Mack Reynolds

“ The Martian went down in his turn under a crushing blow from a Slaber.
I ran backward quickly, knowing that where there's one Bouncer there's another. They fight in a group of twenty or thirty.
Sometimes I wonder about that rule. Each planet is represented in the final free-for-all, the climax of the Interplanetary Meet, by weight. The Mercurians, who are about the size of Terran chickens, have thirty gladiators in the battle. The group from Calypso numbers eight, and looks like a gang of human dwarfs. Jupiter and Saturn have only one representative each because of their gigantic size. ”

“ I could see the other judges and diplomats, including those from earth, were as shocked as the Martian.
"Well, yes," Suzi told him. "Of course, they usually didn't use quite the method that Jak did...."
The judge snorted again. "Be that as it may, I don't see how Demsi can justify his fleeing before the Calypso gladiators like a common coward. Meet rules are that each gladiator must fight any who oppose him."
Suzi shot a worried look at me.
"Right in accord with Terran history and custom," I said decisively. ”

“ Playing possum is in full accord with Terran custom. Why," she added innocently, "earth always acts in that manner. She pretends she's weak, helpless, someone to be ignored; and, then, suddenly, and without warning, she shows her full strength."
The various judges and diplomats shot glances at each other from the sides of their eyes, especially those from Venus, Saturn, and Pluto.
The Terran judge was no makron. When somebody yelled glorm he knew enough to grab the gaboot and run with it. He looked at Suzi and I severely. "Say no more, either of you. You are not here to reveal Terran secrets." ”

“ As is customary, a beauty from the planet upon which the meet is being held, a Martian Princess in this case, opened the main event by throwing out the prize. It was a tremendous Venusian emerald, the largest ever discovered and the size of a man's hand. It doesn't really make much difference who catches the prize, except that it's considered to be a lucky sign; the gladiator who survives the contest is the one who finally takes it. ”

“ Suzi showed signs of concern about my wounds but she also half indicated that I was a leper. There was no half about it as far as Alger Wilde was concerned.
"You might have died like a man, Demsi," he said sharply, "instead of bringing disgrace to Terra."
The Martian judge said coldly, "This gladiator claims that his astounding actions in the arena were excusable on the grounds that everything he did is in accord with Terran customs and, consequently, permissible by the rules of the Interplanetary Meet."
Suzi's eyes widened. Alger Wilde began to protest. ”

“ But at the Interplanetary Meet! Who ever heard of a Terran coming out in one piece? Not to speak of winning.
Sure, I'm a gladiator, but I've always been strictly a second rater; in fact, some of the sports writers call me a third rater. Anyway, I've always worked in the smaller meets where the gladiators, even when they lose, usually get off with their lives. In the small town stuff, they don't kill expensive gladiators, if they can help it.
My head was doing double flips trying to figure out some way of making myself scarce, when Suzi said, "What is it, Jak?" ”

“ The gladiators from any planet can take us. Oh, I don't mean that a Terran couldn't defeat one Mercurian Bouncer, or one Calypso Dwoorf, but face our three Terrans with the whole Calypso, or the whole Mercurian delegation and we don't last very long. ”

“ It is undoubtedly still in the arena in the possession of some slain contestant."
I took it from my belt. "As a matter of fact, I have it here. I picked it up while playing possum under that heap of corpses. It's an old custom handed down from a Terran city named Brooklyn. 'When you see something that ain't nailed down, latch onto it.'"
Alger Wilde left the room hurriedly, followed hand in hand by Suzi and I. It was time for the diplomats to begin their wrangling, the wrangling that would settle the fate of worlds. ”

“ The most recent addition to the League of Solar System Planets, we're by far the weakest. Probably our strongest defense has been the fact that several different League members have had their eyes upon us and each has counteracted the other. ”