S. M. Tenneshaw

“ Only then, incredibly, off beyond Kruze, by the warp-room's entrance, movement flickered.
The breath caught in my throat. I forced myself to hold my eyes full front on Kruze.
Over by the hatchway, the movement resolved itself into a death-pale, shadow-silent figure ... the figure of a woman, creeping out from behind the solid banks of micromesh transistors.
Celeste.
Only that was impossible.
I began to shake.
Kruze laughed. "It's not so easy, is it Traynor? Not when you know the other man will shoot!" ”

“ The clerk beamed with justifiable pride. "Tell the gentleman your qualifications, Raymond."
The robot looked at Gardner through two blue electronic eyes and said, "I can perform any task a human servant can perform. And I will be more devoted and loyal than a human servant could possibly be. Your commands will be obeyed without question. Your wishes will always be fulfilled to the limit of my power. You and you alone will be my god." ”

“ For he suddenly saw that it was the body of a guard. A body whose torn throat lay red and gory in death.
And then the Great Dane let a howl of anger out on the night wind, and the beast leaped forward again, Trent running behind it.
And ahead of them, Trent saw a great looming shape in the darkness, and as his eyes fell upon it, a despairing terror gripped him.
It was the second rocket! Standing in its cradle, silent in the night, a shaft of metal that looked skyward.
And a realization of what the monster had in mind struck him. He knew now where they were headed. ”

“ Angrily, Kruze gave vent to a belligerent snort. "You're even more of a fool than I thought you were, Traynor. What possible reason can you advance why I should let such scoundrels live?"
"The best reason in the world, Controller," I answered, ever so gently. "It's the only way you can even hope to stay alive yourself." And then, after an instant's pause and with a gesture of my paragun: "You see, I agree with your sentiments on treason—and I also happen to know you're the man who gave the Kel those thrill-mill gadgets in the first place!" ”

“ He glanced across the concrete apron to the nearby launching cradle where the Space Queen II pointed its silvery nose to the twilight heavens. A sister to the original Space Queen, it was smaller than the Viking, but a thing of beauty in its own way. ”

“ Kruze said, "I know. You're trying to nerve yourself to rush me. Only believe me, it wouldn't do any good. I can ship you to Sheol dead just as well as living."
He turned from the board as he spoke, so that he faced me squarely. Never had the gun been steadier; never the challenge of the cold eyes more apparent, more relentless.
"Rack you, Kruze!" I choked. I wouldn't keep my voice from shaking.
"Would you like to check my logic, Traynor?" My tormentor was openly taunting now, his whole heavy body aquiver with enjoyment. "As I see it, once you and the girl are dead, I've nothing to fear. ”

“ And then it turned toward the chair where Fenwick sat. The doctor was looking at the creature, his eyes wide and terrified.
"But what do you expect me to do for you, Gaddon? Why do you stand here threatening—" Fenwick's voice came hoarsely.
"Why? You fool! Because there is so little time! I am changing! Even now my human instincts are nearly gone!... You're a gland specialist! There is something you can do—stop this change—stop it!"
Fenwick shook his head slowly. "You're raving like a madman, Gaddon. I'm not a God—do you think I can change something that is beyond human understanding? ”

“ I was gathering evidence about what Bareen planned. You—you came just in time. He was going to give his ultimatum to Earth today. Triple the price, or no chlorella. They'd have had to say yes."
Feet pounded in a corridor, came closer.
"We won," Jansen said. "But now—we're finished."
"Quick!" Wendy cried, pulling him toward the larger sub-space booth. "It connects with Earth."
"I can't return to Earth. I've just killed a man. I—"
"Self-defense. I saw you. Besides, we have the proof that Bareen was going to bleed Earth dry for chlorella." ”

“ That had happened before—before the days of the auto-pilot. In those days men had died in space. Their ship blown to a million pieces in the void as the unbalanced fuel mixture reacted with catalytic agents. A nasty way to die, but in a way merciful. The clumsy spaceman who miscalculated never knew what happened. The auto-pilot had taken the risk out of space flight.
It was now going to send Miles Berendt and Carol Grant to their death.
Bert went to work quickly, expertly. He snapped the latch lock of the control panel and laid bare the workings of the auto-pilot. ”

“ Celeste's face came up, the grey eyes feverish. "The rest aren't fighting like you are. They haven't gone against Controller Kruze's orders. They haven't violated warping regulations. They haven't thrown a planet into chaos with a deportation edict!"
I rocked back. "Celeste—! What is this?"
"Don't you see, Mark? Everything you've done is different from the others! All the rest—they fight out of discipline, or fear, or maybe even desperation. But you—there's hate in the way you go about it. You don't rest, you don't slow down, you don't stop to think of consequences. ”

“ They formed a line, single file, and headed through the domed corridor that connected Sun-side city, which was actually in the twilight zone, with the bogs themselves, which were on the sun-side of Mercury.
If it had been hot in the city, despite man's best air-conditioning efforts, it was murderously hot in the bogs. The sun burned down on the dome and through it; the irrigation water evaporated rapidly, so rapidly that the dehumidifiers could not carry it away quickly enough. As a result, the bogs were not only terribly hot, but humid as the inside of a Turkish bath. ”

“ The roaring grew louder as the tremendous power of the now unleashed rockets took hold of the night air. Fred watched as the flames grew white-hot bright, and then he saw the gigantic rocket shudder in its cradle.
The shudder grew into a spasm of movement, and then slowly, but steadily growing faster, the rocket lifted from its cradle.
Fred's eyes were fastened on the rocket now, a feeling of awe sweeping through him. He suddenly realized how puny man was against the forces man could unleash. ”

“ Only then, without warning, someone said, "—and these people, Controller: the ones who received thrill-mills from the Kel and kept it secret. What do you plan to do about them?"
Kruze's heavy features grew dark. "What would you have me do—to traitors?" He wheeled like an angry mastiff; shook his fist. "They die, of course! All of them! The very fact of past or present possession of a thrill-mill be punished by summary execution, without trial, as collaboration with the Kel!" ”

“ Around him the thunder of the rocket fuel suddenly vanished into silence, and then the rocket gave a lurch.
Deep within his mind he knew that the instrument section had been released from the main body of the projectile, and even now he knew the sealed chamber was falling back toward the earth, back toward the atmosphere where the parachute would take hold and drift the chamber safely down to the Arizona soil.
And a dread closed over him in that moment. Back to the men. Back to the things of men. Back he must go, a mewing thing that was not a man. ”