Page 105 - Astounding Pulp V2

104 ASTO L". ' D L. G SCIE. ·cE-FICTlO.
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105
GRAY LE SM.
'Ad miral JJ03•11r s, and lo g et H ' orscl lo ''The city inspector who had the job
accompanJ· and aid him . came intu money later, retired, and no• erve and report, whichever ycnt ay : \ Vhat ll:nrne · t3 Ill l l r i-facth
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body has seen him since. Nobody can Lut that base goes-it has been there re f errl't t l • • " It .... ,., .. c::l.t e 1-n1 11 :ir:- "c
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locate a s ing le builder or workman who far too long already." all of th:u · :ind the 1110 ' 1 e .ere .
X JX . : · ,d run1b Ill •
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saw it constructed. :No competent in• "Be nicer to let them alone," Kinni- e,·cn hr:w 1t·r. b n " :u d.
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" B EFO RE y ou go a nywhe re; or, rat er, spcctor has been in it since. Cominoche son decided. ''We're not supposed to b ul w ith their wc-ig lt cvcnh ,, -
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w hc:thc 1· y o u g-o a nywhere o r not, we is lax- a ll ci1ies are, for that mattcr- know anything about them. You won·t t r ihut cd cn-<'r h uge..'. fh t rread :- 1 • '. , ~
· • :-. C\•('ll
want to knock down tha t B ronsecan ·with an outfit as big as \Vembleson' , have to use the primaries will you ?" :l.nk onh· J. l • l o r :--o ""' I'- l • -
ba se of Prc:lli11 's," H ayn es declared to that carries it own insurance, doc its "_No. It's a fairly large buiiding. as · · - , I · ""nck r u:-
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nary gr und. t he,· m :lc.lc I ,r 1 •
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· · l · - k ·ertcd ~, re<'t:-.
K inniso n in no uncertain voice. ·'It's a own inspecti1J<T. and won't allow outside bu_smess blocks go, bt1t it lacks a lot of w :w a long · on11noc ll.' :- < • I . th
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G alactic..: scanda l, the way we 've been interference. ~\ \'embleson's isn't alone ~mg big enough to be a first-cla · ba!-e. \ \ 'h:l.t th ug ti$ se cth ·d w it ,m • ~
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letting them thumb the i1· noses at us. in that attitude- they're not all zwil- ~ can hurn the ground out from under minds of the Oo:-kon i:rns can "r)
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E ve ry body in s pace th inks that the Pa- niks, either.'' all its foundations with our seconda ;-ic5." . . ~ • tha t th Id they
n11ag111ed. 1 hey knc,,
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tro l has gon e so ft all o f a sudden. \ i\lhen ''You think that it's really fortified, He called an adjutant. '·Get me cc- had landed 111 rce, l> 1 t what c u L en ·-
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are you go ing to let us smack them then ~·• ;or 19." Then, as the seamed . scar red cio about it ? A t first. wh n t 1 1 • td
down ? D o you know w hat they've ·'. urc o [ it. That's why we ordered ace of an old Lensman appeared upon men b gan to 111 e:-t l <' P · · . · th v
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l:u-c the,
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clone n ow?" a gradual, but complete, evacuation of a plate :
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" No . W hat?" have fl~d in 53fety ; but 3 ~ tl~at t u\\ ·t . t-
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f their i m 11u1n1 )
the city, beginning a couple of months "Y ou can go to work on Corninoche 1
" G one out o f business. \ i\le've been ago." now, Parker. Twelve maulers. T \\'enty were to cc~ta 11_ _ • , hti ·hcd p i-
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watch ing then i so closely that they "How could you ?" K innison_ was heavy caterpillars and about fifty units abandon their rn.:hl) c._ra Id not ~.u-
E Yen now. t hey " u
tion
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couldn't d o a ny queer business-goods, g rowing more surprised by the minute. of Qty · <:;up- don it until that c ur:- _ t, a n, "
r · pe screen, remote control.
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letters, m essages, o r a nything~ so they " The businesses-the houses-the ex· p es and service. Ha, e them muster
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clo sed up the B ron seca branch entirely. pense !" all a ·1 bl lutcly necessary. d t r yed the cit_•,
d . va1 a .. e fire-fighting apparatus. If
' U n favo ral::>le- conditions,' they said. They could hav e . afte r the non.-
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'·Martial law- the Patrol takes OYer esirable, unport some- \,·e want to saYe . "" not unt1 • . t
L ocke<l up t ight-telephon es discon- in eme1·0-encics you know. Businesses as much of the place as we can . I'll true ; but 1t w ,..., . 1 1 d unobtru " ·e Y
n ected , communicators cut everything." ~ ' . cornl.>atant inhabitants ~- q i o·n-c ted it-
1 t co llt ~C -
" H , moved, and mostly carrym~ on Yery come over in the Da1111tlcss." 1 ~ b
· m-m-m. In that case we'd better well: People ditto-very mce tempo- moYed out tl:~t ~ _a row the de tn1 -
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take .,em, I guess. N o harm done, any- He glanced at Kinnison one eye- self as a des1rab ltty: td be a gesture
rary camps, lake and river cottages, and br?,w raised quizzically. '
way, ·now-may be all the Qetter. Let tion of property. '~~~ . it would be a
so on. As for expens~, the P~tr?l pays _I £eel as though I rate a little va- w orse than n1eauing . - ' would a ll too
Bosk one think that our strategy failed . , whtc 1 1
damages. W e'll pay for rebu1ldmg the ~ation; I think I'll go and watch this,"
an?, we had ~o fall back on brute force." waste o f eneig) b dly and soon.
c commented.
you say it easy. You think that it'll whole city if we have to-mu~h rather along?" "Got time to come certa inly be needed- ~ l's lclt1d forces
be "a push-over, don't you?" that than leave that Bosko111an base Hence. as the Pat_ro position the
uslv into
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" S ure- w hy n ot ?" standing · there untouched." "1 think so. It's more or less on my ground clangoro d~monstra.tion. 1
"What a mess ! Never thought of it way to Lundmark's Nebula." enemy made no . in place, surround-
y ou noticecl the · shape of their
screen s?" that way, but ybu're right, as usual. mobile screens wet\· 11 with a wall of
"Roug hly cyt 1 ·nd · l" . . They wouldn't be tliere at all unless UroN Bronseca, 'then, as ·the Daunt- ing the doomed se\:~t of the city _frorn
" , . . r1ca -1n surprise. th<:-y thought- but they must know,
They r e hidmg a lot of stuff of course less J ipped her way through protesting force to protect t1_1e soon to be un-
ercnes so
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but they can't possibly-" ' ' ~h1ef, that they can't bold ,?ff the stuff space, there converged structul'es of the the helhs 1 en b terpillars. moun ·-
that you can bring to bear.
·"I'm afra-id that they can, and will. 1 vo!d from a dozen nearby systems ; each leashed. The hea~ty ~tn{Jarable in size
' Probably betting that we ·won'!. de· ship ~mbl~zoned with the device of ray- · · tors qlll e · ·
I've been ch ocking up on the building,. mg proJeC . 1 warslups own-
stray our own city to get them-11 so, _em1ttmg intertwined spirals whi~.h is the . with tie d f
T en years old. · Plans and permits- QX· and powe1 . . t11·pose an ·unc-
they're wrong. Or possibly they hung emblem of the Galactic Patrol. Tber~ . ·tar 111 P ·
ex cept for the fact that nobody knows weapons suni . ·iage coast-defense
on a few days too Jon<T." came maulers ; huge, ungainly flying
whether or not the in~ide of the -build- ''H b . ?" Tr • • tion to the rnilw?'-~a~~;-were likewise
· ow about the observei s · J.\.mnt· fortresses of stupendous might. There guns of an ear ile1 f the line but still
ing resembles the plans in any particu- son asked. .''They have four auxiliaries F - bac c o '
lar." th can:e transports, bearing· the commis- ready. at ere to discover 1 atet·,
ere, you k110 · " sariat and the service units. Vast 1 1
"I{.Iono's whisk er s !" Kinnison·· was · "T w. " IJ too close, as t edy w crouched at theit·
· hat's strictly up to yo~. .J.aynes freighters, under whose unimaginable ·1 ·more inen . ld
aghast , his mind 1·acing. · "How could ~vas unconcerned. " Smear-mg tha t base mass the Gargantuanly braced and lat- heav1 Y ai 1 b hind their sh1e s ;
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that be, chief? Inspectors-builders- 1s._ the only tI-iing I insist on. We'll ticed and trussed docks yielded visibly rem~ e h of hard-driven, nnmatcna
contractors-workmen ?" wipe out the observers or let the111 olr and groaningly, crushed to a standstill barriers l>ot d of solid gro"tmded,
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fields of force an
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and disgorged their varied cargoes. u 1 trare n •gerated walls of the most re-