"A year ago,” Bregg said, “some of the people got hold of her two young ones. They were torn to pieces before they could be saved, and she saw it. I can't blame her, either."
He went on to the gate and opened it and went inside. The people drew back from him. They spat at him, too, and pelted him with food and pebbles. He spoke to them, sternly, in the tone of one speaking to unruly dogs, and he spoke words, in his own tongue. The people began to shuffle about uneasily. They stopped throwing things. He stood waiting.
The yellow-eyed girl came sidling forward and rubbed herself against his thigh, head, shoulder and flank. He reached down and stroked her, and she whimpered with pleasure and arched her back.
"Oh, for God's sake,” said Kieran, “let's get out of here."
* * * *
Later, they sat wearily on fallen blocks of cement inside a dusty, shadowy room of the old building. Only a handlamp dispelled the gloom, and the wind whispered coldly, and Bregg walked to and fro in his curious prance as he talked.
"It will be a little while before the necessary medical team can be picked up and brought here,” he said. “We shall have to wait."
"And then?” asked Kieran.
"First to—” Bregg used a word that undoubtedly named a city of the Sakae but that meant nothing to Kieran, “-and then to Altair Two. This, of course, is a council matter."
He stopped and looked bright, shrewd eyes at Kieran. “You are quite the sensation already, Mr. Kieran. The community of starworlds is already aware of the illegal resuscitation of one of the pioneer spacemen, and of course there is great interest.” He paused. “You, yourself, have done nothing unlawful. You cannot very well be sent back to sleep, and undoubtedly the council will want to hear you. I am curious as to what you will say."
"About Sako?” said Kieran. “About—them?” He made a gesture toward a window through which the wind brought the sound of stirring, of the gruntings and whufflings of the corralled people.
"Yes. About them."
"I'll tell you how I feel,” Kieran said flatly. He saw Paula and Webber lean forward in the shadows. “I'm a human man. The people out there may be savage, low as the beasts, good for nothing the way they are—but they're human. You Sakae may be intelligent, civilized, reasonable, but you're not human. When I see you ordering them around like beasts, I want to kill you. That's how I feel."
Bregg did not change his bearing, but he made a small sound that was almost a sigh.
"Yes,” he said. “I feared it would be so. A man of your times—a man from a world where humans were all-dominant—would feel that way.” He turned and looked at Paula and Webber. “It appears that your scheme, to this extent, was successful."
"No, I wouldn't say that,” said Kieran.
Paula stood up. “But you just told us how you feel—"
"And it's the truth,” said Kieran. “But there's something else.” He looked thoughtfully at her. “It was a good idea. It was bound to work—a man of my time was bound to feel just this way you wanted him to feel, and would go away from here crying your party slogans and believing them. But you overlooked something—"
He paused, looking out the window into the sky, at the faint vari-colored radiance of the cluster.
"You overlooked the fact that when you awoke me, I would no longer be a man of my own time or of any time. I was in darkness for a hundred years with the stars my brothers, and no man touching me. Maybe that chills a man's feelings, maybe something deep in his mind lives and has time to think. I've told you how I feel, yes. But I haven't told you what I think—"
He stopped again, then said, “The people out there in the corral have my form, and my instinctive loyalty is to them. But instinct isn't enough. It would have kept us in the mud of Earth forever, if it could. Reason took us out to the wider universe. Instinct tells me that those out there are my people. Reason tells me that you—” he looked at Bregg, “-who are abhorrent to me, who would make my skin creep if I touched you, you who go by reason—that you are my real people. Instinct made a hell of Earth for millennia—I say we ought to leave it behind us there in the mud and not let it make a hell of the stars. For you'll run into this same problem over and over again as you go out into the wider universe, and the old parochial human loyalties must be altered, to solve it."
He looked at Paula and said, “I'm sorry, but if anyone asks me, that is what I'll say."
"I'm sorry, too,” she said, rage and dejection ringing in her voice. “Sorry we woke you. I hope I never see you again."
Kieran shrugged. “After all, you did wake me. You're responsible for me. Here I am, facing a whole new universe, and I'll need you.” He went over and patted her shoulder.
"Damn you,” she said. But she did not move away from him.
THE END
SF/F/H FROM PAGETURNER EDITIONS
CAMPBELL AWARD WINNER ALEXIS A. GILLILAND'S ROSINANTE TRILOGY
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Long Shot for Rosinante
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THE CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION OF STUART J. BYRNE
Music of the Spheres & Other Classic SF Stories
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The Alpha Trap (1976)
The Land Beyond the Lens: The Michael Flannigan Trilogy (writing as John Bloodstone)
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STEFAN VUCAK'S EPPIE NOMINEE SPACE SAGA “THE SHADOW GODS"
In the Shadow of Death
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JANRAE FRANK'S #1 BESTSELLING FANTASY SAGAS
Dark Brothers of the Light Book I. Blood Rites
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THE COSMIC KALEVALA
The Saga of Lost Earths—Emil Petaja (Nebula nominee author)
The Star Mill—Emil Petaja
The Stolen Sun—Emil Petaja
Tramontane—Emil Petaja
JACK JARDINE'S HUMOROUS SF AND MYSTERY
The Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #1 The Flying Saucer Gambit
The Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #2 The Emerald Elephant Gambit
The Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #3 The Golden Goddess Gambit
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onsters
Unaccustomed As I Am To Public Dying & Other Humorous and Ironic Mystery Stories
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ARDATH MAYHAR'S AWARD-WINNING SF & F
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The World Ends in Hickory Hollow, or After Armageddon
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The Black Tower: A Novel of Dark Fantasy
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HAL ANNAS’ COSMIC RECKONING TRILOGY
I. The Woman from Eternity
II. Daughter of Doom
III. Witch of the Dark Star
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2. Toffee Haunts a Ghost—Charles F. Myers
3. Toffee Turns the Trick—Charles F. Myers
OTHER AWARD WINNING & NOMINEE STORIES AND AUTHORS
Moonworm's Dance & Other SF Classics—Stanley Mullen (includes The Day the Earth Stood Still & Other SF Classics—Harry Bates (Balrog Award winning story)
Hugo nominee story Space to Swing a Cat)
People of the Darkness-Ross Rocklynne (Nebulas nominee author)
When They Come From Space-Mark Clifton (Hugo winning author)
What Thin Partitions-Mark Clifton (Hugo winning author)
Star Bright & Other SF Classics—Mark Clifton
Eight Keys to Eden-Mark Clifton (Hugo winning author)
Rat in the Skull & Other Off-Trail Science Fiction-Rog Phillips (Hugo nominee author)
The Involuntary Immortals-Rog Phillips (Hugo nominee author)
Inside Man & Other Science Fictions-H. L. Gold (Hugo winner, Nebula nominee)
Women of the Wood and Other Stories-A. Merritt (Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame award)
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Dawn of Flame & Other Stories—Stanley G. Weinbaum (SFWA Hall of Fame author)
The Black Flame—Stanley G. Weinbaum
Scout-Octavio Ramos, Jr. (Best Original Fiction)
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The City at World's End-Edmond Hamilton
The Star Kings-Edmond Hamilton (Sense of Wonder Award winning author)
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THE BESTSELLING SF/F/H OF J. D. CRAYNE
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OTHER FINE CONTEMPORARY & CLASSIC SF/F/H
A Million Years to Conquer-Henry Kuttner
After the Polothas—Stephen Brown
Arcadia—Tabitha Bradley
Backdoor to Heaven—Vicki McElfresh
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Buck Rogers #2. The Airlords of Han—Philip Francis Nowlan
Chaka: Zulu King-Book I. The Curse of Baleka-H. R. Haggard
Chaka: Zulu King-Book II. Umpslopogass’ Revenge-H. R. Haggard
Claimed!-Francis Stevens
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Diranda: Tales of the Fifth Quadrant—Tabitha Bradley
Dracula's Daughters-Ed. Jean Marie Stine
Dwellers in the Mirage-A. Merritt
From Beyond & 16 Other Macabre Masterpieces-H. P. Lovecraft
Future Eves: Classic Science Fiction about Women by Women-(ed) Jean Marie Stine
Ghost Hunters and Psychic Detectives: 8 Classic Tales of Sleuthing and the Supernatural-(ed.) J. M. Stine
Horrors!: Rarely Reprinted Classic Terror Tales-(ed.) J. M. Stine. J.L. Hill
House on the Borderland-William Hope Hodgson
House of Many Worlds [Elspeth Marriner #1]—Sam Merwin Jr.
Invisible Encounter and Other SF Stories—J. D. Crayne
Murcheson Inc., Space Salvage—Cleve Cartmill
Ki-Gor, Lord of the Jungle-John Peter Drummond
Lost Stars: Forgotten SF from the “Best of Anthologies"-(ed.) J. M. Stine
Metropolis-Thea von Harbou
Mission to Misenum [Elspeth Marriner #2]—Sam Merwin Jr.
Mistress of the Djinn-Geoff St. Reynard
Chronicles of the Sorceress Morgaine I-V—Joe Vadalma
Nightmare!-Francis Stevens
Pete Manx, Time Troubler—Arthur K. Barnes
Possessed!-Francis Stevens
Ralph 124C 41+—Hugo Gernsback
Seven Out of Time—Arthur Leo Zagut
Star Tower—Joe Vadalma
The Cosmic Wheel-J. D. Crayne
The Forbidden Garden-John Taine
The City at World's End-Edmond Hamilton
The Ghost Pirates-W. H. Hodgson
The Girl in the Golden Atom—Ray Cummings
The Heads of Cerberus—Francis Stevens
The House on the Borderland-William Hope Hodgson
The Insidious Fu Manchu-Sax Rohmer
The Interplanetary Huntress-Arthur K. Barnes
The Interplanetary Huntress Returns-Arthur K. Barnes
The Interplanetary Huntress Last Case-Arthur K. Barnes
The Lightning Witch, or The Metal Monster-A. Merritt
The Price He Paid: A Novel of the Stellar Republic—Matt Kirkby
The Thief of Bagdad-Achmed Abdullah
Women of the Wood and Other Stories-A. Merritt
BARGAIN SF/F EBOOKS IN OMNIBUS EDITIONS
(Complete & Unabridged)
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The Barsoom Omnibus: A Princess of Mars; The Gods of Mars; The Warlord of Mars-Burroughs
The Second Barsoom Omnibus: Thuvia, Maid of Mars; The Chessm
en of Mars-Burroughs
The Third Barsoom Omnibus: The Mastermind of Mars; A Fighting Man of Mars-Burroughs
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The Second Tarzan Omnibus: The Beasts of Tarzan; The Son of Tarzan; Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar-Burroughs
The Third Tarzan Omnibus: Tarzan the Untamed; Tarzan the Terrible; Tarzan and the Golden Lion-Burroughs
The Pellucidar Omnibus: At the Earth's Core; Pellucidar-Burroughs
The Caspak Omnibus: The Land that Time Forgot; The People that Time Forgot; Out of Time's Abyss-Burroughs
The First H. G. Wells Omnibus: The Invisible Man: War of the Worlds; The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Second H. G. Wells Omnibus: The Time Machine; The First Men in the Moon; When the Sleeper Wakes
The Third H. G. Wells Omnibus: The Food of the Gods; Shape of Things to Come; In the Days of the Comet
The First Jules Verne Omnibus: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea; The Mysterious Island; From the Earth to the Moon
The Homer Eon Flint: All 4 of the Clasic “Dr. Kenney” Novels: The Lord of Death; The Queen of Life; The Devolutionist; The Emancipatrix
The Second Jules Verne Omnibus: Around the World in 80 Days; A Journey to the Center of the Earth; Off on a Comet
Three Great Horror Novels: Dracula; Frankenstein; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Darkness and Dawn Omnibus: The Classic Science Fiction Trilogy-George Allan England
The Garrett P. Serviss Omnibus: The Second Deluge; The Moon Metal; A Columbus of Space
ADDITIONAL TITLES IN PREPARATION
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