Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Stopover Planet by Gilbert Robert E Terry W E Illustrator
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page
Ebook has 74 lines and 5821 words, and 2 pages
Mrs. Jane Huprich dropped her mop. Her varicose legs trotted across the wet lobby of the Jordon Building, and her flabby fat arms reached for the tall man with bright eyes who stood near the elevators. "It's me, Mom," the man cried.
"Matt!" Mrs. Huprich cried. "Matt, baby!"
"I got a full pardon, Mom," Matt said, stroking her tangled white hair. "Right from the ruling state official. You won't have to scrub floors anymore! I'm going straight, Mom. I'm a good mechanic now. They learned me a lot in the enclosure. Come on. I got a used truck outside, I bought cheap."
"Whoa!" Gary roared. He stopped, held the bicycle upright with one foot on the pavement. A tall, lanky, slightly bowlegged man with squinting luminous green eyes stood on the sidewalk. Gary looked at the man. The newspapers fluttered to the parkway. The bicycle clattered in the street.
"Howdy, partner!" the tall man said. "The rustlers are headin' for the plateau! We'll take the short gash and head 'em off at the canyon!"
"Ramrod Jones?" Gary chirped.
The tall creature dressed in black, red-spotted fur stepped from the cab. An opening appeared in the hillside. Four machines--dull metal eggs balancing on single tractor treads--rolled silently through the opening. Jointed steel arms darted from recesses in the eggs. One machine opened the truck doors.
The creature walked up a ramp inside the hill and entered a shimmering metallic compartment.
"Greetings, Eo. I have returned."
Eo, who wore a suit of white fur, hummed, "None too soon, Za. We miscalculated dawn. What success?"
"An excellent group," Za said. He stretched and reclined on a transparent slab. "The servants are unloading the vehicle. I captured a young male, a mature male, an aged male, some sort of official or guardian male, a mature female, and an aged female."
"Let's view them," Eo said. "You can rest after we're away."
The tall creatures entered a second compartment furnished with a large table upon which the silent machines deposited inanimate bodies. "Extraordinary!" said Eo, staring at Miss Betsy Tapp. "These things have reached a peak of mammalian development!"
"Her correct garments are in this bundle," Za explained. "The servants are bringing the properties now. I secured a signaling device and a box used in an extremely primitive system of communication. Also, I brought the quaint muscle-powered vehicle ridden by the young male. The photographs should be sufficient for other details."
"Any difficulty?" Eo asked as the machines dumped Patrolman Whedbee on the table.
"The language was the greatest obstacle," Za said. "The same word has many different meanings, or many different words have the same meaning. Rather crude."
"Did you use bait, or force?"
"Bait," Za said. "It's much simpler. This is a completely selfish, egocentric breed. Most of them have one thing in mind which they want solely for themselves. Their sending power is weak, but that one selfish desire is powerful enough to be received. I merely dangled it before their minds, and they were hooked." He tapped the fost of Calvin C. Kear. "I killed this one's female companion. She awoke and screamed. The males and females pair off and live together for years. Strange custom! Breeding seems to be only one reason for the mutual bondage."
Za pointed to Mrs. Jane Huprich. "The old female may be an exception to the selfishness. I couldn't decide whether she most wanted to be relieved of cleaning floors by primitive methods, or wanted her male offspring to be released from some structure where he had been secured for reasons I couldn't determine."
The machines deposited the Reverend Enos Shackelford and then lined up in a precise row. "This thing is dead!" Eo buzzed.
Za shook his head. "That was the only genuine exception. He confused me till I forgot his proper clothing, but some can be devised from the other samples. He seems to have been a witch-doctor. His mind was cluttered with myths and superstitions from an ancient text. I don't understand him, Eo, and wish I had time to study the phenomena. He was different from the others. He believed in something and considered himself lowly and humble. The minds of the others were in constant confusion. They believed, actually, in nothing. Somehow, he saw me, Eo. I was forced to kill him."
"No harm done," Eo decided. He faced the machines and said, "Destroy the vehicle, draw in the camouflage net, prepare for take-off." The machines rolled from the compartment, and the two creatures followed.
"Yes," Za agreed, glancing back at the Reverend Enos Shackelford. "This planet was a fortunate stopover."
Transcriber's Note:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page