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14 - Peacemaker · Outer Space Adventures in Sci-Fi

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Speaker 1: Peacemaker by Alan E. Norse. 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 LibriVox dot org. Recording
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Speaker 1: by Glencore others. Peacemaker by Alan E. Norse. Flicker's mind
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Speaker 1: fought silently and desperately to maintain its fast receding control,
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Speaker 1: to master his frantic urge to writhe and scream in
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Speaker 1: agony at the burning light. The fettered animal stench of
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Speaker 1: the aliens filled his nostrils, gagging him. The heat of
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Speaker 1: the place seared his skin like a thousand white hot needles,
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Speaker 1: and seeped into his throat to blister his lungs. It
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Speaker 1: didn't matter that his arms and legs were bound tightly
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Speaker 1: to the pallet, for he knew he dared not move them.
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Speaker 1: The maddening of anon of the scorching light set his
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Speaker 1: mind a fire, twisted his stomach into a hard not
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Speaker 1: of fear and agony. But his body lay still as death,
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Speaker 1: relaxed and motionless. He knew that the instant he betrayed
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Speaker 1: his tortured alertness by so much as a single tremor,
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Speaker 1: his chance for contact would be gone. The only sensible
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Speaker 1: thing to do is to kill it. It was not
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Speaker 1: a repetition, but a constant, powerful force crashing into his mind,
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Speaker 1: hateful cold. He heard no sound but the muffled throb
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Speaker 1: of spaceship engines far back in the ship. But the
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Speaker 1: thought was there, adamant and uncompromising. It burst from the
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Speaker 1: garbled thought patterns of the others and struck his mind
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Speaker 1: like an electric shock. One of the aliens wanted to
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Speaker 1: kill him thought contact. It was a paralyzing concept of Flicker.
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Speaker 1: The aliens couldn't possibly realize it themselves. They were using
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Speaker 1: sound communication with one another on a sonic level beyond
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Speaker 1: the sensitivity of Flicker's ears. He could hear no sound,
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Speaker 1: but the thought patterns that guided the sound talking of
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Speaker 1: the aliens came through to sledge hammer his brain. Coherent,
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Speaker 1: crystal clear. But why kill it? We have it sedated
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Speaker 1: almost to death level. Now it's completely unconscious. It's securely bound,
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Speaker 1: and we can keep it that way until we reach home.
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Speaker 1: Then it's no longer our worry. The first thought broke
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Speaker 1: out again, with new overtones of anger and fear. I
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Speaker 1: say we've got to kill it. We had no right
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Speaker 1: picking it up in the first place. What is it?
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Speaker 1: How did it get there? Where was the ship that
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Speaker 1: brought it? The alien's mind was venomous. Kill it while
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Speaker 1: we can. Flicker tried desperately to tear his mind from
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Speaker 1: the agonizing rhythm of the light to catch and hold
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Speaker 1: the alien thoughts. Confusion rose in his mind, and for
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Speaker 1: the first time he felt a chill. Of his people
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Speaker 1: knew that these aliens were avaricious and venal. A dozen
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Speaker 1: drained and pillage star systems which they had overrun bore
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Speaker 1: witness to that. But he had never even considered before
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Speaker 1: he started on this mission that they might kill him
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Speaker 1: without even attempting communication. Why must they kill him? All
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Speaker 1: he wanted was a chance, one brief moment to convey
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Speaker 1: his message to them. Five years of planning and his
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Speaker 1: own life had been risked just to get this message
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Speaker 1: to them, to gain their confidence and make them understand.
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Speaker 1: But all he found in these alien minds was fear
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Speaker 1: and suspicion and hate, which had become a single, ever
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Speaker 1: developing crescendo. Kill it now while we can. There were
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Speaker 1: only three of them with him now, but he knew
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Speaker 1: from some corner of the alien mines that five others
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Speaker 1: were sleeping in a forward chamber of the ship, saw
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Speaker 1: himself clearly alone on an unknown spacecraft with eight alien
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Speaker 1: creatures gliding through interstellar space at unthinkable speed, bound for
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Speaker 1: that nebulous and threatening somewhere they called home their home.
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Speaker 1: He caught a brief mind picture from one of them
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Speaker 1: of an enormous city teeming with these alien creatures watching him,
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Speaker 1: picking at him, trying to question him, deciding how to
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Speaker 1: kill him. And through everything else came the intermittent burning
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Speaker 1: glare of that terrible white light. Then suddenly the three
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Speaker 1: aliens were leaving the cabin. Flickers sensed their indecision, felt
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Speaker 1: them balancing the question in their minds soundlessly. He lifted
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Speaker 1: one eyelid a trifle. The searing light burst in on
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Speaker 1: his retina, blinding him for a moment. Then he caught
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Speaker 1: a distorted glimpse of them opening the hatch and withdrawing
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Speaker 1: in their jerking, uneven gait, And still the alien thought
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Speaker 1: came through with a parting jab to his tortured mind.
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Speaker 1: The only thing we can do is to kill it.
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Speaker 1: The risk of tampering with it is too great, and
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Speaker 1: we don't dare take it back. Home alive. The light
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Speaker 1: was gone now. Flicker took a deep breath of the
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Speaker 1: heavy air, allowing his tense muscles to relax as the
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Speaker 1: sweet coolness and comfort crept through his body. First, he
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Speaker 1: stretched his legs as far as they would go in
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Speaker 1: their restrainers, then his arms, and coughed a time or
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Speaker 1: two to clear his throat. Almost fearfully, he opened his
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Speaker 1: eyes to the cool, soothing darkness. His minds delayed with
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Speaker 1: the afterglow of the furious lights, though gradually the details
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Speaker 1: of the cabin appeared far in the background. The throbbing
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Speaker 1: drive of the great ship altered subtly, then increased slightly
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Speaker 1: in volume bound where Flick aside, trying to turn his
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Speaker 1: mind away from the undermining awareness of failure, of something
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Speaker 1: gone very wrong. Carefully, he reviewed his rescue, his actions,
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Speaker 1: the alien's reactions. They had cut their drive almost immediately
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Speaker 1: when they had spotted him and sent out a lifeboat
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Speaker 1: for him without previous reconnaissance. Surely he had been helpless
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Speaker 1: enough when they dragged him from the crippled gig, half frozen,
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Speaker 1: to allay any suspicion of his immediate dangerousness. A crippled
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Speaker 1: man is no menace, nor an exhausted man. The whole
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Speaker 1: thing had been carefully planned and skillfully executed. The aliens
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Speaker 1: couldn't have detected his own ship, which had dropped him
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Speaker 1: off hours before, in the proper place to intercept their ship.
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Speaker 1: And yet they were suspicious and fearful as well as curious,
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Speaker 1: and their first thought was to kill him first and
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Speaker 1: examine him after he was dead. Flicker's face twisted in
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Speaker 1: a sow, gridden at the irony to think that he
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Speaker 1: had come so quietly and naively to these aliens as
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Speaker 1: a peacemaker. If he were killed, the loss would be theirs,
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Speaker 1: far more than his. Because contact, living contact, and a
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Speaker 1: mutual meeting of minds was desperately necessary. They had to
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Speaker 1: be warned. For three decades they had been observed without contact,
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Speaker 1: in their slow, consuming march across the galaxy, conquering, in slaving, pillaging.
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Speaker 1: The curiosity of their nature had started them on their way.
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Speaker 1: Greed and lust for power had carried them on until now,
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Speaker 1: at last, they were coming too close. They could not
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Speaker 1: be allowed to come closer. They had to be warned away.
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Speaker 1: Flicker had been present at the meeting where that decision
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Speaker 1: had been reached. There had been voices raised in favor
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Speaker 1: of attacking the encroaching Aliens without warning, to deal them
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Speaker 1: a crippling blow and send them reeling back home. But
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Speaker 1: most of the leaders had opposed this, and Flicker could
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Speaker 1: see their point. He knew that his people's struggle for
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Speaker 1: peace and security and economic balance had been exhausting. The
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Speaker 1: final settlement dearly won. Part of the utter distaste of
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Speaker 1: his people for outside contact lay deep within Flicker's own mind.
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Speaker 1: They asked no homage from any one. They desired no power,
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Speaker 1: They felt no need for expansion. The years of war
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Speaker 1: had left them exhausted and peace hungry. When they demanded
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Speaker 1: but one thing from any culture approaching them, they wanted
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Speaker 1: to be left alone. Cultural and economic contacts they would
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Speaker 1: eagerly seek with this alien race, but they would tolerate
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Speaker 1: no upset diplomatic relations, no attempts to infiltrate and conquer,
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Speaker 1: No lies and forgeries, and socio economic upheavles. They were
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Speaker 1: tired of all these. They had found their way as
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Speaker 1: a people, and with characteristic independence, they wanted to follow
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Speaker 1: it without interference or advice. And then the Aliens had
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Speaker 1: come closer and closer to the very fringes of their
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Speaker 1: confederation like a cancer. The aliens came stealthily, nibbling at
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Speaker 1: the fringes, never quite contacting them, never really annoying them,
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Speaker 1: but preparing little by little for the first small bite.
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Speaker 1: And Flicker knew that they could not be allowed to
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Speaker 1: take that bite, for his people would fight, if necessary,
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Speaker 1: to total extinction, for the right to be left alone.
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Speaker 1: Flicker shifted his weight and sighed helplessly. The plan of
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Speaker 1: his leaders had been simple, a few individual contacts to
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Speaker 1: warn the aliens, a few well planned demonstrations of the
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Speaker 1: horrors they could expect if they would not desist. There
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Speaker 1: were other parts of the galaxy for these aliens to explore,
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Speaker 1: other stars for them to ravage. If they could be
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Speaker 1: made to realized the carnage they were inevitably approaching. The
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Speaker 1: frightful battle they were precipitating. They might gladly settle for
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Speaker 1: cultural and commercial contacts, but first they must be stopped
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Speaker 1: and warned they must not go any further. Flicker's mind
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Speaker 1: raced through the plan, the words carefully imprinted in his mind,
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Speaker 1: the evidence he could present to them, if only he
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Speaker 1: could have a chance. He felt the dull pain in
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Speaker 1: his stomach. He hadn't been fed since he was brought aboard,
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Speaker 1: and the drug they gave him had drained and exhausted him.
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Speaker 1: At least he would have no more of that for
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Speaker 1: another three hours, he sighed quietly, aching for sleep. From
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Speaker 1: the moment the impact of the first dose of the
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Speaker 1: drug hit him, he had realized the terrible depths of
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Speaker 1: strength his deception would require. He had been nearly unconscious
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Speaker 1: from exposure and outer space when they had dragged him
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Speaker 1: from his lifeboat into the blazing light of the ship,
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Speaker 1: but the drug had stimulated him to the point of convulsions,
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Speaker 1: an overwhelming dosage for their metabolism, no doubt, but it
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Speaker 1: had fallen far short of his sedation threshold, driving his
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Speaker 1: heart into a frenzy of activation as he tried to
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Speaker 1: control his jerking muscles. Still, there would be no more
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Speaker 1: for three hours or so, so he could lie in
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Speaker 1: reasonable comfort, trying to find a solution to the question
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Speaker 1: at hand. One of them wanted to kill him immediately.
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Speaker 1: That was the one who had poked and probed that
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Speaker 1: first day, tapping his nerves and bones with a little hammer,
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Speaker 1: taking samples of his blood and exhaled breath, opening his
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Speaker 1: eyelid and using that horrid torch that seared his brain
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Speaker 1: like raw fire. The throbbing intermittent light had begun to
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Speaker 1: bother him as early as that either their visual pickup
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Speaker 1: was of extremely low sensitivity, or his own euro visual
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Speaker 1: pickup had been stepped up to such a degree that
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Speaker 1: what appeared as a steady light to them registered on
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Speaker 1: his mind as a rapid and maddening oscillation. But the
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Speaker 1: brilliance and the heat, whose strength was returning slowly after
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Speaker 1: the ordeal. His muscles ached from inactivity, and he began
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Speaker 1: twisting back and forth, testing the limits of his restraints.
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Speaker 1: Each leg could move about four inches back and forth.
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Speaker 1: His right arm seemed tightly secured, but his left. He
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Speaker 1: twisted his wrist back and forth slowly, and suddenly it
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Speaker 1: was free. Unbelieving, Flicker groped for the restrainer and hung
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Speaker 1: loosely at the side of the pallet, its buckle broken.
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Speaker 1: He moved the arm tentatively, testing the other restrainer, wiping
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Speaker 1: perspiration from his forehead. Finally, he lay back, his heart pounding.
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Speaker 1: With one arm free, he could free himself completely in
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Speaker 1: a matter of moments. But the aliens mustn't know it,
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Speaker 1: for anything that would startle them or make them suspicious
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Speaker 1: might turn the tide of their indecision instantly and bring sudden, violent,
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Speaker 1: purposeless death. The arm could be used to keep himself
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Speaker 1: alive if he had to. The thought of one alien
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Speaker 1: crept through his mind, the cold, unyielding hate and the fear.
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Speaker 1: The others were merely curious, and curiosity could be his
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Speaker 1: weapon to help him establish the link that was so necessary. Somehow,
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Speaker 1: contact must be established without frightening them or threatening them
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Speaker 1: in any way. Although their thoughts came to him so
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Speaker 1: clearly he had tried in vain to establish mental rapport
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Speaker 1: with them, they showed no sign of awareness of anything
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Speaker 1: but their own thoughts and communicated only by sound. For
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Speaker 1: their thinking processes were as sluggish as their motions. Sluggish thinking,
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Speaker 1: but on a high level, they thought logically, using data
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Speaker 1: in most cases to form logical sound conclusions. They understood
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Speaker 1: friendliness and affection and companionship among themselves, but towards him,
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Speaker 1: they seemed unable to conceive of him, except in terms
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Speaker 1: of alien to be feared, investigated, attacked. He sighed again
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Speaker 1: and settled back, trying to ease his aching back and shoulders.
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Speaker 1: His mind was almost giddy from lack of sleep, running
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Speaker 1: off into the wild dreamlike ramblings, but he struggled for control,
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Speaker 1: fighting to keep the fingers of sleep from his mind.
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Speaker 1: He knew that to sleep now would be to place
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Speaker 1: himself at a terrible, possibly fatal disadvantage. He couldn't afford
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Speaker 1: to sleep now, not until contact had been established. The
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Speaker 1: light flashed on again directly above him. Flicker cringed, his muscles,
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Speaker 1: twitching tightening before the tortuous heat, anger and frustration crept
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Speaker 1: through his consciousness. Why so soon? No more drug was
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Speaker 1: due for a long while. Yet he heard footsteps in
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Speaker 1: the passageway outside, and the hatch squeaked open to admit
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Speaker 1: one of the alien alone, And with him came a
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Speaker 1: single paralyzing thought wave which tore into Flicker's brain, driving
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Speaker 1: out the pain and frustration, leaving nothing but cold fear.
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Speaker 1: If the others find it dead, they can't do much
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Speaker 1: about it. This, then, was the one that had wanted
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Speaker 1: him dead. They called him Clock, and he was the
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Speaker 1: biggest alien on the crew. This one especially was afraid
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Speaker 1: of him, wanted him dead immediately, and had come to
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Speaker 1: see that he was dead alone on his own initiative
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Speaker 1: against the will of the others, and in a cold
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Speaker 1: wave of fear, Flicker knew that he would do it.
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Speaker 1: There was no curiosity in the assassin's mind, only fear
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Speaker 1: and hate. Through one not quite closed eye, Flicker watched
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Speaker 1: the alien approach. It held a syringe like instrument in
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Speaker 1: its claws, and the oily skin was oozing a foul
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Speaker 1: smelling fluid that stood in droplets all over its face.
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Speaker 1: The fear in the alien's mind intensified, impinging on Flicker's
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Speaker 1: brain with the drive and force of a trip hammer.
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Speaker 1: Clearer and cold. If the others find it dead, there's
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Speaker 1: nothing they can do. The alien was beside him, his
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Speaker 1: head near Flicker's face, and he caught the bright glint
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Speaker 1: of glass and steel too near light lightning. Flicker swung
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Speaker 1: his free arm a sudden crushing blow. The alien emitted
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Speaker 1: one small audible squeak and dropped to the floor. Its
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Speaker 1: thin skull squashed like an egg shell right down to
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Speaker 1: its neck. Frantic with the maddening light and heat, Flicker
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Speaker 1: ripped away the restraints on his other arm and legs,
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Speaker 1: Ripping the magna boot from the alien's foot, he heaved
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Speaker 1: it with all his might at the source of the light.
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Speaker 1: There was a loud pop, and the cabin sank into
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Speaker 1: darkness again. Flicker wiped the moisture from his forehead and
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Speaker 1: stood numb and panting at the side of the table
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Speaker 1: as the after glow faded and the wonderful coolness crept
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Speaker 1: through him again. And then he saw, almost with a start,
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Speaker 1: the body on the metal floor before him. Gagging from
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Speaker 1: the stench of the thing, he knelt beside it and
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Speaker 1: examined it with trembling fingers. With a light gone, the
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Speaker 1: alien had changed color, its leathery skin now a pasty white,
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Speaker 1: its shaggy mane brown. White stuff oozed from its macerated head,
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Speaker 1: mingled with a red fluid which resembled blood. Flicker dabbed
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Speaker 1: his finger in it sniffed it. A red body fluid
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Speaker 1: should mean an oxygen metabolism like his own, but he
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Speaker 1: had concluded from the heavy atmosphere that the aliens were
17:43
Speaker 1: nitrogen metabolistic. That would account in part for their sluggishness
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Speaker 1: their slow thinking. Realization of the situation began to crowd
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Speaker 1: into his brain. This creature was dead. He had killed it.
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Speaker 1: He sat back on the floor, panting, try to channel
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Speaker 1: his wheeling thoughts into a coherent pattern. He'd killed one
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Speaker 1: of the aliens. That meant that his last hope for
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Speaker 1: peaceful contact was gone. The mission was lost and his
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Speaker 1: danger critical. Even if he could succeed in concealing himself,
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Speaker 1: it was unthinkable to go with them to their home planet.
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Speaker 1: Escape equally unthinkable. They were vengeful creatures, as well as
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Speaker 1: curious that vengeance might be murderous. Briefly, his wife and
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Speaker 1: family flashed through his mind, waiting for him, so proud
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Speaker 1: that he had been chosen for the mission, so eager
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Speaker 1: for his success, and his leaders watching waiting daily for
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Speaker 1: his return. There could be no success to report now,
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Speaker 1: nothing but failure. But he had to survive. He had
18:50
Speaker 1: to get back. There could be other missions, but somehow
18:54
Speaker 1: he had to get back. The situation fell sharply into
18:58
Speaker 1: his mind, crystal clear. There was no alternative. Now he
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Speaker 1: would have to destroy every creature on the ship, one
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Speaker 1: against seven. He considered the odds swiftly, the sudden urgency
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Speaker 1: of the situation, slamming home. They had weapons, the ship
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Speaker 1: was known to them, They could signal for help. There
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Speaker 1: must be something to turn to his advantage. He kicked
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Speaker 1: the alien's foot thoughtfully the lights. Flicker jumped to his feet,
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Speaker 1: his heart pounding audibly in his throat. Why such brilliant light,
19:32
Speaker 1: Why such a slow cycle current that he could see
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Speaker 1: the intermittent off and on. Obviously, what he saw as
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Speaker 1: an oscillation was a steady light to them, with such
19:43
Speaker 1: low light sensitivity, the aliens had to have such brilliant lights.
19:48
Speaker 1: They couldn't see without them. The agonizing brilliance that sent
19:52
Speaker 1: Flicker into convulsions was merely the light necessary for them
19:56
Speaker 1: to see at all and comfortable seeing light for him
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Speaker 1: was to them total darkness. Far forward in the ship,
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Speaker 1: a metal door claimed. Flicker was instantly alert, nerves alive,
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Speaker 1: every muscle tense. Clock was dead. He would be missed
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Speaker 1: by the others. He took a quick glance around him
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Speaker 1: and removed the weapons from Clock's side. An ordinary, clumsily
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Speaker 1: designed heaped pistol, almost unrecognizable, but similar enough to the
20:26
Speaker 1: type of weapon Flicker knew to be serviceable. He stripped
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Speaker 1: it to his side and moved silently towards the hatchway.
20:34
Speaker 1: The lights had to go first. Flicker's body ached, his
20:38
Speaker 1: mind was reeling with fatigue. Sliding momentarily into hazy attenuation,
20:43
Speaker 1: snapping back with a start. Unless he slept soon, he
20:47
Speaker 1: knew his reactions would become dangerously slow, and hunger was
20:52
Speaker 1: now tormenting him. Also, food and sleep would have to
20:55
Speaker 1: take priority over the lights, no matter how dangerous. A
21:00
Speaker 1: thought flashed through his mind, and he glanced back at
21:03
Speaker 1: the alien body on the floor. Some of the blood
21:06
Speaker 1: had oozed out onto the aluminium floor, forming a dark pool.
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Speaker 1: The thoughts slid into focus, and the hunger re intensified
21:15
Speaker 1: into a gnawing nott in his stomach. Then he turned
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Speaker 1: away in disgust. He just wasn't that hungry. Not yet. Quickly,
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Speaker 1: he stepped out into the passageway, moving in the direction
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Speaker 1: of the engine sounds. The ship was as silent as
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Speaker 1: a tomb, except for the distant throbbing of the motors.
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Speaker 1: Far below him, he heard the clang of metal on metal,
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Speaker 1: as if a hatch had been slammed. Then Dad's silence again,
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Speaker 1: no sign that clock had been missed. Not yet. Flicker
21:44
Speaker 1: breathed the cool darkness of the corridor for a moment,
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Speaker 1: and then moved quickly to the ladder at the end
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Speaker 1: of the passageway. His muscles ached and his neck was cramped,
21:53
Speaker 1: but he felt some degree of his normal agility returning
21:57
Speaker 1: as he peered into the dark hold below and eased
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Speaker 1: himself down the ladder. The grainyodoor he had smelled above
22:04
Speaker 1: was stronger down here. Halfway to the ceiling. The coarsely
22:07
Speaker 1: woven bags were stacked, feeling almost every available into the
22:11
Speaker 1: hold except for the walkways. A grain freighter, no wonder
22:15
Speaker 1: it had such a small crew for its size. Not
22:18
Speaker 1: many hands were needed to ferry stable food greens to
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Speaker 1: the aliens on distant planets. Flicker blinked and searched the walkways,
22:26
Speaker 1: finally finding what he wanted, a cubby hole behind the
22:30
Speaker 1: stacks and up against the outer bulkhead. He slid into
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Speaker 1: the narrow space with a sigh and curled himself up
22:36
Speaker 1: as comfortably as he could. Clearing his mind of every
22:39
Speaker 1: thought but alertness to sound, he sank into untroubled sleep.
22:45
Speaker 1: He heard the steps on the deck above him, and
22:47
Speaker 1: sat up in the darkness, instantly alert. There were muffled
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Speaker 1: sounds above, then steps on the metal ladder. Abruptly, the
22:55
Speaker 1: hold was thrown into a brilliant light. Flicker whimpered and
22:58
Speaker 1: twisted with pain as the light exploded into his eyes
23:02
Speaker 1: and felt a flash of panic as he saw two
23:05
Speaker 1: of the aliens at the bottom of the ladder. The
23:07
Speaker 1: waves of thought force struck Flicker, heavy with anger and fear.
23:12
Speaker 1: It couldn't have come far forward in the ship. If
23:14
Speaker 1: Clock was right that first day. It has a high
23:17
Speaker 1: order intelligence. It would seek a good hiding place and
23:20
Speaker 1: then venture out to explore a little at a time.
23:22
Speaker 1: It could be anywhere. The one called Sharlie looked back
23:26
Speaker 1: up the ladder anxiously. The other's mind was a turmoil
23:29
Speaker 1: of jagged peaks and curves. Then his thought cleared abruptly.
23:33
Speaker 1: But how could it happen? The creature was sedated, almost
23:36
Speaker 1: dead as far as we could see. It had a
23:39
Speaker 1: shot just an hour before Clock went up there. How
23:41
Speaker 1: could it have awakened? And why did Clock go up
23:44
Speaker 1: there in the first place? I thought you left strict orders.
23:48
Speaker 1: The two cautiously moved down the walkway. Whatever happened, it's
23:52
Speaker 1: loose and there won't be any sedating when we'd find
23:55
Speaker 1: it again. Trembling with pain, Flicker forced his burning eyes
23:59
Speaker 1: to the saucer the light in the overhead. He aimed
24:02
Speaker 1: the heat pistol. He had taken from clock, sending a
24:04
Speaker 1: burst of searing energy at the fixture. The hold fell
24:08
Speaker 1: dark as the light exploded into metallic steam. He's in here.
24:13
Speaker 1: There was a long pause in dead silence. Flickers strained
24:17
Speaker 1: to catch the flow of thoughts that streamed from the
24:20
Speaker 1: alien mines. I can't see a thing, neither can I.
24:23
Speaker 1: I got the lights. They were so near, Flicker could
24:25
Speaker 1: almost feel their warmth, swift and silent as lightning. He
24:29
Speaker 1: sprang up on the grain bags, leaned out just above them.
24:32
Speaker 1: A small bit of water was near his foot. He
24:34
Speaker 1: grabbed it and threw it with all his might against
24:37
Speaker 1: the far bulkhead. A surge of fear swept from the
24:40
Speaker 1: alien mines at the crash, and they swung and fired
24:43
Speaker 1: wildly like a flash. Flicker sprang to the deck behind them,
24:47
Speaker 1: pausing the barest instant for breath and balance, then springing
24:50
Speaker 1: quickly forward and striking one of them a crushing blow
24:53
Speaker 1: across the neck. The alien dropped with a small squeak.
24:56
Speaker 1: The other fired wildly, but Flicker was too quick. Zigzagg
25:00
Speaker 1: back to a retreat behind the bags. After a moment,
25:03
Speaker 1: he peered over the top of the pile Charlie was
25:06
Speaker 1: standing poised, peering into the blackness towards the other alien,
25:10
Speaker 1: who lay quite motionless on the floor, his head twisted
25:13
Speaker 1: at an unnatural angle from its body. Something in Flicker's
25:17
Speaker 1: mind screamed to get the other now while you can,
25:20
Speaker 1: But he took a deep breath of the sticky air,
25:23
Speaker 1: and then turned and ran silently to the hatch at
25:26
Speaker 1: the back of the hole and out into the large corridor.
25:30
Speaker 1: He had to get the lights first. With the lights gone,
25:32
Speaker 1: the others could be taken care of in good time,
25:35
Speaker 1: But he knew that he couldn't stand the torture of
25:37
Speaker 1: the lights much longer. Already his eyes felt like sandpaper,
25:41
Speaker 1: and the paralysis which took him for several seconds when
25:45
Speaker 1: the lights first went on could give the aliens a
25:47
Speaker 1: fatal advantage. He came to a darkened hatchway half open
25:52
Speaker 1: at the end of the corridor, took a brief inventory,
25:55
Speaker 1: and hurried through. Far below, he could hear the generator's
25:59
Speaker 1: buzzing growing stronger and mingling with the sobbing of the
26:02
Speaker 1: motors as he descended ladder after ladder. He hurried down
26:06
Speaker 1: a dimly lit corridor and tried a hatchway, where the
26:10
Speaker 1: noise seemed most intense. The light from within stabbed at
26:13
Speaker 1: his eyes, blinding him, but he forced himself through the hatch.
26:17
Speaker 1: To the right was a glittering control panel for the
26:20
Speaker 1: atomic pile. To the left where the gages for the
26:23
Speaker 1: gas storage control. An alien was standing before the main
26:27
Speaker 1: control panel, a larger creature than his brother's, his mind
26:31
Speaker 1: swiftly pulsating, carrying over tones of great physical strength. Flickers
26:37
Speaker 1: slid silently behind one of the generators and studied it
26:41
Speaker 1: and the room, his mind growing progressively more frantic. His
26:44
Speaker 1: eyes burned furiously, and finally, with a groan, he unstrapped
26:49
Speaker 1: the heat gun and sent a burst towards the ceiling.
26:52
Speaker 1: The light blew with a loud pop, and the alien whirled.
26:57
Speaker 1: Who's there? Flickers sat tight. The generator, who was using
27:01
Speaker 1: for concealment, was not functioning, probably a standby. Three of
27:05
Speaker 1: them were running in a series over to one side,
27:08
Speaker 1: with a fuse box above them. Flicker's heart pounded, who
27:12
Speaker 1: would have to be quick and sure? The alien moved
27:15
Speaker 1: swiftly over to the side of the room, and a
27:17
Speaker 1: thin blade of lights stabbed out at Flicker. A battle
27:20
Speaker 1: lamp The suddenness of its appearance startled him, stalled his
27:24
Speaker 1: movement just an instant too long. He saw the burst
27:27
Speaker 1: of red from the alien's weapon, and he screamed out
27:30
Speaker 1: as the scorching energy caught him in the side and
27:33
Speaker 1: doubled him in agony. He jumped aside and sprang suddenly
27:36
Speaker 1: up onto a catwalk. The alien swung the lamp around below,
27:40
Speaker 1: searching for him. Tense gun poised in a burst of speed,
27:44
Speaker 1: Flicker moved along the catwalk towards the alien and crouched
27:47
Speaker 1: on the edge directly over him, panting, gagging at the
27:50
Speaker 1: smell of the creature mingled with the odour of his
27:53
Speaker 1: own burned flesh. He felt cold rage creep into his mind. Recklessness,
27:59
Speaker 1: the age old, insane stinked of his people to claw
28:01
Speaker 1: and scratch and kill. Suddenly, he sprang down past the alien,
28:05
Speaker 1: striking him a light tap on the shoulder as he
28:08
Speaker 1: went by, spinning the creature around like a dervish. The
28:12
Speaker 1: battle lamp went crashing to the deck. The heat gun
28:14
Speaker 1: flew off to one side, struck a bulkhead, and spluttered
28:18
Speaker 1: twice as it shorted out. Flicker spun on the alien,
28:21
Speaker 1: catching him a crippling blow across the chest. Fear broke
28:25
Speaker 1: strong from the alien's mind as he toppled to the floor.
28:29
Speaker 1: Flicker was upon him in an instant, like an animal, ripping, tearing, crushing.
28:34
Speaker 1: The exhilaration roared through his mind like a narcotic, and
28:37
Speaker 1: he lifted the twitching body by the neck, half dragging
28:41
Speaker 1: it over to the generators. Carefully. He placed one of
28:44
Speaker 1: the alien's paws on one of the generator leads, the
28:47
Speaker 1: other on the other. The terrific voltage sputtered, and the
28:52
Speaker 1: alien gave two jerks and crackled into a steaming, reeking cinder.
28:57
Speaker 1: While the generator turned cherry red, melted and fused. Flicker
29:02
Speaker 1: blasted the fuse box with his pistol, fusing it into
29:05
Speaker 1: a glob of molten metal and plastic, then turned the
29:09
Speaker 1: pistol on the auxiliary generators. The smell of ozone rose
29:12
Speaker 1: strongly in the air, and the generators were beyond hope
29:15
Speaker 1: of repair. Flicker rose and stretched easily, his heart pounding,
29:20
Speaker 1: his side throbbed painfully, but he felt an incrudent flush
29:24
Speaker 1: of satisfaction and well being. Now there would be no
29:27
Speaker 1: more lights, no more painful burning agony in his eyes.
29:31
Speaker 1: Now he could take his time, even enjoy himself. He
29:35
Speaker 1: sprang up on to the capwalk again, located a concealed corner,
29:39
Speaker 1: and sank down to sleep. The five of them were
29:42
Speaker 1: gathered in the control room of the ship. Open paneling
29:45
Speaker 1: of plaster glass at the end of the room looked
29:48
Speaker 1: out at the infinity of black starlit space far below.
29:53
Speaker 1: The engines throbbed, thrusting the ship onward and onward. The
29:58
Speaker 1: aliens moved restlessly, fear and desperation clinging about them like
30:03
Speaker 1: a cloak in the darkness of the rear of the
30:05
Speaker 1: control room. High above them, on an acceleration cot crouched
30:09
Speaker 1: Flicker hunger gnawing at his stomach. He peered down at
30:14
Speaker 1: the flimsy little creatures, studying their features closely. For the
30:18
Speaker 1: first time. Charlie stood with his back to the instrument panel,
30:22
Speaker 1: facing the others, who sat or lounged on the short
30:25
Speaker 1: table like seats before him. A pair of battle lamps
30:29
Speaker 1: sat on the instrument panel, trained on the two hatchways
30:33
Speaker 1: leading into the control room, and each of the aliens
30:36
Speaker 1: carried a hip pistol in his pow. They looked so
30:39
Speaker 1: weak so frightened, so utterly helpless standing there, that it
30:43
Speaker 1: seemed almost impossible for Flicker to believe that these were
30:47
Speaker 1: the creatures who were threatening his people, who were responsible
30:50
Speaker 1: for the draining and pillaging of planets that Flicker had seen.
30:55
Speaker 1: These were the ones deadly for all their apparent helplessness.
30:59
Speaker 1: Flicker blinked, leaning closer and closing his eyes, soaking in
31:04
Speaker 1: and separating each thought pattern that reached him from the group.
31:08
Speaker 1: So what are we going to do about it? Charlie's
31:11
Speaker 1: thought came through sharply. We might be able to manage
31:14
Speaker 1: without the lights, but he got the generators, so that
31:18
Speaker 1: took our radio out too. We got only one message home,
31:21
Speaker 1: and that was brief, not even enough for them to
31:24
Speaker 1: get a fix on us. They know approximately where we are,
31:27
Speaker 1: but they'd never find us in a million years. We
31:30
Speaker 1: can't hope for help from them. We're stuck. Another one
31:34
Speaker 1: shifted uneasily. He's out to get us all and without
31:38
Speaker 1: light we can't find him. We don't even dare go
31:41
Speaker 1: looking for him. It looks as if he can see
31:43
Speaker 1: in the dark. Let's consider what we're really up against,
31:47
Speaker 1: said Charlie. As you say he can see in the dark,
31:50
Speaker 1: and we've got darkness here. That's point number one. Number two,
31:54
Speaker 1: he's quiet as a mouse and fast as the wind.
31:58
Speaker 1: When he got to May in the Greenstone Orange Vault,
32:01
Speaker 1: he came and went so fast I didn't even know
32:03
Speaker 1: what had happened before he was gone. Number three, he's
32:07
Speaker 1: acquainted with spaceships and with the lights gone, he's more
32:10
Speaker 1: at home on this ship than we are wherever he
32:13
Speaker 1: came from. He's no primitive. He's got a mind that
32:15
Speaker 1: doesn't miss a trick. But what does he want? Jop
32:19
Speaker 1: toyed with his pistol nervously. What was he doing when
32:22
Speaker 1: we found him out there? He was nearly frozen to death,
32:25
Speaker 1: or seemed to be motive. It might be anything or
32:29
Speaker 1: nothing at all. Maybe he's just hateful. The point is
32:32
Speaker 1: there's one thing he can't do unless he's really got
32:35
Speaker 1: some technology, and that may be our way out, which
32:39
Speaker 1: is I doubt if he can be in two places
32:41
Speaker 1: at one time or three. There are five of us here,
32:45
Speaker 1: and some of us have to get home to tell
32:47
Speaker 1: about this. This could be death to our exploratories. Certainly,
32:51
Speaker 1: we don't dare to take him home with us alive.
32:53
Speaker 1: We'd have to find him to kill him, and he'd
32:56
Speaker 1: get us first. Now he's a plan. We might be
32:59
Speaker 1: able to put a cross. Two of us should stay
33:02
Speaker 1: with the ship, myself and one other. The other three
33:05
Speaker 1: take lifeboats and get out. Now we approach within a
33:08
Speaker 1: light boat range of Kagli in about an hour. The
33:11
Speaker 1: Kaglians won't be happy to see you, but they won't
33:14
Speaker 1: hurt you, and you can bluff your way to a radio.
33:17
Speaker 1: Maybe the two of us here can keep him off
33:20
Speaker 1: until you get help. At any rate, I hope he can.
33:23
Speaker 1: Flicker lost track of their thoughts. As the information integrated
33:27
Speaker 1: in his mind, a chill went through him, driving out
33:30
Speaker 1: even the gnawing hunger for a moment. If they got
33:33
Speaker 1: off in light boats, they'd get help and the mission
33:36
Speaker 1: would really be lost, irreparable damage done. He had to
33:40
Speaker 1: prevent them from making any contact with their home. This
33:43
Speaker 1: ship was a freighter. Freighters were slow. Any culture as
33:46
Speaker 1: advanced as theirs would have ships fast ships to overtake
33:50
Speaker 1: slow old freighters quickly and silently. Flickers slipped over towards
33:54
Speaker 1: the hatch. The lamp shone on it full, but the
33:57
Speaker 1: aliens weren't watching. Like a shadow, he flashed through the
34:01
Speaker 1: hatch and down the corridor. There he paused for a
34:04
Speaker 1: fraction of a second and listened, no thoughts, no alarm.
34:09
Speaker 1: Flicker felt a wave of contempt. They hadn't even seen him.
34:13
Speaker 1: And the top of the ladder, Flicker crouched and waited.
34:15
Speaker 1: The meeting below was breaking up. He heard a hatchway clang,
34:19
Speaker 1: followed by the muffled pounding of their heavy feet as
34:22
Speaker 1: two of the aliens started down the corridor below. The
34:26
Speaker 1: battle lamp swung back and forth before them, its flash
34:29
Speaker 1: patterns swinging weirdly on the bulkheads and deck. Flicker waited.
34:34
Speaker 1: The aliens started up the ladder before him, their thoughts
34:38
Speaker 1: a mudel fear oozing from them by carrying with it
34:42
Speaker 1: a curious overtone of incaution. We can check the lifeboat
34:45
Speaker 1: for supplies, now, came a thought, and be ready to
34:48
Speaker 1: blast in an hour. At the top of the ladder,
34:51
Speaker 1: they passed so close to Flicker that he nearly gagged, Yet,
34:55
Speaker 1: in his desperate hunger, there was something almost tasty about
34:59
Speaker 1: that smell. They moved on towards the light boat. Locks
35:03
Speaker 1: and Flicker followed, trying eagerly to separate their thoughts into
35:07
Speaker 1: a coherent pattern. He's behind us. It came suddenly, like
35:11
Speaker 1: a knife through the air. Don't turn around. The first
35:13
Speaker 1: alien gripped his companion's sleeve. Pretend you don't know it.
35:17
Speaker 1: They moved along with no outward sign of their sudden,
35:20
Speaker 1: terrible awareness. Their minds were racing, fearful, but they kept on.
35:25
Speaker 1: Flicker crouched along the bulkhead and followed. The aliens came
35:30
Speaker 1: to the hatch. Flicker tensed ready for them. He heard
35:33
Speaker 1: them undog. The hatch heard its squeak as it opened,
35:37
Speaker 1: and he tensed, his muscles quivering eagerly. Three beams of
35:41
Speaker 1: light stabbed down the passageway at him, brilliant, staggering him
35:45
Speaker 1: back against the bulkhead. He grasped frantically at the closing hatch,
35:49
Speaker 1: but it clanged shut. The heavy dogs scraping into place
35:53
Speaker 1: on the opposite side, and at the other end of
35:55
Speaker 1: the corridor. He was trapped. Of course, they had incautious, nonchalant.
36:02
Speaker 1: Of course they had led him on, and now there
36:05
Speaker 1: he is. Get him. A heat gun wired, its searing energy,
36:09
Speaker 1: ricocheting in the closed end of the corridor. With a snarl,
36:12
Speaker 1: Flicker sprung up high on the bulkhead, dragging himself on
36:16
Speaker 1: a shelf carrying emergency spacesuits. Blast after blast came from
36:20
Speaker 1: the alien guns, rebounding like furies, all missing. I can't
36:24
Speaker 1: kill it, thought pounded through. It's moving too fast. Frantically,
36:28
Speaker 1: Flicker trained his own pistol on the hatchway, blasting a
36:31
Speaker 1: steady stream until the metal melted through. With an exultant snarl,
36:36
Speaker 1: he died through the opening, and without pausing, sprang up
36:39
Speaker 1: on to the lifeboat locks. He paused, breathing heavily, his
36:43
Speaker 1: burnt sigh throbbing painfully. The two aliens inside were swinging
36:47
Speaker 1: their battle lamp in wild arcs. Once spotted him and blasted,
36:51
Speaker 1: but he was gone before the alien triggered with their
36:54
Speaker 1: careful aim. He blasted the battle lamp, resting easy for
36:57
Speaker 1: a moment in the ensuing darkness. Then he was across
37:01
Speaker 1: the lock, tearing, ripping, scratching, snarling into the two aliens,
37:04
Speaker 1: roaring in savage glee. One of them fell with a
37:07
Speaker 1: cross skull, its body horribly mutilated. The other slipped from
37:11
Speaker 1: his grasp and started running through the blackness for the hatch.
37:15
Speaker 1: Flicker was there before it. He picked up the alien
37:17
Speaker 1: body and threw him across the lock. In an instant
37:20
Speaker 1: he was upon him, ripping off an arm at the socket.
37:22
Speaker 1: The alien screamed in pain and tried to wriggle away.
37:25
Speaker 1: Flicker let him wriggle about three feet, then gave him
37:28
Speaker 1: a cuff that sent him sprawling, and ripped off the
37:30
Speaker 1: other arm. The alien twisted and turned like a worm
37:34
Speaker 1: on a stick, but Flicker didn't kill him. Instead, he
37:37
Speaker 1: broke a leg and twisted off an ear. The three
37:40
Speaker 1: aliens in the corridor threw open the hatch and flooded
37:44
Speaker 1: the dark lock with the beams of the battle lamps.
37:47
Speaker 1: They saw blood on the deck and nothing more. We
37:50
Speaker 1: know you're in here. Come out now, all will come
37:53
Speaker 1: get you. Flicker caught the thought clearly and snickered comfortably.
37:56
Speaker 1: It was much more comfortable now that he wasn't so hungry.
38:00
Speaker 1: He picked up a long white bone and threw it
38:03
Speaker 1: against the opposite bulkhead. It claimed, and the three lamps
38:06
Speaker 1: swung instantly in the direction of the sound. There he
38:09
Speaker 1: is blast him. Three heat guns spoke sharply, and dead
38:13
Speaker 1: stillness echoed the despairing thought. That wasn't it. They moved
38:17
Speaker 1: across the room and dragged the charred, mutilated body of
38:20
Speaker 1: their companion away from the bulkhead. Let's get out of here.
38:24
Speaker 1: We can't fight this thing. Charlie started for the hatch,
38:28
Speaker 1: followed by the other two. Only two of the three
38:30
Speaker 1: reached the control room. Flicker played with a third for
38:34
Speaker 1: quite a long while before he killed him. We aren't
38:37
Speaker 1: going to get out of this alive, said Charlie. You
38:40
Speaker 1: know that as well as I do, I guess. Jock nodded.
38:43
Speaker 1: I've been sure of it since he got clock in
38:45
Speaker 1: the first place. He moves too fast, he thinks too fast,
38:49
Speaker 1: you can see too well. And savage. He has a
38:52
Speaker 1: heat gun. Do you realize that? But not one of
38:54
Speaker 1: us was killed with a heat gun. It's butchery. I
38:57
Speaker 1: tell you no. We won't get out of here alone.
39:00
Speaker 1: And this thing that's stalking us, what will it do?
39:03
Speaker 1: Take the ship back home, run loose there the way
39:06
Speaker 1: he's run loose here, killing and Maimie. We've got to
39:09
Speaker 1: stop at Jock. We can't let it get home. Jock
39:12
Speaker 1: stared at the instrument panel. I know one way we
39:15
Speaker 1: can stop him, he said, slowly. It's suicide, but it
39:18
Speaker 1: would keep him from going home, and it would mean
39:21
Speaker 1: the end of him too. Finally, Charlie looked up, tired
39:25
Speaker 1: lines on his face. The fear was gone to resignation,
39:29
Speaker 1: now replaced by another, more terrible fear, the fear that
39:33
Speaker 1: they would be killed and leave this thing running loose
39:36
Speaker 1: on the ship. What is it? Jacques? Jacques picked up
39:39
Speaker 1: a space chart and slowly ripped it into this He said,
39:43
Speaker 1: we can cripple the ship, foul up the controls, the
39:47
Speaker 1: gas storage, the charts, cripple it beyond repair. Then he
39:50
Speaker 1: can't do anything. Wreck the engines, destroy the food, smash
39:54
Speaker 1: this ship so no one could ever do anything with it,
39:57
Speaker 1: completely wreck his chances to get home. They moved with sudden,
40:01
Speaker 1: desperate swiftness. The heat gun sent up the space charts
40:05
Speaker 1: in wreaths of flame, fused the chart file into a
40:08
Speaker 1: molten heap of aluminium. The engines stopped throbbing, giving way
40:12
Speaker 1: to deathly silence, broken only by the heat blasts and
40:16
Speaker 1: the heavy breathing of the two men. The instrument panel
40:19
Speaker 1: melted and exploded, the gas control was smashed. The men
40:24
Speaker 1: worked in a frenzy of fearful destruction, their own last
40:28
Speaker 1: escape going up in searing heat blasts, destruction that no
40:32
Speaker 1: man could even hope to repair. Ever, and back in
40:36
Speaker 1: the corner behind the acceleration cots flicker purred and purred. Easy,
40:41
Speaker 1: satisfied contentment filled him for the first time in days.
40:45
Speaker 1: He snickered as the alien creatures went on their path
40:48
Speaker 1: of self destruction. Everything would be all right now, and
40:52
Speaker 1: his leaders would be pleased at how it turned out.
40:55
Speaker 1: He could bring back firsthand information about these creatures, vital
40:59
Speaker 1: in value of information. The contact could be made another time,
41:03
Speaker 1: and then he could go back to his family. They'd
41:07
Speaker 1: really enjoy hearing him tell about that alien squirming and
41:10
Speaker 1: screeching with both arms ripped off, and have a long
41:14
Speaker 1: comfortable rest. The helpless, simple fools. They could kill him
41:19
Speaker 1: so easily if they only knew just a breath of
41:22
Speaker 1: hydrogen to combine with his high oxygen metabolism to explode
41:26
Speaker 1: him like a bomb. But they were destroying everything they
41:29
Speaker 1: could in a mad, frenzied attempt to stall the spaceship
41:33
Speaker 1: to keep him out here in space to perish with them.
41:36
Speaker 1: Such a complete job they were doing, and it was
41:39
Speaker 1: so completely and utterly useless. True, no human being could
41:45
Speaker 1: ever repair those controls to regulate the atomic engines of
41:48
Speaker 1: the ship. No human being could survive the weakening atmosphere
41:53
Speaker 1: long enough to repair the gas units, and even with
41:56
Speaker 1: these repaired and functioning, a human being would be forever
42:00
Speaker 1: stranded in the vast, cold, friendless reaches of space without
42:04
Speaker 1: a perfect, detailed visual memory of the space charts easily
42:08
Speaker 1: at his command. For no human being could ever direct
42:12
Speaker 1: a ship blind to a destination. Without the charts of
42:16
Speaker 1: space through which he flew, no human being would ever
42:20
Speaker 1: find his way out of their dead emptiness of such
42:23
Speaker 1: uncharted space. Flicker called up and placed his nose gently
42:28
Speaker 1: on his tail, disinterested, unconcerned a human being would be hopelessly,
42:33
Speaker 1: irreparably doomed out here. Flicker purred contentedly to himself as
42:39
Speaker 1: he considered the weakness of the human race, which he
42:41
Speaker 1: had observed from their view. He was completely stranded, But
42:46
Speaker 1: a cat can always find its way home. End of
42:51
Speaker 1: Peacemaker by Alan E. Norse. Recording by Glencore Other's Garner
42:58
Speaker 1: Country