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35 - Nine Sci-fi Stories by Poul Anderson by Poul William Anderson · Nine Sci-fi Stories by Poul Anderson

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty five of nine Sciphi stories by Paul Anderson.
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  Speaker 1: The Sleepovox recording is in the public domain. Sagasso of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Lost Starships, Chapter one, Basil Donovan was drunk again. He
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  Speaker 1: sat near the open door of the Golden Planet, boots
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  Speaker 1: on the table, chair tilted back, one arm resting on
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  Speaker 1: the broad shoulder of Watcher, who sprawled on the floor
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  Speaker 1: beside him, the other hand clutching a tankard of ail.
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  Speaker 1: The tunic was open above his stained gray shirt. The
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  Speaker 1: batted cap was a skew on his close cropped blonde hair,
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  Speaker 1: and his insignia the stars of a captain and the
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  Speaker 1: silver leaves of an earl on answer tarnished. There was
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  Speaker 1: a deepening flush over his pale, gaunt cheeks, and his
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  Speaker 1: eyes smoldered with an old rage. Looking out across the
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  Speaker 1: cobbled street, he could see one of the tall half
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  Speaker 1: timbered houses of Lanstead. It had somehow survived the space bombardment,
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  Speaker 1: though its neighbors were rubble, but the tire roof was
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  Speaker 1: clumsily patched, and there was an oiled paper across the
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  Speaker 1: broken plastic of the windows, and an achronism looming over
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  Speaker 1: the great bulldozer which was clearing the wreckage next door.
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  Speaker 1: The workmen now were mostly Ansons, big men in ragged gulls,
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  Speaker 1: but a well dressed Terran was bossing the job. Donovan
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  Speaker 1: cursed wearily and lifted his tankard again. The long, smoky
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  Speaker 1: rafted taproom was full stolid burghers and peasants of Lanstad,
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  Speaker 1: discharged spacemen still in their worn uniforms, a couple of
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  Speaker 1: tailed greenies from the neighbor planet Chaomu. Talk was low
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  Speaker 1: and spiritless, and the smoke which drifted from pipes and
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  Speaker 1: cigarettes was bitter, cheap tobacco and dried bark. The smell
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  Speaker 1: of defeat was thick in the tavern. May I sit here, sir,
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  Speaker 1: the other places are full. Donovan glanced up. It was
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  Speaker 1: a young fellow peasant written over his sunburned face, in
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  Speaker 1: spite of the gray uniform and the empty sleeve. Omen Yes, Sam,
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  Speaker 1: whose family had been under Donovan's feet these two hundred years. Yure,
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  Speaker 1: make yourself at home, Thank you, sir. I came in
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  Speaker 1: to get some supplies. They ought have a beer, too,
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  Speaker 1: but you can't get anything these days, not to be had.
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  Speaker 1: Sam's face looked vaguely hopeful as he eyed the noble.
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  Speaker 1: We do need a gas engine, bad sir, for the tractor.
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  Speaker 1: Now that the centry power caster is gone, you got
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  Speaker 1: to have her own injuns. I don't want to presume,
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  Speaker 1: Sir Herbert Donovan lifted one corner of his mouth and
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  Speaker 1: a tired smile. I'm sorry, he said. If I could
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  Speaker 1: get one machine for the whole community, it'd be satisfied.
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  Speaker 1: Can't be done. We're trying to start a small factory
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  Speaker 1: of our own up at the Manor, but it's slow work.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure if anyone can do anything, it's you. Sir
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  Speaker 1: Donovan looked quizzically at the open countenance across the table.
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  Speaker 1: Sam He asked, why do people keep turning to the family?
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  Speaker 1: We led you, and it was to defeat. Why do
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  Speaker 1: you want anything more to do with nobles? But not
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  Speaker 1: even that any longer. We've been stripped of our titles.
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  Speaker 1: We're just plain citizens of the empire now, like you
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  Speaker 1: and the new rulers a terem. Why do you still
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  Speaker 1: think of us as your leaders? But you are, sir,
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  Speaker 1: You've always been. It wasn't the king's fault or his men's.
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  Speaker 1: The terror had so much more n weeded. We gave
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  Speaker 1: him a fight. They won't forget in a hurry. You
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  Speaker 1: were in my squadron, weren't you, yes, Sir CPO, And
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  Speaker 1: the answer answer as with you. At the Battle of Luga,
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  Speaker 1: the deep set eyes glowed. We hit him there, didn't
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  Speaker 1: we say? So? We did. Donovan couldn't suppress the sudden,
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  Speaker 1: fierce memory. Outnumbered, out gunned, half its ships shot to pieces,
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  Speaker 1: and half the crews down with serious fever. The Royal
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  Speaker 1: Lansterds had still made naval history and sent the Imperial
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  Speaker 1: fleet keyouling back to sal Naval historians would be scratching
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  Speaker 1: their heads over the battle for the next five centuries.
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  Speaker 1: Before God that fought, he began to sing the old
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  Speaker 1: war song softly at first louder as Sam joined in.
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  Speaker 1: Our maids hear the battle tiding here, the ships that
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  Speaker 1: rise and yell bearing outwards, starred riding kick the Terrans
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  Speaker 1: back to hell. The others were listening. Men raised weary heads,
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  Speaker 1: and old light burned in our eyes, and tanked clashed together.
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  Speaker 1: They stood up to roar out the chorus till the
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  Speaker 1: walls shook. Lift your glasses high, kiss the girls, good bye,
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  Speaker 1: for we're riding, For We're riding for We're riding out
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  Speaker 1: to Tarrance Sky, Terrance Sky, Terran Sky. We have shaken
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  Speaker 1: loose a thunder where the planets have their way, and
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  Speaker 1: the starry deeps of wonder saw the impies in dismay.
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  Speaker 1: Lift your glasses high, kiss the girls good bye. The
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  Speaker 1: workmen in the street heard it and stopped where they were.
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  Speaker 1: Some began to sing. The Imperial Superintendent yelled, and an
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  Speaker 1: Ansen turned to flash him with a wolfish grin. A
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  Speaker 1: squad of blue uniformed Celarian marines coming toward the Inn
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  Speaker 1: went on the double. Oh, the Empress sent his battle
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  Speaker 1: ships against us in a mass, but we shook them
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  Speaker 1: like a rattle, and we've crowned them. Hey, there, stop.
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  Speaker 1: That song died slowly and stubbnly. The men stood where
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  Speaker 1: they were, and hands clenched into hard knuckled fists. Someone
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  Speaker 1: shouted an obscenity. The Terran's sergeant was very young, and
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  Speaker 1: he felt unshore before those steady, hating eyes. He lifted
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  Speaker 1: his voice all the louder. That will be enough of
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  Speaker 1: that any more, and I'll run you all in for
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  Speaker 1: las Amy yesday. Haven't you drunken bums anything better than
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  Speaker 1: sit around, swilling beer. A big Anson Smith laughed with
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  Speaker 1: calculated raucousness. The sergeant looked around, trying to ignore him.
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  Speaker 1: I'm here for Captain Donovan, Earl Basil, if you prefer,
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  Speaker 1: they said, he'd be here. I've gotten imperial summons for him.
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  Speaker 1: The noble stretched out a hand. This is he Let's
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  Speaker 1: have that paper. It's just a formal order, said the si.
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  Speaker 1: You're to come at once, commoners, said Donovan, mildly. Address
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  Speaker 1: me is sir, you're commoner with the rest of em. Now.
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  Speaker 1: The sergeant's voice wavered just a little. I really must
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  Speaker 1: demand a little respect, said Donovan, with drunken precision. There
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  Speaker 1: was an unholy gleam in his eyes. It's a mere formality,
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  Speaker 1: I know. But after all, my family can trace itself
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  Speaker 1: farther back than the Empire, whereas you can name your father.
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  Speaker 1: Sam Omon snickered, well, sir, The sergeant tried elaborate sarcasm.
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  Speaker 1: If you, sir, we'll please be so good as to
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  Speaker 1: pick your hybrid tail off that chair, sir. I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: the Imperium will be mostly deeply grateful to you, sir.
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  Speaker 1: I'll have to do without its gratitude. I'm afraid, Donovan
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  Speaker 1: folded the summons without looking at it and put it
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  Speaker 1: in his tunic pocket. But thanks for the paper, I'll
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  Speaker 1: keep it in my bathroom. You're under arrest. Donovan stood
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  Speaker 1: slowly up, unfolding his sheer two meters of slender, wiry height.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Watcher, he said, let's show them that answer
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  Speaker 1: hasn't surrendered yet. He threw the tankard into the sergeant's face,
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  Speaker 1: followed it with the table against the two marines beside him,
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  Speaker 1: and vaulted over the sudden ruckus to drive a fist
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  Speaker 1: into the jaw of the man beyond. Watcher rose and
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  Speaker 1: his booming cry trembled in the walls. It been a slave,
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  Speaker 1: if Donovan, since he was a cub and a man
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  Speaker 1: a child, and if someone had liberated him, he wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: have known what to do. As batman and irregular ground trooper,
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  Speaker 1: it followed his master to the walls, and the prospect
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  Speaker 1: of a new skull breaking lit his eyes with glee.
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  Speaker 1: For an instant there was Tableau Terence and Ansons rigid
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  Speaker 1: staring at the monster which suddenly stood behind the earl.
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  Speaker 1: Natives of Donar have the not uncommon centaurroid form, but
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  Speaker 1: their bodies are more like that of a rhinoceros than
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  Speaker 1: of a horse, hairless and slaty, blue, and enormously massive.
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  Speaker 1: The gorilla armed torso ended in a round, muzzled, apelike face,
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  Speaker 1: long eared, heavy jawed, with canine tuss hanging over the
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  Speaker 1: great gash of a mouth. A chair splintered under his feet,
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  Speaker 1: and he grinned. Puragons, cried the sergeant, ah hell let
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  Speaker 1: out for noon. Some of the customers huddled back into
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  Speaker 1: the corners, but the rest smashed the ends off bottles
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  Speaker 1: and threw themselves against the terrans. Sam Almond's remaining arm
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  Speaker 1: yanked a marine to him and bashed his face against
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  Speaker 1: the wall. Donovan's fist traveled a jolting arc to the
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  Speaker 1: nearest belly, and he snatched a rifle loose and crunched
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  Speaker 1: it against the man's jaw. A marine seized him from behind.
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  Speaker 1: He twisted in the grip and kicked savagely, whirled around
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  Speaker 1: and drove the rifle butt into the larynx. Kill the
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  Speaker 1: blow bellies, Kill the impies. Hail answer. Watcher charged into
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  Speaker 1: the squad, grabbed a hapless terran in his four fingered hands,
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  Speaker 1: and swung the man like a club. Someone drew his
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  Speaker 1: bayonet to stab the slave. It glanced off the thick skin,
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  Speaker 1: and Watcher roared and sent him reeling. The riot blazed
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  Speaker 1: around the room, trampling men under foot, shouting and cursing
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  Speaker 1: and swinging. Donovan Donovan shouted, sam Oman. He charged the
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  Speaker 1: nearest impy and got a bayonet in the stomach. He
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  Speaker 1: fell down, holding his hand to his wounds, screaming. The
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  Speaker 1: door was suddenly full of Terrans marines arriving to help
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  Speaker 1: their comrades. Paraguns began to sezzle. Men fell stunned before
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  Speaker 1: the supersonic beams in the fight broke up. Watcher charged
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  Speaker 1: the rescuers, and a barrage sent his giant form crashing
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  Speaker 1: to the floor. They herded the Ansons towards the city jail. Donovan,
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  Speaker 1: stirring on the ground as consciousness returned, felt handcuffs snap
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  Speaker 1: on his wrists. Imperial summons being what they were. He
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  Speaker 1: was bundled into a ground car and taken under heavy
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  Speaker 1: guard toward the added place. He leaned wearily back, watching
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  Speaker 1: the streets blur past. Once a group of children through
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  Speaker 1: stones at the vehicle. Oh at a cigarette, he said,
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  Speaker 1: shut up his mild surprise. They did not halt that
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  Speaker 1: the military government had quartered the old Hall of Justice,
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  Speaker 1: where the Donovans had presided before the war, but went
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  Speaker 1: on toward the suburbs. The spaceport, being still radioactive, must
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  Speaker 1: be going to the emergency fill outside the city. Hum.
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  Speaker 1: He tried to relax, his head ached from the stonebeam.
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  Speaker 1: A light cruiser had come in a couple of days
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  Speaker 1: before a chern ganymeade. It loomed enormous over the green
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  Speaker 1: rolling filth and the distance blued hills and forests. A
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  Speaker 1: lance of bright metal and energy pointed into the clear
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  Speaker 1: sky of answer, blinding in the sun. A couple of
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  Speaker 1: spacemen on sentry at the gangway halted as the car
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  Speaker 1: stopped before them. This man is going to command a
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  Speaker 1: yansky ah. I proceed through the massive airlock, down the
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  Speaker 1: mere polished companionway, into an elevator, and up toward the bridge.
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  Speaker 1: Donovan looked about him with a professional eye. The impies
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  Speaker 1: kept a clean, tight ship, we had to admit. He
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  Speaker 1: wondered if he would be shot or merely in prisoned.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Doubted if it committed an enslaving offense. Well, it had
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  Speaker 1: been fun and there hadn't been a hell of a
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  Speaker 1: lot to live or anyway, maybe his friends could spring
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  Speaker 1: him if or when they got some kind of underground organized.
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  Speaker 1: He was ushered into the captain's cabin. The ensign with
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  Speaker 1: him saluted. Donovans per orders, ma'am, Betty could, but why
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: is he in? Irons resisted orders? Ma'am started a quiot,
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  Speaker 1: bloody business. I see, she nodded her dark head losses.
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  Speaker 1: I dun't know, ma'am, but we had several wounded. At
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  Speaker 1: least couple of Ansons were killed. I think, well, leave
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  Speaker 1: him here, you may go. But ma'am, he's dangerous. I
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  Speaker 1: have a gun, and there's a man just outside the door.
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  Speaker 1: You may go. Winson Donovan swayed a little on his feet,
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  Speaker 1: trying to pull himself erect, wishing he wasn't so dirty
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  Speaker 1: and bloody and generally messed up. Look like a tramp man,
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  Speaker 1: he thought, give up appearances. Don't let them out do us,
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  Speaker 1: even in spit and polish. Sit down, Captain Donovan, said
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the woman. He lowered himself to a chair, raking her
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  Speaker 1: with deliberately insolent eyes. She was young to be wearing
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  Speaker 1: a commander's twin planets, young and trim and nice looking.
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  Speaker 1: Tall body, stirredy but graceful, well filled out in the
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  Speaker 1: blue uniform and red cloak. Raven black hair falling to
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  Speaker 1: her shoulders, strong, blunt fingered hands, one of them resting
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  Speaker 1: close to her side arm. Her face was interesting, broad
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  Speaker 1: and cleanly molded, high cheek bones, wide, full mouthed, stubborn, chined,
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  Speaker 1: snub nose, strong gray eyes set far apart under heavy
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  Speaker 1: dark brows. A superior peasant type, he decided, and felt
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  Speaker 1: more at ease in the armor of his inbred haughtiness.
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  Speaker 1: He leaned back and crossed his legs. I am Helena Yensky,
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  Speaker 1: in command of this vessel, she said. Her voice was
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  Speaker 1: low and resonant, the note of strengthen it. I need
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  Speaker 1: you for a sudden papers, Why did you resist the
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Imperial Sunmon's Donovan shrugged. Let's say I'm used to giving
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  Speaker 1: or it is not receiving them. Ah. Yes, she ruffled
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  Speaker 1: the papers on her desk. You were the Earl of
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  Speaker 1: lanster To, won't you? After my father an older brother
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  Speaker 1: were killed in the war. Yes, he lifted his head.
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  Speaker 1: I am still the Earl. She studied him with a
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  Speaker 1: dispassionate gaze that he found strangely uncomfortable. I must say
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  Speaker 1: that you are a curious sort of leader, she murmured,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: one who spends his time in a tavern getting drunk,
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  Speaker 1: and who, on a whim, provokes a disorder in which
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  Speaker 1: many of his innocent followers are hurt or killed, in
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: which property difficult to a place is smashed. Yes, I
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  Speaker 1: think it was about time that answer had a change
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  Speaker 1: of leadership. Donovan's face was hot. We'll take it. What
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: right had she to tell him what to do? What
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: right had the whole damned empire to come barging in
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: where it wasn't wanted. The families under the king have
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: governed answer since it was colonized, he said, stiffly. If
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: it had been such a misrule as you seemed to think,
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  Speaker 1: were the commons of fought force as they did? End
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  Speaker 1: of Section thirty five