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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..82f91b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63971 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63971) diff --git a/old/63971-0.txt b/old/63971-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c90c784..0000000 --- a/old/63971-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,735 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vengeance On Mars, by D.B. Lewis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Vengeance On Mars - -Author: D.B. Lewis - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63971] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VENGEANCE ON MARS *** - - - - - VENGEANCE ON MARS! - - By D. B. LEWIS - - In the dim Water Temple, where the dead grinned - down on the dead, Hale met his D-day. Should he - give an ex-comrade to the torturing Lhrai or - chance the massacre of Terrestrial thousands? - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories September 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Hale cut the motor as he swerved off the ancient plastic roadway. -His one-man beetle thumped over the shoulder and, wheels whispering, -coasted down the sandy, moonlit slope. It threaded between mighty -_linla_ cacti that had the size and shape of spaceships towering grey -in the night. He braked it to a slanting stop and got out, a big, -long-legged man who carefully kept the little car between himself and -the Martian water temple that sat a short distance away where the dunes -of the desert began. He thought, Strange to be afraid of getting shot -by Randy. - -Weiss said, from the shadows, "Better get out of the moonlight, Hale. -That beetle won't stop a blaster bolt." - -Hale crossed to the clot of men that made dark blurs under the _linla_. -Weiss said, "What took you so long?" - -Hale said, "I had to get my gun recharged. Sturm was working on it when -Sam came busting in the shop and told me you'd cornered Randy." He -touched the blaster at his belt, then brought up the hand to get out -a cigarette from his jacket pocket. He struck a match on the blaster -butt. "Why call me? Why not call the Patrol?" - -Someone stirred in the darkness, clearing a throat. "Patrol never hung -a looter yet and as long as Boss Ricco kicks back to Patrol brass, they -never will. This one, we'll take care of personally. The redboys want -him." - - * * * * * - -Over the cupped match flame, Hale sent a hard glance in the direction -of the voice. "Eight, ten men aren't enough." - -Weiss said placatingly, "We were tipped that he'd try this temple. -We were waiting for him, but he got past us. First thing we knew, he -killed the guardian inside. We heard the shot. We called on him to -surrender, but hell, he knows what the redboys will do to him if we get -him alive." - -Hale said again, "Why call me?" - -"You know these old water temples. One narrow entrance, no windows. -He can't get out, that's for sure, but we can't get at him without -losing a lot of men." Weiss put a hand on Hale's arm, and Hale moved -impatiently and Weiss took it away, saying, "You know Randy better'n -any of us." - -"We came to Mars together," said Hale. "We worked our way out on the -same crate. We started our farm, but Randy didn't stick. He said -there was always easy money on a frontier, and Mars shouldn't be any -different. Said he preferred four ladies to a hoe." - -"He should've stuck to cards," said the man who had cleared his throat. - -George Weiss said, firmly, "We want you to go in and talk to him. You -were his best friend. He'll listen to you. Tell him it's no use." - -Hale said, "That's what I figured." He turned to look at the temple, -squat and white in the gloom. The doorway was tall and thin and dead -black, and behind it, part of the blackness, was Randy and his gun. And -he'd be desperate. As Hale turned back he caught a faint, acrid odor, -and he knew that a Martian was nearby, crouching, waiting to see that -this was done right. - -"There've been a hundred temples stripped of their twin-stones in the -past year," Weiss said. "Our redboys are getting fed up with it. The -C. A.'s too busy whipping the climate to tend to looters, and the -Patrol buys its liquor and mammas with loot money. Half the law is too -damned busy, and the other half's crooked--and we're in the middle. The -redboys have run out of patience." - -Hale nodded. "My own redboys are ready to go on the warpath. Okay. So -Randy's the goat elect. So relax and starve him out." - -"They want him tonight. We promised--" - -"All right, go keep it. Hell, I didn't promise anything. Damned if I'll -risk my neck to--" - -"--promised to deliver," Weiss went on flatly, "because we had to. -We're in a nut-cracker, Hale. The _Lhrai_ priests are set to trigger -another Green Spot unless they get Randy to play with. Deadline's dawn." - -Hale remembered Green Spot. It was a bloody, terrible memory. Green -Spot had been one of the earliest and largest farm-settlements on Mars. -One night, for some other-worldly reason that the Colonial Authority -was still puzzling about, the Martian workers had slit two hundred -Terrestrial throats and vanished into the red desert. The _Lhrai_ -priests had conveyed regrets, assuring the Authority at the same -time that there had been adequate provocation for the act. And the -Authority, horrified for its sixty thousand colonists, had admitted -that there must have been. - -Hale thought back, in conflicting terms of personal friendship and unit -survival. These men in the shadows; most of them were his friends. He -had worked with them, leaning on hoes in the fields or sitting in the -enclosed warmth of a back porch discussing the perversities of Martian -geochemistry. He had helled around Firstport with them, had often led -them in the helling. His wife was the friend of their wives. While -Randy-- - -Randy was five years ago. Randy was thirty acres of crops dumped in -Hale's lap when they'd needed working. Randy was a bitter girl named -Susan who waited on tables in New Chicago halfway across Mars, and the -son he never cared that he'd given her before he went away. - -"Wait here," said Hale in a sour voice, and tossed away his cigarette. -"I'll see what I can do." - - * * * * * - -The temple was hexagonal, featureless save for the black slit of the -doorway, smooth native marble gleaming under Phobos' dim silver. - -He stopped a few feet away and called, "Randy, it's me. Hale. Don't -shoot. I'm coming in to talk to you." - -Randy's voice, soft and oddly echoed by the temple walls, floated from -the black slit. "Come on in, Hale. I won a bet with myself, that they'd -holler for you." - -Hale walked on, slowly, one hand brushing his blaster butt at each -step. Again the sensation of strangeness, of wrongness, that he should -be afraid of being shot by Randy. Five years ago Randy had been a lean, -fox-eyed kid, inclined to be touchy, but no hard-case. But after five -years in the excrescent canal-towns, the smoke-filled dives where a -coin on the bar bought a drink or a drug and, more covertly tendered, -a life--five years in a sour pool, floating with the scums that even -fresh water collects when it settles--and now, a looting and a killing-- - -Hale felt cold, and he was perspiring. The blaster was a solid weight -on his thigh. - -He reached the doorway and stood uncertainly, knowing the men behind -him were watching him. Wondering if he'll kill me, he thought. Maybe -he's turned into a ring-tailed killer. Kid, kid, why did you have to do -it? Why didn't you get off Mars, like I told you to? - -The hollow, echoed voice said, "Come on in. I wouldn't shoot you, -Hale." But the voice had a thin sound to it, and Hale thought, He -might. - -The doorway was about two feet across, in a wall six feet thick. Smooth -marble rustled the leather at Hale's shoulders as he entered the thick -blackness. Three paces, echoing, and his fingertips told him he had -reached the interior. He felt with his feet, located the top of the -shallow steps that every such temple contained--five steps down into a -trench which had once held precious water, then three steps up to the -temple floor. His bootheels rang sharply--five, two across the trench, -three--then he stood in darkness, waiting. - -Randy said, "You've gained some weight, Hale. Or is it the jacket?" -Sort of amused, but with that same thin sound. - -Hale said, "Both." He took a forward step, at an angle, and saw the -faint flood of moonlight appear on the temple floor and knew that Randy -could no longer see him. He said, "Weiss said to tell you it's no use." - -"George's out there, eh? Thought I recognized his voice. I wonder who -tipped them off. I've made some enemies along the canals, I suppose." - -Startlingly, a match flamed in the blackness, became an orange glow -that rose to the cigarette between Randy's lips. He was over near a -wall, his gun in his other hand. He puffed hard and his face glowed -masklike, his eyes seeking Hale. - -Hale, blinking, saw that Randy hadn't changed much. He was still dark -and slender, his brown eyes large and bright. But now his hair came -down fully to the fur collar of his jacket, in the manner of the canal -crowd. The movement that brought him to Hale's side was graceful. - -"How many are they, Hale? Think I could break for it?" - -Hale said, "It'd be quicker than the redboys." - -Randy pulled in a hard breath. "My blaster's jammed. They could've -nailed me any time they felt like it. It's been hell, waiting for -that." He looked at the gun. The hand that held it was trembling. - -Hale sighed. "I guess I could walk you out at gunpoint, then, but I -don't want to do that. Come out with me on your own hook, Randy. You've -played your four queens till now, but you drew a bad hand tonight." - - * * * * * - -Randy drew unsteadily on his cigarette. Hale, looking beyond, saw the -dark mass near one wall that must be the guardian. The stain on the -fur robe was black. The blind sockets in the skull of the _Lhrai_, who -sprawled batlike against the chanting wall, were black too. - -"I didn't want to shoot the redboy." Randy slowly holstered the gun. -"I slugged him, but he had a hard head. He came at me with a knife -while I was prying the twin-stones out of the idol. Why couldn't he lay -quiet? I never wanted to kill anybody." His eyes found Hale's in the -gloom, and the brightness in them tonight was mostly fear. "You always -said I ought to get off Mars. Last week, I decided to. But I didn't -have any money, so I went to Ricco. He wouldn't trust me off-world -with his money, but he said he had a tourist interested in a good set -of twin-stones. He said there was five thousand in it for me. He said -there was a good pair here, and--" - -He stopped short, his young face hardening with shocking suddenness. -"By the red gods, _Ricco_!" he ground out. "Of course--he tipped them -off I'd be here. So he'd have me killed over a girl, damn his black -soul." He spun away from Hale in a violent motion, his thin mouth feral -with rage. Hale waited in the blackness and slowly Randy turned back. -Carefully he flattened the cigarette his clenching fist had bruised. -"Why didn't I think?" he almost whispered. "They told me he was after -my skin--" - -Hale started to say something, but Randy's hands were suddenly tight -on Hale's arms, and his breath carried the taint of _inque_ liquor to -Hale's nostrils. "Hale, you've got to help me. I want to get off Mars. -That was why I did it. It was my first mark. Oh, I've drifted the -canals and chilled some decks, but this was my first mark--" - -Hale said, "I came in to try to help, Randy. If you'll walk out with -me, it'll be easier all around." - -Randy shook his head fiercely. "Lord, you don't want them to turn me -over to the redboys, do you? The _Lhrai_ priests can peel a man and -keep him alive for days--" - -Uncomfortably, Hale said, "I couldn't help you if I wanted to. They're -waiting outside." - -Randy took breath through his teeth. "Just stay here. Let me walk out. -They won't blast, thinking it's you. Is your beetle anywhere near the -temple?" - -"They're practically sitting on it." - -"Then I can break for the desert. It's a good chance in the dark. I can -cut up along Coprates to Freightport and--" - -Hal said, "No, Randy." - -Randy laughed softly, and the laugh had all the old familiar -recklessness in it, but it couldn't hide the fear. "You will, Hale. I -got into this mess trying to do what you always told me to--get a new -start on some other clod. There are plenty of jobs on Venus. Maybe I -can still stowaway to Venus. I swear that's where I'll go, if you'll -only let me through that door." - -"Venus has a skid-row, too." - -"I'm through with it. So help me!" - -"You killed that redboy." - -"He tried to kill me. He knew I had a gun. What was I supposed to do? -Only a redboy--" - -Hale said slowly, "What about George and the others? I'll have to face -them on this." - -"They'll find you on the floor with a lump on your head. They'll never -hold it against you." Randy spread his hands. "I'd rather you'd kill -me--now--than take me out there for the redboys." - - * * * * * - -Hale felt baffled. It had been like this in the old days, Randy had -always had his way. Coming to Mars in the first place had been Randy's -idea, and he'd pressed it, and Hale had done well on Mars. Maybe Randy -had a break coming. Hale thought, five years isn't such a long time, -after all. He said tiredly, "All right. You can have your chance. Good -luck. And I'll take those twin-stones, Randy." - -Randy let out a long sigh and looked up at the roof of the temple, as -if he could see far-off Venus in that thick blackness. He brought the -glowing stones from a pocket. "Here's Phobos--here's Deimos," he said -wryly. "I thought maybe you'd forget." - -They were heavy in Hale's hand. He said, "So long." - -Randy said, "One more thing, friend," and there was an undefinable -something in his voice. "I'll need a gun. You'll lend me yours, won't -you? They'll think I took it." He reached over and slid Hale's blaster -from his holster, and brought the glowing coal of his cigarette close -to the dial on the butt. "Fully charged. Well, I may need every shot--" -his eyes met Hale's, and that undefinable something was in them -too--"for those meddling bastards outside. I owe them for tonight. -Now--" He took a step toward Hale, hefting the gun and raising it to -strike. - -Without thought, with only a sick feeling all over, Hale stepped back. -The twin-stones clicked on the floor at his feet. "Wait, Randy. You -should've slugged me first ... I don't think I want to let you go after -all." - -Randy's grin was frozen, and Hale now had a name for that something, a -kind of shame. "I know," Randy said, "I was waiting for that," and he -brought the gun down in a calculated arc. - -[Illustration: _"I know," Randy said, "I was waiting for that," and he -brought the gun down in a calculated arc._] - -Hale tried to duck, but Randy had the edge. The gun-barrel slammed into -his temple. Agonized, he threw up an arm. It chopped against Randy's -wrist, and fire and thunder erupted in the blackness. The gun clattered -on stone and from somewhere came Randy's furious cursing, "Damn you, -Hale, you did that! Now I'll never--" Then Hale was alone in the temple -with his pain. - -He heard the click of bootheels as Randy leaped over the trench, the -hollow thudding down the corridor doorway--then the shouts and the -roar of blasters and the intolerable glare, a stark wavering white -rectangle that washed across the floor from the doorway to flicker upon -the stony wings and beast-face of _Lhrai_--and the spasmic scream of a -man dissolved in flame. - -He got to his feet and leaned wearily against the wall, face gaunted by -pain, wondering if Randy had known only at the last how ruthless he had -become. Life was cheap enough out here on a red world where red insects -bred in your eyes and red beasts swallowed you and let their juices -do the killing, and it took a good man to fight the alien fight. But -when the wrong kind of man came along, it was a knife in the back and -life had no price at all. That kind of man had to be reckoned on, Hale -thought bleakly--the bad penny that wouldn't even go away, hard and -shiny and newly made, like Randy--for values slipped in the rat-race -that was any frontier, and the urge to prey, for profit, for power, lay -close under a man's skin. Hale sighed. He had hoped for a while--but -no; Randy's stamp had been the bloody stamp of the canals, and that -stamp would sooner or later have cancelled out other lives, on Venus or -wherever he took it. - -Better now, Hale thought, than hunted down the years.... - -George Weiss said, from close by in the darkness, "We got him, Hale. -Are you bad hurt?" - -Hale pressed his temple, and said, "I'll get over it," and meant the -pain in his head. 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Lewis. - </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; -} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<pre style='margin-bottom:6em;'>The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vengeance On Mars, by D.B. Lewis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Vengeance On Mars - -Author: D.B. Lewis - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63971] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VENGEANCE ON MARS *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>VENGEANCE ON MARS!</h1> - -<h2>By D. B. LEWIS</h2> - -<p>In the dim Water Temple, where the dead grinned<br /> -down on the dead, Hale met his D-day. Should he<br /> -give an ex-comrade to the torturing Lhrai or<br /> -chance the massacre of Terrestrial thousands?</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories September 1951.<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>Hale cut the motor as he swerved off the ancient plastic roadway. -His one-man beetle thumped over the shoulder and, wheels whispering, -coasted down the sandy, moonlit slope. It threaded between mighty -<i>linla</i> cacti that had the size and shape of spaceships towering grey -in the night. He braked it to a slanting stop and got out, a big, -long-legged man who carefully kept the little car between himself and -the Martian water temple that sat a short distance away where the dunes -of the desert began. He thought, Strange to be afraid of getting shot -by Randy.</p> - -<p>Weiss said, from the shadows, "Better get out of the moonlight, Hale. -That beetle won't stop a blaster bolt."</p> - -<p>Hale crossed to the clot of men that made dark blurs under the <i>linla</i>. -Weiss said, "What took you so long?"</p> - -<p>Hale said, "I had to get my gun recharged. Sturm was working on it when -Sam came busting in the shop and told me you'd cornered Randy." He -touched the blaster at his belt, then brought up the hand to get out -a cigarette from his jacket pocket. He struck a match on the blaster -butt. "Why call me? Why not call the Patrol?"</p> - -<p>Someone stirred in the darkness, clearing a throat. "Patrol never hung -a looter yet and as long as Boss Ricco kicks back to Patrol brass, they -never will. This one, we'll take care of personally. The redboys want -him."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Over the cupped match flame, Hale sent a hard glance in the direction -of the voice. "Eight, ten men aren't enough."</p> - -<p>Weiss said placatingly, "We were tipped that he'd try this temple. -We were waiting for him, but he got past us. First thing we knew, he -killed the guardian inside. We heard the shot. We called on him to -surrender, but hell, he knows what the redboys will do to him if we get -him alive."</p> - -<p>Hale said again, "Why call me?"</p> - -<p>"You know these old water temples. One narrow entrance, no windows. -He can't get out, that's for sure, but we can't get at him without -losing a lot of men." Weiss put a hand on Hale's arm, and Hale moved -impatiently and Weiss took it away, saying, "You know Randy better'n -any of us."</p> - -<p>"We came to Mars together," said Hale. "We worked our way out on the -same crate. We started our farm, but Randy didn't stick. He said -there was always easy money on a frontier, and Mars shouldn't be any -different. Said he preferred four ladies to a hoe."</p> - -<p>"He should've stuck to cards," said the man who had cleared his throat.</p> - -<p>George Weiss said, firmly, "We want you to go in and talk to him. You -were his best friend. He'll listen to you. Tell him it's no use."</p> - -<p>Hale said, "That's what I figured." He turned to look at the temple, -squat and white in the gloom. The doorway was tall and thin and dead -black, and behind it, part of the blackness, was Randy and his gun. And -he'd be desperate. As Hale turned back he caught a faint, acrid odor, -and he knew that a Martian was nearby, crouching, waiting to see that -this was done right.</p> - -<p>"There've been a hundred temples stripped of their twin-stones in the -past year," Weiss said. "Our redboys are getting fed up with it. The -C. A.'s too busy whipping the climate to tend to looters, and the -Patrol buys its liquor and mammas with loot money. Half the law is too -damned busy, and the other half's crooked—and we're in the middle. The -redboys have run out of patience."</p> - -<p>Hale nodded. "My own redboys are ready to go on the warpath. Okay. So -Randy's the goat elect. So relax and starve him out."</p> - -<p>"They want him tonight. We promised—"</p> - -<p>"All right, go keep it. Hell, I didn't promise anything. Damned if I'll -risk my neck to—"</p> - -<p>"—promised to deliver," Weiss went on flatly, "because we had to. -We're in a nut-cracker, Hale. The <i>Lhrai</i> priests are set to trigger -another Green Spot unless they get Randy to play with. Deadline's dawn."</p> - -<p>Hale remembered Green Spot. It was a bloody, terrible memory. Green -Spot had been one of the earliest and largest farm-settlements on Mars. -One night, for some other-worldly reason that the Colonial Authority -was still puzzling about, the Martian workers had slit two hundred -Terrestrial throats and vanished into the red desert. The <i>Lhrai</i> -priests had conveyed regrets, assuring the Authority at the same -time that there had been adequate provocation for the act. And the -Authority, horrified for its sixty thousand colonists, had admitted -that there must have been.</p> - -<p>Hale thought back, in conflicting terms of personal friendship and unit -survival. These men in the shadows; most of them were his friends. He -had worked with them, leaning on hoes in the fields or sitting in the -enclosed warmth of a back porch discussing the perversities of Martian -geochemistry. He had helled around Firstport with them, had often led -them in the helling. His wife was the friend of their wives. While -Randy—</p> - -<p>Randy was five years ago. Randy was thirty acres of crops dumped in -Hale's lap when they'd needed working. Randy was a bitter girl named -Susan who waited on tables in New Chicago halfway across Mars, and the -son he never cared that he'd given her before he went away.</p> - -<p>"Wait here," said Hale in a sour voice, and tossed away his cigarette. -"I'll see what I can do."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The temple was hexagonal, featureless save for the black slit of the -doorway, smooth native marble gleaming under Phobos' dim silver.</p> - -<p>He stopped a few feet away and called, "Randy, it's me. Hale. Don't -shoot. I'm coming in to talk to you."</p> - -<p>Randy's voice, soft and oddly echoed by the temple walls, floated from -the black slit. "Come on in, Hale. I won a bet with myself, that they'd -holler for you."</p> - -<p>Hale walked on, slowly, one hand brushing his blaster butt at each -step. Again the sensation of strangeness, of wrongness, that he should -be afraid of being shot by Randy. Five years ago Randy had been a lean, -fox-eyed kid, inclined to be touchy, but no hard-case. But after five -years in the excrescent canal-towns, the smoke-filled dives where a -coin on the bar bought a drink or a drug and, more covertly tendered, -a life—five years in a sour pool, floating with the scums that even -fresh water collects when it settles—and now, a looting and a killing—</p> - -<p>Hale felt cold, and he was perspiring. The blaster was a solid weight -on his thigh.</p> - -<p>He reached the doorway and stood uncertainly, knowing the men behind -him were watching him. Wondering if he'll kill me, he thought. Maybe -he's turned into a ring-tailed killer. Kid, kid, why did you have to do -it? Why didn't you get off Mars, like I told you to?</p> - -<p>The hollow, echoed voice said, "Come on in. I wouldn't shoot you, -Hale." But the voice had a thin sound to it, and Hale thought, He -might.</p> - -<p>The doorway was about two feet across, in a wall six feet thick. Smooth -marble rustled the leather at Hale's shoulders as he entered the thick -blackness. Three paces, echoing, and his fingertips told him he had -reached the interior. He felt with his feet, located the top of the -shallow steps that every such temple contained—five steps down into a -trench which had once held precious water, then three steps up to the -temple floor. His bootheels rang sharply—five, two across the trench, -three—then he stood in darkness, waiting.</p> - -<p>Randy said, "You've gained some weight, Hale. Or is it the jacket?" -Sort of amused, but with that same thin sound.</p> - -<p>Hale said, "Both." He took a forward step, at an angle, and saw the -faint flood of moonlight appear on the temple floor and knew that Randy -could no longer see him. He said, "Weiss said to tell you it's no use."</p> - -<p>"George's out there, eh? Thought I recognized his voice. I wonder who -tipped them off. I've made some enemies along the canals, I suppose."</p> - -<p>Startlingly, a match flamed in the blackness, became an orange glow -that rose to the cigarette between Randy's lips. He was over near a -wall, his gun in his other hand. He puffed hard and his face glowed -masklike, his eyes seeking Hale.</p> - -<p>Hale, blinking, saw that Randy hadn't changed much. He was still dark -and slender, his brown eyes large and bright. But now his hair came -down fully to the fur collar of his jacket, in the manner of the canal -crowd. The movement that brought him to Hale's side was graceful.</p> - -<p>"How many are they, Hale? Think I could break for it?"</p> - -<p>Hale said, "It'd be quicker than the redboys."</p> - -<p>Randy pulled in a hard breath. "My blaster's jammed. They could've -nailed me any time they felt like it. It's been hell, waiting for -that." He looked at the gun. The hand that held it was trembling.</p> - -<p>Hale sighed. "I guess I could walk you out at gunpoint, then, but I -don't want to do that. Come out with me on your own hook, Randy. You've -played your four queens till now, but you drew a bad hand tonight."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Randy drew unsteadily on his cigarette. Hale, looking beyond, saw the -dark mass near one wall that must be the guardian. The stain on the -fur robe was black. The blind sockets in the skull of the <i>Lhrai</i>, who -sprawled batlike against the chanting wall, were black too.</p> - -<p>"I didn't want to shoot the redboy." Randy slowly holstered the gun. -"I slugged him, but he had a hard head. He came at me with a knife -while I was prying the twin-stones out of the idol. Why couldn't he lay -quiet? I never wanted to kill anybody." His eyes found Hale's in the -gloom, and the brightness in them tonight was mostly fear. "You always -said I ought to get off Mars. Last week, I decided to. But I didn't -have any money, so I went to Ricco. He wouldn't trust me off-world -with his money, but he said he had a tourist interested in a good set -of twin-stones. He said there was five thousand in it for me. He said -there was a good pair here, and—"</p> - -<p>He stopped short, his young face hardening with shocking suddenness. -"By the red gods, <i>Ricco</i>!" he ground out. "Of course—he tipped them -off I'd be here. So he'd have me killed over a girl, damn his black -soul." He spun away from Hale in a violent motion, his thin mouth feral -with rage. Hale waited in the blackness and slowly Randy turned back. -Carefully he flattened the cigarette his clenching fist had bruised. -"Why didn't I think?" he almost whispered. "They told me he was after -my skin—"</p> - -<p>Hale started to say something, but Randy's hands were suddenly tight -on Hale's arms, and his breath carried the taint of <i>inque</i> liquor to -Hale's nostrils. "Hale, you've got to help me. I want to get off Mars. -That was why I did it. It was my first mark. Oh, I've drifted the -canals and chilled some decks, but this was my first mark—"</p> - -<p>Hale said, "I came in to try to help, Randy. If you'll walk out with -me, it'll be easier all around."</p> - -<p>Randy shook his head fiercely. "Lord, you don't want them to turn me -over to the redboys, do you? The <i>Lhrai</i> priests can peel a man and -keep him alive for days—"</p> - -<p>Uncomfortably, Hale said, "I couldn't help you if I wanted to. They're -waiting outside."</p> - -<p>Randy took breath through his teeth. "Just stay here. Let me walk out. -They won't blast, thinking it's you. Is your beetle anywhere near the -temple?"</p> - -<p>"They're practically sitting on it."</p> - -<p>"Then I can break for the desert. It's a good chance in the dark. I can -cut up along Coprates to Freightport and—"</p> - -<p>Hal said, "No, Randy."</p> - -<p>Randy laughed softly, and the laugh had all the old familiar -recklessness in it, but it couldn't hide the fear. "You will, Hale. I -got into this mess trying to do what you always told me to—get a new -start on some other clod. There are plenty of jobs on Venus. Maybe I -can still stowaway to Venus. I swear that's where I'll go, if you'll -only let me through that door."</p> - -<p>"Venus has a skid-row, too."</p> - -<p>"I'm through with it. So help me!"</p> - -<p>"You killed that redboy."</p> - -<p>"He tried to kill me. He knew I had a gun. What was I supposed to do? -Only a redboy—"</p> - -<p>Hale said slowly, "What about George and the others? I'll have to face -them on this."</p> - -<p>"They'll find you on the floor with a lump on your head. They'll never -hold it against you." Randy spread his hands. "I'd rather you'd kill -me—now—than take me out there for the redboys."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Hale felt baffled. It had been like this in the old days, Randy had -always had his way. Coming to Mars in the first place had been Randy's -idea, and he'd pressed it, and Hale had done well on Mars. Maybe Randy -had a break coming. Hale thought, five years isn't such a long time, -after all. He said tiredly, "All right. You can have your chance. Good -luck. And I'll take those twin-stones, Randy."</p> - -<p>Randy let out a long sigh and looked up at the roof of the temple, as -if he could see far-off Venus in that thick blackness. He brought the -glowing stones from a pocket. "Here's Phobos—here's Deimos," he said -wryly. "I thought maybe you'd forget."</p> - -<p>They were heavy in Hale's hand. He said, "So long."</p> - -<p>Randy said, "One more thing, friend," and there was an undefinable -something in his voice. "I'll need a gun. You'll lend me yours, won't -you? They'll think I took it." He reached over and slid Hale's blaster -from his holster, and brought the glowing coal of his cigarette close -to the dial on the butt. "Fully charged. Well, I may need every shot—" -his eyes met Hale's, and that undefinable something was in them -too—"for those meddling bastards outside. I owe them for tonight. -Now—" He took a step toward Hale, hefting the gun and raising it to -strike.</p> - -<p>Without thought, with only a sick feeling all over, Hale stepped back. -The twin-stones clicked on the floor at his feet. "Wait, Randy. You -should've slugged me first ... I don't think I want to let you go after -all."</p> - -<p>Randy's grin was frozen, and Hale now had a name for that something, a -kind of shame. "I know," Randy said, "I was waiting for that," and he -brought the gun down in a calculated arc.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>"I know," Randy said, "I was waiting for that," and he brought the gun down in a calculated arc.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Hale tried to duck, but Randy had the edge. The gun-barrel slammed into -his temple. Agonized, he threw up an arm. It chopped against Randy's -wrist, and fire and thunder erupted in the blackness. The gun clattered -on stone and from somewhere came Randy's furious cursing, "Damn you, -Hale, you did that! Now I'll never—" Then Hale was alone in the temple -with his pain.</p> - -<p>He heard the click of bootheels as Randy leaped over the trench, the -hollow thudding down the corridor doorway—then the shouts and the -roar of blasters and the intolerable glare, a stark wavering white -rectangle that washed across the floor from the doorway to flicker upon -the stony wings and beast-face of <i>Lhrai</i>—and the spasmic scream of a -man dissolved in flame.</p> - -<p>He got to his feet and leaned wearily against the wall, face gaunted by -pain, wondering if Randy had known only at the last how ruthless he had -become. Life was cheap enough out here on a red world where red insects -bred in your eyes and red beasts swallowed you and let their juices -do the killing, and it took a good man to fight the alien fight. But -when the wrong kind of man came along, it was a knife in the back and -life had no price at all. That kind of man had to be reckoned on, Hale -thought bleakly—the bad penny that wouldn't even go away, hard and -shiny and newly made, like Randy—for values slipped in the rat-race -that was any frontier, and the urge to prey, for profit, for power, lay -close under a man's skin. Hale sighed. He had hoped for a while—but -no; Randy's stamp had been the bloody stamp of the canals, and that -stamp would sooner or later have cancelled out other lives, on Venus or -wherever he took it.</p> - -<p>Better now, Hale thought, than hunted down the years....</p> - -<p>George Weiss said, from close by in the darkness, "We got him, Hale. -Are you bad hurt?"</p> - -<p>Hale pressed his temple, and said, "I'll get over it," and meant the -pain in his head. Time would have to work to erase the deeper ache.</p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VENGEANCE ON MARS *** - -This file should be named 63971-h.htm or 63971-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/7/63971/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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