relief.
precaution of keeping his demolition tube
Pons was far more than merely trained on the captive.
puzzled. How could anyone explain his
“Thanks,” Pons murmured.
strange, paradoxical reaction? It was just this For a minute he sat smoking and
sort of death that he was most afraid of, planning. He did not look at the black box, wasn’t it? Or was it?
which rested out of reach on the table, for he
His knowledge of psychology was did not wish the attention of the Venusians to scant. He did not see at once the difference
be drawn to it.
between fear born out of long and morbid
Presently he evolved a simple scheme.
brooding, and the fear that comes from a There was danger in it, but he was reasonably sudden and not altogether expected danger.
sure that at least part of it would work—if the The latter can be far less damaging. It is not
awful terror that had gripped him before did
the actual clash of battle that does so much to not return.
ruin morale; it is the monotony of waiting for
When his cigarette was half smoked he
Thrilling Wonder Stories
6
arose very slowly from the bunk, his eyes
point. The landing stage was now receiving
turned toward the Venusian leader who stood
the full weight of Khoraba’s pull. There was
close at hand.
no audible sign of any result, for what
“Well,” he said in a mild tone. “Let’s
atmosphere there was, beyond the walls of the
be getting along. I dislike waiting.”
plant, was too thin to transmit sound. The eyes At his first move, Ooboh, the guard,
of the Venusian remained fixed on their
had leaped to the door, his demolition tube
captive, and so they were not warned.
ready, but Pons seemed not to notice. His
Pons felt a wave of fierce exultation.
every act and gesture was calculated to check
He had surmounted his ghastly fear, and he
any hint of suspicion.
had accomplished his main objective. But he
did not look through the windows toward the
With slow, listless, but precisely landing stage now, for he did not want to premeditated steps, Pons walked toward the
betray himself to his watchful captors.
door. Beside the stout metal table he paused,
His fingers moved to dial 1, which
as if gripped by a momentary absent-
controlled the reducers directly beneath the
mindedness, which, under the circumstances,
floor on which he stood. He leaned forward a
could not have seemed odd. Idly his fingers
little, against the edge of the table. Then he
began to fumble with the litter on the turned dial 1 a tiny bit toward zero.
tabletop—papers, pencils, books, pipes. Many
The result, however, seemed quite out
of these things might have been the relics of
of proportion to the minuteness of the turn.
fond memories, to which he, a condemned
Norbert Pons, yanked by the sudden
man, might now be saying farewell.
magnification of his bodyweight, pitched
forward to the top of the sturdy table. He
THE Venusian aristocrat behind him did not
heard a grunt behind him, and then a clang of
hinder, though Pons could guess that his cold
metal as a demolition tube, weighing many
eyes were watching him closely, and that there
times more than it should have, was torn from
was a demolition tube pointed straight at his
the grasp of the Venusian leader and jerked to
own back. Gradually the Earthman turned his
the floor.
attention to the black box. The dozen dials on
Both of the Venusians were taken
its top were within reach now. Each of those
completely by surprise. Neither had known
dials controlled one of the twelve sections of
what was about to happen, as Pons had.
the gravity reduction system.
Now was the moment to act, if there
weapon a split second after his master had
ever was to be such a moment. Pons felt keyed
done so. Then he crumpled up like a thing of
up, as with a touch of stage fright. There was
jelly, and lay pinned to the floor by a tiny
suspense in this situation too, but it was not
fraction of Khoraba’s gravity. A heavy thud
the product of a long period of morbid told Pons that the Venusian aristocrat behind brooding, which was now ended. It was the
him had fallen too. Now the Earthman heard
simple, thrilling suspense of a man, fighting
the rasping sighs of labored breathing.
the enemies of his race.
Pons was sprawled on his stomach on the
Still moving his hand slowly, he tabletop. His heart and lungs were toiling reached for the number 3 dial, which painfully. Blood was being literally pulled controlled the gravity reducers under the from his brain, making his consciousness landing stage. As if to do so were only a bit of vague and dim. Yet he was surprised that the
idle fumbling, he twisted the dial to the zero
sensations he was experiencing were not as
Dark Sun
7
terrible as he had once anticipated.
of Khoraba should be slightly inferior to that
With ponderous effort he turned his
of an Earthman.
eyes toward a window. The shapes of the
He waited until he knew that his
vessels on the landing stage were changing
consciousness had almost reached its limit.
slowly as the materials from which they were
Then, slowly once more, to avoid the danger
made yielded to the full strength of Khoraba’s
of any sudden change, he returned the dial to
attraction. They were flattening out like lumps its normal position. Once more his body was
of soft mud set on a board. By now, every
approximately Earth weight.
Venusian inside them was dead. There had
After a few moments he was able to
been no time to put the repulsion plates in
stand on his feet again, Ooboh and his master
were inert but still alive. Pons left them where From beyond the door of the room,
they were until he had readjusted all the dials.
Pons heard excited mutterings, which Then he dragged them to a small closet, and reminded his hazy consciousness that there
locked them inside.
were things yet to be done. He gasped for
Before beginning a tour of inspection
breath. Then his hand, which seemed to weigh
through the plant, he stood for a minute before a hundred pounds, groped toward the black
one of the windows which afforded a view of
box a few inches away. He gave each of the
the landing stage and the wreckage upon it,
ten dials which he had not previously touched
and the black plain beyond. His head ached
a quarter turn toward zero—enough to kill, but
furiously, and his flesh was damp with sweat,
not enough to damage seriously any but within him there was
a strange, refreshing machinery. There were peculiar, heavy lightness, and a sense of freedom from an sounds, and the excited mutterings ceased.
elusive and terrible burden.
There was a new and unaccustomed
THEN, once more, he groped for the number
friendliness in the aspect of the dark star now.
1 dial. He turned it a very little more, Even the thin, glowing atmosphere, and the gradually, so that the further increase in his
Pleiades above, seemed to smile. The forces of
weight would not overstep the ultimate limit
this dying colossus of space had yielded to his of his endurance. At first every fiber of his
will and had fought in his favor. Though they
body shrieked a protest of agony, then might threaten, he would, never fear them numbness began to set in. Pons’ act was again. He knew that the wait for the freighters dreadful self torture, but it had a purpose.
from Earth, would not seem so painful now, or
Venusians were accustomed to a slightly so long.
feebler gravity than Earthmen; hence,
“Khoraba, old girl,” he muttered
logically, a Venusian’s endurance to the pull
gently, and then he laughed.