The Space Opera Megapack

by John W. Campbell

  * * * *

  During this conversation they had descended to the ground and had reached the palace, after traversing grounds even more sumptuous and splendid than those surrounding the palace of Nalboon. Inside the palace walls the Kofedix himself led the guests to their rooms, accompanied by the major-domo and an escort of guards. He explained to them that the rooms were all inter-communicating, each having a completely equipped bathroom.

  “Complete except for cold water, you mean,” said Seaton with a smile.

  “There is cold water,” rejoined the other, leading him into the bathroom and releasing a ten-inch stream of lukewarm water into the small swimming pool, built of polished metal, which forms part of every Kondalian bathroom. “But I am forgetting that you like extreme cold. We will install refrigerating machines at once.”

  “Don’t do it—thanks just the same. We won’t be here long enough to make it worth while.”

  Dunark smilingly replied that he would make his guests as comfortable as he could, and after informing them that in one kam he would return and escort them in to koprat, took his leave. Scarcely had the guests freshened themselves when he was back, but he was no longer the Dunark they had known. He now wore a metal-and-leather harness which was one blaze of precious gems, and a leather belt hung with jeweled weapons replaced the familiar hollow girdle of metal. His right arm, between the wrist and the elbow, was almost covered by six bracelets of a transparent metal, deep cobalt-blue in color, each set with an incredibly brilliant stone of the same shade. On his left wrist he wore an Osnomian chronometer. This was an instrument resembling the odometer of an automobile, whose numerous revolving segments revealed a large and constantly increasing number—the date and time of the Osnomian day, expressed in a decimal number of the karkamo of Kondalian history.

  “Greetings, oh guests from Earth! I feel more like myself, now that I am again in my trappings and have my weapons at my side. Will you accompany me to koprat, or are you not hungry?” as he attached the peculiar timepieces to the wrists of the guests, with bracelets of the deep-blue metal.

  “We accept with thanks,” replied Dorothy promptly. “We’re starving to death, as usual.”

  As they walked toward the dining hall, Dunark noticed that Dorothy’s eyes strayed toward his bracelets, and he answered her unasked question:

  “These are our wedding rings. Man and wife exchange bracelets as part of the ceremony.”

  “Then you can tell whether a man is married or not, and how many wives he has, simply by looking at his arm? We should have something like that on Earth, Dick—then married men wouldn’t find it so easy to pose as bachelors!”

  Roban met them at the door of the great dining hall. He also was in full panoply, and Dorothy counted ten of the heavy bracelets upon his right arm as he led them to places near his own. The room was a replica of the other Osnomian dining hall they had seen and the women were decorated with the same barbaric splendor of scintillating gems.

  After the meal, which was a happy one, taking the nature of a celebration in honor of the return of the captives, DuQuesne went directly to his room while the others spent the time until the zero hour in strolling about the splendid grounds, always escorted by many guards. Returning to the room occupied by the two girls, the couples separated, each girl accompanying her lover to the door of his room.

  Margaret was ill at ease, though trying hard to appear completely self-possessed.

  “What is the matter, sweetheart Peggy?” asked Crane, solicitously.

  “I didn’t know that you.…” she broke off and continued with a rush: “What did the Kofedix mean just now, when he called you the Karfedix of Wealth?”

  “Well, you see, I happen to have some money.…” he began.

  “Then you are the great M. Reynolds Crane?” she interrupted, in consternation.

  “Leave off ‘the great,’” he said, then, noting her expression, he took her in his arms and laughed slightly.

  “Is that all that was bothering you? What does a little money amount to between you and me?”

  “Nothing—but I’m awfully glad that I didn’t know it before,” she replied, as she returned his caress with fervor. “That is, it means nothing if you are perfectly sure I’m not.…”

  Crane, the imperturbable, broke a life-long rule and interrupted her.

  “Do not say that, dear. You know as well as I do that between you and me there never have been, are not now, and never shall be, any doubts or any questions.”

  * * * *

  “If I could have a real cold bath now, I’d feel fine,” remarked Seaton, standing in his own door with Dorothy by his side. “I’m no blooming Englishman but in weather as hot as this I sure would like to dive into a good cold tank. How do you feel after all this excitement, Dottie? Up to standard?”

  “I’m scared purple,” she replied, nestling against him, “or, at least, if not exactly scared, I’m apprehensive and nervous. I always thought I had good nerves, but everything here is so horrible and unreal, that I can’t help but feel it. When I’m with you I really enjoy the experience, but when I’m alone or with Peggy, especially in the sleeping-period, which is so awfully long and when it seems that something terrible is going to happen every minute, my mind goes off in spite of me into thoughts of what may happen. Why, last night, Peggy and I just huddled up to each other in a ghastly yellow funk—dreading we knew not what—the two of us slept hardly at all.”

  “I’m sorry, little girl,” replied Seaton, embracing her tenderly, “sorrier than I can say. I know that your nerves are all right, but you haven’t roughed it enough, or lived in strange environments enough, to be able to feel at home. The reason you feel safer with me is that I feel perfectly at home here myself, not that your nerves are going to pieces or anything like that. It won’t be for long, though, sweetheart—as soon as we get the chariot fixed up we’ll beat it back to the Earth so fast it’ll make your head spin.”

  “Yes, I think that’s the reason, lover. I hope you won’t think I’m a clinging vine, but I can’t help being afraid of something here every time I’m away from you. You’re so self-reliant, so perfectly at ease here, that it makes me feel the same way.”

  “I am perfectly at ease. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ve been in hundreds of worse places, right on Earth. I sure wish I could be with you all the time, sweetheart girl—only you can understand just how much I wish it—but, as I said before, it won’t be long until we can be together all the time.”

  Dorothy pushed him into his room, followed him within it, closed the door, and put both hands on his arm.

  “Dick, sweetheart,” she whispered, while a hot blush suffused her face, “you’re not as dumb as I thought you were—you’re dumber! But if you simply won’t say it, I will. Don’t you know that a marriage that is legal where it is performed is legal anywhere, and that no law says that the marriage must be performed upon the Earth?”

  He pressed her to his heart in a mighty embrace, and his low voice showed in every vibration the depth of the feeling he held for the beautiful woman in his arms as he replied:

  “I never thought of that, sweetheart, and I wouldn’t have dared mention it if I had. You’re so far away from your family and your friends that it would seem.…”

  “It wouldn’t seem anything of the kind,” she broke in earnestly. “Don’t you see, you big, dense, wonderful man, that it is the only thing to do? We need each other, or at least, I need you, so much now.…”

  “Say ‘each other’; it’s right,” declared her lover with fervor.

  “It’s foolish to wait. Mother would like to have seen me married, of course; but there will be great advantages, even on that side. A grand wedding, of the kind we would simply have to have in Washington, doesn’t appeal to me any more than it does to you—and it would bore you to extinction. Dad would hate it, too—it’s better all around to be married here.”

  Seaton, who had been trying to speak, silenced her.

 
“I’m convinced, Dottie, have been ever since the first word. If you can see it that way I’m so glad that I can’t express it. I’ve been scared stiff every time I thought of our wedding. I’ll speak to the Karfedix the first thing in the morning, and we’ll be married tomorrow—or rather today, since it is past the zero kam,” as he glanced at the chronometer upon his wrist, which, driven by wireless impulses from the master-clock in the national observatory, was clicking off the darkamo with an almost inaudible purr of its smoothly-revolving segments.

  “How would it be to wake him up and have it done now?”

  “Oh, Dick, be reasonable! That would never do. Tomorrow will be most awfully sudden, as it is! And Dick, please speak to Martin, will you? Peggy’s even more scared than I am, and Martin, the dear old stupid, is even less likely to suggest such a thing as this kind of a wedding than you are. Peggy’s afraid to suggest it to him.”

  “Woman!” he said in mock sternness, “Is this a put-up job?”

  “It certainly is. Did you think I had nerve enough to do it without help?”

  Seaton turned and opened the door.

  “Mart! Bring Peggy over here!” he called, as he led Dorothy back into the girls’ room.

  “Heavens, Dick, be careful! You’ll spoil the whole thing!”

  “No, I won’t. Leave it to me—I bashfully admit that I’m a regular bear-cat at this diplomatic stuff. Watch my smoke!”

  “Folks,” he said, when the four were together, “Dottie and I have been talking things over, and we’ve decided that today’s the best possible date for a wedding. Dottie’s afraid of these long, daylight nights, and I admit that I’d sleep a lot sounder if I knew where she was all the time instead of only part of it. She says she’s willing, provided you folks see it the same way and make it double. How about it?”

  Margaret blushed furiously and Crane’s lean, handsome face assumed a darker color as he replied:

  “A marriage here would, of course, be legal anywhere, provided we have a certificate, and we could be married again upon our return if we think it desirable. It might look as though we were taking an unfair advantage of the girls, Dick, but considering all the circumstances, I think it would be the best thing for everyone concerned.”

  He saw the supreme joy in Margaret’s eyes, and his own assumed a new light as he drew her into the hollow of his arm.

  “Peggy has known me only a short time, but nothing else in the world is as certain as our love. It is the bride’s privilege to set the date, so I will only say that it cannot be too soon for me.”

  “The sooner the better,” said Margaret, with a blush that would have been divine in any earthly light, “did you say ‘today,’ Dick?”

  “I’ll see the Karfedix as soon as he gets up,” he answered, and walked with Dorothy to his door.

  “I’m just too supremely happy for words,” Dorothy whispered in Seaton’s ear as he bade her good-night. “I won’t be able to sleep or anything!”

  CHAPTER XVI.

  An Osnomian Marriage

  Seaton awoke, hot and uncomfortable, but with a great surge of joy in his heart—this was his wedding day! Springing from the bed, he released the full stream of the “cold” water, filling the tank in a few moments. Poising lightly upon the edge, he made a clean, sharp dive, and yelled in surprise as he came snorting to the surface. For Dunark had made good his promise—the water was only a few degrees above the freezing point! After a few minutes of vigorous splashing in the icy water, he rubbed himself down with a coarse towel, shaved, threw on his clothes, and lifted his powerful, but musical, bass voice in the wedding chorus from “The Rose Maiden.”

  “Rise, sweet maid, arise, arise,

  Rise, sweet maid, arise, arise,

  ’Tis the last fair morning for thy maiden eyes,”

  he sang lustily, out of his sheer joy in being alive, and was surprised to hear Dorothy’s clear soprano, Margaret’s pleasing contralto, and Crane’s mellow tenor chime in from the adjoining room. Crane threw open the door and Seaton joined the others.

  “Good morning. Dick, you sound happy,” said Crane.

  “Who wouldn’t be? Look what’s doing today,” as he ardently embraced his bride-to-be. “Besides, I found some cold water this morning.”

  “Everyone in the palace heard you discovering it,” dryly returned Crane, and the girls laughed merrily.

  “It surprised me at first,” admitted Seaton, “but it’s great after a fellow once gets wet.”

  “We warmed ours a trifle,” said Dorothy. “I like a cold bath myself, but not in ice-water.”

  All four became silent, thinking of the coming event of the day, until Crane said:

  “They have ministers here, I know, and I know something of their religion, but my knowledge is rather vague. You know more about it than we do, Dick, suppose you tell us about it while we wait.”

  Seaton paused a moment, with an odd look on his face. As one turning the pages of an unfamiliar book of reference, he was seeking the answer to Crane’s question in the vast store of Osnomian information received from Dunark. His usually ready speech came a little slowly.

  “Well, as nearly as I can explain it, it’s a funny kind of a mixture—partly theology, partly Darwinism, or at least, making a fetish of evolution, and partly pure economic determinism. They believe in a Supreme Being, whom they call the First Cause—that is the nearest English equivalent—and they recognize the existence of an immortal and unknowable life-principle, or soul. They believe that the First Cause has decreed the survival of the fittest as the fundamental law, which belief accounts for their perfect physiques.…”

  “Perfect physiques? Why, they’re as weak as children,” interrupted Dorothy.

  “Yes, but that is because of the smallness of the planet,” returned Seaton. “You see, a man of my size weighs only eighty-six pounds here, on a spring balance, so he would need only the muscular development of a boy of twelve or so. In a contest of strength, either of you girls could easily handle two of the strongest men upon Osnome. In fact, the average Osnomian could stand up on our Earth only with the greatest difficulty. But that isn’t the fault of the people; they are magnificently developed for their surroundings. They have attained this condition by centuries of weeding out the unfit. They have no hospitals for the feeble-minded or feeble-bodied—abnormal persons are not allowed to live. The same reasoning accounts for their perfect cleanliness, moral and physical. Vice is practically unknown. They believe that clean living and clean thinking are rewarded by the production of a better physical and mental type.…”

  “Yes, especially as they correct wrong living by those terrible punishments the Kofedix told us about,” interrupted Margaret.

  “That probably helps some. They also believe that the higher the type is, the faster will evolution proceed, and the sooner will mankind reach what they call the Ultimate Goal, and know all things. Believing as they do that the fittest must survive, and thinking themselves, of course, the superior type, it is ordained that Mardonale must be destroyed utterly, root and branch. They believe that the slaves are so low in the scale, millions of years behind in evolution, that they do not count. Slaves are simply intelligent and docile animals, little more than horses or oxen. Mardonalians and savages are unfit to survive and must be exterminated.

  “Their ministers are chosen from the very fittest. They are the strongest, cleanest-living, and most vigorous men of this clean and vigorous nation, and are usually high army officers as well as ministers.”

  * * * *

  An attendant announced the coming of the Karfedix and his son, to pay the call of state. After the ceremonious greetings had been exchanged, all went into the dining hall for darprat. As soon as the meal was over, Seaton brought up the question of the double wedding that kokam, and the Karfedix was overjoyed.

  “Karfedix Seaton,” he said earnestly, “nothing could please us more than to have such a ceremony performed in our palace. Marriage between such highly-evolved persons as
are you four is wished by the First Cause, whose servants we are. Aside from that, it is an unheard-of honor for any ruler to have even one karfedix married beneath his roof, and you are granting me the privilege of two! I thank you, and assure you that we will do our poor best to make the occasion memorable.”

  “Don’t do anything fancy,” said Seaton hastily. “A simple, plain wedding will do.”

  Unheeding Seaton’s remark, the Karfedix took his wireless from its hook at his belt and sent a brief message.

  “I have summoned Karbix Tarnan to perform the ceremony. Our usual time for ceremonies is just before koprat—is that time satisfactory to you?”

  Assured that it was, he turned to his son.

  “Dunark, you are more familiar than I with the customs of our illustrious visitors. May I ask you to take charge of the details?”

  While Dunark sent a rapid succession of messages, Dorothy whispered to Seaton:

  “They must be going to make a real function of our double wedding, Dick. The Karbix is the highest dignitary of the church, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, in addition to being the Commander-in-Chief of all the Kondalian armies. Next to the Karfedix he is the most powerful man in the empire. Something tells me, Dottie, that this is going to be SOME ceremony!”

  As Dunark finished telegraphing, Seaton turned to him.

  “Dorothy said, a while ago, that she would like to have enough of that tapestry-fabric for a dress. Do you suppose it could be managed?”

  “Certainly. In all state ceremonials we always wear robes made out of the same fabric as the tapestries, but much finer and more delicate. I would have suggested it, but thought perhaps the ladies would prefer their usual clothing. I know that you two men do not care to wear our robes?”

  “We will wear white ducks, the dressiest and coolest things we have along,” replied Seaton. “Thank you for your offer, but you know how it is. We should feel out of place in such gorgeous dress.”