Page 129 - Astounding Pulp V2

GRAY L;ENSMAN 129
123 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION
scopic detail the tiny gland within the need, anyway-our mutual friend K in-
·
"Th e man 1s a miracle of perseverence "I -saw it first and I refuse to relin- old Lensman's skull. nison has very little on me, my dear.
a keen observer, a shrewd reasoner and quish." Von Hohendorff was adamant. Then H aynes. "Is this all there is I got so handy with the replacements
· . t d
a h · ' "Y ' t t " H aynes 111s1s e .
ou ve go · o,
mec amc par excellence-a born re- to it. or do we come back for more ?" that very few people knew how much
search~r. Therefore, in time he learned "He isn't your cub any more: he's my he asked, when he was released from of me was artificial. · But it's these teeth
•~hat tt 'hmst be: to cut it short, the Lensman. "Be::ides, I'm a better test his shackles. that are taking all the joy out of life.
1
P ?eal body. Then he had to find the than you are-I've got more parts to " That's all," Lacy answered. " Orte I'm hungry, confound it! Have you
st1111 ttlant. Drugs, chemicals and spec- replace than you have." stimulation lasts for life, as far as we got anything really satisfying that I can
trum f cl" · · ' . · "Four or five make just as good a
0
• ra 1at10n; smgly and 111 combt- know. But if the treatment is success- eat?"
nation. Years of plugging, with just test as a dozen," the commandant de- ful you'll come back-about day after ''I'll say I have!" She fed him ; theu,
enough progress to keep him at it. Visits clared. tomorrow, I think-to go to bed here. bending over, she squeezed him tight
to 0th er planets peopled by races human "Gentlemen, think!" the Posenian Your spare equipment won't· fit and and kissed him emphatically. " You and
pleaded. " Please consider that the the commandant are just perfectly won-
!f. two places or more; learning every- your stumps may require· surgical at-
ung_ that had been done along the line pineal is actually inside the brain. It tention." derful old darlings, and I love you all
of his problem. When you fellows· is true that I have not been able to dis- Sure enough, Haynes did come back to pieces,"· she declared. "I think Lacy
moved Medon over here he visited it as cover any brain injury so far, but the to the hospital, but not to go to bed. was simply poisonous to laugh at you
· ~ matter of routine, and there he hit the process has -not yet been applied to a H e· was too busy. Instead, he got a the way be did. \i\Thy, you two are the _
Ja~kpot. Vvise himself is a surgeon, reasoning brain and I ·can offer no as- wheel chair, and in it he was taken back w01=ld's greatest heroes ! He knew per-
-and the Medonians have for centuries surance whatever that some obscure 'in- to his now-boiling office. And in, a few fectly well all the time, the lug, ,that of
be~n _h~v-ing _warfare and grief enough·, jury will not result." more days he called Lacy in high ex- course you'd be hungry; that yo~ cl have
st ea.dil) and m heroic doses to develop "What of iit ?" and the t;vo old Un~ to eat twice as much as usual while your
th ~, medical and surgical arts' no end. attached Lensme1i resumed their bat- asperation. legs and things were grow)ng. _Don't
tle, hammer and tongs. Neither would " Know what you've done?" he de-
· . They knew how to . stimulate the· manded. "Not satisfied with taking my worry, admiral, I'll feed you until Y?u
-p_meal-a combination of drugs and spe- yield a millimeter. _. bulge. I want you t? liurr? ~p wi th
cific ra 1 ations-but their method was "Oper~te on them both, then, since pei:~ectly good parts away from me, this, so that they'll do 1t to Kim.
d' ·
you ve taken· my teeth, too. They don't
cla?gero:1s, With Phillips' fresh view- they are· both above law or reason,'' fit- I can't eat a thing! And I'm hun- " Thanks, Mac," and as she wheeled
pomt his 'd · Lacy finally ordered in exasperation. him back into the main office he
Wt e, new knowledue and his
'
· I
med ,aiuca genius, they worked out a "There ought to be a law to reduce gry as ~ wolf-I was never so hungry considered her anew. A ravishing crea-
b
'
1 Hiew and highly satisfactory technique. Gray Lensmen to the ranks whe11 they before 111 all my life ! I can't live on ture, but sound. Rash, and a bit stub-
e was o-01·n t · · t begin to suffer from ossification of the soup, man ; I've got work to do. What born, perhaps ; impetuous and head-
• • t> g o try 1t out on a pira e are you going to do about it?"
i{mg rnto the lethal chamber but von intellect." " H ?- w - 1aw ! Lacy roared. "Serves strong ; but clean, solid metal -all t11e
I
"
I
"Starting with yourself, perhaps ?" the
h oh~ndorff heard about it and insisted you nght-von Hohendorff is taki11g it way through. She had what i~ t~kes
1
t at ~ should be tried on him. Got up admiral shot back, not at all abashed. easy here.; sitting rirrht on top of the - she . qualified. She and K111111son
on his U tt I · , h' 1 1 Haynes relented enough to let von 0 would make a mighty fine couple when
na ac 1ed Lensman s
1g
1
I 1 orse and won t come down. So 1ere Hohendorff go first, and both were given 'vVOr!d. Easy, now, sailor, don't rup- the · lad got some of that heroic danm
,
ture your aorta. I'll send a nurse over
we are." the necessary injections. The com- nonsense knocked out of his head-but
"R . . mandant was then strapped solidly into with ·~ soft-boiled egg and a spoon.
m-m-111- 1nteresting I" · The admi- Teetlwng- at you.r age- Haw-ho- there was work to do.
ral had r t ened attentively. "Y , a chair; his head was clamped so fir·mty haw !" ·
·
15
ou re
.
pt elty Slit ti . , ?" that he could not move it in any direc- THERE was. The Galactic Council
"A e 1at 1t will work aren t you· tion. But it was no ordinary nurse who had considered · thoroughly Kinnison's
s sure as we can b; of anything came, a f_ew minutes later, to see the
ti 1at ha • The Posenian swung his needle rays ·eports • its every member had conferred
1
probal .~!1 t )een tried. Ninety-percent into place ; two of them, diametrically port admiral ; it was the sectoi.• chief ~vith 11/01 ·and with Worse! at length.
ninct./fi~:~'.,, say-certainly not over opposed, each held rigidly upon microm- herself. She looked at him pityingly as · Throughout the F(rst G~Iaxy th~ _P a-
she trundled him into his private office
etered racks and each operated by two trol was at ,~ork 111 ~11 its prod1g1ous
"G huge, double, rock-steady hands. Tht> and shut the door, thereby establishing might, prepan1~g to ~ 1pe out the _men-
to tl~ou enough odds." H aynes turned operator looked entirely aloof- bei11g complete coverage. · ace to civilization which was Bosrrnne.
conuuandant " \Vbat do you " I had no idea, Admiral Haynes, that
mean y · . eyeless and practically headless, it is im- You . . . that there-" She paused. First-line superdreadnoughts-no others
, ou old reprobate by snealong
•
a round l l · , 111 possible to tell from a P osenian's atti- would go upon that mission- were bein<>"
1
on Je md my back and horning tude or posture anythino- about the focal "That I was so much of a machi'i1e- built and anned', rebuilt and r~armed. "'
my reser t· l d ~hop rebuild ?"-complacently. ·"Exce~t
too va ion ? I rate U nattac 1e ' point of his attenti0n-bt1t the wa,tchers WelJ it was that the Galactic P atrol
' you know and it's 1n1·ne. You're in the matter of eyes._which he doesn t
out, von." ' knew that he was observing in micro-