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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..cf87fc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65725 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65725) diff --git a/old/65725-0.txt b/old/65725-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 874b71c..0000000 --- a/old/65725-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,754 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Centauri Vengeance, by Darius John Granger - -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: Centauri Vengeance - -Author: Darius John Granger - -Release Date: June 29, 2021 [eBook #65725] - -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 CENTAURI VENGEANCE *** - - - - - CENTAURI VENGEANCE - - By Darius John Granger - - George Haven was the most powerful man in - the galaxy; now he had returned to Centauri and - he was afraid--for his past was staring at him! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy - October 1956 - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Haven began to realize it was a mistake returning to Centauri with his -wife even before they reached their hotel. For Louise Haven said, as -soon as the Centaurian porters had taken their baggage at the starport -with cold, aloof correctness: - -"Why, George! They don't seem to like you. I thought you would be a -hero to them, from what you told me." - -George Haven said nothing. He was a big, powerful-looking man in his -late thirties. He was expensively dressed and he had taken the most -expensive suite in Alpha City's best hotel and he had an expensive, -young, and beautiful wife. - -He thought: Today I'm one of the most powerful men in the stellar -confederacy. What does she expect, that I'll win a popularity contest -too? Well, I guess she'll learn eventually what makes an important man -truly important. Could you sum it up in a word, in a single clearly -understood word? he wondered. He decided that you could. The word was -ruthless. - -They swept into the hotel with their train of attendants and were -received with the same aloof correctness. Haven watched with -satisfaction while Louise removed her Sirian furs. Louise was something -to look at, all right, but so were the furs. They'd cost Haven plenty -and there was probably a trail of blood and tears behind them on Sirius -III, for the animals whose coats they were, Haven knew, were ferocious. - -It was very cold outside, as it always was on Centauri VII. The small, -blue-skinned hotel manager said, in crisp, perfect English: - -"The others are already here, Mr. Haven. They are waiting." - -Of course the others had already arrived, Haven thought. You had to -keep people waiting. Let them know their own importance didn't add up -to a hill of beans. - -"It's a beautiful suite, George," Louise Haven said after they had -taken the pneumotube to their floor and entered their suite through the -irising door. "At least the Centaurians saved the best for us." - -"I'll always get the best for you, baby," Haven said, and took -this beautiful young woman who had been his wife for exactly two -months--long enough to reach Centauri--into his arms and kissed her. - -Was there something unexpectedly stiff and cold about Louise's -response? Haven did not know; he wondered if he had imagined it. Was -the coldly correct behavior of the Centaurians getting on his nerves? - -"You know," Louise said breathlessly, "it's still a little hard -to realize I'm married to a legend. Mrs. George Haven. Mrs. -Most-Important-Man-in-the-Galaxy. And it's even harder to believe you -got your start right here on Centauri VII. Tell me about it, George." - -"Man's got to get his start somewhere," Haven said, surprised that it -sounded defensive. "Besides, that's why we've come to Centauri." - -It was--and it wasn't. Haven's first big success, almost fifteen years -ago, had been here on cold, bleak Centauri VII. Haven and a man named -Drexell Tolliver--who had died here in Centauri--had discovered a -uranium mine which had dwarfed all the remaining lodes on Earth. With -that discovery as a stepping-off point, Haven now owned some fifty -percent of all the producing uranium mines in the stellar confederacy. -And since stellar civilization was an atomic civilization, Haven could -buy and sell politicians across the length and breadth of the inhabited -galaxy. - -But, he thought now as Louise went into the next room to prepare for -the reunion party with the Earthmen and Centaurians who had worked -under Haven and Drexell Tolliver fifteen years ago, he hadn't been -able to buy as much as a porter on Centauri VII. Damn them! he thought -for the hundredth time. Damn the fantastically decadent Centaurians, -anyway! They never told lies. It was biologically--or psychologically, -he didn't know which--impossible for a Centaurian to tell a lie. On -the other hand, Haven remembered from bitter experience, a Centaurian -could refuse to answer you altogether. That was usually their way out. -They were the most close-lipped people in the galaxy. There were no -courts of law on Centauri: there could not be, for no one would testify -against anyone else. The only retributive system they had was that of -vendetta. It almost seemed incredible to Haven that Centauri VII had -been admitted into the stellar confederacy at all. - -Haven showered and dressed and wondered about the reunion. It had been -his own idea. For here on Centauri was the one mistake which could -ruin Haven, here where there were no politicians to be bought. The -thought of it had weighed on Haven for fifteen years. It seemed safely -hid, his secret. Hadn't fifteen years elapsed? But still, there was no -predicting the Centaurians. No predicting them at all. - -The reunion was a necessity, assuming Haven had to come. For, if you -couldn't buy Centaurians, you could at least buy Earthmen. And Haven -might need help. - -He chuckled. He hadn't seen anything of these men for fifteen years, -but he'd been paying them off regularly, like clockwork. Blackmail? -It was hardly blackmail. Haven knew what they knew. Haven had offered -them money almost from the beginning, and all of them had accepted. -Ruthless, Haven thought again. In their own small way, these half dozen -men were ruthless, too. Failures in life, of course, except for the -money Haven paid them every month. But ruthless. - -"Ready, George?" Louise asked. - -Haven looked her up and down slowly. She was ravishingly beautiful. She -was George Haven's property. He had made her what she was. He didn't -even know her background, had purposely not delved into it. Forget -about the past, he'd told her on the eve of their marriage. It's the -future which counts. The future.... - - * * * * * - -"The future!" toasted Allen Vorhees, lifting his glass of Centaurian -liquor. "To all our futures." - -The six Earthmen who knew Haven's secret drank with secret smiles. The -smiles were for Louise--Louise who apparently knew nothing, Louise who -looked up to her husband with the blind faith of a naive young girl. - -Haven raised his own glass. "May the future treat all of you as well -as the past fifteen years have," he said, and drank. The smiles faded -around the table. They'd drink to that, all right, Haven thought. But -they didn't like the idea. - -A Centaurian waiter shuffled in with the first dinner course. Haven -felt a mounting impatience. He wished the banquet was over already. -He wished he could start planning what he had to do. He'd come to -Centauri with no specific plan. He only knew that Drexell Tolliver's -fifteen-years-frozen corpse was still waiting here on Centauri VII, to -ruin him someday if he wasn't careful. Yes, Haven thought. I killed -him. I murdered Drexell Tolliver. But it was for the good of the whole -galaxy, couldn't they see that? Tolliver was an idealist, had wanted -to give the huge uranium lode as a gift to the decadent Centaurians, -who once had possessed a fine atomic civilization but had lost it a -thousand years before Earthmen took to the stars. Then Drexell Tolliver -said they could lease the mine back and work it. The galaxy would get -its uranium, Centauri VII would get much-needed galactic credits, and -the partnership of Tolliver-Haven would still run the mine. - -But this way, the way it worked out, thought Haven, the galaxy gets -all the uranium from me. The whims of the strange Centaurians didn't -matter. It was for the good of the galaxy, wasn't it? Haven smiled, -remembering. Galaxy, hell. Why didn't he admit it, at least to himself? -It was for the good of George Haven. And in the process, in bringing -about that good, Drexell Tolliver had had to die. - -"... go out and visit the old mines," Angus MacCready was saying. - -The last course was served. Vorhees suggested they could start for -the mines in the morning, and they all agreed. Even Louise seemed -fascinated by the idea, and this surprised Haven. Louise had never -showed much interest in his enterprises--except, now that he thought of -it, for the Centaurian mine. - -Out there, Haven thought. A hundred miles from nowhere in the high ice -mountains north of this city, there is a glacier. The ice is crystal -clear, astonishing clear. And there, entrapped in the ice and perfectly -preserved by it for all time and perfectly visible too, was Drexell -Tolliver's body. Haven had, fifteen years before, melted the ice with -a heat blaster and dropped Tolliver's body in. Then the ice had frozen -over. For fifteen years, except when it snowed--and it did not snow -often, despite the cold, on Centauri VII--the corpse had been perfectly -visible for whoever wanted to see it. Fortunately, the viewers had only -been Centaurians, and the Centaurians never bore testimony against one -another, nor against outworlders, either. - -Now he had to reach that body, had to hide it some way, with the help -of these six men he'd been paying off for fifteen years because they'd -been working for him and Tolliver and knew what he knew.... - -"I'd just love to go out there," he heard Louise saying. - -"No, Louise," he said firmly. "I don't think you'd like it. Cold. -Nothing to see, really. Why don't you just stay in the hotel when we -get started in the morning?" - -"But I insist," Louise said, smiling at him sweetly. - -"Let the little lady go," MacCready said, smiling blandly. - -Before Haven could answer, the little Centaurian waiter came by. -"Glacier move," he mumbled. - -"What did you say?" said Haven, startled. - -"Nothing," said the Centaurian, and shuffled from the room. Haven got -up and started after him, but saw Louise watching. He settled back and -waited uncomfortably through the small talk of the reunion. It did not -break up until the early hours of the morning and Haven went directly -to their suite with Louise. - -"No nightcap?" she asked him. - -"Need plenty of sleep for the morning. But Lou, honey, I still don't -think you ought to go." - -"I'm going, George. That's all. It's the beginning of the George Haven -legend, and I want to see it. Can you blame me?" - -Haven had to admit that he could not. They went up to the suite, where -Haven undressed and got into bed and pretended to fall asleep quickly. -After what seemed a very long time to him he heard Louise's regular -breathing. - -"Sleeping honey?" he whispered. - -No answer. - -Haven got up quietly and dressed in the dark. He tiptoed to the door, -looked back once, listened. Louise was still breathing regularly. Even -before the reunion celebration was over, Haven had made up his mind. If -Louise was going out there with him and the others in the morning--and -apparently she was--then Haven had to go out there first, in the -darkness, alone if necessary, to see what he could do about the body.... - - * * * * * - -He closed the door softly behind him and stepped into the dim, -night-lit hallway. He almost bumped into a small figure crouching there -and jerked away from it with a startled exclamation. - -It was the little Centaurian waiter. - -Haven grabbed the collar of his tunic. "All right," he said. "All -right, you're just the man I'm looking for. What did you mean, glacier -move?" - -"Glacier move. You know. You know!" The Centaurian offered a tentative -smile. - -"No, damn you, I don't know!" Haven whispered furiously, dragging the -Centaurian into the stairwell. - -"Glacier on mine then. Glacier not on mine now. All city know." - -"Then where is it?" - -"Glacier is river of ice. Glacier flow. Glacier one, two miles from -city now." - -"_That_ glacier?" demanded Haven, horrified at the thought that Drexell -Tolliver's body was within a mile or two of five million people, even -if they were Centaurians. - -"That glacier, yes." - -"Take me there," commanded Haven, all but strangling the little -Centaurian with his big hands. - -"I take you," the blue man managed. His azure skin had gone a pale sky -blue with fright. They're all the same, thought Haven. If you can't buy -them you can scare the hell out of them. - -"Then let's get started," Haven said. - - * * * * * - -A team of six-legged creatures drew the ice-sled silently through the -night. They climbed steadily into the ice hills. Centauri had set, but -little Proxima, Centauri VII's tiny second sun, was on the horizon and -gave dusky light perhaps twice the brightness of Earth night at full -moon. The little waiter, whose name Haven didn't know, drove the team -in utter silence. The runners slid across the ice with scrapings and -whisperings. The long, surprisingly bright night shadows fled before -them. Haven was wrapped to the ears in furs and it was cold here in -the ice hills, but he sweated with impatience. Sure, he told himself. -You'll find the body. You'll see the body. But what will you do then. - -It took hardly more than moments to reach the huge, amazingly -transparent glacier. Fifteen years, thought Haven. Fifteen years is -nothing to this river of ice. Fifteen hundred years--and it will still -hold Drexell Tolliver's body, perfectly preserved. Drexell Tolliver's -body, the wound inflicted by Haven's knife, the knife still there, in -the dead man's side with Haven's fingerprints on the haft because for -the first and only time in his life Haven had been frightened and thus -careless.... - -Haven climbed off the sled and carefully skirted the upper edge of the -crevasse he remembered so well. The bottom was in shadow. It was two -hundred feet down, certainly, if not more. Haven shuddered. It would -have been so easy for a man to slip. Why hadn't he thought of that, -fifteen years ago? The crevasse had been here. He could have pushed -Tolliver, instead of knifing him. - -The waiter led the way at a brisk pace, his animal-pad-soled boots -holding on the slick ice, as Haven's did. Finally, the waiter held up -his hand: - -"Here," he said. "Here Tolliver." - -"You know?" Haven gasped. He had never doubted it for a minute, but -somehow the two words--here Tolliver--had nevertheless startled him. - -"All Alpha City know," said the native, stepping aside as Haven peered -down through the utterly clear ice. - -The body seemed very small and lonely and far away. It was there as it -had been there and as it always would be there and as it had haunted -Haven's sleep for fifteen years. - -Haven probed his mind for ideas. There had to be something.... - -A heat blaster, he thought. I can go back to town and get a heat -blaster and melt it free again and then-- - -But the little native had to die. True, he was only one of millions who -had apparently seen the body, but he had taken Haven here, and if ever -he could be brought to a stellar confederacy court to testify, and if -it could be proved that the site of the mine, fifteen years ago, had -been galactic and not Centaurian territory, and if he could be made to -testify because, after all, he was not on Centauri and not subject to -the Centaurian mores, then Haven was finished. - -Haven removed the hand-stunner from his furs and pointed it at the -native's back. - -"Hold it, George! Don't move!" - -He dropped the gun in his surprise. It was Louise's voice. - -Runners slid whisperingly across the ice. A sled came up. Louise stood -in it, a stunner in her own hand. She looked at him as the sled came to -a stop. Her face was grim. - -"Louise," Haven said accusingly. "You followed me from the hotel. But -why--why?" - -"Because I had to find out what you had to find out. Because you told -me to be ruthless, George, remember? You always told me you had to be -ruthless to get anyplace. So I was ruthless too. I married you." - -"Ruthless--marrying me? I don't understand." - -"You never looked into my past, George. That suited me fine. Well, come -on. Get on this sled now! I'm taking you back to Alpha City. We're -getting in touch with the Galactic representative to see if you can be -indicted for Drexell Tolliver's murder." - -"But you--" - -Just then the small native came up with Haven's stunner. "You came -almost too late, Miss Tolliver," he said. - -Tolliver, thought Haven. Tolliver! "Tolliver!" he shouted, and his -voice echoed from the ice hills and came back, boomingly, to him. -"Tolliver!" - -And calmly, Louise told him: "I am Drexell Tolliver's daughter. You -fool, George. You fool. The others were here, but they never knew. -Not Vorhees, not MacCready, not any of them. Sure, they took your -money. They were curious, but why should they say no? You built the -whole thing up in your mind. It was your own private nightmare. You -never would have been found out if you hadn't come here. If you hadn't -dreamed up this reunion, if you hadn't married Drexell Tolliver's -daughter." - -Haven heard her voice, but hardly heard the words. He began to run. -Soon he was running very fast. He did not look back. He heard the -bark of her stunner and saw the raw streaks of energy rip by him in -the night. Run, he thought. You have to run now. You never had to run -before, but you can do anything you have to do, can't you? - -He ran faster and faster. The night and the ice swept by. This time -he did not see the crevasse. He ran right up to the lip without a -sound, into the death-trap he should have prepared for Drexell Tolliver -fifteen years before. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CENTAURI VENGEANCE *** - -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. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg 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> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Centauri Vengeance</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Darius John Granger</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 29, 2021 [eBook #65725]</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 CENTAURI VENGEANCE ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>CENTAURI VENGEANCE</h1> - -<h2>By Darius John Granger</h2> - -<p>George Haven was the most powerful man in<br /> -the galaxy; now he had returned to Centauri and<br /> -he was afraid—for his past was staring at him!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br /> -October 1956<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>Haven began to realize it was a mistake returning to Centauri with his -wife even before they reached their hotel. For Louise Haven said, as -soon as the Centaurian porters had taken their baggage at the starport -with cold, aloof correctness:</p> - -<p>"Why, George! They don't seem to like you. I thought you would be a -hero to them, from what you told me."</p> - -<p>George Haven said nothing. He was a big, powerful-looking man in his -late thirties. He was expensively dressed and he had taken the most -expensive suite in Alpha City's best hotel and he had an expensive, -young, and beautiful wife.</p> - -<p>He thought: Today I'm one of the most powerful men in the stellar -confederacy. What does she expect, that I'll win a popularity contest -too? Well, I guess she'll learn eventually what makes an important man -truly important. Could you sum it up in a word, in a single clearly -understood word? he wondered. He decided that you could. The word was -ruthless.</p> - -<p>They swept into the hotel with their train of attendants and were -received with the same aloof correctness. Haven watched with -satisfaction while Louise removed her Sirian furs. Louise was something -to look at, all right, but so were the furs. They'd cost Haven plenty -and there was probably a trail of blood and tears behind them on Sirius -III, for the animals whose coats they were, Haven knew, were ferocious.</p> - -<p>It was very cold outside, as it always was on Centauri VII. The small, -blue-skinned hotel manager said, in crisp, perfect English:</p> - -<p>"The others are already here, Mr. Haven. They are waiting."</p> - -<p>Of course the others had already arrived, Haven thought. You had to -keep people waiting. Let them know their own importance didn't add up -to a hill of beans.</p> - -<p>"It's a beautiful suite, George," Louise Haven said after they had -taken the pneumotube to their floor and entered their suite through the -irising door. "At least the Centaurians saved the best for us."</p> - -<p>"I'll always get the best for you, baby," Haven said, and took -this beautiful young woman who had been his wife for exactly two -months—long enough to reach Centauri—into his arms and kissed her.</p> - -<p>Was there something unexpectedly stiff and cold about Louise's -response? Haven did not know; he wondered if he had imagined it. Was -the coldly correct behavior of the Centaurians getting on his nerves?</p> - -<p>"You know," Louise said breathlessly, "it's still a little hard -to realize I'm married to a legend. Mrs. George Haven. Mrs. -Most-Important-Man-in-the-Galaxy. And it's even harder to believe you -got your start right here on Centauri VII. Tell me about it, George."</p> - -<p>"Man's got to get his start somewhere," Haven said, surprised that it -sounded defensive. "Besides, that's why we've come to Centauri."</p> - -<p>It was—and it wasn't. Haven's first big success, almost fifteen years -ago, had been here on cold, bleak Centauri VII. Haven and a man named -Drexell Tolliver—who had died here in Centauri—had discovered a -uranium mine which had dwarfed all the remaining lodes on Earth. With -that discovery as a stepping-off point, Haven now owned some fifty -percent of all the producing uranium mines in the stellar confederacy. -And since stellar civilization was an atomic civilization, Haven could -buy and sell politicians across the length and breadth of the inhabited -galaxy.</p> - -<p>But, he thought now as Louise went into the next room to prepare for -the reunion party with the Earthmen and Centaurians who had worked -under Haven and Drexell Tolliver fifteen years ago, he hadn't been -able to buy as much as a porter on Centauri VII. Damn them! he thought -for the hundredth time. Damn the fantastically decadent Centaurians, -anyway! They never told lies. It was biologically—or psychologically, -he didn't know which—impossible for a Centaurian to tell a lie. On -the other hand, Haven remembered from bitter experience, a Centaurian -could refuse to answer you altogether. That was usually their way out. -They were the most close-lipped people in the galaxy. There were no -courts of law on Centauri: there could not be, for no one would testify -against anyone else. The only retributive system they had was that of -vendetta. It almost seemed incredible to Haven that Centauri VII had -been admitted into the stellar confederacy at all.</p> - -<p>Haven showered and dressed and wondered about the reunion. It had been -his own idea. For here on Centauri was the one mistake which could -ruin Haven, here where there were no politicians to be bought. The -thought of it had weighed on Haven for fifteen years. It seemed safely -hid, his secret. Hadn't fifteen years elapsed? But still, there was no -predicting the Centaurians. No predicting them at all.</p> - -<p>The reunion was a necessity, assuming Haven had to come. For, if you -couldn't buy Centaurians, you could at least buy Earthmen. And Haven -might need help.</p> - -<p>He chuckled. He hadn't seen anything of these men for fifteen years, -but he'd been paying them off regularly, like clockwork. Blackmail? -It was hardly blackmail. Haven knew what they knew. Haven had offered -them money almost from the beginning, and all of them had accepted. -Ruthless, Haven thought again. In their own small way, these half dozen -men were ruthless, too. Failures in life, of course, except for the -money Haven paid them every month. But ruthless.</p> - -<p>"Ready, George?" Louise asked.</p> - -<p>Haven looked her up and down slowly. She was ravishingly beautiful. She -was George Haven's property. He had made her what she was. He didn't -even know her background, had purposely not delved into it. Forget -about the past, he'd told her on the eve of their marriage. It's the -future which counts. The future....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"The future!" toasted Allen Vorhees, lifting his glass of Centaurian -liquor. "To all our futures."</p> - -<p>The six Earthmen who knew Haven's secret drank with secret smiles. The -smiles were for Louise—Louise who apparently knew nothing, Louise who -looked up to her husband with the blind faith of a naive young girl.</p> - -<p>Haven raised his own glass. "May the future treat all of you as well -as the past fifteen years have," he said, and drank. The smiles faded -around the table. They'd drink to that, all right, Haven thought. But -they didn't like the idea.</p> - -<p>A Centaurian waiter shuffled in with the first dinner course. Haven -felt a mounting impatience. He wished the banquet was over already. -He wished he could start planning what he had to do. He'd come to -Centauri with no specific plan. He only knew that Drexell Tolliver's -fifteen-years-frozen corpse was still waiting here on Centauri VII, to -ruin him someday if he wasn't careful. Yes, Haven thought. I killed -him. I murdered Drexell Tolliver. But it was for the good of the whole -galaxy, couldn't they see that? Tolliver was an idealist, had wanted -to give the huge uranium lode as a gift to the decadent Centaurians, -who once had possessed a fine atomic civilization but had lost it a -thousand years before Earthmen took to the stars. Then Drexell Tolliver -said they could lease the mine back and work it. The galaxy would get -its uranium, Centauri VII would get much-needed galactic credits, and -the partnership of Tolliver-Haven would still run the mine.</p> - -<p>But this way, the way it worked out, thought Haven, the galaxy gets -all the uranium from me. The whims of the strange Centaurians didn't -matter. It was for the good of the galaxy, wasn't it? Haven smiled, -remembering. Galaxy, hell. Why didn't he admit it, at least to himself? -It was for the good of George Haven. And in the process, in bringing -about that good, Drexell Tolliver had had to die.</p> - -<p>"... go out and visit the old mines," Angus MacCready was saying.</p> - -<p>The last course was served. Vorhees suggested they could start for -the mines in the morning, and they all agreed. Even Louise seemed -fascinated by the idea, and this surprised Haven. Louise had never -showed much interest in his enterprises—except, now that he thought of -it, for the Centaurian mine.</p> - -<p>Out there, Haven thought. A hundred miles from nowhere in the high ice -mountains north of this city, there is a glacier. The ice is crystal -clear, astonishing clear. And there, entrapped in the ice and perfectly -preserved by it for all time and perfectly visible too, was Drexell -Tolliver's body. Haven had, fifteen years before, melted the ice with -a heat blaster and dropped Tolliver's body in. Then the ice had frozen -over. For fifteen years, except when it snowed—and it did not snow -often, despite the cold, on Centauri VII—the corpse had been perfectly -visible for whoever wanted to see it. Fortunately, the viewers had only -been Centaurians, and the Centaurians never bore testimony against one -another, nor against outworlders, either.</p> - -<p>Now he had to reach that body, had to hide it some way, with the help -of these six men he'd been paying off for fifteen years because they'd -been working for him and Tolliver and knew what he knew....</p> - -<p>"I'd just love to go out there," he heard Louise saying.</p> - -<p>"No, Louise," he said firmly. "I don't think you'd like it. Cold. -Nothing to see, really. Why don't you just stay in the hotel when we -get started in the morning?"</p> - -<p>"But I insist," Louise said, smiling at him sweetly.</p> - -<p>"Let the little lady go," MacCready said, smiling blandly.</p> - -<p>Before Haven could answer, the little Centaurian waiter came by. -"Glacier move," he mumbled.</p> - -<p>"What did you say?" said Haven, startled.</p> - -<p>"Nothing," said the Centaurian, and shuffled from the room. Haven got -up and started after him, but saw Louise watching. He settled back and -waited uncomfortably through the small talk of the reunion. It did not -break up until the early hours of the morning and Haven went directly -to their suite with Louise.</p> - -<p>"No nightcap?" she asked him.</p> - -<p>"Need plenty of sleep for the morning. But Lou, honey, I still don't -think you ought to go."</p> - -<p>"I'm going, George. That's all. It's the beginning of the George Haven -legend, and I want to see it. Can you blame me?"</p> - -<p>Haven had to admit that he could not. They went up to the suite, where -Haven undressed and got into bed and pretended to fall asleep quickly. -After what seemed a very long time to him he heard Louise's regular -breathing.</p> - -<p>"Sleeping honey?" he whispered.</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>Haven got up quietly and dressed in the dark. He tiptoed to the door, -looked back once, listened. Louise was still breathing regularly. Even -before the reunion celebration was over, Haven had made up his mind. If -Louise was going out there with him and the others in the morning—and -apparently she was—then Haven had to go out there first, in the -darkness, alone if necessary, to see what he could do about the body....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He closed the door softly behind him and stepped into the dim, -night-lit hallway. He almost bumped into a small figure crouching there -and jerked away from it with a startled exclamation.</p> - -<p>It was the little Centaurian waiter.</p> - -<p>Haven grabbed the collar of his tunic. "All right," he said. "All -right, you're just the man I'm looking for. What did you mean, glacier -move?"</p> - -<p>"Glacier move. You know. You know!" The Centaurian offered a tentative -smile.</p> - -<p>"No, damn you, I don't know!" Haven whispered furiously, dragging the -Centaurian into the stairwell.</p> - -<p>"Glacier on mine then. Glacier not on mine now. All city know."</p> - -<p>"Then where is it?"</p> - -<p>"Glacier is river of ice. Glacier flow. Glacier one, two miles from -city now."</p> - -<p>"<i>That</i> glacier?" demanded Haven, horrified at the thought that Drexell -Tolliver's body was within a mile or two of five million people, even -if they were Centaurians.</p> - -<p>"That glacier, yes."</p> - -<p>"Take me there," commanded Haven, all but strangling the little -Centaurian with his big hands.</p> - -<p>"I take you," the blue man managed. His azure skin had gone a pale sky -blue with fright. They're all the same, thought Haven. If you can't buy -them you can scare the hell out of them.</p> - -<p>"Then let's get started," Haven said.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A team of six-legged creatures drew the ice-sled silently through the -night. They climbed steadily into the ice hills. Centauri had set, but -little Proxima, Centauri VII's tiny second sun, was on the horizon and -gave dusky light perhaps twice the brightness of Earth night at full -moon. The little waiter, whose name Haven didn't know, drove the team -in utter silence. The runners slid across the ice with scrapings and -whisperings. The long, surprisingly bright night shadows fled before -them. Haven was wrapped to the ears in furs and it was cold here in -the ice hills, but he sweated with impatience. Sure, he told himself. -You'll find the body. You'll see the body. But what will you do then.</p> - -<p>It took hardly more than moments to reach the huge, amazingly -transparent glacier. Fifteen years, thought Haven. Fifteen years is -nothing to this river of ice. Fifteen hundred years—and it will still -hold Drexell Tolliver's body, perfectly preserved. Drexell Tolliver's -body, the wound inflicted by Haven's knife, the knife still there, in -the dead man's side with Haven's fingerprints on the haft because for -the first and only time in his life Haven had been frightened and thus -careless....</p> - -<p>Haven climbed off the sled and carefully skirted the upper edge of the -crevasse he remembered so well. The bottom was in shadow. It was two -hundred feet down, certainly, if not more. Haven shuddered. It would -have been so easy for a man to slip. Why hadn't he thought of that, -fifteen years ago? The crevasse had been here. He could have pushed -Tolliver, instead of knifing him.</p> - -<p>The waiter led the way at a brisk pace, his animal-pad-soled boots -holding on the slick ice, as Haven's did. Finally, the waiter held up -his hand:</p> - -<p>"Here," he said. "Here Tolliver."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"You know?" Haven gasped. He had never doubted it for a minute, but -somehow the two words—here Tolliver—had nevertheless startled him.</p> - -<p>"All Alpha City know," said the native, stepping aside as Haven peered -down through the utterly clear ice.</p> - -<p>The body seemed very small and lonely and far away. It was there as it -had been there and as it always would be there and as it had haunted -Haven's sleep for fifteen years.</p> - -<p>Haven probed his mind for ideas. There had to be something....</p> - -<p>A heat blaster, he thought. I can go back to town and get a heat -blaster and melt it free again and then—</p> - -<p>But the little native had to die. True, he was only one of millions who -had apparently seen the body, but he had taken Haven here, and if ever -he could be brought to a stellar confederacy court to testify, and if -it could be proved that the site of the mine, fifteen years ago, had -been galactic and not Centaurian territory, and if he could be made to -testify because, after all, he was not on Centauri and not subject to -the Centaurian mores, then Haven was finished.</p> - -<p>Haven removed the hand-stunner from his furs and pointed it at the -native's back.</p> - -<p>"Hold it, George! Don't move!"</p> - -<p>He dropped the gun in his surprise. It was Louise's voice.</p> - -<p>Runners slid whisperingly across the ice. A sled came up. Louise stood -in it, a stunner in her own hand. She looked at him as the sled came to -a stop. Her face was grim.</p> - -<p>"Louise," Haven said accusingly. "You followed me from the hotel. But -why—why?"</p> - -<p>"Because I had to find out what you had to find out. Because you told -me to be ruthless, George, remember? You always told me you had to be -ruthless to get anyplace. So I was ruthless too. I married you."</p> - -<p>"Ruthless—marrying me? I don't understand."</p> - -<p>"You never looked into my past, George. That suited me fine. Well, come -on. Get on this sled now! I'm taking you back to Alpha City. We're -getting in touch with the Galactic representative to see if you can be -indicted for Drexell Tolliver's murder."</p> - -<p>"But you—"</p> - -<p>Just then the small native came up with Haven's stunner. "You came -almost too late, Miss Tolliver," he said.</p> - -<p>Tolliver, thought Haven. Tolliver! "Tolliver!" he shouted, and his -voice echoed from the ice hills and came back, boomingly, to him. -"Tolliver!"</p> - -<p>And calmly, Louise told him: "I am Drexell Tolliver's daughter. You -fool, George. You fool. The others were here, but they never knew. -Not Vorhees, not MacCready, not any of them. Sure, they took your -money. They were curious, but why should they say no? You built the -whole thing up in your mind. It was your own private nightmare. You -never would have been found out if you hadn't come here. If you hadn't -dreamed up this reunion, if you hadn't married Drexell Tolliver's -daughter."</p> - -<p>Haven heard her voice, but hardly heard the words. He began to run. -Soon he was running very fast. He did not look back. He heard the -bark of her stunner and saw the raw streaks of energy rip by him in -the night. Run, he thought. You have to run now. You never had to run -before, but you can do anything you have to do, can't you?</p> - -<p>He ran faster and faster. The night and the ice swept by. This time -he did not see the crevasse. He ran right up to the lip without a -sound, into the death-trap he should have prepared for Drexell Tolliver -fifteen years before.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CENTAURI VENGEANCE ***</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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