H. B. Fyfe

“ The spacer wished he had remained on Jhux to do his observing. With an oxygen mask, a man could be fairly comfortable there.
The clear blue sky above him, on the other hand, would be a fearsome sight in a month or so when the storms closed in.
"It is good some spoke for you," said Polf, nodding in quiet satisfaction.
Guthrie frowned at him. Every so often, his companion's thought pattern eluded him. The Skirkhi, as they named themselves, used a typically developed humanoid language, and he had managed to learn enough for communication. ”

“ Trent had also cleaned his sport shirt and baggy slacks, and now went about making himself buoyantly pleasant to the natives. Once or twice, turning away from this spectacle with a frown, Guthrie chanced to encounter the black, analytical stare of old Thyggar. ”

“ Trent screwed up his face in exasperation until his eyes were slits above his cheekbones. He shrugged to Karen in a way that turned Guthrie's neck red.
"All right!" the latter choked out. "You seem to want to make me look narrow-minded! Wait till you know the Skirkhi! They believe very seriously in these sky spirits. They try to buy them off, to save the village and their own skins—and they pay in blood!" ”

“ If I read Trent right, he'll do it!
They sat for a while on the crest of the low hill, in the warmth of the sun. Polf seemed not to mind Guthrie's brooding. Patience was a Skirkhi forte. At times, the spacer pitied the natives, with their harsh and precarious life.
Maybe something could be done here, he reflected. A good, thorough survey would tell. After all, G. S. engineers have controlled temperatures on some planets by diverting a few ocean currents. And there's cloud-seeding....
"Huh!" he grunted. "Already thinking as if I were safe on Jhux." ”

“ I will do it for you with Retho. My brother, Kror, will come too."
"Do what?" asked Guthrie.
"Steal his woman for you tonight. It will be a bad thing to do and the best time to do it. Elders say no moon tonight."
"But what makes you think—?"
"Your face. Do not say to Polf you not want. And if you not admit she is his woman, it is not bad enough a thing to do."
"You don't understand, Polf," said the spacer. "I couldn't ... that is, it's not the same for me...." My God! he thought. I'm beginning to sound like Trent!
"The storms come," murmured Polf. "You want the wrong spirits for friends? ”

“ The girl did not stare at Guthrie with the same blend of irritation and expectancy. Instead, her gray eyes shone with a trusting relief that caused the spacer to grimace uncomfortably. He thought she was probably pretty, if a trifle thin, but could not be sure. Somewhere on the way—he guessed in the marsh about a mile south of the village—she had fallen flat in the mud.
"Who'n'ell are these monkeys?" demanded the man. ”

“ So what do you suppose they worship?"
"Sky spirits, you keep telling me."
"Yes," he said, lowering his voice instinctively. "But not good ones, naturally—spirits of evil."
Karen looked at him sidelong and clucked her tongue.
"It's not funny; it's perfectly logical. They spend their lives one jump ahead of freezing or drowning. Their world's against them. Other savage races have figured it that way, even on Terra."
"All right, it's logical. What has it to do with us?"
"It has this to do," said Guthrie. "That clown, Trent, is going around making friends like a puppy. ”

“ A sardonic grin quirked the elder's wide mouth.
"Retho tell me Trent learn speak Skirkhi fast," Polf reported, glittering eyes nearly hidden by the contortion that passed for a smile on Skirkhi faces, "so he can tell what a good man he is. He says is kind. He says is friend. You would laugh, Gut'rie—he call you names!"
"So will he laugh," growled Guthrie, "on the other side of his face. He's begging for it, all right."
He chewed his lip for a moment, then shrugged. With a nod to Polf, he started down the street to the huts assigned to Trent and Karen. ”

“ Polf leered at the effort to take him in by a trick name. "You, Gut'rie, you act like us. You learn fear evil spirits like smart man. Maybe was trick of good ones—send you here so we make mistake."
Guthrie stared down at the stocky Skirkh, trying to follow that chain of thought and wondering how many in the village would find it logical. ”

“ It's a bad time to be caught in the open."
"Oh, come, man!" Trent snapped. "We shouldn't be here that long."
"It's only two or three weeks. The trouble is that on a certain night shortly before they leave the village to the mercy of the sky spirits, the Skirkhi have a nasty custom—"
"I don't care about your low opinion of the local customs," interrupted Trent. "From what I've seen of you, Guthrie, it is obvious that you are not the sort to represent Terra on the frontiers. Just tell me—if you can't get along with the natives like a civilized being, where do you expect to get?" ”

“ Karen walked perhaps twenty steps in silence, then stopped dead.
"Guthrie! Do you really mean we can see it?"
"Sure. I did it a bit roughly, but I'm hoping for under two thousand miles and two or three periods a night. Even when it isn't catching any sunlight, that beacon ought to show. Dimmer than Yiv, maybe, but moving and easy to spot."
With the flashlight, making their way through the woods took less time. ”

“ Be grateful to Polf for bringing you, for we shall be big in the village after this!"
He looked proudly at Guthrie. The latter turned off the flashlight to see if the sky were actually beginning to show a pre-dawn lightening.
"We will be very big," Polf repeated. "Are we not friends of the evilest spirit of them all?" ”

“ It would help your reputation here."
She began to struggle, and he had a hard time holding her but somehow hated to let go. He was conscious of a padding of feet in the alleyway as a couple of guards drifted in from the street. ”

“ There was power provided, he saw, for "beacon" and "auto. radio" as well as for a few essentials like ventilation. A distress call could be broadcast automatically, at intervals regulated to economize on power, and the same could be done with the beacon. He looked up details in the booklet. The rocket possessed, at least, means to make a loud noise and show a bright light if any rescuer should approach. It remained for them to take it where these could be effective.
He went to work calculating firing data to blast the rocket into a course for Jhux. ”

“ He almost succeeded in controlling a querulous note in his voice by trying to assume the buddy-to-buddy tone of one Terran discussing with another the universal peculiarity of aborigines. He watched Guthrie carefully. ”