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Conquest Over Time-Michael Shaara · Science Fiction Book Collection

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Section one of Conquest over Time. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Conquest
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: over Time by Michael Shara. Section one. When the radiogram
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: came in, it was ten twenty eight ships time, and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Old twenty nine was exactly three point four light years
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: away from diamed three. Travis threw her wide open and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: hope for the best. By four to ten that same afternoon,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: minus three burned out generators in fronting a warped iron screen,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Old twenty nine touched the atmosphere and began homing down.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: It was a very tense moment. Somewhere down in that
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: great blue disc below, a mapping command ship sat in
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: an other open field, sending up the beam which was
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: guiding them down. But it was not the mapping command
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: that was important. The mapping command was always first. What
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: mattered now was to come in second, any kind of second,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: close or wide mile or eyelash, But second, come hell
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: or high water. The clouds peeled away, Travis, staring anxiously down,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: could see nothing but mist in heavy cloud. He could
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: not help sniffing the air and groaning inwardly. There is
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: no smell quite as expensive as that of burned generators.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: He could hear the.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Old man repeating over and over again, as if all
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: space was not one of the richest companies in existence.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Burned generator's boy is burned money. And don't you forget it?
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Fet chance me forgetting it, Travis thought, gloomily, twitching his nostrils.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: But a moment later he did, for Diamed three was
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: below him, and diamed three was an open planet. It
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: happened less often nowadays that the Mapping command ran across
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: intelligent life, and it was even less often that the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: intelligent life was humanoid. But when it happened, it was
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: an event to remember, for space travel had brought with
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: it two great problems. The first was contact, the second
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: was trade. For many years, Man had prohibited contact with
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: intelligent humanoids who did not yet have space travel, on
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the grounds of the much discussed maturity theory. As time
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: went by, however, and humanoid races were discovered which were
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: biologically identical with Man, and as great swarms of completely
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: alien often hostile races were also discovered. The maturity theory
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: went into discard a human being ran the new slogan
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: is a human being, and so came the first Great
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: contact law, which stated that any humanoid race, regardless of
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: its place on the evolutionary scale, was to be contacted
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: to be accepted. Yea welcomed as the phrase went into
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the human community. And following this, of course, there came trade,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: for it was the business men who had started the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: whole thing in the first place. Hence the day of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the open planet. A humanoid race was discovered by the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Mapping Command, The MC made its investigation and then sent
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: out the word, and every company in the galaxy, be
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: it monstrous, huge or piddling small, made a mad rush
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to be first on the scene. The government was very
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: strict about the whole business, the idea being that planets
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: should make their contracts with companies rather than the government itself,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: so that if any shady business arose, the company at
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: fault could be kicked out and there would be no
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: chance of a general war. Also went the reasoning, under
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: this system there would be no favorites. Whichever company, no
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: matter its resources, had a ship closest at the time
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: of the call was the one to get first bargaining rights.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Under this setup, it was very difficult for any one
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: company to grow too large or to freeze any of
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the others out, and quite often a single contract on
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: a single planet was enough to transform a fly by
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: night outfit into a major concern. So that was the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: basis of the open planet. But there the real story
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: has only begun. Winning the race did not always mean
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: winning the contract. It was what you found when you
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: got down that made the job of contact man one
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of the most hazardous occupations in history. Each new planet
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: was wholly and completely new. There were no rules, and
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: what you learned on all the rest meant nothing. You
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: went from a matriarchy which refused absolutely to deal with men.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: The tenth ship to arrive had a lady doctor, and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: therefore got the contract to a planet where the earth
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: was sacred and you couldn't dig a hole in it.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: So mining was out to a planet which consider to
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: your visit the end of the world and promptly committed
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: mass suicide. The result of this was that a successful
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: contact man had to be a remarkable man to begin with.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: A combined speed demon sociologist financier, diplomat, and geologist all
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: in one. It was a job in which successful men
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: not only made fortunes, they made legends. It was that
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: way with Pat Travis, sitting at the viewscreen, watching the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: clouds whip by and the first dark clots of towns
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: beginning to shape below, Travis thought about the legend. He
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: was a tall, frail, remarkably undernourished looking man with large,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: soft brown eyes. He did not look like a legend,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and he knew it, and, being a man of great pride,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: it bothered him more and more as the years went by.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: His competitors blamed his success on luck. It was not
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Pat Travis that was the legend. It was the luck
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of Pat Travis. Over the years, he had learned not
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: to argue about it, and it was only during these
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: past few months, when his luck had begun to slip,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that he mentioned.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: It at all.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Luck no more makes a legend, he knew than raw
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: courage makes a fighter, but legends die quick in deep space,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: and his own had been a dying for a good
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: long while. Now, while other lesser men the luck all
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: theirs plucked planeted after planet from under his nose. Now
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: at the viewscreen. He glanced dolefully across the room and
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: his crew, the curly headed young Dollinger and the profound
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: mister Tripp. In contrast to his own weary relaxation, both
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of the young men were tensed and anxious peering into
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the screen. They had come to learn under the great
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: pat Travis, but in the last few months what they
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: seemed to have learned most was luck. If you happened
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: to be close, you were lucky, and if you weren't,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: you weren't. But if they were to get anywhere in
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: this business, Travis knew they had to learn that luck,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: more often than not, follows the man who burns his generators.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: He stopped thinking abruptly as a long yellow field came
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: into view. He saw silver flashing in the sun, and
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: his heart jumped into his throat. Old twenty nine settled
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: fast one ship or two in the distance, he could
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: see the gray, jumbled shapes of a low lying city.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: The sun was shining warmly. It was spring on diamed three,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and across the field a blue river sparkled, but Travis
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: paid no attention. There was only one silver gleam. Still
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: he waited, not thinking, But when they were close enough,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: he saw that he was right. The Mapping Command Ship
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: was alone, old, twenty nine burned generators, and all had
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: won the race. My boys, he said, gravely, turning to
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the crew. Pat Travis rides again, but they were already
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: around him, pounding him on the back. He turned happily
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: back to the screen for the first time, beginning to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: admire the view by jing. He thought, what a lovely day.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: That was his first mistake. It was not a lovely day.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: It was absolutely miserable. Travis had his first pang of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: doubt when he stepped out of the ship. The field
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: was empty, not a native in sight. But Dollinger was
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: out before him, standing waist high in the grass and
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: heaving deep lungfuls of the flower scented air. He yelled
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that he could already smell the gold, I say, Trav.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Tripp said thoughtfully from behind him. Where's the fatted calf?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: In this life, Travis said, wearily, one is often disappointed.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: A figure climbed out of a port over at the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Mapping Command Ship and came walking slowly toward them. Travis
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: recognized him and grinned Hey hort Hey trave Horton replied
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: from a distance, but he did not say anything else.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: He came forward with an odd look on his face.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Travis did not understand ed Horton was an old buddy,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: and ed Horton should be happy to see him. Travis
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: felt his second pang, This one went deep. Anybody beat
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: us here? No, you're the first trave Dollinger whooped. Travis
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: relaxed slightly, and even the glacial trip could not control
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: a silly grin. Horton caught a whiff of air from
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the open lock. Burn generators.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: You must a.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Come like hell, His face showed his respect. Between burning
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: a generator and blowing one entirely, there is only a
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: microscopic distance, and it takes a very steady pilot, indeed,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to get the absolute most out of his generators without
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: also spreading himself and his ship over several cubic miles of.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Exploded space like a striped tailed deep.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Dollinger chortled, man, you should see the boss handle the ship.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I thought every second we were going to explode in technicolor. Well,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Horton said, feebly, burned generators.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Shame.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: He lowered his eyes and began towing the ground. Travis
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: felt suddenly ill what's the matter, hort Horton shrugged. I
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: hate like heck to be the one to tell you, Trav,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: But seeing as I know you, they sent me.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Tell me what now.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Dollinger and Trip both realized it and were suddenly silent. Well,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: if only you'd taken a little more time. But not you,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: not old Pat, Travis. By damn Pat, you came in
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: here like a downhill locomotive. It ain't my fault, hort
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Straighten it out. What's not your fault?
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: The side.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Listen, it's a long story. I've got a buggy over
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: here to take you into town. They're putting you up
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: at the hotel so you can look the place over.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you on the way in the heck with that,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Dollinger said, indignantly, we want to see the man. You're
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: not going to see the man, Sonny, Horton said, patiently,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you are, as a matter of fact, the last people
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: on the planet the man wants to see right now.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Dollnger started to say something, but Travis shut him up.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: He told Trip to stay with the ship and took
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Dollinger with him. At the end of the field was
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a carriage straight out of the seventeenth century England, and
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the things that drew it, if you closed your eyes,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: look reasonably similar to horses. The three men climbed aboard.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: There was no driver. Horton explained that the horses would
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: head straight for the hotel. Well, all right, Travis said,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: what's the story. Don't turn those baby browns on me.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Horton said gloomily. I would have warned you if I could,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: but you know the law says we can't show favoritism.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Travis decided the best thing to do was wait with
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: as much patience as possible. After a while, Horton had
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: apologized thoroughly and completely, although what had happened was certainly
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: not his fault, and finally got on with the tail. Now,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: this here planet, he said, cautiously, is whacky in a
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: lot of ways. First off, they call it Mert, Mert,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: fine name for a planet, just plain Mert. And they
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: live in houses strictly from dickens, all carriages, no sewers,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: narrow streets, stuff like that, with technology roughly equivalent to
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: seventeenth century. But now see there, see that building over there.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Travis followed his pointing finger through the trees, a large
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: white building of blinding marble was coming slowly into view.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Travis's eyes widened. You see, just like the blinkin Parthenon
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: or Acropolis, whichever it is. All columns and frescoes in
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the middle of a town looks just like London. Makes
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: no sense, but there it is. And that's not all.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Their government is Grecian too, complete with senate and citizens.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: No slaves though, well not exactly. You wouldn't call them slaves.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Or could you?
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Heck of a question that he paused to brood. Travis
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: nudged him. Yes, Well, all that is minor next to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the big thing. This is one of two major countries
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: on the planet. There's a few hill tribes, but these
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: make up about ninety percent of the population, so you
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: have to deal with these. They never go to war,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: well maybe once in a while, but not very often,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: so no trouble there. The big trouble is one you'd
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: never guess, not in a million years. He stared at
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Travis unhappily. The whole planets run on astrology. He waited
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: for a reaction. Travis said, nothing. It ain't funny. Horton said,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: When I say run on astrology, I mean really run.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Wait till you hear.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not laughing, Travis said, but is that all? In
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: this business? You learn to respect the native customs. So
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: if all we have to do, I ain't finished yet,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Horton said ominously. You don't get the point. Everything these
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: people do is based on astrology. And that means business too, lad,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: business too. Every event that happens on this cock eyed world,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: from a picnic to a wedding, to a company merger
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: or a war, it's all based on astrology. They have
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: it down so exact. They even tell you when to sneeze.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: You ought to see the daily paper half of its
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: solid astrological guidance. All the senators not only have astrologers,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: they are astrologers. And get this, every man and woman
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and child alive on this planet was cataloged.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: The day he was born.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: His horoscope was drawn up by the public astrologer, a
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: highly honored office, and his future laid out according to
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: what the horoscope said. If his horoscope indicates a man
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: of stature and responsibility, he becomes, by God a man
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: of stature and responsibility.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: You have to see it to believe it.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Kids with good health, the horoscopes are sent to the
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: best schools. People fight to give them jobs. Well, take
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the courts for example, when they're trying a case, do
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: they talk about evidence?
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: They do not.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: They call in a legal astrologer. There's all kinds of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: branches in the profession, and this joker, all by himself
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: determines the guilt or innocence of the accused by checking
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the aspects. Take a wedding. Boy meets girl, boy likes girl.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Does boy go see girl? No, he heads straight for
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: an astrologer. The girl's horoscope is on file in the
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: local city hall, just like everybody else. The astrologer compares
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the charts and determines whether the marriage will be a
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: good one. He is naturally a marital astrologer. He gives
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: the word. If he says no, they don't marry. I
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: could go on for hours, but you really have to
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: see it. Take the case of people who want to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: have children. They want them born naturally at the time
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of the best possible aspects. So they consult an astrologer
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and he gives them a list of the best times
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: for a baby to be conceived. These times are not
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: always convenient. Sometimes it's four eighteen in the morning, and
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: sometimes it's two o three Monday afternoon. Yet this is
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: a legitimate excuse for getting out of work. A man
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: goes in, tells his boss its breeding time, and off
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: he goes without a penny docked. Build a better race,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: they say, Of course, the gestation period is variable, and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: they never do hit it right on the nose. But
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: also there are still the natural accidents, So quite a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: few are born with terrible horoscopes. Holy smoke, Travis muttered.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: The possibilities of it blossomed in his mind. He began
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to understand what was coming. Now you begin to see,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Horton went on gloomily. Look what an earth man represents
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to these people. We are the unknown, the completely capital
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: you unknown. Everybody else has a certain definite quantity. His
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: horoscope is on file, and every man on Mert has
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: access to all his potentialities, be they good, bad, or indifferent.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: But not us. They don't know when we were born.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Or where, and even if they did, it wouldn't do
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: them any good, because they haven't got any system covering
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Mars and Jupiter, the planets at home. Everybody else's cataloged,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: but not us. And just because they believe so thoroughly
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: in their own astrology. They've gotten used to the idea
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: that a man is what his horoscope says he is.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: But us, what are we?
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: They haven't the vegest idea, and it scares hell out
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: of them. The only thing they can do is check
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: with one of the ranches what they call horrory astrology,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and make a horoscope of the day we landed, even
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: if that tells them nothing about us in particular. At
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: least it tells them, or so they believe, all about
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: our mission to mert because the moment our ship touched
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the ground was the birth date of our business here.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: He paused and regarded Travis with woeful sympathy with us.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Luckily it was all right. The mapping command just happened
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to hit here on a good day. But you travel, buddy,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: for once, you came just too damn fast. Oh my god,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Travis breathed. We landed on a bad day, bad. Horton sighed, man,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: it's terrible, and to section one, section two of Conquest
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: over Time. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: and is read by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Conquest over Time by Michael Shara. Section two, you see
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Horton said as they drove into the town. Not a
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: soul on the streets. This is not only a bad day,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: this is one for the books. Tomorrow, you see, there
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: is an eclipse, and to these people there is nothing
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: more frightening than an eclipse. During the entire week preceding one,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: they won't do a darned thing, no business, no weddings,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: no anything. The height of it will be reached about
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: tomorrow noon. Their moon, which is a tiny little thing,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: not much bigger than our first space station, is called Felda.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: It is very important in their astrology, and for all
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: practical purposes, the eclipse is already in force. I knew
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: you were riding in down the base, so I checked
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: it out. It not only applies to you, other things
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: cinch it. He pulled a coarse sheet of paper from
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: his pocket and read from it in a wishful voice,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: with Huck planet of Necessity, transiting the twelfth House of
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Endings and Things Hidden, squaring bunkan planet of gain in
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the ninth House of Travelers in Distant Places. It is
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: unquestionable that the visit of these persons modes.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Ill for mert.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: If further proof is needed, one need only examine the
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: position of Diamed, which is conjunct Huck and closely squared
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to Lyndall in the third House of Commerce, etc.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Etc.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: You see what I mean? On top of this yet
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: an eclipse trap if you haven't got a prayer, If
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: only you hadn't been so close two days from now,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: would have been great. Once the eclipse ends, well, listen,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Travis said, desperately. Couldn't we just see the guy take
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: my advice?
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Don't.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: He has expressed alarm at the thought that you might
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: come near him. Also, his guards are armed with blunderbusses.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: They may be a riot to look at, but those
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: boys can shoot. Believe me, give you a contract, Trav.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: He wouldn't give you a broom to sweep out his cellar.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: At that moment, they drew up before an enormous marble
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: building vaguely reminiscent of a Theban palace. It turned out
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: to be the local hotel. Horton stepped on the threshold
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and handed them two of the tiny langkits, the little
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: black memory banks in which the language of Mert had
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: been transcribed for their use by the mapping command. Travis
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: slipped his automatically to position behind his ear, but he
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: felt no need to know the language. This one was
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: going to be tough. He glanced at Dollinger. The kid
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: was wearing a stunned expression, too dulled even to notice
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the pantalooned customer. First Mertz they'd seen eyeing them fearfully
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: from behind pillars as they passed. Smell that gold, Travis remembered, wistfully.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Then smell those generators, oh, he thought, sinkingly, smell those generators.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: They went silently on up to the room. Travis stopped
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: at the door as a thought struck him. Listen, he said, cautiously,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: taking Horton by the arm. Haven't you thought of this?
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Why don't we just take off and start all over,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: orbit around for a couple of days, pick a good hour,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: and then come back down that way we'll be starting
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: all but Horton was gazing at him reproachfully. They have
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: a word for that, trav he said ominously. They call
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: it vetching, worst crime a man can commit, attempt to
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: evade his stars, equivalent almost to falsifying a horoscope. No, sir,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: ee boy, for that, They burn you very slowly. The
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: first horoscope stands all your subsequent actions, according to them
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: date from the original. You'll just be bearing out the
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: first diagnosis. You'll be a vetcher um, Travis said. If
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: they feel that way, why the heck do they even
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: let us stay? Shows you the way the system works.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: This is a bad day for everything coming as well
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: as going. They never think of asking you to start
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: a trip on a day like this, no matter who
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: you are. Travis collapsed into an old, vaguely Chippendale chair.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: His position was not that of a man sitting, It
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: was that of a man dropped from a great height. Well,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Horton said, so it goes, and listen, Trav. There was
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: nothing I could do, sure, hort I just want you
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to know I'm sorry. I know they've been kicking you
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: around lately, and don't think I don't feel I owe
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: you something.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: After all, if you.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Hadn't easy, Travis said, glancing at Dollinger. But the kid's
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: ears perked. Well, Horton murmured, just so as you know. Anyways,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I still got faith in you and Unico will be
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: in the same boat if they get here tonight.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: So think about it.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Let me see the old pat Travis. Your luck has
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to change sometime. He clenched a fist then left. Travis
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: sat for a long while in the chair. Dollinger muttered
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: something very bitter about luck. Thought of telling him that
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: it was not luck that had put them so close
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to Mert, but a very grim and expensive liaison with
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: a ferociously ugly mapping commands secretary at Aldeboran. She had
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: told him that there was a ship in this area.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: But this news was not for Dollinger's ears, and neither
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: did he think it wise to explain to Dollinger the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: thing he had done for Horton some years ago. Young
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Dolly was not yet ripe. Travis sighed and looked around
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: for a bed. To his amusement, he noted a four
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: poster in the adjoining room. He went in and lay down.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Gradually the dullness began to wear off. There was a
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: resiliency in Travis, unequaled, some said by spring steel. He
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: began to ponder ways and means. There was always a way.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: There had to be away, somewhere in the customs of
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: this planet. There was a key, but he did not
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: have the time. Unico would be in tonight, others would
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: be down before the week was and the one to
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: land in two days on the good day would get
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: the contract. He twisted on the bed. Luck luck, the
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: hell with luck. If you were born with sense, you
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: were lucky, and if a meteor fell on you, you
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: were unlucky. But most of the rest of it was
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: even from there on out, so if the legend was
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: to continue. He became gradually aware of the clock in
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the ceiling. In the ceiling, he stared at it. The
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: symbols and the time meant nothing, but the clock was
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: embedded flat in the ceiling above the bed, facing directly down.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: He pondered that for a moment, then he exploded with
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: laughter by jing. Of course, they would have to know
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: what time the baby was conceived. So all over Mert
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: in thousands of homes there were clocks in the bedrooms,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: clocks in the ceilings, and wives, peering anxiously upward, murmured
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: sweetly in their husband's ears. Forced seventeen darling for seventeen
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and a half. The roar of his mirth brought Dolly
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: floundering in from the other room. Travis sprang from the bed.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Listen son, He bellowed, Luck, be damned, you get back
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: to the ship, get mapping command to let you look
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: at his files. Find out everything you can about mert
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: There's a key somewhere. Boy, there's an out in there
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: someplace if we look hard enough.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Luck.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Ha, work, boy, work, there's a key. He showed Dollinger
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: out of the room. The young man left dazedly, but
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: he had caught some of Travis's enthusiasm. Travis turned back
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: to the bed, feeling unreasonably optimistic. No way out, eh
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: well by Jingo.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Old Pat.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Travis would ride again. He could feel it in his bones.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: A few moments later, he had another feeling in his bones.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: This one was much less delightful. He was pacing past
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a heavy drape when something very hard and moving very
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: fast struck him on the head. The first thing Travis
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: saw when he awoke was unmistakably the behind of a
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: young woman. His head was lying flat on the floor,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: and the girl was sitting next to him, her back
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: toward him, very close to his face.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: He stared at it for a.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Long while without thinking. The pain in his head was enormous,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: and he was not used to pain, not any kind
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: of pain. The whiskey men drank nowadays left no hangovers,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: and for a normal headache, there were instantaneously acting pills.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: So Travis on the floor was unused to pain, and
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: though he was by nature a courageous man, it took
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: him a while to be able to think at all,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: much less clearly. Eventually he realized that he was lying
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: on a very hard floor. His arms and legs were
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: tightly bound. He investigated the floor. It was brick, it
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: was wet. The dark ceiling dripped water in the flickering
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: light from some source beyond the girl. The brick, the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: dripping water, the girl all combined to make it completely unbelievable.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: If it wasn't for the pain, he would have rolled
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: over and gone to sleep. But the pain, yes, the pain.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: He closed his eyes and lay still hurting. When he
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: opened his eyes again, he was better by jing. This
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: was ridiculous. Not a full day yet on Merton. In
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: addition to his other troubles, now this he did not
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: feel alarmed, only downright angry. This business of the flickering
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: light and being tied hand and foot was too impossible
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: to be dangerous. He grunted feebly at the back of
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: the girl. Ho he said, now, what in the sweet
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: name of Billy H. Culpeper is this? The girl turned
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: and looked down at him. She swiveled around on her hips,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and a rag bound foot kicked him unconcernedly on the side.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: For the first time he saw the other two men
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: behind her. There were two of them. The look of
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: them was ridiculous. The girl said something. It was a
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: moment before he realized she was speaking in mert, which
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: he had to translate out of the langkit behind his ear.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: The scourge awakes. One of the men said, a joy.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: It was my thought that in the conjunction was done,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: perhaps murder poot one over worries and if death comes
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: to this one, observe, will the money be paid of
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: a surety? But this is bizarre, truly bizarre. The girl
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: nodded then to make her point. Also curious, unique, unusual,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: my thought from what landy comes the cloth is rare,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: one of the men said. Observe with tight eyes the
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: object on his wrist a many symboled engine, My engine.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: The girl said positively. She reached down for his watch.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Travis jerked back.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Lay off there, he bawled in English, you hipless. The
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: girl recoiled. He could not see her face, but her
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: tone was puzzled. What language is this he speaks with?
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Liquid.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: The larger of the two men arose and came over
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: to him. Speak again, scourge, but first empty the mouth.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Travis glared at the man's feet, which were wrapped in
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: dirty cloth and smelt like the breezes blowing softly over
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: fresh manure. Speak again, Speak again, untie my hands, you
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: maggotty slob, and I'll speak your bloody He went on
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: at great length, but the man ignored him. Truly he speaks,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: says with a full mouth. But this is not bilk
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: and talk, nor is he of clarity and also profundity
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: a hill man. The girl observed, poot, poot, poot. The
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: young man stuttered.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: The light he is of them.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: It took the other two a moment to understand what
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: he meant, but Travis caught on immediately. May the Saints
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: preserve us, he thought they've figured I was from mert
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: he chuckled happily to himself, a natural mistake. Only one
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: earth man on this whole blinking planet puts up at
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: a good hotel, best in town. These boys put the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: snatch on me, thinking I'm a visiting VIP. Loaded have
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: no idea. I'm just poor, common trash like the rest
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: of us earthmen.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Hah.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: His face split in a wide grin. He gathered his
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: words from the lang kit and began to speak in mirt. Exactly, friends,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: with clarity, one sees that you have been misled. I
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: am not of Mert, I am from a far world.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Come here to deal with your sense in peace. Untimey then,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: and let us erase this sad but irasable mistake with
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: a good handshake all around and a speedy farewell. It
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: did not have the effect he desired. The girl stepped
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: back from him, a dark frown on her face, and
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the large man above him spoke mournfully. Where now is
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: the ransom and the risk? The girl said, was there
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: not great risk? Unhappily, the tall man observed, one risks,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: one should be repaid. It is the nature of things
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: that one is repaid. Well, now, boys, Travis put in
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: from the floor, you see it yourselves. I'm flat as
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: a he paused. Apparently the Mertz had no word for pancake.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: My pockets are windy, no money is held therein Still,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: the tall man mused absently. This must have friends on
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: the great ships lie things of value. Doubt not, the
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: girl said firmly, But I see over the hills coming
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: a problem, How does it appear.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: In the shape of disposal?
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: See thee such as will come from the great ships
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: of value? Though it be, can it not be clarifiably
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: identify by such poutient authorities as presently seek our intestines? Ha,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: The tall man snorted in anger. So truth shapes itself?
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: Will we not, then, continued the girl, risk sunlight on
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: our intestines in pursuing this affair?
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: We will?
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: The young man spoke up emphatically, We will, of inevitability, navel.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Our risk is unpaid, so passes the cloud. But in
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: freedom for this the girl warily indicated, Travis lies risk
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: in great measure? Which way lie his ribs? Can we,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: with profit slice his binds?
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: He is of them?
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: What coils in his head?
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: What strikes?
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: They were all silent. Travis, having caught but not deciphered
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: most of the conversation, glanced quickly from face to face.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: The girl had backed out into the light, and he
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: could see her now clearly, and his mouth fell open.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: She was thickly coated with dirt, but she was absolutely beautiful.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: The features were perfect lovely. The mouth was promising in
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: full under the ragged skirt and the torn, sooty blouse
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: roamed surfaces of imaginable perfection. He had difficulty getting back
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: to the question at hand. All the while he was thinking,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: other voices inside him were whispering by Jing, by Jing.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: She's absolutely.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: The two men were completely unlike. One was huge. From
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: this angle, he was enormous. He had what looked like
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: a dirty scarf on his head, Madonna like, which would
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: have been ridiculous except for the mountainous shoulders below it,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: and the glittering knife stuck in his wide leather belt.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: The shaft of the knife flickered wickedly in the light.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: It was the only clean thing about him. The other
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: man was young, probably still in his teens, curly haired
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and blonde, and much cleaner than the other two, with
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: a softness in his face the others lacked. But in
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: his belt he carried what appeared to be what was
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: a well oiled and yawning barreled blunderbuss. So they sat
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: for a long moment of silence. He had time to
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: observe that what they were sitting in was, in all
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: likelihood a sewer. It ran off into darkness, but there
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: was a dim light in the distance, and other voices
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: far away, and he gathered that this was not all
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: of the gang that had abducted him. But it was
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: beginning to penetrate now as he began to understand their
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: words that they were unhappy about letting him go. He
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: was about to argue the point when the Big Man
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: stepped suddenly forward and knelt beside him. He shut out
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: the light. Travis could not see. The last thing he
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: heard was the big Man grunting as he threw the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: blow like a rooting pig. End of section two, Section
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: three of Conquest over Time. This LibriVox recording is in
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: the public domain and is read by Mark Smith of Simpsonville,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: South Carolina. Conquest over Time by Michael Shara, Section three.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: When he awoke this time, the pain had moved over
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: to the side of his neck. There was no light
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: at all, and he lay wearily for a long while
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: in the blackness. He had no idea how much time
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: had passed. He could tell from the brick wet below
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: him that he was still in the sewer, or at
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: least some other part of it, And considering the last
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: turn of the conversation, he thought he could call himself
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: lucky to be alive. But as his strength returned, so
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: did his anger. He began to struggle with his bonds.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: There was still the problem of the contract. He regarded
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: that bitterly he could just possibly die down here, but
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: his main worry was still the contract. All space would
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: be proud of him, but all space might never know.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: He did nothing with the bonds, which he discovered, unhappily
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: were raw leather thongs. Eventually he saw a light coming
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: down the corridor. He saw, with a thrill of real pleasure,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: that it was the girl. The young man was tagging
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: along behind her, but the big man was absent. The
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: girl knelt down by him and regarded him quizzically, do
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: you possess pain, maiden? I possess, and possess unto the
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: limits of capacity. My thought is sorrow, but this passes.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Consider your blood remains wet. Travis caught her meaning, He
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: swore feebly. It was very nearly let dry, the girl said,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: but solutions conjoined. It was noted at the last, even
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: as the blade descended that such friends as yours could
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: no doubt barter for Mertian coin untraceable, thus restoring your value. Clever, clever,
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Oh clever, Travis said dryly. To his surprise, the girl blushed,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: over gracious, overkind speed, thanks awry of this windy head.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Aim at yon lappie, she indicated the boy who stood
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: smiling shyly behind her. It was he who thought you alive.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: He my brother, Ah, Travis said, Well, bless you boy.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: He nodded at the boy, who very nearly collapsed with embarrassment.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Travis wondered about this brother bit brother in crime. The
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: lang Kit did not clarify, but the girl turned back
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: on him a smile as glowing as a tiny nova.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: He gazed cheerfully back. Tude and the others sit now
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: composing your note a matter of weight. Confounded in darkness,
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: she lowered her eyes, becomingly. Few of us, she apologized,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: have facility in letters a ransom note, Travis growled, Great Gods,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: and little Tude, who is tud The large man, who, admittedly,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: hastening before the horse, did plant pain in your head, Ah,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Travis said, smiling grimly, We shall presently plow his field. Ho,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: the girl cried, agitated, speak not in darkness. Tude extends
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: both north and south, A man of dimension as well
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: as color. He boasts fours in the tenth in good
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: aspect to Bonkan, giving prowess at combat, and Lindall in
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: the fourth bespeaks a fair ending avoid odd man foreordained
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: disaster in his urge to say a great many things,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: Travis stammered. The girl laid a cool, grimy hen lightly
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: on his arm and tried to soothe him with passivity
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: and endurance. The Knight shall see you free. Tude comes
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: in close moment with the note quarrel not at the
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: price sign, and there will be a conclusion to the matter.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: We are not retrogade here as we set our tongues,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: so lie our deeds. Yes, well, all right, Travis grumbled,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: But there will come, all right, all right, my name
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: shall be inscribed. Let your note contain what it will,
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: But I would have speed. There are matters of gravity
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: lying heavily ahead. The girl cocked her head oddly to
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: one side. You sit on points A rare thing lies
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: your horoscope in such confusion that you know not the
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: drift of the coming hours. Travis blinked. Horoscope, he said, surely,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: The girl said, the astrologers of your planet did preach
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: warning to you of the danger of this day. And
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: whether in the motions of your system lay success or failure,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: or is it a question of varying interpretations? Did one
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: say you good while the other? Travis grinned broadly. Then
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: he sobered. It would quite logically follow that these people,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: primitive as they were or might not be able to
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: conceive of a land where astrology was not lurd over
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: all a human trait. But he saw dangerous ground ahead.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: He began very cautiously and diplomatically to explain himself, saying
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: that while astrology was practiced among his own people, it
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: had not yet become as exact an art as it
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: was on Mert, and only a few had as yet
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: learned to trust it. The effect on the girl was startling.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: She seemed for a moment actually terrified. When it was
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: finally made clear to her, she abruptly retreated into a
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: corner with her brother and mumbled low, frantic sounds. Travis
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: grinned to himself, but kept his face stoically calm. But
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: now the girl was out in the light, and he
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: could examine her clearly for the first time, and he
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: forgot about astrology entirely. She was probably in her early twenties.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: She was dirtier than a well digger's shoes. She ran
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: with a pack of cu throats and thieves in what
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: was undoubtedly the lowest possible level of Mrty in society.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: But there was something about her, something Travis responded to
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: very strongly, which he could not define. Possibly something about
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: the set of her hair, which was dark and very long,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: or perhaps in the mouth, yes the mouth, now observe
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the mouth, and also maybe in the figure, but he
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: could not puzzle it out. A girl from the gutter,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: but perhaps that was it. There seemed to be no
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: gutter about her. There was real grace in her movements,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: a definite style in the way she held her head,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: something gentle and very fine. Now watch that, Travis, boy,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: he told himself, sharply, watched that psychological thing. Certainly, she
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: probably reminds you of a long forgotten view of your mother.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: The girl arose and came back, followed this time by
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: the young man. She had become suddenly and intensely interested
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: in his world. She had apparently taken it for granted
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: that it was exactly like hers, only with space ships,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: and Travis obliged her by giving her a brief sketch
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: of selected subjects, speeds, wonders, what women wore, and so on.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Gradually he worked the conversation back around to her, and
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: she began to tell him about herself. Her name was
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: euphonically naval. This was not particularly startling to Travis. Naval
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: is a pretty word, and the people of Mert had
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: chosen another uglier sound for use when they meant belly button,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: which was their right. Travis accepted it and then listened
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: to her story. She had not always been a criminal
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: run with the sewer packs. She had come, as a
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: matter of proud record, from an extremely well to do
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: family which featured two senators, one horrory astrologer and a
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: mercantile tipecoon, which accounted Travis thought for her air of
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: breeding the great tragedy of her life. However, the thing
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: that had brought her to her present pass was her
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: abysmally foul horoscope. She had not been a planned baby.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Her parents felt great guilt about it, but the deed
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: was done and there was no help for it. She
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: had been born with huck retrograde in the tenth house,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: opposing four's retrograde in the fourth, and so on and
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: so on, so that even the most amateur astrologer could
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: see right at her birth that she was born for
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: no good, destined for some shameful end. She told about
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: it with an air of resigned cheerfulness, saying that after all,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: her parents had really done more than could be expected
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: of them, both with her and her similarly accidental brother Lappie.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: Now there, Travis thought was a careless couple whose horoscope,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: she said dolefully, was even worse than her own. Parents
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: had sent her off to school up through the first
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: few years and had given her a handsome dowry when
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: they disowned her, and they did the same with Lappie
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: a few years later. But Naval held no bitterness. She
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: was a girl born inevitably for trouble. Her horoscope forecast
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: that she would be ashamed to her parents, would spend
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: much of her life in obscure, dangerous places, and would
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: reflect no credit on anyone who befriended her. So for
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: a child like this, what reasonable citizen would waste time
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: and money and love when it was certain beforehand that
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: the child grown up would be as likely as not
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: to end up a murderess. No, the schools were reserved
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: for the children of promise, as were the jobs and
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: the parties and the respect later on, the only logical course.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: The habitual custom was for the parents to disown their
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: evilly aspected children, hoping only that such tragedies as lay
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: in the future would not be too severe and at
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: least would not be connected with the family name. And
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: Naval was not bitter. But there was only one place
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: for her following her exile from her parents' home. A
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: career in business was, of course impossible. Prospective employers took
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: one look at your horoscope and zoom the door. The
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: only work she could find was menial in the extreme, dishwashing,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: street cleaning, and so on. So she turned, and Lappie turned,
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: as thousands of their ill starred kind had turned before
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: them for generations, to the wild gangs of the sewers.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: And it was not nearly so bad as it might
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: have seemed. The sewer gangs were composed of thousands of
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: people just like herself, homeless, cast out, and they came
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: from all levels of society to found a society of
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: their own. They offered each other what none of them
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: could have found anywhere else on mert appreciation, companionship, and
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: even if life in the sewers was filthy, it was
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: also tolerable, and many even married and had children, the
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: luckiest of whom quickly disowned their parents and were adopted
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: by wealthy families. But the thing which impressed Travis most
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: of all was that none of these people were bitter
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: at their fate. Naval could not recall ever hearing of
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: any organized attempt at rebellion. Indeed, most of the sewer
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: people believed more strongly in the astrology of Mert than
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: did the business men on the outside. For each day,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: every one of them could look at the dirt of himself,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: at the disease of his surroundings, and could see that
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: the message of his horoscope was true. He was born
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: to no good end. And since it had been drummed
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: into these people from their earliest childhood that only the
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: worst could be expected of them, they gave in quite
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: humanly to the predictions, and went philosophically forth to live
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: up to them. They watched the daily horoscopes intently for
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: the bad days, realizedsing that what was bad for the
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: normal people must be a field day for themselves, and
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: they issued out of the sewers periodically on binges of robbery, kidnapping,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: and worse. In this way, they lived up to the
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: promise of their stars, fulfilled themselves, and also managed to eat,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: and few, if any, ever questioned the justice of their position.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: Travis sat listening, stunned for a long while. The contract
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: and how to get out of here, and all the
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: rest of it was forgotten. He sat watching the girl
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: and her shy brother as they spoke self consciously to him,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: and began to understand what they must be feeling. Travis
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: was from outside the sewers. He had stayed at the
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: Grand Hotel. His horoscope, whether he believed it or not,
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: must be very fine, and so they did him unconscious homage,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: much in the manner of low caste Hindus speaking to
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: a Brahmin.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: It was unnerving.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Gradually, the boy Lappie began to say speak also, and
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Travis realized with surprise that the boy was in many
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: ways remarkable as Naval's brother.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: Navel.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: Travis gathered, with a twinge of deep regret, was the
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: big Tude's friend, and Tude was the leader of this
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: particular gang. Young Lappie had a RESTful position. He was
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: kept out of most of the rough work and allowed
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: to pursue what he shamelessly called his studies, and he
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: guessed proudly that he must have stolen nearly every book
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: in the consul's library. His particular hobbies, it turned out,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: were math and physics. He had a startling command of both,
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: and some of the questions he asked Travis were embarrassing,
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: but the boy was leaning forward, breathlessly drinking in the
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: answers when Tude came back. The big Man loomed over
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: them suddenly on his quiet, rag bound feet, frightening the
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: boy and causing the girl to flinch. He made a
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: number of singularly impolite remarks, but Travis said nothing and
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: bided his time. He regarded the big Man with patient joy,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: considering with delight such bloodthirsty effects as Judo could produce
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: on this one. Fors and Bonkan be damned if they
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: ever untied his hands. Eventually, unable to get a rise
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: out of him, the big Man shoved a paper down
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: before his nose and told him to sign it. He
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: pulled out that wickedly clean knife and freed Travis's hand
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: just enough for him to move his wrist. Hoping for
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: the best, Travis signed Tude chuckled, said something nastily to
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: the girl. The girl said something chilling in return, and
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: the big man cuffed her playfully on the shoulder. Then
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: he lumbered away, travisack blaring after him. The contract the
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: need to escape flooded back into his mind. The eclipse
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: might be ending even now, Unico would already be here,
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: perhaps one or two others as well, And this ransom
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: business might take a week, he swore to him. Pat Travis,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: the terror of the skies, held captive by a bunch
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: of third rate musical comedy pirates, while millions lay in
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: wait in the city above. And oh, my lord, he thought, stricken,
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: what will people say when they hear he had to
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: get out? He glanced cautiously at the girl and the boy,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: who were gazing at him ingenuously. He saw instantly that
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: the way, if there was a way, lay through them,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: but the plan had not yet formed. When the boy
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: leaned forward and spoke, I have an odd thing in
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: my head, Lappie said, bashfully, that nevertheless radiates joy to
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: my mind. In my reading, I have seen things leap
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: together from many books forming a hole, and the whole
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: is rare. Can you, in your wisdom confirm or deny
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: what I have seen. It is this, he spoke a
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: short series of sentences. Navel tried to s shush him, embarrassed,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: but he doggedly went on, and Travis Stricken found himself
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: suddenly paying close attention for the words Lappy said, with
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: minor variations, were Isaac Newton's laws of motion.
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: There are the.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Seven planets, Naval was saying gravely, and the two lights,
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: that is the Sun and the Moon. The first planet
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: that nearest the Sun is called rim Rim is the
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: planet of intellect of the ordinary mind. Second is Lyndell,
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: the planet of love, beauty, parties, marriage, and things of
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: a gentle nature. Third is Four's planet of action strife.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: Fourth is bunkan planet of beneficence, of gain, money, health.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Next comes huck Orb, of necessity, the greater in fortune,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: which brings men most trouble of all. Then Weepen, planet
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: of illusion of dreamers in poets and poorly aspected liars
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: and cheats. And finally there is Sharp, planet of genius
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: of sudden cataclysms. I see, Travis murmured. But it is
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: not only these planets and their aspects which is important.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: It is also to be considered such houses and signs
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: as through which these planets transit. She went on, but
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: Travis was having difficulty following her. He could not help
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: but return to Newton's laws. It was incredible here on
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: this backward planet, mired in an era roughly equivalent to
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: the time of the Renaissance, an event was taking place
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: almost exactly at the same time as it had happened
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: long ago on Earth. It had been Isaac Newton. Then,
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: it was incredibly this frail young man named Lappie. Now,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: for unless Travis was greatly mistake, Naval's kid brother was
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: an authentic genius, and such a genius as comes once
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: in a hundred years, So naturally Lappie would have to
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: come home with Travis. The boy was hardly college age,
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: as yet sent to school by Allspace. Given a place
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: in the great All Space laboratories at Aldebrean, young Lapie
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: might eventually make The loss of the contract at Mert
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: seemed puny in comparison to the things that head of
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: his could produce. For Lappie was a natural resource just
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: as certainly as any mine on Mert, and since the
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: advent of Earth science meant Mert would no longer be
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: needing him. Lappie could go along with Travis and still
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: leave him a clear conscience. But the question still remained
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: how he could not even get himself out yet, let
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: alone Lappie and the girl.
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: What about the girl?
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: He brooded, groping for an out. But in the meanwhile
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: he listened while the girl outlined Mertz system of astrology.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: He had realized finally that the key to the business
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: lay there. Astrology was these people's most powerful motivating force,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: if he could somehow turn it to his advantage. He
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: listened to the girl and eventually found his plan. Ho,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: he said, abruptly, startled, The girl stared at him. Ha ha,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: lightning in the brain. Travis grinned solutions, efferves, attend of surety.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: Are not places on Mert also ruled by the stars.
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: Is it not true that towns and villages do also
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: have horoscopes? Naval blinked? Why see thee It is in
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: the nature of things, odd man, that all matter is
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: governed by the planets. How else come explanations, for example,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: of natural catastrophes, fires, plagues which affect whole cities and
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: not others. And consider war does not one country win
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: and the other lose of a surety. Different aspects obtain joy, then,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: Travis said, But do further observe. Is it not so
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: in your astrology that a man's horoscope may often conflict
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: with that of the place wherein he dwells? Is it
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: not so that often a man has promised greater success
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: in other regions where the ruling stars more closely and
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: friendly conjoin his own. Your mind leaps obstacles and homes
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: to the truth, Nabel said, approvingly. Many times has it
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: been made clear that a man's fortune lies best in
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: places ruled by his ascendant? As witness, for example, those
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: who are advised to take to the sea or to
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: southern lands intoxication, Travis cried out, happily, Then is our
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: gold made known? Consider from your poor natal horoscope in
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: this city, this land, no fortune arises. You doom yourself
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: with lappie by remaining here. But what business is this?
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: Seek you not better times? Could you not go forth
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: to another place and so become people of gravity, of substance?
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: Of moment?
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: The girl regarded for a moment puzzled, then caught his
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: point and shook her head sadly. Odd man without profit
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: you misconstrue such as we, my brother and I are
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: not condemned by place, but by twistings of the character.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: My natal Huck retrograde in the tenth gives an untrustworthy,
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: criminous person. It would be so here there, anywhere my
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: pattern is set. Such travels as you describe are for
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: those who conflict only with place. I am my brother.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: It is our sad fortune to conflict with all. But
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: this is the core, Travis insisted, the conflict is with
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: mert Consider such travail as is yours, stems from the
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: radiations of Huck, of Weepen, of sharp. But should you
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: remove yourself beyond their reach, across great vastnesses of space,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: to where other planets subtend, and, in their alien radiation,
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: extinguish and nullify those of Huck, what fortune comes?
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: Then? What rises?
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: What leaps in joy? The girl sat speechless, staring at
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: Travis with great soft eyes. The boy Lappy, who until
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: that moment had been grinning happily over the news that
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: his laws were true, suddenly understood what Travis was saying
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: and let his mouth fall open. But the girl sat
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: without expression. Then, to Travis's dismay, a slow, dark look
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: of disgust came over her face. This, she said, said ominously,
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: this smacks of vetching. The word fell like a sudden fog. Lappie,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: who had begun to smile, cut it sharply off. Travis,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: remembering what vetching meant to these people, gathered his forces.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: Woman.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: He said, bitingly, you speak an offense, but with patience
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: and kindness, I heal your insult. I control my collar,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: but my blood flows hot. Therefore fasten your tongue. Tell
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: me not that I have overvalued you, For your brain
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: is clear, your courage thick. Wherefore speak of vetch? What
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: vetch is therein travel? He vetches who leaves a certainty
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: for another certainty, who attempts to avoid his starry fate.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: But you go from a certain end to an end
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: not certain at all, to places of dark mystery, of
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: grim foreboding. It may be that you perish or pain
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: in the extreme, as well as gained fortune. The end
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: is not clear. This, then, is not vetching. Now retreat
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: your words and reply to me as one does to
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: a friend, a companion, one who seeks your good. He
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: sat tautly while the girl thought it out. Eventually she
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: dropped her eyes in submission, and he sighed inwardly with relief.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: It was accomplished. He would have to.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: Shore it up, perhaps with a little elaboration, but it
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: was accomplished. Ten minutes later he was standing free and
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: unbound in the passageway. It was just barely in time.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Down the round dark tunnel. Two men came. End of
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: section three Section four of Conquest over Time. This LibriVox
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain and is read by
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Conquest over Time by
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: Michael Sharra. Section four. Naval stepped gingly over the bodies
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: and gazed at Travis with awestruck admiration. A rare skill,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: she murmured. They did flip and gyrate as dry leaves
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: in the wind. Observe, then, Travis said, ominously, inspecting meanwhile
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: the long slash down his arm with which Tude had
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: clearly gotten him. And learn, and in the future receive
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: my words with planetary respect.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: I will, and I added.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Lappie shaken fair bright. Now attend how lies the path
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: through more such as these? I fear this place in
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: which we trouble lies at a dead end. We must
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: proceed through great halls where many sit waiting. Ere we
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: arrive at the light. No other way, think now none,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Travis sighed, and they talk about luck well. Boy, He
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: turned to Lappie, give me your blunderbuss, obtain that one's knife,
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: he indicated the sleeping tude, and let us carve our
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: way out into the sunshine. But as it turned out,
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: the getting free was much easier than he had anticipated.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: There was only one band, the girl's own, between them
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: and the opening, and these had fortunately just finished their
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: evening meal when Travis stalked black, gaunt and murderous out
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: of the tunnel into their large round room. Part of
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: it was the surprise. Part of it was the sudden
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: knowledge that Big Tood and the other man had already
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: tried to stop him. But most of it was simply
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: the look of him. He was infinitely ready. They were not,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: had no reason to be, and they took it automatically
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: for granted that a man this confident must have this
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: behind him. They regarded him thoughtfully as he went on by.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: No one moved. They were a philosophical people. When he
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: had gone, taking the boy and girl with him, they
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: discussed it thoroughly out under the sky. At last, it
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: was pitch black and the stars were shining. Travis realized
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: that he had been in the sewer almost a full
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours. That meant that the eclipse was done.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: Tomorrow would be a good day. There was not much time.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: He comandeered the first carriage to come by, routing three
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: elegantly dressed but unwarlike young men who fled in terror.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: He saw with relief that they thought him only another
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: sewer rat, for if word of an Earthman robbing the
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: local citizens ever got out, there would be hell to pay,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: and in addition to his other troubles, he could not
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: abide that. He told naval to head for the field
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: where Old twenty nine rested. Thoroughly bushed and beginning now
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: to feel a woeful hunger, he sat back to brood.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: At the ship, Young Trip greeted him with haggard astonishment.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: He jumped forward joyfully, traf by jig, traf, I thought
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: we'd lost you. Old Dolly's over at the local police
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: s deck. He stopped abruptly and stood slack jawed as
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: Navel and Lappie clambered fearfully through the lock. Travis glanced back.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: No spectators good. Now what in this sweet silly name?
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: Trip began, but Travis stopped him. Russ, be a good kid.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: See if you can get me something to eat. Haven't
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: had a bite in twenty four hours? Sure, traf, Sure,
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: only what's with the lower depths here? You might show
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: them the showers, Travis grinned, or at least turn on
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: the air conditioning. But listen, anything new on the contract.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: Trip's face fell. Not a thing even worse, let me
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: tell you, but ho the food. He dashed offs collapsed
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: into a chair. A few moments later, Trip came back
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: bearing food, but his eyes by now had begun to
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: penetrate the dirt of the girl, and he stood watching
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: her bemused. Then suddenly he began to look happier than
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: he had in several days. Travis told him briefly what
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: had happened in the sewer, also about the brains of Lappie.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: Trip was impressed, but he continued to regard the girl well,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: Travis said, munching, fill me in on what's been going on?
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 2: The eclipse? Come off? Trip jerked.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: He focused on Travis unhappily. Oh boy, did it come off?
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Wait till you hear listen you know the way it
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: is now, I think they're going to kick all Earthmen
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: off this planet. The MC says we may have to
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: leave and come back a hundred years from now. Not
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: anybody going to get a contract. Now, what happened, Well,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't believe it. You have to understand. These people's
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: a strong You know the little moon these people have
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: Felda they call it. It's only a tiny thing, really,
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: only a few hundred yards wide. Well, when the Mapping
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: Command first came by here, they sat down on that
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: moon and set up a listening post before landing, you know,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: the way they always do to size up the situation
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: through telescopes, radio, all that.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: Mostly they just orbit.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: But this time they landed god knows why, and took
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: off again naturally, throwing in the star drive. So today
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: the eclipse comes off all right, but it comes off late.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: He could not help smiling. You see what happened. A
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: star drive is a hell of a force. It altered
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: the orbit of the Moon. Not enough to make any
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: real difference, just a few hours a year, only minutes
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: a day. But boy, you want to hear these people howl?
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: And I guess you can see their point. Every moment
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: that damn moon makes important to them. They know where
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: it should be to the inch. And now not only
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: is it slightly off course, but so is every ephemorist
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: printed on mert and they have them printed up I
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: understand for the next thousand years, which runs into money.
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: We offered to pay, of course, but paying isn't going
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: to help. It seems we've also messed up interpretations, predictions,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: the whole dog on philosophy. Oh it's a real dingdong,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: but contract not in a million years. Travis sighed, that
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: seemed to put the cap on it all right. After all,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: when you start pushing people's moons around, where will it end?
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: He brooded, his appetite gone, but he made a last effort.
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: Did you discover anything at all we could use? Nope,
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: not a thing. I finally figured the only thing to
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: do was work on the astrology end of it. You know,
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: maybe we could argue about interpretations. These people love to
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: argue about interpretations, but no, soap, it's too complicated to
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: learn enough. Even to argue would take a couple of years.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: And besides, Unico is here and also Randal, and they
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: all have the same idea. Anyway, I don't think it
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: would work. The eclipse is too definite. You can't argue
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: the eclipse. Well, Travis said, with approval. You were on
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: the right track. You did what you could. At least
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: we got something out of the deal. He indicated Lappie,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: who was at that moment fervidly examining the interior of
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: the viewscreen. Trip nodded, but his eyes were on Navel
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: by Jing. He said, suddenly your luck holds good, no
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: matter what. I never saw the beat of it luck,
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: Travis fumed, What luck?
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: Look, Trav?
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: What else could you call it? You fall in a sewer,
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: you come up with Isaac Newton in a gorgeous doll.
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: It's uncanny, That's what it is. Uncanny. Travis lapsed into
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: wordless musing on naval planets. People come to think of it,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: He thought, it is uncanny. At that moment, there was
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: a pounding on the lock. Travis quickly showed Navel and
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: Lappy into hiding, then cautiously went.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 2: To the door. He relaxed. It was Ed Horton.
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: I saw you come back, Trav. Mighty glad, but I
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: knew you'd make it.
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 2: Old.
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: Pat Travis always comes through, Ain't that right? Pat? He
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: tottered in the doorway. Travis caught the sweet scent of
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: strong brew. He stepped forward to help him, but Horton
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: stood up grandly, waving him away. His mouth creased in
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: an amiable grin. Diamed, he announced proudly is a nine
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: planet system, after which he fell backwards out of the door.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: Trav ran to the door, stared down into the dark,
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: and sat upright at the foot of the ladder. It's
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: all right, old buddy. Didn't mean to stay, only thought
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: you'd like to know. Natural scientify fact Diamond is nine
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: planet system. He rose on, wobbly but cheerful legs. No
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: favoritism there, Hey, science, I just tell you a fact.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: You take it from there. No favoritism tall. He lurched away,
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: mumbling cheerily. His obligation fulfilled. Travis stared after him, wheels
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: turning in his brain. Fact a nine planet system. It
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: jelled slowly, then broke nine planets the key. He turned
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: slowly on Trip, his eyes swiveling like twin dark cannon.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: What's he say, Trip said, half smiling boy, he was sure?
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: Did you know this was a nine planet system?
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: Why? Sure, Trav?
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: But what and did you take the trouble to examine
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: their astrology. Certainly, what the heck can you call it?
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: Luck?
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: Travis sighed, then broke into a radiant grin. Why there's
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: your Bloomin answer, you sad, silly dreamin', there's your Bloomin answer,
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: he sailed over to a drawer, grabbed a batch of
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: fresh contracts, then flashed toward the door.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 2: Hold the fort.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: He bawled over his shoulder, break out a big bottle
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: in small glasses. We got a contract, lad, we got
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: a contract. He vanished triumphantly into the night. Old twenty
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: nine was homing. Travis felt the great soft piece of
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: deep space close over him. All was right with the world.
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: A clean and spar arkling navel, well bathed now and
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: almost frighteningly beautiful, sat worshipfully at his feet, dressed in
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: a pair of Dollinger's pajamas. Both Trip and Dollinger were
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: regarding him with wonder and delight, and as he sat
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: gazing down at them fondly, he recalled with pleasure the
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: outraged faces of the men from Unico, that robber outfit
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: Pat Travis, he chuckled, patting the fat contract in his pocket.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: The luckless Pat Travis rides again. He turned an eye
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: on the staring trip. My boy, he said, paternally speak me.
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: No speaks about luck. From this day forth, all the
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: material was in your hands. There was no luck involved.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: All you had to do was use it. But Trav,
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: I still don't get it. I've been thinking all right,
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: all though while you were gone. The planet Pluto, Travis
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: said evenly, was discovered by earthmen finally in the year
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty. At that time we were approximately three hundred
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: years ahead technologically of the people of mert A similar
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: case exists for Neptune, which was not discovered, although adequate
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: telescopes had long been in use until eighteen forty six.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: He paused and gazed happily around. Does the light dawn?
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: Holy Cow exactly? Diomed is a nine planet system, for
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: which fact thank old ed Horton, who returned to favor
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: done many years ago. Luck only if doing favors for
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: people is lucky, which I suppose you could make a
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: case for. But in the astrology of Diamed three an astrology,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: I took great pains to understand how many planets are considered.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: Let us examine rim fours Lindel bunkin' huck, weeping and sharp.
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: And then there are all also the two lights, that
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: is the Sun and the moon. But how many planets
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: are there? Counting Murtis one, add them up, it comes
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: out eight, not nine. Eight, But diomed is a nine
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: planet system, bless ed Horton. What happened to the missing planet?
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: Dollinger whooped, They didn't know they had one, Travis grinned
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: with surety, they didn't know it existed. If they had,
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: their astrology would certainly have shown it. So it had, obviously,
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: like our own Pluto at a similar time, never been discovered.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: He paused once again, while Dollinger and Trip regarded him
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: with delight. And you, Tripp said, you showed them where
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: it was, Travis clucked, I did not, for one thing.
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: I didn't know where it was. I simply told him,
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: very regretfully, that there was one, But the city situation
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: being what it was, I couldn't allow him to use
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: our telescopes to plot its orbit unless you see, there
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: existed a concrete agreement between us. I added that I
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: had heard that Earthman would shortly be leaving his planet.
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: Very unhappily, I told him he could not expect to
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: produce a telescope of the necessary power within at least
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: the next hundred years, and even then it would be
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: many more years before they actually found it. I was
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: very sorry about the whole business, so I just thought
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: i'd drop by to offer my regrets. And he leaped
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: at the chance. No, no, you rushed to conclusions. He
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: did not leap at the chance. He sat very quietly
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: thinking about it. It was a gruesome sight. I could
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: sympathize with him. On the one hand, he had us,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: the unknown moon moving us, with which he wanted no
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: traffic whatever. But on the other side, there was the
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: knowledge of that plant, it moving all unwatched out in
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: the black, casting down its radiations, be the harmful or good,
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: and no way to know in what sign the thing was,
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: or what house, or what effect it would have on
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: him was having on him even as he sat there. Oh,
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: he struggled, but I knew I had him. He signed
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: the contract. I think I may say that it is
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: among the most liberal contracts we have ever signed. There
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: was a long moment of silence in the ship. The
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: young men sat grinning foolishly. So let me hear no
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: more about luck, said Travis firmly in the future, sons.
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 2: Put your shoulders to the wheel.
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: But the attention of the two was already wandering. They
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: were both beginning to gaze once more upon the lovely Navel,
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: who was quite shyly but very womanly. Gazing back, he
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: saw Trip, look at Dollinger. Dollinger glare at Trip, their
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: hackles rising. Look down at naval and alarm born to
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: cause trouble. Oh no, he thought, abruptly, seeing a whole
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: new world beginning to open up. Oh no, oh no,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: that is the end of conquest over Time by Michael Shara.
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening.