And Guy spent twenty-four solid hours trying to detect the spurious
responses that might emanate from a close-at-hand detector circuit.
No one came to investigate.
Running submerged, Guy went slowly across the ocean to the nearest
land. He lowered the lifeship to the ocean floor beside a forbidding
cliff and emerged, swimming to the beach several miles down the coast,
clothed in spacesuit and bulging like a blimp with buoyant air.
He walked along the coast back to the spot above the ship, and cached
his helmet and as much of the heavy equipment of his suit as he could
remove. He loafed and rested until night fell, and then made his way
toward the blinking lights of the city several miles in the other
direction along the coast.
* * * * *
His following actions were not according to the code of ethics.
He completely submerged whatever conscience he had and proceeded
along the back-ways of the darkened streets at an hour when most
honest Ertinians were fast asleep. Those who were not asleep were
preoccupied, as he found when he almost passed within arm's length of
a couple that were sitting silent and close together on a street-side
bench as far from the dim streetlight as they could get. They did not
see him, though he watched them and chuckled quietly.
He located the back entrance of a clothing store and tackled the lock
with a bit of steel wire. He worked for an hour, undisturbed, before
it clicked open. Then he stood up and went to work on the lock above
the door that kept the alarm from ringing when turned by a proper key.
Another hour solved that lock, and Guy entered the store stealthily.
His action was quite logical. He went to the stock room below and
selected one each of his size from the bottom boxes. He rifled the
jewelry counter and selected a minor item or two with the Ertinian
initial that signified the pseudonym of his choice. He took a few small
coins from the register and then left, attired as an Ertinian.
They'd notice the discrepancy in time. But it would occur from time to
time, as each rifled box was opened and found to be short. They might
even put the shortages to error in packing instead of robbery.
He went directly away from the town, hiking along the road that
returned him to his ship. Here Guy buried the last evidence of his
Terran origin, and when the first rays of morning shone across the
broad ocean, Guy Maynard became Gomanar.
He looked at himself. Gone were the Terran shirt and trousers. Gone
were the low, soft shoes. In the warmth of Ertene, Guy was thankful for
the abbreviated costume, and equally thankful for the over-all tan that
came as a result of spending much time in space.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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