September 25, 2025 • 11 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
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter nineteen 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 nineteen dis
(00:26):
was a floating golden ball, looking like a schoolroom globe
in space. No clouds obscured its surface, and from this
distance it seemed warm and attractive set against the cold darkness.
Brion almost wished he were back there now. As he
sat shivering inside the heavy coat, he wondered how long
(00:47):
it would be before his confused body temperature controls decided
to turn off the summer adjustment. He hoped it wouldn't
be as sudden or as drastic as turning it on
had been. Delicate as a dream. Lea's reflections swam in
space next to the planet. She had come up quietly
behind him in the spaceship's corridor, only her gentle breath
(01:09):
and mirrored face telling him she was there. He turned
quickly and took her hands in his You're looking infinitely better,
he said, Well I should, she said, pushing back her
hair in an unconscious gesture with her hand. I've been
doing nothing but lying in the ship's hospital while you
were having such a fine time this last week, rushing
(01:29):
around down there, shooting all the matchter, just gassing them.
He told her. The nijhorders can't bring themselves to kill
any more, even if it does raise their own casualty rates.
In fact, they are having difficulty restraining the disans led
by ULV, who are happily killing any matchter they see
as being pure UMMEDWRK. What will they do when they
(01:50):
have all those frothing matched or madmen. They don't know yet,
he said. They won't really know until they see what
an adult matchter is like with his brain parasite dead
and gone. There having better luck with the children. If
they can catch them early enough, the parasite can be
destroyed before it has done too much damage. Leah shuddered
delicately and let herself lean against him. I'm not that
(02:11):
sturdy yet. Let's sit down while we talk. There was
a couch opposite the viewport where they could sit and
still see dis I hate to think of a matchter
deprived of his symbiote, she said. If his system can
stand the shock, I imagine there will be nothing left
except a brainless hulk. This is one series of experiments
I don't care to witness. I rest secure in the
(02:33):
knowledge that the nij Orders will find the most humane solution.
I am sure they will. Brione said. Now what about us?
She said, disconcertingly, leaning back in his arms. I must say,
you have the highest body temperature of anyone I have
ever touched. It's positively exciting. This jarred Brione even more.
(02:54):
He didn't have her ability to put past horrors out
of the mind by substituting present pleasures. Well, just what
about us, he said, with masterful inappropriateness. She smiled as
she leaned against him. You weren't as vague as that
the knight in the hospital room. I seem to remember
a few other things you said, Anne did. You can't
(03:16):
claim you're completely indifferent to me, Brion brand So I'm
only asking you what any outspoken Anvarian girl would Where
do we go from here? Get married? There was a
definite pleasure in holding her slight body in his arms
and feeling her hair against his cheek. They both sensed it,
and this awareness made his words sound that much more ugly.
(03:38):
Leah Darling, you know how important you are to me,
but you certainly realized that we could never get married.
Her body stiffened and she tore herself away from him.
Why you, great, fat, egotistical slab of meat. What do
you mean by that? I like you, Leah. We have
plenty of fun and games together, but surely you realize
(03:58):
that you aren't the kind of girl that one take
home to me. Hold on, he said, you know better
than to say a thing like that. What I said
has nothing to do with how I feel towards you.
But marriage means children, and you are biologist enough to
know about Earth's genes. Intolerant yokel, she cried, slapping his face.
He didn't move or attempt to stop her. I expected
(04:18):
better from you, with all your pretensions of understanding, but
all you can think of are the horror stories about
worn out Janes of Earth. You are the same as
every other big, strapping bigot from the frontier planets. I
know how you look down on our small size. Our
allergies are hemophilia and all the other weaknesses that have
been bred back and preserved by the race you hate.
(04:39):
But that's not what I meant at all, he interrupted,
shocked his voice, drowning hers out. Yours are the strong genes,
the viable strains. Mine are the deadly ones. A child
of mine would kill itself and you in a natural
birth if it managed to live to term. You are
forgetting that you are the original Homo sapiens. I'm a
(04:59):
recent mutation. Leo was frozen by his words. They revealed
the truth she had known but would never permit herself
to consider. Earth is home, the planet where mankind developed,
he said. The last few thousand years you may have
been breeding weaknesses back into the genetic pool, but that's
nothing compared to the hundreds of millions of years that
(05:21):
it took to develop man. How many new born babies
live to be a year of age on Earth? Why
almost all of them? A fraction of one percent die
each year. I can't recall how many Earth is home,
he said again gently. When men leave home, they can
adapt to different planets, but a price must be paid.
A terrible price is in dead infants. The successful mutations live,
(05:45):
the failures die. Natural selection is a brutally simple affair.
When you look at me, you see a success. I
have a sister, a success too. Yet my mother had
six other children who died when they were still babies,
and several others at never came to term. You know
about these things, don't you, Leah? I know, I know,
(06:06):
she said, sobbing into her hands. He held her now
and she didn't pull away. I know it all as
a biologist, but I am so awfully tired of being
a biologist and the top of my class in a
mental match for any man. When I think about you,
I do it as a woman and can't admit any
of this. I need some one, Brion, and I needed
(06:28):
you so much because I loved you. She paused and
wiped her eyes. You're going home, aren't you? Back to
Anvar when I can't wait too long, he said, unhappily.
Aside from my personal wants, I find myself remembering that
I'm a part of anvar. When you think of the
number of people who suffered and died or adapted so
(06:52):
that I could be sitting here now, well it's a
little frightening. I suppose it doesn't make sense logically that
I should feel in debted to them, But I do
anything I do now or in the next few years
won't be as important as getting back to Anvar. And
I won't be going back with you. It was a
flat statement the way she said it, not a question. No,
(07:16):
you won't be, he said, there is nothing on anvar
for you. Leo was looking at the port at dis
and her eyes were dry. Now way back in my
deeply buried unconscious I think I knew it would end
this way. She said. If you think your little lecture
on the origins of man was a novelty, it wasn't.
(07:37):
It just reminded me of a number of things my
glands had convinced me to forget. In a way, I
envy you your weight lifter wife to be and your
happy kiddies, but not very much. Very early in life,
I resigned myself to the fact that there was no
one on Earth I would care to marry. I always
had these teenage dreams of a hero from space who
(07:58):
would carry me off, and I guess I slipped you
into that pattern without realizing it. I'm old enough now
to face the fact that I like my work more
than a banal marriage, and I'll probably end up a
frigid and virtuous old maid with more degrees and titles
than you have. Shot putting records. As they looked through
(08:18):
the port, Dis began slowly to contract. Their ship drew
away from it, heading towards Nijord. They set apart without touching.
Now leaving dis meant leaving behind something they had shared.
They had been strangers together there on a strange world
for a brief time. Their life lines had touched. That
(08:39):
time was over. Now don't we look happy, Hiss said,
shambling towards them, Fall dead and make me even happier, then,
LEAs snapped bitterly. Hiss ignored the acid tone of her
words and sat down on the couch next to them.
Since leaving the command of his rebel Nyjord Army, he
seemed much mellower, going to keep on working for the
(09:00):
Cultural Relationships Foundation, Brion, he asked, you're the kind of
man we need. Brion's eyes widened as the meaning of
the last words penetrated. Are you in the CRF field
agent for Niord? He said, I hope you don't think
those helpless office types like Fossil or mirv really represented
us there. They just took notes and acted as a
(09:20):
front and cover for the organization. Nyord is a fine planet,
but a gentle guiding hand behind the scenes is needed
to help them find their place in the galaxy before
they are pulverized. What's your dirty game, hiss Leah asked, scowling.
I've had enough hints to suspect for a long time
that there was more to the CRF than the sweetness
and light part I have seen. Are you people egomaniacs,
(09:44):
power hungry or what? That's the first charge that would
be leveled at us if our activities were publicly known,
He has told her. That's why we do most of
our work under cover. The best fact I can give
you to counter the charge is money. Just where do
you think we get the funds for an operation this size?
He smiled at their blank looks. You'll see the records later,
(10:05):
so there won't be any doubt. The truth is that
all our funds are donated by planets we have helped.
Even a tiny percentage of a planetary income is large.
Add enough of them together and you have enough money
to help out other planets. And voluntary gratitude is a
perfect test if you stop to think about it. You
can't talk people into liking what you have done. They
(10:26):
have to be convinced. There have always been people on
CRF worlds who knew about our work and agreed with
it enough to see that we are kept in funds.
Why is it you are telling me all this super
secret stuff, Lea asked, isn't it obvious? We want you
to keep on working for us. You can name whatever
salary you like. As I said, there is no shortage
(10:46):
of cash. His glanced quickly at them both and delivered
the clinching argument. I hope Brion will go on working
with us too. He is the kind of field agent
we desperately need, and it is almost impossible to find.
Just show me where to sign, Lea said, and there
was life in her voice. Once again, I wouldn't exactly
call it blackmail, Brione smiled, But I suppose a few
(11:10):
people can juggle planetary psychologies. You must find that individuals
can be pushed around like chessman, though you should realize
that very little pushing is required this time? Will you
sign on? His asked, I must go back to anvar
Brione said, But there really is no pressing hurry, Earth, said,
Lea is overpopulated enough as it is. End of chapter nineteen,
(11:39):
end of Planet of the Damned,
Chapter nineteen 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 nineteen dis
(00:26):
was a floating golden ball, looking like a schoolroom globe
in space. No clouds obscured its surface, and from this
distance it seemed warm and attractive set against the cold darkness.
Brion almost wished he were back there now. As he
sat shivering inside the heavy coat, he wondered how long
(00:47):
it would be before his confused body temperature controls decided
to turn off the summer adjustment. He hoped it wouldn't
be as sudden or as drastic as turning it on
had been. Delicate as a dream. Lea's reflections swam in
space next to the planet. She had come up quietly
behind him in the spaceship's corridor, only her gentle breath
(01:09):
and mirrored face telling him she was there. He turned
quickly and took her hands in his You're looking infinitely better,
he said, Well I should, she said, pushing back her
hair in an unconscious gesture with her hand. I've been
doing nothing but lying in the ship's hospital while you
were having such a fine time this last week, rushing
(01:29):
around down there, shooting all the matchter, just gassing them.
He told her. The nijhorders can't bring themselves to kill
any more, even if it does raise their own casualty rates.
In fact, they are having difficulty restraining the disans led
by ULV, who are happily killing any matchter they see
as being pure UMMEDWRK. What will they do when they
(01:50):
have all those frothing matched or madmen. They don't know yet,
he said. They won't really know until they see what
an adult matchter is like with his brain parasite dead
and gone. There having better luck with the children. If
they can catch them early enough, the parasite can be
destroyed before it has done too much damage. Leah shuddered
delicately and let herself lean against him. I'm not that
(02:11):
sturdy yet. Let's sit down while we talk. There was
a couch opposite the viewport where they could sit and
still see dis I hate to think of a matchter
deprived of his symbiote, she said. If his system can
stand the shock, I imagine there will be nothing left
except a brainless hulk. This is one series of experiments
I don't care to witness. I rest secure in the
(02:33):
knowledge that the nij Orders will find the most humane solution.
I am sure they will. Brione said. Now what about us?
She said, disconcertingly, leaning back in his arms. I must say,
you have the highest body temperature of anyone I have
ever touched. It's positively exciting. This jarred Brione even more.
(02:54):
He didn't have her ability to put past horrors out
of the mind by substituting present pleasures. Well, just what
about us, he said, with masterful inappropriateness. She smiled as
she leaned against him. You weren't as vague as that
the knight in the hospital room. I seem to remember
a few other things you said, Anne did. You can't
(03:16):
claim you're completely indifferent to me, Brion brand So I'm
only asking you what any outspoken Anvarian girl would Where
do we go from here? Get married? There was a
definite pleasure in holding her slight body in his arms
and feeling her hair against his cheek. They both sensed it,
and this awareness made his words sound that much more ugly.
(03:38):
Leah Darling, you know how important you are to me,
but you certainly realized that we could never get married.
Her body stiffened and she tore herself away from him.
Why you, great, fat, egotistical slab of meat. What do
you mean by that? I like you, Leah. We have
plenty of fun and games together, but surely you realize
(03:58):
that you aren't the kind of girl that one take
home to me. Hold on, he said, you know better
than to say a thing like that. What I said
has nothing to do with how I feel towards you.
But marriage means children, and you are biologist enough to
know about Earth's genes. Intolerant yokel, she cried, slapping his face.
He didn't move or attempt to stop her. I expected
(04:18):
better from you, with all your pretensions of understanding, but
all you can think of are the horror stories about
worn out Janes of Earth. You are the same as
every other big, strapping bigot from the frontier planets. I
know how you look down on our small size. Our
allergies are hemophilia and all the other weaknesses that have
been bred back and preserved by the race you hate.
(04:39):
But that's not what I meant at all, he interrupted,
shocked his voice, drowning hers out. Yours are the strong genes,
the viable strains. Mine are the deadly ones. A child
of mine would kill itself and you in a natural
birth if it managed to live to term. You are
forgetting that you are the original Homo sapiens. I'm a
(04:59):
recent mutation. Leo was frozen by his words. They revealed
the truth she had known but would never permit herself
to consider. Earth is home, the planet where mankind developed,
he said. The last few thousand years you may have
been breeding weaknesses back into the genetic pool, but that's
nothing compared to the hundreds of millions of years that
(05:21):
it took to develop man. How many new born babies
live to be a year of age on Earth? Why
almost all of them? A fraction of one percent die
each year. I can't recall how many Earth is home,
he said again gently. When men leave home, they can
adapt to different planets, but a price must be paid.
A terrible price is in dead infants. The successful mutations live,
(05:45):
the failures die. Natural selection is a brutally simple affair.
When you look at me, you see a success. I
have a sister, a success too. Yet my mother had
six other children who died when they were still babies,
and several others at never came to term. You know
about these things, don't you, Leah? I know, I know,
(06:06):
she said, sobbing into her hands. He held her now
and she didn't pull away. I know it all as
a biologist, but I am so awfully tired of being
a biologist and the top of my class in a
mental match for any man. When I think about you,
I do it as a woman and can't admit any
of this. I need some one, Brion, and I needed
(06:28):
you so much because I loved you. She paused and
wiped her eyes. You're going home, aren't you? Back to
Anvar when I can't wait too long, he said, unhappily.
Aside from my personal wants, I find myself remembering that
I'm a part of anvar. When you think of the
number of people who suffered and died or adapted so
(06:52):
that I could be sitting here now, well it's a
little frightening. I suppose it doesn't make sense logically that
I should feel in debted to them, But I do
anything I do now or in the next few years
won't be as important as getting back to Anvar. And
I won't be going back with you. It was a
flat statement the way she said it, not a question. No,
(07:16):
you won't be, he said, there is nothing on anvar
for you. Leo was looking at the port at dis
and her eyes were dry. Now way back in my
deeply buried unconscious I think I knew it would end
this way. She said. If you think your little lecture
on the origins of man was a novelty, it wasn't.
(07:37):
It just reminded me of a number of things my
glands had convinced me to forget. In a way, I
envy you your weight lifter wife to be and your
happy kiddies, but not very much. Very early in life,
I resigned myself to the fact that there was no
one on Earth I would care to marry. I always
had these teenage dreams of a hero from space who
(07:58):
would carry me off, and I guess I slipped you
into that pattern without realizing it. I'm old enough now
to face the fact that I like my work more
than a banal marriage, and I'll probably end up a
frigid and virtuous old maid with more degrees and titles
than you have. Shot putting records. As they looked through
(08:18):
the port, Dis began slowly to contract. Their ship drew
away from it, heading towards Nijord. They set apart without touching.
Now leaving dis meant leaving behind something they had shared.
They had been strangers together there on a strange world
for a brief time. Their life lines had touched. That
(08:39):
time was over. Now don't we look happy, Hiss said,
shambling towards them, Fall dead and make me even happier, then,
LEAs snapped bitterly. Hiss ignored the acid tone of her
words and sat down on the couch next to them.
Since leaving the command of his rebel Nyjord Army, he
seemed much mellower, going to keep on working for the
(09:00):
Cultural Relationships Foundation, Brion, he asked, you're the kind of
man we need. Brion's eyes widened as the meaning of
the last words penetrated. Are you in the CRF field
agent for Niord? He said, I hope you don't think
those helpless office types like Fossil or mirv really represented
us there. They just took notes and acted as a
(09:20):
front and cover for the organization. Nyord is a fine planet,
but a gentle guiding hand behind the scenes is needed
to help them find their place in the galaxy before
they are pulverized. What's your dirty game, hiss Leah asked, scowling.
I've had enough hints to suspect for a long time
that there was more to the CRF than the sweetness
and light part I have seen. Are you people egomaniacs,
(09:44):
power hungry or what? That's the first charge that would
be leveled at us if our activities were publicly known,
He has told her. That's why we do most of
our work under cover. The best fact I can give
you to counter the charge is money. Just where do
you think we get the funds for an operation this size?
He smiled at their blank looks. You'll see the records later,
(10:05):
so there won't be any doubt. The truth is that
all our funds are donated by planets we have helped.
Even a tiny percentage of a planetary income is large.
Add enough of them together and you have enough money
to help out other planets. And voluntary gratitude is a
perfect test if you stop to think about it. You
can't talk people into liking what you have done. They
(10:26):
have to be convinced. There have always been people on
CRF worlds who knew about our work and agreed with
it enough to see that we are kept in funds.
Why is it you are telling me all this super
secret stuff, Lea asked, isn't it obvious? We want you
to keep on working for us. You can name whatever
salary you like. As I said, there is no shortage
(10:46):
of cash. His glanced quickly at them both and delivered
the clinching argument. I hope Brion will go on working
with us too. He is the kind of field agent
we desperately need, and it is almost impossible to find.
Just show me where to sign, Lea said, and there
was life in her voice. Once again, I wouldn't exactly
call it blackmail, Brione smiled, But I suppose a few
(11:10):
people can juggle planetary psychologies. You must find that individuals
can be pushed around like chessman, though you should realize
that very little pushing is required this time? Will you
sign on? His asked, I must go back to anvar
Brione said, But there really is no pressing hurry, Earth, said,
Lea is overpopulated enough as it is. End of chapter nineteen,
(11:39):
end of Planet of the Damned,
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