Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction; Solar Queen (Imaginary space vehicle) -- Fiction; Space ships -- Fiction
They certainly did, Dane agreed. But he was not to idle away his morning.
An hour later a caravan came out of the forest, a line of complaining,
burdened orgels, their tiny heads hanging low as they moaned their woes,
the hard life which sent them on their sluggish way with piles of red
logs lashed to their broad toads' backs. Weeks was in charge of the
procession and Dane went to work with the cargo plan Van had left, seeing
that the brilliant scarlet lengths were hoist into the lower cargo hatch
and stacked according to the science of stowage. He discovered that Rip
had been right, the wood for all its incredible hardness was light of
weight. Weak as he still was he could lift and stow a full sized log with
no great difficulty. And he thought Weeks was correct in thinking that it
would sell on their home world. The color was novel, the durability an
asset--it would not make fortunes as the Koros stones might, but every
bit of profit helped and this cargo might cover their fielding fees on
Terra.
Sinbad was in the cargo space when the first of the logs came in. With
his usual curiosity the striped tom cat prowled along the wood, sniffing
industriously. Suddenly he stopped short, spat and backed away, his spine
fur a roughened crest. Having backed as far as the inner door he turned
and slunk out. Puzzled, Dane gave the wood a swift inspection. There were
no cracks or crevices in the smooth surfaces, but as he stopped over the
logs he became conscious of a sharp odor. So this was one scent of the
perfumed planet Sinbad did not like. Dane laughed. Maybe they had better
have Weeks make a gate of the stuff and slip it across the ramp, keeping
Sinbad on ship board. Odd--it wasn't an unpleasant odor--at least to him
it wasn't--just sharp and pungent. He sniffed again and was vaguely
surprised to discover that it was less noticeable now. Perhaps the wood
when taken out of the sunlight lost its scent.
They packed the lower hold solid in accordance with the rules of stowage
and locked the hatch before Van Rycke returned from his meeting with the
storm priests. When the Cargo-master came back he was followed by two
servants bearing between them a chest.
But there was something in Van Rycke's attitude, apparent to those who
knew him best, that proclaimed he was not too well pleased with his
morning's work. Sparing the feelings of the accompanying storm priests
about the offensiveness of the spacer Captain Jellico and Steen Wilcox
went out to receive them in the open. Dane watched from the hatch, aware
that in his present pariah-hood it would not be wise to venture closer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account