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Crypt-City of the Deathless One - Henry Kuttner · Captives of the Thieve-Star

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  Speaker 1: Section one of crypt City of the Deathless One by
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  Speaker 1: Henry Kuttner. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Edith Kessrick of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Southern Ohio. Crypt City of the Deathless One by Henry Kutner.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: One icy water splashed into Edgarth's face and dripped down
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: his tattered, grimy shirt. It was a tremendous effort to
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: open his eyes. Fumes of the native ganymedean, rotgut liquor
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: were swimming in his brain. Someone was shaking him roughly.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Garth's stocky body jerked convulsively. He struck out his drink
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: swollen face twisted with brightened fury, and gasped ilgana volmntra alcon.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: The hand on his shoulder fell away. Someone said, that's it, Paula,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the ancient tongue and a girl's voice. Doubtful, a little disgusted,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: you're sure, But how in the system did this bumb tramp?
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Garth muttered, peering blearily at the pale ovals of unfocused
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  Speaker 1: faces above him. Don't mind me sister, beech Comber is
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the word drunk right now, So please get the hell
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  Speaker 1: out and let me finish my bottle. More water was
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: sluiced on Garth. He shook his head, groaning, and saw
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to Lomo the Ganymedean trader scowling down at him. The
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: native's three peopled eyes were angry. English hissed oddly, accented
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  Speaker 1: on his tongue. You wake up, Garth, hear me. This
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  Speaker 1: is a job for you. You owe me too much already.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: These people come looking for you, say they want a guide.
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  Speaker 1: Now you do what they want and pay me for
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  Speaker 1: all that liquor you buy on credit, Sure, Garth said, wearily, Tomorrow,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: not now. To Lomo snorted, I get you native guides,
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  Speaker 1: Captain Brown, they know the way to Chan. The man's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: voice said stubbornly. I don't want natives, I want ed Garth. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you won't get him, Garth growled, pillowing his head on
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  Speaker 1: his arms. This joint smells already, but you make it worse.
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  Speaker 1: Beat it. He did not see. Captain Brown slipped to
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  Speaker 1: Loomo a folded credit current. The trader deftly pocketed the money,
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  Speaker 1: nodded and gripped Garth by the hair lifting his head.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: The bluish inhuman face was thrust into the earth man's
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  Speaker 1: Listen to me, Garth, to Lomo, said, fairly spitting the words,
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  Speaker 1: I let you come in here and get drunk all
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  Speaker 1: the time on the cuff. You pay me a little,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: not much, whenever you gather enough alca roots to sell,
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  Speaker 1: but you owe plenty. People ask me why I let
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: a bum like you come to my moonflower Writz bar
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  Speaker 1: that's a laugh, Garth mouthed, A ramshackle plastic lophouse full
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  Speaker 1: of cockroaches and bad liquor, moonflower rits hogwash. Shut up.
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  Speaker 1: To Lomo snapped, I let you run up a bill
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  Speaker 1: here when nobody else would. Now you take this job
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  Speaker 1: and pay me, or I have the marshall put you
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: in jail at hard labor in the swamps. Garth called
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to Lomo something unprintable. Okay, he groaned, you win lous.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You know damn well, no earth man can stand swamp work,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: even with bog shoes. Now let go my hair before
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I smash your teeth in. You do it, You guide
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  Speaker 1: these people. I said I would, didn't I Garth reached
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  Speaker 1: fumblingly for the bottle. Before him, someone thrust a filled
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  Speaker 1: glass into his hand. He gulped the fiery, purplish liquor, shuddered,
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  Speaker 1: and blew out his breath. Okay, he said, Welcome to Ganymy,
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  Speaker 1: the pleasure spot of the system, the worst climate outside hell,
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  Speaker 1: the only world almost completely unexplored, and the nicest place
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  Speaker 1: for going to the dogs I've ever seen. The Chamber
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  Speaker 1: of Commerce greets you. Here's the representative. He pointed to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: a six legged lizard with the face of a gargoyle
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  Speaker 1: that scuttled over the table and leaped into the shadows
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  Speaker 1: where the light of the radio lamp did not reach.
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  Speaker 1: Captain Brown said, I can offer you fifty dollars to
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  Speaker 1: guide us to the ruined city Chom, and maybe I
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  Speaker 1: can offer you ten thousand bucks to do another little
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  Speaker 1: job for us. The shock of that was more effective
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  Speaker 1: than cold water had been. Garth jerked back for the
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  Speaker 1: first time, looking at his companions. There were two of them,
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  Speaker 1: a man and a girl, their neat tropical outfits looking
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  Speaker 1: out of place in this grimy dive. The man was
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  Speaker 1: thin and bronzed, looking as though all the moisture had
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  Speaker 1: been boiled out of him by hot suns. He was
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  Speaker 1: made of tough leather. Garth thought his face was the
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  Speaker 1: most expressionless one Garth had ever seen. Pale, shallow eyes,
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  Speaker 1: a rat trap mouth, and the general air of a
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  Speaker 1: tiger taking it easy. The girl sudden sick pain shot
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  Speaker 1: through Garth. She looked like Moira for an incredible moment.
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  Speaker 1: He thought, with his liquor dulled mind, that she had
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  Speaker 1: come back. But Moira was dead, had been for nearly
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: five years now, five years of living death. Hitting the
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  Speaker 1: skids on Ganymede where men go down fast, Garth's ravaged
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  Speaker 1: face hardened. He forced himself to look squarely at the girl.
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  Speaker 1: She wasn't Moira, after all. She had the same look
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  Speaker 1: of sleek, clean femininity, but her hair was golden red
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  Speaker 1: instead of brown, and her eyes were greenish, not blue.
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  Speaker 1: The softness in her face was belied by the stubborn,
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  Speaker 1: rounded chin ten thousand, Garth repeated, softly. I don't get
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  Speaker 1: the picture. Any native could take you to Chan. The
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  Speaker 1: girl said, we know that we're interested in something else.
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  Speaker 1: Could you use ten grand? Yeah, yeah I could. Garth said,
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  Speaker 1: what would you do with it? Go back to Earth?
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  Speaker 1: We might swing it so that you could get a
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  Speaker 1: job there. There's been a shortage of men ever since
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  Speaker 1: the Silver Plague started. Garth laid his fingers gently around
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  Speaker 1: the glass and squeezed till the transparent plastic was bent
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  Speaker 1: out of shape. He didn't look at the girl. I'm
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  Speaker 1: through with earth. If I could collect ten thousand, I'd
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  Speaker 1: commit suicide in a very funny way. I'd go into
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  Speaker 1: the Black Forest. The money could get me the men
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  Speaker 1: in equipment i'd need. But well, nobody gets out of
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  Speaker 1: the Black Forest alive. You did, Captain Brown said, eh,
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  Speaker 1: you heard about that. We've heard stories, plenty of them
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  Speaker 1: about how you came out of the Black Forest six
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  Speaker 1: years ago, raving with fever and talking in a language
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  Speaker 1: nobody could understand, and how you've been taking trips into
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  Speaker 1: the forest ever since. Just what happened? I know you
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: tried to get up expeditions to rescue a man named
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  Speaker 1: Willard who was with you, wasn't he? Garth felt again
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  Speaker 1: that sick deadness in his brain, the monstrous question that
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: had been tormenting him for five years now. Abruptly, he
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  Speaker 1: slams his fist on the table to Lomo's face appeared
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  Speaker 1: behind a curtain and vanished again as Brown waved him back.
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  Speaker 1: Forget it, Garth said. Even on Ganymede, men mind their
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  Speaker 1: own business usually. Brown stroked his cheek with a callous thumb.
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  Speaker 1: Suit yourself. Here's the setup. Then it's strictly confidential, or
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  Speaker 1: the deal's off. You'll know why later. Anyhow, we want
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  Speaker 1: you to guide us into the black Forest. Garth's laughter
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  Speaker 1: rang harsh and bitter. Brown and the girl watched him
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  Speaker 1: with impassive eyes. What's so funny about it, she asked, scowling.
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  Speaker 1: Garth's sobered. Nothing much. Only for five years. I've been
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  Speaker 1: sweating blood trying to get into the forest, and I
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  Speaker 1: know the place better than anybody on Ganymede. See this.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: He rolled up his sleeve and exhibited a purplish scar
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  Speaker 1: along his arm. A cannibal plant did that. Couldn't get
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  Speaker 1: away from the thing. Bullets and knives don't hurt the
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  Speaker 1: blood sucker. I had to stand there for two hours, helpless,
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  Speaker 1: till it got all the blood it wanted. After that
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  Speaker 1: I managed to pull away. I picked up a few
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  Speaker 1: scars myself, Brown said quietly. Garth glared at him. Not
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: in the black forest. The only way to get through
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  Speaker 1: that pest hole is with a big armed expedition. Even then,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you ever heard of the noc de lie know who flowers?
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  Speaker 1: Their pollen works funny, plenty funny. They grow in the
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  Speaker 1: interior and they give you amnesia. Not even gas masks help.
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  Speaker 1: The stuff works in through your skin. Doesn't it affect you?
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  Speaker 1: The girl wanted to know. Garth shivered and drank again.
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  Speaker 1: It did once. Later I managed to work out in
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  Speaker 1: antiitoxin and I built up immunity anyhow. But it's quite
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  Speaker 1: a laugh, the two of you wanting to go into
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  Speaker 1: the black forest. Brown's face was emotionless. With an expedition alarmed.
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  Speaker 1: I'll provide that, Oh that's a bit different, just the same.
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  Speaker 1: What are you after just sight seeing? The girl said,
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  Speaker 1: Garth grinned crookedly. Okay, I know the stories everybody on
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  Speaker 1: Ganymede's heard of the ancients. Captain Brown's eyes hooded. What
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  Speaker 1: about them, the lost race? That they lived on Ganymede
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  Speaker 1: thousands of years ago and had the greatest science ever
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  Speaker 1: known to the system, that they die nobody knows how,
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  Speaker 1: and the secrets of their civilization were lost. Chan's only
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  Speaker 1: one of their ruined cities. There have been a dozen
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  Speaker 1: others bound and full of gadgets and robots that nobody
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  Speaker 1: knows how to work. There was a central power source,
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  Speaker 1: but earth men have never figured out how it worked
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  Speaker 1: or what fuel was used. The inscriptions found in the
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  Speaker 1: cities didn't tell anything fair enough, Brown nodded, except you
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  Speaker 1: forgot one thing. You know, the ancient tongue you speak it,
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  Speaker 1: Garth chewed his lip. What where did you learn it?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, in the Black Forest, I suppose, I
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  Speaker 1: don't remember. The girl made an impatient gesture. She quieted
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  Speaker 1: as Brown glanced at her from the Zarno, Garth, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know. There's no proof the Zarno even exists. If
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  Speaker 1: you've gone far enough into the Black Forest, Garth said, angrily.
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  Speaker 1: Remember what I told you about the noctilie, the effect
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  Speaker 1: of the pollen. When I got back to Oreport here
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  Speaker 1: I had amnesia. I he hesitated. I don't remember. I
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  Speaker 1: never did remember what happened in the Black Forest. Mm hmm.
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  Speaker 1: Brown rubbed his cheek again. A lost race of savages.
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  Speaker 1: No outsiders have ever seen a race speaking the tongue
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  Speaker 1: of the ancients. How could they live around those noc
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  Speaker 1: to life flowers of yours natural immunity, Garth said, built
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  Speaker 1: up over a period of generations. I didn't have that.
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  Speaker 1: Then the girl leaned forward, ignoring Brown. Mister Garth, she
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: said swiftly, I think i'd better explain a bit more.
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  Speaker 1: Shut up, Carver, she browned at Brown, There've been too
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  Speaker 1: many mysteries. Here's the set up. I've got half of
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a map. It shows the location of something in the
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  Speaker 1: Black Forest that's immensely valuable, the greatest treasure the system's
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  Speaker 1: ever known. I don't know what it is. The original
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  Speaker 1: inscription in the ancient's language is cryptic as the devil.
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  Speaker 1: But the ancients thought this treasure important enough to be
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  Speaker 1: worth hiding in the Black Forest. They set the Zarno
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  Speaker 1: to guard it. See Garth grunted, So what well, I'm
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  Speaker 1: paula Trent archaeologist, Not that it matters. For months, Carver
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  Speaker 1: and I have been waiting our chance to fit out
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  Speaker 1: an expedition and come on here. We didn't have the
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  Speaker 1: money at first, and when we did get it, the
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  Speaker 1: government refused us permission. We had no proof, they said,
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  Speaker 1: and the Black Forest is impenetrable. So we waited. A
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: month ago we got wind of a research ship, the
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  Speaker 1: Hunter coming out here to investigate Chan, the same old stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Digging around in the ruins, trying to find out what
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  Speaker 1: made the machines and robots tick, trying to make sense
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  Speaker 1: out of the inscriptions, trying to find a cure for
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  Speaker 1: the silver plague. Garth said, no cure has been found,
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  Speaker 1: then Paula shook her head. No, since it started on
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  Speaker 1: Earth ten years ago. It's wiped out one twentieth of
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  Speaker 1: the population, and unless it's stopped, it'll destroy all life
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  Speaker 1: on our world. But that's old stuff, except the governments
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: sending out their best men to Ganymede because it's known
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  Speaker 1: the silver plague existed here once and was conquered. The
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  Speaker 1: inscriptions in Chan show that, but they don't say what
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  Speaker 1: the treatment was or give any hints. However, she brushed
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  Speaker 1: red gold hair from her forehead. Carver and I have
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  Speaker 1: planted men in the Hunter Crew, tough good men will
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  Speaker 1: strike out with us into the Black Forest with equipment desertion. Eh,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: technically sure, but the only way nobody will listen to us.
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  Speaker 1: We know, we know the ancients hid their most valuable
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  Speaker 1: treasure in the Black Forest. What it is, we don't know.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: We're hoping it'll solve a lot of problems, the mystery
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: of what powered their machines, what happened to the ancients,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: All that no planes can be used, Garth said, there's
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  Speaker 1: no place to land in the forest. That's why we
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: want you. You know the forest, and you know the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: ancient tongue guide the hunter crew to Chan. Then when
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: we give you the word, head for the black forest
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  Speaker 1: with us, Garth said, on one condition, you can't go.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Paula's eyes narrowed. You're in no position to men might
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  Speaker 1: get through. A woman couldn't take it or leave it,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Garth repeated, stubbornly. Captain Brown nodded to the girl. All right,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: it's a deal. Sorry, Paula, but he's on the beam.
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  Speaker 1: Here's ten bucks, Garth balance, when we get to Chan,
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  Speaker 1: we leave tomorrow at Jupiter Rise. Garth didn't answer. After
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: a moment, Paula and Brown rose and went out through
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  Speaker 1: the mildewed tapestry curtain. Garth didn't blame them. The moonflower
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: writs smelled. Presently, he found to Lomo and gave him
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the money. The Ganymedean hissed, worriedly, only ten. You'll get
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the rest later. Give me a bottle. I don't think,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Garth reached across the bar and seized a quart hereafter,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I do my drinking out of doors, he remarked, I'll
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: feel cleaner spont to Loomo flung after him as he
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: headed for the door. Garth's cheeks burned red at the word,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: which is Ganymedean and untranslatable, but he didn't turn. He
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: stepped out into the muddy street, A cold wind, sulfurous
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: and strong, stinging his nostrils. He looked around at the
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: collection of place elastic native huts. Till the Hunter had arrived,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: he'd been the only earth man in oor Town. Now
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: he didn't feel like talking to natives. The tour towered
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: against the purple sky, where three of Jupiter's moons were
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: glowing lanterns. At the base of the tour was Garth's shack,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: swaying a little, clutching the bottle, he headed in that direction.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: He had waited five years for this moment. Now, when
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: at last he might find the answer to the problem
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: that had turned him into a derelict, he was afraid.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: He went into his hut, switched on the radio line,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and stood looking at a door he had not opened.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: For a long time. With a little sigh, he pushed
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: at the latch. The smell of musty rock drifted out.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: A lamp revealed a complete medical laboratory, one that had
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: not apparently been used for months at least. Garth almost
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: dropped a bottle as he fumbled it from the shelf. Cursing,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: he opened the rot gut Ganymedian whiskey and poured it
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: down his throat. That helped steadied somewhat. He went to work.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: The noctilie poison antitoxin was still here, but it might
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: have lost its efficacy. He tested it good. It seemed strong,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the antibody's having a long life cycle. It would work.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Garth packed a compact medical kit. After that, he stood
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: for quite a while, staring at two blank spaces on
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the wall where pictures had once hung Moira and Doc
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Willard Damn. Garth snatched up the liquor and fled the house.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: He fought his way along the steep path that led
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: to the tour's summit. The physical exertion was a relief.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: At the top, he sat down, his back against a rock.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Beneath him lay ore Town, yellow blue lights winking dimly
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: in a cleared field. Some distance away was the ovoid
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: shape of the spaceship that had brought Paula and Brown
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: the Hunter. To the west. Across sandy Desert lay Chan,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: dead city that had won housed an incredibly advanced science, lost,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: now its people dust. Northwest, beyond the distant ridges was
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: the Black Forest, unexplored secret menacing. Six years ago, doctor
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Jem Willard had come to Ganymede with his intern at Garth.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Willard was trying to discover the cure for the silver
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: plague that was wrecking Earth. He would have found it
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: he had got on the track, but an emergency call
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: had come in one night a native needed an appendectomy.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Willard couldn't fly a plane. He had called on Garth,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: and Garth had been drunk, but he had piloted the
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: plane anyhow. The crack up happened over the Black Forest.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: That was the last thing Garth remembered, or almost the last.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: It would have been more merciful if the oblivion had
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: been complete. Months later, he staggered out of the forest
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: into ore Town alone. The Noc de la poison had
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: almost erased his experiences from his mind. He could remember
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: a bare cell where he and Willard had been imprisoned.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: That and one other thing, A picture of Doc Willard
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: stretched on an altar while Garth lifted a gleaming razor
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: sharp knife above his friend's breast. He remembered that, but
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: no more. It was enough. The question burning in his
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: brain had nearly wrecked his sanity. He had tried to
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: get back into the Black Forest to find Willard dead
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: or alive, to learn what had happened, to discover the
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: answer to his problem. He had failed. A year later,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: he learned that his fiancee, Moira, had died of the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: silver plague, and he knew that Willard might have saved
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: her had he lived and continued his research. After that,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: ed Garth hit the skids. He went down fast, stopping
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: only when he reached the bottom. He killed the bottle
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: and threw it out into emptiness, watching yellow light glint
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: on the glass as it dropped. Well, he had his
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: chance now, an expedition going into the Black Forest. But
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Garth was no longer the same husky giant who had
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: fought his way through that deadly jungle. Five years on.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: The skids had played havoc with him. Stamina was gone,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: and the Black Forest was as terrible, as powerful as ever.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Garth wished he had brought another bottle two. Jupiter is
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: a ball of luminous, clouded marble gigantic in the sky
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: of Ganymede. Its light is a queer, pale glow that
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: lacks the warm brilliance of sunlight. When the titanic planet
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: lifts over the horizon, gravity seems to shift and the
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: ground feels unstable. Beneath your feet, Jupiter was rising now
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: or Town lay ugly and desolate in the strange dawn.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Across the plain where the spaceship had landed, a string
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: of truck cats, big silvery desert freighters stood motionless, ready
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to start the trip. There were signs of activity. At
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the center port of the Hunter stood a lanky, gray
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: haired man with a clipped stiff van Dyke. Behind him
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: was Captain Brown. Garth, his medical kit strapped to his back,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: plowed through the light film of snow that lay over
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: the sand. He was shivering in his thin garments, wishing
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: he had a drink. Neither Brown nor his companion saw
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Garth's approach. The gray haired man was speaking, time to start.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: If this guide of yours doesn't show up, we'll have
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to wait till we find another. They'll show up. Brown said,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: I only gave him ten bucks. Garth reached the foot
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: of the ramp leading to the port valve. Morning, am
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I late? There was no answer. He climbed the slope,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: slippery with snow despite the skid treads, and stopped before
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the two men. Brown nodded at him, here's our guide,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Commander Benson. Benson scowled incredulously under tufted brows. What the devil,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: you're an earth man? Sure? Garth said, what about it?
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: The commander glanced at Brown. I expected a native. I
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: didn't know. He left the sentence hanging. You can't wear
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: with those rags, man, captain, break out some clothes for him.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Without another look at Garth, Benson hurried down the ramp,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: shouting orders to someone below. Brown grinned at the other.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Come on inside, he urged, and in a lower tone,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: he's the big shock. You know enough to keep your
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: mouth shut, eh, Garth nodded. Brown peered at him, sharply.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: You needue coffee, I'll lace it. Come along. He took
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Garth to the galley and presently supplied food, drink, and clothing.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: He lit a cigarette idly watching the smoke sucked into
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the air conditioning grill. Benson's a tough egg, he said
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: at last. If he had the slightest idea we were
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: figuring on what we're figuring on, there'd be trouble. The
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: commander never takes chances. We've got to give him the
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: slip some Garth gulped coffee. How many men do you have? Ten?
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Not many fully armed, though there are sixty in the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: expedition altogether, but I could only feel sure of ten.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Some of them I planted myself. Garth took the cigarette.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Brown handed him. Thanks. I know Chan pretty well. Once
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: we get there, we can get away from the others.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: How underground passages not well known. We'll come out about
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: thirty miles from Chan, and from there it's another twenty
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to the Black Forest, the last lap on open ground. Yeah,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: not so good. If Benson misses us, he'll have planes
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: out scouting. I have a hunch he's suspicious already if
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: he catches up with us, So what, there'll be other chances,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that's what you think, Brown said grimly. I told you
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Benson was a tough egg. He'll clap us all in
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the brig and we'd end up with prison sentences on Earth,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: hazarding the success of a planetary expedition. They so you
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: see why we've got to find this treasure, whatever it is.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Then you don't know either, eh, I've got a few
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: ideas finished, Let's go. Then Brown came to his feet.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Garth followed Brown out of the ship, pondering the Ancients
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: had admittedly been an incredibly advanced race. Any treasure they
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: thought worth guarding would be plenty valuable gold gems they
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: seemed trivial compared to the tremendous scientific powers of the ancients,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: and unimportant as well. While the silver plague raged over Earth.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: They moved along the string of truck cats, each loaded
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: with the necessary equipment, and reached the first commander. Benson
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: was already there, talking to the pilot. He looked around. Ready,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: what's your name, Garth? All right? Get in the front
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: compartment of the truck cat was roomy enough. Paula Trent,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Garth saw was already there. She gave no sign that
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: she noticed him. He shrugged and found a seat, and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Upton Brown dropped down beside him, in passive as ever,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the pilot came in. Sit up here next to me, buddy,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: he ordered, I'll need your help wrestling this tank through
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the arroyos. Benson himself was the last man to enter.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: He slid the door shut and nodded Warmer up beside
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: the driver, Garth could not see the others, nor could
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: he hear their conversation. As the motors coughed and snarled
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: into life, the truck cat lurched forward on her caterpillar treads.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: The pilot looked inquiringly at Garth. Where'll I head west?
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: What about these quicksands I've been hearing about. Steer for
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the mountain peak way over there? Garth told him it's
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: easy to see the sinkholes. They're big gray patches on
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the sand with no snow On him. The roar of
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the engine died into a monotonous murmur. It was possible
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: to hear the conversation in the rear of the compartment.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Commander Benson was talking atomic power. It must have been that.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: There's no other answer. All we need to know is
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the nature of the booster charge. I don't get it,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Paula said, booster charge. As far as our physicists know,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: atomic power is possible if there's a known way to
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: start it and control it. Earth's reserves are nearly exhausted.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Oil coal used up almost completely, and Earth needs power
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: plenty bad to maintain civilization. The other planets have fuel.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Space shippings took expensive. It's prohibitive, Paula. Unless a new
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: power source is found very soon. Earth men may have
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: to migrate to another world, and our civilization's so complex
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: that that's nearly impossible. Maybe we can find the answer
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: in Shan this time. It was one of the biggest
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: cities of the Ancients. I've never seen it, Captain Brown,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: said Benson. Grunted, I did once years ago. Tremendous the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: scientific achievements they must have had, and nobody knows what
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: happened to the ancients. They just vanished and their machines
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: kept running until they'd used up their power and stopped,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: so there's no trace left. We've located the fuel chambers,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: but in every case they've been empty. Experiments have been
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: made unsuccessfully. You still think my translation of the horror
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: panel was wrong, eh? I do. Commander Benson said it
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: was a variable cipher. No one else agrees with you
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: that it was a code map. Ever heard of a
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: double code. I'm sorry, Benson said shortly. We've settled all this.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: The Black forest is impassable. We can't risk our chance
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of success on a wild goose chase. Beside the pilot,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Garth's mouth twisted sardonically. He had an idea. Now what Carver,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Brown and Paula were after the secret of the ancient's
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: power source. Well, it might be found in the Black Forest,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: anything might, including the lost race of the Tzarno, and
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: his eyes went hard. Not yet would he let himself
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: believe Doc Willard was still alive. The most he could
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: hope for was an answer to the question, the tormenting
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: problem of whether or not he had killed Willard. Lost
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: in his absorption, he snapped out of it scarcely in
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: time as the truck cats skidded on slick ice, hard
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: left sand the treads. Instinctively, his hand flashed over to
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the right lever, releasing a sprinkling of sand that provided traction.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: He held it down while the pilot fought the wheel.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: They lurched, swung half around, and found level surface again.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Through the window, Garth could see a twenty foot wide
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: funnel sloping down to a black hole at the center.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: What was it? The pilot asked krithas the natives column,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean much. Six foot insects poisonous. They
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: dig traps like ant lions on earth pits with sloping sides.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Once you skid on the ice, you slip on down
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: to the hole at the bottom. Dangerous, not to us
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: in here, but we might have damaged the engine. Keep
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: your eyes open after this, Garth, Commander Benson said sharply. Okay.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Garth was silent. The truck cat drove on, leading the procession.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: The vehicles were fast. On level ground, they raced, hitting
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: eighty miles per hour. Sometimes. By Jupiter's set they had
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: reached Chan Paula, for one, was disappointed. I expected a city,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: she told Garth, as they stared around at the mile
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: square block of black stone, raised a few feet above
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: ground level, its surface broken by a few structures, oddly
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: reminiscent of the subway kiosks of two centuries ago. It's
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: all underground. Garth said he was feeling shaky, needing a
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: shot or two of liquor, but there was none in
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: lieu of it. He borrowed a cigarette from the girl
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: and idled about, watching the men make camp. The roomy
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: truck cats provided accommodations for sixty men without crowding. It
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't necessary to set up tents. Indeed, in that icy air,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: only warmer tents heated by induced current in their metallic fabric,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: would have been feasible. The trucks, however, could be heated
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: easily and were air conditioned. Garth walked over to a
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: kiosk and peered into the Black depths. Chan lay below,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the gigantic, complicated city of the ancients. Through Chan was
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: the road to the Black Forest, the only road they
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: could use under the circumstances. Garth shivered and went in
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: search of Brown, who was feeling shakier than ever. Vividly
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: in his mind was a picture he did not want
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: to remember, a man stretched on an altar, a knife
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: at his breast. He found Brown beside one of the trucks,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: looking into the darkness. Captain huh Oh, Garth say, paula,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Miss Trent took a flash lamp and went down into
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Chan to do a bit of exploring. I was thinking
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: of going after her. Any danger down there, Garth shook
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: his head. It's a dead city. She'll be okay unless
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: she gets lost. She won't there are markers pointing to
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the outlets. How about a drink? I could use one, scowling,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Brown nodded and pushed Garth into the truck. I bunk
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: in here with the commander. You'll have to find a
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: place with the men somewhere. Oh, by the way, He
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: pushed folded slips into Garth's hand. Here's the rest of
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: that forty, and here's a drink. Garth gulped brandy better
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: than any he had tasted in years. He didn't bother
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: with a glass. Brown watched him with an almost imperceptible
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: curl of the lip. Thanks, when do I get that
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: ten thousand? When we're back here? I don't trust you
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: quite enough to let you have it now. Garth wiped
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: his mouth with the back of his hand, considered, and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: drank again. I won't run out on you. You're after
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: that ancient's power source, aren't you. Brown's eyes narrowed a bit.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Any of your business, not in the way you mean.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: But I know the black forest. I might be able
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: to give you some ideas if I'm not left too
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: much in the still, I can guess a little. I
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: know you expect to run into the Zarno. Yeah, Garth
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: made an impatient gesture, Hell, why did you want me
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: as a guide? It wasn't only because I knew the forest.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: I can speak the ancient tongue, the same language that
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the Zarno are supposed to use. You'll want me to
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: plavor with them. Maybe Brown went to the back of
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: the truck and found a fresh pack of cigarettes. We
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: can talk about that later. We ought to talk now.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I know what sort of equipment you'll need in the forest.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: If you run out on Benson half equipped, it'll be
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: just too bad. The door swung open, emitting a blast
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: of frigid air. Commander Benson stepped in, his lips tight
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: and hard, his eyes blazing. Brown at the end of
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the chamber, swung around a sudden surprised tenseness in his attitude.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I don't think you'll do any running out on me,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Captain Benson said. Brown flashed Garth a glance. Damn you,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: he half whispered. He took a step forward, tigerishly, menacing,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Benson pulled a gun from his pocket. Don't move, he said,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: hold it right there. I thought you'd given up that
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: crazy idea you and Paula had, but apparently he shrugged well,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I'll have to put you in the girl under guard.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: No one in this outfit's heading for the Black Forest
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: if I can help it. Brown's hand hovered in mid air.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Don't try it, Benson said, keep your gun where it belongs.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: The sound of a shot wouldn't help you any He
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: stepped back, his mouth opening in a shout that would
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: summon others. Brown, at the other end of the truck
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: could not have reached him in time, but the commander
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: had forgotten or ignored Garth. That was a mistake. Garth
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: was only a few feet from Benson, and he galvanized
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: into unexpected action. He sprang one hand, clamping over the gun,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the other clenched, driving in a hard, short jab at
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Benson's chin. There was strength in that punch, and it
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: connected it at the right point. Had Garth not been
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: gripping the commander's hand, the latter would have gone backward
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: out of the truck. Knock out, Brown said tonelessly. He
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: was suddenly beside Garth, yanking Benson forward. Shut the door
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: quick Garth obeyed. Turning, he saw the captain kneeling beside
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Benson's motionless form. After a moment, Brown looked up he'll
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: come out of it soon, maybe too soon. Get me
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: those straps from the corner. Garth did that and then
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: had another drink. He felt lousy. He watched Brown bind
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the commander and thrust the lax figure out of sight
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: under a bunk. That does it, Brown said, rising, we're
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: in the soup now, but it was lucky you hit
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: him when you did. What Now we start for the
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: black forest before Benson wakes up. I'm second in command.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I'll get my own men and we'll jump the gun.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Brown's eyes were excited. Equipment, We'll take what we can. Weapons,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: mostly stay with me. They went out of the truck
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: into the soft light of four moons. Two large, too tiny,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: fourfold shadows paced them over the icy, slick Garth hurried
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: off to find his medical kit. By the time he returned,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Brown had bustered his men and was waiting. He gave
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Garth a brief glance. Okay, Morgan, He turned to a
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: giant in uniform. I'll be back in a couple of
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: hours as soon as we find miss trent by by Sir.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Garth led the way into one of the kiosks. Lamps
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: were flashed on a spiral ramp led steeply down. In
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: an undertone, Brown said, I told Morgan Commander Benson sent
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: me to find Paula Trent, that she was lost in
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: the city. So we're safe till we're safe till we
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: leave the underground passage. Garth said, after that, twenty miles
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: across open ground. Has Benson got planes portable ones? Yea,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: then we'd better do that twenty miles at night. The
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: ramp ended Before them was a gigantic room where their
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: tiny lamps were lost. Here and there, enigmatic shadows loomed
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the dead fantastic machines of the ancients that had once
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: made Chan alive and powerful. Garth went directly to an
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: opening in the wall. Brown and his ten men following
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: and entered a short tunnel. At one spot, he paused,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: ran his finger over a panel of smooth metal, and
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: pressed a black oval opened silently. Here's the way they
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: won't follow us beyond this point. Brown nodded Samson, get
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: the man inside, wait here for me. I'll be back
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: as soon as I can. A burly beak nosed fellow
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: with a cast in one eye and flaming red hair
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: saluted casually. Right, Come on, boys, hop through mind your packs.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Garth stared at Brown, What do you mean where? The
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: captain said, we're taking Paula Trent with us. No, it's
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: nearly suicide for us. She couldn't make it at all.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: She's tough, then you think. Besides, she's got the map,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: and she's an archaeologist. I can't read the ancient's lingo,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: can you, Garth shook his head. I can speak it,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: that's all. But if we find what we're after, we'll
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: need Paula Trent. She's down here somewhere. Let's go find her.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: I tell you. Brown brought out a gun and leveled it.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Find her, or I'll find her myself and we'll head
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: for the Black Forest without you, because you'll be dead.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I haven't come this far to let you stop me.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: And chivalry looks a bit funny on a guy like you.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Sudden murder light flared in the pale eyes. Find her,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Brown whispered and fast. End of section one, Section two
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: of crypt City of the Deathless one by Henry Kutner.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot Org recording by Edith Kesrick of Southern Ohio.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Crypt City of the Deathless One by Henry Kutner three.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: Garth knuckled under. There was nothing else to do. He
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: knew Brown wouldn't hesitate to kill him, and after all,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: what the devil did Paula Trent mean to him? Her
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: life was unimportant compared to the hopeless quest that had
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: quickened in his mind despite himself, for Doc Willard might
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: still be alive. Even if he wasn't. There was that
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: notebook the Doc had always carried around with him, a
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: book that contained the medico's theories about the Silver plague.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: Even if that ghastly dreamlike memory were not merely delirium,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: even if Garth, witless and unknowing, had killed Willard, there
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: was always that dim, desperate chance that the cure for
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: the plague might be found in the Black Forest. So
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: damn Paula Trent. She didn't matter when the lives of
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: millions might depend on Garth's penetrating the jungle that had
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: baffled him for five years. Without a word, he turned
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: and started back Brown, keeping close beside him. The huge
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: chamber loomed before them, filled with its cryptic shadows. There
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: was time now to see what they had missed in
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: their quick flight a few moments ago, though not much
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: time for pursuit might start at any minute. Dead silence
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: and darkness broken by the crossing beams of the brilliant lamps.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Garth listened hear anything, Brown shook his head nothing. Okay,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: we'll try this way, then went into a passage that
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: sloped down, ending in a vaulted room larger than the first.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Brown swung up his gun abruptly as a figure seemed
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: to leap from the darkness in the ray of the lamp.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: Garth caught his arm. Robot un powered. They're all over
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: the city, the robots slaves of the ancients, Garth thought,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: who had died with them, lacking the fuel that could
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: quicken them to life. No earthly scientists had ever been
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: able to analyze the construction of the machines, for they
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: were built of an alloy that was apparently indestructible. Acid
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: in flame made no impression on the smooth, glittering black surface.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: This one, like all the others, was roughly man shaped,
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: nearly eight feet tall, with four arms. The hands extended
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: into limber jointed fingers almost like tendencies from the masklike face,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: complex glassy eyes stared blankly. It stood motionless, guarding a
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: world that no longer needed a guardian. With a little shrug,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Garth went on his ears, alert for sounds from the walls,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: bizarre figures in muraled panels. Watched. Those murals showed a
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: world of incredibly advanced science. Garth knew he had seen
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: them before. He spared them not a glance. Now. The machines,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: what were they? They loomed like dinosaurs in an endless
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: chain of high domed vaults. They had once given chan
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: power and life and strength. The murals showed that the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: ancient race had used anti gravity, a secret unknown to
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: earth Men, and they had created food by the rearrangement
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: of atomic patterns, not even requiring hydroponic tank cultures. They
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: had ruled this world like gods, and then they had
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: passed with no trace, leaving only these silent monuments to
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: their greatness. With the power of the ancients, Earth's lack
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: of fuel reserves would not matter. If the secret of
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: atomic power could be found again, these machines would roar
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: into thundering life, and machines like them would rise on Earth.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Power and greatness such as civilization had never known, power
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: even to reach the stars, and Garth thought Riley, a
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: power that would be useless unless the cure for the
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: silver plague could be found. He was almost running now,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: his footsteps and Browns echoing hollowly in the great rooms. Silently,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: he cursed Paula Trent. There were other levels below, many
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of them, and she might be down there, which would
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: make the task almost impossible. A distant flicker of light
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: jerked Garth to a halt. He switched off his lamp,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: motioning for Brown to do the same. It came again,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: far away, a firefly glimpse. Paula. The captain said, guess so,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: unless they're after us, already, take it easy. Then they
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: went on running, lightly on their toes. The light had vanished,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: but Garth knew the way. Suddenly they came out of
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: a short tunnel into one of the great rooms, and
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: relief flooded Garth as he saw Paula's face pale in
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the reflected light a dozen feet away. Simultaneously, a faint
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: sound came rhythmically like dim drums. Garth said, sharply, hear
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: that men coming down a ramp. Get the girl and
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: let's go. But Paula was already coming toward them, blinking
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: in the glare. Who's that carver i? Brown gripped her arm.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: There's no time to talk now, Paula, we're in a jam.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: Keep your mouth shut and come along, Garth. Can you
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: get us back to that secret passage? Maybe it'll be
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: blind luck if we make it. Turn your lamps out
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: and link hands. Here He felt Paula's firm, warm palm
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: hard against his, and remembrance of Moirah was suddenly unexpectedly painful.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: He had not seen an earth girl for years. What
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: of it now? Garth moved cat footedly forward, leading the others.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: He went fast. Once or twice he clicked on his
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: light briefly. They could hear the noise of the search
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: party now, and a few times could see the distant lights.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: If they find that open panel, Brown whispered, keep quiet.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Garth pressed them back into an alcove. As footsteps grew louder,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: Luck stayed with them. The searchers turned off at another passage.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: After that, it was like a nightmare, a blind, stumbling
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: race through the blackness of Chan with menace hiding everywhere.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: Garth's hand was slippery with perspiration against Paula's by the
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: time he stopped, his light, clicking on and off again
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: almost instantly. This is it, he said. The panels shut good.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Samson must have had enough sense to close it unless
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Garth found the spring and pressed it. He flashed his
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: light into the darkness to see the familiar faces of
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Brown's men staring at him. The captain thrust him forward.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: Paula was instantly beside him, and then Brown himself was
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: through the oval gap. They're coming, He murmured, how in
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: the hell does this work here? Garth didn't use his
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: light Under his deft fingers. The panel slid back into place,
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: shutting off the noise of approaching steps. He gasped a
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: little with relief. O K, he said, in a natural voice.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: These walls are soundproof. We can use our lights. We'll
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: have to what happened. Paula's voice said, you said we
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: were in a jam, Carver. Well, we'll talk as we go, Garth,
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: you first, Paula, stay with me, Samson, bring up the rear,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: will you. Garth obediently set down the sloping tunnel, scarcely
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: listening to Brown's explanation. There were side branches to the
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: passage here and there. He had to use his memory,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: which seemed less accurate than he remembered. Once he almost blundered,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: but caught himself in time. Brown said, Garth, we've got
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: thirty miles of tunnel and twenty more above ground till
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: we hit the forest. Right, this is rough going. We
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: won't get out of here till daylight, so we'd better
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: camp in the passage at the other end till tomorrow night.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: We don't have to do that, Garth grunted. This isn't earth.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Jupiter won't rise for thirteen hours. The men have heavy packs.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: Brown shifted his own, big one uncomfortably. Fifty miles is
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: quite away. Still, the quicker we reached the forest, the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: safer will be. There's a river. Garth's voice was doubtful.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: We might use that. Would it help? Yeah, but it's dangerous.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Why spouts geysers. The water's apt to explode under you
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: any time, and there are big lizards. Would it take
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: long to make a raft? Garth shook his head. Latta
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: trees are better than balsa, and they grow on the banks.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Plenty of vines too, But we'll do that. Then Brown said, decisively,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: speed it up. We've got thirteen hours. We can make
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: it all right. Garth didn't answer after that. It was
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: pure monotony, a dull driving march through a bare tunnel,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: up slopes and down them, till leg muscles were aching
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: with fatigue. Garth dropped into a state of tired apathy.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: He had no pack to carry, but nevertheless, his liquor
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: soaked body rebelled at the unaccustomed exertion. He knew that
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: each step brought him closer to his goal. The thoughts
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: swung monotonously through his brain. Doc Willard, the notebook, the
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: cure the plague. Maybe, maybe, maybe if he got through,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: if he found the notebook, if it had the cure,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: that was what he wanted, of course, But suppose he
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: also found the skeleton of Doc Willard on an altar
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: with a knife help protruding from the ribs. He couldn't
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: have killed Doc consciously, that was unthinkable. Yet the damnable
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: influence of the noc Delai pollen did odd things to
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: a man's mind. Doc Willard Moira the Silver Plague. Half asleep,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: aching with exhaustion, he slogged ahead, moving like an automaton,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: and whenever he slowed his pace, Brown's sharp voice urged
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: him on faster. Grudgingly, the captain allowed them rest periods,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: but by the time they reached the tunnels and the
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: men were panting and sweating, and both Paula and Garth
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: were near exhaustion. Thirty miles at a fast pace with
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: only occasional rests is wearing work. They emerged from the
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: passage to find themselves on the slope of a rocky hillock.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Low ridges rose around them, silhouetted in triple moonlight. A
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: whitish haze hung close to the ground, filling the hollows
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: like shining water. Instinctively, Brown looked up. A meteor drawn
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: by the immense gravity of Jupiter, flamed across the sky.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: That was all, and that was a familiar enough sight. Garth,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: reeling with fatigue, nodded river down there half a mile.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: The FOG's thicker. Okay, let's go. This lap of the
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: journey was nearly the hardest, but the low roar of
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: the river steadily grew louder as they stumbled on the
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: luminous mists, lapping their ankles, their knees, their waists. It
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: closed above their heads, so that they moved in a
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: ghostlike shadow world, in which the very air seemed dimly
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: lighted trees were visible. Garth almost spent searched for a
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: shelving beach, found it and dropped in a limp heap.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: He saw Paula sink down beside him. The men threw
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: off their heavy packs with relief. Brown, the man was
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: made of rawhide and steel, said, I'll need help to
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: make a raft. The boys that feel tired can keep
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: their eyes open for pursuit planes. I don't think the
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: commander would send out truck cats at night, but he'll
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: use the searching planes. They can't see us in this fog,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Paula said, faintly. They could hear us with their motors muffled,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: so we'll work fast, Garth. Yeah, what what trees do
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: we want? Garth pointed, Latta like that one over there.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: They're easy to cut down and they float. You'll find
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: tough vines all around here. He forced the words out
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: with an effort. Brown Mustard eight of his men, including
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: the red haired Sampson, and led them away. The sound
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: of ringing axes presently drifted back. Two others had been
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: stationed on hillocks above the low lying fog to watch
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: for planes. Garth, alone with Paula, was almost too tired
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: to be conscious of her presence. He heard her voice cigarette, thanks,
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Garth took one. Sorry, I can't offer you a drink,
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: so am I? Garth grunted. He could feel her eyes
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: on him. He drew the smoke deep into his lungs,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: exhaling luxuriously. Got a gun. Yes, why oh? Things come
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: out of the river sometimes, hunting water lizards, carnivorous. You
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: learn to sleep with one eye open on Ganymede. It's
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: a funny world, Paula acknowledged. Once it was highly civilized.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Now it's gone back to savagery. Conditions are bad here too.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Vigorous Jupiter gives light but not much heat. Animals and
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: plants have to be tough to survive. This is summer season,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: but it's plenty cold. How much do you know about
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: the Tzarno, she asked abruptly. Garth blinked, not much. Why
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: not many people have ever seen them? I'm wandering. I
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: managed to translate some inscriptions from Chan. The Tsarno aren't human,
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: are they? Garth didn't answer. Paula went on the ancients
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: knew them, though they tried to educate them, like Rome
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: colonizing savage races. That's probably why the Zarna is supposed
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: to speak the ancient tongue they do. And then the
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: ancients died out. Somehow the Zarna were left. They became
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: barbarous again. I wish I knew what they were like.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: Natives who've seen them don't seem able to describe the creatures.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: They were a shining armor, don't they. Garth closed his eyes,
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: trying to remain A vague dim picture was growing in
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: his mind. Man like figures that glowed, faces that were craggy,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: hideous creatures. I've seen them, he said, but I've forgotten
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: the noctilie poison. It wrecked my memory. You don't recall anything,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: I Garth rubbed his forehead. Not human, No creatures like
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: living statues, shining and moving. I don't know. Silicate life,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Paula theorized thoughtfully, it's possible, and it might evolve on
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: a planet where conditions were so tough for survival. Such
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: creatures wouldn't be affected by the nocdali pollen either, would
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: they No, or they built up resistance. The virus is
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: active only in daylight, when the flowers are open. I
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: don't know why. Before we go too far into the
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: black forest, I'll have to give everyone antitoxin shots, everyone
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: but me. The pollen doesn't work on me anymore. They
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: were silent. It seemed only a moment before Brown appeared,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: announcing that the raft was ready. It's a makeshift job,
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: but it's strong, he said. Listen, Garth, what about the
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: planes spotting us on the river? Will be an easy target.
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: They wouldn't fire on us, no, but they'd use sleep
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: gas and nab us when we drifted ashore. We don't
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: want that. Garth rose his muscles, aching. It's a chance
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: most of the time there'll be fog on the river.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: That'll help. He found his medical kit and shouldered it.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: I'm ready. The men were already on the raft, a
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: big platform of light, tough latta logs bound together by vines.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Garth took his place near the pile of equipment in
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: the center. Keep to mid stream, he cautioned, watch for
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: bubbles breaking ahead. Swing wide of those water spouts. The
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: raft slid out from the bank, long poles guiding it.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Water washed aboard and slipped away as the platform found
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: its balance. Presently, they were drifting down stream in the
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: dimly lighted fog, the black river murmuring quietly beneath them.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: Garth kept his gaze ahead. It was hard to see
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: in the faint, filtered light of the moons, but a
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: ray lamp would have been betrayed to any plains that
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: might be searching above. Swing left hard, he called. The
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: men obeyed. Oily bubbles were breaking the surface as the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: raft moved toward the bank. A sudden geyser burst up
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: from the river, a spouting torrent that tipped the platform
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: dangerously and showered its occupants with icy spray. Garth met
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: Brown's eyes. See what I mean, he remarked, Yeah, Still,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: if that's all, the river flowed fast. Once or twice.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: The plated back of a giant saurian was visible, but
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: the water reptiles did not attack, made wary perhaps by
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: the bulk of the rat. There were other water spouts,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: but the men soon became adept at avoiding them. Sometimes
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: they drifted through fog. Sometimes the mists were dissipated by winds,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: though not often. During one of the latter periods, a
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: faint droning drifted down from above. It was the worst
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: possible timing, for the two larger moons were directly overhead,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: blazing down on the river, The stub wing shape of
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: a plane loomed against the starry sky. Brown said, sharply,
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: drop flat, don't move. He forced Garth and Paula down. No,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: don't look up. They'd see our faces. They can't miss us.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Samson murmured, there's fog ahead. The sound of the plane's
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: motors grew louder. Abruptly, there was a splash. Another something
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: shattered on the raft. Hold your breath, Brown snapped. Garth
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: tried to obey. A stinging ache had crept into his nostrils.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: His lungs began to hurt. The plane had spotted them.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: That was obvious. Sleep gas works fast. Another soft crash.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: Garth barely heard it. He saw a stubby crucifer form.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Shadows sweep over the raft as the plane swooped, and
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: then a wall of silvery fog was looming up ahead.
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: Paula gave a little gasp, her body collapsed against him.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: The fire in Garth's chest was blazing agony despite himself,
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: he let breath rush into his lungs. After that, complete
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: blatness and oblivion. Four Garth woke in reddish dim twilight.
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: Instantly he knew where he was even before he sat
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: up and saw the black bowls of immense trees rising
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: like pillars around him the forest. About time, Captain Brown's
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: toneless voice said that sleep gas puts you under for hours.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Garth rose, glancing around. They were camped in a little
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: clearing among the gigantic trees, and some of the men
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: were heating their rations over radiolite stove kits. From above,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: the crimson light filtered vaguely from a leafy roof. Incredibly,
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: the trees of the Black Forest were taller than California Sequoia's,
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: and Jupiter light reached the ground faintly through the ceiling
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: of red leaves that roofed the jungle. Paula, Garth saw,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: was lying with her eyes closed, not far away. She
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: all right, sure, Brown said, Resting is all. We got
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: away from Benson's plane hit that fog bank just in time.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: You'd passed out, so I took a chance and kept going.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: After we reached the forest, I landed the raft and
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: headed inland a bit. So here we are. Garth nodded.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: That was wise, the river goes underground half a mile
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: further any accidents. Brown looked at him oddly, this might
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: be Yosemite. For all the danger I've seen so far,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: it's a picnic. That Garth said, is just why it's
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: so bad. You don't see the trouble till after it's happened.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: He didn't explain, where's my kit here? Why before we
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: go any further, you'll need shots antotoxin against the nocdlai pollen.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: The flowers don't grow on the edges of the forest,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: but the wind carries their poison quite away. Sometimes. Garth
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: rummaged in his kit, found sealed vials in a hypo,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: and carefully sterilized everything over a radiolite stove he commandeered
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: from one of the men. After that he administered the antivirus,
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: first to Paula and last of all to Brown. He
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: took none himself. He had acquired a natural immunity to
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: the pollen. There was barely enough to go around. Round
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: shot was slightly less than the regular dosage, which vaguely
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: worried Garth, but the captain, annoyed by the delay, was
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: anxious to talk about immediate plans. Benson might land at
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: the edge of the forest and come after us a
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: mile or so, not further, but we'd better start moving.
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: He led Garth over to where Paula sat. It's time
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: for you to see the map. The girl nodded in agreement.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: She took out a folded flex paper and extended it.
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: Garth squinted down in the red twilight map more like
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: treasure hunt. Paula explained, there's a series of guide points
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: you see so far, We're okay. Narva means west in
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: the ancient tongue, doesn't it narva? Garth gave the word
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: a slightly different pronunciation. Yeah, well, three salags northwest, to
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: the mouths of the waters below, mouse of the singing below.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: I made it. Garth shook his head. I can't read
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: the stuff. I just know the spoken language. Read the
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: whole thing out loud so I can get it. Paula obeyed.
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: Her pronunciation made some words unfamiliar to Garth, but by
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: experiment he found what was meant. Uh huh. A salig
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: is less than three miles as far as I can judge,
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: I think I know the place. It's a hill, honeycombed
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: with little caves. You can hear the water running underneath it.
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: That fits. The girl agreed, this won't be so hard
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: after all. Garth grunted. He turned to Brown. I want
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: a gun and knife. I'll need both. Samson, the red
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: haired man approached, squinting, Yeah, rustle up a knife and
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: gun for Garth. Check. Paula was staring at Garth. You
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: expect trouble, don't you. I do. She made a gesture.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: The soul seems so peaceful. Listen, Garth said. The Black
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: Forest is the worst death trap in the system. Here's why.
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: The struggle for existence is plenty tough here. Brute strength
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: isn't enough, nor agility. A tiger or a deer wouldn't
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: last long here in the forest. The survival of the
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: fittest means the plant or animal that can get the
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: most food. That sort of thing has been going on
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: here for a million years. The beasts developed super quick reactions.
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: They could smell danger a mile away, so they had
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: to have strength, agility, and something else to get close
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: to their prey. Brown stared, what invisibility or its equivalent
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: ever heard of detective coloration camouflage? Well, the creatures of
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: the forest are the most perfect camouflage experts that exist.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: They don't simply trick your eyes either. They trick the
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: other senses. If you smell perfume, take it easy, or
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: you'll find yourself asleep while your head's being chewed off
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: by a lizard that looks as nasty as it smells good.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: If you see a path and it feels solid, don't
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: walk too far on it. Things have made that path
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: a carnivorous moss that feels exactly like smooth dirt underfoot
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: till their digestive juices start working. If you hear me
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: yelling your name, take it easy. There are birds like
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: harpies here that imitate sounds the way parrots do. Garth's
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: grin was tight. You'll find out it's camouflage carried to
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: the last degree for offense and defense. I know the
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: forest pretty well. You don't. You haven't developed a sort
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: of sixth sense, an instinct that tells you when something
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: smells bad, even though it looks like a six course dinner.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: All right, the captain said, this is your territory, not mine.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: It's up to you, it was, Garth decided later, as
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: he led the way through the black columns of the
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: trees very much up to him. Brown and the others
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: were tough, hard fighters, but they didn't know the subtleties
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: of this hell hole, where death lurked everywhere. Disguised, he
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: had got a drink from Samson, and his nerves were
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: less jagged, but physical exhaustion still gripped him. He'd been
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: on the skids for a long time and was in rotten,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: bad shape. But if the girl could stand it, he could.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: It was warmer in the forest. The trees seemed to
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: exhale heat and moisture, and there was no snow on
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: the ground. Great ebony pillars of giant trees rising hundreds
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: of feet into the air made the place a labyrinth,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: and the deceptive, reddish twilight made walking difficult even to
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: Garth's trained senses. There was trouble, though, when a gorgeously
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: colored butterfly, flame red and green, fluttered down toward Paula.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Garth's haste slapped at the instinct with a thick leaf
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: he was carrying. Watch out for those, he told the girl,
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: nodding toward the crushed body. They're poisonous, bad medicine. And
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: once as Brown was about to seat himself on a
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: rounded grayish boulder. Garth whirled the man away just in time.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: A hole in the rock gaped open, and a pair
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: of fanged mandibles snapped out, clicking together viciously. Garth put
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: a bullet in the thing. It heaved itself up on
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: spidery legs, revealing that the rock was akara pace, covering
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: an insectlike body, and it took a long time to die.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: There were others similar incidents. They had a bad effect
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: on the men. Even Samson, the crew Brown had picked,
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: was tough, but the black forest was like distilled poison.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: It was easier to face a charging rhino than to
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: travel through this ebony jungle, where silent secret death lurked,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: concealed in a diabolic masquerade. That was the first day.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: The sec was worse. The trees were thicker, and sometimes
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: it was necessary to use machete blades to hew through
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: the tangled undergrowth. Another day, and another and another, Following
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: the clues on Paula's cipher map, they found the first guidepost,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: the hill honeycombed with caves, and from there went on
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: to the east, camping at the edge of a ravine
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: that dropped away into unplumbed darkness, camouflage. Moss grew here,
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: looking deceptively like solid ground. One of the men ventured
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: too close to the edge of the cleft, and the
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: moss crumbled beneath him, dropping him into a nest of
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: the roots, twining, writhing, cannibalistic serpents with sucker discs that
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: drank blood thirstily. They got him out in time, luckily,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: but the men's nerves were jolted after that. Day after day,
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: constant alertness was vital. The party walked with guns and
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: knives in their hands. Their footsteps rang hollow in the dead,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: empty silence of the forest. It was only Garth's knowledge
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: of the dark wilderness that got them through to the interior.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: After a week, he was further in than he had
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: ever penetrated before, except when he had crashed the aircar
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: with Doc Willard five years ago. But they were getting closer, nearer.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: More and more often Garth remembered the black notebook that
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: might hold the cure for the Silver plague. For some
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: indefinable reason, he had come to feel that Paula's goal
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: was also his. It was logical enough. They were searching
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: for a lost treasure house of the ancient race, guarded
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: perhaps by the Zarno, and Garth was certain that during
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: that period of partial amnesia, he and Willard had been
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: captives of the Zarno. He had been drugged with the
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: noc delie poison by day, but at night he had
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: wakened in a bare cell with his friend, a cell
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: with walls of metal, he recalled. It had been windowless,
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: lighted by a faint glow from one corner. It checked
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: a ruin, once built by the ancients, now inhabited by
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: the Zarno. If he could find that note book, he
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: always stopped there. He knew what he might also discover,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: the skeleton of Willard stretched on an altar. That picture
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: always made his stomach go cold and tight. That night,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: Brown complained of a splitting headache. They camped near a stream,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: and Garth accompanied the captain down to the bank with
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: canvas pails. Jupiter was invisible. They had not seen the
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: sky for a week, but the red light was fading
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: not too close. Garth cautioned, let me test it first.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: Brown stared at him, what now in getting to expect
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: anything here? The man's expressionless face showed signs of strain
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: and exhaustion. He had no nerves, apparently, but the grueling
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: journey told on him. Nevertheless, Garth used his knife to
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: cut down a sapling. He impaled a leaf to its
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: point and extended it gingerly over the dark water. After
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: a moment, he felt a shock like a striking fish,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: and the pole was nearly wrenched from his hand, and
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: he wrestled with it. Brown's hands gripped the sapling. What
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: the devil, Garth let it go? I was only testing anyway.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: The pole was dragged into the water, where it thrashed
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: about violently for a few moments. What is it? Garth
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: was searching through the underbrush for something. Water snakes, big ones,
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: perfectly transparent. They wait for some animal to come along
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: and take a drink. Then bang, he nodded, Here we are.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: We'll find a lot of the nock tolie flowers from
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: now on. He brought out a bloom nearly a foot
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: in diameter, with leaves of pulpy, glossy black, a thick
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: powdering of silver in its cup. This is nocked a lie, captain.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: Looks harmless, doesn't it. Yeah, Brown rubbed his forehead. The
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: polling gives you amnesia. In the daytime, when it's active,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: it's phototropic needs light. Jupiter can't have set yet, so
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: this ought to work. Garth found another pole, speared the
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: flower on its tip, and extended the blossom over the water.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: He shook the silver dust into the stream. It works fast.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: The snakes will be paralyzed in a few seconds. The
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: current carries off the pollen. We dip up the water
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: we need, and that's that. Paula peered through the bushes,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: glancing around warily. In the last week, everyone had learned
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: to be alert always. Lines of fatigue showed on her
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: pale face. Red gold hair was plastered damply on her forehead. Carver,
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: what's up? She glanced at Garth the men. Samson's talking
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: to them. Brown's rat trap mouth clamped tight. That's so
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: Samson shoots his mouth off too much. What's the angle?
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: I think they want to go back. Garth, dipping up
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: water in the canvas buckets, said, we've only three more
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: days to go unless we run into bad country. I know,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: but they're armed. I'll talk to him, Brown said quietly.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: He lifted two of the pails and started up the path,
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: Paula and Garth trailing him. Presently, they reached the clearing
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: where camp had been made. The men weren't cooking. Instead,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: they were gathered in a knot around Samson, whose blazing
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: red hair stood up like a beacon. Brown put down
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: his burden and walked toward them. They broke up at
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: the sight of him, but didn't scatter. Samson's hand crept
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: imperceptibly toward his holster. Trouble, Brown asked. Samson squinted at him,
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: No trouble, except we didn't know the forest would be
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: as bad as it is, so you want to go back.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: You can't blame us for that, Samson said, bunching his
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: heavy shoulders. It's only dumb luck that's kept us alive
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: so far. We didn't bargain for this. Captain. I told
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: you what to expect. All you said was that it'd
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: be dangerous. None of us knew the forest. Those damn
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: blood sucker plants are the worst. They reach outed a
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: guy everywhere he turns, and the other things we can't
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: get through. Captain, you ought to be able to see
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: that yourself. Nobody's been killed so far. Blind luck and
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: Garth too. He knows this country. If we didn't have him,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: we wouldn't have lasted a day. We've got him, Brown
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: said crisply, So we're going on only three more days anyhow,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: that's enough start cooking erations. He turned his back on
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: Samson and walked away. The red haired giant hesitated, scowling. Finally,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: he shrugged and glanced around at the others. That broke
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: the tension. One by one, the men scattered to prepare food.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: Only Garth was gnawed by a persistent, deep rooted fear.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: He didn't admit it even to himself, but he watched
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: Brown closely that night, and finally unpacked his medical kit
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: and carefully searched it for something he knew wasn't there.
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: He was dreading the next morning. End of section two
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: Section three of Crypt City of the Deathless One by
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: Henry Cutner. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Edith Kessrick of
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: Southern Ohio. Crypt City of the Deathless One by Henry Cutner.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: Five slow, reddish dawn brightened over the forest. Garth felt
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: someone shaking him. He grunted, stirred, and opened his eyes
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: to see Paula's white face and behind her. Samson, Yeah,
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: what's wrong? He scrambled out of his blankets, blinking. The
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: girl paled to the lips pointed toward a recumbent figure,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: Carver Captain Brown. He's I don't know, Samson said, gruffly.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: Looks like he's dead. The men on guard duty said
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: he didn't move once all night. I see hands constricted
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: suddenly around Garth's heart. Without answering, he got his kit
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: and went over to examine Brown. The man lay motionless,
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: his breathing normal, but a deep flush on his brown cheeks.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: It isn't the plague, is it, Samson asked, his voice
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: not quite under control. Garth shook his head. Hell no,
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: it's he hesitated. Paula caught his arm. What some insect
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: poisoned him? One of those butterfly things. Garth carefully repacked
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: his kit. He didn't look up. He's got a dose
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: of the noc deli pollen, that's all. It's not fatal.
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: He'll come out of it after he leaves the forest,
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: or after he builds up immunity. How long would that
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: take a month or more? Garth bent over the apparently
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: sleeping man. Get up, Brown, he said, insistently, hear me
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: get up. The Captain stirred, his eyes opened, blank and unseen.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: He drew himself from his blankets and rows, looking straight ahead.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: Paula shrank back with a little gasp. There was a
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: flurry of movement among the men in the background. He'll
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: be all right tonight. The poison only works in the daytime.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: I've told you that we can't march at night, Paula said,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: not here. I know it's impossible. Our lights would attract
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: the butterflies and plenty of other things. Samson whirled on
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: the others. Pack your equipment. We're getting out of here fast.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: They hurry to obey. Paula got in front of Samson
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: as he turned, and the giants stopped blinking at her.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: You can't leave the captain here, Samson. We'll carry him then,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: but we're getting out. Garth moved to Paula's side. You
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: won't need a litter. He can walk nock to lie.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: Poison works like hypnotism. You're semi conscious, but your will's
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: in abeyance. If anyone tells Brown to follow us, he'll
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: do it. Paula was biting her lip. We can't go
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: back now. We've only three days to go. Look, Samson
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: said grimly. Why in the hell should we commit suicide.
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: Suppose we head on for three days we reached this
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: lost city of yours or whatever it is. What then
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: we're in the middle of the Black Forest. Another thirteen
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: days to get out. It's too much of a gamble.
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: We're leaving now, and you can come along, or you
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: can stay here suit yourself. He turned away. Left alone,
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: Paula looked helplessly from the motionless, staring figure of Brown
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: to Garth Carver. He didn't move. Garth grinned wrily. He'll
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: obey commands, that's all. He won't wake up till tonight.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: Paula clenched her hands. We've got to go on, We've
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: got to. If we go back now, Commander Benson will
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: clap us in the brig eh. She looked at him angrily.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: It isn't only that we'd lose our chance. You were right, Garth.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: We're after the power source of the ancients, the secrets
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: hidden here in the Black Forest. That cipher from Chan
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: proved that to me anyway, Earth needs power more than
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: you can imagine. Without it. Civilization will collapse soon too.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: Suppose we go on, Garth said slowly. I didn't tell
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: you this, but the reason the poison hit Brown was
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: because my antitoxin was too old. He had a short
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: dose too. The other men, well, they'll go under themselves
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: in a day or so, you too. Blue smudges showed
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: under the girl's eyes. Oh, she said after a moment.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: So it's like that, Just like that, Paula's stubborn chin
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: tilted up. I don't care. There's still a way. We'll
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: be all right at night, you said, Well, we'll do
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: our traveling and fighting by night, fighting the Tzarno, Garth,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: We've got to do it somehow. Once we find that
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: power source, we can use it. There'll be weapons the
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: ancients left, I'm sure of it. The Murals at Chawn
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: showed they had weapons strong enough to conquer the Zarno.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: If we can get those, You're crazy, Garth said, laying crazy.
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: What the hell do you expect me to do about it?
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: Samson would knock my block off if I tried to
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: stop him now, But he was thinking, we're losing more
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: than a chance to find the ancient's power source. I'm
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: losing my chance to find the cure for the Silver
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: play No, he said stubbornly. Paula's lip curled. I should
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: have known better than to ask you for help. I'll
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: handle this myself. She unholstered her gun. Garth looked at her.
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: She'd fail, she couldn't handle these ten hard shelled fighters
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: headed by Samson. She'd fail, and in the end she'd
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: go back to Earth in the brig, back to certain
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: death of the Silver plague. Oh it might miss her,
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: of course, but it might not. Paula would die as
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: Moira had done years ago. Garth shrugged and slapped the
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: girl's weapon down. Stay out of this, he commanded, and
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: turned away, walking across the clearing to where Samson and
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: the others were shouldering their kids. The red haired giant
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: looked up at Garth's approach. Set it up, He said,
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: we're in a hurry. I'm not going Samson's furry brows
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: drew together. The hell you're not. We need you. There
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: was a band of ice around Garth's middle. I know
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: that you can't get through without me. You'll never get
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: out of the forest alive. That's tough. Paula and I
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: are going ahead with Captain Brown, we're finishing what we started,
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: you lousy so and so, Samson roared. His big hand
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: reached out clutching. Garth stepped back, drawing his pistol. Take
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: it easy, he said under his breath. But there was
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: a gun in Samson's hand now behind the giant. The
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: other men stirred angrily. You're coming with us not alive.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: I won't be much good to you dead, will I.
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: After a moment, Samson reholstered his gun. He looked around
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: at the others. Someone said, we can get along without
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: that sun. Samson glowered at him. Shut up, we can't.
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: You'd have been sucked dry by that spider thing yesterday
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: if Garth hadn't seen it in time. He knows where
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: to walk in this hell hole. Garth didn't say anything.
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: He hesitated, holding his gun with casual lightness. Samson glared,
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: what do you want? Then? I want you to keep going,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: finish what you started. Then what we may find weapons
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: and other things. Suppose we don't, then we'll come back.
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: I got you in here, and I'm the only man
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: on gany Meete who can get you out. Samson's eyes narrowed.
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: Suppose we say yes, you can't keep a gun on
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: us all the time. We might jump you. There are
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: ways of making a man do things he doesn't want
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: to do, sure, Garth admitted, you could torture me. Only
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: that wouldn't help. Samson's gaze flicked past to the girl.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: Garth said quickly, that wouldn't help either. Here's why the
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: antitoxin I gave you was too old. It isn't working
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: the way it ought. Captain Brown was the first man
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: to go under. But within three days at the latest,
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: every damn one of you will have the to lie poison.
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: Garth thought. Samson was going to shoot him then and
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: there a yell went up from the men. Samson's lifted
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: hand quieted them. The giant was pale under his space burn.
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: Is that straight, Garth nodded, it's on the beam. Yeah.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: It'll take you a week to get out of the forest,
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: and you won't last that long even if you force
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: me to guide you. I don't think you can do
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: that anyway. But even if you did, within three days,
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: you'll be like the captain walking dead men. You'll be
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: okay at night, but you can't travel at night. By day,
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: you'll be living statues sitting in the forest, waiting for
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: the bloodsucker plants to come along and drain your blood,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: waiting for the poisonous butterflies to paralyze you and lay
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: their eggs under your skin. Waiting. You've seen what sort
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: of things live in the forest. Every day you'll be helpless.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: You can't run. Some night you'll wake up with your
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: legs chewed off, or the butterfly maggots eating you alive
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: like that. Well that's what you'll get, and I'm the
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: only guy who can save you. The faces of the
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: men told Garth that his shots had gone home. The
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: deadly menace of the forest, lurking always in the background,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: had worked into their nerves. Samson's big hands clenched. Damn you,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: he snarled. You can't, Garth went on quickly. I'm handing
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: this too straight. We're in a spot, sure, but we
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: can get out of it. I can make more antitoxin,
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: but it'll take a while. I can't do it while
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: we're traveling. I need equipment. Here's what I'm proposing. We
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: all keep going the way we started. I'm immune to
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: the pollen. We move fast, will reach the Lost city
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is before you go under, then I
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: can start making antitoxin, but i'll be able to make
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: fresh shots and neutralize the noc delaie pollen. It's too
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: long a shot, Samson said, okay. Garth told him, suit yourself,
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: play it my way, or commit suicide. He turned and
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: walked toward Paula, who had not moved from Brown's side.
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: Her eyes were steady on his thanks. That was nice,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: going plenty nice. If you pull it off, it's suicide
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: either way, Garth grunted. He began packing Brown's kit, and
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: his own footsteps sounded. Garth didn't turn. He heard Samson's
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: deep voice, hoarse with repressed fear and rage. We're playing
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: it your way, Garth, God help you if you make
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: any boners. Sudden relief weakened Garth. He tried not to
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: show it, though he realized that his hands were trembling
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: fair enough. He said, we'll march in ten minutes. Get
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: the men ready. Samson muttered something and retreated. Garth slipped
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: the pack on Brown's shoulders. The captain, looking blankly ahead,
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: didn't seem to notice. Keep your eye on him. Garth
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: told Paula, He'll be between us. He'll keep marching till
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: we tell him to stop. See, she nodded, moistening her lips. Yes,
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: is that going to happen to all of us? Garth
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: said nothing. There wasn't anything to say. But he knew
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: as he led the party away from the camp how
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: long a gamble he was undertaking. There were so many
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: chances that he might fail. The odds were plenty tough,
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: yet the stakes were equally high. Had he known how
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: difficult those odds were, Garth might not have risked it.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: For the Nocdilaie poison worked faster than he had guessed. Meantime,
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: he guided ten sullen, fearful men, a walking corpse, and
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: a girl deeper into the unexplored heart of the black forest.
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: The Nocdilie flowers breathed their poison from the underbrush deadly
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: and relentlessly. Six that day they met a new enemy,
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: jet black lizards five feet long that clung to the
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: black tree bowls, perfectly camouflaged till the party came close.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: Then the reptiles flashed toward them, bang jaws gaping. Constant
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: alertness was all that saved them. That and the blazing
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: guns that killed the monsters presence of the lizards was
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: no respite from other perils. The bloodsucker plants were more numerous,
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: and the camouflage moss made deceptively inviting pass through the
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: red gloom. By dark, everyone was nearly exhausted, nerves worn
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: to rags. Garth knew it would not take much for
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: the men to explode into furious resentment against him. Luckily,
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: an hour after they had made camp, Captain Brown woke
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: from his drug trance perfectly normal, but it took a
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: while to make him understand what had happened. For the
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: first time, Garth saw Brown lose his iron self control,
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: and then it was only for a moment. A flash
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: of stark horror showed on the Captain's lean, hard face,
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: to be gone Instantly, he lit a cigarette, eyes brooding
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: on Paula and Garth. Briefly he glanced past them to
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: the men preparing their rations. Uh huh, not so good.
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: I suppose it's useless to think of traveling by night.
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: It's impossible, Garth told him. You can make more anti toxin, sure,
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: but not here. It's too dangerous. We've been safe so
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: far because we've moved fast, camping at a different spot
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: every night. If we hold up, we'd have a gang
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: of monsters down on us in no time. Brown considered,
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: it's a nasty business having my own body go back
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: on me. A bit of a shock. Well, he let
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: the smoke drift from his nostrils. Two more days ahead
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: of us, eh, then we reached the Lost City. If
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: it is a city, we don't even know that, but
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: we do know there may be Zarno around. We'll have
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: to arrive there soon after dark, so I'll be conscious
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: if there's a fight, I want to be in on it.
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: Why the devil didn't you test that antitoxin, Garth? His
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: voice was harshly angry. Garth didn't answer. Brown had given
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: him the rush act, but he wasn't making any excuses.
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: Ella said, this isn't the best time to quarrel. You'd
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: better talk to the men Carver, so there'll be no
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: trouble tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, I suppose so. Even the rebellious
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: Samson was convinced by Brown's well chosen remarks. They slept uneasily,
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: with guards replaced every two hours, and the next day
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: woke to find Captain Brown once more sunk into his nock.
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: Delaie trance. A few of the men complained of headaches.
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: By mid morning, paul outs have come to the poison.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: Garth did not realize at first what had happened. Then turning,
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: he saw the girl's blank face and wide eyes fixed
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: straight ahead as she marched along, and knew she was
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: entranced by the nock delaie. Till nightfall, the exercise of walking,
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: speeding metabolism had hastened the action of the virus. They
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: went on. An hour later, another man went under, then another.
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: By noon, only five men, including Garth and Samson, were
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: still conscious. Their difficulties increased proportionately. They had to be
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: on guard every second. The noctili victims walked quietly in line,
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: but they did not react to danger. If the tentacles
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: of a bloodsucker plant flashed out, they wouldn't try to escape.
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: Their instinct of self preservation had been dulled and blanketed.
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: The afternoon was pure hell. Garth, Samson, and one other
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: man had to guard and lead the rest. Their guns
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: crashed incessantly, it seemed. When they camped at the onset
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: of darkness, Samson and Garth alone remained the red haired
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: giant swaying on his feet squinted at Garth, his face
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: haggard with exhaustion. Nice going, he said, sardonically. After a time,
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: what now, maybe we'd better cut our throats, Garth managed
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: to shakey grin. We're still okay, and there's only one
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: more day left tomorrow. We'll make it. Then we've got
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: to unwilling admiration odin Samson's eyes. You're dead on your feet.
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: I don't see how the hell you can keep up
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: this pace anyhow. We can't go back now, that's settled anyway. Yeah,
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: the others will wake up after a while. We'll have
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: to stay on guard till then. They did, guns drawn,
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: peering at the silent depths of the forest around them,
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: while the rest of the party lay motionless, helpless against attack.
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: After a time, Samson spoke. Garth could not see his
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: face in the heavy gloom. What are you after, Garth? Humph?
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: I had you ticketed wrong, a beach comber. There must
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: be something plenty important where you're going, or you wouldn't
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: be so anxious to get there. What is it? Treasure,
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: of course, but jewels or what? Garth chuckled. There may
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: be I don't know, don't care, Hm, Samson was silent. Baffled,
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: Garth's mind swung back to that ever present question, had
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: he killed Doc Willard very soon? Now? He might know
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: the answer, but that was important only to him. The
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: vital point was the black notebook Doc had had with him.
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: After a time, Captain Brown stirred and sat up. Then
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: the others. The men were a little panicky, but the
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: presence of Brown and Samson calmed them. Garth, relieved of
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: guard duty, had fallen asleep almost instantly. He woke at dawn.
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: Red twilight filtered down from above. The others were laying
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: motionless in their blankets. Samson's big body was huddled at
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: the base of a tree. Wearily, Garth got up and
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: went over to the giant Samson. He called, wake up,
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: We've got a job. He stopped. Samson's eyes were open,
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: fixed and blank, and his dark cheeks had a significant
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: ruddy flush the Nocti lie poison. Garth stepped back, white
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: to the lips. A sudden, horrible sense of loneliness prince
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: down on him. In the jungle, things seemed to move,
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: closing in menacingly. He was alone, Now alone with twelve
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: helpless companions to guard. Somehow, somehow, he had to get
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: them through one more day and they would be at
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: their goal. They could not stay here, that was certain.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: Garth searched Samson's pack till he found a half empty
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: whiskey bottle. He poured the burning stuff down his throat,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: though it rocked him back on his heels, but he
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: needed artificial stimulation. It was the only thing that could
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: keep him going. Now it helped. Garth took Samson's gun
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: and stuck it in his belt. If his own jammed
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: or ran out of ammunition today, it would be unfortunate.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: One more day, one more day. Somehow he got Samson,
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: Brown and the others lined up. They would march. When
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: he gave the word the hypnotic trance of the Noc
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: delie pois and had turned them into robots. Garth put
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: Paula directly behind him. The sight of her wand drawn
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: face made him feel a little frightened, though not for himself.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: He was remembering Moira, who had died on Earth years ago.
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: Eleven men and a girl, and he was the only
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: one who could save them. Garth made sure that the
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: packs were in place on the men's shoulders. He took
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: another drink, pulled out one of the guns and gave
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: the command to march like automatons. The line followed him.
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: If the day before had been hell, this was double
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: distilled hell. Within an hour, Garth's nerves were scraped raw.
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: He had to be constantly alert. The wrenching strain of
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: watching for camouflage menace made his eyes ache. When movement came,
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: he had to be ready, ready to squeeze the trigger.
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: He had to have eyes in the back of his head.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: For Samson at the tail of the procession was as
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: helpless as the others. Liquor kept Garth going. Without it,
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: he would have collapsed. By noon. He was forced to
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: call a halt, his eyes throbbing with strain, but even
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: then he could not relax. Danger waited everywhere. He never
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: remembered what happened that afternoon. He must have acted automatically
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: through blind instinct, but he got them through somehow. It
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: was like awakening from deep sleep. Garth was abruptly conscious
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: that he was marching forward, his head moving rhythmically, his
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: eyes searching the jungle. The red twilight was almost gone.
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: He whirled to see Paula directly behind him, unharmed. The
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: others were strung out in single file. All of them
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: was Samson's red head. At the end, none was missing.
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: Garth shivered, his body was aching like fire. A quick
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: glance showed him that his clothes were ribboned, his skin
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: scratched raw, a long slash along his ribs. It had
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: been treated with antiseptic, he saw, though he did not
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: remember administering first aid, nor what had caused the wound.
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: What had wakened him. He peered through the gloom, making
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: out a dark bulk, regular in outline ahead and to
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: his left. A few paces further gave him the answer.
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: It was a building, a black stone or metal, no
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: more than twelve feet high, with an archway gaping in
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: the nearest side. Somehow it struck a chord of memory.
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: They must be near their goal. No savages had built
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: this structure, the ancient race, the Tzarno. They might be
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: near by. It would not do to encounter them now
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: while the men were in their nock delaie trance, and
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: here in the forest they were without cover at the
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: mercy of the Zarno, should they appear. Garth reconnoitered, quietly,
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: leading the others, for he dared not leave them alone.
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: The black buildings seemed untenanted. He could vaguely make out
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: a flight of steps leading down into darkness, and more
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: important than that, the threshold itself was thick with dust
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: and mold. The temple was empty, which made it a
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: good place to hide. Garth was beginning to realize he
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: could not keep going much longer, at least without collapsing.
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: But soon after dark the others would recover from their trance.
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: He stepped warily across the threshold into the gloom of
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: the temple. Simultaneously, the flooring sank almost imperceptibly beneath his feet,
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: and a deep, brazen bell note boomed out, hushed with distance,
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: as though it had come from underground. Indecision held Garth
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: motionless for a moment. That clang was a signal of
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: some sort, a warning against trespassers, a warning to whom
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: he was answered quickly. A low cry came, harsh and
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: oddly familiar. It was the first of many. Garth, hesitating
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: on the threshold, uncertain which way the danger lay, instinctively
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: reached out his arm and dragged paula cloak. She came
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: obediently to his side, her eyes, seeing nothing. The others
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: they stood like frozen statues. Something flashed amid the underbrush.
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: The scarlet tangle of vines and leaves was torn aside,
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: and a figure leaped into view, A figure manlike, yet
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: not human. At first glance, it seemed to be a
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: man in armor, more than six feet tall and proportionately broad.
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: Its body gleamed with reflected light necklace. Its head was
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: a hairless, shining ball whose only features were two oval
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: jet black eyes. They were uncannily menacing, a statue come
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: to life, for the creature's body was obviously not flesh.
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: It was hard, rough, and shiny as translucent glass. Silicate
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: life sprung from a silicon chemical base, as Earth life
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: comes from carbon, but sentient, intelligent, and dangerous. Others like
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: it raced into view, pausing as they saw Garth and
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: his companions. The first stepped forward. He had no mouth,
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: but a circular diaphragm below and between his eyes vibrated
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: rapidly forming recognizable words a kron granro seleri. It was
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: the ancient tongue which Garth had learned five years before
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: and never forgotten. It came back to him easily. Now
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: he was beginning to remember other things too, These creatures.
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: He had seen them before. The Tzarno, we come in peace.
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: He raised one hand, his nerves jolting, waiting for the answer.
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: Presently it came. You are not a god. The others
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: with you are not gods. We are the Zarno. We destroy.
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: We guard the house of the gods till they return.
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: Another of the silicate creatures pushed forward. Do you not know? This?
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: Being Karn eight istads ago. He came here with the
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: another like him. Do you remember? Karn nodded slowly. That
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: is true. We did not slay them then, for we
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: thought they were messengers from the gods. They pretended to be.
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: We were not sure. This one escaped, the other went
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: into the darkness. The other Doc Willard Garth felt his
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: throat tightened. The darkness? What is that the place from
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: which only the gods return, Karn said, slowly. Did he
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: mean death? Before Garth could ask, the second Zarno spoke,
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: they must be taken and sacrificed. Karn. Garth took out
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: his gun. Wait, he said sharply, as the Zarno moved forward.
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: We have weapons. We can destroy you. You do not
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: speak the truth only the gods can destroy us. Ages ago,
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: they came here and built their temple and taught us
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: to be wid When they left us, we stayed on
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: to guard the sacred places. Garth's mouth felt dry. We
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: are messengers from the gods, he declared, it is not true.
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: Karn began to walk forward, take them. Garth knew he
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: had lost. It was like a nightmare, the steady, relentless
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: approach of the monstrous beams. Garth held his gun, leveled,
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: his arm tightened around Paula's shoulders. Keep back, he commanded,
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: conscious of the uselessness of the words. Instead, Karn and
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: the others walked on. The creature's shining arm lifted, clamped
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: on Garth's shoulder, he fired. Karn did not seem to
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: feel the bullet, though it had not missed. Garth squeezed
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: the trigger again. The pistol jolted against his palm. The
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: Tzarno were invulnerable. Garth fought nevertheless. He could see the
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: silicate lifting his companions like sacks of meal, hoisting them
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: to gleaming shoulders, and carrying them unresisting through the forest.
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: Paula was torn from his grasp. Cursing, he struck out
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: at Karn's impassive, inhuman face. With the revolver butt useless,
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: nothing could harm these creatures of living stone. Ignoring his struggles,
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: Karn prisoned Garth's arms and lifted him Helpless. Garth was
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: carried after the others. He forced himself to relax. A
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: fury of impotent rage flooded him. He battled it down
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: better weight, a chance might come later, Just now there
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: was none weight. Through the forest they went, a score
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 1: of the silicate creatures, striding like armored giants in the
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: darkening red glow. Not far a pillar of black metal
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: loomed before them, soon broken by an archway. Two of
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: the monsters guarded it. For a moment, Garth mistook monolith
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: for one of the ebony trees. Then he realized his
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: error as they crossed the threshold and began to descend
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: a spiral ramp. Now there was light, a cool, silvery
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: radiance that seemed to come from the walls. Carnes footsteps
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: thumped hollow tirelessly. Sudden weakness made Garth dizzy. He caught
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of a well around which the ramp wound,
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: a pit dropping away to the heart of the world.
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: It seemed utter exhaustion struck him like a physical blow.
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: End of section three Section four of crypt City of
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: the Deathless One by Henry Kutner. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: by E. Dth Kessrick of Southern Ohio. Crypt City of
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: the Deathless One by Henry Kutner. Seven. He remembered dimly
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: what happened after that. It was like a series of
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: fantastic visions, nightmare flashes of memory. At the bottom of
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: the spiral was a cave reminiscent of Chan and the
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: other cities of the ancients. Garth had seen enigmatic machines
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: loomed here and there. Unlike Chan, this city was lighted
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: with the pale glow that came out of the walls
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: in high domed ceilings. Cavern after cavern peopled with the
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: silicate creatures, filled with the dead machines of the ancients,
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: and finally, an immense cave, its floor slanting up to
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: a raise dais. At one end on the platform, a
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: throne of black metal stood and seated upon it was
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: a gigantic, fore armed robot, larger than any guard had
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: ever seen before. Standing it would have been twelve feet tall,
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: he judged. Garth got only a glimpse of this. He
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: was carried on swiftly to a smaller cavern, where metal
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: doors lined the walls. One of these was unlocked. He,
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: with the other Earthmen, was carried within and dumped unceremoniously
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: on the floor. The Zarno departed, clanging the door shut
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: after them, then silence. Garth staggered to his feet, staring around.
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: The cell was oddly familiar. He had been in it
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: or one like it, five years ago with Doc Willard.
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: The silvery light came from the wall, and there was
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: a grating in the door. That was all. He reached
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: the grating and peered out. Two Zarno were on guard,
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: not far away the lock. It might be possible to
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: pick it, Garth thought, but the silicate creatures were invulnerable,
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: so that would do no good. Captain Brown's clipped voice said,
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: where the hell are we, Garth? Huh oh, you're awake,
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: Garth laughed harshly. You should have waked up half an
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: hour ago, Not that it would have done any good.
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: Brown stood up stiffly. What do you mean? What's happened?
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: The others were waking now. For a few moments, the
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: cell was a babble of questions. One of the tzar
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: notes came briefly to the grill in the door and
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: looked in shocked. Quiet greeted him. After he had gone,
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: Garth took advantage of the silence to say, I'll tell
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: you what's been going on, and then I'm going to sleep.
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: I'll go to sleep anyway unless I talk fast and
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: dead beat. Samson squinted at the door. Tough customers. Shoot, Garth,
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: I've got a hunch we're in a bad spot. We
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: are Listen. Briefly, Garth explained what had happened there and
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: counter questions. You can speak their lingo, Eh, that won't
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: help Brown. They can't be invulnerable. They are to our
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: weapons silicate life. When will they sacrifice us? Paula asked,
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: a little shaken, though she tried not to show it.
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: Garth shrugged, I don't know. Maybe I can talk him
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: out of it. God knows. They worship the gods, the ancients,
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: I suppose, but they know we're not gods. So that's
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: that well, they talked inconclusively. Samson casually wandered over to
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: the door, bound a twisted scrap of wire and used
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: it on the lock. After a while, he called softly
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: to the others, this thing's a snap. It won't keep
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: us in here. Garth came over. There are guards. It's
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: no use. One of the Tzarno approached and peered in
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: through the grill. Carn has said, you will not be
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: hungry long. Tomorrow you will all die. You eat like
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: creatures of the forest. Do you not what's he saying?
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: Samson murmured nothing important. Garth switched to the ancient tongue.
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: It would be dangerous to kill us. We are messengers
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: of the gods. We will believe that, the Tzarno said,
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: when one of the gods tells us so. He nodded
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: impassively and retreated. Paula touched Garth's arm. Isn't there any way?
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe maybe not. There's light here, there's
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: none in the other cities of the ancients. That means
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: the power source still works here, if we can find it.
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: Garth couldn't look at her, knowing they were doomed to die.
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: The next day, he shrugged, turned to and found an
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: empty corner. Ignoring the others, he tried to relax on
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: the hard floor. His brain just wasn't working now it
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: was fagged out. He had a vague hunch that there
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: might be a way out, but he was too exhausted
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: to follow up. Now a few hours sleep was vital,
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: but he slept past dawn. When he awoke, he saw
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: the others lying motionless, their eyes fixed in the blank
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: stare of the Noctolai trance. Glancing at the chronometer on
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: Brown's wrist, Garth figured swiftly it was past dawn. That
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: meant there was little time left in which to act,
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: provided action was possible. But sleep had refreshed him, though
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: his muscles still ached painfully. He was beginning to remember
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: what his hunch had been when he and Doc Willard
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: had been captives. There had been guards only at night
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: during the long Ganymedean day. None was necessary for the
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: till lie poison had been active. Then by day, the
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: Zarno thought men of flesh were trapped and helpless. Unless
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: Garth moved quietly to the door. Through the grill, he
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: saw the cave empty of life. There were no guards.
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: He was glad he had slept past dawn so that
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: the Zarno were able to believe him entranced like the others.
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: But what now escape to? Where there was still power
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: in the lost city. Perhaps the weapons of the ancient
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: still existed, weapons stronger than guns to conquer the Zarno.
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: But regardless of that, it was necessary to find a
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: hiding place. This was the day of sacrifice, ironic thought,
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: a hiding place in an underground city teeming with the Zarno.
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: Garth shrugged. The door was locked, he discovered, and it
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: took time to find the twisted wire Samson had used.
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: Even and then Garth was unable to manipulate the intricate tumblers.
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: He scowled, chewing his lip and eyeing the wire. Samson's
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: skilled fingers were necessary. He roused the red haired giant
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: and led him to the door. Samson looked straight ahead,
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: his eyes dull. He obeyed when Garth spoke, but that
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: was all was his skills sufficiently instinctive to be used.
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: Now there was only one way to find out. Garth
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: put the wire in Samson's hand unlocked the door. He
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: had to repeat the command twice before Samson understood. Then
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: the big man bent, fumbling with the lock, working with
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: agonized slowness. Hours seemed to drag past before Samson straightened.
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: Garth tried the door. It opened. The first step was accomplished. Anyhow,
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: the others would be more difficult. He was unfamiliar with
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: the underground city. How the devil could he evade the
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: Tzarno and find a hiding place. Alone he would have
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: a better chance, but he had twelve companions with him.
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: He spoke to each of them, follow me, you understand,
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: Follow me until I tell you to stop. Move as
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: quietly as you can. Then he led them out of
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: the cell. The city, as he speedily learned, was a labyrinth. Luckily,
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: there were innumerable cross passages, and all the cities of
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: the ancients had been built along a similar plan. Garth
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: knew the layout of Chan, and that helped him now.
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: But there were times when he had to move fast,
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: and the others walked as though striding through water. Quick
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: in here, fast, and they would follow him into a
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: side tunnel while the heavy metallic footsteps of the Zarno
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: approached like drums of doom. But there was no place
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: to hide permanently. Worst of all, a distant clanging sounded presently,
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: and Garth guessed what that meant. The escape of the
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: captives had been discovered. Gingerly, he skirted the huge cave
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: where the Dais was, glimpsing the giant robot in the
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: distance and shepherding his charges along a twisting corridor that
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: led down. But the footsteps were growing louder. Garth was
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: almost certain that they were following. He increased his pace,
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: with wary glances behind him, unless he found a side passage.
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: Soon the swift Zarna would speedily overtake them. Faster, move faster.
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: The earth Men tried to obey, Like automatons. They ran,
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: their eyes fixed and staring, while the clamor of pursuit
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: grew louder. Looking back, Garth saw a flash of shining movement.
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: The zarno faster. There were no side tunnels. They came
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: out into a small cave completely empty. It was a
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: cul de sac. Light was reflected brilliantly from three walls.
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: The fourth wall was dead black, neither rock nor stone.
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: It was like a jet curtain blocking their path. Garth
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: jerked to a halt, knowing the utter hopelessness of futility.
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: They were trapped now. The Tzarno were pursuing unmistakably. Garth
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: took out his useless gun. His face was set in
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: grim lines. What good were bullets against silicate creatures? But
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: waiting helplessly was far worse. At least he could try
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: to fight. He had forgotten to command his charges to halt.
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: Glancing around, Garth saw something that made his eyes widen
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: in incredulous amazement. Paula was walking toward the black curtain
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: the wall. She stepped through it and vanished. Brown followed her,
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: then another man, and another, last of all Sam's, disappearing
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: like a ghost through the blackness. Heavy footsteps whirled Garth
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: about down the corridor. He could see the flashing gleams
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: that heralded the Zarno. His tight grin was a grimace.
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: The hell with you, pals, he said softly, and turned again.
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: He raced in pursuit of the others, leaped through the
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 1: dark curtain. There was an instant of grinding, jolting shock
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: that left him blind. He staggered, caught himself and saw
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: that he was in a passage that led toward a
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: distant brightness. Silhouetted against the glow were the moving figures
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: of his companions. He sprinted after them, but he did
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: not overtake them until they had emerged in a cavern
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: unlike any he had seen before. Okay, stop, stop, that's right.
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 1: They halted motionless. Garth looked behind him, but there was
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: no trace of the Zarno. This cave was lighted like
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 1: the others, but there were fewer machines. Row after row
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: of the giant four armed robots stood like an army
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: on the dark metal floor. The walls were jeweled, thousands
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: of pearly disks studding them. A low humming came from
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: a machine nearby, a tripod with lenses surmounting a square box.
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: Garth walked through it. He hesitated, glancing around again, and
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: then peered through the lens. A voice seemed to speak
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: within his brain invoked the rule of silence. After that,
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: Jenaro Low declared that space travel was inevitable and might
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: solve the natural problems of our civilization. It had spoken
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: in the ancient tongue, and at the same time Garth
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: had seen a picture of a huge, forearmed being with
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: a bulging yet oddly symmetrical head, standing on a rostrum,
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: addressing a multitude ed. The voice rang through the silent
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 1: cavern ed, Garth, you made it. Garth whirled. A man
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: had emerged from the cavern mouth near by, a short,
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 1: slight man with white hair and a lined, tired face.
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: He ran forward, his ragged garments flapping, his eyes shining.
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: Garth said, in a voice like a prayer, Doc, Willard,
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: you're alive. Eight Willard gripped his friend's hands. Alive. Yes,
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: if you could call it that. I've been living for
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 1: only one thing. I knew you'd come back with help
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 1: if you got through, and you did. The cavern was
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: spinning around Garth. He braced himself, staring at the man. Doc,
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: I've been going crazy for five years. I thought I
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: I killed you, Willard stared killed me. But that alter
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: the words tumbled out of Garth's mouth. I couldn't remember much,
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: that damned noc de lie poison. I lost my memory.
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: But I knew I'd tried to knife you while you
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 1: were stretched out on an altar. Sympathy showed in Willard's eyes.
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: Good Lord ed, and you could only remember that you
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: must have gone through hell. I did. I didn't know what,
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: but we planned it, the whole thing, a fake ceremony
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: to impress the Zarno and give us a chance to escape.
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: They thought we might be messengers from their gods, the ancients,
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: and we told them so after we'd learned their language.
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: The sacrifice. It was a fake, that's all, and it
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 1: went through as we planned. You pretended to stab me,
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: and while the Zara were bowing and genuflecting, we got away.
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: At least you did. They recaptured me. Garth shook his head.
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: Tell me, I don't know really. Willard glanced at the earthmen,
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: curious in his eyes. You've a bit of explaining to
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: do yourself. Ed are they knocked a lie? Yeah? I
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: worked out an antitoxin, but it was stale. Quickly, Garth
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: explained what had happened. I see, well, got a cigarette.
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: Willard sucked the smoke luxuriously into his lungs. That's good
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: five years since I've had one of these. Sit down,
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: and let's talk. No chairs, but try the floor. Okay,
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 1: what happened to you? Nothing much? When we staged our
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: fake ceremony, the zarre are plenty religious. I headed for
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: that little black temple in the forest. Know the place yeah,
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: that's where they caught us. Well, it leads to freedom.
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: There's an underground tunnel that takes you out into a
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 1: camouflaged hanger. The ancients had anti gravity. I found that
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: out later, and they're flying boats were hidden there. There's
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: still good ed they still work. I'd have got away
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 1: if the Zarno hadn't been right on my heels, so
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: Willard nodded. The controls are easy, couple of push buttons
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 1: and a steering lever. I'd got a few feet off
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: the ground when a couple of Zarno jumped into the
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: boat with me. They heaved me out and followed. The
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: flying boat went off to Mars or somewhere. I suppose
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: it kept on going straight up. But there were others
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: only I've never been able to get to them. If
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: I could have, I'd have headed for Oortown Pronto. Guards
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: eyes were glowing. If we could reach that hangar dock,
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 1: we could escape all of us. Sure, Only we can't.
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 1: Too many guards. It's impossible to get out of the city.
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: I've tried often enough. The only way I managed to
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: survive was by entering the darkness. His voice trailed away.
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: That wall. It's a vibration barrier. None of the czar
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: no can pass. It shakes them to pieces, destroys them.
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: The ancients made it, I suppose to guard their library.
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: Willard extended his hand in a sweeping gesture. This is
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 1: it all the knowledge of the ancients, tremendous knowledge compiled
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: here for reference. If we could only get it out
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 1: to the world. Garth remembered something. Does it mention their
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 1: power source? Sure, I've had nothing to do for five years,
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: but study the library. Could put my finger on the
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: wire tape recording that explains the process. It's an intricate business,
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: but we could duplicate it on Earth easily enough. Paula
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: would be glad to know that Garth thought the secret
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: of the ancient's power that could replace oil and coal
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: a vital secret to Earth. Now, Willard was still talking.
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: I ran when I heard you coming. I've been studying
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: one of the recordings, but I thought that Tzarno might
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: have got through the barrier somehow. Doesn't harm humans, luckily,
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: or the robots. I've learned a lot in five years.
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 1: How did you manage to keep alive? I found food.
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: The ancients stalked up this place. Hills Willard grimaced. They
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: kept me alive, and there was a machine for making
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: water out of the air. But I'm hungry for a stake,
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: Garth scout, doc one more thing, you know what I mean?
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 1: Willard sobered. I get it ed the cure, whether or
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: not I whether or not you've found the cure for
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: the silver plague. It hasn't been checked yet. It's still
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: killing thousands on Earth. So I wondered a lot about that. Well,
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: the answer is yes, Ed, I know the answer, the cure. Yes.
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: I worked it out completely with the aid of the
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: ancient's library. They were studying it too, but they didn't
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: have quite the right angle. However, they were able to
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 1: supply the missing data I needed. Willard took from his
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: pocket a small notebook. I've had five years to work
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: on it so far. Of course it's theoretical, but everything checks.
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: It's the cure, all right. Somehow, Garth didn't feel much excitement.
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 1: Five years ago, he thought that notebook would have saved
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: Moira's life. Now, well, it would still save life. It
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: would save earth, but he shrugged. Two good reasons to
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 1: give back to civilization, the cure and the secret of
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 1: the power source. Willard nodded. The ancients died of the
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 1: Silver plague indirectly, they tried to escape by changing their bodies.
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 1: The library told me that their bodies. How well you've
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: seen the robo shan and here. Originally they were the
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: servants of the ancients. Intelligent, No, not the way you mean.
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: They could be conditioned to perform certain tasks, but usually
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: they were controlled telepathically by the ancients, who wore specialized
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: helmet transmitters for the purpose. The robots had radioatomic brains
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 1: that reacted to telepathic commands. Then, when the silver plague struck,
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: the ancients tried to escape by transplanting not their physical
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 1: brains but their minds. I don't quite know how it
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: was done, but the thought patterns, the individual mental matrix
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 1: of each ancient was somehow impressed on the radioatomic brain
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: of the robot. Their minds were put into the robot's
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: brains and controlled the metal bodies. So they escaped the plague,
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: but they died anyway. Human intelligent minds can't be transplanted
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 1: successfully into artificial bodies that way, so in a hundred
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: years they were dead, all of them. So that was
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: the secret of the ancient's disappearance from Ganymede. They had
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 1: taken new bodies, and those bodies had killed them through
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: their sheer alienage. Willard crushed out his cigarette stub. All
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: the knowledge of the ancients at my fingertips, said, you
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: can imagine what research I've done. I should have thought
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: you'd have looked for a weapon against the Tzarno, Garth said,
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: Practically the ancients were able to conquer them. I did,
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 1: first of all, after I'd learned how to work the
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: recording machines. A certain ray will destroy them, A vibrationary
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: beam that shakes them to pieces, disrupts their molecular structure.
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: The only trouble is Willard grinned sardonically, it takes a
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 1: damn good machine shop to build such a projector. Oh,
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: we couldn't. We couldn't. The ancients left plenty of apparatus here,
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 1: but not the right kind, mostly records and a lot
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: of robots. Sorry, ed, but unless you've brought good weapons
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: with you, you're stuck here with me. Garth looked around
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 1: to where his companions were standing motionless. Yeah, looks like it.
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: Unless we can break through to that hangar of anti
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 1: gravity ships, we can't. The city's full of Zarno day
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: and night, and there are always guards outside. Garth sighed.
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: The trouble is unless we get out, nothing can stop
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: the silver plague, not to mention the fuel shortage. Wait
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 1: a minute, you said the Zarno were superstitious. We tricked
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 1: them once with a fake ceremony. Couldn't we try that again?
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: I did, Willard told them it didn't work. The Zarno
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: know what human beings are like. Now, only the gods
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: would impress them, those robots that once their masters. Garth
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: stopped breathing for a moment. There's a way, he said.
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: Willard looked at him. I don't think so. When I
• 2:03:12
  Speaker 1: saw you'd come back, I hoped for a minute, but
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 1: it's no use. The Tzarno are invulnerable to any weapons
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: we can create here. We can't get out of the city.
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: You said the gods would impress them. The gods are
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: dead the ancients. Suppose one of them came back, Willard
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: caught his breath. What do you mean Originally the robots
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: were controlled telepathically. Why can't that work now for us?
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: Don't you imagine? I thought of that, But it's no
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: use without one of them. Helmet transmitters, and there aren't any.
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: Willard sucked in his breath. Hold on, I'd forgotten something.
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: There's one transmitter left, just one, but it's not portable. Swell,
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, come over here. The older man led
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: the way to a tripod projector, found a cylindrical black
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: object and slipped it into place. Look at this. Peering
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 1: through the eyepieces, Garth recognized the great cavern with the
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: dais at one end. The scene shifted, showing the gigantic
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: twelve foot robots sitting on its throne, a solid block
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: of black metal. Watch Willard said, a voice spoke in
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: Garth's mind, in the ancient tongue. It was necessary to
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: impress the superstitious Zarno. Thus we created this robot God
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 1: and placed it on its throne. Its radioatomic brain could
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 1: be controlled telepathically by means of a transmitter concealed within
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: the throne. The scene changed, showing the back of the
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 1: ebony block. A hand inhuman six fingered came into view,
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: the hand of an ancient It touched a concealed spring,
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: and the throne's back slid open, revealing a compartment easily
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: large enough to hold a man. Here is the transmitter.
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: It is placed on the head, and the will focused
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: on issuing telepathic commands to the robot god on the throne.
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 1: There was more, but now Garth watched with only half
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 1: his mind. He scarcely saw the details of the ritual
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 1: ceremony with which the ancients had impressed the Zarno. When
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: the vision vanished, he swung about a new light in
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: his eyes. That's it, Doc, That robot God's going to
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: come to life. Willard frowned. Mmm, the gadget isn't difficult
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: to operate. I've learned that much from the recordings. You
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 1: just think hard. But the god will come to life
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: and summon the Zarno, all of them. The rest of
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: you can escape while I'm keeping him busy. Hold on,
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 1: The doctor snapped, why you it's my job If it's anybody's, sorry,
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: Garth said, it doesn't work out that way. You're the
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 1: only guy that can cure the silver plague. Unless you
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: get out safely, it's the end of earth. Willard didn't answer.
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 1: Garth went on swiftly, you could reach the hangar if
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 1: it weren't for the Zarno. Well, I'll get inside that
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 1: throne and start the ruckus. That'll give you time. His
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: voice was emotionless. How do you know you could reach
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 1: that temple cave? The city's full of Zarno. Garth shrugged.
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: It's a chance. We've got to take the only one.
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 1: Willard chewed his lip. Why the devil do you have
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 1: to be the one? Because I know the ancient tongue
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 1: the robot can talk, can't it. Well, it's between you
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 1: and me, Doc, and you're the boy who can cure
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 1: the silver plague. You can't get away from that, I
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: I suppose so, but you know the way out. Give
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: me time to reach the temple and begin the ceremony,
• 2:07:05
  Speaker 1: then lead the others out. They'll obey you. They're in
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: the Noc Delai trance. Get him to the hangar and
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 1: light out for ore town. Be sure to take the
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 1: recording of the power source with you, you crazy fool.
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: Willard said, through stiff lips. What about Moira? Garth's face
• 2:07:24
  Speaker 1: went gray. Moira died years ago, he said, carefully. It
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 1: was the silver plague. Doc didn't reply, but he nodded,
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 1: as though he had unexpectedly learned the answer to a
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: problem that had been puzzling him. Okay, Garth said, you
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: know what to do, Give me time enough to make it,
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: then get out of here with the others. Fast. Willard's
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 1: hand gripped Garth's ed forget it. He moved toward the
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 1: tunnel mouth. Paula, he saw, was lying nearby, her red
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: gold hair cascading about her lovely face. Garth stood looking
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: down at her for a long moment. Then he went
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 1: on into the tunnel that waited for him. He did
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 1: not look back. Cautiously, he stepped through the black curtain,
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: ready to retreat at the sight of any Zarno, but
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: the cavern was empty. If he could make it noiselessly,
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: he stole up the passage. Once he froze against the
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: wall at the sound of distant footsteps, but they faded
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: and were gone. He came out at last into a
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 1: corridor he recognized. Far away, he saw the flashing gleam
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: of the Zarno's silicate skins. They were approaching, but apparently
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: had not seen him yet. He raced for the archway
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 1: that led into the temple cavern. If there were any
• 2:08:49
  Speaker 1: Zarno there, it would be fatal, but luck favored him.
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 1: The immense room was empty. At the far end the
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 1: huge robots sat on its jet throne. Garth sprinted across
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 1: the floor. He could hear voices growing louder in the distance,
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 1: and the thumping of the Zarno's footsteps, but he dared
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: not risk a glance behind. Could he make it? He
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: jerked to a halt, springing behind the throne, its bulk
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 1: temporarily hiding him. The Zarno were in the temple cave.
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 1: Now he could tell that by their voices. Hastily he
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 1: sought the secret spring. A panel opened in the ebbon block.
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 1: It was exactly as he had seen it on the
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 1: tripod recording machine, a fair sized cubicle, with light coming
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: faintly through a vision slit in one wall. Garth wedged
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 1: himself in and slid the panel shut behind him, gasping
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: with relief. Peering through the slit, he found he could
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: see the entire cavern. Three Zarno were approaching. The robot
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: seated on the throne above him, was, of course invisible.
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 1: Garth stared around, trying to remember the detail of the
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: ancient's recording. A helmet transmitter there. It was attached by
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 1: wires to the low ceiling. Warily, Garth slipped it upon
• 2:10:10
  Speaker 1: his head what now A flat black plate like a
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: diaphragm was set in the wall slightly above his head.
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 1: As he crouched this hiding place, he realized had been
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 1: built for the larger bodies of the ancients. Closing his eyes,
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: he tried to concentrate. Doc Willard had said the helmet
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 1: transmitters worked that way. Telepathy willpower. Stand up, he commanded
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 1: silently to the unseen robot above him. Stand up. There
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 1: was a stir of movement. Garth, peering through the slit,
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 1: saw the three Tzarno jerk to a halt. One of
• 2:10:50
  Speaker 1: them cried, the gods return, kraenlov the gods. Garth put
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: his mouth close to the dial. His words, amplified, rolled
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 1: out through the cavern in the ancient tongue. Yes, the
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: gods return, summon the Zarno. Let none fail to obey
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 1: the summons. Shouts went up. The Zarno whirled and raced away.
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: For the moment Garth was alone, he concentrated on the
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: transmitter again, commanding the robot to move forward to the
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 1: edge of the dais till he could see its back.
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 1: Raise your arm, step back forward again back. It worked.
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: The robot obeyed his mental commands awkwardly, but it obeyed
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: back sit on the throne. A jarring crash deafened Garth. Momentarily,
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 1: he had forgotten how huge the robot was. No doubt
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 1: the creature should leave itself down gradually into its seat,
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 1: instead of dropping a ton of metals solidly on the
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 1: black block footsteps. Again, the Zarna were beginning to pour
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: into the cavern. Huge as it was, they almost filled it.
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 1: They flung themselves flat, crawling toward the dais, nodding their
• 2:12:11
  Speaker 1: misshapen heads in an awkward rhythm. Their voices were raised
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 1: in a deep throated chant. Garth concentrated at his mental command.
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 1: The robot rose and paced slowly forward kra and La.
• 2:12:27
  Speaker 1: Garth put his mouth to the diaphragm. His voice crashed out.
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: The gods have returned. Hear me o Zarno, we hear
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 1: Let no Zarno fail to come to the temple of
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 1: the gods. Have the guards left their posts? Nay, nay
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: summon them, Garth roared. When the gods speak, all must hearken.
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 1: Let every Zarno come to me now or die. Some
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 1: of the creatures race away and returned with others the
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: chant continued, Have any Zarno failed to heed my summons? None? None,
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: We are here all. Garth nearly shouted with relief. There
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: were almost two thousand Zarno in the cavern, he judged,
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 1: all genuflecting before the dais, and that meant the city
• 2:13:21
  Speaker 1: was unguarded. That Doc Willard could lead the others to
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: the anti gravity hangar if he could hold the Zarno here.
• 2:13:30
  Speaker 1: Garth shook his head, feeling oddly dizzy. He tried to
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 1: concentrate at his mental order. The giant robot lifted its
• 2:13:38
  Speaker 1: arms in symbolic ritualistic gestures he remembered from the tripod recorder,
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 1: but the dizziness persisted. Garth realized that his lungs were hurting.
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 1: He found it difficult to draw deep breath air. He
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: needed fresh air. The inhuman lungs of the ancients probably
• 2:13:58
  Speaker 1: were able to endure lack of oxygen far better than
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 1: the human organism. In any case, Garth realized that the
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 1: air was getting stale. He investigated the vision slit. It
• 2:14:10
  Speaker 1: was barred by a glassy, transparent pain that seemed hard
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 1: to steel well. It would be necessary to open the
• 2:14:17
  Speaker 1: panel behind him a few inches anyway, Garth's hands sought
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 1: for the spring. It was in plain sight, there was
• 2:14:24
  Speaker 1: no need to conceal it within the throne's compartment. He
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 1: pressed it. There was a low grinding that stopped almost immediately.
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: Garth tried again, useless. The mechanism somehow was jammed. Probably
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 1: its mechanism had failed when the huge robot had crashed
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 1: down on the throne. That meant Garth's fingers tried to
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 1: find some purchase on the smooth surface of the panel.
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 1: He failed. A Tzarno called a question. Garth turned back
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 1: to the islet, trying to fight back his dizziness. Heads
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 1: were lifted. He saw watching him inquiringly, as though the
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 1: silicate creatures expected something well. He made the robot move again,
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 1: its arms reaching out in ancient ceremonial gestures. A gasp
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: of awe came from the Zarno. Their chant thundered out deeper,
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: sonorous and inhuman. Garth felt the beginning of a throbbing
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 1: ache in his temples. He was trapped here. How long
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 1: could he stand it? He was human, not one of
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 1: the ancients. He needed air. He held the zarno, but
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 1: not for long. Once more, Balba's heads were lifted, oval
• 2:15:39
  Speaker 1: eyes watching him inquiringly. They were expecting something what Garth
• 2:15:45
  Speaker 1: tried to remember what he had seen in the recorder.
• 2:15:48
  Speaker 1: More heads were lifted. Garth made the robot step forward,
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 1: raising its metal arms. He had to say something, anything
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: that would hold the Zarno quiet for a while long enough,
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: and the others to escape. Words he had forgotten since
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 1: childhood came suddenly, unexpectedly to him. The English phrases meant
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 1: nothing to the Tzarno, but the sonorous, powerful chant kept
• 2:16:12
  Speaker 1: them silent. He shall deliver thee from the snare of
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 1: the hunter and from the noisome pestilence. Thou shalt not
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 1: be afraid for any terror by night, nor for the
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: arrow that flieth by day. A thousand shall fall beside thee,
• 2:16:27
  Speaker 1: and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 1: not come nigh thee. The agony flamed up again in
• 2:16:34
  Speaker 1: Garth's brain, consuming terrible. The huge robot body of the
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 1: day is swayed, caught itself, and the chant thundered out
• 2:16:42
  Speaker 1: again through the great cavern. If I take the wings
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of
• 2:16:49
  Speaker 1: the sea, even there also shall thy hand lead me
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: the distant, harsh clangor of a bell sounded. Garth had
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: heard it before, when he had crossed the threshold of
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: the Black Temple in the forest. At the sound, the
• 2:17:05
  Speaker 1: t Zarno stirred, and a few of them sprang up.
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: Garth thrust out his hand, fighting back the pain that
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: tore at him like white flame. His voice held them.
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: The floods are risen, o Lord. The floods have lifted
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 1: up their voices. The floods lift up their waves. The
• 2:17:23
  Speaker 1: waves of the sea are mighty and rage horribly. But
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 1: yet the Lord who dwelleth on high is mightier. He
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: held them, He held them, speaking a tongue they did
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: not know. While his mind shook under the impact of
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 1: sanity destroying pain, a slow, sick bitterness crept into his soul.
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 1: Was this the end? Death? Here, prisoned on an alien world,
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 1: so far from his home planet? Death? And for what?
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 1: He closed his mind to the thought? Mentally, he paced
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 1: Doc and the others through the tunnel from the Black
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: Temple to the hangar. Surely they must have reached it
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 1: by now. Paula, that first glimpse he had had of
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: the girl in Tolomo's drinking hell Moira. He had thought
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: then for an incredible instant, Yes, she had been like Moira.
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 1: If the pass of destiny had led elsewhere, then to
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 1: the black forest of Ganymede, the result might have been
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 1: far different. He would not be dying here alone, horribly alone. Moira, Paula.
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 1: They were the same, somehow, and Garth knew he had
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 1: to keep going till he had saved Paula. Trent a
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 1: little time, a few moments more to keep the Zarno
• 2:18:38
  Speaker 1: in check. He and Moira had been cheated of their lives,
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 1: their futures in some way he could not quite understand.
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 1: But there remained Paula. She must not die. She and
• 2:18:49
  Speaker 1: the others must get through hed Garth's heart answered that
• 2:18:56
  Speaker 1: soundless call. His lips formed the name Moira. She was
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 1: there beside him, and he did not question, did not
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: even wonder. It was enough that she had come back.
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: Her brown ringlets curled about the pale face he remembered,
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 1: and the blue eyes held love and something more. A message.
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: What is it, Moira? What he reached out, hungry arms ed,
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 1: It isn't only us, It's Earth. Don't stop now, ed
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 1: a few more minutes to hold the Zarno back. That
• 2:19:32
  Speaker 1: will be enough, be strong, a little time more, such
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 1: a little time, and then you can rest A phantom
• 2:19:40
  Speaker 1: born of his delirium, Garth knew, but she was no
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: less real for that. He tried to speak and failed,
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: his chest constricted with pain. Outside the altar, the Zarno
• 2:19:52
  Speaker 1: were stirring uneasily. I I can't you must, Anger swept
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: through him. Why we've been cheated of everything, Moira, our heritage.
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 1: She smiled at him, very tenderly. The grass is still
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 1: green on the hills of Earth, my lover. Have you
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: forgotten the little streams that go laughing down the valleys,
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 1: the ocean surging up to the white beaches. There are
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 1: still sunsets on Earth, and men and women will see
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 1: them for ages to come. Men who might have been
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: our sons, women who might have been our daughters, And
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: they are our children, ed as surely as though we
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 1: had given them birth, For we are giving them life.
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 1: There will be a future for mankind because of us.
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: We have given up our own lives that our children
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: may live and go on to glories We can never
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 1: know ourselves. It is Earth that needs your help now,
• 2:20:49
  Speaker 1: and it is something greater than either of us, something greater.
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 1: The Tsara were beginning to move forward, and some of
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 1: them were sliding toward the passage. Garth, gasping for breath,
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 1: summoned all his reserve energy. He seemed to feel Moira's
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 1: cool hand on his shoulder, silently urging him on something greater.
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 1: The days of man are but his grass. He croaked,
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 1: and the amplified sound went thundering through the temple, halting
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 1: the Zarno where they stood. They turned again to the altar.
• 2:21:24
  Speaker 1: For he flourisheth as a flower of the field. For
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 1: as soon as the wind goeth over, it is gone.
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 1: He held them somehow, knowing that Moira stood beside him.
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: Toward the end, Garth was no longer conscious of his surroundings.
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 1: The Tzarno swam before his eyes, changing, altering, and abruptly
• 2:21:43
  Speaker 1: they vanished. In their place was was He saw Earth
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: as he remembered it, the loveliest planet of all. He
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 1: saw the heart breaking beauty of flaming sunsets over emerald seas,
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: and the snowy purity of high pea lifting above baking deserts.
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: He felt the cold blast of earth winds on his cheeks.
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 1: The stinging, exciting chill of mountain streams against his skin.
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 1: There was the warm smell of hay, golden in the fields,
• 2:22:15
  Speaker 1: the sharpness of eucalyptus and pine, the breath of the little,
• 2:22:18
  Speaker 1: bright flowers that grow only on Earth. He heard the
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 1: voices of Earth, the chuckling of brooks and the deep
• 2:22:25
  Speaker 1: shouting of the gale, the lowing of cattle, the sound
• 2:22:28
  Speaker 1: of leaves rustling, and the crash of angry breakers. The
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 1: soul of Earth spoke to the man who would never
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 1: see it again. He listened while he chanted, the majestic
• 2:22:39
  Speaker 1: rolling syllables that kept the Zarno in check. Beside him
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 1: was Moira. Beneath him his own world, green and beautiful,
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 1: and across the emerald planet. Men and women came marching,
• 2:22:53
  Speaker 1: sunlight making a golden path for them. As they moved
• 2:22:56
  Speaker 1: out of darkness into the unknown brightness of the future,
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 1: they were like gods, great limbed, lovely, with eyes fearless
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 1: as the falcons filled with laughter. Before their marching feet.
• 2:23:08
  Speaker 1: The road of Ages unrolled, mighty cities reared to the
• 2:23:12
  Speaker 1: blue skies of Earth, and ships went out beyond the stars,
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 1: binding the galaxies in the universe with unbreakable chains of
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 1: life outward and ever outward, the circles of humanity and
• 2:23:23
  Speaker 1: civilization rippled. Men and women like gods, unafraid, knowing a
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: life greater than ever before. And they turned questioning eyes
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: on Garth, asking him the question on which their existence depended.
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 1: Will you save us? Will you give us life? Will
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 1: you give us the future you yourself can never know?
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 1: Garth answered them in his own way, with Moira beside him.
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 1: For now it did not matter that he was dying.
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 1: He had found something greater than he had ever known before.
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 1: Through the temple. His voice rang like bras and trumpets.
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 1: The wind bloweth, and the place thereof shall know it
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: no more. A panel in the wall by his head
• 2:24:08
  Speaker 1: lit up, making a square of brightness. He strained his
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 1: eyes at it, discerning a picture, a scanner of some sort.
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 1: It showed a transparent ovoid slanting up through the black
• 2:24:20
  Speaker 1: trees of the forest, a ship with Doc Willard at
• 2:24:23
  Speaker 1: the controls, and eleven men and a girl in the
• 2:24:26
  Speaker 1: vessel with him, a girl with red gold hair, going
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 1: back to Earth with the knowledge that would save a
• 2:24:31
  Speaker 1: world from destruction. He had not failed. The picture on
• 2:24:36
  Speaker 1: the screen darkened, the burning ache, and Garth's lungs grew
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 1: worse if he could breathe On the dais, the robot swayed,
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 1: its metal legs, giving beneath its weight. The crash of
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: its fall brought the Zarno to their feet, frozen with
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: amazement for a moment. Then they moved forward like a wave.
• 2:24:57
  Speaker 1: Garth saw them dimly through the vision slip. A white
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 1: curtain of pain blotted them out. He was dying. He
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: knew that the shouts of the Tzarno came to him faintly.
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: The wind bloweth, and the place thereof shall know it
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 1: no more. But in that place the seeds of the
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 1: future would grow once more. Garth saw the children of
• 2:25:21
  Speaker 1: Earth's unborn generations, and this time the question in their
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 1: eyes was answered. They would live and go on to
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 1: the stars and beyond. Moira was beside him. Her cool
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: hand touched his. She came into his arms, and the
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 1: white curtain flamed agonizingly for the last time. Then, mercifully,
• 2:25:44
  Speaker 1: there was no more pain. Under the black throne, Garth's
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 1: body lay motionless in its strange tomb. The Tzarno's cries
• 2:25:53
  Speaker 1: filled the temple as they mourned their dead God, but
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 1: the man who had saved earth did not hear them.
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: End of Section four, end of crypt City of the
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: Deathless One by Henry Kutner. This has been a LibriVox recording.
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 2:26:17
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.