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01 - The Door Through Space - Marion Zimmer Bradley · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one. Beyond the Spaceport gates, the men of the
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  Speaker 1: CARSA were hunting down a thief. I heard the shrill cries,
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  Speaker 1: the pad padding of feet, and strides just a little
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  Speaker 1: too long and loping to be human, raising echoes all
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  Speaker 1: down the dark, dusty streets leading up to the main square.
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  Speaker 1: But the square itself lay empty in the crimson noon
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  Speaker 1: of Wolf. Overhead the dim red amber of thigh coronas
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  Speaker 1: Wolf's old and dying sun gave out a pale and
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  Speaker 1: heatless light. The pair of Space Force guards at the gates,
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  Speaker 1: wearing the black leathers of the Terran Empire. Shockers holstered
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  Speaker 1: at their belts, were drowsing under the arched gateway, where
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  Speaker 1: the star and rocket emblem proclaimed the domain of Terra.
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  Speaker 1: One of them, a snubnosed youngster only a few weeks
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  Speaker 1: out from Earth, cocked an inquisitive ear at the cries
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  Speaker 1: and scuffling feet, then jerked his head at me, Hi Cargol,
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  Speaker 1: you can talk their LINGO, what's going on out there?
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  Speaker 1: I stepped out past the gateway to listen. There was
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  Speaker 1: still no one to be seen in the square. It
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  Speaker 1: lay white and wind swept. A barricade of emptiness. To
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  Speaker 1: one side the space sport and the sky scraper of
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  Speaker 1: the Tarn head quarters, and at the other side the
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  Speaker 1: clutter of low buildings, the street shine, the little spaceport
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  Speaker 1: cafe smelling of coffee and jocko, and the dark opening
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  Speaker 1: mouths of streets that rambled down into the Karsa, the
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  Speaker 1: old town, the Native quarter. But I was alone in
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  Speaker 1: the square, with the shrill cries closer now, raising echoes
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  Speaker 1: from the enclosing walls, and the loping of many feet
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  Speaker 1: down one of the dirty streets. Then I saw him running,
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  Speaker 1: dodging a hail of stones flying around his head. Someone
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  Speaker 1: or something small and cloaked and agile behind him. The
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  Speaker 1: still faceless mob howled and threw stones. I could not
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  Speaker 1: yet understand the cries, but they were out for blood,
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  Speaker 1: and I knew it, I said briefly, trouble coming. Just
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  Speaker 1: before the mobs built out into the square. The fleeing
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  Speaker 1: dwarf stared about wildly for an instant, his head jerking
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  Speaker 1: from side to side so rapidly that it was impossible
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  Speaker 1: to get even a fleeting impression of his space, human
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  Speaker 1: or non human, familiar or bizarre. Then, like a pellet
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  Speaker 1: loosed from its sling. He made straight for the gateway
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  Speaker 1: and safety. And behind him the loping mob yelled and howled,
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  Speaker 1: and came pouring over half the square, just half. Then,
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  Speaker 1: by that sudden intuition which permeates even the most crazed mob,
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  Speaker 1: with some semblance of reason, they came to a ragged halt,
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  Speaker 1: heads turning from side to side. I stepped up on
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  Speaker 1: the lower step of the head quarters building and looked
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  Speaker 1: over them. Most of them were chalks. The furred man
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  Speaker 1: tall non humans of the Carsa, and not the better class.
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  Speaker 1: Their fur was unkempt, their tails naked with filth and disease.
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  Speaker 1: Their leather aprons hung in tatters. One or two in
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  Speaker 1: the crowd were humans, the dregs of the Karsa. But
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  Speaker 1: the star and rocket emblem blazoned across the spaceport gates
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  Speaker 1: sobered even the wildest blood lust somewhat. They milled and
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  Speaker 1: shifted uneasily in their half of the square. For a
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  Speaker 1: moment I did not see where their quarry had gone.
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  Speaker 1: Then I saw him crouched not four feet from me,
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  Speaker 1: in a patch of shadow. Simultaneously, the mob saw him,
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  Speaker 1: huddled just beyond the gateway, and a howl of frustration
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  Speaker 1: and rage went ringing round the square. Someone threw a
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  Speaker 1: ste It zipped over my head, narrowly missing me, and
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  Speaker 1: landed at the feet of the black leathered guard. He
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  Speaker 1: jerked his head up and gestured with the shaker, which
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  Speaker 1: had suddenly come unholstered. The gesture should have been enough.
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  Speaker 1: On wolf Aran law has been written in blood and
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  Speaker 1: fire and exploding atoms, and the line is drawn firm
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  Speaker 1: and clear. The men of the Space Force do not
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  Speaker 1: interfere in the old town or in any of the
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  Speaker 1: native cities. But when violent steps over the threshold, passing
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  Speaker 1: the blazon of the Star and Rocket, punishment is swift
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  Speaker 1: and terrible. The threat should have been enough. Instead, a
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  Speaker 1: howl of abuse went up from the crowd, taranin son
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  Speaker 1: of the Ape. The Space Force guards were shouldered to
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  Speaker 1: shoulder behind me. Now, the snubnosed kid, looking slightly pale,
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  Speaker 1: called out, get inside the gates, cargol, if I have
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  Speaker 1: to shoot. The older man motioned him to silence. Wait, Cargole,
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  Speaker 1: he called. I nodded to show that I heard you
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  Speaker 1: talk there, Lingo, tell them to haul off. Damned if
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  Speaker 1: I want to shoot, I stepped down and walked into
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  Speaker 1: the open skir square, across the crumbled white stones toward
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  Speaker 1: the ragged mob. Even with two armed Space Force men
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  Speaker 1: at my back. It made my skin crawl, but I
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  Speaker 1: flung up my empty hand in token of peace. Take
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  Speaker 1: your mob out of the square, I shouted, in the
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  Speaker 1: jargon of the Karsa, this territory is held in compact
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  Speaker 1: of peace. Settle your quarrels. Elsewhere. There was a little
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  Speaker 1: stirring in the crowd. The shock of being addressed in
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  Speaker 1: their own tongue instead of the Terran standard which the
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  Speaker 1: Empire had forced on Wolf held them silent for a minute.
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  Speaker 1: I had learned that long ago that speaking in any
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  Speaker 1: of the languages of Wolf would give me a minute's advantage.
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  Speaker 1: But only a minute. Then one of the mob yelled,
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  Speaker 1: we'll go if you give him to us. He's no
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  Speaker 1: right to terrance sanctuary. I walked over to the huddled dwarf,
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  Speaker 1: miserably trying to make himself smaller against the wall. I
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  Speaker 1: nudged him with my foot, Get up, who are you?
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  Speaker 1: The hood fell away from his face as he twitched
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  Speaker 1: to his feet. He was trembling violently in the shadow
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  Speaker 1: of the hood. I saw a furred face, a quivering
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  Speaker 1: velvety muzzle, and great soft golden eyes which held intelligence
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  Speaker 1: and terror. What have you done? Can't you talk? He
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  Speaker 1: held out the tray, which he had shielded under his cloak,
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  Speaker 1: an ordinary peddler's tray. Toys sell toys, children, You got em.
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  Speaker 1: I shook my head and pushed the creature away, with
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  Speaker 1: only a glance at the array of delicately crafted mannikins,
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  Speaker 1: tiny animals, prisms, and crystal whirligigs. You'd better get out
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  Speaker 1: of here, scram down that street. I pointed. A voice
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  Speaker 1: from the crowd shouted again, and it had a very
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  Speaker 1: ugly sound. He's a spy of Nebrum Nebron. The dwarfish
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  Speaker 1: non human gabbled something, then doubled behind me. I saw
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  Speaker 1: him dodge faint in the direction of the gates. Then
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  Speaker 1: as the crowd surged that way, run for the street
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  Speaker 1: shrine across the square, slipping from recess to recess of
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  Speaker 1: the wall. A hail of stones went flying in that direction.
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  Speaker 1: The little toy seller dodged into the street shrine. Then
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  Speaker 1: there was a horse aha of terror, and the crowd
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  Speaker 1: edged away, surged backward. The next minute it had begun
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  Speaker 1: to melt away, its entity, dissolving into separate creatures, slipping
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  Speaker 1: into the side alleys and the dark streets that disgorged
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  Speaker 1: into the square. Within three minutes, the square lay empty again.
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  Speaker 1: In the pale crimson noon, the kid in black leather
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  Speaker 1: let his breath go and swore, Slipping his shocker into
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  Speaker 1: his holster. He stared and demanded profanely, where'd the little
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  Speaker 1: fellow go? Who knows the other shrugged? Probably sneaked into
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  Speaker 1: one of the alleys. Did you see where he went? Cargo?
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  Speaker 1: I came slowly back to the gateway. To me, it
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  Speaker 1: had seemed that he ducked into the street shrine and
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  Speaker 1: vanished into thin air. But I've lived on Wolf long
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  Speaker 1: enough to know you can't trust your eyes here, I
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  Speaker 1: said so, And the kid swore again, gulping, more upset
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  Speaker 1: than he wanted to admit. Does this kind of thing
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  Speaker 1: happen often all the time? His companion assured him soberly
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  Speaker 1: with a sidewise wink at me. I didn't return the wink.
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  Speaker 1: The kid wouldn't let it drop. Where did you learn
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  Speaker 1: their lingo, mister Cargle, I've been on Wolf a long time,
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  Speaker 1: I said, spun on my heel and walked toward headquarters.
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  Speaker 1: I tried not to hear, but their voices followed me anyhow,
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  Speaker 1: discreetly lowered, but not lowered enough. Don't you know who
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  Speaker 1: he is? That's Cargol of the Secret Service six years ago.
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  Speaker 1: He was the best man in intelligence. Before the voice
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  Speaker 1: lowered another decibel, and then there was the kid's voice, asking, shaken,
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  Speaker 1: But what the hell happened to his face? I should
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  Speaker 1: have been used to it by now. I'd been hearing
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  Speaker 1: it more or less behind my back for six years. Well,
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  Speaker 1: if my luck held, I'd never hear it again. I
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  Speaker 1: strode up the white steps of the skyscraper to finish
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  Speaker 1: the arrangements that would take me away from Wolf Forever,
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  Speaker 1: to the other end of the Empire, to the other
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  Speaker 1: end of the galaxy, anywhere, so long as I need
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  Speaker 1: not wear my past like a medallion round my neck,
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  Speaker 1: or blazoned and branded on what was left of my
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  Speaker 1: ruined face. End of Chapter one,