Page 132 - Astounding Pulp V2

132 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION GRAY LENSMAN )33

n~t been affected in any way by th~ • half a loaf is better t han 110 bread." you have to carry, something of th~ ter- And not only men. \ Vomen, too, dam
stunulants applied to their pineal g lands. · "QX . I haven't ever mentioned the' 'em-and the very nCA-t time that I catch
rible power you must- for civilizat1on-
Then and only then did P hillips op- \.VOrst thing. I didn't want to-but if leash or release, direct and control. I one 0£ them at it I'm going to kick her
erate upon K innison ; an<l in his case. you've g ot to have it, here it is,'' the k ilCnv--110 words you may say now ~n cursed teeth out, one by one!"
too. the operation was a complete sue:.. man wrenched out. "Look at what I add to or change that single, full-view
cess. Arms and legs and eyes replaced am. A barroom brawler.. A rum-dum. understanding I got then. KIN NISON laughed, albeit a trifle
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:i ~n_1se_ves flawles_sly. T he scars of his A hard-boiled egg. A cold-blooded . " Listen, K im. Read my mind, all of sourly. "You're raving, Mac. Imagin-
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~ nble wounds disappeared, leaving no ruthless murderer, even oE my O'Vll ing things. But to get back to that
it. You will know me then, and under-
S\g n of ever having been. men-" poem, what I was referring to went like
stand me better than I can ever e..><plain
H e was a little s fo..,ver however· " N ot that, K im. ever, and you Im o,\\' myself." this-"
~mewhat c~umsy, and wo;fully weak '. -it," she rebuked him. "Have you got a picture of me doing. " I know how it goes. Listen :
1 erefore, mstead of discharo-ing him " \1/hat else can you call it?'' he grated.
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from ti 1 e osp1tal as cured. w hich pro- "A killer besides; a red-handed butcher that ?" he asked flatly. "But the captain had quitted the long-
''No, you bio-, unreasonable clunker,
drawn strife
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cedur~ would have restored to him au- if there ever was one-then. now. and I haven't!" she flared, ''and that s JUSt. And in far Simoorie had taken a wife ;
t~maCcally all the rights and privileges forever. I've g ot to be. I can't gel what's driv~ng me mad !" T hen, voice
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0 1 away from it. Do you think that you.
~ U nattached L ens man the Council di:opping to a whisper, almost sobbing: "A:nd she was a damsef of delicate mold,
decided to t rans er him to a physical- or arty other d ecent woman, could stand "Cancel that, Kim-I didn't mean it. \Vith hair like the sunshine and heart of
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et ture camp. A few weeks there would it to live with me? That you could feel You wouldn't-you couldn't, I suppose, gold.
1 st0 re to him entirely t he strength. my arms around you. feel my go1y paws and still be you, the man I love. But "A nd little she knew the anns that embraced
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speed. and ag ility which had formerly touching you. without going sick at the isn't there somethino--a11ythi11g-that H ad cloven a man from the brow to the
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be en llS . and he would then be allo\ved stomach ?" will make you undersfand what I really waist ;
to resume active duty. " O h, so that's w hat's really been g rip- am ?" "And little she knew that the l9vi~g lips
ing you all this time !" C larrissa was " I know what you are." Kinnison's H ad ordered a quivering life's echpse,
. J -c:ST BEFORE he left the hospital Kin- surprised and entirely unshaken. "I voice was uninflected, weary. "As I
nison ~trolled with Clarrissa out· to a don't have t9 think abou t that, Kim- told you before-the U niverse's best. "And the eyes that lit at her lightest
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be~ch m the g rounds. I know. H you were a •)11urclerer 01· It's what I am that's clogging the jets. H ad glared mawed in the Gates of Death.
- alltl you're making a perfect re- had the k iller instinct, that would be What I have been and what I, have to 1
coverv " ti te gir 1 was saying. " You'll different. but you aren't and you haven't. keep on being. , I s·imply don't rate t~p, "(For these be matters a man woul~ hide,
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be_ exactly as you were before. B ut Yon a re hard, of course. You have to and you'd better Jay off me, M ac, while As a general thing, - from an innocent
th ings between us aren't just as they be- bu t do );Ou think that I would eve r you can. There's a poem by one of the bride.)
were. a nd they never can be again. You run a temperature over a softy ? You ancients-Kipling-the tBallad of Boh l ·sn.'t it?"
!mow ti t 1~ · brawl, yes- like the world's champion "That's what you, m.ean, '"
. , a , , 1m. \.Ve've got unfinished Da T hone'- that describes it exactly.
bu_Sine s to transact- let's take it do wn you are. A nybody you ever killed You wouldn't know it-" she asked quietly. .
"Mac, you k11ow a lot of t!11n~,s that
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oft,. e shelf before you go." needed killing, there's no question of " You just think that I wouldn't"- ou've uot no business knowmg. In-
Better let it lay, Mac " aFJd all the t hat. You don't do· t hose things for nodding brightly. "The only trouble is Y ., . I
stead of answering hei· question, ,e
fun ; and the fact tJ,at you ,can drive that you always think of the wrong
n,cwfouu d joy of ex islenc~ went out of stared at her speculatively. "My sprees
t 1e man' yourself to do the t hings that have to verses. P art of it really is descriptive
that . s eyes. 'Tm whole. yes. but and brawls, Dessa Desplaines and t(1e
angle was really the least impor- be done shows your true caliber. of you. You know where all the sol- Countess A vondrin, and now this.
tant of all , , " Nor ha ve you ever thoug ht of the diers of the Black 'T yrone _thought so
• · 1 ou never yet have faced Would you mind telling me how you
square!)' ti f . . • obverse; t hat you lean over back wa1·d much of their captain ?"
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e act that my Job 1sn t done
an d that Ill)' cl 1ance o f 1· . I . in w ield ing that terrific power of yours. She recited: get the stuff ?"
1v111g t hroug 1 1t
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"I'm closer to you than you susl?ect,
IS JllSt about
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ca • cl one 111 ten. l . p ·11· The Desplaines woman, the countess- K in, and have been for a long time.
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' ~ ~ 0 anything about a corpse." lots of ot her instances. I. respect and "And worshiped with fluency, feryor, a nd zeal vVorsel calls it being en rapport, ' I b e-
T be mud on the boot heels of Crook O'Neil.
o. ~nd I won 't face it either un tc'ss honor you more than a ny other man I lieve. You don't need to think at n:e-
an d until I n ,, ' ' ltavc ever k nown. A ny woman who
. . . 1 ust. H er rt:ply was t ran- "That describes you exactly." in fact, you have to put up a conscious
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qui hty itself. '·Most of the troubles really knew you would-she w ust! And "You're crazy for the lack of sense," block to keep me out. So I know a lot
p(•o1 ,le worry , 1 • d I /mow! Remember that wide-open
. . a. Jout 111 ad vance never o he demurred. ''I don't rate like that." that 1 shouldn't, but Lensmen aren't the
tnalcnaltze A d e ve11 i( I did you t wo-way put me in your m ind for an in- only ones who don't talk. You have
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1 stant- long enoug h- that let me under- " Sure, you do," she assured him.
~:~g tt to kn°w that I • . . that any "All the men think of you that way. been thinking about that poem a lot-
Jma.n would 1·ather . . . well, t hat stand something of the horrible weight