E.E. 'Doc' Smith SF Gateway Omnibus: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, Skylark DuQuesne

by E. E. 'Doc' Smith

  ‘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 three other voices – soprano, contralto, and tenor – continue the song from the adjoining room. He opened the door.

  ‘Good morning, Dick, you sounded happy,’ Crane said.

  ‘So did you all, but who wouldn’t be? Look what today is!’ He embraced Dorothy ardently. ‘Besides, I found some cold water this morning.’

  ‘Everybody within a mile heard you discover it,’ Dorothy giggled. ‘We warmed ours up a little. I like a cold bath, too, but not in ice-water. B-r-r-r!’

  ‘But I didn’t know you two boys could sing,’ Margaret said.

  ‘We can’t,’ Seaton assured her. ‘We just barber-shop it now and then, for fun. But it sounded as though you can really sing.’

  ‘I’ll say she can sing!’ Dorothy exclaimed. ‘I didn’t know it ‘til just now, but she’s soprano soloist in the First Episcopal, no less!’

  ‘Whee!’ Seaton whistled. ‘If she can stand the strain, we’ll have to give this quartet a workout some day – when there’s nobody around.’

  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 vague. You know more about it than we do, Dick – tell us about it while we wait.’

  Seaton paused a moment, 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. He spoke slower than usual, and used much better English, when he replied.

  ‘As well as I can explain it, it’s a very peculiar mixture, partly theology, partly Darwinian evolution or its Osnomian equivalent, and partly pure pragmatism or economic determinism. They believe in a supreme being, the First Cause being its nearest English equivalent. They recognize the existence of an immortal and unknowable life-principle, or soul. They believe that the First Cause has laid down 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!’ Dorothy exclaimed.

  ‘That’s because of the low gravity,’ Seaton explained. ‘You see, a man of my size weighs only about eighty-six pounds here, on a spring balance, so he wouldn’t need any more muscle than a boy of twelve or so on Earth. Either one of you girls could easily handle any two of the strongest men on Osnome. It’d probably take all the strength Dunark has, just to stand up on Earth.

  ‘Considering that fact, they are magnificently developed. They have attained this state by centuries of weeding out the unfit. They have no hospitals for the feeble-minded or the feeble-bodied; all such are executed. The same reasoning accounts for their cleanliness, physical and moral – vice is practically unknown. Clean thinking and clean living are rewarded by the production of a better mental and physical type …’

  ‘Especially since they correct wrong living by those terrible punishments Dunark told us about,’ Margaret put in.

  ‘Perhaps, although the point is debatable. They also believe that the higher the type, the faster the evolution 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 of course thinking themselves the superior type, it is ordained that Mardonale must be destroyed utterly, root and branch.

  ‘Their ministers are chosen from the very fittest, next to the royal family, which is, and must remain, tops. If it doesn’t, it ceases to be the royal family and a fitter family takes over. Anyway, the ministers are strong, vigorous, and clean, and are almost always high army officers as well as ministers.’

  An attendant announced the coming of the emperor and his son, to pay the call of state; and, after the ceremonious greetings had been exchanged, all went into the dining-hall for first-meal. After eating, Seaton brought up the question of the double wedding. The emperor was overjoyed.

  ‘Karfedix Seaton, 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 demanded by the First Cause, whose servants we all are. Aside from that, it is an unheard-of honor for any ruler to have even one other karfedix married under his roof, and you are granting me the honor of two! I thank you, and assure you that we will do our best to make the occasion memorable.’

  ‘Nothing fancy, please,’ Seaton said. ‘Just a simple, plain wedding will do very nicely.’

  ‘I will summon Karbix Tarnan to perform the ceremony,’ Roban said, paying no attention to Seaton’s remark. ‘Our customary time for ceremonies is just before fourth-meal. Is that time satisfactory to all concerned?’

  It was entirely satisfactory.

  ‘Dunark, since you are more familiar than I with the customs of our illustrious visitors, you will take charge.’ Emperor Roban strode out of the room.

  Dunark took up his microphone and sent out call after call after call.

  Dorothy’s eyes sparkled. ‘They must be going to make a production out of our weddings, Dick – the Karbix is the highest dignitary of the church, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, as well as being commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of Kondal. Next to Roban he’s the most powerful man in the whole empire. They’re going to throw a brawl, all right – it’ll make the biggest Washington wedding you ever saw look like some small fry’s birthday party. And how you’ll hate it!’

  ‘Uh-huh, I do already.’ She laughed rapturously. ‘I’ll cry bitter and salty tears all over the place – I don’t think. It’s you that will suffer – in silence, I hope?’

  ‘As silently as possible – check.’ He grinned; and she became, all of a sudden, serious.

  ‘I’ve always wanted a big wedding, Dick – but remember. I wanted to give it up and thought I had.’

  ‘I’ll remember that always, sweetheart. As I have said before and am about to say again, you’re a blinding flash and a deafening report – the universe’s best.’

  As Dunark finished his telephoning. Seaton spoke to him.

  ‘Dottie said, a while back, she’d like to have a few yards of that tapestry-fabric for a dress … but, say, she’s going to get one anyway, only finer and fancier.’

  ‘Just so,’ Dunark agreed. ‘In high state ceremonials we always wear robes of state. But you two men, for some reason or other, do not wish to wear them.’

  ‘We’ll wear white slacks and sport shirts. As you know – if you can find the knowledge – while the women of our race go in for ornamental dress, most of the men do not.’

  ‘True.’ Dunark frowned in perplexity. ‘Another one of those incomprehensible oddities. However, since your dress will be something no Kondalian has ever seen, it will actually be more resplendent than the robes of your brides.

  ‘I have called in our most expert weavers and tailors, to make the gowns. Before they arrive, let us discuss the ceremony and decide what it will be. You are all somewhat familiar with our customs, but on this I make very sure. Each couple is married twice. The first marriage is symbolized by the exchange of plain bracelets. This marriage lasts two years, during which period either may divorce the other by announcing the fact.’

  ‘Hmmm …’ Crane said. ‘Some very such system of trial marriage is advocated among us every few years, but they all so surely degenerate into free love that none has found a foothold.’

  ‘We have no such trouble. You see, before the first marriage each couple, from lowest to highest, is given a mental examination. Any person whose graphs show moral turpitude is shot.’

  No questions being asked, Dunark went on, ‘At the end of the two years the second marriage, which is indissoluble, is performed. Jeweled bracelets are substituted for the plain ones. In the case of highly-evolve
d persons, it is permitted that the two ceremonies be combined into one. Then there is a third ceremony, used only in the marriage of persons of the very highest evolution, in which eternal vows are taken and the faidon, the eternal jewel, is exchanged. I am virtually certain that all four of you are in the eternal class, but that isn’t enough. I must be absolutely certain. Hence, if either couple elects the eternal ceremony, I must examine that couple here and now. Otherwise, and should one of you be rejected by Tarnan, not only would my head roll, but my father would be intolerably disgraced.’

  ‘Huh? Why?’ Seaton demanded.

  ‘Because I am responsible,’ Dunark replied, quietly. ‘You heard my father give me the responsibility of seeing to it that your marriages, the first of their kind in Kondalian history, are carried out as they should be. If such a frightful thing as a rejection occurred it would be my fault. I would be decapitated, there and then, as an incompetent. My father would kill himself, because only an incompetent would delegate an important undertaking to an incompetent.’

  ‘What a code!’ Seaton whispered to Crane, under his breath. ‘What a code!’ Then, to Dunark, ‘But suppose you pass me and Tarnan doesn’t? Then what?’

  ‘That cannot possibly happen. Mind graphs do not lie and cannot possibly be falsified. However, there is no coercion. You are at perfect liberty to elect any one of the three marriages you choose. What is your choice?’

  ‘I want to be married for good, the longer the better. I vote for the eternal, Dunark. Bring out your test-kit.’

  ‘So do I, Dunark,’ Dorothy said, catching her breath.

  ‘One question first,’ Crane said. ‘Would that mean that my wife would be breaking her vows if she married again after my death?’

  ‘By no means. Young men are being killed every day; their wives are expected to marry again. Most men have more than one wife. Any number of men and women may be linked that way after death – just as in your chemistry varying numbers of atoms unite to form stable compounds.’

  Crane and Margaret agreed that they, too, wanted to be married forever.

  ‘In your case rings will be substituted for bracelets. After the ceremony you men may discard them if you like.’

  ‘Not me!’ Seaton declared. ‘I’ll wear them all the rest of my life,’ and Crane expressed the same thought.

  ‘The preliminary examination, then. Put on these helmets, please.’ He handed one each to Dorothy and Seaton, and donned one himself. He pressed a button, and instantly the two could read each other’s mind to the minutest detail; and each knew that Dunark was reading the minds of both. Moreover, he was studying minutely a device he held in both hands.

  ‘You two pass. I knew you would,’ he said, and, a couple of minutes later, he said the same thing to Crane and Margaret.

  ‘I was sure,’ Dunark said, ‘but in this case knowing it wasn’t enough. I had to prove it, incontrovertibly. But the robe-makers have been waiting. You two girls will go with them, please.’

  As the girls left Dunark said, ‘While I was in Mardonale I heard scraps of talk about a military discovery, besides the gas whose effects we felt. I heard also that both secrets had been stolen from Kondal. There was some gloating, in fact, that we were to be destroyed by our own inventions. I have learned here that what I heard was true.’

  ‘Well, that’s easily fixed,’ Seaton said. ‘Let’s get the Skylark fixed up and we’ll hop over there and jerk Nalboon out of his palace – if there is any palace and if he’s still alive – and read his mind. If not Nalboon, somebody else. Check?’

  ‘It’s worth trying, anyway,’ Dunark said. ‘In any event we must repair the Skylark and replenish her supply of copper as soon as possible.’

  The three men went out to the wrecked spaceship and went through it with care. Inside damage was extensive and serious; many instruments were broken, including one of the object-compasses focused upon Earth.

  ‘It’s a good thing you had three of ’em, Mart. I’ve got to hand it to you for using the old think-tank,’ Seaton said, as he tossed the useless equipment out upon the dock.

  ‘Better save them, Dick,’ Dunark said. ‘You may have use for them later.’

  ‘Uh-uh. All they’re good for is scrap.’

  ’Then I’ll save them. I may need that kind of scrap, some day.’ He issued orders that all discarded instruments and apparatus were to be stored.

  ‘Well, I suppose the first thing to do is to set up some hydraulic jacks and start straightening,’ Seaton said.

  ‘Why not throw away this soft stuff and build it of arenak?’ Dunark suggested. ‘You have plenty of salt?’

  ‘That’s really a thought. Yes, two years’ supply. Around a hundred pounds, at a guess.’

  Dunark’s eyes widened at the amount mentioned, in spite of his knowledge of Earthly conditions. He started to say something, then stopped in confusion, but Seaton knew his thought.

  ‘Sure, we can let you have thirty pounds or so; can’t we, Mart?’

  ‘Certainly. In view of what they are doing for us, I’d insist on it.’

  Dunark acknowledged the gift with shining eyes and heartfelt, but not profuse, thanks. He himself carried the precious stuff, escorted by a small army of commissioned officers, to the palace. He returned with a full construction crew; and, after making sure that the power-bar would work as well through arenak as through steel, he fired machine-gun-like instructions at the several foremen, then turned again to Seaton.

  ‘Just one more thing and the men can begin. How thick do you want the walls? Our battleships carry one inch. We can’t make it any thicker for lack of salt. But you have salt to give away; and, since we’re doing this by an exact-copy process, I’d suggest four feet, same as you have now, to save a lot of time in making drawings and redesigning your gun-mounts and so on.’

  ‘I see. Not that we’ll ever need it … but it would save a lot of time … and besides, we’re used to it. Go ahead.’

  Dunark issued more orders. Then, as the mechanics set to work without a useless motion, he stood silent, immersed in thought.

  ‘Worrying about Mardonale, Dunark?’

  ‘Yes. I can’t help thinking about that new weapon, whatever it is, that Nalboon now has.’

  ‘Why not build another ship, exactly like this one you’re building, with four feet of arenak, and simply blow Mardonale off the map?’

  ‘Building the ship would be easy enough, but X is completely unknown. In fact, as you know, it cannot exist here.’

  ‘You’d have to be ungodly careful with it, that’s sure. But we’ve got a lot of it – we can give you a chunk of it.’

  ‘I could not accept it. It isn’t like the salt.’

  ‘Sure it is. We can get a million tons of it any time we want it.’ He carried one of the lumps to the airlock and tossed it out upon the dock. ‘Take this nugget and get busy.’

  Seaton watched, entranced, as the Kondalian mechanics set to work with skills and with tools undreamed-of on Earth. The whole interior of the vessel was supported by a complex false-work; then the plates and members were cut away as though they were made of paper. The sphere, grooved for the repellors and with the columns and central machinery complete, was molded of a stiff, plastic substance. This soon hardened into a rock-like mass, into which all necessary openings were carefully cut.

  Then the structure was washed with a very dilute solution of salt, by special experts who took extreme pains not to lose or waste any fraction of a drop. Platinum plates were clamped into place and silver cables as large as a man’s leg were run to the terminals of a tight-beam power station. Current was applied and the mass became almost invisible, transformed into transparent arenak.

  Then indeed the Earth people had a vehicle such as had never been seen before. A four-foot shell of a substance five hundred times as strong and hard as the strongest and hardest steel, cast in one piece with the sustaining framework designed by the world’s foremost engineer – a structure that no conceivable force could injure
, housing inconceivable force!

  The false-work was removed. Columns, members, and braces were painted black, to render them plainly visible. The walls of the cabins were also painted, several areas being left transparent to serve as windows.

  The second period of work was drawing to a close, and Seaton and Crane both marveled at what had been accomplished.

  ‘Both vessels will be finished tomorrow, except for the instruments and so on for ours. Another crew will work during the sleeping-period, installing the guns and fittings.’

  Since the wedding was to be before fourth-meal, all three went back to the palace, Crane and Seaton to get dressed, Dunark to make sure that everything was as it should be.

  Seaton went into Crane’s room, accompanied by an attendant carrying his suitcase.

  ‘No dress suits – shame on you!’ Seaton chided. ‘I thought you’d thought of everything. You’re slipping, little chum.’

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ Crane agreed, equably. ‘You covered it very nicely, though. Congratulations on your quick thinking. Only Dunark will know that whites are not our most formal dress.’

  ‘And he won’t tell,’ Seaton said.

  Dunark came in some time later.

  ‘Give us a look,’ Seaton begged. ‘See if we pass inspection. I was never so rattled in my life; and the more I think about this brainstorm I had about wearing whites the less I think of it … but can’t think of anything else we’ve got that would look half as good.’

  They were clad in spotless white, from tennis shoes to open collars. The two tall figures – Crane’s slender, wiry, at perfect ease; Seaton’s, broad-shouldered, powerful, prowling about with unconscious suppleness and grace – and the two highbred faces, each wearing a look of keen anticipation, fully justified Dunark’s answer.

  ‘You’ll do, fellows, and I’m not just chomping my choppers either.’ With Seaton’s own impulsive good-will he shook hands with them both and wished them an eternity of happiness.

  ‘The next item on the agenda is for you to talk with your brides …’