WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:06.320 Flight from Tomorrow. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox 2 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:09.919 recordings are in the public domain. For more information or 3 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:15.519 to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Jerome Mawson, 4 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:22.000 July two thousand eight, Flight from Tomorrow by h Beam Piper. 5 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:27.000 Hunted and hated in two worlds, Harotzky dreamed of a 6 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:30.280 monomaniac's glory strained in the past with his knowledge of 7 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:33.359 the future. But he didn't know the past quite well enough. 8 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:42.079 One but yesterday a whole planet had shouted, Hail Horotzka, 9 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:46.119 Hail the Leader. To day they were screaming death to Harotzka, 10 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:51.119 Kill the Tyrant. The palace where Horotzka, surrounded by his 11 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.159 silkaphans and guards, had lorded it over a solar system, 12 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:57.399 was now an inferno. Those who had been too closely 13 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.719 identified with the dictator's rule to hope for forgiveness were 14 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.239 fighting to the last, seeking only a quick death in combat. 15 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.000 One by one, their isolated points of resistance were being 16 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:11.319 wiped out. The corridors and chambers of the huge palace 17 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.680 were thronged with rebels, loud with their shouts and with 18 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.280 the rasping hiss of heat beams and the crash of blasters, 19 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.640 reeking with the stench of scorched plastic and burned flesh, 20 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:25.200 of hot metal and charred fabric. The living quarters were overrun. 21 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.480 The mob smashed down walls and tore up floors in 22 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:32.519 search of secret hiding places. They found strange things, the 23 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:34.719 spaceship that had been built under one of the domes 24 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:37.480 in readiness for flight to the still loyal colonies of 25 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.920 Mars or the asteroid belt, for instance, but Frotzka himself 26 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:44.840 they could not find. At last, the search reached the 27 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:47.319 new Tower, which reared its head five thousand feet above 28 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:50.879 the palace, the highest thing in the city. They blasted 29 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.280 down the huge steel doors, cut the power from the 30 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:57.159 energy screens. They landed from antigraph cars on the upper levels, 31 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.959 but except for barriers, the metal and concrete and energy 32 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:03.920 they met with no opposition. Finally they came to a 33 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:06.680 spiral stairway which led up to the great metal sphere, 34 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.800 which capped the whole structure. General Jarvis, the army commander 35 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:12.680 who had placed himself at the head of the revolt, 36 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:15.599 stood with his foot on the lowest step, his followers 37 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:19.319 behind him. There was Prince Burvanni, the leader of the 38 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:23.800 old nobility, and gorzesko Orm the merchant, and between them 39 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:28.879 stood tob the chieftain of the mutinous slaves. There were clerks, laborers, 40 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:32.439 poor but haughty nobles, and wealthy merchants who had long 41 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:35.439 been forced to hide the riches from the dictator's tax gatherers, 42 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.680 and soldiers and spacemen. You'd better let one of us 43 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:43.280 go first, Sir. General zarvas orderly, a blood stained bandage 44 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.919 about his head, his uniform in rags, suggested, you don't 45 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:50.639 know what might be up there. The General shook his head. 46 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.439 I'll go first. Jarvispole was not the man to sense 47 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.159 subordinates into danger ahead of himself. To tell the truth, 48 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:02.280 I'm afraid we won't find anything at all there, you mean, 49 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:08.840 gorzesko Orm began the time machine. Servaspole replied, if he's 50 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:10.879 managed to get it finished, the great mind only knows 51 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:15.319 where he may be now or When he loosened the 52 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:18.280 blaster in his holster and started up the long spiral, 53 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:22.840 his followers spread out below. Sharpshooters took position to cover 54 00:03:22.919 --> 00:03:26.240 his ascent. Prince Bervanni and toabed the slave started to 55 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.439 follow him. They hesitated as each motioned the other to 56 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:33.479 precede him. Then the nobleman followed the general, his blaster drawn, 57 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.919 and the brawny slave behind him. The door of the 58 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.800 top was open, and zarvas Pole stepped through. But there 59 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:41.919 was nothing in the great spherical room except a raised 60 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.680 dais some fifty feet in diameter, its polished metal top, 61 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.520 strangely clean and empty, and a crumpled heap of burned 62 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.240 cloth and charred flesh that had been not long ago. 63 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:55.280 A man, an old man with a white beard and 64 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.840 the seven pointed star of the Learned Brothers on his breast, 65 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.680 advanced to meet the armed intruders. So he is gone. 66 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:07.120 Krotzyzago servas Pol said, holstering his weapon, got in the 67 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:11.120 time machine to hide in yesterday or tomorrow, and you 68 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:15.360 let him go. The old one nodded. He had a 69 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.240 blaster and I had none. He indicated the body on 70 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:23.160 the floor solely. Jarv had no blaster either, but he 71 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.360 tried to stop Ratzka. See, he squandered his life as 72 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:30.879 a fool, squanders his money getting nothing for it. And 73 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.920 a man's life is not money. Jarvis Paul, I do 74 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:39.560 not blame you protzy Zago. General Zarvis said, but now 75 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.000 you must get to work and build us another time 76 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:46.040 machine so that we can hunt him down. Does revenge 77 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:49.399 mean so much to you? Then the soldier made an 78 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:53.720 impatient gesture. Revenge is for fools, like a screaming pack 79 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:57.279 of beasts below. I did not kill for revenge. I 80 00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:01.240 killed because dead men do no harm. Rajito will do 81 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:04.879 us no more harm. The old scientist replied, he is 82 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:07.800 a thing of yesterday, have a time long past and 83 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:12.399 half lost in the mists of legend. No matter, as 84 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.160 long as he exists at any point in space time, 85 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:19.480 Rodzka is still a threat. Revenge means much to Rotzky. 86 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.959 He will return for it when we least expect him. 87 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:27.800 The old man shook his head. No, tsarvespol Rodzsky will 88 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:33.519 not return. Rodzky holdered his plaster through this witch that 89 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:37.360 sealed the time machine, put on the antigrav unit, and 90 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.839 started the time shift unit. He reached out and set 91 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:43.279 the destination dial for the mid fifty second century of 92 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.399 the atomic era that would land him in the ninth 93 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:49.639 Age of Chaos following the Two Century War and the 94 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:54.240 collapse of the world theocracy. A good time for his purpose. 95 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.920 The world would be slipping back into barbarism and yet 96 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:02.319 possessed the technology of former civilization. A hundred little national 97 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.639 states would be trying to gain social stability, competing and 98 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.319 warring with each other. Rodzka glanced back over his shoulder 99 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:13.439 at the cases of books, record spools, try dimensional pictures, 100 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.959 and scale models. These people of the past would welcome 101 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.279 him in his science of the future, would make him 102 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:23.199 their leader. He would start in a small way by 103 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:26.600 taking over the local feudal or tribal government, would arm 104 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.680 his followers with weapons of the future. Then he would 105 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:33.680 impose his rule upon neighboring tribes or princetoms or communes 106 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:37.839 or whatever, and build a strong sovereignty. From that, he 107 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:42.480 envisioned a world empire, a solar system empire. Then he 108 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:47.240 would build time machines, many time machines. He would recruit 109 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:50.040 an army such as the universe had never seen, a 110 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:53.240 swarm of men from every age in the past. At 111 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:55.360 that point he would return to the hundredth century of 112 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:58.199 the atomic era to wreak vengeance upon those who had 113 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:02.120 risen against him. A thin smile grew on Vrotzky's thin 114 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:04.240 lips as he thought of the tortures with which he 115 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:08.199 would put Tsarva's pole to death. He glanced up at 116 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:11.120 the great disk of the indicator and frowned. Already he 117 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.240 was back to the year seventy five hundred a E. 118 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:17.439 And the temporal displacement had begun to slow. The disc 119 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:22.319 was turning even more rapidly. Seven thousand, six thousand, fifty 120 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:27.240 five hundred. He gasped slightly. Then he had passed his destination. 121 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.519 He was now in the fortieth century, but the indicator 122 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:35.360 was slowing. The hairline crossed the thirtieth century, the twentieth, 123 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:40.079 the fifteenth, the tenth. He wondered what had gone wrong, 124 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:42.959 but he had recovered from his fright by this time. 125 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.519 When the insane machine stopped, as it must around the 126 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:50.519 first century of the atomic era, he would investigate, make repairs, 127 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.920 then shift forward to his target point. Horonska was determined 128 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:58.319 upon the fifty second century. He had made a special 129 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:00.920 study of the history of that period, had learned the 130 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:04.399 language spoken then, and he understood the methods necessary to 131 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:08.079 gain power over the natives of that time. The indicator 132 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:11.439 disc came to a stop in the first century, he 133 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:14.959 switched on the magnifier and leaned forward to look. He 134 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.120 had emerged into normal time in the year ten of 135 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:20.639 the atomic era, a decade after the first geranium pile 136 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.560 had gone into operation and seven years after the first 137 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:28.000 atomic bombs had been exploded in warfare. The ultimeter showed 138 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.480 that he was hovering at eight thousand feet above ground level. Slowly, 139 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:34.879 he cut out the antigraph, letting the time machine down easily. 140 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.480 He knew that there had been no danger of materializing 141 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:41.399 inside anything. The new tower had been built to put 142 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:43.960 it above anything that had occupied that space point at 143 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:47.679 any moment within history or legend, or even the geological 144 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.480 knowledge of man. What lay below, however, was uncertain. It 145 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:55.799 was night. The visi screen showed only as star dusted 146 00:08:55.960 --> 00:09:00.519 moonless sky and dark shadows below. He snapped another switch. 147 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:03.840 For a few microseconds, a beam of intense light was 148 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:08.840 turned on, automatically photographing the landscape under him. A second later, 149 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:13.080 the developed picture was projected upon another screen. It showed 150 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:17.200 only wooded mountains and a barren, brush grown valley. The 151 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:19.799 time machine came to rest with a soft jar and 152 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.000 a crashing of broken bushes that was audible through the 153 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:26.320 sound pickup Harotzka pulled the main switch. There was a 154 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:28.559 click as the shielding went out and the door opened. 155 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:32.080 A breath of cool night air drew into the hollow sphere. 156 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.679 Then there was a loud bang inside the mechanism and 157 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:38.440 a flash of blue white light which turned pinkish flame 158 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:42.200 with a nasty crackling. Curls of smoke began to rise 159 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:44.559 from the square block box that housed the time shift 160 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:48.200 mechanism and from behind the instrument board. In a moment, 161 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:51.799 everything was glowing hot. Driblets of aluminum and silver were 162 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.759 running down the instruments. Then the whole interior of the 163 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:58.440 time machine was afire. It was barely time for Rotskad. 164 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:02.240 It leaped through the open door. The brush outside impeded him, 165 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:04.480 and he used his blaster to clear a path for 166 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.519 himself away from the big sphere, which was now glowing 167 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:11.080 faintly on the outside. The heat drew in intensity and 168 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:14.559 the brush outside was taking fire. It was not until 169 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:16.519 he had gotten two hundred yards from the machine that 170 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.480 he stopped realizing what had happened. The machine, of course, 171 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.600 had been sabotaged. That would have been young Zoldi, whom 172 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:28.360 he had killed, or that old Billygoat croadzy Zago, the 173 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.759 latter most likely, he cursed both of them for having 174 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.519 marooned him in this savage age at the very beginning 175 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:40.080 of atomic civilization. With all his printed and recorded knowledge destroyed, Oh, 176 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:42.879 we could still gain mastery over these barbarians. He knew 177 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.919 enough to fashion a crude blaster, or a heat being gun, 178 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.840 or an atomic electric conversion unit. But without his books 179 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:52.399 and records, he could never build an anti grav unit, 180 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:56.120 and the secret of the temporal shift was lost. For 181 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.559 time is not an object or a medium which can 182 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:01.840 be traveled along. The time machine was not a vehicle. 183 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:05.279 It was a mechanical process for displacement within the space 184 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:08.720 time continuum, and those who constructed it knew that it 185 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:10.600 could not be used with the sort of accuracy that 186 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.919 the dials indicated. Rotzka had ordered his scientists to produce 187 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:18.840 a time machine, and they had combined the possible displacement 188 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.759 within the space time continuum with the sort of fiction 189 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:25.919 the dictator demanded for their own well being. Even had 190 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:28.879 there been no sabotage, his return to his own time 191 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:33.360 was nearly of zero probability. The fire spreading from the 192 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:37.039 time machine was blowing toward him. He observed the wind 193 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.440 direction and hurried around out of the path of the flames. 194 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:42.320 The light enabled him to pick his way through the brush, 195 00:11:42.759 --> 00:11:45.600 and after crossing a small stream, he found a rutted 196 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:48.240 road and followed it up the mountain side until he 197 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:50.320 came to a place where he could rest concealed until 198 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:56.360 morning two. It was broad daylight when he woke, and 199 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:00.360 there was a strange throbbing sound. Horodsky lay motionless under 200 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.840 the brush where he had slept his blaster ready. In 201 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:06.840 a few minutes, a vehicle came into sight, following the 202 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:10.080 road down the mountain side. It was a large thing, 203 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:13.759 four wheeled, with a projection in front, which probably housed 204 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:17.440 the engine and a cab for the operator. The body 205 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:21.039 of the vehicle was simply an open rectangular box. There 206 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:23.279 were two men in the cab and about twenty or 207 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:27.120 thirty more crowded into the box body. These were dressed 208 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.600 in faded and nondescript garments of blue and gray and brown. 209 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.720 All were armed with crude weapons axes, bill hooks, long 210 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.799 handed instruments with serrated edges, and what looked like broad 211 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:42.960 bladed spears. The vehicle itself which seemed to have been 212 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:46.240 propelled by some sort of chemical explosion engine, was dingy 213 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:49.720 and mud splattered. The men in it were ragged and unshaven. 214 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:54.200 Hartzka snorted in contempt. They were probably warriors of the 215 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:56.960 local tribe. Going to the fire in the belief that 216 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:00.440 it had been started by raiding enemies. I found the 217 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:02.960 wreckage of the time machine, they would no doubt believe 218 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.080 that it was the chariot of some god and drag 219 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.320 it home to be venerated. A plan of action was 220 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.440 taking shape in his mind. First he must get clothing 221 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.759 of the sort worn by these people and find a 222 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:17.440 safe hiding place for his own things. Then, pretending to 223 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.720 be a deaf mute, he would go among them to 224 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:22.240 learn something of their customs and pick up the language. 225 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:25.039 When he had done that, he would move to another 226 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:28.200 tribe or village able to tell a credible story for himself. 227 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:31.080 For a while, it would be necessary for him to 228 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:34.159 do menial work, but in the end he would establish 229 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:37.440 himself among these people. Then he could gather around him 230 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.200 a faction of those who were dissatisfied with whatever conditions existed, 231 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:45.440 organize a conspiracy, make arms for his followers, and start 232 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:49.120 his program at power seizure. The matter of clothing was 233 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:51.759 attended too shortly after he had crossed the mountain and 234 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:55.480 descended into the valley on the other side. Hearing a 235 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:58.399 clinking sound some distance from the road as of metal 236 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:02.200 striking stone, Rotzka, he stole cautiously through the woods until 237 00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:04.320 he came within sight of a man who was digging 238 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:07.840 with a mattock, uprooding small bushes of a particular sort 239 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:11.759 with rough gray bark and three pointed leaves. When he 240 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.720 had dug one up, he would cut off the roots 241 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.879 and then slice away the root bark with a knife, 242 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.919 putting it into a sack. Rozka's lip curled contemptuously. The 243 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.960 fellow was gathering the stuff for medical use. He had 244 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:25.679 heard of the use of roots and herbs for such 245 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:29.159 purposes by the ancient savages. The blaster would be no 246 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.440 use here. It was too powerful and would destroy the 247 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:36.039 clothing that the man was wearing. He unfastened his strap 248 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.320 from his belt and attached it to his stone to 249 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:41.320 form a hand loop, then inched forward behind the lone 250 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:44.840 herb gatherer. When he was close enough, he straightened and 251 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:49.080 rushed forward, swinging his improvised weapon. The man heard him 252 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:54.240 and turned too late. After addressing his victim, Vrozsky used 253 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:56.679 the mattock to finish him, and then to dig a grave. 254 00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:00.200 The fugitive buried his own clothes with the murdered man 255 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:04.519 and donned the faded blue shirt, rough shoes, worn trousers, 256 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:08.279 and jacket. The blaster he concealed under the jacket, and 257 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:11.399 he kept a few other hundredth century gadgets. These he 258 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:16.080 would hide somewhere closer to his center of operations. He 259 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.000 had kept, among other things, a small box of food 260 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:22.080 concentrate capsules, and in one pocket of the newly acquired 261 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:25.960 jacket he found a package containing food. It was rough 262 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:30.320 and unappetizing, fare slices of cold cooked meat between slices 263 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.879 of some cereal substance. He ate these before filling in 264 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:36.279 the grave, and put the paper wrappings in with the 265 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:40.039 dead man. Then, his work finished, he threw the mattock 266 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.320 into the brush and set out again, grimacing disgustedly, and 267 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:49.000 scratching himself. The clothing he had appropriated was verminous. Crossing 268 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:52.440 another mountain, he descended into a second valley and for 269 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:55.360 a time lost his way among a tangle of narrow ravines. 270 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.039 It was dark by the time he mounted a hill 271 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:00.519 and found himself looking down in another valley in which 272 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:04.519 a few scattered lights gave evidence of human habitations. Not 273 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:07.399 wishing to arouse suspicion by approaching these in the night time, 274 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:09.919 he found a place among some young evergreens where he 275 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:15.039 could sleep. The next morning, having breakfasted on a concentray capsule, 276 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:17.399 he found the hiding place for his blaster in a 277 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:20.879 hollow tree. It was in a sufficiently prominent position so 278 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:23.240 that he could easily find it again, and at the 279 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.639 same time unlikely to be discovered by some native. Then 280 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.080 he went down into the inhabited valley. He was surprised 281 00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:32.559 at the ease with which he established contact with the natives. 282 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:35.879 The first dwelling which he approached, a cluster of farm 283 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:38.399 buildings at the upper end of the valley, gave him shelter. 284 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:41.799 There was a man clad in the same sort of 285 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:44.000 rough garments Sarrotzka had taken from the body of the 286 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:47.159 herb gatherer, and a woman in a faded and shaveless dress. 287 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:50.919 The man was thin and work bent, the woman short 288 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:55.919 and heavy. Both were past middle age. He made inarticulate 289 00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:59.000 sounds to attract their attention, then gestured to his mouth 290 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:02.799 and ears to indicate it assumed affliction. He rubbed his 291 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:07.160 stomach to portray hunger. Looking about, he saw an axe 292 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.599 sticking in a chopping block and a pile of wood 293 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:13.519 near it, probably the fuel used by these people. He 294 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:16.359 took the axe, split up some of the wood, then 295 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.960 repeated the hunger signs. The man and the woman both nodded, laughing. 296 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:24.319 He was shown a pile of tree limbs, and the 297 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.319 man picked up a short billet of wood and used 298 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:28.720 it like a measuring rule to indicate that all the 299 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.440 wood was to be cut at that length. Harotzka fell 300 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:34.920 to work, and by mid morning he had all the 301 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.839 wood cut. He had seen a circular stone mounted on 302 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.519 a trustle with a metal axle through it, and judged 303 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:43.880 it to be some sort of grinding wheel, since it 304 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.240 was fitted with a foot pedal and a rusty metal 305 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:48.200 can was set above it to spill water onto the 306 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:52.640 grinding edge. After dropping the wood, he carefully sharpened the axe, 307 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.680 handing it to the man for inspection. This seemed to 308 00:17:55.720 --> 00:17:59.079 please the man. He clapped Hartzka on the back, making 309 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.759 commendatory sound. It required considerable time and ingenuity to make 310 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.200 himself more or less a permanent member of the household. 311 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.839 Rotzka had made a survey of the farmyard, noting the 312 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:12.160 sorts of work that would normally be performed on the farm, 313 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:16.319 and he pantomimed this work in its simpler operations. He 314 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:19.079 pointed to the east, where the sun would rise, and 315 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:22.319 to the zenith, and to the west. He made signs 316 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:25.519 indicative of eating and of sleeping, and of rising and 317 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:29.119 of working. At length, he succeeded in conveying his meaning. 318 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.279 There was considerable argument between the man and the woman, 319 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:36.759 but his proposal was accepted as he expected that it 320 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:39.640 would be. It was easy to see that the work 321 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:43.160 of the farm was hard for this aging couple. Now 322 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.400 for a place to sleep in a little food, they 323 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:49.519 were able to acquire a strong and intelligent slave. It 324 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:51.359 was not long before he picked up a few words 325 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.240 which he had heard his employers using, and related them 326 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:57.400 to the things or acts spoken of, And he began 327 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.680 to notice that these people, in spite of the crudities 328 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:02.319 of their own life, enjoyed some of the advantages of 329 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:06.799 a fairly complex civilization. Their implements were not hand craft 330 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:11.279 products but showed machine workmanship. There were two objects hanging 331 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.440 on hooks on the kitchen wall which he was sure 332 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:17.519 were weapons. Both had wooden shoulder stalks and wooden four pieces. 333 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:21.279 They had long tubes extending to the front and triggers 334 00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:24.759 like blasters. One had double tubes mounted side by side 335 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:28.640 and double triggers. The other had an octagonal tube mounted 336 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:31.039 over a round tube and a loop extension on the 337 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:34.359 trigger guard. Then there was a box on the kitchen 338 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:38.279 wall with a mouthpiece and a cylindrical tube on a cord. 339 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:40.799 Sometimes a bell would ring out of the box, and 340 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.079 the woman would go to this instrument, take down the 341 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:45.599 tube and hold it to her ear and talk into 342 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:49.000 the mouthpiece. There was another box from which voices would 343 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:53.240 issue of people conversing, or of orators, or of singing, 344 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.559 and sometimes instrumental music. None of these objects were made 345 00:19:57.559 --> 00:20:01.599 by savages. These people probably traded with some fairly high civilization. 346 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:05.799 They were not illiterate, for he found printed matter indicating 347 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:09.000 the use of some phonetic alphabet and paper pamphlets containing 348 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:13.279 reproductions of photographs as well as verbal text. There was 349 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.759 also a vehicle on the farm powered like the one 350 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.400 he had seen on the road, by an engine in 351 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:20.759 which a hydrocarbon liquid fuel was exploded. He made it 352 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:23.519 his business to examine this minutely, and to study its 353 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:27.759 construction and operation until he was thoroughly familiar with it. 354 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:29.799 It was not until the third day after his arrival 355 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:33.799 that the chickens began to die. In the morning, Rotzkift 356 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:35.559 found three of them dead when he went to feed them, 357 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:39.559 the rest drooping unhealthily. He summoned the man and showed 358 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:42.240 him what he had found. The next morning, they were 359 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:46.279 all dead and the cow was sick. She gave bloody 360 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:48.839 milk that evening, and the next morning she lay in 361 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:51.680 her stall and would knock get up. The man and 362 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:54.480 the woman were also beginning to sicken, although both of 363 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.359 them tried to continue their work. It was the woman 364 00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:59.559 who first noticed that the plants around the farmhouse were 365 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.599 withering and turning yellow. The farmer went to the stable 366 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:06.759 with Rotzka and looked at the cow. Shaking his head. 367 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.559 He limped back to the house and returned carrying one 368 00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:11.960 of the weapons from the kitchen, the one with the 369 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.519 single trigger and the octagonal tube. As he entered the stable, 370 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:17.920 he jerked down and up on the loop extension of 371 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:20.680 the trigger guard. Then put the weapon to his shoulder 372 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.720 and pointed it at the cow. It made a flash 373 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:26.799 and roared louder even than a hand blaster, and the 374 00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:30.640 cow jerked convulsively and was dead. The man then indicated 375 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:33.440 by signs that Harotzka was to drag the dead cow 376 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:36.000 out of the stable, dig a hole, and bury it. 377 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:40.240 This Rotzka did, carefully, examining the wound in the cow's head. 378 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:43.799 The weapon, he decided was not an energy weapon, but 379 00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:48.839 a simple solid missile projector. By evening, neither the man 380 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.400 nor the woman were able to eat, and both seemed 381 00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:55.400 to be suffering intensely. The man used the communicating instrument 382 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.400 on the wall, probably calling on his friends for help. 383 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:01.920 Harotzka did what he could to make them comfortable, cooked 384 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:04.240 his own meal, washed the dishes as he had seen 385 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:07.599 the woman doing, and tidied up the kitchen. It was 386 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:09.960 not long before people, men and women whom he had 387 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.519 seen on the road who had stopped at the farmhouse 388 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.039 while he had been there, began arriving, some carrying baskets 389 00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:19.559 of food, and shortly after Rotska had eaten a vehicle 390 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:23.079 like the farmers, but in better condition and a better quality, arrived, 391 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:24.599 and a young man got out of it and entered 392 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:28.400 the house carrying a leather bag. He was apparently some 393 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:31.720 sort of scientist. He examined the man and his wife, 394 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:36.079 asked many questions, and administered drugs. He also took samples 395 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:40.720 for blood tests and your analysis. This, Rotzka considered was 396 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:43.799 another of the many contradictions he had encountered among these people. 397 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.279 This man behaved like an educated scientist and seemingly had 398 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:50.359 nothing in common with the peasant herb gatherer on the 399 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:54.400 mountain side. The fact was that Rotzka was worried. The 400 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.160 strange death of the animals, the blight which had smitten 401 00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:00.079