Despotism -- Fiction; Dissenters -- Fiction; Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
"There are all the people who'd started to dream because Ades had come
to mean hope. And there are all the people in generations to come who'd
like to dream of hope and now won't be able to, and there are all the
nasty little surprise-attacks and treacheries which will be carried out
by matter-transmitters, now that these gentry of high and noble lineage
have been able to snatch some loot for themselves. It's pretty much of
a mess, Dona."
Dona gave an impatient toss of her head.
"You're not responsible for it, Kim," she protested.
"Maybe I should simply concentrate on finding a solution for Terranova,
eh? Let decency as something to fight for go by the board and be
strictly practical?"
"You shouldn't try to take all the problems of two galaxies on your
shoulders," said Dona.
Kim shook his head impatiently.
"Look!" he said in vexation. "There's some way out of the mess! I just
contrived a way to make a very desirable change in all the governments
of the First Galaxy, given time. It was one of those problems that seem
too big to handle, but it worked out very easily. But I absolutely
can't think of the ghost of an idea of how to find a friendly world for
Terranova!"
Dona waited.
"It occurs to me that I haven't slept for forty hours," Kim said. "I
doubt that you've done any better. I think we should go to bed. There's
one puzzle on which all the rest is based, and it's got me. What the
devil happened to Ades? There's a whole planet, seven thousand miles in
diameter, vanished as if it had never been. Maybe after some sleep I'll
be able to work it out. Let's go to sleep!"
The space-ship _Starshine_ drove on through emptiness at mere
interplanetary speed, its meteor-repellers ceaselessly searching space
for any sign of danger. But there was no danger. In the midst of space,
between the stars, there was safety. Only where men were was there
death.
The ship swam in the void, no lights showing in any of its ports.
Then, in the midst of the darkness inside, Kim sat up in his bunk.
"But hang it, Ades _couldn't_ be destroyed," he cried, in
exasperation.
5
_Industrial World_
Planet Spicus Five was an industrial world. According to the prevailing
opinion in the best circles, its prosperity was due to an ample
and adequate supply of raw materials, plus a skilled and thrifty
population. There were sixteen matter-transmitters on the planet, and
their silvery films were never still.
From abecedaria for infants to zyolites (synthetic) for industrial use,
its products ran in endless streams to the transmitters, and the other
products and raw materials obtained in exchange came out in streams no
less continuous. The industrial area covered a continent of sprawling
rectangular buildings designed for the ultimate of efficiency, with
living-areas for the workmen spreading out between.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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