Herbert D. Kastle

“ The trainees stopped walking, then broke into frenzied movement and hoarse shouts. They pushed George and Adele aside in pursuit of the gray-uniformed figure running toward the gate. The third shot was inside the building, and then the crowd picked up the fleeing Conqueror. His screams died quickly.
Into the building the Americans poured—shaggy skeletons shrieking hatred. By the time George and Adele followed, men and women stood silently in the rooms and halls. ”

“ When he took his lips from hers, they both turned to the nearest detector bulb. They were being watched, but what difference did a thousand violations make now?
She was talking again, and actually smiling. "You look distinguished in a beard!"
He laughed, and saw the nearby trainees pick up the forgotten sound. He took her lips back to his own and heard the shuffling feet slow down all around them. And the fear was gone.
"Let's go to the excavation," he said. "We'll sit down at the bottom in privacy and talk and laugh. We're free, Adele, and the rest doesn't matter now." ”

“ He would rush instantly to the small administration building near the wall's only exit and report to the squat, gray-uniformed Conqueror known as Punitive—the only Conqueror the trainees had ever seen. After an explanation of the offense in too-precise English, the trainee was told to sit on the stool facing the light tube. "I obey," he would croak. In silence broken only by the hum of electric generators in the basement, the beam of piercing white light would sear his eyes. ”

“ Free to live and laugh, to love and to hope ... and to prepare a defense should the need arise.
When he finished, even Adele looked at him with disbelief. But they all followed him to the Administration Building and one of the young men seated himself at the radio. Filling the room and overflowing into the hall, they waited. The youth knew his radios and manipulated the dials skillfully, but there was nothing except the crackle of static. ”

“ Some two months ago, right after the last shipment of fresh trainees arrived, he had seen a group of women obviously new to the project, rigid in their terror of this silent hell, walking right in the direction of the excavation. Without thinking, he had shouted a warning which stopped them from committing an offense.
By the time he reached the basement of building two, he was gasping for breath. If the last whistle sounded before he was seated at one of the long wooden tables, it would mean the third offense. There wasn't any light-beam treatment for that one ”

“ Why were the trainees being starved? If the Conquerors wanted to kill them, it would be simple enough to use the quicker and less expensive method of firing squads. The training area was proof that they wanted workers for their new world. And despite the hunger which made hollow-eyed skeletons of them all, the men and women walked straighter and with definite confidence. ”

“ Down the street they went, smashing bulb after bulb, retrieving their missiles so as to have enough to last. And all the trainees moved slowly behind them, on up to the last bulb in front of the Administration Building.
The new sound was a sharp crack, and someone screamed in a rusty voice. He turned to see one of the crowd twitching on the pavement, then followed the faces turned up to Conqueror Punitive's window. There was a shadow there—a shadow with a rifle.
"The last bulb," Adele said. "Smash it." ”

“ They returned with several haggard Americans and reports of some few surviving Conquerors. They also told of farms heavy with crops and of livestock wandering wild. But there were no large human groups; no signs of organized humanity anywhere in the world.
Two months after George and Adele Lowery's revolt, the trainees left the housing area for the fields where they could raise food and plan their civilization. George rode beside his wife in the lead car. ”

“ THE OUTER QUIET BY HERBERT D. KASTLE Fear is often Man's greatest enemy. But
when there is nothing left to lose, there is
everything to gain.... And with everything
to gain, where is the enemy?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1955.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] ”