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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..1dd6af9 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64595 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64595) diff --git a/old/64595-0.txt b/old/64595-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 82fca5b..0000000 --- a/old/64595-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1162 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Animat, by Basil Wells - -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: Animat - -Author: Basil Wells - -Release Date: February 19, 2021 [eBook #64595] - -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 ANIMAT *** - - - - - ANIMAT - - By BASIL WELLS - - Battling Venus' slime and vicious frog-apes, J46 yet - found time to wonder: Was he a man or an android? - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1949. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -For too long had the _Sun Maiden_ been plunging sunward, her -meteor-crushed jets and warped plates feeling the relentless chill of -space eating swiftly inward. - -Past the orbit of Mars; down past Earth's sector of space, and into -the pull of Venus she flashed, her pace quickening. And crew-members, -sweating and hollow-eyed within the foul closeness of space suits, -worked desperately to repair that all-but hopeless damage. - -Abruptly the forward jets flared raggedly. The great ship faltered; its -course shifted planetward, and even as the clouds swallowed the _Sun -Maiden_ the first of the patched jets exploded. - -The remaining rockets flared briefly and died. The captain jettisoned -cargo and equipment before releasing the eight undamaged emergency -vanes. The shrieking solidity of the Wet Planet's air ripped the -sturdy blades away as though they had been tinfoil and the ship's fall -remained unslackened. - -The slanting plunge ended at last. The nose plowed down a rocky -mountain slope, crumbling with the impact, caromed off a boulder-strewn -bench, and ripped through a tree-clad lower level into a mossy-grassed -meadow. There, in a soggy treeless hollow, the scarred hulk that had -been the _Sun Maiden_ came to rest.... - - * * * * * - -Jay Forsix turned puzzled eyes on the little knot of survivors beside -the ship. His fair-skinned face was square, like his powerful short -body, and there was red hair sprouting from beneath the gray plastin of -his control case's helmet. - -Jay looked like a man; he even talked, in a meager jerky fashion, like -a man, but he was actually an android robot. Animats, Inc. turned -out thousands of superior robots for the industries of Earth and -Mars--durable, foolproof _expensive_ machines they were. But for the -uranium mines of Jupiter's moons they also had begun to create these -inexpensive living blends of animate flesh and bone, synthetic moronic -creatures. - -"There are six animats--and us!" choked the little blonde haired girl. -Already the constant moisture of the atmosphere coated her skin with -shining dampness. - -Her companion, a tall dark-skinned girl, rubbed a bruised elbow -thoughtfully. Her teeth flashed in a rueful smile. - -"Bottle the tears," she snapped at the blonde girl, slapping her -shoulder, "we got plenty water without them." - -The smaller girl drew herself up. - -"Perhaps you don't know who I am. I'm Thela Draper. My father owns most -of Animats, Inc." - -The tall girl laughed. "X with me, Thela. We're in the same fix. No -putting on a front--all we'll be doing is keep alive until help comes." - -"If it does come." Thela Draper's lips quivered. "I want...." - -"Will you shut up! I'm taking charge. You're a spoiled empty-head even -if you are atomic-plated. I'm not dumb even if I do dance for a living -in dives you'd blast clear of. - -"Someday Ina Haan's name will be in all the lights of Mars and Terra." - -Jay Forsix shook his head numbly from side to side as he heard the -women talking. Strange thoughts and sensations were crowding into his -brain. His hand went up to the bulky helmet that was designed to keep -his synthetic body under the control of humans. - -He gasped. The battery compartment was empty, its cover gaping. No -wonder his uncontrolled senses were so active and his brain alive. - -"Gone," he said to Ina Haan. He recognized her as the dominating -character of the group. - -Ina pulled out a trim platinum-washed expoder and leveled it at the -animat. But her finger did not depress the little stud that would send -the explosive needles of biaton into his body. - -"Maybe an animat is dangerous without his controls," she mused aloud, -"and then again.... We'll see. I can always kill it later." - -"Thank you, Ina Haan," Jay Forsix said clumsily. - -Ina's dark eyes widened. It was rarely that a robot spoke without being -addressed, and then it used the term Master or Lady. - -"Get to work," she commanded, "salvaging food and clothing." - -The animat nodded. He turned toward the battered port. - -Ina was studying the serial plate on Jay's helmet. "Take the others -along, J46," she said. "You are in charge of them." - -Jay's heart pounded proudly. The human one had confidence in him. -Never, in all the six weeks of his short existence, had men spoken a -kindly word to him. To them he had been a stupid machine to be worked -out in the radioactive mines of distant worlds. - -"Yes ... Ina Haan," he said. - -"Onin Tufor," he ordered slowly, "Zee Fivotu, come...." - -The animats rose from their mindless squatting and shuffled after him -into the _Sun Maiden's_ scrambled interior.... - - * * * * * - -Jay and the tall shambling animat called Onin Tufor were gathering the -small, brown-husked fruit of the balloon-like _kreth_ that grew on the -slopes above the space ship. The fruit grew at the base of the swollen -hollow globe, and on its stubby branches. - -In the days since their landing the two girls and the animats had -learned to eat, if not like, the edible berries and fruits of the -eternally clouded world. And they had made two comparatively unharmed -cabins snug and only slightly damp by sealing them with tough sheets of -kreth. - -"Would you boost me up?" asked Jay. - -Onin stared at him stupidly. He answered nothing but commands. Jay -swore, a habit acquired from the dark-haired human, and twisted open -the battery case of the animat. He wrenched out the batteries and sent -them hurtling into a nearby thicket of nik-nik. - -"Ina Haan says we have good brains," he told Onin, "if we do not have -them deadened by the control cases." - -Onin was sniffing at the warm thickness of the Venusian air, his -slowly awakening eyes studying the ten-foot circle of mossy grass and -brush visible. His shoulders were straightening and his movements were -steadier. - -"She says it is peculiar that I know so many words and am so familiar -with cities and machinery she mentions. It is as though that knowledge -was placed in our brains when we were created." - -Onin grunted something and started off into the nik-nik brush away from -the invisible spacer. Jay followed, his hand on the crude metal club -that Ina permitted him to carry. - -"The ship's back this way." Jay touched Onin's shoulder. "And you -forgot your bundle of roots and fruit." - -Onin stopped and faced Jay defiantly. Something trembled on his lips -and then he frowned, shaking his bony skull. He clawed at the strap, -riveted securely under his chin. - -"Off," he gurgled. "Take it off." - -"And have your head blown off too? Not much. To protect the controls -from tampering the technicians have planted explosives in the helmet. -It's suicide." - -Onin's fingers dropped away, his eyes thoughtful. When he spoke again -his rusty uncertain voice was steadier. - -"Let's go back," he said. "Later we may learn ... how." - -"How?" - -"How to take them off." Onin was scowling again. - -"The humans must not know your batteries are gone." - -"No," Onin agreed, his deep-set brown eyes studied Jay. "Without the -helmets we could be ... like them." - -Jay Forsix nodded. "I have thought of that, many times. But the women -would know. They would tell, and we would be destroyed." - -"They die too," the lanky one muttered, scowling. "Why not?" - -"No." Jay hesitated. "No, I could not see Ina, or even the sulky one -killed. And we know too little." - -The lanky animat's brain seemed to be awakening swiftly now. He laughed. - -"Already you think of yourself as a man," he told Jay. "You are in love -with the tall female." - -"Perhaps I am." Jay thumbed the line of his jawbone. "I feel a, sort of -warmth ... a happiness ... when they are near." - -Onin snorted out a disgusted exclamation. "Or perhaps you are like a -dog worshipping its master." - -Jay swung his fist at Onin's jaw. Onin dodged, grinning. - -"You are wrong," Jay spat out. "I am a man!" - -Onin shrugged. "All X here, _animat_. Call yourself a man." - -"We will take all the batteries from the others," said Jay, -disregarding Onin's jeer. "Perhaps the searchers will not find the -wreck and we can go on living here. There are books and recordings to -study." - -Onin's mouth twisted. "Small chance. _They_ know the ship crashed -somewhere in this area. And with the Draper female aboard they'll spare -no expense." - -"I heard rocket motors yesterday," admitted Jay. - -A sodden thud-thud of approaching feet warned them of another's -advance. Jay gripped his club tighter and waited, crouching. - -"A _butrad_?" Onin muttered, referring to the gray-skinned froglike -natives of Venus. - -"So far we've seen none of them," Jay whispered. And he found time to -puzzle about the knowledge possessed by animats. - -"Jay Forsix," called Ina Haan's deep voice guardedly. - -The animat's weapon dropped. "No talking," he warned Onin. - -"Yes?" - -"Come back to the ship at once. There are frog men lurking around and -they may try to rush us. I killed one." - -"Killed one! That was a mistake, Ina," Jay told her. "If we could have -made friends with them...." - -The woman's dark eyes narrowed savagely. "I'm in charge of our party, -animat," she snapped. "Remember what you are and who are your masters!" - -Jay's blood ran hot. His nails bit deep into the palms of his hands as -he bowed his head stiffly. His eyes were trained on the ground at the -woman's slime-crusted boots. He swallowed with an effort. - -"I remember," he said slowly, his voice colorless as a true robot's. - -Ina's lips smiled triumphantly. Her eyes softened as she patted his -shoulder possessively. - -"You _are_ a handsome brute," she said softly. "I could easily...." - -Onin grinned at Jay sardonically and winked. Jay shifted uncomfortably. -Her hand dropped and she pushed at his naked chest. - -"Back to the ship!" Her voice snapped crisply as she led the way. - - * * * * * - -They reached the ship without incident and dumped their loads in the -kreth-patched airlock that served as a warehouse. Then the two animats -went along a dripping short corridor past the humans' cabin to their -own quarters. - -The other four androids were lying on dank heaps of nik-nik brush -half-asleep. Two of them were huge-chested, brutal-featured animats, -patterned after the sturdy peasant stock of Earth; the others were -pale-eyed, sharp-nosed little men. One of the little animats sat up. - -"I am awake," he said, his high nasal voice carrying a note of -hysteria. "The hum that hurts my head is gone. I can think." - -Jay looked at Onin and nodded. "Dampness must have finished the cells. -Maybe a short circuit." - -"They'll all be like this shortly," Onin agreed. - -Jay released the battery case's cover and snapped out the compact -square batteries. The sharp-nosed animat, D601, scrubbed filthy fingers -across his chin. His pale eyes darted furtively around the ruined cabin. - -"I'm hungry," he whined. "I'd like a powdered steak dinner and a glass -of _blika_. I got plenty of starshine in my straps." - -His eyes widened as his fingers searched his ragged trunks. - -"Took me off," he shrieked. "All gone. Every credit." - -Jay shook the screeching little man. "What do you mean--all your -credits gone? How would an animat have anything of value?" - -Desix Owun frowned and shook his head. - -"I--I don't know," he finally admitted. "For a moment it seemed as -though--I was not--what I am." - -"Try to think; to remember," Jay urged. "I have a wild theory that -maybe you remember more than you think. Why would the technicians -implant knowledge of finance and credits in a labor robot's brain?" - -A grunted oath brought Jay around on his heels. The larger of the two -huge robots had Onin's skinny arm twisted up behind his back. - -"Start degraving," his deep voice was rumbling angrily. "How'd I get -here and who are you? You keeping me doped?" - -Jay stepped across the heap of leaves to the giant animat's side. His -heavy club of metal was poised ready. - -"Slip him free," he ordered sharply. - -"Blast me if I will," grunted the animat, giving the bony arm a -sickening wrench. Onin Tufor screeched thinly. - -Jay swung the club along the blunt-featured animat's skull. The animat -bellowed like a wild bull. He released Onin and clawed with dirt-caked -fingers at his battered skull. Then he sprang at Jay. - -Jay Forsix backed away and slipped to one knee. The blow he had just -delivered had dented the big brute's helmet along its base but had -failed to down him. He caught the thick body across his hips and -flipped the animat's six feet into the side of the cabin. - -The giant, Zee Fivotu, rumbled his primitive rage and rebounded from -the wall to launch himself again at Jay. Jay swung his club across the -brutal forehead and again above the ear. Zee Fivotu's helmet crunched -in. - -Jay fell backward to escape as much of the blast as possible. But there -was no explosion. The helmet with its carefully guarded control case -had somehow been rendered harmless by his blows! - -He rolled over and to his feet--to see Zee Fivotu's back disappearing -out the cabin door. He lunged after the animat but the giant android -was out the lock before he could reach it. - - * * * * * - -He was conscious of another presence in the outer airlock as his -shoulder brushed something yielding. - -"What?" demanded Thela Draper angrily. - -"Zee went blot," gasped Jay. "Tried to kill Onin. And me." - -The girl's small expoder snapped out of her wrist holster into her hand -and she sent a stream of mosquito-sized explosive bullets after the -animat. - -A second later the all-pervading sea of fog had swallowed the apelike -shape and she released the button. She jammed the weapon against Jay's -middle. - -"I knew we should have killed all of you animats," she said coldly. -"Without controls you are unpredictable--less than beasts." - -Jay's muscles tensed for the miniature bomb blasts that the pellets' -impact would bring. Then he relaxed, laughing quietly. - -"You know," he said, "you should be at least four feet away before you -fire. And before you can get that far I'll have the gun." - -The muzzle dropped away. Thela started to inch backward. It was common -knowledge that a biaton needle's explosion nearby was dangerous. The -whole magazine _might_ explode in her hand--a blast as devastating as a -case of ancient dynamite. - -Jay's hand chopped across the girl's wrist. Her cry of dismay choked -off abruptly and her eyes sparked contempt. - -"Go ahead," she cried. "Kill me. That's all you animats know how to do. -Work, eat and destroy." - -Jay tucked the tiny wrist expoder into his soggy trunks' waistband. - -"Not interested," he told her. "You better go back to your cabin and -get another expoder. I'm keeping this one." - -"No," Ina Haan's voice cut across the hostility of the tiny chamber -laconically. "Give." - -Jay shook his head. "I'm keeping it. And you better get another for -Onin Tufor. I think we're about to have trouble." - -As though to emphasize his words a prolonged ghastly shriek came from -the fog. They heard broken shouted phrases, human words but with -something bestial and terrible in their anguished pleading. The screams -rose higher and higher--and choked off until almost inaudible. - -The women's faces were pinched and terrified. They pressed close to -Jay, forgetting that he was a man-made creature--a robot of living -flesh--in their instinctive urge for the protection of the male. - -"That was Zee Fivotu," he said soberly. "The Frogs have him. Probably -tore him apart...." - -"We'll be next," said Ina Haan, her voice thinned. - -"Guard the lock, Ina," ordered Jay. "I'm going back after the animats. -We'll need them all." - -Ina Haan made no protest to Jay's assumption of authority nor did he -think it strange that he should take control. From somewhere in his -acquired memories he had dredged up adequate knowledge of the butrads' -methods of attack. - -He raced back through the corridor to the animat cabin. Onin was -grinning, his long bony face alight. - -"I've found how to remove the helmets," he cried, "by inserting a -small rod that locks the lever resting against the skull. We...." - -"No time for that now," he told the animat, paying no heed to the -battered control case Onin held gingerly in his long fingers. "The -Frogs are attacking!" - - * * * * * - -They sprawled atop the wreckage of what had been the _Sun Maiden_, -their puny expoders sending their explosive needles at the blurred -shapes that crept out of the fog's pall. - -Down below the two women guarded the airlock with the two other -expoders, and with them waited the club-armed animats. - -"Y'know, Onin," Jay said, touching the button that sent a short burst -into the butrads crawling closer, "I'm beginning to believe that we're -not animats." - -The lanky animat gulped. "Huh? You think we're human?" - -"Sounds reasonable. Your knowledge of the control case--of which I'd -know little or nothing. And I know about the butrads, all their little -strategies. Even Venus seems familiar." - -"But we don't know our own names. Just numbers. I'll confess I know -little about Venus or its fauna. But I remember Blake City on Mars. I -can describe the laboratories of the university." - -Jay stitched a burst of needles across a trio of the grotesque froglike -natives. Two flattened where they lay to move not again and the third -raced for the fog's shield. - -"In other words our acquired memories are different." Onin thumbed his -huge nose leaving a mossy green stain. "But, of course, we may have -been subjected to different training schedules before our--'birth'. -Perhaps we had instructors with different backgrounds transmitting -through the mentamit." - -Jay snorted. "Individual instruction? No! Uniformity is the rule for -all robots. Any deviation is avoided. A mentamit recording is more -probable, teaching the simplest rules of behavior and obedience." - -Onin's weapon spat its lethal needles in short steady bursts. Jay -shifted so he could help his comrade stem the approaching rush of -butrads. They came on, out of the grayness, an undisciplined mob, -waving clubs and spears as they ran, their purple-rimmed mouths -croaking insults. - -The two expoders slashed at them. Twenty of the hideous brutes fell, -writhing and crying out thickly in pain, before the attack fell apart -and disintegrated. - -"Last attack they'll make today," said Jay. He examined the meager -supply of needles in his magazine and shook his head. "It's almost -night and they stick close to their nests with darkness." - -Onin looked up from checking his own ammunition. - -"Almost gone," he said glumly. - -"Jay," a voice called from below. - -"What is it, Ina?" - -"Water's coming into the ship. We're in a foot of water now." - -Jay turned to the north where the river's invisible course snaked. A -brook had rolled muddily past the ship and through the hollow where -it lay before from the western mountain slope but now a swollen water -stream had joined it. - -"The Frogs have breached the river and are flooding us out!" he -shouted. "Probably they've damned the lower outlet. We'll be under -water by morning!" - -Onin swore in amazement. "They can swim underwater and attack. And with -our guns empty...." - -"We could make a stand up here," Jay mused, "but they'd starve us out. -All we can do is slip away in the darkness and hide." - -Onin looked over the side, gauging the height of the water. - -"By another hour," he said, "we'd have to wade through ten feet of -water." He stood up, flexing his skinny arms. "Better go now." - -"And have them see us? We've two space suits left intact. They'll serve -as diving suits. Using them we can escape unobserved." - -"I'll get them ready," Onin offered. He started to climb back through -the shattered spacer's gaping plates. - -"Better get the biaton out of that helmet," Jay suggested. "We can make -a few hand grenades out of it. We'll probably need some." - -"We will," agreed the lanky animat. "Our own helmets will supply some -more. I'll bring a rod up and we'll get rid of them." - - * * * * * - -The dirty gray dawn of Venus caught the little party of humans and -animats high up on the slope of the mountain. The fog was thinner here -and as the light increased they had come upon a shallow fairly dry cave -that opened above a narrow brush-covered bench. - -Their escape had been without incident, a series of weary walks -underwater, two going out and one returning dragging the empty suit. -The heavy suits they were forced to abandon at the water's edge before -starting the climb upward along the rain-washed ledges. - -Tired though she was, Ina Haan's eyes were bright. - -"It's wonderful," she told Jay, "to learn that you are not an animat. -This is the break I've always been looking for." - -Jay was puzzled by the girl's excitement. He could not imagine why she -was so pleased. Maybe she had fallen in love with him. At the thought -he felt his heart pound faster. She was very desirable despite the -tattered wisps of garments that half-covered her firm breasts and -shapely woman's body--or perhaps it was because of them. - -He took her in his arms and kissed her. She did not resist him, but -surrendered her lips at once. Her eyes were dreamy. - -"You love me," he said. "We'll be mates!" - -Ina smiled mysteriously and leaned back against his chest. - -"We must take the expoder from Thela," she said. "She might try to kill -you to keep the secret of Animats Incorporated from the public. She'd -want to protect her father." - -Jay nodded, looking back into the cave where the other girl slept. -"He'll probably go to prison or be shipped off to the asteroids," he -agreed, "when we report this affair." - -Ina's eyes narrowed. - -"You must say nothing to anyone if we are rescued," she told him. -"The company would probably have you murdered before you reached the -government heads of Earth or Mars." - -"What's to keep her from telling them, then?" demanded Jay. - -"I think she's going to keep quiet," Ina smiled. "Just let me handle it -my way." - -Jay stared down into the foggy plain that extended outward for perhaps -fifty feet from the cave mouth before it merged with the eternal gray -blanket. Somewhere down there the Frogs would be swimming to the -deserted space ship--searching it. - -"I wish I knew who and what I was before the company scientists worked -on my brain. Was I a criminal or a political refugee? Or did they -pirate a spacer I was on?" - -"It is a profitable racket," mused Ina. "Taking humans and making -robots out of them. Cheaper than creating and educating androids. -Probably they made a few of the real article too." - -Jay nodded sleepily. He wondered how many human beings had been -condemned to the certain death of the uranium mines of Jove's -satellites. - -Ina went back into the cave to sleep and he sat there on guard. Yet he -was weary and his head started to droop. In a moment he would have been -asleep. - -A soft hand trembled on his shoulder. He turned, thinking Ina had come -back. But it was Thela Draper. - -"I heard," she said, her voice strained but low. "I want you to know -Ina is wrong. If Father's company has been breaking the laws I want it -known. I know Father would do nothing wrong." - -"You wanted to kill us when we first landed," accused Jay. - -"But I thought you were uncontrolled robots--not men!" - -"Lucky Ina didn't agree with you," grunted Jay wearily. - -"Jay," cried the girl, her eyes moist, "please believe me. I have -regretted saying what I did every day we have been marooned here. -Animat or man, you are worth a hundred ordinary men." - -"Save your flattery for those who want it," said Jay gruffly. "You're -not fooling me. Ina knows what you are. Get back to bed." - -Thela's eyes flashed. "I hate Ina. She's cruel and scheming. She's -only using you!" - -Jay pushed the girl away back toward the damp heap of hastily gathered -leaves and brush where she had been sleeping. He heard her sobbing for -several minutes before she again dropped off. - -And the pale gray light outside strengthened.... - - * * * * * - -Higher and higher they climbed the mountain slope. The cave where they -had rested now lay hundreds of feet below. The fog thinned and the glow -of the swollen sun was a brighter blur above them. They could see for -more than a hundred feet on either hand and above. - -"Spacer should find us easier up here," Onin said. "If we can only find -a plateau or wide bench where they can land. And the two rocket flares -I brought along should help." - -"We might even find an abandoned trading station," Jay told him. -"Before the Frogs became hostile several hundred of them were built -in the uplands. A few of them are still in operation, or were at the -period I seem to recall." - -"I hope," said Onin fervently, "we'll find a fort or spaceport." - -"Could be, but we haven't stumbled across any discarded plastin -cartons," was Jay's dry rejoinder. "They're stacked buckle-high around -most settlements on Venus." - -The little man, Desix Owun, came breathlessly up from the rear of the -straggling party. - -"I saw Frogs on our trail," his high voice shrilled, "hundreds of 'em. -Gimme a stitcher." - -Jay chuckled at Onin's raised eyebrows. - -"Means an expoder," he explained. He turned to the ex-animat. "Ina has -an extra gun, the one Thela had. Tell her I said to give it to you." - -Desix Owun's shifty eyes gleamed delightedly. He hurried down to where -the two women toiled upward. - -"I'm going back with the grenades, Jay," the lanky man said. He took a -swipe at his huge nose. "Keep climbing while I cover the rear." - -"I'd rather go back," objected Jay. - -"Some of them may have gone ahead of us," said Onin grimly, "and -they'll be pushing rocks and spears down at you. We're trapped here on -the slope." - -Jay could see the logic of the older man's words. He climbed upward -along the broken trail of ledges and watercourses more swiftly. - -And emerged suddenly, between two towering walls of shattered pink -and black stone, on the edge of a grassy plateau-like expanse--the -flattened top of the mountain they were ascending! He turned to call -down to the others, and a spear grazed his shoulder. - -From below three explosions, raggedly spaced, told of the effectiveness -of the crude grenades. Then he turned to face the unknown enemies of -the plateau. - -They were butrads like those on the trail below, unlovely web-footed -batrachians with the spraddled two-legged bodies of uncouth humanoids. -Twelve of them there were, all armed with spears, clubs and knives of -bone. - -He fired carefully, husbanding his dwindling store of explosive -needles. And they went down, one after another, until only one croaking -giant remained on his feet. - -It was then that the trimmer key jammed. - -He worked with fog-wet fingers, not aided in the least by the sweat -that suddenly began to drip down his arm and fingers, to clear the key. -It was ticklish work for the exposed speck of biaton might explode at -too rough contact. - -The Frog raced closer, his ghastly purple-rimmed eyes and mouth -strained, and his croaking warcry booming triumphantly. - -There was an explosion of rockets overhead, growing more audible -with every second; the butrad, hearing the sound, slowed his pace -momentarily. That instant gave Jay time to holster his little expoder -and snatch up one of the clumsy spears at his feet. - -He threw the weapon, scooped up another, and flung it. Both spears -found sleek gray flesh, one in the stomach and the other in the -batrachian's neckless throat. The giant Frog staggered and lurched -forward uncertainly. Jay's fist swung up, smashing into the broad -noseless face, and the native went down. - -One by one the three animats and the two women climbed to where he -stood. He saw Onin hurl a last grenade downward and then climb upward -again. The bony-framed man's breathing was ragged as he reached the -level and blood was dripping off his limp left hand from a spear wound -in his shoulder. - -Onin sank down on the rocky level ground beyond the riven rocks. He -groped in his pouch with his good hand. - -"The rocket flares," he murmured huskily. - -The distant thunder of jets had swelled louder. There were several -ships, Jay decided, the cadence of their rockets differed. In a matter -of seconds they would be almost directly overhead. - -He ran out into the undulating grassy flat, knelt, and twisted off the -flare's cap. He adjusted the height for six thousand feet and depressed -the firing stud. The rocket flare sped skyward, growling unevenly as -its speed built up. - -A moment later a mushrooming blossom of orange light rode above them. - -Rocket jets hammered, after a long instant of suspense, out a -one-three-two burst of fire. The signal had been seen. Jay shouted. He -sent the other flare blasting heavenward to guide the ships. - -From the rocks at the rim a burst of expoder fire sounded. - - * * * * * - -Ina Haan stood over the three animats, two of them still helmeted. Jay -and Onin had not yet found time to free the men from their encumbering -explosive-laden control cases. Their bodies were torn open by expoder -needles. - -"What happened?" he demanded as he raced closer. - -"They attacked me," Ina said calmly, "and I was forced to kill them." - -"She lies!" Thela cried out. "She shot them down. So they couldn't -talk. She's going to blackmail Father--use the money to make her -famous." - -Jay read the truth in the hard smile the dancer flashed him. She tipped -up a defiant chin. And the little expoder in her hand swung to cover -Thela and himself. She planned to blackmail Animats Incorporated, once -clear of Venus, and their lives meant little to her. - -She nodded. "Better throw in with me, Jay. We can both be rich--on -Animats credits. After what they did to you it's only right." - -"And keep my mouth shut about this traffic in hunted men?" Jay -exploded. He shook his head. "I'll rot in prison first." - -"You'll not have the chance, Jay." For a brief moment Ina's eyes were -soft and pleading. "We could have plenty fun together on all that -stardust...." - -"Even if she kills you," Thela broke in, "I'll talk. I'd rather see -Father in prison than...." - -"You're both fools," said Ina Haan wearily, and the expoder swung up. -Her face was twisted now into something not quite human. - -Her finger moved to depress the firing stud. There was an explosion on -the rocks directly behind her and she spun about toward its source. It -was Onin Tufor's weapon that had fired the needle. The dying animat had -aroused from his stupor long enough to loose but one ill-aimed shot. -And that shot had missed. - -The dancer's explosive needles ripped the lanky man's torso into shreds. - -[Illustration: _But that blast gave Jay his chance._] - -But that split second of death gave Jay the opportunity he needed. He -sprang at Ina, knocked her expoder spinning, and the edge of his palm -smacked hard along the line of her neck. She dropped, unmoving, and Jay -knotted her wrists together with a pack strap. - -Thela came to him, and not far away the stratocars, surface ships -equipped with radar and scanning scopes for work inside the Venusian -cloud envelope, were grounding. In a few moments they would be bound -for civilization again. - -"I meant it, Jay," said Thela softly, her breathing shallow and -unsteady. "No matter what comes--I'm blasting along with you." - -With his arm around her waist the chunky man who had been an animat -awaited the coming of the rescue party. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMAT *** - -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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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Animat</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Basil Wells</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 19, 2021 [eBook #64595]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMAT ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>ANIMAT</h1> - -<h2>By BASIL WELLS</h2> - -<p>Battling Venus' slime and vicious frog-apes, J46 yet<br /> -found time to wonder: Was he a man or an android?</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Spring 1949.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>For too long had the <i>Sun Maiden</i> been plunging sunward, her -meteor-crushed jets and warped plates feeling the relentless chill of -space eating swiftly inward.</p> - -<p>Past the orbit of Mars; down past Earth's sector of space, and into -the pull of Venus she flashed, her pace quickening. And crew-members, -sweating and hollow-eyed within the foul closeness of space suits, -worked desperately to repair that all-but hopeless damage.</p> - -<p>Abruptly the forward jets flared raggedly. The great ship faltered; its -course shifted planetward, and even as the clouds swallowed the <i>Sun -Maiden</i> the first of the patched jets exploded.</p> - -<p>The remaining rockets flared briefly and died. The captain jettisoned -cargo and equipment before releasing the eight undamaged emergency -vanes. The shrieking solidity of the Wet Planet's air ripped the -sturdy blades away as though they had been tinfoil and the ship's fall -remained unslackened.</p> - -<p>The slanting plunge ended at last. The nose plowed down a rocky -mountain slope, crumbling with the impact, caromed off a boulder-strewn -bench, and ripped through a tree-clad lower level into a mossy-grassed -meadow. There, in a soggy treeless hollow, the scarred hulk that had -been the <i>Sun Maiden</i> came to rest....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jay Forsix turned puzzled eyes on the little knot of survivors beside -the ship. His fair-skinned face was square, like his powerful short -body, and there was red hair sprouting from beneath the gray plastin of -his control case's helmet.</p> - -<p>Jay looked like a man; he even talked, in a meager jerky fashion, like -a man, but he was actually an android robot. Animats, Inc. turned -out thousands of superior robots for the industries of Earth and -Mars—durable, foolproof <i>expensive</i> machines they were. But for the -uranium mines of Jupiter's moons they also had begun to create these -inexpensive living blends of animate flesh and bone, synthetic moronic -creatures.</p> - -<p>"There are six animats—and us!" choked the little blonde haired girl. -Already the constant moisture of the atmosphere coated her skin with -shining dampness.</p> - -<p>Her companion, a tall dark-skinned girl, rubbed a bruised elbow -thoughtfully. Her teeth flashed in a rueful smile.</p> - -<p>"Bottle the tears," she snapped at the blonde girl, slapping her -shoulder, "we got plenty water without them."</p> - -<p>The smaller girl drew herself up.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps you don't know who I am. I'm Thela Draper. My father owns most -of Animats, Inc."</p> - -<p>The tall girl laughed. "X with me, Thela. We're in the same fix. No -putting on a front—all we'll be doing is keep alive until help comes."</p> - -<p>"If it does come." Thela Draper's lips quivered. "I want...."</p> - -<p>"Will you shut up! I'm taking charge. You're a spoiled empty-head even -if you are atomic-plated. I'm not dumb even if I do dance for a living -in dives you'd blast clear of.</p> - -<p>"Someday Ina Haan's name will be in all the lights of Mars and Terra."</p> - -<p>Jay Forsix shook his head numbly from side to side as he heard the -women talking. Strange thoughts and sensations were crowding into his -brain. His hand went up to the bulky helmet that was designed to keep -his synthetic body under the control of humans.</p> - -<p>He gasped. The battery compartment was empty, its cover gaping. No -wonder his uncontrolled senses were so active and his brain alive.</p> - -<p>"Gone," he said to Ina Haan. He recognized her as the dominating -character of the group.</p> - -<p>Ina pulled out a trim platinum-washed expoder and leveled it at the -animat. But her finger did not depress the little stud that would send -the explosive needles of biaton into his body.</p> - -<p>"Maybe an animat is dangerous without his controls," she mused aloud, -"and then again.... We'll see. I can always kill it later."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Ina Haan," Jay Forsix said clumsily.</p> - -<p>Ina's dark eyes widened. It was rarely that a robot spoke without being -addressed, and then it used the term Master or Lady.</p> - -<p>"Get to work," she commanded, "salvaging food and clothing."</p> - -<p>The animat nodded. He turned toward the battered port.</p> - -<p>Ina was studying the serial plate on Jay's helmet. "Take the others -along, J46," she said. "You are in charge of them."</p> - -<p>Jay's heart pounded proudly. The human one had confidence in him. -Never, in all the six weeks of his short existence, had men spoken a -kindly word to him. To them he had been a stupid machine to be worked -out in the radioactive mines of distant worlds.</p> - -<p>"Yes ... Ina Haan," he said.</p> - -<p>"Onin Tufor," he ordered slowly, "Zee Fivotu, come...."</p> - -<p>The animats rose from their mindless squatting and shuffled after him -into the <i>Sun Maiden's</i> scrambled interior....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jay and the tall shambling animat called Onin Tufor were gathering the -small, brown-husked fruit of the balloon-like <i>kreth</i> that grew on the -slopes above the space ship. The fruit grew at the base of the swollen -hollow globe, and on its stubby branches.</p> - -<p>In the days since their landing the two girls and the animats had -learned to eat, if not like, the edible berries and fruits of the -eternally clouded world. And they had made two comparatively unharmed -cabins snug and only slightly damp by sealing them with tough sheets of -kreth.</p> - -<p>"Would you boost me up?" asked Jay.</p> - -<p>Onin stared at him stupidly. He answered nothing but commands. Jay -swore, a habit acquired from the dark-haired human, and twisted open -the battery case of the animat. He wrenched out the batteries and sent -them hurtling into a nearby thicket of nik-nik.</p> - -<p>"Ina Haan says we have good brains," he told Onin, "if we do not have -them deadened by the control cases."</p> - -<p>Onin was sniffing at the warm thickness of the Venusian air, his -slowly awakening eyes studying the ten-foot circle of mossy grass and -brush visible. His shoulders were straightening and his movements were -steadier.</p> - -<p>"She says it is peculiar that I know so many words and am so familiar -with cities and machinery she mentions. It is as though that knowledge -was placed in our brains when we were created."</p> - -<p>Onin grunted something and started off into the nik-nik brush away from -the invisible spacer. Jay followed, his hand on the crude metal club -that Ina permitted him to carry.</p> - -<p>"The ship's back this way." Jay touched Onin's shoulder. "And you -forgot your bundle of roots and fruit."</p> - -<p>Onin stopped and faced Jay defiantly. Something trembled on his lips -and then he frowned, shaking his bony skull. He clawed at the strap, -riveted securely under his chin.</p> - -<p>"Off," he gurgled. "Take it off."</p> - -<p>"And have your head blown off too? Not much. To protect the controls -from tampering the technicians have planted explosives in the helmet. -It's suicide."</p> - -<p>Onin's fingers dropped away, his eyes thoughtful. When he spoke again -his rusty uncertain voice was steadier.</p> - -<p>"Let's go back," he said. "Later we may learn ... how."</p> - -<p>"How?"</p> - -<p>"How to take them off." Onin was scowling again.</p> - -<p>"The humans must not know your batteries are gone."</p> - -<p>"No," Onin agreed, his deep-set brown eyes studied Jay. "Without the -helmets we could be ... like them."</p> - -<p>Jay Forsix nodded. "I have thought of that, many times. But the women -would know. They would tell, and we would be destroyed."</p> - -<p>"They die too," the lanky one muttered, scowling. "Why not?"</p> - -<p>"No." Jay hesitated. "No, I could not see Ina, or even the sulky one -killed. And we know too little."</p> - -<p>The lanky animat's brain seemed to be awakening swiftly now. He laughed.</p> - -<p>"Already you think of yourself as a man," he told Jay. "You are in love -with the tall female."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps I am." Jay thumbed the line of his jawbone. "I feel a, sort of -warmth ... a happiness ... when they are near."</p> - -<p>Onin snorted out a disgusted exclamation. "Or perhaps you are like a -dog worshipping its master."</p> - -<p>Jay swung his fist at Onin's jaw. Onin dodged, grinning.</p> - -<p>"You are wrong," Jay spat out. "I am a man!"</p> - -<p>Onin shrugged. "All X here, <i>animat</i>. Call yourself a man."</p> - -<p>"We will take all the batteries from the others," said Jay, -disregarding Onin's jeer. "Perhaps the searchers will not find the -wreck and we can go on living here. There are books and recordings to -study."</p> - -<p>Onin's mouth twisted. "Small chance. <i>They</i> know the ship crashed -somewhere in this area. And with the Draper female aboard they'll spare -no expense."</p> - -<p>"I heard rocket motors yesterday," admitted Jay.</p> - -<p>A sodden thud-thud of approaching feet warned them of another's -advance. Jay gripped his club tighter and waited, crouching.</p> - -<p>"A <i>butrad</i>?" Onin muttered, referring to the gray-skinned froglike -natives of Venus.</p> - -<p>"So far we've seen none of them," Jay whispered. And he found time to -puzzle about the knowledge possessed by animats.</p> - -<p>"Jay Forsix," called Ina Haan's deep voice guardedly.</p> - -<p>The animat's weapon dropped. "No talking," he warned Onin.</p> - -<p>"Yes?"</p> - -<p>"Come back to the ship at once. There are frog men lurking around and -they may try to rush us. I killed one."</p> - -<p>"Killed one! That was a mistake, Ina," Jay told her. "If we could have -made friends with them...."</p> - -<p>The woman's dark eyes narrowed savagely. "I'm in charge of our party, -animat," she snapped. "Remember what you are and who are your masters!"</p> - -<p>Jay's blood ran hot. His nails bit deep into the palms of his hands as -he bowed his head stiffly. His eyes were trained on the ground at the -woman's slime-crusted boots. He swallowed with an effort.</p> - -<p>"I remember," he said slowly, his voice colorless as a true robot's.</p> - -<p>Ina's lips smiled triumphantly. Her eyes softened as she patted his -shoulder possessively.</p> - -<p>"You <i>are</i> a handsome brute," she said softly. "I could easily...."</p> - -<p>Onin grinned at Jay sardonically and winked. Jay shifted uncomfortably. -Her hand dropped and she pushed at his naked chest.</p> - -<p>"Back to the ship!" Her voice snapped crisply as she led the way.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They reached the ship without incident and dumped their loads in the -kreth-patched airlock that served as a warehouse. Then the two animats -went along a dripping short corridor past the humans' cabin to their -own quarters.</p> - -<p>The other four androids were lying on dank heaps of nik-nik brush -half-asleep. Two of them were huge-chested, brutal-featured animats, -patterned after the sturdy peasant stock of Earth; the others were -pale-eyed, sharp-nosed little men. One of the little animats sat up.</p> - -<p>"I am awake," he said, his high nasal voice carrying a note of -hysteria. "The hum that hurts my head is gone. I can think."</p> - -<p>Jay looked at Onin and nodded. "Dampness must have finished the cells. -Maybe a short circuit."</p> - -<p>"They'll all be like this shortly," Onin agreed.</p> - -<p>Jay released the battery case's cover and snapped out the compact -square batteries. The sharp-nosed animat, D601, scrubbed filthy fingers -across his chin. His pale eyes darted furtively around the ruined cabin.</p> - -<p>"I'm hungry," he whined. "I'd like a powdered steak dinner and a glass -of <i>blika</i>. I got plenty of starshine in my straps."</p> - -<p>His eyes widened as his fingers searched his ragged trunks.</p> - -<p>"Took me off," he shrieked. "All gone. Every credit."</p> - -<p>Jay shook the screeching little man. "What do you mean—all your -credits gone? How would an animat have anything of value?"</p> - -<p>Desix Owun frowned and shook his head.</p> - -<p>"I—I don't know," he finally admitted. "For a moment it seemed as -though—I was not—what I am."</p> - -<p>"Try to think; to remember," Jay urged. "I have a wild theory that -maybe you remember more than you think. Why would the technicians -implant knowledge of finance and credits in a labor robot's brain?"</p> - -<p>A grunted oath brought Jay around on his heels. The larger of the two -huge robots had Onin's skinny arm twisted up behind his back.</p> - -<p>"Start degraving," his deep voice was rumbling angrily. "How'd I get -here and who are you? You keeping me doped?"</p> - -<p>Jay stepped across the heap of leaves to the giant animat's side. His -heavy club of metal was poised ready.</p> - -<p>"Slip him free," he ordered sharply.</p> - -<p>"Blast me if I will," grunted the animat, giving the bony arm a -sickening wrench. Onin Tufor screeched thinly.</p> - -<p>Jay swung the club along the blunt-featured animat's skull. The animat -bellowed like a wild bull. He released Onin and clawed with dirt-caked -fingers at his battered skull. Then he sprang at Jay.</p> - -<p>Jay Forsix backed away and slipped to one knee. The blow he had just -delivered had dented the big brute's helmet along its base but had -failed to down him. He caught the thick body across his hips and -flipped the animat's six feet into the side of the cabin.</p> - -<p>The giant, Zee Fivotu, rumbled his primitive rage and rebounded from -the wall to launch himself again at Jay. Jay swung his club across the -brutal forehead and again above the ear. Zee Fivotu's helmet crunched -in.</p> - -<p>Jay fell backward to escape as much of the blast as possible. But there -was no explosion. The helmet with its carefully guarded control case -had somehow been rendered harmless by his blows!</p> - -<p>He rolled over and to his feet—to see Zee Fivotu's back disappearing -out the cabin door. He lunged after the animat but the giant android -was out the lock before he could reach it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He was conscious of another presence in the outer airlock as his -shoulder brushed something yielding.</p> - -<p>"What?" demanded Thela Draper angrily.</p> - -<p>"Zee went blot," gasped Jay. "Tried to kill Onin. And me."</p> - -<p>The girl's small expoder snapped out of her wrist holster into her hand -and she sent a stream of mosquito-sized explosive bullets after the -animat.</p> - -<p>A second later the all-pervading sea of fog had swallowed the apelike -shape and she released the button. She jammed the weapon against Jay's -middle.</p> - -<p>"I knew we should have killed all of you animats," she said coldly. -"Without controls you are unpredictable—less than beasts."</p> - -<p>Jay's muscles tensed for the miniature bomb blasts that the pellets' -impact would bring. Then he relaxed, laughing quietly.</p> - -<p>"You know," he said, "you should be at least four feet away before you -fire. And before you can get that far I'll have the gun."</p> - -<p>The muzzle dropped away. Thela started to inch backward. It was common -knowledge that a biaton needle's explosion nearby was dangerous. The -whole magazine <i>might</i> explode in her hand—a blast as devastating as a -case of ancient dynamite.</p> - -<p>Jay's hand chopped across the girl's wrist. Her cry of dismay choked -off abruptly and her eyes sparked contempt.</p> - -<p>"Go ahead," she cried. "Kill me. That's all you animats know how to do. -Work, eat and destroy."</p> - -<p>Jay tucked the tiny wrist expoder into his soggy trunks' waistband.</p> - -<p>"Not interested," he told her. "You better go back to your cabin and -get another expoder. I'm keeping this one."</p> - -<p>"No," Ina Haan's voice cut across the hostility of the tiny chamber -laconically. "Give."</p> - -<p>Jay shook his head. "I'm keeping it. And you better get another for -Onin Tufor. I think we're about to have trouble."</p> - -<p>As though to emphasize his words a prolonged ghastly shriek came from -the fog. They heard broken shouted phrases, human words but with -something bestial and terrible in their anguished pleading. The screams -rose higher and higher—and choked off until almost inaudible.</p> - -<p>The women's faces were pinched and terrified. They pressed close to -Jay, forgetting that he was a man-made creature—a robot of living -flesh—in their instinctive urge for the protection of the male.</p> - -<p>"That was Zee Fivotu," he said soberly. "The Frogs have him. Probably -tore him apart...."</p> - -<p>"We'll be next," said Ina Haan, her voice thinned.</p> - -<p>"Guard the lock, Ina," ordered Jay. "I'm going back after the animats. -We'll need them all."</p> - -<p>Ina Haan made no protest to Jay's assumption of authority nor did he -think it strange that he should take control. From somewhere in his -acquired memories he had dredged up adequate knowledge of the butrads' -methods of attack.</p> - -<p>He raced back through the corridor to the animat cabin. Onin was -grinning, his long bony face alight.</p> - -<p>"I've found how to remove the helmets," he cried, "by inserting a -small rod that locks the lever resting against the skull. We...."</p> - -<p>"No time for that now," he told the animat, paying no heed to the -battered control case Onin held gingerly in his long fingers. "The -Frogs are attacking!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They sprawled atop the wreckage of what had been the <i>Sun Maiden</i>, -their puny expoders sending their explosive needles at the blurred -shapes that crept out of the fog's pall.</p> - -<p>Down below the two women guarded the airlock with the two other -expoders, and with them waited the club-armed animats.</p> - -<p>"Y'know, Onin," Jay said, touching the button that sent a short burst -into the butrads crawling closer, "I'm beginning to believe that we're -not animats."</p> - -<p>The lanky animat gulped. "Huh? You think we're human?"</p> - -<p>"Sounds reasonable. Your knowledge of the control case—of which I'd -know little or nothing. And I know about the butrads, all their little -strategies. Even Venus seems familiar."</p> - -<p>"But we don't know our own names. Just numbers. I'll confess I know -little about Venus or its fauna. But I remember Blake City on Mars. I -can describe the laboratories of the university."</p> - -<p>Jay stitched a burst of needles across a trio of the grotesque froglike -natives. Two flattened where they lay to move not again and the third -raced for the fog's shield.</p> - -<p>"In other words our acquired memories are different." Onin thumbed his -huge nose leaving a mossy green stain. "But, of course, we may have -been subjected to different training schedules before our—'birth'. -Perhaps we had instructors with different backgrounds transmitting -through the mentamit."</p> - -<p>Jay snorted. "Individual instruction? No! Uniformity is the rule for -all robots. Any deviation is avoided. A mentamit recording is more -probable, teaching the simplest rules of behavior and obedience."</p> - -<p>Onin's weapon spat its lethal needles in short steady bursts. Jay -shifted so he could help his comrade stem the approaching rush of -butrads. They came on, out of the grayness, an undisciplined mob, -waving clubs and spears as they ran, their purple-rimmed mouths -croaking insults.</p> - -<p>The two expoders slashed at them. Twenty of the hideous brutes fell, -writhing and crying out thickly in pain, before the attack fell apart -and disintegrated.</p> - -<p>"Last attack they'll make today," said Jay. He examined the meager -supply of needles in his magazine and shook his head. "It's almost -night and they stick close to their nests with darkness."</p> - -<p>Onin looked up from checking his own ammunition.</p> - -<p>"Almost gone," he said glumly.</p> - -<p>"Jay," a voice called from below.</p> - -<p>"What is it, Ina?"</p> - -<p>"Water's coming into the ship. We're in a foot of water now."</p> - -<p>Jay turned to the north where the river's invisible course snaked. A -brook had rolled muddily past the ship and through the hollow where -it lay before from the western mountain slope but now a swollen water -stream had joined it.</p> - -<p>"The Frogs have breached the river and are flooding us out!" he -shouted. "Probably they've damned the lower outlet. We'll be under -water by morning!"</p> - -<p>Onin swore in amazement. "They can swim underwater and attack. And with -our guns empty...."</p> - -<p>"We could make a stand up here," Jay mused, "but they'd starve us out. -All we can do is slip away in the darkness and hide."</p> - -<p>Onin looked over the side, gauging the height of the water.</p> - -<p>"By another hour," he said, "we'd have to wade through ten feet of -water." He stood up, flexing his skinny arms. "Better go now."</p> - -<p>"And have them see us? We've two space suits left intact. They'll serve -as diving suits. Using them we can escape unobserved."</p> - -<p>"I'll get them ready," Onin offered. He started to climb back through -the shattered spacer's gaping plates.</p> - -<p>"Better get the biaton out of that helmet," Jay suggested. "We can make -a few hand grenades out of it. We'll probably need some."</p> - -<p>"We will," agreed the lanky animat. "Our own helmets will supply some -more. I'll bring a rod up and we'll get rid of them."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The dirty gray dawn of Venus caught the little party of humans and -animats high up on the slope of the mountain. The fog was thinner here -and as the light increased they had come upon a shallow fairly dry cave -that opened above a narrow brush-covered bench.</p> - -<p>Their escape had been without incident, a series of weary walks -underwater, two going out and one returning dragging the empty suit. -The heavy suits they were forced to abandon at the water's edge before -starting the climb upward along the rain-washed ledges.</p> - -<p>Tired though she was, Ina Haan's eyes were bright.</p> - -<p>"It's wonderful," she told Jay, "to learn that you are not an animat. -This is the break I've always been looking for."</p> - -<p>Jay was puzzled by the girl's excitement. He could not imagine why she -was so pleased. Maybe she had fallen in love with him. At the thought -he felt his heart pound faster. She was very desirable despite the -tattered wisps of garments that half-covered her firm breasts and -shapely woman's body—or perhaps it was because of them.</p> - -<p>He took her in his arms and kissed her. She did not resist him, but -surrendered her lips at once. Her eyes were dreamy.</p> - -<p>"You love me," he said. "We'll be mates!"</p> - -<p>Ina smiled mysteriously and leaned back against his chest.</p> - -<p>"We must take the expoder from Thela," she said. "She might try to kill -you to keep the secret of Animats Incorporated from the public. She'd -want to protect her father."</p> - -<p>Jay nodded, looking back into the cave where the other girl slept. -"He'll probably go to prison or be shipped off to the asteroids," he -agreed, "when we report this affair."</p> - -<p>Ina's eyes narrowed.</p> - -<p>"You must say nothing to anyone if we are rescued," she told him. -"The company would probably have you murdered before you reached the -government heads of Earth or Mars."</p> - -<p>"What's to keep her from telling them, then?" demanded Jay.</p> - -<p>"I think she's going to keep quiet," Ina smiled. "Just let me handle it -my way."</p> - -<p>Jay stared down into the foggy plain that extended outward for perhaps -fifty feet from the cave mouth before it merged with the eternal gray -blanket. Somewhere down there the Frogs would be swimming to the -deserted space ship—searching it.</p> - -<p>"I wish I knew who and what I was before the company scientists worked -on my brain. Was I a criminal or a political refugee? Or did they -pirate a spacer I was on?"</p> - -<p>"It is a profitable racket," mused Ina. "Taking humans and making -robots out of them. Cheaper than creating and educating androids. -Probably they made a few of the real article too."</p> - -<p>Jay nodded sleepily. He wondered how many human beings had been -condemned to the certain death of the uranium mines of Jove's -satellites.</p> - -<p>Ina went back into the cave to sleep and he sat there on guard. Yet he -was weary and his head started to droop. In a moment he would have been -asleep.</p> - -<p>A soft hand trembled on his shoulder. He turned, thinking Ina had come -back. But it was Thela Draper.</p> - -<p>"I heard," she said, her voice strained but low. "I want you to know -Ina is wrong. If Father's company has been breaking the laws I want it -known. I know Father would do nothing wrong."</p> - -<p>"You wanted to kill us when we first landed," accused Jay.</p> - -<p>"But I thought you were uncontrolled robots—not men!"</p> - -<p>"Lucky Ina didn't agree with you," grunted Jay wearily.</p> - -<p>"Jay," cried the girl, her eyes moist, "please believe me. I have -regretted saying what I did every day we have been marooned here. -Animat or man, you are worth a hundred ordinary men."</p> - -<p>"Save your flattery for those who want it," said Jay gruffly. "You're -not fooling me. Ina knows what you are. Get back to bed."</p> - -<p>Thela's eyes flashed. "I hate Ina. She's cruel and scheming. She's -only using you!"</p> - -<p>Jay pushed the girl away back toward the damp heap of hastily gathered -leaves and brush where she had been sleeping. He heard her sobbing for -several minutes before she again dropped off.</p> - -<p>And the pale gray light outside strengthened....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Higher and higher they climbed the mountain slope. The cave where they -had rested now lay hundreds of feet below. The fog thinned and the glow -of the swollen sun was a brighter blur above them. They could see for -more than a hundred feet on either hand and above.</p> - -<p>"Spacer should find us easier up here," Onin said. "If we can only find -a plateau or wide bench where they can land. And the two rocket flares -I brought along should help."</p> - -<p>"We might even find an abandoned trading station," Jay told him. -"Before the Frogs became hostile several hundred of them were built -in the uplands. A few of them are still in operation, or were at the -period I seem to recall."</p> - -<p>"I hope," said Onin fervently, "we'll find a fort or spaceport."</p> - -<p>"Could be, but we haven't stumbled across any discarded plastin -cartons," was Jay's dry rejoinder. "They're stacked buckle-high around -most settlements on Venus."</p> - -<p>The little man, Desix Owun, came breathlessly up from the rear of the -straggling party.</p> - -<p>"I saw Frogs on our trail," his high voice shrilled, "hundreds of 'em. -Gimme a stitcher."</p> - -<p>Jay chuckled at Onin's raised eyebrows.</p> - -<p>"Means an expoder," he explained. He turned to the ex-animat. "Ina has -an extra gun, the one Thela had. Tell her I said to give it to you."</p> - -<p>Desix Owun's shifty eyes gleamed delightedly. He hurried down to where -the two women toiled upward.</p> - -<p>"I'm going back with the grenades, Jay," the lanky man said. He took a -swipe at his huge nose. "Keep climbing while I cover the rear."</p> - -<p>"I'd rather go back," objected Jay.</p> - -<p>"Some of them may have gone ahead of us," said Onin grimly, "and -they'll be pushing rocks and spears down at you. We're trapped here on -the slope."</p> - -<p>Jay could see the logic of the older man's words. He climbed upward -along the broken trail of ledges and watercourses more swiftly.</p> - -<p>And emerged suddenly, between two towering walls of shattered pink -and black stone, on the edge of a grassy plateau-like expanse—the -flattened top of the mountain they were ascending! He turned to call -down to the others, and a spear grazed his shoulder.</p> - -<p>From below three explosions, raggedly spaced, told of the effectiveness -of the crude grenades. Then he turned to face the unknown enemies of -the plateau.</p> - -<p>They were butrads like those on the trail below, unlovely web-footed -batrachians with the spraddled two-legged bodies of uncouth humanoids. -Twelve of them there were, all armed with spears, clubs and knives of -bone.</p> - -<p>He fired carefully, husbanding his dwindling store of explosive -needles. And they went down, one after another, until only one croaking -giant remained on his feet.</p> - -<p>It was then that the trimmer key jammed.</p> - -<p>He worked with fog-wet fingers, not aided in the least by the sweat -that suddenly began to drip down his arm and fingers, to clear the key. -It was ticklish work for the exposed speck of biaton might explode at -too rough contact.</p> - -<p>The Frog raced closer, his ghastly purple-rimmed eyes and mouth -strained, and his croaking warcry booming triumphantly.</p> - -<p>There was an explosion of rockets overhead, growing more audible -with every second; the butrad, hearing the sound, slowed his pace -momentarily. That instant gave Jay time to holster his little expoder -and snatch up one of the clumsy spears at his feet.</p> - -<p>He threw the weapon, scooped up another, and flung it. Both spears -found sleek gray flesh, one in the stomach and the other in the -batrachian's neckless throat. The giant Frog staggered and lurched -forward uncertainly. Jay's fist swung up, smashing into the broad -noseless face, and the native went down.</p> - -<p>One by one the three animats and the two women climbed to where he -stood. He saw Onin hurl a last grenade downward and then climb upward -again. The bony-framed man's breathing was ragged as he reached the -level and blood was dripping off his limp left hand from a spear wound -in his shoulder.</p> - -<p>Onin sank down on the rocky level ground beyond the riven rocks. He -groped in his pouch with his good hand.</p> - -<p>"The rocket flares," he murmured huskily.</p> - -<p>The distant thunder of jets had swelled louder. There were several -ships, Jay decided, the cadence of their rockets differed. In a matter -of seconds they would be almost directly overhead.</p> - -<p>He ran out into the undulating grassy flat, knelt, and twisted off the -flare's cap. He adjusted the height for six thousand feet and depressed -the firing stud. The rocket flare sped skyward, growling unevenly as -its speed built up.</p> - -<p>A moment later a mushrooming blossom of orange light rode above them.</p> - -<p>Rocket jets hammered, after a long instant of suspense, out a -one-three-two burst of fire. The signal had been seen. Jay shouted. He -sent the other flare blasting heavenward to guide the ships.</p> - -<p>From the rocks at the rim a burst of expoder fire sounded.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ina Haan stood over the three animats, two of them still helmeted. Jay -and Onin had not yet found time to free the men from their encumbering -explosive-laden control cases. Their bodies were torn open by expoder -needles.</p> - -<p>"What happened?" he demanded as he raced closer.</p> - -<p>"They attacked me," Ina said calmly, "and I was forced to kill them."</p> - -<p>"She lies!" Thela cried out. "She shot them down. So they couldn't -talk. She's going to blackmail Father—use the money to make her -famous."</p> - -<p>Jay read the truth in the hard smile the dancer flashed him. She tipped -up a defiant chin. And the little expoder in her hand swung to cover -Thela and himself. She planned to blackmail Animats Incorporated, once -clear of Venus, and their lives meant little to her.</p> - -<p>She nodded. "Better throw in with me, Jay. We can both be rich—on -Animats credits. After what they did to you it's only right."</p> - -<p>"And keep my mouth shut about this traffic in hunted men?" Jay -exploded. He shook his head. "I'll rot in prison first."</p> - -<p>"You'll not have the chance, Jay." For a brief moment Ina's eyes were -soft and pleading. "We could have plenty fun together on all that -stardust...."</p> - -<p>"Even if she kills you," Thela broke in, "I'll talk. I'd rather see -Father in prison than...."</p> - -<p>"You're both fools," said Ina Haan wearily, and the expoder swung up. -Her face was twisted now into something not quite human.</p> - -<p>Her finger moved to depress the firing stud. There was an explosion on -the rocks directly behind her and she spun about toward its source. It -was Onin Tufor's weapon that had fired the needle. The dying animat had -aroused from his stupor long enough to loose but one ill-aimed shot. -And that shot had missed.</p> - -<p>The dancer's explosive needles ripped the lanky man's torso into shreds.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>But that blast gave Jay his chance.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>But that split second of death gave Jay the opportunity he needed. He -sprang at Ina, knocked her expoder spinning, and the edge of his palm -smacked hard along the line of her neck. She dropped, unmoving, and Jay -knotted her wrists together with a pack strap.</p> - -<p>Thela came to him, and not far away the stratocars, surface ships -equipped with radar and scanning scopes for work inside the Venusian -cloud envelope, were grounding. In a few moments they would be bound -for civilization again.</p> - -<p>"I meant it, Jay," said Thela softly, her breathing shallow and -unsteady. "No matter what comes—I'm blasting along with you."</p> - -<p>With his arm around her waist the chunky man who had been an animat -awaited the coming of the rescue party.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMAT ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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