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Coffin for Jacob - Edward W Ludwig · FBI in Peace and War

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section one of A Coffin for Jacob. This is a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Recording by Paul Harvey. A Coffin for Jacob by Edward W. Ludwig,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Section one. With never a moment to rest, the pursuit
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: through space felt like a game of hounds and hares,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Or was it follow the leader? Ben Curtis eased his pale,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: gaunt body through the open doorway of the blast Inn,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the dead Man following silently behind him. His fear born
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: gaze traveled into the dimly illumined Venusian gin mill. The
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: place was like an evil cauldron, steaming with the brew
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: whose ingredients had been called from the back corners of
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: three planets. Most of the big room lay obscured behind
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a shimmering veil of tobacco smoke and the sweet, heavy
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: fumes of Martian devil's egg. Here and there Ben saw
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: moving figures he could not tell if they were Earthmen,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Martians or Venusians. Someone tugged at his greasy coat. He jumped,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: thinking absurdly that it was the dead man's hand. Como
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: aesta signor a small voice piped speckin de Deutsch, dese
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: revou d'amor da yet Ben looked down. The speaker was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: an eager eyed Martian boy of about ten. He was
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: like a red skinned marionette with pipe stem arms and legs,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: clad in a torn skivvy shirt and faded blue dungarees.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I'm American, Ben muttered, Ah, buena, I speak English, tray
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: fine signor I have Martian friend. She tray pretty and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: tray fat. She weigh almost eighty pounds, masiere, take you
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to her. See. Ben shook his head. He thought, I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: don't want your Martian wench. I don't want your opium
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: or your Devil's egg or your Venusian cali. But if
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: you'd had a drug that would bring a dead man
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to life, I'd buy and pay you with my soul.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: It is deal monsieur five dollars or twenty akilies for
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: visit Martian friend. Maybe you like house of dreams. For
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: house of dreams, I'm not buying. The dirty faced kid shrugged.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Then I show you to good table. Tray bien, I
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: do not charge you signor. The boy grabbed his hand.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Because Ben could think of no reason for resisting, he followed.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: They plunged into shifting layers of smoke and through the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: drone of alcohol cracked voices. They passed the bar with
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: its line of lean, featured, slit eyed earthmen merchant spacemen.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: They wormed down a narrow aisle flanked by booths carved
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: from Venusian marble that jutted up into the semi darkness
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: like fog blanketed tombstones. Several times Ben glimpsed the bulky
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: figures of co two breathing Venusians, the first he'd ever seen.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: They were smoky gray, scaly naked giants, toads, and human shape.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: They stood solitary and motionless aloof their green lidded eyes
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: on blinking. They assertedly didn't look like telepaths, as Ben
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: had heard they were, but the thought sent a fresh
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: rivulet to fear down his spine. Once he spied a
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: white uniformed officer of Hoover's City's security police. The man
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: was striding down an aisle, idly tapping his neuroclub against
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the stone booths. Keep walking, Ben told himself, you look
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the same as anyone else here. Keep walking look straight ahead.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: The officer passed. Ben breathed, easier, here we are, monsieur
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: piped the Martian boy a tray, fine table, close in
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the shadows. Ben winced, how did this kid know? He
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: wanted to sit in the shadows? Frowning, he sat down,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: he and the dead man. He listened to the lonely
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: rhythms of the four piece Martians orchestra. The Martians were fragile,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: dull like creatures, with heads too large for their spindly bodies.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Their long fingers played up the strings of their syrillas
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: or crawled over the holes of their flutes like spider legs.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Their tune was sad. Even when they played an Earth tune,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: it still seemed a song of old Mars, charged with
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: echoes of lost voices and forgotten grandeur. For an instant,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Ben's mind rose above the haunting vision of the dead men.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: He thought, what are they doing here, these Martians, here
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: in a smoke filled room, under a meatallite dome, on
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: a dust covered world. Couldn't they have played their music
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: on Mars? Or had they, like me, felt the challenge
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of new worlds? He sobered, It didn't matter. He ordered
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: a whiskey from a Chinese waiter. He wet his lips
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: but did not drink. His gaze wandered over the faces
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of the inn's other occupants. You've got to find him,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: he thought. You've got to find the man with the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: red beard. It's the only way you can escape the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: dead man. The dead man was real. His name was Cobb.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: He was stout and flabby and about forty, and he
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: hated spacemen. His body was buried now, probably in the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: silent gray wastes outside Luna City, but he'd become a
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: kind of invisible Siamese twin, as much a part of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Ben as sight in his eyes. Sometimes the image would
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: be shuffling drunkenly beside him, its lips spitting whisky, slurred curses. Again,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: its face would be popeyed mask of surprise. His bend's
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: fist thudded into its jaws. More often, the face would
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: be frozen in the whiteness of death. The large eyes
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: would stare, Blood would trickle from a corner of the
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: gaping mouth. You can forget a living man. You can
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: defeat him, or submit to him, or ignore him, and
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: a matter is over and done. You can't escape from
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: a memory that has burned into your mind. It had
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: begun a week ago in Luna City. The flight from
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: White Sands had been successful. Ben quietly and moderately wanted
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to celebrate. He stopped alone in a rock at front
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: bar for a beer. The man named Cob plopped his
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: portly and unsteady posterior on the stool next to him. Spacemen,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: he muttered, are getting like flies everywhere. All you see spacemen.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: He was a neatly dressed civilian. Ben smiled. If it
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: weren't for spacemen, you wouldn't be here. The names Cobb,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the man hiccupped spacemen in their white monkey suits. They
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: think they're little tin gods. Bet you you think you
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: are a little tin god. He downed a shot of whiskey.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Ben stiffened. He was twenty four and dressed in the white,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: crimson braided uniform of the Odyssey's junior astrogation officer. He
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: was three months out of the academy at White Sands,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: and the shining uniform was like a key to all
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the mysteries of the universe. He'd sought long for that
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: key at the age of five, perhaps in order to
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: dull the memory of his parent's death in a recent
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: strateget crash, he'd spent hours watching the night sky for
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: streaking flame tales of moon rockets. At ten, he'd ground
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: his first telescope. At fourteen, he'd converted an abandoned shed
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: on the government boarding school grounds to a retreat, which
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: housed his collection of astronomy and rocketry books. At sixteen,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: he'd spent every weekend holiday hitchhiking from Boystown Number five
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: in the Catskills to Long Island Spaceport. There, among the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: grizzled veterans of the Old Moon Patrol, he'd found friends
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: who understood his dream and who later recommended his appointment
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to the US Academy for the Conquest of Space. And
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: a month ago he'd signed aboard the Odyssey, the first
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: ship it was rumored equipped to venture sure as far
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: as the asteroids and perhaps beyond. Cob was persistent, damn
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: fool should have known enough to stay on Earth. Oh,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: what the hell good is a jumping from planet to planet?
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: The guy's drunk, Ben thought. He took his drink and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: moved three stools down the bar. Cob followed, you don't
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: like the truth? A kid he don't like people to
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: call you a sucker. Ben rose and started to leave
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the bar, but Cob grabbed his arm and held him there.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: That was what you are, a sucker. You're young. Now
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: wait ten years, you'll be dying a radiation rod er
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Meteoral'll get you. Wait and see, sucker. Until this instant,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Ben had suppressed his anger. Now, suddenly, and without warning,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: it welled up into savage fury. His fist struck the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: man on chin. COB's eyes gaped in shocked horror. He
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: spun backward. His head cracked sickeningly on the edge of
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the bar. The sound was like a punctuation mark, signaling
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the end of life. He sank to the floor, eyes glassy,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: blood trickling down his jaw. Ben knew that he was dead. Then,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: for a single absurd second, Ben was seized with terror,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: just as a moment before he'd been overwhelmed with anger.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: He ran for some twenty minutes. He raced through a
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: dizzying nightmare world of dark rock at front alleys and
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: shouting voices and pursuing feet. At last, abruptly, he realized
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: that he was alone, and in silence, he saw that
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: he was still on the rocket front, but in the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: tycho ward side of the city. He huddled in a
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: dark corner of a loading platform and lit a cigarette.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: A thousand stars, a thousand motionless balls of silver fire
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: shown above him through Luna City's transparent dome. He was
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: sorry he'd hit cob, of course, he was not sorry
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: he'd run. Escaping at least gave him a power of choice,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of decision. You can do two things, he thought. You
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: can give yourself up, and that's what a good officer
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: would do. That would eliminate the escape charge. You'd get
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: off with voluntary manslaughder under interplanetary law. That would mean
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: ten years in prison and a dishonorable discharge, and then
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: you'd be free. But you'd be through with rocket and space.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: They don't want new men over thirty four, for officers
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: on rockets, or even for third class jetman on beat
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: up freighters. They don't want convicted killers. You'd get the
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: rest of the thrill of conquering space through video and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: by peeking through electric fences of spaceports. Or there were
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: old wives tales of a group of renegade spacemen who
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: operated from the Solar System's frontiers the spacemen weren't outlaws.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: They were misfits, rejectees from the clearing houses on Earth.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: And whereas no legally recognized ship had ventured past Mars,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: the souped up renegade rigs had supposedly hit the asteroids.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Their headquarters was Venus. Their leader, a subject of popular
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: and fantastic conjecture in the men's audio zines, was rumored
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to be a red bearded giant. So Ben reflected, you
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: can take a beer and pretzel's tail. Seriously, you can
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: hide for a couple of days, get rid of your uniform,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: change your name. You can wait for a chance to
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: get to Venus. To hell with your duty. You can
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: try to stay in space, even if you exile yourself
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: from Earth. After all, was it right for a single second,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a single insignificant second, to destroy a man's life and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: his dream. He was lucky he found a tramp freighter
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: whose skipper was on his last flight before retirement. Discipline
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: was lax investigation of new personnel. Even more so, Ben
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Curtis made it to Venus. There was just one flaw
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: in his decision. He hadn't realized that the memory of
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the dead man's face would haunt him, torment him, follow
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: him as constantly as breath flowed into his lungs. But
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: might not the rumble of atomic engines drown the murmuring
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: dead voice. Might not the vision of alien worlds in
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: infinite space ways obscure the dead face. So now he
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: sat searching for a perhaps nonexistent red bearded giant, and
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: hoping and doubting and fearing all at once. You look
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: for someone, signor he jumped, Oh you still here? Wee?
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: The Martian kid grinned his mouth full of purple teeth.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I keep you company on your first night in Hoover City. Nissippah.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: This isn't my first night here, Ben lied, I've been
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: around a while. You are spaceman. Ben threw a fifty
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: cent credit piece on the table. Here take off, will you?
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Spider like fingers swept down upon the coin? Is Danke
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: signor you know why city is called Hoover City? Ben
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: didn't answer. They say it is because after women come,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: they want first thing, A thousand vacuum cleaners for dust.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: What is vacuum cleaner? Monsieur. Ben raised his hand as
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: if to strike the boy. I E, I go. You
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: keep listening to good Martian music. The toothpick of a
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: body melted into the semi darkness. Minutes passed, there were
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: two more whiskies. A ceaseless parade of faces broke through
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the smoky veil that enclosed him. Reddish balloon faces, scaly
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: reptilian faces, white skinned, slid eyed faces, and occasionally a white, rouged,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: powdered face. But nowhere was their face with a red beard.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: A sense of hopelessness gripped Ben Curtis. Hoover City was
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: but one of a dozen cities of Venus. Each had
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: twenty dives such as this. He needed help, but his
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: picture must have been scope to Venusian visit screens. A
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: reward must have been offered for his capture. Whom could
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: he trust? The Martian kid, Perhaps far down the darkened
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: aisle nearest him, his eyes caught a flash of white.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: He tensed, like a uniform of the security policeman. He thought.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: His gaze shifted to another aisle, and another hint of whiteness,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And then he saw another, and another and another. Each
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: whiteness became brighter and closer, like shrinking spokes of a
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: wheel with Ben as their focal point. Hugh idiot, the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: damn Martian kid you should have know one and a
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: section one recording by Paul Harvey.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Section two of a Coffin for Jacob by Edward W. Ludwig.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Light showered
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the room in a dazzling explosion. Ben, half blinded, realized
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: that a broad circle of unshaded globes in the ceiling
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: had been turned on. The light washed away the room's
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: strangeness and its air of brooding wickedness, revealing drab concrete
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: walls and a debris strewn floor. Eyes blinked and squinted.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: There were swift, frightened movements and a chorus of angry murmurs.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: The patrons of the blast Inn were like taterclad occupants
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: of a house whose walls have been ripped away. Ben
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Curtis twisted his lean body erect His chair tumbled backward, falling.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: The white clad men charged, neuro clubs upraised. A woman screamed.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: The music ceased. The Martian orchestra slunk with feline stealth
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: to a rear exit. Only the giant Venusians remained undisturbed.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: They stood unmoving, their staring eyes shifting lazily in Ben's direction. Curtis,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: one of the policemen, yelled, you're covered. Hold it. Ben
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: whirled away from the advancing police made for the exit
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: into which the musicians had disappeared. A hissing sound traveled
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: past his left ear, a sound like compressed air escaping
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: from a container. A dime size section of the concrete
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: wall ahead of him crumbled. He stumbled forward. They were
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: using deadly neuro pistols now, not the mildly stunning neuro clubs.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Another hiss passed his cheek. He was about twelve feet
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: from the exit. Another second, His brain screamed, just another second,
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: or would the exits be guarded? He heard the hiss.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: It hit directly in the small of his back. There
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: was no pain, just a slight, prickling sensation, like the
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: shallow jab of a needle. He froze, as if yanked
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: to a stop by a noose. His body seemed to
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: be growing, swelling into balloon proportions. He knew that the
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: tiny needle had embedded itself deep in his flesh. Knew
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: that the paralyzing mortal cane was spreading like icy fire
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: into every fiber and muscle of his body. He staggered
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: like a man of stone, moving in slow motion. He'd
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: have fifteen, maybe twenty seconds before complete lethargy of mind
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: and body overpowered him. In the dark world beyond his
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: fading consciousness, he heard a voice yell turn on the
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: damn lights. Then a pressure and a coldness were on
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: his left hand. He realized that someone had seized it.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: A soft, feminine voice spoke to him. You're wounded. They
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: hit you. Yes, His thick lips wouldn't let go of
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: the word. You want to escape even now, Yes, you
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: may die if you don't give yourself up. No, no,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: He tried to stumble toward the exit. All right, then
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: not that way. Here, this way. Heavy footsteps thudded toward them.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: A few yards away. A flashlight flicked on. Hands were
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: guiding him. He was aware of being pushed and pulled.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: A door closed behind him. The glare of the flashlight
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: faded from his vision if he still had vision, You're sure,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: the voice persisted, I'm sure. Ben managed to say, I
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: have no antidote. You may die. His mind fought to
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: comprehend with the anti paralysis injection, massage and rest a
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: man could recover from the effects of mortal caane. Within
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: half a day, without treatment, the paralysis could spread to
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: heart and lungs. It would become a paralysis of death.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: An effective weapon, the slightest wound compelled the average criminal
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: to surrender at once. Anti Anti. The words were as
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: heavy as blobs of mercury forced from his throat. No,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: I'm sure sure he didn't hear the answer or anything else.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Ben Curtis had no precise sensation of awakening. Returning to
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: consciousness was an intangible evolution from a world of black
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: nothingness to a dreamlike state of awareness. He felt the
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: pressure of hands on his naked arms and shoulders. Hands
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: that massaged, manipulated, fought to restore circulation and sensitivity. He
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: knew they were strong hands. Their strength seemed to transfer
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: itself to his own body. For a long time, he
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: tried to open his eyes. His lids felt welded shut,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: but after a while they opened. His world of darkness
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: gave gave way to a translucent cloak of mist. A round,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: featureless shape hovered constantly above him, a face he supposed.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: He tried to talk, although his lips moved slightly, The
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: only sound was a deep staccato grunting, but he heard
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: someone say, don't try to talk. It was the same
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: gentle voice he'd heard in the blast in don't talk,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: just lie still in rest. Everything will be all right,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Everything all right, he thought dimly. There were long periods
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: of lethargy when he was aware of nothing. There were
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: periods of light and darkness. Gradually he grew aware of things.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: He realized that the soft rubber mouth of a spaceman's
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: oxygen mask was clamped over his nose. He felt the
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: heat of electric blankets swathed about his body. Occasionally a
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: tube would be put in his mouth, and he would
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: taste liquid food and feel a pleasant warmth in his stomach.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Always it seemed the face the voice was above him,
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: floating in the obscuring mist. Always it seemed the soft
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: voice was echoing in his ears. Swallow this, now, that's it.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: You must have food or close your eyes. Don't strain.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: It won't be long. You're getting better, better, he'd think,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: getting better. At last, after one of the periods of lethargy,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: his eyes opened, The mist brightened, then dissolved. He beheld
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: the cracked, unpainted ceiling of a small room, its colorless
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: walls broken with a single round window. He saw the
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: footboard of his illuminie bed and the outlines of his
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: feet beneath a faded blanket. Finally, he saw the face
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: and figure that stood at his side. You are better,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: the kind voice asked. The face was that of a girl,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: probably somewhere between twenty five and thirt Her features, devoid
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: of make up, had an unhealthy looking pallor, as if
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: she hadn't used a sun lamp for many weeks. Yet
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: at the same time, her firm, slim body suggested a
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: solidity and a strength. Her straight brown hair was combed backward,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: tight upon her scalp, and drawn together in a knot
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: at the nape of her neck. I I am better,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: he murmured. The words were still slow and thick. I
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: am going to live. You will live, he thought. For
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: a moment. How long have I been here? Nine days?
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: You took care of me. He noted the deep, dark
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: circles beneath her sleep robbed eyes. She nodded, you're the
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: one who carried me out when I was shot. Yes.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Suddenly he began to cough. Breath came hard. She held
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: the oxygen mask in readiness. He shook his head, not
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: wanting it, why, he asked again, It would be a
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: long story. Perhaps I'll tell you tomorrow. A new thought,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: cloaked in sudden fear, entered his murky consciousness. Tell me,
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: will will I be well again? Will I be able
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: to walk? He lay back then, panting, exhausted. You have
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: nothing to worry about, the girl said softly. Her cool
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: hand touched his hot forehead rest. We'll talk later. His
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: eyes closed and breath came easier. He slept. When he
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: next awoke, his gaze turned first to the window. There
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: was light outside, but he had no way of knowing
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: if this was morning, noon, or afternoon, or on what planet.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: He saw no white domed buildings of Hoover City, no
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: formal lines of green treed parks, no streams of buzzing gyrocars.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: There was only a translucent and infinite whiteness. It was
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: as if the window were set on the edge of
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: the universe, overlooking a solemn, silent and matterless void. The
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: girl entered the room. Hi, she said, smiling. The dark
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: half moons under her eyes were less prominent, her face
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: was relaxed. She increased the pressure in his rubber ex
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: pillows and helped him rise to a sitting position. Where
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: are we, he asked, Venus, We're not in Hoover City. No,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: he looked at her, wondering, you won't tell me, not yet. Later,
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: perhaps that How did you get me here? How did
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: we escape from the inn? She shrugged. We have friends
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: who can be bribed. A hiding place in the city,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: the use of a small desert taxi, a past to
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: leave the city. These can be had for a price.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: You'll tell me your name, Maggie. Why did you save me?
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Her eyes twinkled mischievously, Because you're a good astrogator. His
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: own eyes widened. How did you know that? She sat
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: on a plane chair beside his bed? I know everything
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: about you, Lieutenant Curtis. How did you learn my name?
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: I destroyed all my papers. I know that you're twenty
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: four born July tenth, nineteen seventy one. Orphaned at four,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: You attended Boystown in the Catskills till you were nineteen.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: You graduated from the Academy at White Sands last June
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: with a major in astrogation. Your rating for the five
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: year period was three point eight, the second highest in
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: a class of fifty seven. Your only low mark in
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: the five years was a three point two in history
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: of Martian civilization. Want me to go on? Fascinated, Ben nodded.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: You were accepted as a junior astrogation officer aboard the Odyssey.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: You did well on your flight from Roswell to Lun City.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: In a barroom fight in Luna City, you struck and
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: killed a man named Arthur Cobb, a prefab salesman. You
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: have been charged with second degree murder and escape. A
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: reward of five thousand credits has been offered for your capture.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: You came to Hoover City in the hope of finding
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: a renegade group of spacemen who operate beyond Mars. You
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: were looking for them in the blast in. He gaped incredulously,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: struggling to rise from his pillows. I don't get it.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: There are ways of finding out what we want to know.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: As I told you, we have many friends. He fell
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: back into his pillows, breathing hard. She rose quickly. I
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: am sorry, she said. I shouldn't have told you yet
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: I felt so happy because you're alive. Rest Now we'll
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: talk again soon. Maggie. You you said I'd live. You
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: didn't say I'd be able to walk again. She lowered
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: her gaze. I hope you'll be able to, but you
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: don't think I will, do you. I don't know. We'll
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: try walking tomorrow. Don't think about it now. Rest. He
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: tried to relax, but his mind was a vortex of conjecture.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Just one more question, he almost whispered, Yes, the man
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: I killed? Did he have a wife? She hesitated, He thought,
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: damn it, of all the questions, why did I ask that?
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Finally she said he had a wife, children two. I
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: don't know their ages. She left the room. He sank
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: into the softness of his bed. As he turned over
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: on his side, his gaze fell upon an object on
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: a bureau in a far corner of the room. He
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: sat straight up, his chest, heaving. The object was a
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: tried dimensional photo of a rock faced man in a
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: merchant spaceman's uniform. He was a giant of a man
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: with a neatly trimmed red beard. Ben stared at the
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: photo for a long time. At length, he slipped into
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: restless sleep. Images of faces and echoes of words spun
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: through his brain. The dead man returned to him, bloodied
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: lips cursed at him, glassy eyes accused him. Somewhere were
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: two lost children crying in the night, and towering above
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: him was a red bearded man, whose great hands reached
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: down and beckoned to him. Ben crawled through the night
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: on hands and knees, his legs numb and useless. The
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: crying of the children was a chilling wail in his ears.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: His head rose and turned to the red bearded man.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: His pleading voice screamed out to him in a thick,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: harsh cackle. Yet even as he screamed, the giant disappeared
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: to be replaced by white booted feet stomping relentlessly toward him.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: He awoke, still screaming. A night without darkness passed. Ben
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: lay waiting for Maggie's return, a question already formed in
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: his mind. She came, and at once he asked, who
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: is the man with the red beard? She smiled, I
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: was right then when I gave you that thumb nail biog.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: You were looking for him, weren't you? Who is he?
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: She sat on the chair beside him, My husband, she
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: said softly. He began to understand, and your husband needs
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: an astrogator. That's why you saved me. We need all
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: the good men we can get. Where is he, she
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: cocked her head in mocked suspicion. Somewhere between Mercury and Pluto.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: He's building a new base for us and a home
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: for me. When his ship returns, I'll be going with him.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Why aren't you with him now? He said? Unexplored space
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: is no place for a woman. So I've been studying
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: criminal reports and photos from the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigation
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: and trying to find recruits like yourself. You know how
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: we operate, he told her the tales he'd heard end
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: of section two, section three of a Coffin for Jacob
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: by Edward W. Ludwig. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: public domain. She nodded. There's quite a few of us now,
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: about a thousand and a dozen ships. Our base used
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: to be here on Venus, down toward the pole. The
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: dome we're in now was designed and built by us
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: a few years ago after we got pushed off Mars.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: We lost a few men in the construction, but with
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: almost every advance in space, someone dies. Venus is getting
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: too civilized moving out, and this dome is only a
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: temporary base when we have cases like yours. The new
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: base I might as well tell you it's going to
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: be an asteroid. I won't say which one. Don't get
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: the idea that we're outlaws. Sure about half our group
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: is wanted by the Bureau, but we make honest livings.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: We're just people like yourself and Jacob. Jacob, your husband,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: she laughed. Makes you think of a biblical character, doesn't it.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Jacob's anything but that, and just playing Jake reminds me
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: of a grizzled old uranium prospector, and he isn't like
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: that either. She lit a cigarette. Anyway, The wanted ones
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: stay out beyond the frontiers. Jacob and those like him
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: can never return to Earth, not even to Hoover City
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: except dead. The others are physical or psycho rejects who
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: couldn't get clearance if they went back to Earth. They
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: know nothing but rocketing and won't give up. They bring
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: in our ships to the frontier ports like Hoover City
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: to unload cargo and take on supplies. Don't the authorities object,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: not very strongly. The IBI has too many problems right
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: here to search the whole system for a few two
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: bit crooks. Besides, we carry cargoes of almost pure uranium
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: and tungsten and all the stuff that's scarce on Earth
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: and Mars and Venus. Nobody really cares whether it comes
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: from the asteroids or hades. If we want to risk
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: our lives mining it, that's our business. She pursed her lips.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: But if they guessed how strong we are, or that
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: we have friends planted in the ibi, well things might
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: be different. There probably would be a crackdown. Ben scowled.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: What happens if there is a crackdown? And what will
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: you do when Space Corps ships officially reach the asteroids?
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: They can't ignore you. Then then we'll move on. We
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: dream up new gimmicks for our crates and take them
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: to Jupiter, Saturn, rain Us, Neptune, Pluto. In time, maybe
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: we'll be pushed out of the system itself. Maybe it
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: won't be the white suited boys who will make the
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: first hop to the stars. It could be us, you know,
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: if we live long enough. But that asteroid belt is murder.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: You can't follow the textbook rules of astrogation out there.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: You make up your own, Ben stiffened, that's why you
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: want me for an astrogator. Maggie rose, her eyes wistful.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: If you want to come and if you get well.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: She looked at him strangely. Suppose he fought to find
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: the right words. Suppose I got well and decided not
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: to join Jacob, What would happen to me? Would you
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: let me go? Her thin face was crisscrossed by emotion, Alarm,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: then bewilderment, then fear. I don't know. That would be
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: up to Jacob. He lay biting his lip, staring at
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: the photo of Jacob. She touched his hand, and it
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: seemed that sadness now dominated the flurry of emotion that
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: had coursed through her. The only thing that matters, really,
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: she murmured, is your walking again. We'll try this afternoon. Okay, okay,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: he said. When she left, his eyes were still turned
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: toward Jacob's photo. He was like two people. He thought
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: half of him was an officer of the Space Corps.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Perhaps one single starry eyed boy out of ten thousand
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: was lucky enough to reach that goal. He remembered a
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: little picture book his mother had given him when she
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: was alive. Under the bright pictures of spacemen were captions.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: A space officer is honest, A space officer is loyal,
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: A space officer is dutiful, honesty, loyalty, duty, trite words.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: But without those concepts, mankind would never have broken away
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: from the planet that held it prisoner for half a
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: million years. Without them, eversin, after three failures and a
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: hundred men dead, would never have landed on the Moon
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: twenty seven years ago. Ben sighed he had a debt
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: to pay. A good officer would pay that debt. He'd
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: surrender and take his punishment. He'd rip the crimson braid
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: from his uniform. He'd prevent the Academy for the Conquest
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: of Space from being labeled the school of a murderer
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: and a coward. And by doing these things, the haunting
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: image of a dead man would disappear from his vision.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: But the other half of Ben Curtis was the boy
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: who'd stood trembling beneath the night sky of beckoning stars.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: The eyes in Jacob's photo seemed to be staring at
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: the boy in him, not at the officer. They appeared
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: both pleading and hopeful. They were like echoes of cold,
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: barren worlds and limitless space, of lurking and savage death.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: They held the terror of loneliness and of exile, of
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: constant flight and hiding. But two, they represented a strength
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: that could fulfill a boy's dream, that could carry a
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: man to new frontiers. They, rather than the neat white uniform,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: now offered the key to shining miracles. That key was
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: what Ben wanted. But he asked himself, as he had
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: a thousand times, if I follow Jacob, can I leave
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: the dead man behind? He tried to stretch his legs,
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: and he cursed their numbness. He smiled grimly. For a
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: moment he'd forgotten. How futile now to think of stars.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: What if he were to be like this always? Jacob
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: would not want a man with dead legs. Jacob would
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: either send him back to Earth, or Ben shuddered, see
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: that he was otherwise disposed of, and disposal would be
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: the easier course. This was the crisis. He sat on
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: the side of the bed, Maggie before him, her strong
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: arm about his waist. Afraid, she asked, Afraid, he repeated, shaking.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: It was as if all time had been funneled into
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: this instant, as if this moment lay at the very
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: vortex of all a man's living and desiring. There was
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: no room in Ben's mind for thoughts of Jacob. Now
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: you can walk, Maggie said, confidently, I know you can.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: He moved his toes, ankles, legs. He began to rise, slowly, falteringly.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: The firm pressure around his waist increased. He stood erect
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: His legs felt like tree stumps. But here and there
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: were a tingling and a warmth, a sensitivity. Can you
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: make it to the window? Maggie asked, no, no, not
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: that far. Try please try. She guided him forward. His
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: feet shuffled, stamp stamp. The pressure left his Maggie stepped away,
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: walked to the window, turned back toward him. He halted, swaying.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Not alone, he mouthed, fearfully. I can't get there by myself.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: Of course you can. Maggie's voice contained unexpected impatience. Ashamed,
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: he forced his feet to move. At times he thought
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: he was going to crash to the floor. He lumbered on, hesitating,
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: fighting to retain his balance. Maggie waited tensely, as if
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: ready to leap to his side. Then his eyes turned
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: straight ahead to the window. This was the first time
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: he'd actually seen the arid, dust cloaked planes of the
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: second planet. He straightened, face aglow, as though a small
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: boy enthusiasm had been reborn in him. His tree stump
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: legs carried him to the window. He raised, shaking hands
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: against the thick glass eyed pane. Outside. The swirling white
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: dust was omnipresent and unchallenged. It cut smooth the surfaces
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: of dust veiled rocks. It clung to the squat desert shrubbery,
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: to the tall, skeletal shapes of Venutian needle plants, and
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: to the swish tailed lizards that skittered beneath them. The
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: shrill of wind, audible through the glass sight, was like
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: the anguished complaint of the planet itself, like the wail
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: of an entity imprisoned in a dark tomb of dust.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Venus was a planet of fury, eternally howling its wrath
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: at being isolated from sunlight and greenery, from the clean
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: blackness of space and the warm glow of sister planet
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: and star. The dust covered, all absorbed, all eradicated. All
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: the dust was master the dome, Benfeldt was as transitory
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: as a tear drop of fragile glass falling down down
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: to crash upon stone. Is it always like this? He asked?
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: Doesn't the wind ever stop? Sometimes the wind dies? Sometimes
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: at night you can see the lights of the city.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: He kept staring. The dome he thought was a symbol
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: of man's littleness in a hostile universe. But two, it
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: was a symbol of his courage and defiance. And perhaps
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: man's greatest strength lay in the very audacity that drove
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: him to build such domes. You like it, don't you,
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: Maggie asked. It's lonely and ugly and wild, but you
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: like it. He nodded breathlessly. She murmured. Jacob used to say,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: it isn't the strange sights that thrill spacemen, it's the
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: thoughts that the sights inspire. He nodded again, still staring.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: She began to laugh, softly at first, then more loudly.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: It was the kind of laughter that is close to crying.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: You've been standing there for ten minutes. You're going to
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: walk again again. You're going to be well. He turned
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: to her, smiling with the joyous realization that he had
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: actually stood that long without being aware of it. Then
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: his smile died. Standing behind Maggie in an open doorway
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: was a gray, scaly toad like monster, a six and
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: a half foot Venusian. He was motionless, as a statue,
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: his green lidded eyes staring curiously at Ben. His scaly
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: hand was tight about the butt of an old fashioned
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: heat pistol holstered to his hip. Maggie suppressed a smile.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: Don't be frightened, Ben. This is Simon, Simple Simon, we
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: call him. His IQ isn't too high, but he makes
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: a good helper and guard for me. He's been so
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: anxious to see you, but I thought it'd be better
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: if he waited until you were well. Ben nodded, fascinated
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: by the apparent muscular solidity of the creature. It hadn't
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: a he heard to his numbed mind that he and
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: Maggie were not the sole occupants of the dome. But
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: Maggie had acted wisely. He thought his nightmares had been
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: terrifying enough without bringing Simple Simon into them. Shake hands
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: with Ben, she told the Venusian. Simple Simon lumbered forward,
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: then paused. His eyes blinked No, he grated. Maggie gasped, why,
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: Simple Simon, what's the matter? The gray creature rasped Ben,
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: He's not one of us. He thinks different in thoughts,
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: thinks escape earth. Maggie paled, He is one of us, Simon,
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: She stepped forward and seized the Venusian's arm. You go
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: to your room stand guard. You guard Ben just like
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: you guard me. Understand, Simple Simon grunted, I guard If
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: Ben go, I stop him, I stop him. Good. He
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: raised his huge hands suggestively. No, Simon, remember what Jacob
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: told you. We hurt no one. Ben is our friend.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: You help him. The Venusian thought for a long moment,
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: then he nodded, I help Ben, but if go stop.
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: She led the creature out of the room and closed
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: the door. Sho Ben sighed, I heard those fellows were telepaths.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Now I know. Maggie's trembling hands reached for a cigarette.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: I I guess I didn't think, Ben. Venusians can't really
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: read your mind, but they see your feelings, your emotions.
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: It's a logical evolutionary development. I suppose auditory and visual
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: communication are different here, so evolution turned to empathy. And
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: that's why Jacob keeps a few Venusians in our group.
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: They can detect any feeling of disloyalty before it becomes serious.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Ben remembered Simple Simon's icy gaze and the way his
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: rough hand had gripped his heat pistol. They could be dangerous.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: Not really, They're as loyal as earth dogs to their masters.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, they wouldn't be dangerous to anyone who's loyal
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: to us. Silently, she helped him back to his bed.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Maggie, sorry, I haven't decided yet. She neither
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: answered nor looked at him. Grimly, he realized that his
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: status had changed. He was no longer a patient. He
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: was a prisoner of Anusian day passed and of Anusian night.
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: The dust swirled and wind blew, as constant as the
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: whirl of indecision in Ben's mind. Maggie was patient. Once
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: when she caught him gazing at Jacob's photo, she asked,
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: not yet. He looked away. Not yet and of Section
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: three Section four of A Coffin for Jacob by Edward Ludwig.
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. He learned
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: that the Little Dome consisted of three rooms, each shaped
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: like pieces of a fluffy pie, with narrow concrete hallways between.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: His room served as a bedroom, and he discovered that
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: Maggie slept on a pneumatic cot in the kitchen. The
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: third room opening into an airlock housed a small hydroponics garden,
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: sun lamp, shortwave visit radio, and such emergency equipment as
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: oxygen tanks, wind suits, and vitorations. It was here that
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: Simple Simon remained most of the time, tending the garden
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: or peering into the viewscreen that revealed the terrain outside
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: the dome. Maggie prepared Ben's meals, bringing them to him
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: on a tray until he was able to sit at
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: a table. As his paralysis diminished, he held helped her
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: with the cooking, with Simple Simon standing by as a mute,
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: motionless observer. Occasionally, Maggie would talk of her girlhood in
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: a small town in Missouri, and how she dreamed of
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: journeying to the stars. Stars are for boys, they tell me.
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: But I was a queer one. While other gals were
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: dressing for their junior proms, I'd be in sloppy slacks
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: down at the spaceport with Jacob. She laughed, often, perhaps
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: in a deliberate attempt to disguise the omnipresent tension, and
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: her laughter was like laughter on Earth, floating through comfortable
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: houses and over green fields and through clear blue sky.
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: When she laughed, she possessed a beauty. Despite her pale
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: face and lack of make up, Ben realized that she
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: was no older than he. If I'd only known her
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: back on Earth, he thought, if I, and then he
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: told himself, you've got enough problems, don't create another one. Finally,
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: except for a stiffness in his leg joints, he'd fully recovered.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: How much time do I have? He asked, before you decide? Yes,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: very little. Jacob's ship is on its way. It'll be here, well,
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: you can't tell about these things two or three earth days,
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: maybe even tomorrow. It'll stay in Hoover City long enough
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: to discharge and load cargo. Then it'll stop here for
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: us and return to to our new base. What do
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: you think Jacob would do if I didn't want to
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: go with him? She shook her head. You asked me
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: that before I said I didn't know. Ben thought, I
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: know a lot about you, Jacob. I know you're based
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: on an asteroid. I know how many men you have,
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: how many ships? I know where this dome is. I
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: know you have men planted in the ibi. Would you
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: let me go knowing these things? How great is your
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: immunity from the law? Do you love freedom so much?
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: That you'd kill to help preserve it. Fear crawled through
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: his mind on icy legs. Maggie, he said, what would
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: Jacob do if he were me? She looked amused. Jacob
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have gotten into your situation. He wouldn't have struck Cobb.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: Jacob is a man. Am I still a boy? Is
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: that what you mean? Not exactly? I think you'll be
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: a man after you make your decision. He frowned, not
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: liking her answer. You think the dream of going into
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: space as a boy's dream, that it can't belong to
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: a man too. Oh, No, Jacob still has the dream
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: most of our men do, and in a man it's
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: even more wonderful than in a boy. Then her face
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: became more serious. Ben, you've got to decide soon, and
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: it's got to be a complete decision. You can have
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: no doubt in your mind. He nodded, on account of
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: simon you mean. She motioned for him to come to
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: the window in his room. He gazed outward, following the
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: line of her finger as she pointed, He saw a
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: man sized mound of stones, dimly visible beneath the wind
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: whipped dust. A grave. He was a man like you,
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: Maggie said softly. God knows, Simon didn't try to kill him,
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: but he was escaping. He he made the decision not
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: to join us. Simon sensed it. There was a struggle
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: Simon's hands. Well, he doesn't realize. She didn't have to
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: explain further. Ben knew what those mighty scaly paws could do.
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: The moments were now like bits of eternity, cloaked in
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: frozen fear. Somewhere in the blackness of interplanetary space, Jacob's
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: rocket was streaking closer and closer to Venus. How far
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: away was it a million miles fifty thousand or was
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: it now right now, ripping through the murky Venusian atmosphere
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: above the dome? A complete decision, Maggie had said, Jacob
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: didn't want a potential deserter in his group, and you
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: couldn't pretend that you were loyal to Jacob, not with
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: monstrosities like simple Simon about Soon, Jacob not Ben might
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: have to make a decision, a decision that could result
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: in a second cairn of stones on the wind swept desert.
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: Ben shivered before retiring. He wandered nervously into the supply room,
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: Maggie was poised over the vis radio. Simple Simon was
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: intently scanning the night shrouded terrain in the viewscreen. Any news,
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: Ben asked Maggie. The girl grunted negatively without looking up.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: Ben's gaze fell upon the array of oxygen masks, windsuits, vinerations.
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: Then on a littered shelf, he spied a small Venusian compass.
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: Almost automatically, his hand closed over it. His brain swirled
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: with a single thought. A compass could keep a man
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: traveling in a straight line. Simple Simon restlessly shifted. He
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: turned to Ben, blinking in the frighteningly alien equivalent of
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: a suspicious scowl. Ben's hand tightened about the compass. He
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: tried to relax, to force all thought of it from
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: his mind. He stared at the viewscreen, concentrating on the
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: ceaseless drift of dust. The Venusian's eyes studied him curiously,
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: as if searching his mind for the elusive echo of
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: a feeling that had given him alarm. I think I'll
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: turn in, yawned Ben. Night. Maggie Simon frowned, apparently frustrated
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: in his mental search. Ben not one of us. I
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: watch without answering Ben returned to his room, the compass
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: hot and moist from the perspiration in his hand. He
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: took a deep breath. Why had he taken the compass?
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: He wasn't sure. Perhaps, he reflected, his decision had already
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: been made. Deep beneath the surface of consciousness. He stood
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: before the window, peering into the night. He knew that
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: to attempt to sleep was futile. Sleep for the past
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: few days and ever ready friend had become a hostile
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: stranger God, his brain cried, what shall I do? Slowly,
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: the dust outside the window settled, The scream of wind
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: was no longer audible. His startled eyes beheld dim, faraway lights,
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: those of Hoover City. He guessed it was as if,
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: for the space of a few seconds, some cosmic power
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: had silenced the Venusian fury had guided him toward making
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: his decision. He whipped up his compass. He barely had
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: time to complete the measurement, sixty eight degrees. He read northeast.
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: By east, fresh wind descended in to the plane, Dancing
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: dust erased the visions of the lights. Sixty eight sixty eight.
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: He kept muttering, but now there was nothing to do
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: except try to sleep and be ready. Strong hands shook
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: him out of restless sleep. He opened his eyes and
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: saw complete darkness. He thought at first that his eyesight
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: had failed. Pen wake up. Maggie's voice came to him, crisp, commanding,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: the rocket's coming. I've decoded the message. We only have
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: a few minutes. The girl snapped on a small bulkhead light.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: She left him alone to dress. He slid out of bed,
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: a drowsiness still in him. He reached for his clothing abruptly.
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: The full implication of what she had said struck him.
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: Jacob's rocket was coming. This was the time for decision.
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: Yet within his taut body there was only a jungle
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: of conflicting impulses. Maggie returned, her face hard, her eyes,
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: asking the silent question. Ben stood frozen. The slow seconds
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: beat against his brain like waves of ice. At last,
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: she said, ready, Ben. She spoke evenly, but her searching
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: gaze belied the all important significance of her words. In
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: the dim light, the photograph of Jacob was indistinguishable, but
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: Ben could still see the image of the dead man.
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: He thought, I can't run away with Jacob like a selfish,
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: cowardly kid, no matter how bright the stars would be
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: that brightness couldn't destroy the image of a dead man
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: with staring eyes. No matter what Jacob and Simon do
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: to me, I've got to try to get back to Earth.
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: He suddenly felt clean inside. He was no longer ashamed
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: to hold his head high. Maggie, he said, yes, I've
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: made my decision. Outside the window, a waterfall of flame
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: cascaded onto the desert, pushing aside the dust and the darkness.
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: The deep throated sound of rocket engines grumbled above the
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: whining wind. The floor of the dome vibrated the rockets here,
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: Maggie cried. The flaming exhaust from the ship dissolved into
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: the night. The rocket thunder faded into the wind. The
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: alarm on the domes inner airlock bulkhead rang. Maggie ran
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: like a happy child through the concrete corridor. Ben following
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: She bounded into the supply room, pushed simple Simon aside,
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: stopped before a control panel. Her fingers flew over switches
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: and levers. The airlock door slid open. A short, stubble
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: bearded man clad in windsuit and transparalite helmet stomped in.
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: He unscrewed the faceplate of his helmet. His ears were
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: too big, and he looked like a fat dowel. We're
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: ready for you, missus pearce, he said. Maggie nodded eagerly.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: She whirled back to Ben. Hurry, get your head, helmet
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: and suit on. She spun back to the big eared
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: little man. Cargo unloaded, all set for the flight home home.
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: Ben thought, she calls a place she's never seen home.
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: Cargo's unloaded. No trouble with the IBI, no investigation, not yet.
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: We're good for a few more hauls, I guess. Ben
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: slipped on his windsuit. He glanced at the control panel
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: for the airlock. Yes, he could manipulate it easily. He
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: contemplated the heat pistol at Simple Simon's hip, A tempting idea,
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: but no, he wanted no more of violence. Then he
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: bit his lip. He cleared his mind of all thought.
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: Simple Simon evidently had not noted the impulse that flicked
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: his adrenals into pumping. The big eared man stared strangely
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: at Maggie. Missus pears before we go, I'd better tell
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: you something. You can do that on the rocket. Maggie
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: stepped forward to seize her helmet. The man blocked her movement.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: Missus pears, your husband Jacob was on the rocket. What
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: The girl released a broken, unbelieving little laugh. Why he
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: wouldn't dare that idiot taking a chance? Like alarm twisted
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: her features. He he wasn't captured. No, he wasn't captured,
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: and he took no chance, missus pears. A moment of silence,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: then she sucked in her breath. Ben understood words echoed
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: in his mind. Jacob and those other men like him
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: can never return to Earth, not even to Hoover City
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: except dead. Maggie swayed. Ben and the big eared little
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: Man jumped to her side, guided her back into the
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: compartment used as a kitchen. They helped her to a chair.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: Ben turned on the fire beneath a coffee pot. Simple
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: Simon watched silently, her eyes empty and staring. Maggie asked,
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: how did it happen? We were heading into a clump
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: of baby asteroids the size of peas. The radar warning
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: was too slow. We couldn't pull away. We had to stop.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: The deceleration got him, crushed him. He lived for five minutes. Afterward,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: the little man produced a folded paper from a pocket
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: of his suit. Jacob said he had some ideas he
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: had to get down on paper. God knows why, but
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: during those five minutes he drew up this plan for
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: improving our deceleration compensator plans for She gasped, he was
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: a spaceman, missus pearce. The man handed her the paper.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: Ben caught a glimpse of scribbled circuits, relays, cathodes. When
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: he finished, the man continued, He said, to tell you
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: that he loved you. She started to hand the paperback.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: The spaceman shook his head. No, the original is is yours.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: I've made copies for our own own ships and for
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 2: the brass in Hoover City and of section four section
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: five of a Coffin for Jacob by Edward W. Ludwig.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Maggie kept
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: talking to the little man, lost in the world he
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: was creating for her. Ben was excluded from that world,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: a stranger. Then Ben saw his opportunity. Simple Simon's face
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: was expressionless, but tears were zigzagging down his gray reptilian features.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: Ben stared for several seconds, wondering if his vision had
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: deceived him. Till this instant, he'd somehow assumed that the
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: big Venusian was devoid of emotion, but simple Simon was crying.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 2: It was unlikely that the creature would peer into his
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: mind at a moment like this. Step by step, Ben
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: backed toward the open door in the rear of the compartment. Silently,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: he slipped through it. He attempted to move automatically without feeling.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: He darted into the supply room. The continued drone of
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: voices told him his action had not been observed. He
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: didn't like it at all. Escaping this way was like
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 2: crumpling Maggie's grief into an acid ball and hurling it
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: into her face, but he had no other choice. A
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 2: few seconds later, he was dressed in windsuit and oxygen helmet,
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: A can of viterations was strapped to his back, and
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: his compass was in his hand. Hart Refusing to stop pounding,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 2: he threw the levers and switches to open the airlock.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: He cringed under the grinding, scraping noise as loud to
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: him as the ringing clash of swords, but the murmur
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: of voices continued. He stepped outside. The airlock door clanged shut.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: He was by the biting dust and the shrill, banshy wind.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: He fell, then scrambled erect To his right, he saw
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: the silver sheen of Jacob's rocket shining behind a row
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: of golden eye like portholes. Beneath it were black outlines
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: of moving, helmeted figures. He bent low to study the
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: luminous dial of his compass. Behind him was a grating
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: and a sliding of metal, of movement in the darkness.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: He turned dimly, illuminated by the glow from the rocket
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: ports was the grim, stony face of simple Simon. The
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 2: Venusian was like a piece of the night itself, compressed
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: and solidified to form a living creature. The impression was
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: contradicted only by the glowing whiteness of his eyes. The
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: reptilian body shuffled forward. The scales on his great face
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: and chest reflected the lights from the rocket like Christmas
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: tree ornaments dusted with gold. His hands reached out, words
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: thundered in Ben's memory. God knows Simon didn't try to
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: kill him. Simon's hands, well, he doesn't realize. Ben hopped
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: away from the groping hands, slipped the compass into his pocket,
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: baled his fists. The wind caught at his body. He stumbled,
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: then recovered his balance despite the wind and his suit's bulkiness.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: He was surprised at his own agility. He recalled that
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: the gravitational pull of Venus was only four fifths of Earth's.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: That was an advantage. Crouching against the wind, he stepped
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: to his left, away from the rocket. He was reluctant
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: to enter an area of greater darkness, but neither did
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: he want to risk observation by the men he'd seen
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: near Jacob's ship. Simple Simon followed. He moved like an automaton,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: functioning with awkward, methodical slowness. His hands, speckled with reflected light,
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: rose up out of the darkness. Ben stepped back, wiped
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: the dust from his clouded face plate. One swoop of
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: those hands, he knew, could shatter his helmet, destroy his
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: oxygen supply, leave him choking on deadly methane and carbon dioxide.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: But so far Simon seemed bent on capture, not destruction.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: That fact gave Ben a second advantage. Scaly fingers, moving
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 2: now with greater swiftness, closed over the shoulder of his suit,
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: Ben felt himself being pulled forward a child in the
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: grasp of a giant. His brief surge of confidence vanished.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 2: Cold terror swept upon him. He lashed out wildly. His
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: right fist found his target, found it so well that
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: the skin split on his gloved knuckles. Simon's head snapped back.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: The grasping fingers slipped from Ben's suit, but still the
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 2: Venusian lumbered ahead and ear irresistible juggernaut, the hands continually groping.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: Ben ducked and slipped aside. The can of vierations was
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: ripped from his back. He crouched low, fighting the wind,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: maneuvering for another blow. His lungs ached, but he had
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: no opportunity to increase his helmet's oxygen flow. His weak
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: leg muscles were beginning to pain, as though with needles
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: of fire. The hands crushed down upon his shoulders. This
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: time his fist found Simon's stomach. The creature released a
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 2: grunt audible above the howling of the wind. His body
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: doubled up. Ben struck again and again. His lungs throbbed
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 2: as if they'd break through his chest. A fresh layer
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 2: of dust coated his face plate, nearly blinding him. He
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: fought instinctively gauntleting fists battering simple Simon fell. Ben brushed
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: away the dust from his plate, turned up his helmet's
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 2: oxygen valve. Then he knelt by the fallen creature. A
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 2: new fear came to Ben Curtis, a fear almost as
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: great as that of being caught in Simon's crushing grip.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: It was the fear that he had killed again. But
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: even in the near darkness, he could distinguish the labored
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 2: rise and fall of the massive chest. Thank god, he thought,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 2: from the direction of Jacob's ship. A flash of light
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: caught his eye. The black shapes of helmeted men were
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: becoming larger nearer. Ben tensed. The spacemen couldn't have heard
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: sounds of the struggle, but they might have noticed movement puffing.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 2: Ben plunged into the darkness to his left, slowing only
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: long enough to consult the dial of his compass sixty
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: eight degrees, he breathed. The compass dial was now his
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: only companion, and his only hope. It was the one
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: bit of reality in a whirld of black, screaming nightmare.
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 2: At first, Ben Curtis fought the wind and the dust
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: and the night, his fists were clenched, as they had
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: been while struggling with Simon. Each step forward was a challenge,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: a struggle, and so far, at any rate, a victory.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 2: But how far was the city five miles ten? How
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 2: could you judge distance through a haze of alien sand?
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: And were simple Simon or Jacob's men following? How good
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: was the Venusian's vision at night? Would the scaly hands
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: find him? Even now? Descending on him from out of
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: the blackness? He kept walking, walking sixty eight degrees. Gradually
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 2: his senses grew numb to the fear of recapture. He
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 2: became oblivious to the wailing wind and the beat of
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 2: dust against his face plate. He moved like a robot.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 2: His mind wandered back through time and space, a pit
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 2: wheel spinning with unforgettable impressions, faces, voices. He saw the
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: white features of a dead man, their vividness fading now
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: and no longer terrifying. A space officer is honest, A
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: space officer is loyal, A space officer is dutiful. The
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 2: words were like clear, satisfying music. He cursed at the
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 2: image of a popeyed Martian boy, a tree fying table.
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 2: Monsieur close in the shadows. And yet he told himself
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: the boy really didn't do anything wrong. He was only
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: helping to capture a murderer. Maybe he was lonesome for
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 2: Mars and needed money to go home. Ben thought of
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: Maggie while other gals were dressing for their junior proms.
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 2: I'd be in sloppy slacks down at the spaceport with
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: Jacob if i'd only known her back on Earth. Maggie
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 2: sitting alone now, with a wrinkled paper and its mass
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: of scrawled circuits, alone and hollow, with grief and needing help.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: Ben's throat tightened. Damn it. He didn't want to think
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 2: about that. What was it? The big eared man had said,
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: I've made copies for our own ships and for the
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: brass in Hoover City. Why had he said that? Why
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: would renegades give their secrets to the Space Corps. The
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 2: Core would incorporate the discoveries in their ships with them.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 2: They'd reached the asteroids, Jacob's group would be pushed even
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 2: further outward. Ben stopped the wind, whipping at his soup
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: and buffeting his helmet, but not as hard as the
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 2: answer he had found. Jacob and his men had an
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: existence to justify a debt to pay. They justified that
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 2: existence and paid that debt by helping humanity in its
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 2: star ward advance. Maggie had said, we carry cargoes of
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 2: almost pure uranium and tungsten and all the stuff that's
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: getting scarce on Earth and Mars and Venus. If we
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: want to risk our lives getting it, that's our business.
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 2: The dome we're in now was designed and built by
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: us a few years ago. We lost a few men
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 2: in the construction, but with almost every advance in space,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: someone dies. The wind pressed bend back. The coldness of
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: the Venusian night was seeping into his suit. It was
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 2: as if his body were bathed at once in flame
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 2: and ice. He slipped, fell, his face turned toward the
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: sandy ground. He did not try to rise, yet his
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 2: mind seemed to soar above the pain to carry him
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 2: into a wondrous valley of new awareness. Man would never
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 2: be content to stay on nine insignificant globes, not when
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 2: his eyes had the power to stare into a night sky,
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 2: and when his brain had the ability to imagine. There
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: would have to be pioneers to seek out the unknown horror,
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: to face it and defeat it. There would have to
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 2: be signposts lining the great road and helping others to
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 2: follow without fear. For all the brilliancy of their dreams,
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 2: those men would be the lonely ones, the men of
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 2: no return. For all the glory of their brief adventure,
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 2: they would give not only their cloaks, but ultimately their lives.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 2: Ben lay trembling in the darkness. His brain cried. You
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 2: couldn't rig up a radar system or a decceleration compensator,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: but you could chart those asteroids. You can't bring a
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 2: man named Cob back to life, but you could help
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 2: a thousand men and women to stay alive five or
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 2: ten or twenty years from now. Ben knew at last
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 2: what decision Jacob would have made. The reverse of sixty
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 2: eight on a compass is two forty eight, like flashing
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: knitting needles. Strong hands moved about his face, plate, his windsuit,
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 2: his helmet. Then they were wiping perspiration from his white
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: face and placing a wet cloth on the back of
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 2: his neck. You were coming back, a voice kept saying,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 2: you were coming back. His mouth was full of hot coffee.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 2: He became aware of a gentle face hovering above him.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 2: Just as it had a seeming eternity ago. He sat
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 2: up on the bed, conscious now of his surroundings. Simon says,
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 2: you are coming back, Ben, Why he fought to grasp
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 2: the meaning of Maggie's words. Simon Simon found me. He
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: brought me back only a short way. He said, you
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: were almost here. Ben closed his eyes, reliving the whirlwind
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 2: of thought that it whipped through his brain. He mumbled
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 2: something about pie and and a scrawled paper, and a
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 2: debt and a decision. Then he blinked and saw that
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 2: he and Maggie were not alone. Simple Simon stood at
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 2: the foot of his bed and was that a trace
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 2: of a smile on his reptilian mouth? And three windsuited
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: spacemen stood behind Maggie, helmets in their hands. One was
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 2: a lean boned, reddish skinned Martian. Simple Simon said, Ben
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: changed thinks like us. Good now like Jacob. The little
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: big eared man stepped up and shook hands with Ben.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: If Simon says, so that's good enough for me. A
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 2: blondhaired earthman helped Ben from the bed legs, okay, fellow,
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 2: think you're ready. Ben stood erect unassisted legs. Okay, and
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 2: I'm ready he thought for a moment. But suppose I
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 2: wasn't ready, Suppose I didn't want to go with you.
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 2: I know a lot about your organization. What would you do?
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 2: The blond man shrugged, untroubledly. We wouldn't kill you, if
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 2: that's what you mean. We'd probably vote on whether to
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 2: take you with us anyway or let you go. His
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 2: smile was frank. I'm glad we don't have to vote.
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 2: Ben nodded and turned to Maggie. You're still coming with us?
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 2: She shook her head, a mist shining in her sad eyes.
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 2: Not on this trip, not without Jacob. I'll get one
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 2: of our desert taxis back to Hoover City. Then I'll
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 2: be going to Earth for a while. I've got some
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 2: thinking to do, and thinking is done best on Earth.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 2: Out Here is the place for feeling. Her eyes lost
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 2: a little of their pain. But I'll be back. Jacob
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 2: wouldn't stay on Earth, neither will I. I'll be seeing you.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 2: The big eared man put his hand on Ben's shoulder.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 2: Think you can get us back to Juno, he asked.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: Ben looked at Maggie and then at the big eared man.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 2: You're as good as there, he said, confidently, and of
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: section five and of a Coffin for Jacob by Edward W.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 2: Ludwig