September 25, 2025 • 21 mins
In a world where extraordinary individuals emerge only once in a generation, Brion Brandd possesses a remarkable gift an enhanced sense of empathy. This unique ability propels him to victory in the Twenties, a prestigious competition showcasing the most brilliant minds on Anvhar. However, his triumph is short-lived as he is thrust into the chaotic realm of Dis, a planet on the brink of nuclear devastation. To save both worlds, Brandd must navigate treacherous negotiations with a menacing blockade, delve into the dark underbelly of Dis, and unravel the enigma of the merciless magter. Summary by Great Plains
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Chapter fifteen of Planet of the Damned. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison, Chapter fifteen. Brione
(00:25):
hurled himself backwards and sprawled flat in the dust and
filth of the road. No poisoned dart sought him out.
The empty silent still reigned. Telt's murderers had come and gone,
Moving quickly. Using the bulk of the car as a shield,
he opened the door and slipped inside. They had done
a thorough job of destruction. All of the controls had
(00:47):
been battered into uselessness. The floor was a junk heap
of crushed equipment, intertwined with loops of recording tape, bulging
like mechanical intestines, a gutted machine, destroyed like its driver.
It was easy enough to reconstruct what had happened. The
car had been seen when they entered the city, probably
by some of the matchter who had destroyed the foundation building.
(01:11):
They had not seen where it had gone, or Brionne
would surely be dead by now, but they must have
spotted it when Telt tried to leave the city and
stopped it in the most effective way possible, a dart
through the open window into the unsuspecting driver's neck. Telt dead.
The brutal impact of the man's death had driven all
(01:31):
thought of its consequences from Brion's mind. Now he began
to realize Telt had never sent word of his discovery
of the radioactive trace to the Nyord Army. He had
been afraid to use the radio and had wanted to
tell his in person and to show him the tape.
Only now the tape was torn and mixed with all
the others, the brain that could have analyzed it dead.
(01:55):
Brione looked at the dangling entrails of the radio and
spun for the door. Swiftly and radically, he fled from
the sand car. His own survival and the possible survival
of DIS depended on his not being seen near it.
He must contact Hiss and pass on the information. Until
he did that, he was the only off worlder on
(02:16):
DIS who knew which Machter tower might contain the world
destroying bombs. Once out of sight of the sand car,
he went more slowly, wiping the sweat from his streaming face.
He hadn't been seen leaving the car, and he wasn't
being followed. The streets here weren't familiar, but he checked
his direction by the sun and walked at a steady
(02:37):
pace toward the destroyed building. More of the native Disans
were in the streets now. They all noticed him. Some
even stopped and scowled fiercely at him. With his emphatic awareness,
he felt their anger and hatred. A knot of men
radiated death, and he put his hand on his gun
as he passed them. Two of them had their blowguns ready,
(02:59):
but didn't use them. By the time he had turned
the next corner, he was soaked with nervous perspiration. Ahead
was the rubble of the destroyed building. Grounded next to
it was the tapered form of a spacer's pennace. Two
men had come from the open lock and were standing
at the edge of the burnt area. Brione's boots grated
loudly on the broken wreckage. The men turned quickly towards him,
(03:22):
guns raised. Both of them carried ion rifles. They relaxed
when they saw his off world clothes. Bloody damn savages.
One of them growled. He was a heavy planet man,
a squashed down column of muscle and gristle whose head
barely reached Brione's chest. A pushed back cap had the
crossed slide roll symbol of a ship's computer man. Can't
(03:45):
blame them, I guess. The second man said he wore
Pursers insignia. His features were different, but with the same
compacted body. The two men were as physically alike as twins,
probably from the same home planet. They're going to get
their whole world blown out from under them at midnight.
Looks as if the poor slob in the street finally
realized what is happening. Hope we're in jump space. By
(04:07):
then I saw Estrada's world, get it, and I don't
want to see that again, not twice in one lifetime.
The computer man was looking closely at brione head tilted
sideways to see his face. You need transportation off world,
he asked. We're the last ship at the port, and
we're going to boil out of here as soon as
the rest of our cargo is aboard. We'll give you
(04:28):
a lift if you need it. Only by a tremendous
effort at control did Brione conceal the destroying sorrow that
overwhelmed him when he looked at that shattered waste land,
the graveyard of so many No, he said, that won't
be necessary. I'm in touch with the blockading fleet and
they'll pick me up before midnight. You from Niord, the
pursuer growled. No, Brion said, still only half aware of
(04:52):
the men, but there is trouble with my own ship.
He realized that they were looking intently at him, that
he owed them some kind of excit. I thought I could
find a way to stop the war. Now I'm not
so sure. He hadn't intended to be so frank with
the spaceman, but the words had been uppermost in his
thoughts and had simply slipped out. The computer Man started
(05:16):
to say something, but his shipmates speered him in his
side with his elbow. We blast soon, and I don't
like the way these dis'ans are looking at us, The
captain said, to find out what caused the fire and
then get the hell back. So let's go, don't, mister
ship The computer Man said to Brione, and he started
for the pinnace. Then he hesitated and turned. Sure, there's
(05:37):
nothing we can do for you, sorrow would accomplish nothing.
Brione fought to sweep the dregs of emotion from his
mind and to think clearly. You can't help me, He said,
I could use a scalpel or any other surgical instrument
you might have. Lea would need those. Then he remembered
Telt's undelivered message, do you have a portable radio transceiver?
(06:00):
I can pay you for it. The computer man vanished
inside the rocket and reappeared a minute later with a
small package. There's a scalpel and a magnetized tweezers in there,
all I could find in the medkit. Hope they'll do.
He reached inside and swung out the metal case of
a self contained transceiver. Take this, it's got plenty of range,
even on the longer frequencies. He raised his hand at
(06:22):
Brione's offer to pay my donation. He said, if you
can save this planet, I'll give you the whole Pennis
as well. We'll tell the captain we lost the radio
in some trouble with the natives. Isn't that right, money bags?
He prodded the purser in the chest with a finger
that would have punched a hole through a weaker man.
I read you loud and clear. The purser said, I'll
(06:42):
make out an invoice, so, stating back in the ship.
They were both in the pinnas then, and Brione had
to move fast to get clear of the take off blast.
A sense of obligation. The spaceman had felt it too.
The realization of this raised Brione's spirits a bit. As
he searched through the rubble for anything useful. He recognized
part of a wall still standing as a corner of
(07:03):
the laboratory. Poking through the ruins, he unearthed broken instruments
and a single battered case that had barely missed destruction.
Inside was the binocular microscope. The right tube bent its linses,
cracked and obscured. The left eye piece still seemed to
be functioning. Brione carefully put it back in the case.
(07:24):
He looked at his watch. It was almost noon. These
few pieces of equipment would have to do for the dissection.
Watched suspiciously by the unlooking distance, he started back to
the warehouse. It was a long, circuitous walk, since he
didn't dare give any clues to his destination. Only when
he was positive he had not been observed or followed
(07:45):
did he slip through the building's entrance, locking the door
behind him. Lea's frightened eyes met him when he went
into the office. A friendly smile here among the cannibals,
she called her strained expression gave the lie to the
cheeriness of her words. What has happened since I woke
up the great stone face over there, she pointed to
Ulf has been telling me exactly nothing. What's the last
(08:09):
thing you can remember? Brion asked carefully. He didn't want
to tell her too much lest the spring on the
shock again. Ulv had shown great presence of mind in
not talking to her. If you must know, Na said,
I remember quite a lot, Brion brand I shan't go
into details, since this sort of thing is best kept
from the natives for the record. Then I can recall
(08:33):
going to sleep after you left, and nothing since then.
It's weird. I went to sleep in that lumpy hospital
bed and woke up on this couch feeling simply terrible,
with him just sitting there and scowling at me. Won't
you please tell me what's going on? A partial truth
was best, saving all the details that he could for later.
(08:54):
The matchter attacked the foundation building. He said, they are
getting angry at all off worlders. Now you were still
knocked out by a sleeping drug, so old helped bring
you here. It's afternoon now of the last day, she
sounded horrified. While I'm playing sleeping beauty, the world is
coming to an end. Was anyone hurt in the attack
or killed? There were a number of casualties and plenty
(09:18):
of trouble, Brione said he had to get her off
the subject. Walking over to the corpse, he threw back
the cover from its face. But this is more important
right now. It's one of the mageter I have a
scalpel in some other things. Here. Will you perform an autopsy?
Leah huddled back on the couch, her arms around herself,
looking chilled in spite of the heat of the day.
(09:41):
What happened to all the people at the building? She
asked in a thin voice. The injection had removed her
memories of the tragedy, but echoes of the strain and
shock still reverberated in her mind and body. I feel
so exhausted. Please tell me what happened. I have the
feeling your hiding something. Brione sat next to her and
(10:03):
took her hands in his not surprised to find them cold.
Looking into her eyes, he tried to give her some
of his strength. It wasn't very nice, he said, you
were shaken up by it. I imagine that's why you feel
the way you do now. But Lea, you'll have to
take my word for this. Don't ask any more questions.
There's nothing we can do now about it, but we
(10:25):
can still find out about the matchter. Will you examine
the corpse? She started to ask something, then changed her mind.
When she dropped her eyes, Brion felt the thin shiver
that went through her body. There's something terribly wrong, she said,
I know that. I guess I'll have to take your
word that it's best not to ask questions. Help me up,
(10:47):
will you, darling. My legs are absolutely liquid. Leaning on him,
with his arm around her, supporting most of her weight,
she went slowly across to the corpse. She looked down
and shuddered. Not what you would call a natural death,
she said. Ulv watched intently as she took the scalpel
out of its holder. You don't have to look at this,
(11:08):
she told him, in halting disant. Not if you don't
want to, I want to, he told her, not taking
his eyes from the body. I have never seen a
master dead before, or without covering like an ordinary person,
He continued to stare fixedly. Find me some drinking water,
will you, brion, Lea said, and spread the tarp under
(11:29):
the body. These things are quite messy. After drinking the water,
she seemed stronger and could stand without holding on to
the table. With both hands. Placing the tip of the
scalpel just below the magister's breastbone, she made the long
post mortem incision down to the pubic synthesis. The great
body length wound gaped open like a red mouth across
(11:52):
the table. Ulve shuddered but didn't avert his eyes. One
by one, she removed the internal organs once she looked
up at Brione, then quickly returned to work. The silence
stretched on and on until Brione had to break it.
Tell me, can't you have you found out anything? His
(12:13):
words snapped the thin strand of her strength, and she
staggered back to the couch and collapsed on to it.
Her blood stained hands hung over the side, making a
strangely terrible contrast to the whiteness of her skin. I'm sorry, Brion,
she said, but there's nothing, nothing at all. There are
minor differences, organic changes I've never seen before. His liver
(12:36):
is tremendous, for one thing. But changes like this are
certainly consistent within the pattern of Homo sapiens as adapted
to a different planet. He's a man, changed, adapted, modified,
but still just as human as you or I. How
can you be sure, Brion broke in. You haven't examined
him completely, have you? She shook her head. Then go
on the other organs his brain A microscopic examination here,
(13:00):
he said, pushing the microscope case towards her with both hands.
She dropped her head unto her forearms and sobbed. Leave
me alone, can't you. I'm tired and sick and fed
up with this awful planet. Let them die. I don't care.
Your theory is false, useless, admit that, and let me
watch this filth from my hands. Sobbing drowned out her words.
(13:25):
Brion stood over her and drew a shuddering breath. Was
he wrong? He didn't dare think about that, he had
to go on. Looking down at the thinness of her
bent back, with the tiny projections of her spine showing
through the thin cloth, he felt an immense pity a pity.
He couldn't surrender to this thin, helpless, frightened woman was
(13:48):
his only resource. She had to work. He had to
make her work. Ile had done it used projective empathy
to impress his emotions upon Brione. Now Brion must do
it with He had had some sessions in the art,
but not nearly enough to make him proficient. Nevertheless, he
had to try. Strength was what Leah needed. Aloud, he said, simply,
(14:12):
you can do it. You have the will and the
strength to finish, And silently his mind cried out the
order to obey, to share his power now that hers
was drained and finished. Only when she lifted her face
and he saw the dried tears did he realize that
he had succeeded. Will you go on, he asked quietly.
(14:33):
Leah merely nodded and rose to her feet. She shuffled
like a sleep walker, jerked along by invisible strings. Her
strength wasn't her own, and the situation reminded him, unhappily
of that last event of the twenties, when he had
experienced the same kind of draining activity. She wiped her
hands roughly on her clothes and opened the microscope case.
(14:57):
The slides are all broken, she said, this will do,
Brione told her, crashing his heel through the glass partition.
Shards tinkled and crashed to the floor. He took some
of the bigger pieces and broke them two rough squares
that would fit under the clips on the stage. Lea
accepted them without a word, putting a drop of the
magster's blood on the slide. She bent over the eyepiece.
(15:19):
Her hands shook when she tried to adjust the focussing
using low power, she examined the specimen, squinting through the
angled tube. Once she turned the substage mirror bit to
catch the light streaming in the window. Brion stood behind her,
fists clenched forcibly controlling his anxiety. What do you see,
(15:40):
he finally blurted out. Phagocytes, platelets, lecocytes, everything seems normal.
Her voice was dull, exhausted, her eyes blinking with fatigue
as she stared into the tube. Anger at defeat burned
through Brione. Even faced with failure, he refused to accept it.
He reached over her shoulder and savagely twisted the turret
(16:03):
of the microscope until the longest lens was in position.
If you can't see anything. Try the higher power. It's there.
I know it's there. I'll get you a tissue specimen.
He turned back to the disembouled cadaver. His back was
turned and he did not see that sudden stiffening of
her shoulders or the sudden eagerness that seized her fingers
(16:24):
as they adjusted the focus. But he did feel the
wave of a motion that welled from her, impinging directly
on his empathetic sense. What is it, he called to her,
as if she had spoken aloud. Something something here, she said,
and this lekasite. It's not normal structure, but it's familiar.
(16:44):
I've seen something like this before, but I just can't remember.
She turned away from the microscope and unthinkingly pressed her
gory knuckles to her forehead. I know I've seen it before.
Brion squinted into the deserted microscope and made out a
dim shape in the center of the field. It stood
out sharply when he focused the white jellyfish shape of
a single celled leukocyte to his untrained eye. There was
(17:08):
nothing unusual about it. He couldn't know what was strange
when he had no idea what was normal? Do you
see those spherical green shapes grouped together, Lea asked. Before
Brion could answer, she gasped, I remember now. Her fatigue
was forgotten in her excitement. A cheryot perchassi, that was
the name, something like that. It's a coccid, a little
(17:29):
scale insect. It had those same shapes collected together within
its individual cells. What do they mean? What is the
connection with Dis? I don't know, she said, It's just
that they looked so similar, and I never saw anything
like this in a human cell before. In the cocids,
the green particles grow into a kind of yeast that
(17:49):
lives within the insect. Not a parasite, but a real symbiot.
Her eyes opened wide as she caught the significance of
her own words. A symbio and Dis was the world
where symbiosis and parasitism had become more advanced and complex
than on any other planet. Lea's thoughts spun around this
fact and chewed at the fringes of the logic. Brion
(18:11):
could sense her concentration and absorption. He did nothing to
break the moon. Her hands were clinched, her eyes staring
unseeingly at the wall as her mind raised Brion and
ulv were quiet watching her, waiting for her conclusions. The
pieces were falling into shape. At last, Lea opened her
clenched hands and smoothed them on her sodden skirt. She
(18:35):
blinked and turned to Brione. Is there a tool box here?
She asked. Her words were so unexpected that Brione could
not answer for a moment. Before he could say anything,
she spoke again, not hand tools, that would take too long.
Could you find anything like a power saw that would
be ideal? She turned back to the microscope, and he
(18:55):
didn't try to question her. UV was still looking at
the body of the magester and had understood nothing of
what they had said. Brione went out into the loading bay.
There was nothing he could use on the ground floor,
so he took the stairs to the floor above a corridor.
Here passed by a number of rooms. All of the
doors were locked, including one with the hopeful sign tool
(19:18):
room on it. He battered at the metal door with
his shoulder without budging it. As he stepped back to
look for another way in, he glanced at his watch
two o'clock and ten hours the bombs would fall on
diss The need for haste tore at him. Yet there
could be no noise. Some one in the street might
hear it. He quickly stripped off his shirt and wrapped
(19:41):
it in a loose roll around the barrel of his gun,
extending it in a loose tube in front of the barrel.
Holding the rolled cloth in his left hand, he jammed
the gun up tight against the door, the muzzle against
the lock. The single shot was only a dull thud
inaudible outside of the building. Pieces of broken mechanism yard
and rattled inside the lock, and the door swung open.
(20:04):
When he came back, Leo was standing by the body.
He held a small power saw with a rotary blade.
Will this do? He asked, runs on its own batteries,
almost fully charged, too perfect, She answered, you're both going
to have to help me. She switched into the Disan language. OV,
would you find some place where you can watch the
street without being seen? Signal me when it's empty. I'm
(20:26):
afraid the saw's going to make a lot of noise.
Ulv nodded and went out into the bay, where he
climbed a heap of empty crate so he could peer
through the small windows set high in the wall. He
looked carefully in both directions, then waved to her to
go ahead. Stand to one side and hold the cadaver's chin, Brion,
she said, hold it firmly so the head doesn't shake
(20:47):
around when I cut. This is going to be a
little gruesome. I'm sorry, but it'll be the fastest way
to cut the bone. The saw bit into the skull
once Ulv waved them into silence and shrank back himself
into the shadows next to the window. They waited impatiently
until he gave them the sign to continue again. Brione
held steady while the saw cut a complete circle around
(21:08):
the skull. Finished, Leah said, and the saw dropped from
her limp fingers to the floor. She massaged life back
into her hands before she finished the job. Carefully and delicately,
she removed the cap of bone from the master's head,
exposing his brain to the shaft of light from the window.
(21:28):
You were right all this time, Brion, she said. There
is your alien. End of chapter fifteen.
Chapter fifteen of Planet of the Damned. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison, Chapter fifteen. Brione
(00:25):
hurled himself backwards and sprawled flat in the dust and
filth of the road. No poisoned dart sought him out.
The empty silent still reigned. Telt's murderers had come and gone,
Moving quickly. Using the bulk of the car as a shield,
he opened the door and slipped inside. They had done
a thorough job of destruction. All of the controls had
(00:47):
been battered into uselessness. The floor was a junk heap
of crushed equipment, intertwined with loops of recording tape, bulging
like mechanical intestines, a gutted machine, destroyed like its driver.
It was easy enough to reconstruct what had happened. The
car had been seen when they entered the city, probably
by some of the matchter who had destroyed the foundation building.
(01:11):
They had not seen where it had gone, or Brionne
would surely be dead by now, but they must have
spotted it when Telt tried to leave the city and
stopped it in the most effective way possible, a dart
through the open window into the unsuspecting driver's neck. Telt dead.
The brutal impact of the man's death had driven all
(01:31):
thought of its consequences from Brion's mind. Now he began
to realize Telt had never sent word of his discovery
of the radioactive trace to the Nyord Army. He had
been afraid to use the radio and had wanted to
tell his in person and to show him the tape.
Only now the tape was torn and mixed with all
the others, the brain that could have analyzed it dead.
(01:55):
Brione looked at the dangling entrails of the radio and
spun for the door. Swiftly and radically, he fled from
the sand car. His own survival and the possible survival
of DIS depended on his not being seen near it.
He must contact Hiss and pass on the information. Until
he did that, he was the only off worlder on
(02:16):
DIS who knew which Machter tower might contain the world
destroying bombs. Once out of sight of the sand car,
he went more slowly, wiping the sweat from his streaming face.
He hadn't been seen leaving the car, and he wasn't
being followed. The streets here weren't familiar, but he checked
his direction by the sun and walked at a steady
(02:37):
pace toward the destroyed building. More of the native Disans
were in the streets now. They all noticed him. Some
even stopped and scowled fiercely at him. With his emphatic awareness,
he felt their anger and hatred. A knot of men
radiated death, and he put his hand on his gun
as he passed them. Two of them had their blowguns ready,
(02:59):
but didn't use them. By the time he had turned
the next corner, he was soaked with nervous perspiration. Ahead
was the rubble of the destroyed building. Grounded next to
it was the tapered form of a spacer's pennace. Two
men had come from the open lock and were standing
at the edge of the burnt area. Brione's boots grated
loudly on the broken wreckage. The men turned quickly towards him,
(03:22):
guns raised. Both of them carried ion rifles. They relaxed
when they saw his off world clothes. Bloody damn savages.
One of them growled. He was a heavy planet man,
a squashed down column of muscle and gristle whose head
barely reached Brione's chest. A pushed back cap had the
crossed slide roll symbol of a ship's computer man. Can't
(03:45):
blame them, I guess. The second man said he wore
Pursers insignia. His features were different, but with the same
compacted body. The two men were as physically alike as twins,
probably from the same home planet. They're going to get
their whole world blown out from under them at midnight.
Looks as if the poor slob in the street finally
realized what is happening. Hope we're in jump space. By
(04:07):
then I saw Estrada's world, get it, and I don't
want to see that again, not twice in one lifetime.
The computer man was looking closely at brione head tilted
sideways to see his face. You need transportation off world,
he asked. We're the last ship at the port, and
we're going to boil out of here as soon as
the rest of our cargo is aboard. We'll give you
(04:28):
a lift if you need it. Only by a tremendous
effort at control did Brione conceal the destroying sorrow that
overwhelmed him when he looked at that shattered waste land,
the graveyard of so many No, he said, that won't
be necessary. I'm in touch with the blockading fleet and
they'll pick me up before midnight. You from Niord, the
pursuer growled. No, Brion said, still only half aware of
(04:52):
the men, but there is trouble with my own ship.
He realized that they were looking intently at him, that
he owed them some kind of excit. I thought I could
find a way to stop the war. Now I'm not
so sure. He hadn't intended to be so frank with
the spaceman, but the words had been uppermost in his
thoughts and had simply slipped out. The computer Man started
(05:16):
to say something, but his shipmates speered him in his
side with his elbow. We blast soon, and I don't
like the way these dis'ans are looking at us, The
captain said, to find out what caused the fire and
then get the hell back. So let's go, don't, mister
ship The computer Man said to Brione, and he started
for the pinnace. Then he hesitated and turned. Sure, there's
(05:37):
nothing we can do for you, sorrow would accomplish nothing.
Brione fought to sweep the dregs of emotion from his
mind and to think clearly. You can't help me, He said,
I could use a scalpel or any other surgical instrument
you might have. Lea would need those. Then he remembered
Telt's undelivered message, do you have a portable radio transceiver?
(06:00):
I can pay you for it. The computer man vanished
inside the rocket and reappeared a minute later with a
small package. There's a scalpel and a magnetized tweezers in there,
all I could find in the medkit. Hope they'll do.
He reached inside and swung out the metal case of
a self contained transceiver. Take this, it's got plenty of range,
even on the longer frequencies. He raised his hand at
(06:22):
Brione's offer to pay my donation. He said, if you
can save this planet, I'll give you the whole Pennis
as well. We'll tell the captain we lost the radio
in some trouble with the natives. Isn't that right, money bags?
He prodded the purser in the chest with a finger
that would have punched a hole through a weaker man.
I read you loud and clear. The purser said, I'll
(06:42):
make out an invoice, so, stating back in the ship.
They were both in the pinnas then, and Brione had
to move fast to get clear of the take off blast.
A sense of obligation. The spaceman had felt it too.
The realization of this raised Brione's spirits a bit. As
he searched through the rubble for anything useful. He recognized
part of a wall still standing as a corner of
(07:03):
the laboratory. Poking through the ruins, he unearthed broken instruments
and a single battered case that had barely missed destruction.
Inside was the binocular microscope. The right tube bent its linses,
cracked and obscured. The left eye piece still seemed to
be functioning. Brione carefully put it back in the case.
(07:24):
He looked at his watch. It was almost noon. These
few pieces of equipment would have to do for the dissection.
Watched suspiciously by the unlooking distance, he started back to
the warehouse. It was a long, circuitous walk, since he
didn't dare give any clues to his destination. Only when
he was positive he had not been observed or followed
(07:45):
did he slip through the building's entrance, locking the door
behind him. Lea's frightened eyes met him when he went
into the office. A friendly smile here among the cannibals,
she called her strained expression gave the lie to the
cheeriness of her words. What has happened since I woke
up the great stone face over there, she pointed to
Ulf has been telling me exactly nothing. What's the last
(08:09):
thing you can remember? Brion asked carefully. He didn't want
to tell her too much lest the spring on the
shock again. Ulv had shown great presence of mind in
not talking to her. If you must know, Na said,
I remember quite a lot, Brion brand I shan't go
into details, since this sort of thing is best kept
from the natives for the record. Then I can recall
(08:33):
going to sleep after you left, and nothing since then.
It's weird. I went to sleep in that lumpy hospital
bed and woke up on this couch feeling simply terrible,
with him just sitting there and scowling at me. Won't
you please tell me what's going on? A partial truth
was best, saving all the details that he could for later.
(08:54):
The matchter attacked the foundation building. He said, they are
getting angry at all off worlders. Now you were still
knocked out by a sleeping drug, so old helped bring
you here. It's afternoon now of the last day, she
sounded horrified. While I'm playing sleeping beauty, the world is
coming to an end. Was anyone hurt in the attack
or killed? There were a number of casualties and plenty
(09:18):
of trouble, Brione said he had to get her off
the subject. Walking over to the corpse, he threw back
the cover from its face. But this is more important
right now. It's one of the mageter I have a
scalpel in some other things. Here. Will you perform an autopsy?
Leah huddled back on the couch, her arms around herself,
looking chilled in spite of the heat of the day.
(09:41):
What happened to all the people at the building? She
asked in a thin voice. The injection had removed her
memories of the tragedy, but echoes of the strain and
shock still reverberated in her mind and body. I feel
so exhausted. Please tell me what happened. I have the
feeling your hiding something. Brione sat next to her and
(10:03):
took her hands in his not surprised to find them cold.
Looking into her eyes, he tried to give her some
of his strength. It wasn't very nice, he said, you
were shaken up by it. I imagine that's why you feel
the way you do now. But Lea, you'll have to
take my word for this. Don't ask any more questions.
There's nothing we can do now about it, but we
(10:25):
can still find out about the matchter. Will you examine
the corpse? She started to ask something, then changed her mind.
When she dropped her eyes, Brion felt the thin shiver
that went through her body. There's something terribly wrong, she said,
I know that. I guess I'll have to take your
word that it's best not to ask questions. Help me up,
(10:47):
will you, darling. My legs are absolutely liquid. Leaning on him,
with his arm around her, supporting most of her weight,
she went slowly across to the corpse. She looked down
and shuddered. Not what you would call a natural death,
she said. Ulv watched intently as she took the scalpel
out of its holder. You don't have to look at this,
(11:08):
she told him, in halting disant. Not if you don't
want to, I want to, he told her, not taking
his eyes from the body. I have never seen a
master dead before, or without covering like an ordinary person,
He continued to stare fixedly. Find me some drinking water,
will you, brion, Lea said, and spread the tarp under
(11:29):
the body. These things are quite messy. After drinking the water,
she seemed stronger and could stand without holding on to
the table. With both hands. Placing the tip of the
scalpel just below the magister's breastbone, she made the long
post mortem incision down to the pubic synthesis. The great
body length wound gaped open like a red mouth across
(11:52):
the table. Ulve shuddered but didn't avert his eyes. One
by one, she removed the internal organs once she looked
up at Brione, then quickly returned to work. The silence
stretched on and on until Brione had to break it.
Tell me, can't you have you found out anything? His
(12:13):
words snapped the thin strand of her strength, and she
staggered back to the couch and collapsed on to it.
Her blood stained hands hung over the side, making a
strangely terrible contrast to the whiteness of her skin. I'm sorry, Brion,
she said, but there's nothing, nothing at all. There are
minor differences, organic changes I've never seen before. His liver
(12:36):
is tremendous, for one thing. But changes like this are
certainly consistent within the pattern of Homo sapiens as adapted
to a different planet. He's a man, changed, adapted, modified,
but still just as human as you or I. How
can you be sure, Brion broke in. You haven't examined
him completely, have you? She shook her head. Then go
on the other organs his brain A microscopic examination here,
(13:00):
he said, pushing the microscope case towards her with both hands.
She dropped her head unto her forearms and sobbed. Leave
me alone, can't you. I'm tired and sick and fed
up with this awful planet. Let them die. I don't care.
Your theory is false, useless, admit that, and let me
watch this filth from my hands. Sobbing drowned out her words.
(13:25):
Brion stood over her and drew a shuddering breath. Was
he wrong? He didn't dare think about that, he had
to go on. Looking down at the thinness of her
bent back, with the tiny projections of her spine showing
through the thin cloth, he felt an immense pity a pity.
He couldn't surrender to this thin, helpless, frightened woman was
(13:48):
his only resource. She had to work. He had to
make her work. Ile had done it used projective empathy
to impress his emotions upon Brione. Now Brion must do
it with He had had some sessions in the art,
but not nearly enough to make him proficient. Nevertheless, he
had to try. Strength was what Leah needed. Aloud, he said, simply,
(14:12):
you can do it. You have the will and the
strength to finish, And silently his mind cried out the
order to obey, to share his power now that hers
was drained and finished. Only when she lifted her face
and he saw the dried tears did he realize that
he had succeeded. Will you go on, he asked quietly.
(14:33):
Leah merely nodded and rose to her feet. She shuffled
like a sleep walker, jerked along by invisible strings. Her
strength wasn't her own, and the situation reminded him, unhappily
of that last event of the twenties, when he had
experienced the same kind of draining activity. She wiped her
hands roughly on her clothes and opened the microscope case.
(14:57):
The slides are all broken, she said, this will do,
Brione told her, crashing his heel through the glass partition.
Shards tinkled and crashed to the floor. He took some
of the bigger pieces and broke them two rough squares
that would fit under the clips on the stage. Lea
accepted them without a word, putting a drop of the
magster's blood on the slide. She bent over the eyepiece.
(15:19):
Her hands shook when she tried to adjust the focussing
using low power, she examined the specimen, squinting through the
angled tube. Once she turned the substage mirror bit to
catch the light streaming in the window. Brion stood behind her,
fists clenched forcibly controlling his anxiety. What do you see,
(15:40):
he finally blurted out. Phagocytes, platelets, lecocytes, everything seems normal.
Her voice was dull, exhausted, her eyes blinking with fatigue
as she stared into the tube. Anger at defeat burned
through Brione. Even faced with failure, he refused to accept it.
He reached over her shoulder and savagely twisted the turret
(16:03):
of the microscope until the longest lens was in position.
If you can't see anything. Try the higher power. It's there.
I know it's there. I'll get you a tissue specimen.
He turned back to the disembouled cadaver. His back was
turned and he did not see that sudden stiffening of
her shoulders or the sudden eagerness that seized her fingers
(16:24):
as they adjusted the focus. But he did feel the
wave of a motion that welled from her, impinging directly
on his empathetic sense. What is it, he called to her,
as if she had spoken aloud. Something something here, she said,
and this lekasite. It's not normal structure, but it's familiar.
(16:44):
I've seen something like this before, but I just can't remember.
She turned away from the microscope and unthinkingly pressed her
gory knuckles to her forehead. I know I've seen it before.
Brion squinted into the deserted microscope and made out a
dim shape in the center of the field. It stood
out sharply when he focused the white jellyfish shape of
a single celled leukocyte to his untrained eye. There was
(17:08):
nothing unusual about it. He couldn't know what was strange
when he had no idea what was normal? Do you
see those spherical green shapes grouped together, Lea asked. Before
Brion could answer, she gasped, I remember now. Her fatigue
was forgotten in her excitement. A cheryot perchassi, that was
the name, something like that. It's a coccid, a little
(17:29):
scale insect. It had those same shapes collected together within
its individual cells. What do they mean? What is the
connection with Dis? I don't know, she said, It's just
that they looked so similar, and I never saw anything
like this in a human cell before. In the cocids,
the green particles grow into a kind of yeast that
(17:49):
lives within the insect. Not a parasite, but a real symbiot.
Her eyes opened wide as she caught the significance of
her own words. A symbio and Dis was the world
where symbiosis and parasitism had become more advanced and complex
than on any other planet. Lea's thoughts spun around this
fact and chewed at the fringes of the logic. Brion
(18:11):
could sense her concentration and absorption. He did nothing to
break the moon. Her hands were clinched, her eyes staring
unseeingly at the wall as her mind raised Brion and
ulv were quiet watching her, waiting for her conclusions. The
pieces were falling into shape. At last, Lea opened her
clenched hands and smoothed them on her sodden skirt. She
(18:35):
blinked and turned to Brione. Is there a tool box here?
She asked. Her words were so unexpected that Brione could
not answer for a moment. Before he could say anything,
she spoke again, not hand tools, that would take too long.
Could you find anything like a power saw that would
be ideal? She turned back to the microscope, and he
(18:55):
didn't try to question her. UV was still looking at
the body of the magester and had understood nothing of
what they had said. Brione went out into the loading bay.
There was nothing he could use on the ground floor,
so he took the stairs to the floor above a corridor.
Here passed by a number of rooms. All of the
doors were locked, including one with the hopeful sign tool
(19:18):
room on it. He battered at the metal door with
his shoulder without budging it. As he stepped back to
look for another way in, he glanced at his watch
two o'clock and ten hours the bombs would fall on
diss The need for haste tore at him. Yet there
could be no noise. Some one in the street might
hear it. He quickly stripped off his shirt and wrapped
(19:41):
it in a loose roll around the barrel of his gun,
extending it in a loose tube in front of the barrel.
Holding the rolled cloth in his left hand, he jammed
the gun up tight against the door, the muzzle against
the lock. The single shot was only a dull thud
inaudible outside of the building. Pieces of broken mechanism yard
and rattled inside the lock, and the door swung open.
(20:04):
When he came back, Leo was standing by the body.
He held a small power saw with a rotary blade.
Will this do? He asked, runs on its own batteries,
almost fully charged, too perfect, She answered, you're both going
to have to help me. She switched into the Disan language. OV,
would you find some place where you can watch the
street without being seen? Signal me when it's empty. I'm
(20:26):
afraid the saw's going to make a lot of noise.
Ulv nodded and went out into the bay, where he
climbed a heap of empty crate so he could peer
through the small windows set high in the wall. He
looked carefully in both directions, then waved to her to
go ahead. Stand to one side and hold the cadaver's chin, Brion,
she said, hold it firmly so the head doesn't shake
(20:47):
around when I cut. This is going to be a
little gruesome. I'm sorry, but it'll be the fastest way
to cut the bone. The saw bit into the skull
once Ulv waved them into silence and shrank back himself
into the shadows next to the window. They waited impatiently
until he gave them the sign to continue again. Brione
held steady while the saw cut a complete circle around
(21:08):
the skull. Finished, Leah said, and the saw dropped from
her limp fingers to the floor. She massaged life back
into her hands before she finished the job. Carefully and delicately,
she removed the cap of bone from the master's head,
exposing his brain to the shaft of light from the window.
(21:28):
You were right all this time, Brion, she said. There
is your alien. End of chapter fifteen.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.