An oddball ridiculously rich guy with a fetish for American West recreation wants to hire Johnny Alpha, Middenface, and a handful of other Strontium Dogs to hunt down the man who killed his wife and children.
A not so magnificent seven, if you like - even if one is a Siamese twin with the ability to separate and recombine.
The miscreant in question has a thing for the old fashioned as well, having set up on what is basically an historical recreation.
Being a Strontium Dog story, there are some treacherous varmints involved, of course.
3 out of 5
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Ruthless - Jonathan Clements
The book begins with a flashback to Johnny Alpha's time at school, with his big sister looking after him.
Now, the tables are turned, as a scheme to get them to somewhere they could live anonymously by her husband has gone badly wrong.
Her cryofrozen body has been hijacked, and the spousal unit comes across Johnny - not having much luck on the bounty hunting front. Even if he was, he'd certainly drop it to try and save his sibling.
A couple of other not so salubrious types are also interested in the married couple - who are wanted for questioning, with a reward.
Space criminals, space pirates, spousicles and Strontium Dogs.
3 out of 5
Now, the tables are turned, as a scheme to get them to somewhere they could live anonymously by her husband has gone badly wrong.
Her cryofrozen body has been hijacked, and the spousal unit comes across Johnny - not having much luck on the bounty hunting front. Even if he was, he'd certainly drop it to try and save his sibling.
A couple of other not so salubrious types are also interested in the married couple - who are wanted for questioning, with a reward.
Space criminals, space pirates, spousicles and Strontium Dogs.
3 out of 5
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Starkahn Of Rhada - Alfred Coppel
The fourth in this particular future history.
Kier is a descendant of Kier the rebel - but no Star King - as Rhada is now a Republic, despite the dreams and plotting of his mother and her royalists.
He is actually in the fleet, paired with his friend Ariane, a 15 tonne manta-shaped space and sea adapted cyborg.
They, while on survey duty come across a ship the size and power of which no-one has seen before - 17,000 km long, with an inhabitant in cryostatis.
A girl with all silver eyes. Trying to get her out nearly gets them killed, and results in the ship destroying a star and leaving.
This leads to political infighting over who should have access to trying to revive the girl - the religious orders, the scientists, or whoever.
There is another interested part - the Vulk of Rhada - a telepathic alien and his wife, long time tutors to Kier and his ancestors.
Things become more urgent when the giant Death Ship appears again, and destroys another star, with no rhyme or reason. Luckily there were not many people in that area.
Kier and friends decide to act, to stop any more wholesale kablooey while the various planetary factions squabble.
A bit better than I thought it would be.
3.5 out of 5
Kier is a descendant of Kier the rebel - but no Star King - as Rhada is now a Republic, despite the dreams and plotting of his mother and her royalists.
He is actually in the fleet, paired with his friend Ariane, a 15 tonne manta-shaped space and sea adapted cyborg.
They, while on survey duty come across a ship the size and power of which no-one has seen before - 17,000 km long, with an inhabitant in cryostatis.
A girl with all silver eyes. Trying to get her out nearly gets them killed, and results in the ship destroying a star and leaving.
This leads to political infighting over who should have access to trying to revive the girl - the religious orders, the scientists, or whoever.
There is another interested part - the Vulk of Rhada - a telepathic alien and his wife, long time tutors to Kier and his ancestors.
Things become more urgent when the giant Death Ship appears again, and destroys another star, with no rhyme or reason. Luckily there were not many people in that area.
Kier and friends decide to act, to stop any more wholesale kablooey while the various planetary factions squabble.
A bit better than I thought it would be.
3.5 out of 5
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Superluminal 08 - Vonda N. McIntyre
"The cousins were more intelligent than human beings, though not as much more intelligent as were any of the great whales, about whom Orca felt too much awe for friendship. Yet they were naive as well. Thousands of years of predation by humans had done nothing to temper that quality into cynicism or doubt. Since the revolution, whales were no longer legal prey of humans. A few outlaw whalers had tried to defy the ban, but they disappeared and no one ever saw them again. Orca’s mother knew something about that, but seldom mentioned it unless she had had a long day undersea and one brandy too many after dinner. "
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal08
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal08
Superluminal 09 - Vonda N. McIntyre
"When he was younger, studying elementary mathematics, he had conquered three-dimensional geometry by brute force. Four spatial dimensions had fought him to a draw; he could manipulate the formulae but not visualize what they represented. Five dimensions had ambushed him and left him so bruised he did not even have an ambition for revenge. Yet he turned onto a fifth path, which again lay perpendicular to all the rest, and he navigated it quite easily.
How long could this go on? He had heard of, though never studied, geometries with an infinity of dimensions."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal09
How long could this go on? He had heard of, though never studied, geometries with an infinity of dimensions."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal09
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
After the Fire - Aliette de Bodard
Earth guilt sleep.
3 out of 5
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/2009/11/short-fiction-after-the-fire-by-aliette-de-bodard/
3 out of 5
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/2009/11/short-fiction-after-the-fire-by-aliette-de-bodard/
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Halcyon Drift - Brian Stableford
The first of a series of six.
A man crashlands his ship on a planet - sort of a problem, that. He gets an alien parasite into the bargain.
Rescue comes with a price - contracted into servitude and hence undertaking some dodgy missions.
The first of which is an investigation of a Lost Star in an odd nebula.
Despite being a bit introductory I liked this more than I thought I would. Probably shouldn't surprise me as I do like Stableford.
A forgotten author, if a still a very prolific one in various areas, strange that.
Here's something else of his worth reading. I'll give the next one a go, too.
3.5 out of 5
A man crashlands his ship on a planet - sort of a problem, that. He gets an alien parasite into the bargain.
Rescue comes with a price - contracted into servitude and hence undertaking some dodgy missions.
The first of which is an investigation of a Lost Star in an odd nebula.
Despite being a bit introductory I liked this more than I thought I would. Probably shouldn't surprise me as I do like Stableford.
A forgotten author, if a still a very prolific one in various areas, strange that.
Here's something else of his worth reading. I'll give the next one a go, too.
3.5 out of 5
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Other Side Of the Hill - David Brin
Off this planet necessary, look at this good stuff here!
3 out of 5
3 out of 5
Monday, October 26, 2009
A Large Bucket And Accidental Godlike Mastery Of Spacetime - Benjamin Crowell
Galactic Bus diplomacy domination dealings.
3.5 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Talents Incorporated - Murray Leinster
This wasn't what I thought it would be due to the title.
What you do get is a space war type story.
Big aggressive expansionist wants to add little guy to his planetary empire. Little guy being another planet, of course.
Outgunned, etc., however they have a small organisation that can take a shot at some ESP predictions of what is going to happen in the future. If you can pull that off, you certainly get a rather interesting military advantage.
2.5 out of 5
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23845
What you do get is a space war type story.
Big aggressive expansionist wants to add little guy to his planetary empire. Little guy being another planet, of course.
Outgunned, etc., however they have a small organisation that can take a shot at some ESP predictions of what is going to happen in the future. If you can pull that off, you certainly get a rather interesting military advantage.
2.5 out of 5
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23845
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Centauri Device - M. John Harrison
Truck you, retrieval.
A powerful artifact, a leftover, is discovered.
It inspires some frantic attempts to retrieve it and gain its power.
You know, the usual.
The LibraryThing rating for this is very poor, and it is not surprising.
It is pretty much dyed-in-the-wool average or mediocre, or whatever other adjective you may care to come up with that describes extremely middle of the road.
A few dodgy characters that don't ring particularly true.
Nothing new here, to be sure.
3 out of 5
A powerful artifact, a leftover, is discovered.
It inspires some frantic attempts to retrieve it and gain its power.
You know, the usual.
The LibraryThing rating for this is very poor, and it is not surprising.
It is pretty much dyed-in-the-wool average or mediocre, or whatever other adjective you may care to come up with that describes extremely middle of the road.
A few dodgy characters that don't ring particularly true.
Nothing new here, to be sure.
3 out of 5
The Passing Of Ku Sui - Anthony Gilmore
Hawk Carse, and your brain transplanting mad scientist type.
2.5 out of 5
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/3/0/30303/30303-h/30303-h.htm
2.5 out of 5
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/3/0/30303/30303-h/30303-h.htm
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Excession - Iain M. Banks
One of the more entertaining Banks outings, that is, if you don't mind the usual tendency to Mind suicide he has a thing for.
A young (for this setting) woman who aspires to Culture Contact and Special Circumstancesness is given an opportunity by a drone long involved with their family to get involved.
A strange alien Big Not So Dumb Object in a strange part of space is involved. Also an alien race called the Affront. (Yes, they liked their nickname).
Plenty of appropriately named ships for this strange in space action, too.
3.5 out 5
A young (for this setting) woman who aspires to Culture Contact and Special Circumstancesness is given an opportunity by a drone long involved with their family to get involved.
A strange alien Big Not So Dumb Object in a strange part of space is involved. Also an alien race called the Affront. (Yes, they liked their nickname).
Plenty of appropriately named ships for this strange in space action, too.
3.5 out 5
Monday, October 19, 2009
Superluminal - Vonda N. McIntyre
"Pilots had the reputation of being not completely stable. Radu had never paid the idea much attention. He did not know why talented people often fostered rumors of madness; truly insane people were unpleasant to be around. The only pilot Radu knew at all closely was Laenea Trevelyan, and she was exceptionally sane. Vasili was a bit eccentric, surely, but — mad? Radu tried to dismiss the pilot’s threat to kill him. No one had ever threatened him before. Back on Twilight, people lucky enough to escape the plague had resented him for contracting it and recovering. He was marked by his scars, and some people hated him for living while their own families died. But even in grief and fury, no one back home had ever threatened his life."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal06
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal06
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Starship Rebel - Mike Resnick
The fourth in a series, and again rather similar in style and content.
Here Wilson Cole is slowly gathering a mercenary fleet so that he has dozens of ships. Too many for most of the jobs that require such. He also draws the intention of a crimelord, The Octopus, working on a much large scale.
However, when an event really pisses him off - something the Republic Navy does - he decides to put his ships to what he sees is a better use. The aim to eventually kick them out of the Inner Frontier.
3 out of 5
Here Wilson Cole is slowly gathering a mercenary fleet so that he has dozens of ships. Too many for most of the jobs that require such. He also draws the intention of a crimelord, The Octopus, working on a much large scale.
However, when an event really pisses him off - something the Republic Navy does - he decides to put his ships to what he sees is a better use. The aim to eventually kick them out of the Inner Frontier.
3 out of 5
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Ensign Flandry 1-8 - Poul Anderson
"Ensign Dominic Flandry, Imperial Naval Flight Corps, did not know whether he was alive through luck or management. At the age of nineteen, with the encoding molecules hardly settled down on your commission, it was natural to think the latter. But had a single one of the factors he had used to save himself been absent—He didn't care to dwell on that.
Besides, his troubles were far from over. As a merchant ship belonging to the Sisterhood of Kursoviki, the Archer had been given a radio by the helpful Terrans. But it was crapout; some thimblewit had exercised some Iron Age notion of maintenance. Dragoika had agreed to put back for her home. But with a foul wind, they'd be days at sea in this damned wallowing bathtub before they were even likely to speak a boat with a transmitter in working order. That wasn't fatal per se. Flandry could shovel local rations through the chowlock of his helmet; Starkadian biochemistry was sufficiently like Terran that most foods wouldn't poison him, and he carried vitamin supplements. The taste, though, my God, the taste!
Most ominous was the fact that he had been shot down, and at no large distance from here. Perhaps the Seatrolls, and Merseians, would let this Tigery craft alone. If they weren't yet ready to show their hand, they probably would. However, his misfortune indicated their preparations were more or less complete. When he chanced to pass above their latest kettle of mischief, they'd felt so confident they opened fire."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439133271/1439133271.htm
Besides, his troubles were far from over. As a merchant ship belonging to the Sisterhood of Kursoviki, the Archer had been given a radio by the helpful Terrans. But it was crapout; some thimblewit had exercised some Iron Age notion of maintenance. Dragoika had agreed to put back for her home. But with a foul wind, they'd be days at sea in this damned wallowing bathtub before they were even likely to speak a boat with a transmitter in working order. That wasn't fatal per se. Flandry could shovel local rations through the chowlock of his helmet; Starkadian biochemistry was sufficiently like Terran that most foods wouldn't poison him, and he carried vitamin supplements. The taste, though, my God, the taste!
Most ominous was the fact that he had been shot down, and at no large distance from here. Perhaps the Seatrolls, and Merseians, would let this Tigery craft alone. If they weren't yet ready to show their hand, they probably would. However, his misfortune indicated their preparations were more or less complete. When he chanced to pass above their latest kettle of mischief, they'd felt so confident they opened fire."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439133271/1439133271.htm
Superluminal 06 - Vonda N. McIntyre
"Radu pushed himself up on one elbow and took her foot in his other hand. Her toenails were like claws, cat claws, tiger claws, retractable and heavy and quit sharp. Orca flexed her foot and the claws extended. One dimpled the flesh of his hand, very gently.
“Good protection,” she said. “You need it sometimes, in the sea. They aren’t much against sharks, but then there aren’t many dangerous sharks where I live.” She retracted her claws and reached for her shoes."
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal06
“Good protection,” she said. “You need it sometimes, in the sea. They aren’t much against sharks, but then there aren’t many dangerous sharks where I live.” She retracted her claws and reached for her shoes."
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal06
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
Quite a few years have passed since Red Mars, and a new generation of people have grown up, having lived only on Mars. This young Martians form the backbone of a resistance movement to the current development of Mars, wanting to do the whole areoforming thing their own way.
The youth are joined by some of the leading lights of the First Hundred that are still alive. Old age is not a problem for them, but they have been hunted by those who want them out of the picture.
3.5 out of 5
The youth are joined by some of the leading lights of the First Hundred that are still alive. Old age is not a problem for them, but they have been hunted by those who want them out of the picture.
3.5 out of 5
Blue Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
Mars has been developed to such an extent that people can actually walk around outside for some periods of time with not a lot of technological assistance.
The First Hundred remnants are reaching the limits of their longevity treatments, and when they lose their psychological anchor due to old age, have some problems. They still have to keep low profile to avoid undue attention, and deal with how old they actually are.
Earth is collapsing, and Mars faces a huge influx of population. The two scientific camps, often violently opposed, are led by Sax on one Hand, and Ann on the other.
4 out of 5
The First Hundred remnants are reaching the limits of their longevity treatments, and when they lose their psychological anchor due to old age, have some problems. They still have to keep low profile to avoid undue attention, and deal with how old they actually are.
Earth is collapsing, and Mars faces a huge influx of population. The two scientific camps, often violently opposed, are led by Sax on one Hand, and Ann on the other.
4 out of 5
Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/1902...
An outstanding novel. One hundred people are selected to go and establish a colony on Mars, and it looks at the physical, intellectual and psychological testing that is undergone to get into that group.
The main part of the book though is the travel and establishment of a base on Mars, and the relationships and conflicts that develop, particularly among the leaders of the group.
Research discovers a longevity treatment, and this has serious side effects on an Earth in crisis. Political factions develop on Mars on the best way to develop or not develop the planet, and whether to take any crap from the growing influence of Earth corporate power.
5 out of 5
An outstanding novel. One hundred people are selected to go and establish a colony on Mars, and it looks at the physical, intellectual and psychological testing that is undergone to get into that group.
The main part of the book though is the travel and establishment of a base on Mars, and the relationships and conflicts that develop, particularly among the leaders of the group.
Research discovers a longevity treatment, and this has serious side effects on an Earth in crisis. Political factions develop on Mars on the best way to develop or not develop the planet, and whether to take any crap from the growing influence of Earth corporate power.
5 out of 5
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Superluminal 05 - Vonda N. McIntyre
"“I’ve never heard of this happening before — but I’m sure they would,” Vasili said quickly. “If they can, they will…”
“But —?”
“I could take us home fairly easily if I had this system’s coordinates. I don’t. The first time we surfaced out of transit the system was charted. Just barely, but I found it. The second time I had to extrapolate — and I had my fingers crossed I’d done it right. I don’t even know if I did or not, we fell out too fast for me to get my bearings. Now… I don’t know where we are. There’s so much interstellar dust, I can’t find any of the standard markers. I can’t match up any of the star patterns or pulsars or anything else. This isn’t an exploration ship, it isn’t prepared for involved analysis. Even with an x ship, it’s safest to go in small steps. We’ve taken a couple of very large ones.” He sounded more and more tense. “Exploration isn’t as easy as going down a path and then turning around and coming back. You can’t do that because when you turn around it doesn’t look the same. Do you see?”
“No.” "
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal05
“But —?”
“I could take us home fairly easily if I had this system’s coordinates. I don’t. The first time we surfaced out of transit the system was charted. Just barely, but I found it. The second time I had to extrapolate — and I had my fingers crossed I’d done it right. I don’t even know if I did or not, we fell out too fast for me to get my bearings. Now… I don’t know where we are. There’s so much interstellar dust, I can’t find any of the standard markers. I can’t match up any of the star patterns or pulsars or anything else. This isn’t an exploration ship, it isn’t prepared for involved analysis. Even with an x ship, it’s safest to go in small steps. We’ve taken a couple of very large ones.” He sounded more and more tense. “Exploration isn’t as easy as going down a path and then turning around and coming back. You can’t do that because when you turn around it doesn’t look the same. Do you see?”
“No.” "
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal05
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Bitter Angels 1 - C. L. Anderson
" War. The ancient, perverse, pervasive nightmare we’d banished from the solar system with the Pax Solaris, the Common Cause Covenant, and the Laws of Humanity. I’d dedicated my life to preventing its return as human beings spread themselves out into the living galaxy. The effort nearly took my sanity and my life. I’d tried to retire, to enjoy the peace I’d helped to keep, and now it had come down to find me. I looked up at the clouds, and wondered what was behind them.
“You could refuse,” said David. I didn’t even have to respond to that. David’s mouth twisted up. Distaste, or just frustration? I couldn’t tell, and that bothered me. "
2.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/The-CL-Anderson-Bookshelf/Novels/Bitter-Angels-Preview
“You could refuse,” said David. I didn’t even have to respond to that. David’s mouth twisted up. Distaste, or just frustration? I couldn’t tell, and that bothered me. "
2.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/The-CL-Anderson-Bookshelf/Novels/Bitter-Angels-Preview
Monday, October 5, 2009
Fool's War 15 - Sarah Zettel
""Yes," said Havelock flatly. "That is exactly what we need. You have dealt from that position all your life. You have fought major corporations and succeeded. You have held your...faith up in the face of bigotry. You faced an organized conglomeration of AIs, and you won." He leaned forward. There was an intensity in his expression that reminded her of Dobbs when Dobbs was being serious. "We would like to offer you an ambassadorship, from us to the Banks and the Management Union, first of all, then to the colonies closest to the Guild Hall. We're not certain the peace is going to hold and we need..." He shook his head and sat back. "There's more that we need than I can talk about in the few minutes I have. But let me tell you that you could name your price. The Guild does have plenty of credit...if the banks don't decide to seize it from us," he added ruefully. "
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Sarah-Zettel/Long-Rich-Reads/15-Fool-s-War
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Sarah-Zettel/Long-Rich-Reads/15-Fool-s-War
Superluminal 04 - Vonda N. McIntyre
"Radu went reluctantly into the control room to speak to Vasili. The pilot lay back in his chair, watching the computer display as it changed in colors and waves before him.
“Are you all calmed down now?” he said, without looking around.
“I had good reason for being worried,” Radu said.
“Maybe someone should have warned you that the inhabitants of Ngthummulun can be quite strange. But I thought you knew Atna.”
“I’ve crewed with him before. Apparently I don’t know him as well as I thought.” "
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal04
“Are you all calmed down now?” he said, without looking around.
“I had good reason for being worried,” Radu said.
“Maybe someone should have warned you that the inhabitants of Ngthummulun can be quite strange. But I thought you knew Atna.”
“I’ve crewed with him before. Apparently I don’t know him as well as I thought.” "
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal04
John Grimes Rim World Commodore - A. Bertram Chandler
An omnibus collection of the last stage of John Grimes' career. Also the most interesting.
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : The Way Back - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Into the Alternate Universe - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Contraband From Otherspace - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Gateway to Never - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : The Rim Gods - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Alternate Orbits - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : The Dark Dimensions - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Catch the Star Winds - A. Bertram Chandler
Out from Kinsolving's planet still leaves John Grimes and Sonya Verrill a problem after leaving that strange joint.
Where do they go now?
Or if you want an easy trip, stay away from there :-
'Put the Macbeth and Kinsolving suns in line astern, thought Grimes, and keep them so. Run out fifty light years on the leads . . . He thought the words but refrained from saying them aloud. Those steering directions had been valid when Faraway Quest had lifted from Port Forlorn only a few weeks ago—as Time had been measured by her chronometers, experienced by her people. But the Clock had been put back—not by minutes, hours, days or even centuries, but by millennia. Faraway Quest was lost—in Time and Space. Grimes could envisage dimly the sluggish writhings of the matter-and-energy entity that was the Galaxy, the crawling extension of the spiral arms, the births and the deaths of suns and planets. Was there yet Earth, the womb and the cradle of Humanity? Did Man—in this Now—already walk upon the surface of the home world, or were the first mammals still scurrying in terror under the great, taloned feet of the dinosaurs?'
3 out of 5
John Grimes is pleased to see Sonya Verrill, although perhaps a little disappointed when she talks about looking for old flames and maybe settling down.
Of interest, however, is hunting for Rim Ghosts - and especially when you find more - an ancient, stranded ship from the early days of exploration.
Especially with the possible of information, or even revival of some of the frozen crew.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes and Verrill are now married, and are mostly aware of what they are going to be up to.
However, something strange appears - and it is up to the telepathic abilities of a psionic officer to try and found out what.
What appears to be somewhat scary - another race of spacefarers with technology levels that could provide competition.
Decidedly not monkeyboys - they have tails and sharp teeth.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes gets involved in some anti-drug activity. Where there is dodginess and crime likely you will find Drongo Kane, his enemy.
''I don't know what today's young people are coming to,' complained Captain Dunbar as he and Grimes left the jail. 'Drugs. Orgies.'
'I've never taken part in an orgy,' said Grimes rather wistfully. 'Have you?'
'Of course not!' snapped Dunbar, looking at his superior in a rather dubious manner. Then, apparently having decided that the Commodore must have been joking, he went on, 'Until now we've been clear of all this sort of thing on the Rim Worlds. I always said that it was a big mistake to open these planets to intergalactic trade.'
'Mphm. Where am I staying, by the way?'
'We've booked you into the Rimrock House, Commodore.'
Grimes sighed. There was a Rimrock House at Port Forlorn, on Lorn, another one at Port Farewell, on Faraway, yet another at Port Edgell, on Thule. From time to time he had stayed at them all. They were the most expensive hotels on the Rim Worlds—but by no means the best. He would have preferred some place with a less pretentious menu but far better food, with the staff not rigged out like Galactic High Admirals, but with far better service. But it would be only for a few days, until he had this Rim Caribou mess sorted out.'
2.5 out of 5
The Baen edition of the Rim Gods has added on five of the Kitty Kelly/John Grimes interview tales, rather than just doing a separate book for them perhaps when they didn't get Grimes and the Gaijin Daimyo as explained in Paul Collins' notes in Dreaming Again, wanting it to be published in dead tree format first. The Kitty Kelly stories are generally pretty amusing, although of course the Glenrowan time travel piece is a bit more serious.
Rim Gods : The Rim Gods - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : The Bird-Brained Navigator - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : The Tin Fishes - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Last Dreamer - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes at Glenrowan - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes and the Great Race - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes Among the Gourmets - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes and the Odd Gods - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes and the Jailbirds - A. Bertram Chandler
None of that sanctimonious stuff please
3 out of 5
Machines can be easier to rig.
3.5 out of 5
A starfish fatale bust.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes gets a bit stuck in fantasyland.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes discovers he had an ancestor at Glenrowan on the fateful day, thanks to two blokes named Kelly and Byrne. A reporter that asks him for a story of a weird happening gets the tale. She is, of course, named Kitty.
4 out of 5
Nude airship competition impresses the brass slightly more if you win.
3.5 out of 5
Kitty Kelly is no fan of sushi, but does get another dodgy food story out of Grimes.
3 out of 5
Lady Bishop's morose bible-bashing bastich, post burn.
3.5 out of 5
The story Kitty Kelly gets this time is of mood opals and prison breaks.
3 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
A short collection, starting and finishing on that odd planet Kinsolving, which leaves Grimes in strange places.
Plus, Chandler slips in a bit of sailing stuff, of the on water, not in space variety.
Alternate Orbits : Hall Of Fame - A. Bertram Chandler
Alternate Orbits : The Sister Ships - A. Bertram Chandler
Alternate Orbits : The Man Who Sailed The Sky - A. Bertram Chandler
Alternate Orbits : The Rub - A. Bertram Chandler
The case of the kidnapped commodore fictional immortality.
3.5 out of 5
Some luddite sailing time for Grimes, after a trip.
2.5 out of 5
"“Because this world is the bitter end. I always thought that the Rim Worlds were bad enough, but I put up with them for your sake and, in any case, they’ve been improving enormously over the past few years. But Aquarius ... It’s way back in the twentieth century!”
That’s why you don’t squirm, as we do, every time that you hear one of these blown away Aussies drawl, ‘She’ll be right.’”
back into space, but more primitives at the other end of some Mannscheim driving:
"“Tell His Majesty, Commander Verrill, that if he has any ideas about seizing my pinnace he’d better forget ’em. Tell him that those odd-looking antennae poking out from their turrets are laser cannon, and that at the first sign of trouble this plateau will be one big, beautiful barbecue."
...
"Sonya snarled, “What the hell are you nattering about?” Grimes chuckled again. “How often, in thrillers, have the baddies tied up the goodies and then carelessly left them with something sharp or abrasive to rub their bonds against ... “You aren’t kidding?” she asked. Then—“And since when have you been a goodie?”"
3.5 out of 5
Kinsolving throws Grimes another curveball.
3 out of 5
3 out of 5
The Faraway Quest, Grimes, and Kinsolving's planet. Out on the edges of the rim where the crack of opening a cold tinnie might be enough to send you onto an alternate time track or into an alternate universe.
When that can happen, you can get crossover! Here we have Grimes and Verrill, the ex-Empress Irene from another series, and Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry teaming up to take on some nogoodniks, even if this, plus a second Grimes instance constitutes a rather shaky alliance. Interesting to see Flandry from another major character's viewpoint for a fair amount of time to contrast to how he sees himself.
Plenty of fun and entertainment to be had here, complete with space witches.
Definitely one of the best of this series.
4 out of 5
Baen's collection called Catch the Star Winds obviously has the same Catch the Star Winds novel as the earlier book, but has five different stories, instead of Zoological Specimen, to avoid any confusion.
The stories centre around the development of Lightjammer technology, and a breakthrough a clever (or crazy) engineer marks when her modifications allow the weird sort of ship and its contraterrence iron based propulsion with sails to actually travel FTL, as opposed to the more timewarp manoeuvre of other drives.
They initially get their own time warp problem in the novel, though.
This enables them to reach a region of space no-one else has before.
Nautical and a bit of Australian flavored space opera crewed with your nuts and bolts ordinary spacemen and spacewomen can be found here.
Along with giving the orders, the Commmodore and his better half get some Grimes in on the action in some of the stories.
Catch the Star Winds : CHANCE ENCOUNTER - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : CATCH THE STAR WINDS - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : ON THE ACCOUNT - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : THE DUTCHMAN - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : THE LAST HUNT - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : RIM CHANGE - A. Bertram Chandler
Fear Of the Dark. With purple octopi.
4 out of 5
A crew is given the chance to test a ship with a new sort of propulsion - a lightjammer.
Grimes wants this crew because one of them has actual sailing experience, which will come in handy when using sails in space.
What would seem to be a straightforward story gets a bit odd, given one of the key elements for this is antimatter.
Said crew ends up experiencing way more than one voyage on the way, and the various psychological permutations of who is pining for who in the crew gets played out.
3.5 out of 5
Space pirates and a broadside miscalculation.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes and Sonya get to go FTL with the original lightjammer crew, and a medium.
3 out of 5
Grimes Moebius energy eater obsession fight observation.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes, Sonya, a captain, his crew, and a couple of telepaths head for Kinsolving. Cue one weird city escape.
3.5 out of 5
4 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : The Way Back - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Into the Alternate Universe - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Contraband From Otherspace - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Gateway to Never - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : The Rim Gods - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Alternate Orbits - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : The Dark Dimensions - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes Rim Worlds Commodore : Catch the Star Winds - A. Bertram Chandler
Out from Kinsolving's planet still leaves John Grimes and Sonya Verrill a problem after leaving that strange joint.
Where do they go now?
Or if you want an easy trip, stay away from there :-
'Put the Macbeth and Kinsolving suns in line astern, thought Grimes, and keep them so. Run out fifty light years on the leads . . . He thought the words but refrained from saying them aloud. Those steering directions had been valid when Faraway Quest had lifted from Port Forlorn only a few weeks ago—as Time had been measured by her chronometers, experienced by her people. But the Clock had been put back—not by minutes, hours, days or even centuries, but by millennia. Faraway Quest was lost—in Time and Space. Grimes could envisage dimly the sluggish writhings of the matter-and-energy entity that was the Galaxy, the crawling extension of the spiral arms, the births and the deaths of suns and planets. Was there yet Earth, the womb and the cradle of Humanity? Did Man—in this Now—already walk upon the surface of the home world, or were the first mammals still scurrying in terror under the great, taloned feet of the dinosaurs?'
3 out of 5
John Grimes is pleased to see Sonya Verrill, although perhaps a little disappointed when she talks about looking for old flames and maybe settling down.
Of interest, however, is hunting for Rim Ghosts - and especially when you find more - an ancient, stranded ship from the early days of exploration.
Especially with the possible of information, or even revival of some of the frozen crew.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes and Verrill are now married, and are mostly aware of what they are going to be up to.
However, something strange appears - and it is up to the telepathic abilities of a psionic officer to try and found out what.
What appears to be somewhat scary - another race of spacefarers with technology levels that could provide competition.
Decidedly not monkeyboys - they have tails and sharp teeth.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes gets involved in some anti-drug activity. Where there is dodginess and crime likely you will find Drongo Kane, his enemy.
''I don't know what today's young people are coming to,' complained Captain Dunbar as he and Grimes left the jail. 'Drugs. Orgies.'
'I've never taken part in an orgy,' said Grimes rather wistfully. 'Have you?'
'Of course not!' snapped Dunbar, looking at his superior in a rather dubious manner. Then, apparently having decided that the Commodore must have been joking, he went on, 'Until now we've been clear of all this sort of thing on the Rim Worlds. I always said that it was a big mistake to open these planets to intergalactic trade.'
'Mphm. Where am I staying, by the way?'
'We've booked you into the Rimrock House, Commodore.'
Grimes sighed. There was a Rimrock House at Port Forlorn, on Lorn, another one at Port Farewell, on Faraway, yet another at Port Edgell, on Thule. From time to time he had stayed at them all. They were the most expensive hotels on the Rim Worlds—but by no means the best. He would have preferred some place with a less pretentious menu but far better food, with the staff not rigged out like Galactic High Admirals, but with far better service. But it would be only for a few days, until he had this Rim Caribou mess sorted out.'
2.5 out of 5
The Baen edition of the Rim Gods has added on five of the Kitty Kelly/John Grimes interview tales, rather than just doing a separate book for them perhaps when they didn't get Grimes and the Gaijin Daimyo as explained in Paul Collins' notes in Dreaming Again, wanting it to be published in dead tree format first. The Kitty Kelly stories are generally pretty amusing, although of course the Glenrowan time travel piece is a bit more serious.
Rim Gods : The Rim Gods - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : The Bird-Brained Navigator - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : The Tin Fishes - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Last Dreamer - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes at Glenrowan - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes and the Great Race - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes Among the Gourmets - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes and the Odd Gods - A. Bertram Chandler
Rim Gods : Grimes and the Jailbirds - A. Bertram Chandler
None of that sanctimonious stuff please
3 out of 5
Machines can be easier to rig.
3.5 out of 5
A starfish fatale bust.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes gets a bit stuck in fantasyland.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes discovers he had an ancestor at Glenrowan on the fateful day, thanks to two blokes named Kelly and Byrne. A reporter that asks him for a story of a weird happening gets the tale. She is, of course, named Kitty.
4 out of 5
Nude airship competition impresses the brass slightly more if you win.
3.5 out of 5
Kitty Kelly is no fan of sushi, but does get another dodgy food story out of Grimes.
3 out of 5
Lady Bishop's morose bible-bashing bastich, post burn.
3.5 out of 5
The story Kitty Kelly gets this time is of mood opals and prison breaks.
3 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
A short collection, starting and finishing on that odd planet Kinsolving, which leaves Grimes in strange places.
Plus, Chandler slips in a bit of sailing stuff, of the on water, not in space variety.
Alternate Orbits : Hall Of Fame - A. Bertram Chandler
Alternate Orbits : The Sister Ships - A. Bertram Chandler
Alternate Orbits : The Man Who Sailed The Sky - A. Bertram Chandler
Alternate Orbits : The Rub - A. Bertram Chandler
The case of the kidnapped commodore fictional immortality.
3.5 out of 5
Some luddite sailing time for Grimes, after a trip.
2.5 out of 5
"“Because this world is the bitter end. I always thought that the Rim Worlds were bad enough, but I put up with them for your sake and, in any case, they’ve been improving enormously over the past few years. But Aquarius ... It’s way back in the twentieth century!”
That’s why you don’t squirm, as we do, every time that you hear one of these blown away Aussies drawl, ‘She’ll be right.’”
back into space, but more primitives at the other end of some Mannscheim driving:
"“Tell His Majesty, Commander Verrill, that if he has any ideas about seizing my pinnace he’d better forget ’em. Tell him that those odd-looking antennae poking out from their turrets are laser cannon, and that at the first sign of trouble this plateau will be one big, beautiful barbecue."
...
"Sonya snarled, “What the hell are you nattering about?” Grimes chuckled again. “How often, in thrillers, have the baddies tied up the goodies and then carelessly left them with something sharp or abrasive to rub their bonds against ... “You aren’t kidding?” she asked. Then—“And since when have you been a goodie?”"
3.5 out of 5
Kinsolving throws Grimes another curveball.
3 out of 5
3 out of 5
The Faraway Quest, Grimes, and Kinsolving's planet. Out on the edges of the rim where the crack of opening a cold tinnie might be enough to send you onto an alternate time track or into an alternate universe.
When that can happen, you can get crossover! Here we have Grimes and Verrill, the ex-Empress Irene from another series, and Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry teaming up to take on some nogoodniks, even if this, plus a second Grimes instance constitutes a rather shaky alliance. Interesting to see Flandry from another major character's viewpoint for a fair amount of time to contrast to how he sees himself.
Plenty of fun and entertainment to be had here, complete with space witches.
Definitely one of the best of this series.
4 out of 5
Baen's collection called Catch the Star Winds obviously has the same Catch the Star Winds novel as the earlier book, but has five different stories, instead of Zoological Specimen, to avoid any confusion.
The stories centre around the development of Lightjammer technology, and a breakthrough a clever (or crazy) engineer marks when her modifications allow the weird sort of ship and its contraterrence iron based propulsion with sails to actually travel FTL, as opposed to the more timewarp manoeuvre of other drives.
They initially get their own time warp problem in the novel, though.
This enables them to reach a region of space no-one else has before.
Nautical and a bit of Australian flavored space opera crewed with your nuts and bolts ordinary spacemen and spacewomen can be found here.
Along with giving the orders, the Commmodore and his better half get some Grimes in on the action in some of the stories.
Catch the Star Winds : CHANCE ENCOUNTER - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : CATCH THE STAR WINDS - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : ON THE ACCOUNT - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : THE DUTCHMAN - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : THE LAST HUNT - A. Bertram Chandler
Catch the Star Winds : RIM CHANGE - A. Bertram Chandler
Fear Of the Dark. With purple octopi.
4 out of 5
A crew is given the chance to test a ship with a new sort of propulsion - a lightjammer.
Grimes wants this crew because one of them has actual sailing experience, which will come in handy when using sails in space.
What would seem to be a straightforward story gets a bit odd, given one of the key elements for this is antimatter.
Said crew ends up experiencing way more than one voyage on the way, and the various psychological permutations of who is pining for who in the crew gets played out.
3.5 out of 5
Space pirates and a broadside miscalculation.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes and Sonya get to go FTL with the original lightjammer crew, and a medium.
3 out of 5
Grimes Moebius energy eater obsession fight observation.
3.5 out of 5
Grimes, Sonya, a captain, his crew, and a couple of telepaths head for Kinsolving. Cue one weird city escape.
3.5 out of 5
4 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
The Widowmaker Unleashed - Mike Resnick
Third clone lucky, maybe.
The original Widowmaker may get to return shortly thanks to medical breakthroughs that may allow something to be done about his terminal disease.
However, in the interim he has had two clones out there bumping people off and causing even more people to want him dead.
He has to survive this, and also possible confrontation with his other selves if he is going to settle down anytime soon.
Quality is pretty similar to the other books, not too good.
2.5 out of 5
The original Widowmaker may get to return shortly thanks to medical breakthroughs that may allow something to be done about his terminal disease.
However, in the interim he has had two clones out there bumping people off and causing even more people to want him dead.
He has to survive this, and also possible confrontation with his other selves if he is going to settle down anytime soon.
Quality is pretty similar to the other books, not too good.
2.5 out of 5
The Widowmaker Reborn - Mike Resnick
The Widowmaker still has the problem of being frozen - because a likely cure for his disease is still some years away.
He and his caretakers were also stiffed on the last job he took via clone, so he needs cash again.
This time a more mature version, so as not to be as emotionally 'unstable' as his freezers put it. Same sort of trouble and mayhem to get into, though.
2.5 out of 5
He and his caretakers were also stiffed on the last job he took via clone, so he needs cash again.
This time a more mature version, so as not to be as emotionally 'unstable' as his freezers put it. Same sort of trouble and mayhem to get into, though.
2.5 out of 5
The Widowmaker - Mike Resnick
Jefferson Nighthawk is the Widowmaker, famous lawman/bounty hunter of the frontier - who, as the name suggested, favoured the forceful and terminal solutions to the problems of bringing in the bad guys.
However, he was struck down by a non-curable degenerative disease, and had himself frozen until such time as a cure could be found.
Unfortunately for him, inflation goes crazy, and the money for keeping him alive disappears - leaving those in charge of him with no choice but to clone a younger version of him, and send him out to do what he does best for a large fee.
The usual over the top named characters of the Birthright universe can be found here, but this is pretty mediocre stuff.
3 out of 5
However, he was struck down by a non-curable degenerative disease, and had himself frozen until such time as a cure could be found.
Unfortunately for him, inflation goes crazy, and the money for keeping him alive disappears - leaving those in charge of him with no choice but to clone a younger version of him, and send him out to do what he does best for a large fee.
The usual over the top named characters of the Birthright universe can be found here, but this is pretty mediocre stuff.
3 out of 5
The Dark Dimensions - A. Bertram Chandler
The Faraway Quest, Grimes, and Kinsolving's planet. Out on the edges of the rim where the crack of opening a cold tinnie might be enough to send you onto an alternate time track or into an alternate universe.
When that can happen, you can get crossover! Here we have Grimes and Verrill, the ex-Empress Irene from another series, and Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry teaming up to take on some nogoodniks, even if this, plus a second Grimes instance constitutes a rather shaky alliance. Interesting to see Flandry from another major character's viewpoint for a fair amount of time to contrast to how he sees himself.
Plenty of fun and entertainment to be had here, complete with space witches.
Definitely one of the best of this series.
4 out of 5
When that can happen, you can get crossover! Here we have Grimes and Verrill, the ex-Empress Irene from another series, and Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry teaming up to take on some nogoodniks, even if this, plus a second Grimes instance constitutes a rather shaky alliance. Interesting to see Flandry from another major character's viewpoint for a fair amount of time to contrast to how he sees himself.
Plenty of fun and entertainment to be had here, complete with space witches.
Definitely one of the best of this series.
4 out of 5
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Gateway To Never 1-8 - A. Bertram Chandler
""A man called Adam. Rather before your time, and even mine. But go on."
"It was odd, sir. The smoke, I mean. She and I shared the pipe, passing it back and forth between us. It seemed that I was inhaling something of her, and that she was inhaling something of me. And it was like breathing in a fluid, a liquid, rather than a gas. A warm, sweet, very smooth liquid. And then, somehow, as we smoked we were . . . doing other things." Pleshoff blushed in embarrassment. "The people round us were . . . doing the same. But it wasn't always boys with girls. There were some boys with boys, and there were girls together. And the lights were dim, and dimmer all the time, and redder, and redder, like blood. But it wasn't frightening. It was all . . . warm, and . . . cozy. And there was a pulsing sound like a giant heartbeat. It must have been my own heart that I was hearing, or her heart, or the hearts of all of us. And we were very close, the two of us, all of us. And. . . .
"And we reached our climax. It's the usual way of putting it, sir, and the words are the right words, but . . . can you imagine an orgasm that's an implosion rather than an explosion? And after that there was the slow, slow falling into a deep velvety darkness, a warm darkness. . . .
"And. . . .
"And then it was morning. Most of the others were waking up too. It should have all looked very sordid in the first light, naked bodies sprawled everywhere, but it didn't. And I felt fine, just fine, as fine as everybody looked, as fine as I knew that I looked myself. Somebody had made coffee, and I'd never tasted coffee as good before. It tasted the way that coffee smells when it's being ground. And my cigarette tasted the way that somebody else's cigar usually smells. I'd have liked to have stayed for breakfast with the others, but I had to be getting back to the ship. After all, it was sailing day. So I got back to the ship. I was still feeling fine—on top of the world, on top of all the worlds. I just breezed through all the things I had to do."
"Including testing the gear," remarked Grimes.
Pleshoff's face lost its animation. "Yes, sir. The gear. I was there, by myself, in the control room. I saw that the inertial drive was already on Stand By. And then, quite suddenly, the thought came to me, 'Why shouldn't I show the old bastard—sorry, sir, the Old Man I mean-that he's not the only one who can handle a ship?' I knew that he was still in Captain Dunbar's office, and I thought it'd be a fine joke if he saw his precious Caribou lifting off without him."
"Mphm. A very fine joke," commented Grimes. "You may consider yourself highly fortunate that nobody was hurt or killed. Mphm. I suggest that you tell the authorities the name of your host on that unfortunate evening—although no doubt the local detective force is quite capable of finding it out for themselves. The real villain, of course, is the pusher. If you could name him you'd probably get off with a light sentence."
"I can't," said Pleshoff dully. "And if I could, I wouldn't.""
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0441370640/0441370640.htm
"It was odd, sir. The smoke, I mean. She and I shared the pipe, passing it back and forth between us. It seemed that I was inhaling something of her, and that she was inhaling something of me. And it was like breathing in a fluid, a liquid, rather than a gas. A warm, sweet, very smooth liquid. And then, somehow, as we smoked we were . . . doing other things." Pleshoff blushed in embarrassment. "The people round us were . . . doing the same. But it wasn't always boys with girls. There were some boys with boys, and there were girls together. And the lights were dim, and dimmer all the time, and redder, and redder, like blood. But it wasn't frightening. It was all . . . warm, and . . . cozy. And there was a pulsing sound like a giant heartbeat. It must have been my own heart that I was hearing, or her heart, or the hearts of all of us. And we were very close, the two of us, all of us. And. . . .
"And we reached our climax. It's the usual way of putting it, sir, and the words are the right words, but . . . can you imagine an orgasm that's an implosion rather than an explosion? And after that there was the slow, slow falling into a deep velvety darkness, a warm darkness. . . .
"And. . . .
"And then it was morning. Most of the others were waking up too. It should have all looked very sordid in the first light, naked bodies sprawled everywhere, but it didn't. And I felt fine, just fine, as fine as everybody looked, as fine as I knew that I looked myself. Somebody had made coffee, and I'd never tasted coffee as good before. It tasted the way that coffee smells when it's being ground. And my cigarette tasted the way that somebody else's cigar usually smells. I'd have liked to have stayed for breakfast with the others, but I had to be getting back to the ship. After all, it was sailing day. So I got back to the ship. I was still feeling fine—on top of the world, on top of all the worlds. I just breezed through all the things I had to do."
"Including testing the gear," remarked Grimes.
Pleshoff's face lost its animation. "Yes, sir. The gear. I was there, by myself, in the control room. I saw that the inertial drive was already on Stand By. And then, quite suddenly, the thought came to me, 'Why shouldn't I show the old bastard—sorry, sir, the Old Man I mean-that he's not the only one who can handle a ship?' I knew that he was still in Captain Dunbar's office, and I thought it'd be a fine joke if he saw his precious Caribou lifting off without him."
"Mphm. A very fine joke," commented Grimes. "You may consider yourself highly fortunate that nobody was hurt or killed. Mphm. I suggest that you tell the authorities the name of your host on that unfortunate evening—although no doubt the local detective force is quite capable of finding it out for themselves. The real villain, of course, is the pusher. If you could name him you'd probably get off with a light sentence."
"I can't," said Pleshoff dully. "And if I could, I wouldn't.""
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0441370640/0441370640.htm
Gateway To Never - A. Bertram Chandler
Grimes gets involved in some anti-drug activity. Where there is dodginess and crime likely you will find Drongo Kane, his enemy.
""I don't know what today's young people are coming to," complained Captain Dunbar as he and Grimes left the jail. "Drugs. Orgies."
"I've never taken part in an orgy," said Grimes rather wistfully. "Have you?"
"Of course not!" snapped Dunbar, looking at his superior in a rather dubious manner. Then, apparently having decided that the Commodore must have been joking, he went on, "Until now we've been clear of all this sort of thing on the Rim Worlds. I always said that it was a big mistake to open these planets to intergalactic trade."
"Mphm. Where am I staying, by the way?"
"We've booked you into the Rimrock House, Commodore."
Grimes sighed. There was a Rimrock House at Port Forlorn, on Lorn, another one at Port Farewell, on Faraway, yet another at Port Edgell, on Thule. From time to time he had stayed at them all. They were the most expensive hotels on the Rim Worlds—but by no means the best. He would have preferred some place with a less pretentious menu but far better food, with the staff not rigged out like Galactic High Admirals, but with far better service. But it would be only for a few days, until he had this Rim Caribou mess sorted out."
2.5 out of 5
""I don't know what today's young people are coming to," complained Captain Dunbar as he and Grimes left the jail. "Drugs. Orgies."
"I've never taken part in an orgy," said Grimes rather wistfully. "Have you?"
"Of course not!" snapped Dunbar, looking at his superior in a rather dubious manner. Then, apparently having decided that the Commodore must have been joking, he went on, "Until now we've been clear of all this sort of thing on the Rim Worlds. I always said that it was a big mistake to open these planets to intergalactic trade."
"Mphm. Where am I staying, by the way?"
"We've booked you into the Rimrock House, Commodore."
Grimes sighed. There was a Rimrock House at Port Forlorn, on Lorn, another one at Port Farewell, on Faraway, yet another at Port Edgell, on Thule. From time to time he had stayed at them all. They were the most expensive hotels on the Rim Worlds—but by no means the best. He would have preferred some place with a less pretentious menu but far better food, with the staff not rigged out like Galactic High Admirals, but with far better service. But it would be only for a few days, until he had this Rim Caribou mess sorted out."
2.5 out of 5
Contraband From Otherspace 1-6 - A. Bertram Chandler
""I seem to recall," Grimes told her, "that there was once a warship called Dreadnought—and the dreadnoughts have been a class of warship ever since the first ironclads were launched on Earth's seas."
"All right, Mr. amateur naval historian—but have you ever, in the course of your very wide reading on your favorite subject, come across mention of a ship called Destroyer—and spelled without a single 'E'? There are non-humans mixed up in this somewhere—and highly intelligent non-humans at that."
"And humans," said Grimes.
"But we'll never find out anything just by talking about it," grumbled the Mate. "An' the sooner we take this bitch in tow, the shorter the long drag back to Port Forlorn. I'd make fast alongside—but even here, in the blast shadow, that hull is too damn' hot. It'll have to be tow wires from the outriggers—an' keep our fingers crossed that they don't get cut by our exhaust . . ."
"Take her in tow, then board," said Sonya.
"O' course. First things first. There'll be nobody alive inside that radio-active can . . ."
The intercommunication telephone was buzzing furiously. Grimes picked up the instrument. "Commodore here."
"Mayhew, sir." The telepath's voice was oddly muffled. He sounded as though he had been crying. "It's Lassie, sir. She's dead. . . ."
A happy release, thought Grimes. But what am I supposed to do about it?
"One of her nightmares, sir," Mayhew babbled on. "I was inside her mind, and I tried to awaken her. But I couldn't. There was this huge rat—and there were the sharp yellow teeth of it, and the stink of it. . . . It was so . . . it was so real, so vivid. And it was the fear that killed her—I could feel her fear, and it was almost too much for me. . . ."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Mayhew," said Grimes inadequately. "I'm sorry. I will see you later. But we are just about to take the derelict in tow, and we are busy."
"I . . . I understand, sir.""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0441371086/0441371086.htm
"All right, Mr. amateur naval historian—but have you ever, in the course of your very wide reading on your favorite subject, come across mention of a ship called Destroyer—and spelled without a single 'E'? There are non-humans mixed up in this somewhere—and highly intelligent non-humans at that."
"And humans," said Grimes.
"But we'll never find out anything just by talking about it," grumbled the Mate. "An' the sooner we take this bitch in tow, the shorter the long drag back to Port Forlorn. I'd make fast alongside—but even here, in the blast shadow, that hull is too damn' hot. It'll have to be tow wires from the outriggers—an' keep our fingers crossed that they don't get cut by our exhaust . . ."
"Take her in tow, then board," said Sonya.
"O' course. First things first. There'll be nobody alive inside that radio-active can . . ."
The intercommunication telephone was buzzing furiously. Grimes picked up the instrument. "Commodore here."
"Mayhew, sir." The telepath's voice was oddly muffled. He sounded as though he had been crying. "It's Lassie, sir. She's dead. . . ."
A happy release, thought Grimes. But what am I supposed to do about it?
"One of her nightmares, sir," Mayhew babbled on. "I was inside her mind, and I tried to awaken her. But I couldn't. There was this huge rat—and there were the sharp yellow teeth of it, and the stink of it. . . . It was so . . . it was so real, so vivid. And it was the fear that killed her—I could feel her fear, and it was almost too much for me. . . ."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Mayhew," said Grimes inadequately. "I'm sorry. I will see you later. But we are just about to take the derelict in tow, and we are busy."
"I . . . I understand, sir.""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0441371086/0441371086.htm
Contraband From Otherspace - A. Bertram Chandler
Grimes and Verrill are now married, and are mostly aware of what they are going to be up to.
However, something strange appears - and it is up to the telepathic abilities of a psionic officer to try and found out what.
What appears to be somewhat scary - another race of spacefarers with technology levels that could provide competition.
Decidedly not monkeyboys - they have tails and sharp teeth.
3.5 out of 5
However, something strange appears - and it is up to the telepathic abilities of a psionic officer to try and found out what.
What appears to be somewhat scary - another race of spacefarers with technology levels that could provide competition.
Decidedly not monkeyboys - they have tails and sharp teeth.
3.5 out of 5
Into the Alternate Universe 1-6 - A. Bertram Chandler
"Things are different now, Commodore."
"Like hell they are. Anyhow, Sonya, you can talk freely now. This office is regularly debugged."
"Debugged, John?"
"Yes. Every now and again high-ups in the various Ministries decide that they aren't told enough of Rim Runners' affairs—of course, the Aeriel business made me very unpopular, and if Ralph Listowel hadn't got results, serendipitous ones at that, I'd have been out on my arse. And then your people manage to plant an occasional bug themselves."
"Come off it, John."
"Still playing the little, wooly, lamb, Sonya?"
She grinned. "It's part of my job. Perhaps the most important part."
"And what's the job this time?"
"There won't be any job unless our Ambassador to the Rim Confederation manages to talk your President into supplying help. But I think that he will. Relations have been fairly friendly since your autonomy was recognized."
"If you want a ship," said Grimes, "the charter rates will be favorable to ourselves. But surely the Federation has tonnage to spare. There are all the Commission's vessels as well as your own Survey Service wagons."
"Yes, we've plenty of ships," she admitted. "And plenty of personnel. But it's know-how that we're after. You hardly need to be told that your people have converted this sector of Space into your own backyard, and put up a big sign, No Trespassing. Even so, we hear things. Such as Rim Ghosts, and the winds of it that blew your pet Aeriel through about half a dozen alternative time tracks. And there was that business of the wet paint on Kinsolving's Planet years ago—but that, of course, was before you became autonomous, so we had the job of handling it . . . ."
"And the Outsider's ship . . ." supplied Grimes.
"No. Not in the same class, John. She'd drifted in, or been placed there, by visitors from another Galaxy. And, in any case, we're already in on that." She held out her glass for a refill.
"You're welcome, Sonya, but . . ."
"Don't worry John. Olga Popovsky, the Beautiful Spy with hollow legs—that's me."
"You know your own capacity."
"Of course. Thank you. Now, as I was saying, our top brass is interested in all the odd things that seem to happen only in this sector of Space, and the Rhine Institute boys are interested too. It was decided that there was only one Intelligence Officer in the Service with anything approaching an intimate knowledge of the Rim. I needn't tell you who that is. It was decided, too, that I'd work better if allowed to beg, borrow or steal Rim Worlds' personnel. Oh, the Service can afford to pay Award rates, and above. Frankly, when I was offered the job I almost turned it down. I know the Rim—but my memories of this sector of Space aren't all too happy . . ." She leaned forward in her chair, put her slim hand on Grimes' knee. "But . . ."
"But what, Sonya?"
"All this business of Rim Ghosts, all these theories about the curtains between the alternative universes wearing thin here, on the very edge of the expanding Galaxy . . . You know something of my history, John. You know that there have only been two men, real men, in my life. Bill Maudsley, who found the Outsiders' quarantine station, and who paid for the discovery with his life. And Derek Calver, whose first loyalties were, after all, to Jane . . . Damn it all, John, I'm no chicken. I'm rather tired of playing the part of a lone wolf—or a lone bitch, if you like. I want me a man—but the right man—and I want to settle down. I shall be due a very handsome gratuity from the Service when I retire, and there are still sparsely settled systems in this Galaxy where a little, one-ship company could provide its owners and operators with a very comfortable living . . . ."
"So?"
"So it's bloody obvious. I've been put in charge of this wild goose chase—and with any luck at all I shall catch me my own wild gander. Surely there must be some alternative Universe in which I shall find either Bill or Derek, with no strings attached."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0441371094/0441371094.htm
"Like hell they are. Anyhow, Sonya, you can talk freely now. This office is regularly debugged."
"Debugged, John?"
"Yes. Every now and again high-ups in the various Ministries decide that they aren't told enough of Rim Runners' affairs—of course, the Aeriel business made me very unpopular, and if Ralph Listowel hadn't got results, serendipitous ones at that, I'd have been out on my arse. And then your people manage to plant an occasional bug themselves."
"Come off it, John."
"Still playing the little, wooly, lamb, Sonya?"
She grinned. "It's part of my job. Perhaps the most important part."
"And what's the job this time?"
"There won't be any job unless our Ambassador to the Rim Confederation manages to talk your President into supplying help. But I think that he will. Relations have been fairly friendly since your autonomy was recognized."
"If you want a ship," said Grimes, "the charter rates will be favorable to ourselves. But surely the Federation has tonnage to spare. There are all the Commission's vessels as well as your own Survey Service wagons."
"Yes, we've plenty of ships," she admitted. "And plenty of personnel. But it's know-how that we're after. You hardly need to be told that your people have converted this sector of Space into your own backyard, and put up a big sign, No Trespassing. Even so, we hear things. Such as Rim Ghosts, and the winds of it that blew your pet Aeriel through about half a dozen alternative time tracks. And there was that business of the wet paint on Kinsolving's Planet years ago—but that, of course, was before you became autonomous, so we had the job of handling it . . . ."
"And the Outsider's ship . . ." supplied Grimes.
"No. Not in the same class, John. She'd drifted in, or been placed there, by visitors from another Galaxy. And, in any case, we're already in on that." She held out her glass for a refill.
"You're welcome, Sonya, but . . ."
"Don't worry John. Olga Popovsky, the Beautiful Spy with hollow legs—that's me."
"You know your own capacity."
"Of course. Thank you. Now, as I was saying, our top brass is interested in all the odd things that seem to happen only in this sector of Space, and the Rhine Institute boys are interested too. It was decided that there was only one Intelligence Officer in the Service with anything approaching an intimate knowledge of the Rim. I needn't tell you who that is. It was decided, too, that I'd work better if allowed to beg, borrow or steal Rim Worlds' personnel. Oh, the Service can afford to pay Award rates, and above. Frankly, when I was offered the job I almost turned it down. I know the Rim—but my memories of this sector of Space aren't all too happy . . ." She leaned forward in her chair, put her slim hand on Grimes' knee. "But . . ."
"But what, Sonya?"
"All this business of Rim Ghosts, all these theories about the curtains between the alternative universes wearing thin here, on the very edge of the expanding Galaxy . . . You know something of my history, John. You know that there have only been two men, real men, in my life. Bill Maudsley, who found the Outsiders' quarantine station, and who paid for the discovery with his life. And Derek Calver, whose first loyalties were, after all, to Jane . . . Damn it all, John, I'm no chicken. I'm rather tired of playing the part of a lone wolf—or a lone bitch, if you like. I want me a man—but the right man—and I want to settle down. I shall be due a very handsome gratuity from the Service when I retire, and there are still sparsely settled systems in this Galaxy where a little, one-ship company could provide its owners and operators with a very comfortable living . . . ."
"So?"
"So it's bloody obvious. I've been put in charge of this wild goose chase—and with any luck at all I shall catch me my own wild gander. Surely there must be some alternative Universe in which I shall find either Bill or Derek, with no strings attached."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0441371094/0441371094.htm
Into the Alternate Universe - A. Bertram Chandler
John Grimes is pleased to see Sonya Verrill, although perhaps a little disappointed when she talks about looking for old flames and maybe settling down.
Of interest, however, is hunting for Rim Ghosts - and especially when you find more - an ancient, stranded ship from the early days of exploration.
Especially with the possible of information, or even revival of some of the frozen crew.
3.5 out of 5
Of interest, however, is hunting for Rim Ghosts - and especially when you find more - an ancient, stranded ship from the early days of exploration.
Especially with the possible of information, or even revival of some of the frozen crew.
3.5 out of 5
The Way Back 1-7 - A. Bertram Chandler
"He had been recalled to active duty in the Rim Worlds Navy to head an expedition out to that huge and uncanny artifact known sometimes as The Outsiders' Ship, sometimes simply as The Outsider. The Quest had carried, in addition to her Service personnel—most of them, like Grimes himself, Naval Reservists—a number of civilian scientists and technicians led by a Dr. Druthen. Druthen and his people had turned out to be agents of the Duchy of Waldegren, a planet-nation with which the Confederacy, although not actually at war, was on far from friendly terms. Waldegren had sent the destroyer Adler to support Druthen and to dispute Grimes' claims to The Outsider.
The arrival on the scene of armed Waldegrenese, in addition to Druthen and his hijackers, would have been bad enough—but there were further complications. It seemed that The Outsiders' Ship existed, somehow, as a single entity in a multiplicity of dimensions. It was at a junction of Time Tracks. Another Faraway Quest, with another Commodore Grimes in command, had joined the party, as had the armed—heavily armed—yacht Wanderer, owned by the ex-Empress Irene, who had once ruled a Galactic Empire in a Universe unknown to either of the Grimeses. And there had been a Captain Sir Dominic Flandry in his Vindictive, serving an Empire unknown on the Time Tracks of either of the two Confederate Commodores or the ex-Empress. There had been flag-plantings, claims and counter claims, mutiny, piracy, seizure and, eventually, a naval action involving Faraway Quest II, Vindictive, Wanderer and Adler. This had been fought in close proximity to The Outsider—and The Outsider had somehow flung the embattled ships away from it. They had vanished like snuffed candles. And then Grimes I, with the hijackers overpowered and imprisoned, had arrived belatedly on the scene in his Faraway Quest and had boarded the huge vessel, if vessel it was, the vast, fantastic hulk, and had been admitted into the enormous construction that looked more like a gigantic fairy-tale castle adrift in nothingness than a ship.
Druthen and his surviving followers had escaped from imprisonment in the Quest and had also boarded The Outsider. A fire fight had broken out between the two parties. And then . . .
And then the alien intelligence inside The Outsider, that perhaps was The Outsider, had thrown them out. Literally. It had cast them away in Time as well as in Space and they had found themselves marooned on what seemed to be Kinsolving's Planet, the so-called "haunted world," somewhen in the distant Past, before the appearance of that long-extinct human or humanoid race who had left, as the only evidence for their ever having been, the famous cave paintings.
Perhaps Druthen and the men and women in his party were the ancestors of those mysterious artists."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0879973528/0879973528.htm
The arrival on the scene of armed Waldegrenese, in addition to Druthen and his hijackers, would have been bad enough—but there were further complications. It seemed that The Outsiders' Ship existed, somehow, as a single entity in a multiplicity of dimensions. It was at a junction of Time Tracks. Another Faraway Quest, with another Commodore Grimes in command, had joined the party, as had the armed—heavily armed—yacht Wanderer, owned by the ex-Empress Irene, who had once ruled a Galactic Empire in a Universe unknown to either of the Grimeses. And there had been a Captain Sir Dominic Flandry in his Vindictive, serving an Empire unknown on the Time Tracks of either of the two Confederate Commodores or the ex-Empress. There had been flag-plantings, claims and counter claims, mutiny, piracy, seizure and, eventually, a naval action involving Faraway Quest II, Vindictive, Wanderer and Adler. This had been fought in close proximity to The Outsider—and The Outsider had somehow flung the embattled ships away from it. They had vanished like snuffed candles. And then Grimes I, with the hijackers overpowered and imprisoned, had arrived belatedly on the scene in his Faraway Quest and had boarded the huge vessel, if vessel it was, the vast, fantastic hulk, and had been admitted into the enormous construction that looked more like a gigantic fairy-tale castle adrift in nothingness than a ship.
Druthen and his surviving followers had escaped from imprisonment in the Quest and had also boarded The Outsider. A fire fight had broken out between the two parties. And then . . .
And then the alien intelligence inside The Outsider, that perhaps was The Outsider, had thrown them out. Literally. It had cast them away in Time as well as in Space and they had found themselves marooned on what seemed to be Kinsolving's Planet, the so-called "haunted world," somewhen in the distant Past, before the appearance of that long-extinct human or humanoid race who had left, as the only evidence for their ever having been, the famous cave paintings.
Perhaps Druthen and the men and women in his party were the ancestors of those mysterious artists."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0879973528/0879973528.htm
The Way Back - A. Bertram Chandler
Out from Kinsolving's planet still leaves John Grimes and Sonya Verrill a problem after leaving that strange joint.
Where do they go now?
Or if you want an easy trip, stay away from there :-
"Put the Macbeth and Kinsolving suns in line astern, thought Grimes, and keep them so. Run out fifty light years on the leads . . . He thought the words but refrained from saying them aloud. Those steering directions had been valid when Faraway Quest had lifted from Port Forlorn only a few weeks ago—as Time had been measured by her chronometers, experienced by her people. But the Clock had been put back—not by minutes, hours, days or even centuries, but by millennia. Faraway Quest was lost—in Time and Space. Grimes could envisage dimly the sluggish writhings of the matter-and-energy entity that was the Galaxy, the crawling extension of the spiral arms, the births and the deaths of suns and planets. Was there yet Earth, the womb and the cradle of Humanity? Did Man—in this Now—already walk upon the surface of the home world, or were the first mammals still scurrying in terror under the great, taloned feet of the dinosaurs?"
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0879973528/0879973528.htm
Where do they go now?
Or if you want an easy trip, stay away from there :-
"Put the Macbeth and Kinsolving suns in line astern, thought Grimes, and keep them so. Run out fifty light years on the leads . . . He thought the words but refrained from saying them aloud. Those steering directions had been valid when Faraway Quest had lifted from Port Forlorn only a few weeks ago—as Time had been measured by her chronometers, experienced by her people. But the Clock had been put back—not by minutes, hours, days or even centuries, but by millennia. Faraway Quest was lost—in Time and Space. Grimes could envisage dimly the sluggish writhings of the matter-and-energy entity that was the Galaxy, the crawling extension of the spiral arms, the births and the deaths of suns and planets. Was there yet Earth, the womb and the cradle of Humanity? Did Man—in this Now—already walk upon the surface of the home world, or were the first mammals still scurrying in terror under the great, taloned feet of the dinosaurs?"
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0879973528/0879973528.htm
Friday, October 2, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Mirkheim 7 - Poul Anderson
"Instruments accumulated ever better data, computers analyzed, until it was clear that the strange craft was approximately the size of Alpha, surely as well armed. At last the captain's face reappeared. He was pale. "Madame, we've received a vocal communication. It goes . . . goes . . . quote, 'You will come no nearer, but will match hypervelocity to ours and stand by for orders.' Close quote. That's how it goes."
Eric reddened. Sandra peeled lips back from teeth and said, "We'll go along. However, phrase your acknowledgment, hm, 'We will do as you request.'"
"Thank you, Your Grace!" The captain's whole being registered an appreciation that should spread through the crew . . . though doubtless the Anglic nuance would quite go by the Baburites.
Still the viewscreens held only stars. Sandra could imagine the foreign ship, a spheroid like hers, never meant to land on a planet, studded with gun emplacements, missile launchers, energy projectors, armored in forcefields and steel, magazines bearing the death of half a continent. She would not see it in reality. Even if they fought, she probably never would. The flesh aboard it and the flesh aboard Alpha would not touch, would not witness each other's perishing nor hear the anguish of the wounded. The abstractness was nightmarish. Peter Asmundsen, Nicholas van Rijn, she herself had ever been in the middle of their own doings: a danger dared, a blow struck or taken, a word spoken, a hand clasped, all in the living presence of the doers. Is our time past? Is the whole wild, happy age of the pioneers? Are we today crossing the threshold of the future?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___8.htm
Eric reddened. Sandra peeled lips back from teeth and said, "We'll go along. However, phrase your acknowledgment, hm, 'We will do as you request.'"
"Thank you, Your Grace!" The captain's whole being registered an appreciation that should spread through the crew . . . though doubtless the Anglic nuance would quite go by the Baburites.
Still the viewscreens held only stars. Sandra could imagine the foreign ship, a spheroid like hers, never meant to land on a planet, studded with gun emplacements, missile launchers, energy projectors, armored in forcefields and steel, magazines bearing the death of half a continent. She would not see it in reality. Even if they fought, she probably never would. The flesh aboard it and the flesh aboard Alpha would not touch, would not witness each other's perishing nor hear the anguish of the wounded. The abstractness was nightmarish. Peter Asmundsen, Nicholas van Rijn, she herself had ever been in the middle of their own doings: a danger dared, a blow struck or taken, a word spoken, a hand clasped, all in the living presence of the doers. Is our time past? Is the whole wild, happy age of the pioneers? Are we today crossing the threshold of the future?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___8.htm
Mirkheim 6 - Poul Anderson
""I don't know everything," Wyler admitted. "Goddamn, this planet's got eight times the surface of Earth, most of it land surface. Why shouldn't the Imperial Band feel confident?" He thrust out his jaw. "And that will be the last question you get to ask, Falkayn. I'm starting now."
Chee's restlessness had brought her near the Merseian, His alertness had focused itself back on the seated humans. Abruptly she made a final leap, sidewise but straight at him. Landing halfway up his belly, she gripped fast to his garment with her toes while both arms wrapped around his gun hand. He yelled and tried to draw regardless. She was too strong; she clung. He hammered at her with his free fist. Her teeth raked blood from it.
Adzel had taken a single stride. It brought him in reach of Wyler, whom he plucked from the chair, lowered, and bowled backward across the floor. His tail slapped down over the man's midriff to hold him pinioned. Meanwhile Adzel kept moving. He got to Blyndwyr, picked him up by the neck, shook him carefully, and set him down in a stunned condition. Chee hauled the blaster loose and scampered aside. Wyler was struggling to get at his gun. Falkayn arrived and took the weapon from its holster.
Adzel released Wyler and stepped back with his comrades. Wyler lurched to his feet; Blyndwyr sat gasping. "Are you crazy?" the human chattered. "What is this nonsense, you can't—can't—""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___7.htm
Chee's restlessness had brought her near the Merseian, His alertness had focused itself back on the seated humans. Abruptly she made a final leap, sidewise but straight at him. Landing halfway up his belly, she gripped fast to his garment with her toes while both arms wrapped around his gun hand. He yelled and tried to draw regardless. She was too strong; she clung. He hammered at her with his free fist. Her teeth raked blood from it.
Adzel had taken a single stride. It brought him in reach of Wyler, whom he plucked from the chair, lowered, and bowled backward across the floor. His tail slapped down over the man's midriff to hold him pinioned. Meanwhile Adzel kept moving. He got to Blyndwyr, picked him up by the neck, shook him carefully, and set him down in a stunned condition. Chee hauled the blaster loose and scampered aside. Wyler was struggling to get at his gun. Falkayn arrived and took the weapon from its holster.
Adzel released Wyler and stepped back with his comrades. Wyler lurched to his feet; Blyndwyr sat gasping. "Are you crazy?" the human chattered. "What is this nonsense, you can't—can't—""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___7.htm
Mirkheim 5 - Poul Anderson
"Nobody paid attention until too late, Falkayn thought. Not to hydrogen breathers, who are alien, who can offer us oxygen breathers very little in the way of markets or resources, and by the same token should find nothing to quarrel with us about. There were too many planets which did lure us with treasure, with homesteads, with native beings not hopelessly unlike ourselves. We scarcely remembered that Babur existed—a whole world, as old and many-faced and full of marvels as ever Earth was.
"I think I know where their missing ships are," Chee said. "They were never intended to orbit idle."
Falkayn's mind paced a rutted track: How did Babur do it—how build up so great a strength in a mere twenty or thirty years? They couldn't simply put armament on copies of the few merchant vessels they'd produced. Nor could they simply work from plans of human men-of-war. Everything had to be adapted to the peculiar conditions of Babur, the peculiar requirements of its life forms.
He recalled the shapes of the ships escorting his, bulge-bellied as if pregnant (with what sort of birth to come?). The extra volume housed cryogenic tanks. Air recycling alone was not adequate for hydrogen breathers, whose atmosphere leaked slowly out between the atoms of a hull and must be replenished from liquid gases. A thin plating of a particular supermetal alloy could cure that—but no Baburite knew there was a Mirkheim when the decision was made to found a navy. And the leakage problem was only the most easy and obvious of those the engineers had met.
The research and development effort before manufacture could begin must have been extraordinarily sophisticated. How could the Baburites complete it in the time it had actually taken, they who had never gotten off their home world when men first found them?
Could they have hired outside experts? If so, whose, and how could they pay them?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___6.htm
"I think I know where their missing ships are," Chee said. "They were never intended to orbit idle."
Falkayn's mind paced a rutted track: How did Babur do it—how build up so great a strength in a mere twenty or thirty years? They couldn't simply put armament on copies of the few merchant vessels they'd produced. Nor could they simply work from plans of human men-of-war. Everything had to be adapted to the peculiar conditions of Babur, the peculiar requirements of its life forms.
He recalled the shapes of the ships escorting his, bulge-bellied as if pregnant (with what sort of birth to come?). The extra volume housed cryogenic tanks. Air recycling alone was not adequate for hydrogen breathers, whose atmosphere leaked slowly out between the atoms of a hull and must be replenished from liquid gases. A thin plating of a particular supermetal alloy could cure that—but no Baburite knew there was a Mirkheim when the decision was made to found a navy. And the leakage problem was only the most easy and obvious of those the engineers had met.
The research and development effort before manufacture could begin must have been extraordinarily sophisticated. How could the Baburites complete it in the time it had actually taken, they who had never gotten off their home world when men first found them?
Could they have hired outside experts? If so, whose, and how could they pay them?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___6.htm
Mirkheim 4 - Poul Anderson
"David Falkayn, Chee Lan, Adzel, and Muddlehead were in the saloon playing poker. Rather, the first three were. The computer was represented by an audiovisual sensor and a pair of metal arms. It was an advanced model, functioning at consciousness level, very little of its capability needed en route to maintain the systems of the ship. The live travelers had even less to do.
"I'll bet a credit," said Chee. A blue chip clattered to the middle of the table.
"Dear me." Adzel laid down his hand. "Can I fetch more refreshment for anyone?"
"Thanks." Falkayn held out an empty beer mug. "I'll raise." He doubled the bet. After half a minute during which the faint purr of engines and ventilators came through silence: "Hey, Muddlehead, what's keeping you?"
"The probabilities for and against me are calculable as being exactly balanced," said the flat artificial voice. Electronic brooding continued for a few seconds. "Very well," it decided, and matched Falkayn.
"Ki-yao?" wondered Chee. Her whiskers dithered, her tail switched the stool on which she sat. "Well, if you insist." She raised back.
Inwardly, the human jubilated. He had a full house. Outwardly, he pretended to ponder before he raised again. Muddlehead saw him. "Are you sure you don't need some readjustment somewhere?" Falkayn asked it.
"Whom the gods would destroy," said Chee smugly. Again she raised back. Meanwhile Adzel, his hoofs thudding on the carpet, returned with Falkayn's beer. The Wodenite himself refrained from drinking it on a voyage—no ship could have carried enough—and instead sipped a martini in a one-liter chillglass.
Falkayn raised another credit. Muddlehead saw. Chee and Falkayn peered its way, as if they could read an expression in the vitryl lens. Slowly, Chee added two chips to the pot. Falkayn suppressed a grin and raised once more. Muddlehead raised back. Chee's fur stood on end. "Damn your mendacious transistors to hell!" she screamed, and threw down her hand.
Falkayn hesitated. Muddlehead had implied its cards were mediocre, but—He called. His opponent revealed four queens.
"What the jumping blue blazes?" Falkayn half rose. "You said the probabilities—"
"I referred to the odds in favor of suckering you," explained Muddlehead, and raked in the pot."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___5.htm
"I'll bet a credit," said Chee. A blue chip clattered to the middle of the table.
"Dear me." Adzel laid down his hand. "Can I fetch more refreshment for anyone?"
"Thanks." Falkayn held out an empty beer mug. "I'll raise." He doubled the bet. After half a minute during which the faint purr of engines and ventilators came through silence: "Hey, Muddlehead, what's keeping you?"
"The probabilities for and against me are calculable as being exactly balanced," said the flat artificial voice. Electronic brooding continued for a few seconds. "Very well," it decided, and matched Falkayn.
"Ki-yao?" wondered Chee. Her whiskers dithered, her tail switched the stool on which she sat. "Well, if you insist." She raised back.
Inwardly, the human jubilated. He had a full house. Outwardly, he pretended to ponder before he raised again. Muddlehead saw him. "Are you sure you don't need some readjustment somewhere?" Falkayn asked it.
"Whom the gods would destroy," said Chee smugly. Again she raised back. Meanwhile Adzel, his hoofs thudding on the carpet, returned with Falkayn's beer. The Wodenite himself refrained from drinking it on a voyage—no ship could have carried enough—and instead sipped a martini in a one-liter chillglass.
Falkayn raised another credit. Muddlehead saw. Chee and Falkayn peered its way, as if they could read an expression in the vitryl lens. Slowly, Chee added two chips to the pot. Falkayn suppressed a grin and raised once more. Muddlehead raised back. Chee's fur stood on end. "Damn your mendacious transistors to hell!" she screamed, and threw down her hand.
Falkayn hesitated. Muddlehead had implied its cards were mediocre, but—He called. His opponent revealed four queens.
"What the jumping blue blazes?" Falkayn half rose. "You said the probabilities—"
"I referred to the odds in favor of suckering you," explained Muddlehead, and raked in the pot."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___5.htm
Mirkheim 3 - Poul Anderson
""Well," she said. "What do you have in mind?"
"We should see if we can compromise, or if not that, map out our areas of disagreement. Right?" Story supplied.
"Also horse-trade information," van Rijn said.
"That can be a mighty valuable commodity, especially when it's in short supply," Story observed.
"I hope you realize neither of us can make promises, Freeman van Rijn." Lennart clipped off each word. "We are simply executives of our corporations." She herself was a vice president of Global Cybernetics. "And in fact, neither the Home Companies nor the Seven form a monolith. They are only tied together by certain business agreements."
The recital of what a schoolboy should know did not insult van Rijn. "Plus interlocking directorates," he added blandly, taking up a tiny sandwich of smoked eel upon cold scrambled egg. "Besides, each of you got more voice in things than you let on, ja, you can bellow like wounded blast furnaces any time you want. And those business agreements, what they mean is the Seven is one cartel and the Home Companies another, and got plenty of political flunkies in high places."
"Not us in the Commonwealth," Story said. "That's become your plutocracy, Freelady Lennart, not ours."
Her thin cheeks flushed. "You can say that truly of your poor little puppet states on their poor little planets," she retorted. "As for the Commonwealth, we've now had fifty years of progressive reforms to strengthen democracy."
"By damn," van Rijn muttered, "maybe you really believe that.""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___4.htm
"We should see if we can compromise, or if not that, map out our areas of disagreement. Right?" Story supplied.
"Also horse-trade information," van Rijn said.
"That can be a mighty valuable commodity, especially when it's in short supply," Story observed.
"I hope you realize neither of us can make promises, Freeman van Rijn." Lennart clipped off each word. "We are simply executives of our corporations." She herself was a vice president of Global Cybernetics. "And in fact, neither the Home Companies nor the Seven form a monolith. They are only tied together by certain business agreements."
The recital of what a schoolboy should know did not insult van Rijn. "Plus interlocking directorates," he added blandly, taking up a tiny sandwich of smoked eel upon cold scrambled egg. "Besides, each of you got more voice in things than you let on, ja, you can bellow like wounded blast furnaces any time you want. And those business agreements, what they mean is the Seven is one cartel and the Home Companies another, and got plenty of political flunkies in high places."
"Not us in the Commonwealth," Story said. "That's become your plutocracy, Freelady Lennart, not ours."
Her thin cheeks flushed. "You can say that truly of your poor little puppet states on their poor little planets," she retorted. "As for the Commonwealth, we've now had fifty years of progressive reforms to strengthen democracy."
"By damn," van Rijn muttered, "maybe you really believe that.""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___4.htm
Mirkheim 2 - Poul Anderson
"The room where they met was intended for confidential conferences: long, darkly wood-paneled, its windows open on a lawn where a mastiff kept watch. She had made it her own with souvenirs of her youthful offplanet travels: pictures of exotic scenes, odd little bits of art, weapons intended for nonhuman hands racked on the wall. Entering some minutes in advance of appointment time, she found her eye falling on a battle-ax from Diomedes. Her spirit followed, back through years, to Nicholas van Rijn.
She had never loved the merchant. In many ways, even at that unfastidious stage of her life, she found him almost unendurably primitive. But that same raw vigor had saved both their lives on Diomedes. And she was looking for a man who would be a partner, neither domineering nor subservient toward her who was the likeliest successor to the throne of Hermes. (Duke Robert was then old and childless. His niece Sandra was a natural choice for the electors, since not much else could be said for any of the other possible Tamarins.) Nobody she had met on Hermes had greatly stirred her, which was one reason why she went touring. Whatever his flaws, van Rijn was not a man she could be casual about. No previous affair of hers had been as full of thunderstorms and earthquakes—nor of memories to laugh or exult at afterward. When a year had passed, she knew he wouldn't consider marriage, or anything else she might want that he didn't. Eric was in her womb, because at the time she had been an ardent eugenicist. Regardless, she left. Van Rijn made no effort to stop her."
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___3.htm
She had never loved the merchant. In many ways, even at that unfastidious stage of her life, she found him almost unendurably primitive. But that same raw vigor had saved both their lives on Diomedes. And she was looking for a man who would be a partner, neither domineering nor subservient toward her who was the likeliest successor to the throne of Hermes. (Duke Robert was then old and childless. His niece Sandra was a natural choice for the electors, since not much else could be said for any of the other possible Tamarins.) Nobody she had met on Hermes had greatly stirred her, which was one reason why she went touring. Whatever his flaws, van Rijn was not a man she could be casual about. No previous affair of hers had been as full of thunderstorms and earthquakes—nor of memories to laugh or exult at afterward. When a year had passed, she knew he wouldn't consider marriage, or anything else she might want that he didn't. Eric was in her womb, because at the time she had been an ardent eugenicist. Regardless, she left. Van Rijn made no effort to stop her."
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___3.htm
Mirkheim 1 - Poul Anderson
"I wish this could go on forever," Coya Falkayn murmured.
Her husband attempted a chuckle. "No, you don't, sweetheart. I never knew a girl who has less tolerance of monotony than you, or more talent for driving it off."
"Oh, I wish a lot of things would be eternal—but concurrently, you understand," she said. He could hear how she, too, strove for lightness. "Life should be a Cantorian aleph-one. An infinity of infinities to you, my dear mathematical hobblewit."
Instead, he thought, we move through a single space-time on our single tracks, for a hundred years or thereabouts if we have the best antisenescence regimes available to us—or less, of course, if something happens to chop a particular world line short, I don't mind my own mortality too much, Coya; but how I resent yours!"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___2.htm
Her husband attempted a chuckle. "No, you don't, sweetheart. I never knew a girl who has less tolerance of monotony than you, or more talent for driving it off."
"Oh, I wish a lot of things would be eternal—but concurrently, you understand," she said. He could hear how she, too, strove for lightness. "Life should be a Cantorian aleph-one. An infinity of infinities to you, my dear mathematical hobblewit."
Instead, he thought, we move through a single space-time on our single tracks, for a hundred years or thereabouts if we have the best antisenescence regimes available to us—or less, of course, if something happens to chop a particular world line short, I don't mind my own mortality too much, Coya; but how I resent yours!"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___2.htm
Mirkheim Prologue - Poul Anderson
""But you'd better grab the chance to contact her when it comes, right, Gunung Tuan?" Coya replied. "Go ahead. Davy and I will admire the view." She didn't suggest he take the call in a different room. That he could trust them as he did himself went without saying. As confidence dwindled in public institutions, those of the Solar Commonwealth and the Polesotechnic League alike, loyalties grew the more intensely personal.
Van Rijn sighed like a baby typhoon and settled himself into a chair, paunch resting majestically on lap. "I won't be long, no, I will currytail discussion," he promised. "That Lennart, she gives me indigestion, ja, she makes my ghastly juices boil. But we got this need for standing back to back, no matter how bony hers is. . . . Put her through," he told his chief secretary."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___1.htm
Van Rijn sighed like a baby typhoon and settled himself into a chair, paunch resting majestically on lap. "I won't be long, no, I will currytail discussion," he promised. "That Lennart, she gives me indigestion, ja, she makes my ghastly juices boil. But we got this need for standing back to back, no matter how bony hers is. . . . Put her through," he told his chief secretary."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132755/1439132755___1.htm
The Trouble Twisters 5 - Poul Anderson
""What the demons!" Padrick sprang back. His sword hissed from the scabbard. A pair of Ikranankans, squatting before a doorway across the lane, gathered their ragged capes around them and vanished inside.
Adzel waved a soothing hand and finished his Latin conversation with Falkayn. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "A bit of our own magic, quite safe. A, ah, a spell against trouble, before entering a strange house."
"That could be useful, I grant." Padrick relaxed. "'Specially hereabouts."
"Why do you come if you find danger?"
"Booze, gambling, maybe a fight. Gets dull in barracks. C'mon."
"I, ah, believe I had better return to the palace."
"What? When the fun's only beginning?" Padrick tugged Adzel's arm, though he might as well have tried to haul a mountain.
"Another time, perhaps. The magic advised me—"
Padrick donned a hurt expression. "You're no friend of mine if you won't drink my liquor.""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___9.htm
Adzel waved a soothing hand and finished his Latin conversation with Falkayn. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "A bit of our own magic, quite safe. A, ah, a spell against trouble, before entering a strange house."
"That could be useful, I grant." Padrick relaxed. "'Specially hereabouts."
"Why do you come if you find danger?"
"Booze, gambling, maybe a fight. Gets dull in barracks. C'mon."
"I, ah, believe I had better return to the palace."
"What? When the fun's only beginning?" Padrick tugged Adzel's arm, though he might as well have tried to haul a mountain.
"Another time, perhaps. The magic advised me—"
Padrick donned a hurt expression. "You're no friend of mine if you won't drink my liquor.""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___9.htm
The Trouble Twisters 4 - Poul Anderson
""May I go, most noble?" he asked. Jadhadi said yes, and Falkayn left before he spat in most noble's eye.
"Have some dinner brought me," he instructed the servant who guided him back, "and writing materials, and a jug of booze. A large jug."
"What kind of booze?"
"Ferocious, of course. Scat!" Falkayn dropped the curtain across his door.
An arm closed around his throat. "Guk!" he said, and reached for his guns while he kicked back.
His heel struck a heavy calf-length boot. The mugger's free hand clamped on his right wrist. Falkayn was strong, but he couldn't unlimber a weapon with that drag on him, nor the one on his left hip when another brawny Ershokh clung to that arm. He struggled for air. A third human glided into view before him. He lashed out with a foot, hit a shield, and would have yelped in anguish had he been able. The shield pressed him back against the mugger. And behind it was the face of Stepha Carls. Her right hand pushed a soaked rag over his nostrils. The strangler eased off; reflex filled Falkayn's lungs; an acrid smell hit him like a blow and whirled him toward darkness."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___8.htm
"Have some dinner brought me," he instructed the servant who guided him back, "and writing materials, and a jug of booze. A large jug."
"What kind of booze?"
"Ferocious, of course. Scat!" Falkayn dropped the curtain across his door.
An arm closed around his throat. "Guk!" he said, and reached for his guns while he kicked back.
His heel struck a heavy calf-length boot. The mugger's free hand clamped on his right wrist. Falkayn was strong, but he couldn't unlimber a weapon with that drag on him, nor the one on his left hip when another brawny Ershokh clung to that arm. He struggled for air. A third human glided into view before him. He lashed out with a foot, hit a shield, and would have yelped in anguish had he been able. The shield pressed him back against the mugger. And behind it was the face of Stepha Carls. Her right hand pushed a soaked rag over his nostrils. The strangler eased off; reflex filled Falkayn's lungs; an acrid smell hit him like a blow and whirled him toward darkness."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___8.htm
The Trouble Twisters 3 - Poul Anderson
"Falkayn decided he had better be courteous and meet the Imperial envoy-instructor at the air lock. He kept his blaster conspicuously on one hip.
Waiting, he could look up to the walls on the hillcrest. They were of dry-laid stone; water was too precious to use in mortar. Their battlements, and the gaunt towers at their corners, enclosed a few score woven houses. Haijakata was a mere trading center for the local farmers and for caravans passing through. A rather small garrison was maintained. The northern highlands had been cleared of those barbarian raiders who haunted most deserts, Gujgengi admitted, so Falkayn suspected the troops were quartered here mainly as a precaution against revolt. What little he had found out of Ikranankan history sounded turbulent.
Which is still another worry, he fretted. Old Nick isn't going to invest in expensive facilities unless there's a reasonably stable social order to keep the trade routes open. And the Katandaran Empire looks like the only suitable area on the whole planet. No trading post on Ikrananka, no commissions for me. What a jolly, carefree, swashbuckling life we explorers lead!"
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___7.htm
Waiting, he could look up to the walls on the hillcrest. They were of dry-laid stone; water was too precious to use in mortar. Their battlements, and the gaunt towers at their corners, enclosed a few score woven houses. Haijakata was a mere trading center for the local farmers and for caravans passing through. A rather small garrison was maintained. The northern highlands had been cleared of those barbarian raiders who haunted most deserts, Gujgengi admitted, so Falkayn suspected the troops were quartered here mainly as a precaution against revolt. What little he had found out of Ikranankan history sounded turbulent.
Which is still another worry, he fretted. Old Nick isn't going to invest in expensive facilities unless there's a reasonably stable social order to keep the trade routes open. And the Katandaran Empire looks like the only suitable area on the whole planet. No trading post on Ikrananka, no commissions for me. What a jolly, carefree, swashbuckling life we explorers lead!"
3 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___7.htm
The Trouble Twisters 2 - Poul Anderson
"Nicholas van Rijn left his desk and waddled across to the transparency that made one entire wall of his office. From this height, he could overlook a sweep of slim city towers, green parkscape, Sunda Straits flashing under Earth's lordly sky. For a while he stood puffing his cigar, until, without turning around, he said:
"Ja, by damn, I think you has here the bacteria of a good project with much profit. And you is a right man to carry it away. I have watched you like a hog, ever since I hear what you did on Ivanhoe when you was a, you pardon the expression, teen-ager. Now you got your Master's certificate in the League, uh-huh, you can be good working for the Solar Spice & Liquors Company. And I need good men, poor old fat lonely me. You bring home the bacon and eggs scrambled with turmeric, I see you get rich."
"Yes, sir," Falkayn mumbled.
"You come speak of how you like to help open new places, for new stuffs to sell here and natives to buy from us what have not yet heard what the market prices are. Hokay. Only I think you got more possibilities, boy. I been thinking a lot, me, these long, long nights when I toss and turn, getting no sleep with my worries."
Falkayn refrained from telling van Rijn that everybody knew the cause of the merchant's current insomnia was blond and curvy. "What do you mean, sir?" he asked."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___6.htm
"Ja, by damn, I think you has here the bacteria of a good project with much profit. And you is a right man to carry it away. I have watched you like a hog, ever since I hear what you did on Ivanhoe when you was a, you pardon the expression, teen-ager. Now you got your Master's certificate in the League, uh-huh, you can be good working for the Solar Spice & Liquors Company. And I need good men, poor old fat lonely me. You bring home the bacon and eggs scrambled with turmeric, I see you get rich."
"Yes, sir," Falkayn mumbled.
"You come speak of how you like to help open new places, for new stuffs to sell here and natives to buy from us what have not yet heard what the market prices are. Hokay. Only I think you got more possibilities, boy. I been thinking a lot, me, these long, long nights when I toss and turn, getting no sleep with my worries."
Falkayn refrained from telling van Rijn that everybody knew the cause of the merchant's current insomnia was blond and curvy. "What do you mean, sir?" he asked."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___6.htm
The Trouble Twisters 1 - Poul Anderson
"Poker is not a very good three-handed game, so the crew of the trade pioneer ship Muddlin' Through had programmed her computer to play with them. It bought chips with IOU's. Being adjusted to an exactly average level of competence, it just about balanced winnings and losses in the course of a mission. This freed the crew to go after each other's blood.
"Two cards," said its mechanical voice. David Falkayn dealt them onto a scanner plate that he had rigged at one end of the saloon table. An arm projecting from a modified waldo box shoved the discards aside. Down in their armored tank, at the middle of the ship, think cells assessed the new odds.
"One," said Chee Lan.
"None for me, thank you," rumbled Adzel.
Falkayn gave himself three and picked up his hand. He'd improved: a pair of treys to match his kings. Adzel might well stand pat on nothing better, and Chee had probably tried to complete a flush; the first round of betting, opened by the machine, had been unenthusiastic. But Muddlehead itself, now—
The steel arm dropped a blue chip into the pot.
"Damn!" shrieked Chee. Her tail bottled out to twice its normal size, the silky-white fur stood erect over her whole small body, and she threw her cards down so hard that the tabletop ought to have rung. "Pestilence upon you! I hate your cryogenic guts!""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___5.htm
"Two cards," said its mechanical voice. David Falkayn dealt them onto a scanner plate that he had rigged at one end of the saloon table. An arm projecting from a modified waldo box shoved the discards aside. Down in their armored tank, at the middle of the ship, think cells assessed the new odds.
"One," said Chee Lan.
"None for me, thank you," rumbled Adzel.
Falkayn gave himself three and picked up his hand. He'd improved: a pair of treys to match his kings. Adzel might well stand pat on nothing better, and Chee had probably tried to complete a flush; the first round of betting, opened by the machine, had been unenthusiastic. But Muddlehead itself, now—
The steel arm dropped a blue chip into the pot.
"Damn!" shrieked Chee. Her tail bottled out to twice its normal size, the silky-white fur stood erect over her whole small body, and she threw her cards down so hard that the tabletop ought to have rung. "Pestilence upon you! I hate your cryogenic guts!""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/141655520X/141655520X___5.htm
The Witches Of Karres 12 - James H. Schmitz
"YOU DID WELL, SMALL PERSON! VERY WELL! YOU'VE PLAYED YOUR PART IN THE GAME, BUT NO PLAYER LASTS FOREVER. NOW YOU'VE BEEN BEAUTIFULLY TRICKED; AND WE SHALL SEE THE END!
What manner of klatha hooks, the captain thought carefully, were needed to nail down a giant-vatch?
Flash of heat like the lick of a sun . . . The vatch-voice howled in shock. The blackness churned in tornado convulsions—
Not one hook, or three or four, the captain thought. Something like fifty! Great rigid lines of force, clamped on every section of the blackness, tight and unyielding! Big Windy, for all the stupendous racket he was producing, had been nailed down.
The captain glanced at his three prepared mind-pictures, looked into the seething vatch-blackness. As much as we need for this! Put them together!
YAAAAH! MONSTER! MONSTER—
A swirling thundercloud of black energy shot from the vatch's mass, hung spinning beside it an instant, was gone. Gone, too, in that instant were the two small witch figures who'd stood at the captain's right.
And now Manaret, that great evil ship—
We don't want it here . . . . "
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377__12.htm
What manner of klatha hooks, the captain thought carefully, were needed to nail down a giant-vatch?
Flash of heat like the lick of a sun . . . The vatch-voice howled in shock. The blackness churned in tornado convulsions—
Not one hook, or three or four, the captain thought. Something like fifty! Great rigid lines of force, clamped on every section of the blackness, tight and unyielding! Big Windy, for all the stupendous racket he was producing, had been nailed down.
The captain glanced at his three prepared mind-pictures, looked into the seething vatch-blackness. As much as we need for this! Put them together!
YAAAAH! MONSTER! MONSTER—
A swirling thundercloud of black energy shot from the vatch's mass, hung spinning beside it an instant, was gone. Gone, too, in that instant were the two small witch figures who'd stood at the captain's right.
And now Manaret, that great evil ship—
We don't want it here . . . . "
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377__12.htm
The Witches Of Karres 11 - James H. Schmitz
""What you doing?" Goth whispered.
"Using some loose vatch energy I found hanging around," the captain said negligently. "The vatch left it here to keep us pinned under that rainstorm . . . ." He added, "Don't know how I'm doing it, but it works just fine! Like the rock to try anything in particular?"
"Loop the loop," suggested Goth, staring fascinatedly into the screen.
The rock flashed up and around in a smooth, majestic three-mile loop and stood steady in midair again—steady as a rock.
"Anything else?" he offered.
"Can you do anything with it?"
"Anything I've tried so far. Ask for a tough one!"
Goth considered, glanced up at the little moon, high in the northern sky by now. "How about putting it on the other side of the moon?"
"All right," said the captain. He clicked his tongue. "Wait a minute. We'd better not try that!"
"Why not?""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377__11.htm
"Using some loose vatch energy I found hanging around," the captain said negligently. "The vatch left it here to keep us pinned under that rainstorm . . . ." He added, "Don't know how I'm doing it, but it works just fine! Like the rock to try anything in particular?"
"Loop the loop," suggested Goth, staring fascinatedly into the screen.
The rock flashed up and around in a smooth, majestic three-mile loop and stood steady in midair again—steady as a rock.
"Anything else?" he offered.
"Can you do anything with it?"
"Anything I've tried so far. Ask for a tough one!"
Goth considered, glanced up at the little moon, high in the northern sky by now. "How about putting it on the other side of the moon?"
"All right," said the captain. He clicked his tongue. "Wait a minute. We'd better not try that!"
"Why not?""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377__11.htm
The Witches Of Karres 10 - James H. Schmitz
"He did have, the captain acknowledged cautiously, a very strong interest in the Worm World. Where was it?
For a moment he received the impression of a puzzled lack of comprehension in the vatch. WHERE IS IT? the great voice rumbled then, surprised. IT IS WHERE IT IS, SMALL PERSON!
So the captain realized that instruments like stellar maps meant nothing to this klatha entity, that it had in fact no real understanding of location as the human mind understood it. But it didn't need such understanding. The universe of humanity seemed a product of vatch dream-imagination to the vatch. It roamed about here as freely as a man might roam among creations of his imagination. If it wanted to be somewhere, it simply was there."
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377__10.htm
For a moment he received the impression of a puzzled lack of comprehension in the vatch. WHERE IS IT? the great voice rumbled then, surprised. IT IS WHERE IT IS, SMALL PERSON!
So the captain realized that instruments like stellar maps meant nothing to this klatha entity, that it had in fact no real understanding of location as the human mind understood it. But it didn't need such understanding. The universe of humanity seemed a product of vatch dream-imagination to the vatch. It roamed about here as freely as a man might roam among creations of his imagination. If it wanted to be somewhere, it simply was there."
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377__10.htm
The Witches Of Karres 09 - James H. Schmitz
""Been thinking, skipper," Vezzarn said quietly, fingers flying, testing slack, tightening knots. "He ought to be able to spot us in the screens—"
"Uh-huh. Off and on. But I doubt he'll waste time with that."
"Eh? Yes, a killer robot'd be a good tracking machine, wouldn't it?" Vezzarn said glumly. "You want to pull Yango away from the ship, then angle back to it?"
"That's the idea."
"Desperate business!" muttered Vezzarn. "But I guess it's a desperate spot. And he wants Dani—never'd have figured her for one of the Wisdoms! . . . There! Finished, sir! She'll be all right now—""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___9.htm
"Uh-huh. Off and on. But I doubt he'll waste time with that."
"Eh? Yes, a killer robot'd be a good tracking machine, wouldn't it?" Vezzarn said glumly. "You want to pull Yango away from the ship, then angle back to it?"
"That's the idea."
"Desperate business!" muttered Vezzarn. "But I guess it's a desperate spot. And he wants Dani—never'd have figured her for one of the Wisdoms! . . . There! Finished, sir! She'll be all right now—""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___9.htm
The Witches Of Karres 08 - James H. Schmitz
""Don't try to trick me, sir!" The Agandar's voice was deadly quiet.
"Trick you! Great Patham!" bellowed the captain. "Can't you see for yourself!"
The gun came full up, pointing at his chest. The Agandar's eyes shifted quickly about the screens, came back to the captain. "What am I supposed to see?" he asked, with contempt.
The captain stared at him. "You didn't hear the detectors either!" he said suddenly.
"The detectors?" Now there was an oddly puzzled look about Yango's eyes, almost as if he were struggling to remember something. "No," he said slowly then. The puzzled look faded. "I didn't hear the detectors. Because the detectors have made no sound. And there is nothing in the screens. Nothing at all! If you are pretending insanity, Captain Pausert, you are doing it too well. I have no room in my organization for a lunatic.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___8.htm
"Trick you! Great Patham!" bellowed the captain. "Can't you see for yourself!"
The gun came full up, pointing at his chest. The Agandar's eyes shifted quickly about the screens, came back to the captain. "What am I supposed to see?" he asked, with contempt.
The captain stared at him. "You didn't hear the detectors either!" he said suddenly.
"The detectors?" Now there was an oddly puzzled look about Yango's eyes, almost as if he were struggling to remember something. "No," he said slowly then. The puzzled look faded. "I didn't hear the detectors. Because the detectors have made no sound. And there is nothing in the screens. Nothing at all! If you are pretending insanity, Captain Pausert, you are doing it too well. I have no room in my organization for a lunatic.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___8.htm
The Witches Of Karres 07 - James H. Schmitz
"The captain pressed Goth's buzzer. "Why would you shoot through the door?" he asked.
"Because," Hulik said, "there's some beast loose on the ship."
"Beast?" he repeated, startled. Goth's face appeared in her screen, pop-eyed, nodded at him, disappeared.
"Beast. Creature. Thing! Monster!" Hulik seemed to be speaking through hard clenched teeth. "I saw it. just now. In a passage off the lounge. Be careful on your way here! It's large, probably dangerous."
"I'll be there at once!" the captain promised.
"Bring your gun," Hulik told him, still in the flat, dead tone of choked-down hysteria. "Several, if you have them . . . ." She switched off as Goth came trotting out of her cabin, buttoning up her jacket. "Vatch?" the captain asked hurriedly.
Goth shook her head. "Not a whiff of one around! She couldn't see a vatch anyway, if there was one around." She looked puzzled and interested.
"Could something else have got on the ship—out of space? Something material?"
"Don't know," Goth said hesitantly. "Course you hear stories about the Chaladoor like that.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___7.htm
"Because," Hulik said, "there's some beast loose on the ship."
"Beast?" he repeated, startled. Goth's face appeared in her screen, pop-eyed, nodded at him, disappeared.
"Beast. Creature. Thing! Monster!" Hulik seemed to be speaking through hard clenched teeth. "I saw it. just now. In a passage off the lounge. Be careful on your way here! It's large, probably dangerous."
"I'll be there at once!" the captain promised.
"Bring your gun," Hulik told him, still in the flat, dead tone of choked-down hysteria. "Several, if you have them . . . ." She switched off as Goth came trotting out of her cabin, buttoning up her jacket. "Vatch?" the captain asked hurriedly.
Goth shook her head. "Not a whiff of one around! She couldn't see a vatch anyway, if there was one around." She looked puzzled and interested.
"Could something else have got on the ship—out of space? Something material?"
"Don't know," Goth said hesitantly. "Course you hear stories about the Chaladoor like that.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___7.htm
The Witches Of Karres 06 - James H. Schmitz
"As soon as he reached his cabin and locked the door, Vezzarn brought his device back out of the closet. He placed it on the small cabin table, activated it, checked the door again, set the device in motion and looked down through an eyepiece at a magnified view of the miniature three-dimensional pattern the instrument had produced within itself.
It was a moving pattern, and it gave off faintly audible sounds. Vezzarn stared and listened, first with surprise, then in blank puzzlement, at last with growing consternation. The reproduced contrivance in there buzzed, clicked, hummed, twinkled, spun. It sent small impulses of assorted energy types shooting about through itself. It remained spectacularly, if erratically, busy. And within five minutes Vezzarn became completely convinced that it did, and could do, absolutely nothing that would serve any practical purpose.
Whatever it might be, it wasn't a spacedrive. Even the most unconventional of drives couldn't possibly resemble anything like that!"
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___6.htm
It was a moving pattern, and it gave off faintly audible sounds. Vezzarn stared and listened, first with surprise, then in blank puzzlement, at last with growing consternation. The reproduced contrivance in there buzzed, clicked, hummed, twinkled, spun. It sent small impulses of assorted energy types shooting about through itself. It remained spectacularly, if erratically, busy. And within five minutes Vezzarn became completely convinced that it did, and could do, absolutely nothing that would serve any practical purpose.
Whatever it might be, it wasn't a spacedrive. Even the most unconventional of drives couldn't possibly resemble anything like that!"
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___6.htm
The Witches Of Karres 05 - James H. Schmitz
""That is what is bothering me," Sedmon agreed. "If Captain Pausert, alias Captain Aron, is in fact a witch, I want no trouble with him or his ship."
"And if he isn't?"
"The girl almost certainly is of the witches," the Daal said. "But I might be inclined to take a chance with her. Even that I would not like too well, since Karres has ways of finding out about occurrences that are of interest to it."
"May I point out," said Hulik, "that the entire world of Karres was reliably reported to have disappeared about the time this Captain Pausert was last observed in the Nikkeldepain area? The official opinion in the Imperium is that the planet was accidentally destroyed when the witches tested some superweapon of their devising, against the impending arrival of a punitive Imperial Fleet."
The Daal scratched his neck again.
"I have heard of that," he said. "And, in fact, I have received a report from one of my own men in the meanwhile, to the effect that Karres does seem to be gone from the Iverdahl System. It is possible that it is destroyed. But I don't believe it.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___5.htm
"And if he isn't?"
"The girl almost certainly is of the witches," the Daal said. "But I might be inclined to take a chance with her. Even that I would not like too well, since Karres has ways of finding out about occurrences that are of interest to it."
"May I point out," said Hulik, "that the entire world of Karres was reliably reported to have disappeared about the time this Captain Pausert was last observed in the Nikkeldepain area? The official opinion in the Imperium is that the planet was accidentally destroyed when the witches tested some superweapon of their devising, against the impending arrival of a punitive Imperial Fleet."
The Daal scratched his neck again.
"I have heard of that," he said. "And, in fact, I have received a report from one of my own men in the meanwhile, to the effect that Karres does seem to be gone from the Iverdahl System. It is possible that it is destroyed. But I don't believe it.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___5.htm
The Witches Of Karres 04 - James H. Schmitz
"Where was the Worm World, dread Manaret? None knew. Some thought it was concealed near the heart of the Chaladoor, in the Sea of Light. Some believed it lay so far to Galactic East that no exploring ship had ever come on it—or if one had, it had been destroyed too swiftly to send back word of its awesome find. Some argued it might be anywhere—a burning world, or a glittering ice sphere sheathed in mile-thick layers of solidified poisonous gas. Any of those guesses could be true, because almost all that was known of Manaret was of its tunneled, splendidly ornamented interior.
Vezzarn inclined to the theory it was to be found, if one cared to search for it, at some vast distance among the star swarms to Far Galactic East. Year after year, decade after decade, as long as civilized memory went back, the glowing plague of Worm Weather had seemed to come drifting farther westward to harass the worlds of humanity."
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___4.htm
Vezzarn inclined to the theory it was to be found, if one cared to search for it, at some vast distance among the star swarms to Far Galactic East. Year after year, decade after decade, as long as civilized memory went back, the glowing plague of Worm Weather had seemed to come drifting farther westward to harass the worlds of humanity."
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___4.htm
The Witches Of Karres 03 - James H. Schmitz
"She'd been doing some looking around, too, and wanted to know why the Venture was running on half power. The captain explained. "If we happen to get into a jam," he concluded, "would you be able to use the Sheewash Drive at present?"
"Short hops," the witch nodded reassuringly. "No real runs for a while, though!"
"Short hops should be good enough." He reflected. "I read that item in the Regulations. They right about the klatha part?"
"Pretty much," Goth acknowledged, a trifle warily.
"Well . . ." He'd related his experiences with the lamp then, and she'd listened with obvious interest but no indications of surprise.
"What do you mean, it wasn't me—exactly?" he said. "I was wondering for a while, but I'm dead sure now I don't have klatha ability."
Goth wrinkled her nose, hesitant, said suddenly, "You got it, captain. Told you you'd be a witch, too. You got a lot of it! That was part of the trouble."
"Trouble?" The captain leaned back in his chair. "Mind explaining?"
Goth reflected worriedly again. "I got to be careful now," she told him. "The way klatha, is, people oughtn't to know much more about it than they can work with. Or it's likely never going to work right for them. That's one reason we got rules. You see?"
He frowned. "Not quite.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___3.htm
"Short hops," the witch nodded reassuringly. "No real runs for a while, though!"
"Short hops should be good enough." He reflected. "I read that item in the Regulations. They right about the klatha part?"
"Pretty much," Goth acknowledged, a trifle warily.
"Well . . ." He'd related his experiences with the lamp then, and she'd listened with obvious interest but no indications of surprise.
"What do you mean, it wasn't me—exactly?" he said. "I was wondering for a while, but I'm dead sure now I don't have klatha ability."
Goth wrinkled her nose, hesitant, said suddenly, "You got it, captain. Told you you'd be a witch, too. You got a lot of it! That was part of the trouble."
"Trouble?" The captain leaned back in his chair. "Mind explaining?"
Goth reflected worriedly again. "I got to be careful now," she told him. "The way klatha, is, people oughtn't to know much more about it than they can work with. Or it's likely never going to work right for them. That's one reason we got rules. You see?"
He frowned. "Not quite.""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___3.htm
The Witches Of Karres 02 - James H. Schmitz
""What were you thinking about?" Goth inquired.
"I was thinking," said the captain, "that as soon as we're sure you're going to be all right, I'm taking you straight back to Karres."
"I'll be all right now," Goth said. "Except, likely, for a stomach-ache. But you can't take me back to Karres."
"Who will stop me, may I ask?" the captain asked.
"Karres is gone," Goth said.
"Gone?" the captain repeated blankly, with a sensation of not quite definable horror bubbling up in him.
"Not blown up or anything," Goth reassured him. "They just moved it. The Imperials got their hair up about us again. This time they were sending a fleet with the big bombs and stuff, so everybody was called home. And right after you'd left . . . we'd left, I mean . . . they moved it."
"Where?"
"Great Patham!" Goth shrugged. "How'd I know? There's lots of places!""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___2.htm
"I was thinking," said the captain, "that as soon as we're sure you're going to be all right, I'm taking you straight back to Karres."
"I'll be all right now," Goth said. "Except, likely, for a stomach-ache. But you can't take me back to Karres."
"Who will stop me, may I ask?" the captain asked.
"Karres is gone," Goth said.
"Gone?" the captain repeated blankly, with a sensation of not quite definable horror bubbling up in him.
"Not blown up or anything," Goth reassured him. "They just moved it. The Imperials got their hair up about us again. This time they were sending a fleet with the big bombs and stuff, so everybody was called home. And right after you'd left . . . we'd left, I mean . . . they moved it."
"Where?"
"Great Patham!" Goth shrugged. "How'd I know? There's lots of places!""
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___2.htm
The Witches Of Karres 01 - James H. Schmitz
"The captain stood motionless. Just one glimpse had been given him of what seemed to be a bundle of twisted black wires arranged loosely like the frame of a truncated cone on—or was it just above?—a table in the center of the cabin. Above the wires, where the tip of the cone should have been, burned a round, swirling orange fire. About it, their faces reflecting its glow, stood the three witches.
Then the fire vanished; the wires collapsed. There was only ordinary light in the room. They were looking up at him variously—Maleen with smiling regret, the Leewit in frank annoyance, Goth with no expression at all.
"What out of Great Patham's Seventh Hell was that?" inquired the captain, his hair bristling slowly.
The Leewit looked at Goth; Goth looked at Maleen. Maleen said doubtfully, "We can just tell you its name . . . ."
"That was the Sheewash Drive," said Goth.
"The what drive?" asked the captain.
"Sheewash," repeated Maleen.
"The one you have to do it with yourself," the Leewit added helpfully.
"Shut up," said Maleen."
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___1.htm
Then the fire vanished; the wires collapsed. There was only ordinary light in the room. They were looking up at him variously—Maleen with smiling regret, the Leewit in frank annoyance, Goth with no expression at all.
"What out of Great Patham's Seventh Hell was that?" inquired the captain, his hair bristling slowly.
The Leewit looked at Goth; Goth looked at Maleen. Maleen said doubtfully, "We can just tell you its name . . . ."
"That was the Sheewash Drive," said Goth.
"The what drive?" asked the captain.
"Sheewash," repeated Maleen.
"The one you have to do it with yourself," the Leewit added helpfully.
"Shut up," said Maleen."
3.5 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Witches%20of%20Karres/0743488377___1.htm
Superluminal 03 - Vonda N. McIntyre
"Laenea went to him, put her arms around him, turned him toward her. The fine lines around his blue eyes were deeper, etched by distress and failure. She touched his cheek. Embracing her, he bent to rest his forehead on her shoulder. “They said I’d never even make it through the training. I’m bound to our own four dimensions. I’m too dependent… on night, day, time… My circadian rhythms are too strong. They said…” His muffled words became more and more unsure, balanced on a shaky edge. Laenea stroked his hair, the back of his neck, over and over. That was the only thing left to do. There was nothing at all left to say. “If I survived the operation… I’d die in transit.”"
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal03
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/McIntyre-Superluminal03
Sea-Kings Of Mars 5 - Leigh Brackett
"Nay," said Boghaz hoarsely. "I am loyal. No one can accuse me of treason. I wish only to serve—" He stopped short, apparently realizing that his own tongue had trapped him neatly.
Scyld brought the flat of the blade down in a tremendous thwack across Boghaz' enormous buttocks.
"Go then and serve!" he shouted.
Boghaz leaped forward, howling. The press-gang grabbed him. In a few seconds they had shackled him and Carse securely together.
Scyld complacently thrust the sword of Rhiannon into his own sheath after tossing his own blade to a soldier to carry. He led the way swaggeringly out of the hut.
Once again, Carse made a pilgrimage through the streets of Jekkara but this time by night and in chains, stripped of his jewels and his sword.
It was to the palace quays they went, and the cold shivering thrill of unreality came again upon Carse as he looked at the high towers ablaze with light and the soft white fires of the sea that glowed far out in the darkness.
The whole palace quarter swarmed with slaves, with men-at-arms in the sable mail of Sark, with courtiers and women and jongleurs. Music and the sounds of revelry came from the palace itself as they passed beneath it.
Boghaz spoke to Carse in a rapid undertone. "The blockheads didn't recognize that sword. Keep quiet about your secret—or they'd take us both to Caer Dhu for questioning and you know what that means!" He shuddered over all his great body."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895___5.htm
Scyld brought the flat of the blade down in a tremendous thwack across Boghaz' enormous buttocks.
"Go then and serve!" he shouted.
Boghaz leaped forward, howling. The press-gang grabbed him. In a few seconds they had shackled him and Carse securely together.
Scyld complacently thrust the sword of Rhiannon into his own sheath after tossing his own blade to a soldier to carry. He led the way swaggeringly out of the hut.
Once again, Carse made a pilgrimage through the streets of Jekkara but this time by night and in chains, stripped of his jewels and his sword.
It was to the palace quays they went, and the cold shivering thrill of unreality came again upon Carse as he looked at the high towers ablaze with light and the soft white fires of the sea that glowed far out in the darkness.
The whole palace quarter swarmed with slaves, with men-at-arms in the sable mail of Sark, with courtiers and women and jongleurs. Music and the sounds of revelry came from the palace itself as they passed beneath it.
Boghaz spoke to Carse in a rapid undertone. "The blockheads didn't recognize that sword. Keep quiet about your secret—or they'd take us both to Caer Dhu for questioning and you know what that means!" He shuddered over all his great body."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895___5.htm
Sea-Kings Of Mars 4 - Leigh Brackett
""I struck too hard I'm afraid. But then, in the dark with an armed man, one has to be careful. Do you feel like talking now?"
Carse looked up at him and old habit made him control the rage that shook him. "About what?" he said.
Boghaz said, "I am a frank and truthful man. When I saved you from the mob out there my only idea was to rob you."
Carse saw that his jeweled belt and collar had been transferred to Boghaz, who wore them both around his neck. The Valkisian now raised a plump hand and fingered them lovingly.
"Then," he continued, "I got a closer look—at that." He nodded toward the jeweled sword that leaned against the stool, shimmering in the lamplight. "Now, many men would examine it and see only a handsome sword. But I, Boghaz, am a man of education. I recognized the symbols on that blade."
He leaned forward. "Where did you get it?"
A warning instinct made Carse lie readily. "I bought it from a trader."
Boghaz shook his head. "No you didn't. There are spots of corrosion on the blade, scales of dust in the carvings. The hilt has not been polished. No trader would sell it in that condition.
"No, my friend, that sword has lain a long time in the dark, in the tomb of him who owned it—the tomb of Rhiannon."
Carse lay without moving, looking at Boghaz. He did not like what he saw.
The Valkisian had a kind and merry face. He would be excellent company over a bottle of wine. He would love a man like a brother and regret exceedingly the necessity of cutting out his heart."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895___4.htm
Carse looked up at him and old habit made him control the rage that shook him. "About what?" he said.
Boghaz said, "I am a frank and truthful man. When I saved you from the mob out there my only idea was to rob you."
Carse saw that his jeweled belt and collar had been transferred to Boghaz, who wore them both around his neck. The Valkisian now raised a plump hand and fingered them lovingly.
"Then," he continued, "I got a closer look—at that." He nodded toward the jeweled sword that leaned against the stool, shimmering in the lamplight. "Now, many men would examine it and see only a handsome sword. But I, Boghaz, am a man of education. I recognized the symbols on that blade."
He leaned forward. "Where did you get it?"
A warning instinct made Carse lie readily. "I bought it from a trader."
Boghaz shook his head. "No you didn't. There are spots of corrosion on the blade, scales of dust in the carvings. The hilt has not been polished. No trader would sell it in that condition.
"No, my friend, that sword has lain a long time in the dark, in the tomb of him who owned it—the tomb of Rhiannon."
Carse lay without moving, looking at Boghaz. He did not like what he saw.
The Valkisian had a kind and merry face. He would be excellent company over a bottle of wine. He would love a man like a brother and regret exceedingly the necessity of cutting out his heart."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895___4.htm
Sea-Kings Of Mars 3 - Leigh Brackett
"He had come out into an open space by the docks. Now, in the twilight, the sea flamed with cold white fire. Masts of the moored ships stood black against it. Phobos was rising, and in the mingled light Carse saw that there were creatures climbing into the rigging of the ships and that they were furred and chained and not wholly human.
And he saw on the wharfside two slender white-skinned men with wings. They wore the loin-cloth of the slave and their wings were broken.
The square was filled with people. More of them poured in from the narrow alley-mouths, drawn by the shout of Spy! It echoed from the buildings and the name of "Khondor" hammered at him.
From the wharfside, from the winged slaves and the chained creatures of the ships, a fervent cry reached him.
"Hail, Khondor! Fight, man!"
Women screamed like harpies. Another stone whistled past his ear. The mob surged and jostled but those nearest Carse held back, wary of the great jeweled sword with its shining blade.
Carse shouted. He swung the sword in a humming arc around him and the Jekkarans, who had shorter blades, melted back.
Again from the wharfside he heard, "Hail, Khondor! Down with the Serpent, down with Sark! Fight, Khond!""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895___3.htm
And he saw on the wharfside two slender white-skinned men with wings. They wore the loin-cloth of the slave and their wings were broken.
The square was filled with people. More of them poured in from the narrow alley-mouths, drawn by the shout of Spy! It echoed from the buildings and the name of "Khondor" hammered at him.
From the wharfside, from the winged slaves and the chained creatures of the ships, a fervent cry reached him.
"Hail, Khondor! Fight, man!"
Women screamed like harpies. Another stone whistled past his ear. The mob surged and jostled but those nearest Carse held back, wary of the great jeweled sword with its shining blade.
Carse shouted. He swung the sword in a humming arc around him and the Jekkarans, who had shorter blades, melted back.
Again from the wharfside he heard, "Hail, Khondor! Down with the Serpent, down with Sark! Fight, Khond!""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895___3.htm
Sea-Kings Of Mars 2 - Leigh Brackett
"Carse's numbed gaze swept along the great coast of the distant shoreline. And down on that far sunlit coast he saw the glitter of a white city and knew that it was Jekkara.
Jekkara, bright and strong between the verdant hills and the mighty ocean, that ocean that had not been seen upon Mars for nearly a million years.
Matthew Carse knew then that it was no mirage. He sat and hid his face in his hands. His body was shaken by deep tremors and his nails bit into his own flesh until blood trickled down his cheeks.
He knew now what had happened to him in that vortex of darkness, and it seemed to him that a cold voice repeated a certain warning inscription in tones of distant thunder.
"The Quiru are lords of space and time—of time—OF TIME!"
Carse, staring out over the green hills and the milky ocean, made a terrible effort to grapple with the incredible.
"I have come into the past of Mars. All my life I have studied and dreamed of that past. Now I am in it. I, Matthew Carse, archaeologist, renegate, looter of tombs.
"The Quiru for their own reasons built a way and I came through it. Time is to us the unknown dimension but the Quiru knew it!"
Carse had studied science. You had to know the elements of a half-dozen sciences to be a planetary archaeologist. He frantically ransacked memory now for an explanation.
Had his first guess about that bubble of darkness been right? Was it really a hole in the continuum of the universe? If that were so he could dimly understand what had happened to him.
For the space-time continuum of the universe was finite, limited. Einstein and Riemann had proved that long ago. And he had fallen clear out of that continuum and then back into it again—but into a different timeframe from his own."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895.htm
Jekkara, bright and strong between the verdant hills and the mighty ocean, that ocean that had not been seen upon Mars for nearly a million years.
Matthew Carse knew then that it was no mirage. He sat and hid his face in his hands. His body was shaken by deep tremors and his nails bit into his own flesh until blood trickled down his cheeks.
He knew now what had happened to him in that vortex of darkness, and it seemed to him that a cold voice repeated a certain warning inscription in tones of distant thunder.
"The Quiru are lords of space and time—of time—OF TIME!"
Carse, staring out over the green hills and the milky ocean, made a terrible effort to grapple with the incredible.
"I have come into the past of Mars. All my life I have studied and dreamed of that past. Now I am in it. I, Matthew Carse, archaeologist, renegate, looter of tombs.
"The Quiru for their own reasons built a way and I came through it. Time is to us the unknown dimension but the Quiru knew it!"
Carse had studied science. You had to know the elements of a half-dozen sciences to be a planetary archaeologist. He frantically ransacked memory now for an explanation.
Had his first guess about that bubble of darkness been right? Was it really a hole in the continuum of the universe? If that were so he could dimly understand what had happened to him.
For the space-time continuum of the universe was finite, limited. Einstein and Riemann had proved that long ago. And he had fallen clear out of that continuum and then back into it again—but into a different timeframe from his own."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895.htm
Sea-Kings Of Mars 1 - Leigh Brackett
"Matt Carse knew he was being followed almost as soon as he left Madam Kan's. The laughter of the little dark women was still in his ears and the fumes of thil lay like a hot sweet haze across his vision—but they did not obscure from him the whisper of sandaled feet close behind him in the chill Martian night.
Carse quietly loosened his proton-gun in its holster but he did not attempt to lose his pursuer. He did not slow nor quicken his pace as he went through Jekkara.
"The Old Town," he thought. "That will be the best place. Too many people about here."
Jekkara was not sleeping despite the lateness of the hour. The Low Canal towns never sleep, for they lie outside the law and time means nothing to them. In Jekkara and Valkis and Barrakesh night is only a darker day.
Carse walked beside the still black waters in their ancient channel, cut in the dead sea-bottom. He watched the dry wind shake the torches that never went out and listened to the broken music of the harps that were never stilled. Lean lithe men and women passed him in the shadowy streets, silent as cats except for the chime and whisper of the tiny bells the women wear, a sound as delicate as rain, distillate of all the sweet wickedness of the world.
They paid no attention to Carse, though despite his Martian dress he was obviously an Earthman and though an Earthman's life is usually less than the light of a snuffed candle along the Low Canals. Carse was one of them. The men of Jekkara and Valkis and Barrakesh, are the aristocracy of thieves and they admire skill and respect knowledge and know a gentleman when they meet one."
5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895.htm
Carse quietly loosened his proton-gun in its holster but he did not attempt to lose his pursuer. He did not slow nor quicken his pace as he went through Jekkara.
"The Old Town," he thought. "That will be the best place. Too many people about here."
Jekkara was not sleeping despite the lateness of the hour. The Low Canal towns never sleep, for they lie outside the law and time means nothing to them. In Jekkara and Valkis and Barrakesh night is only a darker day.
Carse walked beside the still black waters in their ancient channel, cut in the dead sea-bottom. He watched the dry wind shake the torches that never went out and listened to the broken music of the harps that were never stilled. Lean lithe men and women passed him in the shadowy streets, silent as cats except for the chime and whisper of the tiny bells the women wear, a sound as delicate as rain, distillate of all the sweet wickedness of the world.
They paid no attention to Carse, though despite his Martian dress he was obviously an Earthman and though an Earthman's life is usually less than the light of a snuffed candle along the Low Canals. Carse was one of them. The men of Jekkara and Valkis and Barrakesh, are the aristocracy of thieves and they admire skill and respect knowledge and know a gentleman when they meet one."
5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0575076895/0575076895.htm
Shadow Over Mars 4 - Leigh Brackett
"WIND moved sighing through the broken walls, and the dusk came down to join it. Far out across the Western wastes Phobos rode the last pale glow of the sun edging the rim of Mars. Ruh lay silent, barred and shuttered, but not asleep.
With night, shadows crept through the streets. Some of them came drifting in through secret portals in the city wall and then sought the heights of the King City, where they vanished. Upon entering the flaring torchlight in the throne-room, however, they became men.
Fighting men. Of different ages, sizes, coloring, in the harness of different city-states, but all alike in one thing—the look they bore. The look of wolves in a cage.
They sat around a table of blood-red wood worn hollow by the arms of centuries of war-chiefs. Haral the boy king, leaned forward like a bent blade from his high seat, and the eyes of Beudach, who stood always at his right hand, were as steel in the fire.
Only one shadow remained in the Quarters. It was small and hunched and swift-moving, and its eyes burned emerald in the Phobos-light. It went from door to door, whispering, asking, and the name it said was "Rick."
High up against the stars, in the ruined Tower of Destiny, Parras, the Seer, bent his fresh young face above his looking bowl. His mind reached out across the sea-bottoms, the sand deserts, the age-worn hills. It touched other minds, asking, and the name it said was "Rick."
To the green-eyed shadow and the mind of the seer came an unvarying answer.
"Not yet.""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___4.htm
With night, shadows crept through the streets. Some of them came drifting in through secret portals in the city wall and then sought the heights of the King City, where they vanished. Upon entering the flaring torchlight in the throne-room, however, they became men.
Fighting men. Of different ages, sizes, coloring, in the harness of different city-states, but all alike in one thing—the look they bore. The look of wolves in a cage.
They sat around a table of blood-red wood worn hollow by the arms of centuries of war-chiefs. Haral the boy king, leaned forward like a bent blade from his high seat, and the eyes of Beudach, who stood always at his right hand, were as steel in the fire.
Only one shadow remained in the Quarters. It was small and hunched and swift-moving, and its eyes burned emerald in the Phobos-light. It went from door to door, whispering, asking, and the name it said was "Rick."
High up against the stars, in the ruined Tower of Destiny, Parras, the Seer, bent his fresh young face above his looking bowl. His mind reached out across the sea-bottoms, the sand deserts, the age-worn hills. It touched other minds, asking, and the name it said was "Rick."
To the green-eyed shadow and the mind of the seer came an unvarying answer.
"Not yet.""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___4.htm
Shadow Over Mars 3 - Leigh Brackett
""You're awfully smart," she murmured. "Because I can't read it myself."
Storm laughed again, softly. He bent his towering height and kissed her, taking his time.
In the middle of it, with her mouth still pressing his, she brought her knee up, hard with deadly accuracy.
Rick shouted. Jaffa Storm doubled up, his face twisted with stunned agony. The girl kicked him again, on the knee, and broke free.
"I've trained my mind, too," she yelled and ran.
The Venusians burst into a sudden raucous howl of laughter at Storm, who was huddled over on his knees, retching. The manacled men joined in.
Fallon made a grab for the girl. He missed, but some of the guards ran out and her way back to the shaft was barred. From behind the ore car Rick bellowed. "The light switch!"
Her gaze flicked from him to the switch near the tunnel mouth, all in the instant between one step and the next. The switch was on the opposite wall, away from the guards. She moved.
"Don't fire!" Fallon yelled. "I want her alive." He began to run, with half a dozen big Middle-swampers loping past him. The girl was going like a dark-green comet."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___3.htm
Storm laughed again, softly. He bent his towering height and kissed her, taking his time.
In the middle of it, with her mouth still pressing his, she brought her knee up, hard with deadly accuracy.
Rick shouted. Jaffa Storm doubled up, his face twisted with stunned agony. The girl kicked him again, on the knee, and broke free.
"I've trained my mind, too," she yelled and ran.
The Venusians burst into a sudden raucous howl of laughter at Storm, who was huddled over on his knees, retching. The manacled men joined in.
Fallon made a grab for the girl. He missed, but some of the guards ran out and her way back to the shaft was barred. From behind the ore car Rick bellowed. "The light switch!"
Her gaze flicked from him to the switch near the tunnel mouth, all in the instant between one step and the next. The switch was on the opposite wall, away from the guards. She moved.
"Don't fire!" Fallon yelled. "I want her alive." He began to run, with half a dozen big Middle-swampers loping past him. The girl was going like a dark-green comet."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___3.htm
Shadow Over Mars 2 - Leigh Brackett
""His shadow over Mars," he said slowly.
"My grandmother saw it, Lord," insisted the dwarf. "She was a great seeress."
"The rule of Mars to an Earthman," mused Haral. "The outland yoke hammered on our necks to stay."
The woman cried out, but the wolf-faced man was before her, bending over the throne.
"Now, Lord! Now is the time to strike, if there's any blood or pride left in the men of Mars!"
The boy rose, slowly. The torchlight crimsoned his white skin.
"Beudach."
The wolf-faced man dropped to one knee. "Send Parras to me."
Beudach went away, smiling.
"Do you know where this Earthman is?" Haral asked Llaw.
"No, Lord. But I will find him." He licked his lips. "There is a blood debt."
"It shall be paid.""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___2.htm
"My grandmother saw it, Lord," insisted the dwarf. "She was a great seeress."
"The rule of Mars to an Earthman," mused Haral. "The outland yoke hammered on our necks to stay."
The woman cried out, but the wolf-faced man was before her, bending over the throne.
"Now, Lord! Now is the time to strike, if there's any blood or pride left in the men of Mars!"
The boy rose, slowly. The torchlight crimsoned his white skin.
"Beudach."
The wolf-faced man dropped to one knee. "Send Parras to me."
Beudach went away, smiling.
"Do you know where this Earthman is?" Haral asked Llaw.
"No, Lord. But I will find him." He licked his lips. "There is a blood debt."
"It shall be paid.""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___2.htm
Shadow Over Mars 1 - Leigh Brackett
"Rick saw him clearly—a black anthropoid from the sea-bottom pits, one of the queer inhabitants of an evolutionary blind alley you were always running into on Mars. Some said they had once been men, and degenerated in their isolated barren villages. Others said they were neither man nor ape, just something that got off on a road that went nowhere. Rick didn't care much. All that interested him was that the black apes were trained now like hounds to course men for the press-gangs of the Terran Exploitations Company.
Rick had no wish to slave in the Company mines until he died. He hit the black boy hard in the midriff and shut him up for good. After that, there was silence.
Rick had never heard silence like that before except on the dead worlds. The Company press-gang was beating the whole Quarter, from the stews on the Street of Nine Thousand Joys north into the angle of the city wall, but the noise they made doing it didn't seem to touch the silence of Ruh. It was like the alloy skin of a spaceship, that you couldn't touch with fire or acid or steel."
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___1.htm
Rick had no wish to slave in the Company mines until he died. He hit the black boy hard in the midriff and shut him up for good. After that, there was silence.
Rick had never heard silence like that before except on the dead worlds. The Company press-gang was beating the whole Quarter, from the stews on the Street of Nine Thousand Joys north into the angle of the city wall, but the noise they made doing it didn't seem to touch the silence of Ruh. It was like the alloy skin of a spaceship, that you couldn't touch with fire or acid or steel."
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0343893843/0343893843___1.htm
Enchantress Of Venus 6 - Leigh Brackett
"He looked up at Zareth again. Her pale hair floated with the slow breathing of the sea, a milky cloud against the spark-shot crimson. He saw now that her face was drawn and shadowed, and there a terrible hopelessness in her eyes. She had been alive when he first saw her—frightened, not too bright, but full of emotion and a certain dogged courage. Now the spark was gone, crushed out.
She wore a collar around her white neck, a ring of dark metal with the ends fused together for all time.
"Where are we?" he asked.
And she answered, her voice carrying deep and hollow in the dense substance of the sea, "We are in the place of the Lost Ones."
Stark looked beyond her, as far as he could see, since he was unable to turn his head. And wonder came to him.
Black walls, black vault above him, a vast hall filled with the wash of the sea that slipped in streaks of whispering flame through the high embrasures. A hall that was twin to the vault of shadows where he had met the Lhari.
"There is a city," said Zareth dully. "You will see it soon. You will see nothing else until you die."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___7.htm
She wore a collar around her white neck, a ring of dark metal with the ends fused together for all time.
"Where are we?" he asked.
And she answered, her voice carrying deep and hollow in the dense substance of the sea, "We are in the place of the Lost Ones."
Stark looked beyond her, as far as he could see, since he was unable to turn his head. And wonder came to him.
Black walls, black vault above him, a vast hall filled with the wash of the sea that slipped in streaks of whispering flame through the high embrasures. A hall that was twin to the vault of shadows where he had met the Lhari.
"There is a city," said Zareth dully. "You will see it soon. You will see nothing else until you die."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___7.htm
Enchantress Of Venus 5 - Leigh Brackett
""The voice said, "Come here, into the light."
Stark obeyed the voice. As he approached the lamps, the aspect of the Lhari changed and steadied. Their beauty remained, but it was not the same. They had looked like angels. Now that he could see them clearly, Stark thought that they might have been the children of Lucifer himself.
There were six of them, counting the boy. Two men, about the same age as Stark, with some complicated gambling game forgotten between them. A woman, beautiful, gowned in white silk, sitting with her hands in her lap, doing nothing. A woman, younger, not so beautiful perhaps, but with a look of stormy and bitter vitality. She wore a short tunic of crimson, and a stout leather glove on her left hand, where perched a flying thing of prey with its fierce eyes hooded.
The boy stood beside the two men, his head poised arrogantly. From time to time he cuffed the little dragon, and it snapped at him with its impotent jaws. He was proud of himself for doing that. Stark wondered how he would behave with the beast when it had grown its fangs.
Opposite him, crouched on a heap of cushions, was a third man. He was deformed, with an ungainly body and long spidery arms, and in his lap a sharp knife lay on a block of wood, half formed into the shape of an obese creature half woman, half pure evil. Stark saw with a flash of surprise that the face of the deformed young man, of all the faces there, was truly human, truly beautiful. His eyes were old in his boyish face, wise, and very sad in their wisdom. He smiled upon the stranger, and his smile was more compassionate than tears.""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___6.htm
Stark obeyed the voice. As he approached the lamps, the aspect of the Lhari changed and steadied. Their beauty remained, but it was not the same. They had looked like angels. Now that he could see them clearly, Stark thought that they might have been the children of Lucifer himself.
There were six of them, counting the boy. Two men, about the same age as Stark, with some complicated gambling game forgotten between them. A woman, beautiful, gowned in white silk, sitting with her hands in her lap, doing nothing. A woman, younger, not so beautiful perhaps, but with a look of stormy and bitter vitality. She wore a short tunic of crimson, and a stout leather glove on her left hand, where perched a flying thing of prey with its fierce eyes hooded.
The boy stood beside the two men, his head poised arrogantly. From time to time he cuffed the little dragon, and it snapped at him with its impotent jaws. He was proud of himself for doing that. Stark wondered how he would behave with the beast when it had grown its fangs.
Opposite him, crouched on a heap of cushions, was a third man. He was deformed, with an ungainly body and long spidery arms, and in his lap a sharp knife lay on a block of wood, half formed into the shape of an obese creature half woman, half pure evil. Stark saw with a flash of surprise that the face of the deformed young man, of all the faces there, was truly human, truly beautiful. His eyes were old in his boyish face, wise, and very sad in their wisdom. He smiled upon the stranger, and his smile was more compassionate than tears.""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___6.htm
Enchantress Of Venus 4 - Leigh Brackett
Stark looked after her for a moment, strangely touched. Then he stepped out into the rain again, heading upward along the steep path that led to the castle of the Lords of Shuruun.
The mist was blinding. Stark had to feel his way, and as he climbed higher, above the level of the town, he was lost in the sullen redness. A hot wind blew, and each flare of lighting turned the crimson fog to a hellish purple. The night was full of a vast hissing where the rain poured into the gulf. He stopped once to hide his gun in a cleft between the rocks.
At length he stumbled against a carven pillar of black stone and found the gate that hung from it, a massive thing sheathed in metal. It was barred, and the pounding of his fists upon it made little sound.
Then he saw the gong, a huge disc of beaten gold beside the gate. Stark picked up the hammer that lay there, and set the deep voice of the gong rolling out between the thunderbolts.
A barred slit opened and a man's eyes looked out at him. Stark dropped the hammer.
"Open up!" he shouted. "I would speak with the Lhari!"
From within he heard an echo of laughter. Scraps of voices came to him on the wind, and then more laughter, and then, slowly, the great valves of the gate creaked open, wide enough only to admit him.
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___5.htm
The mist was blinding. Stark had to feel his way, and as he climbed higher, above the level of the town, he was lost in the sullen redness. A hot wind blew, and each flare of lighting turned the crimson fog to a hellish purple. The night was full of a vast hissing where the rain poured into the gulf. He stopped once to hide his gun in a cleft between the rocks.
At length he stumbled against a carven pillar of black stone and found the gate that hung from it, a massive thing sheathed in metal. It was barred, and the pounding of his fists upon it made little sound.
Then he saw the gong, a huge disc of beaten gold beside the gate. Stark picked up the hammer that lay there, and set the deep voice of the gong rolling out between the thunderbolts.
A barred slit opened and a man's eyes looked out at him. Stark dropped the hammer.
"Open up!" he shouted. "I would speak with the Lhari!"
From within he heard an echo of laughter. Scraps of voices came to him on the wind, and then more laughter, and then, slowly, the great valves of the gate creaked open, wide enough only to admit him.
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___5.htm
Enchantress Of Venus 3 - Leigh Brackett
"Stark said, "Who are the Lhari?"
"Would you like to meet them?" Larrabee seemed to find something very amusing in that thought. "Just go on up to the castle. They live there. They're the Lords of Shuruun, and they're always glad to meet strangers."
He leaned forward suddenly. "Who are you anyway? What's your name, and why the devil did you come here?"
"My name is Stark. And I came here for the same reason you did."
"Stark," repeated Larrabee slowly, his eyes intent. "That rings a faint bell. Seems to me I saw a Wanted flash once, some idiot that had led a native revolt somewhere in the Jovian Colonies—a big cold-eyed brute they referred to colorfully as the wild man from Mercury."
He nodded, pleased with himself. "Wild man, eh? Well, Shuruun will tame you down!""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___4.htm
"Would you like to meet them?" Larrabee seemed to find something very amusing in that thought. "Just go on up to the castle. They live there. They're the Lords of Shuruun, and they're always glad to meet strangers."
He leaned forward suddenly. "Who are you anyway? What's your name, and why the devil did you come here?"
"My name is Stark. And I came here for the same reason you did."
"Stark," repeated Larrabee slowly, his eyes intent. "That rings a faint bell. Seems to me I saw a Wanted flash once, some idiot that had led a native revolt somewhere in the Jovian Colonies—a big cold-eyed brute they referred to colorfully as the wild man from Mercury."
He nodded, pleased with himself. "Wild man, eh? Well, Shuruun will tame you down!""
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___4.htm
Enchantress Of Venus 2 - Leigh Brackett
"Stark did not pay much attention at first, except to keep his balance automatically. He was still dazed from the blow, and he was raging with anger and pain.
The primitive in him, whose name was not Stark but N'Chaka, and who had fought and starved and hunted in the blazing valleys of Mercury's Twilight Belt, learning lessons he never forgot, wished to return and slay Malthor and his men. He regretted that he had not torn out their throats, for now his trail would never be safe from them.
But the man Stark, who had learned some more bitter lessons in the name of civilization, knew the unwisdom of that. He snarled over his aching head, and cursed the Venusians in the harsh, crude dialect that was his mother tongue, but he did not turn back. There would be time enough for Malthor.
It struck him that the gulf was very deep.
Fighting down his rage, he began to swim in the direction of the shore. There was no sign of pursuit, and he judged that Malthor had decided to let him go. He puzzled over the reason for the attack. It could hardly be robbery, since he carried nothing but the clothes he stood in, and very little money.
No. There was some deeper reason. A reason connected with Malthor's insistence that he lodge with him. Stark smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. He was thinking of Shuruun, and the things men said about it, around the shores of the Red Sea.
Then his face hardened. The dim coiling fires through which he swam brought him memories of other times he had gone adventuring in the depths of the Red Sea.
He had not been alone then. Helvi had gone with him—the tall son of a barbarian kinglet up-coast by Yarell. They had hunted strange beasts through the crystal forests of the sea-bottom and bathed in the welling flames that pulse from the very heart of Venus to feed the ocean. They had been brothers.
Now Helvi was gone, into Shuruun. He had never returned."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___3.htm
The primitive in him, whose name was not Stark but N'Chaka, and who had fought and starved and hunted in the blazing valleys of Mercury's Twilight Belt, learning lessons he never forgot, wished to return and slay Malthor and his men. He regretted that he had not torn out their throats, for now his trail would never be safe from them.
But the man Stark, who had learned some more bitter lessons in the name of civilization, knew the unwisdom of that. He snarled over his aching head, and cursed the Venusians in the harsh, crude dialect that was his mother tongue, but he did not turn back. There would be time enough for Malthor.
It struck him that the gulf was very deep.
Fighting down his rage, he began to swim in the direction of the shore. There was no sign of pursuit, and he judged that Malthor had decided to let him go. He puzzled over the reason for the attack. It could hardly be robbery, since he carried nothing but the clothes he stood in, and very little money.
No. There was some deeper reason. A reason connected with Malthor's insistence that he lodge with him. Stark smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. He was thinking of Shuruun, and the things men said about it, around the shores of the Red Sea.
Then his face hardened. The dim coiling fires through which he swam brought him memories of other times he had gone adventuring in the depths of the Red Sea.
He had not been alone then. Helvi had gone with him—the tall son of a barbarian kinglet up-coast by Yarell. They had hunted strange beasts through the crystal forests of the sea-bottom and bathed in the welling flames that pulse from the very heart of Venus to feed the ocean. They had been brothers.
Now Helvi was gone, into Shuruun. He had never returned."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___3.htm
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Enchantress Of Venus 1 - Leigh Brackett
"The ship moved slowly across the Red Sea, through the shrouding veils of mist, her sail barely filled by the languid thrust of the wind. Her hull, of a thin light metal, floated without sound, the surface of the strange ocean parting before her prow in silent rippling streamers of flame.
Night deepened toward the ship, a river of indigo flowing out of the west. The man known as Stark stood alone by the after rail and watched its coming. He was full of impatience and a gathering sense of danger, so that it seemed to him that even the hot wind smelled of it.
The steersman lay drowsily over his sweep. He was a big man, with skin and hair the color of milk. He did not speak, but Stark felt that now and again the man's eyes turned toward him, pale and calculating under half-closed lids, with a secret avarice.
The captain and the two other members of the little coasting vessel's crew were forward, at their evening meal. Once or twice Stark heard a burst of laughter, half-whispered and furtive. It was as though all four shared in some private joke, from which he was rigidly excluded.
The heat was oppressive. Sweat gathered on Stark's dark face. His shirt stuck to his back. The air was heavy with moisture, tainted with the muddy fecundity of the land that brooded westward behind the eternal fog.
There was something ominous about the sea itself. Even on its own world, the Red Sea is hardly more than legend. It lies behind the Mountains of White Cloud, the great barrier wall that hides away half a planet. Few men have gone beyond that barrier, into the vast mystery of Inner Venus. Fewer still have come back."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___2.htm
Night deepened toward the ship, a river of indigo flowing out of the west. The man known as Stark stood alone by the after rail and watched its coming. He was full of impatience and a gathering sense of danger, so that it seemed to him that even the hot wind smelled of it.
The steersman lay drowsily over his sweep. He was a big man, with skin and hair the color of milk. He did not speak, but Stark felt that now and again the man's eyes turned toward him, pale and calculating under half-closed lids, with a secret avarice.
The captain and the two other members of the little coasting vessel's crew were forward, at their evening meal. Once or twice Stark heard a burst of laughter, half-whispered and furtive. It was as though all four shared in some private joke, from which he was rigidly excluded.
The heat was oppressive. Sweat gathered on Stark's dark face. His shirt stuck to his back. The air was heavy with moisture, tainted with the muddy fecundity of the land that brooded westward behind the eternal fog.
There was something ominous about the sea itself. Even on its own world, the Red Sea is hardly more than legend. It lies behind the Mountains of White Cloud, the great barrier wall that hides away half a planet. Few men have gone beyond that barrier, into the vast mystery of Inner Venus. Fewer still have come back."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1893887162/1893887162___2.htm
Alpha Centauri Or Die 4 - Leigh Brackett
"The word went out from Mars. There are men in space again.
Secretly and stealthily that word went, on the tight Government beams. But it was heard and repeated. Inward from Mars it traveled, across Earth and Venus and into the sun-bitten, frost-wracked valleys of Mercury. Outward from Mars it traveled, to the lunar colonies of Jupiter and Saturn, to the nighted mining camps of the worlds beyond. There are men in space again!
Human mind and muscle had challenged the dark ships, and the barriers that had been so strong were broken, the frontiers that had been closed were open, and a thing had been done so splendid and insane and terrifying that it struck the mass consciousness with the impact of a bomb. There was no longer any point in feigning secrecy. The news services broadcast the story, training expressive cameras on the comfortable houses left vacant and forlorn, the abandoned toys, the supper dishes untouched on dusty tables."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___4.htm
Secretly and stealthily that word went, on the tight Government beams. But it was heard and repeated. Inward from Mars it traveled, across Earth and Venus and into the sun-bitten, frost-wracked valleys of Mercury. Outward from Mars it traveled, to the lunar colonies of Jupiter and Saturn, to the nighted mining camps of the worlds beyond. There are men in space again!
Human mind and muscle had challenged the dark ships, and the barriers that had been so strong were broken, the frontiers that had been closed were open, and a thing had been done so splendid and insane and terrifying that it struck the mass consciousness with the impact of a bomb. There was no longer any point in feigning secrecy. The news services broadcast the story, training expressive cameras on the comfortable houses left vacant and forlorn, the abandoned toys, the supper dishes untouched on dusty tables."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___4.htm
Alpha Centauri Or Die 3 - Leigh Brackett
"Shari had wakened. She straightened up and looked at Kirby. "Shall we be able to make it?"
"I don't know. Depends on how long it takes the R-3's to locate us. They'll have to hunt, and there's a lot of desert around Kahora. On the other hand, they're fast. A hell of a lot faster than we are."
He looked around apprehensively, but there was no sign of anything yet in the sky, nor did his radarscope show any warning pip. Shari put her hand over on top of his.
"I think perhaps luck will be with us," she said. "You're afraid now, but it is mostly for me. Don't be. Whatever happens, it could not have been any other way."
He took her hand and squeezed it savagely. "I'll see to it nothing does happen. Damn it, this desert always did seem to go on forever. Won't those blasted mountains ever show?"
It seemed to Kirby that the flier barely moved. His heart thumped painfully, and every nerve-end was awake and leaping. He hunched over the controls, trying to urge the small craft forward as one does a horse, with his own body. And then Shari said a surprising thing. She said, "For the first time since I have known, you are happy."
"Happy!" he said. He laughed."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___3.htm
"I don't know. Depends on how long it takes the R-3's to locate us. They'll have to hunt, and there's a lot of desert around Kahora. On the other hand, they're fast. A hell of a lot faster than we are."
He looked around apprehensively, but there was no sign of anything yet in the sky, nor did his radarscope show any warning pip. Shari put her hand over on top of his.
"I think perhaps luck will be with us," she said. "You're afraid now, but it is mostly for me. Don't be. Whatever happens, it could not have been any other way."
He took her hand and squeezed it savagely. "I'll see to it nothing does happen. Damn it, this desert always did seem to go on forever. Won't those blasted mountains ever show?"
It seemed to Kirby that the flier barely moved. His heart thumped painfully, and every nerve-end was awake and leaping. He hunched over the controls, trying to urge the small craft forward as one does a horse, with his own body. And then Shari said a surprising thing. She said, "For the first time since I have known, you are happy."
"Happy!" he said. He laughed."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___3.htm
Alpha Centauri Or Die 2 - Leigh Brackett
"She almost laughed at him. "I never used it—well, hardly ever, really—except to tell me when you were coming. A Martian man could guard his mind, but not you, so it would not have been fair. And I never told you of it because it might have made you uncomfortable."
Kirby shook his head in awe. "A telepath. I'll be damned. I knew Martians were supposed to have some unusual abilities, but I never dreamed—"
"Not all of us, Kirby, and the effort is too great to waste it on trivialities. Already my head aches." She put the tall glass in his hand and then she kissed him briefly, fiercely, and whispered, "Be careful! And now I'll let them in."
The knocking on the door had just begun. Shari opened it, and three men came in. Two of them were government agents assigned to Port Security, and Kirby reckoned that there must be two more outside, searching his own flier. The third man was his brother-in-law, Harry March. He was also Divisional Superintendent and Kirby's superior.
Kirby sat up. "I won't say welcome, Harry, because you're not." He looked at the government men, "What is this?""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___2.htm
Kirby shook his head in awe. "A telepath. I'll be damned. I knew Martians were supposed to have some unusual abilities, but I never dreamed—"
"Not all of us, Kirby, and the effort is too great to waste it on trivialities. Already my head aches." She put the tall glass in his hand and then she kissed him briefly, fiercely, and whispered, "Be careful! And now I'll let them in."
The knocking on the door had just begun. Shari opened it, and three men came in. Two of them were government agents assigned to Port Security, and Kirby reckoned that there must be two more outside, searching his own flier. The third man was his brother-in-law, Harry March. He was also Divisional Superintendent and Kirby's superior.
Kirby sat up. "I won't say welcome, Harry, because you're not." He looked at the government men, "What is this?""
3.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___2.htm
Alpha Centauri Or Die 1 - Leigh Brackett
"There were no more men in space. The dark ships strode the ways between the worlds, lightless, silent, needing no human mind to guide them. The R-ships, carrying the freight and the passengers, keeping order, keeping the law, taking the Pax Terrae to the limits of the Solar System and guarding there the boundary which was not now ever to be crossed.
No more men in space. No strong hands bridling the rockets, no eyes looking outward to the stars. But still upon the wide-flung worlds of Sol were old men who remembered, and young men who could dream.
The shadow of the sandstone pillar lay black upon the ground. Kirby slipped into it and stood still, looking back the way he had just come. Wilson stopped too, in the shadow, asking nervously, "Nobody's following us, are they?"
Kirby shook his head. "I just wanted another look at the place. I don't know why, I've seen it often enough."
He had not been running. Neither he nor Wilson had been doing anything outwardly unusual, and yet Kirby was soaked with sweat and his heart was pounding. He could hear Wilson's heavy breathing, and he knew it was the same with him.
"I'm scared," said Wilson. "Why should I be scared now?" He was a young man, long and narrow, with very strong, very sensitive hands.
"The last time," Kirby said. "We only need a few more hours now, after all these years."
He let his voice trail off, as though he had been going to say more and decided not to, and Wilson muttered, "You're worried about March."
"He's been taking too much interest in my department lately. I wish I knew—"
"Yeah, Kirby, let's go."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___1.htm
No more men in space. No strong hands bridling the rockets, no eyes looking outward to the stars. But still upon the wide-flung worlds of Sol were old men who remembered, and young men who could dream.
The shadow of the sandstone pillar lay black upon the ground. Kirby slipped into it and stood still, looking back the way he had just come. Wilson stopped too, in the shadow, asking nervously, "Nobody's following us, are they?"
Kirby shook his head. "I just wanted another look at the place. I don't know why, I've seen it often enough."
He had not been running. Neither he nor Wilson had been doing anything outwardly unusual, and yet Kirby was soaked with sweat and his heart was pounding. He could hear Wilson's heavy breathing, and he knew it was the same with him.
"I'm scared," said Wilson. "Why should I be scared now?" He was a young man, long and narrow, with very strong, very sensitive hands.
"The last time," Kirby said. "We only need a few more hours now, after all these years."
He let his voice trail off, as though he had been going to say more and decided not to, and Wilson muttered, "You're worried about March."
"He's been taking too much interest in my department lately. I wish I knew—"
"Yeah, Kirby, let's go."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/4410177015/4410177015___1.htm
The Reavers Of Skaith 7 - Leigh Brackett
"The woman answered, in the sweet identical tone, without words. Then she studied the men, with a sword-thrust glance, and said, "You are not sons of Mother Skaith."
Stark said, "No."
She nodded. "This was the strangeness my messengers sensed." She spoke to the boy, and in her manner were both love and deference. "What is your thought, my Cethlin?"
He smiled gently and said, "They are not for us, Mother. Another has set her seal upon them."
"Well, then," said the woman, turning again to Stark and Ashton, "be welcome, for a time." She beckoned to them with the stateliness of a bending tree. "I am Norverann. This is my son Cethlin, my last and youngest, who is called the Bridegroom."
"The Bridegroom?"
"Here we worship the Trinity—my lady Cold and her lord Darkness, and their daughter Hunger, who come to rule us. My son will go to the Daughter in his eighteenth year, if she does not claim him sooner."
"She will, Mother," said the calm-eyed boy. "The day is close at hand.""
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0345318293/0345318293___7.htm
Stark said, "No."
She nodded. "This was the strangeness my messengers sensed." She spoke to the boy, and in her manner were both love and deference. "What is your thought, my Cethlin?"
He smiled gently and said, "They are not for us, Mother. Another has set her seal upon them."
"Well, then," said the woman, turning again to Stark and Ashton, "be welcome, for a time." She beckoned to them with the stateliness of a bending tree. "I am Norverann. This is my son Cethlin, my last and youngest, who is called the Bridegroom."
"The Bridegroom?"
"Here we worship the Trinity—my lady Cold and her lord Darkness, and their daughter Hunger, who come to rule us. My son will go to the Daughter in his eighteenth year, if she does not claim him sooner."
"She will, Mother," said the calm-eyed boy. "The day is close at hand.""
4.5 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0345318293/0345318293___7.htm
The Reavers Of Skaith 6 - Leigh Brackett
"Farther away from the city, arrogantly isolated, the dark-furred Fallarin sat muttering among themselves, striking little angry puffs of wind from out their wings. The Tarf, their agile servants in stripes of green and gold, with four powerful ropey arms apiece, did the work of breaking camp.
By morning, they would all be gone.
Beyond them all, the valley lay empty and quiet. But at its upper end, where the mountains closed in and rocky walls narrowed steeply together, was the grotto from which generations of Gerriths, wise women of Irnan, had watched over the welfare of their city.
The grotto had been robbed of all its furnishings, so that it was more than ever like a tomb. Gerrith, the last of her name, had renounced her status as wise woman, saying that her tradition had ended with the destruction of the Robe and Crown at the hands of the Wandsman Mordach. Yet there were beasts tethered below the entrance, and a dim reflection of light shone from it. On the ledge by this entrance a Tarf stood sentinel, leaning on his four-handed sword and blinking horny eyelids with the timeless patience of his kind. His name was Klatlekt."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0345318293/0345318293___6.htm
By morning, they would all be gone.
Beyond them all, the valley lay empty and quiet. But at its upper end, where the mountains closed in and rocky walls narrowed steeply together, was the grotto from which generations of Gerriths, wise women of Irnan, had watched over the welfare of their city.
The grotto had been robbed of all its furnishings, so that it was more than ever like a tomb. Gerrith, the last of her name, had renounced her status as wise woman, saying that her tradition had ended with the destruction of the Robe and Crown at the hands of the Wandsman Mordach. Yet there were beasts tethered below the entrance, and a dim reflection of light shone from it. On the ledge by this entrance a Tarf stood sentinel, leaning on his four-handed sword and blinking horny eyelids with the timeless patience of his kind. His name was Klatlekt."
4 out of 5
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0345318293/0345318293___6.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
