September 24, 2025 • 17 mins
In a distant future, Earth continues its orbit around the Sun, a forgotten speck in the galaxy, irrelevant to its trillions of descendants. Yet, for the few million who remain, life is a tapestry of simplicity and quiet joy. But when interstellar politics demands their departure from Earth, the story unfolds in unexpected ways. Join the legendary Poul Anderson as he delves into the significance of Earth to humanity, focusing on one mans poignant journey. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Part three of the chapter Inns by Paul Anderson. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Part three They
flew slowly back. The town was a yellow twinkle of lights,
warmth gleaming from windows across many empty kilometers. Jaron set
(00:22):
the girl down outside her home. Thank you, good sir,
she said, curtseying, won't you come in to dinner? Well?
The door opened, etching the girl black against the ruddiness inside.
Jaron's luminous tunic made him like a torch in the dark.
Why it's the star, man, said a woman's voice. I
(00:44):
took your daughter for a swim, he explained. I hope
you don't mind. And if we did, what would it matter?
Grumbled a bass tone. Jarren recognized cormpt The old man
must have come as a guest from his form on
the outskirts. What could we do about it? Now, gran'ther?
That's no way to talk to the gentleman, said the woman.
(01:06):
He's been very kind. Won't you come eat with us?
Good Sir? Jarren refused twice in case they were only
being polite, then accepted gladly enough. He was tired of
cookery at the inn, where he and zaik boarded, thank you.
He entered ducking under the low door. A single, long,
(01:28):
smoky raftered room was kitchen, dining room, and parlor doors
led off to the sleeping quarters. It was furnished with
a clumsy elegance, skin rugs, oak wainscoating, carved pillars, glowing
ornaments of hammered copper. A radium clock which must be
incredibly old, stood on the stone mantle above a snapping fire.
(01:54):
A chemical powered gun, obviously of local manufacture, hung over it.
Julius's parents, a plain, quiet peasant couple, conducted him to
the end of the wooden table, while half a dozen
children watched him with large eyes. The younger children were
the only Terrans who seemed to find this removal and adventure.
(02:16):
The meal was good and plentiful, meat, vegetables, bread, beer, milk,
ice cream, coffee, all of it from the forms hereabouts.
There wasn't much trade between the few thousand communities on Earth.
They were practically self sufficient. The company ate in silence,
as was the custom here. When they were finished, Juron
(02:40):
wanted to go, but it would have been rude to
leave immediately. He went over to a chair by the fireplace,
across from the one in which Carmped sprawled. The old
man took out a big, bold pipe and began stuffing it.
Shadows wove across his seamed brown face. His eyes were
a gleam out of darkness. I'll go down to city
(03:02):
Hall with you soon, he said. I imagine that's where
the work is going on. Yes, said Juron, I can
relieve zarek at it. I'd appreciate it if you did. Come. Good, sir,
Your influence is very steadying on these people, it should be,
said Carmpt. I've been there, speaker for almost a hundred years,
(03:26):
and my father Gerlog was before me, and his father
Comped was before him. He took a brand from the
fire and held it over his pipe, puffing hard, looking
up at Jarrnd through tangled brows. Who was your great grandfather? Why?
I don't know. I imagine he's still alive somewhere, but
(03:47):
I thought so. No marriage, no family, no home, no tradition.
Carp shook his massive head slowly. Hi, pity you galactics now, please,
good sir. Damn it all the old clodhopper could get
as irritating as a faulty computer. We have records that
(04:08):
go back to before man left this planet, records of everything.
It is you who have forgotten. Carmped smiled and puffed
blue clouds at him. That's not what I meant. Do
you mean you think it is good for men to
live a life that is unchanging, that is just the
same from century to century. No new dreams, no new triumphs,
(04:31):
Always the same grubbing rounds of days. I cannot agree.
Jaron's mind flickered over history, trying to evaluate the basic
motivations of his opponent. Partly cultural, partly biological. That must
be it. Once Terra had been the center of the
civilized universe, but the long migration starward, especially after the
(04:55):
fall of the First Empire, drained off the most venturesome
elements of the population. That drain went on for thousands
of years. Saul was backward, ruined and impoverished by the
remorseless price of empire, helpless before the storms of barbarian
conquests that swept back and forth between the stars. Even
(05:17):
after peace was restored, there was nothing to hold a
young man or woman of vitality and imagination here, not
when you could go to our galactic center and join
the new civilization building out there. Space traffic came ever
less frequently to Saul. Old machines rusted away and were
not replaced. Best to get out there while there was
(05:40):
still time. Eventually there was a fixed psychosomatic type, one
which lived close to the land in primitive, changeless communities
and isolated formsteads, a type content to gain its simple
needs by the labor of hand, horse or an occasional engine.
(06:01):
A culture grew up which increased that rigidity. So few
had visited Earth in the past several thousand years, perhaps
one outsider a century, stopping briefly on his way to
somewhere else, that there was no challenge or encouragement to alter.
The Terrans didn't want more people, more machines, more anything.
(06:24):
They wished only to remain as they were. You couldn't
call them stagnant. Their life was too healthy, their civilization
too rich in its own way, folk art, folk music, ceremony, religion,
the intimacy of family life, which the Galactics had lost
for that term. But to one who flew between the
(06:46):
streaming suns, it was a small existence. Carp's voice broke
in on his reverie dreams triumphs, work, deeds, love and life,
and finally death and the long sleep in the earth.
He said, why should we want to change them? They
never grow old. They are new for each child that
(07:09):
is born. Well, said Jaron, and stopped. You couldn't really
answer that kind of logic. It wasn't logic at all,
but something deeper. Well, he started over after a while.
As you know, this evacuation was forced on us too.
We don't want to move you, but we must. Oh, yes,
(07:32):
said Carmpt. You have been very nice about it. It
would have been easier in a way if you come
with fire and gun and chains for us, like the
barbarians did long ago. We could have understood you better then.
At best, it will be hard for your people, said Juren.
It will be a shock and they'll need leaders to
(07:53):
guide them through it. You have a duty to help
them out there, good sir, Maybe Carmped blew a series
of smoke rings at his youngest descendant, three years old,
who crowed with laughter and climbed up on his knee.
But they'll manage. You can't seem to realize, said Duran,
(08:13):
that you are the last man on earth who refuses
to go. You will be alone for the rest of
your life. We couldn't come back for you later under
any circumstances, because there will be whole Dubbyan colonies between
soul and sagittarius which we would disturb in passage. You'll
be alone, I say, Cormped shrugged. I'm too old to
(08:38):
change my ways. There can't be many years left me anyway.
I can live well, just off the food stores that'll
be left here. He ruffled the child's hair, but his
face drew into a scowl. Now no more of that,
good sir, if you please, I'm tired of this argument.
Durran nodded and fell into the silence that held the
(09:00):
rest Terreens would sometimes sit for hours without talking, content
to be in each other's nearness. He thought of Carmped,
Girlog's son, last man on earth, all together alone, living alone,
and dying alone. And yet, he reflected, was that solitude
(09:21):
any greater than the one in which all men dwelt
all their days? Presently, the speaker sat the child down,
knocked out his pipe, and rose, Come good, sir, he said,
reaching for his staff. Let us go. They walked side
by side down the street under the dim lamps and
pasted the yellow windows. The cobbles gave back their footfalls
(09:45):
in a dull clatter. Once in a while they passed
someone else, a vague figure which bowed to Carmpt. Only
one did not notice them, an old woman who walked
crying between the high walls. They say, it is never
night on your worlds, said Carmpt, jarring through him a
sidelong glance. His face was a strong jutting of highlights
(10:08):
from sliding shadow. Some planets have been given luminous skies,
said the technician, and a few still have cities too,
where there is always light. But when every man can
control the cosmic energies, there is no reason for us
to live together. Most of us dwell far apart. There
are very dark nights on my own world, and I
(10:30):
cannot see any other home from my own, just the moors.
It must be a strange life, said Carmpt, belonging to
no one. They came out on the market square, a
broad paved space walled in by houses. There was a
fountain in the middle, and a statue dug out of
the ruins had been placed there. It was broken, one
(10:52):
arm gone, but still the white, slim figure of the
dancing girls stood with youth and laughter. For under the
sky of earth. Jaron knew that lovers were wont to
meet here, and briefly, irrationally, he wondered how lonely the
girl would be in all the millions of years to come.
(11:14):
The City Hall lay at the farther end of the square,
big and dark, its ease carved with dragons, and the
gables topped with wings spreading birds. It was an old building.
Nobody knew how many generations of men had gathered here.
A long, patient line of folk stood outside it, shuffling
(11:34):
in one by one to the registry desk. Emerging, they
went off quietly into the darkness, toward the temporary shelters
erected for them. Walking by the line, Jarn picked faces
out of the shadows. There was a young mother holding
a crying child, her head bent over it in a
timeless pose, murmuring to soothe it. There was a mechanic,
(11:58):
still sooty from his work, smiling wearily at some tired
joke of the man behind him. There was a scowling,
black browed peasant who muttered a curse as Jorn went by.
The rest seemed to accept their fate meekly enough. There
was a priest, his head bowed alone with his God.
(12:18):
There was a younger man, his hands clenching and unclenching,
big helpless hands, And Jarn heard him saying to some
one else, if they could have waited till after the harvest,
I hate to let good grains stand in the field.
Jarn went into the main room toward the desk. At
the head of the line, hulking, hairless Zarek was patiently
(12:40):
questioning each of the hundreds who came hat in hand
before him, name, age, sex, occupation, dependents, special needs, or desires.
He punches the answers out on the recorder machine. Half
famillion lives were held in its electronic memory. Oh there
(13:01):
you are, his bass rumbled, Where've you been? I had
to do some conseil work, said Juron. That was a
private co term among many others. Conseil conciliation, anything to
make the evacuation go smoothly. Sorry to be so late.
I'll take over now, all right. I think we can
(13:22):
wind the whole thing up by midnight. Sarah smiled at Cormpt,
Glad you came, good sir. There are a few people
I'd like you to talk to. He gestured at half
a dozen seated in the rear of the room. Certain
complaints were best handled by native leaders. Cormpt nodded and
strode over to the folk. Darren heard a man begin
(13:43):
some long winded explanation. He wanted to take his own
plow along. He'd made it himself, and there was no
better plow in the universe. But the star man said
there wouldn't be room. They'll furnish us with all the
stuff we need, son, said Cormpt. But it's my plow,
said the man, his fingers twisted his cap. Carmped sat
(14:06):
down and began soothing him. The head of the line
waited a few meters off, while Jarrn took Zarek's place.
Been a long grind, said the latter. About done now, though,
And will I be glad to see the last of
this planet? I don't know, said Jaron. It's a lovely world.
I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful one,
(14:28):
Zark snorted me for Thunbar, I can't wait to sit
on the terrace of the Scarlet Sea, fern trees and
red grass all around, a glass of oil in my hand,
and the crystalgeisers in front of me. He you're a
funny one. Jarrn the pholkission shrugged, slender shoulders. Zarek clapped
(14:51):
him on the back and went out for supper and sleep.
Jarren beckoned to the next terran and settled down to
the long, almost mindless routine of registration. He was interrupted
once by carmpt who yawned mightily and bade him good night.
Otherwise it was a steady, half conscious interval in which
one anonymous face after another passed by. He was dimly
(15:16):
surprised when the last one came up. This was a plump, cheerful,
middle aged fellow with small shrewd eyes, a little more
colorfully dressed than the others. He gave his occupation as merchant,
a minor tradesman, he explained, dealing in the little things
that it was more convenient for the peasants to buy
than to manufacture themselves. I hope you haven't been waiting
(15:39):
too long, said Jaron Consei's statement. Oh no, the merchant grinned.
I knew those dumb farmers would be here for hours,
so I just went to bed and got up half
an hour ago when it was about over clever. Jarren
Rose sighed and stretched the big rooms cavernously empty. It's
(16:02):
light's a harsh glare. It was very quiet here. Well, sir,
I'm a middle in smart chap. If I say it
as shouldn't, and you know, I'd like to express my
appreciation of all you're doing for us. An't say we're
doing much. Jur unlocked the machine. Oh, the apple knockers
may not like it, but really good, sir, this hasn't
(16:25):
been any place for a man of enterprise. It's dead.
I'd have got out long ago if there'd been any transportation. Now,
when we're getting back into civilization, there'll be some real opportunities.
I'll make my pile inside of five years, you bet.
Jaron smiled, but there was a bleakness in him. What
(16:46):
chance would this barbarian have even to get near the
galactic work of civilization, let alone comprehend it or take
part in it? He hoped the little fellow wouldn't break
his heart. Trying well, he said, good night and good
luck to you, and good night, sir, we'll meet again,
I trust. Jarring switched off the light and went out
(17:08):
into the square. It was completely deserted. The moon was
up now almost full, and its cold radiance dimmed the lamps.
He heard a dog howling far off. The dogs of Earth,
such as weren't taken along, would be lonely too well.
He thought, the job's over. Tomorrow or the next day.
(17:31):
The ship's come. End of Part three.
Part three of the chapter Inns by Paul Anderson. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Part three They
flew slowly back. The town was a yellow twinkle of lights,
warmth gleaming from windows across many empty kilometers. Jaron set
(00:22):
the girl down outside her home. Thank you, good sir,
she said, curtseying, won't you come in to dinner? Well?
The door opened, etching the girl black against the ruddiness inside.
Jaron's luminous tunic made him like a torch in the dark.
Why it's the star, man, said a woman's voice. I
(00:44):
took your daughter for a swim, he explained. I hope
you don't mind. And if we did, what would it matter?
Grumbled a bass tone. Jarren recognized cormpt The old man
must have come as a guest from his form on
the outskirts. What could we do about it? Now, gran'ther?
That's no way to talk to the gentleman, said the woman.
(01:06):
He's been very kind. Won't you come eat with us?
Good Sir? Jarren refused twice in case they were only
being polite, then accepted gladly enough. He was tired of
cookery at the inn, where he and zaik boarded, thank you.
He entered ducking under the low door. A single, long,
(01:28):
smoky raftered room was kitchen, dining room, and parlor doors
led off to the sleeping quarters. It was furnished with
a clumsy elegance, skin rugs, oak wainscoating, carved pillars, glowing
ornaments of hammered copper. A radium clock which must be
incredibly old, stood on the stone mantle above a snapping fire.
(01:54):
A chemical powered gun, obviously of local manufacture, hung over it.
Julius's parents, a plain, quiet peasant couple, conducted him to
the end of the wooden table, while half a dozen
children watched him with large eyes. The younger children were
the only Terrans who seemed to find this removal and adventure.
(02:16):
The meal was good and plentiful, meat, vegetables, bread, beer, milk,
ice cream, coffee, all of it from the forms hereabouts.
There wasn't much trade between the few thousand communities on Earth.
They were practically self sufficient. The company ate in silence,
as was the custom here. When they were finished, Juron
(02:40):
wanted to go, but it would have been rude to
leave immediately. He went over to a chair by the fireplace,
across from the one in which Carmped sprawled. The old
man took out a big, bold pipe and began stuffing it.
Shadows wove across his seamed brown face. His eyes were
a gleam out of darkness. I'll go down to city
(03:02):
Hall with you soon, he said. I imagine that's where
the work is going on. Yes, said Juron, I can
relieve zarek at it. I'd appreciate it if you did. Come. Good, sir,
Your influence is very steadying on these people, it should be,
said Carmpt. I've been there, speaker for almost a hundred years,
(03:26):
and my father Gerlog was before me, and his father
Comped was before him. He took a brand from the
fire and held it over his pipe, puffing hard, looking
up at Jarrnd through tangled brows. Who was your great grandfather? Why?
I don't know. I imagine he's still alive somewhere, but
(03:47):
I thought so. No marriage, no family, no home, no tradition.
Carp shook his massive head slowly. Hi, pity you galactics now, please,
good sir. Damn it all the old clodhopper could get
as irritating as a faulty computer. We have records that
(04:08):
go back to before man left this planet, records of everything.
It is you who have forgotten. Carmped smiled and puffed
blue clouds at him. That's not what I meant. Do
you mean you think it is good for men to
live a life that is unchanging, that is just the
same from century to century. No new dreams, no new triumphs,
(04:31):
Always the same grubbing rounds of days. I cannot agree.
Jaron's mind flickered over history, trying to evaluate the basic
motivations of his opponent. Partly cultural, partly biological. That must
be it. Once Terra had been the center of the
civilized universe, but the long migration starward, especially after the
(04:55):
fall of the First Empire, drained off the most venturesome
elements of the population. That drain went on for thousands
of years. Saul was backward, ruined and impoverished by the
remorseless price of empire, helpless before the storms of barbarian
conquests that swept back and forth between the stars. Even
(05:17):
after peace was restored, there was nothing to hold a
young man or woman of vitality and imagination here, not
when you could go to our galactic center and join
the new civilization building out there. Space traffic came ever
less frequently to Saul. Old machines rusted away and were
not replaced. Best to get out there while there was
(05:40):
still time. Eventually there was a fixed psychosomatic type, one
which lived close to the land in primitive, changeless communities
and isolated formsteads, a type content to gain its simple
needs by the labor of hand, horse or an occasional engine.
(06:01):
A culture grew up which increased that rigidity. So few
had visited Earth in the past several thousand years, perhaps
one outsider a century, stopping briefly on his way to
somewhere else, that there was no challenge or encouragement to alter.
The Terrans didn't want more people, more machines, more anything.
(06:24):
They wished only to remain as they were. You couldn't
call them stagnant. Their life was too healthy, their civilization
too rich in its own way, folk art, folk music, ceremony, religion,
the intimacy of family life, which the Galactics had lost
for that term. But to one who flew between the
(06:46):
streaming suns, it was a small existence. Carp's voice broke
in on his reverie dreams triumphs, work, deeds, love and life,
and finally death and the long sleep in the earth.
He said, why should we want to change them? They
never grow old. They are new for each child that
(07:09):
is born. Well, said Jaron, and stopped. You couldn't really
answer that kind of logic. It wasn't logic at all,
but something deeper. Well, he started over after a while.
As you know, this evacuation was forced on us too.
We don't want to move you, but we must. Oh, yes,
(07:32):
said Carmpt. You have been very nice about it. It
would have been easier in a way if you come
with fire and gun and chains for us, like the
barbarians did long ago. We could have understood you better then.
At best, it will be hard for your people, said Juren.
It will be a shock and they'll need leaders to
(07:53):
guide them through it. You have a duty to help
them out there, good sir, Maybe Carmped blew a series
of smoke rings at his youngest descendant, three years old,
who crowed with laughter and climbed up on his knee.
But they'll manage. You can't seem to realize, said Duran,
(08:13):
that you are the last man on earth who refuses
to go. You will be alone for the rest of
your life. We couldn't come back for you later under
any circumstances, because there will be whole Dubbyan colonies between
soul and sagittarius which we would disturb in passage. You'll
be alone, I say, Cormped shrugged. I'm too old to
(08:38):
change my ways. There can't be many years left me anyway.
I can live well, just off the food stores that'll
be left here. He ruffled the child's hair, but his
face drew into a scowl. Now no more of that,
good sir, if you please, I'm tired of this argument.
Durran nodded and fell into the silence that held the
(09:00):
rest Terreens would sometimes sit for hours without talking, content
to be in each other's nearness. He thought of Carmped,
Girlog's son, last man on earth, all together alone, living alone,
and dying alone. And yet, he reflected, was that solitude
(09:21):
any greater than the one in which all men dwelt
all their days? Presently, the speaker sat the child down,
knocked out his pipe, and rose, Come good, sir, he said,
reaching for his staff. Let us go. They walked side
by side down the street under the dim lamps and
pasted the yellow windows. The cobbles gave back their footfalls
(09:45):
in a dull clatter. Once in a while they passed
someone else, a vague figure which bowed to Carmpt. Only
one did not notice them, an old woman who walked
crying between the high walls. They say, it is never
night on your worlds, said Carmpt, jarring through him a
sidelong glance. His face was a strong jutting of highlights
(10:08):
from sliding shadow. Some planets have been given luminous skies,
said the technician, and a few still have cities too,
where there is always light. But when every man can
control the cosmic energies, there is no reason for us
to live together. Most of us dwell far apart. There
are very dark nights on my own world, and I
(10:30):
cannot see any other home from my own, just the moors.
It must be a strange life, said Carmpt, belonging to
no one. They came out on the market square, a
broad paved space walled in by houses. There was a
fountain in the middle, and a statue dug out of
the ruins had been placed there. It was broken, one
(10:52):
arm gone, but still the white, slim figure of the
dancing girls stood with youth and laughter. For under the
sky of earth. Jaron knew that lovers were wont to
meet here, and briefly, irrationally, he wondered how lonely the
girl would be in all the millions of years to come.
(11:14):
The City Hall lay at the farther end of the square,
big and dark, its ease carved with dragons, and the
gables topped with wings spreading birds. It was an old building.
Nobody knew how many generations of men had gathered here.
A long, patient line of folk stood outside it, shuffling
(11:34):
in one by one to the registry desk. Emerging, they
went off quietly into the darkness, toward the temporary shelters
erected for them. Walking by the line, Jarn picked faces
out of the shadows. There was a young mother holding
a crying child, her head bent over it in a
timeless pose, murmuring to soothe it. There was a mechanic,
(11:58):
still sooty from his work, smiling wearily at some tired
joke of the man behind him. There was a scowling,
black browed peasant who muttered a curse as Jorn went by.
The rest seemed to accept their fate meekly enough. There
was a priest, his head bowed alone with his God.
(12:18):
There was a younger man, his hands clenching and unclenching,
big helpless hands, And Jarn heard him saying to some
one else, if they could have waited till after the harvest,
I hate to let good grains stand in the field.
Jarn went into the main room toward the desk. At
the head of the line, hulking, hairless Zarek was patiently
(12:40):
questioning each of the hundreds who came hat in hand
before him, name, age, sex, occupation, dependents, special needs, or desires.
He punches the answers out on the recorder machine. Half
famillion lives were held in its electronic memory. Oh there
(13:01):
you are, his bass rumbled, Where've you been? I had
to do some conseil work, said Juron. That was a
private co term among many others. Conseil conciliation, anything to
make the evacuation go smoothly. Sorry to be so late.
I'll take over now, all right. I think we can
(13:22):
wind the whole thing up by midnight. Sarah smiled at Cormpt,
Glad you came, good sir. There are a few people
I'd like you to talk to. He gestured at half
a dozen seated in the rear of the room. Certain
complaints were best handled by native leaders. Cormpt nodded and
strode over to the folk. Darren heard a man begin
(13:43):
some long winded explanation. He wanted to take his own
plow along. He'd made it himself, and there was no
better plow in the universe. But the star man said
there wouldn't be room. They'll furnish us with all the
stuff we need, son, said Cormpt. But it's my plow,
said the man, his fingers twisted his cap. Carmped sat
(14:06):
down and began soothing him. The head of the line
waited a few meters off, while Jarrn took Zarek's place.
Been a long grind, said the latter. About done now, though,
And will I be glad to see the last of
this planet? I don't know, said Jaron. It's a lovely world.
I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful one,
(14:28):
Zark snorted me for Thunbar, I can't wait to sit
on the terrace of the Scarlet Sea, fern trees and
red grass all around, a glass of oil in my hand,
and the crystalgeisers in front of me. He you're a
funny one. Jarrn the pholkission shrugged, slender shoulders. Zarek clapped
(14:51):
him on the back and went out for supper and sleep.
Jarren beckoned to the next terran and settled down to
the long, almost mindless routine of registration. He was interrupted
once by carmpt who yawned mightily and bade him good night.
Otherwise it was a steady, half conscious interval in which
one anonymous face after another passed by. He was dimly
(15:16):
surprised when the last one came up. This was a plump, cheerful,
middle aged fellow with small shrewd eyes, a little more
colorfully dressed than the others. He gave his occupation as merchant,
a minor tradesman, he explained, dealing in the little things
that it was more convenient for the peasants to buy
than to manufacture themselves. I hope you haven't been waiting
(15:39):
too long, said Jaron Consei's statement. Oh no, the merchant grinned.
I knew those dumb farmers would be here for hours,
so I just went to bed and got up half
an hour ago when it was about over clever. Jarren
Rose sighed and stretched the big rooms cavernously empty. It's
(16:02):
light's a harsh glare. It was very quiet here. Well, sir,
I'm a middle in smart chap. If I say it
as shouldn't, and you know, I'd like to express my
appreciation of all you're doing for us. An't say we're
doing much. Jur unlocked the machine. Oh, the apple knockers
may not like it, but really good, sir, this hasn't
(16:25):
been any place for a man of enterprise. It's dead.
I'd have got out long ago if there'd been any transportation. Now,
when we're getting back into civilization, there'll be some real opportunities.
I'll make my pile inside of five years, you bet.
Jaron smiled, but there was a bleakness in him. What
(16:46):
chance would this barbarian have even to get near the
galactic work of civilization, let alone comprehend it or take
part in it? He hoped the little fellow wouldn't break
his heart. Trying well, he said, good night and good
luck to you, and good night, sir, we'll meet again,
I trust. Jarring switched off the light and went out
(17:08):
into the square. It was completely deserted. The moon was
up now almost full, and its cold radiance dimmed the lamps.
He heard a dog howling far off. The dogs of Earth,
such as weren't taken along, would be lonely too well.
He thought, the job's over. Tomorrow or the next day.
(17:31):
The ship's come. End of Part three.
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