in - m t S E P t. 1 9 3 ?

.20*

GALACTIC
PflTROp**
bi|
CDUJflRD C.
SMITH, PhD.
 PART ONE by E. E. Smith, Ph.D.
O M TNATING twice a hun­
dred square miles of campus,
parade ground, airport, and
space port, a ninety-story edifice of
chromium and glass sparkled dazzlingly
in the bright sunlight of a June morn­
ing. This monumental pile was W ent­
worth Hall, in which the Tellurian
candidates for the Lens of the Galactic
Patrol live and move and have their
being. One wing of its topmost floor
seethed with tense activity^ for that
wing was the habitat of the lordly five-
year men, this was graduation day, and
in a few minutes Class 5 was due to
report in Room A.,
Room A, the private office of the
commandant himself; the dreadful lair
into which an undergraduate was sum­
moned only to disappear from the Hall
and from the cadet corps;" the porten-
. tous chamber into which each year the
handful of graduates marched and from
which they emerged, each man in some
subtle fashion changed.
In their cubicles of steel the graduates
scanned each other narrowly, making
sure that no wrinkle or speck of dust
marred the black-and-silver perfection
of the dress uniform of the patrol; that
not even the tiniest spot of tarnish or
dullness violated the glittering golden
meteors upon their collars or the re-
splendently polished ray pistols and
other equipment at their belts. The
microscopic mutual inspection over, the
kit boxes were snapped shut and
racked, and the embryonic Lensmen
made their way out into the assembly
hall.
In the wardroom Kimball Kinnison,
captain of the class by virtue of graduat-
ing at its head, and his three lieutenants,
Clifford Maitland, Raoul LaForge, and
Wide! Holmberg, had inspected each
other minutely and were now simply
awaiting, in ever-increasing tension, the
zero minute.
“Now, fellows, remember that
drop!” the young captain jerked out.
“W e’re dropping the shaft free, at
higher velocity and in lighter formation
than any class ever tried before. If
anybody hashes the formation-—our last
show and with the whole corps looking
“Don’t worry about the drop, Kim,”
advised Maitland. “All three platoons
will take that like clockwork. W hat’s
got me all of a dither is what is really
going to happen in Room A .”
“U h -h u h !" exclaimed LaForge and
Holmberg as one.
“Y ou can play that across the board
for the whole class,” Kinnison agreed.
“W ell, w e’ll soon know. It’s time to
get going.”
The four officers stepped out into the
assembly hall, the class springing to at­
tention at their approach.
Kinnison, now all brisk captain,
stared along the mathematically exact
lines and snapped: “Report!”
“Class 5 present in full, sir !” The
sergeant major touched a stud at his belt
and all vast Wentworth Hall fairly
trembled under the impact of an all-
pervading, lilting, throbbing melody as
the world’s finest military band crashed
into “Our Patrol.”
“ Squads left—march!” Although no
possible human voice could have been
heard in that gale of soul-stirring sound,
and although Kinnison’s lips did not
move, his command was carried to the
very bones of those for whom it was
intended—and to no one else—by the
tight-beam ultra-communicators strapped
upon tlieir chests. “Close formation—
forward—march!’’
IN PE R FEC T ALIGN M EN T and
cadence, the little column marched
down the hall. In their path yawned
the shaft—a vertical pit some twenty
feet square extending from main floor
to roof of the Hall; more than a thou­
sand sheer feet of unobstructed air,
cleared now of all traffic by flaring red
lights. Five left heels clicked sharply,
simultaneously upon the lip of the
stupendous abyss. Five right legs swept
out into emptiness. Five right hands
snapped to belts and five bodies, rigidly
erect, arrowed downward at such an ap­
palling velocity that to unpracticed
vision they simply vanished.
Six tenths of a second later, precisely
upon a beat of the stirring march, those
ten heels struck the main floor of Went­
worth Hall, but not with a click. Drop­
ping with a velocity of almost two thou­
10 ASTOUNDING STORIES
sand feet per second though they were
at the instant of impact, yet those five
husky bodies came from' full speed to an
instantaneous, shockless, effortless halt
at contact. The drop had been made
under complete neutralization of inertia
—“free,” in space parlance. Inertia re­
stored, the march was resumed—or
rather continued-—in perfect time with
the band. -Five left feet swung out, and
as the right toes left the floor the second
rank, with only bare inches to spare,
plunged down into the space its prede­
cessor had occupied a moment before.
Rank after rank landed and marched
away with machinelike precision. The
dread door of Room A opened auto­
matically at the approach of the cadets
and dosed behind them.
“Column right—march!” Kinnison
commanded inaudibly, and the class
obeyed in clockwork perfection. “Col­
umn left—march! Squads r ig h t-
march ! Company—halt! Sahite 1”
In company front, in a huge, square
room devoid of furniture, the class faced
the ogre—Inspector General Fritz von
Hohendorff, commandant of cadets.
Martinet, tyrant, dictator—he was
known throughout the system as the
embodiment of soullessness; and, inso­
far as he had ever been known to show
emotion or feeling before any under­
graduate, he seemed to glory in his re­
pute of being the most pitilessly rigid
disciplinarian that Earth had ever
known. His thick, white hair was
reached fiercely upward into a stiff
pompadour. His left eye was of glass
and his face bore dozens of tiny, thread­
like scars; for not even the marvelous
plastic surgery of that age could repair
entirely the havoc wrought by the lethal
rays of space combat. Also, his right
leg and left - arm, although practically
normal to all outward seeming, were in
reality largely products of science and
art instead of nature.
Kinnison faced, then, this recon­
structed potentate, saluted crisply, and
snapped: “Sir, Glass S reports to the
commandant.”
“Take your post, sir.” The veteran
saluted as punctiliously; and as he did
so a semicircular desk rose around him
from the floor—a desk whose most
striking feature was an intricate
mechanism surrounding a splintlike
form so shaped as to receive a man’s ■
left arm.
“No. 1, Kimball Kinnison!” Von
Hohendorff barked, “Front and cen­
ter—march! The oath, sir.”
'"Before the omnipotent witness I
promise never to lower the standard of
the Galactic Patrol,” Kinnison said
reverently; and, baring his left arm,
thrust it into the hollow form.
FROM a small container labeled:
“No. 1, Kimball Kinnison,” the com­
mandant shook out what was apparently
an ornament—a lenticular jewel fabri­
cated of hundreds of tiny, dead-white
gems. Taking it up with a pair of in­
sulated forceps, he touched it momenta­
rily to the bronzed skin of the arm be­
fore him, and at that fleeting contact a
flash as of many-colored fire swept over,
the stones. Satisfied, he dropped the
jewel into a recess provided for it in the
mechanism, which at once burst into
activity.
The forearm was wrapped in thick
insulation; molds and shields snapped
into place, and there flared out an in­
stantly suppressed flash of brilliance
intolerable. Then the molds fell apart;
the insulation was removed; there was
revealed the Lens. Clamped to Kinni-
son’s brawny wrist by a massive brace­
let of imperishable, almost unbreakable,
metal in which it was embedded it shone
in all its lambent splendor—no longer a
whitely inert piece of jewelry, but a
lenticular polychrome of writhing, al­
most fluid radiance, which proclaimed to
all observers in symbols of ever-chang­
ing flame that here was a Lensman of
the Galactic Patrol.
 GALACTIC PATROL
In similar fashion each man of the
class was invested with the symbol of
his rank. Then the stern-faced inspec­
tor general touched a button and from
the bare metal floor there arose deeply
upholstered chairs, one for each gradu­
ate.
“Fall out!” he commanded, then
smiled almost boyishly—the first intima­
tion any of the class had ever had that
the hard-boiled old tyrant could smile—
and went on in a strangely altered voice:
“Sit down, men, and smoke up. We
have an hour in which to talk things
over, and now I can tell you what it is
all about. Each of you will find his
favorite refreshment in the arm of his
chair.
“No, there's no catch to it," he con­
tinued, in answer to amazedly doubtful
stares, and lighted a huge black cigar of
Venus-grown tobacco as he spoke.
“You are Lensmen now, and henceforth
each of you is accountable only to him­
self and to GHQ. Of course, you have
yet to go through the formalities of
commencement, but they don’t count.
Each of-you really graduated when the
Lens was welded around his arm.
“We know your individual prefer­
ences, and each of you has his favorite
weed, from Tillotson’s Pittsburgh stog­
ies up to Snowden’s Alsakanite ciga­
rettes—even though Alsakan is just
about as far away from here as a planet
can be and still lie within the galaxy.
“We also know that you are all im­
mune to the lure of noxious drugs. If
you were not, you would not be here to­
day. So smoke up and speak up. Ask
any questions you care to, and I will
try'- to answer them. Nothing is barred
now. This room is shielded against any
spy ray or communicator beam operable
upon any known frequency."
There was a brief and rather un­
comfortable silence. Then Kinnison
suggested, diffidently: “Might it not
be best, sir, to tell us all about it, from
the ground up? I imagine that most of
11
us a’re in too much of a daze to ask
intelligent questions."
“ PERHAPS. While some of you
undoubtedly have your suspicions, I will
begin by telling, you what is behind
what you have been put through during
the last five years. Fee! perfectly free
to break in with questions at any time.
You know that every year one million
eighteen-year-old boys of Earth are
chosen as cadets by competitive exami­
nations. You know that during the
first year, before any of them see Went­
worth Hall, that number shrinks to less
than fifty thousand. You know that by
graduation day there are only, approxi­
mately, one hundred left in the class.
Now I am,alio wed to tell you that you
graduates are those who have come with
flying colors through the most brutally
rigid, the most fiendishly thorough
process of elimination that it has been
possible to develop.
“Every man who can be made to re­
veal any sign of weakness is dropped.
Most of these are dismissed from the
patrol. There are many splendid men,
however, who, for some reason not in­
volving moral turpitude, are not quite
what a Lensman must be. These men
make up our organization, from grease
monkeys up to the highest commissioned
officers below the rank of Lensman.
This explains what you already know—
that the Galactic Patrol is the finest
body of intelligent beings yet to serve
under one banner.
“Of the million who started, you few
are left. As must every being who has
ever worn or who ever will wear the
Lens, each of you has proven repeatedly,
to the cold verge of death itself, that he
is in every possible respect worthy to
wear it. For instance, Kinnison here
once had a highly adventurous interview
with a lady of Aldebaran II and her
friends. He did not know that we knew
ail about it, but we did.”
Kinnison’s very ears burned scarlet,
12 ASTOUNDING STORIES
but the commandant went imperturbably
on: "So it was with Voelker and the
hypnotist of Karalon; with LaForge and
the ■bentlam eaters; with Flewelling
when the Ganymede-V enus thionite
smugglers tried to bribe him with ten
million in gold.”
"Good Heavens, commandant!” broke
in one outraged youth. "Didn’t we do
any real work at all ?”
"Plenty of it; but at the same time
each of you underwent enough-testing
to prove definitely that you could not
be cracked. And none of you need be
ashamed, for you have passed every
test. Those who did not pass them
were those who were dropped.
“ Nor is it any disgrace to have been
dismissed from the service before gradu­
ation into the patrol. The million who
started with you were the pick of the
planet, yet we knew in advance that of
that selected million scarcely one in ten
thousand would measure up in every
essential. Therefore, it would, be mani­
festly unfair to stigmatize the rest of
them because they were not born with
that extra something, that ultimate qual­
ity of fiber which does, and of stem
necessity must, characterize the wearers
of the Lens. For that reason not even
the man himself knows why he was
dismissed, and no one save those who
wear the Lens knows why they were
selected—and a member of the patrol
does not talk.
"It is necessary to consider the his­
tory and background of the patrol in
order to bring out clearly the necessity
for such care in the selection of its
personnel. You are all familiar with
it, but probably very few of you have
thought of it in that connection. The
patrol is, of course, an outgrowth of the
old planetary police systems; and, until
its development, law enforcement al­
ways lagged behind law violation. Thus,
in the old days following the invention
of the automobile, State troopers could
not cross State lines. Then, when the
national police finally took charge, they
could not follow the rocket-equipped
criminals across national boundaries.
“STILL LATER, when interplanet­
ary flight became a commonplace, the
planetary police were at the same old
disadvantage. They had no authority off
their own worlds, while the public en­
emies flitted unhampered from planet
to planet. And finally, with the inven­
tion of the inertialess drive and the con­
sequent traffic between the worlds of
hundreds of thousands of solar systems,
crime became so rampant, so utterly
uncontrollable, that it threatened the
very foundations of civilization. A
man could perpetrate any crime imagi­
nable without fear of consequences, for
in an hour he could be thousands of
light years away from the scene and
safely beyond the reach of the law.
“And helping powerfully toward
utter chaos were the new vices, which
were spreading from world to world;
among others the taking of new and
horrible drugs. Thionite, for instance;
occurring only upon Trenco; a drug as
much deadlier than heroin as that com­
pound is than coffee, and which even
now commands such a fabulous price
that a man can carry a fortune in one
hollow boot heel.
"Thus our patrol came into being.
At first it was a pitiful enough organi­
zation. It was handicapped from with­
out by politics and politicians, and at
the same time it was honeycombed from
within by the usual small but utterly
poisonous percentage of the unfit—
grafters, corruptionists, bribe takers,
and out-and-out criminals. It was also
hampered by the fact that there was
then Ho emblem or credential which
could not be counterfeited. No one
could tell with certainty that the man
in uniform was a patrolman and not a
criminal in disguise.
“Slowly the patrol perfected itself.
One of its greatest advances came with
 GALACTIC PATROL
the invention of the Lens; which, being
proof against counterfeiting or imitation,
renders identification of all Lensmen
automatic. The patrol then set up its
own military courts and executed the
few of its members guilty of miscon­
duct. Standards of entrance were
raised ever higher, and when it had be­
come evident that the patrol was, to a
man, incorruptible, it was granted more
and ever more authority.
“Now its power is practically abso­
lute. Its armament and equipment are
the ultimate; its members can follow jhe
lawbreaker wherever he may go. Fur­
thermore, a Lensman can commandeer
any material or assistance, wherever
and whenever required; and the Lens
is so respected throughout the galaxy
that any wearer of it may be called upon
at any time to be judge, jury, and exe­
cutioner. Wherever he goes, upon, in,
or through any land, water, air, or space,
anywhere within the coniines of our
Island Universe, his word is Itwtv.
“That, I think, explains what you
have been forced to undergo. The
only excuse for its severity is that it
produces results. In the last hundred
years no wearer of the Lens has dis­
graced it. Any questions? About the
Lens, for instance?”
“We have all wondered about the
Lens, sir, of course,” Maitland ven­
tured. “The outlaws apparently keep
up with us in science. Boskone himself
'is supposed to be a genius, and to have
surrounded himself with a scientific staff
second to none in the known universe.
I have always supposed that what sci­
ence can build, science can duplicate.
Surely more than one Lens has fallen
into.the hands of the outlaws?”
“If it had been a scientific invention
it would have been duplicated long ago,”
the commandant made surprising an­
swer. “It is, however, not essentially
scientific in nature. It is almost entirely
philosophical, and was developed for us
by the Arisians.
13
“Yes, each of you was sent to Arisia
quite recently,” Von Hohendorff went
on, as the newly commissioned officers
glanced at each other in dawning un­
derstanding, “What did you think of
them, Murphy?”
“At first, sir, I thought that they were
some new kind of dragon; but dragons
with brains that you could actually feel,
I was glad to get away, sir. They fairly
gave me the creeps, even though I never
did see one of them so much as move.”'
“THEY ARE a peculiar race,” the
commandant went on. “Essentially anti­
social—or rather, supremely indifferent
to all material things. For hundreds of
thousands of generations they have de­
voted themselves to thinking; mainly of
the essence of life. They say that they
know scarcely anything fundamental
concerning it; but even so they know
more about it than does any other known
race. While ordinarily they will have
no intercourse whatever with outsiders,
they did consent to help the patrol, for
the good of all intelligence.
“Thus, each being about to graduate
into the patrol is sent to Arisia, where
a Lens is built to match its individual
life force. While no mind other than
that of an Arisian can understand its
operation, thinking of your Lens as
being synchronized with, or in exact
resonance with your own vital principle
or ego will give you a rough idea of it.
The Lens is not really alive, as we un­
derstand the term. It is, however, en­
dowed with a sort of pseudolife, by vir­
tue of which it gives off its strotsg,
characteristically changing light as long
as it is in metal-to-flesh circuit with the
living mentality for which it was de­
signed. Also, by virtui of that pseudo­
life, it acts as a telepath through which
you may converse with other intelli­
gences, even though they may possess
no organs either of sight or of hearing
as we know those senses. It also has
other highly important uses.
14 ASTOUNDING STORIES
“The Lens cannot be removed by any
one except its wearer without dismem­
berment; it glows as long as its rightful
owner wears i t ; and it ceases to glow
in the instant of its owner’s death. Also
—and here is the thing- that renders
impossible the impersonation of a Lens-
man—not only does the Lens not glow
if worn by an impostor; but if a patrol­
man be dismembered and his Lens re­
moved, that Lens kills, in a space of
minutes, any living being who attempts
to wear it. Its pseudolife interferes so
strongly with any life to which it is not
attuned that that life force cannot exist
in this plane.”
A B R IE F SILE N C E fell, during
which the young men absorbed the stun­
ning import of what their commandant
had been saying. More, there was
striking into each young consciousness
a realization of the stark heroism of
the grand old Lensman before them ; a
man of such fiber that although physi­
cally incapacitated and long past the re­
tirement age, he had conquered his hu­
man emotions sufficiently to accept de­
liberately his ogre’s role, because in that
way he could best further the progress
of his patrol!
“I have scarcely broken the ground,”
Von Hobendorff continued. “I have
merely given you an introduction to
your new status. During the next few
weeks, before you are assigned to duty,
other officers will make clear to you
the many things about winch you are
still in the dark. Our time is growing
short, but perhaps we have time for
one m o re q u e stio n .”
“Not a question, sir, but something
more important,” Kinnison spoke up.
“I speak for the class when I say that
we have misjudged you grievously, and
we wish to apologize.”
“I thank you sincerely for the
thought, although it is unnecessary.
You could not have thought otherwise
of ine than as you did. It is not a par­
ticularly pleasant task that we old men
have—that of weeding out the unfit.
But we are too old for active duty in
space— we no longer have the instanta­
neous nervous responses that are for
that duty imperative— so we do what
we can. However, the work has its
brighter side, since each year there are
about a hundred found worthy of the
Lens. This, my one hour with the
graduates, more than makes up for the
year that precedes it ; and the other old­
sters have somewhat similar compensa­
tions.
“In conclusion, you are now able to
understand fully what kind of mental­
ities compose our patrol. You know
that any creature wearing the Lens is
in every sense a Lensman, whether he
be human or, hailing from some strange
and distant planet, a monstrosity of a
shape you have as yet not even imagined.
Whatever his form, you may rest as­
sured that he has been tested even as
you have been; that he is as worthy of
trust as are you yourselves. My last
word is this—men of the Galactic Patrol
die, but they do not fold u p ; individuals
come and go, but the patrol goes on!”
Then, again all martinet: “Class 5,
attention!” he barked. “Report upon
the stage of the main auditorium!”
The class, again a rigidly military
unit, marched out of Room A and down
the long corridor toward the great thea­
ter in which, before the massed cadet
corps and a throng of civilians, they
were to be formally graduated.
As they marched along the graduates
realized in what way the wearers of
the Lens who emerged from Room A
were different from the candidates who
had entered it such a short time before.
They had gone in as boys— nervous, ap­
prehensive, and still somewhat unsure
of themselves, in spite of their survival
through the five long years of grueling
tests which now lay behind them. They
emerged from Room A as men; men
knowing for the first time the real mean-
 GALACTIC PATROL
Ing of the physical and mental tortures
they had undergone; men able to wield
justly the vast powers whose scope and
scale they could even now but dimly
comprehend.
II.
BARELY A MONTH after his
graduation, even before he had entirely
completed the postgraduate tours of duty
mentioned by VonHohendorff ;Kinnison
was summoned to Prime Base by no less
a personage than Port Admiral Haynes
himself. There, in the admiral’s private
aero, whose flaring lights cleared a path
as though by magic through the swarm­
ing traffic, the novice and the veteran
flew slowly over the vast establishment
of the base.
Shops and factories, citylike barracks,
landing fields stretching beyond the far
horizon; flying craft ranging from tiny,
one-tnan helicopters through small and
large scouts, patrol ships and cruisers up
to the immense, globular superdread-
naughts of space—all these were ob­
served and commented upon. Finally,
the aero landed beside a long, compara­
tively low building—a structure heavily
guarded, inside the base although it was
—within which Kinnison saw a thing
that fairly snatched away his breath.
A space ship it was—but what a
ship! In bulk it was vastly larger even
than the superdreadnaughts of the pa­
trol ; but, unlike them, it was, in shape,
a perfect teardrop, streamlined to the
ultimate possible degree.*
“ What do you think of her?” the port
admiral asked.
* In the “big teardrops”— cruisers and battle­
ships— the driving force is alw ays directed up­
w ard, along the geometrical axis of the ship, and
the artificial gravity is alw ays downward along
th a t same line. Thus, throughout any possible
maneuvering, free or inert, “ down" and “up”
have the same significance as w ithin any E arthly
structure. .
These vessels are ordinarily landed only in
special docks, but in emergencies can be landed
alm ost anywhere, sharp stern down, as th eir im ­
mense weight drives them deep enough into even
the hardest ground to keep them upright. They
gink in w ater, hut are readily maneuverable, even
under w ater.
15
“ Think of her!” The young officer
gulped twice before he attained coher­
ence. “I can’t put it in words, sir; but
some day, if I live long enough and
develop enough force, I hope to com­
mand a ship like that.”
“Sooner than you think, Kinnison,”
Haynes told him, flatly. “You are in
command of her beginning to-morrow
morning.”
“Huh? Me?” Kinnison exclaimed,
but sobered quickly, “Oh, I see, sir.
It takes ten years of proved accom­
plishment to rate command of a first-
class enforcement vessel, and I have no
rating at all. You have already inti­
mated that this ship is experimental.
There is, then, something about her that
is new and untried, and so dangerous
that you do not want to risk an experi­
enced commander in her. I am to give
her a work-out, and if I can bring her
back in one piece I turn her over to her
real captain. But that’s all right with
me, admiral—thanks a lot for picking
me out. What a chance! What a
chance!” Kinnison’s eye gleamed at the
prospect of even a brief command of
such a creation.
“Right—and wrong,” the old admiral
made surprising answer. “It is true
that she is new, untried, and dangerous,
so much so that we are unwilling to give
her to any of our present captains. No,
she is not really new, either. Rather,
her basic idea is so old that it has been
abandoned for centuries. She uses ex­
plosives, of a type that cannot be tried
out fully except in actual combat. Her
primary weapon is what we have called
the 'Q-gun,’ The propellent is hepta-
detonite; the shell carries a charge of
twenty metric tons of duodecaplylato-
rnate.”
“But, sir——” Kinnison began.
“JUST A M INUTE, I ’ll go into that
later. While your premises were cor­
rect, your conclusion is not. You
graduated No. 1, and in every respect,
16 ASTOUNDING STORIES
save experience, you are as well quali­
fied to command as is any captain of the
fleet; and since the Brittania is such a
radical departure from any conventional
type, battle experience is not a prere­
quisite. Therefore, if she holds together
through one engagement she is yours
for good. In other words, to make up
for the possibility of having yourself
scattered all over space, you have a
chance to win that ten years5 rating you
mentioned a minute ago, all in one trip.
Fair enough?”
"Fair ? It’s fine—wonderful! And
thanks a----- ”
"Never mind the thanks until you
get back. You were about to comment,
I believe, upon the impossibility of using
explosives against a free opponent?”
“It can’t be impossible, of course,
since the Brittania has been built, I just
don’t quite see how it could have been
made effective.”
"You lock to the pirate with tractors,
screen to screen—dex about ten kilo­
meters. You blast a hole through his
screens to his wall shield. The muzzle
of the Q-gun mounts an annular multi­
plex projector which puts out a Q-type
tube of force—Q47SM9, to be exact.
As you can see from the type formula,
this helix extends the gun barrel from
ship to ship and confines the propellent
gases behind the projectile, where they
belong. When the shell strikes the wall
shield of the pirate and detonates, some­
thing will have to give way.
"The tube and tractors, being pure
force and computed for this particular
combination of explosions, will hold;
and our physicists have calculated that
the ten-kilometer column of inert propel­
lent gases will offer so much inertia and
resistance that any possible wall shield
will have to go down. That is the point
that cannot be tried out experimentally.
It is quite within the bounds of possi­
bility that the pirates may have been
able to develop wall screens as power­
ful as our Q-type helices.
"It should not be necessary to point
out to you that if . they have been able
to develop a wall shield that will stand
up under detonating duodecaplylato-
mate, the back blast through the breech
of the Q-gun will blow the Brittania
apart as though she were made of
matchwood. That is only one of the
chances—and perhaps not the greatest
one—that you and your crew will have
to take. They are all volunteers, by
the way, and will get plenty of extra
rating if they come through alive. Do
you want the job?”
"You don’t have to ask me that, chief
—-you know I want it!”
"Of course, but I had to go through
the formality of asking, sometime. But
to get on with the discussion. This
pirate situation is entirely out of control,
as you already know. We don’t even
know whether Boskone is a reality, a
figurehead, a symbol, or simply a fig­
ment of somebody’s imagination. But
whoever or whatever Boskone really is,
some being or some group of beings has
perfected a mighty efficient organization
of outlaws; so efficient that we haven’t
been able to locate their main base.
“YOU may as well know now a fact
that is not yet public property; that even
convoyed vessels are no longer safe.
The pirates have developed ships of a
new and extraordinary type; ships that
are much faster than our heavy battle­
ships, and yet vastly more heavily armed
than our fast cruisers. Thus, they can
outfight any enforcement vessel that can
catch them, and can outrun anything of
ours armed heavily enough to stand up
against their beams.”
“That accounts for the recent heavy
losses,” Kinnison mused.
“Yes,” Haynes went on, grimly.
“Ship after ship of our best has been
blasted out of the ether, doomed before
it pointed a beam, and more will be.
We cannot force an engagement on out
terms; we must fight on theirs.
 GALACTIC PATROL
"That is the present intolerable situa­
tion. W e m ust learn what the pirates’
new power system is. Our scientists
say that it may be anything, from cos­
mic-energy receptors and converters
down to a controlled space warp—-what­
ever that may be. Anyway, they haven’t
been able to duplicate it, so it is up to
us to find out what it is. The Brittania
is the tool our engineers have designed
to get that information. She is the fast­
est thing in space, developing at full
blast an inert acceleration of ten gravi­
ties. Figure out for yourself what ve­
locity that means free in Open space!”
"You have just said that we can’t
have everything in one ship,” Kinnison
said, thoughtfully. "What did they
sacrifice to get that speed?”
“All the conventional offensive arma­
ment,” Haynes replied frankly. "She
has no long-range beams at all, and
only enough short-range stuff to help
drive the Q-helix through the enemy’s
screens. Practically her only offense
is the Q-gun. But she has plenty of de­
fensive screens; she has speed enough
to catch anything afloat; and she has the
Q-gun—-which we hope will be enough.
"Now7 we’ll go over the general plan
of action. The engineers will go into
all the technical details with you, during
a test flight that will last as long as you
like. When you and your crew are
thoroughly familiar with every phase
of her operation, bring the engineers
back here to base and go out on patrol.
“Somewhere in the galaxy you will
find a pirate vessel of the new type. You
lock to him, as I said before. You at­
tach the Q-gun well forward, being
sure that the point of attachment is far
enough away from the power rooms
so that the essential mechanisms will not
be destroyed. You board and storm—
another revival of the technique of
older times. Specialists in your crew,
who will have done nothing much up
to that time, will then find out what
our scientists want to know. If at all
AST—-2
17
possible, they will send it in instantly
via tight-beam communicator. If, be­
cause of distance or for any other rea­
son, it should be impossible for them to
communicate, the whole thing is again
up to you.”
The port admiral paused, his eyes
boring into those of the younger man,
then w7ent on impressively; “That infor­
mation must get back to base. If it does
not, the Brittania. is a failure; we will
be right back where we started from;
the slaughter of our men and the de­
struction of our ships will continue un­
checked. As to how you are to do it,
we cannot give you even general in­
structions. All I can say is that you
have the most important assignment in
the universe to-day, and repeat— that
information must get hack to base. Now
come aboard and meet your crew and
the engineers.”
U N D E R the expert tutelage of the
designers and builders of the Brittania
Vice Commander Kinnison drove her
hither and thither through the trackless
wastes of the galaxy* Inert and
“free,” under every possible degree of
power he maneuvered her; attacking
imaginary foes and actual meteorites
with equal zeal. Maneuvered and at­
tacked until he and his ship were one;
until he reacted automatically to her
slightest demand; until he and every
* Navigation. Eaeh ship has a reference
sphere held rigidly by gyroscopes so that its
great circle of galactic longitude is always paral­
lel to the galactic equator, Tts line of zeros
is always paraUel to the line joining Centralia,
the central solar system of the galaxy, with the
system of Vandemar, which is on its very rim.
Thus, courses are expressed in galactic longitude
and latitude, from 0 to 360 degrees in each
circle.
Position is expressed in galactic coordinates
of. “x,” “y,” and “z.” The origin is at Centralia,
and the line of positive “x” is the above-men­
tioned Centralia-Vandemar line.
The position of the ship in the galaxy is
known at all times by that of a moving dot in
the tank. This dot is shifted automatically by
calculating machines coupled inductively to the
leads of the drives. When the ship is inert this
device is inoperative, as any distance traversed
In inert flight is entirely negligible in galactic
computations. Due to various perturbations and
other slight errors, cumulative discrepancies oc­
cur, for which the pilot must from time to time
correct manually the position of the dot in the
tank representing his ship.
 ASTOUNDING STORIES

S lo w ly th e g ia n t p r o je c tile crep t along— w a tc h e d in aw e and a m a ze m e n t

b y th e officers o f b oth vessels.
 GALACTIC PATROL 19

F o r to th o se space-hardened v e te ra n s th e v e lo c ity o f lig h t w as a verita b le

craw l— and here w as a th in g th a t w o u ld req u ire fo u r or five w h o le seconds.
20 ASTOUNDING STORIES
man of his eager and highly trained
crew knew to the final volt and to the
ultimate ampere her Gargantuan capac­
ity both to give it and to take it.
Then and only then did he return to
base, unload the engineers, and set out
upon the quest. Trail after trail he fol­
lowed, but all were cold. Alarm after
alarm he answered, but always he ar­
rived too late; arrived to find gutted
merchantmen and riddled enforcement
vessel, with no life in either and with
nothing to indicate in which direction
the marauders might have gone.
Finally, however: “QBT! Calling
Q BT!” The Brittatria’s code call blared
from the sealed-band speaker, and a
string of numbers followed—the spatial
coordinates of the luckless vessel's posi­
tion.
Chief Pilot Henry Henderson
punched the figures upon his locator,
and in the “lank”—the enormous, min­
utely cubed model of the galaxy—there
appeared a redly brilliant point of light.
Kinnison rocketed out of his narrow
bunk, digging the sleep out of his eyes,
and shot himself into his place beside
the pilot,
“Right in our laps!’’ he exulted.
“ Scarcely ten light years away! Start
scrambling the ether!” And as the
vengeful cruiser darted toward the scene
of depredation ail space became filled
with blast after blast of static interfer­
ence through which, it was hoped, the
pirate could not summon the help he
was so soon to need.
But that howling static gave the pirate
commander pause. Surely this was
something new? Before him lay a
richly laden freighter, its two convoying
enforcement ships already practically
hors de combat. A few more minutes
and the prize would be his. Neverthe­
less, he darted away, swept the ether
with his detectors, saw the Brittania,
and turned in headlong flight. For if
this streamlined freighter was suffi­
ciently convinced of its prowess to try
to blanket the ether against him, that
information was something that B'oskone
would value far above one shipload of
material wealth,
BUT the pirate craft was now upon
the visiplates of the Brittania, and, en­
tirely ignoring the crippled space ships,
Henderson flung his vessel after the
other. Manipulating his incredibly com­
plex controls purely by touch, the while
staring into his plate not only with his
eyes, but with every fiber of his being
as well, he hurled his huge mount hither
and thither in frantic leaps. After what
seemed an age he snapped down a tog­
gle switch and relaxed long enough to
grin at Kinnison.
“Holding ’em?’’ the young com­
mander, demanded.
“Got ’em, skipper,” the pilot replied,
positively. “It was touch and go for
ninety seconds, but I ’ve got a CRX
tracer on him now at full pull. He
can’t put out enough jets to get away
from that. I can hold him forever!”
“Fine work, H en !” Kinnison
strapped himself into his- seat and
donned his headset, “General call! At­
tention ! Battle stations! By stations,
report!”
“Station 1, tractor beams—hot!"
“Station 2, repellers-—hot 1”
“Station 3, projector 1—hot!”
Thus station after station of the war­
ship of the void reported, until: “Sta­
tion 58, the Q-gun—hot!” Kinnison
himself reported; then gave to the pilot
the words which throughout the space-
ways of the galaxy had come to mean
complete readiness to face any emerg­
ency,
“Hot and tight, Hen—let’s take ’em !”
The pilot shoved his blast lever, al­
ready almost at maximum, clear out
against its stop and hunched himself
even more intently over his instru­
ments. As moved his pointers, so varied
the direction of the thrust that was driv­
 GALACTIC PATROL
ing the Brittania toward the enemy at
the unimaginable velocity of ninety par­
secs an hour*— a velocity possible only
to inertialess matter being urged through
an almost perfect vacuum by a driving
blast capable of lifting the stupendous
normal tonnage of the immense sky
rover against a gravity ten times that
of her native Earth.
Unimaginable? Completely so—the
ship of the Galactic Patrol was hurling
herself through space at a pace in com­
parison with which any speed that the
mind can grasp would be the merest
crawl: a pace to make light itself seem
stationary.
Ordinary vision would have been use­
less, but the observers of that day used
no antiquated optical system. Their
detector beams, converted into light only
at their plates, were heterodyned upon
and were carried by subethereal ultra­
waves ; vibrations residing far below the
level of the ether and thus possessing
a velocity and a range infinitely greater
than those of any possible ether-borne
wave.
Although stars moved across the visi-
plates in flaming, zigzag lines of light/
as pursued and pursuer passed system
after solar system in fantastic, light-
years long hops, yet Henderson kept
his cruiser upon the pirate’s tail and
steadily cut down the distance between
them. Soon a tractor beam licked out
from the patrol ship, touched the fleeing
marauder lightly, and the two space
ships flashed toward each other.
* With pie neutralization of inertia it was
discovered that while inert mass is limited to
the velocity of light, there is no limit whatever
to tile velocity of inertialess matter. A “free"
ship takes on instantly the velocity at which the
force of her drive is exactly equalled by the
friction of the medium. This velocity is de­
termined by many factors; but, assuming an
ultrafast shape, a standard mass-to-volume ratio,
a power to develop an inert acceleration of ten
Barth gravities, and a density of matter in
apace of one atom per ten cubic centimeters, such
speeds are not at all unusual.
, It may be of interest to note here that Mays
and Cornell recently made the transgalactie run
along the line of zeros, from Alsakan past Cen-
traha to Vandemar, a distance of 100,309.46
parsecs, in 1253.486 hours (Galactic Standard) ;
thus establishing a new galactic record of
80,1244 parsecs per hour for the entire distance.
21
NO R was the enemy unprepared for
combat. One of the crack raiders of
Boskone, master pirate of the known
universe, she had never before found
difficulty in conquering any vessel fleet
enough to catch her. Therefore, her
commander made no attempt to cut
the beam. Or rather, since the two
inertialess vessels flashed together to re-
peller-zone contact in such a minute
fraction of a second that any human
action within that time was impossible,
it would be more correct to say that
the pirate captain changed his tactics
instantly from those of flight to those of
combat.
He thrust out tractor beams of hits
own, and from the already white-hot
refractory throats of his projectors there
raved out horribly potent beams of anni­
hilation, beams of dreadful power which
tore madly at the straining defensive
Screens of the patrol ship. Screens
flared vividly, radiating all the colors
of the spectrum. Space itself seemed
a rainbow gone mad, for there were
being exerted there forces of a magni­
tude to stagger the imagination—forces
to be yielded only by the atomic might
from which they sprang—forces whose
neutralization set up visible strains in
the very fabric of the ether itself.
The young commander, seated at his
conning plate, clenched his fists and
swore a startled, deep-space oath as his
eyes swept over the delicately accurate
meters and gauges before him ; for
under the frightful impact of that in­
stantaneously launched attack his outer
screen was already down and his second
was beginning to crack!
“W e’ll have to scrap the regulation
battle plan!” he barked into his micro­
phone. “Open ail motors to absolute
to p ; cut all resistance out of No. 3 Cir­
cuit. Dalhousie, cut all repellers, bring
us right up to their zone. All you
beamers, concentrate on area K. Break
down those screens!” Kinnison was
hunched rigidly over his panel; his
22 ASTOUNDING STORIES
voice came grittily through locked teeth.
“Cut all your resisters if you have to,
the motors and accumulators will hold
long* enough. There, that's better. Our
third is up again and theirs is going
down. Come on, boys, burn ’em down!
Give ’em everything you can put through
the bare bus bars! No matter what it
takes, get through to that wall shield,
so that I can use this Q-gun!”
’ Little by little, under the stupendous
force of the Britt aim ’s attack the de­
fenses of the enemy began to fail, and
Kinnison’s hands flew over his controls.
A port opened in the patrol ship’s arm­
ored side and an ugly snout protruded—
the projector-ringed muzzle of. a squat
and monstrous cannon. From its pro­
jector bands there leaped out, with the
velocity of light, a tube of quasi-solid
force which was, in effect, a continua­
tion of tlie rifle’s grim barrel; a tube
which crashed through the weakened
third screen of the enemy with a space-
racking shock and struck savagely,
with writhing, twisting thrusts, at the
second.
Aided by the massed concentration
of the Brittania’s every battery of short-
range beams, it went through—and
through the first. Now it struck the
very wall shield of the outlaw—that
impregnable screen which, designed to
bear the brunt of any possible inert
collision, had never been pierced or
ruptured by any material substance,
however applied.
To this inner defense the immaterial
gun barrel clung. Simultaneously, the
tractor beams,. hitherto exerting only a
few dynes of force, stiffened into un­
breakable, inflexible rods of energy,
binding the two ships, of space into one
rigid system; each, relative to the other,
immovable,
TH EN Kinnison’s flying finger tip
touched a button and the Q-gun spoke.
From its sullen throat there erupted a
huge torpedo. Slowly the giant pro­
jectile crept along, watched in awe and
amazement by the officers of both ves­
sels. For to those space-hardened
veterans the velocity of light was a
veritable crawl; and here was a thing
that would require four or five whole
seconds to cover a mere ten kilometers
of distance!
But, although slow, this bomb might
prove dangerous, therefore the pirate
commander threw his every resource
into attempts to cut the tube of force,
to blast away from the tractor beams,
to explode the sluggish missile before
it could reach his wall shields. In vain;
for the Brittania’s e^ery beam was set
to protect the torpedo and the mighty
rods of energy without whose grip the
inertialess mass of the enemy vessel
would offer no resistance whatever to
the force of the proposed explosion.
Slowly, so slowly, as the age-long
seconds crawled into eternity, there ex­
tended from enforcement vessel almost
to pirate wail a raging, white-hot-pillar—
the gases of combustion of the propel­
lent heptadetonite—ahead of which there
rushed the Q-gun’s tremendous shell
with its horribly destructive freight.
What would happen ? Could even the
almost immeasurable force of that
frightful charge of duodecaplylatomate
break down a wall shield designed to
withstand the cosmic assaults of meteoric
missiles ? And what would happen if
that wall screen held?
In spite of himself Kinnison’s mind
insisted upon painting the ghastly pic­
ture : the awful explosion; the pirate’s
screen still intact; the raving gases
driven backward along the tube of
force. The bare metal of the Q-gun’s
breech, he knew, was not and could not
be reenforced by the infinitely stronger,
although immaterial shields of pure
energy which protected the hull; and no
conceivable* substance, however resistant,
could impede, save momentarily, the un­
imaginable forces about to be unleashed.
Nor would there be time to release
 GALACTIC PATROL 23
the Q-tube after the explosion but be­ working at spy-ray.vlsiplates, bored hole
fore the Brittania’s own destruction ; after hole into the captive, seeking out
for if the enemy’s shield stayed up for and destroying die controLpanels of the
even a fraction of a second, the un­ remaining beams and screens.
thinkable pressure of the blast would "Pull ’er up!” came the next order.
propagate backward through the al­ The two ships of space flashed together .
ready densely compressed gases in the —the yawning, blasted-open fore end of
tube, would sweep away as though if the once cigar-shaped raider solidly,
were nothing the immensely thick metal­ against the Brittmia’s armored side. A
lic barrier of the gun breech, and would great port opened.
wreak within tire bowels ©i the patrol “Now, Bus, it’s all yours. Classifica­
ship a destruction even more complete tion to three places—A point A A,
than that intended for the foe. They’re human or approximately, so.
Nor were his men in better case.. Board and storm!”
Each knew that this was the climactic Back of that port there had been
instant of his whole existence; that life massed a hundred fighting men—
itself hung poised upon the issue of the dressed in full panoply of space armor,
next split second. H urry it u p ! Snap armed with die deadliest weapons
into it! Will that crawling, creeping known to the science of the age, and
thing never strike ? Some prayed powered by the gigantic accumulators
briefly; some swore bitterly; but pray­ of their ship. At their head was Ser-.
ers and curses were . alike unconscious geant VanBuskirk, sik and a half feet
and had precisely the same meaning— of Dutch-Valerian dynamite, who had
each man, white of face and grim of jawr fallen out of Valeria’s cadet corps only
clenched his hands and -waited, tense because of an innate inability to master
and straining, for tire impact. the intricacies of higher / mathematics.
Now the attackers swept forward in a
IIL _ black-and-silyer wave.
Four squatly massive semiportable
TH E M ISSILE STRUCK, and in projectors crashed down upon their
the instant of its striking the coldly bril­ magnetic clamps and in the fierce ardor
liant stars were blotted from sight in a of their beams the thick bulkhead be­
vast globe of intolerable flame. The. fore diem ran the gamut of the spectrum
pirate’s shield had failed, and under the and puffed outward. Some score of de­
cataclysmic force of that horrible de­ fenders were revealed, likewise dad in
tonation the entire nose section of the armor, and battle again was joined. Ex­
enemy vessel had flashed into incandes­ plosive and solid bullets detonated
cent vapor and had added itself fo the against and ricocheted from- that highly
rapidly expanding cloud of fire. As it efficient armor, the beams of DeLameter
expanded, the cloud cooled. Its fierce hand projectors splashed in torrents of
glare subsided to a rosy glow, through man-made lightning off its protective
which the stars again began to shine. fields of force.
It faded, cooled, darkened, revealing the But that skirmish was soon over. The
crippled hulk of the pirate ship. She semiportables, whose vast energies no
was still fighting; but ineffectually, now ordinary personal armor could with­
that all her heavy forward batteries were stand, were brought up and clamped
gone. down; Mid in their holocaust of vibra­
“Needlers, fire at will!” barked.Kinni- tory destruction all life vanished from
son, and even that feeble resistance was the . pirates’ compartment.
ended. Keen-eyed needle-ray men, “One more bulkhead and we’re in
24 ASTOUNDING STORIES
their control room!” VanBuslcirk cried.
‘'Beam it down!”
But when the beams pressed their
switches nothing happened. The pirates
had managed to jury rig a screen
generator, and with it had cut the power
beams behind the invading forces. Also
they had cut loopholes in this bulkhead,
through which, in frantic haste, they
were trying to bring heavy projectors
of their own into alignment.
“ Bring up the fcrral paste,” the ser­
geant commanded. “Get up as dose to
that wall as you can, so they can't blast
ns!”
The paste—an ultra-modern develop­
ment of thermite—-was brought up and
the giant Dutchman himself troweled it
on in furious swings, from floor up and
around in a, huge arc and back down to
floor. He fired it, and simultaneously
some, of the enemy gunners managed to
angle a projector sharply enough to
reach the farther ranks of the enforce­
ment men. Then mingled the flashing,
scintillating, gassy glare of the thermite
and the raving energy of the pirates’
beam to make of that confined space a
veritable inferno.
BUT the paste bad done its work,
and as the semicircle of wall fell out the
soldiers of the Lens leaped through the
hole in the still-glowing wall to strug­
gle hand to hand against the pirates,
now making a desperate last stand. The
semiportables and other heavy ordnance
powered from the Brittania’s accumu­
lators were, of course, useless. Pistols
were ineffective against the pirates'
armor of hard alloy; hand rays were
equally impotent against its defensive
shields.
Now heavy hand grenades began to
rain down among the combatants, blow­
ing enforcement men and no few pirates
to bits. For the outlaw chiefs cared
nothing that they killed some of their
own men, if in so doing they could take
a proportionately greater toll of the law.
And worse, a crew of gunners was
swiveling a mighty projector around
upon its hastily improvised mount, to
cover that sector of the great compart­
ment in which the policemen were most
densely massed.
But the minions of the law had one
remaining weapon, carried expressly for
this eventuality, and no mean weapon
it proved to be. The space ax—-a com­
bination and sublimation of battle ax,
mace, and bludgeon—a massively
needle-pointed implement of potentiali­
ties limited only by the physical strength
and bodily agility of its wielder.
Now, all the men of the Britta-nia’s
storming party were Valerians, and
therefore were big, hard, fast, and agile;
and of them all, their sergeant leader
was the biggest, hardest, fastest, and
most agile. When the space-tempered
apex of that thirty-pound monstrosity,
driven by the four-hundred-odd pounds
of rawhide and whalebone that was his
body, struck pirate armor, that armor
gave way. Nor did it matter whether
or not that hellish beak of steel struck
a vital part after crashing through the
armor. Head or body, leg or arm, the
net result was the same; a man does
not fight effectively when he is breath­
ing space in lieu of atmosphere.
VanBuskirk perceived the danger to
his men in the slowly turning ray pro­
jector, and for the first time called his
chief.
“Kim,” he spoke in level tones into
his microphone. “Blast that delta ray,
will you? . . . Or have they cut
this beam, so you can’t hear me? . . .
Guess they have.”
“They’ve cut our communication,” he
informed his troopers then. “Keep them
off me as much as you can and I’ll at­
tend to that delta-ray outfit myself.’-’
Aided by the massed interference of
his men, he plunged toward the threat­
ening mechanism, hewing to right and
to left as he strode. Beside the tempo­
rary projector mount at last, he aimed
 GALACTIC PATROL
a tremendous blow at the man at the
delta-ray controls; only to feel the ax
flash instantaneously to its mark and
strike it with a gentle push, and to see
his intended victim float effortlessly
away from the blow. The pirate com­
mander had played his last card: Van-
Euskirk floundered, not only weightless,
but inertialess as well!
But the huge Dutchman’s mind, while
not mathematical, was even faster than
his lightninglike muscles, and not for
nothing had he spent arduous weeks in
inertialess tests of strength and skill.
Hooking feet and legs around a con­
venient wheel, he seized the enemy opera­
tor and jammed his helmeted head down
between the base of the mount and the
long, heavy steel lever by- means of
which it was turned. Then, throwing
every ounce of his wonderful body into
the effort, he braced both feet against
the projector’s grim barrel and heaved.
The helmet flew apart like an eggshell;
blood and brains gushed out in nauseous
blobs. But the delta-ray projector was
so jammed that it would not soon again
become a threat.
Then VanBuskirk drew himself
across the room toward the main con­
trol panel of the warship. Officer after
officer he pushed aside, then reversed
two double-throw switches, restoring
gravity and inertia to the riddled cruiser.
IN T H E M EANTIM E the tide of
battle had continued in favor of en­
forcement. Few survivors though there
were of the black-and-silver force, of
the pirates there were still fewer, fight­
ing now a desperate and hopeless defen­
sive. But in this combat quarter was
not, could not be thought of, and Ser­
geant VanBuskirk again waded into the
fray. Four times more his horribly ef­
fective hybrid weapon descended like
the irresistible hammer of Thor, cleav­
ing and crushing its way through steel
and flesh and bene. Then, striding to
the control board, he manipulated
25
switches and dials, then again spoke
evenly to Kinnison.
“You can hear me now, can’t you?
. . . All mopped up. Come and get
the dope!”
The specialists, headed by Chief
Technician LaVerne Thomdyke, had
been waiting strainingly for that word
for minutes. Now they literally flew at
their tasks, in furious haste, but follow­
ing rigidly and iri perfect coordination a
prearranged schedule. Every control
and lead, every bus bar and immaterial
beam of force was traced and checked.
Instruments and machines were dis­
mantled ; sealed mechanisms were ruth­
lessly torn apart by jacks or sliced open
with cutting beams. And everywhere,
everything and every movement was
being photographed, charted, and dia­
gramed.
“Getting the idea now, Kim,” the
chief technician said finally, during a
brief lull in his work. “A sweet sys­
tem------”
“Look at this!” a mechanic inter­
rupted. “Here’s a machine that’s all
shot to pieces!”
The shielding cover had been torn
from a monstrous fabrication of metal,
apparently a motor or generator of an
exceedingly complex type. The insula­
tion of its coils and windings had fallen
away in charred fragments; its copper
had melted down in sluggish, viscous
streams.
“That’s what we’ve been looking for,”
Thorndyke declared. “Check those
leads! Alpha!”
“Seven-three-nine-four!” And the
minutely careful study .went on until:
“That’s enough; we’ve got everything
we need now. Have you draftsmen and
photographers got everything down
solid?”
“On the boards!” and “In the cans!”
rapped out the two reports as one.
“Then let's go!”
“And go fast!” Kinnison ordered,
26 ASTOUNDING STORIES
brusquely. “ I’m afraid that we’re going, would certainly manage to clamp a
to run out of time as it is !” tracer ray upon her—and when that
All hands hurried back into the Brit- happened her flight was done.
tania, paying no attention to the bodies Nor could she fight. She had con­
littering the decks. So desperate was quered one first-class war vessel of the
the emergency, each man knew, that public enemy, it was tru e ; but at what
nothing could be done about the dead, awful cost her captain knew only too
whether friend or foe. Every resource well. The prodigious drain of power
of mechanism, of brain and of brawn, had almost emptied her accumulators.
must needs be strained to the utmost Also, and worse, the refractories of her
if they themselves were not soon to be main projectors were burned away
in similar case. practically to the shells. Without vastly
“Can you talk, Nels ?” . demanded heavier -bracing fields than the Brittania
Kinnison of his communications officer, carried, no substance, however stable,
even before the air lock had closed. could stand up long under such hellish
- “No, sir. They’re blanketing us loads as they had had to handle.
plenty,” that worthy replied instantly. • The Q-gun was as useless as a foun­
“Space’s so full of static that you tain pen without full-driven offensive
couldn’t drive a power beam through it, beams. One fresh vessel, similar to the
let alone a communicator. Couldn’t talk one they had just left, could very easily
direct, anyway. Look where we are.” blast his crippled mount out of space.
He pointed out in the tank their present Nor would there be only one. Within
location. ' • 1 a space of minutes after the attachment
“Hm-m-m. We couldn’t have got of a tracer ray, the enforcement vessel
much farther away from Earth without would be surrounded by the cream of
jumping the galaxy entirely. Boskone Boskone’s fighters. There was appar­
got a warning, either from that ship ently only one way out offering any
back there or from the disturbance. chance at all of success; and slowdy,
They are undoubtedly concentrating on thoughtfully, and finally grimly, young
us now. One of them will spear us Vice Commander Kinnison—now and
with a tractor, just as sure as hell’s a briefly Captain Kinnison—-decided to
man trap----- ” take it.
“Everybody open your communica­
TH E fledgling commander rammed tors and listen!” he ordered. “We must
both hands into'his pockets and thought get this information back to base, and
in black intensity. He must get this we can’t do it in the Brittania. The
data back to base. But how ? HOW? pirates are bound to catch us, and our
Henderson was already driving the ves­ chance in another fight is exactly zero.
sel back toward the solar system with W e’ll have to abandon ship and take to
every iota of her inconceivable top the lifeboats, in the hope that at least
speed, but it -was out of the question one of us will be able to get through
even to hope that she would ever get their lines.
there. The life of the Brittania was “The technicians and specialists wilt
now, he was coldly certain, to be meas­ take all the data they got:—information,
ured in hours—and all too scant meas­ descriptions, diagrams, pictures, every­
ure, even of them. For there were hun­ thing—boil it down, and put it on a
dreds of pirate vessels tearing through spool of tape. They will make thitty-
the void,’forming a gigantic net to cut nine copies of it, since there are just
off her return to base. Fast though she forty of us left, and one spool will be
was, one of that barricading horde given to each man.
 GALACTIC PATROL
“There will be twenty boats, two men
to a boat. W e will start launching them
after we have gone as far toward base
as it is safe to go in this ship. Once
away, use very little detectable power,
or, better yet, no power at all, until
you are sure that the pirates have chased
the Brittania a good many parsecs away
‘from where you are. From then on
you’ll he strictly on your own. Do it
any way you can; but some way, any
way, get your spool back to base.
There’s no use in me trying to impress
you with the importance of this stuff;
you know what it means as well as I do.
“Boat mates will be drawn by lot.
The quartermaster will write all our
names on slips of paper and draw them
out of a helmet two at a time. . The only
exception to this is that if two naviga­
tors, such as Henderson and I, are
drawn together, both names go back into
the helmet. Get to work!”
TW ICE the name of. Kinnison came
out together with that of another skilled
in astronautics and was replaced. The
third time, however, it came out paired
with VanBuskirk, to the manifest joy
of the giant policeman and to the ap­
proval of the crowd as well.
“That was a break for me, chief!”
the sergeant called over the cheers of
his fellows. "I’m dead sure of getting
back now 1”
“Pretty strong talk, I ’m afraid, but I
don’t know of any one I’d rather have
at my hack than you,” Kinnison replied,
with a boyish grin.
The pairings were m ade; DeLameters,
spare batteries, and other equipment
were checked and tested; the spools of
tape were sealed in their corrosionproof
containers and distributed; and Kinni­
son sat talking with the chief techni­
cian,
"So they’ve solved the problem of the
really efficient reception and conversion
of cosmic radiation!” Kinnison whistled
softly through his teeth. “And a sun—
27
even a small one— radiates the energy
given off by the annihilation of one-to-
several million tons of matter per sec­
ond! Som e power!”
“That’s the. story, skip, and it explains
completely why their ships have been so
much superior to Ours. They could
have installed - faster drives even than
the B rittanies. They probably will,
now that it has become necessary. Also,
if the bus bars in that receptor-converter
had been a few square centimeters larger
in cross section, they could have held
their wall shield, even against our duo-
dec bomb. Then what? They had
plenty of intake, but not quite enough
distribution.”
“They have atomic motors, the same
as ours, just as big and just as efficient,”
Kinnison cogitated. "But those motors
are all we have got, while they use them,
and at full power, too, simply as first-
stage exciters for the cosmic-energy
screens. Blinding blue blazes, what
pow er! Some of us have to get back,
Verne. If we don’t, Boskone’s got the
whole galaxy by the tail, and civilization
is sunk without a trace.”
“I’ll say so; but- also 111 say this for
those of us who don’t get hack—it won’t
be for lack of trying. Well, I'd better
go check up on my boat. If I don’t see
you again, Earn old man, clear ether!”
They shook hands briefly and Thorn-
dyke strode away. En route, however,
he paused beside the quartermaster and
signaled to him to disconnect his com­
municator.
“Clever lad, Allerdyce!” Thonidyke
whispered, with a grin. “Kinda loaded
the dice a trifle once or twice, didn’t
you? I don’t think anybody but me
smelled a rat, though. Certainly neither
the skipper nor Henderson did, or
you’d ’ve had it to do over again.”
"At least one team has got to get
through,” the quartermaster replied,
quietly and obliquely, “and the strongest
teams we can muster will find the going
none too easy. Any team made up of
2$ ASTOUNDING STORIES
strength and weakness is a weak team.
Captain Kinnison, our only Lens man, is,
of course, the best man aboard this
buzz buggy. Who would you pick for
No. . it shifts the course through a fairly
"VanBuskirk, of course, the same as
you did. I wasn’t criticizing you, man,
I was complimenting you; and thanking
you, in a roundabout way, for giving
me Henderson, He’s got plenty of
what it takes, too."
"It wasn’t 'VanBuskirk, of course/
by any means,” the quartermaster re­
joined. “ It's mighty hard to figure
either you or Henderson third, to say
nothing of fourth, in any kind of com­
pany, however fast—mentally or physi­
cally. However, it seemed to me that
you fitted in better wish the pilot. I
could hand pick only two teams without
getting caught at it—-you spotted me as
it was—but I think that I picked the
two strongest teams possible. At least
one of you will get through, for all the
tea there is in China. If none of you
four can make it, nobody could.”
“Well, here’s hoping, anyway.
Thanks again, See you again some
time, maybe. Clear ether!”
Chief Pilot Henderson. had, a few
minutes since, changed the course of the
cruiser from right-line flight to fantas­
tic, zigzag leaps through space, and now
He turned frowningly to Kinnison.
"W e’d better begin dumping them out
pretty soon now, I think,” he suggested.
"We haven’t detected anything yet, but
according to the figures it won’t be long
now; and after they get their traps set
we’ll run out of time mighty quick."
"Right."
And then, one after another, but
even so several light years .apart in
space, eighteen of the small boats were
launched into the void. In the control
room there were left only Henderson and
Thorndyke with VanBuskirk and Kinni­
son, who were to be the last to leave,
“All right, Hen, now we’ll try out
your roulette-wheel director by chance,"
Kinnison said, then went on, in answer
to Thorndyke’s questioning glance; “A
bouncing ball on an oscillating tvtble.
Every time the ball caroms off a pin
large, but entirely unpredictable angle.
Pure chance—we thought it might
cross them up a little.”
Hair-line beams were connected from
panels to pins, and soon four interested
spectators looked on while; with no hu­
man guidance, the Brittania lurched and
leaped even more erratically than she
had done under Henderson’s direction.
Now, however, the ever-changing vec­
tors of her course were as unexpected
and surprising to her passengers as to
any possible external observer.
ONE MORE LIFEBOAT left the
enforcement vessel, and only the Lens-
man and his giant aide remained. While
they were waiting the required few min­
utes before their own departure, Kinni­
son spoke,
"Bus, there’s one more thing we
ought to do, and I've just figured out
how to do it.' We don’t want this ship
to fall into the pirates’ hands intact, as
there’s a lot of stuff in her that would
probably be as new to them as it was to
us. They know that we got the best of
that ship of theirs, but they don’t know
what we did or how we did It. On the
other hand, we want her to drive on as
long as possible after we leave her. The
farther away from us she gets, the better
our chance of making our get-away.
"We should have something that will
touch off those duodec torpedoes we
have left—all seven of them at once—at
the first touch of a spy beam; hotly to
keep them from studying her and to do
a little damage if possible. They’ll go
inert and pull, her up close as soon as
they get a tracer on her. Of course, we
can’t do it by stopping the spy ray alto­
gether, writh a spy screen, but I think I
can establish an R7TX7M field outside
our regular screens that will interfere
 GALACTIC PATROL 29

W ith their DeLameters they undercut the hill—so that a great slide of
soil and rock obliterated every sign of their visit.
30 ASTOUNDING STORIES
with a TX 7 just enough— say one tenth
of one per cent—to actuate a relay in
the field-supporting beam.”
“One tenth of one per cent of one
milliwatt is one microwatt, isn’t it ? Not
much power, I’d say, but that’s a little
out of my line. You can do it, and do
it before we run out of time, or you
wouldn’t have suggested it. Go ahead.
I ’ll observe while you’re busy.”
Thus it came about that, a few min­
utes later, the immense sky rover of
the Galactic Patrol darted along entirely
untenanted. And it was her nonhuman
helmsman, operating solely by chance,
that prolonged the chase far more than
even the most optimistic member of her
crew could have hoped. For the pilots
of the pirate pursuers were intelligent,
and assumed that their quarry also was
directed by intelligence. Therefore,
they aimed their vessels for points to­
ward which the Brittania should logic­
ally g o ; only and maddeningly to watch
her go somewhere else.
Senselessly, she hurled herself directly
toward enormous suns, once grazing one
so nearly that the harrying pirates
gasped at the foolhardiness of such ex ­
posure to lethal radiation. For no'rea-
son at all she shot straight backward,
almost into a cluster of pirate craft, only
to dash off on another unexpected tan­
gent before the startled outlaws could
lay a beam against her.
But finally she did it once too often.
Flying between two vessels, she held her
line the merest fraction of a second too
long. Two tractors lashed out and the
three vessels flashed together, zone to
zone to zone. Then, instantly, the two
pirate ships became inert, to anchor in
space their wildly fleeing prey. Then
spy beams licked out, to explore the
Brittania’s interior.
AT T H E TO UCH of those beams,
light and delicate as they were, the relay
clicked and the torpedoes let go. Those
frightful shells were so designed and so
charged that one of them could de­
molish any inert structure known to
man. What of seven? There was an
explosion to stagger the imagination
and which must he left to the imagina­
tion, since no words in any language of
the galaxy can describe it adequately.
The Brittania, literally blown to bits,
partially fused and even partially vo­
latilized by the inconceivable fury of
the outburst, was hurled in all directions
in streamers, droplets, chunks, and
masses, each component part urged
away from the center of pressure by the
ragingly compressed gases of detona­
tion. Furthermore, each component
was now, of course, inert and therefore
capable of giving up its full measure of
kinetic energy to any inert object with
which it should come in contact.
One mass of wreckage, so fiercely
sped that its victim had time neither to
dodge nor become inertialess, crashed
full against the side of the nearer at­
tacker. Meteorite screens flared bril­
liantly violet and went down. The
full-driven wall shield held; but so terri­
fic was the concussion that what few
of the crew were not killed outright
would take no interest in current events
for many hours to come.
The other, slightly more distant at­
tacker was more fortunate. Her com­
mander had had time to render her
inertialess, and as she rode lightly away,
ahead of the outermost, most tenuous
fringe of vapor, he reported succinctly
to his headquarters all that had tran­
spired. There was a brief interlude of
silence.
Then a speaker gave tongue. “Hel-
muth, speaking for Boskone,” snapped
from it. “Your report is neither com­
plete nor conclusive. Find, study,
photograph, and bring in to headquar­
ters every fragment and particle per­
taining to the wreckage, paying par­
ticular attention to all bodies or portions
thereof.
“Helmuth, speaking for Boskone 1"
 GALACTIC PATROL
roared from the general-wave unscram-
bler. “Commanders of all vessels, of
every class and tonnage, upon whatever
mission bound, attention! The vessel
referred to in our previous message has
been destroyed, but it is feared that some
or all of her personnel were allowed to
escape. Every unit of that personnel
must be killed before he has opportunity
to communicate with any patrol base.
Therefore cancel your present orders,
whatever they may be, and proceed at
maximum blast to the region previously
designated. Scour that entire volume of
space. Beam out of existence every ves­
sel whose papers do net account un­
questionably for every intelligent being
aboard. Investigate every possible ave­
nue of escape. More detailed orders
will be given each of you upon your
nearer approach to the neighborhood
under search.”
IV.
SPA C E -SU IT E D complete, except
for helmets, and with those ready at
hand, Kinnison and VanBuskirk sat m
the tiny control room of their lifeboat
as it,drifted inert through interstellar
space. Kinnison was poring over
charts taken from the B rittanies pilot
room; the sergeant gazed idly into a
detector plate.
“No clear ether yet, I don’t suppose,”
the captain remarked, as he rolled up a
chart and tossed it aside.
“No let-up for a second; they’re not
taking any, chances at all. Found out
where we are? Alsakan ought to be
hereabouts somewhere, hadn’t it?”
“Eve got our coordinate roughly.
Alsakan would be fairly close for a ship,
but it’s out of the question for us. Noth­
ing much inhabited around here, either,,
apparently; to say nothing of being
civilized. Scarcely one to the block.
Don’t think I’ve been out here before.
Have you?”
“Off , my beat entirely. How long
31
do you figure it’ll be before it’s safe for
us to blast off ?”
“Can’t start blasting until your plates
are clear. Anything we can detect can
detect us as soon as we start putting out
power.”
“We may be in for a spell of waiting
then------ ” VanBuskirk broke off sud­
denly and his tone changed to one of
tense excitement. “Great blasts of fire I
Look at that!”
“Blinding blue blazes!” Kinnison ex­
claimed, staring into the plate. “With
all macro-universal space and all the
time in eternity to play around in, the
blind god of chance had to bring her
back here and now !”
For there, right in their laps, not a
hundred miles away, lay the Brittania
and her two pirate captors!
“Better go free, hadn’t we?” whis­
pered VanBuskirk,
“Daren’t !” grunted Kinnison. “At
this range they’d spot us in a split seer,
ond. Acting like a hunk of loose metal’s
our only chance. W e’ll be able to dodge
any flying chunks, i think. There she
goes!”
From their coign of vantage the two
patrolmen saw their gallant ship’s terri­
fic end, saw the one pirate vessel suffer
collision with the flying fragment, saw
the other escape inertialess, saw her dis­
appear.
The inert pirate vessel, had now al­
most exactly the same velocity as the
lifeboat, both in speed and in direction;
only very slowly were the large craft
and the small approaching each other.
Kinnison stood rigid, staring into his
plate, his nervous hands grasping the
switches whose closing, at the first sign
of detection, would render them inertia­
less and would pour full blast into their
driving projectors. But minute after
minute passed and nothing happened.
“Why don’t they do something?” he
burst out, finally. “They know we’re
here. There isn’t a detector made that
could.be badly enough out of order to
$2 ASTOUNDING STORIES
Tiniss us at this distance. Why, they
can see us from there, with no detectors
at all!”
“Asleep, unconscious, or dead,” Van-
Buskirk diagnosed. “And they cer­
tainly are not asleep. And believe me,
Kim, that ship was nudged. It’s quite
possible that she was hit hard enough
to lay out most of her crew cold—-any­
way enough of them to put her' out of
control. And say, it’s a practical cer­
tainty that she has a standard emergency
inlet port, How about it, huh?”
K IN N IS O N ’S M IND leaped eagerly
at the daring suggestion of bis subordi­
nate, but he did not reply at once. Their
first, their only duty, concerned the
safety of two spools of tape. But if the
lifeboat lay there inert until the pirates
regained control of their craft, detec­
tion and capture were certain. The
same fate was as certain should they
attempt flight with all near-by space so
full of enemy fliers. Therefore, hare­
brained though it appeared at first
glance, VanBuskirk’s wild idea was
actually the safest course!
“All right, Bus, we’ll try it. W e’ll
take a chance on going free and using a
tenth, of a dyne of drive for a hundredth
of a second. Get into the lock with
your magnets.”
The lifeboats flaslied against the
pirate’s armored side and the sergeant,
by deftly manipulating his two small
hand magnets, worked it rapidly along
the steel plating toward the driving
jets. There, in the conventional loca­
tion j ust forward of the main driving
projectors, was indeed the emergency
inlet port, with its galactic-standard
controls.
In a few minutes the two warriors
were inside, dashing toward the con­
trol room. There Kinnison glanced at
the board and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Fine! Same type as the one we
studied. Same race, too,” he went on,
eyeing the motionless forms scattered
about the floor. Seizing one of the
bodies, he propped it against a panel,
thus obscuring a multiple lens.
“That’s the eye overlooking the con­
trol room,” he explained unnecessarily.
“We can’t cut their headquarters v isi-'
beams Without creating suspicion, but
we don’t want them looking around in
here until after we have done a little
stage setting for them”’
“But they’ll get suspicious anyway
when we go free,” VanBuskirk pro­
tested.
“Sure, but we’ll arrange for that later.
First thing we’ve got to do is to make
sure that all the crew, except possibly
one or two in here, are really dead.
Don’t beam unless you have t o ; we want
to make it look as though everybody got
killed or fatally injured in the crash.”
A complete tour of the vessel, with
a grim and distasteful accompaniment,
was made. Not all of the pirates were
dead, or even disabled; but, unarmored
as they were and taken completely by
surprise, the survivors could offer but
little resistance. A cargo port was
opened and the B riitm ia’s lifeboat was
drawn inside. Then back to the control
room, where Kinnison picked up another
body and strode to the main panels.
“This fellow,” he announced, “was
hurt badly, but managed to get to the,,
board. He threw in the free switch,
like this, and then full-blast drive, so.
Then he pulled himself over to the steer­
ing globe and tried to lay the pointers
back toward headquarters, but couldn’t
quite make it. He died with the course
set right there. Not exactly toward the
solar system, you notice— that would
be too much of a coincidence— but close
enough to help a lot. His bracelet got
caught in the guard, like this. There is
clear evidence as to exactly what hap­
pened, Now we’ll get out of range of
that eye, and let the body that’s covering
it float away naturally.”
“Now what?” asked VanBuskirk,
after the two had hidden themselves.
 GALACTIC PATROL
“Nothing' whatever until we have to,”
was the reply. “Wish we could go on
like this for a couple of weeks, but
there’s not a chance. Headquarters will
get curious pretty quick as to why we’re
shoving off."
EVEN as he spoke a furious burst
of noise erupted from the communica­
tor : a noise which meant:
“Vessel F47U596! Where are you
going, and why? Report!”
At that brusque command one of the
still forms struggled weakly to its knees
and tried to frame words, but fell back
dead.
“Perfect!” Kinnison breathed into
VanBuskirk’s ear. “Couldn’t have
been better. Now they’ll probably take
their time about rounding us up. Lis­
ten, here comes some more.”
The communicator was again send­
ing. “See if you can get a direction on
their transmitter!”
“If there are any survivors able to
report, do so at once !” Kinnison under­
stood the dynamic cone to say. Then
the: voice moderating, as though the
speaker had turned from his microphone
to some one near-by, it went oh, “No
one answers, sir. This, you know, is
the ship that was lying closest to the
new patrol ship when she exploded; so
dose that her navigator did not have
time to go free before collision with the
debris. The crew were apparently all
killed or incapacitated by the shock.”
“If any of the officers survive have
them brought in for trial,” a more dis­
tant voice commanded, savagely. “Bos-
kone has no use for bunglers except to
serve as examples. Have the ship seized
and returned here as soon as possible.”
“Could you trace it, Bus?” Kinnison
demanded. “Even one line on their
headquarters would be mighty useful.”
“No, it came in scrambled—couldn't
separate it from the rest of the static
#wit there. Now what?”
AST—3
33
“Now we eat and sleep. Particularly
and most emphatically, we sleep.”
“Watches?”
“No need; I’ll be awakened in plenty
of time if anything happens. My Lens,
you know.”
They ate ravenously and slept prodi­
giously; then ate and slept again.
Rested and refreshed, they studied
charts, but VanBuskirk’s mind was very
evidently not upon the maps before
them.
“You understand that jargon, and it
doesn’t even sound like a language to
me,” he pondered. “It’s the Lens, of
course. Maybe it’s something that
shouldn’t be talked about?”
“No secret—not among us, at least,”
Kinnison assured him. “The Lens re­
ceives as pure thought any pattern of
force which represents, or is in any way
connected with, thought. My brain re­
ceives this thought in English, since that
is my native language. At the same
time my ears arc practically out of cir­
cuit, so that I actually hear the English
language instead of whatever noise is
being made. I do not hear the foreign
sounds at all. Therefore, I haven’t the
slightest idea what the pirates’ language
sounds like, since I have never heard
any of it.
“Conversely, when I want to talk to
some one who doesn’t know any lan­
guage I do, I simply think into the Lens
and direct its force at him. Pie thinks
I'm talking to him in his own mother
tongue. Thus, you are hearing me now
in perfect Valerian Dutch, even though
you know that I can speak only a dozen
or so words of it, and those with a vile
American accent. Also, you are hear­
ing it in my voice, even though you
know I am actually not saying a word,
since you can see that my mouth is
wide open and that neither my ,lips,
tongue, nor vocal cords are moving. If
you were a Frenchman you would be
hearing this in French; or, if you were
a Manarkan and couldn’t talk at all, you
34 ASTOUNDING STORIES
would be getting it as regular Manarkan
telepathy."
"Oh—I see—I think,” the astounded
Dutchman gulped. “Then why couldn’t
you talk back to them through their
phones?”
“Because the Lens, although a mighty
fine and versatile thing, is not omni­
potent,” Kinnison replied, dryly. “ It
sends out only thought; and thought
•waves,' lying below the level of the
ether, cannot affect a microphone. The
microphone, not being itself intelligent,
cannot receive thought. Of course, I
can broadcast a thought—everybody
does, more or less-^-but even with the
full amplification of the Lens the range
is w ry limited. In Lens-te-Lens com­
munication we can cover real distances,
but without a Lens at the other end I
can cover only a few thousand kilo­
meters. Of course, power increases
with practice, and I’m not very good
at it yet.”
"You can receive a thought-----
Everybody broadcasts— - Thai you
can read minds?” VanBuskirk stated,
rather than asked.
"When I so" will •it, yes. That was
what I was doing while we were mop­
ping up. i demanded the galactic co­
ordinates of their base from every one of
them alive, but none of them knew them.
I got a lot of pictures and descriptions
of the buildings, layout, arrangements
and personnel of the base, but not a hint
as to its location in space. The navi­
gators were all dead/and not even the
Arisians understand death. But that’s
getting pretty deeply into philosophy
and its time to eat again,. Let’s go!”
DAYS PASSED uneventfully, but
finally the communicator again began to
talk. Two pirate ships were closing in
upon the supposedly derelict cruiser,
discussing with each other the exact
point of convergence of the three
courses.
“I was hoping that we’d be able to
communicate with base before they
caught up with us,” Kjnnison remarked.
"But I guess it’s no dice—the ether’s
as full of interference as ever. They’re
a suspicious bunch, and they aren’t
going to let us get away with a single
thing if they can help it. You’ve got
that duplicate of their communications
unscrambler built?”
"Yes. That was it you just listened
to. I built it out of our own stuff,-and
I ’ve gone over tire whole .ship with a
cleaner. As far as I can see there isn’t
a trace, not even a fingerprint, to show
that anybody except her own crew has
ever been aboard.”
“Good *work! This course takes us
right through a planetary system in a
few minutes and we’ll have t© unload
there. Let’s see. This chart marks
planets two and three as inhabited,
but with a red reference number, twenty-
seven. That means practically unex­
plored and unknown. No patrol repre­
sentation or connection1—no commerce
—state of civilization unknown—visited
only once, in the Third Galactic Survey.
That was in the days of the semi-inert
drive, when it took years to cross the
galaxy. Not so good, apparently—hut
maybe all the better for us, at that.
Anyway, it’s a forced landing, so get
ready to shove off.”
They boarded their lifeboat, placed it
in the cargo lock, opened the outer port
upon its automatic block, and waited.
At their awful galactic speed the di­
ameter of a solar system would be
traversed in such a small fraction of a
second that observation would be im­
possible, to say nothing of computation.
They would have to act first and com­
pute later.
They flashed into the strange system.
A planet loomed terrifying close—at
their frightful velocity almost invisible
even upon their ultra-vision plates. The
lifeboat shot out, becoming inert as it
passed the screen. The cargo port
swung shut. Luck had been with them;
 GALACTIC PATROL
the planet was scarcely a million miles
away. While VanBuskirk drove toward
it, Kinnison made hasty observations.
“Could have been better—but could
have been a lot worse,” he reported.
“This is Planet 4. Uninhabited, which
is very good. Three, though, is clear
over across the Sun, and Two isn’t any
too close for a space-sun flight—better
than eighty million miles. Easy
enough as far as distance goes—we’ve
all made longer hops in our suits—but
we’ll be open to detection for at least
twenty minutes. Can’t be helped,
though. Here we are!”
“Going to land her free, huh?” Van-*
Buskirk whistled. “What a chance!"
“I t’d be a bigger one to take the
time to land her inert. Her power will
hold—I hope. We’ll inert her and
match velocities with her when we come
back. We’ll have more time then.”
TH E LIFEBOAT stopped instan­
taneously, in a free landing, upon the
uninhabited, desolate, rocky soil of the
strange world. Without a word the two
men leaped out, carrying fully packed
knapsacks. A portable projector was
then dragged out and its fierce beam
directed into the base of the hill beside
which they had landed. A cavern was
quickly made, and while Its glassy walls
were still smoking-hot the lifeboat was
driven within it. With their DeLam-
35
eters the two wayfarers then undercut
the hill, so that a great slide of soil and
rock obliterated every sign of the. visit.
Kinnison and VanBuskirk could find
their vessel again, from their accurately
taken bearings; but, they hoped, no one
else could.
Then, still without a word, the two
adventurers flashed upward. The at­
mosphere of the planet, tenuous and cold
though it was, nevertheless, so sorely im­
peded their progress, that minutes of
precious time were required for the driv­
ing projectors of their suits to force
them through its thin layer. Eventually,
however, they were in interplanetary
space and were flying at quadruple the
speed of light. Then VanBuskirk spoke.
“Landing the boat, hiding it, and
this trip are the danger spots. Heard
anything yet?”
“No, and I don’t believe we will. I
think probably we’ve lost them com­
pletely. Won’t know definitely, though,
until after they catch the ship, and that
won't !>e for ten minutes yet. We'll be
landed by then.”
A world now loomed beneath them, a
pleasant, Earthly-appearing world of
scattered clouds, green forests, rolling
plains, wooded and snow-capped moun­
tain ranges, and rolling oceans. Here
and there were to be seen what looked
like cities, but Kinnison gave them a
wide berth, electing to land upon an
36 ASTOUNDING STORIES
open meadow in the shelter of a tower­
ing black and glassy cliff.
“Ah, just in time; they’re beginning
to talk,” Kinnison announced. “Unim­
portant stuff yet, opening the ship and
so on. I ’ll relay the talk as nearly
verbatim as possible when it gets inter­
esting.” He fell silent, then went on in
a singsong tone, as though he were re­
citing from memory, which, in effect,
he was:
“ ‘Captains of ships P4J263 and
EQ769B47 calling Helmuth! We have
stopped and have boarded the F47U569.
Everything is in order and as deduced
and reported by your observers. Every
one aboard is dead. They did not all
die at the same time, but they all died
from the effects of the collision. There
is no trace of outside interference and
all the personnel are accounted for.’ ”
“ ‘Helmuth, speaking for Boskone.
Your report is inconclusive. Search the
ship minutely for tracks, prints,
scratches. Note any missing supplies or
misplaced items of equipment. Study
carefully all mechanisms, particularly
converters and communicators, for signs
of tampering or dismantling.’ ’’
“Whew f” whistled Kinnison. “They’ll
find where you took that communicator
apart, Bus, just as sure as hell’s a man-
trap!”
“No, they won’t,” declared VanBus-
kirk as positively. “I did it with rub­
ber-nosed pliers, and if I left a scratch
or a scar or a print on it I’ll eat it, tubes
and all!”
A pause.
“ ‘We have studied everything most
carefully, O Helmuth, and find no trace
of tampering or visit.’
“Helmuth again: ‘Your report is
still inconclusive. Whoever did what
has been done is probably a Lensman,
and certainly has brains. . Give me the
present recorded serial number of all
port openings, and the exact number
el times you have opened each port,’
"Ouch!” groaned Kinnison. “If that
means what I think it does, all hell’s out
for noon. Did you see any numbering
recorders on those ports? I didn’t.
Of course, neither of us thought of such
a thing. Shut up, here comes some
more stuff.”
" ‘Port-opening recorder serial num­
bers are as follows.’ They don’t mean
a thing to us. ‘We have opened the
emergency inlet port once and the star­
board lock twice. No other port at
all.5”
“And here’s Helmuth again: ‘Ah, as
I thought. The emergency port was
opened once by outsiders, and the star­
board cargo port twice. The Lensman
came aboard, headed the ship toward
Sol, took his lifeboat aboard, listened
to us, and departed at his leisure. And
this in the very rrridst of our fleet, the
entire personnel of which was supposed
to be looking for him ! How supposedly
intelligent spacemen could be guilty of
such utter and indefensive stupidity?’
"He’s teliin’ ’em plenty, Bus, but
there’s no use repeating it. The tone
can’t be reproduced, and it’s simply
taking the hide right off their backs.
Here’s some more: ‘General broadcast!
Ship F47U596 in its supposedly dere­
lict condition flew from the point of de­
struction. of the patrol ship, on course
longitude three five one point two seven
degrees, latitude five point two three
degrees, distance twenty-four thousand
seven hundred parsecs. Cancel all
previous orders and investigate.’ No
use repeating it, Bus, he’s simply giving
directions for scouring our whole line
of flight. Fading out—they’re going
on, or back. This outfit, of course, is
good for only the closest kind of close-
up work.”
"And we’re out of the frying pan into
the fire, huh?”
“Oh, no; we’re a lot better off than
we were. We’re on a planet and not
using any power that they can trace.
Also, they’ve got to cover so much terri-
 GALACTIC PATROL
tory that they can’t comb it very fine,
and that gives the rest of the fellows a
break, Furthermore----- ”
A CRUSHING W EIG H T descended
upon his back, and the two found them­
selves fighting for their lives. From
the bare,' supposedly safe rock face of
the cliff there had emerged rope-ten-
tacled monstrosities in a ravenously at­
tacking swarm. In the raving blasts
of DeLameters hundreds of the gargoyle
horde vanished in vivid flashes of
radiance, but on they came, by thou­
sands and, it seemed, by millions, dash­
ing madly toward them.
Eventually, the batteries energizing
the projectors became exhausted. Then
flailing coil met shearing steel, fierce-
driven parrot beaks clanged against
space-tempered armor, bulbous heads
pulped under hard-swung axes; but not
for the fractional second necessary for
inertialess flight could the two patrol­
men win clear. Then Kinnison sent out
his S O S ,
“A Lensman calling help! A Lens-
man calling help!” he broadcast with
the full power of mind and Lens.
Immediately a high, girlish voice
poured into his brain: “Coming, wearer
of the L ens! Coming at speed to the
37
cliff of the Catalats, Hold until I come !
I arrive in thirty------”
Thirty what ? What possible in­
telligible relative measure of that un­
known and unknowable concept, time,
can be. conveyed by thought alone ?
“Keep slugging, Bus!” Kinnison
panted. “Help is on the way. A local
cop—voice sounds like a woman—will
be here in thirty somethings. Don’t
know whether it's thirty minutes or
thirty days; but we’ll still be here.”
“Maybe so and maybe not,” grunted
the Dutchman. “ Something’s coming
besides help. Look up and see if you
see what I think I do.”
Kinnison did. Through the air from
the top of the cliff there was hurtling
downward toward them a veritable
dragon: a nightmare’s horror of hid­
eously reptilian head, of leathern wings,
of viciously fanged jaws, of frightfully
taloned feet, of multiple knotty arms,
of long, sinuous, heavily scaled ser­
pent’s body. In fleeting glimpses
through the writhing tentacles of .his
opponents Kinnison perceived, little by
little, the full picture of that unbeliev­
able monstrosity ; and, accustomed as he
was to the outlandish denizens of worlds
even yet scarcely known to man, his
very senses reeled at the sight.

To be Continued.

Don’t miss the next installment of this story

as it builds up the fabric of one of the great­
est science novels ever written. Tell your
friends to get their copies of this issue be­
fore it is exhausted.

Part II
of a great
science novel
G a la c t i c P a t r o l
by E. E. Smith, Ph.D.
UP TO N O W :
Law enforcement lagged behind crime
because the police were limited in their
spheres of action, while criminals were
not. Therefore, when the inertialess
drive was perfected and commerce
throughout the galaxy became com­
monplace, crime became so rampant as
to threaten civilisation. Thus came into
being the Galactic Patrol, an organiza­
& X JllfeS
tion whose highest members, the Lens-
men, are of unlimited authority and
range. Each is identified by wearing
the Lens, a pseudoliving telepathic jewel
matched to the ego of its wearer by those
master philosophers, the Arisians. The
Lens cannot be either imitated or coun­
terfeited, since it glows -with color when-
worn by its owner, and since it kills any
other who attempts to wear it.
Of each million selected candidates for,
The two repulsively erect bipeds before them neither burned nor fell.
Beams—no matter how powerful—did not reach them at all-----
60 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S
the Lens, all except about a hundred fell
before the grueling tests employed to
weed out the unfit. Kimball Kinnison
graduates No. 1 in his class, and is given
command of the space ship Brittania,
which is of a new type, using explosives.
He is informed that the pirates, or
Boskonians, are gaining the upper hand
over the patrol because of a new and
almost unlimited source of power. He
is instructed to capture one of the new-
type pirate ships, in order to learn the
secret of that power.
Kinnison is successful in finding and
defeating a pirate warship. Peter Van -
Buskirk leads the storming party of
Valerians— men of remote human ances­
try, but of extraordinary size, strength,
and agility because of the terrific gravi­
tation of their native planet— in wiping
out those of the pirate crew not killed
in the battle between the two ships.
Then the scientists get the informa­
tion they want. It cannot be transmitted
to Prime Base, however, because the
pirates are blanketing all channels of
communication. Boskonian ships are
gathering, and the crippled Brittania can
neither run nor fight. Therefore, each
man is given a spool of tape bearing the
information and they take to the life­
boats, after setting up a “direction-by-
chance•” to make the Brittania pursue an
unpredictable course in space, and after
rigging bombs to explode her at the
first touch of a pirate beam.
The Brittania’s erratic course brings
her back near the lifeboat of Kinnison
and Van Buskirk, where the pirates at­
tempt to stop her. She blows up, and
the explosion disables practically the en­
tire personnel of one of the attackers,
The two patrolmen capture the pirate
ship and drive her toward home, as far
as the solar system of Velantia, before
being blocked off by the Boskonians.
Abandoning the vessel, they land be­
side a cliff upon the planet Delgon,
where they are attacked by a horde of
Catlats. Through his Lens Kinnison
sends out a mental call for help; and,
shortly after his call is answered, a
winged reptile comes hurtling downward
from the top of the cliff.
AS th e q u a s i-re p tilia n o rg a n is m d e -
b \ s c e n d e d , t h e c li f f d w e l l e r s w e n t
X m a d . T h e ir a tta c k u p o n th e tw o
p a t r o l m e n , a l r e a d y v ic i o u s , b e c a m e i n ­
s a n e l y f r a n t i c . A b a n d o n i n g t h e g ig a n t i c
D u tc h m a n e n tire ly , e v e ry C a tla t w ith in
r e a c h t h r e w h im s e l f u p o n K i n n i s o n a n d
s o e n w r a p p e d t h e L e n s m a n ’s h e a d , a r m s ,
a n d t o r s o t h a t h e c o u ld s c a r c e ly m o v e a
m u s c le . T h e n e n tw in in g c a p to r s a n d
h e lp l e s s m a n m o v e d s lo w ly t o w a r d t h e
l a r g e s t o f t h e o p e n i n g s i n t h e c li f f ’s
o b s i d i a n fa c e .
U pon th a t s lo w ly m o v in g m e la n g e
V a n B u s k irk h u rle d h im s e l f , d e a d ly
s p a c e a x s w in g i n g . B u t , h e w a n d s m it e
a s h e w o u ld , h e c o u ld n e i t h e r f r e e h i s
c h ie f f r o m t h e g r i s l y h o r d e e n v e lo p i n g
h im nor im p e d e , m e a s u ra b ly , th a t
h o r d e ’s p r o g r e s s t o w a r d i t s g o a l. H ow ­
e v e r , h e c o u ld a n d d i d c le a v e a w a y t h e
c o m p a r a t i v e l y f e w c a b le s c o n f in in g K i n -
n i s o n ’s le g s .
“ C la m p a le g lo c k a r o u n d m y w a is t ,
K i m , ” h e d i r e c t e d , t h e f l a s h in g t h o u g h t
i n n o w h i t i n t e r f e r i n g w ith h is p r o d i g ­
io u s a x p la y , “ a n d a s s o o n a s T g e t a
c h a n c e , b e f o r e t h e r e a l t u s s l e c o m e s , I ’ll
c o u p le u s t o g e t h e r w i t h a ll th e b e lt s n a p s
I c a n re a c h . W h e r e v e r w e ’r e g o i n g
w e ’r e g o i n g t o g e t h e r ! W onder w hy
t h e y h a v e n ’t g a n g e d u p o n m e , t o o , a n d
w h a t t h a t l i z a r d is d o i n g ? B e e n to o
b u s y t o lo o k , b u t t h o u g h t h e ’d h a v e b e e n
o n m y b a c k b e fo re th is .”
“ H e w o n ’t b e o n y o u r b a c k . T h a t ’s
W o r s e l , t h e l a d w h o a n s w e r e d m y c a ll.
I t o l d y o u h is v o ic e w a s f u n n y ? T h e y
c a n ’t t a l k o r h e a r — u s e t e l e p a t h y , lik e
th e M a n a rk a n s . H e ’s c le a n in g t h e m
o u t in g r e a t s h a p e . I f y o u c a n h o l d m e
f o r t h r e e m i n u t e s , h e ’ll h a v e t h e lo t o f
t h e m w h i p p e d .”
“I can h o ld you fo r th re e m in u te s
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
a g a i n s t a ll t h e v e r m i n b e t w e e n h e r e a n d
A n d r o m e d a ," V a n B u s k irk d e c la re d .
" T h e r e , I 'v e g o t f o u r s n a p s o n y o u . "
‘‘N o t t o o t o u g h , B u s ,” K i n n i s o n c a u ­
tio n e d . “ L e a v e e n o u g h sta c k s o t h a t
y o u c a n c u t m e lo o s e i f y o u h a v e t o .
R e m e m b e r th a t th e s p o o ls a r e m o re im ­
p o rta n t th a n a n y o n e o f u s . O n c e in ­
s i d e t h a t c li f f w e ’ll a ll b e w a s h e d u p —
e v e n W o r s e l c a n ’t h e l p u s t h e r e — s o
d r o p m e r a t h e r t h a n g o i n y o u r s e l f .”
“ U r n ,” g r u n t e d t h e D u t c h m a n , n o n ­
c o m m it ta l ly . “ T h e r e , I ’v e t o s s e d m y
s p o o l o u t o n to th e g ro u n d . T e ll W o r s e l
t h a t if t h e y g e t u s h e is t o p i c k i t u p
a n d c a rry on. W e ’ll g o a h e a d w i t h
y o u r s , i n s id e t h e c li f f if n e c e s s a r y .”
“ I s a i d c u t m e lo o s e i f y o u c a n ’t h o l d
m e ! ” K in n is o n s n a p p e d , “ a n d I m e a n t
it . T h a t ’s a n o ffic ia l o r d e r . R e m e m b e r
k l”
, “ O ffic ia l o r d e r b e d a m n e d ! ” s n o r t e d
V a n B u s k i r k , s t il l p l y i n g h i s p o n d e r o u s
m ace. " T h e y w o n ’t g e t y o u i n t o t h a t
h o le w ith o u t b re a k in g m e in tw o , a n d
t h a t w ill b e a j o b q f b r e a k i n g i n a n y ­
b o d y ’s la n g u a g e . N o w s h u t y o u r p a n ,”
h e c o n c lu d e d g r i m l y . “ W e ’r e h e r e , a n d
I ’m g o i n g t o b e t o o b u s y , e v e n t o t h i n k ,
v e r y s h o r tly .”
H e sp o k e , tr u ly . H e h a d a lre a d y se ­
le c t e d liis p o i n t o f r e s i s t a n c e , a n d a s h e
r e a c h e d i t h e t h r u s t t h e h e a d o f h is m a c e
i n t o t h e c r a c k b e h in d t h e o p e n t r a p ­
d o o r, ja m m e d its s h a f t in to th e s h o u ld e r
s o c k e t o f h is a r m o r , s e t b lo c k y le g s a n d
H e rc u le a n a rm s a g a in s t th e sid e o f th e
c li f f , a r c h e d h i s m i g h t y b a c k , a n d h e ld .
A n d th e s u r p r is e d C a tla ts , n o w in s id e
th e g lo o m y fa s tn e s s of th e ir tu n n e l,
t h r u s t a n c h o r i n g t e n t a c l e s in t h e w a ll
a n d p u lle d h a r d e r , e v e r h a rd e r .
U n d e r t h e t e r r i f i c s t r e s s K i n n i s o n ’s
heavy a rm o r c reak ed as its a ir -tig h t
j o i n t s a c c o m m o d a te d th e m s e l v e s t o t h e i r
n e w a n d u n u s u a l p o s itio n s . T h a t a r m o r ,
o f s p a c e -te m p e re d a llo y , w o u l d , o f
c o u r s e , n o t g iv e w a y — b u t w h a t o f i t s
h u m an a n c h o r?
61
W E L L I T W A S fo r K im b a ll K in n i-
s o n t h a t d a y , a n d w e ll fo r o u r p r e s e n t
c iv i li z a ti o n , t h a t t h e Brittania's q u a r t e r ­
m a s t e r s e l e c te d P e t e r V a n B u s k i r k fo g
t h e L e n s i n a n 's m a l e ; f o r d e a t h , i n e v i t a ­
b le a n d h o r r i b l e , r e s i d e d w i t h i n t h a t
c lif f , a n d n o h u m a n f r a m e o f E a r t h l y
u p b r i n g i n g , h o w e v e r a r m o r e d , c o u ld
h a v e b o rn e , fo r e v e n a fr a c tio n o f a
s e c o n d , t h e v io l e n c e o f t h e C a tla ts * p u ll .
B u t P e te r V a n B u s k irk , a lth o u g h o f
E a r th ly D u tc h a n c e s try , h a d b e e n b o m
and r e a r e d u p o n t h e p l a n e t V a l e r i a , 'a n d
th a t m a s s iv e p l a n e t ’s g ravity*— o v e r t w o
and o n e h a l f t i m e s E a r t h ’s — h a d g iv e n
h im a p h y s i q u e a n d a s t r e n g t h a lm o s t
in c o n c e iv a b le to u s li f e - l o n g d w e l l e r s
u p o n s m a ll , g r e e n T e r r a . H is h e a d ,
a s h a s b e e n s a id , to w e re d s e v e n ty -e ig h t
in e h e s a b o v e th e g r o u n d ; b u t a t th a t h e
a p p e a re d s q u a tty b e c a u se o f h is e n o r­
m o u s s p r e a d o f s h o u l d e r a r id h i s s t a r ­
tlin g g ir th . H i s b o n e s w e re e le p h a n tin e
— th e y h a d to b e, to f u r n is h a d e q u a te
s u p p o r t a n d l e v e r a g e f o r t h e in c r e d ib l e
m a s s e s o f m u s c le o v e r l a y i n g a n d s u r ­
r o u n d i n g t h e m . B u t e v e n V a n B u s k i r k ’s
V a l e r i a n s t r e n g t h w a s n o w b e in g t a x e d
to th e u tte rm o s t.
The a n c h o rin g c h a in s h u m m e d a n d
s n a r l e d a s t h e c la m p s b it i n t o t h e r i n g s .
M u s c le s w r i t h e d a n d k n o t t e d ; te n d o n s
s tre tc h e d a n d th r e a te n e d to s n a p ; s w e a t
ro lle d d o w n h is m ig h ty b a c k . H is ja w s
lo c k e d i n a g o n y a n d h i s e y e s s t a r t e d
fro m th e ir so c k e ts w ith th e e f f o r t; b u t
s t i l l V a n B u s k i r k h e ld .
“ C u t m e lo o s e !” c o m m a n d e d K in n i­
s o n a t la s t. “ E v e n y o u c a n ’t t a k e m iic h
m o re o f th a t. N o u s e le ttin g th e m b re a k
y o u r b a c k . Cut, I te l l y o u . I s a i d cut,
y o u b ig , d u m b , V a le r ia n a p e ! ”
B u t if V a n B u s k ir k h e a rd o r fe lt th e
s a v a g e l y v o ic e d c o m m a n d s o f h i s c h ie f ,
h e g a v e n o h e e d . S tr a in in g to th e v e ry
u l t i m a t e f i b e r o f h i s b e in g , e x e r t i n g
e v e r y i o t a o f lo y a l m i n d a n d e v e r y a t o m
o f B ro b d in g n a g ia n fra m e , g rim ly , te n a ­
c io u s ly , s t u b b o r n l y t h e g i g a n t i c D u t c h ­
m a n h e ld .
 62 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S
H e l d w h ile W o r s e l o f V e l a n t i a , t h a t
g r o t e s q u e l y h id e o u s , t h a t f a n t a s t i c a l l y
r e p t i l i a n a lly , p lo w e d t o w a r d t h e t w o
p a tr o lm e n th r o u g h th e h o rd e o f C a tla ts ;
a v e r i ta b l e t o r n a d o o f r e n d i n g f a n g a n d
s h e a r in g ta lo n , o f h e a tin g w in g a n d
c ru s h in g s n o u t, of m a i le d hand and
t r e n c h a n t ta i l.
H e ld w h ile th a t dem on in c a rn a te
d r o v e c l o s e r a n d c lo s e r , h u r l i n g e n t i r e
C a tla ts a n d n u m b e rle s s d is m e m b e re d
f r a g m e n ts o f C a tla ts to th e fo u r w in d s
a s h e cam e.
H e l d w h ile t h e r a g i n g t u m u l t , w h o s e
c e n t e r w a s W o r s e l , s w e p t o v e r h is r i g i d
b o d y lik e a n o c e a n w a v e b r e a k i n g o v e r
a n im m o v a b le r o c k :
, H e l d u n t i l W o r s e l 's s n a k e l i k e b o d y ,
a s u p p l e a n d s e n t i e n t c a b le o f li v in g
s t e e l, t i p p e d w i t h i t s d o u b le - e d g e d ,
r a z o r - k e e n , s c i m i t a r l i k e s t i n g , s l ip p e d
in to th e tu n n e l b e s id e K in n is o n a n d
w ro u g h t g ris ly h a v o c a m o n g th e C a t­
l a t s c lo s e - p a c k e d t h e r e !
A s th e te r rif ic te n s io n u p o n h im w a s
s u d d e n l y r e l e a s e d V a n B u s k i r k ’s o w n e f-
, f o r t s h u r l e d h i m a w a y f r o m t h e c liff.
H e fe ll to t h e g r o u n d , h is o v e r s t r a i n e d
m u s c le s tw i t c h i n g u n c o n t r o l l a b l y , a n d o n
t o p o f h i m fe ll t h e f e t t e r e d L e n s m a n .
K i n n i s o n , h is h a n d s n o w f r e e , u n f a s ­
t e n e d t h e c la m p s li n k i n g h is a r m o r t o
lh aL o f V a n B u s k i r k a n d w h i r l e d t o c o n ­
f r o n t t h e fo e . B u t t h e f i g h ti n g w a s o v e r .
T h e C a tla ts h a d h a d e n o u g h o f W o rs e l
o f V e l a n t i a ; a n d , s h r i e k i n g i n b a ffle d
ra g e , th e la s t o f th e m w e re d is a p p e a r­
i n g in t o t h e i r c a v e s . H e t u r n e d b a c k t o
V a n B u s k ir k , w h o w a s g e ttin g s h a k ily
t o h is fe e t.
“ T h a n k s a lo t , W o r s e l ; w e w e r e j u s t
a b o u t t o r u n o u t o f t i m e --------” V a n ­
B u s k i r k b e g a n , o n ly t o b e s ile n c e d b y
a n in s is te n t th o u g h t fro m th e g ro te s q u e
s tra n g e r.
“ S to p th a t r a d ia tin g ! D o n o t th in k
a t a ll if y o u c a n n o t s c r e e n y o u r m i n d s ! ”
c a m e th e u r g e n t m e n ta l c o m m a n d s.
“ T h e s e C a tla ts a re a v e ry m in o r p e s t o f
t h i s p l a n e t D e lg o n . T h e r e a r e o th e r s
w o rse by far. F o rtu n a te ly , your
th o u g h ts a r e u p o n a fre q u e n c y n e v e r
u s e d h e re — if I h a d n o t b e e n s o v e r y
c lo s e t o y o u I w o u l d n o t h a v e h e a r d
y o u a t a ll b u t s h o u l d t h e O v e r l o r d s
h a v e a lis te n e r u p o n th a t b a n d , y o u r
u n s h ie ld e d th in k in g m a y a lre a d y h a v e
d o n e ir re p a ra b le h a rm . F o llo w m e . I
w ill s lo w m y s p e e d t o y o u r s , b u t h u r r y
a ll p o s s i b l e ! ”
“ Y o u t e l l ’im , c h ie f ,” V a n B u s k i r k
s a i d , a n d fe ll s i l e n t ; h is m i n d a s n e a r l y
a p e r f e c t b la n k a s h is i r o n w ill c o u ld
m a k e it.
“ T h i s is a s c r e e n e d t h o u g h t , t h r o u g h
m y L e n s ,” K i n n i s o n t o o k u p t h e c o n ­
v e rs a tio n . “ Y ou d o n ’t need to s lo w
d o w n o n o u r a c c o u n t . W e c a n d e v e lo p
a n y s p e e d y o u w is h . L e a d o n ! ”
T H E V E L A N T I A N le a p e d i n t o th e
a i r a n d f la s h e d a w a y i n h e a d l o n g f lig h t.
M u c h to h is s u rp ris e , th e tw o h u m a n
b e in g s kept up w ith h im e ffo rtle s s ly
u p o n t h e i r in e r t i a l e s s d r i v e s , a n d a f t e r
a m o m e n t K in n is o n d ire c te d a n o th e r
th o u g h t.
“ I f t i m e is a n o b j e c t , W o r s e l , k n o w
th a t m y c o m p a n io n a n d I c a n c a r r y y o u
a n y w h e re y o u w is h to g o a t a sp e e d h u n ­
d r e d s o f ti m e s g r e a t e r t h a n t h i s t h a t w e
a r e u s i n g ,” h e v o u c h s a f e d .
I t d e v e lo p e d t h a t t i m e w a s o f t h e
u t m o s t p o s s ib le im p o r t a n c e a n d th e
t h r e e c lo s e d in . M i g h t y w i n g s f o ld e d
b a c k , h a n d s a n d ta lo n s g rip p e d a rm o r
c h a in s , a n d t h e g r o u p , i n e r t i a l e s s a ll,
sh o t a w a y a t a p ace th a t W o rs e l o f V e ­
l a n t i a h a d n e v e r e v e n im a g in e d in h is
w il d e s t d r e a m s o f s p e e d . T h e i r g o a l,
a s m a ll, f e a t u r e l e s s t e n t o f th in sh e e t
m e t a l, o c c u p y in g a b a r r e n sp o t in a
w rith in g , c ra w lin g e x p a n s e o f lu s h ly
g r e e t i j u n g l e , w a s r e a c h e d in a space of
m in u te s . O nce in s id e , W o rse l s e a le d
th e o p e n in g a n d tu r n e d to h is a r m o r e d
g u e sts.
“ W e c a n n o w th in k fre e ly in o p e n
c o n v e r s e . T h i s w a ll is t h e c a r r i e r o f a
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
screen th ro u g h w h ic h n o th o u g h t c a n
m a k e its w a y .”
" T h i s w o r l d y o u c a ll b y a n a m e I
h a v e i n t e r p r e t e d a s D e l g o n ,” K i n n i s o n
b e g a n , s lo w ly . “ Y o u a r c a n a tiv e o f
V e la n tia , a p la n e t n o w b e y o n d th e S u n .
T h e re fo re , I a ssu m e d th a t y o u w e re
t a k i n g u s t o y o u r s p a c e s h i p . W h e r e is
th a t sh ip ? ”
" I h a v e n o s h i p ,” t h e V e l a n t i a n r e ­
p li e d , c o m p o s e d ly , " n o r h a v e I n e e d o f
one. F o r t h e r e m a i n d e r o f m y lif e —^
w h ic h is n o w t o b e m e a s u r e d i n a f e w o f
y o u r h o u r s — t h i s t e n t i s m y o n ly --------”
" N o s h i p ! ” V a n B u s k i r k b r o k e in . " I
h o p e w e w o n ’t h a v e t o s t a y o n t h i s G o d ­
f o r s a k e n p l a n e t f o r e v e r — a n d I ’m n o t
v e r y k e e n o n g o in g m u c h f a r th e r in th a t
lif e b o a t, e i t h e r . ”
" W e m a y n o t h a v e to d o e ith e r o f
th o s e t h i n g s , ” K i n n i s o n r e a s s u r e d h is
s e r g e a n t . “ W o r s e l c o m e s o f a lo n g - li v e d
t r i b e , a n d t h e f a c t t h a t h e t h i n k s h is
e n e m ie s a r e g o i n g t o g e t h i m i n a fe w
h o u r s d o e s n ’t m a k e i t t r u e , b y a n y
m e a n s . T h e r e a r e .th r e e o f u s t o r e c k o n
w i t h n o w . A ls o , w h e n w e n e e d a s p a c e
s h i p w e ’ll g e t o n e , if w e h a v e t o b u il d
it. N o w , l e t ’s f i n d o u t w h a t t h i s is a ll
a b o u t. W o r s e l , s t a r t a t t h e b e g in n i n g
a n d d o n ’t s k i p a t h i n g . B e tw e e n u s w e
c a n s u r e l y fin d a w a y o u t , f o r a ll o f u s .”
TH EN th e V e la n tia n to ld h is s to ry .
T h e r e w a s m u c h re p e titio n , m u c h ro u n d ­
a b o u t t h i n k i n g , a s s o m e o f t h e c o n c e p ts
w e r e s o b i z a r r e a s t o d e f y tr a n s m i s s i o n ,,
b u t f in a lly t h e E a r t h m a n h a d a f a i r l y
c o m p l e te p i c t u r e o f t h e s i t u a t i o n w i t h i n
t h a t s t r a n g e s o l a r s y s te m .
T h e i n h a b i t a n t s o f D e lg o n w e r e t a d ,
b e in g c h a ra c te riz e d b y a ty p e a n d a
d e p t h o f d e p r a v i t y im p o s s ib le f o r a m i n d
o f E a r t h t o v is u a liz e . N o t o n ly w e r e
th e D e lg o n ia n s e n e m ie s o f th e V e la n -
tia n s in th e o rd in a ry se n se o f th e w o r d ;
n o t o n ly w e r e t h e y p i r a t e s a n d r o b b e r s ;
r o t o n ly w e re th e y th e ir m a s te rs , ta k in g
t h e m b o t h a s s la v e s a n d a s fo o d c a t t l e ;
b u t th e r e w a s s o m e th in g m o re , so m e ­
63
th in g d e e p e r a n d w o rs e , s o m e th in g o n ly
p a r tia lly tra n s m is s ib le fr o m m in d to
m i n d — a h o r r i b l y a n d r e p u l s iv e l y S a t u r -
n a l i a n t y p e o f m e n t a l a n d in t e l l e c t u a l , a s
w e ll a s b io lo g ic a l, p a r a s i t i s m . T h is r e ­
la tio n s h ip h a d g o n e o n f o r a g e s.
F in a lly , h o w e v e r, a th o u g h t s c re e n
h a d b e e n d e v is e d , b e h in d w h ic h V e l a n ­
t i a d e v e lo p e d a h i g h s c ie n c e o f h e r o w n .
T h e s t u d e n t s o f t h i s s c ie n c e liv e d w i t h
b u t o n e p u rp o s e in li f e : to fre e V e la n tia
fro m th e ty r a n n y o f th e O v e rlo rd s o f
D e lg o n . E a c h s tu d e n t, a s h e re a c h e d
th e z e n ith o f h is m e n ta l p o w e r, w e n t to
D e lg o n , t o s t u d y a n d if p o s s ib le d e s t r o y
th e ty ra n ts . A n d a f t e r d is e m b a r k i n g
u p o n t h e s o il o f t h a t d r e a d p l a n e t n o
V e l a n t i a n , w h e t h e r s t u d e n t o r s c i e n ti s t
o r p riv a te a d v e n tu r e r, h a d e v e r r e ­
t u r n e d t o V e la n ti a .
" B u t w h y d o n ’t y o u la y a c o m ­
p la in t a g a in s t th e m b e fo re th e c o u n ­
c i l ? ” d e m a n d e d V a n B u s k i r k . " T h e y ’d
s t r a i g h t e n t h i n g s o u t in a h u r r y . ”
“ W e h a v e n o t h e re to fo re k n o w n , sa v e
b y th e m o s t u n re lia b le a n d r o u n d a b o u t
re p o r ts , th a t su c h a n o rg a n iz a tio n a s
y o u r G a la c t ic P a t r o l r e a l l y e x i s t s , ” t h e
V e l a n t i a n r e p l ie d , o b liq u e ly . "N e v e r­
t h e l e s s , m a n y y e a r s s in c e , w e l a u n c h e d a
sp a c e s h ip to w a r d its n e a r e s t re p u te d
b a s e . H o w e v e r , s in c e t h a t t r i p r e q u i r e s
t h r e e n o r m a l li f e t im e s , w i t h d e a d ly p e r i l
i n e v e r y m o m e n t, i t w ill b e a m i r a c l e if
t h e s h i p e v e r c o m p l e te s it.
" F u r t h e r m o r e , e v e n if t h e s h i p s h o u l d
r e a c h i t s d e s t i n a t i o n , o u r c o m p l a i n t w ill
p ro b a b ly n o t e v e n b e c o n sid e re d , b e c a u se
w e h a v e n o t a s i n g le s h r e d o f r e a l e v i­
d e n c e w i t h w h i c h t o s u p p o r t it. No
li v i n g V e l a n t i a n h a s e v e r s e e n a D e l-
g o n i a n , n o r c a n a n y o n e te s t i f y t o t h e
t r u t h o f a n y th in g I h a v e to ld y o u . W h ile
w e b e lie v e t h a t t h a t i s t h e t r u e c o n d i­
t i o n o f a f f a i r s , o u r b e lie f is b a s e d , n o t
u p o n e v id e n c e a d m i s s i b le i n a c o u r t o f
la w , b u t u p o n d e d u c t i o n s f r o m o c c a ­
s io n a l th o u g h ts ra d ia te d fro m th is
p la n e t. N o r w e r e t h e s e t h o u g h t s a li k e
i n t e n o r --------”
64 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S
“ S k i p t h a t f o r a m i n u t e — w e ’ll t a k e
th e p ic tu re a s c o rr e c t,” K in n is o n b ro k e
in . “ N o th in g y o u h a v e s a id so f a r
s h o w s a n y n e c e s s ity fo r y o u to d ie in
th e n e x t fe w h o u rs .”
“ T h e o n ly o b j e c t i n life f o r a t r a i n e d
V e l a n t i a n is t o l i b e r a t e h i s p l a n e t f r o m
t h e h o r r o r s o f s u b j e c t i o n t o D e lg o n .
M a n y su c h h a v e com e h e re , b u t n o t o n e
h a s fo u n d a w o rk a b le i d e a ; n o t o n e h a s
e ith e r r e tu r n e d to o r e v e n c o m m u n i­
c a te d w i t h V e l a n t i a a f t e r s t a r t i n g w o r k
h e re . I a m a V e la n tia n . I a m h e re .
S o o n I s h a l l o p e n t h a t d o o r a n d g e t in
to u c h w ith th e e n e m y . S in c e b e t t e r
m e n t h a n I a m h a v e f a ile d , I d o n o t e x ­
p e c t to s u c c e e d . N o r s h a ll I r e tu r n to
m y n a tiv e p la n e t. A s so o n a s I s ta r t
t o W o rk t h e D e lg tm ia n s w ill c o m m a n d
m e t o c o m e t o th e m . I n s p ite o f m y s e K
I w ill o b e y t h a t c o m m a n d , a n d v e r y
s h o r t l y t h e r e a f t e r I s h a l l d ie , i n w h a t
f a s h i o n I d o n o t k n o w .”
“SN A P O U T OF I T , W o rs e l!"
b a r k e d K i n n i s o n , r o u g h l y . “ T h a t 's t h e
r a n k e s t k i n d o f d e f e a t is m , a n d y o u
k n o w it. N o b o d y e v e r g o t to th e f irs t
c h e c k s t a t i o n o n t h a t k i n d o f f u e l .”
“ Y o u a r e ta lk in g a b o u t s o m e th in g
n o w a b o u t w h ic h y o u k n o w n o t h i n g
w h a t e v e r . ” F o r t h e f i r s t t i m e W o r s e l ’s
th o u g h ts show ed p a s s io n . “Y our
t h o u g h t s a r e id le — i g n o r a n t — v a in . Y o u
k n o w n o th in g w h a te v e r o f th e m e n ta l
p o w e r o f t h e D e i g o n i a n s .”
“ M a y b e n o t— I m a k e n o c la i m o f
b e in g a m e n t a l g i a n t — b u t I do know
t h a t m e n ta l p o w e r a lo n e c a n n o t o v e r­
c o m e a d e f i n it e ly a n d p o s i t i v e l y o p p o s e d
will. A n A r i s i a n c o u ld p r o b a b l y b r e a k
m y w ill, b u t I ’ll s t a k e m y life t h a t n o
• o th e r m e n t a l i t y in t h e k n o w n u n i v e r s e
can do it!”
“ Y o u th in k so , E a r th lin g ? ” A nd a
s e e th in g s p h e re o f m e n ta l fo rc e e n c o m ­
p assed th e T e l l u r i a n ’s b ra in . K in n i-
s o n 's s e n s e s r e e l e d a t t h e t e r r i f i c im ­
p a c t; b u t h e s h o o k o ff th e a tta c k a n d
s m ile d .
“ G o m e a g a in , W o rs e l. T h at one
j a r r e d m e t o t h e h e e ls , b u t i t d i d n ’t
q u i t e r i n g t h e b e ll .”
“ Y o u f l a t t e r m e ,” t h e V a l e n t i a n d e ­
c la r e d in s u r p ris e . “ I c o u ld s c a r c e ly
t o u c h y o u r m i n d — c o u ld n o t p e n e t r a t e
even its o u te r m o s t d e fe n se s, and I
e x e r t e d a l l m y f o r c e . B u t t h a t f a c t g iv e s
m e hope. M y m i n d is , o f c o u r s e , i n ­
f e r i o r t o t h e i r s , b u t s i n c e I c o u ld n o t
in f lu e n c e y o u a t a ll, e v e n i n d i r e c t c o n ­
t a c t a n d a t f u l l p o w e r , y o u m a y b e a b le
t o r e s i s t t h e m i n d s o f t h e D e ig o n ia n s .
A re y o u w illin g - to h a z a rd th e sta k e y o u
m e n tio n e d a m o m e n t a g o ? O r ra th e r,
I a s k y o u , b y th e L e n s y o u w e a r, so to
h a z a r d it— w ith th e lib e rty o f a n e n tir e
p e o p le d e p e n d e n t u p o n t h e o u tc o m e .”
“ W h y n u t ? T h e s p o o ls c o m e f i r s t , o f
c o u r s e — b u t w i t h o u t y o u o u r s p o o ls
w o u ld b o t h b e b u r i e d n o w i n s i d e t h e
c lif f o f t h e C a t l a t s . F i x i t s o t h a t y o u r
p e o p le w ill fin d t h e s e s p o o l s a n d c a r r y
o n w i t h t h e m i n c a s e w e f a i l, a n d I ’m
your m an. T h e r e — n o w te ll m e w h a t
w e ’r e a p t t o b e u p a g a i n s t , a n d t h e n l e t
lo o s e y o u r d o g s .”
“T hat I cannot do. I know o n ly
t h a t t h e y w ill d ir q c t a g a i n s t y o u m e n t a l
f o r c e s s u c h a s y o u n e v e r e v e n i m a g in e d .
I c a n n o t fo r e w a rn y o u in a n y re s p e c t
w h a t e v e r a s t o w h a t f o r m s th o s e f o r c e s
m a y a p p e a r to a ssu m e . I k n o w , h o w ­
e v e r , t h a t I s h a l l s u c c u m b to t h e f i r s t
b o l t o f f o r c e . T h e r e f o r e , b i n d m e w ith
t h e s e c h a i n s b e f o r e I o p e n t h e s h ie ld .
P h y s ic a lly , I a m e x tr e m e ly s tro n g , a s
y o u k n o w ; th e r e fo re , b e s u r e to p u t o n
e n o u g h c h a in s s o t h a t I c a n n o t p o s s ib ly
b r e a k fre e , f o r if I c a n b r e a k a w a y I
s h a l l u n d o u b t e d l y k il l b o th o f y o u .”
“ H o w c o m e a ll t h e s e t h i n g s h e r e ,
r e a d y t o h a n d ?” a s k e d V a n B u s k i r k , a s
t h e tw o p a t r o l m e n s o lo a d e d t h e p a s s iv e
V e l a n t i a n w i t h c h a in s , m a n a e le s , h a n d ­
c u f f s , le g i r o n s a n d s t r a p s t h a t h e c o u ld
n o t m o v e e v e n h i s ta i l.
“ I t h a s b een tr ie d b e fo re , m a n y
t i m e s ,” W o r s e l r e p l i e d b le a k ly , “ b u t t h e
r e s c u e r s , b e in g V e l a n t i a n s , a ls o s u e -
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
c u m b e d to th e fo rc e a n d to o k o ff th e
i r o n s . N o w I c a u t i o n y o u , w i t h a ll t h e
p o w e r o f m y m in d — n o m a tte r w h a t y o u
see, n o m a tte r w h a t I m a y c o m m a n d y o u
o r b e g o f y o u , n o m a tte r h o w u rg e n tly
y o u y o u r s e l f m a y w i s h t o d o s o — do not
liberate me under any circumstances u n ­
le s s a n d u n t i l t h i n g s a p p e a r e x a c t l y a s
t h e y d o n o w a n d t h a t d o o r is s h u t .
K n o w f u l ly a n d p o n d e r w e ll t h e f a c t
t h a t if y o u r e l e a s e m e w h ile t h a t d o o r
i s o p e n it w ill b e b e c a u s e y o u h a v e
y ie l d e d t o D e l g o n i a n f o r c e , a n d t h a t n o t
o n l y w ill a ll t h r e e o f u s d ie , l i n g e r i n g l y
a n d h o r r i b l y , b u t a ls o , a n d w o r s e , t h a t
o u r d e a t h s w ill n o t h a v e b e e n o f a n y
b e n e f i t t o c iv i li z a ti o n . D o you u n d e r­
s ta n d ? A re y o u re a d y ? ”
“ I u n d e rs ta n d . I a m r e a d y .” th o u g h t
K in n is o n a n d V a n B u s k irk a s o n e.
“ O p e n th a t d o o r .”
K I N N I S O N d id so. F o r a fe w m i n ­
u te s n o th in g h a p p e n e d . T h e n th r e e -
d im e n s i o n a l p i c t u r e s b e g a n t o f o r m b e ­
f o r e t h e i r e y e s — p i c t u r e s w h ic h t h e y
k n e w e x i s t e d o n l y in t h e i r o w n m i n d s ,
y e t w h ic h w e r e c o m p o s e d o f s u c h s o lid
s u b s t a n c e t h a t th e y o b s c u r e d f r o m v is io n
e v e r y t h i n g e ls e i n t h e m a t e r i a l w o r l d .
A t firs t h a z y a n d in d i s t i n c t , th e scen e—
f o r it w a s in no sense n o w a p ic tu re —
b e c a m e c le a r an d sh arp . A n d , p il in g
h o rro r u p o n h o rro r, so u n d w as added
t o s i g h t. A n d d i r e c t l y b e f o r e t h e i r e y e s ,
b l o t t i n g o u t c o m p l e te l y e v e n t h e s o lid
m e t a l o f th e w a ll o n ly a f e w f e e t d i s t a n t
f r o m th e m , t h e t w o o u l l a n d e r s s a w a n d
h e a r d s o m e t h i n g w h ic h c a n b e r e p r e ­
s e n te d o n ly v a g u e ly by im a g i n i n g
D a n t e ’s I n f e r n o a n a c t u a l i t y a n d r a i s e d
to th e n th p o w e r !
I n a d u l l a n d g lo o m y c a v e r n t h e r e
la y , s a t , a n d s t o o d h o r d e s o f things.
T h e s e b e i n g s — t h e “ n o b i l i t y ” o f D e lg o n
— h a d r e p t i l i a n b o d ie s , s o m e w h a t s i m i l a r
t o W o r s e l ’s, b u t t h e y h a d n o w in g s a n d
t h e i r h e a d s w e r e d i s t i n c t l y a p is h r a t h e r
t h a n c r o c o d i li a n . E v e r y g re e d y ey e in
th e v ast th ro n g w as fix e d upon an
A ST—5
65
e n o r m o u s s c r e e n w h ic h , lik e t h a t i n a
m o t i o n - p i c t u r e t h e a t e r , w a lle d o f f o n e
e n d o f th e s tu p e n d o u s c a v e rn .
S lo w ly , s h u d d e rin g ly , K i n n i s o n ’s
m i n d b e g a n t o t a k e in w h a t w a s h a p p e n ­
i n g u p o n t h a t s c r e e n . A n d it w a s r e a l ly
h a p p e n in g , K in n is o n w a s s u r e o f th a t.
T h is w a s n o t a p ic tu re a n y m o re th a n
t h i s w h o le s c e n e w a s a n illu s io n . It
w a s a ll a n a c t u a l i t y — s o m e w h e r e .
U p o n th a t s c re e n th e r e w e re s tre tc h e d
o u t v ic tim s . H u n d r e d s o f th e s e w e re
V e l a n t i a n s , m o r e h u n d r e d s w e r e w in g e d
D e lg o n ia n s , a n d s c o r e s w e r e c r e a t u r e s
w h o s e lik e K i n n i s o n h a d n e v e r s e e n .
A n d a ll t h e s e w e r e b e in g t o r t u r e d ; t o r ­
t u r e d t o d e a t h b o th in f a s h i o n s k n o w n
t o t h e I n q u i s i t o r s o f o ld a n d w a y s o f
w h ic h e v e n th o s e e x p e r t s h a d n e v e r a n
in k l in g .
S o m e w e r e b e in g t w i s t e d o u t r a g e o u s l y
in th re e -d im e n s io n a l fra m e s . O th e rs
w e r e b e in g s t r e t c h e d u p o n r a c k s . M a n y
w e r e b e in g p u ll e d h o r r i b l y a p a r t , c h a in s
i n t e r m i t t e n t l y b u t r e l e n tl e s s l y e x t e n d ­
in g e a c h h e lp l e s s m e m b e r . S ti ll o t h e r s
w e r e b e in g lo w e r e d in t o p i t s o f c o n ­
s ta n tly in c re a s in g te m p e r a tu r e s o r w e re
b e in g a t t a c k e d b y g r a d u a l l y i n c r e a s i n g
c o n c e n t r a t i o n s o f s o m e f o u l ly c o r r o s i v e
v a p o r w h ic h a t e a w a y t h e i r ti s s u e s , little
b y little . A n d , a p p a r e n t l y t h e p ie c e d e
r e s i s t a n c e o f t h e h e ll is h e x h i b i t i o n , o n e
lu c k le s s V e l a n t i a n , i n a s p o t o f h a r d ,
c o ld li g h t, w a s b e in g p r e s s e d o u t f la t
a g a i n s t t h e s c r e e n , a s a n in s e c t m i g h t
b e p r e s s e d b e tw e e n tw o p a n e s o f g la s s .
T h in n e r a n d th in n e r he b ecam e, u n d e r
t h e in f lu e n c e o f s o m e a w f u l, in v is ib le
f o r c e , in s p i te o f e v e r y e x e r t i o n o f i n ­
h u m a n e ly p o w e rfu l m u s c le s d riv in g
b o d y , ta i l, w in g s , a r m s , le g s , a n d h e a d
i n e v e r y f r a n t i c m a n e u v e r w h ic h g r i m
a n d im m i n e n t d e a t h c o u ld c a ll f o r th .
P h y s ic a lly n a u s e a te d , b ra in s ic k a t th e
a t r o c i o u s v is io n s b l a s t i n g h is m i n d a n d
a t t h e s c r e a m i n g o f t h e d a m n e d a s s a ili n g
h is e a rs , K in n is o n s tro v e to w re n c h h is
m i n d a w a y , b u t w a s c u r b e d s a v a g e ly b y
W o rs e l.
£6 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
“Y ou must s ta y ! Y ou must p ay a t­
te n tio n ! ” c o m m a n d e d th e V e la n tia n .
‘‘T h i s is t h e f i r s t ti m e a n y liv in g b e in g
h a s s e e n s o m u c h ! Y o u must h e lp m e
now ! T h e y h a v e b e e n a tta c k in g m e
fro m th e f i r s t ; b u t, b ra c e d b y th e p o w e r­
f u l n e g a t i v e s in y o u r m i n d , I h a v e b e e n
a b le t o r e s i s t a n d h a v e t r a n s m i t t e d a
tr u th fu l p ic tu re so fa r. B u t th e y a r e
s u r p ris e d a t m y re s is ta n c e a n d a re c o n ­
c e n tr a tin g m o re fo rce. I a m s l ip p i n g
f a s t. Y o u must b r a c e m y m i n d ! A nd
w h e n th e p ic tu re c h a n g e s — a s c h a n g e it
m u s t , a n d s o o n — d o n o t b e lie v e it. H o l d
fa s t, b ro th e r s o f th e L e n s , fo r y o u r o w n
liv e s a n d f o r t h e p e o p le o f V e la n ti a .
T h e r e is m o r e — a n d w o r s e !”
K in n is o n s ta y e d . S o d id V a n B u s k irk ,
f i g h ti n g w ith a ll h i s s t u b b o r n D u t c h
m in d . R e v o lte d , o u tr a g e d , n a u s e a te d
a s th e y w e re a t th e s ig h ts a n d s o u n d s ,
th e y s ta y e d . F l i n c h i n g w i t h t h e v ic ­
t i m s a s t h e y w e r e f e d in t o t h e h o p p e r s
o f s lo w ly t u r n i n g m i l l s ; w in c in g a t t h e
u n b e li e v a b le a c t s o f t h e b o il e r s , t h e b e a t ­
e rs , th e s c o u rg e rs , th e f l a y e r s ; s u f fe r­
i n g th e m s e l v e s e v e r y p o s s ib le a n d m a n y
a p p a r e n t l y im p o s s i b le n i g h t m a r e s ,
.T h e l i g h t in t h e c a v e r n n o w c h a n g e d
t o a s t r o n g , g r e e n i s h - y e l lo w g l a r e ; a n d
in th a t h a r d illu m in a tio n it w a s to b e
s e e n t h a t e a c h d y i n g b e in g w a s s u r ­
r o u n d e d b y a p a le l y g l o w i n g a u r a . A n d
n o w , c ro w n in g h o r r o r o f th a t u n u tt e r ­
a b l y h o r r i b l e o r g y o f s a d i s m r e s u b lim e d ,
fro m th e ey es o f each o n e of th e m o n ­
s t r o u s a u d ie n c e t h e r e le a p e d o u t v is ib le
b e a m s o f fo rce. T h e s e b e a m s to u c h e d
t h e a u ra e o f t h e d y in g p r is o n e rs —
t o u c h e d a n d c lu n g . A n d a s t h e y c lu n g
t h e a u ra e s h r a n k a n d d i s a p p e a r e d .
T h e O v e r l o r d s o f D e lg o n w e r e a c t u ­
a l l y jee fling u p o n t h e e b b in g life f o r c e s
o f th e ir to r tu r e d , d y in g v ic tim s !
V I.
GRADUALLY and so in s id i o u s ly
t b a t . t h e V e l a n t i a n ’s d i r e w a r n i n g s m i g h t
a s w e ll n e v e r h a v e b e e n u t t e r e d , t h e
scen e c h a n g e d . O r r a th e r, th e sc e n e it­
s e lf d id n o t c h a n g e , b u t t h e o b s e r v e r s ’
p e rc e p tio n o f it s lo w ly u n d e rw e n t s u c h
a ra d ic a l tr a n s f o r m a tio n th a t it w a s in
n o s e n s e t h e s a m e s c e n e it h a d b e e n a
f e w m i n u t e s b e f o r e ; a n d t h e y f e lt a lm o s t
a b j e c t l y a p o lo g e t ic a s t h e y r e a l iz e d h o w
u n j u s t t h e i r p r e v i o u s id e a s h a d b e e n .
F o r t h e c a v e r n -w as n o t a t o r t u r e
c h a m b e r, a s th e y h a d su p p o s e d . I t w as,
i n r e a l i t y , a h o s p i ta l , a n d t h e b e in g s t h e y
h a d t h o u g h t v ic t im s o f b r u t a l i t i e s u n ­
s p e a k a b l e w e r e , in r e a l i t y , p a t i e n t s u n ­
d e rg o in g tre a tm e n ts a n d o p e ra tio n s fo r
v a r i o u s ills . I n p ro o f w h e re o f th e
p a tie n ts — w h o s h o u ld h a v e b e e n d e a d b y
t h i s t i m e w e r e t h e e a r l y id e a s w e ll-
f o u n d e d — w e r e n o w b e in g r e l e a s e d f r o m
t h e s c r e e n li k e o p e r a t i n g t h e a t e r . A nd
n o t o n ly w a s e a c h o n e c o m p l e te l y w h o le
a n d s o u n d in b o d y , b u t h e w a s a ls o
p o s s e s s e d o f a m e n ta l c la rity , p o w e r, a n d
g r a s p u n d r e a m e d o f b e f o r e h is h o s p i t a l i ­
z a t i o n a n d t r e a t m e n t b y D e l g o n ’s s u p e r
su rg eo n s!
A ls o , t h e i n t r u d e r s h a d m i s u n d e r s t o o d
c o m p l e te l y t h e a u d ie n c e a n d i t s b e h a v io r .
T h e y w e re re a lly m e d ic a l s tu d e n ts , a n d
t h e b e a m s w h ic h h a d s e e m e d t o b e d e ­
v o u r i n g r a y s w e r e s i m p l y v is ib e a m s , b y
m e a n s o f w h ic h e a c h s t u d e n t c o u ld f o l­
lo w , in c lo s e - u p d e ta i l, e a c h s t e p o f t h e
o p e r a t i o n in w h ic h h e w a s m o s t i n t e r ­
e s te d . The p a tie n ts th e m s e l v e s w e re
li v in g , v o c a l w i t n e s s e s o f t h e v i s i t o r s ’
m i s t a k e n n e s s , f o r e a c h , a s h e m a d e h is
w a y t h r o u g h t h e a s s e m b la g e o f s t u d e n t s ,
w a s v o ic i n g h i s t h a n k s f o r t h e m a r v e l ­
o u s re s u lts o f h is p a r tic u la r tr e a tm e n t o r
o p e ra tio n .
K in n is o n n o w b e c a m e a c u te ly a w a re
t h a t h e h im s e l f w a s in n e e d o f im m e d i a te
s u rg ic a l a tte n tio n . H i s b o d y , w h ic h h e
h a d a lw a y s r e g a r d e d s o h ig h l y , h e n o w
p e r c e i v e d t o b e s a d l y i n e f f i c i e n t ; b is
m i n d w a s in e v e n w o r s e s h a p e t h a n h i s
p h y s i q u e ; a n d b o th b o d y a n d m in d
w o u ld b e i m p r o v e d im m e a s u r a b l y if h e
c o u ld g e t t o t h e D e lg o n ia n h o s p i t a l b e ­
fo re th e s u rg e o n s d e p a rte d . I n fa rt, h e
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
fe lt a n a lm o s t irre s is tib le u rg e to r u s h
aw ay to w a rd th a t h o s p ita l in s ta n tly ,
w ith o u t th e lo s s of a s in g le p re c io u s
s e c o n d . A n d , sin c e h e h a d h a d n o r e a ­
s o n t o d o u b t t h e e v id e n c e o f h is o w n
s e n s e s , h is c o n s c i o u s m i n d w a s n o t
a r o u s e d t o a c t i v e o p p o s i ti o n . H ow ­
e v e r , in h is s u b c o n s c io u s , o r h i s e s s e n c e ,
o r w h a t e v e r y o u c h o o s e t o c a ll t h a t u l t i ­
m a t e s o m e t h i n g o f h is t h a t m a d e h i m a
L ensm an, a “dead, s lo w b e l l ’’ b e g a n
to so u n d .
“ R e le a s e m e a n d w e ’ll a ll g o , b e f o r e
t h e s u r g e o n s le a v e t h e h o s p i t a l ,’’ c a m e
a n in s i s t e n t t h o u g h t f r o m W o r s e l . “ B u t
h u r r y — w e h a v e n ’t m u c h t i m e ! ”
V a n B u s k i r k , c o m p l e te l y u n d e r t h e i n ­
f lu e n c e o f t h e f r a n t i c c o m p u l s i o n , le a p e d
t o w a r d t h e V e l a n t i a n , o n ly to b e c h e c k e d
b o d il y b y K i n n i s o n , w h o w a s f o g g ily
t r y i n g t o is o la t e a n d id e n t i f y o n e t h i n g
a b o u t th e s itu a tio n th a t d id n o t rin g
q u ite tr u e .
“ J u s t a m in u te , B u s . S h u t th a t d o o r
firs t!” he com m anded.
“ N e v e r m in d th e d o o r ! ” W o r s e l ’s
th o u g h t cam e in a r o a r in g cre sc e n d o .
“ R e le a s e m e i n s t a n t l y ! H u r r y , o r it
w ill b e to o la t e , f o r a ll o f u s ! ”
“ A l l t h i s t e r r i f i c r u s h d o e s n ’t m a k e
a n y k i n d o f s e n s e a t a l l ,” K i n n i s o n d e ­
c l a r e d , c lo s in g h is m i n d r e s o l u t e l y t o
t h e c l a m o r o f t h e V e l a n t i a n ’s t h o u g h t s .
“ I w a n t t o g o j u s t a s b a d ly a s y o u d o ,
B u s , o r m a y b e m o r e s o — b u t I c a n ’t
h e lp f e e lin g t h a t t h e r e ’s s o m e t h i n g
sc re w y so m ew h ere. A n y w a y , re m e m b e r
t h e l a s t t h i n g W o r s e l s a i d , a n d l e t ’s
s h u t th e d o o r b e fo re w e u n s n a p a s in ­
g le c h a i n . ”
T h e n s o m e t h i n g c lic k e d i n t h e L e n s -
m a n ’s m in d .
“ H y p n o t i s m , t h r o u g h W o r s e l !” h e
b a r k e d , o p p o s i ti o n n o w a f la m e . “ So
g r a d u a l t h a t it n e v e r o c c u r r e d t o m e t o
b u il d u p a r e s i s t a n c e . H o ly ra c k e ts,
w h a t a f o o l I ’v e b e e n ! F i g h t ’e m , B u s
•—fight ’em! D o n 't le t ’e m k i d y o u a n y
m o re , a n d p a y n o a tte n tio n to a n y th in g
W o r s e l s e n d s a t y o u ! ’’ W h i r l i n g a r o u n d ,
67
h e le a p e d t o w a r d t h e o p e n d o o r o f t h e
te n t.
B u t a s h e le a p e d h is b r a i n w a s i n ­
v a d e d b y s u c h a c o n c e n tra tio n o f fo rc e
t h a t h e fe ll fla t u p o n t h e flo o r , p h y s i c a ll y
o u t o f c o n tro l. H e m u s t not s h u t t h e
d o o r. H e m ust r e l e a s e t h e V e l a n t i a n .
T h e y must g o t o t h e D e lg o n ia n c a v e r n .
F u lly a w a re n o w , h o w e v e r, of th e so u rc e
o f th e w a v e s o f c o m p u ls io n , h e th r e w
t h e s u m t o t a l o f h i s m e n t a l p o w e r in t o
a n in t e n s e n e g a t i o n a n d s t r u g g l e d , in c h -
w is e , t o w a r d t h e o p e n in g .
U P O N H I M N O W , in a d d i t i o n t o
th e D e lg o n ia n s ’ c o m p u ls io n , b e a t a t
p o in t-b la n k r a n g e th e fu ll p o w e r o f
W o r s e l 's m i g h t y m i n d , d e m a n d i n g r e ­
le a s e a n d c o m p lia n c e . A ls o , a n d w o r s e ,
h e p e rc e iv e d th a t so m e p o w e rfu l m e n ­
t a l i t y w a s b e in g e x e r t e d to m a k e V a n ­
B u s k i r k k il l h im . O n e b lo w o f t h e
V a l e r i a n ’s p o n d e r o u s m a c e w o u ld s h a t ­
t e r h e lm e t a n d s k u l l, a n d a ll w o u ld b e
o v e r . O n c e m o r e t h e D e l g o n i a n s w o u ld
h a v e tr iu m p h e d . B u t th e s tu b b o rn
D u tc h m a n , a lth o u g h a t th e v e ry v e rg e
o f s u r r e n d e r , w a s s t i l l f i g h tin g . He
w o u ld t a k e o n e s t e p f o r w a r d , b lu d g e o n
p o i s e d a lo f t, o n l y t o t h r o w i t c o n v u l­
s i v e ly b a c k w a r d .
A g a in a n d a g a in V a n B u s k ir k r e ­
p e a t e d h is f u t i l e p e r f o r m a n c e , w h ile t h e
L e n s m a n s tru g g le d n e a r e r a n d n e a r e r
th e d o o r. F in a lly , h e re a c h e d it a n d
k ic k e d i t s h u t . In s ta n tly , th e m e n ta l
t u r m o i l c e a s e d a n d t h e tw o , w h ite a n d
s h a k i n g p a t r o l m e n r e l e a s e d t h e li m p , u n ­
c o n s c io u s V e la n tia n fr o m h is b o n d s.
“ W o n d e r w h a t w e c a n d o t o h e lp h i m
r e v i v e ,” gasp ed K in n is o n . B ut h is
s o l ic i tu d e w a s u n n e c e s s a r y ; t h e V e l a n ­
tia n re c o v e re d c o n s c io u s n e s s a s h e
spoke.
“ T h a n k s to y o u r w o n d e rfu l p o w e r o f
r e s i s t a n c e , I a m a liv e , u n h a r m e d , a n d
k n o w m o re o f o u r fo e s a n d th e i r m e th ­
o d s th a n a n y o th e r o f m y ra c e h a s e v e r
l e a r n e d ,” W o r s e l t h o u g h t , f e e lin g ly .
“ B u t i t is o f n o v a lu e w h a t e v e r u n l e s s
68 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
I c a n s e n d it b a c k to V e la n tia . The
t h o u g h t s c r e e n is c a r r i e d o n ly b y t h e
m e ta l o f th e s e w a lls ; a n d if I m a k e a n
o p e n i n g i n t h e w a ll t o t h i n k t h r o u g h ,
h o w e v e r s m a ll, i t w ill n o w m e a n d e a t h .
O f c o u r s e , t h e s c ie n c e o f y o u r p a t r o l h a s
not p e rfe c te d an a p p a ra tu s to d riv e
t h r o u g h s u c h a s c r e e n .”
“N o. A n y w a y , it se e m s to m e th a t
w e ’d b e t t e r b e w o r r y i n g a b o u t s o m e ­
t h i n g b e s i d e s t h o u g h t s c r e e n s ,” K i n n i -
s o n s u g g e s te d , “ S u re ly , n o w th a t th e y
k n o w w h e r e w e a r e , t h e y ’ll b e c o m i n g
o u t h e r e a f t e r u s , a n d w e h a v e n ’t g o t
m u c h o f a n y d e f e n s e .”
“ T h e y d o n ’t k n o w w h e r e w e a r e , o r
c a r e --------” b e g a n th e V e la n tia n .
" W h y n o t? ” b ro k e in V a n B u s k irk ,
“ A n y sp y r a y c a p a b le o f s u c h s c a n n in g
a s y o u s h o w e d us-— I n e v e r s a w a n y ­
t h i n g lik e i t b e f o r e —- w o u ld c e r t a i n l y
b e a s e a sy to tr a c e a s a n o u t-a n d -o u t
g a s b la s t!”
“ I s e n t o u t n o sp y r a y o r a n y th in g
o f t h e k i n d , ” W o r s e l t h o u g h t , c a r e f u ll y .
“ S in c e o u r s c ie n c e is s o f o r e i g n t o
y o u rs , I a m n o t s u r e th a t I c a n e x p la in
s a t is f a c to r ily , b u t I s h a l l t r y t o d o s o .
F ir s t, a s to w h a t y o u sa w . W h e n th a t
d o o r is o p e n , n o b a r r ie r to th o u g h t
e x is ts . I m e re ly b ro a d c a s t a th o u g h t,
p l a c i n g m y s e lf en rapport w i t h t h e D e l-
g o n i a n O v e r l o r d s in t h e i r r e t r e a t . T h i s
c o n d it io n e s t a b li s h e d , o f c o u r s e I h e a r d
a n d s a w e x a c tly w h a t th e y h e a rd a n d
sa w — a n d so, e q u a lly o f c o u rs e , d id y o u ,
s i n c e y o u w e r e a ls o en rapport w i t h m e .
T h a t is a l l .”
* “ T h a t ’s all!” e c h o e d V a n B u s k i r k .
“ W h a t a s y s te m ! Y o u c a n d o a th in g
lik e t h a t , w i t h o u t a p p a r a t u s o f a n y k i n d ,
a n d y e t s a y ‘t h a t ’s a l l ’ !”
“ I t is r e s u l t s t h a t c o u n t ,” W o r s e l r e ­
m i n d e d h i m g e n tl y . “ W h i l e i t is t r u e
t h a t w e h a v e d o n e m u c h — t h i s is t h e
f i r s t tirrte i n h i s t o r y t h a t a n y V e l a n t i a n
h a s e n c o u n t e r e d t h e m i n d o f a D e l-
g o n i a n O v e r l o r d a n d liv e d . I t is e q u a ll y
t r u e t h a t i t w a s t h e w ill p o w e r o f y o u
p a t r o l m e n t h a t m a d e i t p o s s ib le , n o t
my m e n ta lity . A ls o , it re m a in s tru e
th a t w e cannot le a v e th is ro o m and
li v e .”
“ W h y w o n ’t w e n e e d w e a p o n s ? ”
a s k e d K i n n i s o n , r e t u r n i n g t o h is p r e v i ­
o u s lin e o f t h o u g h t .
“ T h o u g h t s c r e e n s a r e t h e o n ly d e ­
f e n s e w e w ill r e q u i r e , ” W o r s e l s t a t e d ,
p o s i ti v e ly , “ fo r th e y use no w eapons
e x c e p t th e ir m in d s. B y m e n ta l p o w e r
a lo n e th e y m a k e u s c o m e to t h e m ; a n d ,
o n c e th e r e , th e ir s la v e s d o th e re s t. O f
c o u r s e , if m y r a c e is e v e r t o r i d t h e
p la n e t o f th e m , w e m u s t e m p lo y o ffe n ­
s iv e w e a p o n s o f p o w e r. W e h a v e s u c h ,
b u t w e h a v e n e v e r b e e n a b le t o u s e
th e m . F o r , i n o r d e r t o lo c a te t h e e n e m y ,
e ith e r b y te le p a th y o r b y s p y ra y , w e
m u s t o p e n o u r m e t a ll ic s h i e ld s —- a n d t h e
in s ta n t w e re le a s e th o s e s c re e n s w e a r e
lo s t. F r o m t h o s e c o n d i t i o n s t h e r e is
n o e s c a p e ,” W o rse l c o n c lu d e d , hope­
le s s ly .
“ D o n ’t b e s u c h a p e s s i m i s t ,” K i n n i s o n
c o m m a n d e d . “ T h e r e a re a lo t o f th in g s
n o t tr ie d y e t. F o r in s ta n c e , fr o m w h a t
I h a v e se e n o f y o u r g e n e r a to r e q u ip ­
m e n t a n d t h a t s c r e e n , y o u d o n ’t n e e d a
m e t a ll ic c o n d u c t o r a n y m o r e t h a n a
s n a k e n e e d s h ip s . M a y b e I 'm w r o n g ,
b u t I t h i n k w e ’r e a b i t a h e a d o f y o u
th e r e . I f a D e V ilb is s p r o je c to r c a n
h a n d le th a t sc re e n — a n d I th in k it c a n ,
w ith s p e c ia l tu n in g — V a n B u s k ir k a n d I
c a n f i x t h i n g s i n a n h o u r s o t h a t a ll
th r e e o f u s c a n w a lk o u t o f h e re in p e r ­
fe c t s a fe ty — fro m m e n ta l in te rfe re n c e , a t
le a s t. W h i l e w e ’r e t r y i n g i t o u t , t e l l
u s a ll t h e n e w s t u f f y o u g o t o n t h e m
j u s t n o w , a n d a n y t h i n g e ls e t h a t , b y a n y
p o s s ib il it y , m a y p r o v e u s e f u l. A n d r e ­
m e m b e r y o u s a i d t h i s is t h e f i r s t t i m e
a n y o f y o u h a d b e e n a b le t o c u t t h e m
o ff . T hat fa c t o u g h t to m ake th e m
s i t u p a n d t a k e n o ti c e . P r o b a b l y t h e y ’l l
s tir a ro u n d m o re th a n th e y e v e r d id b e ­
f o r e . C o m e o n , B u s — l e t ’s t e a r i n t o i t !”
TH E D e V ilb is s p ro je c to r s w e re
rig g e d a n d tu n e d . K in n is o n h a d b e e n
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 69

r i g h t ; th e y w o rk e d . T h e n p la n a f te r
p l a n w a s m a d e , o n ly t o b e d i s c a r d e d a s
its w e a k n e s s e s w e re p o in te d o u t.
“ W h i c h e v e r w a y w e lo o k t h e r e a r e
t o o m a n y ‘i f s ’ a n d ‘b u t s ’ t o s u i t m e ,”
K in n is o n su m m ed u p th e s itu a tio n
f in a lly . " I f w e c a n f in d t h e m , a n d if
w e c a n g e t u p c lo s e t o t h e m w i t h o u t
l o s i n g o u r m i n d s t o t h e m , w e c o u ld c le a n
t h e m o u t if w e h a d s o m e p o w e r in o u r
a c c u m u l a t o r s . S o I ’d s a y t h e f i r s t t h i h g
f o r u s t o d o is t o g e t o u r b a t t e r i e s
c h a r g e d . W e s a w s o m e c itie s f r o m t h e
a i r , a n d c it ie s a lw a y s h a v e p o w e r . L e a d
u s t o p o w e r , W o r s e l — a l m o s t any k i n d
o f p o w e r — a n d w e ’ll s o o n h a v e i t i n
o u r g u n s .”
“ T h e r e a r e c itie s , y e s ” — W o r s e l w a s
n o t a t a ll e n t h u s i a s t i c “ d w e lli n g p la c e s
o f t h e o r d i n a r y D e lg o n ia n s , t h e p e o p le
y o u s a w b e in g e a te n in t h e c a v e r n o f
th e O v e rlo rd s . A s y o u sa w , th e y r e ­
s e m b le u s V e l a n t i a n s to a c e r t a i n e x t e n t ,
S in c e t h e y a r e o f a l o w e r c u l t u r e a n d
a r e m u c h w e a k e r in life f o r c e t h a n w e
a r c , h o w e v e r , t h e O v e r l o r d s p r e f e r u s to
th e ir o w n sla v e races,
“ T o v is it a n y c it y o f D e lg o n is o u t

“S top that radiating! Do not th in k at all i f you cannot screen your

m ind,” came the mental command.
70 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
o f th e q u e s t io n . E v e ry in h a b ita n t of
e v e r y c it y i s a n a b j e c t s la v e a n d h is
b r a i n is a n o p e n b o o k . W h a te v e r h e
s e e s , w h a t e v e r h e t h i n k s , is c o m m u n i­
c a te d i n s t a n t l y t o h is m a s t e r . A nd I
n o w p e rc e iv e th a t I m a y h a v e m is in ­
f o r m e d y o u a s t o t h e O v e r l o r d s ’ a b il it y
to u se w eap o n s. W h ile th e s itu a tio n
h a s n e v e r a r i s e n , it is o n ly lo g ic a l t o
su p p o se th a t a s so o n a s w e a re seen by
a n y D e lg o n ia n t h e c o n t r o l l e r s w ill o r d e r
a ll th e i n h a b i t a n t s o f t h e c it y t o c a p t u r e
u s a n d b rin g u s to th e m .”
“ W h a t a g u y ! ” in te rje c te d V a n B u s -
k irk . “ D id you e v e r see h is to p fo r
lo o k in g a t th e b r ig h t s id e o f life ? ”
“ O n l y in c o n v e r s a t i o n ,” t h e L e n s m a n
r e p lie d . “ W h e n t h e e t h e r g e t s c r o w d e d ,
y o u n o ti c e , h e ’s r i g h t i n h e r e , b l a s t i n g
a w a y a n d n o t sa y in g a w o rd . B ut
t h e r e ’s o n e t h i n g w e h a v e n ’t t h o u g h t o f :
p o w e r. I ’v e g o t o n ly e i g h t m i n u t e s
o f f r e e f l ig h t le f t in m y b a t t e r y ; a n d
w i t h y o u r m a s s , y o u m u s t b e a b o u t o u t.
C o m e to t h i n k o f it , d i d n ’t y o u l a n d a
tr if l e h a r d w h e n w e s a t d o w n h e r e ? ”
“ P ra c tic a lly in e r t.”
“ T h a t m e a n s w e ’v e got t o g e t s o m e
p o w e r . W e ll , i t ’s n o t s o b a d , a t t h a t ;
t h e r e ’s a c it y r i g h t c lo s e .”
“ Y e s , b u t a s f a r a s I ’m c o n c e r n e d it
m i g h t a s w e ll b e o n M a r s . Y ou know
a s w e ll a s I d o w h a t ’s b e tw e e n h e r e a n d
th e re . Y o u c a n ta k e m y b a tte rie s a n d
I ’ll w a i t h e r e . ”
‘■‘O n y o u r e m e r g e n c y f o o d , w a t e r , a n d
a ir ? T h a t ’s o u t ! ”
" W h a t e ls e , t h e n ? ”
" I c a n s p r e a d m y fie ld t o c o v e r a ll
th r e e of u s ,” p ro p o s e d K in n is o n . “ T h a t
w ill g iv e u s a t le a s t o n e m i n u t e o f f r e e
flig h t— a lm o s t , if n o t q u i t e , 'e n o u g h t o
c le a r th e ju n g le . T h e y h a v e n ig h t h e r e ;
a n d , lik e u s , t h e D e l g o n i a n s a r e n i g h t
sle e p e rs. W e s t a r t a t d u s k , a n d to - n ig h t
w e r e c h a r g e o u r b a t t e r i e s .”
TH E F O L L O W IN G H O U R , d u r­
i n g w h ic h t h e h u g e , h o t S u n d r o p p e d t o
t h e h o r i z o n , w a s s p e n t i n in t e n s e d i s ­
c u s s io n , b u t n o s i g n if i c a n t i m p r o v e m e n t
u p o n t h e L e n s m a n ’s p l a n c o u ld b e d e ­
v is e d .
“ I t is t i m e t o g o ,” W o r s e l a n n o u n c e d ,
c u r l i n g o u t o n e e x te n s il e e y e t o w a r d t h e
v a n i s h i n g o r b . “ I h a v e r e c o r d e d a ll m y
f i n d in g s . A l r e a d y I h a v e li v e d l o n g e r
a n d , t h r o u g h y o u , h a v e a c c o m p lis h e d
m o r e , t h a n a n y o n e b e lie v e d p o s s ib le .
I a m r e a d y t o d ie . I s h o u l d h a v e b e e n
d e a d lo n g s i n c e .”
" L i v i n g o n b o r r o w e d t i m e ’s a l o t
b e t t e r t h a n n o t li v in g a t a l l ,” K i n n i s o n
r e p l ie d , w i t h a g r i n . “ L in k u p . R eady ?
G o !”
H e s n a p p e d h i s s w it c h e s a n d t h e
c lo s e - li n k e d g r o u p o f t h r e e s h o t in t o t h e
a i r a n d a w a y . A s f a r a s t h e e y e c o u ld
r e a c h in a n y d i r e c t i o n e x t e n d e d th e
s e n tie n t, ra v e n o u s g ro w th o f th e j u n g l e ;
b u t K i n n i s o n ’s e y e s w e r e n o t u p o n t h a t
f a n t a s t i c a l l y in i m i c a l g r e e n c a r p e t . H i s
w h o le a t t e n t i o n w a s o c c u p ie d b y t w o
a ll-im p o rta n t m e te rs a n d b y th e ta s k o f
s o d i r e c t i n g t h e i r f lig h t a s t o g a i n t h e
g r e a t e s t p o s s ib le h o r i z o n t a l d is ta n c e
w ith th e p o w e r a t h is c o m m a n d .
F i f t y s e c o n d s o f f l a s h in g f lig h t, t h e n :
“ A ll r i g h t , W o r s e l , g e t o u t in f r o n t a n d
g e t r e a d y t o p u l l !” K i n n i s o n s n a p p e d .
“ T e n s e c o n d s o f d r i v e le f t, b u t I c a n
h o ld u s f r e e f o r fiv e s e c o n d s a f t e r m y
d r i v e r q u it s . P u ll!”
K i n n i s o n ’s d r i v e r e x p i r e d , i t s s m a ll
a c c u m u l a t o r c o m p l e te l y e x h a u s t e d ; a n d
W o r s e l , w i t h h i s m i g h t y w in g s , t o o k u p
t h e t a s k o f p r o p u l s i o n . I n e r t i a l e s s s t il l,
w ith K in n is o n a n d V a n B u s k ir k g r a s p ­
i n g h i s ta i l, e a c h b e a t a m i le - lo n g le a p ,
h e s tru g g le d o n . B u t a ll to o s o o n t h e
b a t t e r y p o w e r i n g t h e n e u t r a l i z e r s a ls o
w e n t d e a d a n d th e th r e e b e g a n to p lu m ­
m e t d o w n w a rd a t a s h a rp e r a n d s h a rp e r
a n g le , i n s p i te o f t h e V e l a n t i a n ’s H e r ­
c u l e a n e f f o r t s t o k e e p t h e m a lo f t.
S o m e d is ta n c e a h e a d o f th e m th e
g r e e n o f th e ju n g le e n d e d in a s h a rp ly
c u t lin e , b e y o n d w h ic h t h e r e w a s a
h e a v y g r o w t h o f f a i r l y o p e n f o r e s t. A
c o u p le o f m i le s o f t h i s a n d t h e r e w a s
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L n
th e c ity , t h e i r o b je c t iv e — s o near and e n c a s e d in s o m e th in g m o re r e s is ta n t f a r
y et so fa r! t h a n s k i n , s c a le s , o r b a r k .
“ W e ’ll e i t h e r j u s t m a k e t h e t i m b e r o r B u t t h e L e n s m a n a n d h is g i a n t c o m ­
w e j u s t w o n ’t , ” K i n n i s o n , m e n t a l l y p a n i o n w e r e n o t q u ie s c e n t. T h e y c a m e
p lo ttin g th e c o u rs e , a n n o u n c e d d is p a s ­ dow n o r i e n t e d a n d f i g h ti n g . V a ti-
s i o n a te l y . “ J u s t a s w e ll if w e l a n d in B u s k i r k , in t h e v a n , s w u n g h is f r i g h t f u l
t h e j u n g l e , I t h i n k . I t ’ll b r e a k o u r fa ll, s p a c e a x a s a r e a p e r s w in g s h js s c y t h e
a n y w a y ; a n d h i t t i n g s o lid g r o u n d i n e r t •— o n e s o lid , s h o r t s t e p f o r w a r d w i t h
a t t h i s s p e e d m i g h t b e p r e t t y s e r i o u s .” e a c h s w in g . A n d c lo s e b e h in d t h e
V a l e r i a n s t r o d e K i n n i s o n , h i s o w n fly ­
“ If we la n d in th e ju n g le w e w ill
i n g a x g u a r d i n g t h e g i a n t ’s h e a d a n d
n e v e r le a v e i t ” — W o r s e l ’s t h o u g h t d i d
back.
n o t s lo w t h e in c r e d ib l e t e m p o o f h i s
M a s s e s o f t h a t o b s c e n e v e g e ta tio n
p r o d i g i o u s p in i o n s — “ b u t it m a k e s l i t ­
c ra s h e d d o w n u p o n th e ir h e a d s fro m
t l e d if f e r e n c e w h e th e r I d ie now or
a b o v e , r e v o l t i n g c u p p e d o r if ic e s s u c k ­
la te r .”
in g a n d s m a c k in g ; a n d th e y w e re s h o w ­
“ It d o e s to us, you p e s s im i s t ic e r e d c o n t i n u a l l y w ith flo o d s o f t h e
c ro a k e r!" fla re d K in n is o n . “ F o rg e t
o p a q u e , c o r r o s i v e s a p t o t h e a c ti o n o f
th a t d y in g c o m p le x o f y o u r s f o r a m in ­ w h ic h e v e n th e ir a r m o r w a s n o t e n ­
u te ! R e m e m b e r t h e p l a n a n d fo llo w t i r e l y im m u n e . B u t , h a m p e r e d a s t h e y
it! W e ’r e g o i n g t o s t r i k e t h e j u n g l e , w e r e a n d a l m o s t b li n d e d , t h e y s t r u g g l e d
a b o u t n i n e t y o r a h u n d r e d m e t e r s in . i n d o m it a b ly o n ; w h ile b e h in d t h e m a n
I f y o u c o m e in w i t h u s y o u d ie a t o n c e , e v e r - l e n g t h e n i n g c o r r i d o r o f d e m o l it io n
a n d t h e r e s t o f o u r s c h e m e is a ll s h o t
m a rk e d th e ir p ro g re ss.
t o p ie c e s . S o w h e n w e le t g o , y o u “ A i n ’t w e g o t f u n ? ” g r u n t e d t h e
g o a h e a d a n d la n d in t h e w o o d s . W e ’ll D u t c h m a n , i n ti m e w ith h is s w in g . “ B u t
jo in y o u th e re , n e v e r f e a r ; o u r a rm o r w e ’r e q u i t e a t e a m a t t h a t , c h ie f — b r a i n s
w ill h o ld l o n g e n o u g h f o r u s t o c u t o u r
a n d b ra w n , h u h ? ”
w a y th r o u g h a h u n d re d m e te rs o f a n y “ U h - h u h , ” d i s s e n t e d K i n n i s o n , h is fly ­
ju n g le th a t e v e r g re w — e v e n th is o n e . i n g w e a p o n a s o l id d i s k o f s te e l t o t h e
G et read y , B u s. L e g g o !” e y e . “ G r a c e a n d p o i s e ; o r , if y o u w a n t
t o b e r e a l l y r o m a n t i c , h a m a n d e g g s .”
THEY DROPPED. T h ro u g h th e “ R a c k a n d r u i n w ill b e m o r e lik e it
lu s h su c c u le n c e o f c lo s e - p a c k e d upper if w e d o n ’t b r e a k o u t b e f o r e t h i s c o n ­
le a v e s a n d t e n t a c l e s t h e y c r a s h e d — fo u n d e d g o o e a ts th r o u g h o u r a rm o r.
th ro u g h th e h e a v ie r, w ooded m a in B u t w e ’r e m a k i n g i t — t h e s t u f f ’s t h i n ­
b r a n c h e s b e lo w , t h r o u g h t o t h e g r o u n d . n in g o u t a n d I th in k I c a n see tr e e s u p
A n d th e r e th e y fo u g h t f o r th e ir liv e s ; a h e a d .”
f o r th o s e v o r a c i o u s p l a n t s n o u r i s h e d “ I t is w e ll if y o u c a n ,” c a m e a c o ld ,
th e m s e l v e s n o t o n l y u p o n t h e s o il i n c le a r th o u g h t fr o m W o rs e l, “ fo r I a m
w h ic h t h e i r r o o t s w e r e e m b e d d e d , b u t s o r e ly b e s e t. H a s te n o r I p e r is h ! ”
a ls o u p o n a n y t h i n g o r g a n i c u n lu c k y A t th a t th o u g h t th e tw o p a tro lm e n
e n o u g h to c o m e w ith in re a c h . F la b b y fo rg e d a h e a d in a b u r s t o f fu rio u s
b u t t o u g h t e n t a c l e s e n c ir c le d t h e m ; a c ti v it y . C r a s h i n g t h r o u g h t h e t h i n n i n g
g h a s t l y s u c k i n g d is k s , e x u d i n g a p o t e n t b a r r i e r s o f t h e j u n g l e ’s e d g e , t h e y
c o rro s iv e , s lo b b e re d w e tly a t th e ir w ip e d th e ir le n s e s p a rtia lly c le a r ,
a r m o r ; k n o b b e d a n d s p i k y b lu d g e o n s g la n c e d q u ic k l y a b o u t , a n d s a w t h e
w h a n g e d a g a i n s t t e m p e r e d s te e l a s t h e V e la n tia n . T h a t w o r th y w a s “ s o re ly
m o n s t r o u s o r g a n i s m s b e g a n d im ly t o b e s e t” in d e e d . S ix a n im a ls — h u g e ,
re a liz e th a t th e s e p a r tic u la r titb its w e re r e p t i l i a n , b u t li th e a n d a c ti v e — h a d h im
72 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
dow n. S o h e lp l e s s l y im m o b i le w a s
W o r s e l t h a t h e c o u ld s c a r c e ly m o v e h i s
ta i l , -a n d t h e m o n s t e r s w e r e a l r e a d y b e ­
g i n n i n g t o g n a w a t h i s s c a ly , a r m o r e d
h id e .
‘‘I ’ll p u t a s t o p t o t h a t , W o r s e l !”
c a lle d K i n n i s o n , r e f e r r i n g t o t h e fa c t,
w e ll k n o w n t o a ll u s m o d e r n s , t h a t a n y
r e a l a n im a l, n o m a t t e r h o w s a v a g e , c a n
b e c o n tro lle d b y a n y w e a r e r o f th e L e n s .
F o r , n o m a t t e r h o w lo w i n t h e s c a le o f
in t e ll ig e n c e t h e a n i m a l is , t h e L c n s m a n
c a n g e t in to u c h w ith w h a te v e r m in d
t h e c r e a t u r e h a s a n d r e a s o n w i t h it.
B u t th e s e m o n s tro s itie s , a s K in n is o n
l e a r n e d im m e d i a te l y , w e r e n o t r e a l ly
a n im a ls . E v e n t h o u g h o f a n im a l f o r m
a n d m o b i li ty , t h e y w e r e p u r e l y v e g e ­
ta b l e i n m o t i v a t i o n a n d b e h a v io r , r e ­
a c t i n g o n ly t o t h e s t im u li o f fo o d a n d
o f re p ro d u c tio n . W e ird ly a n d c o m ­
p le t e ly in i m i c a l t o a ll o t h e r f o r m s o f
c r e a t e d life , t h e y w e r e s o u t t e r l y n o i ­
s o m e , s o c o m p l e te l y a li e n t h a t t h e fu ll
p o w e r o f m i n d a n d L e n s f a ile d e n t i r e l y
t o g a 'in r a p p o r t .
U P O N t h a t c o n f u s e d ly w r i t h i n g h e a p
t h e p a t r o l m e n f lu n g t h e m s e l v e s , t e r r i b l e
a x e s d e s tru c tiv e ly a -s w in g . I n tu r n ,
th e y w e re a tta c k e d v ic io u s ly ; b u t th is
b a tt le w a s n o t lo n g t o e n d u r e . V an-
B u s k i r k ’s f i r s t t e r r i f i c b lo w k n o c k e d o n e
a d v e r s a r y a w a y , a lm o s t s p i n n i n g e n d
o v er end. K i n n i s o n to o k o u t o n e , th e
D u t c h m a n a n o t h e r , a n d t h e r e m a in i n g
t h r e e w e r e n o m a t c h a t a ll f o r t h e
h u m i li a te d a n d f u r i o u s l y r a g i n g V e la n -
tia n . B u t it w a s n o t u n til th e m o n s tro s i­
ti e s h a d b e e n g r u e s o m e l y c a r v e d a n d
t o m a p a r t , li te r a l l y lim b f r o m h id e o u s
lim b , t h a t t h e y c e a s e d t h e i r in s e n s a te l y
v o r a c i o u s a tt a c k s .
“ T h e y to o k m e b y s u r p ris e ,” e x ­
p la i n e d W o r s e l , u n n e c e s s a r i l y , a s t h e
th r e e m a d e th e ir w a y th r o u g h th e n ig h t
t o w a r d t h e i r g o a l, “ a n d s i x o f t h e m a t
o n c e w e r e to o m u c h f o r m e . I trie d
t o h o ld t h e i r m i n d s , b u t a p p a r e n t l y th e y
h a v e n o n e .”
“ H o w a b o u t th e O v e rlo r d s ? ” a sk e d
K in n is o n . “ S u p p o s e th e y h a v e re c e iv e d
a n y o f o u r th o u g h ts ? W e p a tr o lm e n a t
le a s t h a v e b e e n d o i n g a • lo t of un­
g u a r d e d r a d i a t i n g l a t e l y .”
“ N o , ” W o r s e l m a d e p o s i ti v e r e p l y .
“ T h e t h o u g h t s c r e e n b a t t e r i e s , w h ile
s m a ll a n d o f v e r y li t t l e a c t u a l p o w e r ,
h a v e , n e v e r t h e l e s s , a v e r y lo n g s e r v ic e
life . N o w le t u s a g a i n g o o v e r t h e n e x t
s t e p s o f o u r p l a n o f a c t i o n .”
S in c e n o m o re u n to w a rd e v e n ts
m a r r e d t h e i r p r o g r e s s t o w a r d t h e D e l-
g o n i a n c ity , t h e y s o o n r e a c h e d it. It
w a s fo r th e m o s t p a r t d a r k a n d q u ie t,
its s o m b e r b u ild in g s m e re ly b la c k e r
b lo b s a g a in s t a b a c k g ro u n d of b la c k .
H e r e a n d th e re , h o w e v e r, w e re to b e
s e e n a u t o m o t i v e v e h ic le s m o v i n g a b o u t ,
a n d th e th r e e in v a d e r s c ro u c h e d a g a in s t
a c o n v e n ie n t w a ll, w a t i n g f o r o n e t o
c o m e a l o n g t h e “ s t r e e t ” in w h ic h t h e y
w e re . E v e n tu a lly o n e d id .
A s it p a s s e d t h e m W o r s e l s p r a n g in t o
h e a d lo n g , g lid in g f lig h t, K i n n i s o n ’s
h e a v y k n if e in o n e g n a r l e d f is t. A nd
a s h e s a i le d h e s t r u c k — le t h a ll y . B e fo re
t h a t lu c k l e s s D e l g o n i a n 's b r a i n c o u ld
r a d i a t e a s i n g le t h o u g h t it w a s i n n o
c o n d i t i o n t o f u n c t io n a t a l l ; f o r t h e h e a d
c o n t a i n i n g it w a s b o u n c i n g i n t h e g u t ­
te r . W o r s e l b a c k e d th e p e c u lia r c o n ­
v e y a n c e a lo n g t h e c u r b a n d h is t w o
c o m p a n i o n s le a p e d i n t o it, ly i n g f l a t
u p o n i t s f lo o r a n d c o v e r i n g t h e m s e l v e s
f r o m s i g h t a s b e s t t h e y c o u ld .
W o rs e l, fa m ilia r w ith th in g s D e v o n ­
i a n a n d lo o k i n g e n o u g h lik e a n a t i v e
o f t h e p l a n e t t o p a s s a c a s u a l in s p e c ­
t i o n in t h e d a r k , d r o v e t h e c a r . S t r e e t s
a n d th o r o u g h fa re s h e tr a v e r s e d a t re c k ­
le s s s p e e d , fin a lly d r a w i n g u p b e f o r e a
lo n g , lo w b u il d in g , e n tire ly d a r k . He
s c a n n e d h is s u r r o u n d i n g s w ith c a r e , in
e v e r y d ir e c ti o n . N o t a c r e a t u r e w a s i n
s ig h t.
" A l l is c le a r , f r i e n d s , ” h e t h o u g h t ,
a n d th e th r e e a d v e n tu r e r s s p r a n g to th e
b u i l d i n g 's e n t r a n c e . 'H i e d o o r — it h a d
a d o o r , o f s o r t s — w a s lo c k e d , b u t V a n -
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
B u s k i r k ’s a x m a d e s h o r t w o r k o f t h a t
d if f ic u lty . In s id e , th e y b ra c e d th e
w re c k e d d o o r a g a in s t in tru s io n . T hen
W o r s e l le d t h e w a y i n t o t h e u n l i g h t e d
in te rio r. S o o n h e f la s h e d h i s la m p
a b o u t h im a n d s t e p p e d u p o n a b la c k ,
p e c u l i a r l y m a r k e d t i l e s e t in t o t h e f l o o r ;
w h e re u p o n a h a rs h , w h ite lig h t illu ­
m in a te d th e ro o m .
“ C ut it, b e fo re so m eb o d y ta k e s
a l a r m !’’ s n a p p e d K in n i s o n .
“ N o d a n g e r o f t h a t , ” r e p l ie d t h e
V e la n tia n . “ T h e r e a r e n o w in d o w s in
a n y o f t h e s e r o o m s : n o li g h t c a n b e
s e e n f r o m o u t s i d e . T h i s is t h e c o n t r o l
r o o m o f t h e c i t y ’s p o w e r p l a n t . If you
c a n c o n v e rt a n y o f th is p o w e r to y o u r
u s e s , h e lp y o u r s e l v e s t o it. In th is
b u i l d i n g is a ls o D e l g o n ’s c lo s e s t a p p r o x i ­
m a tio n to a m u n itio n s p la n t. W h e th e r
o r n o t a n y t h i n g i n i t c a n b e o f s e r v ic e
t o y o u is , o f c o u r s e , f o r y o u t o s a y . I
a m n o w a t y o u r d i s p o s a l .”
W h ile th e V e la n tia n w a s th in k in g
th e s e t h i n g s K i n n i s o n h a d b e e n s t u d y ­
in g t h e p a n e l s a n d i n s t r u m e n t s . N ow
h e a n d V a n B u s k ir k to r e o p e n th e ir
a r m o r — th e y h a d a lre a d y le a rn e d th a t
t h e a t m o s p h e r e o f D e lg o n , w h ile n o t a s
w h o le s o m e f o r t h e m a s t h a t i n t h e i r
s u i t s , w o u ld , f o r a t i m e a t le a s t, s u p ­
p o r t h u m a n life — a n d w r o u g h t d il ig e n t ly
w i t h p li e r s , s c r e w d r i v e r s , a n d o t h e r
to o l s o f t h e e le c tr i c ia n . S o o n t h e i r e x ­
h a u ste d b a tte rie s w e re upon th e f lo o r
b e n e a t h t h e i n s t r u m e n t p a n e l, g r e e d i l y
a b s o r b i n g t h e e le c tr i c a l flu id f r o m t h e
b u s b a r s o f t h e D e lg o n ia n s .
“ N o w , w h ile t h e y ’r e g e t t i n g fille d u p ,
l e t ’s s e e w h a t t h e y m e a n b y ‘m u n i t i o n s '
in th e s e p a r t s , ” K in n is o n o rd e re d .
“ L e a d on, W o rs e l!”
V II.
W I T H W O R S E L i n t h e le a d , th e
th r e e in te rlo p e rs h a s te n e d a lo n g a c o r r i­
d o r, p a s t b ra n c h in g a n d in te rs e c tin g
h a ll w a y s , t o a d i s t a n t w i n g o f t h e s t r u c ­
tu re . T h e r e , it w a s e v id e n t, m a n u fa c ­
73
tu r in g o f w e a p o n s w a s c a rr ie d o n ; b u t
a q u ic k s t u d y o f t h e q u e e r - l o o k i n g d e ­
v ic e s a n d m e c h a n is m s u p o n t h e b e n c h e s
a n d i n s i d e t h e s t o r a g e r a c k s li n in g i t s
w a l l s c o n v in c e d K i n n i s o n t h a t the. r o o m
c o u ld y ie l d t h e m n o t h i n g o f p e r m a n e n t
b e n e f it. T h e re w e re h ig h -p o w e re d
b e a m p r o j e c t o r s , it w a s t r u e ; b u t t h e y
w e re so h e a v y th a t th e y w e re n o t e v e n
s e m ip o r t a b le . T h e r e w e r e a ls o h a n d
w e a p o n s o f v a rio u s p e c u lia r p a tte rn s ,
hut w ith o u t e x c e p tio n th e y w e re
rid ic u lo u s ly in f e rio r to th e D e L a m e te rs
o f t h e p a t r o l in e v e r y r e s p e c t o f p o w e r ,
r a n g e , c o n tr o ll a b il ity , a n d s t o r a g e c a p a c ­
it y . N e v e rth e le s s , a f te r te s tin g th e m
o u t s u f f ic ie n tly t o m a k e c e r t a i n o f t h e
a b o v e f i n d in g s , K i n n i s o n s e le c te d a n
a r m f u l o f t h e m o s t p o w e r f u l m o d e ls a n d
tu r n e d to h is c o m p a n io n s .
“ L e t ’s g o b a c k t o t h e p o w e r r o o m ,”
h e u rg e d . “ I ’m n e r v o u s a s a c a t. I
fe e l s ta r k n a k e d w ith o u t m y b a tte r ie s ;
a n d if a n y o n e s h o u l d h a p p e n t o d r o p
i n t h e r e a n d d o a w a y w i t h th e m , w e ’d b e
s u n k w ith o u t a tr a c e .”
L o a d e d d o w n w i t h D e lg o n ia n w e a p ­
o n s , t h e y h u r r i e d b a c k t h e w a y th e y h a d
com e. M u c h to K i n n i s o n ’s r e l ie f h e
f o u n d t h a t h is f o r e b o d in g s h a d b e e n
g r o u n d l e s s ; t h e b a t t e r i e s w e r e s till t h e r e ,
s t il l a b s o r b i n g m y r i a w a t t h o u r a f t e r
m y r i a w a t t h o u r f r o m t h e D e lg o n ia n
g e n e ra to rs . S t a r i n g f i x e d ly a t t h e
i n n o c u o u s - lo o k i n g c o n ta in e rs , he
f r o w n e d in t h o u g h t .
“ B e t t e r w e in s u l a t e t h o s e le a d s a li tt le
h e a v i e r a n d p u t t h e c a n s b a c k in o u r
a r m o r , ” h e s u g g e s t e d f in a lly . “ T h e y 'l l
c h a r g e ' j u s t a s w e ll i n p la c e , a n d it
d o e s n 't s t a n d t o r e a s o n t h a t t h i s d r a i n o f
p o w e r c a n g o o n fo r th e re s t o f th e
n i g h t w i t h o u t somebody n o ti c in g it.
A n d w h e n th a t h a p p e n s th o s e O v e r-
lo rd s a r e b o u n d to ta k e p le n ty o f ste p s
— t h e n a t u r e o f n o n e o f w h ic h w e c a n
ev en g u e ss a t.”
“W e m ust have pow er enough now
s o t h a t w e c a n a ll fly a w a y f r o m a n y
p o s s ib le t r o u b l e ,” W o r s e l s u g g e s te d .
74 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
“ B u t t h a t ’s j u s t e x a c t l y w h a t w e a r e
not g o i n g t o d o ! ” K i n n i s o n d e c la r e d ,
w i t h f in a lity . " N o w t h a t w e ’v e f o u n d a
g o o d c h a r g e r , w e a r e n ’t g o i n g t o le a v e
it u n til o u r a c c u m u la to r s a r c c h o c k a -
b lo c k . I t 's c o m i n g in f a s t e r t h a n fu ll
d r a f t w ill ta k e i t o u t , a n d w e ’r e g o in g
t o g e t a fu ll c h a r g e i f w e h a v e t o s t a n d
o ff a ll t h e v e r m i n o f D e lg o n t o d o i t . ”
Far lo n g e r th a n K in n is o n had
t h o u g h t p o s s ib le t h e y w e r e u n m o l e s t e d ,
b u t fin a lly a c o u p le o f D e lg o n ia n e n g i ­
n e e r s c a m e t o in v e s t i g a t e t h e u n p r e ­
c e d e n t e d s h o r t a g e in t h e o u t p u t o f t h e i r
c o m p l e te l y a u t o m a t i c g e n e r a t o r s . At
th e e n t r a n c e t h e y w e r e s t o p p e d , f o r n o
o r d i n a r y to o l s c o u ld f o r c e th e b a r r i c a d e
V a n B u s k i r k h a d e r e c t e d b e h in d t h a t
p o rta l. W i t h le v e le d w e a p o n s t h e p a ­
t r o l m e n s to o d , a w a i t i n g t h e e x p e c t e d
a tt a c k . B u t n o n e d e v e lo p e d . H our
b y h o u r t h e lo n g n i g h t w o r e a w a y , u n ­
e v e n tf u ll y . A t d a y b re a k , h o w e v e r, a
s to rm in g p a rty a p p e a re d and m a s s iv e
b a t t e r i n g - r a m s w e r e b r o u g h t i n t o p la y .
A s th e d u ll, h e a v y c o n c u s s io n s r e v e r ­
b e ra te d th r o u g h o u t th e b u ild in g th e p a ­
t r o l m e n e a c h p ic k e d u p t w o o f t h e
w e a p o n s p il e d b e f o r e t h e m a n d K i n n i s o n
a d d re s s e d th e V c la n tia n .
“ D r a g a c o u p le o f th o s e m e t a l b e n c h e s
a c r o s s t h a t c o r n e r a n d c o il u p b e h in d
t h e m ,” h e d i r e c t e d . “ T h e y ’ll b e e n o u g h
to g r o u n d a n y s tr a y c h a rg e s . I f th e y
c a n 't se e y o u t h e y w o n ’t k n o w y o u ’r e
h e re , so p ro b a b ly n o th in g m uch w ill
c o m e y o u r w a y d i r e c t .”
T h e V e la n tia n d e m u r re d , d e c la rin g
t h a t h e w o u ld n o t h i d e w h ile h i s t w o
c o m p a n i o n s w e r e f i g h t i n g h i s b a tt le .
B u t K in n i s o n s ile n c e d h i m f ie r c e ly .
" D o n ’t b e a f o o l !” t h e L e n s m a n s n a p p e d .
" O n e o f t h e s e b e a m s w o u ld f r y y o u t o
a c r i s p in t e n s e c o n d s , w h e r e a s t h e d e ­
f e n s iv e fie ld s o f o u r a r m o r c o u ld n e u ­
tra liz e a th o u s a n d o f th e m , fro m n o w
on. D o a s I s a y , a n d d o i t q u ic k , o r
I ’ll b e a m y o u u n c o n s c i o u s a n d t o s s y o u
in t h e r e m y s e lf I”
R E A L I Z I N G th a t K in n is o n m e a n t
e x a c t l y w h a t h e s a id , a n d k n o w i n g t h a t ,
u n a rm o re d a s h e w a s, h e w a s u tte rly
u n a b le to re s is t e ith e r th e T e llu r ia n o r
t l i e i r c o m m o n fo e , W o r s e l u n w ill in g l y
e r e c t e d h is m e t a ll ic b a r r i e r a n d c o ile d
h i s s i n u o u s l e n g t h b e h in d it. H e h id
h im s e l f j u s t in tim e .
T h e o u t e r b a r r i c a d e h a d f a lle n , a n d
n o w a w a v e o f r e p t i l i a n f o r m s f lo o d e d
in to th e c o n tro l ro o m . N o r w a s th is a n y
o r d i n a r y in v e s ti g a ti o n . T h e O v e rlo rd s
h a d s tu d ie d th e s itu a tio n fro m a fa r , a n d
th is w a v e w a s o n e o f h e a v ily a rm e d —
f o r D e lg o n — s o l d ie r y . O n th e y cam e ,
p r o j e c t o r s fie r c e ly a f la m e , c o n f i d e n t i n
t h e i r b e lie f t h a t n o t h i n g c o u ld s t a n d b e ­
f o r e t h e i r b la s ts .
B u t h u w w r o n g th e y w e r e ! T h e tw o
r e p u l s iv e l y e r e c t b ip e d s b e f o r e t h e m
n e i t h e r b u r n e d n o r fe ll. B e a m s , n o m a t ­
t e r h o w p o w e r f u l , d id n o t r e a c h th e m .
N o r w e r e t h e s e o u t l a n d i s h b e in g s i n ­
o ff e n s iv e . U t t e r l y c a r e l e s s o f t h e s e r v ic e
life o f t h e p it if u ll y w e a k D e lg o n ia n p r o ­
je c to r s , th e y w e re u s in g th e m a t m a x ­
im u m d r a i n a n d a t e x t r e m e a p e r t u r e —
a n d i n t h e r e s u l t a n t b e a m s t h e D e lg o n ia n
s o l d i e r s la v e s fe ll in s c o r c h e d a n d s m o k ­
in g h e a p s, O n c a m e re s e rv e s , p la to o n
a f t e r p la t o o n , o n ly a n d c o n t i n u o u s l y t o
m e e t th e sa m e f a te ; fo r a s so o n a s o n e
p r o j e c t o r w e a k e n e d t h e in v in c ib ly a r m ­
o r e d m a n w o u ld t o s s i t a s i d e a n d p ic k
u p a n o th e r. B u t f in a lly t h e l a s t c o m ­
m a n d e e re d w e a p o n w a s e x h a u s te d a n d
t h e b e le a g u e r e d p a i r b r o u g h t t h e i r o w n
D e L a m e te rs — th e m o s t p o w e rfu l p o r ta ­
b le w e a p o n s k n o w n t o t h e m i l i t a r y
s c i e n t i s t s o f t h e G a la c tic P a t r o l — in t o
p la y .
A n d w h a t a d if fe re n c e ! I n those
b e a m s th e a tta c k in g re p tile s d id n o t
s m o k e o r b u r n . T h e y s im p ly v a n i s h e d
i n a b la z e o f f l a m i n g li g h t , s o d i d a ls o
t h e n e a r - b y w a lls a n d a g o o d s h a r e o f
th e b u ild in g b e y o n d ! T h e D e lg o n ia n
h o r d e s h a v in g d is a p p e a re d , V a n B u s k ir k
s h u t o f f h is D e L a m e t e r .
K i n n i s o n , h o w e v e r , le f t h i s o n , a n -
g lin g its b e a m s h a r p ly u p w a rd , b la s tin g t h i s t i m e ; o r , m o r e a c c u r a t e ly , a d v a n c ­
i n t o f i e r y v a p o r t h e c e il in g a n d r o o f i n g b e h in d m e t a ll ic s h i e ld s . K n o w i n g
o v e r th e ir h e a d s , r e m a r k i n g : “ W h ile w h a t to e x p e c t, K in n is o n w a s n o t s u r ­
w e ’r e a t i t w e m i g h t a s w e ll f ix t h i n g s p r i s e d w h e n t h e b e a m o f h is D e L a m e t e r
s o t h a t w c c a n m a k e a q u i c k g e t - a w a y if n o t o n ly f a i le d t o p i e r c e o n e o f th o s e
w e w a n t to ." s h i e ld s , b u t d i d n o t in a n y w a y im p e d e
T h e n t h e y w a ite d . W a ite d , w a tc h in g t h e p r o g r e s s o f t h e D e l g o n i a n c o lu m n .
t h e n e e d le s o f t h e i r m e t e r s c r e e p e v e r “ W e ll , w e ’r e a ll d o n e h e r e , a n y w a y ,
c l o s e r t o t h e “ f u l l - c h a r g e ’’ m a r k s ; w a i t e d as f a r a s I ’m c o n c e r n e d .’’ K in n is o n
w h ile , a s t h e y s h r e w d l y s u s p e c te d , t h e g r in n e d a t th e D u tc h m a n a s h e sp o k e .
d is ta n t, c o w a rd ly h id in g O v e rlo rd s “ M y c a n s ’v e b e e n s h o w i n g f u ll b a c k
p la n n e d so m e o th e r, m o re p ro m is in g p r e s s u r e f o r t h e l a s t fiv e m i n u te s . H ow
li n e o f p h y s i c a l a tt a c k . ab o u t y o u rs? ”
N o r w a s i t lo n g i n d e v e lo p i n g . A n­ “ S a m e h e r e ,” V a n B u s k i r k r e p o r t e d ,
o th e r s m a ll a rm y a p p e a re d , arm o re d a n d t h e t w o le a p e d l i g h t l y in t o t h e
76 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
V e l a n r i a n ’s refu g e. T hen, in e rtia le s s
a ll , t h e t h r e e s h o t i n t o t h e a i r i t s u c h
'a p a c e t h a t t o t h e s lo w s e n s e s o f th e
D e lg o n ia n s la v e s th e y sim p ly d is a p ­
p e a re d . I n d e e d , it w a s n o t u n t i l t h e
b a r r ie r h a d b e e n b la s te d a w a y a n d
e v e ry ro o m , n o o k , a n d c r a n n y o f th e
i m m e n s e s t r u c t u r e h a d b e e n li te r a l l y
a n d m i n u t e l y c o m b e d t h a t t h e D e lg o n -
ia n s — a n d t h r o u g h t h e i r e n s l a v e d m i n d s
t h e O v e r l o r d s — b e c a m e c o n v in c e d t h a t
t h e i r p r e y h a d in s o m e u n c a n n y a n d u n ­
k n o w n f a s h i o n e lu d e d t h e m .
N O W h i g h in t h e a i r , t h e t h r e e t r o o p ­
e r s tr a v e rs e d , in a m a tte r of m in u te s ,
th e s a m e d is ta n c e th a t h a d c o s t th e m
s o m u c h ti m e a n d s t r i f e t h e d a y b e f o r e .
O v e r t h e m o n s t e r - i n f e c t e d f o r e s t th e y
s p e d , o v e r t h e d e c e p t iv e ly p e a c e f u l
g r e e n lu s h n e s s o f th e ju n g le , to s la n t
d o w n t o w a r d W o r s c l ’s t h o u g h t p r o o f
te n t. I n s i d e t h a t r e f u g e th e y s n a p p e d
o ff th e ir th o u g h t s c re e n s a n d K in n is o n
y a w n e d p r o d i g io u s l y .
“ W o r k i n g d a y s a n d n i g h t s b o t h is a ll
r i g h t f o r a w h ile , b u t it g e t s m o n o t o n o u s
in tim e . S in c e t h i s s e e m s t o b e t h e
o n ly r e a l l y s a f e s p o t o n t h e p l a n e t , I
s u g g e s t th a t w e ta k e a d a y o r so o ff a n d
c a tc h u p o n o u r e a t s a n d s l e e p s .”
T hey sle p t and a te ; s le p t and a te
a g a in .
“ T h e n e x t th in g o n th e p ro g r a m ,”
K i n n i s o n a n n o u n c e d t h e n , " i s t o c le a n
o u t th a t d e n o f O v e rlo rd s . T h e n W o r -
s e l w ill b e f r e e t o h e l p u s g e t g o in g
a b o u t o u r o w n b u s i n e s s .”
" Y o u s p e a k l i g h t l y in d e e d o f t h e im
p o s s ib le ,” W o r s e l , a g a i n a l l g l u m d e ­
s p o n d e n c y , r e p r o v e d h im . " I have
a l r e a d y e x p l a i n e d w h y t h e t a s k is , a n d
m u s t r e m a in , b e y o n d o u r p o w e r .”
“ Y e s , b u t y o u d o n ’t q u i t e g r a s p t h e
p o s s ib il it ie s o f t h e s t u f f w e ’v e g o t t o
w o r k w i t h n o w ,” t h e T e l l u r i a n r e p l ie d .
" L i s t e n : y o u c o u ld n e v e r d o a n y t h i n g
b e c a u s e y o u c o u l d n ’t ' s e e t h r o u g h o r
w o rk th r o u g h y o u r th o u g h t screen s.
N e i t h e r w e n o r j ’o u c o u ld ," e v e n n o w ,
e n s l a v e a D e l g o n i a n a n d m a k e h im le a d
u s to th e c a v e rn , b e c a u se th e O v e r lo r d s
w o u ld k n o w a ll a b o u t i t ’w a y a h e a d o f
ti m e a n d t h e s l a v e w o u ld le a d u s a n y ­
w h e r e e ls e e x c e p t t o t h e c a v e r n . H o w ­
e v e r, o n e o f u s c a n c u t h is s c re e n a n d
s u r r e n d e r ; p o s s ib ly k e e p i n g j u s t e n o u g h
s c re e n u p to k e e p th e e n e m y fro m p o s ­
s e s s i n g h is m i n d f u l ly e n o u g h t o l e a r n
t h a t t h e o t h e r t w o a r e c o m i n g a lo n g .
T h e b ig q u e s t i o n is — w h ic h o f u s is t o
s u r r e n d e r ?”
“ T h a t is a lre a d y d e c id e d ,” W o r s e l
m a d e in s ta n t re p ly . “ I a m t h e lo g ic a l
— in f a c t, t h e only o n e — t o d o it. N ot
o n l y w o u ld t h e y t h i n k it p e r f e c t l y n a t u ­
r a l th a t th e y s h o u ld o v e rp o w e r m e ,
b u t a l s o I a m t h e o n ly o n e o f u s t h r e e
s u f f ic ie n tly a b le t o c o n t r o l liis t h o u g h t s
s o a s t o k e e p f r o m t h e m t h e k n o w le d g e
t h a t T a m b e in g a c c o m p a n ie d . F u r t h e r ­
m o r e , y o u b o t h k n o w t h a t i t w o u ld n o t
b e g o o d fo r y o u r m in d s, u n a c c u sto m e d
a s th e y a re to th e p ra c tic e , to s u r r e n d e r
t h e i r c o n t r o l v o l u n t a r i l y t o a n e n e m y .”
" I ’ll say it w o u l d n ’t ! ” K in n is o n
a g r e e d , fe e lin g ly . “ I m i g h t d o i t if I
h a d to , b u t I w o u l d n 't li k e i t a n d d o n ’t
t h i n k I ’d e v e r q u i t e g e t o v e r it. I h a t e
to p u t s u c h a h o rr ib le jo b o ff o n to y o u ,
W o r s e l , b u t y o u ’r e u n d o u b t e d l y t h e b e s t
e q u ip p e d to h a n d le it — a n d even you
m a y h a v e y o u r b a n d s f u l l .”
“ Y e s ,” t h e V e la n tia n s a id , th o u g h t­
f u lly . “ W h ile th e u n d e rta k in g is no
l o n g e r a n a b s o l u t e ''i m p o s s i b i l i t y , i t is
d if fic u lt— v e r y . I n a n y e v e n t y o u w ill
p r o b a b l y h a v e to b e a m m e y o u r s e l v e s ,
if w e s u c c e e d in r e a c h i n g t h e c a v e r n .
T h e O v e r l o r d s w ill s e e t o t h a t . I ! so,
d o it w ith o u t re g r e t. K n o w th a t I e x ­
p e c t i t a n d a m w e ll c o n t e n t t o d ie in
t h a t f a s h io n . T h o u s a n d s o f b e t t e r m e n
t h a n I a m w o u ld b e o n ly t o o g l a d t o b e
i n m y p la c e , m e a n i n g w h a t it d o e s to
a ll V e l a n t i a . K now a ls o t h a t I have
a l r e a d y r e p o r t e d w h a t is t o o c c u r , a n d
t h a t y o u r w e lc o m e t o V e l a n t i a i s a s ­
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
s u re d , w h e th e r o r n o t I a c c o m p a n y y o u
th e r e .”
“ I d o n ’t t h i n k I ’ll h a v e t o k il l y o u ,
W o r s e l , ” K i n n i s o n r e p l ie d , s lo w ly , p i c ­
t u r i n g in d e ta i l e x a c t l y v v liat t h a t s te e l-
h a r d r e p t i l i a n b o d y w o u ld b e c a p a b l e o f
d o i n g w h e n , u n s h a c k l e d , it s d i r e c t i n g
m i n d w a s c o m p l e te l y t a k e n o v e r b y a n
u tte rly s o u lle s s and c o n s c i e n c e le s s
O v e rlo r d . “ If we c a n ’t keep fro m
g o i n g o f f t h e d e e p e n d , o f c o u r s e y o u ’ll
g e t p r e t t y t o u g h a n d I k n o w t h a t y o u 'r e
h a r d to h a n d le . H o w e v e r, a s I to ld y o u
b a c k th e re , I th in k I c a n b e a m y o u u n ­
c o n s c i o u s w i t h o u t k il l i n g y o u . T m ay
h a v e t o b u r n o f f a f e w s c a le s , b u t I ’ll
t r y n o t t o d o a n y d a m a g e t h a t c a n ’t b e
re p a ir e d .”
“ I f y o u c a n s o s t o p m e i t w ill b e w o n ­
d e r f u l in d e e d . A re w e re a d y ? ”
T h e y w e re re a d y . W o rse l o p en ed
th e d o o r a n d in a m o m e n t w a s h u r tlin g
t h r o u g h t h e a i r , h is g i a n t w in g s a r r o w ­
i n g h im a l o n g a t a p a c e n o w in g e d c r e a ­
t u r e o f E a r t h w o u ld e v e n a p p r o a c h .
A n d . f o l lo w in g h i m e a s i ly a t a li t t l e d i s ­
ta n c e , f lo a te d t h e t w o p a t r o l m e n u p o n
t h e i r in e r t i a l e s s d r i v e s .
D U R I N G t h a t lo n g f lig h t s c a r c e ly a
t h o u g h t w a s e x c h a n g e d , e v e n b e tw e e n
K in n is o n a n d V a n B u s k irk . T o d ir e c t
a th o u g h t a t th e V e la n tia n w a s, o f
c o u r s e , o u t o f t h e q u e s t io n . A ll lin e s
o f c o m m u n ic a t io n w i t h h im h a d b e e n
c u t ; a n d , f u r t h e r m o r e , h i s m i n d , a b le
a s i t w a s , w a s b e in g t a x e d t o t h e u l t i ­
m a t e c e ll in d o in g w h a t h e h a d s e t o u t
to d o . A n d t h e tw o p a t r o l m e n w e r e
r e lu c ta n t to c o n v e rs e w ith e a c h o th e r,
e v e n u p o n th e ir tig h t b e a m s, ra d io s, o r
s o u n d e r s , f o r f e a r t h a t s o m e s l ig h t
le a k a g e o f th o u g h t e n e rg y m ig h t r e ­
v e a l .th e ir p re s e n c e to th e e v e r- w a tc h fu l
O v e rlo r d s . I f th is o p p o rtu n ity w e re
lo s t, t h e y k n e w , a n o t h e r c h a n c e t o w ip e
o u t t h a t h e ll is h h o r d e m i g h t n e v e r p r e ­
s e n t its e lf.
L and w as tra v e rs e d , and sea; but
77
f i n a ll y a s t u p e n d o u s r a n g e o f m o u n t a i n s
r e a r e d b e f o r e t h e m a n d W o r s e l , f o l d in g
b a c k h i s t i r e l e s s w in g s , s h o t d o w n w a r d
i n a s c r e a m i n g , f u l l - w e i g h t d iv e . I n h is
l i n e o f f l ig h t K i n n i s o n s a w t h e m o u t h
o f a c a v e , a d a r k e r s p o t o f b la c k n e s s in
t h e b la c k r o c k o f t h e m o u n t a i n ’s s id e .
U p o n t h e le d g e d a p p r o a c h t h e r e la y a
D e lg o n ia n — a g u a rd or lo o k o u t , of
co u rse .
T h e L e n s m a n ’s D e L a m e t e r w a s a l ­
r e a d y i n h is h a n d , a n d a t s i g h t o f t h e
g u a r d i a n r e p t il e h e s i g h t e d a n d f i r e d in
o n e in c r e d i b l y f a s t m o t io n . B u t, ra p id
a s i t w a s , it w a s s till to o s lo w . The
O v e rlo r d s h a d s e e n th a t th e V e la n tia n
h a d c o m p a n io n s o f w h o m h e h a d b e e n
a b le t o k e e p t h e m i n i g n o r a n c e t h e r e ­
to f o r e .
I n s t a n t l y , W o r s e l ’s w in g s a g a i n b e g a n
t o b e a t, b e a r i n g h i m o f f a t a w id e a n g l e ;
a n d , a lth o u g h th e p a tro lm e n w e re i n ­
s u l a t e d a g a i n s t h is t h o u g h t , t h e m e a n i n g
o f h is a n t i c s w a s v e r y p la i n . H e w as
t e l l i n g t h e m in e v e r y p o s s ib le w a y t h a t
t h e h o le b e lo w w a s not t h e c a v e r n o f
th e O v e rlo r d s , th a t it w a s o v e r th is
w a y , th a t th e y w e re to keep on
f o l lo w in g h i m t o it . T h e n , a s t h e y r e ­
f u s e d t o fo llo w h im , h e r u s h e d u p o n
K in n is o n in m a d a tta c k .
“ R e a m h im d o w n , K i m !” V a n B u s k i r k
y e lle d . “ D o n ’t t a k e a n y c h a n c e s w i t h
th a t b ir d ! ” He le v e le d h i s o w n D e­
L a m e te r.
“L ay o ff. B u s!” th e L en sm an
snapped. “I c a n h a n d l e h im — a l o t
e a s ie r o u t h e re th a n o n th e g ro u n d .”
A n d s o it p r o v e d . In e rtia le s s a s h e
w a s , t h e b u f f e r in g s o f t h e V e l a n t i a n a f ­
fe c te d h im n o t a t a ll ; a n d w h e n W o rs e l
c o ile d h is s u p p l e b o d y a r o u n d h im a n d
began to a p p ly p r e s s u re , K in n is o n
s i m p l y e x p a n d e d h is t h o u g h t s c r e e n to
c o v e r t h e m b o th , t h u s r e l e a s i n g t h e m i n d
o f h is t e m p o r a r i l y in i m i c a l f r i e n d f r o m
th e O v e r l o r d ’s g r i p . I n s ta n tly th e
V e l a n t i a n b e c a m e h im s e lf , s n a p p e d o n
h i s o w n s h ie ld , a n d th e t h r e e c o n t i n u e d ,
78 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
as one, th e ir in te rru p te d d o w n w a rd
c o u rse .
W o r s e l c a m e t o a h a l t u p o n t h e le d g e ,
b e s i d e t h e p r a c t i c a l l y in c i n e r a t e d c o r p s e
©1 t h e lo o k o u t , k n o w i n g , u n a r m o r e d a s
h e w a s, th a t to g o fa r th e r m e a n t s u d ­
d e n d e a th . T h e a r m o r e d p a i r , h o w e v e r ,
s h o t o n i n t o t h e g lo o m y p a s s a g e . At
f i r s t t h e y w e r e o f f e r e d n o o p p o s i ti o n .
T h e O v e rlo r d s h a d h a d n o tim e to m u s ­
t e r a n a d e q u a te d e fe n se . S c a tte rin g
h a n d f u l s o f s la v e s r u s h e d t h e m , o n ly t o
b e b la s te d o u t o f e x i s t e n c e a s t h e i r h a n d
w e a p o n s p ro v e d u s e le s s a g a in s t th e
a r m o r o f t h e G a la c t ic P a t r o l . D e f e n d e r s
b e c a m e m o re n u m e r o u s a s th e c a v e rn
it s e l f w a s a p p r o a c h e d ; b u t n e i t h e r w e r e
t h e y a llo w e d t o s t a y t h e p a t r o l m e n ’s
p r o g r e s s . F i n a l l y , a p a le l y s h i m m e r i n g
b a r r ie r o f m e ta l a p p e a re d to b a r th e ir
w ay. I t s fie ld s o f f o r c e n e u t r a l i z e d o r
a b s o rb e d th e b la s ts o f th e D e L a m e te r s ,
b u t it s m a t e r i a l s u b s ta n c e o f f e r e d b u t
li tt le r e s i s t a n c e t o a t h i r t y - p o u n d s le d g e
sw u n g b y o n e o f th e s tro n g e s t m en e v e r
p r o d u c e d b y a n y p l a n e t c o lo n iz e d b y th e
h u m a n ity o f E a rth .
N O W t h e y w e r e i n t h e c a v e r n its e lf
— th e s a n c tu m s a n c to ru m o f th e O v e r-
l o r d s o f D e lg o n . T h e r e w a s t h e h e llis h
to r tu r e s c re e n , w ith its b u rd e n o f m e n ­
t a l a n d p h y s i c a l p a in . T h e r e w a s th e
h o r r i b l y a v id a u d ie n c e , n o w m i ll in g
a b o u t in a m o b f r e n z y o f p a n ic . T h e r e ,
u p o n a r a i s e d b a lc o n y , w e r e t h e “ b ig
s h o t s ’’ o f t h i s n a u s e o u s c l a n ; n o w d o in g
t h e i r u t m o s t t o m a r s h a l s o m e f o r c e a b le
t o c o p e e f f e c tiv e ly w i t h t h i s u n h e a r d - o f
v io l a ti o n o f t h e i r a g e - o l d im m u n i ty .
A l a s t w a v e o f D e lg o n i a n s la v e s
h u r l e d th e m s e l v e s f o r w a r d , f u t il e p r o ­
j e c t o r s f u r i o u s l y a f la m e , o n ly t o d i s ­
a p p e a r in t h e D e L a m e t e r s ’ f a n s o f f o r c e .
T h e p a t r o l m e n h a t e d t o k ill th o s e m i n d ­
le s s s la v e s , b u t i t w a s a n a s t y j o b t h a t
h a d to b e d o n e . T h e s la v e s o u t o f th e
w a y , t h o s e r a v e n i n g b e a m s b o r e d o n in t o
th e m a s s e d O v e rlo r d s .
A n d n o w K in n is o n a n d V a n B u s k irk
k ille d , if n o t j o y o u s l y , a t le a s t r e l e n t ­
le s s ly , m e r c il e s s l y , a n d w i t h n e i t h e r
s i g n n o r s e n s a t i o n o f c o m p u n c t io n . F o r
th is u n b e li e v a b ly m o n s tro u s trib e
n e e d e d k il li n g , r o o t a n d b r a n c h . N ot a
s c io n o r s h o o t o f i t s h o u l d b e a llo w e d
t o s u r v iv e , t o c o n ti n u e t o c o n t a m i n a t e
t h e c iv i li z a ti o n o f t h e g a l a x y . B ack
a n d fo r th , to a n d fro , u p a n d d o w n s w e p t
th e ra g in g b e a m s o f th e D e L a m e te rs ,
p la y i n g o n u n t i l in a ll Lhe v a s t v o lu m e
o f t h a t g r u e s o m e c h a m b e r n o t h i n g liv e d
s a v e t h e t w o g r i m f i g u r e s in i t s p o r t a l .
A s s u r e d o f t h i s fa c t, b u t w i t h D e ­
L a m e t e r s s till in h a n d , t h e t w o d e ­
s tro y e rs re tra c e d th e ir w a y to th e tu n ­
n e l ’s m o u t h , w h e r e W o r s e l a n x i o u s l y
a w a i t e d t h e m . L i n e s o f c o m m u n ic a t io n
a g a in e s t a b li s h e d , K in n is o n in fo rm e d
t h e V e l a n t i a n o f a ll t h a t h a d t a k e n p la c e ,
a n d th e la tte r g ra d u a lly c u t d o w n th e
p o w e r of h is th o u g h t s c re e n . S o o n it
w a s a t z e ro s tre n g th a n d h e r e p o r te d
j u b i l a n t l y t h a t f o r t h e f i r s t ti m e i n u n ­
t o l d a g e s , t h e O v e r l o r d s o f D e lg o n w e r e
o ff th e a i r !
“ B u t s u r e l y t h e d a n g e r i s n ’t o v e r
y e t !” p ro te s te d K in n is o n . “W e
c o u l d n ’t h a v e g o t t h e m a ll in t h i s o n e
ra id . S o m e o f th e m m u s t h a v e e sc a p e d ,
a n d th e r e m u s t b e o th e r d e n s o f th e m
o n th is p la n e t s o m e w h e re ? ”
“ P o s s i b l y ; p o s s i b l y .” T h e V e l a n t i a n
w a v e d h is ta il a ir ily — th e firs t s ig n o f
jo y o u s n e s s h e h a d s h o w n . “ B u t th e ir
p o w e r is b r o k e n , d e f in ite ly a n d f o r e v e r .
W i t h th e s e n e w s c r e e n s , a n d w i t h t h e
a r m s a n d a r m a m e n t w h ic h , t h a n k s t o
y o u , w e c a n n o w f a b r ic a t e , t h e t a s k o f
w i p i n g t h e m o u t c o m p l e te l y w ill b e c o m ­
p a r a t i v e l y s im p le . N o w y o u w ill a c ­
c o m p a n y m e to V e la n tia w h e re , T a s ­
s u r e , t h e r e s o u r c e s o f t h e p l a n e t w ill b e
p u t s o lid ly b e h in d y o u in y o u r o w n e n ­
d e a v o rs. I h a v e a lr e a d y s u m m o n e d a
s p a c e s h i p . I n le s s t h a n tw e lv e d a y s w e
w ill b e b a c k in V e l a n t i a a n d a t w o r k
u p o n y o u r p ro je c ts . I n th e m e a n ­
t i m e --------”
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
“ T w e l v e days! H o l y j u m p i n g r o c k ­
e t s ! ” V a n B u s k i r k e x p lo d e d .
K in n is o n s a id , “ S u re — y o u fo rg e t
th a t th e y k n e w n o th in g o f o u r fre e d riv e .
W e 'd b e t t e r h o p o v e r a n d g e t o u r lif e ­
b o a t, I t h i n k . I t ’s n o t s o g o o d , e i t h e r
w a y , b u t i n o u r o w n b o a t w e ’ll b e o p e n
t o d e te c tio n le s s t h a n t w o h o u r s , a s
a g a i n s t tw e l v e d a y s i n t h e V e l a n t i a n s ’.
A n d th e p ir a te s m a y b e h e re a n y m in ­
u te . I t ’s a s g o o d a s c e rta in th a t th e ir
s h i p w ill b e s t o p p e d a n d s e a r c h e d lo n g
b e f o r e it g e ts b a c k t o V e l a n t i a , a n d if
w e w e re a b o a r d i t w o u ld b e j u s t to o
b a d .”
“ A n d , s in c e t h e c r e w k n o w s a b o u t
u s , t h e p i r a t e s s o o n w ill, a n d i t ’ll b e j u s t
to o b a d , a n y w a y ," V a n B u s k ir k re a s o n e d .
" N o t a t a ll,” in te rp o s e d W o rs e !. " T h e
f e w o f m y p e o p le w h o k n o w o f y o u
h a v e b e e n i n s t r u c t e d to s e a l t h a t k n o w l ­
edge. I m u s t a d m it, h o w e v e r, th a t I
a m g re a tly d is tu rb e d b y y o u r c o n c e p ­
tio n s o f th e s e p ira te s o f space. Y ou
se e . u n til I m e t y o u I k n e w n o th in g m o re
o f th e p i r a t e s t h a n I d i d o f y o u r p a t r o l . ”
“ W hat a w o rld !” V a n B u s k irk ex­
c la i m e d . “ N o p a tro l a n d n o p ira te s !
B u t a t t h a t , life m i g h t b e s i m p l e r w i t h ­
o u t b o th o f t h e m a n d w i t h o u t t h e f r e e
s p a c e d r i v e — m o r e lik e i t u s e d t o b e in
t h e g o o d o ld a i r p l a n e d a y s t h a t t h e n o v e l­
i s ts r a v e a b o u t . ”
“ O f c o u r s e , I c o u ld n o t j u d g e a s t o
t h a t . ” T h e V e l a n t i a n w a s v e r y s e r io u s .
“ T h i s in w h ic h w e liv e s e e m s t o b e a n
o u t - o f - t h e - w a y s e c t io n o f t h e g a l a x y ;
o r it m a y b e t h a t w e h a v e n o t h i n g t h a t
th e p ir a te s w a n t.”
“ M o r e lik e ly i t ’s s i m p l y t h a t , lik e t h e
p a t r o l , t h e y h a v e n ’t g o t o r g a n i z e d in t o
th is d is tr ic t y e t,” s u g g e s te d K in n is o n .
“ T h e r e a r e s o m a n y m i llio n s o f s o l a r
s y s t e m s i n t h e g a l a x y t h a t i t w ill p r o b ­
a b ly b e th o u s a n d s o f y e a rs y e t b e fo re th e
p a t r o l g e t s i n t o t h e m a l l .”
“ B ut about th e s e p ir a te s ,” W o rse l
w e n t b a c k to h is p o in t . “ I f th e y h a v e
s u c h m i n d s a s th o s e o f t h e O v e r l o r d s ,
79
t h e y w ill b e a b le t o b r e a k t h e s e a ls o f
o u r m in d s. H o w e v e r, I g a th e r fro m
y o u r th o u g h ts th a t th e ir m in d s a r e n o t
o f th a t s tre n g th ? ”
“ N o t s o f a r a s I k n o w ,” K i n n i s o n r e ­
p li e d . “ Y o u fo lk s h a v e t h e m o s t
p o w e r f u l b r a i n s I e v e r h e a r d o f, s h o r t
o f th e A ris ia n s . A n d s p e a k in g o f m e n ta l
p o w e r , y o u c a n h e a r t h o u g h t s a lo t
f a r th e r th a n I c a n , e v e n w ith m y L e n s
o r w i t h th i s p i r a t e r e c e i v e r I ’v e g o t.
S e e if y o u c a n f in d o u t w h e t h e r t h e r e
a r e a n y p i r a t e s in s p a c e a r o u n d h e r e ,
w ill y o u ? ”
W H IL E th e V e la n tia n w a s c o n c e n ­
tr a tin g , V a n B u s k irk a sk e d : “ W h y , if
h is m i n d is s o s t r o n g , c o u ld t h e O v e r -
l o r d s p u t h im u n d e r s o m u c h e a s i e r t h a n
t h e y c o u ld u s ‘w e a k - m i n d e d ’ h u m a n s ? ”
“ Y o u a r e c o n f u s i n g ‘m i n d ’ w i t h ‘w ill ,’
I th in k . A g e s o f s u b m is s io n t o t h e
O v e rlo rd s m ade th e V e l a n t i a n s ’ w ill
p o w e r z e ro , a s fa r a s th e b o ss e s w e re
c o n c e rn e d . O n th e o th e r h a n d , y o u a n d
I c o u ld r a i s e s t u b b o r n n e s s t o s e ll t o
m o s t p e o p le . I n f a c t, if t h e O v e r l o r d s
h a d s u c c e e d e d in r e a l l y b r e a k i n g u s
d o w n , b a c k t h e r e , I b e lie v e t h a t w e
w o u l d h a v e b e e n in s a n e f o r t h e r e s t o f
o u r li v e s .”
“ P r o b a b l y y o u 'r e rig h t. W e b re a k ,
b u t d o n ’t b e n d , h u h ? ”
T h e n th e V e la n tia n w a s re a d y to r e ­
p o rt. “ I h a v e sc a n n e d sp a c e to th e
n e a r e r s t a r s — s o m e e le v e n o f y o u r l i g h t
y e a rs — a n d h a v e e n c o u n te re d n o in tr u d ­
in g e n t i t i e s ,” h e a n n o u n c e d .
“ E le v e n lig h t y e a rs — w h a t a r a n g e ! "
K i n n i s o n e x c la im e d . “ H o w e v e r , t h a t ’s
o n ly a s h a d e o v e r tw o m in u te s fo r a
p i r a t e s h i p a t f u ll b la s t. B u t w e ’v e g o t
t o t a k e a c h a n c e s o m e tim e , a n d t h e
q u i c k e r w e g e t s t a r t e d t h e s o o n e r w e ’ll
g e t b a c k . W e ’ll p ic k y o u u p h e r e , W o r ­
se l. N o u s e in y o u g o i n g b a c k t o y o u r
t e n t — w e ’ll b e b a c k h e r e lo n g b e f o r e y o u
c o u ld r e a c h it. Y o u ’ll b e s a f e e n o u g h ,
I t h i n k , e s p e c i a ll y w i t h o u r s p a r e D e -
80 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
L a m e te rs . L e t ’s g e t g o i n g , B u s ! ”
A g a in th e y s h o t in to th e a i r ; a g a in
th e y tr a v e rs e d th e a irle s s d e p th s o f
in te rp la n e ta ry sp ace. T o lo c a t e t h e
t e m p o r a r y t o m b o f t h e i r li f e b o a t r e ­
q u i r e d o n ly a f e w m i n u t e s , t o d i s i n t e r
h e r o n ly a f e w m o r e . T h e n a g a i n th e y
b r a v e d d e t e c t i o n in t h e v o i d ; K i n n i s o n
t e n s e a t h is c o n t r o l s , V a n B u s k i r k i n
s tra in e d a tte n tio n lis te n in g to a n d s t a r ­
i n g a t h is u n s c r a m b l e r s a n d d e t e c t o r s .
B u t t h e e t h e r w a s s till b la n k a s th e y
m a te ria liz e d in a n in e r tia le s s la n d in g b e ­
s id e th e w a itin g V e la n tia n .
“ A ll r i g h t , W o r s e l , s n a p i t u p !”
K i n n i s o n c a lle d , a n d w e n t o n t o V a n ­
B u s k i r k , “ N o w , y o u b ig , f la t- f o o te d
V a le ria n sp a c e h o u n d , I h o p e th a t th a t
s p a c e m a n 's g o d o f y o u r s w ill s e e t o i t
t h a t o u r l u c k h o ld s g o o d f o r j u s t s e v e n
m in u te s m o re . W e ’v e h a d m o r e lu c k
a lre a d y th a n w e h a d a n y r ig h t to e x p e c t,
b u t w e c a n p u t a little m o r e to m o s t
g o s h - a w f u l g o o d u s e !”
" N o s h a b k e m i n g does b r i n g s p a c e m e n
l u c k ,” i n s i s t e d t h e g i a n t , g r i m a c i n g a
p e c u l i a r s a l u t e t o w a r d a s m a ll, g o ld e n
i m a g e s e t in s i d e h i s h e lm e t, “ a n d t h e
f a c t t h a t y o u w a r t y , r u n t y li t t l e s p a c e
f l e a s o f T e l l u s h a v e n ’t g o t s e n s e e n o u g h
t o k n o w it , d o e s n ’t c h a n g e m a t t e r s a t
a l l .”
‘’T h a t ’s t e l l i n ’ ’e m , B u s !” K i n n i s o n
a p p la u d e d . “ B u t if it h e lp s c h a rg e y o u r
b a tte rie s , go to it. R eady to b la s t!
L ift!”
T h e V e la n tia n h a d c o m e a b o a r d ; th e
t i n y a i r lo c k w a s a g a i n t i g h t , a n d t h e
little v e ss e l s h o t a w a y fro m D e lg o n t o ­
w a r d f a r V e l a n t i a . A n d s t il l t h e e t h e r
re m a in e d e m p ty a s f a r a s th e d e te c to rs
c o u ld r e a c h . N o r w a s th is fa c t s u r ­
p r i s i n g , in s p i te o f t h e T -e n s m a n ’s f e a r s
to th e c o n tr a r y ; fo r th e p a tr o lm e n h a d
g iv e n t h e p i r a t e s s u c h a n e x t r e m e l y
lo n g lin e t o c o v e r t h a t m a n y d a y s m u s t
y e t e la p s e b e f o r e t h e m i n i o n s o f B o s k o n e
w o u ld g e t a r o u n d t o v i s i t t h a t u n i m ­
p o rta n t, u n e x p lo re d , and a lm o s t un­
k n o w n s o l a r s y s te m .
E N R O U T E t o h is h o m e p l a n e t W o r ­
se l g o t in to u c h w ith th e c re w o f th e
V e la n tia n v e sse l a lre a d y in sp a c e , o r ­
d e r in g th e m to r e t u r n to p o r t p o s th a s te
a n d i n s t r u c t i n g t h e m i n d e ta i l w h a t t o
th in k a n d h o w to a c t s h o u ld th e y b e
s to p p e d a n d s e a rc h e d b y o n e o f B o s k -
o n e ’s r a i d e r s . B y th e tim e th e s e in ­
s t r u c t i o n s h a d b e e n g iv e n , V e l a n t i a
lo o m e d l a r g e b e n e a t h t h e f l y in g m i d g e t .
T h e n , w i t h W o r s e l a s g u id e , K i n n i s o n
d ro v e o v e r a m ig h ty o c e a n u p o n w h o s e
o p p o s i t e s h o r e la y t h e g re a t c ity in
w h ic h W o r s e l liv e d ,
“ R u t I w o u ld li k e t o h a v e t h e m w e l­
c o m e y o u a s b e f its w h a t y o u h a v e d o n e ,
a n d h a v e y o u g o t o t h e d o m e !” m o u r n e d
th e V e la n tia n . “ T h in k o f i t ! Y o u h a v e
d o n e a t h i n g w h ic h f o r a g e s t h e m a s s e d
p o w e r o f th e p la n e t h a s b e e n tr y in g
v a i n l y t o a c c o m p lis h , a n d y e t y o u i n ­
s i s t t h a t I a l o n e t a k e f u l l a n d c o m p l e te
c r e d i t f o r i t !”
“ I d o n ’t i n s i s t o n a n y s u c h t h i n g , ”
a r g u e d K i n n i s o n , “ e v e n t h o u g h i t ’s
p r a c t i c a l l y a ll y o u r s , a n y w a y . I in s is t
o n ly o n y o u r k e e p i n g u s a n d t h e p a t r o l
o u t o f it , a n d y o u k n o w a s w e ll a s I
d o w h y y o u ’v e g o t t o d o t h a t . T e ll
t h e m a n y t h i n g e ls e y o u w a n t to . Say
t h a t a c o u p le o f p i n k - h a i r e d C h ic k l a -
d o r i a n s h e lp e d y o u a n d t h e n b e a t i t b a c k
h o m e . That p l a n e t ’s f a r e n o u g h a w a y
s o t h a t i f t h e p i r a t e s c h a s e t h e m t h e y ’ll
g e t a re a l r u n - f o r th e ir m o n e y . A fte r
t h i s b lo w s o v e r y o u c a n te l l t h e t r u t h —
but not until then.
“ A n d a s f o r u s g o in g to th e d o m e f o r
a g r a n d h o c u s - p o c u s , t h a t is c o m p l e te l y
a n d d e f i n it e ly out. W e ’r e n o t g o i n g a n y ­
w h e r e e x c e p t t o t h e b ig g e s t s p a c e y a r d
y o u ’v e g o t. Y o u ’r e n o t g o i n g t o g iv e
u s a n y t h i n g e x c e p t a lo t o f m a t e r i a l a n d
a lo t o f h i g h l y t r a i n e d h e l p t h a t c a n k e e p
t h e i r t h o u g h t s s e a le d .
“ W e ’v e g o t t o b u i l d a l o t o f h e a v y
s t u f f f a s t ; a n d w e ’v e g o t t o g e t s t a r t e d
o n i t j u s t a s q u ic k l y a s t h e g o d s o f s p a c e
w ill l e t u s ! ”
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
VIII.
W O R S E L k n e w h is c o u n c il o f s c i e n ­
t i s t s , a s w e ll h e m i g h t , s i n c e i t d e v e lo p e d
t h a t h e h im s e l f r a n k e d h i g h in t h a t s e le c t
c ir c le . T r u e to h i s p r o m i s e s , t h e l a r g e s t
s p a c e p o r t o f t h e p l a n e t w a s im m e d i a te l y
e m p tie d o f its c u s to m a ry p e rs o n n e l,
w h ic h w a s r e p l a c e d t h e f o l lo w in g m o r n ­
in g b y a n e n tire ly n e w g r o u p o f w o r k ­
m en.
N o r w e re th e s e re p la c e m e n ts o rd in a ry
la b o re rs . T h e y w e re y o u n g , k e e n , a n d
h ig h ly tr a in e d , ta k e n , to a m a n , fro m
b e h in d th e th o u g h t s c re e n s o f th e s c ie n ­
tis ts . I t is t r u e t h a t t h e y h a d n o i n k ­
li n g o f w h a t t h e y w e r e t o d o , s in c e n o n e
o f th e m h a d e v e r d re a m e d o f th e p o s s i­
b il it y o f s u c h e n g in e s a s t h e y w e r e to b e
c a ll e d u p o n t o c o n s t r u c t .
B u t, u p o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , t h e y w e r e
w e ll v e r s e d i n t h e f u n d a m e n t a l t h e o r i e s
a n d o p e ra tio n s o f m a th e m a tic s , a n d fro m
p u r e m a t h e m a t i c s t o a p p li e d m e c h a n ic s
is b u t a s te p . F u r th e r m o r e , th e y h a d
brains— k n e w h o w t o t h i n k lo g ic a lly ,
c o h e r e n t l y , a n d e f f e c tiv e ly , a n d n e e d e d
n e i t h e r d r i v i n g n o r s u p e r v i s i o n — o n ly
i n s t r u c t i o n . A n d b e s t o f a ll, p r a c t i c a l l y
e v e r y o n e o f t h e r e q u i r e d m e c h a n is m s
a lr e a d y e x is te d , in m in ia tu re , w ith in th e
Brittania’s lif e b o a t, r e a d y a t h a n d f o r
t h e i r d is s e c ti o n , a n a ly s is , a n d e n l a r g e ­
m e n t. I t w a s n o t la c k o f u n d e r s t a n d ­
i n g w h ic h w a s to s lo w up th e w o r k ;
it w a s s i m p l y t h a t t h e p l a n e t d id n o t
b o a s t m a c h i n e to o l s a n d e q u ip m e n t
la rg e e n o u g h o r s tro n g e n o u g h to h a n ­
d le t h e n e c e s s a r il y h u g e a n d h eav y p a rts
a n d m e m b e rs re q u ire d .
W h ile th e c o n s tru c tio n o f th is h e a v y
m a c h i n e r y w a s b e in g r u s h e d t h r o u g h ,
K in n is o n and V a n B u s k irk d e v o te d
th e ir e ff o rts to th e fa b ric a tio n o f a n
u l t r a - s e n s i t i v e r e c e i v e r , t u n a b l e t o th e
p i r a t e s ’ s c r a m b le d w a v e b a n d s . W ith
t h e i r e x a c t l y d e ta i le d k n o w le d g e , a n d
w i t h t h e c le v e r e s t t e c h n i c i a n s a n d t h e
c h o ic e s t e q u i p m e n t o f V e l a n t i a a t t h e i r
d is p o s a l, t h e s e t w a s s o o n c o m p le te d .
AST—6
81
K i n n i s o n w a s g i v i n g it s e x c e e d i n g ly
d e li c a te c o ils t h e i r f in a l a l i g n m e n t w h e n
W o r s e l w r i g g l e d b l i th e l y i n t o t h e r a d i o
la b o ra to ry .
“ H i , K im b a l l K i n n i s o n o f t h e L e n s ! ”
h e c a ll e d g a y ly . T h r o w i n g s o m e t w e n t y
f e e t o f h i s s e r p e n t ’s b o d y i n l i g h t n i n g
lo o p s a b o u t a c o n v e n i e n t p i l l a r , h e m a d e
a h o r i z o n t a l b a r o f t h e r e s t o f h im s e lf
a n d d r o p p e d o n e w i n g t i p t o t h e flo o r.
T h e n , n o n c h a la n tly u p s id e d o w n , h e
th r u s t o u t th re e o r fo u r e y e s a n d c u rle d
t h e i r s t a lk s o v e r t h e L e n s m e n ’s s h o u l­
d e r , th e b e tte r to in s p e c t th e re s u lts of
t h e m e c h a n ic s ’ e f f o r t s . G o n e w a s th e
m o r o s e , p e s s im i s t ic , d e a t h - h a u n t e d W o r ­
s e l w h o h a d w r o u g h t a n d f o u g h t b e s id e
th e a rm o re d p a ir u p o n fa n ta s tic a lly
in i m i c a l D e lg o n . T h i s w a s a n e w W o r ­
sel e n tire ly ; g a y , h a p p y , c a re fre e , a n d
a c t u a l l y f r o lic s o m e — if y o u c a n im a g e
a th irty -fo o t-lo n g , c r o c o d i le - h e a d e d ,
l e a t h e r - w i n g e d p y t h o n a s b e in g f r o l i c ­
so m e !
“ H i, y o u r ro y a l s n a k e s h ip !” K in n is o n
r e t o r t e d in k in d . “ S ti ll h e r e , h u h ?
T h o u g h t y o u ’d b e b a c k o n D e lg o n b y
t h i s t i m e , c le a n in g u p t h e r e s t o f t h a t
m e s s .”
“T he e q u ip m e n t is not read y , but
t h e r e ’s n o h u r r y a b o u t t h a t . ” The
p l a y f u l r e p t i l e u n w r a p p e d t e n o r tw e lv e
fe e t o f ta il fro m th e p illa r a n d w a v e d
i t a i r i l y a b o u t. “ T h e i r p o w e r is b r o ­
k e n ; t h e i r r a c e is d o n e . Y o u a r e a b o u t
to tr y o u t th e n ew re c e iv e r? ”
“ Y e s — g o in g o u t a f t e r t h e m r i g h t
n o w .” K in n is o n began d e f t ly to
m a n ip u la te th e m ic ro m e tric v e r n ie rs of
h is d ia ls .
E Y E S fix e d u p o n m e te rs a n d g a u g e s ,
he l i s t e n e d — l i s t e n e d — in c r e a s e d h is
p o w e r a n d li s t e n e d a g a in . M o re a n d
m o r e p o w e r h e a p p li e d t o h i s a p p a r a t u s ,
l i s t e n i n g c o n ti n u a ll y . S u d d e n l y h e s t i f f ­
e n e d , h is h a n d s b e c o m in g r o c k - s ti ll . H e
li s t e n e d , if p o s s ib le e v e n m o r e i n t e n t l y
t i t a n b e f o r e ; a n d a s h e l i s t e n e d h is fa c e
82 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
g re w g rim a n d g r a n ite - h a r d . T h e n th e
m i c r o m e t e r s b e g a n a g a i n , c r a w li n g ly , t o
m o v e , a s th o u g h h e w e re tr a c in g a b e a m .
“B us! H o o k o n th e f o c u s in g b e a m
a n te n n a !” he sn ap p ed . “ I t ’s g o i n g t o
t a k e e v e r y m i l l i w a t t o f p o w e r w e ’v e g o t
in t h i s h o o k - u p to t a p h i s b e a m , b u t I
t h i n k t h a t I ’v e g o t H e l m u t h d i r e c t , i n ­
s te a d o f th r o u g h a p ira te - s h ip r e l a y ! ”
A g a in a n d a g a in h e c h e c k e d t h e r e a d ­
i n g s o f h is d ia l s a n d o f t h e d i r e c t o r s o f
h is a n t e n n a ; e a c h t i m e n o t i n g t h e e x a c t
t i m e o f th e V e l a n t i a n d a y .
“ T h e re ! A s so o n a s w e g e t so m e
ti m e , W o r s e l . I ’d lik e t o w o r k o u t th e s e
fig u re s w ith so m e o f y o u r a s tro n o m e r s .
T h e y ’ll g iv e m e a r i g h t lin e t h r o u g h t o
H e l m u t h ’s h e a d q u a r t e r s — I h o p e . S o m e
d a y , if I ’m s p a r e d , I ’ll g e t a n o t h e r ! ”
“ W h a t k in d o f n e w s d id y o u g e t? ”
a sk e d V a n B u s h k irk .
“ G ood an d bad b o t h ,” r e p l i e d th e
L ensm an. “G ood in th a t H e lm u th
d o e s n ’t b e lie v e t h a t w e s t a y e d w i t h h is
s h i p a s lo n g a s w e d id . H e 's a s u s p i ­
c io u s d e v il, y o u k n o w , a n d is p r e t t y w e ll
c o n v in c e d t h a t w e t r i e d t o r u n t h e s a m e
k i n d o f a b la z e r o n h i m t h a t w e d i d th e
o t h e r tim e . S in c e h e h a s n ’t g o t e n o u g h
s h i p s o n t h e j o b t o w o r k t h e w h o le lin e ,
h e ’s c o n c e n t r a t i n g o n t h e o t h e r e n d .
T h a t m e a n s t h a t w e ’v e g o t p l e n t y o f
d a y s le ft. T h e b a d p a r t o f i t is t h a t
t h e y 'v e g o t f o u r o f o u r b o a t s a l r e a d y
a n d a r e b o u n d to g e t m o re . L o r d , h o w
I w is h I c o u ld c a ll t h e r e s t o f t h e m !
S o m e o f th e m c o u ld c e r t a i n l y m a k e it
h e re b e fo re th e y g o t c a u g h t .”
“ M ig h t I th e n o ffe r a s u g g e s tio n ? ”
a s k e d W o r s e l , s u d d e n l y d if fid e n t.
“ S u r e l y ! ” th e L e n s m a n r e p l i e d in s u r ­
p rise . “ Y o u r id e a s h a v e n e v e r b e e n
a n y k in d o f p o p p y c o c k . W h y s o b a sh fu l
a ll a t o n c e ? ”
“ B e c a u s e t h i s o n e is so— a h — s o p e ­
c u lia rly p e rs o n a l, sin c e y o u m e n re g a r d
so h ig h l y th e p riv a c y o f y o u r m in d s .
O u r tw o s c ie n c e s , a s y o u h a v e a l r e a d y
o b s e rv e d , a re v a s tly d if fe re n t. Y o u a r e
fa r beyond u s i n m e c h a n ic s , p h y s i c s ,
c h e m istry , a n d t h e o t h e r a p p li e d s c i­
ences. W e , o n th e o th e r h a n d , h a v e
d e lv e d m u c h d e e p e r t h a n h a v e y o u in t o
p sy c h o lo g y a n d th e o th e r in tro s p e c tiv e
s tu d ie s . F o r th a t re a s o n I k n o w p o s i­
ti v e l y t h a t t h e L e n s y o u w e a r is c a p a b l e
o f e n o rm o u s ly g r e a te r th in g s th a n y o u
a r e a t p r e s e n t a b le t o p e r f o r m . Of
c o u r s e , I c a n n o t u s e y o u r L e n s d ir e c tl y ,
s i n c e i t is a t t u n e d t o y o u r o w n e g o .
H o w e v e r , if t h e id e a a p p e a l s t o y o u , I
c o u ld , w i t h y o u r c o n s e n t , o c c u p y y o u r
m i n d a n d u s e y o u r L e n s t o p u t y o u cn
rapport w ith y o u r fe llo w s . I h a v e n o t
v o l u n t e e r e d t h e s u g g e s tio n b e f o r e b e ­
c a u s e I k n o w h o w a v e r s e y o u r m i n d is
t o a n y f o r e i g n c o n t r o l .”
“ N o t n e c e s s a r i l y t o f o r e i g n c o n t r o l ,"
K in n is o n c o rre c te d h im . “ O n ly to
enemy c o n tro l. T h e id e a o f f r i e n d l y
c o n tro l never o c c u r r e d to m e T hat
w o u ld b e a n e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t b r e e d o f
c a ts . G o to i t !”
K I N N I S O N r e l a x e d h is m i n d c o m ­
p le t e ly , a n d t h a t o f t h e V e l a n t i a n c a m e
w e lli n g in , w a v e u p o n f r ie n d ly , s u r g i n g
w a v e o f b e n e v o le n t p o w e r . A nd not
o n ly — o r n o t p r e c i s e l y — p o w e r . It w as
m o r e t h a n p o w e r ; it w a s a c a lm , c o o l,
p la c i d certainty, a d e p t h a n d c l a r i t y o f
p e r c e p t i o n t h a t K i n n i s o n i n h is m o s t
c o g e n t m o m e n ts h a d n e v e r d r e a m e d a
p o s s ib il it y . T h e p o s s e s s o r o f t h a t m i n d
k n e w t h i n g s , c a m e o - c le a r i n m ic r o s c o p ic
d e t a i l , w h ic h t h e k e e n e s t m i n d s o f E a r t h
c o u ld p e r c e i v e o n ly a s c h a o ti c a ll y i n d i s ­
tin c t m a s s e s o f m e n ta l lig h t a n d s h a d e ,
o f n o r e c o g n i z a b le p a t t p m w h a t e v e r !
“ G iv e m e t h e t h o u g h t p a t t e r n o f h im
w i t h w h o m y o u w is h f i r s t t o c o n v e r s e ,”
c a m e W o r s e l ’s t h o u g h t , t h i s t i m e f r o m
d e e p w i t h i n t h e L e n s m a n ’s o w n b r a i n .
K in n is o n fe lt a s u b tle th r ill o f u n e a s i­
n e ss a t th a t n e w a n d u ltra -s tra n g e d u a l
p e r s o n a l i t y , b u t t h o u g h t b a c k s t e a d il y ,
“ S o r r y — I c a n ’t . ”
“ E x cu se m e, I s h o u ld have know n
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
t h a t y o u c a n n o t th in k in o u r p a tte rn s .
T h in k , th e n , o f h im a s a p e rs o n — a n
in d i v i d u a l . T h a t w ill g iv e m e , I b e lie v e ,
s u f f ic ie n t d a t a . ”
In to th e E a r t h m a n ’s m i n d th e re
le a p e d a p i c t u r e o f H e n d e r s o n , s h a r p
and d e a r. H e fe lt h i s L e n s a c t u a l l y
tin g le a n d th r o b a s a c o n c e n tra tio n o f
v ita l fo rc e su c h a s h e h a d n e v e r k n o w n
p o u r e d t h r o u g h h is w h o le b e in g a n d in t o
th a t a lm o s t-liv in g c re a tio n o f th e A ris -
ia n s , a n d i m m e d i a te l y t h e r e a f t e r h e w a s
i n fu ll m e n t a l c o m m u n ic a t io n w i t h t h e
c h ie f p i l o t o f t h e il l - f a t e d Rrittania!
A n d th e r e , s e a te d a c ro s s th e tin y m e s s
t a b l e o f t h e i r lif e b o a t, w a s T h o r n d y k e ,
t h e m a s t e r te c h n i c ia n .
H e n d e r s o n c a m e t o h i s f e e t w i t h a y e ll
as th e te le p a th ic m e s s a g e b o m b a rd e d
in to h is b ra in , a n d it re q u ire d s e v e ra l
s e c o n d s t o c o n v in c e h im t h a t h e w a s n o t
t h e v ic tim o f s p a c e i n s a n i t y o r s u f f e r i n g
f r o m a n y o t h e r f o r m o f h a ll u c i n a t i o n .
O n c e c o n v in c e d , h o w e v e r , h e a c te d . H i s
li f e b o a t s h o t t o w a r d f a r V e l a n t i a a t
m a x i m u m b la s t.
T h e n : " N e ls o n ! A lle rd y c e ! T h o m p ­
son ! J e n k in s ! U h le n h u th ! S m ith 1
C h a t w a y --------” K i n n i s o n c a ll e d t h e r o l l
o f t h e s u r v iv o r s .
N e ls o n , th e Brittania’s c o m m u n ic a ­
t i o n s o ffic e r, a n s w e r e d h i s c a p t a i n ’s c a ll.
S o d id A lle r d y c e , t h e j u g g l i n g q u a r t e r ­
m a s te r. S o d id U h l e n h u t h , a t e c h n i ­
c ia n . S o d i d th o s e in t h r e e o t h e r b o a ts .
T w o o f th e s e th r e e w e re a p p a re n tly
w e ll w it h i n t h e d a n g e r z o n e , a n d m i g h t
g e t n ip p e d in t h e i r d a s h , b u t t h e i r c r e w s
e le c te d w i t h o u t h e s i t a t i o n t o t a k e t h e
chance. F o u r b o a ts , it w a s a l r e a d y
k n o w n , h a d b e e n c a p tu r e d b y th e p ira te s .
T h e r e m a i n i n g e ig h t w e r e e i t h e r s o d i s ­
ta n t a s to b e o u t o f ra n g e o f e v e n th e
W o rs e l-d riv e n L e n s , o r th e y h a d b een
ta k e n b y p ir a te s w h o h a d n o t y e t r e ­
p o rte d to H e lm u th ,
" E i g h t o u t o f tw e n ty ,” K in n is o n
m u s e d . “ N o t s o g o o d , b u t i t c o u ld h a v e
b e e n a lo t w o r s e . T h e y m i g h t v e r y w e ll
83
h a v e t a k e n u s a ll b y t h i s t i m e .”
T h e n h e tu r n e d to th e V e la n tia n , w h o
h a d w i t h d r a w n h is m i n d a s s o o n a s i t s
ta s k w a s d o n e . " T h a n k s , W o rs e l,” h e
s a i d s im p ly . “ S o m e o f t h o s e la d s c o m ­
in g in h a v e g o t p l e n t y o f j u s t w h a t i t
ta k e s , a n d how w e can u se th e m !”
ONE BY ONE t h e lif e b o a ts o f t h e
Bnttania cam e in to p o rt, w h e re th e ir
c r e w s w e r e w e lc o m e d b r ie f ly , b u t f e e l­
in g l y , b e f o r e t h e y w e r e p u t t o w o r k .
N e ls o n , th e c o m m u n ic a t io n s o ff ic e r,
a m o n g th e l a s t t o a r r i v e , w a s t o th e
L e n s m a n p a r t i c u l a r l y w e lc o m e .
" N e l s , w e n e e d y o u b a d l y ,” K i n n i s o n
in f o r m e d h i m a s s o o n a s g r e e t i n g s h a d
been ex ch an g ed . “ T h e p ira te s h av e a
b e a m , c a r r y i n g a p e c u l i a r l y s c r a m b le d
w a v e t h a t t h e y c a n r e c e iv e a n d d e c o d e
th r o u g h a n y k in d o f o r d in a r y b la n k e t­
i n g i n t e r f e r e n c e , a n d y o u ’r e t h e b e s t
m a n o f u s a ll t o s t u d y t h e i r s y s te m .
S o m e o f t h e s e V e l a n t i a n s c i e n t i s t s can,
p r o b a b l y h e l p y o u a lo t o n t h a t — a n y
r a c e t h a t c a n d e v e lo p a s c r e e n a g a i n s t
th o u g h t fig u re s to k n o w m o re th a n
s o m e w h a t a b o u t v i b r a t i o n in g e n e r a l .
W e ’v e g o t w o r k i n g m o d e l s o f t h e p i ­
r a te s ’ in s tru m e n ts , so th a t y o u c a n fig u re
o u t t h e i r p a t t e r n s a n d f o r m u la s . T hat
ought be s im p le .
“ W h e n y o u ’v e d o n e t h a t , I w a n t y o u
a n d y o u r V e la n ti& n s t o d e s i g n s o m e ­
t h i n g t h a t w ill s c r a m b le a ll t h e p ir a te s *
c o m m u n i c a t o r b e a m s in s p a c e , f r o m h e r e
t o th e n e a r r i m o f t h e g a la x y . If y o u
c a n f ix t h i n g s s o t h a t t h e y c a n ’t t a l k ,
a n y m o r e t h a n w e r a n , i t 'l l h e lp a lo t,
b e lie v e m e ! ”
“ Q X , c h ie f , w e ’ll g iv e i t th e w o r k s .”
A n d t h e r a d i o m a n c a lle d fo r to o ls ,
a p p a r a t u s a n d e le c tr i c ia n s .
T h e n th r o u g h o u t th e g re a t sp a c e p o rt
t h e m a n y V e l a n t i a n s a n d th e h a n d f u l o f
p a t r o l m e n la b o r e d m i g h ti ly , s id e b y s id e ,
a n d t o v e r y g o o d e ff e c t in d e e d . S lo w ly ,
th e p o r t b e c a m e rin g e d a b o u t b y , a n d
stu d d e d e v e ry w h e re w ith m o n s tro u s
84 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S
m e c h a n is m s . E v e ry w h e re th e re w e re
p r o j e c to r s : re f ra c to r y -th r o a te d d e m o n s
r e a d y to v o m it fo r th e v e ry fo rc e k n o w n
t o t h e e x p e r t te c h n i c i a n s o f t h e p a t r o l .
T h e r e w e re a b s o rb e rs , to o , b a c k e d b y
t h e i r b le e d e r r e s i s t o r s , a i r g a p s , g r o u n d
ro d s , a n d ra c k s fo r d is c h a rg e d a c c u m u ­
l a t o r s . T h e r e , to o , w e r e r e c e p t o r s a n d
c o n v e r t e r s f o r t h e c o s m ic e n e r g y w h ic h
w a s to e m p o w e r m a n y o f t h e d e v ic e s .
T h e r e w e r e , o f c o u r s e , a to m ic m o t o r
g e n e ra to rs b y th e s c o re , a n d b a tte r y
u p o n b a tte ry o f g ig a n tic a c c u m u la to rs .
A n d N e l s o n ’s h i g h - p o w e r e d s c r a m b l e r
w a s r e a d y t o g o to w o r k .
T h ese m a c h in e s a p p e a re d c ru d e ,
ro u g h , u n f in is h e d ; f o r n e ith e r tim e n o r
la b o r h a d b een w a s te d u p o n n o n e s s e n ­
ti a ls . B u t in s id e e a c h o n e t h e m o v i n g
p a r t s fitte d w ith m i c r o m e t r i c a c c u r a c y
a n d w i t h h a i r - s p r i n g b a la n c e . A ll,
w i t h o u t e x c e p t io n , f u n c t i o n e d p e r f e c tl y .
A t V V o rsel’s c a ll, K i n n i s o n c lim b e d u p
o u t o f a g r e a t b e a m p r o o f p it , th e t o p o f
w h o s e w a ll w a s p r a c t i c a l l y c o m p o s e d o f
tra c to r -b e a m p r o je c to r s . P a u s i n g o n ly
t o m a k e s u r e t h a t a s t ic k i n g s w it c h o n
o n e o f th e s c re e n -d o o m g e n e ra to rs h a d
b e e n r e p l a c e d , h e h u r r i e d to th e h e a v ily
a r m o r e d c o n t r o l r o o m , w h e r e h i s li t t l e
f o r c e o f fe llo w p a t r o l m e n a w a i t e d h im .
’‘T h e y 'r e c o m in g , b o y s ,” he an­
nounced. “ Y o u a ll k n o w w h a t t o d o .
T h e r e a r e a lo t m o r e t h i n g s t h a t w e
c o u ld h a v e d o n e if w e ’d h a d m o r e tim e ,
b u t a s it is w e ’ll j u s t g o to w o r k o n t h e m
w i t h w h a t w e ’v e g o t . ” A n d K i n n i s o n ,
a g a i n a ll b r i s k c a p t a i n , b e n t o v e r h is
in s t r u m e n t s .
I n th e o r d i n a r y c o u r s e o f e v e n t s th e
p i r a t e w o u ld h a v e f la s h e d u p t o th e
p la n e t w i t h s p y r a y s o u t a n d is s u i n g a
p e r e m p t o r y d e m a n d f o r t h e p l a n e t to
s h o w a c le a n b ill o f h e a lt h o r t o s u r r e n ­
d e r i n s t a n t l y s u c h f u g i ti v e s a s m i g h t
la t e ly h a v e la n d e d u p o n it. B u t K i n n i ­
s o n d i d n o t — c o u ld n o t — w a it f o r t h a t .
T h e s p y r a y s , h e k n e w , w o u ld r e v e a l
t h e p r e s e n c e o f h is a r m a m e n t ; a n d s u c h
a r m a m e n t m o s t c e r t a i n l y d i d n o t b e lo n g
to th is p la n e t. T h e re fo r e , th e in s ta n t
th a t th e p ir a te s h ip c a m e w ith in ra n g e
o f h is d e te c to rs h e a c t e d ; a n d fo r th w ith
e v e ry th in g h a p p e n e d a t o n c e , w ith f u r i­
o u s s w if tn e s s .
A t r a c e r la s h e d o u t , t h e p il o t r a y o f
th e rim b a tte ry of e x tr a o rd in a rily
p o w e rfu l tra c to rs . U n d e r th e u rg e o f
t h o s e b e a m s t h e in e r t i a l e s s s h i p f la s h e d
t o w a r d t h e i r c e n t e r o f a c ti o n , w h ic h w a s
t h e g e o m e t r i c a l c e n t e r o f t h e s p a c e p o r t ’s
d e e p ra y p r o o f p it. A t th e sa m e m o m e n t
N e l s o n ’s s c r a m b l e r b u r s t in t o a c ti v it y , a
d o m e - s c r e e n a g a i n s t c o s m ic - e n e r g y i n ­
t a k e , a n d a f u l l c ir c le o f s u p e r p o w e r e d
a tta c k in g ra y s .
A L L T H E S E T H I N G S o c c u r r e d in
th e tw in k lin g o f a n e y e , a n d th e v e ss e l
w a s b e in g s lo w e d d o w n b y t h e a t m o s ­
p h e re o f V e la n tia b e fu ie h e r s ta ille d
c o m m a n d e r c o u ld e v e n r e a l iz e t h a t h e
w a s b e in g a t t a c k e d . O n l y t h e p r e s e n c e
of a u to m a tic a lly re a c tin g d e f e n s iv e
s c re e n s s a v e d th a t s h ip fro m in s ta n t d e ­
s t r u c t i o n ; b u t th e y d i d s o s a v e i t a n d
in s e c o n d s th e p ir a te s ’ e v e ry w e a p o n w a s
f u r i o u s l y a b la z e .
I n v a in . T h e d e fe n se s o f th a t p it
c o u ld t a k e it. T h e y w e re d riv e n b y
m e c h a n is m s e a s i ly a b le t o a b s o r b th e o u t ­
p u t o f a n y e q u ip m e n t m o u n ta b le u p o n a
m o b i le base, and to h is c o n s t e r n a t i o n
t h e p i r a t e f o u n d t h a t h is c o s m ic - e n e r g y
i n t a k e w a s a t , a n d r e m a i n e d a t, z e r o .
H e s e n t o u t c a ll a f t e r c a ll f o r h e lp ,
b u t c o u ld n o t m a k e c o n t a c t w i t h a n y
o t h e r p i r a t e s t a ti o n . E th e r a n d su b ­
e t h e r a li k e w e r e d o s e d to h i m ; h is s i g ­
n a l s w e r e b l a n k e t e d c o m p le te ly . N or
c o u ld h is d r i v e r s , e v e n t h o u g h o p e r a t i n g
a t r u i n o u s o v e r l o a d , m o v e h im f r o m t h e
g e o m e t r i c a l c e n t e r o f t h a t in c a n d e s c e n tl y
f l a m i n g p it , so in c o n c e iv a b ly r i g i d w e r e
t h e t r a c t o r s ’ c la m p s u p o n h im .
A nd soon h is p o w e r b e g a n t o fa il.
H i s v e s s e l, d e s i g n e d t o o p e r a t e upon
c o s m ic - e n e r g y in ta k e , c a rr ie d « n ly
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L
e n o u g h a c c u m u l a t o r s f o r s t a b il iz a t io n o f
p o w e r flo w , a n a m o u n t r i d i c u l o u s l y i n ­
a d e q u a te fo r a c o m b a t a s p ro flig a te o f
e n e r g y a s th i s . B u t, s tra n g e ly e n o u g h ,
a s h is d e f e n s e w e a k e n e d , s o le s s e n e d t h e
p o w e r o f th e a tta c k . I t w a s n o p a r t o f
th e L e n s m a n ’s p l a n to d e stro y .th i s
su p e rd re a d n a u g h t o f th e v o id .
“ T h a t w a s o n e g o o d th in g a b o u t th e
o ld Brittania,” h e g r i t t e d a s h e c u t d o w n ,
s te p b y s te p , th e p o w e r o f h is b e a m s ,
" n o b o d y c o u ld b lo c k h e r o f f f r o m w h a t
p o w er she h a d !”
S o o n th e s to re d -u p e n e rg y o f th e b a t­
t l e s h i p w a s e x h a u s t e d a n d s h e la y t h e r e ,
q u ie s c e n t. T h e n g ia n t p re s s e rs w e n t
i n t o a c ti o n a n d s h e w a s lif te d o v e r t h e
w a ll o f t h e p i t , t o s e t t l e d o w n in a n
o p e n s p a c e b e s id e i t — o p e n , b u t s till
u n d e r th e d o m e s o f fo rc e .
K i n n i s o n h a d n o n e e d le r a y s a s y e t,
t h e ti m e a t h is d is p o s a l h a v in g b e e n
s u f f ic ie n t o n ly fo r th e c o n s tru c tio n of
t h e a b s o l u te l y e s s e n t i a l it e m s o f e q u i p ­
m e n t . N o w , w h ile h e w a s d e b a t i n g w ith
h i s fe llo w 's a s t o w h a t p a r t o f t h e v e s s e l
t o d e s t r o y in o r d e r t o w ip e o u t it s c r e w ,
t h e p i r a t e s th e m s e l v e s e n d e d t h e d e b a te .
P o r t s y a w n e d in t h e v e s s e l’s a r m o r e d
s i d e a n d t h e y c a m e o u t f ig h tin g .
F o r t h e y w e r e n o t a b r e e d to d ie lik e
r a t s in a tr a p , a n d th e y k n e w th a t to
r e m a i n i n s i d e t h e i r v e s s e l w a s t o d ie
w h e n e v e r a n d h o w e v e r th e ir c a p to rs
w ille d . T h e y k n e w a ls o t h a t d ie t h e y
m u s t if t h e y c o u ld n o t c o n q u e r . T h e i r
s u r r e n d e r , e v e n ;i it s h o u ld b e a c c e p te d ,
w o u ld m e a n o n ly a s o m e w h a t l a t e r d e a t h
i n t h e l e t h a l c h a m b e r s o f t h e la w . In
t h e o p e n , t h e y c o u ld a t le a s t t a k e s o m e
o f t h e i r fo e s w i t h t h e m .
F u r t h e r m o r e , n o t b e in g m e n a s w e
k n o w m e n , t h e y h a d n o t h i n g in c o m m o n
w i t h e i t h e r h u m a n b e in g s o r V e l a n t i a n s .
B o th o f th e m w e re v e rm in , a s th e y
t h e m s e l v e s w e r e t o t h e b e in g s m a n n i n g
th is s u r p ris in g ly im p re g n a b le fo r tr e s s
h e r e in t h i s w a s t e c o r n e r o f t h e g a l a x y .
T h e r e f o r e , s p a c e - h a r d e n e d v e t e r a n s a ll,
85
t h e y f o u g h t , w i t h t h e in s a n e f e r o c it y a n d
d e s p e r a t i o n o f t h e u lt im a te l y l a s t s t a n d ;
b u t th e y d id n o t c o n q u e r. In s te a d , a n d
t o t h e l a s t m a n , t h e y d ie d .
AS SOON A S th e b a ttle w a s o v e r,
b e f o r e t h e in t e r f e r e n c e b l a n k e t i n g t h e p i ­
r a te s ’ c o m m u n ic a to rs w a s c u t o ff, K in n i-
so n w e n t th r o u g h t h e c a p t u r e d v e s s e l,
d e s tro y in g th e h e a d q u a rte rs v is ip l a te s
a n d e v e r y a u t o m a t i c s e n d e r w h ic h c o u ld
tr a n s m it a n y k in d o f a m e s s a g e to a n y
p ira te b ase.
T hen th e in t e r f e r e n c e w a s s t o p p e d ;
th e d o m e s w e re r e le a s e d ; th e s h ip w u s
r e m o v e d f r o m t h e fie ld o f o p e r a t i o n s .
T h e n , w h ile T h o r n d y k e a n d h is r e p t i l i a n
a id e s — th e m s e l v e s n o w r a d i o e x p e r t s o f
n o m e a n a t t a i n m e n t s — b u s i e d th e m s e l v e s
a t i n s t a l l i n g a h i g h - p o w e r e d s c r a m b le r
a b o a rd h e r, K in n is o n and W o rse l
s c a n n e d 's p a c e in s e a r c h o f m o r e p r e y .
S o o n th e y fo u n d it, m o re d is ta n t th a n
th e f i r s t o n e h a d b e e n — t w o s o l a r s y s ­
te m s a w a y — a n d i n a n e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t
d ir e c ti o n . T r a c e r s a n d t r a c t o r s a n d i n ­
t e r f e r e n c e a n d d o m e s o f f o r c e a g a in b e ­
c a m e th e o r d e r o f th e d a y . P ro je c to rs
a g a i n r a v e d o u t in t h e i r i n c a n d e s c e n t
m ig h t, a n d so o n a n o th e r im m e n s e c r u i­
s e r o f t h e v o id la y b e s id e h e r s i s t e r s h ip .
A n o t h e r a n d a n o t h e r ; t h e n , f o r a lo n g
t i m e , s p a c e w a s b la n k .
The L en sm an th e n e n e rg iz e d h is
u l t r a - r e c e i v e r , p o i n t i n g h is a n t e n n a c a r e ­
f u lly in t o t h e g a la c tic lin e t o H e l m u t h ’s
b a s e , a s la i d d o w n f o r h im b y t h e V e l a n -
tia n a s tro n o m e rs . A g a in , so tig h t a n d
h a r d w a s H c l m u t h ’s b e a m , h e h a d t o
d r i v e b is a p p a r a t u s s o u n m e r c if u lly t h a t
t h e t u b e n o is e a l m o s t d r o w n e d o u t t h e
s ig n a ls , b u t a g a i n h e w a s r e w a r d e d b y
h e a r i n g f a i n t l y t h e v o ic e o f t h e p i r a t e
d i r e c t o r o f o p e r a t io n s .
“ — f o u r v e s s e ls , a ll w i t h i n o r n e a r o n e
o f t h o s e fiv e s o l a r s y s te m s , h a v e c e a s e d
c o m m u n i c a t i n g ; e a c h c e s s a tio n b e in g
a c c o m p a n ie d b y a p e r i o d o f b l a n k e t i n g
in te rfe re n c e of a p a tte r n n e v e r b e fo re
86 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
re g is te re d . Y o u t w o v e s s e ls w h o a r e
re c e iv in g th e s e o r d e r s a re in s tru c te d to
in v e s tig a te th a t re g io n w ith th e u tm o s t
c a re . G o w ith s c re e n s o u t a n d e v e ry ­
th in g o n th e tr ip s , a n d w ith a u to m a tic
re c o r d e rs s e t o n m e h e re .
“ I t is n o t b e lie v e d t h a t t h e p a t r o l h a s
a n y t h i n g t o d o w ith t h i s , a s a b i l i t y h a s
b e e n s h o w n tra n s c e n d in g a n y th in g it h a s
b e e n k n o w n to p o s s e s s . A s a w o rk in g
h y p o th e s is i t is a s s u m e d t h a t o n e o f
th o s e s o l a r s y s te m s , h i t h e r t o p r a c t i c a l l y
u n e x p lo r e d a n d u n k n o w n , is , i n r e a l i t y ,
th e s e a t o f a h ig h l y a d v a n c e d r a c e , w h ic h
p e rh a p s h as ta k e n o ffe n s e a t th e a ttitu d e
o r conduct o f o u r firs t s h ip to v is it
th e m . T h e re fo r e , p ro c e e d w ith e x tr e m e
c a u ti o n , w i t h a t h o r o u g h s p y - r a y s e a r c h
a t e x tre m e ra n g e b e fo re a p p ro a c h in g a t
a ll. I f y o u la n d , u s e ta c t a n d d ip lo m a c y
i n s t e a d o f t h e c u s t o m a r y t a c t ic s . F i n d
o u t w h e th e r o u r sh ip s a n d c re w s h a v e
b e e n d e s t r o y e d , o r a r e o n ly b e in g h e ld .
A n d re m e m b e r, a u to m a tic r e p o r te r s o n
a t a ll ti m e s . H e lm u th , sp e a k in g fo r
B o s k o n e — o f f 1"
F o r m in u te s K in n is o n m a n ip u la te d
h i s m i c r o m e t e r i n v a in . H e c o u ld n o t
g e t a n o th e r so u n d .
“ W h a t a re y o u tr y in g to g e t, K im ? ”
ask ed T h o rn d y k e . “ W a s n ’t th a t
enough?” T h e m essage h a d been re ­
b ro a d c a s t to th e m in d s o f th e o th e r s b y
W o rs e l, a s fa s t a s it h a d e n te r e d th e
L e n s m a n ’s e a r s .
“ N o , t h a t ’s o n l y h a l f o f i t , ” K i n n i s o n
re tu rn e d . “ H e l m u t h ’s n o b o d y ’s fo o l.
H e ’s c e r t a i n l y t r y i n g to p l o t t h e b o u n d ­
a r i e s o f o u r in t e r f e r e n c e , a n d I w a n t
t o s e e h o w h e ’s c o m i n g o u t w i t h it.
B u t n o d ic e . H e ’s s o f a r a w a y a n d h is
b e a m ’s s o b a r d t h a t T c a n 't w o r k h im
u n l e s s h e h a p p e n s t o b e t a l k i n g a lm o s t
d ire c tly to w a rd u s. W e l l , i t w o n ’t b e
l o n g n o w u n t i l w e ’ll g iv e h im s o m e r e a l
i n t e r f e r e n c e t o p lo t. N o w w e ’ll s e e
w h a t w e c a n d o a b o u t th o s e t w o o t h e r
s h ip s th a t a re h e a d in g th is w a y . On
y o u r to e s , e v e r y b o d y .”
C A R E F U L L Y a s t h o s e tw o s h i p s i n ­
v e s tig a te d , a n d s e d u l o u s ly , a s t h e y
s o u g h t t o o b e y H e l m u t h ’s i n s t r u c t i o n s ,
a ll t h e i r p r e c a u t i o n s a m o u n t e d t o e x a c t l y
n o th in g . A s o rd e r e d , th e y b e g a n a s p y -
ra y s u rv e y a t e x tre m e r a n g e ; b u t e v e n
a t t h a t r a n g e K i n n i s o n ’s t r a c e r s w e r e
e f f e c tiv e a n d th o s e t w o s h i p s a ls o c e a s e d
c o m m u n i c a t i n g i n a b la z e o f i n t e r f e r ­
ence. T h e n r e c e n t h is to ry re p e a te d it­
s e lf. T h e d e ta ils w e re c h a n g e d so m e ­
w h a t , s i n c e t h e r e w e r e tw o v e s s e ls i n ­
s t e a d o f o n e ; b u t t h e p i t w a s o f a m p le
s i z e to a c c o m m o d a te tw o s h i p s , a n d th e
t r a c t o r s c o u ld h o ld t w o a s w e ll a n d a s
r i g i d l y a s o n e . T h e c o n f lic t w a s a little
lo n g e r , t h e b e a m i n g a li t t l e h o t t e r a n d
m o re c o ru s c a n t, b u t th e e n d in g w a s th e
sam e. S c i a m h le i s w e i e q u ic k ly in ­
s t a l l e d a n d K i n n i s o n a d d r e s s e d h is m e n ,
a l r e a d y in t h e s h ip s .
“ W e ll , w e ’r e a b o u t r e a d y t o s h o v e o ff
a g a in . R u n n i n g a w a y h a s w o r k e d tw ic e
s o f a r , w i t h v e r y g o o d r e s u l t s — o n c e in
t h e o ld Brittania, a n d o n c e in t h e p i r a t e 's
o w n s h i p s . I t s h o u l d w o r k a g a i n , if w e
c a n r in g in e n o u g h v a ria tio n s on th e
t h e m e t o k e e p H e l m u t h g u e s s i n g a w h ile
lo n g e r. M a y b e , if t h e s u p p l y o f p i r a t e
s h i p s k e e p s u p , w e ’ll b e a b le t o m a k e
H e l m u t h f u r n i s h u s t r a n s p o r t a t i o n a ll
th e w a y b ack to b a se !
“ H e r e ’s t h e id e a . W e ’v e g o t s i x
s h i p s , a n d t h e r e ’s e n o u g h o f u s t o d r i v e
th e m . S o m e o f th e y o u n g e r V e la n tia n s
h a v e j o i n e d u s , in s p i t e o f t h e f a c t t h a t
I ’v e t o l d t h e m t h e c h a n c e s a r e a g a i n s t
th e m e v e r g e ttin g b a c k . E nough of
t h e m , in f a c t, to m a k e u p a l m o s t f u ll
c r e w s o f u s a ll. B u t s i x s h i p s i s n ’t
e n o u g h o f a s q u a d r o n t o f ig h t t h r o u g h
t h e fle e ts t h a t H e l m u t h w ill h a v e o r ­
g a n iz e d if w e g o in a bod y . S o w e ’ll
s p r e a d o u t ra d ia lly , c o v e rin g th o u s a n d s
o f p a rs e c s b e fo re w e g e t h a lfw a y to b a se ,
a n d b ro a d c a s tin g e v e ry w a tt o f in te r ­
f e r e n c e w e c a n p u t o u t a ll a l o n g t h e w a y ,
in a s m a n y d if fe re n t s h a p e s a n d p o w e rs
a s o u r a p p a r a t u s w ill p e r m i t . W e c a n ’t
ta l k to e a c h o th e r, o f c o u rs e , b u t n o th in g
 G ALA C TIC P A T R O L
e ls e c a n t a l k a n y w h e r e in t h e s a m e s e c ­
t o r o f t h e g a l a x y , e i t h e r , a n d t h a t w ill
g iv e u s - t h e e d g e . E a c h s h i p w ill b e o n
i t s o w n , a s w e w e r e b e f o r e in t h e b o a t s ;
t h e b ig d i f f e r e n c e b e in g t h a t w e ’ll b e in
s u p e r d r e a d n a u g h t s i n s t e a d o f lif e b o a ts .
“ N o w , W o r s e l , if t h e p i r a t e s c h e c k
u p a n d fo llo w t h e d i s t u r b a n c e w e a r e
g o i n g t o m a k e t h e y w o n ’t b o t h e r y o u
f o l k s a t a ll. I n f a c t , if t h e y e v e r s u c c e e d
i n f i n d in g t h e c e n t e r o f t h a t i n t e r f e r e n c e
t h e r e w ill b e n o t h i n g t h e r e e x c e p t e m p t y
space. B u t if t h e y d o n ’t fo llo w u s —
a n d H e l m u t h is a p t t o i n s i s t u p o n a
th o r o u g h s tu d y o f th is re g io n b e fo re h e
d o e s a n y t h i n g e ls e — y o u f o l k s a r e d u e
fo r a n in s p e c tio n ; a n d th e n e x t in s p e c ­
ti o n w ill m e a n a r e a l b a t t l e in s t e a d o f
a s l a u g h t e r . T h e f i r s t s p y r a y w ill r e ­
v e a l th is s tu ff h e re . B u t I d o n ’t s u p p o s e
y o u w a n t t o h i d e it o r d e s t r o y i t ? ”
" W e d o n o t , ” t h e V e l a n t i a n r e p l ie d ,
p o s i ti v e ly . “ L e t th e m c o m e , in w h a t­
e v e r fo rc e th e y c a re to b rin g . T h e m o re
t h a t a t t a c k h e r e , t h e le s s t h e r e w ill b e
to h a lt y o u r p ro g r e s s . T h is a rm a m e n t
re p re s e n ts th e b e st o f th a t p o sse sse d b y
( to be c o n t in u e d .)
87
b o th y o u r p a tr o l a n d th e p ir a te s , w ith
im p r o v e m e n t s d e v e lo p e d b y y o u r s c i e n ­
t i s t s a n d o u r s in f u ll c o o p e r a t io n . We
u n d e r s ta n d th o r o u g h ly its c o n s tru c tio n ,
o p e ra tio n , a n d m a in te n a n c e . Y o u m a y
r e s t a s s u r e d t h a t t h e p i r a t e s w ill n e v e r
le v y t r i b u t e u p o n u s , a n d t h a t a n y p i r a t e
v i s i t i n g t h i s s y s te m w ill r e m a i n in it,
p e r m a n e n t l y !”
“ ’A t - a - s n a k e , W o r s e l — lo n g m a y y o u
w i g g l e !” K i n n i s o n e x c la im e d . T hen,
m o r e s e r io u s l y , “ M a y b e , a f t e r t h i s is a ll
o v e r , I ’ll se e y o u a g a i n s o m e ti m e . If
n o t, g o o d -b y . G o o d - b y , a ll V e l a n t i a !
A ll s e t, b o y s ? C l e a r e t h e r a n d li g h t
la n d in g s to y o u a l l ! B la s t o f f !”
S ix s h i p s , o n c e p i r a t e c r a f t , n o w v e s ­
s e ls o f t h e G a la c t ic P a t r o l , h u r l e d t h e m ­
s e lv e s in t o a n d t h r o u g h V e l a n t i a n a i r ,
in to a n d th r o u g h in te r p la n e ta r y sp a c e ,
o u t in t o t h e l a r g e r , w i d e r , m o r e u n o b ­
s tru c te d e m p tin e s s o f th e in te rs te lla r
v o id . S ix , e a c h b ro a d c a s tin g w ith
p r o d i g i o u s p o w e r a n d v o lu m e a n a ll - i n ­
c lu s iv e i n t e r f e r e n c e t h r o u g h w h ic h n o
p ir a te c o m m u n ic a to r o r v is ira y b e a m
c o u ld p o s s ib ly b e d r i v e n !
 Galactic P a tr o l
Part 111 of a great science novel

by Edward E. Smith, Ph. D.

UP TO N O W : not. Therefore, when the inertialess
Law enforcement lagged behind crime drive was perfected and commerce
because the police were limited in their throughout the galaxy became a com­
spheres of action, while criminals were monplace, crime became so rampant as
124 ASTOUNDING STORIES
to threaten civilisation,. Thus came
into being the Galactic Patrol, an organi­
zation whose highest members, the
Lensmen, are of unlimited authority and
range. Each is identified by zvearing
the Lens, a pseudoliving, telepathic
jewel matched to the ego of its wearer
by those master philosophers, the Arisi-
ans. The Lens cannot be either imitated
or counterfeited, since it glows with
color when worn by its ozvner, and since
it kills any other who attempts to wear it.
Of each million selected candidates
for the Lens all except about a hundred
fall before the grueling tests employed
to zveed out the unfit. Kimball Kinni­
son graduates No. / .in his class, and is
given command of the space ship Brit-
tania, which is of a new type, using ex­
plosives. He is informed that the
pirates, or Boskonians, are gaining the
upper hand over the patrol because of
a new and almost unlimited source of
power, and is instructed to capture one
of the nezv-type ships of the pirates, in
order to learn the secret of that power.
Kinnison is successful in finding and
defeating a pirate zvarship. Peter Van-
Buskirk leads the storming party of
Valerians—men of remote human ances­
try, but of extraordinary size, strength,
and agility because of the enormous
gravitation of their native planet—in
wiping out those of the pirate crew not
killed in the battle between the tzvo
ships.
Then the scientists get the informa­
tion they zvant. It cannot be trans­
mitted to Prime Base, however, because
the pirates are blanketing all channels
of communication. Boskonian ships
are gathering, and the crippled Brittania
can neither run nor fight. Therefore,
each man is given a spool of tape bear­
ing the information and they take to the
lifeboats, after setting up a “director-by­
chance” to make the Brittania. pursue an
unpredictable course in space, and after
rigging bombs to explode her at the
first touch of a pirate beam.
Kinnison and VanBuskirk land upon
the planet Delgon, and are rescued from
a horde of Catlats by Worsel, a winged
reptile, native of Velantia, a neighbor­
ing planet’. By means of improvements
upon Velantian thought screens, the
three destroy most of the Overlords of
Delgon, a sadistic race of monsters who
have been preying upon the other peo­
ples of the system by sheer power of
mind. Worsel accompanies the patrol­
men , to Velantia, all of whose resources
are then devoted to preparing defenses
against the expected Boskonian attack.
Several others of the Brittania’s lifeboats
reach Velantia. Kinnison traces a com­
municator beam of Helmuth, who
“speaks for Bosk one,” thus getting his
first line upon Boskonia’s Grand Base.
Six pirate vessels are captured. In
the six ships, manned by Velantian
crezvs and now blanketing the ether
against the pirates’ own communicators,
the patrolmen set out for Earth and the
Prime Base of the Galactic Patrol.
IX .
sat at
K
im b a l l k in n is o n
his controls, smoking a rare,
festive cigarette and smiling, at
peace with the entire universe. For this
new picture was in every element a dif­
ferent one from the old. Instead of
being in a pitifully weak and defenseless
lifeboat, skulking and hiding, he was in
one of the most powerful battleships
afloat, driving boldly at full blast almost
directly toward home. Instead of only
two, the patrolmen were now three in
number, and La Verne Thorndyke, mas­
ter technician, was a telling addition to
their force. Also, they had under them
almost a normal crew of alert and
highly trained Velantians.
Best of all, the enemy, instead of being
a close-knit group, keeping Helmuth in­
formed moment by moment of the situa­
tion and instantly responsive to his or­
ders, were now entirely out of com-
 GALACTIC PATROL
' imunication "with each other and with
their headquarters, groping helplessly.
' Literally, as well as figuratively, the
pirates were in the dark—the absolute
blackness of interstellar space. Then
Thorndyke entered the room, frowning
slightly.
“You look like the fabled Cheshire
Cat, Kim,” he remarked. “I hate to
spoil such perfect bliss, but I’m here to
tell you that we ain’t out of the woods
yet, by seven thousand rows of trees.”
“Maybe not,” the Lensman returned,
blithely, “but compared to the jam we
were in a while ago we’re not only sit­
ting on top of the world; we’re perched
right on the exact apex of the universe.
They can’t send or receive reports or
orders, and they can’t communicate.
Even their detectors are mighty lame.
You know how far they can get on
electromagnetic detectors and. visual
apparatus. Furthermore, there isn’t an
identification number, symbol, or name
on the outside of this buzz buggy. If
it ever had one the friction and attrition
have worn it off, clear down to the
armor. What can happen that we can’t
cope with ?”
“These engines can happen,” the
technician responded, bluntly. “The
Bergenholm is developing a meter jump
that I don’t like a little bit.”
“Does she knock? Or even tick?”
demanded Kinnison.
"Not yet,” Thorndyke confessed, re­
luctantly.
“How big a jump?”
"Pretty near two thousandths maxi­
mum. Average a thousandth and a
half.”
"That’s hardly a wiggle on the re­
corder line. Drivers run for months
with bigger jumps than that.”
"Yeah— drivers. But of all the trou­
bles anybody ever had with Bergen-
holms, a meter kick was never one of
them, and that’s what’s got me guessing
as to the whichness of the why. I’m
125
not trying to scare you—yet. I’m just
telling you.”
The machine referred to was the neu­
tralizer of inertia, the sine qua non of
interstellar speed, and it was not to be
wondered at that the slightest irregu­
larity in its performance was to the
technician a matter oKgrave concern.
Day after day passed, however, and the
huge converter continued to function,
taking in and sending out its wonted
torrents of power. It developed not
even a tick, and the meter jump did not
grow worse. And during those days
they put an inconceivable distance be­
hind them.
During all this time their visual in­
struments remained blank ; to all optical
apparatus space was empty save for the
normal tenancy of celestial bodies. Ffom
time to time something invisible or be­
yond the range of vision registered upon
one of the electromagnetic detectors, but
so slow were these instruments that
nothing came of their signals. In fact,
by the time the warnings were recorded,
the objects causing the disturbances
were probably far astern. ~
O N E DAY, however, the Bergen-
hoim quit— cold. There was no labor­
ing, no knocking, no heating up, no
warning at all. One instant the ship
was speeding along in free flight; the
next she was lying inert in space. She
was practically motionless, for any possi­
ble velocity built up by inert acceleration
is scarcely a crawl, as free space speeds
ge!
Then the whole crew labored like
mad. A s soon as they had the massive
covers off, Thorndyke scanned the
interior of the machine and turned to
Kinnison.
"I think we can patch her up, but
it’ll take quite a while. Maybe you’d
be of more use in the control room-—this
ain’t quite as safe as a church, is it, lying
here inert?”’ ’
"Most of the stuff is on automatic
126 ASTOUNDING STORIES
trip, but maybe I ’d better keep an eye
on things, at that. Let me know occa­
sionally how you’re getting along.” And
the Lensman went back to his controls
—none too soon.
For one pirate ship was already beam­
ing him viciously. Only the fact that
his defensive armament was upon its
automatic trips had saved the stolen bat­
tleship from practically instantaneous
destruction.
As Kinnison had already remarked
more than once, Helmuth was far from
being a fool, and that new and amaz­
ingly effective blanketing of his every
means of communication was a problem
whose solution was of paramount im­
portance. Almost every available ship
had been, for days, upon the fringe of
that interference, observing and report­
in g ' continuously. So rapidly was it
moving, however, so peculiar was its
apparent shape, and so contradictory
were the directional readings obtained,
that Helmuth’s computers had been
baffled.
Then Kinnisorj’s Bergenholm failed
and his ship went inert. In a space of
minutes the location of one center of
-interference was known. Its coordi­
nates were determined and half a dozen
warships were ordered to rush that spot.
The raider first to arrive had signaled,
visually and audibly; then, obtaining
no response, had anchored with a trac­
to r and had loosed his bolts. Nor would
the result have been different had every
one aboard, instead of no one, been in
the control room at the time of the sig­
naling. Kinnison could have read the
messages, but neither he nor any one
else then aboard the erstwhile pirate
craft could have answered them in kind.
Soon the two space ships attacking
the turncoat became three, then four,
and still the Lensman sat unworried at
his board. His meters showed no over­
load ; his noble craft was easily taking
everything her sister ships could send.
Then Thomdyke stepped into the
room, no longer a natty officer of space.
Instead, he was stripped to sweat-soaked
undershirt and overalls. He was covered
with grease and grime, and what of his
thickly smeared face was visible was
almost haggard with fatigue. He opened
his mouth to say something, then
snapped it shut, as his eye was caught
by a flaring visiplate.
“Holy jumping rockets!” he ex­
claimed. “At us already? Why didn’t
you yell?”
“ How much good would that have
done ?” Kinnison wanted to know. “Of
course, if I had known that you were
loafing on the job and could have
snapped it up a little, I would have. But
there’s no particular hurry about this.
It’ll take more than four of them to
break us down, and I was hoping that
before they can overload us you’d have
us traveling. What was on your mind
“ I came up here—one, to tell you
that we’re ready to blast; two, to suggest
that you hit her easy at first; and three,
to ask if you know where there’s any
grease soap. But you can cancel two
and three. We don’t want to play
around with these boys much longer—
they play too rough—and I ain’t going
to wash up until I see whether she holds
together or not. Blast away—and won’t
those guys be surprised!”
“I’ll say so. We were, too, when the
Velantians showed us how to compute
a screen that would cut a tractor like
so much cheese. Here she goes!”
TH E LENSMAN twirled a couple
of knobs, then punched down hard upon
three buttons. As he did so the flaring
plates became dark; they were again
alone in space. To the dumfounded
pirates, inert as they were and with their
supposedly unbreakable tractors locked
in full grip, it was as though their prey
had slipped off into the fourth dimen­
sion. Their tractors gripped nothing
whatever, their ravening beams bored
unimpeded through the space occupied
 GALACTIC PATROL
an instant before by resisting screens.
They did not know what had happened,
or how; and, being deep in the field of
interference, they could neither report
to nor be guided by the master mind of
Boskone.
For minutes Thomdyke, VanBuskirk,
and Kinnison waited tensely for they
knew not what would happen; but noth­
ing happened and the tension gradually
relaxed.
“What was the matter with it ?”
Kinnison asked, finally.
“Overloaded,” was Thomdyke’s terse
reply.
“Overloaded—hooey!” snapped the
Lensman. “How could they overload a
Bergenholm ? And, even if they could,
why in all the nine hells of Valeria
would they want to ?”
“They could do it easily enough, in
just the way they did do it—by banking
accumulators onto it in series parallel.
As to why, I ’ll let you do the guessing.
With no load on the Bergenholm you’ve
got full inertia, with full load you’ve got
zero inertia—you can't go any farther
It looks just plain dumb to me. But
then, I think all pirates are short a few
jets somewhere. If they weren’t they
wouldn’t be pirates.”
“ I don’t know whether you’re right
or not. Hope so, but afraid not. Per­
sonally, I don’t believe these folks are
pirates at all, in the ordinary sense of
the word.”
“Huh? What are they, then?”
"Piracy implies similarity of culture,
I would think,” the Lensman said,
thoughtfully. “Ordinary pirates are
usually renegades, deficient somehow,
as you suggested, rebelling against a
constituted authority which they them­
selves have at one time acknowledged
and of which they are still afraid. That
pattern doesn’t fit into this matrix at all,
anywhere.”
"So what? Now I say ‘hooey’ right
back at you. Anyway, why worry about
it?”
"Not worrying about it exactly, but
somebody has got to do some thinking
about it, or else----- ”
“I don’t like to think; it makes my
head ache,” interrupted VanBuskirk.
“Besides, we’re getting away from the
Bergenholm.”
“You’ll get a real headache there”—
Kinnison laughed—“because I’ll bet a
good Tellurian beefsteak that the pirates
were trying to set up a negative inertia
when they overloaded the Bergenholm;
and thinking about that state of matter
is enough to make anybody’s head
ache!”
"I knew that some of the dippier
Ph.D.’s in higher mechanics have been
speculating about it,” Thomdyke of­
fered, “but it can’t be done that way,
can it?”
“ Nor any other way that anybody
has tried yet, and if such a thing is possi­
ble the results may prove really star­
tling. But you two had better shove off;
you’re dead from the neck up. The
Berg’s spinning like a top—as smooth
as that much green velvet. You’ll find
a can of soap in my locker, I think.”
“MAYBE she’ll hold together long
enough for us to get some sleep.” The
technician eyed a meter dubiously, al­
though its needle was not wavering a
hair’s breadth from the green line. “But
I’ll tell the cockeyed universe that that
was a jury rigging we gave it, if there
ever was one. You can’t depend on it
for an hour until after it’s been pulled
and gone over ; and that, you know as
well as I do, takes a real shop, with
plenty of equipment. If you take my
advice you’ll sit*tdown somewhere while
you can and as soon as you can. That
Bergenholm is in bad shape, believe me.
We can hold her together for a while
by main strength and awkwardness, but
before very long she’s going out for
keeps—and when she goes out you don’t
want to find yourself fifty years from
a machine shop instead of fifty minutes.”
m ASTOUNDING STORIES
?TU say not,” the Lenapan agreed.
“But on the other hand, we don't want
those” birds jumping us the minute we
land, either. Let’s see, where are
we? And where are the bases? Urn—
um—sector bases are white rings, you
know, sub-sector bases red stars----- ”
.Three heads bent over charts.
“The nearest red-star marker seems
to be in System 240-16-37,” Kinnison
finally announced. “Don’t know the
name of the planet—never been there
and----- ”
“Too far.” interrupted Thorndyke.
“We’ll never make it. Might as well
try direct for Prime Base on Tellus. If
you can’t find a red closer than that,
look for an orange or a yellow.”
“Bases of any kind seem to be scarce
out here,” the Lensman commented.
“Wish they had scattered them around
a little thicker, Here’s a violet star,
.but that wouldn’t help us—just an out­
post.”
“Guess that purple one there’s our
best bet,” concluded Thorndyke. “It’s
probably several breakdowns away, but
maybe we can make it if we have to.
Purples are pretty low-grade space
ports, but they’ve got tools, anyway.
What’s the name of it, Kim—or is it
.only a number?"
“ It’s that very famous planet,
Trenco,” the Lensman announced, after
looking up the reference numbers in the
atlas.
"Trenco!" exclaimed Thorndyke in
disgust “The nuttiest, dopiest, woozi-
est planet in the galaxy! We would
draw something like that to sit down on
for repairs, wouldn’t we? Well. I’m on
minus time for sleep. Call me if we
go inert before I wake up, will you?”
“I sure will; and I ’ll try to figure
out a way of getting down to ground
without bringing all the pirates in space
along with us.”
Then Thorndyke and VanBuskirk
slept; Kinnison planned, and the mighty
Bergenholm continued to hold the ves­
sel inertialess. In fact, all three mew
were thoroughly rested and refreshed
before the expected breakdown came.
And when it did come they were more
or less prepared for it. The delay was
not sufficiently long to enabje the pirates
to find them again.
T H E sweating, grunting, swearing
engineers made one seemingly impossible
repair after another, by dint of what,
dodge, improvisation, surd makeshift
only the fertile brain of LaVerne Thorn-
dyke ever did know. The master
technician, one of the keenest and most
highly trained engineers of the whole
solarian system, was not used to work­
ing with his hands. Although young -
in years, he was wont to use only his
head, in directing the labors and the
energies of others.
Nevertheless, he was now working
like a stevedore.- He was permanently
grimy and greasy—their one can of me­
chanics’ soap had been used up long
since. His finger nails were black and
brokenhis hands and face were burned,
blistered and cracked. His muscles
ached and shrieked at the unaccustomed
effort, until now they were on the build.
But through it all lie had stuck uncom­
plainingly, even buoyantly, to his task,
One day, during an interlude of free
flight, he strode into the control room
and glanced at the course-plotting goni­
ometer, then stared into the “tank.”
“Still on the original course, I see.
Have you got anything doped out yet?”
“Nothing very good. That's why
I ’m staying on this course until we
reach the point closest to Trenco. I’ve
figured until my alleged brain back-fired
on me, and here’s a!! I , can g et:
“I ’ve been shrinking and expanding
our interference zone, changing its
shape as much as I could with reflectors,
and cutting it off entirely now and then,,
to cross up their surveyors as much as
I could. When we come to the jump­
ing-off place we’ll simply cut off every­
 GALACTIC PATROL
thing that is sending out traceable vibra­
tions. The Berg will have to run, of
course, but it doesn’t radiate much and
we can ground out practically all of that.
The drive is the bad feature. It looks
as though well have to cut down to
where we can .ground out the radiation.”
“How about the flare?” Thorndyke
took the inevitable slide rule from a
pocket of his overalls and began to
work it.
“I’ve already had the Velantians
build us some baffles—we've got lots of
spare tantalum, tungsten, carballoy, and
refractory, you know—just in case we
should want to use them,”
“Radiation—detection—-decreement™
cosine squared theta—tun—call it Point
0038;" the engineer mumbled, operating
his calculator. “We'll have to cut down
to about ten or twelve lights. Mighty
slow, but we would get there sometime
"•-•maybe. Now about the baffles.” And
he went into another bout with his slide
rule, during which could be distinguished
a few such words as “temperature—■
inert corpuscles—velocity—-fusion point
—-Weinberger’s Constant-----”
Then he said, “It figures that at about
fourteen lights your baffles go out.
Pretty close check with the radiation
limit. QX, I guess—but I shudder to
think of what we may have to do to
that Bergenholm to hold it together
that long.”
“It’s not so hot. I don’t think much
of the scheme myself,” admitted Kinni-
son frankly. “Probably you can think
up something better before----- ”
“Who, me? What with?” Thorn-
dyke interrupted, with a laugh. “Looks
to me like our best bet. Anyway, ain’t
you the master mind of this outfit?
Blast off!”
THUS it came about that, long later,
the Lensman cut off his interference, cut
off his driving power, cut off every
mechanism whose operation generated
vibrations which would reveal to enemy
A ST— 9
129
detectors the location of his - er-uiser.
Space-suited mechanics emerged from
the stern lock and fitted over the still
.white-hot vents of the driving projectors
the baffles they had previously built.
It is, of course, well known that all
ships of space are propelled by the inert
projection, by means of high-potential
static fields, of nascent fourth-order
particles or “corpuscles,” which are
formed inert, inside the inertialess pro­
jector, by the conversion of some form
of energy into matter. This conversion
liberates some heat, and a vast amoMpik.
of light. This light, or “flare,”
as it does directly upon and through the
highly tenuous gas formed by the pro^
jected corpuscles, makes of a speeding
space ship one of the most gorgeous
spectacles known to man; and it was
this very spectacular effect that Kinni-
son and his crew must do away with if
their bold scheme was to have any
chance at all of success.
The baffles were in place. Now, in­
stead of shooting out in telltale lumines­
cence, the light was shut in—but so,
alas, was approximately three per cent
of the heat. And the generation of heat
must be cut down to a point at which the
radiation-equilibrium temperature of the
baffles would be below the point of
fusion of the refractories of which they
were composed. This would cut down
their speed tremendously; but, on the
other hand, they were practically safe
from detection and would reach Treneo
eventually—if the Bergenholm held out.
Of course, there was still the chance
of visual or electromagnetic detection,
but that chance was vanishingly small.
The proverbial task of finding a needle
in a haystack would be an easy one in­
deed, compared to that of seeing in a
telescope or upon visiplate or magne-
plate a dead-black, lightless ship in the
infinity of space. No, the Bergenholm
was their great, their only concern; and
the engineers lavished upon that mon­
strous fabrication of metal a devotion
130 ASTOUNDING STORIES
to which could he likened only that of
a corps of nurses attending the ailing
baby of a multimillionaire.
This concentration of attention did
get results. The engineers still found
it necessary to sweat and to grunt and
to swear, but they did somehow keep
the thing running—most of the time.
Nor were they detected—then.
For the attention of the pirate high
command was very much taken up with
that fast-moving, that ever^expanding,
that peculiarly-fluctuating volume ©f
interference—utterly enigmatic as it was,
and impenetrable to their very instru­
ment of communication. Its center was
moving toward the splarian system. In
that system was the Prime Base of the
Galactic Patrol. Therefore, it was the
Lensman’s work—undoubtedly the same
Lensman who had conquered one of
their superships and, after having
learned its every secret, bad escaped in
a lifeboat through' the fincrmeshed net
set to catch him 1 And, piling Ossa
upon Pelion, this same Lensman had—
must have—captured' ship after uncon­
querable ship of their best and was
even now. sailing calmly home with
them!
Therefore, using as tools every pirate
ship in that sector of space, Helmuth
and his computers and navigators were
slowly but grimly solving the equations
of motion of that volume of interference.
Smaller and smaller became the uncer­
tainties. Then ship after ship bored
into the subethereal murk, to match
course and velocity with, and ultimately
to come to grips with, each focus of
disturbance as it was determined.
Thus in a sense, and although Kinni-
son and his friends did not then know
it, it was only the failure of the Bergen-
holm that was to save their lives, and
with those lives our present civilization.
SLOWLY, haltingly, and, for reasons
already given, undetected, Kinnison
made pitiful progress toward Trenco—
impatiently cursing his ship, the crippled
generator, its designer and its previous
operators as he went. But at long fast
Trenco loomed large beneath them and
the Lensman used his Lens.
"Lensman ©f Trenco space port, or
any other Lensman within call!” he sent
out dearly. “Kinnison of Tellus—Sol
III-—calling. My Bergenholm is almost
put and I must sit down at Trenco space
port for repairs. I have avoided the
pirates so far, but they may be either
behind me or ahead of me, or both.
What is the situation there?”
*T fear that I can be of no help,” came
back a weak thought, without the cus­
tomary identification, “I am out of con­
trol. However, Tregensee is in the------”
Kinnison felt a poignant, unbearably
agonizing mental impact that jarred him
to the very core: a shock that, while
of sledge-hammer force, was still of
such a keenly, penetrant timbre that it
almost exploded every cell of his brain.
Communication ceased, and the Lens­
man knew, with a sick, shuddering cer­
tainty, that while in the very act of talk­
ing to him a Lensman had died.
X.
JUDGED by any Earthly standards,
the planet Trenco' was—and is—a pecul­
iar one indeed. Its atmosphere, which
is not air, and its liquid, which is not
water, are its two outstanding pecul­
iarities and the sources of most of its
others. Almost half of that atmosphere
and by far the greater part of the liquid
phase of the planet is a substance of
extremely low latent heat of vapori­
zation, with a boiling point such that
during the daytime it is a vapor and at
night a liquid. To make matters worse,
the other constituents of Trenco’s gas­
eous envelope are of very feeble blanket­
ing power, low specific heat, and of high
permeability, so that its days are in-
 GALACTIC PATROL
tensely hot and its nights are bitterly
cold.
At night, therefore, it rains. Words
are entirely inadequate to describe to any
one who has never been there just how
it does rain during Trench's nights.
Upon Earth one inch of rainfall in an
hour is a terrific downpour. Upon
Trenco that amount of precipitation
131
would scarcely be considered a m ist;
for along the equatorial belt, in less than
thirteen Tellurian hours, it rains exactly
forty-seven feet and five inches every
night—no more and no less, each and
every night of every year,
Also there is lightning. Not in
Terra's occasional flashes, but in one
continuous, blinding glare which makes
132 ASTOUNDING STORIES
night as we know it unknown there—
in nerve-wracking, battering, sense-de­
stroying discharges which make ether
and subether alike impenetrable to any
ray or signal short of a full-driven
power beam. The days are practically
as bad. The lightning is not so violent
then, but the bombardment of Trenco’s
monstrous sun, through that outlandishly
peculiar atmosphere, produces almost
the same effect.
Because of the difference in pressure
get up by the enormous precipitation,
always and everywhere upon Trenco
there is wind—and what a wind! Ex­
cept at the very poles, where it is too
cold for even Trenconian life to exist,
there is hardly a spot in which or a time
at which an Earthy gale would not be
considered a dead calm; and along the
equator, at every sunrise and at every
sunset, the wind blows from the day
side to the night side at the rate of a
trifle over eight hundred miles an hour!
Through countless thousands of years
wind and wave have planed and scoured
the planet Trenco to a geometrically per­
fect oblate spheroid. It has no eleva­
tions and no depressions. Nothing
fixed in an Earthly sense grows or exists
upon its surface; no structure has ever
been built there able to stay in one place
through one whole day of the cataclys­
mic meteorological phenomena which
constitute the natural Trenconian en­
vironment.
THERE LIVE upon Trenco two
types of vegetation, each type having
innumerable subdivisions. One type
sprouts in the mud of the morning;
flourishes flatly, by dint of deeply sent
and powerful roots, during the wind
and the heat of the day; comes to full
fruit in late afternoon; and at sunset
dies and is swept away by the flood.
The other type is free-floating. Some of
its genera are remotely like footballs;
others resemble tumbleweeds; still
others thistledown; hundreds of others
have not their remotest counterparts
upon Earth. Essentially, however, they
are alike in habits of life. They can sink
in the “water” of Trenco; they cah bur­
row in its mud, from which they derive
parfdf their sustenance; they can emerge
therefrom into the sunlight; they can,
undamaged, float in or roll along before
the ever-present Trenconian wind; and
they can enwrap, entangle, or otherwise
seize and hold anything with which
they come in contact which by any
chance may prove edible.
Animal life, too, while abundant and
diverse, is characterized by three quali­
ties, From lower to very highest it is
amphibious; it is streamlined; and it is
omnivorous. Life upon Trenco is hard,
and any form of life to evolve there
must of stern necessity be waiting, yes,
even anxious, to eat literally anything
available. And for that reason all sur­
viving forms of life, vegetable and ani­
mal, have a voracity and a fecundity al­
most unknown anywhere else in the
galaxy.
Thionite, the noxious drug referred
to earlier in this narrative, is the sole
reason for Treneo’s galactic importance.
As chlorophyll is to Earthly vegetation,
so is thionite to that of Trenco. Trenco
is the only planet thus far known upon
which this substance occurs, nor have
our scientists even yet been able either
to analyze or to synthesize it. Thionite
is capable of affecting only those races
who breathe oxygen and possess warm
blood, red with haemoglobin.
However, the planets peopled by such
races are legion, and very shortly after
the drug's discovery hordes of addicts,
smugglers, peddlers, and out-and-out
pirates were, rushing toward the new
bonanza, thousands of these adven­
turers died, either from each other’s
ray guns or under an avalanche of hun­
gry Trenconian life; but, thionite being
what it is, thousands more kept com­
ing. Also came the patrol, to curb the
evil traffic at its source by beaming
 GALACTIC PATROL
down ruthlessly any being attempting
to gather any Trenconian vegetation.
Thus between the patrol and the drug
syndicate there rages a bitterly con­
tinuous battle to the death. Arrayed
against both factions is the massed life
of the noisome planet, omnivorous as
it is, eternally ravenous, and of an in­
dividual power and ferocity and a col­
lective aggregate of numbers none of
which is to be despised. And eternally
raging against all these contending par­
ties are the wind, the lightning, the rain,
the flood, and the hellish vibratory out­
put of Trenco’s enormous, malignant,
blue-white sun.
TH IS, then, was the planet upon
which Kinnison had to land in order to
repair his crippled Bergenholm—and in
the end how well it was to be that such
was the case!
“Kinnison of Tellus, greetings. Tre-
gotisee of Rigel IV calling from Trenco
space port. Have you ever landed on
this planet before?”
“ No. but what—r—”
“ Skip that for a time; it Is most im­
portant that you land here quickly and
safely. Where are you in relation to
this planet?"
“Your apparent diameter is a shade
under six degrees. We are near the
plane of your ecliptic and almost in the
plane of your terminator, on the morn­
ing side.”
“That is well; you have ample time.
Place your ship between Trenco and
the sun. Enter the atmosphere exactly
fifteen G-P minutes from . . , check
. . . at twenty degrees after meridian,
as nearly as possible on the ecliptic,
which is also our equator. Go inert as
you enter atmosphere; for a free land­
ing upon this planet is impossible.
Synchronize with our rotation, which is
twenty-six points two G-P hours. De­
scend vertically until the atmospheric
pressure is seven hundred millimeters
of mercury, which will be at an altitude
13*
of approximately one thousand meters.
Since you rely largely upon that sense
called sight, allow me to caution you
now not to trust it. When your ex­
ternal pressure is seven hundred milli­
meters of mercury your altitude will be
one thousand meters, whether you be­
lieve it or not. Stop at that pressure
and inform me of the fact, meanwhile
holding yourself as nearly stationary as
you can. Check so far?”
“QX. But do you mean to tell me
that we can’t locate each other at a
thousand met erst” Kinnison’s amazed
thought escaped him. “What kind
of— ”
“I can locate you, but you cannot
locate me,” came the dry reply. “Every
one knows that Trenco is peculiar, but
no one who has never been here can
realize even dimly how peculiar it really
is. Detectors and spy rays are useless,
electromagnetics are practically par­
alyzed, and optical apparatus is dis­
tinctly unreliable. You cannot trust
your vision here. Do not believe all
that you see. It used to require days to
land a ship at this port. But with our
Lenses and my “sense of perception,”
as you call it, it will be a matter of min­
utes.”
Kinnison had flashed his ship to the
designated position.
“Cut the Berg, Thorndyke, we’re all
done with it. I ’ve got to build up an
inert velocity to match the rotation, and
land inert.”
“Thanks be to all the gods of space
for that.” The engineer heaved a sigh
of relief. “I've been expecting it to
blow its top for the last hour, and I
don’t know whether we’d ever have got
it meshed in again or not.”
“QX on location and orbit,” Kinni­
son reported to the as yet invisible space
port a few minutes later. “Now, what
about that Lensman? What happened?”
“The usual thing,” came the emotion­
less response. “It happens to altogether
too many Lensmen who can see, in spite
134 ASTOUNDING STORIES
of everything we can tell them. He in­
sisted upon going out after his zwilniks
in a ground car, and, of course, we had
to let him go. He became confused, lost
control, let something—possibly a zwil-
nik’s bomb—get under his leading edge,
and the wind and the Trencos did the
rest. He was Lageston of Mercator V
—a good man, too. What is the pres­
sure now?”
"Five hundred millimeters.”
"Slow down. Now, if you cannot
conquer the tendency to believe your
eyes, you had better shut off your visi-
plates and watch only the pressure
gauge.”
"Being warned, I can disbelieve my
eyes, I think.” For a minute or so
communication ceased.
AT A STARTLED OATH from
VanBuskirk, Kinnison glanced into the
plate. It needed all his self-control to
keep from wrenching savagely at the
controls. For the whole planet was tip­
ping, lurching, spinning, gyrating madly
in a frenzy of impossible motions.
“Sheer off, Kim 1” yelled the Valerian.
“Hold it, Bus,” cautioned the Lens-
man. "That’s what we’ve got to ex­
pect, you know. I passed all the stuff
along as I got it. Everything, that is,
except that a zwilnik is anything or any­
body that comes after thionite, and that
a Trenco is anything, animal or vegeta­
ble, that lives on the planet. QX,
Tregonsee—seven hundred, and I ’m
holding steady—I hope!”
"Steady enough, but you are too far
away for our landing bars. Direct a
thought, rotating the prime axis of your
Lens while inclining it somewhat down­
ward. . . . Stop! Mark that line
on your circles. Now think of the align­
ment of your ship in relation to that
line. Swing your prow away from that
line, clear around, to approach it from
the other side . . . slow . . , hold
it l Apply normal acceleration. . . .”
In a few minutes the crew felt a gen­
tle, snubbing shock, and Kinnison again
translated to his companions the stran­
ger’s thoughts: "We have grasped you
with our landing bars. Cut off all your
power and set alt controls in neutral.
Do nothing more until I instruct you
to come out.”
Kinnison obeyed; and, released from
all duty, the three visitors stared in
fascinated incredulity into the visiplate.
For that at which they stared was and
must forever remain impossible of dupli­
cation upon Earth, and only in imagina­
tion can it be even faintly pictured.
Imagine all the fantastic and monstrous
creatures of a delirium-tremens vision
incarnate and actual. Imagine them
being hurled through the air, borne by
a dust-laden gale more severe than any
the great American "dust bowl” or
Africa’s Sahara Desert ever endured.
Imagine this scene as being viewed, not
in an ordinary, solid, distorting mirror,
but in one whose falsely reflecting con­
tours were changing constantly, with
no logical or intelligible rhythm, into
new and ever more grotesque warps.
If imagination has been equal to the
task, the resultant is what the three pa­
trolmen tried to see.
At first they could make nothing
whatever of it. Upon nearer approach,
however, the ghastly distortion grew less
and the flatly level expanse of sun­
baked mud took on a semblance of
rigidity. Directly beneath them they
made out something that looked like an
immense, flat blister upon the otherwise
featureless terrain. Their ship was
drawn .toward this blister.
A PORT OPENED, dwarfed in
apparent size to a mere window by the
immensity of the structure. Through
this port the vast bulk of the space ship
was wafted upon the landing bars, and
behind it the mighty bronze-and-steel
gates clanged shut. The lock was
pumped to a vacuum; there was a hiss
of entering air; a spray of vaporous
 GALACTIC PATROL
liquid bathed every inch of the vessel’s
surface, and Kinnison felt again the calm
voice of Tregonsee, the Rigellian Lens-
man.
“You may now open your air lock
and emerge. If I have read aright, our
atmosphere is sufficiently like your own
in oxygen content so that you will suffer
no ill effects from it. It may be well,
however, to wear your armor until you
have become accustomed to its consider­
ably greater density.”
“That’ll lie a relief!” growled Van-
Buskirk’s deep base, when his chief had
transmitted the thought. “I’ve been
breathing this thin stuff so long I ’m get­
ting light-headed.”
“That’s gratitude!” Thorndyke re­
torted. “We’ve been running our air so
heavy that all the rest of us are thick­
headed now. If the air in this space
port is any heavier than what we’ve been
having. I’m going to wear armor as
long as we stay here!”
Kinnison had opened the air lock,
found the atmosphere of the space port
satisfactory, and now stepped out, to
be greeted cordially by Tregonsee, the
Lensman.
This—this apparition was at least
erect, which was something. His body
was the size and shape of an oil drum.
Beneath this massive cylinder of a body
were four short, blocky legs upon which
he waddled about with surprising speed.
Midway up the body, above each leg,
there sprouted out a ten-foot-long,
writhing, boneless, tentacular arm,
which toward the extremity branched
out into dozens of lesser tentacles, rang­
ing in size from hairlike tendrils up to
mighty fingers two inches or more in
diameter. Tregonsee’s head was merely
a neckless, immobile, bulging dome in
the center of the flat, upper surface of
his body—a dome bearing neither eyes
nor ears, hut only four equally spaced
toothless mouths and four single, flaring
nostrils.
But Kinnison felt no qualm of repug­
135
nance at Tregonsee’s monstrous appear­
ance, for embedded in the leathery flesh
of one arm was the Lens. Here, the
Lensman knew, was in every essential
a man—and probably a superman.
“Welcome to Trenco, Kinnison of
Telius,” Tregonsee was saying. “While
we are near neighbors in space, I have
never happened to visit your planet. I
have encountered Tellurians here, of
course, but they were not of a type to be
received as guests.”
“No, a zwilnik is not a high type of
Tellurian,” Kinnison agreed. “ I have
often wished that I could have your
sense of perception, if only for a day.
It must be wonderful indeed to lie able
to perceive a thing as a whole, inside
and out, instead of having vision stopped
at its surface, as is ours. And to be in­
dependent of light or darkness, never to
be lost or in need of instruments, to
know definitely where you are in rela­
tion to every other object or thing
around you—that, I think, is the most
marvelous sense in the universe.”
“Just as I have wished for sight and
hearing, those two remarkable and to us
entirely unexplainable senses. I have
dreamed#' I have studied volumes, on
color and sftund: color in art And in na­
ture; sound in music and in the voices
of loved ones. But they remain mean­
ingless symbols upon a printed page.
However, such thoughts are vain. In
all probability neither of us would en­
joy the other's equipment if he had it,
and this interchange is of no material
assistance to you.”
IN FLASHING THOUGHTS
Kinnison then communicated to the
other Lensman everything that had
transpired since he left Prime Base.
“ I perceive that your Bergenholm is
of Standard 14 Rating,” Tregonsee said,
as the Tellurian finished his story. “We
have several spares here; and, while
they all have regulation patrol mount­
ings, it would take much less time to
136 ASTOUNDING STORIES
change mounts than to overhaul your
machine.”
“That’s so, too. I never thought of
the possibility of your having spare ma­
chines—and we've lost a lot of time
already. How long will it take ?”
“One night of labor to change mounts
—at least eight to rebuild yours enough
to be sure that it will get you home.”
1 “We’ll change mounts, then, by all
means. I’ll call the boys----- ”
“There is no need of that We are
amply equipped, and neither of you hu­
mans nor the Velantians could handle
our tools.” Tregonsee made no visible
motion nor could Kinnison perceive a
break in his thought, but while he was
conversing with the Tellurian half a
dozen of his blocky Rigellians had
dropped whatever they had been doing
and were scuttling toward the visiting
ship. “Now I must leave you for a
time, as I have one more trip to make
this afternoon.”
, “Is there anything I can do to help
you ?” asked Kinnison.
“No,” came the definite negative. “I
will return in three hours, as well before
sunset the wind makes it impossible to
get even a ground car into the port. I
will then show you why you can be of
little assistance to us.”
Kinnison spent those three hours
watching the Rigellians work upon the
Bergenhohn; there was no need for di­
rection or advice. They knew what to
do and they did it. Those tiny, hair­
like fingers, literally hundreds of them
at once, performed delicate tasks with
surpassing nicety and dispatch; when it
came to heavy tasks the larger digits
or even whole arms wrapped them­
selves around the work and, with the
solid bracing of the f o u r blocklike legs,
exerted forces that even VanBuskirk’s
giant frame could not have approached.
As the end of the third hour neared,
Kinnison watched with a spy ray—there
were no windows in the Trenco space
port—the leeward groundway of the
structure. In spite of the weird antics
of Trenco’s sun—gyrating, jumping, ap­
pearing and disappearing—he knew that
it was going down. Soon he saw the
ground ear coming in, scuttling crab-
wise, nose into the wind but actually
moving backward and sidewise. Al­
though the “seeing” was very poor, at
this close range the distortion was
minimized and be could see that, like its
parent craft, the ground car was in the
shape of a blister. Its edges actually
touched the ground all around, sloping
upward &nd over the top in such a
smooth reverse curve that the harder the
wind blew the* niore firmly was the
vehicle pressed downward.
The ground flap came up just enough
to clear the car’s top and the tiny craft
crept up. But before the landing bars
could seize her the ground car struck
an eddy from the flap—an eddy in a
medium which, although gaseous, was at
that velocity practically solid. Earth
blasted away in torrents from the lead­
ing edge; the car leaped bodily into the
air and was flung away, end over end.
But Tregonsee, with consummate crafts­
manship, forced her flat again, and again
she crawled up toward the flap. This
time the landing bars took hold and,
although the little vessel fluttered like a
leaf in a gale, she was drawn inside the
port and the flap went down behind her.
She was .then sprayed, and Tregonsee
came out.
“Why the spray ?” thought Kinnison,
as the Rigcllian entered his control
room.
“Trencos. Much of the life of this
planet starts from almost imperceptible
spores. It develops rapidly, attains con­
siderable size, and consumes anything
organic it touches. This port was de­
populated lime after time before the
lethal spray was developed.* Now turn
your spy ray again to the lee of the
port,”
 GALACTIC PATROL
DURING the few minutes that had
elapsed the wind had increased in fury
to such an extent that the very ground
was boiling away from the trailing edge
in the tumultuous eddy formed there,
ultra-streamlined though the space port
was. And that eddy, far surpassing
in violence any storm known to Earth,
was to the denizens of Trenco a miracu­
lously appearing quiet spot in which
they could stop and rest, eat and he
eaten.
A globular monstrosity had thrust
pseudopodia deep into the boiling dirt.
Other limbs now shot out, grasping a
tumbieweediike growth. The latter
fought back viciously, but could make
no impression upon the rubbery integu­
ment of the former. Then a smaller
creature, slipping down the polished
curve of the shield, was enmeshed by
the tumbleweed. There ensued the
amazing spectacle of one half of the. tum­
bleweed devouring the newcomer, even
while its other half was being devoured
by the globe!
“Now look out farther—still farther,”
directed Tregonsee.
“I can’t. Things take on impossible
motions and become so distorted as to
be unrecognizable.”
“Exactly. If you saw a zwilnik out
there, where would you shoot?”
“ At him, I suppose. Why?”
“Because if you shot at where you
think you see him, not only would you
miss him, but the ray might very well
swing around and enter your own back.
Many men have been killed by their own
weapons in precisely that fashion. Since
we know, not only what the object is,
but exactly where it is, we can correct
our beams for the then existing values
of distortion. This is, of course, the
reason why we Rigellians and other
races possessing the sense of perception
are the only ones who can efficiently po­
lice this planet.”
“Reason enough, I ’d say, from what
I ’ve seen.”
137
Silence fell. For minutes the two
Lensmen watched, while creatures of a
hundred kinds streamed into the lee of
the space port and killed and ate each
other. Finally, something came crawl-'
ing upwind, against that unimaginable
gale—a flatly streamlined creature some­
what resembling a turtle, but shaped as
was the ground car.
Thrusting down long, hooked flippers
into the dirt it inched along, paying no
attention to the scores of lesser creatures
who hurled themselves upon its armored
back, until it was close beside the largest
football-shaped creature in the eddy.
Then, lightninglike, it drove a needle-
sharp organ at least eight inches into
the leathery mass of its victim. Strug­
gling convulsively, the stricken thing
lifted the turtle a fraction of an inch—
and both were hurled instantly out of
sight; the living ball still eating a lus­
cious bit of soil.
“Good Lord, what was that?” ex­
claimed Kinnison.
“The flat ? That was a representative
of Trenco’s highest life form. It may
develop a civilization in time. It is
quite intelligent now.”
“But the difficulties 1” protested the
Tellurian. “ Building cities, even homes
and-— ”
“Neither cities nor homes are neces­
sary, nor even desirable, here. Why
build? Nothing is or can be fixed on
this planet, and since one place is exactly
like every other place, why wish to re­
main in any one particular spot? They
do very well, in their own mobile way.
Here, you will notice, comes the rain.”
The rain came—-forty-four inches per
hour of rain—and the lightning. Such
rain and such lightning must be seen to
be even dimly appreciated; there is no
use in attempting to describe the in­
describable. The dirt first became mud,
then muddy water being driven in
fiercely flying gouts and masses.
The water grew deeper and deeper,
its upper surface now whipped into
138 A ST O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
frantic sheets oi spray. The structure
was now afloat, and Kirmison saw with
astonishment that, small as was the ex­
posed surface and flatly curved, yet it
was pulling through the water at fright­
ful speed the wide-spreading steel sea
anchors which were holding its head to
the gale.
“With no reference points how do
you know where you’re going?” he de­
manded.
“We know not, nor care,” responded
Tregonsee, with a mental shrug. “We
are like the natives in that. Since one
spot is like every other spot, why choose
between them?”
“What a world—zvhat a world!
However, I am beginning to understand
why thionite is so expensive.” And,
overwhelmed by the ever-increasing
fury raging outside, Kinnison sought
his bunk.
MORNING CAME, a reversal of
the previous evening. The liquid evapo­
rated ; the mud dried; the flat-growing
vegetation sprang up with shocking
speed; the animals emerged and again
ate and were eaten.
And eventually came Tregonsee’s an­
nouncement that it was noon, and that
now, for an hour or so, it would be
calm enough for the space ship to leave
the port.
“You are sure that I would be of no
help to you?” asked the Rigellian, half
pleadingly.
“Sorry, Tregonsee, but you would fit
into my matrix just as I would into
yours here. But here’s the spool I told
you about. If you will take it to your
base on your next relief you will do
civilization and the patrol more good
than you could by coming with us.
Thanks for the Bergenholm, which is
covered by credits, and thanks a lot for
your help and courtesy, which can’t be
covered. Good-by,” The now entirely
spaceworthy craft shot out through the
port, through Trenco’s noxiously pecul­
iar atmosphere, into the vacuum of
space,
XI.
“Shapley holds that these (star)
clusters, under the gravitative con­
trol of the larger system, vibrate
back and forth through the galaxy.”
Path, “Elements of Astronomy,”
p. 297.
AT SOME DISTANCE from the
galazy, yet shackled to it by the flexible
yet powerful bonds of gravitation, the
small but comfortable planet upon which
was Helmutb’s base circled about its
parent sun. This planet had been chosen
with the utmost care, and its location
was a secret guarded jealously indeed.
Scarcely one in a million of Boskone’s
teeming millions knew even that such
a planet existed; and of the chosen few
who had ever been asked to visit h,
fewer still by far had been allowed to
leave it.
Grand Base covered hundreds of
square miles of that planet’s surface. It
was equipped with all the arms and
armament known to the military genius
of the age; and in the exact center of
that immense citadel there arose a glit­
tering metallic dome.
The inside surface of that dome was
lined with visiplates and communica­
tors, hundreds of thousands of them.
Miles of catwalks clung precariously to
the inward-curving wall. Control
panels and instrument boards covered
the floor in banks and tiers, with only
narrow runways between them. And
what a personnel! There were Solari-
ans, Crevenians, Sirians. There were
Antareans, Vandemarians, Arcturians.
There were representatives of scores,
yes, hundreds of other solar systems of
the galaxy.
But whatever their external form they
were all breathers of oxygen and they
were all nourished by warm, red blood.
 GALACTIC PATROL
Also, they were all alike mentally.
Each had won his present high place
by trampling down those beneath him
and by pulling down those above him
in the branch to which he had first be­
longed of the “pirate’' organization.
Kinnison had been eminently correct
in his belief that Boskone’s was not a
“pirate outfit” in apy ordinary sense
of the word, but even his ideas of its
true nature fell far short indeed of the
truth.
It was a tyranny, an absolute
monarchy, a depotism not even remotely
approximated by the dictatorships of
earlier ages. It had only one creed:
“The end justifies the means.” Any­
thing—literally anything at all—that
produced the desired result was com­
mendable ; to fail was the only crime.
Therefore, no weaklings dwelt within
that fortress; and of all its cold, hard,
ruthless crew far and away the coldest,
hardest, and most ruthless was Helmuth,
the “speaker for Boskone,” who sat at
the great desk in the dome's geometrical
center. This individual was almost hu­
man in form and build, springing as he
did from a planet closely approximating
Earth in mass, atmosphere, and climate.
Indeed, only his general, all-pervasive
aura of blueness bore witness to the fact
that he was not a native of Tellus.
His eyes were blue ; his hair was blue;
and even his skin was faintly blue be­
neath its coat of ultra-violet tan. His
intensely dynamic personality fairly
radiated blueness—not the gentle blue of
an Earthly sky. not the sweetly innocu­
ous blue of an Earthly flower; but the
keenly merciless blue of a deltra ray, the
cold and bitter blue of a Polar iceberg,
the unyielding, inflexible blue of chilled
and tempered steel.
NOW a frown sat heavily upon his
arrogantly patrician face, as his eyes
bored into the plate before him, from the
base of which were issuing the words
13 $
being spoken by the assistant pictured
in its deep surface:
“—the fifth dived into the deepest
ocean of Corvina II, in the depths of
which all rays are useless. The ships
which followed have not as yet recon­
nected. No trace of the sixth has been
found, and it is therefore assumed that
she was destroyed upon Velantia----- ”
“Who assumes so?” demanded Ilel-
muth, coldly. “There is no justification
whatever for such an assumption. Go
on!”
“The Lensman, if there is one, must
therefore be in the fifth ship, since he
was not in any of the four which we
have retaken.”
“Your report is neither complete nor
conclusive. I do not at all approve of
your intimation that the Lensman is
simply a figment of my imagination.
That there is a Lensman is the only
possible logical conclusion. None other
of the patrol forces could have done
what has been done. Postulating his
reality, it seems to me that instead of
being a rare possibility, it is highly
probable that he has again escaped us,
and again in one of our own vessels—
this time in the one you have so con­
veniently 'assumed' to have been de­
stroyed. Have you searched the line of
flight?”
“Yes, sir. Everything in space arid
every planet within reach of that line
has been examined with care; except,
of course, Velantia and Trenco.”
“Velantia is, for the time being, un­
important. It will be reduced later.
Why Trenco?” and Helmuth pressed a
series of buttons. “Ah, I see. To re­
capitulate, one ship, the one which in
all probability is now carrying the Lens­
man, is still unaccounted for. Where is
itt We assume that it left Velantia.
We know that it has not landed upon
or near any sotarian planet. Inci­
dentally, we must see to it that it does
not so land. Now, I think, it has be­
m ASTOUNDING STORIES
come necessary to have that planet nounced finally. “He is a good man,
Trenco combed, inch by inch.” coming along fast. Aside from a firm
“But sir, how----- ” began the anx- beJiaf in his own peculiar gods, he has
ious^eyed underling. shown no signs of weakness. You con­
“When did it become necessary to sidered him?”
draw diagrams and make blue prints “Certainly.” The henchman, as cold
for you?” demanded Helmuth, harshly. as his icy chief, knew that explanations
“We have ships manned by Rigellians would not satisfy Helmuth, therefore he
and other races having the sense of per­ offered none. “He is raiding at the mo­
ception. Find out where they are and ment, but I will put you on him if you
get them there at full blast!” He flipped like.”
over two double-throw switches, thus “Do so.” And upon Helmuth’s plate
replacing the image upon his plate by there appeared a deep-space scene of
another. rapine and pillage.
“It has now become of paramount im­
portance that we complete our knowl­ T H E convoying patrol ships, two of
edge of the Lens of the patrol,” he began, them, had already been blasted out of
without salutation or preamble. “Have existence; only a few idly drifting
you traced its origin yet?” masses of debris remaining to show that
“I believe so, but I do not certainly they had ever been. Needle rays were
know. It has proved to be a task of at work, and soon the merchantman
such difficulty----- ” hung inert and helpless. The pirates,
“If it had been an easy one I would scorning to use the emergency inlet port,
not have made a special assignment of it simply blasted away the entire entrance
to you. Go on 1” panel. Then they boarded, an armored
■“Everything seems to point to a planet swarm, flaming DeLameters spreading
named Arista, but of that planet I can death and destruction before them.
learn nothing definite whatever except The sailors, outnumbered as they
iihai----- ” were and overarmed, fought heroically
“Just a moment!” Helmuth punched -—but uselessly. In groups and singly
more buttons and listened. “Unex­ they fell; those who were not already
plored—unknown—shunned by all dead being callously tossed out into
spacemen----- ” space in slitted space suits and with
“ Superstition, eh?” he snapped. smashed motors. Only the younger
“Another of those haunted planets ?” women—the stewardesses, the nurses,
“Something more than ordinary the one or two such among the few pas­
spacemen’s superstition, sir, but just sengers—were taken as booty; all others
what I have not been able to discover. shared the fate of the crew.
By combing my department I managed Then the ship plundered from nose
to make up a crew of those who either to after jets and every article or thing
were not afraid of it or have never of value trans-shipped, the raider drew
heard of it. That crew is now en route off, bathed in the blue-white glare of
there.” the atomic bombs that were destroying
“Whom have we - in that sector of every trace of the merchant ship’s
space ? I find it desirable to check your existence. Then and only then did
findings.” Helmuth reveal himself to Giklersleeve.
The department head reeled off a list “A good, clean job of work, captain,”
of names and numbers, which Helmuth he commended. “ Now, how would you
considered at length. 1 like to visit Arisia for me—for me,
“Giklersleeve, the Valerian,” he an­ direct?”
 GALACTIC PATROL
A pallor overspread the normally
ruddy face of the Valerian and an un­
controllable tremor shook his giant
frame. But as he considered the impli­
cations resident in Helmuth’s conclud­
ing phrase he licked his lips and spoke.
“ I hate to say no, sir, if you order
me to and if there was any way of mak­
ing my crew do it. But we were near
there once, sir, and we—-I—they—it
----- Well, sir, I saw things, sir, and
I was—was warned, sir!”
“ Saw what? And was warned of
what ?”
“ I can’t describe what I saw, sir. I
can't even think of it in thoughts that
mean anything. As for the warning,
though, it was very definite, sir, I was
told very plainly that if I ever go near
that planet again I will die a worse
death than any I have dealt out to any
other living being.’’
“But you will go there again?”
“ I tell you, sir, that the crew will
not do it.” Gildersleeve replied, dog­
gedly. “Even if I were anxious to go,
every man aboard will mutiny if I
tried it.”
“Call them in right now and tell them
that you have been ordered to Arisia!”
TH E CAPTAIN did so. But he
had scarcely started to talk when he was
stopped in no uncertain fashion by his
first officer—also, of course, a Valerian
—who pulled his Del .ameter and spoke
savagely: “Cut it, chief! We are not
going to Arisia, nor anywhere near
there. I was with you before, you know.
Point course within a quadrant of that
accursed planet and I flash you where
you sit f*
“Helihuth, speaking for Boskone!”
ripped from the headquarters’ speaker,
“ This is rankest mutiny. You know
the penalty, do you not?”
“Certainly I do. What of it?” the
first officer snapped back.
“ Suppose that I tell you to go to
Arisia?’’ Helmuth’s voice was now soft
141
and silky, but instinct with deadly men­
ace.
“In that case I tell you to go to hell—
or to Arisia, a million times worse!’'
snapped the officer.
“What? You dare speak thus to
me?” demanded the archpirate, .sheer
amazement at the fellow’s audacity
blanketing his rising anger.
“I so dare,” declared the rebel, brazen
defiance and unalterable resolve in every
line of fits hard body and in every linea­
ment of his hard face. “All you can
do is kill us. You can order out enough
ships to blast us out of the ether, hut
that’s all you can do. That would be a
clean, quick death and vye would have
the fun of taking a lot of the boys along
with us. If we go to Arisia, (hough,
it would be different—very, very differ­
ent, believe me. No, Helmuth, and I
say this to your face: If I ever go near
Arisia again it will be in a ship in
which you, Helmuth, in person, are sit­
ting at the controls. If you think this
is an empty dare and don’t like it, you
don’t have to take it. Send on your
dogs!”
“That will do! Report yourselves to
Base D under——” Then Helmuth’s
flare of anger passed and his cold reason
took charge. Here was something
utterly unprecedented; an entire crew of
the hardest-bitten marauders in space
offering open and barefaced mutiny—
no, not mutiny, but actual rebellion—to
him, Helmuth, in his very teeth. And
not a typical, skulking, carefully planned
uprising, but the immovably brazen des­
peration of men making an ultimately
last-ditch stand.
Truly, it must be a powerful super­
stition, indeed, to make that crew of
hard-boiled hellions choose certain death
rather than face again the imaginary—
they must be imaginary—perils of a
planet unknown to and unexplored by
Boskone’s planetographers. But they
were, after all, ordinary spacemen, of
little mental force and of small real
14* ASTOUNDING STORIES
ability. Even so, it was clearly indi­
cated that in this case precipitate action
was to be avoided. Therefore, he went
an calmly and almost without a break.
"Caned all this that has been spoken
and that has taken place. Continue
with your original orders pending fur­
ther investigation.” Helmuth switched
his plate back to the department head.
"I have checked your conclusions and
have found them correct,” he announced,
as thbugh nothing at all out of the way
hadttranspired. “You did well in send­
ing a ship to investigate. No matter
where I am or what I am doing, notify
me instantly at the first sign of irregu­
larity in the behavior of any member
of that ship’s personnel.”
NOR was that call long in coming.
The carefully selected crew—selected
for" complete lack of knowledge of
the dread planet which was their objec-
tive-^sailed along in blissful ignorance,
both of the real meaning of their mis­
sion and of what was to be its ghastly
end. Soon after Helmuth’s unsatisfac­
tory interview with Gildersleeve and his
mate, the luckless exploring vessel
reached the barrier which the Arisians
had set around their system and through
which no - uninvited stranger was al­
lowed to pass.
The free-flying ship struck that frail
harrier and stopped. In the instant of
contact a wave of mental force flooded
the mind of the captain, who, gibbering
with sheer, stark, panic terror, flashed
his vessel away from that horror-im­
pregnated barrier and hurled call after
frantic call along his beam, back to
headquarters. His first call, in the in­
stant of reception, was relayed to Hel-
imith at his central desk.
“Steady, man; report intelligently!”
that worthy snapped, and his eyes, large
now upon the cowering captain’s plate,
bored steadily, hypnotically into those
of the expedition’s leader. “Pull your­
self together and tell me exactly what
happened, Everything 1”
“Well, sir, when we struck some­
thing—a screen of some sort—and
stopped, something came aboard. It
was----- Oh—ay-ay-e-e f” his voice
rose to a shriek. But under Helmuth’s
dominating glare he subsided quickly and
went on. “A monster, sir, if there ever
was one. A fire-breathing demon, sir,
with teeth and claws and cruelly barbed
tail. He spoke to me in my own
Crevenian language. He said----- ”
“ Never mind what he said. I did not
hear it, but I can guess what it was. He
threatened you with death in some horri­
ble fashion, did he mot ?”
The coldly ironical tones did more to
restore the shaking man’s equilibrium
than reams of remonstrance could have
done. "Well, yes, that was about the
size of it, sir,” he admitted.
“And does that sound reasonable to
you, the commander of a first-class bat­
tleship of Boskone’s fleet?” sneered
Helmuth.
"Well, sir, put in that way, it does
seem a bit far-fetched,” the captain re­
plied, sheepishly.
“It is far-fetched.” The director, in
the safety of his dome, could afford to
be positive. “We do not know exactly
what caused that hallucination, appari­
tion, or whatever it was. You were the
only one who could see it, apparently ;
it certainly was not visible on our mas­
ter plates here at base. It was probably
some form of suggestion or hypnotism;
and you know as well as we do that
any suggestion can be thrown off by a
definitely opposed will. But you did
not oppose it, did you ?”
“No, sir, I didn’t have time.”
“ Nor did you have your screens out,
nor automatic recorders on the trip. Not
much of anything, in tact. I think that
you had better report back here, at full
blast.”
“Oh, no, sir—please!” He knew
what rewards were granted to failures.
 GALACTIC PATROL 143

and Helmuth’s carefully chosen words

had already produced the effect desired
by their speaker. “They took me by
surprise then, but I ’ll go through this
next time.”
It was
“Very well. We will give you one
cquipped
w i t h all more chance. When you get dose to
the arms the barrier, or whatever it is. go inert
and armament—visiplates and put out all your screens. Man your
and communicators—known to plates and weapons, for whatever can
the military genius of the age. hypnotize can be killed. Go ahead at
144 ASTOUNDING STOfclES
full blast, with all the acceleration you
can get. Crash through anything that
opposes you, and beam anything that
you can detect or see. Can you think
of anything else?”
“That should be sufficient, sir.” The
eaptain’s equanimity was completely re­
stored, now that the warlike prepara­
tions • were malting more and more
nebulous the sudden, but single, thought
%ave of the Arisian.
"Proceed!”
TH E PLAN was carried out to the
fetter. This time the pirate craft struck
the frail harrier inert, and its slight
force offered no tangible bar to the
prodigious mass of metal. But this time,
since the barrier was actually passed,
there was no mental warning and no
possibility of retreat.
Many men have skeletons in their
closets. Many have probias, things of
which they are consciously afraid.
Many others have them, not consciously,
but buried deep in the subconscious,
specters which seldom or never rise
sieve the threshold of perception. Every
sentient being has, if not such specters
as these, at least a few active or latent
dislikes, dreads, or outright fears. This
is true, no matter how quiet and peace­
ful a life the being has led. 1
These particular pirates, however,
were the scum of space. They were
beings of hard and criminal lives and of
Violent and lawless passions. Their
hates and conscience-searing deeds had
been legion, their count of crimes long,
black, and hideous. Therefore, slight
indeed was the effort required to locate
in their conscious minds—to say nothing
of the noxious depths of their subcon­
scious ones—visions of horror fit to blast
stronger intellects than theirs.
And that is exactly what the Arisian
guardsman did. From each pirate’s total
mind, a veritable charnel pit, he ex­
tracted the foulest, most unspeakable
dregs, the deeply hidden things of which
the subject was in the greatest- fear. Of
these things he formed a whole of hor­
ror incomprehensible and incredible, and
this ghastly whole he made incarnate
and visible to the pirate who was its un­
willing parent; as visible as though it
were composed of flesh and blood, of
copper and steel. Is it any wonder that
each member of that outlaw crew, see­
ing such an abhorrent materialization,
went instantly mad?
It is of no use to go into the horribly
monstrous shapes of the things, even
were it possible; for each of them was
visible to only one man, and none of
them was visible to those who looked on
from the safety of the distant base. To
them the entire crew simply abandoned
their posts and attacked each other,
senselessly and in insane frenzy, with
whatever weapons came first to hand-.
Indeed, many of them fought bare­
handed, weapons hanging unused in
their belts, gouging, beating, clawing,
biting until life had been rived horribly
away. In other parts of the ship De-
Lameters flamed briefly; bars crashed
crunchingly; knives and axes sheared
and trenchantly bit. And soon it was
over—almost. The pilot was still alive,
unmoving and rigid at his controls.
Then he, too, moved, slowly, haltingly,
as though in a trance. Without touch­
ing the controls of the Bergenholm, he
nursed his driving projectors up to
maximum, spun his ship and steadied
her on course; and when Helmuth read
that course even his iron nerves failed
him momentarily. For the ship, still
inert, was pointed, not for its own home
port, but directly toward Grand Base,
the jealously secret planet whose spatial
coordinates neither that pilot nor any
other creature of the pirates' rank and
file had ever known!
HELM UTH snapped out orders, to
which the pilot gave no heed. His
voice—Tor the first time in his career—
rose almost to a howl. But the pilot
 GALACTIC PATROL
still paid no attention. Instead, eyes
bulging with horror and fingers curved
tensely into veritable talons, he reared
upright upon his bench and leaped as
though to clutch and to rend some un­
utterably appalling foe.. He leaped over
his board into thin and empty air. He
came down a-sprawl in a maze of naked,
high-potential busbars. His body van­
ished in a flash of searing flame and a
cloud of thick and greasy smoke.
The busbars cleared themselves of
their gruesome “short” and the great
ship, manned now entirely by corpses,
bored on.
“—stinking klebots, the lily-livered
cowards!” the department head, who
had also been yelling orders, was still
pounding his desk and cursing. “If
they’re that afraid—go mad and kill each
•other without being touched—I’ll have
to go myself----- ”
“No, San steed,” Helmuth interrupted,
curtly. “You will not have to go. There
is, after all, I think, something there—
something that you may not be able to
handle. You see, you missed the one
essential key fact.” He referred to the
course, the setting of which had shaken
him to the very core.
' “Let be,” he silenced the other’s flood
of question and protest. “It would
serve no purpose to detail it to you now.
Have the ship taken back to port.”
Helmuth knew now that it was not
superstition that made spacemen shun
Arisia. He knew that, from his stand­
point at least, there was something very
seriously amiss.
XII.
HELMUTH sat at his desk, think­
ing—thinking with all the coldly ana­
lytical precision of which he was capable.
This Lensman was, in truth, a foeman
worthy of his steel. The cosmic-energy
drive, developed by the science of a
world which the patrol did not know
existed, was Boskone’s one great item
of superiority. If the patrol could be
AST—10
kept in ignorance of that drive the strug*
gle would be over in a year; the culture;
of the iron hand would be unchallenged
throughout the galaxy. If, however, the.
patrol did manage to learn the secret
of power, to all intents and purposes
unlimited, the war between the two cul­
tures might well be prolonged indefi­
nitely. This Lensman knew that secret
and was still at large, of that he was
all too certain. Therefore, the Lensjnan
must be destroyed. And that brought
up the Lens.
What was it? A peculiar bauble in­
deed, simple of ultimate quantitative
analysis, but actually impossible, of
duplication because of some subtlety
intra-atomic arrangement. Also, it was
of peculiar and dire potentiality. Not
a man of his force could even wear one';
he had watched several of them , die
horribly In attempting to do so. It
must account in some way for the out­
standing ability of the Lensmen, and it
must tie in, somehow, both w ith,Arisia-
and with the thought screens. This
Lens was the one thing possessed by the
patrol which his own forces did not
have. He must and would have it, for
it was undoubtedly a powerful arm*
Not to be compared, of course, with
their own monopoly of cosmic energy—
but that monopoly was now threatened,
and seriously. That Lensman must be
destroyed.
But how? It was easy to say “Cpmb
Trenco, inch by inch,” but doing it
would prove a Herculean task. Sup­
pose that the Lensman should again es­
cape, in that volume of so fantastically
distorted media? He had already es­
caped twice, in much clearer ether than
Trenco’s. However, if this information
should never get back to Prime Base,
little harm would be done. Ships could
and would be thrown around the
solarian system in such numbers .that
not even a grain-of-dust meteorite could
pass that screen without detection.
Nothing—nothing whatever—would be
 ASTOUNDING STORIES
plowed to enter that system until this
whole affair had been settled. There
Were other patrol bases, of course, but
with the Prime Base isolated, nothing
really serious could happen. So much
for the Lensmati. Now about getting
the secret of the Lens.
•- Again, how? There was something
upon Arisia, and that something was
connected in some way with the Lens
and with thought—possibly also with
the new thought screens. Whatever it
was, it had mental power, of that there
was no doubt. Out of the full sphere
of space, what was the mathematical
probability that the pilot of that death
ship would have set, by accident, his
course so exactly upon this planet?
Vanishingly small. Treachery would
not explain the facts. The pilot' had
been insane when he had laid the course.
As an explanation, mental force alone
seemed fantastic, but none other as yet
presented itself as a possibility. Also,
it was supported by the unbelievable,
the absolutely definite refusal of Gilder-
sleeve's normally fearless crew even to
approach the planet. It would take an
unheard-of mental force so to affect such
crime-hardened veterans.
Helmuth was not one to underesti­
mate an enemy. Was there a man be­
neath that dome, save himself, of suffi­
cient mental caliber to undertake the
now necessary mission to Arisia? There
was not. Pie himself had the finest
mind on the planet; else that other had
■deposed him long since and had sat
at the control desk himself. Pie was
sublimely confident that no outside
•thought could break down his definitely
opposed will—and besides, there were
the thought screens, his own personal
property as yet. Of no other will could
he say the same; no other would he
trust with those screens. Of all his
force, he was the only one whom he
could be sure of. Therefore, he would
go himself.
' It has already been made clear that
Helmuth was not a fool. No more was
he a coward. If he himself could best
of all his force do a thing, that thing he
did, with the coldly ruthless efficiency
that marked alike his every action and
his every thought.
HOW should he go? Should he ac­
cept that challenge, and take Gilder-
sleeve’s rebellious crew of cutthroats to
Arisia? No. In the event of an out­
come short of complete success, it would
not do to lose face before that band of
ruffians. Moreover, the idea of such
a crew going insane behind him was
not one to be relished. He would go
alone.
“Woimark, come to the center,” he
ordered. When that worthy appeared,
he went on, “ Be seated, as this is a
serious conference. I have watched
with admiration and appreciation, as
well as some mild amusement, the de­
velopment of your lines of information,
particularly those covering affairs which
are most distinctly not in your depart­
ment. They are, however, efficient.
You already know exactly what has
happened." A definite statement this,
is no wise a question.
“Yes. sir,” Woimark said quietly. He
was somewhat taken aback, but not at
all abashed.
“That is the reason you are here now.
I thoroughly approve of you. I am
leaving the planet for approximately
twenty days, and you are the best man
in the organization to take charge in my
absence.”
“I suspected that you would be leav­
ing, sir.”
“I know you did. But I am now
informing you. merely to make sure that
you develop no peculiar ideas in my ab­
sence, that there are at least a few things
which you do not suspect at all. That
safe, for instance,” Helmuth said, nod­
ding toward peculiarly shimmering
globe of force anchoring itself in air.
“Even your highly efficient spy system
 GALACTIC PATROL
has not been able to learn a thing about
that.”
"No, sir, we have not—yet," he could
not forbear adding,
"Nor will you, with any skill or force
known to man. But keep on trying; it
amuses me. I know, you see, of all
your attempts. But to get on. I now
say, and for your own good I advise
you to believe, that failure upon my
part to return to this desk will prove
highly unfortunate for you."
"I believe that, sir. Any man of
intelligence would make some such ar­
rangement, if he could. But sir, sup­
pose that the Arisians----—”
"If your ‘if he could’ implies a doubt,
act upon it and learn wisdom,” Helmuth
advised him coldly. "You should know
by this time that I neither gamble nor
bluff. I have made arrangements to
protect myself, both from enemies, such
as the Arisians and the patrol, and from
friends, such as ambitious youngsters
who are making arrangements to sup­
plant me. If I were not entirely con­
fident of getting back here safely, my
dear Wolmark, I would not go.”
"You misunderstood me, sir. Really,
I have no idea of supplanting you."
“Not until you get a good opportu­
nity, you mean. I understand you
thoroughly; and, as I have said before,
I approve of you. Go $head with all
your plans. I have kept at least one
lap ahead of you so far, and if the time
should ever come when I can no longer
do so, I shall no longer be fit to speak
for Boskone. You understand, of
course, that the most important matter
now in work is the search for the Lens-
man, of which the combing of Trenco
and the screening of the solarian system
are only two phases.
“Yes, sir."
"Very well. I can, I think, leave
matters in your hands. If anything
really serious comes up, such as a de­
velopment in the Lensman case, let me
147
know at once. Otherwise do not call
me. Take the desk.” Helmuth strode
away.
He was whisked to the space port,
where his special speedster awaited him.
FOR HIM the trip to Arisia was
neither Jong nor tedious. The little
racer was fully automatic, and as it tore
through space he worked as coolly and
efficiently as he was wont to do at his
desk. Indeed, more so, for here he
could concentrate without interruption.
Many were the matters he planned and
the decisions he made, the while his port­
folio of notes grew thicker and thicker.
As he neared his destination he put
away his work, actuated his special
mechanisms, and waited. When the
speedster struck the barrier and stopped,
Helmuth wore a faint, hard smile; but
that smile disappeared with a snap as
a thought crashed into his supposedly
shielded brain.
“You are surprised that your thought
screens are not effective ?” The thought
was coldly contemptuous. "Wherever,
think you, originated those screens?
We did not foresee your theft of them
from Velantia, but think you that we
would allow to remain at large a thing
which we could not neutralize?
"Know, fool, once and for all, that
Arisia does not want and will not
tolerate uninvited visitors. Your pres­
ence is particularly distasteful, repre­
senting as you do a despotic, degrading,
and antisocial culture. Evil and good
are, of course, purely relative, so it
cannot lie said in absolute terms that
your culture is evil. It is, however,
based upon greed, hatred, corruption,
violence, and fear. Justice it does not
recognize, nor mercy, nor truth except
as a scientific utility. It is basically op­
posed to liberty. Now liberty—of per­
son, of thought, of action—is the basis
and the goal of civilization to which
you are opposed, and with which any
148 ASTOUNDING STORIES
reaHy philosophical mind must find it­
self in accord.
“ Inflated overweeningly by your
warped and perverted ideas, by your
momentary success in dominating your
handful of minions, tied to you by bonds
of greed, of passion, and of crime, you
come here to wrest from us the secret
of the Lens—from us, who were already
an ancient race when the remotest an­
cestors of your own were still wriggling
in their planet’s primordial slime.
“You consider yourself cold, hard,
ruthless. Comparatively you are weak,
soft, tender as a child unborn. That you
may learn and appreciate that fact is one
reason why you are living at this pres­
ent moment. Your lesson will now
begin.”
Then Helmuth, starkly rigid, unable
to move a muscle, felt delicate probes
enter his brain. One at a time they
pierced his innermost being, each to a
definitely selected center. It seemed
that each thrust carried with it the ulti­
mate measure of exquisitely poignant
anguish possible of endurance, but each
successive needle carried with it an even
more keenly unbearable thrill of agony.
Helmuth was not calm and cold now.
He would have screamed in wild aban­
don ; but even that relief was denied
him. He could not even scream; all
he could do was sit there and suffer.
Then he began to see things. There,
actually materializing in the empty air
of the speedster, he saw, in endless
procession, things he had done, either in
person or by proxy, both during his
ascent in his present high place in the
pirates’ organization and since the at­
tainment of that place. Long was the
list, and black. As it unfolded his tor­
ment grew more and ever more in­
tense : until finally, after an interval
that might have been a fraction of a
second or might have been untold hours,
he could stand no more. He fainted,
sinking beyond the reach of pain into a
sea of black consciousness.
H E A W A K E N E D white and shak­
ing, wringing wet with perspiration and
so weak that he could scarcely sit erect,
but with a supremely blissful realization
that, for the time being at least, his
punishment was over.
“This, you will observe, has been a
very mild treatment,” the cold Arisian
accents went on inside his brain. “Not
only do you still live, you are even still
sane. We now come to the second rea­
son why you have not been destroyed.
Your destruction by us would not be
good for that struggling young civiliza­
tion which you oppose.
“We have given that civilization an
instrument by virtue of which it should
become able to destroy you and every­
thing for which you stand. If it cannot
do so, it is not yet ready to become a
civilization and your obnoxious culture
shall be allowed to conquer and to flour­
ish for a time.
“Now go back to your dome. Do
not return. We well know that you
will not have the temerity to do so in
person. Do not attempt to do so by
any form whatever of proxy.”
There were no threats, no warnings,
no mention of consequences; but the
level and incisive tone of the Arisian
put a fear into Helmuth’s cold heart the
like of which he had never before known.
He whirled his speedster about and
hurled her at full blast toward his home
planet. It was only after many hours
that he was able to regain even a
semblance of his customary poise, and
days elapsed before he could think
coherently enough to consider, as a
whole, the shocking, the unbelievable
thing that had happened to him.
He wanted to believe that the crea­
ture, whatever it was, had been bluff­
ing—that it could not kill him, that it
had done its worst. In a similar case he
would have killed without mercy, and
that course seemed to him the only log­
ical one to pursue. His cold reason,
however, would not allow him to enter-
 GALACTIC PATROL
: lam that comforting belief. Deep down
h t' knew tliat the Arisian could have
hilled him as easily as it had slain the
lowest member of his band, and the
thought chilled him to the marrow.
What could he do? What could he
do ? Endlessly, as the miles and light
years reeled off behind his hurtling
racer, this question reiterated itself; and
when his home planet loomed close it
was" still unanswered.
r SINCE Wolmark believed implicitly
Helmuth’s statement that it would be
poor technique to oppose his return, the
planet’s screens wait down at Hel­
mut h’s signal. His first act was to call
all the department' heads to the center,
for an extremely important council of
'War. •
" "There he told them everything that
had happened, calmly and concisely,
concluding: “They are aloof, disinter­
ested, unpartisan to a degree I find it
impossible to understand. They disap­
prove of us on purely philosophical
grounds, but they will take no active
part against us as long as we stay away
from their solar system. Therefore, we
cannot obtain knowledge of the Lens by
direct action, but there are other methods
which shall be worked out in due
course.
“The AHsian.s do approve of the pa­
trol, and have helped them to the ex­
tent of giving them the Lens. There,
however, they stop. If the Lensmen do
not know how to use their Lenses effi­
ciently—-and I gather that they do not
—we ‘shall he allowed to conquer and
to flourish for a time.’ We will con­
quer, and we will see to it that the time
of our flourishing will be a long one
indeed.
“The whole situation, then, boils
down^to this: our cosmic energy against
the Lens of the patrol. Ours is the
much more powerful arm, but our only
hope of immediate success lies in keep­
ing the patrol in ignorance of our cos­
149
mic-energy receptors and converters.
One Lensman already has that knowl­
edge. Therefore, gentlemen, it is very
clear that the death of that Lensman
has now become absolutely imperative.
We must find him, if it means the
abandonment of our every other enter­
prise throughout the galaxy. Give mfc
a full report upon the screening of the
solarian system.”
“It is done, sir,” came quick reply.
"That system is completely blockaded.
Ships are spaced so closely that even
the electromagnetic detectors have a
five-hundred-per-cent overlap. Visual
detectors have at least two-hundred-fifty-
per-cent overlap. Nothing as large as
one centimeter in any dimension can get
through without detection and observa­
tion.”
“ And how about the search of
Treneo?”
“Results are still negative. One of
our ships, a Rigellian, with papers alt
in order, visited Treneo space port
openly. No one was there except the
regular force of Rigells&ns. Our captain
was in no position to be too inquisitive,
but the missing ship was certainly not
in the port and he gathered that he was
the first visitor they had had in a month.
We learned on Rigel IV that Tregonsee,
the Lensman actually there, has been
there for a month and will not be re­
lieved for another month. He was the
only Lensman there. We are, of course,
carrying on the search for the rest of
the planet. About half the personnel of
each vessel to land has been lost. But
they started with double crews and re­
placements are being sent.”
“The Lensman Tregonsee’s story may
or may not be true,” Helmuth mused.
“It makes little difference. It would be
impossible to hide that ship in the
Treneo space port from even a casual
inspection, and if the ship is not there
the Lensman is not. He may be hid­
ing somewhere else on the planet, but I
doubt it. Continue to search, neverthe­
 ASTOUNDING STORIES
less. There are many things he may
have done. I will have to consider them,
one by one.”
But Helmuth had very little time to
consider w hat. Kinnison might have
done, for the Lensman had left Trenco
long since. Because of the flare baffles
upon his driving projectors his pace was
slow; but to compensate for this con­
dition the distance to be covered was
•short. Therefore, even as Helmuth
was cogitating upon what next to do,
the Lensman and his able crew were ap­
proaching the far-flung screen of Bos-
konian war vessels investing the entire
solar system.
To approach that screen undetected
was a physical impossibility, and before
Kinnison realized that he was in a dan­
ger zone six tractors had flicked out,
had seized his ship, and had jerked it
up to combat range. But the Lensman
Was ready for anything, and again
everything happened at once.
WARNINGS screamed into the dis­
tant pirate base and Helmuth, tense at
his desk, took personal charge of his
mighty fleet. On the field of action
Kinnison’s screens flamed out in stub­
born defense; tracers and tractors
snapped under his slashing shears; the
baffles disappeared in an incandescent
flare as he shot maximum blast into his
■drive; and space again became suffused
with the output of his now ultra-powered
multiplex scrambler.
And through that murk the Lensman
directed a thought toward Earth, with
the full power of mind and Lens,
“ Port Admiral Haynes—Prime Base!
Port Admiral Haynes—Prime Base!
U rgent! Kinnison calling from the
direction of Sirius—urgent!” he sent
out the fiercely-driven message.
It so happened that at Prime Base
it was deep night, and Port Admiral
Haynes was sound asleep. But his ever-
vigilant Lens received the message, and
like the trigger-nerved old space cat that
he was, the admiral came instantly
awake. Scarcely had an eye flicked
open than his answer had been hurled
back: “Haynes acknowledging. Send
it, Kinnison!”
“Coming in, in a pirate ship—Van-
Buskirk, Thorndyke. and I, and a crew
of Velantians. All the pirates in space
are on our necks. But we're coming
in, in spite of hell and high water!
Don’t send up any ships to help us
down. They could blast you out of
space in a second, but they can’t stop
us. Get ready. I tvwon't be long now 1”
Then, after the port admiral had
sounded the emergency alarm, Kinnison
went o n : “Our ship carries no mark­
ings, but there’s only one of us and
you’ll know which one it is. We’ll be
doing the. dodging. They’d be crazy to
follow us down to base, with all the stuff
you’ve got, but they act crazy enough to
do almost anything. If they do follow
us down, get ready to give ’em every­
thing you’ve got. H e r e we are!"
Pursued and pursuers had touched
the outermost fringe of the stratosphere;
and, slowed down to optical visibility by
even that highly rarefied atmosphere, the
battle raged in incandescent splendor.
One ship was spinning, twisting, loop-
ing, gyrating, jumping and darting
hither and thither—performing every
weird maneuver that the fertile and agile
mind of the Lensman could improvise—
to shake off the horde of attackers.
The pirates, on the other hand, were
desperately determined that, whatever
the cost, that Lensman should not land.
Tractors would not hold and the inertia­
less ship could not be rammed. There­
fore, their strategy was that which had
worked so successfully four times before
in similar case—to englobe the ship
completely and thus beam her down.
And while attempting this englobement
they so massed their forces as to drive
the Lensman’s vessel as far as possible
away from the grim and tremendously
 GALACTIC PATROL 151
powerful fortifications of the patrol’s which that spot instantly became, not
Prime Base, almost directly below them. even a full-driven wall shield could en­
dure, and a vast hole yawned where
BUT those four other patrol-manned pirate ships had been. The beams flicked
pirate ships which the pirates had re­ off, and, timed by his Lens, Kinnison
captured had not been driven by Lens- shot his ship through that hole before
men ; and in this ship Kinnison, the it could be closed, and arrowed down­
Lensman, was now calling upon his ward toward base at maximum blast.
every resource of instantaneous nervous Ship after ship of the pirate horde
reaction, of brilliant brain and of light­ followed him down in madly suicidal
ning hand, to avoid that fatal trap. And last attempts to blast him out, down to­
avoid it he did, by series after series of ward the terrific armament of the base.
fantastic maneuvers never set down in Prime Base itself, the most dreaded, the
any manual of space combat. most heavily armed, the most impregna­
Powerful as were the weapons of ble fortress of the Galactic Patrol 1
Prime Base, in that thick atmosphere Nothing afloat could even threaten that
their effective range was less than fifty citadel. The overbold attackers simply
miles. Therefore the gunners, idle at disappeared in brief flashes of coruscant
their controls, and the officers of the vapor,
superdreadnaughts, chained by definite
Kinnison flashed to ground in a free
orders to the ground, fumed and swore landing and called his commander.
as, powerless to help their battling fel­
lows, they stood by and watched in their “ Did any of the other hoys beat us
plates the furious engagement so high in, sir?” he asked.
overhead. "No, sir,” came the curt response.
But slowly, so slowly, Kinnison won Congratulations, felicitations, and cele­
his way downward, keeping as close bration would come later; he was now
over base as he could without being en- the port admiral receiving an official re­
globed. Finally he managed to get port.
within range of the gigantic projectors “Then, sir, I have the honor to report
of the patrol. Only the heaviest of the that the expedition has succeeded.” And
fixed-mount guns could reach that mad he could not help adding informally,
whirlpool of ships, but each one of them youthfully exultant at the success of his
raved out against the same spot at pre­ first real mission, “We’ve brought home
cisely the same instant.* In the inferno the bacon \”
{To be Continued.)
UP TO NOW :
Law enforcement lagged behind crime
because the police mere limited in their
spheres of action, ivhile criminals were
not. Therefore, when the inertialess
drive zvas perfected and commerce
throughout the galaxy became a com­
monplace, crime became so rampant as
to threaten civilisation. T hus came into
being the Galactic Patrol; an organiza­
tion whose highest members, the Lens-
 r^&ciSto
Galactic
* m 0 * i*KifS% S»,':;K '•• Patrol
Part TVo f a great science novel

by E. E. Smith, Ph.D.

The rush of escaping atmosphere picked the Lensman up as

though he had been a straw—hurled him out----
55 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

men, are of unlimited authority and K innison’s Bergcnholm, the generator

range. Each is identified by wearing the of the force which neutralises inertia,
Lens, a pseudoliving, telepathic jew el breaks dozen. H e is therefore forced to
matched to the ego of its wearer by those land upon Trenco— the planet upon
master philosophers, the Arisians. The zvhich is produced thionite, the deadliest
Lens cannot be either imitated or coun­ of all habit-forming drugs— for repairs,
terfeited, since it glows w ith color w hen before he can go on toward Earth.
worn by its owner, and since it kills any H elm uth, the Boskonian, goes to
other being who attem pts to wear it. A risia in an attem pt to find out zvhat
O f each million selected candidates for the L ens really is, to give the Lensmctn
the L e m , all except about a hundred fall such power. H e is punished severely,
before the grueling tests employed to mentally, by the Arisians, but is allowed
weed out the unfit. Kim ball Kinnison to return to his Grand Base, alive and
graduates N o. 1 in his class, and is given sane.
command of the space ship Brittania. Kinnison, after a spectacular battle in
H e is inform ed that the pirates, or Bos- the Earth's stratosphere, reaches Prim e
konians, are gaining the nppper hand Base w ith his precious data.
over the patrol because of a new and
almost unlimited source of power, and
X III.
is instructed to capture one of the new-
type ships of the pirates. PO W ER FU L FLEET had
H e succeeds in getting the inform a­
tion, but cannot transm it it to Prim e
Base because the pirates are blanketing
all channels of communication. B os­
A b e e n s e n t to r e s c u e th o s e o f th e
Brittania’s c re w w h o m ig h t h a v e
m a n a g e d to s ta y o u t o f th e c lu tc h e s o f
th e p ira te s . The w ild ly e n th u s ia s tic
konian ships are gathering, and the crip­ c e l e b r a t i o n i n s i d e P r i m e P>ase w a s o v e r .
pled Brittania can neither run nor fight. O u ts id e th e fo rc e w a lls o f th e r e s e r v a ­
Each man is given a spool of tape bear­ tio n . h o w e v e r, it w as ju s t b e g in n in g .
ing the information, and all take to the T h o rn d y k e , V a n B u s k irk , and th e V c-
lifeboats. l a n t i a n s w e r e i n t h e t h i c k o f it . N o one
Kinnison and V anB uskirk— a Vale­ o n E a r th , e x c e p t a fe w p la n e to g ra p h e rs ,
rian, and therefore of enorm ous size and had ev er h e a rd o f V e la n tia , a n d th o s e
strength— land upon a practically un- h ig h ly in te llig e n t r e p tilia n b e in g s k n e w
known planet, Velantia. T hey aid W or- e v e n le s s o f T e llu s . N e v e rth e le s s , s im ­
sel, a scientist of that planet, in destroy­ p ly b e c a u s e th e y h a d a id e d th e p a t r o l ­
ing a mentally parasitic race; then all m e n , th e v is ito r s w e re p ra c tic a lly g iv e n
the resources of the planet are devoted th e k e y s to th e p la n e t, a n d th e y w e re
•to the preparation o f defenses against e n jo y in g th e e x p e rie n c e tr e m e n d o u s ly .
the expected Boskonian attack. Several “ W e w a n t K in n is o n ! W e w a n t K in ­
others of the B ritta n ia s lifeboats reach n i s o n ! ” t h e f e s t i v e c r o w d , le d b y U n i ­
Velantia. K innison traces a com m uni­ v e r s a l T e le n e w s m e n , h a d b e e n y e llin g ;
cator beam of H elm uth, w ho “speaks for a n d fin a lly th e L e n s m a n c a m e o u t. B ut
Boskone,” thus getting his first line upon a f t e r o n e p o se b e fo re a le n s a n d a fe w
Boskonia’s Grand Base. w o rd s in to a m ic ro p h o n e , he p le a d e d ,
S ix pirate vessels are captured. In “ T h e r e ’s my c a ll , n o w — u rg e n t!” and
the six ships, manned by Velantian f le d b a c k i n s i d e R e s e r v a t i o n . T h e n th e
ern es and now blanketing the pirates’ m illin g tid e o f c e le b ra n ts ro lle d b a c k to ­
oztm communicators, the patrolman set w a rd th e c ity , ta k in g w ith it e v e ry
out for Earth and for the Prim e Base of p a t r o l m a n w h o c o u l d g e t le a v e .
the patrol. E n g in e e rs a n d d e s ig n e rs w e re s w a rm ­
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 57
in g th r o u g h and over th e p ir a te sh ip sp e e d d e te r m in e s th e a b ility to fo rc e o r
K in n is o n h a d d riv e n h o m e , ea c h a rm e d t o a v o id e n g a g e m e n t ; b u t it is r e la tiv e
w ith a s h e a f o f b lu e p r i n t s a lr e a d y p r e ­ pow er th a t d e te rm in e s th e o u tc o m e .
p a re d fro m th e lo n g - c h e ris h e d d a ta H e r e t o f o r e , t h e p i r a t e s --------
s p o o l, each d ir e c tin g a c o rp s of m e­
c h a n ic s in d is m a n tlin g s o m e m e c h a n is m “A ND b y th e w a y , w e a r e b e littlin g
o f th e g r e a t s p a c e r o v e r . I t w a s to th is our o p p o n e n ts and b u ild in g up a d is ­
h iv e o f b u s tlin g a c tiv ity t h a t K in n is o n a s tro u s o v e rc o n fid e n c e in o u rs e lv e s by
had been c a lle d . He sto o d th e re , a n ­ c a llin g th e m p ir a te s . I t h a s b e e n th o u g h t
s w e r in g a s b e s t h e c o u ld th e m u ltitu d e b e fo re th a t th e y w e re n o t p ir a te s , a n d
o f q u e s t i o n s b e i n g f i r e d a t h i m f r o m a ll now w e know d e fin ite ly t h a t th e y a re
s id e s , u n til h e w a s re s c u e d b y n o le s s n o t. I t is m o re th a n a ra c e o r a s y s ­
a p e rs o n a g e th a n P o r t A d m ir a l H a y n e s . te m . I t is a c tu a lly a g a la x y - w id e c u l­
“ Y ou g e n tle m e n can get your in ­ tu re . I t is a n a b s o lu te d e s p o tis m , h o ld ­
fo r m a tio n fro m th e d a ta s h e e ts b e tte r in g its a u th o rity by m eans of a rig id
th a n you can fro m K in n is o n ,” he re ­ s y s te m o f re w a rd s a n d p u n is h m e n ts . I n
m a r k e d w ith a s m ile , “ a n d I w a n t to ta k e o u r e y e s it is f u n d a m e n ta lly w r o n g , b u t
h is r e p o r t w ith o u t a n y m o r e d e la y .” it w o rk s. H ow it w o rk s! It is o r­
H a n d u n d e r a r m , th e o ld L e n s m a n g a n iz e d ju s t as w e a re , a n d is a p p a r­
le d th e y o u n g o n e a w a y . B u t o n ce in ­ e n tly a s s t r o n g in b a s e s , v e s s e ls a n d p e r ­
s id e h is p riv a te o ff ic e he sum m oned s o n n e l. In m y o w n m in d I h a v e b e e n
n e ith e r s e c r e ta ry n o r re c o r d e r. I n s te a d , c a llin g th e w h o le c u ltu re ‘B o s k o n i a , ’
he p u sh ed th e b u tto n s w h ic h s e t u p a s in c e no one seem s to know w ho or
c o m p le te - c o v e ra g e s h ie ld a n d sp o k e . w h a t B o s k o n e r e a l l y is . P e rh a p s B os-
"N o w , son, op en up. O u t w i t h it —- k o n e re a lly is th e n a m e o f th e e n tire o r ­
e v e ry th in g th a t y o u have been h o ld in g g a n iz a tio n ?
b a c k e v e r s in c e y o u la n d e d . I got your “ B u t to g e t o n w ith th e th o u g h t. B o s ­
s ig n a l.” k o n ia h a s h a d a ll th e b e s t o f it , b o th in
“ W e ll, y e s, I h a v e b e e n h o ld in g b a c k ,” speed— ex cep t fo r th e Brittania’s m o­
K in n is o n a d m itte d . “I h a v e n ’t got m e n t a r y a d v a n ta g e — a n d in p o w e r . T h a t
e n o u g h je ts to b e s tic k in g m y n e c k o u t a d v a n ta g e is now lo s t to th e m . W e
i n f a s t c o m p a n y , e v e n if i t w e r e s o m e ­ w ill h a v e , th e n , tw o • im m e n s e p o w e rs,
th in g to b e d is c u s s e d in p u b lic , w h ic h e a c h g a la c tic in s c o p e , e a c h tr e m e n d o u s l y
i t is n o t . I ’m g la d y o u c o u ld g iv e m e p o w e rfu l in a rm s , e q u ip m e n t, a n d p e r ­
th is tim e s o s o o n . I w a n t to g o o v e r so n n e l ; e a c h h a v in g e x a c tly th e s a m e
a n id e a w ith y o u , a n d w ith no one else. w eapons and d e fe n se s, a n d each d e te r­
I t m a y b e a s c o c k e y e d a s T r e n c o ’s e t h e r m in e d to w ip e o u t th e o th e r . A s ta le ­
— y o u a r e t o b e th e so le ju d g e a s to t h a t m a te is in e v ita b le ; an a b s o lu te dead­
— but you w ill k n o w , no m a tte r how lo c k ; a s h e e r ly d e s tru c tiv e w ar of a t­
g o o f y i t is , t h a t I m e a n w e l l . ” tritio n w h ic h w ill g o on fo r c e n tu r ie s
“T hat c e rta in ly is n o t a n o v e rs ta te ­ and w h ic h m ust end in th e a n n ih ila ­
m e n t,” H aynes re p lie d , d ry ly . “Go tio n o f b o th B o s k o n ia a n d c iv iliz a tio n .”
a h e a d .” “B ut our new sh ears and sc re e n s!”
“ T h e g r e a t p e c u lia rity o f sp a c e c o m ­ p ro te s te d th e o ld e r m a n . “ T hey g iv e
b a t i s t h a t w e fly f r e e , b u t f i g h t i n e r t , ” u s a n o v e rw h e lm in g a d v a n ta g e . W e
K in n is o n b e g a n , a p p a re n tly ir re le v a n tly , c a n fo rc e o r a v o id e n g a g e m e n t, a s w e
b u t c h o o s in g h is p h ra s e o lo g y w ith c a re . p le a s e . Y ou know th e p la n to c ru sh
“ T o f o r c e a n e n g a g e m e n t o n e s h i p lo c k s th e m . Y o u h e lp e d to d e v e lo p i t .”
to th e o th e r firs t w ith tr a c e r s , th e n w ith “ Y e s , I k n o w th e p la n . I a ls o k n o w
tr a c to r s , a n d g o e s in e r t. T h u s , re la tiv e t h a t w e w ill n o t c r u s h t h e m . So do you.
58 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

W e b o t h k n o w t h a t o u r a d v a n t a g e w ill is not w hat you w a n te d to d is c u s s .

b e o n ly te m p o r a r y .” T h e yo u n g L ens- G . A . !”
m a n , u n im p re s s e d , w a s in d e a d ly e a r n e s t. “ Q X ” , K in n is o n w e n t in to L e n s - to -
L e n s c o m m u n ic a tio n . “ I w a n t so m e
T H E A D M I R A L d id n o t re p ly fo r a k in d of a s h ie ld or screen th a t w ill
tim e . D e e p d o w n , h e h im s e lf h a d fe lt n e u tr a liz e o r n u llify a d e te c to r. I asked
th e d o u b t ; b u t n e ith e r h e n o r a n y o th e r H o tc h k is s , th e c o m m u n ic a tio n s e x p e r t,
o f h is sc h o o l h a d e v e r m e n tio n e d th e a b o u t i t — u n d e r se a l. H e s a id th a t it
th in g th a t K in n is o n h a d now s o b o ld ly h a d n e v e r b e e n in v e s tig a te d , e v e n a s a n
p u t in to w o rd s. He knew th a t w h a t­ a c a d e m ic p ro b le m in r e s e a r c h , b u t t h a t it
e v e r o n e s id e h a d , o f w e a p o n o r a r m o r w a s th e o r e tic a lly p o s s ib le .”
o r o f e q u ip m e n t, w o u ld s o o n e r o r la te r “ T h is ro o m is s h ie ld e d , y o u k n o w .”
becom e th e p ro p e rty o f th e o th e r— as H a y n e s w a s s u r p r is e d a t th e u s e o f th e
w a s w itn e s s e d b y th e d e s p e r a te v e n tu r e L enses. “ I s it that im p o rta n t? ”
w h ic h K in n is o n h im s e lf h a d s o r e c e n tly “ I d o n ’t k n o w . As I s a id b e fo re , I
a n d so s u c c e s s fu lly c o n c lu d e d . H e knew m a y b e c o c k e y e d ; b u t if m y id e a is a n y
t h a t th e d e v ic e s in s ta lle d in th e v e s s e ls g o o d a t a ll t h a t n u l l i f i e r i s t h e m o s t i m ­
c a p tu r e d upon V e la n tia had been de­ p o rta n t th in g in th e u n iv e r s e , and if
s tr o y e d b e fo re fa llin g in to th e h a n d s o f w o r d o f it g e ts o u t it w ill b e a b s o lu te ly
th e e n e m y , b u t h e a ls o k n e w t h a t w ith u s e le s s . Y ou see, sir, over th e lo n g
e n ti r e fle e ts s o e q u ip p e d th e n e w a rm s ro u te , th e o n ly re a lly p e rm a n e n t ad­
c o u ld n o t b e k e p t s e c r e t in d e f in ite ly . v a n ta g e t h a t w e h a v e o v e r B o s k o n ia , th e
T h e re fo re , he fin a lly re p lie d : “ T h a t o n e th in g th a t th e y c a n n o t g e t . is t h e
m ay be tr u e .” He p a u s e d , th e n w ent L en s. T h e r e m u s t b e so m e w a y to u se
o n lik e th e in d o m ita b le v e te r a n t h a t h e it. I f t h a t n u l l i f i e r is p o s s i b l e , a n d if
w a s, “ B u t w e h a v e th e a d v a n ta g e n o w w e c a n k e e p it a s e c r e t, I b e lie v e t h a t I
and w e ’ll d r i v e it w h ile w e 'v e g o t it. h a v e f o u n d it . A t le a s t. I w a n t to t r y
A f t e r a ll , w e may b e a b le to h o ld it lo n g s o m e th in g . I t m a y n o t w o rk — p ro b a b ly
e n o u g h .” i t w o n ’t ; i t ’s a m ig h ty s lim chance—
“ I ’v e j u s t t h o u g h t o f o n e m o r e t h i n g b u t if i t d o e s , w e m a y b e a b l e t o w i p e
th a t w o u ld h e l p : c o m m u n ic a tio n .” K in - o u t B o s k o n ia in a fe w m o n th s , in s te a d o f
n is o n d id n o t a r g u e th e p r e v io u s p o in t, c a rr y in g o n fo re v e r a w a r o f a ttritio n .
b u t w en t ahead. “ I t s e e m s to b e im ­ F i r s t , I w a n t t o g o t o -------- ”
p o s s ib le to d riv e any k in d of a com ­ “ H o ld o n ! ” H a y n e s s n a p p e d . “ I ’v e
m u n ic a to r b e a m th r o u g h th e d o u b le in ­ b e e n th in k in g , to o . I c a n ’t s e e a n y p o s ­
t e r f e r e n c e -------- ” s i b le r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n s u c h a d e v i c e a n d
“Seem s t o b e !” b a r k e d H a y n e s . “ It is a n y re a l m ilita ry w e a p o n , o r th e L e n s ,
i m p o s s i b l e ! N o t h i n g b u t a t h o u g h t — —” e ith e r. I f I c a n ’t , n o t m a n y o t h e r s c a n ,
“ T h a t ’s it e x a c tly — thought!” in te r­ and t h a t ’s a p o in t in your fa v o r. If
r u p te d K in n is o n in tu r n . “ T h e V e la n - t h e r e is a n y t h i n g a t a l l i n y o u r i d e a , i t
tia n s can do th in g s w ith a L ens th a t is to o b ig t o s h a r e w ith a n y o n e , e v e n
nobody w o u ld b e lie v e p o s s ib le . W hy m e. K e e p it y o u r s e lf .”
n o t e x a m in e so m e o f th e m fo r L e n s m e n ? “ B u t i t ’s a p e c u l i a r h o o k - u p , a n d m a y
I ’m su re t h a t W o r s e l c o u ld p ass, an d n o t b e a n y g o o d a t a ll,” p r o te s te d K in ­
p ro b a b ly m a n y o th e r s . T h e y c a n d riv e n is o n . “ Y o u m ig h t w a n t to c a n c e l it.”
th o u g h ts th r o u g h a n y th in g e x c e p t th e ir “ N o d a n g e r o f th a t,” c a m e th e p o s i­
ow n th o u g h t sc re e n s— a n d w hat com ­ tiv e s ta te m e n t. “ Y o u k n o w m o re a b o u t
m u n i c a t o r s t h e y w o u l d m a k e !” th e p ir a te s — p a r d o n m e , a b o u t B o s k o n ia
“T hat id e a has d is tin c t p o s s ib ilitie s — th a n a n y o th e r p a tro lm a n . Y ou be­
and w ill b e f o l l o w e d u p . H o w e v e r, tt lie v e th a t your id e a has so m e s lig h t
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 59
ch an ce of su ccess. V e r y w e ll— t h a t f a c t G a r g a n tu a n a c c u m u la to r s . I n fa c t, e a c h
is e n o u g h t o p u t e v e r y r e s o u r c e o f t h e of th e s e m o n s tro u s flo a tin g fo r tre s s e s
p a tro l b a c k o f y o u . P u t y o u r id e a o n w as to b e a b le to g e n e ra te screen s of
a t a p e a n d s e a l t h e s p o o l in y o u r p r i v a t e su ch d e s ig n and p o w e r th a t n o v essel
b o x in t h e v a u l t , s o t h a t i t w i l l n o t b e a n y w h e re n e a r th e m c o u ld re c e iv e c o s ­
lo s t in case of y o u r d e a th . T hen go m ic e n e r g y !
ahead. I f i t is p o s s i b l e t o d e v e l o p t h a t T h is , th e n , w a s th e b o lt w h ic h c iv ili­
n u llifie r, y o u s h a ll h a v e it. H o tc h k is s z a tio n w a s p r e p a r in g to h u rl a g a in s t B o s-
w ill ta k e c h a rg e of it, and have any k o n ia . In th e o ry th e th in g w as s im ­
o th e r L e n s m e n h e w a n ts . N o one except p lic ity its e lf. T h e u ltra -fa s t c ru is e rs
L e n s m e n w ill w o r k o n i t o r k n o w a n y ­ w o u ld c a tc h th e e n e m y , lo c k o n w ith
th in g a b o u t it. O n ly o n e w ill b e m a d e tra c to rs , a n d go in e r t, th u s a n c h o rin g
a n d n o r e c o r d s w ill b e k e p t . I t w ill n o t in sp a c e . T h e n , w h ile a b s o r b in g a n d d is ­
e v e n e x is t u n til y o u y o u rs e lf re le a s e it to s ip a tin g e v e ry th in g th a t th e o p p o s itio n
u s . -’ c o u ld s e n d , th e y w o u ld p u t o u t a p e ­
"T hanks, s ir.” A nd K in n is o n le f t c u lia rly p a tte r n e d in te rfe re n c e , th e c e n ­
ih e ro o m . t e r o f w h ic h c o u ld e a s ily b e lo c a te d . The
m o b i le f o r t r e s s e s w o u l d th e n com e u p ,
T H E N fo r w e e k s P r im e B a se w a s th e cut o ff t h e B o s k o n ia n s ’ p o w e r in ta k e ,
s c e n e o f a n a c tiv ity fu r io u s in d e e d . N ew a n d f i n i s h u p t h e jo b .
a p p a ra tu s w as d e s ig n e d and te s te d ; N o t so o n w a s t h a t b o lt f o r g e d ; b u t
s h e a rs fo r tr a c e r s a n d tr a c to r s , g e n e ra ­ in tim e c iv iliz a tio n w a s r e a d y t o la u n c h
to r s o f s c re e n s a g a in s t c o s m ic -e n e rg y its s tu p e n d o u s a n d , it w a s g e n e ra lly
in ta k e , s c r a m b le rs fo r th e c o m m u n ic a ­ hoped and b e lie v e d , c o n c lu s iv e a tta c k
to r s of th e enem y, and m any o th e r u p o n B o s k o n ia . E v e ry se c to r b a se a n d
th in g s . E ach ite m w as d e s ig n e d and su b -b a se w a s r e a d y ; th e z e ro h o u r h a d
te s te d , re d e s ig n e d and re te s te d , u n til b e e n s e t.
e v e n t h e m o s t s k e p t i c a l o f t h e p a t r o l ’s e n ­ A t P r im e B a s e K im b a ll K in n is o n , th e
g i n e e r s c o u l d n o l o n g e r f in d in i t a n y ­ y o u n g e s t T e llu ria n e v e r to w e a r th e fo u r
th in g to c ritic iz e . T h e n , th r o u g h o u t th e s ilv e r s tr ip e s o f c a p ta in , s a t a t th e c o n ­
g a la x y , th e s h ip s of th e p a tr o l w e re n in g p la te of th e c ru ise r Brittanio II ,
c a lle d in to th e i r s e c to r b a s e s to b e r e ­ s o n a m e d a t h is o w n re q u e s t. H e th rille d
b u ilt. in w a r d ly as he th o u g h t of her speed.
T h e r e w e r e to b e tw o g r e a t c la s s e s S u c h w a s h e r fo rc e of d riv e th a t, s tre a m ­
o f v e s s e ls . T h o s e o f th e firs t w e re to lin e d to th e u ltim a te d e g r e e a lth o u g h s h e
have speed and d e fe n s e — n o th in g e ls e . w as, sh e had s p e c ia l w a ll s h ie ld s , a n d
T hey w e re to b e th e f a s te s t th in g s in sp e c ia l d is s ip a to r s to ra d ia te in to s p a c e
s p a c e , a n d a b le to d e f e n d th e m s e lv e s th e heat of fr ic tio n of th e m e d iu m
a g a in s t a tta c k . T h a t w a s a ll . V e sse ls th r o u g h w h ic h sh e to r e so m a d ly . O th ­
o f th e s e c o n d c la s s h a d to b e b u ilt f r o m e rw is e sh e w o u ld h a v e d e s tr o y e d h e rs e lf
th e k e e l u p w a r d , s in c e n o th in g e v e n r e ­ in a n h o u r o f fu ll b la s t, e v e n in th e h a r d
m o te ly lik e th e m had th e r e to f o re b e e n v a c u u m o f in te rs te lla r s p a c e !
c o n c e iv e d . T h e y w e re to be h u g e , u n ­ A n d i n h i s o ffic e P o r t A d m i r a l H a y n e s
g a in ly , s lo w — s im p ly s to r e h o u s e s o f in ­ w a tc h e d a c h ro n o m e te r . M in u te s to g o
c o m p r e h e n s ib ly v a s t p o w e r s o f o ffe n se . — th e n se c o n d s.
T hey c a rr ie d p ro je c to rs of a siz e and " C le a r e th e r a n d lig h t la n d in g s .” H is
pow er never b e fo re set upon m o v a b le d e e p v o ic e w a s g r u f f w i t h u n e x p r e s s e d
f o u n d a tio n s , nor w e re th e y dependent e m o tio n . “ F iv e s e c o n d s . . . . QX.
u p o n c o s m ic e n e r g y . T h e y c a rrie d th e ir . . . L i f t !” A n d t h e f le e t s h o t i n t o
o w n , in b a n k u p o n s tu p e n d o u s b a n k o f th e a ir .
60 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

T H E F IR S T O B JE C T IV E o f th is flic k e r e d a s th e y w e n t d o w n b e f o r e th e
s o la ria n fle e t w as tw o fo ld , and th is im m e a s u r a b le , th e in c r e d ib le v io le n c e o f
f ir s t h o p w a s t o b e a s h o r t o n e in d e e d . th a t th r u s t. T h e se c o n d c o u rs e o ffe re d a
For th e B o s k o n ia n s had e s ta b lis h e d b rie fly b r illia n t b u r s t o f v io le t r a d ia n c e
bases upon b o th P lu to and N e p tu n e , a s it g a v e w a y . T h e in n e r sc re e n r e ­
rig h t h e re in th e s o la ria n s y s te m . So s is te d s tu b b o rn ly a s it r a n th e s p e c tr u m
c lo s e to P rim e B ase w e re th e s e bases in a w ild ly c o r u s c a n t d is p la y of p y ro ­
t h a t o n ly in te n s iv e s c r e e n in g a n d con­ te c h n ic sp le n d o r; but it, to o , w ent
s t a n t v ig ila n c e h a d k e p t t h e i r s p y r a y s th r o u g h th e u ltra -v io le t and in to th e
o u t : so p o w e rfu l w e re th e y th a t th e o r ­ b la c k .
d in a r y b a ttle s h ip s o f th e p a tr o l h a d b e e n N ow th e w a ll s h ie ld its e lf— th a t in ­
im p o te n t a g a in s t th e m . N o w th e y w e re c o n c e iv a b ly rig id f a b r ic a tio n of p u re
to be re m o v e d . T h e re fo re th e fle e t, fo r c e , w h ic h o n ly th e in s ta n t a n e o u s d e ­
c ru is e rs and “ m a u le rs ” a lik e , d iv id e d to n a tio n o f tw e n ty m e tric to n s o f “ d u o -
in to tw o p a rts ; one p a rt fla s h in g to ­ d e c ” h a d e v e r b e e n k n o w n to r u p tu r e —
w a r d N e p tu n e , th e o th e r to w a r d s lig h tly w a s a ll t h a t b a r r e d f r o m th e b a s e m e ta l
m o re d is ta n t P lu to . of B o s k o n ia n w a lls th e u tte rly in d e ­
S h o r t a s w a s th e tim e n e c e ssa ry to s c rib a b le fu ry of th e m a u le rs ’ b eam s.
tr a v e r s e a n y in te r p la n e ta r y d is ta n c e ,, th e N ow fo rc e w as s tre a m in g fro m th a t
s o la r ia n s w e r e d e te c te d a n d w e r e m e t in s h ie ld in v e rita b le to r r e n ts .
fo rc e by th e s h ip s of B o sk o n e. B ut So te r rib le w e re th e c o n flic tin g en­
s c a rc e ly h a d b a ttle b e e n jo in e d w h e n th e e rg ie s th e r e a t g rip s th a t th e ir n e u tr a li­
e n e m y b e g a n to re a liz e t h a t th is w a s to z a tio n w a s a c tu a lly v is ib le a n d ta n g ib le .
b e a b a ttle th e lik e o f w h ic h th e y h a d I n s h e e ts a n d m a s s e s , in te r rif ic , e th e r -
n e v e r b e fo re s e e n ; a n d w h e n th e y b e g a n ra c k in g v o rtic e s , and in m ile s -lo n g ,
t o u n d e r s ta n d it, i t w a s to o la te . T hey p illa r in g s tre a m e rs and fla s h e s , th o s e
c o u l d n o t r u n , a n d a ll s p a c e w a s s o f u l l e n e rg ie s w e re b e in g h u rle d aw ay—
o f in te r f e r e n c e t h a t th e y c o u ld n o t e v e n h u r l e d t o a ll t h e p o i n t s o f t h e s p h e r e ’s
r e p o r t to H e lm u th w h a t w a s g o in g o n . fu ll com pass, fillin g and s u ffu s in g a ll
T h e s e firs t, p e c u lia rly te a r d r o p - s h a p e d n e a r-b y space.
v e s s e l s o f t h e p a t r o l d i d n o t f i g h t a t a ll. T h e B o s k o n ia n c o m m a n d e rs s ta r e d a t
T h e y s i m p l y h e ld o n l i k e b u l l d o g s , t a k ­ th e ir in s tru m e n ts , firs t in b e w ild e r e d
in g w ith o u t re s p o n s e e v e r y th in g th a t th e a m a z e m e n t a n d th e n in s h e e r , s ta r k , u n ­
w h ite - h o t p ro je c to rs c o u ld h u rl in to b e lie v in g h o r r o r a s th e i r p o w e r in ta k e
th e m . d ro p p e d to z e ro a n d t h e i r w a ll s h ie ld s
T h e ir d e fe n s iv e sc reen s ra d ia te d b e g a n to fa il— a n d s till th e a tta c k c o n ­
fie rc e ly , h ig h in to th e v io le t, u n d e r th e tin u e d in n e v e r- le s s e n in g p o w e r. S u re ly
a p p a llin g p u n is h m e n t b e in g d e a lt out th a t b e a m in g m ust s la c k e n d o w n so o n .
to th e m by th e b a tte rie s of sh ip and N o c o n c e iv a b le m o b ile p la n t c o u ld th r o w
s h o re , b u t th e y d id n o t g o d o w n . N or s u c h a lo a d f o r l o n g !
d id th e g r ip o f a s in g le t r a c to r lo o s e n B ut th o s e m o b ile p la n ts c o u ld — a n d
fro m its a n c h o ra g e . A n d in m i n u te s th e d id . The a tta c k kept up, at th e ex­
s q u a t a n d m o n s tro u s m a u le rs c a m e u p . tr e m e ly h ig h le v e l u p o n w h ic h it had
O u t w e n t th e i r c o s m ic -e n e rg y b lo c k in g begun. No o rd in a ry s to ra g e c e ll s f e d
screen s, out sh o t th e ir tr a c to r beam s, th o s e m ig h ty p ro je c to rs ; a lo n g no o r­
a n d o u t fro m th e re fra c to ry th r o a ts o f d in a ry b u s b a rs w e re th e ir T ita n ic a m ­
th e ir s tu p e n d o u s p ro je c to r s th e re ra v e d p e ra g e s b o rn e . T h o s e m a u le rs w e re d e ­
th e m ost te r rif ic a lly d e s tru c tiv e fo rces s ig n e d t o d o j u s t o n e th in g — to maul— -
g e n e ra b le b y m a n . and th a t one th in g th e y d id w e ll, r e ­
B o s k o n ia n o u te r s c re e n s s c a rc e ly e v e n le n tle s s ly a n d th o r o u g h ly .
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 61
H IG H E R AND H IG H E R in to th e fa ile d u n d e r t h a t n e v e r - c e a s in g a s s a u lt.
s p e c tr u m th e d e fe n d in g w a ll s h ie ld s b e ­ C o u rse a fte r c o u rse th e ir sc re e n s w e n t
g a n to r a d ia te . A t th e firs t b la s t th e y dow n, and w ith th e la s t o n e w e n t th e
had le a p e d a lm o s t th ro u g h th e v is ib le b ase. T h e m a u le rs ’ b e a m s w e n t th ro u g h
s p e c tr u m , in o n e u n b e a r a b ly fie rc e s u c ­ m e ta l a n d m a s o n r y a s e ff o rtle s s ly a s
c e s s io n of re d , o ra n g e , y e llo w , g re e n , s te e l-ja c k e te d b u lle ts go th r o u g h b u t­
b lu e , a n d in d ig o , u p to a s u l tr y , c o r u s c a t­ t e r , a n d b o r e d o n , d e e p i n t o t h e p l a n e t ’s
in g , b lin d in g ly h a rd v io le t. N ow th e b e d ro c k , b e fo re th e ir frig h tfu l fo rc e
d o o m e d s h ie ld s b e g a n le a p in g e r r a tic a lly w a s sp e n t.
in to th e u ltra -v io le t. T o th e e y e th e y T hen aro u n d and aro u n d th e y s p i­
w e re a lre a d y in v is ib le ; upon th e re ­ ra le d , u n til n o th in g w h a te v e r w a s le f t
c o rd e r s th e y w e re s h o w in g m o m e n ta r y o f th e B o s k o n ia n w o r k s ; u n til o n ly a
f l a s h e s o f b la c k . s e e th in g , w h ite - h o t la k e o f m o lte n la v a
S o o n th e y w e n t d o w n ; a n d in th e in ­ i n t h e m i d s t o f t h e p l a n e t 's f r i g i d w a s t e
s ta n t o f e a c h fa ilu re o n e v e ss e l o f B o s - w a s a ll t h a t r e m a in e d to sh o w t h a t a n y ­
k o n ia w a s n o m o re . F o r , th a t la s t d e ­ th in g h a d e v e r b e e n b u ilt th e r e .
fe n s e g o n e , n o th in g sa v e u n r e s is tin g S u rre n d e r had n o t been th o u g h t o f.
m e ta l w a s le f t to w ith s ta n d th e a rd o r Q u a r t e r o r c le m e n c y h a d n o t b e e n a s k e d ,
o f th o s e u ltr a - p o w e r f u l, r a v e n in g b e a m s . n o r o ffe re d . V ic to r y , o f its e lf, w a s n o t
A s h a s a lr e a d y b e e n s a id , n o s u b s ta n c e , enough. T h is w as, an d o f s te rn n eces­
h o w e v e r re fra c to ry o r re s is ta n t o r in e rt, s ity h a d to b e , a w a r o f u t t e r , c o m p le te ,
c a n e n d u r e e v e n m o m e n ta r ily in s u c h a a n d m e rc ile s s e x tin c tio n .
f i e ld o f fo rce. T h e re fo re , ev e ry a to m ,
a lik e o f v e s s e l a n d o f c o n te n ts , w e n t t o
XIV.
m a k e u p th e s e a rin g , s e e th in g b u r s t o f
b r illia n t, in c a n d e s c e n tly lu m in o u s v a p o r T H E E N E M Y s tr o n g h o ld s so in s u lt­
w h ic h s u f f u s e d a ll c ir c u m a m b ie n t s p a c e . i n g l y c lo s e t o P r i m e B a s e h a v i n g b e e n
Thus p assed out of th e schem e of o b lite ra te d , th e s o la ria n f le e t s a i l e d o n
th in g s th e v e s s e ls o f th e s o la r ia n d e ta c h ­ in to sp a c e . F o r a fe w w e e k s g a m e w a s
m e n t o f B o s k o n ia . N o t a s in g le v e s s e l p le n tif u l e n o u g h . H u n d re d s o f ra id in g
e s c a p e d ; th e c r u is e r s s a w to th a t. A nd v e s s e ls w e r e o v e r ta k e n a n d h e ld b y th e
th e n th e a tta c k th u n d e re d on to th e p a tr o l c r u is e r s , t h e n b la s te d to v a p o r b y
bases th e m s e lv e s . H e re th e c ru is e rs th e m a u le rs .
w e re u s e le s s ; th e y m e re ly fo rm e d a n M a n y B o s k o n ia n b a s e s w e re a ls o r e ­
o b s e r v a n t fr in g e , th e w h ile c o n tin u in g duced. T h e lo c a tio n s o f m o s t o f th e s e
to s o b la n k e t a ll c h a n n e ls o f c o m m u n i­ lia d lo n g b e e n k n o w n to th e in te llig e n c e
c a tio n t h a t th e d o o m e d b a s e s c o u ld s e n d s e rv ic e ; o th e r s w e re d e te c te d or d is ­
o u t n o w o rd o f w h a t w a s h a p p e n in g to c o v e re d b y th e f a s t-f ly in g c r u is e r s th e m ­
th e m . T h e m a u le rs m o v e d u p a n d se lv e s. M a r a u d in g v e s s e ls r e v e a le d th e
g rim ly , d o g g e d ly , m e th o d ic a lly w e n t to s ite s o f o th e r s b y s u c c e e d in g in reach ­
w o rk . in g th e m b e fo re b e in g o v e rta k e n b y th e
S in c e a base is a lw a y s m uch m o re c ru is e rs . O th e rs w e re fo u n d by th e
p o w e rfu lly a r m o r e d t h a n is a b a ttle s h ip , t r a c e r s a n d lo o p s o f th e s ig n a l c o r p s .
th e re d u c tio n of th e s e fo r tre s s e s to o k V e r y fe w o f th e s e b a s e s w e r e h id d e n
lo n g e r th a n h a d th e d e s tr u c tio n of th e or in any w ay d i f f ic u l t o f a c c e s s , a n d
f l e e t. B u t th e b a s e s c o u ld n o lo n g e r m o s t o f th e m fe ll b e fo r e th e b la s ts o f a
d r a w p o w e r fr o m th e S u n o r fro m a n y s in g le m a u le r. B u t if o n e m a u le r w a s
o th e r h e a v e n ly body, and th e ir o th e r n o t e n o u g h , o th e rs w e re su m m o n e d u n ­
so u rces of pow er w e re c o m p a r a tiv e ly til it d id fa ll. O n e fo rtre s s , a h ith e rto
w eak. T h e re fo re , th e ir d efe n se s a ls o u n k n o w n a n d s u r p r is in g ly s tr o n g S e c to r
62 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

B a se , re q u ire d th e c o n c e n tra tio n o f e v e ry h is d e te c to rs , o p e ra tin g as th e y had

m a u le r o f th e s o la ria n fle e t; b u t th e y been in c le a r and u n d is to rte d e th e r ,
w e re b ro u g h t up and th e fo rtre s s f e l l. c o u ld n o t p o s s ib ly h a v e m is s e d a th in g
A s h a s b e e n s a id , th is w a s a w a r o f e x ­ a s l a r g e a s H e l m u t h ’s b a s e m u s t b e , if
tin c tio n a n d e v e ry p ir a te b a s e th a t w a s it had been a n y w h e re near th a t lin e ;
fo u n d w as re d u c e d . t h a t t h e i r e ffe c tiv e r a n g e w a s im m e n s e ly
B u t o n e d a y a c ru is e r fo u n d a base g re a te r th a n th e la r g e s t p o s s ib le e r r o r
w h ic h h a d n o t e v e n a s p y - r a y s h ie ld u p , in th e d e te r m in a tio n o r th e fo llo w in g o f
and a c u rso ry in s p e c tio n sh o w e d it to th e lin e . T h e re w e re , he c o n c lu d e d ,
b e c o m p le te ly e m p ty . M a c h in e ry , e q u ip ­ th r e e p o s s ib le e x p la n a tio n s , and o n ly
m e n t , s t o r e s , a n d p e r s o n n e l h a d a ll b e e n th re e .
e v a c u a te d . S u s p ic io u s , th e p a tr o l v e s ­ F i r s t , H e l m u t h ’s b a s e m i g h t a l s o h a v e
s e ls s to o d o ff a n d b e a m e d it f r o m a f a r , been e v a c u a te d . T h is w a s a lm o s t u n ­
b u t th e r e w e re n o u n to w a r d o c c u rre n c e s . th in k a b le . F r o m w h a t h e h im s e lf k n e w
The s tru c tu re s s im p ly s lu m p e d dow n o f H e lm u t h t h a t b a s e w o u ld b e a s n e a r ly
i n t o l a v a , a n d t h a t w a s a ll. im p re g n a b le a s a n y th in g c o u ld b e m a d e ,
E v e r y b a s e d is c o v e re d th e r e a f t e r w a s a n d it w a s n o m o re a p t to b e v a c a te d
in th e sa m e c o n d itio n , a n d a t th e s a m e th a n w a s th e P r im e B a s e o f th e p a tr o l.
tim e th e s h ip s o f B o s k o n e , fo r m e rly so Second, H e lm u th m ig h t a lr e a d y have
p le n tif u l, d is a p p e a re d u tte r ly f r o m sp a c e . t h e d e v ic e h e h im s e lf w a n te d s o b a d ly ,
D a y a fte r d a y th e c r u is e r s s p e d h ith e r a n d u p o n w h ic h H o tc h k is s a n d th e o th e r
a n d th ith e r th r o u g h o u t th e v a s t re a c h e s e x p e rts h a d b e e n a t w o r k so lo n g — a
of th e v o id , a t th e peak o f th e ir un­ d e te c to r n u llif ie r. T h is w a s p o s s ib le ,
im a g in a b ly h ig h pace, w ith o u t fin d in g d is tin c tly so . P o s s ib le e n o u g h , a t le a s t,
a t r a c e o f a n y B o s k o n i a n v e s s e l. M o re to w a rra n t filin g th e id e a fo r fu tu re
r e m a r k a b le s till, a n d f o r th e f ir s t tim e c o n s id e ra tio n . T h ir d , th a t b a s e m ig h t n o t
in y e a rs , th e e th e r w a s a b s o lu te ly fr e e b e i n t h e g a l a x y a t a ll , b u t i n t h a t s t a r
fr o m B o s k o n ia n in te rfe re n c e . c lu s te r o u t th e r e s tra ig h t a h e a d o f th e
F o llo w in g a n im p u ls e , K in n is o n a s k e d Brittania II, or p o s s ib ly in one even
a n d re c e iv e d p e r m is s io n to ta k e h is s h ip fa rth e r aw a y . T h a t id e a se e m e d th e b e st
o n s c o u tin g d u ty . A t m a x im u m b la s t, o f th e th re e . I t w o u ld n e c e s s ita te u lt r a -
h e d ro v e to w a r d th e V e la n tia n s y s te m , p o w e rfu l c o m m u n ic a to rs , o f c o u rs e , b u t
to th e p o in t a t w h ic h h e h a d p ic k e d u p H e lm u t h c o u ld v e r y w e ll h a v e th e m . It
H e h n u t h ’s c o m m u n i c a t i o n lin e . A lo n g s q u a r e d u p in o th e r w a y s . Its p a tte rn
t h a t lin e h e d r o v e f o r tw e n ty - tw o s o lid f i t t e d i n t o t h e m a t r i x v e r y n ic e l y .
d a y s , h a ltin g o n ly w h e n a c o n s id e ra b le B u t if t h a t base w e re o u t th e r e — it
d is ta n c e o u ts id e th e g a la x y . A head of c o u ld s ta y t h e r e — f o r a w h ile . The B rit­
h im th e r e w a s n o th in g w h a te v e r e x c e p t tania I I j u s t w a s n ’t e n o u g h s h i p f o r
one o f tw o d is ta n t and n e b u lo u s s ta r th a t jo b . T o o m u c h o p p o s itio n o u t
c lu s te rs . B e h in d h im th e r e e x te n d e d th e th e r e , a n d n o t— e n o u g h — s h ip . O r to o
im m e n s ity o f t h e g a la c tic le n s in a ll its m u c h sh ip ? B u t h e w a s n ’t r e a d y , y e t ,
s p le n d o r. B u t C a p ta in K in n is o n h a d n o anyw ay. H e n e e d e d , a n d w o u ld g e t, a n ­
e y e fo r a s tro n o m ic a l b e a u ty th a t d a y . o th e r lin e o n H e l m u t h ’s b a s e . T h e re ­
f o r e , s h r u g g in g h is s h o u ld e r s , h e w h ir le d
H E H E L D th e Brittania I I th e r e f o r h is v e ss e l a b o u t a n d se t o u t to re jo in
a n h o u r , w h ile h e m u lle d o v e r in h is t h e f l e e t.
m in d w h a t th e a p p a r e n t fa c ts c o u ld W h ile a fu ll day s h o r t o f ju n c tio n ,
m ean. H e k n e w t h a t h e h a d c o v e re d th e K in n is o n w a s c a lle d to h is p la te , to se e
lin e , f r o m th e p o in t o f d e te r m in a tio n o u t u p o n its la m b e n t s u rfa c e th e v is a g e o f
b e y o n d t h e g a l a x y ’s e d g e . H e k n e w th a t P o r t A d m ir a l H a y n e s .
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 63

“ D id y o u fin d o u t a n y th in g o n y o u r B r ittm ia I I been to th e scen e o f d e p ­

tr ip ? ” h e asked. re d a tio n th a t fo r h e r to re a c h it re q u ire d
“ N o th in g d e fin ite , s ir. J u s t a c o u p le o n ly m in u te s .
o f t h i n g s t o t h i n k a b o u t , is a l l . B ut I T h e r e la y th e m e r c h a n tm a n and her
c a n s a y t h a t I d o n ’t l i k e t h i s a t a ll . I B o s k o n ia n a s s a ila n t. E m b o ld e n e d b y th e
d o n ’t li k e a n y t h i n g a b o u t i t o r a n y p a r t c e s s a tio n of p ir a tic a l a c tiv itie s , som e
o f it.” s h ip p in g c o n c e rn h a d s e n t o u t a f r e ig h te r,
“ N o m o re d o I ,” a g re e d th e a d m ira l. lo a d e d p ro b a b ly w ith h ig h ly “ u rg e n t”
“ It lo o k s v e ry m uch as th o u g h your c a rg o ; and th is w as th e re s u lt. The
fo r e c a s t o f a s ta le m a te m ig h t b e a b o u t m a ra u d e r, in e rt, h a d g rip p e d her w ith
to e v e n tu a te . W h e re a re you headed h is t r a c to r s a n d w a s b e a m in g h e r in to
f o r n o w ?” s u b m is s io n . She w as re s is tin g , but
“ B a c k t o t h e f l e e t .” fe e b ly now ; it w as a p p a re n t th a t her
“ D o n ’t d o i t . S ta y o n s c o u tin g d u ty screen s w e re fa ilin g . H er c re w m ust
f o r a w h ile lo n g e r . A n d , u n le s s so m e ­ s o o n o p e n p o r t s in to k e n o f s u r r e n d e r ,
th in g m o re in te re s tin g tu r n s u p , re p o r t o r r o a s t to a m a n ; a n d th e y w o u ld p r o b ­
back h e re to b ase. W e have so m e­ a b ly p r e f e r to ro a s t.
th in g th a t m a y in te re s t y o u . T he boys T h u s th e s itu a tio n in o n e i n s ta n t . T h e
h a v e b e e n -------- ” n e x t in s ta n t it w a s c h a n g e d ; th e B o s ­
T h e a d m i r a l 's p i c t u r e w a s b r o k e n u p k o n ia n d is c o v e rin g s u d d e n ly th a t h is
in to fla s h e s of b lin d in g lig h t and h is beam s, in s te a d of b o rin g th ro u g h th e
w o rd s becam e a m e a n in g le s s , ju m b le d w e a k d e fe n s e s o f th e f r e ig h te r, w e re n o t
r o a r o f n o is e . A d is tr e s s c a ll h a d b e ­ e v e n e x c itin g to a g lo w th e m ig h ty p r o ­
g u n to c o m e in , o n ly to b e b lo tte d o u t te c tiv e e n v e lo p e s of a c ru is e r of th e
b y a flo o d o f th e B o s k o n ia n s t a ti c i n t e r ­ p a tro l.
fe re n c e , o f w h ic h th e e th e r h a d fo r so H e s w itc h e d fro m th e d if fu s e d heat
lo n g b e e n c le a r. beam he had been u s in g upon th e
“ G o t its c e n te r lo c a te d ? ” K in n is o n m e rc h a n tm a n to th e h a rd e s t, h o tte s t,
b a rk e d at h is c o m m u n ic a tio n s o f f ic e r . m o s t p e n e tr a tin g b e a m of a n n ih ila tio n h e
" T h e y ’r e c lo s e — r i g h t i n o u r l a p s !” m o u n te d — w ith b u t little m o re to s h o w
“ Y es, s ir!” A nd th e ra d io m an f o r it a n d w ith n o b e tte r re s u lts . For

sn a p p e d o u t n u m b ers. th e Brittania I I ’s screen s h ad b een d e ­

s ig n e d to s ta n d up a lm o s t in d e fin ite ly
“ B l a s t !” t h e c a p t a i n c o m m a n d e d , u n ­
a g a in s t th e m o s t p o te n t beam s of any
n e c e s s a rily ; fo r th e a le r t p ilo t h a d a l­
s p a c e s h ip , a n d th e y sto o d u p . In crease
re a d y se t th e c o u rs e a n d h is le v e r s w e re
p o w e r a s h e w o u ld , to w h a te v e r r u in o u s
e v e n th e n fla s h in g a c ro s s th e i r a rc s . “I
o v e rlo a d , th e p ir a te c o u ld not b re a k
d o n ’t k n o w w h a t w e c a n d o , s in c e w e
d o w n K i n n i s o n ’s s c r e e n s ; n o r , d o d g e a s
h a v e n ’t g o t a t h i n g t o d o a n y t h i n g w i t h ,
h e w o u l d , c o u l d h e a g a i n g e t in p o s i t i o n
if th a t b a b y is w h a t I th i n k it is . B ut
to a tta c k h is fo r m e r p re y . A n d e v e n tu ­
b e l i e v e m e , w e ’ll t r y !”
a lly th e m a u le r a r r i v e d ; f o r tu n a te ly it,
to o , had been fa irly c lo s e by. O ut
TO W A RD th e c e n te r o f d is tu rb a n c e
re a c h e d its m ig h ty tr a c to r s . O u t ra v e d
shot Brittatvia I I , h e rs e lf e m ittin g n o w
one o f its tre m e n d o u s b e a m s, s trik in g
a scream o f p e c u lia rly p a tte rn e d in te r­
t h e B o s k o n i a n ’s d e f e n s e s s q u a r e l y a m i d ­
f e r e n c e w h ic h w a s n o t o n ly a s c r a m b le r
o f a lb p o s s ib le c o m m u n ic a tio n th r o u g h ­ sh ip s .
o u t t h a t w h o le s e c to r o f t h e g a la x y , b u t T h a t b e a m s tr u c k a n d th e p ir a te s h ip
a ls o a n i m p e r a t i v e c a ll f o r a n y m a u le r d is a p p e a r e d — b u t n o t in a h a z ily in c a n ­
w ith in th a t se c to r. So c lo s e had th e d e s c e n t fla re o f v o la tiliz e d m e ta l. The
64 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

r a i d e r d i s a p p e a r e d b o d i l y , a n d s t i l l a ll i n “ F r e e la n d in g s , s p a c e h o u n d !"
o n e p ie c e . H e h a d p u t o u t s h e a r s o f h is “ N o w , V ic ” — K in n is o n tu r n e d to h is
o w n . s n a p p i n g e v e n t h e m a u l e r ’s t r a c t o r s p i l o t — “ w e ’v e got u rg e n t b u s in e s s at
lik e t h r e a d s ; a n d th e v e lo c ity o f h is d e ­ b ase. A n d w h e n I s a y ‘u r g e n t ’ I d o n ’t
p a r t u r e w a s d u e a lm o s t a s m u c h to th e m e a n p e rc h a n c e . L e t ’s s e e y o u b u r n a
p r e s s o r e ffe c t o f th e p a tr o l b e a m a s it h o le i n th e e th e r .” A nd th a t w o rth y
w a s to th e th r u s t o f h is o w n p o w e rfu l snapped h is le v e r s over to m a x im u m
d riv e rs. b la s t.
I t w a s th e b e g in n in g o f th e s ta le m a te
K in n is o n h a d fo re s e e n . T H E B R IT T A N IA II m a d e th e r u n
“ I w a s a fr a id o f t h a t ,” th e y o u n g c a p ­ to P rim e B ase in a fe w days, and
ta in m u tte r e d ; a n d , p a y in g n o a tte n tio n s c a r c e ly h a d s h e to u c h e d g r o u n d w h e n
w h a te v e r to th e m e r c h a n tm a n , h e c a lle d K in n is o n w as sum m oned to th e o ffic e
th e c o m m a n d e r o f th e m a u le r. A t th is o f th e p o r t a d m ira l. A s soon as h e w as
c lo s e r a n g e , o f c o u r s e , n o p o s s i b l e e t h e r announced, H aynes b ru s q u e ly c le a re d
s c r a m b le r c o u ld in te rfe re w ith v is u a l h i s o ff ic e a n d s e a l e d i t a g a i n s t a n y p o s ­
a p p a r a tu s , a n d th e r e o n h is p la te h e s a w s i b le fo rm of in tru s io n or e a v e sd ro p ­
th e fa c e o f G if f o r d M a itla n d , th e m a n p in g b e fo re h e sp o k e. H e had aged no­
w h o g r a d u a t e d N o . 2 in h is o w n c la s s . tic e a b ly s in c e th e s e tw o h a d h a d t h a t
“ H i , K i m , y o u o l d s p a c e f l e a !” M a i t ­ m e m o ra b le c o n f e r e n c e in th is s a m e ro o m .
la n d e x c la im e d in d e lig h t. “ O h, p a r­ H is fa c e w a s lin e d a n d c a r e w o r n ; h is
d o n m e , s i r , ” h e w e n t o n in m o c k d e f e r ­ e y e s a n d h is e n tir e m ie n b o re w itn e s s t o
e n c e , w ith a n e x a g g e r a te d s a lu te . “To d a y s a n d n ig h ts o f s le e p le s s ly c o n tin u ­
a g u y w i t h f o u r j e t s , I s h o u l d s a y -------- ” o u s w o rk .

“ S e a l t h a t . C lif f , o r I ’ll c l i m b u p y o u “Y ou w e re r ig h t, K in n is o n ,” h e b e ­
lik e a s q u ir r e l, f ir s t c h a n c e I g e t ! ” K i n ­ gan, a b ru p tly . “A s ta le m a te it is , a
n is o n re to rte d . “ So t h e y ’v e got you h o p e le s s d e a d lo c k . I c a lle d you in to
s k ip p e r in g o n e o f th e b ig b a ttle w a g o n s , te ll y o u t h a t H o tc h k is s h a s y o u r n u llifie r
huh? L ucky s tiff! T h in k of a m ere d o n e , a n d t h a t it w o r k s p e r f e c t l y a g a i n s t
in f a n t lik e y o u b e in g le t p la y w ith so a ll l o n g - r a n g e s t u f f . I t w o r k s f a i r l y w e ll
m u c h h ig h p o w e r. B u t w h a t ’ll w e d o o n v i s i o n , e x c e p t a t c lo s e r a n g e . A g a i n s t
a b o u t th is h e a p h e r e ? ” e l e c t r o m a g n e t i c s , h o w e v e r , i t is n o t v e r y
e f f e c ti v e . A b o u t a ll t h a t c a n b e d o n e , i t
“ D a m n if I k n o w . I t i s n ’t c o v e r e d ,
se e m s, is to s h o r te n th e r a n g e ; it h a s
s o y o u ’ll h a v e t o te l l m e , c a p t a i n . ”
n o t b e e n p o s s ib le , a s y e t, to d e v e lo p a
“ W h o a m I to b e p a s s in g o u t o r d e r s ?
s c re e n a g a in s t m a g n e tis m . P e rh a p s w e
A s y o u s a y , i t i s n ’t c o v e r e d i n t h e b o o k .
e x p e c te d to o m u c h .”
I t ’s a g a i n s t G I re g s fo r th e m to be
“ I c a n g e t b y w ith th a t, I th in k . I
c u ttin g o u r tr a c to r s . B u t h e ’s a l l y o u r s ,
w ill b e o u t o f e l e c t r o m a g n e t i c r a n g e m o s t
n o t m in e . I ’v e g o t t o f lit. Y o u m ig h t
o f th e tim e , a n d n o b o d y w a tc h e s th e ir
f i n d o u t w h a t h e ’s c a r r y i n g , f r o m w h e r e ,
e l e c t r o s v e r y c lo s e , a n y w a y . T hanks a
to w h e re , a n d w h y . T h e n , if y o u w a n t
lo t . I t ’s r e a d y t o i n s t a l l ? ”
to , y o u c a n e s c o r t h im e ith e r b a c k w h e re
h e c a m e f r o m o r o n t o w h e r e h e ’s g o i n g , “ D o e s n ’t n e e d i n s t a l l a t i o n . I t ’s s u c h a
w h ic h e v e r y o u th in k b e s t. If th is in te r ­ little th i n g y o u c a n p u t it in y o u r p o c k e t.
f e r e n c e d i e s o u t , y o u ’d b e t t e r r e p o r t t o I t ’s s e lf-c o n ta in e d and w ill w o r k any­
P rim e B ase a n d g e t so m e re a l o rd e rs . w h e re .”
I f i t d o e s n ’t , u s e y o u r o w n ju d g m e n t, “ B e tte r a n d b e tte r. In t h a t c a s e I ’ll
if a n y . C le a r e th e r , C lif f , I ’v e g o t t o n e e d tw o o f th e m — a n d a s h ip . I w o u ld
b u z z a lo n g .” li k e t o h a v e o n e o f t h o s e n e w a u t o m a t i c
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 65

s p e e d s te rs .* L o ts of le g s , c ru is in g a n d d e m a n d s th a t w e d o so a t o n ce. T h e y
ra n g e , and screen s. O n ly one beam , do not u n d e rs ta n d th e tr u e s itu a tio n ,
b u t I p r o b a b l y w o n ’t u s e e v e n t h a t o n e n o r r e a l i z e t h a t w e a r e d o i n g a ll t h a t w e
can do. W e c a n n o t se n d a m a u le r w ith
“ G o in g alone?” in te rru p te d H ay n es. e v e ry fr e ig h te r a n d lin e r, a n d m a u le r-
“ B e tte r ta k e a b a ttle c r u is e r , a t le a s t. I e s c o r te d v e s s e ls a re th e o n ly ones to
d o n ’t lik e th e id e a of your g o in g out a r r iv e a t th e ir d e s tin a tio n s .”
t h e r e a l o n e . ’’ “B ut w hy? W i t h t r a c t o r s h e a r s o n a ll
“I d o n ’t p a rtic u la rly re lis h th e s h ip s , h o w c a n th e y h o ld t h e m ? ” a s k e d
p ro s p e c t, e ith e r. B u t i t ’s g o t t o b e t h a t K in n is o n .
w ay. T h e w h o l e f l e e t , m a u l e r s a n d a ll , “ M a g n e t s !” s n o rte d H a y n e s . “ P la in ,
i s n ’t e n o u g h t o d o b y f o r c e w h a t ’s g o t o ld -fa s h io n e d e le c tro m a g n e ts . No p u ll
to b e d o n e , a n d e v e n tw o m e n a r e to o t o s p e a k o f, a t a d i s t a n c e , o f c o u r s e , b u t
m a n y to d o i t in th e o n ly w a y i t c a n b e w ith th e r a i d e r r u n n in g fre e , a m illio n th
done. Y o u s e e , s i r -------- ” o f a d y n e is e n o u g h . C lo s e u p — lo c k o n
“ N o e x p la n a tio n s , p le a s e . I t ’s o n t h e — b o a r d a n d s t o r m — a ll d o n e !”
s p o o l , 'w h e r e w e c a n g e t i t i f w e n e e d i t . “ H m -m -m . T h a t c h a n g e s th in g s . I ’v e
A re you in f o rm e d a s to th e la te s t d e ­ g o t to fin d a p ir a te s h ip . I w a s p la n ­
v e l o p m e n t s ?” n in g on fo llo w in g a fr e ig h te r o r lin e r
“ N o , s ir. I h e a r d a l i t t l e c o m i n g in , o u t to w a r d A ls a k a n . B u t if t h e r e a r e n ’t
b u t n o t m u c h .” a n y t o f o l l o w — I ’ll h a v e t o h u n t a r o u n d
s o m e -------- ”
“ W e a r e a lm o s t b a c k w h e re w e w e re
“T hat is e a s ily a rra n g e d . L o ts of
b e fo re y o u to o k o ff in th e Brittania II.
th e m w a n t to g o . W e w ill le t o n e g o ,
C o m m e r c e i s . a l m o s t a t a s t a n d s t i l l , a ll
w ith a m a u le r a c c o m p a n y in g h e r, but
o v e r th e g a la x y . A ll s h ip p in g firm s a r e
w e ll o u ts id e d e te c to r r a n g e .”
p r a c tic a lly id le . B u t t h a t i s n e i t h e r a ll
“ T h a t c o v e rs e v e ry th in g , th e n , e x c e p t
o f it n o r th e w o r s t o f it. Y ou m ay not
th e a s s ig n m e n t. I c a n ’t v e r y w e ll a s k
re a liz e h o w im p o rta n t in te rs te lla r tr a d e
f o r le a v e , b u t m a y b e I c o u ld b e p u t o n
i s ; b u t a s a r e s u lt o f its s to p p a g e g e n ­
sp e c ia l a s s ig n m e n t, re p o r tin g d ir e c t to
e ra l b u s in e s s has slo w e d dow n tre ­
y o u ?”
m e n d o u s ly . A s is o n l y t o b e e x p e c t e d ,
p e rh a p s, c o m p la in ts a re c o m in g in by
“ S O M E T H IN G b e tte r th a n th a t.”
th e th o u s a n d becau se we have n o t a l­
A n d H a y n e s s m i l e d b r o a d l y , in g e n u i n e
re a d y b la s te d th e p ir a te s o u t o f sp a c e ,
p le a s u re . “ E v e r y th in g is fix e d . Y our
* U nlike the larger w ar v e sse ls o f th e p atrol, re le a s e h a s b e e n e n te re d in th e b o o k s.
sp eed sters are very narrow in proportion to th eir
len g th , and in th eir design no th in g is considered Y our c o m m is s io n as c a p ta in has been
sa v e speed and m an eu verability. Very defin itely
th ey are not b u ilt fo r com fort. T h u s, alth ough c a n c e le d , so le a v e y o u r u n if o r m in y o u r
th eir g r a v ity p la tes are s e t fo r h o rizo n ta l flight, fo rm e r q u a rte rs . H e re is y o u r c re d it
th ey have braking je ts , under je ts, side je ts, and
top je ts, as w ell as d riv in g je ts ; so th a t in inert book and h e re is th e r e s t o f y o u r k it.
m an eu vering an y d irectio n w h a tev er m ay seem
“d o w n ,” and th a t d irectio n m ay change w ith Y o u a re n o w a n u n a tta c h e d L e n s m a n .”
bew ildering rapidity.
N o th in g can be loose in a sp eed ster. E very­ T h e re le a s e ! T h e g o a l to w a r d w h ic h
th in g , even to th e food su p p lies in th e re­
fr ig era to rs, m u st be clam ped in to place. S leep ­ a ll L e n s m e n s tr iv e , b u t w h ic h s o c o m ­
in g is done in ham m ocks, not in beds. A ll sea ts
an d restin g p la ces h a v e heavy sa fe ty stra p s, and p a ra tiv e ly fe w a tta in , e v e n a fte r y e a rs
th ere are no loose ite m s of fu rn itu re or equip­ of w o rk ! H e w a s n o w a fr e e a g e n t, r e ­
m ent a n y w h ere on board.
B ecause th ey are designed fo r th e utm o st p o s­ s p o n s ib le to n o o n e a n d to n o th in g s a v e
sib le speed in th e fr e e con d ition , sp eed sters are
extrem ely cranky and tricky in in ert flight, un­ h is o w n c o n s c ie n c e . H e w a s n o lo n g e r
le s s th ey are being handled upon th eir under
je ts , w hich are d esigned and placed sp ecifica lly of E a rth , nor o f th e s o la ria n s y s te m ,
and only fo r in ert flight.
Som e of the u ltra -fa st v e sse ls o f the p irates, b u t o f th e g a la x y a s a w h o le . H e w as
a s w ill be brought o u t la ter, were also of th is
shape and design. no lo n g e r a tin y cog in th e im m e n s e
AST—5
66 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

m a c h in e o f th e G a la c tic P a t r o l ; w h e r e v e r “ H o w d o th e y fig u re th a t o u t? ” K in ­
h e m ig h t g o , th r o u g h o u t th e im m e n s ity n is o n d e m a n d e d , h o tly . “ A ll th a t s a v e d
o f th e e n tir e is la n d u n iv e r s e , h e would be m y b a c o n o n t h a t t r i p w a s lu c k — a
th e G a la c tic P a t r o l ! b u rn e d -o u t B e rg e n h o lm — a n d at th e
" Y e s , i t ’s r e a l . ” T h e o ld e r m a n w a s tim e I th o u g h t t h a t it w a s b a d lu c k , a t
e n j o y i n g t h e y o u n g s t e r ’s s t u p e f a c t i o n a t th a t. A n d V a n B u s k irk a n d W o rs e l a n d
h is re le a s e , r e m in d in g h im a s it d id o f th e o th e r b o y s a n d H e a v e n k n o w s w h o
th e tim e , lo n g y e a r s a g o , w h e n h e h a d e ls e p u lle d me out of ja m a fte r ja m .
w o n h is o w n . “ Y o u go a n y w h e re y o u I ’d l i k e a w f u l l y w e ll t o b e l i e v e t h a t I ’m
p le a s e a n d d o a n y th i n g y o u p le a s e , f o r a s re a d y , s ir, but I ’m n o t. I c a n ’t ta k e
lo n g a s y o u p le a s e . Y o u ta k e a n y th in g c r e d i t f o r p u r e d u m b lu c k a n d f o r o t h e r
y o u w a n t, w h e n e v e r y o u w a n t it, w ith o r m e n ’s a b l i l i t i e s . ”
w ith o u t g iv in g r e a s o n s — a lth o u g h you “ W e ll, c o o p e ra tio n is t o b e e x p e c te d ,
w ill u s u a l l y g iv e a t h u m b - p r i n t e d c r e d i t a n d w e lik e t o m a k e g r a y L e n s m e n o u t
s lip in r e t u r n . Y o u r e p o r t if, a s , w h e n , of th e lu c k y o n e s .” H aynes la u g h e d
w h e re , h o w , a n d to w h o m y o u p le a s e — d e e p ly . “ I t m a y m a k e y o u fe e l b e tt e r ,
o r n o t, a s y o u p le a s e . Y o u d o n ’t e v e n t h o u g h , i f I t e l l y o u tw»o m o r e t h i n g s :
g e t a sa la ry a n y m o re . Y o u h e lp y o u r ­ firs t, th a t so f a r y o u h a v e m a d e th e b e st
s e lf to th a t , to o , w h e r e v e r y o u m a y b e — s h o w in g o f a n y m a n y e t g r a d u a te d fr o m
as m uch as you w a n t, w henever you W e n tw o r th H a l l ; se c o n d , th a t w e o f th e
w a n t it.” c o u r t b e lie v e y o u w o u ld h a v e s u c c e e d e d
" B u t , s i r — I — y o u -------- I m e a n — th a t in t h a t a lm o s t im p o s s ib le m is s io n w ith ­
i s ------K i n n i s o n g u lp e d th r e e tim e s out V a n B u s k irk , w ith o u t W o rs e l, a n d
b e fo re h e c o u ld s p e a k c o h e re n tly . " I ’m w ith o u t th e lu c k y fa ilu re o f th e B e rg e n ­
n o t re a d y , s ir. W h y , I ’m n o th in g b u t h o lm . I n a d if f e r e n t, a n d n o w , o f c o u r s e ,
a k i d . I h a v e n ’t g o t e n o u g h j e t s t o s w i n g u n g u e s s a b le fa s h io n , b u t su c c e e d e d , n e v ­
it. J u s t th e b a re th o u g h t o f it s c a re s e rth e le s s . N or is t h i s to b e ta k e n as
m e in to h y s te r ic s ! ” in a n y s e n s e a b e little m e n t o f th e v e ry
" I t w o u ld . I t a lw a y s d o e s .” T he ad­ re a l a b ilitie s o f th o s e o th e r s , n o r a d e ­
m ira l w a s v e r y m u c h in e a r n e s t n o w , b u t n ia l th a t lu c k , o r c h a n c e , d o e s e x is t. It
it w a s a g l a d , p r o u d e a r n e s t n e s s . “ Y ou is m e r e l y o u r r e c o g n i t i o n o f t h e f a c t t h a t
a r e to h e a s n e a r ly a b s o lu te ly fre e an you have w hat it ta k e s to be an un­
a g e n t a s it is p o s s ib le f o r a liv in g , fie s h - a tta c h e d L e n s m a n .
a n d -b lo o d c re a tu re to b e. T o th e m a n " S e a l it n o w , a n d b u z z o ff!” h e c o m ­
o n th e s tr e e t th a t w o u ld s e e m to sp e ll m a n d e d , a s K in n is o n tr ie d to sa y so m e ­
a c o n d itio n of p e rfe c t b lis s . O n ly a t h i n g ; a n d , c la p p in g h im o n th e s h o u l­
g ra y L e n s m a n k n o w s w h a t a f r ig h tf u l d e r, he tu rn e d h im aro u n d and gave
lo a d it re a lly i s ; b u t it is a l o a d t h a t h im a g e n tle sh o v e to w a rd th e d o o r.
such a L en sm an is g l a d an d p ro u d to " C l e a r e t h e r , l a d !”
c a rr y .” “ S a m e t o y o u , s i r — a l l o f i t t h e r e is .
" Y e s , s i r , h e w o u l d b e , o f c o u r s e , if I s till th in k t h a t y o u and a ll t h e re st
h e -------- ” o f t h e c o u r t a r e c o c k e y e d ; b u t I ’ll t r y
" T h a t t h o u g h t w ill b o t h e r y o u f o r a n o t to le t y o u d o w n .” A n d th e n e w ly
l i m e — if i t d i d n o t , y o u w o u l d n o t b e u n a tta c h e d L e n s m a n b lu n d e r e d o u t. H e
h e re — h u t do n o t w o rry a b o u t it a n y s tu m b le d o v e r th e th r e s h o ld , b u m p e d
m o r e th a n y o u c a n h e lp . A ll I c a n s a y a g a in s t a ste n o g ra p h e r w ho w as h u r­
is th a t in th e o p in io n of th o s e w ho ry in g a lo n g th e c o rrid o r, and a lm o s t
s h o u ld k n o w , n o t o n ly h a v e y o u p ro v e d b a rg e d in to th e ja m b of th e e n tr a n c e
y o u rs e lf r e a d y f o r re le a s e , b u t a ls o y o u d o o r in s te a d o f g o in g th r o u g h th e o p e n ­
h a v e e a rn e d it.” in g . O u ts id e he re g a in e d h is p h y s ic a l
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 67
p o is e and w a lk e d on a ir to w a rd h is d o o r h a d c lo s e d , h e w a s s t r i p p i n g o ff th e
q u a r t e r s ; b u t h e n e v e r c o u ld r e m e m b e r space b la c k - a n d -s ilv e r g o rg e o u sn e ss of
a fte rw a rd w h a t h e d id o r w h o m h e m e t t h e c a p t a i n ’s u n i f o r m h e w o r e , a n d w a s
o n Inal l o n g , f a s t h i k e . O ver and over d o n n in g g ra y .
th e o n e th o u g h t p o u n d e d in h is b r a i n : The g r a y — th e u n a d o rn e d , n e u tra l-
u n a tta c h e d ! U nattached!! U N A T - c o lo r e d le a th e r th a t w a s th e p ro u d g a rb
T A C H E D !! o f t h a t b r a n c h o f th e p a tr o l to w h ic h h e
w a s th e n c e f o r th to b e lo n g . It had been
A N D B E H I N D H I M , in th e p o r t a d ­ ta ilo r e d to h is m e a s u re m e n ts , and he
m i r a l ’s o ff ic e , t h a t h i g h o ff ic ia l s a t a n d c o u ld n o t h e lp s tu d y in g w ith a p p ro v a l
m used, s m ilin g fa in tly w ith lip s and h is re f le c tio n in th e m i r r o r : th e ro u n d ,
e y e s , s t a r in g u n s e e in g ly a t th e s till-o p e n a lm o s t v is o rle s s c a p , h e a v ily a n d s o ftly
d o o rw a y th r o u g h w h ic h K in n is o n h a d q u ilte d in p r o t e c ti o n a g a in s t th e h e lm e t
s ta g g e r e d . T h e b o y h a d m e a s u r e d u p in o f h is a r m o r ; th e h e a v y g o g g le s , o p a q u e
e v e ry p a rtic u la r. H e w o u ld b e a g o o d t o a ll r a d i a t i o n h a r m f u l t o t h e e y e s ; t h e
m an. He w o u ld m a rry . He d id not s h o r t ja c k e t, e m p h a s iz in g b ro a d s h o u l­
th in k so now , of c o u r s e — in h is ow n d e rs and n a rro w w a is t; th e trim
m i n d h i s li f e w a s c o n s e c r a t e — b u t h e b re e c h e s a n d h ig h - la c e d b o o ts , in c a s in g
w o u ld . I f n e c e s s a ry , th e p a tr o l its e lf p o w e r f u l , t a p e r i n g le g s .
w o u ld s e e to it t h a t h e d id . T h e re w e re “ W h a t a n o u t f i t — what a n o u t f i t !” h e
w a y s , a n d s u c h s to c k w a s a lto g e th e r to o b re a th e d . “ A nd m aybe I a i n ’t s u c h a
g o o d n o t to b e p ro p a g a te d . A n d . fifte e n b a d - l o o k i n g a p e , a t t h a t , i n t h e s e g r a y s !”
y e a rs or so fro m n o w — if he liv e d — H e d id n o t th e n , a n d n e v e r d id re a liz e
w h e n h e w a s n o lo n g e r fit f o r th e g r i n d ­ th a t h e w a s w e a r in g th e p la in e s t, d r a b ­
i n g , g r u e l i n g li f e t o w h i c h h e n o w l o o k e d b e s t , m o s t s t r i c t l y u t i l i t a r i a n u n i f o r m in
f o r w a r d , so e a g e rly , h e w o u ld s e le c t th e t h e k n o w n u n i v e r s e ; f o r t o h i m , a s t o a ll
E a r th b o u n d jo b f o r w h ic h h e w a s b e s t o th e rs w ho knew it, th e sh eer, s ta rk
fitte d a n d w o u ld b e c o m e a g o o d e x e c u ­ s i m p l i c i t y o f t h e u n a t t a c h e d L e n s m a n ’s
tiv e . F o r s u c h w e re th e e x e c u tiv e s o f p la in g ra y le a th e r tr a n s c e n d e d by fa r
th e p a tro l. B u t th is d a y d re a m in g w as th e gaudy tra p p in g s of th e o th e r
g e ttin g h im n o w h e re , fa s t; he shook b r a n c h e s o f th e s e rv ic e . H e a d m ire d
h im s e lf a n d p lu n g e d a g a in i n t o h is w o rk . h im s e lf b o y is h ly , a s m e n d o , fe e lin g a

K in n is o n r e a c h e d h is q u a r t e r s a t la s t,
re a liz in g w ith a th r ill th a t th e y w e r e n o
lo n g e r h is . H e n o w h a d n o q u a rte rs ,
n o re s id e n c e , n o a d d r e s s . W h e re v e r he
tr ifle a s h a m e d in s o d o i n g ; b u t h e d id
n o t th e n a n d n e v e r d id a p p re c ia te w h a t
a s tr ik in g fig u re o f a m a n h e re a lly w a s
a s h e s tro d e o u t o f q u a r te r s a n d d o w n

m ig h t b e, th r o u g h o u t th e w h o le o f il­ th e w id e avenue to w a rd th e B rit-

lim ita b le space, th e r e w as h is hom e.
tania I I ’s dock.

B u t, in s te a d o f b e in g d is m a y e d b y th e
t h o u g h t o f t h e li f e h e f a c e d , h e w a s f ille d H E W A S G L A D in d e e d th a t th e r e
h a d b e e n n o c e r e m o n y o r p u b lic s h o w
b y a fie rc e e a g e r n e s s to b e a c tu a lly liv ­
i n g it. c o n n e c te d w ith th is , h is re a l and o n ly
im p o r ta n t g r a d u a tio n . F o r a s h is fe l­
T h e r e w a s a ta p a t h is d o o r a n d a n
l o w s — n o t o n l y h i s o w n c r e w , b u t a ls o
o rd e r ly e n te r e d , c a r r y in g a b u lk y p a c k ­
h is f r ie n d s fr o m a ll o v e r th e R e se rv a ­
age.
tio n — th r o n g e d a b o u t h im , m a u lin g a n d
“ Y o u r g r a y s , s i r , ” li e a n n o u n c e d , w i t h p u m m e lin g h im in c o n g ra tu la tio n and
a c ris p s a lu te .
a c c l a i m , h e k n e w t h a t h e c o u l d n ’t s t a n d
“ T h a n k s .” K in n is o n re tu rn e d th e m u ch m o re. I f th e r e w e re to b e m u c h
s a lu te a s s m a r t l y ; a n d , a lm o s t b e fo r e th e m o r e o f it, h e d is c o v e re d s u d d e n ly , h e
68 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

w o u ld e ith e r p a s s o u t c o ld o r c r y lik e a L u x u rie s , th e n a s n o w , so a re d fe v e r­

b a b y . H e d i d n ’t q u i t e k n o w w h i c h . is h ly in p ric e w ith s c a r c ity . O n ly th e
T h a t w h o le h o w lin g , c h a n tin g m o b ric h sm o k e d A ls a k a n ite c ig a r e tte s , a n d
c lu s te re d a b o u t h i m ; a n d , c o n s id e r in g i t to th o s e ric h th e p ric e o f a n y th in g th e y
a n h o n o r to c a r r y th e le a s t o f b is p e r ­ re a lly w a n te d w as a m a tte r o f a lm o s t
s o n a l b e lo n g in g s , f o r m e d a y e llin g , c a p ­ c o m p le te in d iffe r e n c e . A nd p le n ty of
to s s in g e s c o rt. T ra ff ic m e a n t n o th in g th e m w a n te d , a n d w a n te d b a d ly , th e i r
w h a te v e r to th a t p le a s a n tly m ad c re w , A ls a k a n ite c ig a r e tte s . T h e re w as no
n o r, te m p o r a r ily , d id re g u la tio n s . L et d o u b t o f th a t.
tra ffic d e t o u r ; le t p e d e s tr ia n s , n o m a t­ T h e c u r r e n t m a r k e t r e p o r t u p o n th e m
te r how a u g u s t, cool th e ir h e e l s ; le t w a s : “ B id , o n e th o u s a n d c r e d its p e r
c a rs , tr u c k s , y e s, e v e n tr a in s , w a it u n ­ p a c k e t o f te n . O ffe re d , n o n e a t a n y
til th e y g o t p a s t ; le t e v e ry th in g w a it, p ric e .”
o r tu rn a ro u n d a n d g o b ack , o r g o som e W ith th a t e v e r-c lim b in g fig u re in
o th e r w a y . H e r e c o m e s K in n is o n ! K in -
m in d , a m e r c h a n t p rin c e n a m e d M a t­
n is o n , g r a y L e n s m a n ! M ake w a y ! A nd th e w s h a d b e e n tr y in g to g e t a n A l-
w a y w a s m a d e — fr o m th e B rittania I I ’s sak an b o u n d sh ip in to th e e th e r . He
id o c k c le a r a c ro ss base to th e s lip in k n e w th a t o n e c a rg o o f A ls a k a n ite c ig a ­
w h i c h t h e L e n s m a n ’s n e w s p e e d s t e r l a y . r e tte s s a fe ly la n d e d in a n y T e ll u r ia n
A n d w h a t a s h ip th is little s p e e d s te r s p a c e p o r t w o u ld y ie ld m o r e p ro f it th a n
w as! T r im , tr ig , s tre a m lin e d to th e u l­ c o u ld be m ade by h is e n tire fle e t in
tim a te s h e la y th e r e , q u ie s c e n t b u t s u r ­ te n y e a r s o f n o rm a l tr a d in g . T h e re fo re ,
c h a rg e d w ith p o w e r. A lm o s t s e n tie n t he had fo r w eeks been p u llin g ev e ry
sh e w a s, th is p o w e r-p a c k e d , u ltra -ra c y .w ire , a n d e v e n e v e r y s t r i n g , t h a t h e c o u l d
little fa b r ic a tio n o f s p a c e - to u g h e n e d a l­ re a c h — p o litic a l, fin a n c ia l, e v e n a t tim e s
lo y , i n s t a n t l y r e a d y a t h i s t o u c h t o l i b ­ v e rg in g a lto g e th e r to o c lo s e fo r com ­
e r a te th o s e tr e m e n d o u s e n e rg ie s w h ic h f o r t u p o n th e c rim in a l— b u t w ith o u t r e ­
w e re to h u r l h im th ro u g h th e in f in ite s u lts .
r e a c h e s o f t h e c o s m ic v o id .
F o r , e v e n i f h e c o u ld fin d a c re w w ill­
N one of th e m ob cam e a b o a rd , of
in g t o ta k e th e ris k , to la u n c h th e s h ip
c o u rse . T hey backed o ff , s till fra n ­
w ith o u t a n e s c o r t w o u ld b e o u t o f th e
tic a lly w a v in g and th r o w in g w h a te v e r
q u e s tio n . T h e r e w o u ld b e n o p r o f it in
c a m e c lo s e s t to h a n d ; a n d a s K in n is o n
a s h ip th a t d id n o t r e tu r n to E a r th . The
to u c h e d a b u tto n a n d s h o t in to th e a ir
s h ip w a s h is , to d o w ith a s h e p le a s e d ,
he s w a llo w e d sev eral tim e s in a v a in
b u t th e e s c o r tin g m a u le rs w e re a s s ig n e d
a tte m p t t o d is p o s e o f a n a m a z in g lu m p
s o le ly b y t h e G a la c tic P a tr o l, a n d t h a t
w h ic h had so m eh o w a p p e a re d in h is
p a tr o l w o u ld n o t g iv e h is s h ip a n e s c o r t.
th ro a t.
I n a n s w e r to h is f ir s t re q u e s t, h e h a d
XV. b e e n in f o r m e d t h a t o n ly c a r g o e s c la s s e d
IT SO H A PPEN ED th a t fo r m a n y a s n e c e s s a r y w e r e b e in g e s c o r te d a t a ll
lo n g w e e k s th e r e h a d b e e n ly in g in N e w r e g u l a r l y ; t h a t s e m in e c e s s a ry lo a d s w e r e
Y o rk sp a c e p o rt a n u r g e n t s h ip m e n t fo r e s c o r te d o c c a s io n a lly , w h e n o f a p a r t i c ­
A ls a k a n . A nd not o n ly w as th a t u la r ly u s e f u l o r d e s ir a b le c o m m o d ity a n d
u r g e n c y a o n e -w a y a ffa ir. F o r , w ith th e if o p p o rtu n ity o ffe re d ; th a t lu x u r y
p o s s ib le e x c e p tio n of a fe w p a c k e ts , lo a d s , s u c h a s h is , w e re n o t b e in g e s ­
w h o s e o w n e rs h a d lo c k e d th e m in v a u lts c o r te d a t a l l ; t h a t h e w o u ld b e n o tifie d
and w o u ld n o t p a r t w ith th e m at any if , a s , a n d w h e n th e Prom etheus c o u ld
p ric e , th e r e w a s n o t a s in g le A ls a k a n ite be g iv e n e s c o rt. T hen th e m erch an t
c ig a r e tte le f t o n E a r t h ! p r i n c e b e g a n h is s ie g e .
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 69

P O L IT IC IA N S o f h ig h r a n k , lo c a l u p o n th e s u b je c t, fro m w h a te v e r s o u rc e
a n d n a tio n a l, s e n t in “ r e q u e s ts ” o f v a r y ­ o r ig in a tin g , w e re ig n o r e d .
in g d e g re e s o f d ip lo m a c y . F in a n c ie rs H a v in g e x h a u s te d h is e v e r y r e s o u r c e
firs t o ffe re d in d u c e m e n ts , th e n th re a t­ o f d ip lo m a c y , p o litic s , g u ile , a n d fin a n c e ,
ened to “ b e a r d o w n ,” th e n put on a ll th e m e r c h a n t p r in c e r e s ig n e d h im s e lf to
th e v a rio u s k in d s o f p r e s s u r e k n o w n to th e in e v ita b le a n d s to p p e d tr y in g to g e t
t h e i r p r e s s u r e - l o v i n g il k . P le a s , d e ­ h is s h ip o ff th e g r o u n d .
m a n d s , t h r e a t s , a n d p r e s s u r e s w e r e a li k e , T h e n , lik e t h e p r o v e r b ia l b o lt f r o m th e
h o w e v e r, fu tile . The p a tr o l c o u ld not b lu e , N e w Y o r k s u b - b a s e re c e iv e d fr o m
b e c o a x e d o r b u llie d , c a jo le d , b rib e d , o r P rim e B ase a n o p e n m essag e, n o t ev en
c o w e d ; a n d a ll f u r t h e r c o m m u n ic a tio n s c o d e d , w h ic h r e a d :

Matching course and velocity, he crept up—Hung his magnet,

pulled up, hand over hand--------
70 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

Authorize space ship Prometheus to w h ic h o n e s in g le c a r g o w o u ld m a k e s u c h

clear for Abakan at will, escorted by pa­ a n i m m e n s e f i n a n c i a l d i f f e r e n c e .”
trol ship B 42 TC 838, whose present
orders are hereby canceled. Signed, " Y o u a re c e rta in ly r ig h t th e r e , L e n s -
Haynes. m a n !” M a tth e w s a g re e d , w h o le -h e a r t­
e d ly . " I t m e a n s b a n k ru p tc y o n th e o n e
A d e m o litio n b o m b d r o p p e d in to t h a t h a n d a n d a f o r tu n e o n th e o th e r .”
s u b - b a s e w o u ld n o t h a v e c a u s e d g r e a t e r
e x c ite m e n t th a n d id th a t m essage. " H E R E ’S W H A T is t o h a p p e n . T h e
N e ith e r th e b a se c o m m a n d e r, th e cap­ s h ip a n d th e m a u le r b la s t o ff o n s c h e d u le ,
ta in of th e m a u le r, th e c a p ta in o f th e f o u r te e n m in u te s fr o m now . T hey get
Prom etheus, n o r th e h ig h ly p le a s e d b u t a b o u t to V a le ria , w h e n th e y a re b o th
e q u a lly s u rp ris e d M a tth e w s c o u ld ex­ re c a lle d — u r g e n t o r d e r s fo r th e m a u le r
p la in i t ; b u t a ll o f t h e m d id w h a te v e r to go on rescu e w o rk . The m a u le r
th e y c o u ld to e x p e d ite t h e d e p a r t u r e o f c o m e s b a c k , b u t y o u r c a p t a i n w i l l , i n a ll
th e fr e ig h te r. S h e w as, an d h ad been p r o b a b ility , k e e p o n g o in g , s a y in g t h a t
fo r a lo n g tim e , p ra c tic a lly re a d y to he s ta rte d o u t fo r A ls a k a n and t h a t ’s
s a i l. w h e r e h e ’s g o i n g -------- ”
A s th e b a s e c o m m a n d e r a n d M a tth e w s “ B ut he w o u l d n ’t . He w o u l d n ’t
sat in th e o ff ic e , s h o rtly b e fo re th e dare!” g a s p e d th e s h ip o w n e r,
s c h e d u le d tim e o f d e p a r tu r e , K in n is o n "S u re h e w o u ld ,” K in n is o n in s is te d ,
a rriv e d — o r, m o re c o rr e c tly , le t th e m c h e e rfu lly e n o u g h . " T h a t is th e th ird
know th a t he w as th e re . He in v ite d g o o d re a s o n y o u r v e s s e l is b e in g a llo w e d
th e m b o th in to th e c o n tr o l r o o m o f h is to se t o u t : b e c a u s e it c e rta in ly w ill b e
s p e e d s te r; and in v ita tio n s fro m g ra y a tta c k e d . Y o u d i d n ’t k n o w i t u n t i l n o w ,

L en sm en w e re a c c e p te d w ith o u t q u e s ­ b u t y o u r c a p ta in a n d o v e r h a lf o f y o u r
tio n o r d e m u r. c r e w a r e p i r a t e s t h e m s e l v e s , a n d -------- ”
"W hat ? P i r a t e s !” M a tth e w s b e l­
“I su p p o se th a t you a re w o n d e rin g
lo w e d . “ I ’ll g o d o w n t h e r e a n d -------- ”
w h a t t h i s i s a ll a b o u t , ” h e b e g a n . ‘T i l
" Y o u ’ll do n o th in g w h a te v e r, M r.
m a k e it a s s h o r t a s I c a n . I asked you
M a tth e w s , e x c e p t w a tc h th in g s , a n d y o u
in h e re becau se th is is th e o n ly con­
w ill d o t h a t f r o m h e r e . The s itu a tio n
v e n ie n t p la c e in w h ic h I know th a t w h a t
is e n t i r e l y u n d e r c o n t r o l . ”
we say w ill n o t b e o v e r h e a r d . T h e re
" B u t m y sh ip ! M y c a r g o ! ” th e sh ip ­
a re lo ts o f sp y ra y s a r o u n d h e r e , w h e th e r
p e r w a ile d , “ W e ’ll b e r u i n e d if -------- ”
y o u k n o w it o r n o t. The Prom etheus is
" L e t m e fin is h , p le a s e ,” th e L e n s m a n
to b e a llo w e d to g o to A ls a k a n , b e c a u s e
in te rru p te d . "A s soon as th e m a u le r
t h a t is w h e r e p i r a t e s seem to b e m o s t
t u r n s b a c k i t is p r a c t i c a l l y c e r t a i n t h a t
n u m e r o u s , a n d w e d o n o t w a n t to w a s te
your c a p ta in w ill s e n d o u t a m essage,
t i m e h u n t i n g a ll o v e r s p a c e t o f i n d o n e .
le ttin g th e p ir a te s k n o w th a t h e is e a sy
" Y o u r v e s s e l w a s s e le c te d , M r . M a t­ p re y . W ith in a m in u te a fte r se n d in g
th e w s , fo r th r e e re a s o n s , a n d in s p ite of t h a t m e s s a g e , h e d ie s . S o d o es e v e ry
th e a tte m p ts y o u h a v e b e e n m a k in g to o th e r p ir a te a b o a rd , Y o u r s h ip la n d s o n
o b ta in s p e c ia l p riv ile g e s , n o t b e c a u s e o f V a le ria a n d ta k e s o n a c re w of space­
t h e m : f ir s t, b e c a u s e th e r e is n o n e c e s ­ f ig h tin g w ild c a ts , h e a d e d b y P e t e r V a n -
s a r y o r s e m in e c e s s a ry fr e ig h t w a itin g B u s k irk . T h e n it g o e s o n to w a r d A l­
fo r c le a ra n c e in to th a t re g io n ; seco n d , sak an . W hen th e p ira te s b o a rd th a t
b e c a u s e w e d o n o t w a n t y o u r fir m t o fa il. sh ip , a f te r it s p r e a r r a n g e d , h a lf - h e a r te d
W e do not know of any o th e r la r g e re s is ta n c e a n d e a sy s u r r e n d e r , th e y a re
s h ip p in g lin e in such a s h a k y p o s itio n g o i n g t o t h i n k t h a t a ll h e l l ’s o u t f o r n o o n .
a s y o u rs , n o r o f a n y firm a n y w h e re to E s p e c ia lly sin c e th e m a u le r , b a c k f r o m
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 71
h e r ‘r e s c u e w o r k , ’ w i l l b e t a g g i n g a l o n g , o t h e r m e s s a g e f o r y o u — o ff ic ia l. M a t­
n o t to o f a r a w a y .” t h e w s w o n 't n e e d a p o li c e e s c o r t l o n g —-
“ T h e n m y s h ip w ill re a lly g o to A l- if a n y . W h e n t h a t s h i p is a t t a c k e d i t is
sa k a n , a n d b a c k , s a f e ly ? ” M a tth e w s w a s to b e th e s ig n a l f o r c le a n in g o u t e v e ry
a lm o s t dazed. M a tte rs w e re e n tire ly p ir a te in G r e a te r N e w Y o r k — th e w o r s t
o u t of h is h a n d s , a n d th in g s h a d m o v e d p ira te h o tb e d on T e llu s . N e ith e r y o u
so r a p id ly t h a t h e h a r d ly k n e w w h a t to n o r y o u r f o r c e w ill b e i n o n i t d i r e c t l y ,
th in k . “ B u t if m y o w n c r e w s a r e p i ­ b u t y o u m ig h t p a s s th e w o rd a ro u n d , so
r a t e s , s o m e o f t h e m m a y -------- B u t I can, t h a t o u r o w n m e n w ill b e in f o r m e d a h e a d
o f c o u r s e , g e t p o li c e p r o t e c t i o n if n e c e s ­ o f th e T e le n e w s o u tf its .”
s a r y .” “G ood! T h a t h a s n e e d e d d o in g fo r a
“ U n le s s s o m e th in g e n tire ly u n fo r- lo n g tim e .”
seen h a p p e n s , th e Prom etheus w ill m a k e “ Y es. B u t y o u k n o w i t t a k e s a lo n g ­
t h e r o u n d t r i p i n s a f e t y , c a r g o e s a n d a ll tim e to lin e u p e v e r y m a n in s u c h a b ig
— u n d e r m a u le r e s c o r t a ll th e w a y . Y ou o rg a n iz a tio n . T hey w a n t to g e t th e m
w ill , o f c o u r s e , h a v e t o t a k e t h e o t h e r a ll, w ith o u t g e ttin g any in n o c e n t by­
m a t t e r u p w i t h y o u r lo c a l p o l i c e .” s ta n d e r s .”
“W hen is th e a tta c k to ta k e p la c e , “ W h o ’s d o i n g i t ? P rim e B a se ? ”
s ir ? ” a sk e d th e b a se c o m m a n d e r. “ Y e s . E n o u g h m e n w ill b e t h r o w n in
“ T h a t ’s w h a t t h e m a u le r s k ip p e r h e r e to d o th e w h o le jo b i n a n h o u r .”
w a n te d to k n o w w h e n I to ld h im w h a t “T hat is good new s. C le a r e th e r ,
w a s a h e a d o f h im .” K in n is o u g rin n e d . L e n sm a n !” A n d th e base co m m an d er
“ H e w a n te d to s n e a k u p a little c lo s e r w e n t b a c k to h is p o s t.
a b o u t t h a t tim e . I ’d l i k e t o k n o w , m y ­ A s th e a ir - lo c k to g g le s r a m m e d h o m e ,
s e lf , b u t u n f o r t u n a t e l y t h a t w i l l h a v e t o s e a lin g th e e x it b e h in d th e d e p a r t in g v is ­
b e d e c id e d b y th e p ir a te s a f te r th e y g e t ito r , K in n is o n e a s e d h is s p e e d s te r in to
th e s ig n a l. I t w ill b e o n th e w a y o u t, th e a ir a n d h e a d e d fo r V a le ria . S in c e
th o u g h , becau se th e c a rg o she has th e tw o v e s s e ls a h e a d o f h im had le f t
a b o a r d n o w is a lo t m o r e v a lu a b le to a tm o s p h e r e in e r tia le s s , a s w o u ld h e , a n d
B o s k o u e th a n a lo a d o f A ls a k a n ite c ig a ­ s in c e se v eral h u n d re d seco n d s had
r e t t e s w o u ld b e .” e la p s e d sin c e th e ir ta k e -o ff, h e w a s , o f
“ B u t d o y o u th in k y o u c a n ta k e th e c o u rse , so m e te n th o u s a n d m ile s o ff
p ir a te s h ip th a t w a y ? ” a s k e d th e c o m ­ th e i r lin e a s w e ll a s b e in g u n c o u n te d m il­
m a n d e r , d u b io u s ly . lio n s of m ile s b e h in d th e m . B ut th e
“ N o. B u t h e w ill c u t d o w n h is p e r ­ la r g e r d is ta n c e m e a n t n o m o re th a n th e
s o n n e l to su ch an e x te n t th a t h e w ill s m a lle r, a n d n e ith e r o f th e m m e a n t a n y ­
h a v e to h e a d b a c k fo r b a s e .” t h i n g a t a l l t o t h e p a t r o l ’s f i n e s t s p e e d ­
“ A n d t h a t 's w h a t y o u w a n t — t h e b a s e . s te r. K in n is o n , o n e a s y to u r in g b la s t,
I s e e .” c a u g h t u p w ith th e m in m in u te s . C lo s ­
H e d id n o t se e — q u ite — b u t th e L e n s - in g u p to le s s t h a n o n e lig h t y e a r , h e
m a n d id n o t e n lig h te n h im f u r th e r . s lo w e d h is p a c e to m a tc h th e i r s a n d h e ld
h is d is ta n c e .
T H E R E W A S a b rillia n t d o u b le fla re A n y o rd in a ry s h ip w o u ld have been
a s fre ig h te r a n d m a u le r lif te d in to th e d e te c te d in s ta n t ly — lo n g s in c e , in fa c t—
a ir. K in n is o n sh o w ed th e s h ip ow ner b u t K in n is o n r o d e n o o r d in a r y sh ip . H is
o u t. s p e e d s te r w a s im m u n e to a ll d e t e c t i o n
“ H a d n 't I b e t t e r b e g o i n g , t o o ?” a s k e d sav e e le c tro m a g n e tic or v is u a l, and,
th e c o m m a n d e r. “ T h o se o rd e rs, y o u t h e r e f o r e , e v e n a t t h a t c lo s e r a n g e — t h e
k n o w .” tr a v e l o f h a lf a m in u te f o r e v e n a s lo w
“ A c o u p le o f m in u te s y e t. I have an ­ s p a c e s h ip in o p e n sp a c e — h e w a s sa fe .
12 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

F o r e le c tro m a g n e tic s a r e u s e le s s a t t h a t to M a r s , la n d s fre e , a n d th e n g o e s in e r t,

d i s t a n c e ; a n d v is u a l a p p a r a t u s ; e v e n w ith its o r ig in a l v e lo c ity , b o th in s p e e d a n d
s u b - e t h e r c o n v e r t e r s , is r e l i a b l e o n l y u p in d ir e c tio n , is in s ta n tly r e s to r e d , w ith
t o a fe w m e r e th o u s a n d s o f m ile s , u n le s s consequences b e tte r im a g in e d th a n de­
th e o b s e r v e r k n o w s e x a c tly w h a t to lo o k s c rib e d . Such a v e lo c ity , of c o u rse ,
f o r a n d w h e re t o lo o k f o r it, m ight ta k e th e s h ip h a rm le s s ly in to th e
a i r ; b u t i t p r o b a b l y w o u l d n o t.
K I N N I S O N , th e n , c lo s e d u p a n d fo l­ B u t th e Prom etheus la n d e d fre e , a n d
lo w e d th e Prom etheus and h e r m a u le r a n d so d id K in n is o n . H e s te p p e d o u t,
e s c o r t ; a n d a s th e y a p p ro a c h e d th e V a ­ fu lly a rm o re d a g a in s t V a l e r i a ’s ex­
le ria n so la r s y s te m , su re enough, th e tr e m e ly h e a v y a tm o s p h e re a n d la b o r in g
r e c a l l m e s s a g e s c a m e b o o m i n g , in . A ls o , a tr ifle u n d e r its te r r if ic g r a v ita tio n , to
a s h a d b e e n e x p e c te d , th e re n e g a d e c a p ­ b e g r e e te d c o rd ia lly b y Lieutenant V an-
ta in o f th e f r e ig h te r s e n t b a c k , firs t h is B u s k ir k , w h o se fig h tin g m en w e re a l­
d e fia n t a n s w e r, a n d th e n h is m e s s a g e to re a d y s tr e a m in g a b o a rd th e fr e ig h te r.
th e p ir a te h ig h c o m m a n d . T h e m a u le r “ H i , c h i e f ! ” t h e D u t c h m a n c a ll e d ,
tu r n e d b a c k ; th e m e rc h a n tm a n k e p t o n . g a y ly . “ E v e r y t h i n g w e n t o ff l i k e c l o c k ­
S u d d e n ly , h o w e v e r, s h e s to p p e d , in e r t, w o rk . W o n ’t h o ld you up lo n g — be
a n d fr o m h e r p o r ts w e re e je c te d d is c re te b la s tin g o ff in te n m in u te s .”
b its o f m a t te r — p r o b a b ly th e b o d ie s o f th e “ H o , L e f ty ! ” th e L e n s m a n a c k n o w l­
B o s k o n ia n m e m b e rs o f h e r c re w . T h e n edged, as c o rd ia lly , but s a lu tin g th e
t h e Prometheus, a g a i n i n e r t i a l e s s , f l a s h e d n e w l y c o m m i s s i o n e d o f f ic e r w i t h a n e x ­
d ire c tly to w a r d th e p la n e t V a le ria . a g g e ra te d fo rm a lity . “ Say, B u s, I ’v e
A n in e r tia le s s la n d in g is , o f c o u rs e , been d o in g so m e th in k in g . W hy
h i g h l y i r r e g u l a r , a n d is m a d e o n l y w h e n w o u l d n ’t i t b e a g o o d i d e a t o -------
th e s h ip is to ta k e o ff a g a in im m e d i­ “ U h -u h , it w o u ld not,” d e n ie d th e
a te ly . I t s a v e s a ll th e tim e o r d i n a r il y fig h te r, p o s itiv e ly . " I k n o w w h a t y o u ’r e
lo s t in s p ira lin g and d e c e le ra tio n , a n d g o in g to say — t h a t y o u w a n t in o n th is
sa v e s th e c o m p u ta tio n o f a la n d in g o r ­ p a r t y — b u t d o n ’t s a y i t . ”
b it, w h ic h is n o ta s k fo r a n a m a t e u r c o m ­ “ B u t I -------- ” K i n n i s o n b e g a n t o a r g u e .
p u te r . I t is , h o w e v e r , d a n g e r o u s . “ N ix ,” th e V a le ria n d e c la re d fla tly .
I t t a k e s p o w e r , p l e n t y o f it , t o m a i n ­ “ Y o u ’v e g o t t o s t a y w i t h y o u r s p e e d s t e r .
ta in th e fo rc e w h ic h n e u tr a liz e s th e in ­ N o r o o m f o r h e r i n s i d e , a s s h e ’s f u l l t o
e rtia of m ass, a n d if t h a t fo rce fa ils , th e la s t m e te r w ith c a rg o a n d w ith m y
e v e n f o r a n i n s t a n t , w h i l e a s h i p is u p o n m en. Y ou c a n ’t d a m p on o u ts id e , a s
a p l a n e t ’s s u r f a c e , t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s a r e t h a t w o u l d g iv e t h e w h o l e t h i n g a w a y .
u s u a lly h ig h ly d is a s tr o u s . For in th e A n d b e s id e s , f o r th e f irs t a n d la s t tim e
n e u tr a liz a tio n o f in e r tia th e r e is n o i n m y lif e I ’v e g o t a c h a n c e t o g iv e a
m a g ic , no g e ttin g of s o m e th in g fo r g ra y L e n sm a n o rd e rs. T h o se o rd e rs a re
n o t h i n g , n o v i o l a t i o n o f N a t u r e ’s l a w o f to s ta y o u t o f a n d a w a y fro m th is s h ip
th e c o n s e rv a tio n o f m a tte r a n d e n e rg y . — a n d I ’l l s e e t o i t t h a t y o u d o , t o o , y o u
T h e in s ta n t th a t fo rc e b e c o m e s in o p e r a ­ little T e llu r ia n w a r t! B o y , w h a t a k ic k
tiv e th e s h ip p o ss e s s e s e x a c tly th e sa m e I g e t o u t o f t h a t !”
v e lo c ity , m o m e n tu m , a n d in e r ti a t h a t it “ Y o u w o u l d , y o u b ig , d u m b V a l e r i a n
p o s s e s s e d a t th e in s ta n t th e fo rc e to o k ape. Y ou a lw a y s w e r e a s m a ll-s o u le d
e f f e c t. ty p e !” K in n is o n re to rte d . “ P ig g y -
T h u s , if a sp a c e s h ip ta k e s o ff fr o m p i g g y -------- H a y n e s , h u h ? ”
E a r t h , w ith its o r b ita l v e lo c ity o f a b o u t “ U h -h u h .” V a n B u s k irk nodded.
e ig h te e n a n d o n e h a lf m ile s p e r s e c o n d “ H o w e ls e c o u ld I t a l k s o r o u g h t o you
re la tiv e to th e Sun, goes free, d a sh e s a n d g e t a w a y w ith it ? H o w e v e r , d o n ’t
74 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

s la u g h te r— su c h a s th e p ir a te s h a d ex­ s h o u ld s u c k u s i n , w e ’d b e v e r y m u c h
p e c te d to fin d . a s p e n t fo rc e , w h a t? ”
“ C u t o u t th e c o n v e r s a tio n ! ” s n a p p e d
IN S T E A D of such a c re w th e th e c a p ta in . " I s i t a m a u l e r , o r n o t ?”
b o a rd e rs m et a fo rc e th a t w as o v e r­ “ A b it to o f a r a w a y y e t t o s a y , b u t it
w h e lm in g ly s u p e r io r to th e i r o w n — n o t p r o b a b l y is . T h e y w o u l d n ’t h a v e s e n t
o n ly in p o in t o f n u m b e r s , b u t e v e n m o r e th o s e j a s p e r s o u t w ith o u t c o v e r , o ld
m a r k e d ly in th e s t r e n g t h a n d a g ility o f bean. T h e y k n e w th a t w e c a n b u rn th a t
its u n its . A ls o , th e d e f e n d e r s w e r e m o r e f r e i g h t e r ’s s c r e e n s d o w n i n a n h o u r . B e t ­
c a p a b ly a rm e d th a n w e r e th e a tta c k e r s , t e r c u t th e b e a m s a n d g e t re a d y to ru n ,
s i n c e , i n a d d i t i o n t o t h e e f f ic i e n t a r m o r w h a t ?”
o f th e p a tr o l a n d its u ltr a - d e a d ly p o r t a ­ T h e c o m m a n d e r d id so , w ild th o u g h ts
b le w e a p o n s , a t l e a s t o n e o f t h o s e t e r ­ ra c in g th r o u g h h is m in d . If a m a u le r
rific s e m ip o r ta b le p r o j e c t o r s c o m m a n d e d g o t c lo s e e n o u g h t o h im to u s e m a g n e ts ,
e v e ry c o r r id o r o f th e fr e ig h te r. I n th e he w as done. C u ttin g a r c s w o u ld b u r n
b la s ts o f th o s e p ro je c to rs m o s t o f th e th ro u g h h i s a r m o r li k e c h e e s e , a n d h e
p ir a te s d ie d in s ta n tly , n o t k n o w in g w h a t h a d n o f i g h t i n g m e n le f t. A n d e v e n if
s tr u c k th e m , n o t e v e n k n o w in g th a t th e y he h ad — even a fu ll c re w o f th e m ost
d ie d . sav ag e fig h te rs know n w o u ld have to
T h e y w e re th e f o r tu n a te o n e s. The be in e s c a p a b ly c o rn e re d b e fo re th e y
o th e rs k n e w w h a t w a s c o m in g a n d s a w w o u ld m ix it w ith w h a t th a t m a u le r h a d
it a s i t c a m e , f o r th e V a le r ia n s d id n o t a b o a rd . H e w o u ld h a v e to g o b a c k to
even d ra w th e ir D e L a m e te rs . T hey b a s e , a n y w a y -------- ”
k n e w t h a t th e p ir a te s ’ a r m o r c o u ld w ith ­ “ T a lly ho, o ld fru it!” The p ilo t
s ta n d fo r m a n y m in u te s a n y h a n d w e a p ­ s la m m e d h is le v e rs over to m a x im u m
o n ’s b e a m s , a n d t h e y d is d a in e d to re ­ b la s t. “ I t ’s a m a u le r and w e ’v e been
m o u n t th e heavy s e m ip o rta b le s . T hey b lo o d y w e ll jo b b e d . B a c k t o b a s e ?”
c a m e in w ith th e ir s p a c e a x e s , a n d a t th e “ Y e s .” A n d th e d is c o m fite d c a p ta in
s ig h t th e p ir a te s b ro k e a n d r a n s c r e a m ­ e n e rg iz e d h is c o m m u n ic a to r, t o r e p o r t to
in g in p a n ic fe a r. B u t th e y c o u ld n o t h is im m e d ia te s u p e r io r th e h u m ilia tin g
escap e. The to g g le s of th e e x it p o rt o u tc o m e of th e s u p p o s e d ly c a re f u lly
w e re n o t o n ly in th e i r s o c k e ts , b u t th e y p la n n e d c o u p .
w e r e a ls o lo c k e d in th e m .
T h e r e f o r e , th e s to r m in g p a r t y d ie d to X V I.
th e la s t m a n ; a n d , a s V a n B u s k ir k h a d
f o r e to ld , it w a s s c a rc e ly e v e n a s tr u g g le . AS T H E P IR A T E f le d in to space
F o r a n y o r d i n a r y s p a c e a r m o r is j u s t s o K in n is o n fo llo w e d , m a tc h in g h is q u a r r y
m u c h tin a g a in s t a V a le r ia n s w in g in g a in c o u rs e a n d sp e e d . H e th e n c u t in th e
space ax. a u to m a tic c o n tr o lle r on h is d riv e , th e
T h e s p y r a y o f th e p ir a te c a p ta in g o t a u to m a tic r e c o r d e r o n h is p la te , a n d b e ­
th r o u g h ju s t in tim e to se e th e g h a s tly g a n t o tu n e in h is b e a m t r a c e r ; o n ly to
fin a le o f th e m a s s a c r e , a n d h is face be b ro u g h t u p s h o r t b y th e r e a liz a tio n
tu r n e d f ir s t p u r p le , th e n w h ite . t h a t t h e s p y r a y ’s p o i n t w o u l d n o t s t a y
“ T h e p a tr o l!” he g asp ed . “ V a le ria n s i n t h e p i r a t e ’s c o n t r o l r o o m -w ith o u t c o n ­
— a w h o le c o m p a n y o f th e m ! I ’ll s a y s ta n t a tte n tio n a n d m a n u a l a d ju s tm e n t.
w e ’v e been d o u b le - c ro s s e d !” H e h a d k n o w n th a t , to o . E v e n th e m o s t
" R i g h t o — w e ’v e j o l l y w e ll b e e n , ” t h e p re c is e o f a u to m a tic c o n tr o lle rs , d riv e n
p ilo t a g re e d . “ Y o u d o n ’t k n o w t h e h a l f b y th e m o s t c a re f u lly s ta b iliz e d e le c tro n ic
o f it y e t, e ith e r. S o m e b o d y ’s c o m i n g , c u rre n ts , a re p ro n e to s lip tw e n ty fe e t
and i t i s n ’t a b o y sc o u t. If a m a u le r o r so a t e v e n su ch c lo s e ra n g e a s te n
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 73

fe e l to o b a d . Y o u a r e n ’t m i s s i n g a t h i n g , o f th o u g h t e x c h a n g e . “ T h a t w a s n ’t p a r t
re a lly . T h is th in g is in th e cans a l­ o f th e p la n , w a s i t ?”
r e a d y , a n d y o u r f u n is u p a h e a d s o m e ­ I f H e l m u t h , o r o n e o f t h e a b le m i n d s
w h e re . A n d b y t h e w a y , K irn , c o n ­ a t h is b a s e , h a d b e e n d ir e c tin g t h a t a t ­
g ra tu la tio n s . Y o u h a d i t c o m i n g . W e ’r e ta c k it w o u ld h a v e s to p p e d r i g h t th e r e .
a ll b e h in d y o u , fro m h e re to th e next T h e p ilo t h a d s h o w n a fla s h o f fe e lin g
u n iv e r s e a n d b a c k .” th a t, w ith a little e n c o u r a g e m e n t, m ig h t
‘‘T h a n k s . A n d th e s a m e to y o u , B u s , h a v e g r o w n in to a s u s p ic io n .
and m a n y o f ’e m . W e l l , i f y o u w o n ’t B u t th e c a p ta in w a s n o t a n im a g in a ­
l e t m e s t o w a w a y , I ’ll t a g a l o n g b e h i n d , tiv e m a n . T h e r e f o r e : “ N o th in g w a s sa id
I guess. C le a r e th e r — o r r a t h e r , I h o p e a b o u t it, e it h e r w a y ,” h e re p lie d . “ P ro b ­
i t ’s f u l l o f p i r a t e s b y t o - m o r r o w m o rn ­ a b l y t h e m a t e ’s o n d u t y . H e is n o t o n e
in g . W o n ’t b e , t h o u g h , p r o b a b l y ; d o n ’t of u s, y o u k n o w . A l l t h e b e t t e r i f h e is .
i m a g i n e t h e y ’ll m o v e u n t i l w e 'r e a l m o s t T h e c a p ta in w ill o p e n u p . I f h e d o e s n ’t
th e r e .” d o i t p r e t t y q u i c k , I 'l l o p e n h e r u p m y ­
s e lf. T h e r e , t h e p o r t ’s o p e n i n g . S lid e
AND TAG A LO NG IC in n is o n d id , a little f o r w a r d . . . . H o ld it! Go
th r o u g h th o u s a n d s a n d th o u s a n d s o f p a r ­ g e t ’e m , m e n ! ”
se c s o f u n e v e n tf u l v o y a g e .
T h e n m e n , h u n d r e d s o f th e m , a rm e d
P a r t o f th e tim e h e s p e n t in th e s p e e d ­
and a rm o re d , sw a rm e d th r o u g h th e
s te r, d a s h in g h ith e r a n d y o n . M o s t o f it ,
f r e i g h t e r ’s l o c k s . B u t a s th e la s t m a n
h o w e v e r, he spent in th e v a s tly m o re
o f th e b o a rd in g p a rty p a ss e d th e p o rta l
c o m f o rta b le m a u l e r ; to th e a r m o r e d s id e
s o m e th in g h a p p e n e d t h a t w a s m o s t d e ­
o f w h ic h h is ti n y v e s s e l c lu n g w ith i t s
c id e d ly n o t o n t h e p r o g r a m : th e o u te r
m a g n e tic d a m p s w h ile h e s le p t a n d a te ,
p o r t s la m m e d s h u t a n d its to g g le s d r o v e
g o s s ip e d a n d re a d , e x e r c is e d a n d p la y e d
hom e!
w i t h t h e m a u l e r ’s o f f ic e r s a n d c r e w , i n
“ B la s t th o s e screen s! K nock th e m
d e e p -sp a c e c o m ra d e ry . I t so h a p p e n e d ,
dow n! G e t in th e r e w ith a s p y r a y ! ”
h o w e v e r, th a t w h e n th e lo n g -w a ite d a t ­
b a rk e d th e p ir a te c a p ta in . H e w as not
ta c k d e v e lo p e d h e w a s o u t in h is s p e e d ­
o n e o f th o s e h a r d y a n d v a lia n t s o u ls w h o ,
s te r, a n d th u s s a w a n d h e a rd e v e ry th in g
lik e G ild e r s le e v e , le d , in p e r s o n , t h e a t ­
fr o m th e b e g in n in g .
ta c k s o f h is c u tth ro a ts . He e m u la te d ,
S p a c e w a s f i ll e d w i t h t h e o l d , f a m i l i a r
in s te a d , th e h ig h e r B o s k o n ia n o f f ic ia ls
in te rfe re n c e . The ra id e r fla s h e d up,
a n d d ir e c te d h is r a i d s f r o m th e s a f e ty o f
lo c k e d o n w ith m a g n e ts , a n d b e g a n to
h is c o n tr o l r o o m ; b u t, a s h a s b e e n in ti­
beam . N o t h e a v ily — s c a rc e ly e n o u g h to
m a te d , h e w a s u n lik e th o s e o f f ic ia ls i n
w a rm up th e d e fe n s iv e sc re e n s— a n d
K in n is o n p r o b e d in to th e p ir a t e w ith h is t h a t h e la c k e d d ir e c to r ia l a b ility . Thus
sp y ra y . it w a s o n ly a f t e r i t w a s to o la te t h a t h e
b e c a m e s u s p ic io u s . “ I w o n d e r if s o m e ­
‘‘T e r r e s t r i a l s — a n d A m e ric a n s !” he
e x c la im e d , h a lf a lo u d , s ta r tle d f o r a n in ­ b o d y c o u ld h a v e d o u b le - c ro s s e d u s ? H i­
j a c k e r s ?”
s ta n t. “ B ut n a tu ra lly th e y w o u ld be,
s i n c e t h i s is a p u t - u p j o b a n d o v e r h a l f “ W e ’ll s o o n k n o w , ” t h e p i l o t g r o w l e d ,
th e c re w w e re N e w Y o rk g a n g s te rs .” a n d e v e n a s h e sp o k e th e sp y ra y got
“ T h e b l i g h t e r ’s g o t h i s s p y - r a y s c r e e n s th r o u g h , r e v e a lin g a v e r y s h a m b le s .
u p ,” th e p ilo t w a s g r u m b lin g to h is c a p ­ For V a n B u s k irk and h is V a le ria n s
ta in . T h e fa c t th a t h e s p o k e in E n g lis h h a d n o t b e e n c a u g h t n a p p in g , n o r w e re
w as im m a te ria l to th e L ensm an; he th e y a c re w — u n a rm o re d , p a rtia lly
w o u ld h a v e u n d e r s to o d e q u a lly w e ll a n y a rm e d , and re n d e re d even m o re im ­
o th e r p o s s ib le fo r m o f c o m m u n ic a tio n o r p o te n t by in te rn a l m u tin y , s trif e , and
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 75
m illio n m ile s , e s p e c ia lly in th e bum py t r a c e r a n d s e a r c h e d f o r H e l m u t h ’s b e a m ;
e th e r n e a r s o la r s y s te m s , a n d th e r e w a s b u t b e fo r e h e c o u ld s y n c h r o n iz e w ith it
n o th in g t o c o r r e c t th e s lip . H e h a d n o t th e m e s s a g e o f th e p i r a t e s ’ h ig h c h ie f
th o u g h t o f th a t b e fo re ; th e p ilo t a lw a y s w a s fin is h e d a n d h is b e a m w a s g o n e . T h e
m a d e th o s e m in o r c o rr e c tio n s a s a m a t­ L e n s m a n s a t b a c k in th o u g h t.
te r o f c o u rse . A ld e b a ra n ! P ra c tic a lly n e x t d o o r to
R u t n o w h e w a s to r n b e tw e e n tw o d e ­ h is o w n s o la ria n s y s te m , fr o m w h ic h h e
s ire s . H e w a n te d to lis te n to th e c o n ­ h a d co m e so fa r. H o w h a d th e y p o s s ib ly
v e r s a tio n th a t w o u ld e n s u e a s s o o n a s th e m anaged to keep c o n c e a le d , o r to re ­
p ira te c a p ta in got in to c o m m u n ic a tio n e s ta b lis h , a b a s e s o c lo s e t o S o l. t h r o u g h
w i t h h i s s u p e r i o r o f f ic e r s ; a n d , e s p e c i a l l y a ll th e in te n s iv e s e a r c h in g t h a t h a d b e e n
s h o u ld H e lm u th p u t in h is b e a m , h e v e ry done ? B u t th e y had. T h a t w a s th e im ­
m u c h w a n te d to tr a c e it a n d th u s s e c u r e p o r ta n t th in g . A n y w a y , h e k n ew w h e re
a n o th e r lin e o n t h e h e a d q u a r t e r s h e w a s h e w a s g o in g , a n d t h a t h e lp e d .
so a n x io u s to lo c a te . He now fe a re d O n e o t h e r t h i n g h e h a d n ’t t h o u g h t o f
t h a t h e c o u ld n o t d o b o th — a f e a r t h a t — and one th a t m ig h t have s p o ile d
s o o n w a s to p r o v e w e ll- g r o u n d e d — a n d e v e r y t h i n g — w a s t h e f a c t t h a t h e c o u l d n ’t
w is h e d fe r v e n tly t h a t fo r a fe w m in u te s sta y aw ake in d e f in ite ly to fo llo w th a t
h e c o u ld b e tw o m e n — o r a t le a s t a V e - s h ip ! H e had to s le e p s o m e tim e , a n d
la n tia n ; th e y had eyes an d hands and w h ile he w as a s le e p h is q u a rry w as
s e p a r a te b ra in c o m p a r tm e n ts e n o u g h so b o u n d to e scap e. H e , o f c o u rse , h a d a
t h a t th e y c o u ld d o h a lf a d o z e n th in g s a t CRX tr a c e r , w h ic h w o u ld h o ld a s h ip
o n c e a n d d o e a c h o n e w e ll. H e c o u ld w ith o u t a tte n tio n a s lo n g a s it w a s a n y ­
n o t ; b u t h e c o u ld tr y . M a y b e h e sh o u ld w h e re w ith in e v e n e x tr e m e r a n g e ; a n d
h a v e b r o u g h t o n e o f th e b o y s a lo n g , a t i t w o u ld h a v e b e e n a s im p le e n o u g h m a t­
th a t. N o , th a t w o u ld w r e c k e v e ry th in g , t e r to h a v e h a d a p h o to -c e ll r e la y p u t
la te r o n ; h e w o u ld h a v e to d o th e b e s t in b e tw e e n th e p la te o f th e C R X a n d th e
h e c o u ld . a u to m a tic c o n tro ls of th e sp acer and
C o m m u n ic a tio n w as e s ta b lis h e d and d riv e r— b u t he had not asked fo r it.
th e p ir a te c a p ta in b e g a n t o m a k e h is r e ­ W e ll, lu c k ily , he now knew w h e re he
p o rt. By u s in g one hand on th e ra y w as g o in g , a n d th e trip to A ld e b a ra n
and th e o th e r o n th e tra c e r, K iu n is o n w o u ld b e lo n g e n o u g h f o r h im to b u ild
m a n a g e d to g e t a p a r tia l lin e a n d to r e ­ a d o z e n s u c h c o n tro ls . H e h a d a ll t h e
c o rd scrap s of th e c o n v e rs a tio n . He n e c e s s a r y p a r t s a n d p le n ty o f to o ls . It
m is s e d , h o w e v e r, th e e s s e n tia l p a r t o f th e w o u ld g iv e h im s o m e th in g to d o to b r e a k
e n tire e p is o d e , t h a t p a rt in w h ic h th e th e m o n o to n y o f th e v o y a g e .
b ase c o m m a n d e r tu r n e d th e u n su c c e ssfu l
c a p ta in o v e r to H e lm u t h h im s e lf. T h e r e ­ T H E R E F O R E , fo llo w in g th e p ir a te
fo re , K in n is o n w a s s u r p r is e d in d e e d a t s h ip e a s ily a s it to r e th r o u g h s p a c e , K in ­
th e d is a p p e a ra n c e o f th e b e a m h e w a s so n is o n b u ilt h is a u to m a tic “ c h a s e r ,” a s h e
la b o r io u s ly tr a c in g , a n d to h e a r H e lm u th c a l l e d it . D u r in g e a c h o f th e f ir s t fo u r
c o n c lu d e h is c a s tig a tio n o f th e u n lu c k y o r fiv e “ n i g h t s ” h e lo s t th e v e s s e l h e w a s
c a p ta in w ith : p u rs u in g , b u t fo u n d it w ith o u t a n y g re a t
“ — n o t e n tir e ly y o u r fa u lt. W e w ill d iffic u lty u p o n a w a k e n in g . T h e re a fte r
n o t p u n i s h y o u a t a ll s e v e r e l y t h i s t i m e . h e h e ld i t c o n tin u o u s ly , im p r o v in g d a y
R e p o r t to o u r b a se o n A ld e b a ra n I. T u r n b y d a y th e p e r f o r m a n c e o f h is a p p a r a t u s
y o u r v e sse l o v e r to b a s e c o m m a n d e r u n til it c o u ld d o a lm o s t a n y th in g e x c e p t
th e r e a n d d o a n y th in g h e te lls y o u to ta lk .
d o fo r th ir ty o f th e d a y s o f th a t p la n e t.” A f te r t h a t h e d e v o te d h is tim e to a n in ­
fra n tic a lly , K in n is o n d re w back h is te n s iv e s tu d y o f th e g e n e r a l p ro b le m b e ­
76 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

fo re h im . H i s r e s u lts w e r e h ig h ly u n ­ in tim e to c a p tu r e h e r c o n fe d e r a te s a s
s a tis f a c to r y ; f o r in o rd e r to so lv e a n y th e y w e re m a k in g th e ir e sc a p e . H e had
p ro b le m o n e m u s t h a v e e n o u g h d a ta to been a fr a id of b e a u tifu l w om en ever
s e t it u p , e it h e r i n a c tu a l e q u a tio n s o r in sin c e . H e ’d lik e t o see th a t A ld e b a r-
lo g ic a l s e q u e n c e s , a n d K in n is o n fo u n d a n ia n h e ll-c a t a g a in — ju s t once. H e ’d
th a t h e d id n o t h a v e e n o u g h d a ta . He b e e n j u s t a k i d t h e n , b u t n o w --------
h a d a lto g e th e r to o m a n y u n k n o w n s a n d
n o t en o u g h kn o w n s. B U T t h a t lin e o f t h o u g h t w a s g e ttin g
T h e f i r s t s p e c i f ic p r o b l e m w a s t h a t o f h im n o w h e r e , fa s t. I t w a s A ld e b a ra n I
g e ttin g in to th e p ir a te b a se . S in c e th e th a t h e h a d b e tte r b e th in k in g o f : b a r­
s e a r c h e rs o f th e p a tr o l h a d n o t fo u n d it, r e n , life le s s , d e s o la te , a ir le s s , w a te r l e s s ;
t h a t b a s e m u s t b e v e r y w e ll h id d e n in ­ b a r e a s h is h a n d , c o v e r e d w ith e x tin c t
deed. A n d h id in g a n y th in g a s la rg e a s v o lc a n o e s , c ra te re d , ja g g e d , and to rn .
a b a s e o n A ld e b a r a n I , a s h e re m e m ­ T o h id e a b a s e o n t h a t p la n e t w o u ld ta k e
b e r e d it, w o u ld b e q u ite a fe a t in its e lf. p l e n t y o f d o i n g , a n d , c o n v e r s e l y , it w o u l d
H e h a d b e e n in t h a t s y s te m o n ly o n c e , be c o rre s p o n d in g in g ly d if f i c u l t of ap­
b u t -------- p ro a c h . I f o n th e s u r f a c e a t a ll, w h ic h
A lo n e in h is s h ip , a n d in d e e p s p a c e h e d o u b te d v e ry s t r o n g l y , it w o u l d be
a lth o u g h h e w a s , h e b lu s h e d p a in f u lly a s co v e re d .
he rem em b ered w hat had happened to I n a n y e v e n t , a ll i t s a p p r o a c h e s w o u l d
h im d u r i n g t h a t v is it. H e h a d chased be th o r o u g h ly sc reen ed and e q u ip p e d
a c o u p le of dope ru n n e rs to A ld e ­ w ith lo o k o u ts o n th e u ltr a - v io le t a n d o n
b a r a n I I , a n d th e r e h e h a d e n c o u n te re d th e in f r a - r e d , a s w e ll a s o n t h e v is ib le .
th e m o s t v iv id ly , th e m o s t fla w le s s ly , th e H i s d e t e c t o r n u l l i f i e r w o u l d n ’t h e l p h i m
m o s t re m a rk a b ly a n d in trig u in g ly b e a u ­ m u c h th e re . T h o s e s c re e n s a n d lo o k o u ts
tifu l g ir l h e h a d e v e r s e e n . H e h a d seen w e re b ad — v e ry , v e ry bad . Q u e s tio n :
b e a u tifu l g ir ls and w om en, of c o u rse , c o u l d anything g e t i n t o t h a t b a s e w i t h ­
b e fo re and in p le n ty . He had seen o u t s e ttin g o ff a n a la r m ?
b e a u tie s a m a te u r a n d p ro f e s s io n a l— s o ­ H is s p e e d s te r c o u ld not even get
c ia l b u t t e r f l i e s , d a n c e r s , a c t r e s s e s , m o d ­ c lo s e ; th a t w as c e rta in . C o u ld he,
e ls , a n d p o s t u r e r s , b o t h i n t h e f l e s h a n d a lo n e ? H e w o u ld h a v e to w e a r a r m o r ,
in T e le n e w s p la te s — b u t he had never o f c o u r s e , to h o ld h is a ir , a n d it w o u ld
su p p o s e d th a t s u c h a n u tte r ly ra v is h in g ra d ia te . N o t n e c e s s a rily — h e c o u ld la n d
c r e a tu r e a s s h e w a s c o u ld e x is t o u ts id e o u t o f r a n g e a n d w a lk , w ith o u t p o w e r ;
o f a th io n ite d r e a m . A s a tim id ly in ­ b u t th e r e w e re s till th e s c r e e n s a n d th e
n o c e n t d a m s e l in d is tr e s s s h e h a d b e e n lo o k o u ts . If th e p ira te s w e re o n th e ir
p e rf e c t, a n d if s h e h a d h e ld t h a t p o s e a t o e s i t s i m p l y w a s n 't i n t h e c a r d s ; a n d
little lo n g e r K in n is o n sh u d d ered to h e h a d to a s s u m e th a t th e y w o u ld b e
th in k of w h a t m ig h t h a v e h a p p e n e d . a le r t.
B u t, h a v in g know n to o m any dope W h a t, th e n , c o u ld p a s s th o s e b a r r ie r s ?
r u n n e r s a n d to o fe w p a tr o lm e n , s h e m is ­ P ro lo n g e d c o n s id e ra tio n of e v e ry fa c e t
ju d g e d e n tire ly , not o n ly th e c a d e t ’s o f th e s itu a tio n g a v e d e fin ite a n s w e r a n d
s e n tim e n ts , b u t a ls o h is r e a c tio n s . F o r, m a r k e d o u t c le a rly th e c o u rs e h e m u s t
even as she cam e a m o r o u s ly in to h is ta k e . S o m e th in g a d m itte d b y th e p ir a te s
a rm s, he had know n th a t th e r e w as th e m s e lv e s w a s th e o n ly th in g t h a t c o u ld
s o m e th in g s c re w y . W o m e n lik e t h a t d id g e t in . T h e v e s s e l a h e a d o f h is w a s g o ­
n o t p la y th a t k in d o f g a m e fo r n o th in g . in g in . T h e r e f o r e , h e m u s t a n d w o u ld
S h e m u s t b e m ix e d u p w ith th e tw o h e e n te r th a t b a s e w ith in th e p ir a te v e ss e l
h a d b e e n c h a s in g . H e g o t aw a y fro m its e lf. W ith th a t p o in t d e c id e d th e r e
h e r , w ith o n ly a c o u p le o f s c r a tc h e s , j u s t re m a in e d o n ly th e w o rk in g out of a
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 77
m e th o d , w h ic h p r o v e d to b e a lm o s t r i ­ u p o u o r w ith in th e p la n e t. Y et he knew
d ic u lo u s ly s im p le . th a t a b a s e w a s th e r e . So w hat ? So—
O n c e in s id e th e b a s e , w h a t s h o u ld h e m a y b e — H e l m u t h ’s b a s e m i g h t b e i n s i d e
— o r ra th e r, w h a t could he— do? For th e g a la x y a f t e r a ll, p r o t e c te d f r o m de­
d a y s h e m a d e a n d d is c a r d e d p la n s , b u t te c tio n in th e sam e w a y , p ro b a b ly by
fin a lly he to s s e d th e m a ll out of h is s o lid m ile s o f ir o n o r o f iro n o re . A
m in d . S o m u c h d e p e n d e d u p o n th e lo c a ­ s e c o n d lin e u p o n t h a t b a s e h a d n o w b e ­
tio n o f th e b a se , its p e rs o n n e l, its a r­ com e im p e ra tiv e . B ut th e y w e re ap­
r a n g e m e n t, a n d its r o u tin e , t h a t h e c o u ld p r o a c h in g th e s y s te m f a s t ; li e h a d b e t ­
d e v e lo p n o t e v e n th e ro u g h d ra ft of a te r g e t re a d y .
w o r k in g p la n . H e k n e w w h a t h e w a n te d H e b e lte d o n h is p e r s o n a l e q u ip m e n t,
to d o , b u t h e h a d n o t e v e n th e r e m o te s t in c lu d in g a n u llif te r, th e n in s p e c te d h is
id e a a s to h o w h e c o u ld g o a b o u t d o in g a r m o r , c h e c k in g its s u p p lie s a n d a p p a ­
it. O f th e o p e n in g th a t a p p e a re d , he r a t u s c a re f u lly b e fo re h e h o o k e d it r e a d y
w o u ld h a v e to c h o o s e th e m o s t fe a s ib le to h is h a n d , G la n c in g in to th e p la te , h e
a n d fit h i s a c t i o n s t o w h a t e v e r s i t u a t i o n n o t e d w ith _ a p p r o v a l t h a t h i s c h a s e r w a s
th e n a n d th e r e o b ta in e d . fu n c tio n in g p e rf e c tly . P u rsu e d and
S o d e c id in g , h e s h o t h is . s p y r a y t o ­ p u rs u e r w e re n o w b o th w e ll in s id e th e
w a rd th e p la n e t a n d s tu d ie d it w ith c a re . so la r s y s te m of A ld e b a ra n ; and, as
I t w a s , in d e e d , a s h e h a d r e m e m b e r e d it s lo w e d th e p ir a te , so s lo w e d th e s p e e d ­
— o r w o rse . B le a k ly , h o tly a r i d , it h a d s te r.
n o s o il w h a te v e r , its e n t i r e s u r f a c e b e ­ F in a lly , th e le a d e r w ent in e r t in
in g c o m p o s e d o f ig n e o u s ro c k , la v a , a n d p r e p a r a ti o n f o r h is s p ir a l. B u t K in n i-
p u m ic e . S tu p e n d o u s ra n g e s of m o u n ­ s o n w a s n o lo n g e r fo llo w in g . B e fo re h e
ta in s c ris s c ro s s e d a n d in te rs e c te d e a c h w e n t in e rt h e fla s h e d dow n to w ith in
o th e r a t ra n d o m , e a c h r a n g e a s u c c e s s io n f i f t y t h o u s a n d m i l e s o f t h e p l a n e t ’s f o r ­
of dead v o lc a n ic peaks and b lo w n -o ff b id d in g s u rfa c e . H e th e n c u t h is B e r-
c ra te rs . M o u n ta in s id e a n d ro c k y p la in , g e n h o lm , th r e w th e s p e e d s te r in to a n a l­
c r a te r w a ll a n d v a lle y flo o r, a lik e a n d m o s t c ir c u la r o r b it, w e ll a w a y f r o m th e
in n u m e r a b ly w e re p o c k -m a rk e d w ith la n d in g o r b it s e le c te d b y th e p ir a te , c u t
s u b c r a te r s a n d w ith im m e n s e ly y a w n in g o f f a ll h i s p o w e r , a n d d r i f t e d . H e s ta y e d
s h e ll h o le s , a s th o u g h th e w h o le p la n e t in th e s p e e d s te r, o b s e r v in g and com ­
h a d b e e n , th r o u g h o u t g e o lo g ic a g e s , th e p u tin g , u n til h e h a d so e x a c tly d e fin e d
t a r g e t o f a n in c e s s a n t c o s m ic b o m b a r d - its p a th t h a t h e c o u ld fin d it u n e r r in g ly
m e n t- at any fu tu re in s ta n t. T hen he w ent
i n t o t h e a i r lo c k , s t e p p e d o u t i n t o s p a c e ,
O V ER its su rfa c e and th r o u g h and a n d , w a itin g o n ly to be su re th a t th e
th r o u g h its v o lu m e h e d r o v e h is s p y r a y , p o r t a l h a d s n a p p e d s h u t b e h in d h im , s e t
fin d in g n o th in g . H e b o re d in to its s u b ­ h i s c o u r s e t o w a r d t h e p i r a t e ’s s p i r a l .
s ta n c e w ith h is d e te c to r s a n d h is tr a c e r s , I n e r t n o w , h is p r o g r e s s w a s so s lo w
w ith re s u lts c o m p le te ly n e g a tiv e . Of as to seem im p e rc e p tib le , but he had
c o u rse , c lo s e r up, h is e le c tro m a g n e tic s p le n ty o f tim e . A n d it w a s o n ly r e l a ­
w o u ld r e p o r t ir o n — p le n ty o f it— b u t th a t tiv e ly t h a t h is s p e e d w a s lo w . H e w as
in f o r m a tio n w o u ld a ls o b e m e a n in g le s s . a c tu a lly h u rtlin g th r o u g h space at th e
P r a c t ic a l ly a ll p la n e ts h a d i r o n c o re s . r a t e o f w e ll o v e r tw o th o u s a n d m ile s a n
A s f a r a s h is in s tr u m e n ts c o u ld te ll— ■ h o u r , a n d h is p o w e rfu l little d r iv e r w a s
and he had g iv e n A ld e b a r a n I a m o re in c r e a s in g th a t sp e e d c o n s ta n tly by an
th o ro u g h g o in g o v e r, b y f a r , th a n any a c c e le ra tio n o f tw o E a r t h g ra v itie s .
o rd in a ry s u r v e y in g s h ip w o u ld have S o o n t h e v e s s e l c r e p t u p , b e n e a th h im
g iv e n it— th e r e w a s n o b a se o f a n y k in d n o w , a n d K in n is o n , in c r e a s in g h is d riv e
 78 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

to f iv e g ra v itie s , sh o t to w a rd it in a w h a t h e w a s d o in g . F iv e m ile s th e v e s ­
lo n g , s la n tin g d iv e . T h is w a s th e m o s t sel d ro p p e d , s tr a ig h t d o w n th a t T ita n ic
tic k lis h m in u te of th e trip , but th e s h a ft, b e fo re th e b o tto m w as reach ed .
L e n s m a n h a d a s s u m e d c o rr e c tly th a t th e T h e s h a f t ’s w a l l w a s s t u d d e d w i t h w i n ­
o f f ic e r s o f t h e b a d l y u n d e r m a n n e d s h i p d o w s ; in f r o n t o f th e c r a f t lo o m e d th e
w o u ld be lo o k in g ahead o f th e m and o u te r g a te of a g ig a n tic a i r lo c k . It
d o w n , n o t b a c k w a rd a n d u p . T h e y w e re , o p e n e d ; th e s h ip w as tru n d le d in s id e ,
a n d h e m a d e h is a p p ro a c h u n s e e n . The la n d i n g c r a d le a n d a ll, a n d th e m a s s iv e
a p p ro a c h its e lf, th e b o a r d in g o f a n in e r t g a te c lo s e d b e h in d it. T h is w a s th e p i ­
sp ace s h ip a t its fr ig h tf u l la n d in g -s p ira l r a t e s ’ b a s e , a n d K in n is o n w a s in s id e i t !
v e lo c ity , w a s e le m e n ta r y to a n y c o m p e ­ ‘‘M e n , a t t e n t i o n !” The p ira te com ­
te n t s p a c e m a n — s im p lic ity its e lf. T h e r e m ander snapped th e n . “ T h is a ir is
w a s n o t e v e n a fla re to b o th e r h im o r d e a d ly p o is o n , so p u t o n y o u r a r m o r a n d
t o r e v e a l h im to s ig h t, a s th e b r a k i n g b e s u r e y o u r ta n k s a r e fu ll. T hey have
je ts w e re now d o in g a ll th e w o rk . r o o m s f o r u s , h a v i n g g o o d a i r , b u t d o n ’t
M a tc h in g c o u rs e a n d v e lo c ity e v e r m o r e o p e n y o u r s u its a c ra c k u n til I te ll y o u
c lo s e ly , h e c r e p t u p — f l u n g h i s m a g n e t — to . A s s e m b le ! A ll o f y o u th a t a r e n o t
p u lle d u p , h a n d o v e r h a n d — o p e n e d th e h e r e i n t h i s c o n t r o l r o o m i n f iv e m i n u t e s
e m e r g e n c y in le t lo c k — a n d th e r e h e w a s . w ill s ta y o n b o a r d a n d ta k e y o u r o w n
c h a n c e s 1”
U N C O N C E R N E D L Y , he m ade h is
K in n is o n d e c id e d in s ta n tly to a s s e m b le
w ay a lo n g th e ste rn w a y and in to th e
w ith th e c re w . H e c o u ld d o n o th in g in
now d e s e r te d q u a rte rs o f th e fig h te rs .
th e s h ip , a n d i t w o u ld b e in s p e c te d , o f
T h e re he la y dow n in a ham m ock,
c o u rse . H e h a d p le n ty o f a ir , b u t s p a c e
sn ap p ed th e a c c e le ra tio n s tra p s , and
a rm o r a ll l o o k e d a lik e , a n d h is L e n s
s h o t h is s p y r a y in to th e c o n tr o l ro o m . w o u ld w a r n h im in tim e o f a n y u n ­
A n d t h e r e , i n t h e p i r a t e c a p t a i n ’s o w n
fr ie n d ly o r s u s p ic io u s th o u g h t. H e had
v is ip la te , h e o b serv ed th e ru g g e d and
b e tte r g o . I f t h e y c a l l e d a r o l l -------- B ut
t o r n to p o g r a p h y o f t h e t e r r a i n b e lo w , a s
h e w o u ld c r o s s t h a t b r id g e w h e n h e c a m e
th e p ilo t f o u g h t h is s h ip d o w n , m ile b y
to it.
m i le .
N o ro ll w a s c a ll e d ; in fa c t, th e c a p ­
T o u g h g o in g , th is , K in n is o n re fle c te d ,
t a i n p a i d n o a t t e n t i o n a t a ll t o b i s m e n .
a n d t h e b i r d w a s d o i n g a n ic e j o b , e v e n
T h e y c o u ld c o m e a lo n g o r n o t, j u s t a s
if h e W 'as t a k i n g i t t h e h a r d w a y , b r i n g ­
th e y p le a s e d . B u t s in c e to s ta y in th e
in g h e r d o w n s tra ig h t o n h e r n o se in ­
s h ip m eant d e a th , ev e ry m an w as
s te a d o f ta k in g o n e m o re s p ira l a r o u n d
p r o m p t. A t th e e x p ira tio n o f t h e fiv e
th e p la n e t a n d th e n s lid in g in o n h e r u n ­
m in u te s th e c a p ta in stro d e aw ay, f o l­
d e r je t s , w h ic h w e re d e s ig n e d a n d p la c e d
lo w e d b y th e c ro w d . T h ro u g h a d o o r­
s p e c i f ic a lly f o r s u c h w o r k . B u t ta k in g
w a y , le f t t u r n , a n d t h e c a p ta in w a s m e t
it th e h a r d w a y h e w a s , a n d h is v e ss e l
by a c re a tu re w h o se shape K in n is o n
w as b u c k in g , k ic k in g , b o u n c in g , and
c o u ld n o t m a k e o u t. A p au se, a s tra g ­
s p in n in g on th e te r r if ic b la s t f r o m her
g lin g f o r w a r d , th e n a r ig h t tu r n .
b r a k in g je ts . D o w n she cam e , f a s t ; a n d
it w a s o n ly a f te r s h e w a s a c tu a lly in s id e K in n is o n d e c id e d th a t h e w o u ld not

one of th o s e s tu p e n d o u s c ra te rs , w e ll ta k e th a t tu r n . He w o u ld s ta y h e re ,
b e l o w t h e le v e l o f i t s r i m , t h a t t h e p i l o t c lo s e t o th e s h a f t— w h e r e h e c o u ld b la s t

fla tte n e d her out and assu m ed n o rm a l h i s w a y o u t if n e c e s s a r y — u n t i l h e h a d

la n d in g p o s itio n . s tu d ie d th e w h o le base th o r o u g h ly
T h e y w e re s till g o in g to o f a s t, K in n i­ e n o u g h to m a p o u t a p la n o f c a m p a ig n .
so n th o u g h t. B u t th e p ir a te p ilo t k n e w He soon fo u n d an e m p ty and a p p a r­
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 79

e n tly u n u s e d r o o m , a n d a s s u r e d h im s e lf w h i c h a ll r e a l l y i n t e l l i g e n t r a c e s a r e e n ­
t h a t th r o u g h its h e a v y , c r y s ta l- c le a r w in ­ d o w e d in t h e i r m in d s . T h e r e , I w ill n o w
dow h e c o u ld in d e e d lo o k o u t in to th e b e g i n t o -------- ”
v a s tly c y lin d r ic a l e m p tin e s s o f th e v o l­ K in n is o n sn ap p ed on h is th o u g h t
c a n ic s h a ft. s c re e n , b u t th e d a m a g e h a d a lr e a d y b e e n
done.
T H E N , w ith h is sp y r a y , h e w a tc h e d I n th e v io la te d c o m m u n ic a tio n s ro o m
th e p ir a te s a s th e y w e re e s c o r te d to th e th e a n g ry o b s e rv e r w e n t o n : —a ttu n e
q u a rte rs p rep ared fo r th e m . T h o se m y s e lf a n d tr a c e th e o r ig in o f t h a t p r y ­
m ig h t h a v e b e e n ro o m s o f s ta te , b u t it i n g lo o k . I t h a s d is a p p e a r e d n o w , b u t
lo o k e d to K in n is o n v e r y m u c h a s th o u g h its s e n d e r c a n n o t b e d is ta n t, s in c e o u r
h is f o r m e r s h ip m a te s w e re b e in g ja ile d w a lls a r e s h ie ld e d and screen ed . A h,
ig n o m in io u s ly , a n d h e w a s g la d th a t h e th e r e is a b la n k s p a c e w h ic h I cannot
h a d ta k e n le a v e o f th e m . S h o o tin g h is p e n e t r a t e , in t h e s e v e n t h r o o m o f t h e
r a y h e re a n d th e r e th r o u g h o u t th e s tr u c ­ fo u r th c o rrid o r. I n a l l p r o b a b i l i t y i t is
t u r e , h e fin a lly f o u n d w h a t h e w a s lo o k ­ o n e o f o u r g u e s ts , h id in g n o w b e h in d a
in g f o r : th e c o m m u n ic a to r ro o m . T hat th o u g h t s c r e e n .” T hen h is o rd e rs
r o o m w a s f a i r l y w e ll l i g h t e d , a n d a t w h a t b o o m e d o u t to a c o rp s of g u a rd s . “T ake
h e sa w th e r e h is ja w d ro p p e d in s h e e r ­ h im a n d p u t h im w ith th e o t h e r s ! ”
e s t a m a z e m e n t. K in n is o n had not h e a rd th e o rd e r,
He had e x p e c te d to see m en, sin c e b u t h e w a s r e a d y f o r a n y th in g , a n d th o s e
A ld e b a r a n I I , th e o n ly in h a b ite d p la n e t w h o c a m e to ta k e h im fo u n d th a t i t w a s
in th e s y s te m , h a d b e e n c o lo n iz e d fr o m e a s ie r f a r to is s u e s u c h o r d e r s th a n to
T e llu s a n d its p e o p le w e re a s t r u ly h u ­ c a r r y th e m o u t.
m a n a n d C a u c a s ia n a s th o s e o f C h ic a g o “ H a l t !" sn ap p ed th e L en sm an , h is
o r o f P a ris . B u t t h e s e — t h e s e things L ens c a rry in g th e c ra c k lin g com m and
-------- H e h a d b e e n a r o u n d q u ite a b it, d e e p i n t o t h e w h e e l m e n ’s m i n d s . “ I do
b u t h e h a d n e v e r seen n o r h e a rd o f th e ir not w is h to h a rm you, but com e no
lik e . T h e y w e re w h e e ls , re a lly . W hen c l o s e r !”
th e y w e n t a n y w h e r e th e y ro lle d . H eads
“Y ou? H a r m u s ? ” c a m e a c o ld , c le a r
w h e re hubs ought to be— ey es— a rm s,
th o u g h t, a n d th e c r e a t u r e s v a n is h e d . B u t
d o z e n s o f th e m , a n d v e r y c a p a b le -lo o k in g
n o t f o r lo n g . T h e y , o r o th e r s lik e th e m ,
hands— —
w e re b a c k in m o m e n ts , th is tim e a r m e d
“ V o g e n a r!” a c ris p th o u g h t fla s h e d a n d a r m o r e d f o r s trif e .
fro m o n e o f th e p e c u lia r e n titie s to a n ­
A g a in K in n is o n fo u n d th a t ra y s w e re
o th e r , im p in g in g a ls o upon K i n n i s o n ’s
u se le s s . T h e a r m o r of th e fo e -m o u n te d
L en s. “ Som e o n e— so m e o u t s i d e r — is
g e n e r a t o r s a s c a p a b le a s h is o w n ; a n d ,
lo o k in g a t m e . R e lie v e m e w h ile I a b a te
a lth o u g h th e a ir in th e ro o m soon b e­
th is in to le r a b le n u is a n c e .”
cam e one in to le ra b ly g la rin g fie ld of
“ O n e o f th o s e c r e a tu r e s f r o m T e llu s ? fo r c e , in w h ic h th e v e r y w a lls th e m s e lv e s
W e w ill t e a c h th e m v e ry s h o rtly th a t began to c ru m b le and to v a p o riz e ,
s u c h in tr u s io n is n o t to b e b o r n e f o r a n n e ith e r he nor h is a tta c k e rs w e re
in s ta n t.” h a rm e d . A g a in , th e n , th e L e n s m a n h a d
“ N o , i t is n o t o n e o f t h e m . T h e to u c h r e c o u r s e to h is m e d ie v a l w e a p o n , s h e a th ­
is s i m i l a r , b u t t h e t o n e i s e n t i r e l y d i f ­ in g h is D e L a m e te r a n d w a d in g in w ith
fe re n t. N o r c o u ld it b e o n e o f th e m , h is a x . A lth o u g h n o t a V a n B u s k ir k , h e
f o r n o t o n e o f t h e m is e q u i p p e d w i t h t h e w as, fo r an E a rth m a n , of u n u su al
in s tr u m e n t w h ic h is s u c h a c lu m s y s u b ­ s t r e n g th , s k ill, a n d s p e e d ; a n d to th o s e
s titu te f o r th e s e n s e o f p e rc e p tio n w ith o p p o s in g h im h e w as a v e ry H e rc u le s .
so A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

TH ER EFO R E, as lie s tru c k and it m a d e h im s ic k . B u t, sic k a n d n u m b ,

s t r u c k a n d s t r u c k a g a i n , t h e c e ll b e c a m e s e n s e s r e e lin g a t t h e s h o c k to h is s lu g -
a g o rily re e k in g s la u g h te r p e n , its e v e ry t o r n b o d y , h is r i g h t h a n d fla sh e d to th e
c o rn e r h ig h -p ile d w ith th e s h a tte re d e x te r n a l c o n tr o lle r of h is n e u tr a liz e r . F o r
c o rp se s o f th e w h e e lm e n and its flo o r h e w a s fa llin g in e r t. I t w a s o n ly te n o r
r u n n i n g w i t h b l o o d a n d s l im e . T h e la s t fifte e n m e te r s to th e b o tto m , a s h e r e ­
fe w o f th e a tta c k e r s , u n w illin g to face m e m b e r e d it. H e h a d m ig h ty li tt le tim e
lo n g e r th a t ir re s is tib le s te e l, w h e e le d to w a s te if h e w e re n o t to la n d in e r t.
aw ay, and K in n is o n th o u g h t fla s h in g ly He snapped th e c o n tr o lle r. N o th in g
o f w h a t h e sh o u ld d o n e x t. happened. S o m e th in g had been sh o t
T h is trip w as a b u st so fa r. He aw ay. H is d r iv e r , to o , w a s d e a d . Snap­
c o u l d n ’t d o h i m s e l f a b i t o f g o o d h e r e p in g th e s le e v e of h is a rm o r in to its
n o w , a n d h e 'd b e t t e r b u z z o f f w h i l e h e c la m p s h e b e g a n to w ith d r a w h is a r m in
w a s s t il l i n o n e p i e c e . H o w ? T h e d o o r? o rd e r to o p e ra te th e in te r n a l c o n tr o ls ,
N o. C o u l d n ’t m a k e it. H e ’d r u n o u t o f b u t h e r a n o u t o f tim e . H e c ra sh e d , o n
tim e q u ic k t h a t w a y . B e tte r ta k e out th e to p o f a s u b s id in g p ile o f m a s o n r y
th e w a ll. T h a t w o u ld g iv e th o s e W h e e l­ w h ic h h a d p r e c e d e d h im , b u t w h ic h h a d
m e n s o m e th in g e ls e t o t h i n k a b o u t, to o , n o t y e t a tta in e d a s ta te o f e q u ilib riu m ,
w h i l e h e w a s d o i n g h i s f lit. u n d e r n e a th a s h o w e r o f s im ila r m a te ria l

O n ly a fr a c tio n o f a s e c o n d w a s ta k e n w h ic h re b o u n d e d fro m h is a r m o r in a
b o i l e r - s h o p c l a n g o r o f n o is e .
u p b y th e s e t h o u g h t s ; th e n K in n is o n w a s
a t th e w a ll. H e s e t h is D e L a m e te r to W e ll it w as th a t th a t heap of m a­
s o n r y h a d n o t y e t h a d tim e to s e ttle in to
m in im u m a p e rtu re and at m a x im u m
b la s t, to th r o w a c u ttin g p e n c il a g a in s t fo r m , f o r in s o m e s lig h t m e a s u r e it a c te d
a s a c u s h i o n t o b r e a k t h e L e n s m a n ’s f a l l.
w h ic h n o m a te r ia l s u b s ta n c e c o u ld s ta n d .
B u t a n in e r t fa ll o f f o r ty fe e t, e v e n c u s h ­
T h r o u g h th e w a ll t h a t p e n c il p ie r c e d —
io n e d b y ro c k s , is in n o se n s e a lig h t o n e .
u p , o v e r, a n d a ro u n d .
K in n is o n c ra s h e d . I t se e m e d a s th o u g h
B u t, f a s t a s th e L e n s m a n h a d a c te d ,
a th o u s a n d p ile d riv e rs s tru c k h im at
h e w a s s till to o la te ; T h e re cam e tr u n ­
once. S u rg e s of a lm o s t u n b e a ra b le
d lin g in to th e ro o m b e h in d h im , u p o n
a g o n y s w e p t o v e r h im , a s b o n e s s n a p p e d
fo u r lo w w h e e ls , a tru c k , b e a rin g a
a n d b r u i s e d fle s h g a v e w a y . H e knew
s q u a t a n d m o n s tr o u s m e c h a n is m . K in ­
d im ly th a t a m e r c if u l tid e of o b liv io n
n is o n w h irle d to fa c e it. A s he tu rn e d
w a s r e a c h in g u p to e n g u lf h is s h r ie k in g ,
th e s e c tio n o f th e w a ll u p o n w h ic h h e
s u f fe rin g m in d .
h a d b e e n a t w o r k b le w o u tw a r d w ith a
B u t, fo g g ily at firs t in th e s tu n n e d
d e a fe n in g c ra s h . T h e e n s u in g r u s h of
c o n f u s io n o f h is e n ti r e b e in g , s o m e th in g
e s c a p in g a tm o s p h e re p ic k e d th e L e n s -
s tirre d , th a t u n k n o w n and u n k n o w a b le
m a n u p as th o u g h h e h a d b e e n a s tra w
s o m e th in g , th a t in d e f in a b le u ltim a te
a n d h u r le d h im o u t th r o u g h th e o p e n in g
q u a lity th a t had m ade h im w o rth y of
and in to th e s h a ft. In th e m e a n tim e
th e L e n s h e w o re . H e liv e d , a n d w h ile
th e m e c h a n is m u p o n th e tr u c k h a d b e ­
a L e n s m a n liv e d h e d id n o t q u it. To
g u n a s ta c c a to , g r in d in g r o a r , a n d a s it
q u it w a s t o d ie th e n a n d th e r e , s in c e h e
ro a re d K in n is o n fe lt s lu g s rip p in g
w a s lo s in g a ir f a s t. H e h a d p la s tic in
th r o u g h h is a r m o r a n d te a r in g th r o u g h
h is k it, o f c o u r s e , a n d th e h o le s w e re
h is fle s h , e a c h a s c ru s h in g , c ru n c h in g ,
s m a ll. He m u st p lu g th o s e le a k s , a n d
p a r a l y z i n g a b lo w a s t h o u g h i t h a d b e e n
p lu g th e m q u ic k .
i n f l i c t e d b y V a n B u s k i r k 's s p a c e a x . H i s le f t a r m , h e fo u n d , h e c o u ld n o t
T h is w a s th e f ir s t tim e t h a t K in n is o n m o v e a t a ll . I t m u s t b e sm a sh e d p re tty
h a d e v e r b e e n re a lly b a d ly w o u n d e d , a n d b a d ly . E v e ry s h a llo w b re a th w as a
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 81

s e a r in g p a in . T h a t m e a n t a r ib o r tw o n e rv e s th e m s e lv e s , in o u tra g e d p ro te s t
g o n e o u t. L u c k ily , h o w e v e r, h e w a s a t c a r r y in g s u c h a lo a d , h a d b lo c k e d i t
n o t b r e a t h in g b lo o d ; th e r e f o r e , h is lu n g s o ff.
m u s t s till b e in ta c t. H e c o u ld m o v e h is T h e re w as m u ch m o re to do, b u t he
rig h t a rm , a lth o u g h it seem ed lik e a s im p ly c o u ld n o t d o i t w ith o u t a r e s t.
lu m p of c la y or a lim b b e lo n g in g to E v e n h is ir o n w ill c o u ld n o t d r iv e h is
s o m e o n e e ls e . to rtu re d m u s c le s t o any fu rth e r e ffo rt
B u t , m u s t e r i n g a ll h i s p o w e r o f w ill , u n ti l a f te r th e y h a d b e e n a llo w e d to r e ­
h e m a d e it m o v e. H e d ra g g e d it o u t o f c u p e ra te a little fro m w hat th e y had
t h e a r m o r ’s c l a m p e d s le e v e , f o r c e d th e g o n e th ro u g h .
le a d e n h a n d to s lid e th r o u g h th e w e lte r H ow m uch a ir d id he have le f t, if
o f b lo o d t h a t s e e m e d a lm o s t t o f ill t h e a n y , h e w o n d e r e d , fo g g ily a n d w ith a n
b u lg e o f h is a r m o r . H e fo u n d h is k it e n tir e ly d e ta c h e d a n d d is in te re s te d im ­
box, and, a fte r an e te rn ity of p a in - p e rs o n a ln e s s . M aybe h is ta n k s w e re
ra c k e d tim e , h e c o m p e lle d h is s lu g g is h e m p ty . Of c o u rse , it c o u l d n ’t have
hand to open it and to ta k e o u t th e ta k e n h im a s lo n g to p lu g th o s e le a k s
p la s tic . a s i t h a d s e e m e d t o , o r h e w o u l d n ’t h a v e
h a d a n y a i r le f t a t a ll, in ta n k s o r s u it.
T H E N , in a c o n tin u o u s ly c re scen d o H e c o u l d n ’t , h o w e v e r , h a v e m u c h l e f t .
th ro b b in g of agony, he fo rc e d h is H e w o u ld lo o k a t h is g a u g e s a n d se e .
m a im e d , c ru s h e d , and b ro k e n body to B u t n o w h e f o u n d t h a t h e c o u ld n o t
w r it h e a n d t o w r ig g le a b o u t, so t h a t h is m o v e e v e n h is e y e b a lls , so d e e p w a s th e
o n e s o u n d h a n d c o u ld fin d a n d s to p th e c o m a t h a t w a s e n v e lo p in g h im . A w ay
h o le s th r o u g h w h ic h h is p r e c io u s a i r w a s o ff s o m e w h e r e th e r e w a s a b illo w in g e x ­
w h is tlin g o u t a n d a w a y . F in d th e m he p a n s e o f b la c k n e s s , u tt e r l y h e a v e n ly in
d id , a n d q u ic k ly , a n d s e a le d th e m t i g h t ; its d e e p , s o ftly -c u s h io n e d c o m fo rt; a n d
b u t w h e n h e h a d p lu g g e d th e la s t o n e fro m th a t sea of peace and su rc e a se
h e s lu m p e d d o w n , s p e n t a n d e x h a u s te d . th e r e cam e re a c h in g to em b ra c e h im
H e d id n o t h u r t s o m u c h , n o w ; h is s u f ­ h u g e , s o f t, te n d e r a rm s. W hy su ffe r,
fe r in g had m o u n te d to such te r rif ic s o m e th in g c ro o n e d a t h im . It w as so
h e ig h ts o f in to le r a b le k e e n n e s s th a t th e m u c h e a s ie r to le t g o 1

TO BE C O N T IN U E D ,

AST—6
 Galactic Patrol
by
E. E. Smith, Ph. D.
Continuing Dr. Smith’s greatest novel

UP TO N O W :
He willed with all his force
Law enforcement lagged behind crime to see him as he really was.
because the police were limited in their
And instantly—the scholarly
spheres of action, while criminals were
not. Therefore, when the inertialess
old man subsided into a b r a i n .
116 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S
drive was perfected and commerce
throughout the galaxy became a com­
monplace, crime became so rampant as to
threaten civilisation. T h u s came into be­
ing the Galactic Patrol, an organisation
whose highest m embers, the Lensm en.are
of unlim ited authority and range. Each is
identified by wearing the Lens, a pseudo-
living, telepathic jew el matched to the
ego of its wearer by those m aster
philosophers, the Arisians. The Lens
cannot be cither im itated or counter­
feited, since it glows w ith color when
w orn by Us oumer, and since it kills any
other being who attem pts to zvear it.
O f each million selected candidates for
the Lens, all except about a hundred fall
before the grueling tests employed to
weed out the unfit. K im ball K innison
graduates N o. 1 in his class, and is given
command of the space ship Brittania.
H e is inform ed that the pirates, or Bos-
konians, are gaining the upper hand over
the patrol because of a new and almost
unlim ited source of pozver, and is in ­
structed to capture one of the new-type
ships of the pirates, in order to learn
the secret of that power.
H e succeeds in getting the informa­
tion, but cannot transm it it to P rim e
Base because the pirates are blanketing
all channels of communication. Bos-
konian ships are gathering, and the crip­
pled Brittania can neither run nor fight.
Each man is given a spool of tape bear­
ing the information, and all take to the
lifeboats.
Kinnison and V anB uskirk— a Vale­
rian, and therefore of enorm ous sisc and
strength— land upon a practically un­
know n planet, Velantia. T h ey aid
W orscl, a scientist of that planet, in de­
stroying a mentally parasitic race; then
all the resources of the planet arc de­
voted to the preparation of defenses
against the expected Boskonian attack.
Several others of the Brittania’s lifeboats
reach Velantia. K innison traces a com­
municator beam of H elm uth, who
“speaks for Boskone," thus getting his
first liite upon Boskonia’s Grand Base.
S ix pirate vessels are captured. In
the six ships, manned by Velantian crezvs
and nozv blanketing the pirates' oum
communicators, the patrolmen set out for
E arth and for the Prim e Base of the
patrol.
K innison’s Bergenhohn, the generator
of the force which neutralises inertia,
breaks down. H e is therefore forced to
land upon Trenco— the planet upon
which is produced thionite, the deadliest
of all habit-forming drugs— for repairs,
before he can go on toward Earth.
H elm uth, the Boskonian, goes to
A risia in an attem pt to find out what the
L en s really is, to give the Lensman such
pozver. H e is punished severely, m en­
tally, by the Arisians, but is allowed to
return to his Grand Base, alive and sane.
K innison, after a spectacular battle in
the E arth’s stratosphere, reaches Prime
Base ztnth his precious data.
B y building ultra-pozvcrful battleships,
called “maulers," the patrot gains a.
temporary advantage over Boskonia, but
a stalemate soon ensues. K innison de­
velops a plan of action, in the pursuit of
zvhich he scouts a pirate base upon Alde-
baran I. In a fight w ith the W heelm en
of that base he is seriously wounded.
X V II.
K
I N N I S O N d i d n o t lo s e c o n s c i o u s ­
n e s s — q u ite . T h e re w as to o
m u c h to d o , to o m u c h t h a t had to
be done. lie had to g e t o u t o f h e re .
H e h a d t o g e t b a c k t o h is s p e e d s t e r . He
h a d , b y b o o k o r b y c ro o k , to get bade
to P r im e B a s e ! T h e r e f o r e , g rim ly , d o g ­
g e d l y , t e e t h t i g h t - l o c k e d in d i e e n h a n c i n g
agony of ev e ry m o v e m e n t, he d re w
a g a in upon th o s e h id d e n , th o s e d e e p ly
b u r i e d r e s o u r c e s w h i c h e v e n lie h a d n o
id e a h e p o s s e s s e d . I lis code w as s im p le :
th e c o d e o f th e L e n s . W h ile a L e n sm a n
liv e d h e d id n o t q u it. K in n is o n w a s a
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 117
L en sm an . K in n is o n liv e d . K in n is o n a tm o s p h e re . W o n d e rin g ly , K in n is o n
d id n o t q u it. lo o k e d a t h is a i r g a u g e s . H e had enough
H e f o u g h t b a c k t h a t e n g u lf in g tid e o f -— i f h e h u r r i e d .
b la c k n e ss, w a v e b y w a v e a s i t c a m e . He A n d h u r r y h e d id . He could h u rry ,
b e a t d o w n b y s h e e r f o r c e o f w ill t h o s e s in c e th e r e w a s p ra c tic a lly n o a tm o s p h e re
te n d e r ly b e c k o n in g , th o s e s w e e tly s e d u c ­ to im p e d e h is flig h t. U p th e fiv e -m ile -
in g a rm s o f o b liv io n . He fo rced th e deep sh aft h e sh o t an d o u t in to space.
m a s s o f p ro te s tin g p u tty th a t w as h is H is c h r o n o m e te r , b u ilt t o w ith s ta n d e v e n
b o d y to d o w hat had to be d o n e. He s e v e r e r s h o c k s th a n t h a t o f h is fa ll, to l d
t h r u s t s ty p tic g a u z e in to th e m o s t c o p i­ h im w h e r e h is s p e e d s te r w a s to b e fo u n d ,
o u s ly b le e d in g o f h is w o u n d s . H e- w as a n d in a m a t t e r o f m i n u t e s li e f o u n d h e r .
b u r n e d , to o , he d is c o v e re d th e n — th e y A g a in s t h e r s id e h e fla s h e d in in e r tia le s s
m ust have had a h ig h - p o w e r e d n e e d le c o llis io n . H e f o r c e d h is r e b e llio u s r i g h t
r a y o n t h a t t r u c k , a s w e l l a s t h e rifle -— a r m in to th e sle e v e o f h is a r m o r a n d
but h e c o u ld do n o th in g a b o u t b u rn s. fu m b le d a t th e lo c k . I t y ie ld e d . The
T h e r e s i m p l y w a s n ’t t i m e . p o rt sw u n g open. He w as in s id e h is
H e fo u n d th e pow er le a d th a t had o w n sh ip .
b e e n s e v e r e d b y a b u lle t. S tr ip p in g th e A g a in th e e n c ro a c h in g , u n iv e rs e of
in s u la tio n w a s a n a lm o s t im p o s s ib le jo b , b la c k n e s s th r e a te n e d , b u t a g a in b e f o u g h t
b u t it w a s fin a lly a c c o m p lis h e d , a f te r a it o ff . He could n o t p ass o u t— y e t !
fa s h io n . B rid g in g th e g a p p ro v e d to be D r a g g in g h im s e lf t o th e b o a r d , h e la id
even a w o rse on e. S in c e th e r e w a s n o h is c o u rs e u p o n d is ta n t T e llu s , to o d is ­
s la c k , th e e n d s c o u ld n o t b e tw is te d to ­ t a n t b y f a r t o p e r m i t o f t h e s e le c tio n - o f
g e th e r , b u t h a d to be jo in e d b y a s h o r t su c h a tin y o b je c tiv e a s P r im e . B a s e . H e
p ie c e o f s p a r e w ire , w h ic h , in t u r n , h a d c o n n e c te d th e a u to m a tic c o n tr o ls .
t o b e s tr ip p e d a n d th e n tw i s t e d w ith e a c h H e w a s w e a k e n in g fa s t, a n d k n e w it.
e n d o f th e s e v e r e d le a d . T h a t ta s k , to o , B u t f r o m s o m e w h e r e a n d in s o m e f a s h i o n
he f i n a ll y fin is h e d , a lth o u g h he w as he m ust g e t s tre n g th to do w h at m ust
w o rk in g p u re ly by feel and h a lf con­ b e if o n e — a n d s o m e h o w h e d id it. He
s c i o u s , w i t h a l in a w r a c k i n g , h a z e o f p a i n . s h o v e d h is le v e r s o u t to m a x im u m b la s t.
- S o ld e r in g th o s e jo in ts w a s , o f c o u rs e , H ang o n , K im ! H ang on fo r ju s t a
o u t o f th e q u e s tio n . H e w a s a fra id e v e n seco n d m o re! H e d is c o n n e c te d th e
to tr y to in s u la te th e m w ith ta p e , le s t sp acer. H e k ille d th e d e te c to r n u llifie rs .
th e lo o s e ly tw in e d s tra n d s sh o u ld fa ll T h e n , w ith th e u tte r ly la s t r e m n a n t o f
a p a r t in t h e a tt e m p t . H e d id h a v e so m e h is s tr e n g th h e th o u g h t in to h is L e n s .
d r y h a n d k e r c h ie f s , h o w e v e r , i f h e c o u ld “ H a y n e s .” The th o u g h t w ent out
re a c h th e m . He c o u ld , and d id , and b lu rre d , d is to rte d , w eak. " K in n is o n .
w ra p p e d o n e c a re fu lly a b o u t th e w ir e s ’ I ’m c o m i n g — c o m ------- ”
b a re jo in ts . T hen, a p p re h e n s iv e ly , h e H e w a s d o n e — o u t c o ld , u t t e r l y s p e n t.
t r i e d h is n e u t r a l i z e r . W o n d er of w on­ H e h a d a lr e a d y d o n e to o m u c h — f a r , f a r
d e r s , it w o r k e d ! S o d i d h is d r i v e r ! to o m u c h . H e h a d d r iv e n th a t p itif u lly
I n m o m e n ts th e n h e w a s r o c k e tin g u p m a n g le d b o d y of h is to its u ltim a te ly la s t
th e s h a f t, a n d a s h e p a s s e d th e o p e n in g p o s s ib le m o v e m e n t; h is w ra c k e d a n d t o r ­
o u t o f w h ic h h e h a d b e e n b lo w n , h e r e ­ t u r e d m in d t o i t s u ltim a te ly la s t p o s s ib le
a liz e d w ith a m az em en t th a t w hat had th o u g h t. T h e la s t io t a o f e v e n h is t r e ­
s e e m e d t o h i m li k e h o u r s m u s t h a v e b e e n m endous re se rv e of v ita lity w as con­
m in u te s o n ly , a n d fe w e v e n o f th e m . F o r s u m e d a n d h e p lu n g e d , p a r s e c s d e e p , in to
th e fr a n tic W h e e lm e n w e re j u s t th e n lift­ th e b la c k d e p th s o f o b liv io n w h ic h h a d
in g in to p la c e th e te m p o r a r y s h ie ld w h ic h s o lo n g a n d so u n s u c c e s s fu lly b e e n t r y ­
w a s to s te m th e m ig h ty o u tr u s h o f th e ir in g to e n g u lf h im .
118 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

Then two husky pilots played the armored figures on the steel cables as an
angler plays a fish, aiding the struggling drivers to overcome the velocity.
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 119

B U T K IM B A L L K IN N IS O N , g ra y a rm o r. U n u s e d fo r y e a rs , n e v e rth e le s s
L e n s m a n , h a d d o n e e v e ry th in g th a t h a d it w as kept in re a d in e s s fo r in s ta n t
had to b e d o n e b e fo r e h e b la c k e d o u t. s e r v ic e ; a n d n o w , a t lo n g la s t, th e a id
H is fin a l th o u g h t, fe e b le th o u g h it w a s , s p a c e fle a h a d a g o o d e x c u s e t o u s e i t
a n d in c o m p le te , d id its w o r k . a g a in .
P o r t A d m ira l H a y n e s w a s s e a te d at A rm o re d , h e s tr o d e o u t in to th e la n d ­
h is d e s k , d is c u s s in g m a tte rs of im p o rt i n g f i e ld a c r o s s t h e p a v e d w a y . T h e re
w i t h a n o f f ic e f u l o f e x e c u t i v e s , w h e n t h a t a w a itin g h im w e re tw o a rm o re d fig u re s ,
th o u g h t a rriv e d . H a rd e n e d o ld space t h e tw o to p - r a n k in g p ilo ts . T h e re w e re
hound th a t he w as, and s u rv iv o r of th e d o c to r a n d th e n u rse . H e b a re ly
m a n y e n c o u n te rs a n d h o s p ita liz a tio n s , h e saw — o r, ra th e r, h e saw w ith o u t n o tic ­
knew in s ta n tly w h a t th a t th o u g h t c o n ­ in g — a sau cy w h ite c a p a to p a rio t o f
n o te d a n d fro m th e d e p th s o f w h a t d ir e re d -b ro n z e -a u b u rn c u rls , a s y m m e tric a !
n e e d it h a d b e e n se n t. young b o d y in its s p o tle s s w h ite . H e
T h e re fo re , to th e a m a z e m e n t o f th e d i d n o t n o t i c e t h e f a c e a t a ll. W h at he
o ffic e rs in th e r o o m , h e s u d d e n ly le a p e d saw w as th a t th e re w as a n e u tr a liz e r
to h is f e e t, s e iz e d h is m ic ro p h o n e a n d s tra p p e d s n u g ly in to th e c u rv e of her
sn ap p ed o u t o rd e rs. O rd e rs, an d s till b a c k , t h a t it w a s fitte d p r o p e r ly , a n d th a t
m o re o rd e rs. E v e r y v e ss e l in s e v e n s e c ­ it w a s n o t y e t f u n c tio n in g .
t o r s , o f w h a t e v e r c l a s s o r t o r .a g e , w a s
to sh o v e its d e te c to rs o u t t c / t h e lim it. F O R th is th a t fa c e d th e m w a s n o o r ­
K i n n i s o n ’s s p e e d s t e r i s o u t t h e r e s o m e ­ d in a r y jo b . The s p e e d s te r w o u ld la n d
w h e re . F in d h e r— get h e r — k ill her fre e . W o rs e , th e a d m ira l fe a re d — a n d
d riv e a n d d r a g h e r in h e re , to N o . 10 rig h tly — th a t K in n is o n w o u ld a ls o be
l a n d i n g f i e ld . G e t a p ilo t h e re , f a s t— fre e , b u t in d e p e n d e n tly , w ith a la te n t v e ­
n o , tw o p ilo ts , in a r m o r . G e t t h e m o ff lo c ity d iffe re n t fro m th a t of h is s h ip .
t h e t o p o f t h e b o a r d , to o — W a t s o n a n d T h e y m u s t e n te r th e s p e e d s te r, ta k e h e r
S c h e r m e r h o r n if t h e y ’r e a n y w h e r e w i t h i n o u t in to sp a c e a n d in e r t h e r. K in n is o n
ra n g e . H e th e n c a lle d B a s e H o s p ita l. m u s t b e ta k e n o u t o f th e s p e e d s te r, in ­
“ L a c y !” he b a rk e d at th e d ig n ifie d e r te d , h is v e lo c ity m a tc h e d to t h a t o f th e
c h ie f s u r g e o n . “ I ’v e g o t a b o y o u t t h a t ’s flie r, a n d b ro u g h t back a b o a rd . T hen
b a d ly h u r t . H e ’s c o m i n g i n f r e e . Y ou a n d o n ly th e n c o u ld d o c to r a n d n u r s e b e ­
know w h a t th a t m eans. Send over a g in to w o r k o n h im . T h e n th e y w o u ld
g o o d d o c to r . A n d h av e y o u g o t a n u rse h a v e t o la n d a s f a s t a s a la n d in g c o u ld
w h o k n o w s h o w to u se a p e rs o n a l n e u ­ be m ade. T h e b o y s h o u ld h a v e b e e n in
t r a l i z e r a n d w h o i s n ’t a f r a i d t o g o i n t o th e h o s p ita l lo n g a g o .
th e n e t? ” A nd d u rin g a ll th e s e e v o lu tio n s a n d
“ C o m in g m y s e lf. Y e s .” T h e d o c t o r ’s u n til th e ir r e t u r n to g ro u n d th e re s c u e rs
v o ic e w as as c ris p as th e a d m i r a l ’s . th e m s e lv e s w o u ld re m a in in e r tia le s s .
“W hen do you w ant u s?” O rd in a rily su ch v is ito rs le f t th e sh ip ,
“ A s so o n a s th e y g e t th e ir tr a c to r s o n in e r te d th e m s e lv e s , a n d c a m e b a c k to i t
th a t s p e e d s te r. Y o u 'l l k n o w w h e n th a t in e r t, u n d e r th e ir o w n p o w e r. B ut now
h a p p e n s .” th e r e w a s n o tim e f o r th a t. T hey had
T h e n , n e g le c tin g a ll o th e r b u s in e s s , th e to g e t K in n is o n to th e h o s p ita l; a n d b e ­
p o r t a d m ir a l d ir e c te d in p e r s o n t h e f a r - s id e s , th e d o c to r a n d th e n u r s e — p a r tic ­
flu n g s c r e e n o f s h ip s s e a r c h in g f o r K in - u la r ly th e n u r s e — c o u ld n o t b e e x p e c te d
n i s o n 's f l y i n g m i d g e t . to b e s p a c e -s u it n a v ig a to rs . T h e y w o u ld
E v e n tu a lly she w as fo u n d ; and a ll t a k e i t i n t h e n e t , a n d t h a t w a s a n ­
H a y n e s , c u ttin g o ff h is p la te s , le a p e d to o th e r re a s o n f o r h a s te . F o r w h ile th e y
a c lo s e t in w h ic h w a s h a n g in g h is o w n w e r e g o n e th e i r la te n t v e lo c ity w o u ld r e ­
120 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

m a in unchanged, w h ile th e a c tu a l ve­ new d ir e c tio n and w ith tr e m e n d o u s

lo c ity of th e ir p re se n t s u rro u n d in g s s p e e d , a s H a y n e s c u t K i n n i s o n ’s n e u t r a l ­
w o u ld be c h a n g in g c o n s ta n tly . The iz e r . T h e r e w a s a m ig h ty d o u b le fla re
lo n g e r th e y w e r e g o n e th e g r e a t e r w o u ld a s th e d r i v e r s o f b o th s p a c e s u its s t r u g ­
b e c o m e th e d is c re p a n c y . H e n c e th e n e t. g le d a g a in s t th a t w h ic h had been th e
The n e t— a le a th e r-a n d -c a n v a s sack, y o u n g L e n s m a n ’s l a t e n t v e l o c i t y .
lin e d w ith s o f tly padded in n e r-s p rin g A s so o n a s it w a s sa fe to d o so , o u t
m a ttre s s e s , an c h o re d to c e ilin g and to d a rte d an a rm o re d fig u r e w ith a sp a c e
w a lls a n d to flo o r th r o u g h e v e r y s h o c k ­ lin e , w h o s e g ra p p lin g end c lin k e d in to
a b s o r b in g a rtific e o f s te e l s p r in g a n d o f a s o c k e t o f t h e o l d m a n ’s a r m o r a s t h e
r u b b e r c a b le t h a t t h e m in d o f m a n h a d p ilo t ra m m e d it hom e. T hen, as an
b e e n a b le to d e v is e . I t ta k e s s o m e th in g a n g le r p la y s a fish , tw o h u sky p ilo ts ,
to a b s o r b a n d to d is s ip a te th e k in e tic e n ­ f e e t w id e - b r a c e d a g a in s t th e ste e l p o r ta l
e r g y w h ic h m a y r e s id e w ith in a h u m a n o f th e a ir lo c k a n d b o d ie s s w e a tin g w ith
body w hen its la te n t v e lo c ity d o e s n o t e ff o rt, h e a v in g w h e n th e y c o u ld a n d g iv ­
m a tc h e x a c tly th e a c tu a l v e lo c ity o f its in g lin e o n ly w h e n th e y m u s t, h e lp e d th e
s u r r o u n d i n g s — t h a t i s , i f t h a t b o d y is n o t la b o rin g d riv e rs to o v e rc o m e th e d if­
to b e m a s h e d to a p u lp . I t ta k e s s o m e ­ fe r e n c e in v e lo c ity .
th i n g , a ls o , to e n a b le a n y h u m a n b e in g to
fa c e w ith o u t flin c h in g th e p r o s p e c t o f g o ­ SO ON T H E LEN S M EN, young
in g in to th a t n e t, e s p e c ia lly in ig n o r a n c e a n d o ld , w e r e in s id e . D o c to r a n d n u rs e
o f e x a c tly h o w m u c h k in e tic e n e r g y w ill w e n t in s ta n tly to w o rk , w ith th e c a lm ­
h a v e to b e d is s ip a te d . n ess and p re c is io n so c h a ra c te ris tic of
H a y n e s c o g ita te d , s tu d y in g th e e re c t, th e ir h ig h ly s k ille d c ra fts . In a tr ic e
s u p p le y o u n g b a c k , th e n sp o k e , “ M a y b e th e y h a d h im o u t o f h is a r m o r , o u t o f
w e ’d b e tte r c a n c e l th e n u rs e , L a c y , o r h is le a th e r , a n d in to a h a m m o c k , p e rc e iv ­
g e t h e r a su it-< ------ ” in g a t o n c e t h a t e x c e p t fo r a fe w p a d s
“ T im e is to o im p o r t a n t,” th e g ir l h e r ­ o f g a u z e th e y c o u ld d o n o th in g f o r th e ir
s e lf p u t in , c r is p ly . “ D o n 't w o r r y a b o u t p a tie n t u n til th e y h a d h im u p o n a n o p ­
m e, a d m ira l; I 'v e been in th e n et be­ e ra tin g ta b le . M e a n w h ile th e p ilo ts ,
f o r e .” h a v in g s w u n g th e h a m m o c k s, h a d b e e n
She tu r n e d to w a r d H aynes as she o b s e r v in g , c o m p u tin g , a n d c o n fe rrin g .
sp o k e, a n d f o r th e f ir s t tim e h e re a lly “ S h e ’s g o t a l o t o f s p e e d , a d m i r a l —
saw h e r face. W h y , sh e w a s a ra v in g m o s t o f i t s t r a i g h t d o w n ,” W a ts o n re ­
b e a u ty — a k n o c k -o u t— a se v e n -se c to r p o rte d . “ O n het l a n d i n g j e t s i t ’ll t a k e
c a l l - o u t -------- t w o G ’s o n a f u l l i . v o l u t i o n t o b r i n g h e r
“ H e r e s h e i s !” I n th e g r ip o f a tr a c ­ in . W ith b o th o f u s a t th e c o n tro ls w e
t o r t h e s p e e d s t e r h a d f l a s h e d "to g r o u n d c a n b a l a n c e h e r d o w n , b u t i t ’ll h a v e t o h e
in fro n t o f th e w a itin g f iv e , and th e y o n h e r t a i l a n d i t ’ll m e a n o v e r f iv e G ’s
h u rrie d a b o a rd . a ll th e w a y . W h ic h d o y o u w a n t? ”
T h e y h u rr ie d , b u t th e re w a s n o flu rry , “ W h i c h is m o r e i m p o r t a n t . L a c y , t i m e
n o c o n fu s io n . E a c h k n e w e x a c tly w h a t o r p r e s s u r e ? ” H a y n e s tr a n s f e r r e d d e c i­
t o d o , a n d e a c h d i d it . s io n to th e s u r g e o n .
O u t in to s p a c e s h o t th e little v e s s e l, “ T im e .” L acy d e c id e d in s ta n tly .
je r k in g s a v a g e ly d o w n w a rd and s id e - “ F ig h t her d o w n !” H is p a tie n t had
w is e a s o n e o f th e p ilo ts c u t th e B e r g c n - b e e n th r o u g h so m u c h a lre a d y o f fo rc e
h o lm . O u t o f th e a i r lo c k fle w th e p o r t a n d p r e s s u r e t h a t a little m o r e w o u ld n o t
a d m ira l and th e h e lp le s s , u n c o n s c io u s d o a d d itio n a l h u r t , a n d tim e w a s m o s t
K in n is o n . in e rtia le s s b o th and now d e c id e d ly o f th e e ss e n c e .
c h a in e d to g e th e r . O ff th e y d a r te d , in a S ta r k ly in c a n d e s c e n t fla re s rip p e d a n d
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 121
ra v e d fro m d riv in g je ts and s id e je ts . c a m e o u t o f th e o p e ra tin g ro o m h e b u t­
The s p e e d s te r sp u n aro u n d v ic io u s ly , to n h o le d h im .
o n ly t o b e c u r b e d , s k i l l f u l l y if s a v a g e l y , “ H o w a b o u t it, L a c y , w ill h e liv e ? ” h e
a t th e p re c is e ly r ig h t in s ta n t. W ith o u t dem anded.
an o rb it, w ith o u t e v e n a c o rk sc re w or “ L iv e ? O f c o u r s e h e ’ll l i v e , ” t h e s u r ­
o th e r s p ira l, she w as g o in g dow n— geon re p lie d , g ru ffly . “ C a n ’t te ll you
s tra ig h t d o w n . A nd not upon her un­ d e t a i l s y e t — w o n ’t k n o w , o u r s e l v e s , f o r
d e r je ts w a s t h i s d e s c e n t to b e , n o r u p o n a c o u p le o f h o u r s y e t. B u z z o ff, H a y n e s .
h e r m o re p o w e rfu l b ra k in g je ts . T hose C o m e b a c k a t s i x o ’c l o c k — n o t a s e c o n d
tw o m a s te r p ilo ts , P rim e B a s e ’s b e s t, b e f o r e — a n d I ’ll t e l l y o u a l l a b o u t i t . ”
w e re g o in g to k il l t h e a w f u l i n e r t i a o f S in c e th e r e w as no h e lp fo r it th e
th e s p e e d s te r b y “ b a la n c in g her dow n p o r t a d m i r a l d i d " b u z z o f f ,” b u t h e w a s
o n h e r ta il.” O r , to tr a n s la te fro m th e b a c k p ro m p tly o n th e tic k o f th e d e s ig ­
j a r g o n o f s p a c e , th e y w e r e g o in g to h o ld n a te d h o u r.
th e tr ic k y , c ra n k y little v essel u p rig h t “ H o w is h e ?” h e b e g a n , w i t h o u t p r e ­
upon th e te r rif ic b la s ts o f h e r d r iv in g a m b le . “ W ill he re a lly liv e , or w e re
p r o j e c t o r s , a g a i n s t t h e E a r t h ’s- g r a v i t a ­ y o u j u s t g iv in g m e a s h o t in th e a r m ? ”
tio n and a g a in s t a ll o th e r p e rtu rb in g " B e tte r th a n t h a t , m u c h b e t t e r , ’’: t h e
fo r c e s , w h ile h e r d r iv in g f o r c e c o u n te r ­ su rg eo n a ssu re d h im . “ D e fin ite ly so;
a c te d , o v e rc a m e , a n d d is s ip a te d th e fu ll y es. H e is in m uch b e tte r shape
fr ig h tf u l m e a s u r e o f th e k in e tic e n e rg y th a n w e d a re d hope. M ust have been
o f h e r m ass an d sp e e d ! a v e ry lig h t c r a s h in d e e d — n o th in g s e r i­
A nd b a la n c e her dow n th e y d id . o u s ly th e m a tte r w ith h im a t a ll. W e
B a y n e s w a s a f r a id fo r a w h ile t h a t th a t w o n ’t e v e n h a v e t o a m p u t a t e , f r o m w h a t
in tr e p id p a ir w e re a c tu a lly g o in g to land w e c a n see n o w . H e s h o u ld m a k e a o n e -
t h e s p e e d s te r o n h e r ta il. T h e y d i d n ’t — h u n d re d -p e r-c e n t re c o v e ry , not o n ly
q u ite — b u t th e y h a d o n ly a s c a n t h u n d r e d w ith o u t a rtific ia l m e m b e rs, but w ith
fe e t to s p a r e w h e n th e y n o s e d h e r o v e r s c a rc e ly a s c a r . H e c o u l d n 't h a v e b e e n
a n d e a sed h e r to g ro u n d o n h e r u n d e r in a s p a c e c r a c k - u p a t a ll, o r h e w o u ld
je ts . n o t h a v e c o m e o u t w ith so little in j u r y .”
“ F in e , d o c — w o n d e r f u l! N o w th e d e ­
The c ra sh -w a g o n and its c re w w e re
ta ils .”
w a itin g , a n d a s K in n is o n w a s r u s h e d to
“ H e r e ’s t h e p i c t u r e . ” A n d th e d o c­
th e h o s p ita l th e o th e r s h u r r ie d to th e n e t
to r u n ro lle d a fu ll-le n g th X -ra y p rin t,
ro o m . D o c to r L a c y firs t, o f c o u rs e , th e n
s h o w in g e v e r y a n a to m ic a l d e ta il o f th e
th e n u rs e ; and, to H a y n e s ’ a p p ro v in g
L e n s m a n ’s in te rio r s tru c tu r e . “ F irs t,
s u rp ris e , she to o k it lik e a v e te ra n .
j u s t n o tic e th a t s k e le to n . I t is r e a l l y r e ­
H a r d l y h a d th e s u r g e o n le t h im s e lf o u t
m a rk a b le . S lig h tly o u t o f tr u e h e r e a n d
o f th e “ c o c o o n ” th a n s h e w a s in i t ; a n d
th e r e r i g h t n o w , o f c o u r s e , b u t I b e lie v e
h a r d ly h a d th e te r r if ic s u r g e s a n d re c o ils
t h a t i t is g o in g to tu rn o u t to b e th e
o f h e r o w n n o t in c o n s id e ra b le o n e h u n ­
seco n d a b s o lu te ly p e rf e c t m a le s k e le to n
d re d and fo r ty -f iv e pounds of m ass
I h av e e v e r seen. T h a t y o u n g m a n w ill
a b a te d th a n she h e rs e lf w as out and
g o fa r, H a y n e s .”
s p rin tin g a c ro s s th e sw a rd to w a rd th e
" S u r e h e w ill. W h y e ls e d o y o u s u p ­
h o s p ita l.
p o s e w e p u t h im in g r a y ? B u t I d i d n ’t
co m e o v e r h e re to b e to ld th a t. Show
H A Y N E S w e n t b a c k t o h i s o f f ic e a n d m e th e d a m a g e ,”
tr ie d to w o r k , b u t h e c o u ld n o t c o n c e n ­ " L o o k a t th e p ic tu re — se e fo r y o u r­
tr a te . H e m a d e h is w a y b a c k to th e h o s ­ se lf. M u ltip le a n d c o m p o u n d fr a c tu r e s ,
p ita l. T h e re he w a ite d , and as L acy y o u n o tic e , o f k g s a n d a r m , a n d a fe w
122 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

rib s . S c a p u la , o f c o u r s e — th e r e . O h, r e a lly p e r f e c t s k e le to n I e v e r s a w in a
y e s , t h e r e ’s a s k u l l f r a c t u r e , t o o , b u t i t w o m a n -------- ”
d o e s n ’t am ount to m uch. T h a t ’s a ll . “ It i s n ’t t h e s k e le to n I ’m in te r e s te d
T h e s p i n e , y o u s e e , i s n ’t i n j u r e d a t a l l . ” in ,” g ru n te d H a y n e s . “ I t ’s w h a t is o u t ­
" W h a t d ’y o u m e a n , ' t h a t ’s a l l ’ ? H o w s i d e t h e s k e l e t o n t h a t m y L c n s m a n w ill
a b o u t h is w o u n d s ? I s a w so m e o f th e m b e lo o k in g a t .”
m y s e lf, a n d th e y w e re n o t p in p r ic k s .” “ Y o u n e e d n ’t w o r r y a b o u t M a c D o u -
“ N o th in g o f t h e le a s t im p o r ta n c e . A g a ll,” d e c la r e d th e s u r g e o n . “ O ne good
fe w p u n c tu r e d w o u n d s a n d a c o u p le of l o o k a t t h a t p i c t u r e w i l l te l l y o u t h a t .
in c is e d o n e s , b u t n o th i n g e v e n c lo s e t o S h e c la s s ifie s . W it h th a t s k e le to n s h e
a v ita l p a rt. He w o n ’t need even a has to . S h e c o u l d n ’t le a v e t h e b e a m a
tr a n s f u s io n , s in c e h e s to p p e d th e m a j o r m illim e te r, e v e n if s h e w a n te d to . G ood,
h e m o rrh a g e s h im s e lf, s h o rtly a fte r he bad, or in d iffe r e n t; m a le or fe m a le ;
w as w ounded. T h e re a re a fe w b u rn s , o f p h y s ic a l, m e n ta l, m o ra l, and p sycho­
c o u r s e , b u t th e y a r e m o s tly s u p e rfic ia l— lo g ic a l ; th e s k e le to n te lls th e w h o le
n o n e t h a t w ill n o t y ie ld q u it e r e a d ily to s to r y .”
tr e a tm e n t.” “ M a y b e i t d o e s t o y o u , b u t n o t t o m e ,”
“ M ig h ty g la d o f th a t . H e ’ll b e h e r e A n d H a y n e s to o k u p th e “ c o n v e n tio n a l”
s ix w eek s th e n ? ” p h o to g ra p h — a ste re o s c o p e in fu ll and
“ B e t t e r c a ll i t t w e l v e , I t h i n k — t e n a t a b s o lu te ly tru e c o lo r , a n a lm o s t liv in g
le a s t. Y ou see, so m e o f th e fra c tu re s , d u p lic a te o f th e g ir l i n q u e s tio n . H er
e s p e c ia lly th o s e in th e le f t le g , a n d a th ic k , h e a v y h a ir w a s n o t re d , b u t w a s
c o u p le o f th e b u rn s , a re ra th e r sev ere, a v iv id ly in te n s e and in d e s c rib a b le
as su ch th in g s go. T hen, to o , th e a u b u rn , a g o rg e o u s m a ss o f c o p p e ry
le n g th o f tim e e la p s in g b e tw e e n in j u r y b ro n z e , fla s h e d w ith r e d a n d g o ld . H er
a n d t r e a t m e n t d i d n 't d o a n y t h i n g a b i t e y e s — b r o n z e w a s a ll t h a t h e c o u ld th in k
o f g o o d .” o f, w ith fle c k s o f to p a z and o f ta w n y
" I n t w o w e e k s h e ’ll b e w a n t i n g t o g e t g o ld . H e r s k in , to o , w a s fa in tly b ro n z e ,
u p a n d g o p la c e s a n d d o t h i n g s ; a n d in g lo w in g w ith even m o re th a n h e a lth y
s i x h e ’ll b e t e a r i n g d o w n y o u r h o s p i t a l , y o u t h ’s n o r m a l m e a s u r e o f s p a r k l i n g v i ­
s to n e b y s to n e .” ta lity , N o t o n ly w a s s h e b e a u tifu l, th e
“ Y e s .” The su rg eo n s m ile d . “H e p o r t a d m ir a l d e c id e d ; in th e w o rd s o f th e
is n o t th e ty p e to m a k e a n id e a l p a t i e n t ; s u r g e o n , s h e “ c l a s s i f i e d ,”
b u t, a s I h a v e to ld y o u b e fo r e , I lik e to “ H m -m -m . W o rse even th a n I
h a v e p a ti e n ts t h a t w e d o n o t lik e .” th o u g h t,” h e m u tte re d . " S h e ’s a m e n ­
a c e to c iv iliz a tio n .” A n d h e w e n t o n to
"A N D A N O T H E R T H IN G . I w ant r e a d th e d o c u m e n ts . “ F a m ily — h m -m -m .
t h e f i le s o n h i s n u r s e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y t h e H is to ry . . . . E x p e rie n c e s . . . .
r e d - h e a d e d o n e ,” R e a c tio n s a n d c h a r a c te r is tic s . , , be­
“ I s u s p e c te d th a t y o u w o u ld , so I h a d h a v io r . . . p s y c h o lo g y
th e m sent dow n. H e re y o u a re . G la d m e n t a l i t y -------- ”
y o u n o t i c e d M a c D o u g a l l — s h e 's b y w a y “ S h e ’l l do, L a c y ,” he a d v is e d th e
o f b e in g my fa v o rite . C la rris s a M ac- su rg eo n fin a lly . "K eep her on w ith
D o u g a ll— S c o tc h , of c o u rse , w ith th a t h im .”
n a m e — tw e n ty y e a r s o ld . H e ig h t, o n e " B u t se e h e r e , H a y n e s , y o u s u s p ic io u s
h u n d r e d s ix ty - e ig h t c e n ti m e t e r s ; w e ig h t, o ld g r a n n y ! ” s n o r te d th e d o c to r . "H e
s i x t y - s i x k ilo s . H e re a re h e r p ic tu re s . w o n ’t b e f a l l i n g f o r a n y b o d y y e t . W h y ,
N e v e r m in d th e c o n v e n tio n a l p h o t o ; th is h e 's j u s t b e e n u n a t t a c h e d . H e ’ll b e b u l ­
X - r a y is th e o n e t h a t c o u n ts . M a n , lo o k le tp r o o f f o r q u it e a w h ile . Y o u o u g h t to
a t th a t s k e le to n ! B e a u tifu l! T h e o n ly know th a t young L e n s m e n — e s p e c ia lly
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 123
young g ra y L e n s m e n — c a n 't see any­ p e rie n c e a g a in s t your k n o w le d g e of
th in g but th e ir jo b s , fo r a c o u p le of b o n e s , a n y tim e . N o t s a y in g th a t h e will
y e a rs , a n y w a y .” fa ll th is tr ip , y o u u n d e r s ta n d — j u s t p la y ­
‘‘H i s s k e le to n te lls you th a t, to o , in g sa fe . G o o d -b y , L a c y !”
h u h ? ” H a y n e s g r u n t e d , s k e p tic a lly . “ O r ­
d in a rily , yes! but you never can te ll,
X V III,
e s p e c ia lly i n h o s p ita ls .”
" M o r e o f y o u r l a y m a n ’s m i s i n f o r m a ­ K IN N IS O N w a s d ra g g e d o u t o f u n ­
t i o n !” L a c y s n a p p e d . “ C o n tr a r y to p o p ­ c o n s c io u s n e s s b y th e k n o w le d g e t h a t h e
u l a r b e li e f , r o m a n c e d o e s n o t t h r i v e i n h a d la n d e d h is s p e e d s te r in e r tia le s s . He
h o s p i ta l s ; e x c e p t, o f c o u rs e , a m o n g th e c a m e to — o r , r a t h e r , to s a y t h a t h e c a m e
sta ff. P a tie n ts o fte n tim e s th in k th a t th e y h a lf to w o u ld b e a m o r e a c c u r a te s ta te ­
f a l l i n lo v e w i t h n u r s e s , b u t i t t a k e s t w o m e n t— w ith a y e ll d ir e c te d a t t h e b ltir -
p e o p le to m ake one ro m a n c e . N u rse s rily s e e n f ig u r e in w h ite w h ic h h e k n e w
d o n o t fa ll in lo v e w i t h p a t i e n t s , b e c a u s e m u s t be a n u rse .
a m a n is n e v e r a t h is b e s t u n d e r h o s ­ “ N u rse !” T h e n , a s a s e a rin g s ta b o f
p ita liz a tio n . In fa c t, th e b e tte r a m a n p a in s h o t th r o u g h h im a t th e e ff o rt, h e
is , t h e p o o re r a s h o w in g h e is a p t to w e n t o n , th in k in g a t th e fig u re in w h ite
m a k e .” th r o u g h h is L ens: “M y s p e e d s te r! I
"A n d , as I fo rg e t w h o s a id , a to n g la n d e d her fre e ! G et th e sp ace p o rt
))
t i m e a g o , ‘n o g e n e r a l i z a t i o n i s e v e r t r u e ,
n o t e v e n th i s o n e ,’ ” r e t o r te d th e p o r t a d ­ " T h e r e , t h e r e , L e n s m a n , ” a lo w , r i c h
m ira l. "W hen i t d o e s h it h im i t w ill v o ic e c r o o n e d , a n d a r e d h e a d b e n t o v e r
h i t h a r d , a n d w e ’ll t a k e n o c h a n c e s . H ow h im , “T he s p e e d s te r has been ta k e n
a b o u t th e b la c k - h a ir e d o n e ? ” c a re o f. E v e ry th in g is o n th e n e e d le s ;
g o to s le e p a n d r e s t.”
“ W e ll, I ju s t to ld y o u t h a t M a c D o u -
“ B u t m y s h i p - -------”
g a ll h a s th e o n ly p e r f e c t s k e le to n I e v e r
“ N e v e r m in d y o u r s h ip ,” th e u n c tu ­
saw in a w om an. B ro w n le e is v e ry
o u s v o ic e w e n t o n . “ I t w a s la n d e d a n d
g o o d , t o o , o f c o u r s e , b u t — —”
p u t a w a y -------- ”
“ B u t n o t g o o d e n o u g h to ra te L e n s-
“ L i s t e n , d u m b - b e l l !” s n a p p e d t h e p a ­
m a n ’s m a t e , e h ?” H a y n e s c o m p l e t e d t h e
tie n t, s p e a k in g a lo u d n o w , in s p ite o f th e
th o u g h t. “ T h e n ta k e h e r o u t. P ic k th e
p a in , th e b e tte r t o d r iv e h o m e h is m e a n ­
b e s t s k e l e t o n s y o u ’v e g o t f o r t h i s j o b ,
in g . " D o n ’t t r y to s o o th e m e ! W hat
a n d see th a t n o o th e rs c o m e a n y w h e re
d o y o u th in k I a m , d e lirio u s ? G e t th is
n e a r h im . T r a n s f e r th e m to so m e o th e r
a n d g e t it s tr a ig h t. I s a id th a t I la n d e d
h o s p ita l— to som e o th e r flo o r of th is
th a t s p e e d s te r free. I f y o u d o n ’t k n o w
one, at le a s t. A ny w om an th a t he
w hat th a t m eans, te ll som ebody th a t
e v e r f a l ls f o r w i l l f a l l f o r h i m , i n s p i t e
does. G et th e sp a c e p o rt— g e t H a y n e s —
of y o u r id e a s a s to th e o n e -w a y n e s s of
h o s p i t a l r o m a n c e ; a n d I d o n ’t w a n t h i m
“ W e g o t th e m , L e n s m a n , lo n g a g o .”
to h a v e su c h a g o o d c h a n c e o f m a k in g a
A lth o u g h h e r v o ic e w a s s till c re a m ily ,
d i v e a t s o m e t h i n g t h a t d o e s n ’t r a t e u p .
s w e e tly s o f t, a n a n g r y c o lo r b u r n e d in to
A m I r ig h t o r w r o n g , y o u o ld s a w b o n e s ,
t h e n u r s e ’s f a c e , " I s a i d e v e r y t h i n g i s o ft
a n d f o r h o w m u c h ?”
z e ro . Y o u r s p e e d s te r w a s in e r te d ; h o w
“ W e l l , I h a v e n ’t h a d t i m e y e t t o r e a l l y e ls e c o u l d y o u b e h e r e , i n e r t ? 1 h e lp e d
s t u d y h i s s k e l e t o n , b u t --------■” d o it m y s e lf, s o I know th a t s h e is in e r t.”
" B e t t e r t a k e a w e e k o ff a n d s t u d y i t . " Q X .” T h e p a tie n t re la p s e d in s ta n tly
I ’v e s t u d i e d a l o t o f p e o p l e in t h e l a s t in to u n c o n s c io u s n e s s and th e n u rse
s ix ty -fiv e y e a r s , a n d I ’ll m a t c h m y e x ­ tu rn e d to an in te rn e s ta n d in g by.
124 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

(W h e re v e r that n u r s e w a s, a t le a s t o n e fa t p o rk . He w a n te d b re a d in th ic k
d o c to r c o u ld a lm o s t a lw a y s b e f o u n d .) s lic e s , p ile d h ig h w ith b u tte r, a n d not
" D u m b - b e l l !” she fla re d . "W hat a th is q u a d ru p ly -a n d -u n m e n tio n a b ly -q u a li-
sw eet m ess he’s g o in g to b e to ta k e c a re fie d to a s t. H e w a n te d r o a s t b e e f, r a r e ,
o f! H e ’s n o t e v e n c o n s c io u s y e t, a n d in g re a t ch u n k s. H e w a n te d p o ta to e s
h e ’s c a l l i n g n a m e s a n d p i c k i n g f i g h t s a l ­ and th ic k b ro w n g ra v y . He w a n te d
r e a d y !” c o rn e d beef an d cabbage. He w a n te d
I n a f e w d a y s K i n n is o n w a s fu lly a n d p ie — a n y k in d of p i e — in la r g e , th ic k
a le r tly c o n s c io u s . In a w e e k m o s t o f th e q u a rte rs . H e w a n te d p e a s a n d c o rn a n d
p a in h a d le f t h im , a n d h e w a s b e g in n in g a s p a r a g u s a n d c u c u m b e rs , a n d a ls o v a r i­
to ch a fe u n d e r re s tra in t. In te n days o u s o th e r w o r ld ly s ta p le s o f d ie t w h ic h
he w as “ f it to be tie d ,” and h is ac­ he o fte n and in s is te n tly m e n tio n e d by
q u a in ta n c e w ith h is h e a d n u r s e , s o in - nam e.
a u s p ic io u s ly b e g u n , d e v e lo p e d e v e n m o r e B ut above a ll, h e w a n te d b e e fs te a k .
in a u s p ic io u s ly a s tim e w e n t o n . F o r, as H e th o u g h t a b o u t it d a y s a n d d re a m e d
H aynes and L acy had e a c h m o re th a n a b o u t it n ig h ts . O n e n i g h t in p a r t i c u l a r
a n tic ip a te d , th e L ensm an w as by no he d re a m e d about it— a n e s p e c ia lly
m e a n s a n id e a l p a tie n t. I n fa c t, h e w a s lu s c io u s p o r te r h o u s e , f r ie d in b u tt e r a n d
m o s t d e c id e d ly th e o p p o s ite . s m o th e r e d in m u s h r o o m s — o n ly to w a k e
N o th in g th a t c o u ld be done w o u ld u p , m o u th w a te r in g , lite r a lly s ta r v e d , to
s a tis f y h im . A ll d o c to r s w e r e f a th e a d s , f a c e a g a in th e w e a k te a , d r y to a s t, a n d ,
e v e n L a c y , th e m a n w h o h a d p u t h im to ­ h o rro r of h o rro rs, th is tim e a fla b b y ,
g e th e r . A ll n u rse s w e re d u m b -b e lls , p a l l i d , f l a c c id poached egg! I t w a s th e
e v e n — o r s p e c ia lly ? — M a c , w h o w ith a l­ l a s t s t r a w '.
m o s t s u p e r h u m a n s k ill, ta c t a n d p a tie n c e “ T a k e it a w a y ,” h e s a id , w e a k ly ; th e n ,
had been h o ld in g h im to g e th e r . W hy, w h e n th e n u r s e d id n o t o b e y , h e re a c h e d
e v e n f a th e a d s a n d d u m b -b e lls , e v e n h ig h - o u t a n d p u s h e d th e b re a k f a s t, tr a y a n d
g r a d e m o r o n s , o u g h t to k n o w th a t a m a n a ll, o ff th e ta b le . A s it c r a s h e d to th e
n e e d e d fo o d ! f lo o r , h e t u r n e d a w a y , a n d , in s p ite o f
A c c u s to m e d to e a tin g e v e r y th in g th a t a ll h is e f f o r ts , tw o h o t te a r s fo r c e d th e m ­
h e c o u l d r e a c h , t h r e e o r f o u r o r fiv e t i m e s s e lv e s b e tw e e n h is e y e lid s .
a d a y , h e d id n o t re a liz e — n o r d id h is
s to m a c h — th a t h is now q u ie s c e n t b o d y I T W A S a p a r tic u la r ly tr y in g o rd e a l,
c o u ld n o l o n g e r u s e th e fiv e th o u s a n d o r a n d o n e r e q u i r i n g a l l o f e v e n M a c ’s s k i ll ,
m o r e c a lo r ie s t h a t it h a d b e e n w o n t to d ip lo m a c y , a n d fo r b e a r a n c e , to m a k e th e
b u rn u p , e a c h tw e n ty - fo u r h o u rs , in in ­ re c a lc itra n t p a tie n t eat th e b re a k fa st
te n s e e ff o rt. H e w a s a lw a y s h u n g r y , a n d p r e s c r ib e d fo r h im . S h e w a s f i n a ll y s u c ­
h e w a s f o r e v e r d e m a n d in g fo o d . c e s s fu l, h o w e v e r, a n d a s s h e s te p p e d o u t
A n d f o o d , to h im , d id n o t m e a n o r a n g e in to th e c o r r id o r s h e m e t th e u b iq u ito u s
ju ic e o r g r a p e ju ic e o r to m a to ju ic e o r in te r n e .
m ilk . N or d id it m e a n w e a k te a and “ H o w ’s y o u r L e n s m a n ? ” h e a s k e d , in
h a r d , d r y to a s t a n d a n o c c a s io n a l s o f t- th e p riv a c y o f th e d ie t k itc h e n .
b o ile d egg. If he a te eggs at a ll he “ D o n ’t c a ll h i m my L e n sm a n !” she
w a n te d th e m frie d — th r e e or fo u r of s to rm e d . S h e w a s a b o u t to e x p lo d e w ith
th e m , a c c o m p a n ie d b y tw o o r th r e e th ic k th e p e n t- u p fe e lin g s w h ic h sh e , o f c o u r s e ,
s lic e s o f h a m . c o u ld n o t v e n t u p o n s u c h a p itif u l, h e lp ­
H e w a n te d — a n d d e m a n d e d in n o u n ­ le s s th in g a s h e r s t a r p a tie n t. “ B e e f­
c e rta in te rm s , a rg u m e n ta tiv e ly a n d p e r­ ste a k ! I a lm o s t w is h th e y zvould g iv e
s is te n tly — a b ig , th ic k , ra re b e e fs te a k . h i m a b e e f s t e a k , a n d t h a t h e ’d c h o k e o n
H e w a n te d b a k e d b e a n s , w ith p le n ty o f i t — w h ic h , o f c o u rs e , h e w o u ld . l i e ’s
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 125

w o rs e th a n a b a b y . I n ev er saw su ch a e y e d c r o a k e r s r e a l i z e t h a t I ’ll never get

>— s u c h a brat in m y lif e . I ’d lik e to a n y s t r e n g th b a c k if y o u k e e p m e in b e d
sp an k h im ! He n e e d s it. I ’d l i k e t o a ll th e r e s t o f m y lif e ? A n d d o n ’t t a l k
know how he e v e r g o t to b e a L e n s m a n , b a b y ta lk a t m e , e ith e r. I ’m w e l l e n o u g h
t h e b ig , c a n ta n k e r o u s c lu n k e r ! I ’m go­ a t le a s t s o t h a t y o u c a n w ip e t h a t p r o ­
ing to s p a n k h im , to o , o n e o f th e s e d a y s ; fe s s io n a l s m ile o ff your pan and cut
s e e if I d o n ’t ! ” th a t s o o th in g b e d s id e m a n n e r o f y o u r s .”
“ D o n ’t t a k e i t s o h a r d , M a c , ” t h e i n ­ “ V e ry w e ll— I th in k so, to o !” she
te r n e u rg e d . H e w as, h o w e v e r, v e ry snapped, p a tie n c e at lo n g la s t gone.
m u c h re lie v e d t h a t r e la tio n s b e tw e e n th e “ S o m e b o d y s h o u l d te l l y o u t h e t r u t h . I
h an d so m e young L en sm an and th e a lw a y s su p p o sed th a t L e n s m e n had to
g o rg e o u s re d h e a d w e re n o t u p o n a m o re have brains, but y o u ’v e a c te d lik e a
c o r d ia l b a sis. “ H e w o n ’t b e h e r e v e r y s p o i l e d b r a t e v e r s i n c e y o u ’v e b e e n h e r e .
lo n g . B u t I n ev er saw a p a ti e n t c lo g F irs t y o u w a n te d to e a t y o u r s e lf sic k ,
your je t s b e fo r e .” a n d n o w y o u w a n t to g e t u p , w ith b o n e s
“ Y ou p ro b a b ly never saw a p a tie n t h a lf k n it and bum s h a lf h e a le d , and
lik e him b e fo re , e ith e r. I c e rta in ly h o p e u n d o e v e ry th in g th a t h a s b e e n d o n e fo r
' h e n e v e r g e ts c ra c k e d u p a g a in .” you. W h y d o n ’t y o u s n a p o u t o f i t a n d
“H uh?” ac t y o u r age fo r a c h a n g e ? ”
“ D o I h a v e to d ra w y o u a c h a rt? ” sh e “ I n e v e r d id t h i n k n u r s e s h a d m u c h
ask ed , s w e e tly . “ O r, if he does get sen se, a n d n o w I know th e y h a v e n ’t . ”
c ra c k e d u p a g a in , I h o p e th e y s e n d h im K in n is o n e y e d h e r w ith in te n s e d is fa v o r,
to som e o th e r h o s p ita l.” A nd she n o t a t a ll c o n v in c e d . “ I ’m n o t ta lk in g
flo u n c e d o u t. a b o u t g o in g b a c k to w o rk . I m e a n a lit­
N u r s e M a c D o u g a ll th o u g h t t h a t w h e n tle g e n tle e x e rc is e , a n d I know w hat I
th e L en sm an c o u ld eat th e m eat he n e e d .”
c r a v e d , h e r tr o u b le s w o u ld b e o v e r ; b u t “ Y o u ’d b e s u r p r i s e d a t w h a t y o u d o n ’t
she w as m is ta k e n . K in n is o n w as k n o w .” A n d th e n u r s e w a lk e d o u t, c h in
n e rv o u s , m o o d y , b ro o d in g , by tu r n s i r ­ in a ir. In fiv e m in u te s , h o w e v e r, sh e
rita b le , s u lle n , a n d p u g n a c io n s . N o r is w a s b a c k , h e r r a d i a n t s m ile a g a in fla s h ­
i t to b e w o n d e re d a t. H e w a s c h a in e d in g .
to th a t b ed , a n d in b is m in d w as th e “ S o r r y , K i m , I s h o u l d n ’t h a v e b l a s t e d
g n a w in g c o n s c io u s n e s s th a t he had o ff t h a t w a y , I k n o w t h a t y o u ’r e b o u n d
fa ile d . A nd not o n ly fa ile d — h e had to b a c k -fire a n d to h a v e b r a in s to r m s . I
m ade a c o m p le te fo o l o f h im s e lf. He w o u l d , t o o , i f I w e r e ------
h a d u n d e re s tim a te d a n e n e m y , a n d a s a “ C ancel it, M a c ,” he began, aw k­
re s u lt of h is ow n s tu p id ity th e w h o le w a rd ly . “ I d o n ’t k n o w w h y I h a v e to
p a tr o l h a d ta k e n a se tb a c k . H e w as an ­ b e su c h a m u tt a s to b e c ra b b in g a t y o u
g u is h e d a n d to r m e n te d . a ll t h e t i m e . ”
T h e r e f o r e : “ L is te n , M a c ,” h e p le a d e d “ Q X , L e n s m a n ,” s h e re p lie d , e n tir e ly
cn day. “ B rin g m e so m e c lo th e s a n d seren e now . “ I do. Y ou a re n o t th e
le t m e ta k e a w a lk . I n e e d th e e x e r­ ty p e to s ta y in b e d w ith o u t it g rip in g
c is e .” y o u ; b u t w h en a m an h as been g ro u n d
“ N o t y e t, K im ,” s h e d e n ie d h im u p in to su c h h a m b u rg e r a s y o u a re , h e
g e n tly , b u t w ith h e r e n tr a n c in g s m ile in h a s t o s ta y in b e d w h e th e r h e lik e s i t o r
fu ll e v id e n c e . “ B u t p r e t ty q u ic k , w h e n n o t, a n d n o m a tte r h o w m uch he pops
t h a t le g lo o k s a little le s s lik e a C h in e s e o ff a b o u t it. R o ll o v e r h e r e , n o w , a n d
p u z z le , y o u a n d n u r s ie g o b y e -b y e .” I ’ll g i v e y o u a n a l c o h o l r u b . B u t it w o n ’t
“ B e a u tifu l, b u t d u m b ! ” th e L e n s m a n b e lo n g n o w , r e a lly — p r e t t y soon w e ’l l
g ro w le d . " C a n ’t you and th o s e cock­ h a v e y o u o u t i n a w h e e l c h a i r -------
 126 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

Thus it w ent fo r w eek s. K in n is o n th o u g h t, h o w e v e r, m a y ta k e so m e o f th e

k n e w h !s b e h a v io r w a s a tr o c io u s , a b o m ­ lo a d o ff y o u r m in d .”
i n a b l e ; b u t h e s i m p l y c o u l d n o t h e l p it . “ W e ll, s ir, I a m f e e l i n g a t r i f l e lo w ,
E v e r y s o o fte n th e a c c u m u la te d p r e s s u r e b u t i f y o u a n d t h e r e s t o f t h e m s till t h i n k
If
o f h is b i t t e r n e s s a n d a n x i e t y w ould b lo w
o f f ; a n d , li k e a j u n g l e t i g e r w i t h a t o o t h ­ “ W e d o s o th in k . C heer u p and get
a c h e , h e w o u ld b ite a n d c la w a n y th in g o n w ith th e s to r y .”
o r a n y b o d y w ith in re a c h . “ I 'v e b e e n d o i n g a l o t o f t h i n k i n g , a n d
b e fo re I g o a r o u n d s tic k in g o u t m y n e c k
F I N A L L Y , h o w e v e r, th e la s t p ic tu re a g a i n I ’m g o i n g t o — —”
w as s tu d ie d , th e la s t b a n d a g e w as re ­ “Y ou d o n 't need to te ll m e, you
m oved, and he w as d is c h a rg e d as fit. k n o w .”
A n d h e w a s n o t d is c h a rg e d , b itte r ly a l­ “ N o , s i r , b u t I t h i n k I ’d b e t t e r . I ’m
t h o u g h h e r e s e n t e d h i s " c a p t i v i t y , '’ a s h e g o in g to A r is ia to s e e if I c a n g e t m e a
c a lle d it, u n til h e re a lly was fit. H a y n e s fe w tr e a tm e n ts f o r s w e lle d h e a d a n d la m e
sa w to th a t. A n d H a y n e s h a d a llo w e d b ra in . I s till th i n k t h a t I k n o w h o w to
o n ly th e m o s t s k e tc h y in te r v ie w s d u r i n g u s e th e L e n s to g o o d a d v a n ta g e , b u t I
th a t lo n g c o n v a le s c e n c e . D is c h a r g e d , s i m p l y h a v e n ’t g o t e n o u g h j e t s t o d o it .
h o w e v e r, K in n is o n s o u g h t h im o u t. Y ou see, I -------- ” He sto p p e d . He
“ L e t m e ta lk firs t,” H a y n e s in s tru c te d w o u ld not o ffe r a n y th in g th a t m ig h t
h im a t s ig h t. “ N o s e lf-re p ro a c h e s , n o so u n d lik e an a lib i; but h is th o u g h ts
d e s tru c tiv e c ritic is m . E v e ry th in g con­ w e r e p l a i n a s p r i n t t o t h e o ld L e n s m a n .
s tru c tiv e . N ow , K im b a ll, I ’m m ig h ty "G o ahead, so n , W e know you
g la d to h e a r th a t y ou m ade a p e rfe c t w o u l d n ’t . ”
re c o v e ry . Y o u w e re in b a d sh a p e . Go “ If I t h o u g h t a t a ll, I a s s u m e d t h a t
a h e a d .” I w a s ta c k lin g m e n , s in c e th o s e o n th e
“ Y o u h a v e j u s t a b o u t s h u t tn y m o u th s h ip w e re m e n , a n d m e n w e r e th e o n ly
b y y o u r firs t o rd e r .” K in n is o n s m ile d know n in h a b ita n ts o f th e A ld e b a ra n ia n
s o u r ly a s h e sp o k e . “ T w o w o r d s — fla t s y s te m . B u t w h e n th o s e W h e e lm e n to o k
fa ilu re . N o , le t m e a d d tw o m o r e — a s m e s o e a s ily a n d s o c o m p le te ly , i t b e c a m e
y e t.” v e r y e v i d e n t t h a t I d i d n ’t h a v e e n o u g h
“ T h a t 's t h e s p i r i t !” H a y n e s e x c l a i m e d . stu ff. I r a n li k e a s c a r e d p u p , a n d I w a s
“ N o r d o w e a g r e e w ith y o u th a t it w a s l u c k y t o g e t h o m e a t a ll . I t w o u l d n ’t
a fa ilu re . I t w a s m e r e ly n o t a su c c e s s h a v e h a p p e n e d if-------- ” H e paused.
.— s o f a r — w h i c h is a n a l t o g e t h e r d i f f e r e n t “ I f w h a t? R e a s o n it o u t, s o n ,” H a y n e s
th in g . A ls o , I m ay add th a t w e had a d v is e d , p o in te d ly . “Y ou a re w ro n g ,
v e r y fin e r e p o r ts in d e e d o n y o u f r o m th e dead w ro n g . Y ou m ade no m ista k e ,
h o s p ita l.” e ith e r in ju d g m e n t o r in e x e c u tio n . Y ou
h a v e b e e n b la m in g y o u rs e lf f o r a s s u m ­
“ H u h ?” K in n is o n w a s a m a z e d to th e
in g th a t th e y w e re m e n . L et us suppose
p o in t o f b e in g in a r tic u la te ,
th a t you had assum ed th a t th e y w e re
“Y ou ju s t about to re it dow n, of
th e A r is ia n s th e m s e lv e s . T hen w h a t?
c o u rse , but th a t w as o n ly to be ex­
A f t e r c lo s e s c r u tin y , e v e n in th e lig h t
p e c te d .”
o f a fte r-k n o w le d g e , w e d o n o t see h o w
“ B u t , s i r , I m a d e s u c h a -------- " you c o u ld h a v e c h a n g e d th e o u tc o m e .”
“ E x a c tly . A s L a c y te lls m e q u ite I t d id n o t o c c u r, e v e n to th e s a g a c io u s
f r e q u e n tly , h e lik e s to h a v e p a tie n ts o v e r o ld a d m ira l, t h a t K in n is o n n e e d n o t h a v e
th e r e th a t th e y d o n ’t lik e . M u ll th a t g o n e in . L e n s m e n a l w a y s w e n t i n .
o ne o v e r fo r a b it. Y ou m ay u n d e r­ “ W e ll, a n y w a y , th e y lic k e d m e , a n d
sta n d it b e tte r a s y o u g e t o ld e r . The t h a t h u r t s ,” K in n is o n a d m itte d , fr a n k ly .
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 127

“ S o I ’m g o i n g b a c k t o A r i s i a f o r m o r e s tra ig h t in to th a t e n t i t y ’s u n b lin k in g
t r a i n i n g , i f t h e y ’ll g i v e i t t o m e . I e y e s , in s i l e n c e .
m ay be g o n e q u ite a w h ile , a s it m a y " A h , y o u h a v e p ro g re sse d . Y o u re ­
ta k e e v e n th e m a lo n g tim e to in c r e a s e a liz e n o w t h a t v i s i o n is n o t a l w a y s r e ­
th e p e r m e a b ility o f m y s k u ll e n o u g h so lia b le . A t o u r p r e v io u s in te r v ie w you
th a t a n id e a c a n filte r th r o u g h it in s o m e ­ to o k it fo r g ra n te d th a t w h a t y o u saw
th in g u n d e r a c e n tu r y .” m u s t re a lly e x is t, a n d d id n o t w o n d e r a s
“ U m - m - m ,” H a y n e s p o n d e re d . "It to w h a t o u r t r u e s h a p e s m ig h t b e .”
h as nev er been done. T h ey a re a p e ­ "I am w o n d e rin g now , s e r io u s ly ,”
c u lia r ra c e , in c o m p re h e n s ib le — b u t n o t K in n is o n r e p lie d . “ A nd if it is p e r­
v in d ic tiv e . T hey m ay re fu se y o u , b u t m itte d , I in te n d to s ta y h e r e u n til I c a n
n o th in g w o rse — th a t is , if y o u do not se e y o u r t r u e s h a p e s .”
c r o s s th e b a r r ie r w ith o u t in v ita tio n . I t 's “ T h is ? ” A n d th e fig u re c h a n g e d in ­
a s p le n d id id e a , I th in k ; b u t be v e ry s ta n tly in to th a t of an o ld , w h ite -
c a re f u l to s trik e th a t b a r r ie r fr e e a n d a t b e a r d e d , s c h o la rly g e n tle m a n .
a l m o s t z e r o p o w e r — o r e l s e d o n ’t s t r i k e “ N o. T h e r e is a v a s t d i f f e r e n c e b e ­
it a t a ll.” tw e e n s e e in g s o m e th in g m y s e lf a n d h a v ­
in g y o u s h o w it to m e . I re a liz e o n ly
to o w e ll t h a t y o u c a n m a k e m e se e y o u
TH EY SH O O K H A N D S , a n d in a
s p a c e o f m in u te s th e s p e e d s te r w a s a g a in as a n y th in g y o u c h o o se. Y o u c o u ld a p ­
p e a r to m e a s a p e rf e c t c o p y o f m y s e lf,
te a r in g th r o u g h space. K in n is o n now
o r a s a n y o th e r th in g , p e r s o n o r o b je c t
k n e w e x a c tly w h a t h e w a n te d to g e t, a n d
c o n c e iv a b le to m y m i n d .”
he u tiliz e d ev e ry w a k in g hour of th a t
"A h, you have in d e e d p ro g re sse d .
lo n g trip in p h y s ic a l a n d m e n ta l e x e r ­
W h ile y o u w e re e x p e c te d to r e tu r n , y o u
c i s e t o p r e p a r e h i m s e l f t o t a k e it . Thus
a re ahead o f tim e by sev eral of y o u r
th e tim e d id n o t s e e m lo n g . H e cre p t
y e a rs. W h e n y o u a p p ro a c h e d th e b a r­
u p t o t h e b a r r i e r a t a s n a i l ’s p a c e , s t o p ­
r i e r i t w a s s u p p o s e d t h a t y o u c a m e to
p in g in s ta n tly as he to u c h e d it, and
a s k f o r so m e p a r tic u la r in f o rm a tio n , b u t
th r o u g h th a t b a r r ie r h e s e n t a th o u g h t,
n o w th a t I s e a rc h y o u r m in d I p e rc e iv e
" I s it p e r m i t t e d t h a t I a p p r o a c h y o u r
t h a t w h a t y o u s e e k is n o t m e r e in f o r m a ­
p la n e t? ” h e a s k e d , n e ith e r b ra z e n ly n o r
tio n , b u t is in d e e d k n o w le d g e ,”
o b s e q u io u s ly . He w a s m a tte r -o f- fa c tly
" Y o u sa y th a t y o u e x p e c te d m e . H ow
a s k in g a s im p le q u e s tio n a n d e x p e c tin g
c o u ld y o u k n o w t h a t I w a s c o m in g ? I
a sim p le re p ly . H e k n e w t h a t to th e s e
d i d n 't d e c i d e d e f i n i t e l y m y s e l f u n t i l o n l y
b e in g s , w h a te v e r th e y re a lly w e re , s a l u ta ­
a c o u p le o f w e e k s a g o .”
tio n s a n d id e n tif ic a tio n s w e re a lik e s u ­
" I t w a s in e v ita b le . W hen w e fitte d
p e rflu o u s . N o r w a s h e m e t a s H e lm u th
y o u r L e n s w e k n e w t h a t y o u w o u ld r e ­
h a d b e e n m e t.
tu r n if y o u liv e d . A s w e re c e n tly in ­
“A h, ’t i s K im b a ll K in n is o n , of fo rm e d th a t one know n as H e lm u th
E a r t h , ” a s l o w , d e e p , m e a s u r e d v o ic e r e ­
s o u n d e d in h is b r a i n . “ N e u tra liz e y o u r “H elm u th ! Y o u k n o w , th e n , w h e re
c o n tr o ls . Y ou w ill b e la n d e d ,” --------•” K in n is o n choked h im s e lf o ff.
H e d id so , a n d th e in e r t s p e e d s te r s h o t H e w o u ld n o t a s k f o r h e lp in th a t . He
fo r w a rd , to c o m e to g r o u n d in a p e rfe c t w o u ld fig h t h is ow n b a ttle s and b u ry
la n d in g a t a re g u la tio n s p a c e p o r t. He h is o w n d e a d . I f th e y v o lu n te e re d th e
s tro d e in to th e o ffic e , to c o n fro n t th e n f o r m a ti o n , w e ll a n d g o o d ; b u t h e w o u ld
s a m e g r o te s q u e , d v a g o n lik e e n t i t y w ho not ask it. N or d id th e A ris ia n fu r­
h a d m e a su re d h im fo r h is L e n s n o t so n i s h it .
lo n g ago. N ow , h o w e v e r, he s ta re d “ Y o u a r e r ig h t,” th e sa g e re m a rk e d ,
 128 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

im p e rtu rb a b ly . “For s tro n g d e v e lo p ­ is m o re c o n tr o lla b le , m o re re s p o n s iv e ,

m e n t it is e s s e n tia l t h a t y o u s e c u r e th a t m o r e a d a p t a b l e t h a n is y o u r s — n o w . B u t
in f o r m a tio n f o r y o u r s e lf .” y o u r m i n d , w h i l e u n d e v e l o p e d , is o f c o n ­
T hen he c o n tin u e d h is p re v io u s s i d e r a b l y g r e a t e r c a p a c i t y t h a n h is , a n d
t h o u g h t : “ A s w e to ld H e lm u t!) re c e n tly , o f g r e a t e r a n d m o r e v a rie d la te n t c a p a b il­
we h a v e g iv e n y o u r c iv iliz a tio n an in ­ itie s . A bove a ll. you have a d riv in g
s tr u m e n ta lity — th e L en s— by v irtu e of fo rc e , a w ill to do, an u n d e fe a ta b le
w h ic h it s h o u ld be a b le to m ake its e lf m e n t a l u r g e t h a t n o o n e o f h i s r a c e w ill
s e c u r e th r o u g h o u t th e g a la x y . H a v in g b e a b le t o d e v e lo p fo r m a n y c y c le s o f
g iv e n it , w e c o u l d d o n o t h i n g m o r e o f tim e to c o m e . S in c e I s e le c te d y o u a s
r e a l o r p e r m a n e n t b e n e fit u n til y o u L e n s - th e firs t to r e t u r n , I a m n a tu r a lly g r a ti­
m e n y o u rs e lv e s b e g a n to re a liz e w h a t it f i e d t h a t y o u h a v e d e v e l o p e d so r a p i d l y . ”
w as th a t w e h a d g iv e n y o u . T h a t re ­ “ W e l l , I h a v e b e e n m o r e o r le s s u n ­
a liz a tio n has been in e v ita b le ; fro m th e d e r p r e s s u r e , a n d I g o t q u ite a fe w lu c k y
f ir s t it h a s b e e n c e r ta in th a t in tim e y o u r b re a k s. B u t a t th a t, it se e m e d to me
m in d s w o u ld b e c o m e s tr o n g e n o u g h to th a t I w as p ro g re s s in g b a c k w a rd in ­
d is c o v e r th e th e re to fo re unknow n s t e a d o f f o r w a r d .’’
d e p th s of pow er of y o u r L enses. As “ I t is e v e r th u s w ith th e re a lly c o m ­
s o o n a s a n y m in d m a d e th a t d is c o v e ry it p e te n t. P re p a r e y o u rs e lf!”
w o u ld , o f c o u rs e , r e tu r n to A ris ia , th e H e la u n c h e d a m e n ta l b o lt, a t th e im ­
so u rc e o f th e L e n s, fo r a d d itio n a l in ­ p a c t o f w h i c h K i n n i s o n ’s m i n d l i t e r a l l y
s t r u c ti o n ; w h ic h , e q u a lly o f c o u rs e , t h a t tu rn e d in s id e o u t in a w ild ly g y ra tin g
m in d c o u ld n o t h a v e b o r n e p r e v io u s ly . sp ira l v o rte x of d iz z y in g ly c o n fu se d
“ D e c a d e by d e c a d e y o u r m in d s h a v e im a g e s .
b e c o m e s tro n g e r. F in a lly y o u c a m e to “ R e s is t! ” c a m e th e h a rsh com m and.
b e fitte d w ith a L e n s . Y o u r m i n d , w h ile “ R e s i s t ! H o w ?” d e m a n d e d t h e w r i t h ­
p itifu lly u n d e v e lo p e d , had a la te n t c a ­ in g , s w e a tin g L e n s m a n . “ Y o u m ig h t as
p a c ity a n d a p o w e r th a t m a d e y o u r r e ­ w e ll te l l a fly t o re s is t a n in e rt sp ace
tu rn h e re c e rta in . S in c e y o u r e n le n s - s h i p !”
m e n t t h e r e h a s b e e n o n e o t h e r w h o w ill ' “ U se your w ill— y o u r fo rc e — y o u r
re tu rn . I n d e e d , it h a s b e c o m e a to p ic a d a p ta b ility . S h ift y o u r m in d to m e e t
o f d is c u s s io n am ong us as to w h e th e r m in e a t e v e ry p o in t. A p a r t fro m th e s e
y o u o r th a t o th e r w o u ld b e th e firs t a d ­ f u n d a m e n t a l s n e i t h e r I n o r a n y o n e e ls e
v a n c e d s tu d e n t.” c a n te ll y o u h o w ; e a c h m in d m u s t fin d
“ W b o is t h a t o th e r , if I m a y a s k ? ” its ow n m e d iu m and d e v e lo p its ow n
“ Y o u r fr ie n d , W o r s e l, th e V e la n tia n ." te c h n iq u e . B u t t h i s is a v e r y m i l d t r e a t ­
“ H e 's got a re a l m i n d — ’w a y , ’w a y m ent in d e e d , one c o n d itio n e d to your
a h e a d o f m in e ,” th e L e n s m a n s ta te d , a s p r e s e n t s t r e n g th . I w ill in c r e a s e it g r a d u ­
a m a tte r o f s e lf-e v id e n t fa c t. a lly in s e v e r ity , b u t r e s t a s s u r e d t h a t I
“In som e w ay s, y es. In o th e r and w ill a t n o tim e ra is e it to th e p o in t o f
h ig h ly im p o r ta n t c h a r a c te r is tic s , n o .” p e rm a n e n t d am ag e . C o n s tru c tiv e e x e r ­
“H uh?” K in n is o n e x c la im e d . “ In c i s e s w ill c o m e l a t e r ; t h e f i r s t s t e p m u s t
w h a t p o s s ib le w ay have I g o t it o v e r b e to b u ild u p y o u r r e s is ta n c e . T h e re ­
h i m ?” fo re , r e s is t! ”
“ I am n o t c e r t a i n t h a t I c a ti e x p l a i n T h e fo rc e , w h ic h had n o t sla c k e n e d
i t e x a c tly in th o u g h ts w h ic h y o u c a n u n ­ f o r a n in s ta n t, w a x e d s lo w ly to th e v e ry
d e rs ta n d . B r o a d ly s p e a k in g , h is m in d v e rg e o f - in to le r a b ility ; a n d g rim ly , d o g ­
is th e b e tt e r tr a in e d , th e m o r e fu lly d e ­ g e d ly , t h e L ensm an fo u g h t it. T e e th
v e l o p e d . I t is o f m o r e g r a s p a n d r e a c h , lo c k e d , m u s c le s s tra in in g , fin g e rs d ig ­
a n d o f v a s tly g r e a te r p r e s e n t p o w e r. It g in g s a v a g e ly in to th e h a r d le a th e r u p -
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 129

h o ls te r y o f h is c h a ir h e f o u g h t i t ; m u s ­ w a te r s y s te m ; w ith th e L e n s th e p u m p
te r in g h is e v e ry u ltim a te re s o u rc e to th e t h a t w o u l d n ’t w o r k ! ” e x c l a i m e d K i n n i -
t a s k -------- so n o n e day.
S u d d e n ly , th e to r t u r e c e a s e d a n d th e “ M o r e lik e t h a t t h a n you a t p re se n t
L e n s m a n s lu m p e d d o w n , a m e n ta l a n d re a liz e ,” a s s e n te d th e A ris ia n . “ Y ou
p h y s ic a l w re c k . He w a s w h ite , tr e m ­ h a v e o b se rv e d , o f c o u rse , th a t I h a v e n o t
b li n g , s w e a t i n g , s h a k e n t o t h e v e r y c o r e g iv e n y o u a n y d e ta ile d in s tr u c tio n s n o r
o f h is b e in g . He w a s a s h a m e d o f h is p o in t e d o u t a n y s p e c ific a b lilitie s o f th e
w eakness. H e w a s h u m ilia te d a n d b it­ L ens w h ic h you have not know n how
te rly d is a p p o in te d at th e s h o w in g he to u se. Y ou w ill h a v e to o p e ra te th e
h a d m a d e ; b u t fro m th e A ris ia n th e r e p u m p y o u rs e lf; a n d y o u h av e m a n y s u r ­
c a m e a c a lm , e n c o u r a g in g th o u g h t. p ris e s a w a itin g you as to w hat your
“ Y o u n e e d n o t feel a s h a m e d ; y o u L e n s w ill p u m p , a n d h o w . O u r s o le ta s k
s h o u ld in s te a d fe e l p r o u d , fo r y o u h a v e is to p re p a re y o u r m in d to w o r k w ith
m a d e a s t a r t w h ic h is r e a lly s u r p r is in g , th e L e n s , a n d t h a t t a s k is n o t y e t d o n e .
even to m e, y o u r sp o n so r. T h is m ay L e t u s o n w ith it .”
seem to you li k e n e e d l e s s p u n is h m e n t, E v e n tu a lly th e tim e c a m e w h e n K in -
b u t it is n o t. T h i s is t h e o n l y p o s s i b l e n is o n c o u ld b lo c k o u t e n ti r e l y th e sug­
w a y in w h ic h t h a t w h ic h y o u s e e k m a y g e s tio n s o f h is m e n t o r , b u t h e d id not
b e fo u n d .” re v e a l th a t f a c t; n o r, n o w b lo c k e d o u t,
“ In th a t c a se , g o to it,” th e L e n s m a n c o u ld th e A r is ia n d is c e r n it. T h e L ens­
d e c la re d . “ I c a n ta k e it.” m a n g a t h e r e d a ll h i s f o r c e t o g e t h e r , c o n ­
c e n tra te d it, a n d h u rle d it b a c k a t h is
DAY A FTER DAY a n d w eek a fte r te a c h e r; and th e re ensued a s tru g g le
w eek th e “ advanced in s tru c tio n ” w ent n o n e th e le s s T i t a n ic b e c a u s e o f its e s ­
on, w ith th e p u p il b e c o m in g ever s e n tia l frie n d lin e s s . The v e ry e th e r
s tro n g e r, u n til he w as ta k in g w ith o u t s e e th e d a n d b o ile d w ith th e f u r y o f th e
dam age th ru s ts th a t w o u ld have s la in m e n ta l f o r c e s th e r e a t g r ip s , b u t fin a lly
h im in s ta n tly a fe w w e e k s sin c e . The th e L ensm an beat dow n th e o t h e r ’s
b o u ts becam e s h o rte r and s h o rte r, re ­ sc reen s. T hen, b o rin g deep in to h is
q u irin g as th e y d id su ch te rrific o u t­ e y e s , h e w ille d w ith a ll h is f o r c e to se e
p o u rin g s o f m e n ta l fo rc e th a t n o t e v e n th a t A ris ia n a s h e re a lly w a s . A n d in ­
th e m a s te r c o u ld s ta n d th e a w fu l s tr a in s ta n tly th e s c h o la rly o ld m an s u b s id e d
f o r m o r e th a n h a lf a n h o u r a t a tim e . in to a — a brain! T h e r e w e re a fe w a p ­
A nd now th e s e sav ag e c o n flic ts of pen d ag es, of c o u rse , a n d o th e r a p p u r­
w ills a n d m in d s w e r e i n t e r s p e r s e d w ith te n a n c e s and in c id e n tia ls to n o u ris h ­
real in s tru c tio n , w ith le s s o n s n e ith e r m e n t , l o c o m o t i o n , a n d t h e l i k e , b u t t o a ll
p a in f u l nor u n p le a s a n t. In th e s e th e in te n ts and p u rp o se s th e A ris ia n w as
aged s c ie n tis t p ro b e d g e n tly in to th e s i m p l y a n d s o l e ly a b r a i n .
y o u n g s t e r ’s m i n d , o p e n i n g i t a n d e x p o s ­ T e n s io n e n d e d ; c o n flic t c e a s e d ; a n d
in g to its o w n e r ’s gaze vast c a v e rn s K in n is o n a p o lo g iz e d .
w h o se v e ry p re se n c e h e h ad n e v e r e v e n “ T h in k n o th in g o f it.” A n d th e b ra in
s u s p e c te d . Som e o f th e s e s to re h o u se s a c tu a lly s m ile d in to K i n n i s o n ’s m in d .
w e re a lre a d y p a rtia lly or c o m p le te ly “ A n y m in d o f p o w e r s u f fic ie n t t o b lo c k
f i ll e d , n e e d in g o n ly a rra n g e m e n t and m in e is , o f c o u r s e , a b le to h u r l n o fe e b le
c o n n e c tio n . O th e r s w e re n e a rly e m p ty . b o lts o f its o w n . See to it, h o w e v e r,
T h e s e w e re c a ta lo g u e d a n d m a d e a c c e s s i­ th a t you th r u s t no su ch fo rce at any
b le . A n d in a l l , p e r m e a t i n g e v e r y t h i n g , le s s e r m in d , o r it d ie s in s ta n tly .”
w as th e L e n s . K in n is o n s ta rte d to s ta m m e r a re p ly ,
“ J u s t lik e c le a r in g out a c lo g g e d -u p b u t th e A ris ia n wre n t o n : “ N o , s o n , I
AST—9
130 A S T O U N D IN G STO R IE S

k n e w a n d k n o w t h a t th e w a r n in g is s u ­ t u r n t o A ld e b a r a n I a n d t o in v a d e a g a in
p e rf lu o u s . If you w e re n o t w o rth y of th e s tro n g h o ld o f th e W h e e l m e n , w lio
th is p o w e r a n d w e r e y o u n o t a b le t o c o n ­ h a d ro u te d h im s o i g n o m i n i o u s l y in h i s
tr o l i t p r o p e r ly y o u w o u ld n o t h a v e it. one e n c o u n te r w ith th e m . O rd in a ry
Y ou have o b ta in e d th a t w h ic h you p ru d e n c e , h o w e v e r, c o u n s e le d a g a in s t
s o u g h t. G o , th e n , w ith p o w e r .” th a t c o u rse .
" B u t t h i s is o n ly o n e p h a s e , b a r e ly a " Y o u ’d b e t t e r la y o ff th e m a w h ile ,
b e g i n n i n g !” p r o t e s t e d K i n n i s o n . K im o ld b o y ,” he to ld h im s e lf q u ite
"A h , you re a liz e e v e n t h a t ? T ru ly , fra n k ly . “ T h e y ’v e g o t a l o t o f j e t s a n d
y o u th , y o u h a v e c o m e f a r a n d f a s t. B ut you d o n ’t know how to u se th is new
y o u a r e n o t y e t r e a d y fo r m o r e , a n d it s tu ff o f y o u r s y e t. B e tt e r p ic k o u t s o m e ­
is a t r u is m th a t th e r e c e p tio n o f fo rc e s t h i n g e a s i e r t o t a k e 1”
f o r w h ic h a m in d is n o t p r e p a r e d w ill E v e r s in c e le a v in g A r is ia h e h a d b e e n
d e s tro y th a t m in d . T h u s, w hen you s u b c o n s c io u s ly a w a r e o f a d if fe re n c e in
c a m e to m e y o u k n e w e x a c tly w h a t y o u h is e y e s ig h t. H e w a s se e in g th in g s m u c h
w a n te d . D o you know w ith e q u a l c e r ­ m o r e c le a rly th a n h e h a d e v e r s e e n th e m
t a i n t y w h a t m o r e y o u w a n t f r o m u s ?” b e f o r e , m o r e s h a r p ly a n d in g r e a t e r d e ­
“ N o .” ta il. N o w t h i s a w a r e n e s s c r e p t i n t o h is
" N o r w ill y o u f o r y e a r s , i f e v e r . In ­ c o n s c i o u s n e s s a n d h e g l a n c e d t o w a r d h is
d e e d , it m a y w e ll b e t h a t o n l y y o u r d e ­ tu b e lig h ts . T h e y w e re o u t— e x c e p t fo r
sc e n d a n ts w ill be re a d y fo r th a t fo r th e tin y la m p s and b u l l ’s - e y e s of h is
w h ic h y o u n o w so d im ly g ro p e . A g a in i n s t r u m e n t b o a r d t h e v e s s e l m u s t b e in
I s a y , y o u n g m a n , g o w ith p o w e r .” c o m p le te d a rk n e ss. He rem em b ered
K in n is o n w e n t. th e n , w ith a sh o ck , th a t w h e n he en­
te re d th e s p e e d s te r he had n o t tu rn e d
on h is lig h ts . H e c o u ld see, a n d had
X IX .
n o t th o u g h t o f th e m a t a l l !
IT H AD TA K EN th e L en sm an a T h is , th e n , w a s th e firs t o f th e s u r ­
lo n g tim e to w o r k o u t in h is m in d e x ­ p ris e s th e A ris ia n had p ro m is e d h im .
a c tly w hat it w a s t h a t he had w a n te d H e now h a d th e se n s e o f p e rc e p tio n of
fro m th e A ris ia n s , a n d fro m n o s in g le th e R ig e llia n s . O r w as it t h a t o f t h e
s o u r c e b a d th e b a s ic id e a c o m e . P a rt of W h e e lm e n ? O r b o th ? O r w e re th e y
it b a d c o m e fr o m h is o w n k n o w le d g e o f th e sam e sense? I n te n tly a w a re now ,
o r d in a r y h y p n o s i s ; p a r t f r o m th e a b ility h e fo c u s e d h is a tte n tio n upon a m e te r
o f th e O v e rlo rd s of D e lg o n to c o n tr o l b e fo r e h im . F i r s t u p o n its d ia l, n o tin g
fro m a d is ta n c e th e m in d s o f o t h e r s ; p a r t th a t th e n e e d le w as e x a c tly upon th e
fro m W o rs e l, w ho, w o rk in g th r o u g h g r e e n h a i r li n e o f n o r m a l o p e r a t i o n . T h e n
K i n n i s o n 's o w n m i n d , h a d d o n e s u c h d e e p e r. In s ta n tly , th e face o f th e in ­
s u r p r is in g th in g s w ith a L e n s ; a n d a s t r u m e n t d i s a p p e a r e d — m o v e d b e h i n d h is
g re a t p a rt in d e e d fro m th e A ris ia n s p o in t o f s ig h t, o r s o it s e e m e d — s o th a t
th e m s e lv e s , w h o h a d th e a s to u n d in g a b il­ h e c o u l d s e e i t s c o ils , p i v o t s , a n d o t h e r
ity lite ra lly a n d c o m p le te ly to s u p e r im ­ in te rio r p a rts . H e c o u ld lo o k in to a n d
p o se th e i r o w n m e n ta litie s u p o n th o s e o f s tu d y th e g ra in a n d p a n ic le s iz e o f t h e
o th e r s , w h e r e v e r s itu a te . P a rt by p a rt dense, h a rd c o n d e n s ite o f th e b o a rd it­
a n d b it b y b it th e T e ll u r ia n L e n s m a n h a d s e lf. H is v is io n w a s lim ite d , a p p a r e n tly ,
b u ilt u p h is p la n , b u t h e h a d not bad o n l y b y h is w ill t o s e e !
th e s h e e r p o w e r o f in te lle c t to m a k e it " W e l l — a i n ’t — t h a t — s o m e t h i n g •” he
w o rk . N o w h e h a d th a t, a n d w a s re a d y d e m a n d e d o f th e u n iv e r s e a t l a r g e ; th e n ,
to go. a s a th o u g h t s tru c k h im : " I w o n d e r if
W h e re ? H is firs t im p u ls e w a s to r e ­ th e y b lin d e d m e in th e p r o c e s s ? ”
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 131

H e s w itc h e d o n h is la m p s , d is c o v e r ­ s a w m e n a t th e ir a c c u s to m e d ta s k s a n d
in g t h a t h is v is io n w a s u n im p a ir e d a n d h e a rd , o r ra th e r sen sed , th e ir c o n v e rs a ­
n o r m a l in e v e r y r e s p e c t ; a n d a r i g i d i n ­ tio n : th e e v e ry d a y chat of th e ir p ro ­
v e s tig a tio n p ro v e d to h im c o n c lu s iv e ly fe s s io n s . A th r ill s h o t th r o u g h h im a t a
th a t in a d d itio n to o rd in a ry v is io n he d a z z lin g p o s s ib ility th u s re v e a le d .
now had an e x tra sense— o r p e rh a p s I f h e c o u ld m a k e o n e o f th o s e fe llo w s
tw o o f th e m — a n d th a t h e c o u ld c h a n g e dow n th e r e do s o m e th in g w ith o u t h is
fro m one to th e o th e r, or u se th e m k n o w in g t h a t h e w a s d o in g it, th e p r o b ­
s im u lta n e o u s ly , a t w i l l ! B u t th e v e r y le m w a s s o lv e d . T h a t c o m p u te r, say;
fa c t of th is d is c o v e ry m ade K in n is o n m a k e h im u n c o v e r th a t c a lc u la to r a n d
pause. se t u p a c e r ta in in te g r a l o n it. I t w o u ld
H e h a d n ’t b e t t e r g o a n y w h e r e , o r d o b e e a s y e n o u g h to g e t in to to u c h w ith
a n y th in g , u n til h e h a d fo u n d o u t s o m e ­ h im an d have h im d o it, b u t th is w a s
th in g a b o u t h is new e q u ip m e n t. The s o m e th in g a lto g e th e r d if fe re n t.
f a c t w a s t h a t h e d i d n 't e v e n k n o w w h a t K i n n i s o n g o t i n t o t h e c o m p u t e r ’s m i n d
h e h a d , to sa y n o th i n g o f k n o w in g h o w e a s ily e n o u g h , a n d w ille d in te n s e ly w h a t
to u s e it. If h e h a d th e sen se o f a h o o t h e w a s t o d o ; b u t t h e o f f ic e r d i d n o t d o
o w l h e w o u ld go so m ew h ere w h e re he it. H e g o t u p ; th e n , s ta r in g a b o u t h im
c o u ld d o a little e x p e r im e n tin g w ith o u t in b e w ild e r m e n t, s a t d o w n a g a in ,
g e ttin g h is j e t s b u r n e d o ff in c a s e s o m e ­ “ W h a t ’s th e m a tte r ?" asked one of
th i n g s lip p e d a t a c r itic a l m o m e n t. W h e r e h is fe llo w s . “ F o r g e t s o m e t h i n g ? ”
w a s th e n e a r e s t p a tr o l b a s e — a b ig o n e , “ N o t e x a c tly .” T h e c o m p u te r s till
fu lly d e fe n d e d ? L e t ’s se e — R a d e lix s ta re d . “ I w a s g o in g to s e t u p a n i n ­
w o u ld b e a b o u t th e c lo s e s t S e c to r B a s e , te g ra l. I d i d n 't w a n t i t , e i t h e r . I c o u ld
h e guessed. H e ’d f i n d o u t i f h e c o u l d sw e a r th a t so m e b o d y told m e to s e t it
ra id th a t o u tfit w ith o u t g e ttin g caught u p .”
a t it. “ N obody d id ,” g ru n te d th e o th e r,
O ff h e sh o t, a n d in d u e c o u rs e a fa ir, “ and y o u ’d b e tte r s ta rt s ta y in g hom e
g re e n , E a r th lik e p la n e t la y b e n e a th h is n ig h ts . T h e n m a y b e y o u w o u l d n ’t g e t
v e s s e l ’s k e e l. S in c e it w a s E a r th l ik e in fu n n y id e a s .”
c lim a te , a g e , a tm o s p h e re , a n d m a s s , its T h is w a s n ’t so good, K in n is o n re ­
p e o p le w e r e , o f c o u r s e , m o r e o r le s s s im ­ f l e c te d . The guy sh o u ld h a v e d o n e it
ila r to h u m a n ity in g e n e ra l c h a ra c te r­ a n d s h o u l d n 't h a v e r e m e m b e r e d a t h i n g
is tic s , b o th of b o d y and of m in d . If about it . W e ll, he h a d n ’t re a lly
a n y th in g , th e y w e re ev en m o re in te lli­ t h o u g h t li e c o u l d p u t it a c ro s s a t th a t
gent th a n E a rth lin g s , and th e ir p a tro l d is ta n c e , a n y w a y . H e d i d n ’t h a v e t h e
b a s e w a s a v e ry s t r o n g o n e in d e e d . H is b ra in o f a n A ris ia n , H e ’d h a v e t o f o l ­
spy ra y w o u ld be u s e le s s , sin c e a ll lo w h is o r i g in a l p la n , o f c lo s e - u p w o r k .
p a tr o l bases w e re screen ed th o r o u g h ly W a i t i n g u n ti l th e b a s e w a s w e ll in to
a n d c o n tin u o u s ly . H e w o u ld s e e w h a t th e n ig h t s id e o f th e p la n e t a n d m a k in g
a s e n s e o f p e r c e p t io n w o u ld d o . F ro m s u r e t h a t h i s f l a r e b a f f le s w e r e i n p l a c e ,
T r e g o n s e e ’s e x p la n a tio n , it ought to h e a llo w e d th e s p e e d s te r to d r o p d o w n ­
w o rk a t th is ra n g e . w a rd , la n d in g at so m e little d is ta n c e
fro m th e fo rtre s s . T h e re he le f t th e
I T D I D . W h e n K in n is o n c o n c e n tr a te d s h ip a n d m a d e h is w a y to w a r d h is o b ­
h is a tt e n ti o n upon th e b ase h e sa w it. je c tiv e in a ra p id s e r ie s of lo n g , in ­
H e a d v a n c e d to w a rd it a t th e s p e e d o f e rtia le s s h o p s. L ow er and s h o r te r be­
th o u g h t a n d e n te r e d i t ; p a s s in g th r o u g h cam e th e hops. T hen he cut o ff h is
screen s and m e ta l w a lls w ith o u t p o w e r e n tir e ly a n d w a lk e d u n til h e s a w
h in d r a n c e a n d w ith o u t g iv in g a la r m . H e b e fo r e h im , r i s in g f r o m th e g r o u n d a n d
132 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

s tre tc h in g in te r m in a b ly u p w a rd , an a l­ th e m in d of th e o b se rv e r, w ip in g out
m o s t in v is ib ly s h im m e r in g w e b o f fo rc e . a ll tr a c e s o f t h a t c o n tr o l a s h e d id so .
T h is , th e p ro w le r k n e w , w a s th e c u r­ H e th e n w a tc h e d a p p re h e n s iv e ly f o r a
ta in w h ic h m ark ed th e b o rd e r of th e p o s s ib le r e a c tio n . H e w a s a lm o s t s u r e
re s e rv a tio n , th e tr ig g e r upon w h ic h a th a t h e h a d p e rf o rm e d th e o p e ra tio n c o r ­
t o u c h , e i t h e r o f s o l i d o b j e c t o r o f b e a m ', re c tly , b u t h e h a d to b e a b s o lu te ly c e r ­
w o u ld lib e r a te a v e r ita b le in f e rn o o f th e t a i n ; m o r e t h a n h is life d e p e n d e d u p o n
m o s t d e s tru c tiv e a g e n c ie s g e n e ra b le . th e o u tc o m e o f th is te s t. T h e o b se rv e r,
To th e eye th a t b ase w as not im ­ lm w e v e r , r e m a in e d c a lm and p la c id at
p r e s s iv e , b e in g m e r e ly a fe w s q u a r e m ile s h is p o s t; and a c lo s e re a d in g of h is
o f le v e l g r o u n d , o u t l i n e d w i t h l o w , b r o a d th o u g h ts show ed th a t he had not th e
p ill b o x e s a n d s tu d d e d h e re an d th e re fa in te s t s u s p ic io n th a t a n y th in g u n to w a r d
w ith h a rm le s s -lo o k in g , b u lg in g dom es. h a d o c c u rre d .
T h e r e w e re a fe w c lu s te r s o f b u ild in g s . O n e m o re te s t a n d h e w a s th r o u g h .
T h a t w a s a ll— to th e e y e — b u t K in n is o n H e m u s t fin d o u t h o w m a n y m in d s h e
w as n o t d e c e iv e d . H e knew th a t th e c o u ld c o n tro l s im u lta n e o u s ly , but h e 'd
b a se its e lf w a s a th o u s a n d fe e t u n d e r ­ b e tt e r d o t h a t o p e n ly . N o u s e m a k in g
g r o u n d ; t h a t th e p ill b o x e s h o u s e d lo o k ­ a m a n f e e l l i k e a f o o l n e e d l e s s l y . H e ’d
o u ts a n d d e t e c t o r s ; a n d th a t th o s e d o m e s d o n e t h a t o n c e a lr e a d y , a n d o n c e w a s to o
w e re s im p ly w e a th e r s h ie ld s w h ic h , m a n y tim e s .
ro lle d b a c k , w o u ld e x p o s e p r o j e c to r s se c ­ T h e r e f o r e , re v e r s in g th e p ro c e d u r e by
o n d in p o w e r n o t e v e n t o th o s e o f P r i m e w h i c h h e h a d c o m e , h e w e n t b a c k t o h is
B a s e its e lf. s p e e d s te r , to o k h e r o u t in to th e e th e r,
Far to th e rig h t, b e tw e e n tw o ta ll and s le p t. T hen, w hen th e lig h t of
p y lo n s o f m e ta l, w a s th e g a te , th e o n ly m o rn in g flo o d e d th e b ase, he cut h is
o p e n in g in th e w eb. K in n is o n had d e te c to r n u llifie r and a p p ro a c h e d it
a v o id e d it p u r p o s e l y ; it w a s n o p a r t o f b o ld ly .
h is p la n t o s u b je c t h im s e lf y e t to th e “ R a d e lix b a s e ! L e n s m a n K in n is o n of
s c r u t i n y o f t h e a l l - i n c l u s i v e p h o t o c e ll s o f T e llu s a sk in g p e rm is s io n to la n d . I
th a t e n tra n c e . In s te a d , w ith h is new w is h to c o n fe r w ith y o u r L e n s m a n . My
se n s e of p e rc e p tio n , h e s o u g h t o u t th e s c r e e n s a re d o w n .”
c o n d u i t s l e a d i n g t o t h o s e c e ll s a n d t r a c e d A sp y ra y s w e p t th r o u g h th e sp e e d ­
th e m d o w n , th r o u g h c o n c re te a n d s te e l s te r, th e w eb d is a p p e a re d , a n d K in n i­
and m a s o n ry , to th e c o n tro l ro o m far s o n l a n d e d , t o b e g r e e t e d b y f o u r f e l lo w
b e lo w . L ensm en w ith a q u ie t a n d c o rd ia l r e ­
H e th e n s u p e r im p o s e d h is m in d u p o n s p e c t— c o r d ia lity fo r h is L ens and re ­
th a t o f th e m a n a t th e b o a rd a n d f le w s p e c t fo r h is g r a y . T h e base c o m m a n d e r
b o ld ly to w a rd th e e n tr a n c e . He now knew th a t h is v is ito r w as not th e r e
a c tu a lly h a d a d u a l p e r s o n a l i t y ; s in c e o n e p u re ly fo r p le a s u re . G r a y L e n s m e n d id
p a r t o f h is m in d w a s in h is b o d y , d a r t in g n o t ta k e p le a s u re ja u n ts . T h e re fo re , h e
th r o u g h th e a ir t o w a r d th e p o r t a l, w h ile le d th e w a y in t o h i s p r i v a t e o ff ic e a n d
th e o th e r p a r t w a s d e e p in th e b a s e b e ­ s h ie ld e d it.
lo w , w a tc h in g h im c o m e a n d a c k n o w l­ “ M y a n n o u n c e m e n t w a s n o t a t a ll in ­
e d g in g h is s ig n a ls ! f o r m a tiv e ,” K in n is o n a d m itte d th e n ,
“ b u t m y e r r a n d is n o th in g to b e a d v e r ­
A T R A P L I F T E D , re v e a lin g a s lo p ­ tis e d . I ’v e got to try out s o m e th in g ,
in g , tu n n e le d ra m p , dow n w h ic h th e a n d I w a n t t o a s k y o u f o u r L e n s m e n to
L e n s m a n s h o t. H e so o n fo u n d a c o n ­ c o o p e ra te w ith m e fo r a few m in u te s .”
v e n ie n t s to re ro o m . S lip p in g w ith in it, “ Y ou need n o t a s k -------- ” began th e
h e w ith d re w h is c o n tr o l c a r e f u lly f r o m c o m m a n d e r.
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 133

“ N o , th is is n o t a n o r d e r a t a ll, s im ­ p o r t o n th is d o jig n o w . A n d one m o re

p l y a r e q u e s t . Y o u s e e , I ’v e b e e n w o r k ­ th in g . I d id a little lo n g - r a n g e e x p e r i­
in g a lo n g tim e o n a m in d c o n tr o lle r , m e n tin g o n o n e o f y o u r, c o m p u te rs la s t
a n d I w a n t t o s e e if i t w o r k s . I ’ll p u t n ig h t.”
f o u r b o o k s o n th is ta b le , o n e in f r o n t o f “ D esk 12? T h e o n e w h o th o u g h t h e
each of you. N ow I w o u ld lik e to t r y w a n te d to in te g r a te s o m e th in g ? ”
t o m a k e t w o o r t h r e e o f y o u — a ll f o u r “ T h a t ’s t h e o n e . T e ll h im I w a s u s in g
o f y o u if I c a n — e a c h b e n d o v e r , p i c k u p h im f o r a m i n d - r a y s u b j e c t, w ill y o u , a n d
h is b o o k , a n ti h o ld it. Y o u r p a r t o f th e g iv e h im th is fifty - c re d it b ill? D o n ’t
g a m e w ill b e f o r e a c h o f y o u t o t r y n o t w a n t th e b o y s n e e d lin g h im too m u c h .”
to p ic k i t u p . a n d to p u t it b a c k a s s o o n “ Y es, and th a n k s . A nd— I w onder
a s y o u p o s s ib ly c a n if I d o m ake you -------- ” The b a s e c o m m a n d e r e v id e n tly
obey. W i l l y o u ?” h a d s o m e th in g o n h is m in d . “ Say, can
“ S u r e ! ” th e th r e e o f th e m ch o ru se d . y o u m a k e a m a n te ll t h e t r u t h w ith t h a t ?
“ T h e r e w ill b e n o m e n t a l d a m a g e , o f
A n d if y o u c a n , w ill y o u ? ”
c o u rs e ? ” a sk e d th e c o m m a n d e r.
“ I th in k so . C e r t a i n l y I w ill , if I c a n .
“ N o n e w h a te v e r , a n d n o a f t e r e ffe c ts .
W hy?” K in n is o n k n e w ' t h a t h e c o u ld
I ’v e h a d i t w o r k e d o n m y s e l f , a l o t . ”
d o so , b u t h e d id n o t w is h to s e e m c o c k ­
“ D o y o u w an t a n y a p p a ra tu s ? ”
su re.
“ N o , I h a v e e v e ry th in g n e c e s s a ry . R e ­
“ T h e r e ’s b e e n a m u r d e r . ” T h e o th e r
m e m b e r, I w a n t to p r e s is ta n c e .”
th r e e g la n c e d at each o th e r in u n d e r­
“L et h er com e! Y o u ’ll g e t p l e n t y o f
s t a n d in g a n d s ig h e d w i t h p r o f o u n d re lie f.
re s is ta n c e . If you can m ake any one of
“A p a rtic u la rly fie n d is h m u rd er of a
u s p ic k u p a b o o k , a f te r a ll th is w a r n ­
w o m a n — g ir l, ra th e r. Two m en have
i n g , I ’ll s a y y o u 'v e g o t s o m e t h i n g . ”
been accused. E a c h h a s a p e r f e c t a lib i,
s u p p o rte d b y h o n e s t w itn e s s e s ; b u t y o u
LEN SM A N a f t e r L e n s m a n , in s p i t e
know how m uch an a lib i m eans now .
o f s tra in in g ly re s is tin g m in d a n d b o d y ,
B o th m e n te ll p e r f e c tly s t r a i g h t s to r ie s
lifte d h is h o o k f r o m th e ta b le , o n ly to
under th e L ens and a ll o th e r lie de­
d r o p i t a g a i n a s K i n n i s o n ’s c o n t r o l r e ­
te c to rs . E ith e r one of th o s e m en is
la x e d fo r a n in s ta n t. H e c o u ld c o n tr o l
l y i n g w i t h a p o l i s h I w 'o u ld n e v e r h a v e
tw o o f th e m — any tw o o f th e m — b u t h e
b e lie v e d p o s s ib le , o r b o th a r e in n o c e n t.
c o u ld n o t q u it e h a n d le th r e e . S a tis fie d ,
A n d o n e o f th e m m ust b e g u ilty ; th e s e
h e c e a s e d h is e ff o rts .
a r e th e o n ly s u s p e c ts . If w e tr y th e m
A s t h e b a s e c o m m a n d e r p o u r e d lo n g , n o w w e m a k e fo o ls o f o u r s e l v e s ; a n d w e
c o l d d r i n k s f o r t h e s w e a t i n g fiv e , o n e o f c a n ’t p u t o f f t h e t r i a l v e r y m u c h l o n g e r
h i s f e l lo w s a s k e d : “ W h a t d id y o u d o , w ith o u t lo s in g face. I f y o u c a n h e lp u s
a n y w a y , K in n is o n ? O h , p a rd o n m e, I o u t y o u ’ll b e d o i n g a l o t f o r t h e p a t r o l
s h o u l d n ’t h a v e a s k e d . ” th r o u g h o u t th is w h o le s e c to r .”
“ S o r r y ,” th e T e llu r ia n re p lie d u n c o m ­ “ I c a n h e lp y o u ,” K in n is o n d e c la re d .
f o r t a b l y , “ b u t i t i s n ’t r e a d y y e t . Y o ifll “For th is , th o u g h , b e tte r have so m e
a ll k n o w a b o u t it a s so o n a s p o s s ib le , p ro p s. M ake me a b o x — d o u b le B u r­
b u t n o t ju s t n o w .” b a n k c o n tr o ls , w ith fiv e b a b y s p o ts o n it
“ S u re ,” th e R a d e lig ia n re p lie d . “I — o r a n g e , b lu e , g r e e n , p u rp le and re d .
knew I s h o u l d n ’t have b la s te d o ff as I w a n t th e b ig g e s t s e t o f h e a d phones
s o o n a s I s p o k e .” y o u ’v e g o t , a n d a t h i c k , b l a c k b l i n d f o l d .
“ W e ll, th a n k s a lo t, fe llo w s .” K in ­ H o w s o o n c a n y o u t r y ’e m ? ”
n is o n s e t h is e m p ty g la s s d o w n w ith a “ T h e so o n e r th e b e tte r. It can be a r­
c li c k . “ I c a n m a k e a n ic e p r o g r e s s r e ­ r a n g e d fo r th is a f te r n o o n .”
134 A S T O U N D IN G STO R IE S

T H E T R IA L w as announced, and “I h a v e e x a m in e d th e m fu lly . Y ou

lo n g b e fo re th e a p p o in te d h o u r th e g r e a t a r e a ll a w a r e t h a t a n y L e n s m a n o f th e
c o u rtro o m of th a t w o r l d ’s l a r g e s t c ity G a la c tic P a tro l m ay, in case of need,
w a s th r o n g e d . T h e h o u r s tru c k . Q u ie t s e r v e a s ju d g e , ju r y , a n d e x e c u tio n e r. I
re ig n e d . K in n is o n , th e L ensm an, in am , h o w e v e r, none of th e s e ; nor is
s o m b e r g r a y , s t r o d e t o t h e j u d g e ’s d e s k th is p ro c e e d in g to b e a tr ia l a s y o u m a y
and sat d o w n b e h in d th e p e c u lia r b o x h a v e u n d e r s to o d th e te r m . I h a v e s a id
u p o n it. I n d e a d s ile n c e tw o o th e r L e n s - th a t w itn e s s e s a r e s u p e r flu o u s . I w ill
m e n a p p ro a c h e d . T h e firs t in v e s te d h im n o w a d d t h a t n e i t h e r j u d g e n o r j u r y is
re v e re n tly w ith th e head p h o n e s ; th e n e c e ssa ry . A l l t h a t i s r e q u i r e d is t o d i s ­
s e c o n d s o e n w r a p p e d h is h e a d in b la c k c o v e r th e t r u t h , s in c e t r u t h is a ll- p o w c r -
c lo th t h a t it w a s a p p a r e n t t o a ll o b s e r v ­ fu l. F o r t h a t r e a s o n , a ls o , n o t e v e n a n
e rs th a t h is v is io n w a s c o m p le te ly ob­ e x e c u tio n e r is n e e d e d h e r e — th e d is c o v ­
scu red . e r e d t r u t h w ill in a n d o f its e lf s e r v e u s
“ A lth o u g h f r o m a w o r ld f a r d is ta n t in in t h a t c a p a c ity .
sp ace, I have been ask ed to try tw o “ O n e o f th e s e m e n is g u i l t y ; th e o th e r
s u s p e c ts f o r th e c rim e o f m u r d e r ,” K in ­ is in n o c e n t. F r o m th e m in d o f th e g u iliy
n is o n in to n e d . “ I d o n o t k n o w th e d e ­ o n e I a m a b o u t t o c o n s tr u c t a c o m p o s ite ,
ta ils o f th e c rim e n o r th e id e n tity o f th e n o t o f th i s o n e fie n d is h c r im e a lo n e , b u t
s u s p e c ts . I d o k n o w th a t th e y a n d th e ir o f a ll th e c r im e s h e h a s e v e r c o m m itte d .
w itn e s s e s a re w ith in th e s e ra ilin g s . I I s h a ll p r o je c t th a t c o m p o s ite in to th e
sh a ll n o w se le c t th o s e w h o a r e a b o u t to a i r b e fo re h im . N o i n n o c e n t m i n d w ill
b e e x a m in e d .” b e a b l e t o s e e a n y i o t a o f it. T h e g u ilty
m a n , h o w e v e r , w ill p e r c e iv e its e v e r y r e ­
P ie r c in g b e a m s o f in te n s e , v a ric o lo re d
lig h t p la y e d o v e r th e tw o g ro u p s, a n d v o lt in g d e t a i l ; a n d , s o p e r c e iv in g , b e w ill
f o r th w ith c e a se to e x is t in th i s p la n e o f
th e d e e p , im p r e s s iv e v o ic e w e n t o n : “I
k n o w n o w w h o th e s u s p e c ts a r e . T hey life .”
O n e o f th e m e n h a d n o th in g to fe a r—
a re a b o u t to ris e , to w a lk , a n d to seat
K in n is o n had to ld h im so , lo n g sin c e .
th e m s e lv e s a s I sh a ll d ir e c t.”
T h e o th e r h a d b e e n tr e m b lin g fo r m in ­
T hey d id so , it b e in g p la in ly e v id e n t
u te s in u n c o n tr o lla b le p a r o x y s m s o f t e r ­
to a ll o b se rv e rs th a t th e y w e re under
ro r. N o w th is o n e le a p e d f r o m h is s e a t,
so m e a w fu l c o m p u ls io n .
c la w in g s a v a g e ly a t b is e y e s a n d s c re a m ­
“The w itn e s s e s m ay be ex cu sed . in g in m a d a b a n d o n .
T ru th is th e o n ly th i n g o f im p o r ta n c e
“I d id it! H e lp ! M ercy ! T ake
h e re ; and w itn e s s e s , b e in g hum an and her aw ay! Q h -h -h — ” he s h r ie k e d ,
th e r e f o r e fra il, o b s tr u c t tr u th m o re fre ­
a n d d ie d , h o r r ib ly , e v e n a s b e s h r ie k e d .
q u e n tly th a n th e y f u r th e r its p ro g re s s . N o r w a s t h e r e n o is e in th e c o u r tr o o m
1 s h a ll n o w e x a m in e th e s e tw o a c c u s e d .”
a fte r th e th in g w a s o v e r. T h e s tu n n e d
A g a in th e v iv id , w e ird ly d is to rtin g s p e c ta to rs s lu n k a w a y , s c a rc e ly d a rin g
g la r e s o f li g h t la s h e d o u t, b a th i n g in in ­ even to b re a th e u n til th e y w e re s a fe ly
te n s e m o n o c h ro m e and in v a rio u s o u ts id e .
g h a s tly c o m b in a tio n s firs t o n e p r is o n e r ,
th e n th e o t h e r ; th e w h ile K in n is o n d r o v e NOR w e re th e R a d e lig ia n L ensm en
h is m in d in to th e irs , p lu m b in g th e ir m uch m o re a t case. N o t a w o rd w a s
d e e p e s t d e p th s . T h e s ile n c e , a lr e a d y p r o ­ s a i d u n t i l t h e fiv e w e r e b a c k i n t h e c o m ­
fo u n d , becam e th e u tte r s tilln e s s of m a n d e r ’s o ff ic e a t b a s e . T h e n K in n is o n ,
o u te r space as th e th r o n g , h o ld in g its s till w h ite o f fa c e a n d s e t o f ja w , sp o k e .
v e ry b re a th n o w , s a t e n th ra lle d by th a t T h e o th e r s k n e w th a t h e h a d fo u n d th e
p o r te n to u s e x a m in a tio n . g u ilty m a n , a n d t h a t h e h a d in s o m e p e ­
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 135
c u lia rly te rrib le fa s h io n e x e c u te d h im . a ro u n d h e r e ! ” e x c la im e d th e T e llu ria n
H e knew th a t th e y k n e w th a t th e m a n in d e l i g h t . “ Is th e re , re a lly ? ”
w a s h id e o u s ly g u ilty . “ T h e re is . I t is so stro n g th a t we
N e v e rth e le s s , th e T e ll u r ia n s a id , “ H e h a v e n o t b e e n a b l e t o t o u c h i t , a n d i t is
w a s g u ilty — g u ilty a s a ll th e d e v ils in m a n n e d a n d s ta ffe d b y n a tiv e s o f y o u r
all t h e h e l l s o f t h e e n t i r e u n iv e r s e . I o w n p la n e t, T e llu s o f S o l. W e re p o rte d
never had to do th a t b e fo re , and it it to P r im e B a s e so m e e ig h ty - th r e e d a y s
g rip e s m e— b u t I c o u l d n 't sh o v e th e a g o , j u s t a f t e r w e d i s c o v e r e d it . Y o u 'r e
jo b o ff o n t o you fe llo w s . I w o u l d n ’t d ire c t fro m t h e r e -------- ” H e fe ll s i l e n t .
w a n t a n y b o d y to se e th a t p ic tu re w ho T h is w a s n o w a y to b e ta lk in g to a g r a y
d i d n 't h a v e t o , a n d w i t h o u t i t y o u c o u l d L en sm an .
never b e g in to u n d e rs ta n d ju s t how “ I w a s in th e h o s p ita l th e n , fig h tin g
a tr o c io u s ly a n d d a m n a b ly g u ilty t h a t h e ll w i t h m y n u r s e b e c a u s e s h e w o u l d n ’t g i v e
h o u n d re a lly w a s .” m e a n y th in g to e a t,” K in n is o n e x p la in e d
“ T h a n k s , K in n is o n ,” th e c o m m a n d e r w ith a la u g h . “W hen I le ft T e ll u s I
s a id , s im p ly . “ K in n is o n . K in n is o n o f d i d n 't c h e c k u p o n t h e l a t e d a t a — d i d n ’t
T e ll u s. I ’ll re m e m b e r th a t nam e, in th i n k I w o u ld n e e d it q u ite so s o o n . If
c a se w e e v e r n e e d y o u a s b a d ly a g a in . y o u ’v e g o t i t , t h o u g h -------- ”
H u t , a f t e r w h a t y o u j u s t d i d , i t w ill b e a “ H o s p ita l! Y o u ? " q u e r ie d o n e o f th e
lo n g tim e — if e v e r . Y ou d i d n ’t k n o w , y o u n g er L ensm en,
d i d y o u , t h a t a ll t h e i n h a b i t a n t s o f f o u r “ Y e a h — b it o ff m o re th a n I c o u ld
p la n e ts w e re w a tc h in g y o u ? ” c h e w .” A nd th e T e llu ria n b rie fly de­
s c r ib e d h is m is a d v e n tu re w ith th e
“ H o ly ro c k e ts , n o ! W e re th e y ? ”
W h e e lm e n o f A ld e b a ra n I. “ T h is o th e r
“T hey w e re . A nd if th e w ay you
th in g has com e u p s in c e th e n , th o u g h ,
scared me is a n y c r i t e r i o n , i t w ill b e a
a n d I w o n ’t b e s t i c k i n g m y n e c k o u t t h a t
l o n g , c o ld d a y b e f o r e a n y t h i n g l i k e t h a t
w a y a g a in . I f y o u ’v e g o t s u c h a m a d e -
com es up a g a in in th is s y s te m . A nd
t o - o r d e r b a s e a s t h a t in t h i s r e g i o n , i t ’l l
th a n k s a g a in , g r a y L e n s tn a n . Y ou have
s a v e m e a lo n g t r ip . W h e r e is i t ? ”
d o n e s o m e th in g f o r o u r w h o le p a tr o l th i s
T hey gave h im its c o o rd in a te s and
d a y ,"
w hat little in fo rm a tio n th e y had been
“ He su re to d is m a n tle th a t box so a b le t o s e c u r e c o n c e r n i n g it. T h e y d id
th o r o u g h ly th a t nobody w ill re c o g n iz e n o t a s k h im w h y h e w a n te d th a t d a ta .
a n y of its c o m p o n e n t p a r t s .” K in n is o n T h e y m a y h a v e w o n d e r e d a t h is te m e r ­
m anaged a ra th e r fe e b le g rin . “ O ne ity in d a rin g to s c o u t a lo n e a fo rtre s s
m o r e t h i n g a n d I ’ll b u z z a l o n g . D o you w h o se s tre n g th had kept at bay th e
f e l l o w s h a p p e n t o k n o w w h e r e t h e r e 's a m a s s e d p a tr o l fo rc e s o f th e s e c t o r ; b u t
good, s tro n g p ir a te b ase aro u n d h e re if t h e y d i d s o t h e y k e p t t h e i r t h o u g h t s
a n y w h e re ? A n d , w h i l e I d o n ’t w a n t t o w e ll screen ed . For th is w as a g ra y
s e e m f u s s y , I w o u l d li k e i t a ll t h e b e t t e r L en sm an , an d v e ry e v id e n tly a su p er-
if th e y w e re w a rm -b lo o d e d oxygen p o w e re d in d iv id u a l, e v e n o f th a t se le c t
b r e a t h e r s , s o t h a t I w o n 't h a v e t o w e a r g ro u p w h o se w eak est m e m b e rs w e re
a r m o r a ll t h e t i m e . ” p o w e rfu l in d e e d . I f h e fe lt lik e ta lk in g
“ W h a t a r e y o u tr y in g to d o , g iv e u s th e y w o u ld l i s t e n ; b u t K in n is o n d id n o t
th e n e e d le , o r s o m e th in g ? " T h i s is n o t ta lk . H e d id th e lis te n in g .
p re c is e ly w h a t th e R a d e lig ia n sa id , b u t T hen, w hen he had le a rn e d e v e ry ­
it c o n v e y s th e th o u g h t K in n is o n re c e iv e d th in g th e y k n e w o f th e B o s k o n ia n b a se ,
a s th e b a s e c o m m a n d e r s t a r e d a t h im in he s a id , “ W e ll, I 'd b e tte r be b u z z in g .
a m a z e m e n t. C le a r e th e r , fe llo w s !” A nd he w as
“ D o n 't te l l m e t h a t t h e r e is su ch a base gone,
136 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

XX. m a d ic , w a n d e r in g h e re a n d th e r e w ith ­
out p e rm a n e n t h a b ita tio n or s tru c tu re .
O U T fro m R a d e lix and in to deep
A n im a ls o f s c o r e s o f g e n e r a a n d s p e c ie s
space sh o t th e s p e e d s te r, b e a rin g th e
w e r e t h e r e in m y r i a d s , b u t n e i t h e r w a s
g r a y L e n s m a n to w a rd B o y s s ia I I , w h e re
K in n is o n a b io lo g is t. He w a n te d p i­
th e B o s k o n ia n b a s e w a s s itu a te d . The
r a t e s ; a n d , it s e e m e d , t h a t w a s t h e o n e
p a t r o l f o r c e s h a d n o t e v e n y e t b e e n a b le
f o r m o f lif e w h i c h h e w a s not g o in g to
to lo c a te it d e fin ite ly ; th e r e fo re , it m u s t
fin d !
be c le v e rly h id d e n in d e e d . It w as
B u t fin a lly , t h r o u g h s h e e r , g r im , b u ll­
m a n n e d a n d s ta ffe d b y T e llu r ia n s — a n d
d o g p e r tin a c ity , h e w a s s u c c e s s fu l. T hat
t h i s w a s f a i r l y c lo s e t o t h e l i n e f i r s t t a k e n
b a se w a s th e r e , so m e w h e re . H e w o u ld
b y th e p ilo t o f th e p ir a te v e ss e l w h o se
fin d it, n o m a t t e r h o w lo n g it to o k . He
c r e w h a d b e e n so d e c im a te d b y V a n B u s -
w o u l d f i n d i t if fie h a d t o e x a m i n e t h e
k ir k a n d h is V a le r ia n s . T h e r e c o u l d n ’t
e n tire c ru st of th e p la n e t, la n d and
be so m a n y B o s k o n ia n b a s e s w ith T e l­
w a te r a lik e , k ilo m e te r b y p lo tte d c u b ic
lu r ia n p e r s o n n e l, K in n is o n re fle c te d . It
k ilo m e te r! H e se t o u t to d o ju s t t h a t ;
w a s w e ll w ith i n th e b o u n d s o f p o s s ib il­
a n d i t w a s th u s th a t h e fo u n d th e B o s ­
ity , even of p ro b a b ility , th a t h e m ig h t
k o n ia n s tro n g h o ld .
a g a in e n c o u n te r h e r e h is f o r m e r , b u t u n ­
It had been b u ilt d ire c tly b e n e a th
s u s p e c tin g , s h ip m a te s .
a to w e rin g ra n g e o f m o u n ta in s , p ro te c te d
S in c e th e B o y ssia n s y s te m w a s le s s
f r o m d e t e c t i o n b y m i l e u p o n m ile o f n a ­
th a n a h u n d r e d p a rs e c s fr o m R a d e lix , a
tiv e c o p p e r a n d o f ir o n o re .
c o u p le o f h o u r s f o u n d th e L e n s m a n s t a r ­
Its e n tr a n c e s , in v is ib le b efo re , w e re
in g dow n upon a n o th e r g re e n and
e v e n n o w n o t re a d ily p e rc e p tib le , e a m o -
E a rth ly w o rld . V e ry E a rth ly in d e e d
fla g e d a s th e y w e r e b y o u te r la y e r s o f
w a s th is o n e . T h e r e w e r e p o l a r ic e c a p s ,
ro c k w h ic h m a tc h e d e x a c tly in fo rm ,
a r e a s o f in te n s e ly d a z z lin g w h ite . T h e re
c o l o r , a n d t e x t u r e t h e r o c k s o f t h e c lif f s
w as an a tm o s p h e re , deep and s w e e tly
in w h ic h th e y w e re p la c e d . O n c e th o s e
b l u e , f i ll e d f o r t h e m o s t p a r t w i t h S u n ­
e n tra n c e s w e re lo c a te d , th e re st w as
lig h t, b u t fle c k e d h e re and th e r e w ith
easy. A g a in h e s e t h is s p e e d s te r in to a
c lo u d s , so m e o f w h ic h w e re s lo w - m o v in g
c a re fu lly o b serv ed o rb it and cam e to
s to rm s . T h e r e w e re c o n tin e n ts , b e a rin g
g ro u n d in h is a r m o r . A g a in he c re p t
m o u n ta in s a n d p la in s , la k e s a n d r iv e r s .
fo r w a rd , fu rtiv e ly a n d s k u lk in g ly , u n til
T h e r e w e re o c e a n s , s tu d d e d w ith is la n d s
h e c o u ld p e rc e iv e a s h im m e r in g w e b o f
g r e a t a n d s m a ll .
fo rc e .
B u t K in n is o n w a s n o p la n e to g ra p h e r , W i t h m in o r v a r ia tio n s , b is m e th o d o f
n o r h a d h e b e e n g o n e f r o m T e l l u s s u f f i­ e n tr y in to th e B o s k o n ia n b a s e w a s s im ­
c ie n tly Ic in g so th a t th e s ig h t of th is i l a r to t h a t h e h a d u s e d in m a k in g h is
b e a u tif u l a n d h o m e lik e w o r ld a r o u s e d in w a y in to th e p a tr o l b a s e u p o n R a d e lix ,
h im any q u a lm o f n o s ta lg ia . He w as H e w a s, h o w e v e r, w o rk in g n o w w ith a
lo o k in g f o r a p ir a te b a s e ; a n d , d r o p p in g s u re ty a n d a p re c is io n w h ic h h a d th e n
h is s p e e d s te r a s lo w i n t o th e n i g h t s id e b e e n e n tire ly la c k in g . H is p ra c tic e u p o n
a s h e d a r e d , h e b e g a n h is s e a rc h . t h e p a t r o l m e n a n d h i s t e r r i f i c b o u t w ith
O f m a n o r o f th e w o rk s o f m a n h e a t th e f o u r L e n s m e n h a d g iv e n h im k n o w l­
firs t fo u n d little e n o u g h tr a c e . A ll h u ­ e d g e a n d te c h n iq u e . H is s ittin g in j u d g ­
m an or p seu d o h u m an li f e w as a p p a r­ m e n t , d u r i n g w h i c h h e h a d t o u c h e d id -
e n tly s till i n a s a v a g e s t a te o f d e v e lo p ­ m o s t e v e r y m in d in th e v a s t a s s e m b la g e ,
m e n t; a n d , e x c e p t fo r a fe w s c a tte r e d h a d ta u g h t h im m uch. A n d , a b o v e a ll,
ra c e s , o r r a th e r tr ib e s , o f b u r r o w e r s a n d t h e g r i s l y f i n a le o f t h a t s i t t i n g , h o r r i b l y
o f c li f f o r c a v e d w e l l e r s , i t w a s s t i l l n o ­ d i s t a s t e f u l a n d s o u l - w r a c k i n g a s it h a d
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 137

b e e n , h a d g iv e n h im tr a in in g o f in e s ti­ d in a r y w a s h a p p e n in g — to any p ir a te s ’
m a b le v a l u e ; n e c e s s ita tin g a s i t h a d th e k n o w le d g e , th a t is — a n d h is a tte n tio n
in flic tio n o f th e u ltim a te p e n a lty . w a s m o r e n e c e s s a ry e ls e w h e re .
O n e d a y , h o w e v e r, th e r e c a m e c ra c k ­
H E K N EW th a t h e m ig h t h a v e to lin g in a triu m p h a n t re p o rt: a sh ip
s ta y in s id e th a t base fo r so m e tim e ; w o rk in g o u t o f th a t b a se h a d ta k e n n o ­
th e re fo re he s e le c te d h is h id in g p la c e b le b o o t y i n d e e d ; n o l e s s a p r i z e t h a n
w ith c a re . H e c o u ld , o f c o u rs e , b la n k a fu lly s u p p lie d h o s p ita l s h ip o f t h e p a tr o l
o u t th e k n o w le d g e o f h is p re s e n c e in th e its e lf! A s th e r e p o r t p ro g r e s s e d , Iv in -
m in d of an y o n e c h a n c in g to d is c o v e r n i s o n 's h e a r t w e n t d o w n i n t o h i s b o o t s
h im ; but sin c e su ch an in te rru p tio n a n d h e s w o r e b itte r ly to h im s e lf. H ow
m ig h t c o m e a t a c ritic a l in s ta n t, h e p r e ­ i n a ll t h e n i n e h e l l s o f V a l e r i a h a d t h e y
f e r r e d to ta k e u p h is r e s id e n c e in a s e ­ m anaged to ta k e su ch a s h ip a s th a t ?
c lu d e d p la c e . T h e re w e re , o f c o u rse , H a d n 't s h e b e e n e s c o r t e d ?
m a n y v a c a n t s u ite s in th e o ffic e rs ’ q u a r ­ N e v e r th e le s s , a s c h ie f c o m m u n ic a tio n s
t e r s — a ll b a s e s m u s t h a v e accom m oda­ o ffic e r, he to o k th e re p o rt and con­
tio n s f o r v is ito rs — a n d th e L e n s m a n d e ­ g ra tu la te d h e a rtily , th r o u g h th e s h i p 's
c id e d to o c c u p y o n e o f th e m . I t w as a ra d io m a n , i t s c a p ta in , its o ffic e rs , a n d
s im p le m a t t e r to o b ta in a k e y , a n d , in ­ its c re w .
s id e th e b a r e h u t c o m f o rta b le little ro o m , “ M ig h ty fin e w o r k ; H e lm u t h h im s e lf
h e s t r i p p e d o ff h i s a r m o r w i t h a s i g h o f s h a ll hear of th is .” he c o n c lu d e d h is
re lie f. w o rd s o f p ra is e . “H ow d id y o u d o it ?
L e a n in g b a c k in a d e e p ly u p h o ls te r e d W ith o n e o f th e n e w m a u le r s ? ”
l e a t h e r a r m c h a ir , h e c lo s e d h is e y e s a n d “ Y es, s ir," cam e th e re p ly . “O ur
le t h is s e n s e o f p e r c e p tio n r o a m th r o u g h ­ m a u le r, a c c o m p a n y in g us ju s t out of
o u t th e g r e a t e s ta b lis h m e n t. W i t h a l l h is ra n g e , c a m e u p a n d e n g a g e d th e irs . T h a t
n e w ly d e v e lo p e d pow er he s tu d ie d it, le f t u s fr e e t o ta k e th i s s h ip . W e lo c k e d
hour a fte r hour and day a fte r day. o n w ith m a g n e ts, c u t o u r w a y in , a n d
W hen h e w as h u n g ry th e p ira te co o k s h e re w e a r e ."
fe d h im , n o t k n o w in g t h a t th e y d id s o . T h e re th e y w e re in d e e d . The h o s­
He had liv e d on ir o n ra tio n s lo n g p ita l s h ip w a s re d w ith b lo o d : p a tie n ts ,
enough. W hen he w as tire d h e s le p t, d o c to r s , in t e r n e s , o ffic e rs a n d o p e r a t in g
w ith h is e te rn a lly v ig ila n t L ens on c re w a lik e h a d b e e n b u tc h e r e d w ith th e
g u a rd . h o r r ib ly r u t h le s s s a v a g e r y w h ic h w a s th e
F in a lly , h e k n e w e v e ry th in g th e r e w a s c u s t o m a r y te c h n i q u e o f a ll t h e a g e n c ie s
t o !>e k n o w n a b o u t t h a t s t r o n g h o l d , a n d of B oskone. O f a l l t h a t s h i p ’s p e r s o n ­
w a s r e a d y to a c t. H e d id n o t ta k e o v e r n e l o n ly th e n u r s e s liv e d . T hey w e re
th e m in d o f th e b ase c o m m a n d e r, but n o t to b e p u t to d e a th — y e t. I n fa c t, a n d
c h o se in s te a d th e c h ie f c o m m u n ic a tio n s u n d e r c e rta in c o n d itio n s , th e y n e e d n o t
o ffic e r a s th e o n e m o s t lik e ly a n d m o s t d i e a t a ll.
in tim a te ly to have d e a lin g s w ith H e l-
m u th . F o r H e l m u t h , lie w h o s p o k e f o r T H E Y h u d d le d to g e th e r , a little k n o t
B oskone. had fo r m any lo n g m o n th s of w h ite -c la d m is e ry in th a t c o rp s e -lit­
b e e n t h e L e n s m a n 's d e f i n i t e o b j e c t i v e . te r e d ro o m , a n d e v e n n o w o n e o f th e m
B u t th is g a m e c o u ld n o t b e h u r r ie d . w a s b e in g d r a g g e d a w a y . S h e w a s fig h t­
B a se s, n o m a tte r h o w im p o rta n t, d id n o t in g v ic io u s ly , w ith f i s ts and fe e t, w ith
c a ll G r a n d B a s e e x c e p t u p o n m a t t e r s o f n a ils and te e th . No one p ira te c o u ld
th e m o s t d ir e u rg e n c y , a n d n o s u c h m a t­ h a n d le h e r ; it to o k tw o o f th e h u s k ie s
te r e v e n tu a te d . N o r d id H e lm u th c a ll to su b d u e th a t s tru g g lin g fu ry . T hey
th a t b a s e , s in c e n o th in g o u t o f th e o r ­ h a u le d h e r u p rig h t a n d sh e th re w back
138 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

her head, in p a n tin g d e fia n c e , T h e re in n o u n c e r ta in o r a m b ig u o u s la n g u a g e

w as a cascade of re d -b ro n z e h a ir and .h e o p e n e d u p .
K in n is o n saw — G a rris s a M a c D o u g a ll! “ L i s t e n , y o u — a ll o f y o u !” h e b a r k e d ,
H e re m e m b e re d th a t th e r e had been s a v a g e ly . “ T h is is th e firs t tim e in
s o m e ta lk th a t th e y w e re g o in g to p u t m o n th s th a t w e h a v e m a d e su ch a h a u l
h e r b a c k in to sp ace s e r v ic e ! T h e L en s- a s th is , a n d y o u fe llo w s h a v e th e b r a z e n
m a n d e c id e d in s ta n t ly w h a t t o d o . g a ll to sta rt h e lp in g y o u r s e lv e s to th e
" S to p , y o u s w in e ! " h e ro a re d th r o u g h c h o ic e s t s tu f f b e fo r e anybody e ls e g e t s
h is p ir a te m o u th p ie c e . “ W h e re d o you a l o o k a t it . 1 te l l y o u n o w t o b y o ff,
t h i n k y o u ’r e g o i n g w i t h t h a t n u r s e ? ” a n d t h a t g o e s e x a c tly a s it la y s . I, p e r ­
“To th e c a p t a i n ’s c a b in , s ir.” The s o n a lly , w ill k ill a n y m a n th a t to u c h e s
h u s k ie s s to p p e d s h o r t in a m a z e m e n t a s o n e o f th o s e w o m e n b e f o r e th e y a rriv e
t h a t r o a r f i ll e d t h e r o o m , b u t a n s w e r e d h e re at b ase. N ow ' y o u , c a p ta in , a re
th e q u e s tio n c o n c is e ly . th e firs t a n d w o r s t o ffe n d e r o f th e lo t.”
" L e t h e r g o !” T h e n , a s t h e g i r l f le d A n d h e sta re d d ir e c tly in to th e e y e s o f
b a c k to th e h u d d le d g ro u p in t h e c o r ­ t h e o f f ic e r w h o m he had la s t se e n e n ­
n e r , h e s a id , “ T e ll th e c a p ta in to c o m e t e r i n g t h e d u n g e o n o f tir e W h e e l m e n .
o u t h e r e a n d a s s e m b le e v e r y o ffic e r a n d " I a d m i t t h a t y o u ’r e a g o o d p i c k e r . ”
m a n o f th e c re w , I w a n t to ta lk to K i n n i s o n ’s v o i c e w as now v e n o m o u s ly
e v e ry b o d y a t o n c e .” s o f t, h is in to n a tio n in s tin c t w ith th in ly
H e h a d a m i n u t e o r t w o in w h i c h t o v e ile d sa rc a sm . " U n fo rtu n a te ly , how ­
th in k , a n d h e th o u g h t fu r io u s ly , b u t a c ­ e v e r, your ta s te a g re e s to o w e ll w ith
c u ra te ly . H e h a d to d o s o m e th in g , b u t m in e . Y ou s e e , c a p t a i n , I ’m g o in g to
" w h a te v e r h e d i d m u s t b e d o n e s t r i c t l y a c ­ n e e d a n u r s e m y s e l f . I t h i n k I ’m c o m i n g
c o rd in g to th e p ir a te s ’ o w n s ta n d a rd s d o w n w ith s o m e th in g . A n d , s i n c e I ’v e
o f e t h i c s ; if h e m a d e o n e s l i p i t m i g h t g o t t o h a v e a n u r s e , I 'l l t a k e t h a t r e d ­
b e A ld e b a r a n I a ll o v e r a g a in . H e knew h ead ed one. I had a n u r s e o n c e w ith
h o w to k e e p fro m m a k in g th a t s lip , h e h a ir ju s t th a t c o lo r , w ho in s is te d on
th o u g h t. B ut a ls o , and th is w as th e fe e d in g me te a and to a s t and a s o ft-
h a rd p a rt, h e m u s t w o rk in s o m e th in g b o ile d e g g w h e n I w a n te d b e e fs te a k ; a n d
th a t w o u ld le t th o s e n u rse s k n o w th a t I am g o in g to ta k e m y g ru d g e o u t on
th e r e w a s still h o p e , t h a t t h e r e w e r e a th is one h e re fo r a ll th e re d -h ead ed
fe w m o re a c ts of th is d ra m a yet to n u r s e s th a t e v e r liv e d . I tr u s t th a t y ou
com e. O th e rw is e h e k n e w w ith a s ta rk , w ill p a r d o n th e le n g th of th is speecn,
c o ld c e r ta in ty w h a t w o u ld h a p p e n . He but I w a n t to g i v e y o u m y r e a s o n s in
knew o f w h a t s tu ff th e s p a c e n u r s e s o f fu ll fo r c a u tio n in g y o u th a t t h a t p a r tic ­
th e p a tro l w e re m ade, knew th a t th e y u l a r n u r s e is m y o w n p a r t i c u l a r p e r s o n a l
c o u ld b e d riv e n ju s t so far, and no p ro p e rty , M a r k h e r fo r m e , a n d s e e to
f u r t h e r — a liv e . i t t h a t s h e g e t s h e r e — e x a c t l y a s s h e is
T h e r e w a s a w a y o u t o f th a t , to o . In n o w .”
th e c h ild is h n e s s o f h is h o s p ita liz a tio n h e T h e c a p ta in h a d b e e n a fr a id to in te r ­
had c a lle d N u r s e M a c D o u g a ll a d u m b ­ r u p t h is s u p e r io r , b u t n o w h e e ru p te d .
b e ll . H e h a d th o u g h t o f h e r, a n d h a d “ B u t s e e h e r e , B l a k e s l e e !” h e s t o r m e d .
s p o k e n to h e r q u ite fr a n k ly , in u n c o m ­ “ S h e o u g h t to b e m in e , b y e v e ry rig h t.
p lim e n ta ry te rm s . B ut he knew th a t I c a p t u r e d h e r ; I s a w h e r f i r s t ; I ’v e g o t
th e r e w a s a re a l b ra m b a c k of th a t b e a u ­ r e r h e r e -------- ”
tifu l c o u n te n a n c e , th a t a q u ic k a n d k e e n “ E n o u g h o f t h a t b a c k t a l k , c a p t a i n !”
in te llig e n c e re s id e d under th a t re d - K in n is o n sn eered e la b o ra te ly , “ Y ou
b ro n z e th a tc h . T h e re fo re , w h e n th e a s ­ k n o w , o f c o u rs e , th a t y o u a r e v io la tin g
s e m b ly w a s c o m p le te h e w a s r e a d y , a n d e v e ry ru le by ta k in g b o o ty fo r y o u r­
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 139

s e lf b e fo re d iv is io n a t b a se , a n d t h a t y o n to o u tte r ly fa n ta s tic to b e e v e n p a r tia lly

can be s h o t fo r d o in g it." tru e . B u t p a s s th e w o rd a lo n g to a ll
“ B ut e v e ry b o d y does it!” p ro te s te d th e g irls to rid e th is o u t, b e c a u s e my
th e c a p ta in . g r a y L e n s m a n is i n o n i t , s o m e w h e r e a n d
som ehow . I d o n ’t s e e h o w he can be,
“E xcept w hen a s u p e r io r o f f ic e r
p o s s ib ly , b u t I j u s t k n o w t h a t h e is .”
c a tc h e s h im a t it. S u p e rio rs get firs t
F o r , a t th e firs t m e n tio n of te a a n d
p ic k , y o u k n o w ,” th e L e n s m a n re m in d e d
to a s t, b e fo r e s h e p e rc e iv e d e v e n a n in k ­
h im , su a v e ly .
lin g o f th e tr u e s itu a tio n , h e r m in d h a d
“ B ut I p ro te s t, sir! I ’ll t a k e it u p
fla s h e d b a c k in s ta n tly to K in n is o n , th e
w i t h -------- "
m o s t s t u b b o r n a n d re b e llio u s p a ti e n t s h e
“Shut u p !” K in n is o n s n a r le d , w ith h a d e v e r h a d — m o r e , th e o n ly m a n s h e
c o ld f i n a l i t y . “ T ake it u p w ith w hom h a d e v e r k n o w n w h o h a d tr e a te d h e r p re ­
y o u p le a s e , b u t r e m e m b e r th is , m y la s t c is e ly a s th o u g h s h e w e re a p a r t o f th e
w a r n i n g : B r i n g h e r i n t o m e a s s h e is h o s p i t a l 's v e r y f u r n i t u r e . A s is t h e w a y
a n d y o u liv e . T o u c h h e r a n d y o u d ie ! of w o m e n — p a rtic u la rly of b e a u tifu l
N o w , y o u n u rs e s , c o m e o v e r h e re to th e w o m en — she had o ra te d of w o m e n ’s
b o a r d !”
rig h ts and of w o m e n ’s s ta tu s in th e
sc h e m e o f th in g s . She had d e c r i e d a ll
N U R S E M A C D O U G A L L had been s p e c ia l p r iv ile g e s , a n d h a d s ta te d , o fte n
w h is p e r in g f u r tiv e ly to th e o th e r s , a n d a n d w ith h e a t, t h a t s h e a s k e d no o d d s
n o w s h e le d th e w a y , h e a d h ig h a n d e y e s of any m an liv in g o r yet to be b o rn .
b la z in g d e fia n c e . She w as an a c tre s s , N e v e r th e le s s , a n d a ls o b e a u tif u l- w o m a n ­
a s w e ll a s a n u r s e . li k e , t h e th o u g h t had b itte n deep th a t
“ T a k e a g o o d , lo n g lo o k a t th i s b u tto n , h e re w as a m a n w ho h ad n e v e r ev en re ­
rig h t h e re , m ark ed ‘R e l a y 4 6 ,’ ” cam e a liz e d th a t sh e was a w om an, to say
c u r t in s tru c tio n s . “ If a n y b o d y a b o a rd n o th in g o f re a liz in g th a t sh e w a s a n e x ­
th is s h ip to u c h e s any one of you, o r tr a o rd in a rily b e a u tifu l o n e ! A nd deep
e v e n lo o k s a t y o u a s th o u g h h e w a n ts to , w ith in her and s te rn ly su p p ressed th e
p re s s th is b u tto n and I 'l l do th e re s t. th o u g h t h a d still ra n k le d .
N ow , you b ig . re d -h ead ed d u m b - b e ll, A t th e m e n tio n o f b e e fs te a k she a ll
lo o k a t m e . D o n ’t s t a r t b e g g i n g — y e t . I b u t sc re a m e d , g rip p in g h e r k n e e s w ith
ju s t w a n t to b e s u r e t h a t y o u ’ll k n o w f r a n tic h a n d s to k e e p h e r e m o tio n d o w n .
m e w h e n y o u se e m e .” F o r sh e h a d h a d n o re a l h o p e ; sh e w a s
“ I ’ll k n o w y o u , n e v e r f e a r , y o u — -y o u s im p ly f ig h tin g w ith e v e r y th in g s h e h a d
brat!" s ite fla re d , th u s in f o r m in g th e u n til th e h o p e le s s e n d , w h ic h she had
L e n s m a n t h a t s i te h a d r e c e i v e d h i s m e s ­ k n o w n c o u ld n o t lo n g b e d e la y e d . N ow
sag e. “ I ’ll not o n ly know y o u — I ’ll s h e g a th e r e d h e rs e lf to g e th e r a n d b e g a n
s c r a t c h y o u r e y e s o u t o n s i g h t !” to a c t.
W h e n th e w o rd “ d u m b - b e ll” b o o m e d
“ T h a t 'l l be a good tr ic k if y o u can
fr o m th e s p e a k e r s h e k n e w , b e y o n d d o u b t
d o i t , ” K i n n i s o n s n e e r e d , a n d c u t o ff.
o r p e r a d v e n t u r e , t h a t it w a s K in n is o n ,
“ W h a t ’s it a ll a b o u t , M ac? W hat
th e g r a y L e n s m a n , w h o w a s re a lly d o ­
h a s g o t in to y o u ?" d e m a n d e d o n e o f th e
in g t h a t ta lk in g . I t w a s c r a z y ; i t d i d n 't
n u rse s, as soon as th e w om en w e re
m a k e a n y k in d o f s e n s e a t a l l ; b u t it w a s ,
a lo n e .
it m u s t b e , tr u e . A n d , a g a in , w o m a n ­
“I d o n ’t k n o w ,” she w h is p e re d . lik e , s h e k n e w w ith a c a lm c e r ta in ty th a t
“ W a tc h o u t ; th e y m a y h a v e s p y r a y s o n a s lo n g a s t h a t g r a y L e n s m a n w e r e a liv e
us. I d o n ’t k n o w a n y t h i n g , r e a l l y , a n d a n d c o n s c io u s , h e w o u ld b e c o m p le te ly
t h e w h o le t h i n g is t o o w i l d l y i m p o s s i b l e , th e m a s te r o f a n y s itu a tio n in w h ic h h e
140 A S T O U N D I N G S T O R IE S

m ig h t fin d h im s e lf. T h e re fo re , she p e c te d n o th in g e x c e p t b itte r re s is ta n c e

p assed a lo n g h e r illo g ic a l b u t c h e e r in g and s u ic id e fro m any o f th e s e w om en
th o u g h t, and th e n u rse s, a ls o b e in g o f th e p a tr o l. T h e r e f o r e , tie w a s r o c k e d
w o m e n , a c c e p te d it w ith o u t q u e s tio n a s to th e h e e ls — s e t back upon h is v e ry
t h e a c tu a l a n d a c c o m p lis h e d fa c t. h aunches— w h en th e m ost b e a u tifu l
T hey c a rr ie d on, and w hen th e c a p ­ w om an be had ev er seen cam e o f h e r
tu r e d h o s p ita l s h ip h a d d o c k e d a t b a se , o w n v o litio n in to h is a r m s , s e e k in g in
K in n is o n w a s c o m p le te ly r e a d y to fo rc e th e m s a n c t u a r y f r o m h is o w n c h ie f c o m ­
m a tte r s to a c o n c lu s io n . I n a d d itio n to m u n i c a t i o n s o f f ic e r .
th e c h ie f c o m m u n ic a tio n s o ffic e r, h e n o w “I h a te h i m !” sh e so b b ed , n e s tlin g
h a d u n d e r h is c o n tr o l a h ig h ly c a p a b le a g a in s t th e h u g e b u lk o f th e b a se c o m ­
o b se rv e r. To h a n d le tw o su ch m in d s m a n d e r ’s body and tu rn in g upon h im
w as c h i l d ’s p l a y to th e in te lle c t w h ic h th e fu ll b la s t o f th e h ig h - p o w e r e d p r o ­
h a d d ir e c te d , a g a in s t t h e i r fu ll fig h tin g je c to rs w h ic h w e re her ey es. “Y o u
w ills , th e m in d s o f tw o a n d th r e e q u a r ­ w o u l d n ’t b e s o m e a n t o m e , I j u s t k n o w
te rs a le rt, p o w e rfu l, and fu lly w a rn e d you w o u l d n ' t !” A nd her s u b tly p e r­
L en sm en ! fu m e d h e a d s a n k u p o n h is s h o u ld e r. T h e
“ G o o d g ir l, M a c ! ” h e p u t h is m in d en b a se c o m m a n d e r w a s ju s t so m u c h so ft
rapport w ith h e r s a n d s e n t h is m e s s a g e . w ax.

“ G la d you got th e id e a . Y ou d id a " I ’l l s a y I w o u l d n ’t b e m e a n t o y o u !”

good jo b o f a c tin g , a n d if y o u can do b is v o ic e d ro p p e d to a g e n tle b e llo w .
s o m e m o r e a s g o o d w e ’ll b e a l l s e t . C an “ W h y , y o u l i t t l e s w e e t h e a r t , I ’ll marry
do?” you. I w ill, b y a ll t h e g o d s o f s p a c e ! ”
'T i l say I c a n !” she a s s e n te d fe r­ It th u s cam e about th a t n u rse and
v e n tly . “I d o n ’t know w hat you a re base com m ander e n te r e d th e c o n tro l
d o in g , h o w you c a n p o s s ib ly do it, o r ro o m to g e t h e r , a r m s a b o u t e a c h o th e r .
w h e r e y o u a r e , b u t t h a t c a n w a it. T e ll “ T h e r e h e i s ! ” s h e s h rie k e d , p o in tin g
m e w h a t t o d o a n d I ’ll d o i t !” at th e c h ie f c o m m u n ic a tio n s o f f ic e r .
“ M a k e a p a s s a t th e b a s e c o m m a n d e r ,” “ H e ’s t h e o n e ! N o w l e t ’s s e e y o u s t a r t
h e in s tru c te d h e r. “ H a te m e— th e a p e s o m e th in g , you ra t-fa c e d c lu n k e r !
I ’m w o rk in g th r o u g h , you k n o w — a ll T h e r e ’s o n e r e a l m a n a r o u n d h e r e , a n d
over th e p la c e . G o in to it b ig . Y ou he w o n ’t le t you to u c h m e— y a -a -a !”
m a y b e c o u l d l o v e h i m , b u t if I g e t y o u S h e g a v e h im a r e s o u n d in g B r o n x c h e e r,
y o u ’ll b lo w out your b r a i n s — if any. a n d h e r e s c o r t s w e l l e d v i s ib l y .
Y ou know th e lin e — p la y up to h im “ I s — t h a t — s o -------- ?” K i n n i s o n s n e e r e d
w ith e v e r y th in g y o u c a n b r in g to b e a r , “ G et th is , b a b y -fa c e , and get it
a n d h a t e m e a ll t o p i e c e s . H e lp a ll y o u s tra ig h t. Y o u w e r e m a r k e d a s m in e a s
c a n to s t a r t a fig h t b e tw e e n u s . If he so o n as 1 lo o k e d th e s h ip o v e r, and
f a l ls f o r y o u h a r d e n o u g h t h e b l o w - o f f m i n e y o u ’r e g o in g to be, w h e th e r y o u
c o m e s th e n a n d th e re . I f n o t , h e ’ll b e lik e it o r n o t, a n d n o m a t t e r w h a t a n y ­
a b le to d o u s a ll p le n ty o f d ir t. I can b o d y e ls e s a y s o r d o e s a b o u t i t . A nd
k ill a lo t of th e m , b u t n o t e n o u g h of a s f o r y o u , c h ie f , y o u ’r e t o o l a t e , I saw
th e m q u ic k e n o u g h .” her firs t. A nd n o w -, you re d -h cad ed
“ H e ’ll f a l l , ” s h e p r o m i s e d h im g le e ­ h u ssy , com e over h e re w h e re you be­
fu lly , “ lik e te n th o u s a n d b ric k s fa llin g l o n g 1”
d o w n a w e ll, j u s t w a tc h m y j e t s ! ” She s n u g g le d c lo s e r in to th e com ­
m a n d e r ’s em b ra c e and th e b ig m an
A N D F A L L b e d id . H e had not even tu r n e d p u rp le .
seen a w om an fo r m o n th s , a n d h e e x ­ “ W hat do you m e a n , to o la te ? ” he
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 141

ro a re d . “ Y o u to o k h e r a w a y fro m th e lo w -d o w n c u r , s u c h a p u s s y - g u tte d tu b
s h i p 's c a p ta in , d i d n 't you? Y ou s a id o f la r d , s u c h a w o rth le s s , b r a in le s s s p a w n
th a t s u p e r io r o ffic e rs get firs t c h o ic e , o f th e lo w e s t d r e g s o f th e s o u r e s t s c u m
a n d th e y d o . I a m th e b o ss h e r e a n d I of space, su ch an u tte rly in c o m p e te n t
a m ta k in g h e r a w a y fro m y o u . G et m e? a n d s e l f - o p i n i o n a t e d a s s a s y o u a r e -------- “
Y o u 'l l s t a n d f o r i t , t o o — y e s , a n d y o u ’ll The o u tra g e d p ira te c h ie f, b e llo w in g
li k e i t . O n e w o rd o u t o f y o u a n d I ’ll in c o h e r e n tly in w ild ly m o u n tin g ra g e ,
h a v e y o u s p r e a d -e a g le d a c ro s s th e m o u th w a s le a p in g to w a r d a c a b in e t in w h ic h
of N o. 6 P r o j e c t o r !’’ w e re k e p t th e D e L a in e te r s .
“ S u p e r i o r o ffic e rs d o n o t ahvays get
“ — th e n , in th a t case, th e in fe rio r
f ir s t c h o ic e .” K in n is o n r e p lie d , w ith b i t ­
keeps th e re d -h e a d e d w ench h im s e lf.
t e r , c o ld f e r o c i t y , b u t c h o o s i n g h i s w o r d s
P u t th a t o n a ta p e , c h ie f, a n d eat it.
w ith ca re . “ It depends e n tire ly upon
T h e n , if y o u a r e t o o m u c h o f a l i l y - l i v ­
w h o t h e t w o m e n a r e . 1’
e re d c o w a rd to do a n y th in g about it
N ow w a s th e tim e to s tr ik e . K in n i­
y o u rs e lf, have me s p r e a d - e a g le d ,” th e
so n knew t h a t if th e base com m ander
L e n s m a n c o n c lu d e d , c u ttin g ly .
k e p t h is h e a d , th e liv e s o f th o s e v a lia n t
“ B la s t h im ! B la s t h im d o w n ! ” th e
w o m e n w e r e f o r f e i t , a n d t h e L e n s m a n ’s
n u rse had been s h rie k in g ; a n d , a s th e
w h o le p la n s e r io u s ly e n d a n g e re d . He
ra g in g c o m m a n d e r n e a re d th e c a b in e t,
h im s e lf c o u ld g e t a w a y , o f c o u r s e — b u t
n o o n e n o tic e d th a t h e r la te s t a n d lo u d ­
h e c o u ld n o t s e e h im s e lf d o in g it u n d e r
e st s c re a m w a s “ K im ! B la s t h im d o w n !
th e s e c o n d itio n s . N o, lie m ust goad
D o n ’t w a i t a n y l o n g e r — b e a m h i m c lo w n
th e c o m m a n d e r to a fr e n z y . M a c w o u ld
b e f o r e h e g e t s a g u n !”
h e lp . In fa c t, and w ith o u t h is su g ­
g e s t i o n , s i te w a s e v e n t h e n h a r d a t w o r k B ut th e L ensm an d id not a c t— y e t.
fo m e n tin g tr o u b le b e tw e e n th e tw o m e n , A lth o u g h a lm o s t e v e r y m a n o f th e p i r a t e
“ Y ou d o n 't have to ta k e th a t fro m c re w s ta re d s p e llb o u n d , K i n n i s o n 's e n ­
a n y b o d y , b ig b o y ,” s h e w a s w h is p e r in g , s la v e d o b serv er had fo r m an y seco n d s
u r g e n t l y . “ D o n ’t c a ll i n a c r e w t o s p r e a d - been ja m m in g th e su b e th e r w ith H e l-

e a g le h im , e i t h e r ; b e a m h im o u t y o u r­ m u t h ’s p e r s o n a l a n d u r g e n t c a l l . It w as
s e lf, Y o u ’r e a b e tte r m a n th a n h e is , o f a lm o s t v ita l im p o rta n c e to h is p la n
any tim e . B la s t h im dow n. T h a t ’ll t h a t H e l m u t h h im s e lf s h o u ld se e th e c li­
s h o w h i m w h o 's w h o a r o u n d t h i s b a s e !” m a x of th is sc e n e . T h e re fo re , th e co m ­
“ W h e n t h e i n f e r i o r is s u c h a m a n a s m u n ic a tio n s o ffic e r s to o d im m o b ile , w h ile
I am , and th e s u p e rio r s u c h a o n e as th e p ro f a n e ly ra v in g b ase com m ander
you a re ,” th e b itin g , c o n te m p tu o u s ly r e a c h e d th e c a b in e t, to r e it o p e n , s e iz e d
s n e e r in g v o ic e w e n t o n w ith o u t a b r e a k , a D e L a m e te r , a n d s w u n g it s a v a g e ly to ­
“ such a b lo a te d s w in e , s u c h a m angy, w a rd h im !

TO BE C O NCLUDED.
72

G alactic P a tro l
By
E. E. SMITH, Ph.D.
The last and greatest installment of
Dr. Smith*s greatest novel.
X X I. ceeded. It w as th e body of th e com ­
m u n i c a ti o n s o ff ic e r, it is tr u e . T h e m in d

B
U T B L A K E S L E E , th e c h ie f
o p e r a tin g th e m u s c le s o f th a t b o d y , h o w ­
c o m m u n ic a tio n s o ff ic e r w h o se
e v e r, w as th e m in d of K im b a ll K in n i­
m in d and body K in n is o n w as
s o n , g r a y L e n s m a n , th e f a s te s t m a n w ith
u s in g , w a s a lre a d y a rm e d . K in n is o n h a d
a ra y p is to l o ld T e llu s had ever p ro ­
s e e n to th a t. A n d a s th e b a s e c o m m a n d e r
duced ; keyed up, e x p e c tin g th e m ove,
w re n c h e d open th e a rm s c a b in e t th a t
and w ith tw o D e L a m e te rs out and
happened fo r w h ic h th e L en sm an had
p o is e d a t h i p ! T h is w a s th e b e in g w h o m
been w a itin g . H e l m u t h ’s p r i v a t e lo o k ­
H e lm u th w as so n o n c h a la n tly o rd e rin g
out set began to d ra w c u rre n t; th a t
h is m in io n s to s la y ! F a s te r th a n any
p o te n ta te h im s e lf w as now lo o k in g on,
w a tc h in g e y e c o u ld fo llo w , fiv e b o lts o f
and th e e n s la v e d o b serv er had a lre a d y
lig h tn in g flic k e d fro m B l a k e s l e e ’s D e­
b e g u n to tr a c e h is b e a m . T h e re fo re , as
L a m e te rs . The la s t g u a r d w ent dow n,
th e ra g in g c o m m a n d e r o f B o y s s i a ’s p i ­
h is h e a d a s h r iv e le d c in d e r , b e fo re a s in ­
ra te b ase sw ung a b o u t w ith ra is e d D e-
g le p ir a te b o lt c o u ld b e lo o s e d .
L a m e te r he fa c e d one a lre a d y a b la z e ;
“ Y ou s e e . H e l m u t h , ’’ K i n n i s o n spoke
and in a m a tte r of seconds th e r e w as
c o n v e rs a tio n a lly to th e b o a r d , h is v o ic e
o n ly a c h a r r e d a n d s m o k in g h e a p w h e r e
d rip p in g v itrio l, “ p la y in g it safe fro m
th e c o m m a n d e r h a d s to o d .
a d is ta n c e , a n d m a k in g o th e r m en p u ll
K in n is o n w o n d e re d th a t H e l m u t h ’s y o u r c h e s t n u ts o u t o f th e fire , is a v e r y
c o ld v o ic e w as not a lre a d y sn a p p in g fin e tric k as lo n g as it w o rk s. B ut
fro m th e sp e a k e r, but he w as soon to w hen it fa ils to w o rk , as n o w , it p u ts
d is c o v e r th e r e a s o n fo r t h a t s ile n c e . U n­ y o u r ta il r ig h t in to th e w r in g e r . I, fo r
o b serv ed by th e L en sm an , one of th e one, have been fo r a lo n g tim e com ­
■ o b se rv e rs had re c o v e re d s u f fic ie n tly p le te ly fe d up on ta k in g o rd e rs fro m a
fro m h is s h o c k e d a m a z e m e n t to tu r n in m e r e v o i c e ; e s p e c ia lly fr o m th e v o ic e o f
a rio t a la rm to th e g u a rd ro o m . F iv e one w hose e n tire m e th o d of o p e ra tio n
a rm e d m en a n sw e re d th a t c a ll on th e p r o v e s h im to b e th e m o s t p itif u lly a r r a n t
d o u b le , s to p p e d a n d g la n c e d a r o u n d . c o w a rd in th e g a la x y .”
“G u a rd s! B la s t B la k e s le e d o w n !’’ “ O b se rv e r! Y o u o t h e r a t t h e b o a r d !”
H e l m u t h ’s u n m is ta k a b le v o ic e b la re d s n a r le d H e lm u th , p a y in g n o a tte n tio n to
fro m h is s p e a k e r . K i n n i s o n ’s b a rb e d s h a fts . “ Sound th e
O b e d ie n tly and m a n fu lly enough th e a s s e m b l y — a r m e d !”
fiv e g u a rd s trie d ; and, had it a c tu a lly “ N o u s e , H e l m u t h , h e is s t o n e d e a f , ”
been B la k e s le e c o n f r o n tin g th e m so d e ­ K in n is o n e x p la in e d , v o ic e s w e e tly ven­
fia n tly , th e y p ro b a b ly w o u ld have su c­ om ous. “ I a m th e o n ly m a n in th i s b a s e
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 73

th a t y o u c a n ta lk to , a n d you w o n ’t b e
a b le to d o e v e n th a t v e r y m u c h lo n g e r .”
“A nd you re a lly th in k th a t y o u can
get aw ay w ith th is m u tin y — th is b a re ­
faced in s u b o rd in a tio n — th is d e fia n c e of
my a u th o r ity ? ”
“ S u re I can. T h a t ’s w hat I have
been e x p la in in g to you. If you w e re
h e r e in p e r s o n , o r e v e r h a d b e e n ; i f a n y
o f th e b o y s h a d e v e r seen you, o r had
ever know n you as a n y th in g except a

A n i n s t a n t la te r H e l m u t h 's v ie w -
p la te v a n is h e d in th e D e L a m e te r ’s
b la ze .

d is e m b o d ie d v o ic e , m aybe I c o u l d n ’t .
B u t, sin c e nobody has ever seen even
y o u r f a c e , t h a t g i v e s m e a c h a n c e ---------”

IN H IS d i s t a n t b a s e H e l m u t h ’s m i n d
had fla s h e d over e v e ry asp ect of th is
u n h e a rd -o f s itu a tio n . H e d e c id e d to
p la y fo r tim e ; th e r e fo re , even as h is
h a n d s d a rte d to b u tto n s h e r e a n d th e r e ,
he spoke. “Do you w ant to see my
face?” he d em an d ed . “ I f y o u d o se e it,
n o p o w e r i n t h e g a l a x y ---------”
“ S k ip it, c h ie f ,” sn eered K in n is o n .
“ D o n ’t t r y t o k i d m e i n t o b e l i e v i n g t h a t
74 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

you w o u l d n ’t k ill m e now , under any K in n is o n ro lle d b a c k th e p a r titio n b e ­

c o n d itio n s , if you p o s s ib ly c o u ld . As tw e e n th e tw o ro o m s and w a tc h e d fo r
fo r your fa c e , it m akes no d iffe re n c e ra y p is to ls , a s th e m e n c a m e s tre a m in g
w h a te v e r to m e, now , w h e th e r I ever in to th e a u d ito riu m . O rd in a r ily o n ly
s e e y o u r u g ly p a n o r n o t.” th e g u a rd s w e n t a rm e d — th re e o f th e m
“ W e ll, you s h a l l !” A nd H e l m u t h ’s w e re le f t— b u t p o s s ib ly a fe w of th e
v is a g e a p p e a r e d , c o n c e n tr a tin g u p o n th e s h i p ’s o ffic e rs w o u ld be w e a rin g th e ir
re b e llio u s o ffic e r a g la re of such fu ry D e L a m e te rs , . , . F o u r — fiv e — s ix
and su c h p o w e r th a t a n y o rd in a ry m an — th e c a p ta in and th e p ilo t o f th e b a t­
m u s t h a v e q u a ile d . B u t n o t B la k e s le e - tle s h ip th a t had c a p tu re d th e n u rse s,
K in n is o n ! and a v ic e com m ander of a n o th e r, be­
“ W e ll! N o t so b a d , a t th a t— th e g u y s id e s th e th r e e g u a rd s . K n iv e s , b illie s ,
lo o k s a lm o s t h u m a n !” K in n is o n ex­ a n d s u c h d id n o t c o u n t.
c la im e d , in th e to n e m o s t c a re fu lly de­ “ T i m e ’s u p . L o c k th e d o o rs . B rin g
s ig n e d to d riv e even m o re fr a n tic th e th e keys and th e n u rse s up h e re ,” he
h e lp le s s and in w a rd ly ra g in g p ira te o r d e r e d th e s ix a r m e d m e n , c a llin g e a c h
c h ie f ta in . “B ut I ’v e got th in g s to do. by nam e. “ Y o u w o m e n ta k e th e s e c h a ir s
Y ou can g u e ss a t w h a t g o es o n a ro u n d ov er h e re ; you m e n s it th e r e .”
h e re fro m now o n .” A nd in th e b la z e T h e n , w h e n a ll w e r e s e a te d , K in n s o n
of a D e L a m e te r H e l m u t h ’s p la te , s e t, to u c h e d a b u tto n a n d th e s te e l p a r titio n
and “eye" d is a p p e a re d . K in n is o n had s lid s m o o th ly i n t o p la c e .
a ls o been p la y in g fo r tim e , a n d h is e n ­ “ W h a t 's c o in in g o f f h e r e ? ” d e m a n d e d
sla v e d o b serv er had checked and re ­ a g u a rd . “ W h e r e 's th e c o m m a n d e r?
checked th is second and h ig h ly im p o r­ H ow a b o u t G ra n d B ase? L o o k a t th a t
t a n t f i n e t o H e l m u t h ’s u l t r a - s e c r e t b a s e . b o a rd !"
T hen, th ro u g h o u t th e fo rtre s s , th e re “ S it tig h t,” K in n is o n d ire c te d .
b la re d o u t th e u r g e n t a s s e m b ly c a ll, to “ H an d s on k n ees. I ’ll b u m any o r a ll
•v h ic h th e L en sm an added, v e rb a lly : of you th a t m ake a m ove. 1 have a l­
“ T h is is a o n e -h u n d re d -p e r-c e n t c a ll­ re a d y b u rn e d th e o ld m an and fiv e
o u t, in c lu d in g c re w s o f s h ip s in d o c k a s g u a rd s, and have put G ra n d B ase out
w e ll a s re g u la r base p e rs o n n e l. B rin g o f th e p ic tu re . N ow I w a n t to fin d o u t
a ls o th e p a tro l n u rse s. Com e as you ju s t h o w w e seven s ta n d .” The L en s-
a re and com e fa s t. The d o o rs of th e m an a lre a d y k n e w , b u t h e w a s n o t tip ­
a u d ito riu m w ill b e lo c k e d in fiv e m in ­ p in g h is h a n d .
u te s and any m an o u ts id e th o s e d o o rs “W hy w e sev en ?”
w ill b e g iv e n a m p le r e a s o n to w is h th a t “ B ecause w e a re th e o n ly ones w ho
h e h a d b e e n o n tim e ." happened to be w e a rin g guns. E v e ry
one e ls e o f th e e n tire p e r s o n n e l is un­
T H E A U D IT O R IU M w a s r ig h t o ff a rm e d and is now lo c k e d in th e a u d i­
th e c o n tro l ro o m , a n d w a s so a rra n g e d to riu m . Y ou know how apt th e y a re
th a t w hen a p a rtitio n w as ro lle d back to g e t o u t u n til o n e o f u s le ts th e m o u t.”
th e c o n tro l ro o m b e cam e its s ta g e . A ll “ B u t H e l m u t h — h e ’l l h a v e y o u b l a s t e d
B o s k o n ia n b a s e s w e re a r r a n g e d th u s , in fo r th is !”
o rd e r th a t th e s u p e rv is in g o ffic e rs at “ H a rd ly . M y p la n s w e re not m ade
G r a n d B a s e c o u ld o v e rs e e , th r o u g h th e ir y e s te rd a y . H ow m any of you fe llo w s
in s tru m e n ts upon th e m a in p a n e l, ju s t a re w ith m e ? ”
su ch a s s e m b lie s as th is one w as sup­ “ W h a t ’s y o u r s c h e m e ? ” d e m a n d e d t h e
posed to be. E v e ry m an h e a rin g th a t v ic e c o m m a n d e r .
c a ll a s s u m e d th a t it cam e fro m G ra n d “T o ta k e th e s e n u rs e s to so m e p a tro l
B a s e , a n d e v e r y m a n h u r r i e d t o o b e y it. base and su rre n d e r. I ’m s ic k of th is
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 75
w h o le g am e; and, s in c e none of th e m ta in ,’ e ith e r— I am a b s o lu te ly so re th a t
have been h u rt, I fig u re t h e y 'l l b rin g w h a te v e r m e n M r . B la k e s le e s e le c ts f o r
us a p a rd o n and a fre sh s ta rt— a lig h t h is c re w w ill n o t b e g iv e n a n y s e n te n c e s
s e n te n c e a t le a s t," a t a ll. T h e y w ill b e p a r d o n e d , a n d w ill
“O h, so th a t’s th e r e a s o n ---------" b e g iv e n c h a n c e s a t jo b s in th e m e r c h a n t
g ro w le d th e c a p ta in . s e r v ic e .”
“ E x a c tly . B u t I d o n 't w a n t a n y o n e “ H ow do you know , m is s ? ” asked
w ith me w hose o n ly th o u g h t w o u ld he one. “ W e ’r e a b l a c k lo t.”
to b u rn me dow n a t th e firs t o p p o rtu ­ “ I know you a re ," sh e re p lie d se­
n ity ." re n e ly . “ I w o n ’t s a y how I know , but
“C ount me in .” d e c la re d th e p ilo t. you can ta k e my w o rd fo r it th a t f do
“ I 'v e g o t a s t r o n g sto m a c h , b u t e n o u g h k n o w .”
o f th e s e jo b b ie s is a lto g e th e r to o m uch.
If yo u can w a n g le a n y th i n g sh o rt of a “T H O S E of you w ho w ant to ta k e
life s e n te n c e fo r me I ’ll go back, but a chance w ith us lin e up over h e r e ,"
I b lo o d y w e ll w o n ’t h e lp you a g a in s t K in n is o n d ire c te d , and w a lk e d ra p id ly
t h e ---------” d o w n th e lin e , r e a d in g th e m in d o f e a c h
“ S u r e n o t. N o t u n t i l a f t e r w e ’r e o u t m an in tu r n , M any o f th e m lie w a v e d
in space. I d o n ’t n e e d any h e lp h e r e .” back in to th e m a in g ro u p , a s he fo u n d
“ D o y o u w a n t m y D e L a m e te r ? ” th o u g h ts of tr e a c h e ry or s ig n s of in ­
“ N o. keep it. Y ou w o n ’t u s e it on h e re n t c rim in a lity . T hose he s e le c te d
m e. A n y b o d y e ls e ? ” w e re th o s e w ho w e re re a lly s in c e re in
O ne g u a rd jo in e d th e p ilo t, s ta n d in g th e ir d e s ire to q u it fo re v e r th e ra n k s of
a s i d e ; th e o th e r fo u r w a v e re d . B o s k o n e , th o s e w h o w e r e in th o s e r a n k s
“ T i m e ’s u p !" K in n is o n sn ap p ed . because o f so m e p re ss of c irc u m s ta n c e
“ N ow , you fo u r fe llo w s , e ith e r go fo r ra th e r th a n b ecau se of a m e n ta l ta in t.
y o u r g u n s o r e ls e tu r n y o u r back s, an d A s e a c h m a n p a s s e d in s p e c tio n h e a rm e d
d o i t r i g h t n o w !” h im s e lf fro m th e c a b in e t and s to o d at
T hey e le c te d to tu rn th e ir b ac k s a n d e a se b e fo re th e g ro u p o f w o m e n .
K in n is o n c o lle c te d th e ir w eapons, one H a v in g s e le c te d b is c re w , th e L en s-
by one. H a v in g d is a rm e d th e m , he m an o p e ra te d th e c o n tro ls th a t opened
a g a in ro lle d back th e p a rtitio n and o r­ th e e x it n e a re st th e h o s p ita l s h ip ,
d e re d th e m to jo in th e w o n d e r in g th r o n g b la s te d a w a y th e p a n e l, so th a t th a t e x it
in th e a u d ito riu m . H e th e n a d d re sse d c o u ld not be c lo s e d , u n lo c k e d a d o o r,
th e a s s e m b la g e , te llin g th e m w hat he and tu r n e d to th e p ira te s .
had done and w hat he had it in m in d “ V ic e C o m m a n d e r K r im s k y , a s s e n io r
to d o . o ffic e r y o u a r e n o w in c o m m a n d o f th is
“A good m any of you m ust be fe d b a s e ,” he re m a rk e d . “ W h ile I am in
up on th is la w le s s gam e o f p ira c y and n o s e n s e g iv in g y o u o r d e r s , th e r e a re a
a n x io u s to re su m e a s s o c ia tio n w ith de­ fe w m a tte r s a b o u t w h ic h y o u sh o u ld be
c e n t m e n , if y o u can do so w ith o u t in ­ in fo rm e d . F irs t, I set no d e fin ite tim e
c u r r i n g to o g r e a t a p u n i s h m e n t ," h e c o n ­ as to w hen you m ay le a v e th is ro o m .
c lu d e d . “ I fe e l q u ite c e r ta in th a t th o s e I m e re ly s ta te th a t y o u w ill fin d it d e ­
o f u s w h o m a n th e h o s p ita l s h ip in o r d e r c id e d ly u n h e a lth y to fo llo w us at a lt
to r e tu r n t h e s e n u r s e s to t h e p a t r o l w ill c lo s e ly as w e go fro m h e re to th e ho s­
g e t lig h t s e n te n c e s , a t m o s t. M is s M a c - p ita l sh ip . Second, you h a v e n 't a s h i p
D o u g a ll is head n u rse . W e w ill ask fit to ta k e th e e th e r , a s y o u r b la s t le v e r s
h e r w h a t sh e th in k s .” h a v e a ll b e e n b ro k e n o ff a t th e p iv o ts .
“ B e tte r th a n th a t,” M ac re p lie d If your m e c h a n ic s w o rk at to p sp eed ,
c le a rly . “ I am not m e re ly ‘q u i t e c e r­ new o n e s c a n b e p u t o n in e x a c tly tw o
76 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

h o u rs. T h ird , th e re is g o in g to be a m e l t t h i s t u n n e l d o w n s o t h a t t h e y c a n ’t
v e ry s e v e re e a rth q u a k e in p re c is e ly tw o in te r f e r e w ith o u r g e t- a w a y .”
h o u rs and th irty m in u te s , one w h ic h “T hen you w e re b lu f fin g about th e
sh o u ld m ake th is base m e r e ly a m em ­ e a r th q u a k e ? ” sh e a s k e d , a sh a d e o f d is ­
o ry .” a p p o in tm e n t in h e r to n e .
" A n e a r t h q u a k e ! D o n ’t b l u f f , B l a k e s - “ H a r d ly ,” he re p ro v e d h e r. “T hat
le e . Y ou c o u l d n ’t d o th a t! " i s n ’t d u e fo r tw o h o u r s a n d a h a lf y e t,

" W e ll, p e rh a p s not a re g u la r e a rth ­ b u t i t ’l l h a p p e n on s c h e d u le tim e .”

quake, but s o m e th in g th a t w ill d o ju s t “ H ow ?”

as w e ll. If you th in k I am b lu ffin g , “ Y o u r e m e m b e r a b o u t th e c u r io u s c a t,

w a it a n d fin d o u t. B ut com m on sen se d o n ’t y o u ? H o w re v e r , n o p a r t i c u l a r s e ­

s h o u ld g iv e y o u th e a n s w e r to th a t. I c r e t a b o u t it, I g u e s s — te n d u o d e c b o m b s

know e x a c tly w hat H e lm u th is d o in g p la c e d w h e r e t h e y ’l l d o th e m ost good,

a n d tim e d fo r e x a c tly s im u lta n e o u s d e to ­
n o w , w h e th e r y o u d o o r n o t. A t firs t 1
n a tio n , H e re we a re . D o n ’t t e l l a n y ­
in te n d e d to w ip e you a ll out w ith o u t
w a rn in g , but 1 changed m y m in d , I body I 'm h e r e .”
A b o a rd th e v e s s e l, K in n is o n d is a p ­
d e c id e d th a t I w o u ld ra th e r le a v e you
p e a re d in to a s ta te ro o m w h ile B la k e s le e
a liv e , s o th a t y o u c o u ld re p o r t to H e l­
c o n tin u e d in c h a rg e . M e n w e re d iv id e d
m u th e x a c tly w hat happened. I w is h
th a t I c o u ld b e w a tc h in g h im w hen he in to w a tc h e s ; d u tie s w e re a s s ig n e d ; in ­
s p e c tio n s w e re m ade, and th e s h ip sh o t
fin d s out how b a d ly one m an ro o k e d
h im , and how fa r fro m fo o lp ro o f h is in to th e a ir. T h e re w a s a b rie f h a lt to
p ic k up K i n n i s o n ’s s p e e d s te r; th e n ,
s y s te m is . B ut we c a n ’t have e v e ry ­
a g a in o n th e w a y , B la k e s le e tu r n e d th e
th in g . L e t ’s g o , f o l k s !”
b o a rd over to C ra n d a ll, th e p ilo t, and
A s th e g ro u p h u r r ie d a w a y , M a c lo i­
w e n t in to K i n n i s o n ’s r o o m .
te re d u n til she w as near th e fo rm of
T h e r e th e L e n s m a n w ith d r e w h is c o n ­
B la k e s le e , w h o w a s b r in g in g u p th e r e a r .
tr o l, le a v in g in ta c t th e m e m o ry o f e v e ry ­
“ W h e re a re you, K im ? ” sh e w h is ­
th in g th a t h a d happened. F o r m in u te s
p e re d u rg e n tly .
B la k e s le e w as a lm o s t in a daze, but
“ I ’l l jo in up at th e next c o rrid o r. s tru g g le d th r o u g h it and h e ld out h is
K eep fu rth e r ahead, and get re a d y to hand,
ru n w h e n w e d o !” “ M ig h ty g la d to m e e t y o u , L e n s m a n .
T hanks. A ll 1 can say is th a t a fte r I
A S T H E Y P A S S E D th a t c o rrid o r g o t s u c k e d i n I c o u l d n ’t ---------”
a fig u re in g ra y le a th e r, c a rr y in g a n e x ­ “ S u r e , I k n o w a ll a b o u t it. T h at w as
tre m e ly heavy o b je c t, s te p p e d o u t o f it. one of th e re a so n s I p ic k e d you o u t.
K in n is o n h im s e lf s e t h is b u rd e n dow n, Y o u r s u b c o n s c i o u s n e s s d i d n ’t f i g h t b a c k
yanked a le v e r , and ra n . A nd as be a b it, at any tim e . Y ou a re to be in
r a n fo u n ta in s o f in to le ra b le h e a t e ru p te d c h a rg e , fro m h e r e to T e llu s . P le a s e g o
and cascaded fro m th e m e c h a n is m he and c h a se e v e ry b o d y o u t o f th e c o n tro l
had le ft u p o n th e flo o r. Ju st ahead of ro o m e x c e p t C r a n d a ll.”
h im , but at so m e d is ta n c e b e h in d th e “ Say, I ju s t th o u g h t o f s o m e th in g !”
o th e rs , r a n B la k e s le e a n d M a c . e x c la im e d B la k e s le e , w hen K in n is o n
“ G o sh , I 'm g la d to see you, K im !” jo in e d th e tw o o ffic e rs at th e b o a rd .
she p a n te d , a s th e L en sm an caught u p “Y ou m u s t b e th a t p a rtic u la r L en sm an
w ith th e m and a ll t h r e e s lo w e d dow n. w h o h a s b e e n g e t t i n g i n H e l m u t h 's h a i r
“ W h a t is th a t t h i n g b a c k t h e r e ? ” so m u ch l a t e l y !”
“ N o th in g m u ch — ju s t a K J4 Z h o t- “ P ro b a b ly . T h a t ’s m y c h ie f a im in
s h o t. W o n ’t d o a n y re a l d a m a g e — ju s t life ,”
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 77

" I ’d lik e to s e e H e l m u t h ’s f a c e w h e n n e u tra liz e fro m h is pocket and hand­

h e g e ts th e r e p o r t o f th is . I ’v e s a i d t h a t in g it to h e r. “ P ut it in your lo c k e r
b e f o r e , h a v e n 't I ? B ut I m ean it n o w , u n til y o u g e t to T e llu s . T hen ta k e it,
e v e n m o re th a n I d i d b e f o r e . ’’ y o u rs e lf, and g iv e it to H ay n es, h im ­
“ I 'm th in k in g of H e lm u th , to o , but s e lf , in p e r s o n , a n d t o n o b o d y e ls e . Ju st
not th a t w a y ." T he p ito t had been te ll h im I sen t it. H e ’l l know a ll
s c o w lin g a t h is p la te , a n d n o w tu r n e d to a b o u t it."
B ta k e s le e and th e L ensm an, g la n c in g “ B ut w hy not keep it a n d g iv e it to
c u rio u s ly fro m one to th e o th e r . “O h, h im y o u rs e lf? Y o u ’r e c o m i n g w ith u s,
I s a y --------- A L e n sm a n , w h a t? A b it o f a r e n ’t y o u ? ”
g o o d o ld lig h t b e g in s to d a w n ; b u t t h a t “ P r o b a b l y n o t a ll th e w a v . I im a g in e
can w a it. H e lm u th is a fte r us, fo o t, I ’ll h a v e t o s h o v e o f f b e f o r e w e g e t b a c k
h o rs e , a n d m a rin e s . L o o k a t th a t p la te !" to T e llu s ."
“ Four of th e m a l r e a d y !" e x c la im e d “ B u t T w a n t to t a l k t o y o u !” s h e e x ­
B ta k e s le e . “ A n d t h e r e ’s a n o t h e r ! A nd c la im e d . “ W h y , I ’v e g o t a m i ll io n q u e s ­
we h a v e n ’t got a beam hot enough to tio n s to ask y o u !"
lig h t a c ig a re tte , nor a screen s tro n g “ T hat w o u ld ta k e a lo n g tim e ”— h e
e n o u g h to s to p a fire c ra c k e r. W e 'v e g o t g rin n e d a t h e r— “an d tim e is j u s t w h a t
l e g s , b u t n o t a s m a n y a s H e l m u t h ’s f l i e r s . w e d o n ’t h a v e r ig h t n o w , e ith e r o f u s .”
Y ou knew ' a ll about th a t, th o u g h , of A nd h e s tr o d e b a c k to th e b o a rd .
c o u rse , b e fo re we s ta rte d ; and fro m
w hat you have p u lle d o ff so f a r y o u 'v e H E L A B O R E D fo r h o u rs at a c a l­
g o t s o m e th in g le ft o n th e h o o k s . W hat c u la tin g m a c h in e a n d in th e t a n k ; fin a lly
is it? W h a t 's th e a n sw e r? " to squat dow n upon h is h e e ls , s ta rin g
“ I n d e te c ta b ility ," re p lie d K in n is o n . at tw o n e e d le lik e ra y s of lig h t in th e
“ W e c a n d e t e c t t h e m , b u t t h e y c a n ’t d e ­ ta n k and w h is tlin g s o f tly b e tw e e n h is
te c t u s. A ll y o u h a v e to do is to s ta y te e th . F or th o s e t w ro lin e s , w h ile ex­
o u t o f ra n g e o f th e ir e le c tro s a n d d rill a c tly in th e sam e p la n e , d id n o t in te r­
fo r T e llu s .” s e c t in th e ta n k at a ll! E s tim a tin g as
“ T h a t ’s h a rd to b e lie v e , but it m ust c a r e f u lly a s h e c o u ld th e p o in t o f in te r ­
be tr u e . T h e re a re n in e s h ip s on th e s e c tio n o f th e lin e s , h e p u n c h e d th e “ c a n ­
p la te s n o w ; a ll B o s k o n ia n s a n d a ll c e r ­ c e l” key to w ip e out a ll tra c e s of h is
ta in ly lo o k in g fo r u s, but not a one of w o r k a n d w e n t to th e c h a r t ro o m . C h a rt
th e m lia s p a id a n y a tte n tio n to u s ." a fte r c h a rt he h a u le d dow n, and fo r
“ N or w ill th e y . A nd, by th e w ay, m a n y m in u te s h e w o rk e d w ith c a lip e rs ,
w ho or w h a t is B o s k o n e ? ” c o m p a s s , g o n io m e te r, a n d a c a re fu lly se t
“ N obody k n o w 's . H e lm u th sp eak s a d ju s ta b le tria n g le . F in a lly he m ark ed
f o r B o s k o n e . a n d n o b o d y e ls e e v e r d o e s , a p o in t— e x a c tly u p o n a s m a ll, p la in d o t
not even B oskone h im s e lf— if th e re is a lr e a d y u p o n th e c h a r t — a n d a g a in w h is ­
su ch a p e rso n . N obody can p ro v e it, tle d .
b u t e v e ry b o d y k n o w s th a t H e lm u th a n d “ H u h !” he g ru n te d . H e re c h e c k e d
B oskone a re s im p ly tw o n a m e s fo r th e a ll h is fig u re s a n d r e tr a v e r s e d th e c h a rt,
sam e m an. H e k n u t h , y o u k n o w ', i s o n l y o n ly to h a v e h is n e e d le p ie r c e a g a in th e
a v o ic e . N o b o d y e v e r s a w h is fa c e u n til s a m e tin y , unmarked d o t , H e sta re d a t
to - d a y ." it fo r a fu ll m in u te , s tu d y in g th e m ap
“ I ’m b e g in n in g to th in k so , m y s e lf ." a ll a r o u n d h is m a r k e r.
A nd K in n is o n stro d e aw ay, to c a ll at “ S ta r C lu s te r A C 2 5 7 - 4 7 3 6 ," he ru ­
th e o ffic e of H ead N u rse M a c D o u g a ll. m in a te d . “ T h e s m a lle s t, m o s t in s ig n ifi­
“ M a c , h e r e ’s a s m a ll, b u t h ig h ly im ­ c a n t, le a s t-k n o w n s ta r c lu s te r he c o u ld
p o rta n t b o x ,” he to ld h e r, ta k in g th e f i n d , a n d m y l a r g e s t p o s s i b l e e r r o r c a n ’t
78 A S T O U N D IN G S T O R IE S

p u t i t a n y w h e r e e ls e . K in d o f th o u g h t g o in g to happen w hen we pop in to

it m ig h t be in a c lu s te r, but I never P rim e B ase w ith o u t y o u . E v e ry m an
w o u ld have lo o k e d there. N o w onder ja c k of us, yo u k n o w , is s la te d fo r th e
it to o k a lo t o f s t u f f to t r a c e h is b e a m . le th a l c h a m b e r w ith o u t tr ia l. M is s M a c -
I t w o u ld h a v e to b e f o u r n u m b e r s B r in - D o u g a ll w ill d o her b it, o f c o u rs e , b u t
n e ll h a r d e r th a n a d ia m o n d d r ill to w o r k w hat I m ean is , has sh e enough je ts
fro m th e r e .” to s w in g it ?”
A g a in w h is tlin g tu n e le s s ly to h im s e lf, “I th in k th a t she h as; but to a v o id
he ro lle d up th e c h a rt upon w h ic h he a ll a rg u m e n t I ’v e fix e d th a t up, to o .
had been at w o rk , s tu c k it under h is H e r e ’s a t a p e , t e l l i n g a l l a b o u t w h a t h a p ­
a rm , re p la c e d th e o th e r s in th e ir com ­ pened. It ends up w ith m y re c o m m e n ­
p a r tm e n ts , a n d w e n t b a c k to th e c o n tro l d a tio n f o r a fu ll p a r d o n f o r e a c h o f y o u ,
ro o m . and fo r a jo b a t w h a te v e r he is fo u n d
“ H o w ’s t r i c k s , f e l l o w s ? ” he asked. b est fitte d fo r. It is s ig n e d w ith my
“ Q X ,” re p lie d B la k e s le e . “ W e ’r e th u m b p rin t. G iv e it o r s e n d it to P o r t
th r o u g h th e m a n d in to c le a r e th e r . N ot A d m ira l H aynes as soon as you la n d .
a s h ip o n th e p la te , a n d n o b o d y g a v e u s I ’v e g o t e n o u g h je ts , I th in k , so th a t it
e v e n a tu m b le .” w ill g o a s it la y s .”
“ F in e ! Y ou w o n ’t have any tro u ­
“ J e ts ? Y ou? R ig h t-o ! Y o u ’v e g o t
b le , th e n , f r o m h e re in to P rim e B ase.
je ts e n o u g h to lift fo u r te e n fr e ig h te rs o ff
G la d o f it, to o . I ’v e g o t t o f l i t . T h a t ’ll
th e N o r th P o le o f V a le ria . W h a t n e x t? ”
m ean lo n g w a tc h e s fo r y o u tw o , b u t it
“ S to re s and s u p p lie s fo r m y sp eed ­
c a n ’t v e ry w e ll be h e lp e d .”
s te r. I ’m d o i n g a l o n g f l i t a n d t h i s s h i p
“ B u t I s a y , o l d b i r d , I d o n ’t m i n d t h e
h a s s u p p l i e s t o b u r n , s o I ’d l i k e t o h a v e
w a t c h e s , b u t --------- ”
m y little c a n lo a d e d , P lim s o ll d o w n .”
“ D o n ’t w o r r y a b o u t t h a t , e i t h e r . T h is
c re w c a n b e tr u s te d , to a m a n . N ot one
T H E S P E E D S T E R w as s to c k e d
of you jo in e d th e p ira te s of your ow n
fo rth w ith . T hen, w ith n o th in g m o re
f r e e w ill, a n d not one of you has ever
t h a n a c a s u a lly w a v e d s a lu te in th e w a y
t a k e n a n a c t i v e p a r t ---------”
of fa r e w e ll, K in n is o n b o a rd e d h is tin y
“W hat a re you, a m in d re a d e r or
sp ace s h ip and shot aw ay to w a rd h is
s o m e th in g ? ” C ra n d a ll b u r s t o u t.
d is ta n t g o a l. C r a n d a ll, th e p ilo t, s o u g h t
“ S o m e th in g lik e th a t,” K in n is o n as­
h is bunk; w h ile B la k e s le e s ta rte d h is
s e n te d w ith a g rin .
lo n g tr ic k a t th e b o a rd . In an hour or
B la k e s le e put in , “ M o re th a n th a t,
s o th e h e a d n u r s e s tr o lle d in .
you m ean. S o m e th in g lik e h y p n o s is ,
o n ly m o re so . Y ou th in k th a t I had “ K im ? ” sh e q u e rie d , d o u b tfu lly .

s o m e th in g to d o w ith t h i s , b u t I d i d n ’t . “ N o , M is s M a c D o u g a ll. I t ’s B la k e s ­
T h e L e n s m a n d id it a ll h im s e l f .” le e . S o r r y --------- ”
“ U m - m - m .” C ra n d a ll s ta re d a t K in ­ “ O h , I ’m g la d o f th a t. T hat m eans
n is o n , n e w r e s p e c t in h is e v e s . “ I knew th a t e v e ry th in g is s e ttle d . W h e r e ’s t h e
th a t u n a tta c h e d L e n s m e n w e re g o o d , b u t L e n s m a n — in b e d ? ”
I h a d n o id e a th e y w e re th a t good. N o “H e h a s g o n e , m is s .”
w onder H e lm u th has been g e ttin g h is “G one! W ith o u t a w o rd ? W h e r e ?”
w in d up about you. I ’ll s trin g a lo n g “ H e d i d n ’t s a y . ”
w ith a n y o n e w h o c a n ta k e a w h o le b a s e , “ H e w o u l d n ’t , o f c o u r s e . ” T h e n u rse
s in g le -h a n d e d , and m ake su ch a b a lly tu rn e d aw ay, e x c la im in g in a u d ib ly ,
a s s to b o o t o u t o f s u c h a k e e n o ld b ir d “ G one! I ’d lik e to c u ff h im fo r th a t,
as H e lm u th is . B ut I ’m in a b it o f a th e lu g ! G o n e! W h y , th e g r e a t , b ig ,
d it h e r , n o t to s a y a f u n k , a b o u t w h a t is lo b s te rly c lu n k e r ! ”
 G A L A C T IC P A T R O L 79
X X II. s to re ro o m in q u e s tio n . S im ila rly , th e
th o u g h t of th e one w ho had access to
B U T K IN N IS O N w as not h e a d in g
th a t ro o m p o in te d o u t to th e L en sm an
f o r H e l m u t h ’s b a s e — y e t . H e w a s s p lit­
th e p a r tic u la r W h e e lm a n h e w a n te d . It
tin g th e e th e r to w a rd A ld e b a ra n in ­
w a s a s e a s y a s th a t. A n d s in c e h e to o k
s te a d , a s f a s t a s h is s p e e d s te r c o u ld g o ;
c a r e n o t to lo o k a t a n y o f th e w e ir d b e ­
and s h e w a s o n e o f th e f a s te s t th in g s in
in g s , h e g a v e n o a la rm .
th e g a la x y . H e had tw o good re a so n s
K in n is o n w ith d re w h is m in d d e li­
f o r g o in g th e r e b e fo re h e a tte m p te d B o s-
c a te ly , le a v in g n o tr a c e o f its o c c u p a n c y ,
k o n e ’s G r a n d B a s e : firs t, to tr y o u t h is
and w ent to in v e s tig a te th e a rs e n a l.
s k ill upon nonhum an in te lle c ts — if he
T h e r e h e fo u n d a fe w c a s e s o f m a c h in e -
c o u ld h a n d le th e W h e e lm e n h e w a s r e a d y
r i f le c a r t r i d g e s , a n d t h a t w a s a ll. T hen
to ta k e th e fa r g re a te r h a z a rd ; second,
h e w e n t in to th e m in d o f th e m u n itio n s
he ow ed th o s e W h e e lm e n s o m e th in g ,
o ff ic e r, w h e re he d is c o v e re d th a t th e
and h e d id n o t lik e to c a ll in th e w h o le
h e a v y b o m b s w e r e k e p t in a d is ta n t c r a ­
p a tro l to h e lp h im pay h is d e b ts . H e
te r, so th a t n o dam age w o u ld be done
c o u ld , h e th o u g h t, h a n d le th a t b a s e h im ­
by any p o s s ib le e x p lo s io n .
s e lf.
“ N o t q u ite as s im p le as I th o u g h t,”
K n o w in g e x a c tly w h e re it w a s. h e h a d K in n is o n ru m in a te d . ‘‘ B u t t h e r e ’s a w a y
n o d iffic u lty in f in d in g th e v o lc a n ic s h a f t o u t o f th a t, to o .”
w h ic h fo r m e d th e e n tr a n c e to th a t A ld e - T h e re w as. I t to o k a n h o u r o r s o o f
b a ra n ia n base. D ow n th a t sh a ft h is t i m e ; a n d h e h a d to c o n tro l tw o W h e e l­
s e n s e o f p e rc e p tio n sped. H e fo u n d th e m en in s te a d of one, but he fo u n d th a t
lo o k o u t p la te s a n d fo llo w e d th e i r p o w e r h e c o u ld d o th a t. W hen th e m u n itio n s
le a d s . G e n tly , c a re fu lly , he in s in u a te d m a s te r to o k out a b o m b -sc o w a fte r a
h is m in d in to th a t o f th e W h e e lm a n at lo a d o f H . E ., th e c re w h a d n o id e a th a t
th e b o a rd , d is c o v e rin g , to h is g r e a t r e ­ it w as a n y th in g except a ro u tin e jo b .
lie f. t h a t t h a t m o n s t r o s i t y w as no m o re The o n ly W h e e lm a n w ho w o u ld have
d if fic u lt to h a n d le th a n had been th e know n d if fe re n tly , th e one a t th e lo o k ­
R a d e lig ia n o b se rv e r. M in d o r in te lle c t, o u t b o a rd , w a s th e o th e r w h o m K in n i­
he fo u n d , w e re not a ff e c te d at a ll by son had to keep under c o n tro l. The
th e s h a p e o f th e b r a in s c o n c e r n e d ; q u a l­ sco w w e n t o u t. g o t its lo a d , a n d cam e
ity , re a c h , a n d p o w e r w e re th e e s s e n tia l back. T hen, w h ile th e L en sm an w as
fa c to rs . fly in g o u t in to sp a c e , th e sc o w d ro p p e d
T h e r e f o r e , h e le t h im s e lf in a n d to o k dow n th e s h a f t. So q u ie tly w as, th e
p o s itio n in th e sam e ro o m fro m w h ic h w h o le th in g d o n e th a t n o t a c r e a tu r e in
fie had been d riv e n so v io le n tly . K in - t h a t w h o le e s ta b lis h m e n t k n e w th a t a n y ­
n is o n e x a m in e d w ith in te re s t th e w a ll th i n g w a s w r o n g u n ti l it w a s to o la te to
th ro u g h w h ic h h e h a d b e e n b lo w n , n o t­ a c t— a n d th e n n o n e o f th e m knew any­
in g th a t it had been re p a ire d so p e r­ th in g a t a ll. N o t even th e c re w o f th e
fe c tly th a t he c o u ld s c a rc e ly fin d th e sco w re a liz e d th a t th e y w e re d ro p p in g
jo in ts w h ic h had been m ade. to o fa s t.
T h e s e W h e e lm e n , th e L e n s m a n k n e w , K i n n i s o n d i d n ’t k n o w w h a t w o u l d h a p ­
had e x p lo s iv e s ; s in c e th e b u lle ts w h ic h pen if a m in d — to say n o th in g of tw o
had to rn th e ir w ay th ro u g h h is a rm o r o f th e m — d ie d w h ile in h is m e n ta l g r a s p ,
a n d th r o u g h h is fle s h h a d b e e n p ro p e lle d a n d h e d id n o t c a r e to fin d o u t. T h e re ­
b y th a t a g e n c y . T h e r e f o r e , to th e m in d fo re, a fra c tio n of a second b e fo re th e
w ith in h is g r a s p h e s u g g e s te d “ th e p la c e c ra s h , h e je r k e d fre e a n d w a tc h e d .
w h e re e x p lo s iv e s a re k e p t? ” and th e The e x p lo s io n and its conseq u en ces
th o u g h t of th a t m in d fla s h e d to th e d id n o t lo o k a t a ll im p r e s s iv e f r o m th e
80 A ST O U N D IN G STO R IES
Lensmkn’s coign of vantage. The moun­
tain trembled a little, then subsided no­
ticeably. From its summit there erupted
an unimportant little flare of flame, some
smoke, and an insignificant shower of
rock and debris.
However, when the scene had cleared
there was no longer any shaft leading
downward from that crater; a floor of
solid rock began almost at its lip. N ev­
ertheless, the Lensman explored thor­
oughly all the region where the strong­
hold had been, making sure that the
clean-up had been one-hundred-per-cent
effective.
Then, and only then, did he point
the speedster’s streamlined nose toward
Star Cluster AC 257-4736.
IN H IS hidden retreat so far from
the galaxy’s crowded suns and worlds,
Helmuth was in no enviable or easy
frame of mind. Four times he had de­
clared that that accursed Lensman, who­
ever he might be, must be destroyed, and
had mustered his every available force
to that end, only to have his intended
prey slip from his grasp as effortlessly
as a droplet of mercury eludes the clutch­
ing fingers of a child.
That Lensman, with nothing except
a speedster and a bomb, had taken and
had studied one of Boskone's new bat­
tleships, thus obtaining for his patrol the
secret of cosmic energy. Abandoning
his own vessel, then crippled and doomed
to capture or destruction, he had
stolen one of the ships searching for him
and in it he had calmly sailed to Velan-
tia, right through Helmuth’s screen of
blockading vessels. He had in some
way so fortified Velantia as to capture
six more Boskonian battleships. In one
of those ships he had won his way back
to the Prime Base of the patrol, with
information of such immense importance
that it had robbed the Boskonian organi­
zation of its then overwhelming supe­
riority.
More, he had found or had developed
new items of equipment which, save for
Helmuth’s own success in obtaining
them, would have given the patrol a
definite and decisive superiority over
Boskonia. Now both sides were again
equal, except for that Lensman and—
the Lens.
Helmuth still quailed inwardly when­
ever he thought of what he had under­
gone at the Arisian barrier, and he had
given up all thought of securing the
secret of the Lens by force or from
Arisia. But there must be other ways
of getting it------
And just then there came in the urgent
call from Boyssia II, followed by the
stunningly successful revolt of the hith­
erto innocuous Blakeslee, culminating as
it did in the destruction of Helmuth’s
every Boyssian device of vision or of
communication. Blue-white with fury,
the Boskonian high chief flung his net
abroad to take the renegade; but as he
settled back to await results a thought
struck him like a blow from a fist:
Blakeslee was innocuous. He never had
had, did not now’ and never would have,
the cold nerve and the sheer, dominat­
ing power he had just shown. Toward
what conclusion did that fact point ?
The furious anger disappeared from
Helmuth’s face as though it had been
wiped therefrom with a sponge, and he
became again the coldly calculating
mechanism of flesh and blood that he
ordinarily was. This conception changed
matters entirely. This was not an ordi­
nary revolt of an ordinary subordinate.
The man had done something which he
could not possibly do. So what? The
Lens again. Again that accursed Lens­
man, the one who had somehow learned
really to use his L en s!
“ Wolmark, call every vessel at Boyssia
base,” he directed, crisply. “Keep on
calling them until some one answers.
Get whoever is in charge there now and
put him on me here.”
A few minutes of silence followed,
then Vice Commander Krimsky reported
 GALACTIC PATROL
in full everything that had happened
and told of the threatened destruction of
the base.
“You have an automatic speedster
there, have you not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Turn over command to the next in
line, with orders to move to the nearest
base, taking with him as much equip­
ment as is possible. Caution him to
leave on time, however, for I very
strongly suspect that it is now too late
to do anything to prevent the destruc­
tion of the base. You, alone, take the
speedster and bring away the personal
files of the men who went with Blakeslee.
A speedster will meet you at a point to
be designated later and relieve you of
the records.”
AN H OUR PA SSE D —two, then
three.
“Wolmark! Blakeslee and the hos­
pital ship have vanished, I presume?”
“They have.” The underling, expect­
ing a verbal flaying, was greatly sur­
prised at the mildness of his chief’s tone
and at the studious serenity of his face.
"Come to the center.” Then, when
the lieutenant was seated, “I do not
suppose that you as yet realize what—
or rather, who— it is that is doing this?”
“Why, Blakeslee is doing it, of
course.”
“I thought so, too, at first. That was
what the one who really did it wanted
us to think.”
"It must have been Blakeslee. We
saw him do it, sir. How could it have
been any one else?”
"I do not know. I do know, how­
ever, and so should you, that he could
not have done it. Blakeslee, of himself,
is of no importance whatever.”
“W e’ll catch him, sir, and make him
talk. He can’t get away.”
“You will find that you will not catch
him and that he can get away. Blakes­
lee alone, of course, could not do so,
an^ more than he could have done the
AST—6
81
things he apparently did do. No, Wol­
mark, we are not dealing with Blakes­
lee.”
“Who then, sir?”
“Haven’t you deduced that yet? The
Lensman, fool—the same Lensman who
has been thumbing his nose at us ever
since he took one of our first-class bat­
tleships with a speed boat and a fire­
cracker.”
“But—great blinding rockets, how?”
“Again I admit that I do not know
—yet. The connection, however, is
quite evident—thought. Blakeslee was
thinking thoughts utterly beyond him.
The Lens comes from Arisia. The
Arisians are masters of thought—of
mental forces and processes incompre­
hensible to any of us. These are the
elements which, when fitted together,
will give us the complete picture.”
“Still I don't see how they fit.”
“Neither do I—yet. However, it
should be clear to you that we do not
want that Lensman thinking such
thoughts as that into this base."
“We certainly do not. However,
surely he can’t trace------ ’’
“Just a moment! The time has come
when it is no longer sate to say what
that Lensman cannot do. Our com­
municator beams are hard and tight,
yes. But any beam can be tapped if
enough power be applied to it, and any
beam that can be tapped can be traced.
I expect him to visit us here, and we
shall be prepared for his visit. That is
the reason for this conference with you.
Here is a device which generates a field
through which no thought can penetrate.
I have had this device for some time,
but for obvious reasons have not re­
leased it. Here are the diagrams and
complete constructional data. Have a
few hundred of them made with all pos­
sible speed, and see to it that every being
upon this planet wears one continuously.
Impress upon every one, and I will
also, that it is of the utmost importance
that absolutely continuous protection be
82 A ST O U N D IN G STO R IES
maintained, even while changing bat­
teries.
‘‘Experts have been working for some
time upon the problem of protecting the
entire planet with such a screen, and
there is some little hope of success in
the near future; but individual protec­
tion will still be of the utmost impor­
tance. We cannot impress it too forcibly
upon every one that every man’s life is
dependent upon each one maintaining
his thought screen in full operation at
all times. That is all.”
W H E N the messenger brought in the
personal files of Blakeslee and the other
deserters, Helmuth and his psycholo­
gists went over them wfith minutely
[tainstaking care. The more they stud­
ied them the clearer it became that the
chief’s conclusion was the correct one.
Some one had, in some way. brought an
extraordinary mental pressure to bear.
Reason and logic told Helmuth that
the Lensman’s only purpose in attack­
ing the Boyssian base was to get a line
on Grand B ase; that Blakeslees flight
and the destruction of the base were
merely diversions to obscure the real
purpose of the visit; that the Lensman
had staged that theatrical performance
especially to hold him, Helmuth, while
his beam was being traced, and that that
was the only reason why the visiset was
not sooner put out of action; and, finally,
that the Lensman had scored another
deart hit.
He, Helmuth himself, had been caught
flat-footed. H is face hardened and his
jaw set at the thought. But he had not
been taken in. He was forewarned and
he would be ready, for lie was coldly
certain that Grand Base and he him­
self were the real objectives of the Lens-
man. That Lensman knew full well
that any number of ordinary bases, ships,
and men could be destroyed without
damaging, materially, the Boskonian
cause.
Steps must be taken to make Grand
Base as impregnable to mental forces as
it already was to physical ones. Other­
wise, it might well be that even Hel­
muth’s own life would presently be at
stake, and that life was a thing precious
indeed. Therefore, council after coun­
cil was held; every contingency that
could be thought of was brought up and
discussed ; every possible precaution was
taken. In short, every resource of
Grand Base was devoted to the warding
off of any possible mental threat which
might be forthcoming.
K IN N IS O N approached that star
cluster with care. Small though it was,
as cosmic groups go. it yet was com­
posed of some hundreds of stars and an
unknown number of planets. Any one
of those planets might be the one he
sought, and to approach it unknowingly
might prove disastrous. Therefore, he
slowed down to a crawl and crept up,
light year by light year, with his ultra-
powered detectors fanning out before
him to the limit of their unimaginable
reach.
H e had more than half expected that
he would have to search that cluster,
world by world ; but in that, at least, he
was pleasantly disappointed. One cor­
ner of one of his plates began to show
a dim glow of detection. A bell tin­
kled and Kinntson directed his most
powerful master plate into the region
indicated, This plate, while of very
narrow field, had tremendous resolving
power and magnification; and in it lie
saw that there were eighteen small cen­
ters of radiation surrounding one vastly
larger one.
There was no doubt then as to the
location of Helmuth’s base, but there
arose the question of approach. The
Lensman had not considered the possi­
bility of a screen of ’lookout ships. If
they were close enough together so that
their electromagnetics had even a fifty-
per-cent overlap, he might as well go
 G ALACTIC PA T R O L
back home. What were those outposts,
and exactly how closely were they
spaced ? He observed, advanced, and
observed again; computing finally that,
whatever they were, they were so far
apart that there could be no possibility
of any electro overlap at all. He could
get between them easily enough. He
wouldn’t even have to baffle his flares.
They could not be guards at all, Kin-
nison concluded, but must be simply
outposts, set far outside the solar sys­
tem of the planet they guarded; not to
ward off one-man speedsters, but to
warn Helmuth of the possible approach
of a force large enough to threaten the
Grand Base of Boskonia.
Closer and closer Kinnison flashed,
discovering that the central object was
indeed a base, startling in its immensity
and completely and intensively fortified;
and that the outposts were huge, float­
ing fortresses, practically stationary in
space relative to the sun of the solar
system they surrounded. The Lensman
aimed at the center of the imaginary
square formed by four of the outposts
and drove in as close to the planet as
he dared. Then, going inert, he set his
speedster into an orbit— he did not care
particularly about its shape, provided
that it was not too narrow an ellipse—
and cut off all his power. He was now
safe from detection. Leaning back in
his seat and closing his eyes, he hurled
his sense of perception into and through
the massed fortifications of Grand Base.
For a long time he did not find a
single living creature. He traversed
hundreds of miles, perceiving only auto­
matic machinery, bank after towering,
mile-square bank of accumulators, and
remote-controlled projectors and other
weapons and apparatus. Finally, how­
ever, he came to Helmuth’s dome; and
in that dome he received another se­
vere shock. The personnel in that dome
were to be numbered by the hundreds,
but he could not make mental contact
with any one of them. H e could not
83
touch their minds at a ll; he was stopped
cold. Every member of Helmuth’s band
was protected by a thought screen as
effective as the Lensman’s o w n !
Around and around the planet the
speedster circled, while Kinnison strug­
gled with this new and entirely unex­
pected setback. This looked as though
Helmuth knew what was coming. H el­
muth was nobody’s fool, Kinnison knew ;
but how could he possibly have sus­
pected that a mental attack was in the
book? Perhaps he was just playing
safe. If so, the Lensman’s chance would
come. Men would be careless; batteries
weakened and would have to be changed.
But this hope was also vain, as con­
tinued watching revealed that each bat­
tery was listed, checked, and timed. Nor
was any screen released, even for an
instant, when its battery was changed;
the fresh power source being slipped
into service before the weakening one
was disconnected.
“Well, that proves that Helmuth
ktunvs,” Kinnison cogitated, after watch­
ing vainly several such changes. “H e’s
a wise old bird. The guy really has jets.
I still don’t see what I did that could
have put him wise to what was go­
ing on.”
D A Y A F T E R D A Y the Lensman
studied every detail of construction, op­
eration, and routine of that base, and
finally an idea began to dawn. He shot
his attention toward a barracks he had
inspected frequently of late, but stopped,
irresolute.
“Uh-uli, Kim, maybe better not,” he
advised himself. "Helmuth’s mighty
quick on the trigger, to figure out that
Boyssian thing so fast------ ”
His projected thought was sheared
off without warning, thus settling the
question definitely. Helmuth’s big ap­
paratus was at work; the whole planet
was screened against thought.
“Oh, well, probably better, at that,”
Kinnison went on arguing with himself.
84 A ST O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
“ If I’d tried it out maybe he’d have got
onto it and laid me a stymie next time,
when I really need it."
Since he had accomplished everything
that he could do for the time being, he
went free and hurled his speedster to­
ward Earth, now distant indeed. Sev­
eral times during that long trip he was
sorely tempted to call Haynes through
his Lens and get things started; but he
always thought better of it. This was
altogether too important a thing to be
sent through so much sub-ether, or even
to he thought about except inside an
absolutely thought-tight room. And be­
sides, every waking hour of even that
long trip could be spent very profitably
in digesting and correlating the infor­
mation he had obtained and in mapping
out the salient features of the campaign
that was to come. Therefore, before
time began to drag, Kinnison landed at
Prime Base and was granted instant
audience with Port Admiral Haynes,
“Mighty glad to see you, son.” Haynes
greeted the young Lensman cordially,
as he sealed the room thought-tight.
“Since you came in under your owm
power, I assume that you are here to
make a constructive report?"
“Better than that, sir. I ’m here to
start something in a big way. I know
at last where their Grand Base is, and
have detailed plans of it. I think that
I know who and where Eoskone is, I
know where Helmuth is, and I have
worked out a plan whereby, if it works,
we can wipe out that base, Boskone,
Helmuth, and all the lesser master
minds, at one wipe.”
"Holy jumping rockets!" For the
first time since Kinnison had known
him the old man lost his poise. He
leaped to his feet and seized Kinnison
by the arm. “ I knew you were good,
but not that good! The Arisians gave
you the treatments you wanted, then?"
“They sure did,” and the younger
man reported as briefly as possible every­
thing that bad happened, then outlined
the plan upon which he had been work­
ing so long.
“I am just as sure that Helmuth is
Boskone as I can be of anything that
can’t be proved," Kinnison declared,
bending over a huge chart and sketch­
ing rapidly. “Helmuth speaks for Bos­
kone, and nobody else ever does, not
even Boskone himself. None of the
other big shots know anything about
Boskone or ever heard him speak; but
they alt jump through their hoops when
Helmuth, ‘speaking for Boskone,’ cracks
the whip. And I couldn’t get a trace
of Helmuth ever taking anything up
with any higher-ups. Therefore, I am
dead certain that when we get Helmuth
wre get Boskone.
“ BLIT that’s going to be a real job of
work. I scouted his headquarters from
stem to gudgeon, as I told you; and
Grand Base is absolutely impregnable
as it stands. I never imagined anything
like it. It makes Prime Base here look
like a deserted cross roads after a hard
winter. They’ve got screens, pits, pro­
jectors, accumulators, all on a gigantic
scale. In fact, they’ve got everything.
But you can get all that from the tape.
I have learned definitely that we cannot
take them by any possible direct frontal
attack. Even if we attacked with every
ship and mauler we’ve got throughout
the galaxy they could stand us off. And
they can match us, ship for ship. W e’d
never get near that base at all if they
knew that wre wTere coining.”
“W ell, if it’s such an impossible job,
what------ ’’
“I ’m coming to that. It is impossi­
ble as it stands; but there’s a good
chance that I’ll he able to soften Grand
Base up. You know, like a worm—
bore from within. Anyway, that’s the
only possible way to do it, so I’ve got
to try it. You’ll have to put detector
nullifiers on every ship assigned to the
job, but that’ll be easy. I would suggest
sending all the maulers and first-class
 GALACTIC PA T R O L
battleships we’ve got, but you will, of
course, work that out later.”
“The important thing, as I gather it,
is timing.”
“Absolutely to the minute, since I
won’t be able to communicate, once T
get inside their thought screens. How
long will it take to concentrate every­
thing we've got and put it in that clus­
ter ?”
“Seven weeks— eight at the outside.”
“Plus two for allowances. Q X. At
exactly Hour 20, ten weeks from to­
day, let every projector of every vessel
that you can possibly get there cut loose
on that base with everything they can
pour in. Where’s that other print?
Here—twenty-six main objectives, you
see. Blast them all, simultaneously to
the second. If they all go down, the
rest will be possible. If not, it will be
just too bad. Then work along these
lines here, straight from those twenty-
six stations to the dome, blasting every­
thing as you go. Make it last exactly
fifteen minutes, not a minute more or
less. If, by fifteen minutes after twenty,
the main dome hasn’t surrendered by
cutting its screens, blast that, too, if you
can. It’ll take a lot of blasting, I ’m
afraid. From then on you and the fleet
commander will have to do whatever is
appropriate to the occasion.”
“Your plan doesn’t cover that, appar­
ently. Where will you be? How will
you be fixed—if the main dome does not
cut its screens?”
“I’ll be dead, and you’ll be just start­
ing the damnedest war that this galaxy
ever saw.”
X X III.
W H IL E servicing and checking over
the speedster required only a couple of
hours, Kinnison did not leave Earth for
almost two days. He had requisitioned
much special equipment, the construc­
tion of one item of which—a suit of
armor such as had never been seen upon
Earth before— caused almost all of the
85
delay. When it was ready the greatly
interested port admiral accompanied the
young Lensman out to the steel-lined,
sand-filled concrete dugout, in which the
suit had already been mounted upon a
remote-controlled dummy. Fifty feet
from that dummy there was a heavy,
water-cooled machine rifle, with its ar­
mored crew standing by. As the two
approached the crew leaped to attention.
“A s you were,” Haynes instructed.
“You checked those cartridges against
those I brought in from Aldebaran I ?”
asked Kinnison of the officer in charge,
as, accompanied by the port admiral, he
crouched down behind the shields of
the control panel.
“Yes, sir. These are twenty-five per
cent over, as you specified.”
“Q X —commence firing!” Then, as
the weapon clamored out its stuttering,
barking roar, Kinnison made the dummy
stoop, turn, bend, twist, and dodge, so
as to bring its every plate, joint, and
member into the hail of steel. The up­
roar stopped.
“One thousand rounds, sir,” the officer
reported.
“No holes—no dents—not a scratch or
a scar,” Kinnison reported, after a mi­
nute examination, and got into the thing.
“Now give me two thousand rounds,
unless I tell you to stop. Shoot!”
Again the machine rifle burst into its
ear-shattering song of hate; and, strong
as Kinnison was and powerfully braced
by the blast of his drivers, he could not
stand against the awful force of those
bullets. Over he went, backward, and
the firing ceased.
“Keep it u p !” he snapped. “Think
they’re going to quit shooting at me be­
cause I fall down ?”
“But you had had nineteen hundred!”
protested the officer.
“Keep on pecking until you run out
of ammunition or until I tell you to
stop,” ordered Kinnison. “I’ve got to
learn how to handle this thing under
fire.” The storm of metal again began
86 A ST O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
to crash against the reverberating shell
of steel.
It hurled the Lensman down, rolled
him over and over, slammed him against
the backstop. Again and again he strug­
gled upright, only to be hurled again to
ground as the riflemen, really playing
the game now, swung their leaden hail
from part to part of the armor, and
varied their attack from steady fire to
short, but savage, bursts. But finally,
in spite of everything the gun crew could
do, Kinnison learned his controls.
T H E N , drivers flaring, he faced that
howling, chattering muzzle and strode
straight into the stream of smoke- and
flame-enshrouded steel. Now the air
was literally full of metal. Bullets and
fragments of bullets whined and shrieked
in mad abandon as they ricocheted off
that armor in all directions. Sand and
bits of concrete flew hither and yon, fill­
ing the atmosphere of the dugout. The
rifle yammered at maximum, with its
sweating crew laboring mightily to keep
its voracious maw full-fed. But, in spite
of everything, Kinnison held his line and
advanced. He was a bare ten feet from
that raving, steel-vomiting muzzle when
the firing again ceased.
“Twenty thousand, sir." the officer
reported, crisply. “W e’ll have to
change barrels before we can give you
any more."
“That’s enough!" snapped Haynes.
“Come out of there!“
Out Kinnison came. He removed
heavy ear plugs, swallowed four times,
blinked and grimaced. Finally he spoke.
“ It works perfectly, sir, except for the
noise. It’s a good thing I’ve got a Lens.
Even though I was wearing plugs, I
won’t be able to hear a sound for three
days!”
“How about the springs and shock
absorbers? Are you bruised anywhere?
You took some real bumps."
“ Perfect—not a bruise. Let’s look
her over.”
Every inch of that armor’s surface
was now' marked by blurs, w'here the
metal of the bullets had rubbed on the
shining alloy, but that surface was nei­
ther scratched, scored, nor dented.
“QX, boys— thanks," Kinnison dis­
missed the riflemen. They probably
wondered how any man could see
through a helmet built up of inches-thick
laminated alloys, with neither w’indow
nor port through which to look; but if
so, they made no mention of their curi­
osity. They, too, were patrolmen.
“ Is that thing an armor or a personal
tank?" asked Haynes. “I aged ten years
while that was going o n ; but. at that.
I’m glad you insisted on testing it as
you did. You can get aw'ay with any­
thing now.”
“I’ve found that it is much better
technique to learn things among friends
here, than among enemies." Kinnison
laughed. “ It’s heavy, of course— over
three hundred kilos, net. I won’t be
walking around in it much, though; and
even that little I’ll be flying it instead of
walking it. Well, sir, since everything’s
all set, I think I’d better fly it over to
the speedster and start flitting, don’t
you ? I don’t know exactly howr much
time I am going to need on Trenco.”
“Might as well.” the port admiral
agreed, as casually, and Kinnison was
gone.
“What a man!” Haynes stared after
the monstrous figure until it vanished
in the distance, then strolled slowly to­
ward his office, thinking as he went.
N U R S E M acDO UG ALL had been
highly irked and incensed at Kinnison’s
casual departure, without idle conversa­
tion or formal leave takings. Not so
Haynes. That seasoned campaigner
knew that gray Lensmen—particularly
young gray Lensmen— were prone to
get that way. He knew, in a way she
never would and never could know, that
Kinnison was no longer of Earth.
He was now only of the galaxy, not
 GALACTIC PA T R O L
of any one tiny dust grain of it. He
was of the patrol. He was the patrol,
and he was taking his new responsibili­
ties very seriously indeed. In his fierce
zeal to drive his campaign through to a
successful end he would use man or
woman, singly or in groups, ships, even
Prime Base itself, exactly as he had
used them : as pawns, as mere tools, as
means to an end. And, having used
them, he would leave them as uncon­
cernedly and as unceremoniously as he
would drop pliers and spanner, and with
no realization that he had violated any
of the nicer amenities of life as it is
lived!
And as he strolled along and thought,
the port admiral smiled quietly to him­
self. He knew, as Kinnison would learn
in time, that the universe was vast, that
time was long, and that the Scheme of
Things, comprising the whole of eter­
nity and the cosmic all, was a something
incomprehensibly immense indeed. With
which cryptic thought the space-hard­
ened veteran sat down at his desk and
resumed his interrupted labors.
But Kinnison had not yet attained
Haynes’ philosophic viewpoint, any
more than he had his age, and to him
the trip to Trenco seemed positively in­
terminable. Eager as he was to put his
plan of campaign to the test, he found
that mental urgings, or even audible in­
vectives, would not make the speedster
go any faster than the already incom­
prehensible top speed of her drivers’
maximum blast. Nor did pacing up and
down the little control room seem to
help very much. Physical exercise he
had to perform, but it did not satisfy
him. Mental exercise was impossible;
he could think of nothing except Hel-
muth’s base.
E V E N T U A L L Y , however, he ap­
proached Trenco and located, without
difficulty, the patrol’s space port. For­
tunately, it was then at about eleven
o ’clock, so that he did not have to wait
87
long to land. He drove downward inert,
sending a thought ahead of him : “Lens-
man of Trenco Space Port— Tregonsee
or his relief? Lensman Kinnison of
Sol III asking permission to land.”
“It is Tregonsee,” came back the
thought. “Welcome, Kinnison. You
are on the correct line. You have, then,
perfected an apparatus to see truly in
this distorting medium ?”
“I didn’t perfect it— it was given to
99
me.
The landing bars lashed out, seized
the speedster, and eased her down into
the lock; and, as soon as she had been
disinfected, Kinnison went into consulta­
tion with Tregonsee. The Rigellian was
a highly important factor in the Tellu­
rian’s scheme; and, since he was also a
Lensman, he was to be trusted implicitly.
Therefore, Kinnison told him briefly
wffiat occurred and what he had it in
mind to do, concluding: “So you see,
I need about fifty kilograms of thionite.
Not fifty milligrams, or even grams, but
fifty kilograms; and, since there prob­
ably isn’t that much of the stuff loose
in the whole galaxy, I came over here
to ask you to make it for me.”
Just like that. Calmly asking a Lens­
man, whose sworn duty it was to kill any
being even attempting to gather a sin­
gle Trenconian plant, to make for him
more of the prohibited drug than was
ordinarily processed throughout the
galaxy during a solarian month! It
would be just such an errand were one
to walk into the treasury department in
Washington and inform the chief of the
narcotics bureau, quite nonchalantly,
that he had dropped in to pick up ten
tons of heroin! But Tregonsee did not
flinch or question—he was not even sur­
prised. This was a gray Lensman, and
his plan would work.
“That should not be too difficult,”
Tregonsee replied, after a moment’s
study. “We have several thionite proc­
essing units, confiscated from zwilnik
ships and not yet picked up by head­
88 A S T O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
quarters; and all of us are, of course,
quite familiar with the technique of ex­
tracting and purifying the drug.”
He issued orders and shortly Trenco
Space Port presented the astounding
spectacle of a full crew of the Galactic
Patrol devoting its every energy to the
whole-hearted breaking of the one law
it was supposed most rigidly, and with­
out fear or favor, to enforce!
IT W A S a little after noon, the calm­
est hour of Trenco’s day. The wind
had died to “nothing” ; which, on that
planet, meant that a strong man could
stand against it; could even, if he were
agile as well as strong, walk about in
it. Therefore, Kinnison donned his light
armor and was soon busily harvesting
the purple-leaved plants, which, he had
been informed, were the richest sources
of thionite.
He had been working for only a few
minutes when one of the “natives” came
crawling up to him ; and. after ascer­
taining that his hard steel armor was
not good to eat, drew off and observed
him intently. Here was another oppor­
tunity for practice, and in a flash the
Lensman availed himself of it. Having
practiced for hours upon the minds of
various Earthly animals, he entered this
mind easily enough, finding that the
Trenconian “flat" was considerably more
intelligent than a dog. So much so, in
fact, that the race had already devel­
oped a fairly comprehensive language.
Therefore, it did not take long for
the Lensman to learn to use his sub­
ject’s peculiar limbs and other members,
and soon the flat was working like a
Trojan. And, since he was ideally
adapted for his wildly raging Trenconian
environment, he 'actually accomplished
more than all the rest of the force com­
bined.
“ It's a dirty trick I’m playing on
you, fellow," Kinnison told his helper
after a while. “Come on into the re­
ceiving room and I’ll see if I can square
it with you.”
Since food was the only logical tender,
Kinnison brought out from his speed­
ster a small can of salmon, a package of
cheese, a bar of chocolate, a few lumps
of sugar, and a potato, offering them to
the Trenconian in order. The salmon
and the cheese were both highly accept­
able fare. The morsel of chocolate was
a delightfully surprising delicacy. The
lump of sugar, however, was what really
rang the hell. Kinnison's own mind felt
the shock of pure ecstasy as that won­
derful substance dissolved in the trenco’s
mouth. He also ate the potato, of course
—any Trenconian animal will, at any
time, eat anything containing carbon,
even limerock, gasoline, or truck grease
— but it was merely food, nothing to
rave about.
Knowing now what to do, Kinnison
led his assistant out into the howling,
shrieking gale and released him from
control, throwing a lump of sugar up­
wind as lie did so. The trenco seized it
in the air, ate it, and went into a very
hysteria of joy.
“More! More!" he insisted, attempt-
ting to climb up the Lensman's armored
leg.
“You must work for more of it, if
you want it,” Kinnison explained.
“Break off these plants here and carry
them over into that empty thing over
there, and you get more.”
This was an entirely new idea to the
native, but after Kinnison had taken
hold of his mind and had shown him
how to do consciously that which he
had been doing unconsciously for an
hour, he worked willingly enough. In
fact, before it started to rain, thereby
putting an end to the labor of the day,
there were a dozen of them toiling at
the harvest and the crop was coming
in as fast as the entire crew of Rigellians
could process it. And even after the
space port was sealed they crowded up.
 G ALACTIC PA T R O L
paying no attention to the rain, bring­
ing in their small loads of leaves and
plaintively asking admittance.
IT TOOK some little time for Kin-
nison to make them understand that the
day's work was done, but that they were
to come back to-morrow morning. F i­
nally, however, he succeeded in getting
the idea across, and the last disconsolate
turtle-man went reluctantly away. But
sure enough, next morning, even before
the mud had dried, the same twelve were
back on the job. The two Lensmen
wondered simultaneously how those
trencos could have found the space port.
Or had they stayed near it through the
storm and flood of the night ?
"I don’t know',” Kinnison answered
the unasked question, “but I can find
out.” Again and more carefully he ex­
amined the minds of two or three of
them. “No, they didn't follow' us,” he
reported then. “They’re not as dumb
as I thought they were. They have a
sense of perception, Tregonsee, about
the same thing, I judge, as yours— per­
haps even more so. I wonder— why
couldn't they he trained into mighty effi­
cient police assistants on this planet?”
"The way you handle them, yes. I
can converse with them a little, of
course, but they have never before shown
any willingness to cooperate with us.”
“You never fed them sugar.” Kin­
nison laughed. “You have sugar, of
course—or do you? T was forgetting
that many races do not use it at all.”
“We Rigellians are one of those races.
Starch is so much tastier and so much
better adapted to our body chemistry
that sugar is used only as a chemical.
W e can, however, obtain it easily
enough. But there is something else.
You can tell these trencos what to do
and make them really understand you.
I cannot.”
“I can fix that up with a simple men­
tal treatment that I can give you in five
minutes. Also, I can let you have
89
enough sugar to carry on with until you
can get in a supply of your own.”
In the few minutes during which the
Lensmen had been discussing their po­
tential allies, the mud had dried and
the amazing coverage of dense, succu­
lent “grass” was springing visibly into
being. So incredibly rapid was its
growth that in ten minutes more the
plants were large enough to be gath­
ered. The leaves were lush and rank,
in color a vivid, crimsonish purple.
“These early-morning plants are the
richest of any in thionite, but the zwil-
niks can never get more than a handful
of them because of the wind,” remarked
the Rigellian, “Now, if you will give
me that treatment, J will see what I can
do with the Flats.”
Kinnison did so, and the trencos
worked for Tregonsee as industriously
as they had for Kinnison—and ate his
sugar as rapturously.
“That is enough,” decided the Rigel­
lian presently, “This wall finish your
fifty kilograms and to spare.”
He then “paid off" his now enthusi­
astic helpers, with instructions to return
when the sun was directly overhead, for
more work and more sugar. And this
time they did not complain, nor did they
loiter around or bring in unwanted vege­
tation. They were learning fast.
Well before noon the last kilogram of
impalpable, purplish-blue powder was
put into its impermeable sack. The ma­
chinery was cleaned: the untouched
leaves, the waste, and the contaminated
air were blown out of the space port;
and the room and its occupants were
sprayed with anti-thionite. Then and
only then did the crew remove their
masks and air filters. Trenco Space
Port was again a patrol post, no longer
a zwilnik’s paradise.
“Thanks, Tregonsee, and all you fel­
lows------ ” Kinnison paused, then went
on, dubiously, “I don't suppose that you
will------ ”
99 A ST O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
“W e will not.” declared Tregonsee.
“Our time is yours, as you know, with­
out payment; and time is all that we
gave you, really.”
“Sure—that and about a thousand
million credits’ worth of thionite.”
“That, of course, does not count, as
you also know. You have helped us, I
think, even more than we have helped
you.”
“T hope that I have done you some
good, anyway. Well, I’ve got to flit.
Thanks again. I'll see you sometime,
maybe.'' And again the Tellurian Lens-
man was on his way.
X X IV .
K IN N ISO N approached Star Clus­
ter AC 257-4736 warily, as before; and
as before he insinuated his speedster
through the loose outer cordon of guard­
ian fortresses. This time, however, he
did not steer even remotely near Hel-
muth’s world. He would be there too
long: there was altogether too much risk
of electromagnetic detection to set his
ship into any kind of an orbit around
that planet. Instead, he had computed
a long, narrow, elliptical orbit around
its sun, well inside the zone guarded by
the maulers. He could compute it only
approximately, of course, since he did
not know exactly either the masses in­
volved or the perturbing forces; but he
thought that he could find his ship again
with an electro. If not, she would not
l>e an irreplaceable loss. He set the
speedster, then, into the outward leg of
that orbit and took off in his new armor.
He knew that there was a thought-
screen around Helmuth’s planet, and
suspected that there might be other
screens as well. Therefore, shutting off
every watt of power, he dropped
straight down into the night side, well
clear of the citadel’s edge. His flares
were, of course, heavily baffled; but
even so he did not put on his brakes
until it was absolutely necessary. He
landed heavily, then sprang away in
long, free hops, until he reached his pre­
viously selected destination: a great cav­
ern thickly shielded with iron ore and
fully five thousand miles from his point
of descent. Deep within that cavern he
hid himself, then searched intently for
any sign that his approach had been ob­
served. There was no such sign. So
far, so good.
But during his search he had per­
ceived with a slight shock that Helmuth
had tightened his defenses even more.
Not only was every man in the dome
screened against thought, but also each
was now wearing full armor. Had he
protected the dogs, too? Or killed
them? No real matter if he had—any
kind of a pet animal would d o ; or. in
a pinch, even a wild rock-lizard! Nev­
ertheless, he shot his perception into the
particular barracks he had noted so long
before, and found with some relief that
the dogs were still there, and that they
were still unprotected. It had not oc­
curred. even to Helmuth’s cautious mind,
that a dog could be a source of mental
danger.
With all due precaution against get­
ting even a single grain of the stuff into
his own system. Kinnison transferred
his thionite into the special container in
which it was to be used. Another day
sufficed to observe and to memorize the
personnel of the gateway observers, their
positions, and the sequence in which they
took the boards. Then the Lensman,
still almost a week ahead of schedule,
settled down to await the time when he
should make his next move. Nor was
this waiting unduly irksome; now that
everything was ready he could be as
patient as a cat on duty at a mouse hole.
T H E T IM E came to act. Kinnison
took over the mind of the dog, which
at once moved over to the bunk in which
one particular observer lay asleep.
There would be no chance whatever of
 GALACTIC PA TR O L
gaining control of any observer while
he was actually on the board, but here in
barracks it was almost ridiculously easy.
The dog crept along on soundless paw s;
a long, slim nose reached out and up;
sharp teeth closed delicately upon a bat­
tery lead; out came the plug. The
thought screen went down, and instantly
Kinnison was in charge of the fellow’s
mind.
And when that observer went on duty
his first act was to admit Kimball Kin­
nison, gray Lensman, to the Grand Base
of Boskone! Low and fast Kinnison
flew, while the observer so placed his
body as to shield from any chance pass­
er-by the all-too-revealing surface of his
visiplate. In a few minutes the Lens-
man reached a portal of the dome itself.
Those doors also opened—and closed be­
hind him. He released the mind of the
observer and watched briefly. Nothing
happened. All was still w ell!
Then, in every barracks save one,
using whatever came to hand in the way
of dog or other unshielded animal, Kin­
nison wrought briefly but effectively.
He did not slay by mental force— he did
not have enough of that to spare— but
the mere turn of an inconspicuous valve
would do just as well. Some of those
now idle men would probably live to
answer Helmuth’s call to extra duty, but
not too many— nor would those who
obeyed that summons live long there­
after.
Down stairway after stairway he
dived, down to the compartment in
which was housed the great air purifier.
Now let them com e! Even if they had
a spy ray on him, now it would be too
late to do them a bit of good. And
now, by all the gods of space, that fleet
had better be out there, getting ready to
blast!
It was. From all over the galaxy
that grand fleet had been assembled;
every patrol base had been stripped of
almost everything mobile that could
91
throw a beam. Every vessel carried
either a Lensman or some other highly
trusted officer; and each such officer had
two detector nullifiers—one upon his
person, the other in his locker— either
one of which would protect his whole
ship from detection.
In long lines, singly and at intervals,
those untold thousands of ships had
crept between the vessels guarding
Grand Base. Nor were the outpost
crews to blame. They had been on
duty for months, and not even an as­
teroid had relieved the monotony. Noth­
ing had happened or would. They
watched their plates steadily enough—
and, if they did nothing more, why
should they ? And what could they have
done? How could they suspect that
such a thing as a detector nullifier had
been invented?
T H E patrol’s grand fleet, then, was
already massing over its primary ob­
jectives, each vessel in a rigidly assigned
position. The pilots, captains, and navi­
gators were chatting among themselves
jerkily and in low tones, as though even
to raise their voices might reveal prema­
turely to the enemy the concentration
of the patrol forces. The firing officers
were already at their boards, eyeing hun­
grily the small switches which they could
not throw for so many long minutes yet.
And far below, beside the pirates’ air
purifier, Kinnison released the locking
toggles of his armor and leaped out. To
burn a hole in the primary duct took
only a second. To drop into that duct
his container of thionite, to drench that
container with the reagent which would
in sixty seconds dissolve completely that
container’s substance without affecting
either its contents or the metal of the
duct, to slap a flexible adhesive patch
over the hole in the duct, and to leap
back into his armor— all these things re­
quired only a trifle over one minute.
Eleven minutes to go— QX.
Then in the last barracks, even while
92 A ST O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
the Lensman was arrowing up the stair­
ways, a dog again deprived a sleeping
man of his thought screen. That man,
however, instead of going to work, took
up a pair of pliers and proceeded to cut
the battery leads of ever}' sleeper in the
barracks, severing them so close that no
connection could be made without re­
moving the armor.
As those leads were severed men woke
up and dashed into the dome. Along
catwalk after catwalk they raced, and
apparently that was all that they were
doing. But each runner, as he passed a
man on duty, flicked a battery plug out
of its socket; and that observer, at Kin-
nison's command, opened the face plate
of his armor and breathed deeply of the
now drug-laden atmosphere.
Thionite, as has been intimated, is
perhaps the worst of all known habit­
forming drugs. In almost infinitesimal
doses it gives rise to a state in which
the victim seems actually to experience
the gratification of his every desire,
whatever that desire may be. The larger
the dose, the more intense the sensation,
until—and very quickly— the dosage is
reached at which he passes into such an
ecstatic stupor that not a single nerve
can force a stimulus into his frenzied
brain. In this stage he dies.
Thus there was no alarm, no outcry,
no warning. Each observer sat or stood
entranced, holding exactly the pose he
had been in at the instant of opening
his face plate. But now, instead of pay­
ing attention to his duty, he was plung­
ing deeper and deeper into the paroxys-
mally ecstatic profundity of a thionite
debauch from which there was to be no
awakening. Therefore, half of that
mighty dome was unmanned before Hel-
muth even realized that anything at all
out of order was going on.
As soon as he realized that something
was ainiss, however, he sounded the
“all-hands-on-duty” alarm and rapped
out instructions to the officers in the
barracks. But the cloud of death had
arrived there first, and to his consterna­
tion not one quarter of those officers re­
sponded. Quite a number of men did
get into the dotne, but every one of them
collapsed before reaching the catwalks.
And three fourths of his working force
were hors de combat before he located
Kinnison’s speeding messengers.
“Blast them dow n!” Helmuth
shrieked, pointing, gesticulating madly.
Blast whom down? The minions of
the Lensman were themselves blasting
away now, right and left, shouting con­
tradictory but supposedly authoritative
orders.
“Blast those men not on duty!” Ifel-
muth's raging voice now filled the dome.
“You, at Board 479! Blast that man
on Catwalk 28. at Board 495!”
With such detailed instructions, Kin­
nison’s agents, one by one. ceased to be.
But as one was beamed down another
took his place, and soon every one of
the few remaining living pirates in the
dome was blasting indiscriminately at
every other one. And ,then. to cap the
Saturnalian climax, came the zero
second.
T H E G RAND FL EET of the Ga­
lactic Patrol had assembled. Every
cruiser, every battleship, every mauler
hung poised above its assigned target.
Every vessel was stripped for action.
Every accumulator cell was full to its
ultimate w att; every generator and every
arm was tuned and peaked to its high­
est attainable efficiency. Every firing
officer upon every ship sat tensely at
his board, his hand hovering near, but
not touching, his firing keys, his eyes
fixed glaringly upon the second hand of
his synchronized electric timer, his ears
scarcely hearing the droning, soothing
voice of Port Admiral Haynes.
For the old man had insisted upon
giving the firing order himself, and he
now sat at the master timer, speaking
 G ALACTIC PA T R O L 93

B u t H e lm u th c o u ld n o t n o w reach th a t ball o f fo rc e — and K in n is o n ’s

m ig h ty arm or fo r g e d u n d a m a g ed th ro u g h th e h a il o f m eta l,
94 A ST O U N D IN G ST O R IE S
into the master microphone. Beside him
sat von Hohendorff, the grand old com-
mandant of cadets. Both of these vet­
erans had thought long since that they
were done with space war forever; but
only an order of the full Galactic Coun­
cil could have kept either of them at
home. Thejr were grimly determined
that they were going to be in at the
death, even though they were not at all
certain whose death it was to be. If it
should turn out that it was to be Hel-
tnuth’s, all well and good— everything
would be on the green. If, on the other
hand, young Kinnison had to go, they
would, in all probability, have to go,
too—and so be it.
“Now remember, boys, keep your
hands off those keys until I give you
the word,” Haynes’ soothing voice
droned on, giving no hint of the terrific
strain he himself was under. “I'll give
you lots of warning. I am going to
count the last five seconds for you. I
know that you all want to shoot the first
holt, but remember that l, personally,
will strangle any and every one of you
who heats my signal by a thousandth of
a second. It won't be long now; the
second hand is starting around on its
last lap. Keep your hands off those
keys. Keep away from them, I tell you,
or I’ll smack you down. Fifteen sec­
onds yet. Stay away, boys; let ’em
alone. Going to start counting now.”
Hts voice dropped lower and lower.
“ Five— four— three— two— one— fire!”
he veiled.
Perhaps some of the boys did beat the
gun a trifle; but not many, or much.
To all intents and purposes it was one
simultaneous blast of destruction that
flashed down-from a hundred thousand
projectors, each delivering the maxi­
mum blast of which it was capable.
There was no thought now of service
life, of equipment or of holding anything
back for a later effort. They had to
hold that blast for only fifteen minutes;
and if the task ahead of them could not
be done in those fifteen minutes it prob­
ably could not be done at all.
Therefore, it is entirely useless even
to attempt to describe what happened
then, or to portray the spectacle that
ensued when beam met screen. Why
try to describe high C to a man born
deaf? Suffice it to say that those patrol
beams bored down, and that Helmuth's
automatic screens resisted to the limit of
their ability. Nor was that resistance
small. It was of such power that, years
later, astronomers observed and re­
corded a peculiarly behaving Nova in
Star Cluster AC 257-4736.
Had Helmuth's customary staff of
keen-eyed, quick-witted lieutenants been
at their posts, to reenforce those primary
screens with the practically unlimited
power which could have been put be­
hind them, his defenses would not have
failed, even under the unimaginable
force of that Titanic thrust; but those
lieutenants were not at their posts. 'Hie
screens of the twenty-six primary ob­
jectives failed, and the twenty-six stu­
pendous flotillas moved slowly, grandly,
voraciously, each along its designated
line.
E V E R Y ALARM in Helmuth’s
dome had burst into frantic warning as
the massed might of the Galactic Pa­
trol was first hurled against the twenty-
six vital points of Grand Base ; but those
alarms clamored in vain. No hands
were raised to the switches whose clos­
ing would unleash the hellish energies
of Boskone’s irresistible projectors; no
eves were upon the sighting devices
which would align them against the at­
tacking ships of war.
Only Helmuth, in his inner-shielded
control compartment, was left; and Hel­
muth was the directing intelligence, the
master mind, and not a mere operator.
And, now that he had no operators to
direct, he was utterly helpless. He could
see the stupendous fleet of the patrol;
he could understand fully its dire men­
 GALACTIC PA T R O L
ace; but he could neither stiffen his
screens nor energize a single beam. He
could only sit, grinding his teeth in
helpless fury, and watch the destruc­
tion of the armament which, if it could
only have been in operation, would have
blasted those battleships and maulers
from the skies as though they had been
so many fluffy bits of thistledown.
Time after time he leaped to his feet,
as if about to dash across to one of the
control stations; but each time he sank
back into his seat at the desk. One
firing station would be little, if any, bet­
ter than none at all. Besides, that ac­
cursed Lensman was back of this. He
was— must be— right here in the dome,
somewhere. H e limited him to leave
this d esk ; that was what he was waiting
for! As long as he stayed at the desk
he himself was safe. For that matter,
this whole dome was safe. The projector
had never been mounted that could
break down those screens. No— no mat­
ter what happened, he would stay at the
desk!
Kinnison, watching, marveled at his
fortitude. H e himself could not have
stayed there, he knew ; and he also knew
now that Helmuth was going to stay.
Time was flying; five of the fifteen min­
utes were gone. H e had hoped that
Helmuth would leave that well-protected
inner sanctum, with its unknown poten­
tialities ; but if the pirate would not come
out, the Lensman would go in. The
storming of that inner stronghold was
what his new armor had been designed
for.
IN H E W E N T , but he did not catch
Helmuth napping. Even before he
crashed the screens his own defensive
zones burst into furiously coruscant ac­
tivity, and through that flame there came
tearing the metallic slugs of a high-caSi-
ber machine rifle.
H a ! There was a rifle, even though
he had not been able to find it! Clever
93
guy, that H elm uth! And what a break
that he had taken time to learn how to
hold this suit up against the trickiest
kind of machine-rifle fire!
Kinnison’s screens were almost those
of a battleship; his armor almost, rela­
tively, as strong. And he could hold
that armor upright. Therefore, through
the raging beam of the semiportable pro­
jector he plowed, and Straight up that
torrent of raging steel he drove his way.
And now from his own mighty projec­
tor, against Helmuth’s armor, there
raved out a beam scarcely less potent
than that of a semiportable. The Lens-
man’s armor did not mount a water-
cooled machine rifle—there was a limit
to what even that powerful structure
could carry— but grimly, with every fac­
ulty of his newly enlarged mind concen­
trated upon that thought-screened, ar­
mored head behind the belching gun,
Kinnison held his line and forged ahead.
Well it was that the Lensman was
concentrating upon that screened head;
for when the screen weakened slightly
and a thought began to seep through it
toward an enigmatically sparkling ball
of force, Kinnison was ready. Fie blan­
keted the thought savagely, before it
could take form, and attacked the screen
so viciously that Helmuth had either to
restore full coverage instantly or die then
and there. For the Lensman had stud­
ied that ball long and earnestly. It was
the one thing about the whole base that
he could not understand, the one thing,
therefore, of which he had been uneasily
afraid.
But he was afraid of it no longer. It
was operated, he now knew, by thought;
and, no matter how terrific its poten­
tialities might be, it now was and would
remain perfectly harmless; for if the
pirate chief softened his screen enough
to emit a thought, he would never think
again.
Therefore, Kinnison rushed. At full
blast he hurdled the rifle and crashed
96 A ST O U N D IN G STO R IES

full against the armored figure behind it.
Magnetic clamps locked and held; and,
driving projectors furiously ablaze, he
whirled around and forced the madly
struggling Helmuth back, toward the
line along which the bellowing rifle was
still spewing forth a continuous storm
of metal.
Helmuth’s utmost efforts sufficed only
to throw the Lensman out of balance,
and both figures crashed to the floor.
Now the madly fighting armored pair
rolled over and over—straight into the
line of fire.
First Kinnison— the bullets whining,
shrieking off tlie armor of his personal
battleship and crashing through or
smashing ringingly against whatever
happened to be in the ever-changing line
of ricochet. Then Helmuth—and the
fierce-driven metal slugs tore, in their
multitudes, through his armor and
through ins body, riddling his every vital
organ.

1933 AIR TRAILS ANNUAL

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