Erik Fennel

“ Whenever the girl was not attending to the routine tasks of daily life he bombarded her with questions. She asked in turn about Earth and the colony, and at some of his answers stared and giggled as though suspecting him of concocting fantastic lies for her benefit.
At her suggestion he did not wander alone, although most of the Venusians regarded him with suspicious curiosity rather than hostility.
"Trust no one," she warned him. "For the Chosen have spies everywhere. Komso may know or suspect that you come from the Above but the less he knows about you the better." ”

“ Barry barely glimpsed the shark-like creature that burst through the ranks of Komso's men. Straight as an arrow it came, ignoring those it knocked aside.
Komso's third scream broke in the middle, unfinished. Then there was only a spreading pink stain and a few remnants.
The dead silence that followed was broken by a yell of horror. Out to sea specks of light grew brighter by the second. Warriors and women alike milled in confusion, leaderless, and when one man started a panic-stricken dash up the slough, the others dropped their weapons and followed. ”

“ She was sure, and finally Barry left her, emptied his lungs once again, and floundered up the muddy bank.
His body felt heavy without the support of the water to which it had become accustomed, but it was good to be walking like a true Earthman again. He plodded inland, cautiously forcing his way through the thick swamp vegetation. The ground underfoot was a tangle of roots, slime and jagged stones.
Last City was a disappointment. Nothing was left but a few scarcely discernible mounds almost hidden by the swamp jungle. It was impossible to tell even what sort of buildings once existed. ”

“ Xintel spoke. "I understand. She is of your own people. But please, Barry, those of Tana do not need to know."
Dorothy and Xintel were watching him, waiting for his answer.
Two women in his life, both determined to remain. Either they would resent each other, and through jealousy, make his life hell, or they would become firm friends. He could easily become the most henpecked man on all Venus. But to choose between them—
Well, boredom was one thing he need never fear. ”

“ Barry called. "You are a trickster and a fraud, and your curses are without power!"
Komso's jaw went slack and his face grew crimson. The priest spoke softly to a Chosen One.
"Men," he declared. "Only a demon could survive the curse of the Gods Of The Deeps—but even a demon can die!"
Barry almost missed seeing the Chosen One raise his crossbow, but some instinct warned him just as the weapon twanged. ”

“ Send thou thy creatures that they may feed, that they may rend the flesh and grind the bones and destroy utterly those whom I have cursed in thy mighty names!"
Barry felt a crawling prickle of fear along his spine at the confidence of Komso's manner. Xintel's face twisted in terror as she remembered how that self-same curse had brought death to her father. The Earthman felt an almost overwhelming urge to swerve aside, to swing in a suicidal dive upon the priest and his Chosen guards. But remembrance of his duties to the colony and to Xintel overcame blind fury. ”

“ She stayed with him for hours, and she had changed since the days at Training Base. Long months away from the patterned restraints of civilization, living each day on the edge of unknown perils, had awakened in her the realization that she was a human being and a woman, as well as a toxicologist.
When the water-mist finally forced her departure she left Barry joyous and confident of his eventual recovery. For a few minutes anger simmered in his brain as he contemplated the pleasure of rearranging Robson Hind's features. ”

“ Komso shrieked. "Listen to this infidel and the curse of the Gods will be upon you too!"
The men trembled, torn between fear of the demon and fear of their own leader.
"Those from Above would be your friends," Barry argued. "They are not demons, but men very like yourselves."
"Liar!" Komso bellowed. "The people of Tana are the only true men!"
The warriors nodded, accepting the oft-repeated dogma as indisputable truth. Barry realized it was useless to argue. He waited, hoping something would swing the balance. Meanwhile Komso deployed his forces in a crescent across the mouth of the slough. ”

“ He brought the nozzle of the flame thrower around. Flame blossomed and ricocheted through the water in burning globules. Concussion and shock wave threw him face down in the mud, dazzled and deafened.
He picked himself up, gagging and retching at the taint of charred flesh. The creature was still twitching in its death throes, stirring the water to opacity. Through the silt Barry could see several Venusian survivors moving feebly. ”

“ A swimming torvak turned in its own length and plunged toward him, and Barry barely evaded its rush.
"If we try to escape they'll see us," Xintel said.
Barry nodded sadly. Even though Komso's curse had been voided they could still only wait and hope.
The nomads who had found refuge with them unwittingly solved his dilemma. As once more the age-old envious hatred of the homeless ones for the city dwellers came to the fore they whispered to each other. For a moment Barry and Xintel grew inattentive. The norus had been waiting for just that. ”

“ With a movement of feline grace and speed she snatched a tube-weapon from her belt. She was bluffing. Barry had seen the savages who had captured her test the weapons and find them unloaded. But Komso had not.
His face grew pale but his slitted eyes glared murder. "You bring your own death. I tried only to save you from the consequences of your folly."
He turned and swam into the opening.
Xintel did not allow herself the vestige of a smile. Instead she grabbed Barry's wrist and pulled him after her into the black hole. In the darkness she passed him his knife. ”

“ The radio handpiece crackled with static that drowned all communication, so Captain Stanley sent a runner to summon the others.
Anger and despair contended in Barry's mind. They would be too late. The heavy cables sprawled into the black water like great snakes, lifeless in appearance, but he knew the torturing forces with which they were filling the slough. And he alone of all the colony knew the full horror of the torvaks. ”

“ Rebellious reluctance flared briefly in Barry's mind. Dorothy Voorhees had refused to make a definite promise before blasting off in Three—in fact he hadn't even seen her during her last few days on Earth. But still he felt he had the inside track despite Hind's money and the brash assurance that went with it. But if Hind only were to reach Venus alive—
The blazing disc of Sol, the minor globes of the planets, the unwinking pinpoints of the stars, all stared with cosmic disinterest at the tiny figure crawling along the hull. ”

“ Barry gasped. Komso was too clever to tell an outright lie when there were three surviving witnesses to check his story.
"Kill the demons! Kill all the demons!" A Chosen One began the chant, and it was taken up and echoed by the crowd.
It sounded so absurd that a group of aquatic semi-savages could hope to attack a surface settlement defended by the finest weapons of Earth that Barry almost laughed. But he remembered Xintel's account of the Venusian downfall, and was not so sure. Komso's forces would not have to breach the defense perimeter of the colony to achieve their objective. ”

“ Barry screamed. But Xintel had been alert and had thrown herself into a plunging dive.
"Oh!" she sobbed as she pulled herself up beside him. "It's no good. It has gotten into my skin. Probably yours too."
But after his burst of renewed hope Barry refused to surrender. "This corrosive jelly might counteract it," he suggested.
Xintel's eyes were somber. "We have nothing to lose," she agreed.
They scooped out two troughs in the greasy jelly and buried themselves with only their heads projecting, but at Xintel's suggestion they took positions where they could keep an eye on the norus. ”

“ Barry knew that if he were to survive he must learn the ways of this undersea world. Alone he would soon perish. He had no choice.
"Who is Komso?" he asked.
Xintel spat a few sibilant words that were evident obscenities.
"He is Leader of the Chosen Ones, and he fears you. If the people learn you come from the Above they will grow dissatisfied, for there are some who still remember the ancient promises that we may return."
Barry was silent and thoughtful, considering the implications of the things Xintel had said. The girl watched the Earthman with a calculating look. ”

“ Did your Ancients actually understand how to generate Sigma radiations on the surface of a planet? Or was the change accomplished in other ways?"
Xintel shook her head. "That knowledge has fallen into the hands of the Chosen and been destroyed. Knowledge, except for themselves, is according to the Chosen against the will of the Gods."
"Is there nothing left?" Barry insisted, grasping at straws. ”

“ Xintel's face was ashen; her lips were trembling.
"Barry! My father believed the Leaders used poison under their fingernails; the slightest scratch means death," she whispered.
Barry dared not back down now. He watched Komso advance.
The priest swam upward and stopped, slight motions of arms and legs holding him there. Barry recognized it as a clever move. Komso had seen what the Earthman's muscles could do when he was able to plant his feet solidly.
"Come meet your doom, Demon!" Komso taunted. ”

“ Quickly the commander entered the blasted jet room. Barry Barr was close behind him.
Robson Hind, jet chief of Four and electronics expert for Venus Colony, hung back until others had gone in first. His handsome, heavy face had lost its usual ruddiness.
Captain Reno surveyed the havoc. Young Ryan's body floated eerily in the zero gravity, charred into instant death by the back-blast. The line accelerator was a shapeless ruin, but except for broken meter glasses and scorched control handles other mechanical damage appeared minor. They had been lucky. ”

“ Xintel loaded her crossbow. Barry stood beside her with a spear ready.
"Now!" the voice outside boomed.
Men poured into the lower room, shouting to keep up their courage. Xintel, her face pale, squinted along her crossbow and thumbed the trigger. A man screamed. A spear thwacked upward into the baskets as the girl put her strength against her weapon's reloading ratchet. ”

“ Barry found the debris of the meteorite, an ugly shining splotch against the dull superceramic tube, readied his power chisel, started cutting. Soon it became a tedious, torturingly strenuous manual task requiring little conscious thought, and Barry's mind touched briefly on the events that had brought him here.
First Luna, and that had been murderous. Man had encountered Sigma for the first time, and many had died before the Kendall-shield was perfected. And the chemical-fueled rockets of those days had been inherently poor.
Hoskins semi-atomics had made possible the next step—to Mars. ”

“ One day he saw a Chosen One approach one of the younger woman and curtly order her to follow him. The woman shrank back, but at a black glare choked off her sobbing and moved docilely away. Her mate, standing nearby, made not the slightest move to interfere.
"He will get her back when the Chosen One tires of her," Xintel told Barry later, her normally soft voice harsh with bitterness. "That is, if the poor creature lives, for the Chosen are often brutal to the women they take. ”

“ Barry frowned, trying to grasp her meaning. "An accident happened to me out in space that made me different."
"You did not come through the Place Of Change?" She seemed bitterly disappointed. "Then how will you return?"
"I will never see my own people again, I fear," he admitted.
Xintel made a soft sound of sympathy.
"I owe my very life to you, for I would have killed myself rather than bear a child to those norus who captured me. You can stay here in Tana, with me—if Komso does not cause your death." ”

“ Barry bounded toward them in a series of soaring leaps, knife and spear ready. One Venusian turned to meet him, grinning maliciously.
Barry dug one foot into the bottom and sidestepped a spear thrust. His own lunge missed completely. Then he and the Venusian were inside each other's spear points, chest to chest. A pointed hook strapped to the inside of the creature's wrist just missed Barry's throat. The Earthman arched his body backward and his knife flashed upward. The creature gasped and pulled away, clutching with both hands at a gaping wound in its belly. ”

“ The pain of ancient tragedy was in Xintel's eyes as she told the story.
"Around us nearly everywhere are creatures, living creatures, small beyond all normal sight," she explained.
"There." She pointed to the light. "And another sort live in the paste which produces gas. My people were always clever at making use of them.
"In the Above live many more types of these unseen creatures. My people became too clever—but they were not as clever as they thought."
She glanced at Barry and spoke with earnest seriousness. "Some of them, incredibly tiny as they are, are deadly. ”

“ They dashed forward, intent on snatching the weapons that to them represented great wealth. Xintel shouted in alarm and one of the savages struck at her with a webbed fist.
Barry's knife flashed and a noru died. As the survivor swerved to evade Xintel's spear, Barry was upon him from behind.
His knife descended, this time not in a killing stroke. Deliberately he carved a long, shallow gash down the savage's back, a wound that would bleed copiously. Then he shouted and roared ferociously. The wounded noru fled. ”