December 18, 2025 • 31 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Home is where you left it by Adam Chase. Only
the shells of deserted mud brick houses greeted Steve Catwell
when he reached the village. He poked around in them
for a while. The desert heat was searing, parching, and
the Syrian sun gleamed balefully off the blaze of Steve's unicopter,
(00:20):
which had brought him from Oasis City, almost five hundred
miles away. He had remembered heat from his childhood here
on serious second planet with the Earth colony, but not
heat like this. It was like a magnet drawing all
the moisture out of his body. He walked among the buildings,
Surprise and perhaps sadness etched on his gaunt, weather beaten face.
(00:45):
Childhood memories flooded back. The single well from which all
the families drew their water, the mud brick house hardly
different from the others, and just four walls in a roof,
now in which he lived with his aunt after his
parents had been killed in a Kumaji raid. The community
center where he'd spent his happiest time as a boy.
(01:07):
He went to the well and hoisted up a pailful
of water. The winch creaked as he remembered, he ladled
out the water, suddenly very thirsty, and brought the ladle
to his lips. He hurled the ladle away. The water
was bitter, not brackish, poisoned. He spat with fury, then
(01:28):
kneeled and stuffed his mouth with sand, almost gagging. After
a while, he spat out the sand too, and opened
his canteen and rinsed his mouth. His lips and mouth
were paralyzed by contact with the poison. He walked quickly
across the well square to his aunt's house. Inside it
was dim but hardly cooler. Steve was sweating, the saline
(01:52):
sweat making him blink. He scowled, not understanding. The table
was set in his aunt's house, a coffee pot was
on the stove, and last night's partially consumed dinner still
on the table. The well had been poisoned, the town
had been deserted on the spur of the moment, and
Steve had returned to his boyhood home from Earth too
(02:15):
late for anything. He went outside into the square. A
lizard was sunning itself and staring at him with lidless eyes.
When he moved across the square, the lizard scurried away.
Earth Man, a quavering voice called Steve ran toward the sound.
(02:36):
In the scant shadow of the community center, a Kumajie
was resting. He was a withered old man, all skin
and bones and sweat, stiff and tunic, with enormous red
rimmed eyes. His purple skin, which had been blasted by
the merciless sun, was almost black. Steve held the canteen
(02:57):
to his lips and watched his throat, working all most
spasmodically to get the water down. After a while, Steve
withdrew the canteen and said, what happened here? They're gone,
all gone? Yes, But what happened the kumaji? You're kumaji?
(03:19):
This is my town, The old man said, I lived
with the earthmen. Now they're gone, But you stayed here
to die. The old man said, without self pity. I'm
too old to flee, too old to fight, too old
for anything but death. More water. Steve gave him another drink.
(03:44):
You still haven't told me what happened, actually, though Steve
could guess. With the twenty second century Earth population hovering
at the eleven billion mark, colonies were sowed everywhere, even
on a parched desert wasteland. This the Kumaji tribesmen had
never accepted the colony as a fact of their life
(04:06):
on the desert, and in a way, Steve could not
blame them. It meant one oasis less for their own
nomadic sustenance. When Steve was a boy, Kumaji raids were
frequent at school on Earth and Luna. He'd read about
the raids, how they'd increased in violence. How the Earth government,
(04:29):
so far away and utterly unable to protect its distant colony,
had suggested withdrawal from the Kumaji desert settlement, especially since
a colony could exist there under only the most primitive conditions,
almost like the purple skinned Kumaji natives themselves. When did
it happen, Steve demanded, last night. It was now mid afternoon.
(04:56):
Three folks died, the Kumaji said, in his almost perfect English,
from the poisoning of the well. The well was the
last straw. The colonists had no choice. They had to
go and go fast, taking what little water they had
left in the houses. Will they try to walk all
(05:18):
the way through to Oasis City. Oasis City, built at
the confluence of two underground rivers, which came to the
surface there and flowed the rest of the way to
the sea. Above ground was almost five hundred miles from
the colony, five hundred miles of trackless sands and one
hundred and thirty degree heat. They have to the old
(05:42):
man said, And they have to hurry, men, women and children.
The Kumaji are after them. Steve felt irrational hatred. Then
he thought it would help if he could find some
of the nomadic tribesmen and kill them. It might help
the way he felt he knew, but it certainly wouldn't
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help the fleeing colonists trekking across a parched wilderness to
the safety of Oasis city or death. Come on, Steve said,
making up his mind. The unicopter can hold two in
a pinch. You're going after them. I've got to. They're
my people. I've been away too long. Say you're a
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young cantwell, aren't you? No? I remember, yes, I'm Steve. Can'twell,
I'm not going any place, young fellow. But you can't
stay here without any good water to drink without I'm staying,
the old man said, still without self pity, just matter
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of factly, the earth folks have no room for me,
and I can't blame them, the comage. You'll kill me
for a renegade. I figure, I've lived a good long life.
I've no regrets. Go after your people, young fellow. They
need every extra strong right arm they can get. You've
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got any weapons, no, Steve said, too bad. Well, goodbye
and good luck. But you can't. Oh, I'm staying. I
want to stay. This is my home. It's the only
home I'll ever have. Good luck, young fellow. Slowly, Steve
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walked to his unicopter. It was nothing more than a
small middle disc on which to stand and a shaft
with four turbo blades. It could do sixty miles an
hour at an elevation of two thousand feet. Steve turned
the little turbojet engine over, then on impulse, ran back
to the old man and gave him his canteen, turning
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away before it could be refused, and striding quickly back
to the unicopter and getting himself airborne without looking at
the deserted village or the old man again. The old
man's voice called after him, Tell the people hurry. The
comajie looking for them to kill. Desert wind ought to
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wipe out their trail. But hurry. The voice faded into
the faint, rushing sound of the hot desert wind. Steve
gazed down on the bare, sun blasted rock, on rippled dunes,
on hate haze. He circled wider and wider, seeking his people.
Hours later he spotted the caravan in the immensity of
(08:40):
sand and waste land. He brought the unicopter down quickly
with a rush of air and a whine of turbojets.
He had lighted in the sand in front of the
slow moving column. It was like something out of Earth's
Middle East and Middle Ages. They had even imported camels
for their life here on the Syrian desert. Deciding the
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earth camel was a better beast of burden than anything
the serious two wastelands had to offer, they walked beside
the great humped beasts of burden, the animals piled high
with the swaying baggage of their belongings. They moved through
the sands with agonizing slowness. Already, after only one day's travel,
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Steve could see that some of the people were spent
and exhausted and had to ride on camelback. They had
gone perhaps fifteen miles with almost five hundred to go
across searing desert, the Kumaji seeking them. Hello, Steve shouted,
and a man armed with an auto rifle came striding
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clumsily through the sand toward him. Cadwell's the name, Steve said,
I'm one of you, bleak hostility in his face. The
man approached Catwell, Yeah, I remember you. Coliny wasn't good
enough for young Steve Cadwell, Oh no, had to go
(10:07):
off to Earth to get himself educated. What are you
doing here now on that fancy aircraft of yours? Coming
to crow at our wake? The bitterness surprised Steve. He
recognized the man now as Tobias Whiting, who had been
the colony's most successful man when Steve was a boy.
(10:27):
Except for his bitterness and for the bleak self pity
and defeat in his eyes, the years had been good
to Tobias Whiting. He was probably in his mid forties,
now twenty years Steve senior. But he was well muscled.
His flesh was solid, his step bold and strong. He
was a big, muscular man with a craggy, handsome face.
(10:50):
In ten years he had hardly changed at all, while
Steve Cadwell the Boy had become Steve Catwell, the man.
He had been the colony's official trader with the comaggies
and had grown rich by colony standards at his business.
Now Steve realized all that was behind him, and he
(11:11):
could only flee with the others, either back to the
terribly crowded earth or in search of a new colony
on some other outworld if they could get the transportation.
Perhaps that explained his bitterness. So you've come back, eh,
You sure picked a time, Catwell. The refugees were still
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about a quarter of a mile off, coming up slowly.
They hardly seemed to be moving at all. Is my
aunt all right? Steve said, She was the only family
he remembered. Tobias Whiting shook his head slowly. I hate
to be the one to tell you this. Brace yourself
for a shock. Your aunt was one of those who
(11:58):
died from the poison water last night. For a long moment,
Steve said nothing. The only emotion he felt was pity.
Pity for the hard life his aunt had lived and
the hard death. Sadness would come later, if there was
to be a time for sadness. The caravan reached them, then.
(12:20):
The first person Steve saw was a girl. She wore
the shroudlike desert garment, and her face it would be
a pretty face under other circumstances, Steve realized was etched
with lines of fatigue. Steve did not recognize her. Who
is he dad? The girl said, young Catwell, remember so
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this was Mary Whiting. Steve thought, why she'd been a
moppet ten years ago? How old? Ten years old? Maybe
the years crowded him. Suddenly she was a woman now,
Steve catwell. Mary said, of course I remember, hello, Steve.
I'm I'm sorry you had to come back at a
(13:05):
time like this. I'm sorry about your aunt. If there's
anything I can do, Steve shook his head, then shook
the hand she offered him. She was a slim, strong
girl with a firm handshake. Her concern for him at
a time like this was a little short of amazing,
especially since it was completely genuine. He appreciated it. Tobias
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Whiting said, shame of it is cantwell some of us
could get along with the comagie. I had a pretty
good business here, you know that. He looked with bitterness
at the dusty file of refugees. But I never got
a credit out of it. Wherever we wind up, my
girl and I will be poor again. We could have
(13:53):
been rich. Steve asked, what happened to all your profits?
Tied up the Coomagie money lender, But thanks to what happened,
I'll never see it again. Mary winced, as if her
father's words and his self pity were painful to her.
Then others came up, and a few minutes were spent
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in back pounding and handshaking as some of the men
who had been boys with Steve came up to recognize
and be recognized. Their greeting was warm, as Tobias Whitings
had been cool, despite the knowledge of what lay behind
all of them and what still lay ahead. It was
a little like homecoming, but Steve liked Mary Whiting's warm,
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friendly smile best of all. It was comforting and reassuring.
Three days later, Tobias Whiting disappeared. The caravan had been
making no more than ten or fifteen miles a day.
Their water supply was almost gone, but on the fourth
day they hoped to reach an old oasis in the desert.
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Two of the older folks had died of fatigue, a
third was critically ill, and there was little that could
be done for him. The food supply was running short,
but they could always slaughter their camels for food and
make their way to Oasis City, still four hundred and
some miles away, with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
(15:24):
And then during the fourth night, Tobias Whiting disappeared, taking
Steve's unicopter. A Sentry had heard the low, muffled whine
of the turbojets during the night and had seen the
small craft take off, but had assumed Steve had taken
it up for some reason. Each day Steve had done
so reconnoitering for signs of the Kumaji. But why, Someone
(15:49):
asked why? At first there was no answer. Then a
woman whose husband had died the day before said, it's
no secret Whiting has plenty of money with the Kumagie.
None of them looked at Mary. She stood there defiantly,
not saying anything, and Steve squeezed her hand. Now, wait
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a minute, one of Whiting's friends said, why nothing. This
was Jeremy Gort, who twice had been mayor of the colony.
I know how Whiting's mind works. He slaved all his
life for that money. That's the way he'll see it. Catwell,
didn't you say the Kumagie were looking for us to
(16:35):
kill us? And that's what I was told. Steve said,
all right. Gort went on relentlessly. Then this is what
I figure must have happened. Whiting got to brooding over
his lost fortune and finally decided he had to have it.
So he went off at night in Catwell's copter, determined
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to get it. Only catches, folks. If I know o
the Kumagie, they won't just give it to him, not
by a long sight. No, someone asked, no, sir, they'll
trade for our location. And if Whiting went off like
that without even saying goodbye to his girl here, my
(17:17):
guess is he'll make the trade. His voice reflected some bitterness.
Mary went to Gort and slapped his face. The elderly
man did not even blink. Well, he asked her gently,
did your pa tell you he was going? No? Mary
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said there were tears in her eyes, but she did
not cry. Gort turned to Steve cad well, can he
get far in that copter? Steve shook his head. Ten
or fifteen miles is all almost out of fuel, mister Gort.
You saw how I took her up for only a
quick mile swing each day. He won't get far. He'll
(18:01):
crash in the desert, crash or crash land, Steve said.
Mary sobbed and bitter lip and was silent. We've got
to stop him, Gord said, and fast. If he gets
to the Komaji, they'll send down a rating party and
we'll be finished. We could never fight them off without
(18:21):
the protection of our village. Near as I can figure,
there's a Kumaji base fifty miles due north of here.
Whiting knows it too, so that's where he'll be going.
I figure can't spare more than a couple of men
to look for him, though, in case the Kumaji find
us or are led to us and attack, Steve said,
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I should have taken something out of the copter every
night so it couldn't start. I'll go, Mary came forward boldly.
I have to go. He's my father. If he crashed
out there, he may be hurt, he may be dying.
Go looked at her, and if he's trying to sell
(19:03):
us out to the comagies, then then I'll do whatever
Steve asked me to. I promise that's good enough for me.
Steve said. A few minutes later. Armed with auto rifles
and their share of the food and water that was left,
Step and Mary set out northward across the sand, while
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the caravan continued east, fear of what they might find.
Mounted the first night they camped in the lee of
low sand hills. The second night they found a small
spring with brackish but drinkable water. On the third day,
having covered half the distance to the Kumaji settlement, they
began to encounter Kumaji patrols on foot or thlought back
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the six legged desert animals, running so swiftly over the
sands and so low to the ground that they almost
seemed to be gliding. Step and Mary hardly spoke. Talk
was unnecessary, but slowly a bond grew between them. Steve
liked this slim, silent girl who had come out here
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with him, risking her life, although she must have known
deep in her heart that her father had almost certainly
decided to turn trader in order to regain his fortune.
On the fourth day, they spotted the unicopter from a
long way off and made their way toward it. It
had come much further than Steve had expected, with sinking heart.
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He realized that Tobias Whiting, if he escaped the crash
landing without injury, must surely have reached the Comogie encampment
by now. It doesn't seem badly damaged. Mary said, the
platform had buckled slightly, the copter was tilted over, one
of the rotors twisted, its end buried in sand. Tobias
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Whiting wasn't there, no, Steve said, it's hardly damaged. It
all your father got out of it all right to
go to them, I think so, Mary, I don't want
to pass judgment until we're sure. I'm sorry, Oh, Steve, Steve,
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what will we do? What can we do? Find him?
If it isn't too late, come on north north and
if by some miracle we find him, Steve said nothing.
The answer capture or death was obvious. But you couldn't
tell that to a trader's daughter, could you. As it
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turned out, they did not find Tobias Whiting through their
own efforts. Half an hour after setting out from the unicopter,
they were spotted by a roving band of Kumagies who
came streaking toward them on their thloughts. Mary raised her
addle rifle, but Steve struck the barrel aside. They'd kill us,
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he said, we can only surrender. They were hobbled and
led painfully across the sand. They were taken away to
a small kumagie encampment and thrust within a circular tent.
Tobias Whiting was in there. Mary, He cried, my god, Mary,
we came for you, Dad, she said, coldly, to stop you,
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to to kill you if necessary, Mary, Oh Dad, Why
did you do it? Why we couldn't start all over again?
Could we? You have a right to live the sort
of life I plan for you, you, Whiting Steve said,
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did you tell them yet? No? No, I haven't. I
have information to trade, sure, but I want to make
sure it's going to the right people. I want to
get our dad, our money, and all those deaths it
doesn't matter now. I I had changed my mind, Mary, truly,
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But now now that you're a prisoner, what if I
don't talk, don't you see they'll torture you. They'll make
you talk, and that way we get nothing. I couldn't
stand to see them hurt you. They can do what
they think they have to do. I'll tell them nothing.
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You won't have to, Whiting said, I'll tell them when
we reached the larger settlements. They're taking us there tomorrow,
they told me. Then we've got to get out of
here tonight, Steve said. The low sun cast the shadow
of their guard against the flat skin wall of their tent.
He was a single man armed with a long pikelike weapon.
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When darkness came. If the guard were not increased, they
were brought a nasty gruel for their supper and ate
in silence and distaste eight because they needed the strength.
Mary said, Dad, I don't want you to tell them anything. Dad, please,
if you thought you were doing it for me, I've
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made up my mind, Tobias Whiting said. Mary turned to
Steve in despair. Steve, she said, Steve, do whatever you
have to do. I I'll understand. Steve didn't answer her.
Wasn't Whiting right now? He thought? If Steve silenced him,
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wouldn't Kumaji torture them for the information. Steve could stand
up to it, perhaps, but he couldn't stand to see
them hurt Mary. He'd talk. If they did that, then
silencing Whiting wasn't the answer. But the Kumagies had one
willing prisoner and two unwilling ones. They knew that if
(24:56):
the willing one yelled for help, but the yelling was
kept a minimum, so only one guard the man outside
came darkness In the Kumagie encampment. Far off a lone
tribesman singing a chant old as the desert. Are you asleep?
Mary asked? No, Steve said, dad is. Listen to the
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way he's breathing like a baby, as if as if
he wasn't going to betray all our people. Oh, I
hate him, I hate him. Steve crawled to where the
older man was sleeping. Tobias Whiting's voice surprised him. I'm
not asleep, I was thinking. I I'm going to kill you,
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Steve said, very softly, and sprang at Whiting. He paused,
though it was a calculated pause, and Whiting cried out,
as Steve had hoped he would. Then his hands found
the older man's throat and closed there, not to kill him,
but to keep him from crying out again. Sand stirred.
The tent flap lifted, and a bulky figure rushed inside.
(26:09):
Steve got up, met him half way, felt the jarring
contact of their bodies. The pike came up dimly in
the darkness, the points scraping against Steve's ribs. As the
guard lunged awkwardly, Steve's fingers sought the thick muscled neck
clamp there squeezing, the guard writhed his feet, drummed the
(26:29):
sand with one hand. He stabbed out wildly with the
unwieldy pike. There was a cry from Mary, and the
guard managed a low squawking noise outside the rest of
the camp seemed undisturbed. There was death in Steve's strong,
tightening fingers. There had to be death there, death for
(26:50):
the Kumagie guard, or death for the fleeing earthman who
had lost one colony and must seek another. They fell
together on the sand, the guard, still struggling. Steve could
release his throat to grab the pike. The guard stabbed
out awkwardly, blindly with it, kicking up sand. Then Tobias
(27:10):
Whiting moaned, but Steve hardly heard him. When the guard's
legs stopped drumming, Steve released him. The man was either
dead or so close to death that he would be
out for hours. Steve had never killed a man before,
had never in violence and with intent to kill, attacked
a man. Steve It was Mary calling his name and crying,
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it's dad. Dad was hit the pike, a wild stab.
He's hit bad. Steve crawled over to them. It was
very dark. He could barely make out Tobias Whiting's pain.
Contorted face, my stomach, Whiting said, gasping for breath the pain.
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Steve probed with his hands, found the wound. Blood was
rushing out. He couldn't stop it, and he knew it,
and he thought Whiting knew it too. He touched Mary's
hand and held it. Mary sobbed against him, crying softly,
you too, Whiting gasped, you too, Mary, merry girl. Is
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he what you want? Yes? Dad? Oh? Yes, you can
get her out of here, can'twell? I think so. Steve said,
Then go go while you can. I'll tell them due south.
The earth men are heading due south. They'll go south.
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They won't find the caravan. You'll all get away if
it's what you want. Mary. She leaned away from Steve,
kissing her father. She asked Steve, isn't there anything we
can do for him? Steve shook his head. But he's
got to live long enough to tell them, to deceive them.
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I'll live long enough Whiting said, and Steve knew then
that he would luck too, all of you from a
very foolish man. Steve took Mary's hand and pulled her
out into the hot, dark, wind blown night. He carried
the dead Kumagie's pike and they slipped it across the
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sand to where the thlots were hobbled for the night.
He hardly remembered the rest of it. There was violence
and death, but necessary death. He killed a man with
the pike and unhobbled one of the thlots. The animal screamed,
and two more coumagies came sleepily through the night to
see what was the matter. With the long edge of
the pike's blade, he decapitated one of them. He slammed
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the shaft of the weapon across the other's face, probably
breaking his jaw. The camp was in a turmoil in
the darkness. He flung Mary on the thlots bare back
in front of him, and they glided off across the sand.
Pursuit was disorganized and unsuccessful. It was too dark for
effective pursuit, as Steve had hoped it would be. They
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rode swiftly all night and continued riding with the dawn,
they could have gone in any direction, the wind driven
sand would obliterate their trail. Two days later they reached
the caravan. As they rode up, Mary said, Steve, do
you have to tell them. We can tell them this.
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Steve said, your father died a hero's death, sending the
comaggies off in the wrong direction, and not not what
he planned to do first. No, we'll tell them that
was his intention all the while. A man can make
a mistake. Cand He I love you, Steve, I love you.
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Then they rode down on the caravan. Somehow Steve knew
they would all reach Oasis City in safety. With Mary,
he would find a new world out in the vastness
of space. The end of home is where you left
it by Adam Chase.
Home is where you left it by Adam Chase. Only
the shells of deserted mud brick houses greeted Steve Catwell
when he reached the village. He poked around in them
for a while. The desert heat was searing, parching, and
the Syrian sun gleamed balefully off the blaze of Steve's unicopter,
(00:20):
which had brought him from Oasis City, almost five hundred
miles away. He had remembered heat from his childhood here
on serious second planet with the Earth colony, but not
heat like this. It was like a magnet drawing all
the moisture out of his body. He walked among the buildings,
Surprise and perhaps sadness etched on his gaunt, weather beaten face.
(00:45):
Childhood memories flooded back. The single well from which all
the families drew their water, the mud brick house hardly
different from the others, and just four walls in a roof,
now in which he lived with his aunt after his
parents had been killed in a Kumaji raid. The community
center where he'd spent his happiest time as a boy.
(01:07):
He went to the well and hoisted up a pailful
of water. The winch creaked as he remembered, he ladled
out the water, suddenly very thirsty, and brought the ladle
to his lips. He hurled the ladle away. The water
was bitter, not brackish, poisoned. He spat with fury, then
(01:28):
kneeled and stuffed his mouth with sand, almost gagging. After
a while, he spat out the sand too, and opened
his canteen and rinsed his mouth. His lips and mouth
were paralyzed by contact with the poison. He walked quickly
across the well square to his aunt's house. Inside it
was dim but hardly cooler. Steve was sweating, the saline
(01:52):
sweat making him blink. He scowled, not understanding. The table
was set in his aunt's house, a coffee pot was
on the stove, and last night's partially consumed dinner still
on the table. The well had been poisoned, the town
had been deserted on the spur of the moment, and
Steve had returned to his boyhood home from Earth too
(02:15):
late for anything. He went outside into the square. A
lizard was sunning itself and staring at him with lidless eyes.
When he moved across the square, the lizard scurried away.
Earth Man, a quavering voice called Steve ran toward the sound.
(02:36):
In the scant shadow of the community center, a Kumajie
was resting. He was a withered old man, all skin
and bones and sweat, stiff and tunic, with enormous red
rimmed eyes. His purple skin, which had been blasted by
the merciless sun, was almost black. Steve held the canteen
(02:57):
to his lips and watched his throat, working all most
spasmodically to get the water down. After a while, Steve
withdrew the canteen and said, what happened here? They're gone,
all gone? Yes, But what happened the kumaji? You're kumaji?
(03:19):
This is my town, The old man said, I lived
with the earthmen. Now they're gone, But you stayed here
to die. The old man said, without self pity. I'm
too old to flee, too old to fight, too old
for anything but death. More water. Steve gave him another drink.
(03:44):
You still haven't told me what happened, actually, though Steve
could guess. With the twenty second century Earth population hovering
at the eleven billion mark, colonies were sowed everywhere, even
on a parched desert wasteland. This the Kumaji tribesmen had
never accepted the colony as a fact of their life
(04:06):
on the desert, and in a way, Steve could not
blame them. It meant one oasis less for their own
nomadic sustenance. When Steve was a boy, Kumaji raids were
frequent at school on Earth and Luna. He'd read about
the raids, how they'd increased in violence. How the Earth government,
(04:29):
so far away and utterly unable to protect its distant colony,
had suggested withdrawal from the Kumaji desert settlement, especially since
a colony could exist there under only the most primitive conditions,
almost like the purple skinned Kumaji natives themselves. When did
it happen, Steve demanded, last night. It was now mid afternoon.
(04:56):
Three folks died, the Kumaji said, in his almost perfect English,
from the poisoning of the well. The well was the
last straw. The colonists had no choice. They had to
go and go fast, taking what little water they had
left in the houses. Will they try to walk all
(05:18):
the way through to Oasis City. Oasis City, built at
the confluence of two underground rivers, which came to the
surface there and flowed the rest of the way to
the sea. Above ground was almost five hundred miles from
the colony, five hundred miles of trackless sands and one
hundred and thirty degree heat. They have to the old
(05:42):
man said, And they have to hurry, men, women and children.
The Kumaji are after them. Steve felt irrational hatred. Then
he thought it would help if he could find some
of the nomadic tribesmen and kill them. It might help
the way he felt he knew, but it certainly wouldn't
(06:04):
help the fleeing colonists trekking across a parched wilderness to
the safety of Oasis city or death. Come on, Steve said,
making up his mind. The unicopter can hold two in
a pinch. You're going after them. I've got to. They're
my people. I've been away too long. Say you're a
(06:29):
young cantwell, aren't you? No? I remember, yes, I'm Steve. Can'twell,
I'm not going any place, young fellow. But you can't
stay here without any good water to drink without I'm staying,
the old man said, still without self pity, just matter
(06:50):
of factly, the earth folks have no room for me,
and I can't blame them, the comage. You'll kill me
for a renegade. I figure, I've lived a good long life.
I've no regrets. Go after your people, young fellow. They
need every extra strong right arm they can get. You've
(07:11):
got any weapons, no, Steve said, too bad. Well, goodbye
and good luck. But you can't. Oh, I'm staying. I
want to stay. This is my home. It's the only
home I'll ever have. Good luck, young fellow. Slowly, Steve
(07:33):
walked to his unicopter. It was nothing more than a
small middle disc on which to stand and a shaft
with four turbo blades. It could do sixty miles an
hour at an elevation of two thousand feet. Steve turned
the little turbojet engine over, then on impulse, ran back
to the old man and gave him his canteen, turning
(07:55):
away before it could be refused, and striding quickly back
to the unicopter and getting himself airborne without looking at
the deserted village or the old man again. The old
man's voice called after him, Tell the people hurry. The
comajie looking for them to kill. Desert wind ought to
(08:16):
wipe out their trail. But hurry. The voice faded into
the faint, rushing sound of the hot desert wind. Steve
gazed down on the bare, sun blasted rock, on rippled dunes,
on hate haze. He circled wider and wider, seeking his people.
Hours later he spotted the caravan in the immensity of
(08:40):
sand and waste land. He brought the unicopter down quickly
with a rush of air and a whine of turbojets.
He had lighted in the sand in front of the
slow moving column. It was like something out of Earth's
Middle East and Middle Ages. They had even imported camels
for their life here on the Syrian desert. Deciding the
(09:02):
earth camel was a better beast of burden than anything
the serious two wastelands had to offer, they walked beside
the great humped beasts of burden, the animals piled high
with the swaying baggage of their belongings. They moved through
the sands with agonizing slowness. Already, after only one day's travel,
(09:24):
Steve could see that some of the people were spent
and exhausted and had to ride on camelback. They had
gone perhaps fifteen miles with almost five hundred to go
across searing desert, the Kumaji seeking them. Hello, Steve shouted,
and a man armed with an auto rifle came striding
(09:45):
clumsily through the sand toward him. Cadwell's the name, Steve said,
I'm one of you, bleak hostility in his face. The
man approached Catwell, Yeah, I remember you. Coliny wasn't good
enough for young Steve Cadwell, Oh no, had to go
(10:07):
off to Earth to get himself educated. What are you
doing here now on that fancy aircraft of yours? Coming
to crow at our wake? The bitterness surprised Steve. He
recognized the man now as Tobias Whiting, who had been
the colony's most successful man when Steve was a boy.
(10:27):
Except for his bitterness and for the bleak self pity
and defeat in his eyes, the years had been good
to Tobias Whiting. He was probably in his mid forties,
now twenty years Steve senior. But he was well muscled.
His flesh was solid, his step bold and strong. He
was a big, muscular man with a craggy, handsome face.
(10:50):
In ten years he had hardly changed at all, while
Steve Cadwell the Boy had become Steve Catwell, the man.
He had been the colony's official trader with the comaggies
and had grown rich by colony standards at his business.
Now Steve realized all that was behind him, and he
(11:11):
could only flee with the others, either back to the
terribly crowded earth or in search of a new colony
on some other outworld if they could get the transportation.
Perhaps that explained his bitterness. So you've come back, eh,
You sure picked a time, Catwell. The refugees were still
(11:34):
about a quarter of a mile off, coming up slowly.
They hardly seemed to be moving at all. Is my
aunt all right? Steve said, She was the only family
he remembered. Tobias Whiting shook his head slowly. I hate
to be the one to tell you this. Brace yourself
for a shock. Your aunt was one of those who
(11:58):
died from the poison water last night. For a long moment,
Steve said nothing. The only emotion he felt was pity.
Pity for the hard life his aunt had lived and
the hard death. Sadness would come later, if there was
to be a time for sadness. The caravan reached them, then.
(12:20):
The first person Steve saw was a girl. She wore
the shroudlike desert garment, and her face it would be
a pretty face under other circumstances, Steve realized was etched
with lines of fatigue. Steve did not recognize her. Who
is he dad? The girl said, young Catwell, remember so
(12:43):
this was Mary Whiting. Steve thought, why she'd been a
moppet ten years ago? How old? Ten years old? Maybe
the years crowded him. Suddenly she was a woman now,
Steve catwell. Mary said, of course I remember, hello, Steve.
I'm I'm sorry you had to come back at a
(13:05):
time like this. I'm sorry about your aunt. If there's
anything I can do, Steve shook his head, then shook
the hand she offered him. She was a slim, strong
girl with a firm handshake. Her concern for him at
a time like this was a little short of amazing,
especially since it was completely genuine. He appreciated it. Tobias
(13:31):
Whiting said, shame of it is cantwell some of us
could get along with the comagie. I had a pretty
good business here, you know that. He looked with bitterness
at the dusty file of refugees. But I never got
a credit out of it. Wherever we wind up, my
girl and I will be poor again. We could have
(13:53):
been rich. Steve asked, what happened to all your profits?
Tied up the Coomagie money lender, But thanks to what happened,
I'll never see it again. Mary winced, as if her
father's words and his self pity were painful to her.
Then others came up, and a few minutes were spent
(14:15):
in back pounding and handshaking as some of the men
who had been boys with Steve came up to recognize
and be recognized. Their greeting was warm, as Tobias Whitings
had been cool, despite the knowledge of what lay behind
all of them and what still lay ahead. It was
a little like homecoming, but Steve liked Mary Whiting's warm,
(14:39):
friendly smile best of all. It was comforting and reassuring.
Three days later, Tobias Whiting disappeared. The caravan had been
making no more than ten or fifteen miles a day.
Their water supply was almost gone, but on the fourth
day they hoped to reach an old oasis in the desert.
(15:02):
Two of the older folks had died of fatigue, a
third was critically ill, and there was little that could
be done for him. The food supply was running short,
but they could always slaughter their camels for food and
make their way to Oasis City, still four hundred and
some miles away, with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
(15:24):
And then during the fourth night, Tobias Whiting disappeared, taking
Steve's unicopter. A Sentry had heard the low, muffled whine
of the turbojets during the night and had seen the
small craft take off, but had assumed Steve had taken
it up for some reason. Each day Steve had done
so reconnoitering for signs of the Kumaji. But why, Someone
(15:49):
asked why? At first there was no answer. Then a
woman whose husband had died the day before said, it's
no secret Whiting has plenty of money with the Kumagie.
None of them looked at Mary. She stood there defiantly,
not saying anything, and Steve squeezed her hand. Now, wait
(16:14):
a minute, one of Whiting's friends said, why nothing. This
was Jeremy Gort, who twice had been mayor of the colony.
I know how Whiting's mind works. He slaved all his
life for that money. That's the way he'll see it. Catwell,
didn't you say the Kumagie were looking for us to
(16:35):
kill us? And that's what I was told. Steve said,
all right. Gort went on relentlessly. Then this is what
I figure must have happened. Whiting got to brooding over
his lost fortune and finally decided he had to have it.
So he went off at night in Catwell's copter, determined
(16:56):
to get it. Only catches, folks. If I know o
the Kumagie, they won't just give it to him, not
by a long sight. No, someone asked, no, sir, they'll
trade for our location. And if Whiting went off like
that without even saying goodbye to his girl here, my
(17:17):
guess is he'll make the trade. His voice reflected some bitterness.
Mary went to Gort and slapped his face. The elderly
man did not even blink. Well, he asked her gently,
did your pa tell you he was going? No? Mary
(17:38):
said there were tears in her eyes, but she did
not cry. Gort turned to Steve cad well, can he
get far in that copter? Steve shook his head. Ten
or fifteen miles is all almost out of fuel, mister Gort.
You saw how I took her up for only a
quick mile swing each day. He won't get far. He'll
(18:01):
crash in the desert, crash or crash land, Steve said.
Mary sobbed and bitter lip and was silent. We've got
to stop him, Gord said, and fast. If he gets
to the Komaji, they'll send down a rating party and
we'll be finished. We could never fight them off without
(18:21):
the protection of our village. Near as I can figure,
there's a Kumaji base fifty miles due north of here.
Whiting knows it too, so that's where he'll be going.
I figure can't spare more than a couple of men
to look for him, though, in case the Kumaji find
us or are led to us and attack, Steve said,
(18:43):
I should have taken something out of the copter every
night so it couldn't start. I'll go, Mary came forward boldly.
I have to go. He's my father. If he crashed
out there, he may be hurt, he may be dying.
Go looked at her, and if he's trying to sell
(19:03):
us out to the comagies, then then I'll do whatever
Steve asked me to. I promise that's good enough for me.
Steve said. A few minutes later. Armed with auto rifles
and their share of the food and water that was left,
Step and Mary set out northward across the sand, while
(19:23):
the caravan continued east, fear of what they might find.
Mounted the first night they camped in the lee of
low sand hills. The second night they found a small
spring with brackish but drinkable water. On the third day,
having covered half the distance to the Kumaji settlement, they
began to encounter Kumaji patrols on foot or thlought back
(19:48):
the six legged desert animals, running so swiftly over the
sands and so low to the ground that they almost
seemed to be gliding. Step and Mary hardly spoke. Talk
was unnecessary, but slowly a bond grew between them. Steve
liked this slim, silent girl who had come out here
(20:09):
with him, risking her life, although she must have known
deep in her heart that her father had almost certainly
decided to turn trader in order to regain his fortune.
On the fourth day, they spotted the unicopter from a
long way off and made their way toward it. It
had come much further than Steve had expected, with sinking heart.
(20:31):
He realized that Tobias Whiting, if he escaped the crash
landing without injury, must surely have reached the Comogie encampment
by now. It doesn't seem badly damaged. Mary said, the
platform had buckled slightly, the copter was tilted over, one
of the rotors twisted, its end buried in sand. Tobias
(20:54):
Whiting wasn't there, no, Steve said, it's hardly damaged. It
all your father got out of it all right to
go to them, I think so, Mary, I don't want
to pass judgment until we're sure. I'm sorry, Oh, Steve, Steve,
(21:15):
what will we do? What can we do? Find him?
If it isn't too late, come on north north and
if by some miracle we find him, Steve said nothing.
The answer capture or death was obvious. But you couldn't
tell that to a trader's daughter, could you. As it
(21:38):
turned out, they did not find Tobias Whiting through their
own efforts. Half an hour after setting out from the unicopter,
they were spotted by a roving band of Kumagies who
came streaking toward them on their thloughts. Mary raised her
addle rifle, but Steve struck the barrel aside. They'd kill us,
(21:58):
he said, we can only surrender. They were hobbled and
led painfully across the sand. They were taken away to
a small kumagie encampment and thrust within a circular tent.
Tobias Whiting was in there. Mary, He cried, my god, Mary,
we came for you, Dad, she said, coldly, to stop you,
(22:23):
to to kill you if necessary, Mary, Oh Dad, Why
did you do it? Why we couldn't start all over again?
Could we? You have a right to live the sort
of life I plan for you, you, Whiting Steve said,
(22:43):
did you tell them yet? No? No, I haven't. I
have information to trade, sure, but I want to make
sure it's going to the right people. I want to
get our dad, our money, and all those deaths it
doesn't matter now. I I had changed my mind, Mary, truly,
(23:05):
But now now that you're a prisoner, what if I
don't talk, don't you see they'll torture you. They'll make
you talk, and that way we get nothing. I couldn't
stand to see them hurt you. They can do what
they think they have to do. I'll tell them nothing.
(23:26):
You won't have to, Whiting said, I'll tell them when
we reached the larger settlements. They're taking us there tomorrow,
they told me. Then we've got to get out of
here tonight, Steve said. The low sun cast the shadow
of their guard against the flat skin wall of their tent.
He was a single man armed with a long pikelike weapon.
(23:50):
When darkness came. If the guard were not increased, they
were brought a nasty gruel for their supper and ate
in silence and distaste eight because they needed the strength.
Mary said, Dad, I don't want you to tell them anything. Dad, please,
if you thought you were doing it for me, I've
(24:13):
made up my mind, Tobias Whiting said. Mary turned to
Steve in despair. Steve, she said, Steve, do whatever you
have to do. I I'll understand. Steve didn't answer her.
Wasn't Whiting right now? He thought? If Steve silenced him,
(24:35):
wouldn't Kumaji torture them for the information. Steve could stand
up to it, perhaps, but he couldn't stand to see
them hurt Mary. He'd talk. If they did that, then
silencing Whiting wasn't the answer. But the Kumagies had one
willing prisoner and two unwilling ones. They knew that if
(24:56):
the willing one yelled for help, but the yelling was
kept a minimum, so only one guard the man outside
came darkness In the Kumagie encampment. Far off a lone
tribesman singing a chant old as the desert. Are you asleep?
Mary asked? No, Steve said, dad is. Listen to the
(25:21):
way he's breathing like a baby, as if as if
he wasn't going to betray all our people. Oh, I
hate him, I hate him. Steve crawled to where the
older man was sleeping. Tobias Whiting's voice surprised him. I'm
not asleep, I was thinking. I I'm going to kill you,
(25:45):
Steve said, very softly, and sprang at Whiting. He paused,
though it was a calculated pause, and Whiting cried out,
as Steve had hoped he would. Then his hands found
the older man's throat and closed there, not to kill him,
but to keep him from crying out again. Sand stirred.
The tent flap lifted, and a bulky figure rushed inside.
(26:09):
Steve got up, met him half way, felt the jarring
contact of their bodies. The pike came up dimly in
the darkness, the points scraping against Steve's ribs. As the
guard lunged awkwardly, Steve's fingers sought the thick muscled neck
clamp there squeezing, the guard writhed his feet, drummed the
(26:29):
sand with one hand. He stabbed out wildly with the
unwieldy pike. There was a cry from Mary, and the
guard managed a low squawking noise outside the rest of
the camp seemed undisturbed. There was death in Steve's strong,
tightening fingers. There had to be death there, death for
(26:50):
the Kumagie guard, or death for the fleeing earthman who
had lost one colony and must seek another. They fell
together on the sand, the guard, still struggling. Steve could
release his throat to grab the pike. The guard stabbed
out awkwardly, blindly with it, kicking up sand. Then Tobias
(27:10):
Whiting moaned, but Steve hardly heard him. When the guard's
legs stopped drumming, Steve released him. The man was either
dead or so close to death that he would be
out for hours. Steve had never killed a man before,
had never in violence and with intent to kill, attacked
a man. Steve It was Mary calling his name and crying,
(27:37):
it's dad. Dad was hit the pike, a wild stab.
He's hit bad. Steve crawled over to them. It was
very dark. He could barely make out Tobias Whiting's pain.
Contorted face, my stomach, Whiting said, gasping for breath the pain.
(27:58):
Steve probed with his hands, found the wound. Blood was
rushing out. He couldn't stop it, and he knew it,
and he thought Whiting knew it too. He touched Mary's
hand and held it. Mary sobbed against him, crying softly,
you too, Whiting gasped, you too, Mary, merry girl. Is
(28:22):
he what you want? Yes? Dad? Oh? Yes, you can
get her out of here, can'twell? I think so. Steve said,
Then go go while you can. I'll tell them due south.
The earth men are heading due south. They'll go south.
(28:43):
They won't find the caravan. You'll all get away if
it's what you want. Mary. She leaned away from Steve,
kissing her father. She asked Steve, isn't there anything we
can do for him? Steve shook his head. But he's
got to live long enough to tell them, to deceive them.
(29:06):
I'll live long enough Whiting said, and Steve knew then
that he would luck too, all of you from a
very foolish man. Steve took Mary's hand and pulled her
out into the hot, dark, wind blown night. He carried
the dead Kumagie's pike and they slipped it across the
(29:29):
sand to where the thlots were hobbled for the night.
He hardly remembered the rest of it. There was violence
and death, but necessary death. He killed a man with
the pike and unhobbled one of the thlots. The animal screamed,
and two more coumagies came sleepily through the night to
see what was the matter. With the long edge of
the pike's blade, he decapitated one of them. He slammed
(29:53):
the shaft of the weapon across the other's face, probably
breaking his jaw. The camp was in a turmoil in
the darkness. He flung Mary on the thlots bare back
in front of him, and they glided off across the sand.
Pursuit was disorganized and unsuccessful. It was too dark for
effective pursuit, as Steve had hoped it would be. They
(30:16):
rode swiftly all night and continued riding with the dawn,
they could have gone in any direction, the wind driven
sand would obliterate their trail. Two days later they reached
the caravan. As they rode up, Mary said, Steve, do
you have to tell them. We can tell them this.
(30:38):
Steve said, your father died a hero's death, sending the
comaggies off in the wrong direction, and not not what
he planned to do first. No, we'll tell them that
was his intention all the while. A man can make
a mistake. Cand He I love you, Steve, I love you.
(31:02):
Then they rode down on the caravan. Somehow Steve knew
they would all reach Oasis City in safety. With Mary,
he would find a new world out in the vastness
of space. The end of home is where you left
it by Adam Chase.
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