Short Fiction Robert Sheckley (best romantic books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Robert Sheckley
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The Sweeper sang to himself as he swept, in a thick, guttural voice. In only one way was the Sweeper distinguishable from his fellow Lorayans: painted across his face was a broad black band. This was his mark of station, the lowest possible station in that primitive society.
âNow then,â Professor Carver said, after the sun had arisen without incident, âa phenomenon such as you describe could not exist. And it most especially could not exist upon a debased, scrubby little planet like this.â
âI saw what I saw,â Fred maintained. âI donât know from impossible, Professor. I saw it. You want to pass it up, thatâs up to you.â
He leaned against the gnarly bole of a stabicus tree, folded his arms across his meager chest and glowered at the thatch-roofed village. They had been on Loray for nearly two months and Fred detested the village more each day.
He was an underweight, unlovely young man and he wore his hair in a bristling crewcut which accentuated the narrowness of his brow. He had accompanied the professor for close to ten years, had journeyed with him to dozens of planets, and had seen many strange and wonderful things. Everything he saw, however, only increased his contempt for the Galaxy at large. He desired only to return, wealthy and famous, or wealthy and unknown, to his home in Bayonne, New Jersey.
âThis thing could make us rich,â Fred accused. âAnd you want to pass it up.â
Professor Carver pursed his lips thoughtfully. Wealth was a pleasant thought, of course. But the professor didnât want to interrupt his important scientific work to engage in a wild goose chase. He was now completing his great book, the book that would fully amplify and document the thesis that he had put forth in his first paper, Color Blindness Among the Thang Peoples. He had expanded the thesis in his book, Lack of Coordination in the Drang Race. He had generalized it in his monumental Intelligence Deficiencies Around the Galaxy, in which he proved conclusively that intelligence among Non-Terrans decreases arithmetically as their planetâs distance from Terra increases geometrically.
Now the thesis had come to full flower in Carverâs most recent work, his unifying effort, which was to be titled Underlying Causes of the Implicit Inferiority of Non-Terran Peoples.
âIf youâre rightâ ââ Carver said.
âLook!â Fred cried. âTheyâre bringing in another! See for yourself!â
Professor Carver hesitated. He was a portly, impressive, red-jowled man, given to slow and deliberate movement. He was dressed in a tropical explorerâs uniform, although Loray was in a temperate zone. He carried a leather swagger stick, and strapped to his waist was a large revolver, a twin to the one Fred wore.
âIf youâre right,â Carver said slowly, âit would indeed be, so to speak, a feather in the cap.â
âCome on!â said Fred.
Four srag hunters were carrying a wounded companion to the medicine hut, and Carver and Fred fell in beside them. The hunters were visibly exhausted; they must have trekked for days to bring their friend to the village, for the srag hunts ranged deep into the rainforest.
âLooks done for, huh?â Fred whispered.
Professor Carver nodded. Last month he had photographed a srag, from a vantage point very high in a very tall, stout tree. He knew it for a large, ill-tempered, quick-moving beast, with a dismaying array of claws, teeth and horns. It was also the only non-taboo meat-bearing animal on the planet. The natives had to kill srags or starve.
But the wounded man had not been quick enough with spear and shield, and the srag had opened him from throat to pelvis. The hunter had bled copiously, even though the wound had been hastily bound with dried grasses. Mercifully, he was unconscious.
âThat chap hasnât a chance,â Carver remarked. âItâs a miracle heâs stayed alive this long. Shock alone, to say nothing of the depth and extent of the woundâ ââ
âYouâll see,â Fred said.
The village had suddenly come awake. Men and women, gray-skinned, knobby-headed, looked silently as the hunters marched toward the medicine hut. The Sweeper paused to watch. The villageâs only child stood before his parentsâ hut, and, thumb in mouth, stared at the procession. Deg, the medicine man, came out to meet the hunters, already wearing his ceremonial mask. The healing dancers assembled, quickly putting on their makeup.
âThink you can fix him, Doc?â Fred asked.
âOne may hope,â Deg replied piously.
They entered the dimly lighted medicine hut. The wounded Lorayan was laid tenderly upon a pallet of grasses and the dancers began to perform before him. Deg started a solemn chant.
âThatâll never do it,â Professor Carver pointed out to Fred, with the interested air of a man watching a steam shovel in operation. âToo late for faith healing. Listen to his breathing. Shallower, donât you think?â
âAbsolutely,â Fred said.
Deg finished his chant and bent over the wounded hunter. The Lorayanâs breathing was labored. It slowed, hesitated.â ââ âŠ
âIt is time!â cried the medicine man. He took a small wooden tube out of his pouch, uncorked it, and held it to the dying manâs lips. The hunter drank. And thenâ â
Carver blinked, and Fred grinned triumphantly. The hunterâs breathing was becoming stronger. As they watched, the great gash became a line of scar tissue, then a thin pink mark, then an almost invisible white line.
The hunter sat up, scratched his head, grinned foolishly and asked for something to drink, preferably intoxicating.
Deg declared a festival on the spot.
Carver and Fred moved to the edge of the rainforest for a conference. The professor walked like a man in a dream. His pendulous lower lip was thrust out and occasionally he shook his head.
âHow about it?â Fred asked.
âIt shouldnât be possible,â said Carver dazedly. âNo substance in nature should react like
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