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Planet of the Gods-Robert Moore Williams · Journey to the Center of the Earth

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Planet of the Gods. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Phil Chinavert Planet of the Gods by Robert Williams.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Chapter one. What do you make of it, Commander Jed
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Hargraves asked huskily. Ron val busy at the telescope, was
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: too excited to look up from the eyepiece.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: There are at.
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  Speaker 1: Least two planets circling Vega.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: He said quickly.
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  Speaker 1: There may be other planets further out, but I can
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  Speaker 1: see too plainly, and Jed, the nearest planet, the one
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: we are approaching, has an atmosphere. The telescope reveals a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: blur that could only be caused by an atmosphere, and Jed,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: this may seem so possible you won't believe it. But
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I can see several large spots on the surface that
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: are almost certainly lakes.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: They are not big enough to be called oceans.
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  Speaker 1: Or seas, but I am positive they are lakes. According
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: to the preconceptions of astronomers formed before they had a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: chance to go sea for themselves, solar systems were supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be rare birds. Not every sun had a chance
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to give birth to planets. Not one sun in a thousand, maybe,
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  Speaker 1: not one in a million, maybe, with the exception of Saul,
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  Speaker 1: not another one in the whole universe. And here, the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: first Sun approached by the third Interstellar Expedition was circled
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: by planets. The site was enough to drive and astronomer insane.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Ron Val tore his eyes away from the telescope long
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  Speaker 1: enough to stare at Captain Hargraves. Air and water on
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: this planet, he gasped, Jed, do you realize what this
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: may mean?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Jed.
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  Speaker 1: Hargraves grinned. His face was lean and brown, and the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: grin spreading over it relaxed a little from the tension
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: that had been present for months. Easy, old man, he said,
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  Speaker 1: clapping ron Val on the shoulder. There is nothing to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: get so excited about but a solar system. We came
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: from one, I know we did, but just the same,
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  Speaker 1: finding another will put our names in all the books
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: on astronomy. They aren't the commonest things in the universe,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: you know. And to find one of the planets of
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  Speaker 1: this new system with air and water, Jed, where there
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: is air and water.
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  Speaker 2: There may be life.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: There probably is life in some form. Seems to be everywhere.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Remember we found spores being kicked around by light waves
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  Speaker 1: in the deepest depths of space, and Pluto in our
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: own system has mosses and lichens that the biologists insist
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: or alive. It wouldn't be surprising if we find life
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: out there. He gestured through the port at the world
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: swimming through space toward them. I mean intelligent life, Ronval corrected, don't.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Bet on it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: The old boys had the idea they would find intelligent
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: life on Mars until they got there. Then they discovered
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: that intelligent creatures had once lived on the Red planet, cities,
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  Speaker 1: canals and stuff. But the people who had built the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: cities and canals had died of starvation long before humans
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  Speaker 1: got to Mars. So it isn't a good bet that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: we shall find intelligence here. The astronomer's face drooped.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: A little, but not for long.
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  Speaker 1: That was true of Mars, he said, But it isn't
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: necessarily true here. And even if Mars was dead, Venus wasn't,
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  Speaker 1: nor is Earth. If there is life one two of
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the planets of our own solar system, there may be
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: life on one of the planets of Vega. Why not,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: he challenged. Nay, wait a minute, Hargraves answered, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: trying to start an argument.
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  Speaker 2: Why not?
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  Speaker 1: If you mean why not an argument, I mean, why
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  Speaker 1: not life here? I don't know why not. Hargraves shrugged.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: For that matter, I don't know why either. He looked
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  Speaker 1: closely at Ronval. You ape, I believe you're hoping we will.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Find life here.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, That's what I'm hoping. Ronval answered quickly. It
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  Speaker 1: would mean a lot to find people here. We could
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  Speaker 1: change experiences, learn a lot. I know it's probably too
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  Speaker 1: much to hope for. He broke off.
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  Speaker 2: Jed, are we going to land here?
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  Speaker 1: Certainly we're going to land here, Jed, Hargraves said emphatically,
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  Speaker 1: Why in the hell do you think we've crossed thirty
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: light years if we don't land on a world when
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: we find one. This is an exploring expedition. Hargraves saw
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  Speaker 1: that he had no listener. Ron Val had listened only
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: long enough to learn what he wanted to know, then
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: had dived back to his beloved telescope to watch the
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  Speaker 1: world spiraling up through space toward them. That world meant
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  Speaker 1: a lot to ron Val, the thrill of discovery, of
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  Speaker 1: exploring where a human foot had never trod in all
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  Speaker 1: the history of the universe. New Lands in the Sky,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the third Interstellar Expedition third because two others were winging
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: out across space, one toward Sirius, the other towards Signus
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: was approaching land. The fact also meant something to Jet Hargraves,
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  Speaker 1: possibly a little less than it did to ron Val,
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  Speaker 1: because Hargraves had more responsibilities. He was captain of the ship,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: commander of the expedition. It was his duty to take
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the ship to Vega and to bring it safely home.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Half of his task was done. Vega was bright in
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  Speaker 1: the sky ahead, and the tough bubble of steel and
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  Speaker 1: quartz that was the ship was dropping down to rest
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: on one of Vega's planets. Hargraves started to leave the
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: nook that housed ron Val and his telescope. The ship's
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: loud speaker's system shouted with sudden sound. Jet Jet Hargraves
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: come to the bridge at once. That was Red Nielsen's voice.
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  Speaker 1: He was speaking from the control room in the nose
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  Speaker 1: of the ship. Nielsen sounded excited. Hargraves pushed a button
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: under the loudspeaker. The system was two way, allowing for intercommunication.
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  Speaker 1: Hard Graves speaking, what's wrong. A ship is approaching. It
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  Speaker 1: is coming straight toward us.
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  Speaker 2: A ship. Are you out of your head? This is Vega.
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  Speaker 1: I don't give a damn of his Brooklyn. I know
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  Speaker 1: a spaceship when I see one, and this is one.
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  Speaker 1: Either get up here and take command, or tell me
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  Speaker 1: what you want done. Discipline among the personnel of this
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  Speaker 1: expedition was so nearly perfect there was no need for it. Consequently,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: there was none before leaving Earth. Skilled mental analysts had
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: aided in the selection of this crew and had welded
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: it together so artfully that it thought, acted and functioned
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  Speaker 1: as a unit. Jet Hargraves was captain, but he had
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: never heard the word spoken, and never wanted to hear it.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: No one had ever put sir after his name, nor
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: had anyone ever questioned an order after it was given.
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  Speaker 1: Violent argument there might be before an order was given,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: with Hargraves filtering the pros and cons through his rigidly
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  Speaker 1: logical mind. But the instant he reached a decision, the
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  Speaker 1: argument stopped. He was one of the crew, and the
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  Speaker 1: crew knew it. The crew was one with him, and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: he knew it. He might question Nielsen's facts once in surprise,
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  Speaker 1: but not twice. If Nielsen said a ship was approaching,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: a ship was approaching, I'm coming. Hargraves wrapped into the mic,
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  Speaker 1: turned full power into the defense screen, warned the engine
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  Speaker 1: room to be ready for an emergency. Sound the call
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  Speaker 1: to stations, and read hold us away from this planet.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Almost before he had finished speaking, a siren was wailing
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  Speaker 1: through the ship. Although he had used the microphone in
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the nook that housed the telescope, Ronval had been so
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  Speaker 1: interested in the world they were approaching that he had
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: not heard the captain's orders. He heard the siren, What
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: is it?
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  Speaker 2: Jet?
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  Speaker 1: Hargraves didn't have time to explain. He was diving out
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  Speaker 1: the door and racing toward the bridge in the nose
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  Speaker 1: of the ship. Come on, He flung back over his shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: at Ronval, your post is at the four negatron. Ronval
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: took one despairing glance at his telescope, then followed the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: commander as he ran toward the control room. Hargraves heard
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  Speaker 1: the ship begin to radiate a new tempo of sound.
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  Speaker 1: The siren was dying into silence, its warning task finished.
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  Speaker 1: Other sounds were taking its place. From the engine room
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  Speaker 1: in the stern was coming a spiteful hiss, like steam
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  Speaker 1: escaping under great pressure from a tiny vent valve. That
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  Speaker 1: was the twin atomics, loading up, building up the inconceivable
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  Speaker 1: pressures they would feed to the krewcheck drivers. A slight
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  Speaker 1: rumble went through the ship, a rumble seemingly radiated from
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  Speaker 1: every molecule, from every atom in the vessel. It was
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  Speaker 1: radiated from every molecule. That rumble came from the crew
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  Speaker 1: check drivers warping the ship in response to the controls
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  Speaker 1: on the bridge. Bill Kruchak's going Faster than Hell engines
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  Speaker 1: engineers called him a fellow by the name of Bill
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Kruchak had invented them. When Bill Kruchak's Going Faster than Hell,
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  Speaker 1: drivers dug their toes into the lattice of space and
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  Speaker 1: put brawny shoulders behind every remolecule within the field they generated.
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  Speaker 1: A ship within that field went faster than light. The
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  Speaker 1: crew check drivers, given the juice they needed in such
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  Speaker 1: tremendous quantities, took you from Hell to Yonder in a
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  Speaker 1: mighty hurry. They had been idling, drifting the ship slowly
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  Speaker 1: in toward the planet. Now, in response to an impulse
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  Speaker 1: from Nielson on the bridge, they grumbled and hunched mighty
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  Speaker 1: shoulders for the load, preparing the hurl ship away from
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  Speaker 1: the planet. Hargraves could feel the vessel surge in response
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  Speaker 1: to the speed. Then there was a distant thud, and
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  Speaker 1: he could feel the surge no longer. The anti accelerators
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  Speaker 1: had been cut in neutralizing the effect of inertia. Shoving
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  Speaker 1: open a heavy door, Hargraves was in the control room.
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  Speaker 1: A glance showed him Nielsen on the bridge, leaning over
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  Speaker 1: his fingers on the bank of buttons that controlled the ship.
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  Speaker 1: He was peering through the heavy quartzite observation port at
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  Speaker 1: something approaching from the right behind him. On his right,
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  Speaker 1: a man was standing ready at the radio panel, and
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  Speaker 1: to the left of the bridge, two men had already
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  Speaker 1: jerked the covers from the Negatron and were standing ready
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  Speaker 1: beside it. Ron val leaped past Hargraves dived for a
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  Speaker 1: seat on the Negatron.
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  Speaker 2: That was his post.
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  Speaker 1: He had been chosen for it because of his familiarity
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  Speaker 1: with optical instruments. Along the top of the negatron was
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  Speaker 1: a sighting telescope. Ronval looked once to see where the
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  Speaker 1: man on the bridge was looking. Then his fingers flew
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  Speaker 1: to the adjusting levers of the telescope. The negatron swung
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  Speaker 1: around to the right, centered on something there ready, Ronval said,
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  Speaker 1: not taking his eyes from the scope. Hold your phone, our,
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  Speaker 1: Graves ordered. He was on the bridge, standing beside read Nielsen.
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  Speaker 1: Off to the right. He could see the enemy ship.
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  Speaker 1: Odd that he should think of it as an enemy.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't. It was merely a strange ship. But there
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  Speaker 2: were relics.
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  Speaker 1: In his mind, vague racial memories of the days when
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: stranger and enemy were synonymous. The times when this was
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  Speaker 1: true were gone forever, but the thoughts remained. Shall we
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  Speaker 1: run for it? Nielsen questioned, his hands on the controls
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: that would turn full power into the drivers.
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  Speaker 2: No, if we run, they will think we have some
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  Speaker 2: reason for running.
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  Speaker 1: That might be all they would need to conclude we
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: were up to no good.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Is the defense screen on full power? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Nielsen pushed the lever again, to be sure. I'm giving
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  Speaker 1: it all it will take. Our Graves could barely see
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  Speaker 1: the screen out there a half mile from the ship.
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  Speaker 1: It was twinkling dimly as it swept up cosmic dust.
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  Speaker 1: The oncoming ship had been a dot in the sky.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Now it was a round ball. Try them on the radio,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Hargraves said, they probably won't understand us, but at least
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  Speaker 1: they'll know we're trying to communicate with him. There was
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  Speaker 1: a swirl of action at the radio panel.
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  Speaker 2: No answer.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: The radio operator said, keep trying.
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  Speaker 2: Look.
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  Speaker 1: Nielsen shouted, they've changed course. They're coming straight toward us.
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  Speaker 1: The ball had babbled in its smooth flight, as though
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  Speaker 1: caught in the attraction.
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  Speaker 2: Of a magnet.
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  Speaker 1: It was coming straight toward them. For an instant Hargraves stared,
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  Speaker 1: should he run or should he wait? He didn't want
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: to run, and he didn't want to fight. On the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: other hand, he did not want to take chances with
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the safety of the men under his command. His mission
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: was peaceful, entirely so. But the ball was driving straight
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: toward them. How big it was he could not estimate.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: It wasn't very big. Oddly, it presented a completely blank surface,
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  Speaker 1: no ports, and so far as he could tell, there
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: was no discharge from driving engines. The latter meant nothing.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Their own ship showed no discharge from the crew chek drivers,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: but no ports. It came so fast he couldn't see
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  Speaker 1: it come. The flash of light it came from the ball.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: For the fractional part of a second, the defense screen
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: twinkled where the flash of light hit it, But the
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: defense screen was not designed to turn light or any
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: other form of radiation. The light came through, it wasn't light.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: It carried a component of visible radiation, but it wasn't light.
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  Speaker 1: The beam struck the ship collange. From the stern came
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  Speaker 1: a sudden scream of tortured metal. The ship rocked, kreened,
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  Speaker 1: tried to spin on its axis on the control panels.
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  Speaker 1: A dozen red lights flashed, winked off, winked on again.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Heavy thuds echoed through the vessel, emergency compartments closing. Hargrave hesitated,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: no longer full speed ahead. He shouted that read Nielsen
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: ron val fire. This was an attack. This was a savage,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: vicious attack, delivered without warning, with no attempt to parting.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: The ship had been hit. How badly it had been damaged,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: he did not know. But unless the damage was too heavy,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: they could outrun this ball, flash away from it faster
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: than light, disappear in the sky vanish. The ship had
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: legs to run. There was no limit to her speed.
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  Speaker 1: She could go fast, she could go faster, full speed.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Nielsen looked up from the bank of buttons.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: His face was ashen.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: She doesn't respond, jed. The drivers are off. The engine
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: room is knocked out. There was no rumble from Bill
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Kruchek's going faster than hell engines. The hiss of the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: atomics was still fairly audible. Short of annihilation, nothing could
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: knock them out. Energy was being generated, but it wasn't
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: getting to the drive. Leaping to the controls, Hardgraves tried
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: them himself.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: They didn't respond. Engine room.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: He shouted into the communication system. There was no answer.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: The ship began to yaw, to drop away toward the
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: planet below them. The planet was for distant as yet,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: but the grasping fingers of its gravity were reaching toward
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the vessel, pulling it down. Voices shouted within the ship. Jed,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: what happened? Jed, we're falling that ball jed. Voices calling
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: to jet Hargraves asking.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Him what to do. He couldn't answer.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: There was no answer. There was only the ball. It
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: was the answer through the observation port. He could see
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the circular ship. It was getting ready to attack again.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: The Sphere was moving leisurely towards its already crippled prey,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: getting ready to deliver the final stroke. It would answer
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: all the questions of this crew, answer them unmistakably. It
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: leered at them.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Wham.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: The ship vibrated to a sudden gust of sound. Something
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: lashed out from the vessel. Hargraves did not see it go,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: because it too went faster than the eye could follow.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: But he knew what it was. The sound told him.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: He saw the hole appear in the sphere, a round
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: hole that opened inward.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Dust puffed outward. Wham, wham, wham.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: The Negatron, the blood brother of the defense screen, its
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: energies concentrated into a pencil of radiation. Faster than anyone
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: could see it happen. Three more holes appeared in the sphere,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: driving through its outer shell, punching into the machinery at
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: its heart. The Sphere shuddered under the impact. It turned,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Light spewed out, beaming viciously into this alien sky without direction.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Smoke boiled from the ball turning. It seemed to roll
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: along the sky. It looked like a huge burning snowball
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: rolling down some vast hill. Ronval lifted a white face
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: from the sighting scope of the necatron.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Did I get him? I'll say you did.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Hargraves heard somebody shout exultantly. He was surprised to discover
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: his own voice was doing the shouting. The sphere was finished,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: done for it was out of the fight, rolling down
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the vast hill of the sky, it was smash on
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the planet below. They were following it. There was still
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: no answer from the engine room spacesuits. Hargraves ordered, Nielsen,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: you stay here, Ronval, you others come with me. End
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: of chapter one, chapter two of Planet of the Gods
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: by Robert Williams. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Chapter two Vegan World.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: The engine room was crammed to the roof with machinery,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the bolt housings of the atomics, their heavy screens shutting
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: off the deadly radiations generated in the heart of energy
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: seething within. The twin domes were at the front. They
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: looked like two blast furnaces that had somehow wandered into
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a spaceship by mistake and hadn't been able to find
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: their way out.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: The fires of hell, hotter than any blast furnace had
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: ever been, seethed within them. Behind the atomics were the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: crew check drivers, Twin brawny giants chained to the treadmill.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: They pushed through the skies, silent now, not grumbling at
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: their task, loafing like lazy slaves, conscious.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Of their power.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: They worked only when the lash was on them. Between
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the drivers was the control panel. Ninety nine percent automatic.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Those controls they needed little human attention and got little.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: There were never more than three men on duty there.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: This engine room almost operated itself. It had ceased to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: operate itself. Jed Hargraves saw as he forced open the
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: last stubborn airtight door separating the engine room from the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: rest of the ship. Seized because involuntarily, he cried out.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: He could see the sky. A great V shaped notch
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: straddled the back of the ship. Something striking high on
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the curve of the hull had driven through inches of
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: magna steel, biting a gigantic chunk out of the ship.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: The beam from the sphere, that flashing streak of light
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: that had driven through the defense screen. It had struck here.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Jed, they're dead.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: That was ron VAL's voice choking over the radio. One
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: of the men in this engine room had been Hal Sarkov,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: a black browed giant from somewhere in Montana. Engines had
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: behaved for Sarkov intuitively. He had seemed to know mechanics.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: He and ron Val had been particular friends. The air went,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Hargraves said, when that hole was knocked in the hull,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the air went, the automatic doors blocked off the rest
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of the ship. The poor devil's The air had gone
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: and the cold had come. He could see Sarkov's body
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: lying beside one of the drivers. The two other men
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: were across the room. A door to the stern compartment
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: was there. They were crumpled against it. Hargrave winced with pain.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: He should have ordered everyone into spacesuits the instant, Nielsen
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: reported the approach of the sphere. Hargrave should have shouted
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: spacesuits into the mic. He hadn't the receiver into spacesuit.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Crisped with sound, Jed, have you got into that engine
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: room yet? For Cripe's sake, Jed, we're falling. That was
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Nielsen on the bridge. He sounded frantic. Sixteen feet the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: first second, then thirty two.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Then sixty four.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: They had miles to fall, but their rate of fall
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: progressed geometrically. They had spent many minutes fighting their way
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: through the airtight doors one hundred and twenty eight feet.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The fourth second jet's mind was racing. No by thunder.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: That was acceleration under an Earth gravity. They didn't know
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the gravity here. It might be less, it might be more.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Ronval had run forward and was kneeling beside Sarkov. Let
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: them go, Hargrave said, roughly, Ronval, you check the drivers.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: You swiftly.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: He assigned them tasks, reserving the control panel for himself.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: They were specialists. Noble, the blonde youth frantically examining the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: atomics was a biochemist. Usher, the powerfully built man who
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: had stood at Ronval's right hand on the negatron, was
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: an archaeologist.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: They were engineers.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Now they had to be nothing seems to be wrong here,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: That was ron Val from the drivers. The atomics are working.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: That was Noble reporting. Then what the hell is wrong?
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: At the control panel, Hargraves saw what was wrong. The
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: dam controls were automatic, with temperature and air pressure cut offs.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: When the air had gone from the engine room that
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: meant something was wrong. The controls had automatically cut off
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the drivers. The ship had stopped moving. A manual control
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: was provided. Hargraves shoved the switch home. An oil immersed
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: control thudded. The loafing giants grunted as the lash struck them,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: roared with pain as they got hastily to work on
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: their treadmill. The ship moved forward. We're moving, That was
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Red Nielsen, shouting the controls on the bridge. We're responding now,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna burn a hole in space, getting us away
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: from here. No, said Hargraves. What there was incredulous doubt
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: in Nielsen's voice, That damn sphere came from this planet.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Can't help it. We've got to land. Land here now,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: there's a hole as big as the side of a
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: house in the ship. No air in the engine room.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Without air, we can't control the temperature. If we go
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: into space, the engine room temperature will drop almost to
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: absolute zero. These drivers are not designed to work in
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: that temperature, and they won't work in it. We'll have
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: to land and repair the ship before we dare go
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: into space. But we land here. There was a split
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: second of silence. Okay, Jed Nielsen said, but if we
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: run into another of those spheres, we'll know what to
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: do about it. Ron Val usher back to the main
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: bridge and manned the negatron. If you see anything that
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: even looks suspicious, be me it. Ron Val and Usher
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: dived through the door that led forward stern observation posts.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Are you alive back there? We heard you, Jed. We're alive,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: all right. Back in the engine room. Tucked away in
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the stern was another megatron. Shoot on sight, Hargraves said.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: The third Interstellar Expedition was coming into land with her
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: fangs bared. Jet Hargraves called a volunteer to hold a switch.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: It had to be held in by hand, otherwise it
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: would automatically kick it out again, and went forward to
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the bridge read Nielsen gladly relinquished the controls to him.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: The sphere crashed over there, Nielsen said, waving vaguely to
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the right. Not until he stepped on the bridge did
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Jed Hargraves realize how close a call they had had.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: The fight had started well outside the upper limits of
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the atmosphere. They were well inside it now. Another few
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: minutes and they would have screamed to a flaming crash
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: here on this world, and the third Interstellar Expedition would
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: have accomplished only half itsusbission, the least important half.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: He shoved the nose of the ship down.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: The giants working eagerly at their treadmill now, as if
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: they realized they had been caught loafing on the job
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: and were trying to make amends, the planet swam up
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: toward them. He barely heard the voice of Noble reporting
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: a chemical test of the air that was now swirling
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: around the ship. Oxygen, so much water, vapor, nitrogen, the
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: air was breathable. They would not have to attempt prepairs
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: in spacesuits. Then, abruptly, as they dropped lower, the contour
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: of the planet seemed to change from the shape of
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a ball to the shape of a cup. The eyes
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: did that the eyes were tricky. Jed knew his eyes
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: were not tricking him when they brought him impressions of
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the surface below them. A gently rolling world sweeping away
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: into the distance, moving league after league into dim infinities,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: appeared before his eyes. No mountains, no hills, even gentle
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: slopes rolling slowly downward into plains, No large rivers, small streams,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: winding among trees. Almost immediately below them was one of
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the lakes Ronval had seen through his telescope. The lake
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: was alive with blue light reflected from the no The
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: light came from Vega, not Soul. They were light years
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: away from the warming rays of the friendly sun. Jed
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: lowered the ship until she barely cleared the ground, sent
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: her slowly forward, seeking what he wanted. There was a
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: grove of giant trees beside the lake overhead, their foliage
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: closed in an arch that would cut out the sight
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: of the sky.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: This was what he wanted. He turned the ship around.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Hey, said Nielsen, I'm going to back her out of
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: sight among those trees. Hargraves answered, I'm hunting a hole
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: to hide in while we lie up and lick our wounds. Overhead,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: bows crashed as the ship slid out of sight. Gently,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: he relaxed the controls, let her drop an inch at
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: a time until she rested on the ground. Then he
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: opened the switches and, grunting with relief, the giants laid
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: themselves down on their treadmills and promptly went to sleep.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: For the first time in months, the ship was silent.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Negatron crews remain at your posts. I'm going to take
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: a look. The lock hissed as it opened before him.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Hargraves Nielsen Noble stepped out, the captain going first. The
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: ground was only a couple of feet away, but he
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: lowered himself to it with the precise caution that a
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: twenty foot jump would have necessitated. He was not unaware
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: of the implications of this moment. He was the first
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: human foot to tread the soil of a planet circling Vega.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: The great grandchildren of his great grandchildren would tell their
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: sons about this.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: The soil was.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Springy under his feet, possessing an elasticity that he had
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: not remembered as natural. With turf, opening his helmet, he
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: sniffed the air. It was cool and alive, with a
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: heady fragrance that came from growing vegetation, a quality to
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: ship's synthesizers, for all the ingenuity incorporated in them could
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: not duplicate. Tasting the air, the cells of his lungs
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: eagerly shouted for more. He sucked it in, and the
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: tensions that kept his body all steel springs and whipcord
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: relaxed a little. A breeze stirred among the trees. Sweet pete,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: He gasped.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: That's what I was trying to tell you.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: As we landed, Nielsen said, this is not a forest.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: This is a grove.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: These trees didn't just grow here in straight, arderly lines.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: They were planted. We're hiding in what may be the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: equivalent of somebody's apple orchard.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: The trees were.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Giants twenty feet through. With the butt, they rose one
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: hundred feet in the air, diminishing in the distance. They
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: moved in regular rows down to the shore of the lake,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: forming a pleasant grove miles in extant. A reddish fruit,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: not unlike apples, grew on them. If this was an archard,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: where was the owner? End of chapter two, chapter three
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: of Planet of the Gods by Robert Moore Williams. This
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter three the
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: four visitors somebody coming the lookout called Jethark. Graves dropped
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: the shovel behind him. The hiss of an electric cutting
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: torch and the wang of a heavy hammer went into
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: sudden silence. Back there, one hundred yards away, they had
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: already begun work on the ship, attempting to repair the hole.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Gouged in the stout magnus steel of the hull. They
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: had heard the call of the lookout and were dropping
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: tools to pick up weapons. Jet's hand slid down to
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: his belt to the compact vibrator pistol holstered there.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: He pulled the.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Gun, held it ready in his hand. Ron Val and
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Nielsen did the same. Vega, slanting downward, was near the
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: western horizon. The grove was a mass of shadows. Through
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the shadows, something was coming. They're human, Ronval gasped. Hargraves
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: said nothing. His fingers tightened around the butt of the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: pistol as he waited. He saw them clearly. Now there
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: were four of them. They looked like old men, four
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: tribal graybeards out for a stroll in the cool of
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the late afternoon. Each married a staff. They were walking
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: toward the ship. Then they saw the little group that
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: stood apart and turned toward them. The teletron. Will you
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: go get it, please, ron Val, nodding, the astro navigator
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: ran back to the ship. The teletron was a new
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: gadget invented just before the expedition left Earth. Far from
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: perfection as yet, it was intended to aid in establishing
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: telepathic communication between persons who had no common language. Sometimes
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: it worked a little more often it didn't, but it
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: might be useful. Here Ronval was panting when he returned
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: with it, Are you going to talk to them yet?
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: I'm going to try. The four figures approached. Hargraves smiled.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: That was to show his good intentions. A smile ought
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: to be common language everywhere. The four strays did not
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: return his smile. They just stopped and looked at him,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: with no trace of emotion on their faces. They looked human.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: They weren't. Of course, Parallel evolution accounted for the resemblance
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: like causes producing like results. Nielsen was watching them like
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: a hawk, without making an aggressive move. The way he
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: held his gun showed he was ready to go into
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: action at a moment's notice. Behind them, the ship was silent,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: its crew alert. Hark Graves bent to manipulate the complicated
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: tuning of the teletron. I am tholon, A voice whispered
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: in his brain. No need for that, jet Hawkraves leaped
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: to his feet. He caught startled glances from Ronval and
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Nielsen and knew they had heard and understood too, understood
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: rather there had been nothing for the ears to hear Thulon,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: no need for I understood you without. Thulon smiled. He
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: was taller than the average human and very slender. We
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: are natural telepaths, so there is no need to use
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: your instrument. Huh, natural telepaths. Well, I'm damned damned. I
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: cannot quite grasp the.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Meaning of the word.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Your mind is radiating on an emotional level. Do you
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: wish to indicate surprise? I cannot grasp your thinking. Hargraves choked,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: fought for control of his mind. For a minute, it
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: had run away with him. He brought it to heal.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: What are you doing here, Thulon asked. Hargraves blinked at
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: the directness of the question. They certainly wasted no time
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: heading down to business. We he caught himself, no telling
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: how much they could take directly from his mind. We
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: came from far away. He tried to force his thoughts
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: into narrow channels. We there is no need to be afraid.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: Thulan smiled gently. Or was there wildliness in that smile?
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Was this stranger attempting to lure him into a feeling
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: of false security? I meant, what are you doing? Here,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Thulon continued. His eyes went down to the ground. There
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: was only one shovel on the ground. One shovel was
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: all there had been in the ship. Thulan's glance went
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: to it went on. There were three mounds. The soft
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: mold had dug easily. It had all been padded back
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: into place. On the middle mound, Ronval had finished placing
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: a small cross that he had hastily improvised from the
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: ship's stores. Scratched in the metal was a name hal Sarkov.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: We had an.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Outbreak of Boobob's Hargraves said, that's a disease. Three of
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: our companions died and we landed here to bury them.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: We had just finished doing that when you arrived.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: Died.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Three of you died, and you hid them under these mounds. Yes,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: of course, there was nothing else we could. You are
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: going to leave them here in the ground, certainly, our
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Graves was wondering if this method of disposing of the
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: dead violated some tribal taboo of this people. Different races
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: disposed of their dead in different ways. He did not
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: know the customs of the inhabitants of this world. If
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: we have offended against your customs. We are sorry, No,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: there was no offen. Thulon blanketed his thoughts. Hargrave could
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: almost feel the blanket's slip into place.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: You came in that ship.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Thulon pointed toward the vessel. Yes, it was impossible to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: conceal this fact. Ah Thulon hesitated, seemed to grope through
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: his mind for the exact shade of expression he wished
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: to convey. Hargraves was aware that the stranger's eyes probed
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: through him, measured him. It would interest us to examine
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: the vessel. Would you permit this? Certainly? Hargraves knew that
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Red Nielsen jerked, startled eyes toward him. Jed Nielsen spoke
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: in protest.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: Shut up.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Hargraves snapped his body and his mind was a mass
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: of tightly wound springs, but his was calm and his
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: voice was suave. He turned to Thulon. I will be
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: happy to take you through our ship. However, I do
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: not recommend it. No, it might be dangerous for you
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: and your companions. We have had three cases of boobos,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: resulting in three deaths. All of us have had shots
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: of immunization serum, and we hope we will have no
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: more cases. However, the germs are unquestionably present in the
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: atmosphere of the ship. Since you probably have no immunity
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: to the disease, to breed the tanked air would almost
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: certainly result in an attack. This disease is fatal in
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: nine out of ten cases. I therefore suggest you do
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: not enter the ship. In fact, our Graves concluded, I
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: was about to say that it might not be wise
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: for you and your companions even to come near us,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: because of the possibility that you might contract the disease.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: Had he gotten the story over, it was it convincing.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ronval
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: glance at him. When he had said their companions had
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: died of Bubeau's Ronval had looked as if he thought
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: he was out.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: Of his mind.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Now Ronval understood, good going, Jed. His glance seemed to say, Hargraves,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: this was Nielsen speaking. His face was black. I suggest,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: said Jed casually, that you let me handle this. Neielson gulped, Yes, yes, sir,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: he said. Thulon's companions had been paying attention to the conversation,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: but all the time they were stealing glances at the
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: ship with half their minds. They seemed to be listening
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: to what was being said, but the other half of
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: their minds was interested in that silent ship hidden under
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: the trees. Were they merely curious, such as any savage
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: might be, or was this group making a reconnaissance Hargraves
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: did not know. It did not look like a reconnaissance
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: in force. Do you really think we might contract this disease,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Dulon asked. Hargreaves shrugged.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: I am not certain you might not.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: It would all depend on the way your bodies reacted
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: to the organism causing the disease. Under such circumstances, you
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: show little consideration for our welfare by bringing a plague
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: ship to land here.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: We didn't know you existed.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: I assure you, however, that if you will remain away
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: from the ship until we have an opportunity to disinfect
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: it thoroughly, any danger to your people will be very slight.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, if you wish to look our
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: vessel over to assure yourselves that we are not a
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: menace to you, which we are not, I he shall
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: be glad to take you through the ship. Was he
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: drawing it too fine? He spoke clearly and forcibly. The words,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: of course, would carry no meaning, but the thought that
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: went along with them would convey what he wanted to say.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: Ah, the thought came from Thulon.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Perhaps again the blanket came over his mind, and Hargraves
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: had the impression Thulon was conferring with his companions. The
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: silent conference ended. Perhaps Thulon said it would be better
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: if we returned to visit you tomorrow or the day
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: after tomorrow. He bowed without another word. He and his
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: silent companions turned and began to walk slowly away. Not
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: until he saw the little group slipping away into the
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: dusk did Jed realize he had been holding his breath.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: Hargraves Nielsen's voice was harsh.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: Are you going to let them get away? You fool?
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: That sphere came from this world? Have you forgotten? I
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: have forgotten nothing, I hope. But you offered to take
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: them through the ship, they would have seen how badly
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: damaged she is. Of course I offered to take them
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: through the ship. Then made it impossible for them to accept.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: We can't stick up no trespassing signs here. This is
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: their world. We don't know a damned thing about it
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: or about them. We can't run, and we don't want
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: to fight if we can help it. Furthermore, Nielsen, I
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: want you to learn to control your tongue. Remember that
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: in the future. Will you for a second? Nielson glared
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: at him, Yes, sir, all right, go on back to
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: the ship. Nielsen went clumping back toward the vessel. Hargraves
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: turned to ron Val. What do you make of it?
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know, Jed. There is something about it that
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: I don't like a little bit. They can read minds.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Maybe that is what I don't like, because I don't
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: know how to react to it, Jed. It may be
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: that we are in great danger here. There is little
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: doubt about that, Hargraves answered. Tonight we will stand watches.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: Tomorrow we will make a reconnaissance of our own. Dusk
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: came over the grove. Vega hesitated on the horizon as
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: though trying to make up its mind, then abruptly took
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: the plunge and dived from sight beyond the rim of
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: the world. Night came abruptly, hiding the ship and its
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: occupants In the sky. Overhead, stars twinkled like the eyes
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: of watchful wolves. End of chapter three Chapter four of
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: the Planet of the Gods by Robert Moore Williams. This
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four The Monster.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: They blacked out the ship before they moved it, carefully
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: covering each port with paper, then showing no lights. Her
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Graves handled the controls himself, slowly turning current into the
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: drivers so their grunting would not reveal what was happening.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Are we going to take our up high for tonight? Usher,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: the archaeologist asked, She will fly all right, as long
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: as we stay in the atmosphere.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: We would be safer up high.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: It seems to me safer from ground attack, yes, Hargraves
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: said thoughtfully. However, I'm afraid we would be more exposed
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: to attack from a ship. Oh that damn sphere, I
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: had forgotten about it. Hargraves moved the ship less than
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: a mile, carefully hit her among the trees. Then he
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: posted guards outside all the ports. He took the first
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: to watch himself in the control room. Ron Val was
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: waiting for him there. The astro navigator's face was grave.
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: Jed.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: He said, I've been talking to several of the fellows.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: They don't believe you are taking a sufficiently realistic view
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: of our situation. They don't believe you are facing the facts.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Uh what facts have I been evating? You apparently don't
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: realize that it will take months, if it can be
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: done at all, to repair the damage to the ship.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Hargraves settled deep into his chair. He looked at the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: astro navigator ron Val. Wasn't angry, nor was he mutinous.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: He wasn't challenging authority. He was just scared. Ron he said,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: according to the agreement under which we sailed, anytime the
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: majority of the members of this expedition wants a new captain,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: they can have him. It isn't that I know you
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: fellows are scared. Hell's bells man? What do you think
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: I am? Ron VAL's eyes popped open, jet are you?
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: You don't show it? You don't seem even to appreciate
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: the spot we're in. Hard Graves slowly lipped a cigarette.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: The fingers holding the tiny lighter did not shake. If
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: I had been the type to show it, do you
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: think I would have been selected to head this expedition?
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: No?
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: But because I haven't made an official announcement that we
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: may not be able to repair the ship. You seem
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: to think I don't realize the fact. I know, oh
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: how big a hole has been ripped in our hull.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: I know the ship is made of Magnus steel, the toughest, hardest,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: most beautiful metal yet invented. I know the odds are
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: we can't repair the hole in the hull. We don't
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: have the metal, we don't have the tools to work it.
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: I know these things.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: When I didn't call it to your attention, I assumed
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: it was equally obvious to everyone else that we may
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: never leave this planet, Jaed, Never leave this planet, never
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: go home. It can't be right, see said Hargraves. When
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: you get the truth flung in your face, even you
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: crack wide open.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's the truth. The fact you fellows.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: Think I'm not facing, the one you don't dare face,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: is that we may be marooned here for the rest
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: of our lives. That was that ron Val went aft.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Hargraves took up his vigil on the bridge. At midnight,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: Ronval came forward to relieve him. I told him what
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: you said, Jed. The astro navigator said, we're back of
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: you one hundred percent. Her Graves grinned a little thanks,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: he said. We were selected to work together as a unit.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: As long as we remain a unit, we will have
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: a chance against any enemy. Dog Tired, he went to
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: his bunk and rolled in. It seemed to him he
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: had barely closed his eyes before a hand grabbed him
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: by the shoulder and a shaken voice shouted in his ear. Jed,
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: wake up, who is it?
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: What's wrong?
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: The room was dark and he couldn't see who was
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: shaking him. Ron Val, the astro Navigator's voice was hoarse
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: with the maddest, wildest fright Hargraves had ever heard. The
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: the damnedest thing has happened? What hal Sarkov? That was
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: as far as ron Val could get.
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: What about him?
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: He's outside trying to get in. Have you gone insane?
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Sarkov is dead? You help me bury him? I know it, Jed,
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: he's outside. He once in, Hargraves had gone to bed
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: without removing his shoes. He ran forward to the control room,
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: ron Val pounding behind him. Lights had been turned on
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: there in defiance of orders. Someone had summoned the crew.
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: They were all there, all eighteen who remained alive. The
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: inner door of the lock was open. A dazed guard
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: who had been on watch outside the lock, was standing
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: in the door. He had a pistol in his hand,
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: but he looked as if he didn't know what to
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: do with it. In the center of a group of men,
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: and too frightened to move, was a black haired, rugged
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: giant Sarkoff. Hargraves gasped. The giant's head turned until his
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: gaze was centered on the captain. You moved the ship,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: he said, accusingly. I had the damned desk time finding
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: it in the dark. What did you move the ship for?
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: It? Jed.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: If some supermagician had cast a spell over the little group,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: he could not have produced a more complete stasis. No
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: one moved, no one seemed to breathe. All motion, all action,
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: all thinking has stopped. Sarkoff's face went from face to face.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: What the heck is the matter with you, guys, he demanded,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: Am I poison or something? He seemed bewildered.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: Where where are the others?
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: Ron Val stammered, what what the heck are you talking about?
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Ron Nevins and Reese. We buried them with you? Where
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: are they? How the hell do I you bury them
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: with me? Sarkoff's face went from bewilderment to inexplicable good nature.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: Trying to pull my leg.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: Huh, Okay, I can go along with the gag, he
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: looked again at Hargraves. But I can't go along with
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: that gag of moving the ship after you sent me
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: out scouting. Why didn't you wait for me wandering around
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: among all those trees. I might have got lost and
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: got myself killed.
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: Why did you do that? Jed?
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: He finished angrily. We were afraid of an attack, Hargraves
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: choked out. Sorry, hell, but we we had to move
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: the ship. We would have hunted you up tomorrow. Sarkov
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: was not a man who was ever long angry about anything.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: The apology satisfied him. He grinned, okay, jed, forget it, jeepers,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: I'm so hungry, I could.
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: Eat a cow.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: How about a couple of those synthetic stakes we've got
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: in the ice box. His eyes went around the group
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: came to rest on the astro navigator. How about it, Ron,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: How about me and you fixin us up some chow? Sure,
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: said Hargraves. Go on back to the galley and start
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: fixing yourself whatever you want. You go with him, ron
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: I'll handle your job.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: Up here while you're gone.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: Nodding dumbly, Ronval started to follow Sarkov toward the galley.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: One minute, Hargraves called after him, I want to check
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: something with you before you go. Sarkov kept going, Roanval returned,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: take your cues from him. Hargreaves said, you know him
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: better than any one else. Whatever he says, you agree casually,
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: bring up past events and watch his reaction. Your job
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: is to find out if that is really hal Sarkoff,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: the astro navigator, his face white, clumped toward the galley.
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: Hargrave faced a torrent of questions. Jed, we buried him. Jed,
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: he had been in that engine room without air for
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: at least ten minutes before we got there. He can't
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: be alive nowhere, temperature diving toward absolute zero. He was
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: frozen stiff.
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: Jed.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: Before we moved him, We left him where he was,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: and until long after we landed. I know, Hargrave said,
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: there is no doubt about it. I used a stethoscope
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: on him as soon as I could get to it.
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: After we landed. He was dead.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: There wasn't a sign of life. Frightened faces looked at him,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: aught bewildered faces. What did you mean when you told
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: ron Val to find out if that really is Sarkov?
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: Just what I said.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: That may be Sarkov, It may be something that looks
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: like Sarkov, acts like him, talks like him. But isn't
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: he that That's impossible. How do we know what is
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: possible here and what isn't. What are we going to do.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: We're going to act just as we would if that
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: were Sarkov. We're going to pick up our cues from him.
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: You remember, he said he was out scouting. That is
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: his story. We will not question it. We will act
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: as though it were true until we know what is happening. Now,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: everybody back to his post, act as if nothing had happened.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: And for the love of Pete, don't ask.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: Me what is going on. I don't know any more
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: than you do.
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: They didn't want to obey that order. They had just
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: seen a dead man walking, had heard him talking, had
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: spoken to him. There was comfort in just being with
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: each other. Hargraves walked to the bridge waited. Eventually, discipline
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: sent them back to their posts. He kept on waiting.
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: Ronval returned I don't know, Jed, I just don't know.
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: We were at school together. I brought up incidents that
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: happened in school, think that only Hallen and I knew.
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: Jed. He knew them.
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: With the exception of a hooded blue lamp on the bridge,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: all lights had been turned off again. The control room
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: was in darkness. Ron Val was an uneasy shadow talking
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: from dim blackness. Then you think that it is really Sarkoff.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know. But if he remembers things that only
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: hal could know, he remembers things that he can't know.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: Un what things?
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: He asked me?
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: How much progress had been made in repairing the ship?
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: Jed.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: He must have died before he knew the ship had
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: been damaged. Not necessarily, said Hargrave thoughtfully. He might have
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: been conscious for one or two minutes after the beam
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: struck us. He would know that the ship had been damaged.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: What did you tell him?
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: I changed the subject.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: Good for you.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: If he isn't Sarkoff, the one thing he might want
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: to know is whether the ship has been repaired.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: What else? Jed?
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: He remembers everything that happened after the ship was attacked.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: We all most crashed before we got the engine started.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: He remembers that he remembers hiding the ship among the trees.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Hargraves stirred. The keen logic of his mind was being
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: blunted by facts that would not fit into any logical pattern.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: He tried to.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: Think, his mind refused the effort. Dead Men ought not
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: to remember things that happened after they died, but a
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: dead man had remembered for an instant. Panic walked through
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: the captain's mind. Then he got it under control. There
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: was always an answer to every question, a solution to
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: every problem. Or was there he went hunting facts? Does
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: he remember being buried? Even in the darkness he could
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: feel ron Val shiver. No, ron Val said he doesn't remember.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: Just as soon as we landed, he thinks you sent
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: him out to scout the surrounding territory for possible inneres.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: Does he know that we had visitors in his absence? No,
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: or if he does, he didn't mention it and I
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: didn't ask. He says he was returning when he saw
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: the ship being moved. He says he tried to follow,
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: but lost it in the darkness. He said he had
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: the devil's own time finding it again and he's still
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: hot about being left behind.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: Hargraves had to fight the panic in his mind. This
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: much seemed obvious. Sarkoff's memory was accurate until the ship landed.
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: Then it went into fantasy, into error. If one thing
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: was certain, he had not been sent out to scout
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: for enemies. If there was another fact that was immutable,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: he had been buried.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: Where is he.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: Now, Hargraves asked, abruptly, in the bunk, snoring, he ate
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: enough for two men, yawned and said he was sleepy.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: He was sound asleep. Almost as soon as he touched
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: the blankets. Ronval's voice relapsed into silence. The whole ship
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: was silent, jed, what are we going to do? You
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: bunk with him, don't you?
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: Jed, you don't mean, Hargraves cleared his throat. Er, h,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: this is not in order. You don't have to do
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: it if you don't want to. But Sarkov must be watched.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: Are you willing to go back to the room you
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: two share together and get into the upper deck of
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: your bunk, just as if nothing had happened, yes, said
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: ron Val. Somebody must be with him all the time.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: You stay awake when he gets up, you get up.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: Whatever he does, you stay with him. I'll have you
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: relieved as soon as possible. And ron yes, you have
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: something a man could use for courage. Silently, ron Val
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: walked out of the control room. He fumbled his way
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: through the door, and his steps echoed down the corridor
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: that led to the sleeping quarters. Hargraves sat in thought.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: Then he too left the control room. Noble, you're a biochemist.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: You come with me.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: Nielsen, you take over here in the control room in
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: my absence. You are in command. Yes, Sir Neelsen said,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: but what are you going to do? See what is
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: in a grave we dug yesterday, Hargraves answered. End of
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: chapter four, chapter five of Planet of the Gods by
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: Robert Moore Williams. This Liebrevox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: Chapter five. What the Graves revealed. Hargraves carried the shovel.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: He and Noble were armed and very much alert. When
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: you ask me if it is chemically possible for a
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: man or an animal to freeze, die, be buried, then
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: rise again and live, I cannot answer, Noble said, so
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: far as I know, it is not possible. The physical
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: act of freezing will involve tremendous and seemingly irreversible changes
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: in the body cells. Thawing will produce almost immediate bacterial action,
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: which also seems irreversible. All I can say is, if
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: hal Sarkoff is alive, we have seen a miracle that
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: contradicts chemical.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: Laws as we know them.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: And if he is not alive, we face a miracle
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: of duplication. Whatever it is that is sleeping back in
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: that ship, it looks, talks acts like hal Sarkov.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: Even to memory.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: Can you suggest any method by which flesh and bone
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: could be so speedily molded into a living image of
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: a man whom we know died, No, said Noble, bluntly, jed,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: do you realize all the possible implications of this situation?
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: Probably not, Our Graves answered some that I do recognize
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: I exclude from my thoughts. His tone was so harsh
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: that Noble said nothing more. Dawn was already breaking over
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: this vaguin world. The sky in the east was the
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: color of pearl.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 2: In the trees.
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: Over them, creatures that sounded like birds were beginning to chirp.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: They reached the place where they had buried Hal Sarkov
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: and his two companions. The graves were empty. No effort
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: had been made to conceal the fact that the graves
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: had been opened.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: The dirt had.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: Been shoveled out again and had not been shoveled back.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: There were marks in the dirt, the tracks of sandaled feet.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: Thu Laon the three who were with him wore sandals.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: Our graves rasped, They came back here, They opened these graves.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: But what happened after that? Are you suggesting those primitive
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: graybeards resurrected hal Sarkoff. I'm not suggesting anything, because I
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: don't know anything, our graves answered, I am just remembering
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: that Thulan and the three who were with him looked
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: human too. I am also remembering that the sphere which
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: attacked us seemingly was without a crew. Our beams blasted
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: it wide open. It was seemingly filled with machinery nothing else.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: If there were any intelligent creatures in it, they were
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: in no form that we recognize. Come on, our graves
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: started running toward the ship. The ship, badly damaged, as
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: it was, represented their sole hope of survival. Without it,
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: they would be helpless. How Sarkov was with the ship
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: or the thing that was masquerading at Sarkov Thulon had
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: looked human too. Possibly Sarkov and his two dead comrades
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: had been removed from their graves in order to make
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: possible a perfect duplication of their bodies, the probing of
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: self structure, both body and brain. Perhaps the things that
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: lurked here on this world could read memories from dead minds.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: That might be the explanation of Sarkov's memory. The important
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: fact was that Sarkov's body was not in its grave,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: where so much was unknown. This was one indisputable fact.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: The thing that was on the ship must be placed
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: not only under heavy guard, but in a cave from
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: which escape was impossible. Then an examination could begin. There
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: was evil on this world. The trees, the vegetation, the
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: ground under his racing feet was evil. In his calmer moments,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: Jethar Graves would have said that evil was another word
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: for danger, and he wasn't calm now. The panic he
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: had been rigidly excluding from his mind had burst the
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: dam he had built before it. He could feel danger
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: in the air. It was in the dawn, in the
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: light of the sky.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: It was everywhere.
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: He and his companions were aliens on this world, and
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: the planet was striking at them, striving to eliminate them,
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: contriving to destroy them. He heard it before he saw it.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: Something was grunting in the air above the tops of
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: the tree.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: Something was grunting. He needed seconds to recognize the sound.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: Then he recognized it and jerked himself to a halt,
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: his eyes wildly probing upward, he saw it.
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: The ship.
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: The grunting roar had come from the crew check drivers
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: fighting the gravity of the planet. The ship had taken
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: off without them. Had Nielson gone mad? Had he seen
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: danger approaching and jumped the ship into the sky to
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: escape it? Wait, Nielsen pick us up. The ship flew on,
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: gaining speed.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: It passed over their heads.
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: They caught another glimpse of it as it passed over
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: and opening in the branches of the trees. Then it
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: was gone, the throb of the driver's dying quickly away.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: Nielsen will come back for us.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: Noble's voice, usually poured and assured, was garbled. He'll return
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: and pick us up. He won't leave us here. He
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: had some reason for taking off. Hargraves heard himself saying
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: he'll come back. He has to subconsciously, he knew that this,
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: at the very best was wishful thinking. The ship had
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: no more than vanished until another sound came to their ears,
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: that of men shouting. A group came into sight among
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: the trees, following along the ground the course the ship
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: had taken through the air. There are fellows, Hargraves heard.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: Noble gasp. What happened? The captain demanded as the group approached.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: Nielsen was in the lead. There was the bruise on
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: his cheek, and his right eye was already beginning to
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: turn black. I'll tell you what happened, he said savagely.
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: Sarkoff and ron Val took over the ship. That's what happened, Ronval,
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: That's what I said. Ron Val was helping him. They
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: pulled guns. Before we knew what was happening. They had
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: hearded us together and were shoving us outside. I tried
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: to stop it, and Sarkov took a poke at me.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: It wasn't really Sarkoff, then, Noble whispered, any damn fool
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: would have known that. Nielsen answered, he spoke to the biochemist,
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: but his eyes were on Hargraves. I'm going to repeat that,
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: So there won't be any misunderstanding of my meaning. Any
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: damned fool would have known that a dead man doesn't
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: get up out of his grave and come to life again,
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: except you, Hargraves. You always were a sucker for fairy stories.
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: Jed Hargraves winced. With every word that was spoken, they
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: kept on coming. You ought to have known that thing
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't hal Sarkoff. Any man in his right senses would
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: have known it instantly. Any man fit to command would
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: have taken measures to meet the situation, either by destroying
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: that thing or locking it up. But you were running things, Hargraves.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: You were in charge, and you had to sit back
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: and think before you would act. You had to make
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: sure you were right before you went ahead. Your negligence, Hargraves,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: cost us our only chance of ever returning home. Nielsen's
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: voice was harsh with anger, and Hargraves recognized the bitter truth.
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: Every word Nielson uttered was correct. Whatever the thing was
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: that had come to the ship, he should have recognized
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: it as a source of danger. He had so recognized it,
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: but he had not acted. I shut up, Nielsen snapped,
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: According to our agreement, any time you are shown to
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: be unfit to command.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 2: You may be removed.
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: By a vote of the majority. There is no question
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: but that you have shown yourself unfit to be in
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: charge of this expedition. No time was wasted in reaching
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: a decision to Nielsen's question as to whether Hargraves should
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: be removed from command. There was a chorus of eyes. No,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: said one voice.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 2: It was usher.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: The archaeologist, state your objection, Nielsen rasped, the old one
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: about changing horses in midstream. The archaeologist answered, also the
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: old one about not jumping to conclusions before all the
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: evidence is in. What evidence isn't in? We don't know
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: why Ronval joined Sarkoff. The archaeologist answered, what difference does
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: that make. We don't even know that Ronval was still himself.
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: The thing that looked like ron Thal might have been
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: another monstrosity like Sarkoff. So it might, the archaeologist shrugged. Anyhow,
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: my vote is not important. I'm just putting it in
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the record, if there ever is
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: a record. I would also like to mention that if
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: we ever need discipline and unity, now is the time
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: we will have discipline. I promise you. Nielson said, Hargraves,
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: you are removed from command. Understand, yes, said Hargraves steadily.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: Only one ballot was needed to put Nielsen in charge.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: All right, said Usher to the new captain. You're the
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: boss now, we're all behind you. What are you going
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: to do do I? Nielsen looked startled. He glanced at Hargraves.
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: The former captain sighed it was easy enough to elect
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: a new leader.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 2: Vehemently.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: He wished that all problems could be solved so easily.
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: I suggest, he said, And this is only a suggestion,
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: that we attempt to find the ship, and if possible,
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: to regain possession of her.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 2: She is the only tool we have to work with.
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: That is exactly what I was going to say, Neilson said,
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: emphatically find the ship. To give him credit, He set
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: about the job in a workmanlike manner, sending two scouts
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: ahead of the main group, throwing out a scout on
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: each flank. The only way they could hope to find
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: the ship was by following the course it had taken
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: through the air. Since Sarkoff, in taking over the vessel,
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: had not disarmed them. Each possessed a vibration pistol. In
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: a fight against ordinary enemies, they would be able to
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: give a good account of themselves. But would any enemy
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: they meet likely be ordinary? Hartgraves drew usher aside. I
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: would like to talk to you, he said, What actually
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: happened when the ship was taken? I don't know, jed
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: The archaeologist ruefully answered. I was in my cabin. The
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: first thing I knew, I heard a hell of a
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: hullabaloo going on up in the control room. I dashed
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: up there to see what was going on. What was happening? Nielsen,
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: Rodney Turner, and a couple of others were there, so
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: were well. They looked like Sarkoff and ron Val. Nielsen
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: was getting up off the floor.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: Sarkoff and ron Val.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: Had both drawn their guns and were covering the group.
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: When I came charging in. Sarkoff covered me before I
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: could recover from my surprise. He and ron Val had
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: kicked every one of us out of the ship. Then
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: they took off. The archaeologist shook his shaggy head. Ron
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: Val was helping, no question about it, which means, of
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: course that he was either under some subtle form of
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: hypnosis or it wasn't ron Val. I would bet my
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: life on his loyalty. So would I said Hargraves, and
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: the memory came back of how thrilled Ronval had been
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: at the prospect of landing on this world. It would
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: mean a lot to find people here. We could exchange experiences,
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: learn a lot, ron Val had said, his face glowing
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: at the thought. All the others had felt the same way.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: The Third Interstellar Expedition had no military ambitions. It was
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: not bent on conquest. The Solar System had outgrown military expeditions.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: War and the thought of war, and cruisers went out
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: from it. Not to fight, but to learn. Knowledge was
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: the thing they sought, all knowledge so the human race
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: could determine its place in the cosmos, could know the
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: history of all things pasted, could possibly forecast the shape
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: of things to come. The landing of the Third Interstellar
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: Expedition on this vagan world had been a part of
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: a vast evolution, a march that, starting on Earth so
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: long ago that all history of it was forever lost,
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: was now reaching out across the cosmos, a new evolution.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: Ron Val had always been talking about this new evolution.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: It was one of his favorite subjects. What do you
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: make of this world? Hargrave asked abruptly. The only sign
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: of civilization we have seen is this vast grove. No cities,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: no industrial plants, no evidence of progress. Yet the spherical
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: ship that attacked us certainly indicates a highly mechanical civilization.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: Of course, there may be cities here that we haven't seen.
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: But as we landed, we saw a large land area.
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: No roads were visible, no canals, not even any cultivated fields.
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: What does all this mean to you as an archaeologist, nothing,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: Usher answered promptly. I would say this country is a wilderness,
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: but the trees planted in regular rows. To prove this
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: on earth, at least centuries would be required for trees
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: as large as these to grow. Forestry planted centuries in
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: advance can only come from a high and stable culture. However,
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: as you say, all other signs of this high culture
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: are absent. No cities, no transportation facilities, apparently damned few inhabitants.
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: We have seen only four. All civilizations with which we
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: are familiar move through recognized stages. First the nomadic stage,
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: which involves tending flocks and herds. Then comes the tilling
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: of the soil, in which farming is the principal occupation
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: of most of the people. After that, with industrialization, we
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: have cities develop. If there is another stage, we have
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: not reached it on Earth. Do you think they might
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: have reached the final stage here, Hargrave questioned, I don't
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: know what the final stage may be. The archaeologist answered, also,
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: and this is more important. I can't begin to guess
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: at the real nature of the inhabitants of this world
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: Until I know their real nature, what they look like,
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: what they eat, where they sleep, what they think. I
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: can't even guess intelligently about them. However, Usher broke off
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: with a rye grin all these philosophical observations are of
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: no importance, while our own necks are threatened with the acts.
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: Vega was straight overhead when they found the ship. One
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: of the advanced scouts came hurrying back with the information
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: she is lying in a little meadow beside the lake.
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: The scout reported, they're doing something to her. I can't
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: tell what, but the trees extend to within fifty yards
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: of her. We can approach that near without being seen.
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five, chapter six of Planet of the
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: Gods by Robert Moore Williams. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: the public Domain, Chapter six, The capture of the ship.
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: Nielsen made his dispositions with care. The ship lay in
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: a little meadow where the trees bent inward from the
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: blue water of the lake to form a cove. Her
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: nose was pointed toward the water, and her tail was
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: almost in the trees. Nielsen sent three men on a
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: wide circuit. They were to attack from the farther side.
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: It was to be a feint. While the three men
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: drew attention to them, the main body was to charge.
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: We have every chance of succeeding, Nielsen said, And if
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: we do gain the ship again this time, we won't
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: stay here. Vega has at least two planets. The ship
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: will fly to the other one without repairs.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 2: You should have.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: Thought of that, Hargraves. There are a lot of things
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: I should have thought of and didn't. Hargraves answered, there
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: was no animosity in his tone. What I would like
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: to know is what they are doing there beside the ship.
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: Thulon and his three companions were visible beside the vessel.
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: They were busily engaged in setting up a device of
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: some kind. Others of their species had joined them, until
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: there were possibly thirty or forty present through the gaping
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: hold in the hull. Still others could be seen peering
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: out what they were were doing. Hargraves could not discern odd,
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: said Usher beside him, what is it is odd that
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: they should still.
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 2: Seem to be human?
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: In form The archaeologist answered, Ah, perhaps there is the
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: reason both locks were open. The thing that looked like
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: hal Sarkov had just emerged from the nearest one. He
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: went directly to the main group. They were erecting something
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: that looked like a tripod. Several were carrying pieces of
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: metal from the ship, which they were fastening together to
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: form the legs of the tripod. At the apex of
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: the tripod, something that looked like a box was coming
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: into existence. They are completely unarmed, Hargraves heard Nielsen say,
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: there isn't a weapon in the whole damn bunch. We'll
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: blast them senseless before they even know their being attacked
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: if they don't succeed in manning the negatron. Usher pointed out,
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: they don't know how to operate the negatron, don't they?
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: I might mention that they seemed to know everything that
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: Sarkoff knew, and how certainly knew how that megatron operated,
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: he could take it apart and put it back together blindfolded.
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: That's so, Nielsen admitted. For a second, Unease showed on
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: his lean face.
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 2: Well, that only means.
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: We'll have to lick them before they can get that
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: negatron into operation. One thing is certain, we have to
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: have the ship. You're right on that score, Usher grimly said.
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: Seconds ticked away into minutes. The group busy about the
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: ship had no intimation they were about to be attacked.
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: They were careless to the point of foolhardiness. No sentries
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: had been posted, no effort had been made to hide
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: the vessel. What are they really, Hargraves thought. He wondered
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: if there were some strange form of water dwelling life
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: that lived in the lakes of this planet, Perhaps that
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: was what they were. Perhaps the transition from the fish
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: to the mammal had never been made on this planet,
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: the fish form developing keen intelligence. Certainly there was intelligence
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: on this world, but it seemed to be an intelligence
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: humans could not comprehend. The signal for the attacks sounded.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: Fierce shouts came from the other side of the ship.
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: The shouters were hidden, but there was no mistaking the
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: sounds they came from human throats. Give them how boys
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: tear them to pieces. The harsh throbbing of vibration pistols
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: split the quiet air steady. Nielsen said, wait until they
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: go to see what's happening. The group busy around the
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: ship raised startled faces from theirs. They seemed to listen.
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: Then they turned and ran around the bow of the vessel.
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: Come on, cried Nielsen, leaping from concealment. There wasn't a
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: person left in sight to oppose them. Fifty yards to cross,
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: fifty yards to the ship, fifty yards to a fighting
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: chance for life. Under their racing feet, the soft turf
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: was soundless. Twenty five yards to go, now ten yards,
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: ten feet to the open lock. Fulon appeared in the lock.
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: He looked in surprise at the charging men. Except for
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: the rough staff that he carried, he was weaponless. Nielsen
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: didn't give the command to fire, didn't need to give it.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: Every vibration pistol had been drawn long before the men
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: leaped from cover. Every pistol came up at the same instant,
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: every index finger squeezed a trigger. Only Thulon stood between
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: them and a fighting chance for life. They came of
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: warrior races. These men no bugles urged them on. They
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: needed no bugles. A howling vortex of radiation smashed at
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: the figure in the lock. One vibration pistol could destroy
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: a man, smash him to bloody bits. More than a
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: dozen pistols were centered on the figure standing before them.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: Thulon stood unharmed, staff in front of him. He stood
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: facing the fingers of hell reaching for him. The flaming
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: fingers grasped and did not touch him. The shooting stopped
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: as abruptly as it began. The charge stopped. Hargraves saw
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: Nielsen staring dazedly from the figure to the lock, to
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: the pistol in his hand, as if the two were irreconcilable.
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: The pistol ought to have destroyed the l lawn, it
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: hadn't destroyed him. For a mad moment, Hargraves felt sorry
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: for the new captain. He too, had run headlong into
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: a logical impossibility. All sounds were suddenly stilled, all shouting stopped,
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: all noises died away. Around the bow of the ship,
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: hal Sarkoff came running. He saw the group and looked bewildered. Hey,
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: how did you guys, get here, blast him, Nielsen said,
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: centering his pistol on his new target. From the staff
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: in Thulong's hand came a soft tinkle, a bell like sound.
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: Nothing seemed to happen, but Nielsen staggered as if he
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: had been hit a sharp blow. The pistol flew out
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: of his hand and landed twenty feet away. Listen, you, apes,
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: Sarkoff shouted at the top of his voice. I'm Hal Sarkoff.
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: I've always been How Sarkoff. I'll never be anybody else.
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: But How Sarkoff.
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 2: Do you get it? They didn't get it.
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: If you, Nielsen whispered, If you are really Sarkoff, then
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: who what is he? He pointed toward Thulon, still standing
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: in the lock him. The grin on the craggy face
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: belonged to Hal Sarkoff and to no one else. Meet
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: a god, he said, a god that was Usher Speaking now,
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: his voice a tense whisper, Sarkoff continued, grinning. Well he
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: resurrected me when I was deader than hell. I guess
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: that makes him a god. You you know you were dead? Yep,
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: at least I guess I know it. The last thing
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: I remember is trying to get back to the control
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: panel when we got that knocked in the ship so
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: I could cut the driver's back in. After that, everything
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: gets kind of hazy. The next thing I remember is
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: my pal here, he gestured toward Thulon and a lot
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: of his buddies chirping like sparrows while they worked over me.
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: And believe me, they were working me over plenty. I
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: felt like I was being turned inside out, rung out,
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: hung out to dry, and then stuffed.
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 2: All over again. But when you came.
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: Back to the ship, Hargraves spoke, You said you remembered
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: everything that had happened. The crash of the ship are
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: hiding her if you were dead. How did you learn
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: these things? He told me, Sarkoff answered, nodding toward Thulon.
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 2: He filled out my.
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: Memory for me with dope he had taken from your
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: mind while you were talking. Reading minds is one of
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: that old boy's minor accomplishments. Then why didn't you tell
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: us the truth? Hargraves exploded. You said you had been
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: sent out scouting. Why didn't you tell us what had
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: really happened? Mentally, he added, if it happened because you
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: apes wouldn't have believed me, Sarkoff answered, to your knowledge,
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: mine too. Until it happened. Dead men don't get up
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: out of their graves and walk. If I had told
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: you the truth, you wouldn't have believed a.
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 2: Word of it.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: If I told you something you knew wasn't true, that
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: you had sent me out on a scouting trip.
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 2: You would know I was lying.
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: You would figure it was a trick of some kind,
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: and you would wait around and try to discover the trick.
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: While you were waiting around trying to catch me, I
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: could get in some missionary work on ron Val. I
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: knew I could convert him if I had a chance
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: to talk to him. With him on my side, we
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: could convince the rest of you.
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 2: It would have worked too.
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: All it needed was a little time for you boys
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: to get used to the idea of a dead man
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: coming to life. He looked at Nielsen. Remind me to
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: black that other eye of yours one of these days,
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: what said Hargraves, what's this our pal?
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 2: Nielsen?
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: Sarkoff said, if you think before you act, he acts
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: before he thinks. You had no sooner gone chasing off
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: to see if I was really where you had buried me,
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: which was what I thought you would do, until Nielsen
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: comes poking into where ron Val and I were holding
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: a conference. Nielsen had a gun.
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 2: He had it out ready to use.
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: He figured the only safe thing to do was to
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: shoot me, so Sarkoff shrugged. I had to smack him.
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: He had forced my hand. There was a slight stir
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: among the group. This was news to all of them.
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: Is it true? Hargraves said, yes, said Nielsen defiantly, And
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: I was right. I should have killed him. He isn't,
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: Halse Sarkoff. He isn't telling the truth by coming back
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: to life. Sarkoff is dead. Sarkoff glanced up at Thulon,
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: who was still standing in the lock, looking down at
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: the men before him. There was a ghost of a
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: smile on his face. See, said Sarkoff, addressing Thulon, I
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: told you we couldn't tell these boys anything. They have
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: to see, they have to feel, they have to be shown. Well,
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: the thought came from Thulon to everyone. Why don't you
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: show them? Okay, Sarkoff answered Nevins. He shouted, Reese come
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: out of that ship. Nevins and Reese were the two
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: engineers who had died with Sarkov. Thulon moved a little
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: to one side. Nevins and Reese came out of the ship.
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 2: They were grinning.
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: Feel us, Sarkoff shouted, pinch us. Caught off a slice
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: of skin and examine it under a microscope, make blood
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: t tests, use X rays, do whatever you damned please.
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: He shoved a brawny arm under Nielsen's nose. Here, pinch
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: this and see if you think it's real. Nielsen shrank away.
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: Nevins and Reese passed among the men, offering themselves in evidence.
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: Startled voices call softly in answer to other startled voices,
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: They're real, This is no lie.
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 2: This is the truth.
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: I've known this man for years. This is Eddie Nevins,
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: and this is Sam Reys. Hargraves heard the voices, saw
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: the conclusion they were reaching. One moment, he said, the
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: voices went into silence. Eyes turned questioningly to him. Even
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: if these men are really Hal Sarkoff and Eddie Nevins
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: and Sam Reice, if they are the companions we knew
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: as dead who have miraculously been returned to us, there
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: are still facts that do not fit into a logical pattern.
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: Even here on this world.
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 2: The laws of logic must hold true.
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: Silence fell. Men looked at him and at each other.
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: Where there had been wonder on their faces, new doubts
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: were appearing. What facts, Jed Sarkov questioned, the sphere that
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: attacked us, that attempted to destroy us without warning. This
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: is a fact that does not fit the sphere. Uncertainty
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: showed on Sarkov's face. Then he grinned again and turned
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: to Thulon. You tell him about that sphere. Gladly, Thulan's
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: thoughts came. As you know, Vega has two planets. Long ago,
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: we were at war with the inhabitants of this other planet.
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: Part of our defenses around our own planet were floating fortresses.
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: The war is done, but we have left guards in
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: the sky to protect us if we are attacked. The
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: sphear that attacked you was one of our automatic forts
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: which we left in the sky. Ah, said Hargraves. The
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: cold logic of his mind sought a pattern that would
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: include fortresses in the sky, presuming war between two planets.
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: Such fortresses were logical, but the construction of such a
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: sphere indicates vast technical knowledge, tremendous workshops. I have seen
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: no laboratories in no industrial centers that could produce such
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: a fortress. I have moreover, seen no civilization that will
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: serve as a background for such construction. He waited for
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: an answer. Usher, the archaeologist, looked suddenly at him, then
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: looked at Thulon. The fortresses were built long ago, Thulon said,
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: in those past millenniums we had industrial centers.
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 2: We no longer need them, and we no longer have them.
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: Then there is another stage, the archaeologist gasped. You are
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: past the city stage in your evolutionary process. You are
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: beyond the metal age. What Usher eagerly asked, what comes
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: after that? We are beyond the age of cities. Thulon answered,
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: The next, but possibly not final, stage is our return
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: to nature.
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 2: We live in the groves and.
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: The fields, beside the lakes, under the trees. We need
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: no protection from the elements because we are in unison
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: with them. There are no enemies on this world, no dangers,
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: almost no death. In your thinking, you can only describe
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: us as gods. Our activities are almost entirely mental. Our
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: only concession of materialism is this.
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 2: He lifted the.
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: Staff when you fired at me. This staff can so
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: your beams. It would have canceled them if they had
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: been a thousand times stronger. When one of you attempted
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: to destroy Sarkov, force went out from this staff, knocking
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: the weapon from his hand. There are certain powers leashed
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: within this staff, certain arrangements of crystals that are very
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: nearly ultimate matter. Through this staff, my will is worked.
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: Some day, he smiled, we will even be able to
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: discard this staff. That is the goal of our evolution.
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: The thoughts went into soft silence, and Thulon looked down
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: at them. Does that satisfy you? His eyes went among
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: the group came to rest on Hargraves. No, I see
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: it does not. There is still one fact that you
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: cannot fit into your pattern. Yes, said Hargraves. If all
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: that you have told us is it's true, why was
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: the ship stolen? Everything has to fit for you. Sarkov answered, well,
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: that's why you are our leader. I can answer this question.
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: I took the ship so I could.
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 2: Have it repaired.
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: Then when I brought it back to you fit to
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: fly again, all of us would have evidence that we
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: could not deny. You might doubt my identity, you might
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: doubt me, but you would not doubt a ship that
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: had been repaired. Thulon Sarkov ended, will you do your stuff?
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: Standing a little apart from the rest, Hargrave watched Thulon
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: and his comrades brought metal from the vessel. How they
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: used the tripod he could not see, but in some
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: way they seemed to use it to melt the metal.
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: This was magnus steel. They worked it as if it
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: were pure ten. It didn't seem to be hot, but
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: they spread sheets of it over the gape hold in
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: the hull. They closed the hole. He knew the ship
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: had been repaired, but still he did not move. On
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: the ground before him was something that looked like an
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: ant hill. He watched this, his mind reaching out and
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: grasping a bigger problem. The ants he could see were swarming.
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: Nielsen detached himself from the group at the ship and
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: came to him.
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 2: Jed.
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: He said, hesitatingly, what, Jed? What hell set about me?
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: Attacking him?
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 2: Was right? I thought?
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: I thought he wasn't Sarkoff. I thought I was doing
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: what was right. I don't doubt you, Hargraves answered, His
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: mind was not on what Nielsen was saying.
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 2: Jed, huh Jed, I what is it? Jed? Will you
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 2: take over command again?
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: The words came fast, I huh, take over command?
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 2: Don't you like the job?
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: Nielsen shivered, No, I'm not ready for it yet.
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 2: Jed. Will you take it over? Please? Huh? Oh sure?
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: If that is what the fellows want, they wanted, so
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: do I okay. Then Hargraves was scarcely aware that Nielsen
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: had left, nor did he notice ron Val approaching.
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 2: Jed.
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: Huh, Jed, I've been talking to Thulan. The astro navigator's
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: voice was trembling with excitement. Jed, do you know that
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: Thulon and his people belonged to our race?
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 2: What?
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: The startled captain gasped, Oh damn it, ron Val, you're
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: dreaming again. It would be a wonderful dream come true.
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: Hargraves knew if it was true, the human race had
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: keen folks in the universe. Man did not stand alone.
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: There was something breathtaking in the very thought of it.
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: Thulon says the tests he ran on how Sarkov proved it?
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 2: He says, His people.
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: Sent out exploring expeditions long ago, just like we are doing.
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: Only the groups they sent out were more colonists than explorers.
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: He says, one of these groups landed on Earth, and
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: that we are the descendants of that group. Sons of
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: colonists come back to the mother world after uncounted centuries
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: of absence. Ron Val was babbling. The words were tumbling
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: over each other on his lips. Oh well, ron Val,
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: it doesn't fit chet Hargraves said, we can trace our
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: evolutionary chain back to the fish and the seas.
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 2: Sure, ron Val interrupted, But.
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: We don't know that those fish came from the seas
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: of Earth. Huh, Hargraves gasped, well, I'll be damned. I
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: never thought of that possibility. He looked at the lakes
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: dance in the vagan sunshine. From these lakes, from the
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: seas had come the original fish like creatures that eventually
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: became human in form. The thought was startling. The colonists
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: landed on Earth thousands of years ago, ron Val said.
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: Maybe they smashed their ship in landing, had to learn
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: to live off the country. Maybe they forgot who they
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: were in time. Jed, we have legends that we are
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 1: the children of God. Maybe, oh, Jeddulon.
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 2: Says, it's true.
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: Cargrave hesitated, torn between doubt and longing. He looked down
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: on the ground in front of him. The ants were
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: still swarming. Hundreds of them were coming from the ant
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: hill and were flying off. There were thousands of them. Eventually,
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: in the recesses of this vast grove there would be
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: new colonies which would sw warm in their turn. He
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: watched them flying away. The air was bright with the
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: glint of their wings.
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 2: He looked up.
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: Thulon was coming toward them. Thulon was smiling. Welcome home,
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: his voice whispered in their minds, Welcome home. Hargraves began
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: to smile. End of chapter six end of Planet of
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: the Gods by Robert Moore Williams. This book recorded by
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: Phil Schinevert Baton, Rouge, Louisiana, two thousand sixteen.