[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"They'll crucify me back at Central," Sheridan declared. "They'll nail me up and keep me as a horrible
example for the next ten thousand years. There've been failures before, but none like this."
"I hesitate to say this, sir," said Hezekiah, "but we could take it on the lam. Maybe that's the answer.
The boys would go along. Theoretically they're loyal to Central, but deep down at the bottom of it, it's
you they're really loyal to. We could load up the cargo and that would give us capital and we'd have a
good head start..."
"No," Sheridan said firmly. "We'll try a little longer and we may solve the situation. If not, I face the
music."
He scraped his hand across his jaw.
"Maybe," he said, "Nappy and his crap-shooters can turn the trick for us. It's fantastic, sure, but
stranger things have happened."
Napoleon and his pals came back, sheepish and depressed. "They beat the pants off us," the cook told
Sheridan in awe. "Those boys are really naturals. But when we tried to pay our bets, they wouldn't take
our stuff!"
"We have to try to arrange a powwow," said Sheridan, "and talk it out with them, although I hold little
hope for it. Do you think, Napoleon, if we came clean and told them what a spot we're in, it would make
a difference?'
"No, I don't," Napoleon said.
"If they only had a government," observed Ebenezer, who had been a member of Napoleon's
gambling team, "we might get somewhere with a powwow. Then you could talk with someone who
represented the entire population. But this way you'll have to talk with each village separately and that
will take forever."
"We can't help it, Eb," said Sheridan. "It's all we have left."
But before any powwow could be arranged, the podar harvest started. The natives toiled like beavers
in the fields, digging up the tubers, stacking them to dry, packing them in carts and hauling them to the
barns by sheer manpower, for the Garsonians had no draft animals.
They dug them up and hauled them to the barns, the very barns where they'd sworn that they had no
podars.
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But that was not to wonder at when one stopped to think of it, for the natives had also sworn that they
grew no podars.
They did not open the big barn doors, as one would have normally expected them to do. They simply
opened a tiny, man-size door set into a bigger door and took the podars in that way. And when any of the
Earth party hove in sight, they quickly stationed a heavy guard around the entire square.
"We'd better let them be," Abraham advised Sheridan. "If we try to push them, we may have trouble
in our lap."
So the robots pulled back to the base and waited for the harvest to end. Finally it was finished and
Sheridan counseled lying low for a few days more to give the Garsonians a chance to settle back to their
normal routine.
Then they went out again and this time Sheridan rode along, on one of the floaters with Abraham and
Gideon.
The first village they came to lay quiet and lazy in the sun. There was not a creature stirring.
Abraham brought the floater down into the square and the three stepped off.
The square was empty and the place was silent - a deep and deathly silence.
Sheridan felt the skin crawling up his back, for there was a stealthy, unnatural menace in the noiseless
emptiness.
"They may be laying for us," suggested Gideon. "I don't think so," said Abraham. "Basically they are
peaceful."
They moved cautiously across the square and walked slowly down a street that opened from the
square.
And still there was no living thing in sight. And stranger still - the doors of some of the houses stood
open to the weather and the windows seemed to watch them out of blind eyes, with the colorful crude
curtains gone.
"Perhaps," Gideon suggested, "they may have gone away to some harvest festival or something of that
nature."
"They wouldn't leave their doors wide open, even for a day," declared Abraham. "I've lived with them
for weeks and I've studied them. I know what they would do. They'd have closed the doors very
carefully and tried them to be sure that they were closed."
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswij...aar/Clifford%20D.%20Simak%20-%20Installment%20Plan.txt (36 of 50)19-2-2006 22:00:19
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"But maybe the wind...?'
"Not a chance," insisted Abraham. "One door, possibly. But I see four of them from here."
"Someone has to take a look," said Sheridan. "It might as well be me."
He turned in at a gate where one of the doors stood open and went slowly up the path. He halted at the
threshold and peered in. The room beyond was empty. He stepped into the house and went from room to
room and all the rooms were empty - not simply of the natives, but of everything. There was no furniture
and the utensils and the tools were gone from hooks and racks. There was no scrap of clothing. There
was nothing left behind. The house was dead and bare and empty, a shabby and abandoned thing
discarded by its people. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
"They'll crucify me back at Central," Sheridan declared. "They'll nail me up and keep me as a horrible
example for the next ten thousand years. There've been failures before, but none like this."
"I hesitate to say this, sir," said Hezekiah, "but we could take it on the lam. Maybe that's the answer.
The boys would go along. Theoretically they're loyal to Central, but deep down at the bottom of it, it's
you they're really loyal to. We could load up the cargo and that would give us capital and we'd have a
good head start..."
"No," Sheridan said firmly. "We'll try a little longer and we may solve the situation. If not, I face the
music."
He scraped his hand across his jaw.
"Maybe," he said, "Nappy and his crap-shooters can turn the trick for us. It's fantastic, sure, but
stranger things have happened."
Napoleon and his pals came back, sheepish and depressed. "They beat the pants off us," the cook told
Sheridan in awe. "Those boys are really naturals. But when we tried to pay our bets, they wouldn't take
our stuff!"
"We have to try to arrange a powwow," said Sheridan, "and talk it out with them, although I hold little
hope for it. Do you think, Napoleon, if we came clean and told them what a spot we're in, it would make
a difference?'
"No, I don't," Napoleon said.
"If they only had a government," observed Ebenezer, who had been a member of Napoleon's
gambling team, "we might get somewhere with a powwow. Then you could talk with someone who
represented the entire population. But this way you'll have to talk with each village separately and that
will take forever."
"We can't help it, Eb," said Sheridan. "It's all we have left."
But before any powwow could be arranged, the podar harvest started. The natives toiled like beavers
in the fields, digging up the tubers, stacking them to dry, packing them in carts and hauling them to the
barns by sheer manpower, for the Garsonians had no draft animals.
They dug them up and hauled them to the barns, the very barns where they'd sworn that they had no
podars.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswij...aar/Clifford%20D.%20Simak%20-%20Installment%20Plan.txt (35 of 50)19-2-2006 22:00:19
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20documenten/spaar/Clifford%20D.%20Simak%20-%20Installment%20Plan.txt
But that was not to wonder at when one stopped to think of it, for the natives had also sworn that they
grew no podars.
They did not open the big barn doors, as one would have normally expected them to do. They simply
opened a tiny, man-size door set into a bigger door and took the podars in that way. And when any of the
Earth party hove in sight, they quickly stationed a heavy guard around the entire square.
"We'd better let them be," Abraham advised Sheridan. "If we try to push them, we may have trouble
in our lap."
So the robots pulled back to the base and waited for the harvest to end. Finally it was finished and
Sheridan counseled lying low for a few days more to give the Garsonians a chance to settle back to their
normal routine.
Then they went out again and this time Sheridan rode along, on one of the floaters with Abraham and
Gideon.
The first village they came to lay quiet and lazy in the sun. There was not a creature stirring.
Abraham brought the floater down into the square and the three stepped off.
The square was empty and the place was silent - a deep and deathly silence.
Sheridan felt the skin crawling up his back, for there was a stealthy, unnatural menace in the noiseless
emptiness.
"They may be laying for us," suggested Gideon. "I don't think so," said Abraham. "Basically they are
peaceful."
They moved cautiously across the square and walked slowly down a street that opened from the
square.
And still there was no living thing in sight. And stranger still - the doors of some of the houses stood
open to the weather and the windows seemed to watch them out of blind eyes, with the colorful crude
curtains gone.
"Perhaps," Gideon suggested, "they may have gone away to some harvest festival or something of that
nature."
"They wouldn't leave their doors wide open, even for a day," declared Abraham. "I've lived with them
for weeks and I've studied them. I know what they would do. They'd have closed the doors very
carefully and tried them to be sure that they were closed."
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswij...aar/Clifford%20D.%20Simak%20-%20Installment%20Plan.txt (36 of 50)19-2-2006 22:00:19
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20documenten/spaar/Clifford%20D.%20Simak%20-%20Installment%20Plan.txt
"But maybe the wind...?'
"Not a chance," insisted Abraham. "One door, possibly. But I see four of them from here."
"Someone has to take a look," said Sheridan. "It might as well be me."
He turned in at a gate where one of the doors stood open and went slowly up the path. He halted at the
threshold and peered in. The room beyond was empty. He stepped into the house and went from room to
room and all the rooms were empty - not simply of the natives, but of everything. There was no furniture
and the utensils and the tools were gone from hooks and racks. There was no scrap of clothing. There
was nothing left behind. The house was dead and bare and empty, a shabby and abandoned thing
discarded by its people. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]