and lashed out at a spitting Khazaki who reached for his -belly with a sword. The enemy dodged past his guard, drilled in close. -Ellen shouted and kicked at the native's ankles. He stumbled, dropping -his defense, and Anse clove his skull.</p> - -<p>Volakech roared. He swung a huge battle axe, and its shock and thunder -rose high over the swaying tide of battle. Two of Janazik's men leaped -at him. He swept the axe in a terrible arc and the spike cracked one -pate and the edge split the other's face open. Alonzo sprang at him -with furious courage, wielding a sword. Volakech knocked it spinning -from his hand, but, before he could kill the engineer, Anse was on him.</p> - -<p>They traded blows in a clamor of steel. Axe and sword clashed together, -sheared along chain mail and rang on helmets. It was a blur of rake -and slash and parry, with Volakech grinning at him behind a network of -whirling steel.</p> - -<p>Anse gathered his strength and pressed forward with reckless fury. -His sword hummed and whistled and roared against Volakech's hard-held -guard. He laid open arms, legs, cheek; he probed and lunged for the -rebel king's trunk. Volakech snarled, but step by step he was driven -back.</p> - -<p>Warriors fell, but it was on the bodies of foemen and even dying they -stabbed upward at the enemy. Bitter, bloody, utterly ruthless, the -struggle swayed about the rocketship. It was old Khazak that fought, -the planet of warriors, and, even as he hewed and danced and slew, -Janazik thought bleakly that he was trying to end the gory magnificence -of that age; he was bringing civilization and with it the doom of his -own kind. Khazak of the future would not be the same world.</p> - -<p>If they won—if they won!</p> - -<p>"To me!" he yelled. "To me, men of Aligan! Hai, Aligan! Krakenau! -Dougald!"</p> - -<p>They heard and rallied round him, the last gasping survivors of his -band. But there were few of Volakech's men left, few.</p> - -<p>"Volakech! Aid the king! To me, men of Volakech!" The rebel shouted at -the top of his lungs. And Anse lunged in at him, beating against the -swift armor of the axe.</p> - -<p>"Anse!" Janazik's urgent shout cut through the clangor of battle. -"Anse, here! We're blasting free!"</p> - -<p>The human hardly heard him. He forced his way closer in against -Volakech, his sword whistling about the usurper's helmeted head.</p> - -<p>"Anse!" shouted Janazik. "Anse—Ellen needs you—"</p> - -<p>With a tiger snarl, Anse broke free from his opponent and whirled -about. A rebel stood before him. There was an instant of violence too -swift to be followed, and Anse leaped over the ripped body and up to -Janazik.</p> - -<p>The Khazaki stood by the airlock. There was a ring of corpses before -him; his sword ran blood.</p> - -<p>"Ellen?" gasped Anse. "Ellen?"</p> - -<p>"Inside," rasped Janazik. "She's inside. We have to get out of -here—only way to get your attention—<i>Come on!</i>"</p> - -<p>Anse saw the armed band swarming at them from one of the outer towers, -defenders who had finally noticed the battle at the rocket and were -coming to aid their king. Not a chance against them—except the boat!</p> - -<p>Man and Khazaki stepped back into the airlock. A storm of arrows and -javelins broke loose. Anse saw two of his men fall—then Janazik had -slammed the heavy outer valve and dogged it shut.</p> - -<p>"Ellen!" he gasped. "Ellen—take the boat up before they dynamite it!"</p> - -<p>The girl nodded. She was strapping herself into the pilot's seat before -the gleaming control panel. Only Alonzo was there with her, bleeding -but still on his feet. Four of them survived—only four—but they had -the boat!</p> - -<p>Through the viewport, Anse saw the attackers surging around the hull. -They'd use ballistae to crush it, dynamite to blow it up, blaster -cannon to fry them alive inside the metal shell—unless they got it -into the sky first.</p> - -<p>"Take the engines, Alonzo," said Ellen.</p> - -<p>Gonzales Alonzo nodded. "You help me, Janazik," he said. "I'm not sure -I—can stay conscious—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The pilot room was in the bows. Behind it, bulkheaded off, lay the air -plant and the other mechanisms for maintaining life aboard—not very -extensive, for the boat wouldn't be in space long. Amidships were the -control gyros, and behind still another bulkhead the engine controls. -Rather than install an elaborate automatic feed system, the builders -had relied on manual controls acting on light signals flashed by -the pilot. It was less efficient, but it had shortened the labor of -constructing the vessel and was good enough for the mere hop it had to -make.</p> - -<p>"I don't know anything about it," said Janazik doubtfully.</p> - -<p>"I'll tell you what to do—Help me—" Leaning on the Khazaki's arm, -Alonzo stumbled toward the stern.</p> - -<p>Anse strapped his big body into the chair beside Ellen's. "I can't help -much, I'm afraid," he said.</p> - -<p>"No—except by being here," she smiled.</p> - -<p>Looking out, he saw that the assault on the castle was almost -over—beaten off. It had provided the diversion they needed—but at -what cost, at what cost?</p> - -<p>"We might as well take off for the Star Ship right away," he said.</p> - -<p>"Of course. And that will end the war. Volakech can either surrender or -sit in the castle till he rots."</p> - -<p>"Or we can use the ship to blast the citadel."</p> - -<p>"No—oh, Cosmos, no!" Her eyes were filled with sudden horror.</p> - -<p>"Why not?" he argued angrily. "Only way we can rescue our people if he -won't give them up of his own will."</p> - -<p>"We might kill Carse," she whispered.</p> - -<p>It was on his tongue to snap good riddance, but he choked down the -impulse. "Why do you care for him that much?"</p> - -<p>"He's my brother," she said simply, and he realized that in spite of -her civilized protestations Ellen was sufficiently Khazaki to feel the -primitive unreasoning clan loyalty of the planet. She added slowly: -"And when Father died, years ago, Carse took his place, he's been both -father and big brother to me. He may have some wrong ideas, but he's -always been so—good—"</p> - -<p>A child's worship of the talented, handsome, genial elder brother, and -she had never really outgrown it. Well—it didn't matter. Once they had -the Star Ship, Carse didn't matter. "He'll be as safe as anyone can be -in these days," said Anse. "I—I'll protect him myself if need be."</p> - -<p>Her hand slid into his, and she kissed him, there in the little boat -while it rocked and roared under the furious assaults from without. -"Anyone who hurts Carse is my blood foe," she breathed. "But anyone who -helps him helps me, and—and—"</p> - -<p>Anse smiled, dreamily. The engines began to stutter, warming up, and -Volakech's men scattered in dismay. They had seen the fire that spurted -from the rocket tubes.</p> - -<p>And in the engine room, Masefield Carson held his blaster leveled on -Alonzo and Janazik. "Go ahead," he smiled. "Go ahead—take the ship up."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VI</p> - -<p>The Khazaki swore lividly. His sword seemed almost to leap halfway out -of the scabbard. Carse swung the blaster warningly, and he clashed -the weapon back. Useless, useless, when white flame could destroy him -before he got moving.</p> - -<p>"How did you get here?" he snarled.</p> - -<p>The tall, bronze-haired man smiled again. "I wasn't in the fight," he -said. "Volakech wanted to save my knowledge and told me to stay out -of the battle. I wasn't really needed. But it occurred to me that your -assault was obviously a futile gesture unless you hoped in some way -to capture the boat. So I hid in here to guard it—just in case. And -now—we'll take her up. We may just as well do so. Once I have the Star -Ship—" He gestured at Alonzo. "Start the engines. And no tricks. I -understand them as well as you do."</p> - -<p>Gonzales strapped himself in place and stood swaying with weakness -while he manipulated the controls. "I can't—reach that wheel—" he -gasped.</p> - -<p>"Turn it, Janazik," said Carse. "About a quarter turn—that's enough."</p> - -<p>The impassive faces of meters wavered and blurred before Alonzo's -swimming eyes. He had been pretty badly hurt. But the engines were -warming up.</p> - -<p>"Strap yourself in, Janazik," said Carse.</p> - -<p>The Khazaki obeyed, sickly. He didn't really need the anti-acceleration -webbing—Carse himself was content to hang on to a stanchion with one -hand—but it would hamper his movements, he would have no way of making -a sudden leap. Between them, he and Alonzo could handle the engines -readily enough, Carse giving them their orders. Then once they were -at the Star Ship he could blast them down, go out to capture Anse -and Ellen—and the old books said one man could handle the ship if -necessary—</p> - -<p>How to warn the two in the pilot room? How to get help? The warrior's -brain began to turn over, cool and steady now, swift as chilled -lightning.</p> - -<p>The boat spouted flame, stood on its tail and climbed for the sky. -Acceleration dragged at Carse, but it wasn't too great for a strong man -to resist. Carse tightened his grip on the stanchion. His blaster was -steady on them.</p> - -<p>Ellen's signal lights blinked and blinked on the control panels. More -on the No. 3 jet, ease to port, full ahead, cut No. 2.... Alonzo -handled most of it, occasionally gasping a command to Janazik. The -bellow of the rockets filled the engine room.</p> - -<p>And in the bows, Dougald Anson saw the world reel and fall behind, saw -the rainy sky open up in a sudden magnificence of sun, saw it slowly -darken and the stars come awesomely out. Gods, gods, was this space? -Open space? No wonder the old people had longed to get away!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><i>How to get help, how to warn Anse</i>—Janazik's mind spun like an -unloaded engine, spewing forth plan after unusable plan. Quickly, now, -by Shantuzik's hells!</p> - -<p>No way out—and the minutes were fleeing, the rocket was reaching for -the sky, he knew they were nearing the Star Ship and still he lay in -his harness like a sheep and obeyed Carse's gun-point orders!</p> - -<p>The disgrace of it! He snarled his anger, and at Alonzo's gasped -command swung the wheel with unnecessary savagery. The ship lurched as -a rocket tube overfired. Carse nearly lost his hold, and for an instant -Janazik's hands were at the acceleration webbing, ready to fling it off -and leap at him.</p> - -<p>The man recovered, and his blaster came to the ready again. He had to -shout to be heard above the thundering jets: "Don't try that—either of -you! I can shoot you down and handle it myself if I must!"</p> - -<p>He laughed then, a tall and splendid figure standing strained against -the brutal, clawing acceleration. Ellen's brother—aye! And one could -see why she wanted him spared. Janazik's lip curled back from his teeth -in a snarl of hate.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The rocket must be very near escape velocity now. Presently Ellen would -signal for the jets to be turned off and they would rush weightless -through space while she took her readings and plotted the orbit that -would get them to the Star Ship. And if then Carse emerged with his -blaster—</p> - -<p>Anse had only a sword.</p> - -<p><i>But—Anse is Anse</i>, thought Janazik. <i>If there is any faintest glimmer -of a chance Anse will find it. And if not, we're really no worse off -than now. I'll have to warn Anse and leave the rest up to him.</i></p> - -<p>The Khazaki nodded bleakly to himself. It would probably mean his own -death before Carse's blaster flame—and damn it, damn it, he liked -living. Even if the old Khazak he knew were doomed, there had been many -new worlds of the Galactic frontier. He and Anse had often dreamed of -roving over them—</p> - -<p>However—</p> - -<p>A red light blinked on the panel. Ellen's signal to cut the rockets. -They were at escape velocity.</p> - -<p>Wearily, his hand shaking, Alonzo threw the master switch. The sudden -silence was like a thunderclap.</p> - -<p>And Janazik screeched the old Krakenaui danger call from his fullest -lungs.</p> - -<p>Carse turned around with a curse, awkward in the sickening zero-gravity -of free fall. "It won't do you any good," he yelled thickly. "I'll kill -him too—"</p> - -<p>Alonzo threw the master switch up! With a coughing roar, the rockets -burst back into life. No longer holding the stanchion, Carse was hurled -to the floor.</p> - -<p>Janazik clawed at his webbing to get free. Carse leveled his blaster on -Alonzo. The engineer threw another switch at random, and the direction -of acceleration shifted with sudden violence, slamming Carse against -the farther wall.</p> - -<p>His blaster raved, and Alonzo had no time to scream before the flame -licked about him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>His blaster raved, and Alonzo had no time to scream before the flame licked about him....</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>And in the control room, Anse heard Janazik's high ululating yell. The -reflexes of the wandering years came back to galvanize him. His sword -seemed to leap into his hand, he flung himself out of his chair webbing -with a shout....</p> - -<p>"Anse!" Ellen's voice came dimly to his ears, hardly noticed. -"Anse—what is it—"</p> - -<p>He drifted weightless in midair, cursing, trying to swim. And then the -rockets woke up again and threw him against the floor. He twisted with -Khazaki agility, landed crouched, and bounded for the stern.</p> - -<p>Ellen looked after him, gasping, for an instant yet unaware of the -catastrophe, thinking how little she knew that yellow-maned savage -after all, and how she would like to learn, and—</p> - -<p>The rocket veered, crazily. Anse caught himself as he fell, adjusted to -the new direction of gravity, and continued his plunging run. The crash -of a blaster came from ahead of him.</p> - -<p>He burst into the control room and saw it in one blinding instant. -Alonzo's charred body sagging in its harness, Janazik half out of his, -Carse staggering to his feet—the blaster turned on Janazik, Janazik, -the finger tightening—</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Tiger-like, Anse sprang. Carse glimpsed him, turned, the blaster half -swung about ... and the murderous fighting machine which was Dougald -Anson had reached him. Carse saw the sword shrieking against his face; -it was the last thing he ever saw....</p> - -<p>Anse lurched back against the control panel. "Turn it off!" yelled -Janazik. "Throw that big switch there!"</p> - -<p>Mechanically, the human obeyed, and there was silence again, a deep -ringing silence in which they floated free. It felt like an endless -falling.</p> - -<p>Falling, falling—Anse looked numbly down at his bloody sword. Falling, -falling, falling—but that couldn't be right, he thought dully. He had -already fallen. He had killed Ellen's brother.</p> - -<p>"And I love her," he whispered.</p> - -<p>Janazik drifted over, slowly in the silent room. His eyes were a deep -gold, searching now. <i>If Ellen won't have him, he and I will go out -together, out to the stars and the great new frontier. But if she will, -I'll have to go alone, I'll always be alone—</i></p> - -<p><i>Unless she would come too. She's a good kid.... I'd like to have her -along. Maybe take a mate of my own too.... But that can never be, now. -She won't come near her brother's slayer.</i></p> - -<p>"You might not have had to kill him," said Janazik. "Maybe you could -have disarmed him."</p> - -<p>"Not before he got one of us—probably you," said Anse tonelessly. -"Anyway, he needed killing. He shot Alonzo."</p> - -<p>He added, after a moment: "A man has to stand by his comrades."</p> - -<p>Janazik nodded, very slowly. "Give me your sword," he said.</p> - -<p>"Eh?" Anse looked at him. The blue eyes were unseeing, blind with pain, -but he handed over the red weapon. Janazik slipped his own glaive into -the human's fingers.</p> - -<p>Then he laid a hand on Anse's shoulder and smiled at him, and then -looked away.</p> - -<p><i>We Khazaki don't know love. There is comradeship, deeper than any -Earthling knows. When it happens between male and female, they are -mates. When it is between male and male, they are blood-brothers. And a -man must stand by his comrades.</i></p> - -<p>Ellen came in, pulling her way along the walls by the handholds, and -Anse looked at her without saying a word, just looking.</p> - -<p>"What happened?" she said. "What is the—<i>Oh!</i>"</p> - -<p>Carse's body floated in midair, turning over and over in air currents -like a drowned man in the sea.</p> - -<p>"Carse—Carse—"</p> - -<p>Ellen pushed from the wall, over to the dead man. She looked at his -still face, and stroked his blood-matted hair, and smiled through a -mist of tears.</p> - -<p>"You were always good to me, Carse," she whispered. "You were ... -goodnight, brother. Goodnight."</p> - -<p>Then turning to Anse and Janazik, with something cold and terrible in -her voice: "Who killed him?"</p> - -<p>Anse looked at her, dumbly.</p> - -<p>"I did," said Janazik.</p> - -<p>He held forth the dripping sword. "He stowed away—was going to take -over the ship. Alonzo threw him off balance by turning the rockets back -on. He killed Alonzo. Then I killed him. He needed it. He was a traitor -and a murderer, Ellen."</p> - -<p>"He was my brother," she whispered. And suddenly she was sobbing in -Anse's arms, great racking sobs that seemed to tear her slender body -apart.</p> - -<p>But she'd get over it.</p> - -<p>Anse looked at Janazik over her shoulder, and while he ruffled her -shining hair his eyes locked with the Khazaki's. <i>This is the end. -Once we land, we can never see each other, not ever again. And we were -comrades in the old days....</i></p> - -<p><i>Farewell, my brother.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When the star ship landed outside Krakenau's surrendered citadel, it -was still raining a little. Janazik looked out at the wet gray world -and shivered. Then, wordlessly, he stepped from the airlock and walked -slowly down the hill toward the sea. He did not look back, and Anse did -not look after him.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Star Ship, by Poul Anderson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR SHIP *** - -***** This file should be named 63950-h.htm or 63950-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/5/63950/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Star Ship - -Author: Poul Anderson - -Release Date: December 3, 2020 [EBook #63950] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR SHIP *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - STAR SHIP - - By POUL ANDERSON - - The strangest space-castaways of all! The Terrans - left their great interstellar ship unmanned in - a tight orbit around Khazak--descended, all of - them, in a lifeboat to investigate that weird, - Iron Age world--_and the lifeboat cracked up!_ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Fall 1950. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - I - -With sunset, there was rain. When Dougald Anson brought his boat in to -Krakenau harbor, there was only a vast wet darkness around him. - -He swore in a sulfurous mixture of Krakenaui, Volgazani, and half a -dozen other languages, including some spaceman's Terrestrial, and let -down the sail. The canvas was heavy and awkward in the drenching rain; -it was all he could do to lash it around the boom. Then he picked up -the long wooden sweep and began sculling his boat in toward the dock. - -Lightning flared bluely through the rain, and he saw the great bay in -one livid flash, filled with galleys at anchor and the little schooners -of the fishing fleet. Beyond the wharfs, the land climbed steeply -toward the sky, and he saw the dark mass of the town reaching up to the -citadel on the hilltop. Dark--dark! Hardly a light showed in the gloom. - -What in the name of Shantuzik was up? The waterfront, at least, should -have been alive with torches and music and bawdy merriment. And the -newly installed street lights should have been twinkling along the main -avenues leading up to the castle. Instead Krakenau lay crouched in -night, and-- - -He scowled, and drove the light vessel shoreward with rhythmic sweeps -of the long oar. Uneasiness prickled along his spine. It wasn't right. -He'd only been gone a few days. What had happened in the meantime? - -When he reached the pier, he made fast with a quietness unusual to him. -Maybe he was being overcautious. Maybe it was only that the king had -died or some other reason for restrained conduct had arisen. But a man -didn't spend years warring among the pirates of the outer islands and -the neighboring kingdoms around Krakenau without learning to be careful. - -He ducked under the awning in the bows which was the boat's only -shelter, and got a towel from the sea chest and rubbed his rain-wet -body dry. He'd only been wearing a tattered pair of breeches, and the -water ran along his ribs and down his flanks. Then he shrugged on a -tunic, and a coat of ring-mail over that. A flat-bladed sword at his -side and a helmet over his long yellow hair completed his outfit. He -felt secure now, and jumped up to the pier. - -For a moment he stood in thought. The steady rain washed down over -his leather cape, blurring vision a few meters away, and only the -intermittent flicker of lightning broke the darkness. Where to go? -His father's house was the logical place, perhaps. But the Masefield -dwelling was a little closer to here, and Ellen-- - -He grinned and set out at a long stride. Masefield's be it. - -The street onto which he turned opened before him like a tunnel of -night. The high steep-roofed houses lay dark on either side, walling it -in, and the fluoroglobes were unlit. When the lightning blinked, the -wet cobblestones gleamed; otherwise there was only darkness and rain. - -He passed one of the twisting alleys, and glanced at it with automatic -caution. The next instant he had thrown himself to the ground, and the -javelin whipped through the place where his belly had been. - -He rolled over and bounded to his feet, crouched low, the sword whining -out of its scabbard into his hand. Four Khazaki sprang from the alley -and darted at him. - -Dougald Anson grunted, backed up against a wall. The natives were armed -and mailed, they were warriors, and they had all the unhuman swiftness -of their species. Four of them--! - -The leading attacker met his sword in a clang of steel. Dougald let him -come lunging in, took the cut on his mailed ribs, and swept his own -weapon murderously out. Faster than a man could think, the Khazaki had -his own blade up to parry the sweeping blow. But he wasn't quite fast -enough; he met it at an awkward angle and the Terrestrial's sheer power -sent the sword spinning from his hand. The hand went too, a fractional -second later, and he screamed and fell back and away. - -The others were upon Anson. For moments it was parry and slash, three -against one, with no time to feel afraid or notice the cuts in his arms -and legs. A remote part of his brain told him bleakly: This is all. -_You're finished. No lone Earthling ever stood up long to more than two -Khazaki._ But he hardly noticed. - -Suddenly there were only two in front of him. He darted forth from -the wall, his sword crashing down with all the power of his huge body -behind it. The warrior tried to skip aside--too late. The tremendous -blow smashed his own parry down and sang in his skullbones. - -And the last of the attackers died. He tumbled over beside the second, -and each of them had a feathered shaft between his ribs. - -The bowman came loping through the rain. He paused, in typical Khazak -fashion, to slit the throat of the wounded being, and then came up to -where Dougald Anson stood panting. - -The human strained through the rainy dark. Lightning glimmered in the -sky, and he recognized the newcomer. "Janazik!" - -"And Anson," nodded the Khazaki. His sharp white teeth gleamed in his -shadowed face. "You seem to have met a warm welcome." - -"Too warm. But--thanks!" Anson bent over the nearest of the corpses, -and only now did the realization penetrate his brain. They all wore -black mail of a certain pattern, spiked helmets, red cloaks--Gods of -Gorzak! They were all royal guardsmen! - - * * * * * - -He looked up to the dark form of Janazik, and his lean face was -suddenly tight. "What is this?" he asked slowly. "I thought maybe -bandits or some enemy state had managed to enter the city--" - -"That would be hard to do, now that we have the guns," said Janazik. -"No, these are within our own walls. If you'll look closely, you'll see -they wear a gold-colored brassard." - -"Prince Volakech--but he--" - -"There's more to this than Volakech, and more than a question of the -throne," said Janazik. Then suddenly, urgently: "But we can't stay here -to talk. They're patrolling the streets, it's dangerous to be abroad. -Let's get to shelter." - -"What's happened?" Anson got up, towering over the native by a good -quarter meter, his voice suddenly rough. "What happened? How is -everyone?" - -"Not well. Come on, now." - -"Ellen? Masefield Ellen?" - -"I don't know. Nobody knows. Now come on!" - -They slipped into the alley. Anson was blind in the gloom, and -Janazik's slim six-fingered hand took his to guide him. The Khazaki -were smaller than Terrestrials and lacked the sheer strength and -endurance which Earth's higher gravity gave; but they could move like -the wind, they had an utter grace and balance beside which humans were -clumsy cattle, and they saw in the dark. - -Dougald Anson's mind whirred in desperate speculation. If Volakech had -gotten enough guardsmen and soldiers on his side to swing a palace -revolution, it was bad. But matters looked worse than that. Why should -Volakech's men have assaulted a human? Why should Janazik have to sneak -him into a hiding place? How had the revolutionists gotten control in -the first place, against King Aligan's new weapons? What powers did -they have now? - -What had become of the human community in Krakenau? What of his father, -his brother and sisters, his friends? What of Masefield Ellen? What of -Ellen? - -He grew aware that Janazik had halted. They were in an evil-smelling, -refuse-littered courtyard, surrounded by tumble-down structures, dark -and silent as the rest of the city. Anson realized that all Krakenau -was blacked out. In such times of danger, the old Khazaki clandom -reasserted itself. Families barricaded themselves in their dwellings, -prepared to fight all comers till the danger was past. The city was -awake, yes--it was crouched in breathless tension all around him--but -not a light showed, not a hand stirred, not a voice spoke. They were -all waiting. - -Janazik crouched at the base of one of the old buildings and lifted a -trapdoor. Light gleamed dimly up from a cellar. He dropped lightly down -and Anson followed, closing the door behind him. - -There was only one smoky lamp in the dank gloom. Shadows were thick -and huge around the guttering wick. The red flame picked out faces, -shimmered off cold steel, and lost itself in darkness. - -Anson's eyes scanned the faces. Half a dozen humans: Chiang Chung-Chen, -DuFrere Marie, Gonzales Alonzo and his wife Nora who was Anson's -sister, Dougald Joan, Masefield Philip--No sign of Ellen. - -"Anse! Anse!" The voices almost sobbed out of the dim-lit hollowness. -Joan and Nora sprang forward as if to touch their brother, make sure he -was alive and no vision of the night, but Janazik waved them back with -his sword. - -"No noise," hissed the Khazaki's fierce whisper. "No noise, by all the -thirteen hells! Volakech's _burats_ are all over the city. If a patrol -finds us--" - -"Ellen!" Anson's blue eyes searched for Masefield Philip, crouched near -the lamp. "Where's your sister, Phil?" - -"I don't know," whispered the boy. "We're all who seem to've escaped. -They may have caught her--I don't know--" - -"Father." Joan's voice caught with a dry sob. "Anse, Father and Jamie -are dead. The rebels killed them." - -For a moment, Anson couldn't grasp the reality of that. It just wasn't -possible that his big laughing father and young Jamie-the-brat should -be killed--_no!_ - -But-- - -He looked up, and then looked away. When he turned back to face -them, his visage had gone hard and expressionless, and only the -white-knuckled grip on his sword showed he was not a stranger. - -"All right," he said slowly, very slowly and steadily. "All right. Give -me the story. What is it? What's happened in Krakenau?" - - - II - -Janazik padded around to stand before him. He was not the only Khazaki -in the cellar; there were a good dozen others. Mostly they were young -males, and Anse recognized them. Bolazan, Pragakech, Slavatozik--he'd -played with them as a child, he'd fared out with them as a youth and a -man to the wars, to storm the high citadel of Zarganau and smite the -warriors of Volgazan and pirate the commerce of the outer islands. They -were good comrades, yes. But Father and Jamie were dead. Ellen, Ellen -was vanished. Only a fragment of the human community remained; his -world had suddenly come down in ruin about him. - -Well--his old bleak resolution came back to him, and he met the yellow -slit-pupilled gaze of Janazik with a challenging stare. - -They were a strange contrast, these two, for all that they had fought -shoulder to shoulder halfway round the planet, had sung and played and -roistered from Krakenau to Gorgazan. Comrades in arms, blood brothers -maybe, but neither was human from the viewpoint of the other. - -Dougald Anson was big even for a Terrestrial; his tawny head rode at -full two meters and his wide shoulders strained the chain mail he -wore. He was young, but his face had had the youth burned out of it -by strange suns and wild winds around the world, was lean and brown -and marked with an old scar across the forehead. His eyes were almost -intolerably bright and direct in their blue stare, the eyes of a bird -of prey. - -The Khazaki was humanoid, to be sure--shorter than the Terrestrial -average, but slim and lithe. Soft golden fur covered his sinewy body, -and a slender tail switched restlessly against his legs. His head was -the least human part of him, with its sloping forehead, narrow chin, -and blunt-muzzled face. The long whiskers around his mouth and above -the amber cat-eyes twitched continuously, sensitive to minute shifts -in air currents and temperature. Along the top of his skull, the fur -grew up in a cockatoo plume that swept back down his neck, a secondary -sexual characteristic that females lacked. - -Janazik was something of a dandy, and even now he wore the baggy -silk-like trousers, long red sash, and elaborately embroidered blouse -and vest of a Krakenaui noble. It was woefully muddy, but he managed -to retain an air of fastidious elegance. The bow and quiver across his -back, the sword and dirk at his side, somehow looked purely ornamental -when he wore them. - -He was almost dwarfed by Anse's huge-thewed height. But old Chiang -Chung-Chen noticed, not for the first time, that the human wore -clothing and carried weapons of Khazaki pattern, and that the -harsh syllables of Krakenaui came more easily to his lips than the -Terrestrial of his fathers. And the old man nodded, gravely and a -little wearily. - -Janazik spoke rapidly: "Volakech must have been plotting his return -from exile a long time. He managed to raise a small army of pirates, -mercenaries, and outlawed Krakenaui, and he made bargains with groups -within the city. Two days ago, certain of the guards seized the new -guns and let Volakech and his men in. Others revolted within the town. -I think King Aligan was killed; at least I've seen or heard nothing -of him since. There's been some fighting between rebels and loyalists -but the rebels got all the Earth-weapons when they captured the royal -arsenal and since then they've just about crushed resistance. Loyalists -who could, fled the city. The rest are in hiding. Volakech is king." - -"But--why us? The Terrestrials--what have we to do with--" - -Janazik's yellow eyes blazed at him. "You aren't stupid, -blood-brother. Think!" - -After a moment Anse nodded bleakly. "_The Star Ship_--" - -"Of course! Volakech has seized the rocket boat. No Terrestrial in his -right mind would show him how to use it, so he had to capture someone -who understood its operation and force them to take him out to the -Star Ship. Old Masefield Henry was killed resisting arrest--you know -how bloody guardsmen are, in spite of orders to take someone alive. -Volakech ordered the arrest of all Terrestrials then. A few surrendered -to him, a few were killed resisting, most were captured by force. As -far as we know, this group is all which escaped." - -"Then Ellen--?" - -"That's the weird thing. I don't believe she has been caught. -Volakech's men are still scouring the city for 'an Earthling woman' -as the orders read. And who could it be but Ellen? No other woman -represents any danger or any desirable capture to Volakech." - -"Ellen understands astrogation," said Anse slowly. "She learned it from -her grandfather." - -"Yes. And now that he is dead, she is the only human--the only being on -this planet--who can get that rocket up to the Star Ship. And Masefield -Carson knows it." - -"Carson? Ellen's older brother? What--" - -Janazik's voice was cold as Winter: "Masefield Carson was with -Volakech. He led the rebels inside the city. Now he's the new king's -lieutenant." - -"Carson! No!" - -"Carson--yes!" Janazik's smile was without mirth or pity. His eyes -sought out Philip, huddled miserably beside the lamp. "Isn't that the -truth?" - - * * * * * - -The boy nodded, too choked with his own unhappiness to cry. "Carse -always was a friend of Volakech, before King Aligan outlawed him," he -mumbled. "And he always said how it was a shame, and how Volakech would -know better what to do with the Star Ship than anyone now. Then--that -night--" His voice trailed off, he sat dumbly staring into the flame. - -"Carson led the rebel guardsmen in their seizure of the city guns," -said Janazik. "He also rode to the Masefield house at the head of a -troop of them and called on his people to surrender on promise of good -treatment. Joe and the mother did, and I suppose they're held somewhere -in the citadel now. Phil and Ellen happened to be out at the time. -When Phil heard of the uprising, he was afraid to give himself up, in -spite of the heralds that went about promising safety to those who -did. He heard how the rebels had been killing his friends. He went to -Slavatozik here, whom he could trust, and later they got in touch with -me. I'd used this hiding place before, and gathered all the fugitives I -could find here." Janazik shrugged, a sinuous unhuman gesture. "Since -then I've seen Carse, at a distance, riding around like a prince of the -blood, with a troop of his own personal guardsmen. I suspect he really -runs things now. Volakech wants power, but only Carse can show him how -to get it." - -"And Ellen--?" - -"No sign of her. But as I said, I think she's in hiding somewhere, -or the guards wouldn't be out looking for a woman. She wouldn't give -herself up." - -"Not Ellen." A grim pride lifted Anse's head. - -"Remains the problem of finding her before they do," said Gonzales -Alonzo. "If they catch her and make her plot an orbit for the rocket, -they'll have the Star Ship--which means power over the whole planet." - -"Not that I care who's king," growled Pragakech. "But you know that -Masefield Carson never did want to use the ship to get out to the -stars. And I want to see those other worlds before I die." - -"To the thirteenth hell with the other worlds," snarled Bolazan. -"Aligan was my king, and it's for me to avenge him and put his rightful -heir on the throne." - -"We all have our motives for wanting the blood of Volakech and Carson," -said Janazik. "Never mind that now; the important thing is how to -get at their livers. We're few, Anse. Here are all the free humans -we know of, except Masefield Ellen. There can't be more than two or -three at large, and perhaps ten dead. That means the enemy holds -almost a hundred humans captive. Discounting children and others who -are ignorant of Terrestrial science, it still means they'll be able to -operate the guns, the steel mill, the atomic-power plant--all the new -machines except the rocket boat, and they only need Ellen for that." - -Anse nodded, slowly. "What is our strength?" he asked. - -"I don't know. Not much. I know where about a hundred Khazaki warriors -are hiding, ready to follow us whenever we call on them, and there will -be many more sitting at home now who'll rise if someone else takes the -lead. But the enemy has all the guns. It would be suicide." - -"What about the Khazaki who fled?" Usually, in one of the planet's -violent changes of governments, the refugees were powerful nobles -who would be slain as a safety measure if they stayed at home but -who could, in exile, raise strong forces for a comeback. Such a one -had Volakech himself been, barely escaping with his life after his -disastrous attempt to seize the throne a few years back. - -"Don't be more stupid than you can help," snorted Janazik. "By the time -they can have rallied enough to do any good, Volakech and Carson will -have the Star Ship, one way or another, and then the whole world is at -their mercy." - -"That means we have to strike back somehow--quickly!" Anse stood for a -moment in thought. - -The habits of his warring, wandering years were coming back to him. He -had faced death and despair before, and with strength and cunning and -bluff and sheer luck had come through alive. This was another problem, -more desperate and more urgent, but still another problem. - -No--there was more to it than that. - - * * * * * - -His face grew bleak, and it was as if a coldness touched his heart. -Carson was Ellen's older brother, and even if they had quarreled from -time to time he knew she had always felt deeply bound to him. _Carse is -everything I never was. He stayed in Krakenau and studied and became -an educated man and a skilled engineer while I went hallooing over -the world. He's brave and a good fighter--so am I--but he's so much -more than that. I imagine it was his example that made Ellen learn the -astrogation only her grandfather knew._ - -_And now I'm back from roaming and roving with Janazik, and I'm -trying hard to settle down and learn something so that I won't be -just a barbarian, a wild Khazaki in human skin, when we go out to the -civilization of the stars. So that I won't be too utterly ashamed to -ask Ellen to marry me. And it was all going pretty well until now._ - -_But now--I'm fighting her brother--_ - -Well--he pushed the thought out of his brain. After all, apparently she -was in opposition to Carse's plans too. - -"I wonder why they tried to kill me?" he asked aloud, more to fill in -the time while he thought than out of curiosity. - -"You'd be of no use to Carson, having no technical education," said -Janazik, "while your knowledge of fighting and your connections with -warlike groups make you dangerous to him. Also, I don't think he ever -liked your paying attention to Ellen." - -"No--he always said I was a waster. Called me a--an absorbed Khazaki. -I'd've split his skull if he hadn't been Ellen's brother--No matter -now. We've more important things to talk over." - -_Have we, now?_ he thought sickly. _Carson must know Ellen well, better -than I do. If he thinks he can have me killed without making her hate -him, then--maybe I never had any chance with her then--_ - -"How'd you happen by?" he asked tonelessly. - -"I've been out from time to time, looking for Ellen and killing -guardsmen whenever I could catch them alone." Janazik's white fangs -gleamed in a carnivore's smile. "And, of course, I expected you back -from your fishing trip about this time, and watched for you lest you -blunder into their hands." - -Anse began to pace the floor, back and forth, his head bent to avoid -the basement rafters. If Carson was in control, and out to kill him.... -There was more to it than that, of course. The whole future of the -planet Khazak, perhaps of the fabulous Galactic civilization itself, -was balanced on the edge of a sword. If Volakech or a descendant of -his took the warlike race out among the stars, with a high level of -industry to back a scheme of conquest-- - -But it didn't matter. All the universe didn't matter. There was only -Ellen, and his own dead kin, and himself. - -A man's heart can only hold so much. - -Janazik stood quietly back, watching his friend's restless prowling. -He had seen that pacing before, and he knew that some scheme would come -out of it, crazy and reckless and desperate, with his own cool unhuman -intelligence to temper it and make it workable. He and Anse made a good -team. They made the best damned fighting team Khazak had ever seen. - -Presently the human lifted his head. There was silence in the hiding -place, thick and taut, so that they could hear their own breathing and -the steady drum of rain on the trapdoor. - -"I have an idea," said Anse. - - - III - -The long night wore on. Janazik had sent most of his Khazaki out to -alert the other loyalists in their hiding places, but only they had a -chance of slipping unobserved past the enemy patrols. Humans, obviously -alien, slow-footed and clumsy beside the flitting shadows of Khazak, -would never get far. They had to wait. - -Anse was glad of the opportunity for conference with Janazik, planning -the assault on the citadel. Neither of them was very familiar with the -layout, but Alonzo, as an engineer on the rocket building project, and -old Chiang had been there often enough to know it intimately. - -It was impossible that a few hundred warriors armed with the primitive -weapons of Khazak could take the stronghold. Its walls were manned by -more fighters than that, and there were the terrible Earth-type guns -as well. Alonzo had a blaster with a couple of charges, but otherwise -there was nothing modern in the loyalist force. - -But still that futile assault was necessary-- - -"It's taking a desperate chance," said Dougald Joan. She was young yet, -hardly out of girlhood, but her voice had an indomitable ring. The true -warriors among the five Earthling families were all Dougald thought -Janazik. "Suppose Ellen doesn't come out of hiding? Suppose she's dead -or--or captured already, in spite of what we think." - -"We'll just have to try and destroy the rocket then," said Alonzo. -"Certainly we can't let Volakech get to the Star Ship." He sighed, -heavily. "And the labor of another generation will be gone." - -"It wouldn't take us long to build another boat," said his wife. "We -know how, now, and we have the industry to do it." - -"There are only a few who really know how to handle and build the -Terrestrial machines, and most of them are in the enemy's hands," -reminded old Chiang. "I'm sure I couldn't tell you much about atomic -engines, even though I was on the Star Ship herself once. If those -few are killed, we may never be able to duplicate our efforts. What -Terrestrials survive will sink back into barbarism, become simply -another part of Khazaki culture." - -"I don't know--" said Nora. - -"I know, because I've seen it happen," insisted Chiang. "In the fifty -years since we were marooned here, two generations have been born on -Khazak. They've grown up among Khazaki, played with native children, -worked and fought with Khazaki natives, adopted the dress and speech -and whole outlook of Krakenau. Only a few in this third generation have -consciously tried to remain--Terrestrial. I must admit that Masefield -Carson is one such. Ellen is another. But few others." - -"Would you have us wall ourselves out from the world?" asked Anse with -a bridling anger. - -"No. I don't see how the situation could be helped. We are a minority -in an alien culture with which we've had to cooperate. It's only -natural that we'd be more assimilated than assimilating. Even at that, -we've wrought immense changes." - - * * * * * - -Janazik nodded. The stranded Terrestrials had found themselves in an -early Iron Age civilization of city-states, among a race naturally -violent and predatory. For their own survival, they had had to league -forces with the state in which they found themselves--Krakenau, as it -happened. Before they could build the industry they needed, they had -to have some security--which meant that they must teach the Krakenaui -military principles and means of making new weapons which would make -them superior to their neighbors. After that--well, it took an immense -technology to build even a small spaceship. The superalloys which could -stand the combustion of rocket fuel required unheard-of elements such -as manganese and chromium, which required means of mining and refining -them, which required a considerable chemical plant, which required--How -far down do you have to start? And there were a hundred or a thousand -other requirements of equal importance and difficulty. - -Besides, the Terrestrials had had to learn much from scratch -themselves. None of them had ever built a rocketship, had ever seen one -in action even. It was centuries obsolete in Galactic civilization. But -gravity drives were out of the question. So--they'd had to design the -ship from the ground up. Which meant years of painstaking research ... -and only a few interested humans and Khazaki to do it. The rest were -too busy with their own affairs in the brawling barbaric culture. - -Ten years ago, the first spaceboat had blasted off toward the Star -Ship--and exploded in mid-acceleration. More designing, more testing, -more slow building--and now the second one lay ready. Perhaps it could -reach the Star Ship. - -The Star Ship--faster than light, weightless when it chose to be for -all its enormous mass, armed with atomic guns that could blast a -city to superheated vapor. Whoever controlled that ship could get to -Galactic stars in a matter of weeks. Or could rule all Khazaki if he -chose. - -No wonder Carson and Volakech had struck now, before the rocket boat -was launched. When _they_ had the ship-- - -But only Ellen knew the figures of its orbit and the complicated -calculations by which the boat would plot a course to get there. A bold -warrior might make a try at reaching the ship by seat-of-the-pants -piloting, but he wouldn't have much chance of making it. So Ellen, and -the rocket boat, were the fulcrum of the future. - -"Strange," mused Chiang. "Strange that we should have had that -accident...." - -They had heard the story a hundred times before, but they gathered -around to listen; there was nothing else to do while the slow hours -dragged on. - -"We were ten, all told, five men and their wives. Exploratory -expeditions are often out for years at a time, so the Service makes it -a policy to man the ships with married couples. It's hard for a Khazaki -to appreciate the absolute equality between the sexes which human -civilization has achieved. It's due to the advanced technology, of -course, and we're losing it as we go back to barbarism--" - -Anse felt a small hand laid on his arm. He looked down into the dark -eyes of DuFrere Marie. She was a pretty girl, a little younger than he, -and until he'd really noticed Ellen he'd been paying her some attention. - -"I don't care about equality," she whispered. "A woman shouldn't try to -be a man. I'd want only to cook and keep house for my man, and bear his -children." - -It was, Anse realized, a typical Khazaki attitude. But--he remembered -with a sudden pity that Carson had been courting Marie. "This is pretty -tough on you," he muttered. "I'll try to see that Carse is saved.... If -we win," he added wryly. - -"Him? I don't care about that Masefield. Let them hang him. But -Anse--be careful--" - - * * * * * - -He looked away, his face hot in the gloom, realizing suddenly why -Masefield Carson hated him. Briefly, he wished he hadn't had such -consistent luck with women. But the accident that there was a -preponderance of females in the second and third generations of Khazaki -humans had made it more or less inevitable, and he--well, he was only -human. There'd been Earthling girls; and not a few Khazaki women had -been intrigued by the big Terrestrial. _Yes, I was lucky_, he thought -bitterly. _Lucky in all except the one that mattered._ - -"--we'd been a few weeks out of Avandar--it was an obscure outpost -then, though I imagine it's grown since--when we detected this Sol-type -sun. Seeing that there was an Earth-like planet, we decided to -investigate. And since we were all tired of being cooped in the ship, -and telescopes showed that any natives which might exist would be too -primitive to endanger us, we all went down in the lifeboat. - -"And the one-in-a-billion chance happened ... the atomic converters -went out of control and we barely escaped from the boat before it was -utterly consumed. We were stranded on an alien planet, with nothing but -our clothes and a few hand weapons--and with our ship that would go -faster than light circling in its orbit not ten thousand kilometers -above us! - -"No chance of rescue. There are just too many suns for the Galactic -Coordinators to hope to find a ship that doesn't come back. Expansion -into this region of space wasn't scheduled for another two centuries. -So there we were, and until we could build a boat which would take us -back to our ship--there we stayed! - -"And it's taken us fifty years so far...." - -Pragakech came in with the rain glistening on his fur and running in -small puddles about his padding feet. "We're ready," he said. "Every -warrior whose hiding place we knew has been contacted." - -"Then we might as well go." Janazik got up and stretched luxuriously. -His eyes were like molten gold in the murky light. - -"So soon?" Marie held Anse back with anxious hands. "This same night?" - -"The sooner the better," Anse said grimly. "Every day that goes by, -more of our friends will be found out and killed, more places will be -searched for Ellen, Volakech's grip on the city will grow stronger." He -put the spiked helmet back on his head, and buckled the sword about his -mailed waist. "Come on, Janazik. The rest stay here and wait for word. -If we're utterly defeated, such of us as survive will manage to get -back and lead you out of Krakenau--somehow." - -Marie started to say something, then shook her head as if the words -hurt her throat and drew Anse's face down to hers. "Goodbye, then," she -whispered. "Goodbye, and the gods be with you." - -He kissed her more awkwardly than was his wont, feeling himself a -thorough scoundrel. Then he followed Pragakech and Janazik out the -trapdoor. - - - IV - -The courtyard was filled with Khazaki warriors, standing silently in -the slow heavy rain. It was the darkness of early morning, and only an -occasional wan lightning flash, gleaming on spears and axes, broke the -chill gloom. Anse was aware of softly-moving supple bodies pressing -around him, of night-seeing eyes watching him with an impassive stare. -It was he and Janazik who had the plan, and who had the most experience -in warfare, and the rest looked to them for leadership. It was not -easy to stand under that cool, judging scrutiny, and Anse strode forth -into the street with a feeling of relief at the prospect of action. - -As they moved toward the castle, along the narrow cobbled lanes winding -up the hills, their army grew. Warriors came loping from alleys, came -slipping out of the dark barricaded houses, seemed to rise out of -the rainy night around them. All Krakenau was abroad, it seemed, but -quietly, quietly. - -And throughout the town other such forces were on the move, gathering -under the lead of anyone who could be trusted, converging on the -citadel and the rocketship it guarded. - -_Tonight--victory, or destruction of the boat and a drawn battle ... or -repulsion and ultimate shattering defeat. The gods are abroad tonight._ - -Somewhere, faint and far through the dull washing of rain, a trumpet -blew a harsh challenge, once and again. After it came a distance-muted -shouting of voices and a clattering of swords. - -"One of our bands has come across a patrol," said Janazik -unnecessarily. "Now all hell will be loose in Krakenau. Come on!" - -They broke into a trot up the hill. Rounding a sharp turn in the -street, they saw a close-ranked mass of warriors with spears aloft. - -Guardsmen! - -The two forces let out a simultaneous yell and charged at each other -in the disorderly Khazaki fashion. It was beginning to lighten just a -little; Anse could make out enough for purposes of battle. Hai-ah--here -we go! - -He smashed into a leading guard, who stabbed at him with his long pike. -The edge grazed off Anse's heavy chain mail as the Earthling chopped -out with his sword. He knocked the shaft aside and thrust in, hewing -at the Khazaki's neck. The guard intercepted the blow with his shield, -and suddenly rammed it forward. The murderous spike on its boss thudded -against the Terrestrial's broad chest and the linked rings gave under -that blow--just a little, just enough to draw blood. Anse roared and -chopped down across the other's right arm. The Khazaki howled his pain -and stumbled back. - -Another was on the Earthling like a spitting cat. Swords hummed and -clashed together. Leaping and dodging, the Khazaki lashed out with a -blade like a flickering flame, and none of Anse's blows could land on -him. - -The Khazaki leaped in suddenly, his edge reaching for the human's -unprotected throat. Anse parried with his sword, while his left fist -shot out like an iron cannonball. It hit the native full in the face, -with a crunch of splintering bones. The guard's head snapped back and -he fell to the blood-running street. - -Janazik was fighting two at once, his sword never resting. He leaped -and danced like the shadow of a flame in the wind, and he was -laughing--laughing! Anse hewed out, and one of the foemen's heads -sprang from its neck. Janazik darted in, there was a blur of steel, and -the other guardsman toppled. - -Axe and sword! Spear and dagger and flying arrows! The fight rolled -back and forth between the darkling walls of houses. It grew with time; -Volakech's patrols were drawn by the noise, loyalists crouched in -hiding heard of the attack and sped to join it. Anse and Janazik fought -side by side, human brawn and Khazaki swiftness, and the corpses were -heaped where they went. - -A pike raked Anse's hand. He dropped his sword and the enemy leaped in -with drawn knife. Anse did not reach for his own dirk--no human had a -chance in a knife fight with a Khazaki--but his arms snaked out, his -hands closed on the native's waist, and he lifted the enemy up and -hurled him against another. They both went down in a crash of denting -armor and snapping bones. Anse roared his war-cry and picked up his -sword again. - - * * * * * - -Janazik leaped and darted and fenced, grinning as he fought, -demon-lights in his yellow eyes. A spear was hurled at him. He picked -it out of the air, one-handed, and threw it back, even as he fought -another guardsman. The rebel took advantage of it to get in under -Janazik's guard. Swifter than thought, the warrior's dagger was in his -left hand--and into the rebel's throat. - -Back and forth the battle swayed, roaring, trampling, and the rain -mingled with blood between the cobblestones. Thunder of weapons, -shrieking of wounded, shouting of challenges--lightning dancing -overhead! - -Suddenly it was over. - -Anse looked up from his last victim and saw that the confusion no -longer snarled around him. The street was heaped with dead and wounded, -and a few individual battles were still going on. But the surviving -guardsmen were in full flight, and the victorious warriors were -shouting their triumph. - -"That was a fight!" panted Janazik. He quivered with feral eagerness. -"Now on to the castle!" - -"I think," said Slavatozik thoughtfully, "that this was the decisive -struggle as far as the city is concerned. Look at how many were -involved. Almost all the patrols must have come here--and now they're -beaten. We hold the city!" - -"Not much good to us while Volakech is in the castle," said Anse. "He -need only sally forth with the Earth-weapons--" He leaned on his sword, -gasping great lungfuls of the cool wet air into him. "But where's -Ellen?" - -"We've had heralds out shouting for her, as you suggested," said -Slavatozik. "Now that the city is in our control, she should come out. -If not--" - -"--then I know how to blow up the boat," said Gonzales Alonzo bleakly. -"If we can get inside the citadel to it." - -The loyalists were reassembling their forces. Warriors moved over the -scene of battle, plundering dead guardsmen, cutting the throats of -wounded enemies and badly mutilated friends. It was a small army that -was crowding around Anse's tall form. - -His worried eyes probed into the dull gray light of the rainy dawn. -Of a sudden, he stiffened and peered more closely. Someone was -coming down the street, thrusting through the assembled warriors. -Someone--someone--he knew that bright bronze hair.... - -_Ellen._ - -He stood waiting, letting her come up to him, and his eyes were hungry. -She was tall and full-bodied and supple, graceful almost as a Khazaki, -and her wide-set eyes were calm and gray under a broad clear forehead -and there was a dusting of freckles over her straight nose and her -mouth was wide and strong and generous and-- - -"Ellen," he said wonderingly. "Ellen." - -"What are you doing?" she asked. "What have you planned?" - -No question of how he was, no look at the blood trickling along his -sides and splashed over his face and arms--well--"Where were you?" -he asked, and cursed himself for not being able to think of a better -greeting. - -"I hid with the family of Azakhagar," she said. "I lay in their loft -when the patrolmen came searching for me. Then I heard your heralds -going through the streets, calling on me to come out in your name. So I -came." - -"How did you know it wasn't a trick of Volakech's?" asked someone. - -"I told the heralds to use my name and add after it--well--something -that only she and I knew," said Anse uncomfortably. - - * * * * * - -Janazik remained impassive, but he recalled that the phrase had been -"Dougald Anson, who once told you something on a sunny day down by -Zamanaui River." He could guess what the something had been. Well, it -seemed to happen to all Earthmen sooner or later, and it meant the end -of the old unregenerate days. He sighed, a little wistfully. - -"But what did you want me for?" asked Ellen. She stood before Anse in -her short, close-fitting tunic, the raindrops glittering in her heavy -coppery hair, and he thought wryly that the question was in one sense -superfluous. But in another sense, and with time so desperately short-- - -"You're the only one of us who can plot a course for the rocket," he -said. "Alonzo here, or almost anyone, should be able to pilot it, but -you're the only one who can take it to the Star Ship. So that, of -course, is why Carson and Volakech were after you, and why we had to -have you too. If we can get into the citadel, capture the rocket and -get up to the Star Ship, it'll be easy to overthrow Volakech. But if he -gets there first, all Khazak couldn't win against him." - -She nodded, slowly and wearily. Her gray eyes were haunted. "I wonder -if it matters who gets there," she said. "I wonder why we're fighting -and killing each other. Over who shall sit on the throne of an obscure -city-state on an insignificant planet? Over the exact disposition to -be made of one little spaceship? It isn't worth it." She looked around -at the sprawled corpses, lying on the bloody cobblestones with rain -falling in their gaping mouths, and shuddered. "It isn't worth that." - -"There's more to it than that," said Janazik bleakly. "Masefield Carson -and his friend--his puppet, I think--Volakech would use the ship to -bring all the world under their rule. Then they would mold it into a -pattern suited for conquering a small empire among the neighboring -stars." - -"Volakech always talked that way, before his first revolution," said -Ellen. "And Carse used to say--but that can't be right! He can't have -meant it. And even if he did--what of it? Is it worth enough for -brothers to slay each other over?" - -"Yes." Janazik's voice was pitiless. "Shall the freemen of Khazak -become the regimented hordes of a tyrant? Let all this world be blown -asunder first!" - -"Shall the innocent folk of the other stars become his victims?" urged -Alonzo. "Shall Khazak become a menace to the Galaxy, one which must -be destroyed--or must itself destroy? Shall there be war with--Earth -herself?" - -"To Shantuzik with that," growled Anse. "These are our enemies, to be -fought and beaten. Out there is the great civilization of the Galaxy, -and they would keep us from it for generations yet, and make it in the -end our foe. And Volakech is a murderer with no right to the throne of -Krakenau. I say let's get at his liver!" - -"Well--" Ellen looked away. When she turned back, there was torment in -her eyes, but her voice was low and steady: "I'm with you in whatever -you plan. But on one condition. Carse is not to be harmed." - -"Not harmed!" exploded Janazik. "Why, that dirty traitor deserves--" - -"He is still my brother," said Ellen. "When Volakech is beaten, he -will not be able to do any more harm, and he will see that he was -wrong." Her eyes flashed coldly. "Whoever hurts Carse will have me for -blood-enemy!" - -"As you will," shrugged Anse, trying to hide the pain in his heart. -"But now.... Our plan is to storm the citadel. We can't hope to take -it, but we'll keep the garrison busy. Meanwhile a few of us break in, -get the rocket, and take it back out here, where you will have an orbit -plotted--" - -"I can't make one that quickly. And who can pilot it well enough to -land it here without cracking it up?" - - * * * * * - -They looked at each other, and then eyes turned to Gonzales Alonzo. He -smiled mirthlessly. "I can try," he said. "But I'm only an engineer; I -never imagined I'd have to fly the thing. Chiang Ching-Wei was supposed -to be the pilot, but he's a prisoner now." - -"If we smash the rocket--well, then we smash it," said Anse heavily. -"It'll mean a long and hard war against Volakech from outside, and -he'll have all the advantages of the new weapons. We may never -overthrow him before he gets another boat built. Still--we'll just have -to try." - -Ellen said quietly: "I can pilot it." - -"You!" - -"Of course. I've been working on the second boat from the beginning. I -know it as well as anyone, every seam and rivet and wiring diagram. I -was aboard when Chiang took her on a practice run only a few days ago. -I'll fly it for you!" - -"You can't--we have to fight our way into the castle itself, the very -heart of Volakech's power--you'd be killed!" - -"It's the best chance. If you think we can get in at all, I stand as -good a chance of living through it as anyone else." - -"She's right," said Janazik. "And while we waste time here arguing, the -citadel is getting ready. Come on!" - -Automatically, Anse broke into movement, trotting along beside Janazik, -and the army formed its ranks and followed them. - -He had time for a few hurried words with Ellen, whispered as they went -up the hill: "Stay close by me. There'll be a small group of us getting -in, picked fighters, and we'll make a ring about you." - -"Of course," she nodded. Her gray eyes shone, and she was breathing -quickly. "I begin to see why you were a rover all those years, Anse. -It's mad and desperate and terrible--but before Cosmos, we're alive!" - -"Most recruits are frightened green before their first battle," he -said. "You have a warrior's heart, Ellen--" He broke off, hearing the -banality of his own words. - -"Listen, my dearest," he said then, quickly. "We may not come alive -through all this. But remember what I did say, down by the river that -day. I love you." - -She was silent. He went on, fumbling for words: "You wouldn't answer me -then--" - -"I thought it was just your usual talk to women." - -"It may have been--then," he admitted. "But it hasn't been since, and -it isn't now." His sword-calloused hand found hers. "Don't forget, -Ellen. I love you. I will always love you." - -"Anse--" She turned toward him, and he saw her eyes alight. "Anse--" - -A bugle shrilled through the rain, high and harsh ahead of them. Dimly, -they made out the monstrous bulk of the castle, looming through the -misty gray light, its towers lost in the vague sky. Janazik's sword -flashed from its sheath. - -"The battle begins," said a voice out of the blurring rain. - -Anse drew Ellen over against a wall and kissed her. Her lips were cool -and firm under his, wet with rain; he would never forget that kiss -while life was in him. - -They looked at each other for a moment of wonder, and then broke apart -and followed Janazik. - - - V - -The loyalists charged in a living wave that roared as it surfed against -the castle walls and spattered a foam of blood and steel. From three -sides they came, weaving in and out of the hailing arrows, lifting -shields above them, leaving their dead behind them. - -The blaster cannon mounted on the walls spouted flame and thunder. -Warriors were mowed down before that whirling white fury, armor melted -when the lightning-like discharges played over it, but still the -assault went on with all the grim bitter courage of the Khazaki race. - -Old siege engines were appearing, dragged out of storehouses and hiding -places where they had been kept against such a day of need. Now the -great catapults and ballistae were mounted; stones and fireballs and -iron-headed bolts were raking the walls. A testudo moved awkwardly -forth up the steep hill toward the gates. It was blasted to flaming -molten ruin, but another got underneath the walls and the crash of a -battering ram came from under its roof. - -Shadowlike in the blinding rain, the warriors flitted up toward the -walls. No spot of cover was too small for one of those ghostly shapes; -they seemed to carry their own invisibility with them. Under the -walls--scaling ladders appearing as if out of nowhere--up the walls and -into the castle! - -The ladders were hurled down. The warriors who gained the walls were -blasted by cannon, cut down by superior numbers, lost in a swirl of -battle and death. Boiling water rained down over the walls on those -below, spears and arrows and the roaring blaster bolts. But still they -came. Still the howling, screeching demons of Krakenau came, and died, -and came again. - -Anse cursed, softly, luridly, pain croaking in his voice: "We can't be -with them. They're being slaughtered and we can't be with them." - -"We're needed worse here," said Janazik curtly. "If only Pragakech can -maintain the assault for an hour--" - -He and Anse loped in the forefront. Behind them came Gonzales, Ellen, -and a dozen picked young Khazaki. They wove through a maze of alleys -and streets and deserted market squares, working around behind the -castle. The roar of battle came to them out of the gray mist of rain; -otherwise there was only the padding and splashing of their own feet, -the breath rasping harsh in their lungs, the faint clank and jingle -of their harness. All Krakenau not at the storming of the citadel had -withdrawn into the mysterious shells of the houses, lay watching and -waiting and whetting knives in the dark. - -The paths dipped steeply downward, until, when they came around behind -the citadel and stood peering out of a tunnel-like alley, there was a -sheer cliff-face before them. On this side the castle was impregnable. -The only approach was a knife-edged trail winding up the cliff, barely -wide enough for one man at a time. At its top, flush with the precipice -edge, the wall was built. Against this wall, commanding the trail, -there had in the old days been an archer post, but lately a cannon had -been mounted there. - -Yet that very security, thought Anse, might be a weakness. Except for -that gun, the approach wouldn't be watched, especially with the fight -going on elsewhere. So-- - -"Give me your weapon, Alonzo," said Janazik. - -"Here." Gonzales handed him the blaster pistol. "But it only has two -charges left in it." - -"That may be enough." Janazik slipped it under his cloak. Then he wound -a gold brassard about his arm and started up the trail. A couple of his -Khazaki came behind them, then Anse, Ellen, and Alonzo, and finally the -rest of the warriors. - - * * * * * - -The trail was steep and slippery, water swirling down it, loose rocks -moving uneasily beneath the feet--and it was a dizzying drop off the -sheer edge to the ground below. They wound upward slowly, panting, -cursing, wondering how much of a chance their desperate scheme really -had. - -Ellen slipped a little. Anse reached back and caught her hand. He -smiled lop-sidedly. "Now I don't want to let go," he said. - -"I wonder--" Ellen looked away, then back to him, and her eyes were -wide and puzzled. "I wonder if I want you to, Anse." - -His heart seemed to jump up into his throat, but he let her go and said -wryly: "I'm afraid I have to right now. But wait till later." - -Up and up--_Later! Will there ever be a later?_ - -_And if there is, what then? I'm still more than half a Khazaki. Can we -live together in the great civilization I hardly comprehend?_ - -_It was simpler when Janazik and I were warring over the planet ... -Janazik! I wonder if two beings of the same race could ever know as -close a friendship as that between us two aliens. We've fought and -laughed and sung together, we've saved each other's lives, sweated and -suffered and been afraid, together. We know each other as we will never -know any other being._ - -_Well, it passes. We'll always remain close friends, I suppose. But the -old comradeship--I'll have to give that up._ - -_But Ellen--_ - -Up and up-- - -Janazik whistled, long and loud, and called: "Hail Volakech! Friends!" - -He could dimly see the looming bulk of the blaster cannon, crouched -behind its iron shield. Above it the walls of the castle were high and -dark and--empty. - -The voice came from ahead of him, taut with nervousness: "Who goes -there?" - -"A friend. I have a message for His Highness." Janazik moved forward -almost casually. His eyes gleamed with mirth. It tickled his heart, -this dicing with death. Someday he'd overreach himself and that would -be the end, but until then he was having fun. - -"Advance.... No, no one else. Just you alone." - -Janazik sauntered forward until he stood only a meter from the blunt -ugly muzzle. He had his left arm out of his cloak, so that the golden -brassard shone in plain view. Underneath, his right hand thumbed the -catch of Alonzo's pistol. - -"Who are you?" challenged the voice from behind the shield. - -"A messenger for His Highness from his allies in Volgazan," said -Janazik. "Seeing that there was still fighting going on, I and my men -decided to come in the back way." - -"Well--I suppose I can let you in, under guard. But your men, will have -to stay out here." - -"Very well." Janazik strolled over behind the shield. - -There were three warriors crouched there, in front of a small door in -the wall. One of them was about to blow his trumpet for a guard detail. -The other two poised their spears near Janazik's throat. None of them -thought that anyone outside the citadel might possess an Earth-weapon. - - * * * * * - -Janazik shot right through his cloak. In that narrow space, the -ravenous discharge blinded and blistered him, stung his face with -flying particles of molten iron. The hammer-blow of concussion sent him -reeling back against the wall. His cloak caught afire; he ripped it off -and flung it down on the three blackened corpses before him. - -Vision returned to his dazzled eyes. These Earth-weapons were hideous -things, he thought; they made nothing of courage or strength or even -cunning. He wondered what changes Galactic civilization would bring to -old Khazak, and didn't think he'd like most of them. Maybe Volakech was -right. - -But Anse was his comrade and Aligan had been his king. He whistled, and -the others came running up. - -"Quick," rasped Janazik. "The noise may draw somebody--quick, inside!" - -"Can't we swing this lightning thrower around and blast them?" wondered -a Khazaki. - -"No, it's fixed in place." Anse threw his brawny shoulders against -the solid mass of the door. It swung ponderously back and they dashed -through the tunnel in the thick wall--out into the open courtyard of -the castle! - -The noises of the fight rose high from here, but there were only a few -warriors in sight, scurrying back and forth on their errands without -noticing the newcomers--a fact which did not surprise Anse or Janazik, -who knew what vast confusion a battle was. The human remembered the -layout now--the rocket would be over by the machine shops, near the -donjon keep--"This way!" - -They trotted across the court, around the gray stone bulk of the -citadel's buildings and towers, toward the long wooden shed which -housed the new machine shop. The rain was beginning to slacken now, and -the sun was up behind its gray veil, so that there was light shining -through slanting silver. Against the dark walls, the lean torpedo shape -of the rocket boat gleamed like a polished spearhead. - -"Now--ahead!" Janazik broke into a run toward the boat, and they -followed him in a close ring about Ellen. - -A band of fighters came around the corner of the machine shop, in front -of the rocket. The wet light shone off their brassards. Janazik swore -bitterly, and his hand dropped to his sword. - -One of the enemy warriors let out a yell. "Earthlings--two--three of -them! Not ours--" - -The blaster crashed in Janazik's hand, and five dropped their charred -bodies on the ground. With a spine-shivering yell, Janazik bounded -forward, and after him came Anse, Alonzo, and a round dozen of the -fiercest fighters in Krakenau. The blaster was exhausted now--but they -had their swords! - -The leader of the enemy band was a huge Khazaki, dark-furred and -green-eyed. His men were scattering in panic, but he roared a -bull-voiced command and they rallied about him and stood before the -rocket. - -Volakech. By all the thirteen hells, _Volakech_! - -He must have been leading reinforcements to a threatened point on -the wall, thought Anse in a fleeting moment, and his sharp mind had -instantly deduced that the invaders were after the rocket--and that -they could have no more blaster charges, or they would be using them. -And Volakech's band was still larger than theirs, and he had all the -forces of the citadel behind him if he could summon them! - - * * * * * - -The two bands crashed together and steel began to fly. Anse stood -before Ellen and lashed out at a spitting Khazaki who reached for his -belly with a sword. The enemy dodged past his guard, drilled in close. -Ellen shouted and kicked at the native's ankles. He stumbled, dropping -his defense, and Anse clove his skull. - -Volakech roared. He swung a huge battle axe, and its shock and thunder -rose high over the swaying tide of battle. Two of Janazik's men leaped -at him. He swept the axe in a terrible arc and the spike cracked one -pate and the edge split the other's face open. Alonzo sprang at him -with furious courage, wielding a sword. Volakech knocked it spinning -from his hand, but, before he could kill the engineer, Anse was on him. - -They traded blows in a clamor of steel. Axe and sword clashed together, -sheared along chain mail and rang on helmets. It was a blur of rake -and slash and parry, with Volakech grinning at him behind a network of -whirling steel. - -Anse gathered his strength and pressed forward with reckless fury. -His sword hummed and whistled and roared against Volakech's hard-held -guard. He laid open arms, legs, cheek; he probed and lunged for the -rebel king's trunk. Volakech snarled, but step by step he was driven -back. - -Warriors fell, but it was on the bodies of foemen and even dying they -stabbed upward at the enemy. Bitter, bloody, utterly ruthless, the -struggle swayed about the rocketship. It was old Khazak that fought, -the planet of warriors, and, even as he hewed and danced and slew, -Janazik thought bleakly that he was trying to end the gory magnificence -of that age; he was bringing civilization and with it the doom of his -own kind. Khazak of the future would not be the same world. - -If they won--if they won! - -"To me!" he yelled. "To me, men of Aligan! Hai, Aligan! Krakenau! -Dougald!" - -They heard and rallied round him, the last gasping survivors of his -band. But there were few of Volakech's men left, few. - -"Volakech! Aid the king! To me, men of Volakech!" The rebel shouted at -the top of his lungs. And Anse lunged in at him, beating against the -swift armor of the axe. - -"Anse!" Janazik's urgent shout cut through the clangor of battle. -"Anse, here! We're blasting free!" - -The human hardly heard him. He forced his way closer in against -Volakech, his sword whistling about the usurper's helmeted head. - -"Anse!" shouted Janazik. "Anse--Ellen needs you--" - -With a tiger snarl, Anse broke free from his opponent and whirled -about. A rebel stood before him. There was an instant of violence too -swift to be followed, and Anse leaped over the ripped body and up to -Janazik. - -The Khazaki stood by the airlock. There was a ring of corpses before -him; his sword ran blood. - -"Ellen?" gasped Anse. "Ellen?" - -"Inside," rasped Janazik. "She's inside. We have to get out of -here--only way to get your attention--_Come on!_" - -Anse saw the armed band swarming at them from one of the outer towers, -defenders who had finally noticed the battle at the rocket and were -coming to aid their king. Not a chance against them--except the boat! - -Man and Khazaki stepped back into the airlock. A storm of arrows and -javelins broke loose. Anse saw two of his men fall--then Janazik had -slammed the heavy outer valve and dogged it shut. - -"Ellen!" he gasped. "Ellen--take the boat up before they dynamite it!" - -The girl nodded. She was strapping herself into the pilot's seat before -the gleaming control panel. Only Alonzo was there with her, bleeding -but still on his feet. Four of them survived--only four--but they had -the boat! - -Through the viewport, Anse saw the attackers surging around the hull. -They'd use ballistae to crush it, dynamite to blow it up, blaster -cannon to fry them alive inside the metal shell--unless they got it -into the sky first. - -"Take the engines, Alonzo," said Ellen. - -Gonzales Alonzo nodded. "You help me, Janazik," he said. "I'm not sure -I--can stay conscious--" - - * * * * * - -The pilot room was in the bows. Behind it, bulkheaded off, lay the air -plant and the other mechanisms for maintaining life aboard--not very -extensive, for the boat wouldn't be in space long. Amidships were the -control gyros, and behind still another bulkhead the engine controls. -Rather than install an elaborate automatic feed system, the builders -had relied on manual controls acting on light signals flashed by -the pilot. It was less efficient, but it had shortened the labor of -constructing the vessel and was good enough for the mere hop it had to -make. - -"I don't know anything about it," said Janazik doubtfully. - -"I'll tell you what to do--Help me--" Leaning on the Khazaki's arm, -Alonzo stumbled toward the stern. - -Anse strapped his big body into the chair beside Ellen's. "I can't help -much, I'm afraid," he said. - -"No--except by being here," she smiled. - -Looking out, he saw that the assault on the castle was almost -over--beaten off. It had provided the diversion they needed--but at -what cost, at what cost? - -"We might as well take off for the Star Ship right away," he said. - -"Of course. And that will end the war. Volakech can either surrender or -sit in the castle till he rots." - -"Or we can use the ship to blast the citadel." - -"No--oh, Cosmos, no!" Her eyes were filled with sudden horror. - -"Why not?" he argued angrily. "Only way we can rescue our people if he -won't give them up of his own will." - -"We might kill Carse," she whispered. - -It was on his tongue to snap good riddance, but he choked down the -impulse. "Why do you care for him that much?" - -"He's my brother," she said simply, and he realized that in spite of -her civilized protestations Ellen was sufficiently Khazaki to feel the -primitive unreasoning clan loyalty of the planet. She added slowly: -"And when Father died, years ago, Carse took his place, he's been both -father and big brother to me. He may have some wrong ideas, but he's -always been so--good--" - -A child's worship of the talented, handsome, genial elder brother, and -she had never really outgrown it. Well--it didn't matter. Once they had -the Star Ship, Carse didn't matter. "He'll be as safe as anyone can be -in these days," said Anse. "I--I'll protect him myself if need be." - -Her hand slid into his, and she kissed him, there in the little boat -while it rocked and roared under the furious assaults from without. -"Anyone who hurts Carse is my blood foe," she breathed. "But anyone who -helps him helps me, and--and--" - -Anse smiled, dreamily. The engines began to stutter, warming up, and -Volakech's men scattered in dismay. They had seen the fire that spurted -from the rocket tubes. - -And in the engine room, Masefield Carson held his blaster leveled on -Alonzo and Janazik. "Go ahead," he smiled. "Go ahead--take the ship up." - - - VI - -The Khazaki swore lividly. His sword seemed almost to leap halfway out -of the scabbard. Carse swung the blaster warningly, and he clashed -the weapon back. Useless, useless, when white flame could destroy him -before he got moving. - -"How did you get here?" he snarled. - -The tall, bronze-haired man smiled again. "I wasn't in the fight," he -said. "Volakech wanted to save my knowledge and told me to stay out -of the battle. I wasn't really needed. But it occurred to me that your -assault was obviously a futile gesture unless you hoped in some way -to capture the boat. So I hid in here to guard it--just in case. And -now--we'll take her up. We may just as well do so. Once I have the Star -Ship--" He gestured at Alonzo. "Start the engines. And no tricks. I -understand them as well as you do." - -Gonzales strapped himself in place and stood swaying with weakness -while he manipulated the controls. "I can't--reach that wheel--" he -gasped. - -"Turn it, Janazik," said Carse. "About a quarter turn--that's enough." - -The impassive faces of meters wavered and blurred before Alonzo's -swimming eyes. He had been pretty badly hurt. But the engines were -warming up. - -"Strap yourself in, Janazik," said Carse. - -The Khazaki obeyed, sickly. He didn't really need the anti-acceleration -webbing--Carse himself was content to hang on to a stanchion with one -hand--but it would hamper his movements, he would have no way of making -a sudden leap. Between them, he and Alonzo could handle the engines -readily enough, Carse giving them their orders. Then once they were -at the Star Ship he could blast them down, go out to capture Anse -and Ellen--and the old books said one man could handle the ship if -necessary-- - -How to warn the two in the pilot room? How to get help? The warrior's -brain began to turn over, cool and steady now, swift as chilled -lightning. - -The boat spouted flame, stood on its tail and climbed for the sky. -Acceleration dragged at Carse, but it wasn't too great for a strong man -to resist. Carse tightened his grip on the stanchion. His blaster was -steady on them. - -Ellen's signal lights blinked and blinked on the control panels. More -on the No. 3 jet, ease to port, full ahead, cut No. 2.... Alonzo -handled most of it, occasionally gasping a command to Janazik. The -bellow of the rockets filled the engine room. - -And in the bows, Dougald Anson saw the world reel and fall behind, saw -the rainy sky open up in a sudden magnificence of sun, saw it slowly -darken and the stars come awesomely out. Gods, gods, was this space? -Open space? No wonder the old people had longed to get away! - - * * * * * - -_How to get help, how to warn Anse_--Janazik's mind spun like an -unloaded engine, spewing forth plan after unusable plan. Quickly, now, -by Shantuzik's hells! - -No way out--and the minutes were fleeing, the rocket was reaching for -the sky, he knew they were nearing the Star Ship and still he lay in -his harness like a sheep and obeyed Carse's gun-point orders! - -The disgrace of it! He snarled his anger, and at Alonzo's gasped -command swung the wheel with unnecessary savagery. The ship lurched as -a rocket tube overfired. Carse nearly lost his hold, and for an instant -Janazik's hands were at the acceleration webbing, ready to fling it off -and leap at him. - -The man recovered, and his blaster came to the ready again. He had to -shout to be heard above the thundering jets: "Don't try that--either of -you! I can shoot you down and handle it myself if I must!" - -He laughed then, a tall and splendid figure standing strained against -the brutal, clawing acceleration. Ellen's brother--aye! And one could -see why she wanted him spared. Janazik's lip curled back from his teeth -in a snarl of hate. - - * * * * * - -The rocket must be very near escape velocity now. Presently Ellen would -signal for the jets to be turned off and they would rush weightless -through space while she took her readings and plotted the orbit that -would get them to the Star Ship. And if then Carse emerged with his -blaster-- - -Anse had only a sword. - -_But--Anse is Anse_, thought Janazik. _If there is any faintest glimmer -of a chance Anse will find it. And if not, we're really no worse off -than now. I'll have to warn Anse and leave the rest up to him._ - -The Khazaki nodded bleakly to himself. It would probably mean his own -death before Carse's blaster flame--and damn it, damn it, he liked -living. Even if the old Khazak he knew were doomed, there had been many -new worlds of the Galactic frontier. He and Anse had often dreamed of -roving over them-- - -However-- - -A red light blinked on the panel. Ellen's signal to cut the rockets. -They were at escape velocity. - -Wearily, his hand shaking, Alonzo threw the master switch. The sudden -silence was like a thunderclap. - -And Janazik screeched the old Krakenaui danger call from his fullest -lungs. - -Carse turned around with a curse, awkward in the sickening zero-gravity -of free fall. "It won't do you any good," he yelled thickly. "I'll kill -him too--" - -Alonzo threw the master switch up! With a coughing roar, the rockets -burst back into life. No longer holding the stanchion, Carse was hurled -to the floor. - -Janazik clawed at his webbing to get free. Carse leveled his blaster on -Alonzo. The engineer threw another switch at random, and the direction -of acceleration shifted with sudden violence, slamming Carse against -the farther wall. - -His blaster raved, and Alonzo had no time to scream before the flame -licked about him. - -[Illustration: _His blaster raved, and Alonzo had no time to scream -before the flame licked about him...._] - -And in the control room, Anse heard Janazik's high ululating yell. The -reflexes of the wandering years came back to galvanize him. His sword -seemed to leap into his hand, he flung himself out of his chair webbing -with a shout.... - -"Anse!" Ellen's voice came dimly to his ears, hardly noticed. -"Anse--what is it--" - -He drifted weightless in midair, cursing, trying to swim. And then the -rockets woke up again and threw him against the floor. He twisted with -Khazaki agility, landed crouched, and bounded for the stern. - -Ellen looked after him, gasping, for an instant yet unaware of the -catastrophe, thinking how little she knew that yellow-maned savage -after all, and how she would like to learn, and-- - -The rocket veered, crazily. Anse caught himself as he fell, adjusted to -the new direction of gravity, and continued his plunging run. The crash -of a blaster came from ahead of him. - -He burst into the control room and saw it in one blinding instant. -Alonzo's charred body sagging in its harness, Janazik half out of his, -Carse staggering to his feet--the blaster turned on Janazik, Janazik, -the finger tightening-- - - * * * * * - -Tiger-like, Anse sprang. Carse glimpsed him, turned, the blaster half -swung about ... and the murderous fighting machine which was Dougald -Anson had reached him. Carse saw the sword shrieking against his face; -it was the last thing he ever saw.... - -Anse lurched back against the control panel. "Turn it off!" yelled -Janazik. "Throw that big switch there!" - -Mechanically, the human obeyed, and there was silence again, a deep -ringing silence in which they floated free. It felt like an endless -falling. - -Falling, falling--Anse looked numbly down at his bloody sword. Falling, -falling, falling--but that couldn't be right, he thought dully. He had -already fallen. He had killed Ellen's brother. - -"And I love her," he whispered. - -Janazik drifted over, slowly in the silent room. His eyes were a deep -gold, searching now. _If Ellen won't have him, he and I will go out -together, out to the stars and the great new frontier. But if she will, -I'll have to go alone, I'll always be alone--_ - -_Unless she would come too. She's a good kid.... I'd like to have her -along. Maybe take a mate of my own too.... But that can never be, now. -She won't come near her brother's slayer._ - -"You might not have had to kill him," said Janazik. "Maybe you could -have disarmed him." - -"Not before he got one of us--probably you," said Anse tonelessly. -"Anyway, he needed killing. He shot Alonzo." - -He added, after a moment: "A man has to stand by his comrades." - -Janazik nodded, very slowly. "Give me your sword," he said. - -"Eh?" Anse looked at him. The blue eyes were unseeing, blind with pain, -but he handed over the red weapon. Janazik slipped his own glaive into -the human's fingers. - -Then he laid a hand on Anse's shoulder and smiled at him, and then -looked away. - -_We Khazaki don't know love. There is comradeship, deeper than any -Earthling knows. When it happens between male and female, they are -mates. When it is between male and male, they are blood-brothers. And a -man must stand by his comrades._ - -Ellen came in, pulling her way along the walls by the handholds, and -Anse looked at her without saying a word, just looking. - -"What happened?" she said. "What is the--_Oh!_" - -Carse's body floated in midair, turning over and over in air currents -like a drowned man in the sea. - -"Carse--Carse--" - -Ellen pushed from the wall, over to the dead man. She looked at his -still face, and stroked his blood-matted hair, and smiled through a -mist of tears. - -"You were always good to me, Carse," she whispered. "You were ... -goodnight, brother. Goodnight." - -Then turning to Anse and Janazik, with something cold and terrible in -her voice: "Who killed him?" - -Anse looked at her, dumbly. - -"I did," said Janazik. - -He held forth the dripping sword. "He stowed away--was going to take -over the ship. Alonzo threw him off balance by turning the rockets back -on. He killed Alonzo. Then I killed him. He needed it. He was a traitor -and a murderer, Ellen." - -"He was my brother," she whispered. And suddenly she was sobbing in -Anse's arms, great racking sobs that seemed to tear her slender body -apart. - -But she'd get over it. - -Anse looked at Janazik over her shoulder, and while he ruffled her -shining hair his eyes locked with the Khazaki's. _This is the end. -Once we land, we can never see each other, not ever again. And we were -comrades in the old days...._ - -_Farewell, my brother._ - - * * * * * - -When the star ship landed outside Krakenau's surrendered citadel, it -was still raining a little. Janazik looked out at the wet gray world -and shivered. Then, wordlessly, he stepped from the airlock and walked -slowly down the hill toward the sea. He did not look back, and Anse did -not look after him. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Star Ship, by Poul Anderson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STAR SHIP *** - -***** This file should be named 63950.txt or 63950.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/5/63950/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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