didn't answer the question. Alice spoke to him rapidly, quietly. His eyes opened wide.
Rog wasn't surprised that Alice had seen some of the implications that Fred had missed, but he wanted the others to see them too.
"Dick!" he called.
Dick, started guiltily. He had just realized he was naked, and was tiptoeing away. He turned, blushing.
"Dick, if you knew you could have atomic power for the taking, would you take it?"
Dick forgot his nakedness again in the consideration of the problem. "I'd think twice about it," he admitted. "Yes, I believe. I'd take it. But it would depend. I wouldn't like to burn my boats . . . "
"You know that ship is powered by atomic engines, don't you?"
"Of course." Dick had, but the others only now saw what Rog was driving at. Suppose, after all, the old folk were right, and they were much better off without atomic power. Everyone was quite prepared to believe that was, at least, possible. Well, close contact with the people on ship might knock a hole in that idea. Besides -- "
"Suppose there were disagreement," said Rog, "and there often is between different groups -- remember? /They/ have the power; we haven't. They could blow us all to atoms before their tempers had a chance to cool."
He let that sink in, then said quietly: "Am I being too damn cautious when I say we should let this ship go and be glad it didn't see us?"
There was sudden uproar, everyone telling everyone else that was exactly what he'd been going to say, if Rog hadn't said it first. Rog let them argue about it and work things out for themselves. He saw Fred looking a little green about the gills as Alice pointed out to him how little a community like Lemon stood to gain from a very different community, and how much it had to lose.
Then he held up his hand for silence again. "Come on," he said. "We're going back to Lemon."
There was a gasp of surprise at that. He was ahead of them again. There were some shouts of protest.
"I brought you here, I know," Rog went on. "That was right, then. But the situation has changed. I think we all belong together -- don't you?"
Before they left New Paris they climbed on the roof of some of the cottages and made sure that nothing that could be seen from the air showed that there was a village there. They rubbed dirt on one house that had been whitewashed, and knocked down a wall that cast a long, straight shadow.
Then, as they had come, they trekked down the hill, Rog and Alice and June in the lead.
3
After spending a few days by the side of the lake they had discovered, which they christened Antonia after Toni, Pertwee and Toni moved on. They had ceased to talk about their purpose in traveling; the life suited them, and nothing else mattered as far as they could see.
Besides, they had found one important thing. Toni's imagination was fired by the idea that they might return with scores of such things to relate. She was impatient to get on and find the next. Pertwee, more phlegmatic, thought they would be certain to be accepted again in Lemon on their own terms as it was, having found the lake, and that it was unlikely that an unspectacular world like Mundis would have much more to offer.
They were about seven hundred miles from Lemon when they heard a noise. A noise of any kind on Mundis was unusual. Apart from the gentle whispering and crackling of foliage in the constant sough of the atmosphere, and the various sounds of the rains, there was hardly any sound natural to the planet. But this was a kind of buzz, perhaps a roar far away -- steady, yet with a certain beat about it.
Toni, never having known any but domestic animals or anything but individual men one could possibly fear, was puzzled, curious, but not afraid. Pertwee, however, found excitement and fear warring within him the instant they heard the sound, long before they had any idea of what might be producing it.
They could see nothing. They were in the middle of the usual Mundan scene -- almost all grassland, with
Rog wasn't surprised that Alice had seen some of the implications that Fred had missed, but he wanted the others to see them too.
"Dick!" he called.
Dick, started guiltily. He had just realized he was naked, and was tiptoeing away. He turned, blushing.
"Dick, if you knew you could have atomic power for the taking, would you take it?"
Dick forgot his nakedness again in the consideration of the problem. "I'd think twice about it," he admitted. "Yes, I believe. I'd take it. But it would depend. I wouldn't like to burn my boats . . . "
"You know that ship is powered by atomic engines, don't you?"
"Of course." Dick had, but the others only now saw what Rog was driving at. Suppose, after all, the old folk were right, and they were much better off without atomic power. Everyone was quite prepared to believe that was, at least, possible. Well, close contact with the people on ship might knock a hole in that idea. Besides -- "
"Suppose there were disagreement," said Rog, "and there often is between different groups -- remember? /They/ have the power; we haven't. They could blow us all to atoms before their tempers had a chance to cool."
He let that sink in, then said quietly: "Am I being too damn cautious when I say we should let this ship go and be glad it didn't see us?"
There was sudden uproar, everyone telling everyone else that was exactly what he'd been going to say, if Rog hadn't said it first. Rog let them argue about it and work things out for themselves. He saw Fred looking a little green about the gills as Alice pointed out to him how little a community like Lemon stood to gain from a very different community, and how much it had to lose.
Then he held up his hand for silence again. "Come on," he said. "We're going back to Lemon."
There was a gasp of surprise at that. He was ahead of them again. There were some shouts of protest.
"I brought you here, I know," Rog went on. "That was right, then. But the situation has changed. I think we all belong together -- don't you?"
Before they left New Paris they climbed on the roof of some of the cottages and made sure that nothing that could be seen from the air showed that there was a village there. They rubbed dirt on one house that had been whitewashed, and knocked down a wall that cast a long, straight shadow.
Then, as they had come, they trekked down the hill, Rog and Alice and June in the lead.
3
After spending a few days by the side of the lake they had discovered, which they christened Antonia after Toni, Pertwee and Toni moved on. They had ceased to talk about their purpose in traveling; the life suited them, and nothing else mattered as far as they could see.
Besides, they had found one important thing. Toni's imagination was fired by the idea that they might return with scores of such things to relate. She was impatient to get on and find the next. Pertwee, more phlegmatic, thought they would be certain to be accepted again in Lemon on their own terms as it was, having found the lake, and that it was unlikely that an unspectacular world like Mundis would have much more to offer.
They were about seven hundred miles from Lemon when they heard a noise. A noise of any kind on Mundis was unusual. Apart from the gentle whispering and crackling of foliage in the constant sough of the atmosphere, and the various sounds of the rains, there was hardly any sound natural to the planet. But this was a kind of buzz, perhaps a roar far away -- steady, yet with a certain beat about it.
Toni, never having known any but domestic animals or anything but individual men one could possibly fear, was puzzled, curious, but not afraid. Pertwee, however, found excitement and fear warring within him the instant they heard the sound, long before they had any idea of what might be producing it.
They could see nothing. They were in the middle of the usual Mundan scene -- almost all grassland, with
Similar Books
