John Victor Peterson

“ Feebly he fumbled for his helmet catch, closing it after an eternity, and collapsed on a nearby hummock, gulping in the oxygen which meant life.
He looked at the crumpled, broken ship. Something man had built, gone the way of all his creations. And why? Because of man's savagery, man's impetuosity, man's searching after the vain chimera of glory—
Rising, he stumbled into the north, towards the Rendezvous and, beyond, Calidao, Onupari, and that upon which the future freedom of Earth depended—the seedrona in the vaults of Jethe. ”

“ That there was intelligence here, he did no longer question. A reasoning intellect which had forbade slaying him and now had done this inexplicable thing. Or did it have complete control of the robot's form? Had it acted of its own accord or had the robot's relays automatically caused this dilemma? That final thought brought a counter-thought, a clear and sorrowing affirmation!
But how could he credit anything existing independent of a flesh and blood body as having intelligence? Must not every life form remain an insoluble psychophysical being? ”

“ Life and all that pertains to it and the universe? Why not, then, a pure, radioactive intelligence? Could it not have arisen by evolving degrees from the complexity of atomic fluctuations finding genesis in the pitted core of Pallas—where Andres, prospecting to pass empty days away, had found it—a sentient consciousness born in cosmic loneliness out of the very fabric of the universe? Had not One Other thus found genesis?
The weird new wonder of it strong within him, Frederix looked down at Andres, silent, immovable on the couch. ”

“ Why should any of Sol's disillusioned billions die because of a few greedy men who had rushed into a band which would damn the entire system unless someone revealed their duplicity, which had already precipitated all manner of internal strife? Violence would avail naught; they must be shown the plain truth of it so that they might live and be free!
The robot hurried away now, turned swiftly in a high-arched tunnel which intersected the street, and led Frederix to the fantastically carven front of a large mansion whose portal had been but recently blasted asunder. ”

“ And so he remained with the Solarian Defense, clinging to that ancient estate—his Rendezvous where he held communion with his memories and with the ghosts of those who had fallen beside and before his blazing guns—haunting it when on Mars and off duty....
Far to the south Frederix caught the fierce glare of disrupters, of jets flaming in the black, starshot night as furious combat raged. Del, too, was probably there, deep in the bloody game which was his life now—
Onward, onward. ”

“ A young Martian policeman stood smoking thoughtfully beneath a carbon arc, handsome and proudly erect in his bright, apparently-new uniform, quite alone in this narrow thoroughfare.
Frederix's hand dropped to the disrupter, shifted to the needle-gun, and, opening the lock slowly, he aimed and pressed the trigger. Leaping within, he caught the paralyzed youth, lowering him into the shadows of a nearby doorway.
A surge of commendation beat in his brain—praise for his choice of weapons. For why should one so young and handsome die? ”

“ How old, then, was Del Andres the magnificent? Man's allotted span, increased by the elimination of all disease, covers but a hundred and fifty years; yet Andres had seen and fought those years away within the vast systems of Centauri and Lalande, and he seemed still a young man, by appearance no older than Frederix's thirty years. ”

“ I need not mention the names of the men who are undermining and usurping the greatest Martian institutions. Earthmen all!
"Mars has as much a right to freedom and monopoly on its own civilization as Earth on hers. Because a few greedy men spread tyranny through Certagarni, the Thyles, Botrodus, Zabirnza and other regions, they blame all of Earth. Neither you nor I can say they're wrong!"
"It's deeper than that, Del. The Vrons of Centauri have as great a hand in it as Wilcox, Onupari and the other earthmen here. ”

“ But why did Dave Cravens name you traitor?"
He could talk now. He could empty his bursting heart. Swiftly he recounted everything from those dangerous moments in Certagarni to the present.
"We'll win through!" Andres cried, his great hands strong and encouraging on Frederix's shoulders. "We'll get the Kaa ships to Calidao; we'll wireless Earth; we'll curb it now while it's not too late! Their armada is years away; much can be done ere it comes!
"Why, we've already downed the Certagarni squadron and reestablished control there and in Botrodus!" ”

“ Frederix said softly. "After all the Legion is ten light years away, and the Defense Squadrons must keep our system at peace!"
"Just keep believing that we will. Faith helps a lot sometimes."
Their hands clasped warmly.
"So I'm checking out. If you get near Botrodus, drop in at the Rendezvous; I'll be there if I'm off duty. You see, I've a new robot to show you—something I can't understand myself—powered by radium; and I know it has intelligence!"
"O.K., Del. And I may be in sooner than you think. When Dave Cravens gets the jitters something pretty powerful is giving them to him!" ”

“ Andres whirled lithely, and with long strides left the room.
"So long!" Frederix called after him; then turned, swept a mass of Starcharts into the safe, locked it, and turned towards the tiny landing outside where rested his one man gyrotomic ... towards the beginning of a strange destiny which would weave together the fates of worlds and stars, and bring to him knowledge of greatness such as man had never known before.
II
The robot stirred restlessly and moved at length across a room littered with parts of others of its kind. ”

“ Calidao, city of mystic intrigue, cosmopolitan city where Solarian, Centaurian and Lalandean hold daily intercourse, bartering in lives and souls, and in treasures and alien lore whose origin and significance shall remain forever hidden in the womb of time—
Thither flashed Frederix in the dead of night, riding the radio beam in from the direction of Kaa. Starshine alone and what light the almost indetectable moons gave illumined the semi-somnolent cosmopolis. Along the main artery, famed Space Boulevard, the varicolored lights of night clubs blazed up through the glassite vaults ”

“ Robot control was a hobby of Andres—a robot of his making had, at Kackijakaala, entered and opened the gates of the fortress at which the Legion had hammered futilely for months on end in conquering the Dwares of Centauri and bringing peace and prosperity to the system's many races—prosperity and the ultimate hope of cosmic conquest! ”

“ He crossed the sill, started hurriedly towards a radio cabinet in the far corner. Simultaneously a door nearby fell silently open and what he saw caused, at first, a smile to flash across his bearded face.
Into the room came a tiny form, probably three feet tall, hairy and chubby like a Ganymedean monkey, its face a delicate pink, its large eyes an innocent baby-blue, dominating a pudgy simian face. ”

“ A consciousness born of the basic fabric of the universe, electricity however strange the form. Something come out of seemingly nowhere to aid a race in its moment of greatest blindness, of greatest need. Come to render a queer, heroic, supernal sacrifice.
And now, despite the living, shuddering pain within him, a smile twisted his lips. ”

“ Dave had even taken his transmitter to overhaul the day before. Consequently he could not contact Kaa or Del and protest his innocence, warn them of the awful fullness of the Vron plot, of the Armada. He would probably be shot down should he stumble upon the aerial battle which would soon be waged over Botrodus since Cravens had warned Kaa, the key station there.
As if in attendance upon his thoughts, his open receiver burst, amid general static:
"KBM calling all ships. Apprehend all suspicious craft approaching Botrodus; engage if they refuse to give proper clearance. ”

“ What matters is that I know them for what they are: cruel, domineering, the greatest actors in the universe; and when they want something—power or love or gold, it doesn't matter which for their fancies change in a moment—nothing will stop their mad rush towards that goal—" Suddenly he was staring into the shadowed room whence he had come and there was bitterness in his dark eyes—the bitterness of cruel and undimmed memories.
"But they must be stopped!" Frederix cried.
"We'll stop them!" whispered Andres, his strong, white teeth bared almost wolfishly. "The Legion can't get back in time ”

“ Now he had weapons and a ship and a strong feeling that Onupari was still in Calidao, but—he was alone! Del was not here to help him. Still, he did have weapons. He might—
Aye, gloom was fighting a losing battle. A transcendental confidence was stirring his breast—and yet he wondered if it were not telepathic hypnosis finding genesis in the mind of the alien life which was close beside him? What were the limits of its intellect? What aid might it give? He did not dare to even wonder.
IV
Who could say what thoughts, emotions, surged through the robot's mind? ”

“ A system was hanging on the balance in the weighing of a few, short, seemingly lightly-spoken words—the future of many kindred races sprung from a common sun who labored now under greatest stress—And the grinning manager must have sensed the aura of seriousness and power about the unshaven man and his strange companion, for his face grew sober. ”

“ Entering the vestibule, he opened his helmet to a revivifying blast of oxygen fresh from the automatic ozone transformers, and called. The echo of his voice alone came back.
He found the library dustless and orderly. Trophies hung on the walls: mounted heads and bodies of creatures slain beneath alien suns, ghastly travesties on solarian mammals, creatures envisioned in dreams. Weapons from the far places, taken (as the labels read) at the siege of Kackijakaala in Alpha Centauri, six years distant by the fastest stellatomic. ”

“ Why did not Meevo, schooled in slaughter, slay him, too?
But Meevo merely motioned him to enter the room; he did so, then the frail, haughty Vron said slowly, relishing the situation with an alien humor which the other could not understand:
"You've about fifteen minutes, Frederix. Fifteen minutes to realize the fact that you'll be blown to bits. When the station goes, Certagarni will revolt; in a few weeks, as the other stations go, Mars will fall completely into chaos.
"A few months and Onupari shall have lain waste the Earth stations. It's too bad you must miss it all; but you must! ”

“ A lightning leader flashed, smiting the metallic automaton squarely in the fuel compartment—the radium compartment—fusing the whole into a blinding, white hot, leaping electrical aura which strung itself out in a roaring, seething, zigzagging finger which leaped backwards along that ionized pathway towards the ship!
In a glory of pyrotechnic thunder the ship was off—but in seeking revenge the captain made one mistake!
A tiny voice keened above that mad tumult, shrilling out of that gutted, wrecked automaton:
"We still are a-whoopin' ”

“ Revolt, of course. And why? Because they think earthmen are wholly to blame for the loss of control of their industry and commerce!"
"Aren't they?" blazed Andres. "We think we're always right, we of Earth. Because we were the first to conquer space we think we should rule its farthest bounds, cosmic policeman, arbitrator of all internal strife from here to the ultimate!
"We went out to Centauri over a century ago, brought the Vrons out of subjugation beneath the Dwares, gave them freedom after tying up all kinds of trade agreements for our benefit ”

“ Onupari has not left! And Frederix raged inwardly against the callousness, the bloodlust of that fat, swarthy renegade whom he had seen so many times glossing over crimes charged to him by the Embassy.
The freighter had not taken off yet; the thunder of its atomics would have been easily heard. He might yet—what? If the Service men—If—
As if they, trying to resuscitate an unconscious man almost an hour's flight away, could come in time!
V
Dwells there a thing in all of space
Without a smile to light its face?
Intellect: Puck's dwelling place?
"What fools we mortals be!" ”

“ Seconds later his radio receiver burst into life:
"Calling KBM, Kaa. This is Cravens at Certagarni. Meevo and Frederix killed all the men; sent the squadron to attack Kaa. Station will blow into Hell within a minute. Oh, God, get them—Captain Meevo and Lieutenant Hunter Frederix—traitors! ”

“ First, internal revolt, the rekindling of the old fires of worldly and national prejudice by a few well-ordered murders and the wholesale destruction of the spacestations. Even now my good friend Manuel Onupari has a ship waiting in Calidao, waiting to be loaded with seedrona from Jethe's munitions plant which will blast every station on Earth. ”

“ What he read on the page brought a mounting fury into his brain:
"VRON XII DE XIV. CERTAGARNI STATION HELPLESS. SEEDRONA PLANTED. WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS?
"XII REPORTING. GREATER CALIDAO ABSOLUTELY IN OUR POWER. INDUSTRIAL SECTIONS SHOULD FALL BY DAWN. BOTRODUS IS IN SAFE FOR KAA WHERE SPACESTATION HAS RESISTED ALL ATTACKS. SEND SHIPS OF YOUR STATION PILOTED BY MARTIAN GROUP IX FOR IMMEDIATE ATTACK ON KAA. UPON DEPARTURE DESTROY ALL GUN EMPLACEMENTS LEST THEY BE RECAPTURED BEFORE THE ADVENT." ”