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Missing Link · 3 Science Fiction Stories by Frank Herbert

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  Speaker 1: Missing link by Frank Herbert. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit librevox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Phil schinever Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Missing link by Frank Herbert.
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  Speaker 1: This story was first published in Astounding Science Fiction February
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  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine. We ought to scrape this planet clean
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  Speaker 1: of every living thing on it, muttered Umbo Stetson, Section
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  Speaker 1: Chief of Investigation and Adjustment. Stetson paced the landing control
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  Speaker 1: bridge of his Scout cruiser. His footsteps grated on a
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  Speaker 1: floor that was the rear wall of the bridge during flight,
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  Speaker 1: but now the ship rested on its tail fins, all
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  Speaker 1: four hundred glistening red and black meters of it. The
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  Speaker 1: open ports of the bridge looked out on the jungle
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  Speaker 1: roof of Guyana three, some one hundred fifty meters below.
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  Speaker 1: A butter yellow sun hung above the horizon, perhaps an
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  Speaker 1: hour from setting. Clean as an egg, he barked. He
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  Speaker 1: paused in his round of the bridge, glared out the
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  Speaker 1: starboard port, spat into the fire blackened circle that the
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  Speaker 1: cruiser's jets had burned from the jungle. The I a
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  Speaker 1: section chief, was dark haired, gangling, with large head and
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  Speaker 1: big features. He stood in his customary slouch, a stance
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  Speaker 1: not improved by sacklike patched blue fatigues. Although on this
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  Speaker 1: present operation he rated the flag of a division admiral,
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  Speaker 1: his fatigues carried no insignia. There was a general unkempt,
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  Speaker 1: straggling look about him. Lewis Orne Junior I, a field
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  Speaker 1: old man with a maiden diploma, stood at the opposite port,
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  Speaker 1: studying the jungle horizon. Now and then he glanced at
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  Speaker 1: the bridge control console, the chronometer above it, the big
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  Speaker 1: translate map of their position tilted from the opposite bulkhead.
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  Speaker 1: A heavy planet native. He felt vaguely uneasy on this
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  Speaker 1: Guyana three, with its gravity of only seven eighths Terrance standard.
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  Speaker 1: The surgical scars on his neck where the microcommunications equipment
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  Speaker 1: had been inserted, itched maddeningly. He scratched, ha said stetson politicians.
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  Speaker 1: A thin black insect with shell like wings flew in
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  Speaker 1: orange port, settled in his close cropped red hair. Orn
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  Speaker 1: pulled the insect gently from his hair, released it again
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  Speaker 1: to try to land in his hair. He ducked. It
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  Speaker 1: flew across the bridge out the port. Beside Stetson. There
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  Speaker 1: was a thick, muscled, no fat look to Orn, but
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  Speaker 1: something about his blocky, off center features suggested a clown.
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  Speaker 1: I'm getting tired of waiting, he said, you're tired. Ha.
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  Speaker 1: A breeze rippled the tops of the green ocean below them.
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  Speaker 1: Here and there, red and purple flowers jutted from the verdure,
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  Speaker 1: bending and nodding like an attentive audience. Look at that
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  Speaker 1: blasted jungle, barked Stetson them and their stupid ardors. A
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  Speaker 1: call bell tinkled on the bridge control console. The red
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  Speaker 1: light above the speaker grid began blinking. Stetson shot an
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  Speaker 1: angry glance at it. Yeah, hal okay, stett artists just
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  Speaker 1: came through. We use plan C. Com GEO said, to
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  Speaker 1: brief the field man and jet out of here. Did
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  Speaker 1: you ask them about using another field man? Orn looked
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  Speaker 1: up attentively. The speaker said yes. They said we have
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to use Orn because of the records on the del Phinus. Well,
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  Speaker 1: then will they give us more time to brief him? Negative,
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  Speaker 1: it's crash priority. Com g O expects to blast the
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  Speaker 1: planet anyway. Stetson glared at the grid, those fat headed,
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  Speaker 1: lord bottomed, pig brained politicians. He took two deep breaths, subsided. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: tell them, we'll comply one more thing, stett What now
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  Speaker 1: I've got a confirmed contact? Instantly, Stetson was poised on
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  Speaker 1: the balls of his feet. Alert. Where about ten kilometers
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  Speaker 1: out section AA B dash six? How many? Hey, mob?
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  Speaker 1: You want I should count them? No, what are they
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  Speaker 1: doing making a bee line for us? You better get
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  Speaker 1: a move on. Okay, keep us posted all right. Stetson
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  Speaker 1: looked across at his junior field man, Orn, if you
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  Speaker 1: decide you want out of this assignment, you just say
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  Speaker 1: the word. I'll back you to the hilt. Why should
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  Speaker 1: I want out of my first field assignment? Listen and
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  Speaker 1: find out. Stetson crossed to a tilt locker behind the
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  Speaker 1: big translate map. Haul ont a white coverall uniform with
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  Speaker 1: gold insignia. Tossed it to Orn get into these while
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  Speaker 1: I brief you on the map. But this is an
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  Speaker 1: R and R, you began, Orn. Get that uniform on
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  Speaker 1: your ugly frame, Yes, sir, Admiral Stetson, sir, right away, sir,
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  Speaker 1: But I thought I was through with old rediscovery and
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  Speaker 1: re education. When you drafted me off of Hummel into
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  Speaker 1: the IA, sir, he began changing from the IA blue
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  Speaker 1: to the R and R white. Almost as an afterthought,
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  Speaker 1: he said, Sir. A wolfish grin cracked Stetson's big features.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so happy you have the proper attitude of subservience
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  Speaker 1: toward authority. Orn zipped up the coverall uniform. Oh yes, sir,
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  Speaker 1: sir okay Orn, pay attention. Stetson gestured at the map
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  Speaker 1: with its green superimposed grid squares. Here we are. Here's
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  Speaker 1: that city we flew over on our way down. You
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  Speaker 1: head forward as soon as we drop you. The place
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  Speaker 1: is big enough that if you hold a course roughly
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  Speaker 1: northeast you can't miss it. We're again. The call bell rang.
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  Speaker 1: What is it this time, hal barked Stetson. They've changed
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  Speaker 1: to plant H Stett new orders cut. Five days. That's
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  Speaker 1: all they can give us. Come, Geo said he can't
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  Speaker 1: keep the information out of High Commissioner Bullown's hands any
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  Speaker 1: longer than that. It's five days for sure. Then is
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  Speaker 1: this the usual? R and are foul up? Asked Arn.
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  Speaker 1: Stetson nodded, thanks to Bologne and company. We're just one
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  Speaker 1: jump ahead of catastrophe, but they still pump the bull
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  Speaker 1: wash into the Hurrah and raw boys back. A dear
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  Speaker 1: old Unigalacta, you're making light of my revered alma mater,
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  Speaker 1: said Arn. He struck a pose. We must reunite the
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  Speaker 1: lost planets with our centers of culture and industry and
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  Speaker 1: take up the glorious onward march of mankind that was
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  Speaker 1: so brutally can it, snapped Stetson. We both know we're
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  Speaker 1: going to rediscover one planet to many one day, rim
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  Speaker 1: war all over again. But this is a different breed
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  Speaker 1: of fish. It's not repeat, not a rediscovery orange sobered alien. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: a l I E N A never before contacted culture.
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  Speaker 1: That language you were force fed on the way over,
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  Speaker 1: that's an alien language. It's not complete. All we have
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  Speaker 1: off the minis, and we excluded data on the natives
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  Speaker 1: because we've been hoping to dump this project, and nobody
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  Speaker 1: the wiser. Holy Mazoo twenty six days ago and I
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  Speaker 1: a search ship came through here, had a routine mini
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  Speaker 1: sneaker look at the place. When he combed in his
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  Speaker 1: net of sneakers to check the tapes and films lo
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  Speaker 1: and behold he had a little stranger one of theirs. No,
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  Speaker 1: it was a many off the Delphinus. Rediscovery the Delphinis
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  Speaker 1: has been unreported for eighteen standard months. Did it crack
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  Speaker 1: up here? We don't know. If it did. We haven't
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  Speaker 1: been able to spot it. She was supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: way off in the Belladine system by now, but we've
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  Speaker 1: something else on our minds. It's the one item that
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  Speaker 1: makes me want to blot out this place and run
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  Speaker 1: home with my tail between my legs. We've a again.
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  Speaker 1: The call bell chimed. Now what, roared Stetson into the speaker.
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  Speaker 1: I've got a many over that mob, stett they're talking
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  Speaker 1: about us. It's a definite rating party. What armament two
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  Speaker 1: gloomy in that jungle? To be sure, the infra beams
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  Speaker 1: out on this many looks like hard pellet rifles of
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  Speaker 1: some kind. Might even be off the Delphinus. Can't you
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  Speaker 1: get any closer? Wouldn't do any good. No light down there,
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  Speaker 1: and they're moving up fast. Keep an eye on them,
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  Speaker 1: but don't ignore the other sectors, said Stetson, you think
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  Speaker 1: I was born yesterday? Barked the voice from the grid.
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  Speaker 1: The contact broke off with an angry sound. One thing
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  Speaker 1: I like about the IA, said Stetson. It collects such
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  Speaker 1: even tempered types. He looked at the white uniform on
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  Speaker 1: Orn wiped a hand across his mouth, as though he
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  Speaker 1: tasted something dirty. Why am I wearing this thing? Asked Orn.
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  Speaker 1: Dis Guys, but there's no mustache. Stetson smiled without humor.
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  Speaker 1: That's one's answers to those fat, keistered politicians. We're setting
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  Speaker 1: up our own search system to find the planets before
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  Speaker 1: they do. We've managed to put spies and key places
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  Speaker 1: at R and R any touchy planets. Our spies report,
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  Speaker 1: we divert the files. Then what then we look into
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  Speaker 1: them with bright boys like you, disguised as are in
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  Speaker 1: our field men, goody goody. And what happens if R
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  Speaker 1: and R stumbles on to me while I'm down there
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  Speaker 1: playing patty cake? We disown you. But you said an
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  Speaker 1: IA ship found this joint? It did. And then one
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  Speaker 1: of our spies in R and R intercepted a routine
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  Speaker 1: request for an agent instructor to be assigned here with
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  Speaker 1: full equipment. Request signed by a first contact officer name
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  Speaker 1: of distance of the Delphinus. But the debt yeah, missing.
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  Speaker 1: The request was a forgery. Now you see why I'm
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  Speaker 1: mostly for rubbing out this place. Who would dare forge
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  Speaker 1: such a thing unless he knew for sure that the
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  Speaker 1: original FC officer was missing or dead. What the jumped
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  Speaker 1: up missoo are we doing here? Steck asked Orn. Alien
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  Speaker 1: calls for a full contact team with all of the
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  Speaker 1: it calls for one planet buster bombbuster in five days
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  Speaker 1: unless you give them a white bill in the meantime,
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  Speaker 1: High Commissioner balloone, we'll have word of this planet by then.
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  Speaker 1: If Guyana three still exists in five days, you can't
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  Speaker 1: imagine the fun the politicians will have with it. MoMA Mia,
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  Speaker 1: we want this planet cleared for contact or dead before then.
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  Speaker 1: I don't like this. You don't like it, look, said Arn.
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  Speaker 1: There must be another way. Why when we teamed up
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  Speaker 1: with the Aleronoids we gained five hundred years in the
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  Speaker 1: physical sciences alone, Not to mention the the Aleronoids didn't
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  Speaker 1: knock over one of our survey ships. First, what if
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  Speaker 1: the Delphinus just crashed here and the locals picked up
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  Speaker 1: the pieces. That's what you're going in to find out, Arn,
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  Speaker 1: But answer me this, if they do have the Delphinus.
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  Speaker 1: How long before a tool using race could be a
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  Speaker 1: threat to the galaxy. I saw that city they built Stett.
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  Speaker 1: They could be dug in within six months and there'd
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  Speaker 1: be no Yeah. Arn shook his head. But think of it,
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  Speaker 1: two civilizations that matured along different lines. Think of all
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  Speaker 1: the different ways we'd approached the same problems. The lever
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  Speaker 1: that it give us for you sound like a Uni
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  Speaker 1: Galacty lecture. Are you through marching arm in arm into
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  Speaker 1: the misty future? Arn took a deep breath. Why is
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  Speaker 1: a freshman like b being tossed into this dish? You'd
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  Speaker 1: still be on the Delphinus master lists as an R
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  Speaker 1: and R field man. That's important if you're masquerading. Am
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  Speaker 1: I the only one I know? I'm a recent convert,
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  Speaker 1: but you went out. I didn't say that. I just
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: want to know why I'm because the Big Domes fed
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  Speaker 1: a set of requirements into one of their iron monsters.
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  Speaker 1: Your card popped out. They were looking for somebody capable, dependable,
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  Speaker 1: and expendable. Hey, that's why I'm down here briefing you
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  Speaker 1: instead of sitting back on a flagship. I got you
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  Speaker 1: into the IA. Now you listen carefully. If if you
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  Speaker 1: push the panic button on this one without cause, I
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  Speaker 1: will personally flay you alive. We both know the advantages
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  Speaker 1: of an alien contact. But if you get into a
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  Speaker 1: hotspot and call for help, I'll dive this cruiser into
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  Speaker 1: that city to get you out. Arn swallowed. Thanks, Stett.
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  Speaker 1: I'm We're going to take up a tight orbit. Out
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  Speaker 1: beyond us will be five transports full of IA marines
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  Speaker 1: and a Class nine monitor with one planetbuster. You're calling
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  Speaker 1: the shots, God help you. First, we want to know
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  Speaker 1: if they have the Delphinus, and if so, where it is. Next,
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  Speaker 1: we want to know just how warlike these goons are.
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  Speaker 1: Can we control them? If they're bloodthirsty? What's their potential
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  Speaker 1: in five days? Not a second more? What do we
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  Speaker 1: know about them? Not much. They looked something like an
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  Speaker 1: ancient Terran chimpanzee, only with blue fur faces, hairless, pink
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  Speaker 1: skinned stetson snapped a switch, the translant map became a
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  Speaker 1: screen with a figure frozen on it like that. This
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  Speaker 1: is life size. Looks like the missing link they're always
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  Speaker 1: hunting for, said Arron. Yeah, but you've got a different
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  Speaker 1: kind of a missing link. Vertical slit pupils in their eyes,
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  Speaker 1: said Arron. He studied the figure. It had been caught
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  Speaker 1: from the front by a mini sneaker camera. About five
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  Speaker 1: feet tall, The stance was slightly bent forward, long arms,
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  Speaker 1: two vertical nose slits, a flat, lipless mouth receding chin,
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  Speaker 1: four fingered hands. It wore a wide belt from which
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  Speaker 1: dangled neat pouches and what looked like tools, although their
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  Speaker 1: use was obscure. There appeared to be the tip of
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  Speaker 1: a tail true reading from behind one of the squat
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: legs behind the creature towered the ferry spires of the
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  Speaker 1: city they'd observed from the air. Tails, asked Orn. Yeah, there, Arboreal.
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  Speaker 1: Not a road on the whole planet that we can find,
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  Speaker 1: but there are a lot of vine lanes through the jungles.
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  Speaker 1: Setsen's face hardened. Match that with a city as advanced
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  Speaker 1: as that one slave culture? Hmm? Probably? How many cities
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  Speaker 1: have they? We found two, this one and another on
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the planet. But the other one's
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: a ruin, a ruin? Why you tell us lots of
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  Speaker 1: mysteries here? What's the planet like? Mostly jungle? There are
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: polar oceans, lakes and rivers. One low mountain chain follows
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  Speaker 1: the equatorial belt about two thirds around the planet, but
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  Speaker 1: only two cities, are you sure, reason and the least
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: so it'd be pretty hard to miss something the size
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  Speaker 1: of that thing we flew over. It must be fifty
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  Speaker 1: kilometers long and at least ten wide. Swarming with these
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  Speaker 1: creatures too. We've got a zone count estimate that places
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  Speaker 1: the city's population at over thirty million. Who we those
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: are tall buildings too. We don't know much about this place, Orn,
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  Speaker 1: and unless you bring them into the fold, there'll be
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: nothing but ashes for our archaeologists to pick over. Seems
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: a dirty shame, I agree, But the call bell jangled.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Stetson's voice sounded tired. Yeah, hell, that mob is only
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: about five kilometers outstet We've got Orn's gear outside in
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  Speaker 1: the disguised air sled. We'll be right down. Why a
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  Speaker 1: disguised sled, asked Oran. If they think it's a ground buggy,
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  Speaker 1: they might get careless When you most need a vantage.
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  Speaker 1: We could always scoop you out of the air. You
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  Speaker 1: know what are my chances on this one, stett Stetson shrugged.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid they're slim. These goons probably have the delphiness
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and they want you just long enough to get your
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: equipment and everything you know. Rough as that eh, according
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: to our best guess. If you're not out in five days,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: we blast. Orn cleared his throat. Want out, asked Stetson.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: No use the back door rule, son, always leave yourself
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: away out. Now, let's check that equipment the surgeon's put
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: in your neck. Stetson put a hand to his throat.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: His mouth remained closed, but there was a surf hissing
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  Speaker 1: voice in Orange's ear. You're reared me sure I can't, no,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: hissed the voice. Touch them my contact, Keep your mouth closed,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: just use your speaking muscles without speaking. Orn obeyed, okay,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: said Stetson. You come in loud and clear. I ought to.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I'm right on top of you. They'll be a relayship
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: over you all the time, said Stetson. Now, when you're
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: not touching that mic contact, this wrig will still feed
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: us which you say, and everything that goes on around
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: you too. We'll monitor everything. Got that, yes, Stetson held
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: out his right hand. Good luck. I mean that about
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: diving in for you, just say the word. I know
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the word, too, said Oran. Help Gray mud floor and
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: gloomy aisles between monstrous bluish tree trunks. That was the jungle.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Only the barest, weak glimmering of sunlight penetrated to the mud.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: The disguised sled it's paragraph, It turned off, lurched, and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: skidded around buttress roots. Its headlights swung in wild arcs
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: across the trunks and down to the mud. Aerial creepers,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: great looping vines of them, swung down from the towering
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: forest ceiling. A steady drip of condensation splattered the windshiel,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: forcing Orn to use the wipers in the bucket seat
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: of the sledge. Cab Orn fought the controls. He was
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: plagued by the vague, slow motion, floating sensation that a
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: heavy planet native always feels in lighter gravity. It gave
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: him an unhappy stomach. Things skipped through the air around
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the lurching vehicle, flitting and darting. Things. Insects came in
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: twin cones siphoned toward the headlights. There was an endless chittering,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: whistling talking in the gloom beyond the lights. Stetson's voice
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: hissed suddenly through the surgically implanted speaker. How's it look alien?
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Any sign of that mob negative. Okay, we're taking off.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Behind Orn, there came a deep, rumbling roar that receded
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: as the Scout Cruiser climbed its jets. All other sounds
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: hung suspended in after silence, then resumed, the strongest first,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: and then the weakest. A heavy object suddenly arked through
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  Speaker 1: the headlights, swinging on a vine. It disappeared behind a tree.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Another another ghostly shadows with vine pendulums on both sides.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Something banged down heavily onto the hood of the sled.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Orn breaked to a creaking stop that shifted the load
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: behind him found himself staring through the windshield at a
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: native of Diana three. The native crouched on the hood
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: a Mark twenty exploding pellet rifle in his right hand
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: directed at Oran's head. In the abrupt shock of meeting,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Orn recognized the weapon, standard issue to the Marine guards
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: on all R and R survey ships. The native appeared
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the twin of the one Orn had seen on the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: translight screen. The four fingered hand looked extremely capable around
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the stock of the Mark twenty. Slowly, Orn put a
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: hand to his throat, pressed the contact button. He moved
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: his speaking muscles just made contact with the mob. One
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: on the hood now has one of our Mark twenty
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: rifles aimed at my head. The surf hissing of Stetson's
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: voice came through the hidden speaker. Want us to come
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: back negative stand by, He looks cautious rather than hostile.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Orn held up his right hand, palm out. He had
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a second thought. Held up his left hand too, universal
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: symbol of peaceful intentions, empty hands, the gun muzzle lowered slightly.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Orn called into his mind the language that had been
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: hypno forced into him. Oh kiro no that means the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: people ah, and he had the heavy frigative greeting sound. Farroggi, ragazzi,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: he said. The native shifted to the left, answered in pure,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: unaccented high galacates. Who were you? Orn fought down sudden panic.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: The lipless mouth had looked so odd, forming the familiar words.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Stetson's voice hissed, is that native speaking galacatees? Orn touched
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: his throat. You heard him? He dropped his hand, said,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I am Lewis Orn of Rediscovery and re Education. I
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: was sent here at the request of the first contact
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: officer on the Delphinus Rediscovery. Where is your ship? Demanded
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the gayanan it put me down and left why it
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: was behind schedule for another appointment. Out of the corners
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: of his eyes, Arn saw more shadows dropping to the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: mud around him. The sledge shifted as someone climb onto
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the load behind the cab. Then someone scuttled agilely for
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: a moment. The native climbed down to the CAB's side
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: step opened the door. The rifle was held at the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: ready Again. The lipless mouth formed Galacty's words, what do
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: you carry in this vehicle? The equipment every R and
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: R field man uses to help the people of a
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: rediscovered planet to prove themselves. Horne nodded at the rifle.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Would you mind pointing that weapon some other direction? It
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: makes me nervous. The gun muzzle remained unwaveringly on Orne's middle.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: The Native's mouth opened, revealing long canines. Do we not
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: look strange to you? I take it there's been a
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: heavy mutational variation in the humanoid norm on this planet,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: said Orn. What is it hard radiation? No answer, It
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: doesn't really make any difference, of course, said Orn. I'm
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: here to help you. I am Tanube high Path, chief
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of the Grazzi, said the native. I decide who is
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to help. Orn swallowed. Where do you go? Demanded Tanube?
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I was hoping to go to your city? Is it permitted?
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: A long pause while the vertical slit pupils of Tanube's
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: eye is expanded and contracted. It is permitted. Stetson's voice
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: came through the hidden speaker. All bets off, We're coming
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: in after you. That marked twenty is the final straw.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: It means they have the Delphinus for sure. Orn touched
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: his throat. No, give me a little more time. Why
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: I have a hunch about these creatures. What is it?
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: No time now? Trust me. Another long pause, in which
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Orn and Toanube continue to study each other presently, Stenton said, okay,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: go ahead as planned, but find out where the delphinus is.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: If we get that back, we pull their teeth. Why
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: do you keep touching your throat? Demanded Toanube. I'm nervous,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: said Orn. Guns always make me nervous. The muzzle loweredly.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Shall we continue on to your city? Asked Orn. He
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: wet his lips with his tongue. The cab light on
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Tanub's face was giving the guyanon an eerie, sinister look.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: We can go soon, said Tanub. Will you join me
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: inside here? Asked Orn. There is a passenger seat right
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: behind me. Tanub's eyes moved catlike right left. Yes, he turned,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: barked an order into the jungle gloom, then climbed in
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: behind Orn. Where do we go? Asked Orn. The great
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: sun will be down soon, said Tanub. We can continue
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: as soon as chiron akruso rises. Chie ranak russo, our satellite,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: our moon, said Tanub. It's a beautiful word, said Orn.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Cheiron ak russo in our tongue. It means the limb
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: of victory, said Tanub. By its light, we will continue.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Orn turned looked back at Tanub. Do you mean to
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: tell me that you can see by what light gets
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: down here through those trees? Can you not see? Asked Tanub?
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Not without the headlights, Our eyes differ, said Tanub. He
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: bent toward Orn, peered the vertical slit pupils of his
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: eyes expanded, contracted. You are the same as the others,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: oh on the dolphiness pause. Yes. Presently, a greater gloom
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: came over the jungle, bringing a sudden stillness to the wildlife.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: There was a chittering commotion from the natives and the
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: trees around the slid. Tanub shifted behind Orn. We may
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: go now, said slowly, to stay behind my scouts right,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: ornees The sled forward around an obstructing route silence. While
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: they crawled ahead around them, shapes flung themselves from vine
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: to vine. I admired your city from the air, said Orn.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: It is very beautiful, yes, said Tanub. Why did you
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: land so far from it? We didn't want to come
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: down where we might destroy anything. There is nothing to
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: destroy in the jungle, said Tanub. Why do you have
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: such a big city, asked Orn silence. I said, why
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: do you? You are ignorant of our ways, said Tanub.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Therefore I forgive you. The city is for our race.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: We must breed and be born in sunlight. Once, long ago,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: we used crude platforms on the tops of the trees.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Now only the wild ones do this. Stanton's voice hissed
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: in Orn's ear. Easy on the sex line, boy, that's
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: always touchy. These creatures are oviparous. Sex glands are apparently
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: hidden in that long fur behind where their chins are
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: to be. Who controls the breeding sites controls our world,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: said Tanub. Once there was another city, we destroyed it
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Are there many wild ones, asked Orn. Fewer each year,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: said Tanub. There's how they get their slaves, hissed Stinton.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: You speak excellent galuckes, said Orn. The high path chief
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: commanded the best teacher, said Tanub, do you too know
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: many things? Orn? That's why I was sent here, said Orn.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Are there many planets to teach? Said Tanub? Very many,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: said Orn. Your city, I saw very tall buildings of
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: what do you build them? In your tongue glass? Said Tanub.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: The engineers of the Delphinus said it was impossible, as
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: you saw. They are wrong a glass blowing culture, hissed Stetson.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: That had explained a lot of things. Slowly, the disguised
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: sled crept through the jungle. Once a scout swooped down
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: into the headlights waved. Orn stopped on Tanub's order, and
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: they waited almost ten minutes before proceeding. Wild ones, asked Orn, Perhaps,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: said Tanub. A glowing of many lights grew visible through
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: the giant tree trunks. It grew brighter as the sled
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: crept through the last of the jungle emerged in clear
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: land at the edge of the city. Rn stared upward
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: in awe. The city fluted and spiraled into the moonlit sky.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: It was a fragile, appearing lacery of bridges, winking dots
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: of light. The bridges wove back and forth from building
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: to building until the entire visible network appeared one gigantic,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: dew glittering web. All that with glass, murmured Arn, what's happening,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: hissed Stetson. Orn touched his throat contact. We're just into
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the city clearing, proceeding toward the nearest building. This is
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: far enough, said Tanub. Arn stopped the sled. In the moonlight,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: he could see armed gayanins all around. The buttressed pedestal
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: of one of the buildings loomed directly ahead. It looked
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: taller than had the Scout Cruiser in its jungle landing circle.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Tanube leaned close to Orn's shoulder. We have not deceived
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: you have we Arn? Humph? What do you mean you
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: have recognized that we are not mutated members of your race?
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Orn swallowed into his ears. Came Stetson's voice. Better admit it,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: that's true, said Arn. I like you, Arn, said Tanub,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: you shall be one of my slaves. You will teach
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: me many things. How did you capture the Dauphinus, asked Arn.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: You know that too, You have one of their rifles,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: said Arn, Your race is no match for us, Arn
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: in cunning, in strength, in the prowess of the mind.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Your ship landed to repair its tubes, very inferior ceramics
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: in those tubes. Arn turned looked at Tanube in the
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: dim glow of the cab light. Have you heard about
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the I A? Tanub? I A? What is that? There
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: was a weary tenseness in the Guianian's figure. His mouth
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: opened to reveal the long canines. You took the Delphinus
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: by treasury, asked Orn. They were simple fools, said Tanub.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: We are smaller. Thus they thought us weaker. The Mark
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: twenty's muzzle came around to center on Orne's stomach. You
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: have not answered my question. What is the I A?
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: I am of the I A? Said Orn? Where have
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: you hidden the Delphinus in the place that suits us best?
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Said Tonub. In all our history there has never been
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: a better place. What do you plan to do with it?
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Asked Orn. Within a year we will have a copy
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: with our own improvements. After that, you intend to start
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: a war, asked Orn. In the jungle, the strong slay
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: the weak, until only the strong remain, said Tanub, and
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: then the strong prey upon each other, asked Arn. That
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: is a quibble for women, said Tanub. It's too bad
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: you feel that way, said Orn. When two culturers meet
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: like this, they tend to help each other. What have
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: you done with the crew of the Delphinus. They are slaves,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: said Tanub. Those who still live. Some resisted, others objected
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: to teaching us what we want to know. He waved
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: the gun muscle. You will not be that foolish, will you, Arn?
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: No need to be, said Arn, I've another little lesson
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: to teach you. I already know where you've hidden thee Delphinus.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Go boy, hissed Stetson. Where is it impossible, barked Tanub.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: It's on your moon, said Arn. Dark side. It's on
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: a mountain, on the dark side of your moon. Tanoub's
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: eyes dilated. Contracted. You read minds. The I A has
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: no need to read minds, said Arn. We rely on
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: superior mental progress. The Marines are on their way, hissed Stetson.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: We're coming in to get you. I'm going to want
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to know how you guessed that one. You are a
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: weak fool like the others, gritted Toanub. It's too bad
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: you formed your opinion of us by observing only the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: low grades of the R and R, said Arn. Easy boy,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: hissed Stetson. Don't pick a fight with him now. Remember
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: his race is arboreal. He's probably as strong as an ape.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: I could kill you where you sit, grated Tanube. You write,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: finish for your entire planet if you do, said Arn.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not alone. There are others listening to every word
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: we say. There's a ship overhead that could split open
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: your planet with one bomb, wash it with molten rock.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: It did run like the glass you use for your buildings.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: You are lying. We'll make an offer, said Arn. We
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: don't really want to exterminate you. We'll give you limited
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: membership in the Galactic Vetterer until you prove you're no
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: menace to us. Keep talking, hissed Stetson. Keep him interested.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: You dare insult me, growled Toanub. You had better believe me,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: said orn We. Stetson's voice interrupted him. Got it, Oran,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: They caught the Delphinus on the ground right where you
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: said it'd be. Blew the tubes off it. Marine's now
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: mopping up. It's like this, said Arron. We already have
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: recaptured the Delphinus. Tanube's eyes went instinctively skyward. Except for
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: the captured armament you still hold. You obviously don't have
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: the weapons to meet us, continued Arn. Otherwise you wouldn't
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: be carrying that rifle off the Delphinus. If you speak
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the truth, then we shall die, bravely, said Tanub. No
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: need for you to die, said Arn. Better to die
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: and be slaves, said Tanub. We don't need slaves, said Orn.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: We I cannot take the chance that you are lying,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: said Tanub. I must kill you now. Orn's foot rested
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: on the air sled control pedal. He depressed it instantly.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: The sledge shot skyward, heavy gees, pressing them down into
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: the seats. The gun in Tanub's hands was slapped into
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: his lap. He struggled to raise it to Orn. The
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: weight was still only about twice that of his home
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: planet of Chargon. He reached over, took the rifle, found
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: the safety belts, bound Tanub with them. Then he eased
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: off the acceleration. We don't need slaves, said Orn. We
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: have machines to do our work. We'll send experts in here.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Teach you people how to exploit your planet, how to
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: build good transportation facilities, show you how to mine your minerals,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: how to and what do we do in return, whispered Tanub.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: You could start by teaching us how to make your superior, Glass,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: said Arn. I certainly hope you see things our way.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: We really don't want to have to come down here
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: and clean you out. It'd be a shame to have
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: to blast that city into little pieces. Tanub wilted presently.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: He said, send me back. I will discuss this with
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: our council. He stared at Orn you, I A's are
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: too strong. We did not know. In the wardroom of
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Stetson's Scout cruiser, the lights were low, the leather chairs comfortable,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: the green beige table set with a decanter of Hochar
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: brandy and two glasses. Orn lifted his glass, sipped the liquor,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: smacked his lips for a while there, I thought I'd
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: never tasting anything like this again. Stetson took his own glass.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: Calm Geo heard the whole thing over the general monitor net.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: He said, do you know you've been brevetted to senior
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: field man. Ah, they've already recognized my sterling Worth, said Arn.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: The wolfish grin took over Stetson's big features. The senior
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: field men last about half as long as the juniors,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: he said. Mortality's terrific. I might have known, said Oran.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: He took another sip of the brandy Stetson flicked on
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: the switch of a recorder beside him. Okay, you can
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: go ahead anytime. Where do you want me to start first?
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: How do you spot right away where they'd hidden the delphinus?
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Easy ton Oabe's word for his people was grassy. Most
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: races call themselves something, meaning the people, but in his
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: tongue that's ochierro Rozzi wasn't on the translated list. I
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: started working on it. The most likely answer was that
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: it had been adopted from another language and meant enemy,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: and that told you where the Delphinus was. No, but
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: it fitted my hunch about these guy Inians. I kind
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: of felt from the first minute of meeting them that
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: they had a culture like the Indians of ancient Chha.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Why they came in like a primitive rating party. The
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: leader dropped right onto the hood of my sled an
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: actor of bravery, no less counting coop you see, I
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: guess so. Then he said he was high path chief.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: That wasn't on the language list either, But it was
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: easy raider chief. There's a word in almost every language
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: in history that means raider and derives from a word
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: for road path or highway highwaymen, said Stetson. Raid itself
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: said on an ancient terran language, corruption of road. Yeah, yeah,
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: but where'd all this translation? Griff put, don't be impatient.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Glass blowing culture meant they were just out of the
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: primitive stage that we could control. Next, he said, their
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: moon was chi ranak russo, translated as the limb of victory.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: After that, it just fell into place. How the vertical
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: slit pupils of their eyes. Doesn't that mean anything to you? Maybe?
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: What's it mean to you? Night hunting predator accustomed to
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: dropping upon its victims from above. No other type of
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: creature ever has had the vertical slit. And Tanub sat
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: himself that the Delphinus was hidden in the best place
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: in all their history history. That'd be a high place dark. Likewise,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: ergo a high place on the dark side of their moon.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: I'm a pie eye gripus, whispered Stetson. On grind said
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: you probably are sir end of missing link.