He shook his head in sympathy. Which, for Marc C. DuQuesne, was a rare gesture indeed. ‘I know. I couldn’t tell you what it would be like – no possible warning can be enough. But that’s the bare minimum you’ll have to start with, and it won’t take you very long to assimilate it all. Ready for some talk?’
‘Not only ready, I’m eager. First, though, I want to give you a vote of full confidence. I’m sure that you’ll succeed in everything you try from now on; even to becoming Emperor Marc the First of some empire.’
‘Huh? Where did you get that?’
‘By reading between the lines. Do you think I’m stupid, is that why you gave me all this?’
‘Okay. You’ve always known, as an empirical, non-germane fact, that the Earth and all it carries isn’t even a flyspeck in a galaxy, to say nothing of a universe; but now you know and really understand just how little it actually does amount to.’
She shuddered. ‘Yes. It’s … it’s appalling.’
‘Not when viewed in the proper perspective. I set out to rule Earth, yes; but after I began to learn something I lost that idea in a hurry. For a long time now I haven’t wanted Earth or any part of it. Its medical science is dedicated whole-heartedly to the deterioration of the human race by devoting its every effort to the preservation of the lives of the unfit. In Earth’s wars its best men – its best breeding stock – are killed. Earth simply is not worth saving even if it could be saved; which I doubt. Neither is Norlamin. Not because its conquest is at present impossible, but because the Norlaminians aren’t worth anything, either. All they do – all they can do – is think. They haven’t done anything constructive in their entire history and they never will. They’re such bred-in-the-bone pacifists – look at the way the damned sissies acted in this Chloran thing – that it is psychologically impossible for any one of them to pull a trigger. No; Sleemet had the right idea. And Ravindau – you have him in mind?’
‘Vividly. Preserve the race – in his way and on his terms.’
‘You’re a precisionist; that’s my idea exactly. To pick out a few hundred people – we won’t need many, as there are billions already where we’re going – as much as possible like us, and build a civilization that will be what a civilization ought to be.’
The girl gasped, but her eyes began to sparkle. ‘“In a distant galaxy”, as Ravindau said?’
‘Very distant. Clear out on the rim of this universe. The last galaxy out on the rim, in fact; five degrees east of Universal south.’
‘And you’ll be Emperor Marc the First after all. But you won’t live long enough to rule very much.’
‘You’re wrong, Steff. The ordinary people are already there, and it’s ridiculous for a sound and healthy body to deteriorate and die at a hundred. We’ll live ten or fifteen times that long, what with what I already know and the advances our medical science will make. Especially with the elimination of the unfit.’
‘Sterilization, you mean?’
‘No; death. Don’t go soft on me, girl. There will be no second-class citizens, at least in the upper stratum. Testing for that stratum will be by super-computer. Upper-stratum families will be fairly large.’
‘Families?’ she broke in. ‘You’ve come to realize, then, that the family is the sine qua non of civilization?’
‘I’ve always known that.’ Forestalling another interruption with a wave of his hand, he went on, ‘I know. I’ve never been a family man. On Earth or in our present cultures I would never become one. But skipping that for the moment, it’s your turn now.’
‘I like it.’ She thought in silence for a couple of minutes, then went on, ‘It must be an autocracy, of course, and you’re the man to make it work. The only flaw I can see is that even absolute authority can not make a dictated marriage either tolerable or productive. It automatically isn’t, on both counts.’
‘Who said anything about dictated marriage? Free choice within the upper stratum and by test the lower. With everybody good breeding stock, what difference will it make who marries whom?’
‘Oh. I see. That does it, of course. Contrary to all appearances, then, you actually do believe in love. The implication has been pellucidly clear all along that you expect—’
‘“Expect” is too strong a word. Make it that I’m “exploring the possibility of”. ’
‘I’ll accept that. You are exploring the possibility of me becoming your empress. From all the given premises, the only valid conclusion is that you love me. Check?’
‘The word “love” has so many and such tricky meanings that it is actually meaningless. Thus, I don’t know whether I love you or not, in your interpretation of the term. If it means to you that I will jump off a cliff or blow my brains out if you refuse, I don’t. Or that I’ll pine away and not marry a second best, I don’t. If, however, it means a lot of other things, I do. Whatever it means, will you marry me?’
‘Of course I will, Blackie. I’ve loved you a long time.’
If you’ve enjoyed this book and would like to read more great SF, you’ll find literally thousands of classic Science Fiction & Fantasy titles through the SF Gateway.
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Also by E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith
Skylark
1. The Skylark of Space (1928)
2. Skylark Three (1948)
3. Skylark of Valeron (1949)
4. Skylark DuQuesne (1966)
Lensman
1. Triplanetary (1934)*
2. First Lensman (1950)*
3. Galactic Patrol (1950)*
4. Gray Lensman (1951)*
5. Second Stage Lensmen (1953)*
6. Children of the Lens (1954)*
7. The Vortex Blaster (aka Masters of the Vortex) (1960)*
Subspace
1. Subspace Explorers (1965)
2. Subspace Encounter (1983)
Family D’Alembert (with Stephen Goldin)
1. Imperial Stars (1976)
2. Stranglers’ Moon (1976)
3. The Clockwork Traitor (1976)
4. Getaway World (1977)
5. Appointment at Bloodstar (aka The Bloodstar Conspiracy) (1978)
6. The Purity Plot (1978)
7. Planet of Treachery (1981)
8. Eclipsing Binaries (1983)
9. The Omicron Invasion (1984)
10. Revolt of the Galaxy (1985)
Lord Tedric (with Gordon Eklund)
1. Lord Tedric (1978)
2. The Space Pirates (1979)
3. Black Knight of the Iron Sphere (1979)
4. Alien Realms (1980)
Non-series novels and collections
1. Spacehounds of IPC (1947)
2. The Galaxy Primes (1965)
3. Masters of Space (1976) (with E. Everett Evans)
* Not available as an SF Gateway eBook
About the Author
E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith (1890–1965)
Edward Elmer Smith was born in Wisconsin in 1890. He attended the University of Idaho and graduated with degrees in chemical engineering; he went on to attain a PhD in the same subject, and spent his working life as a food engineer. Smith is best known for the ‘Skylark’ and ‘Lensman’ series of novels, which are arguably the earliest examples of what a modern audience would recognise as Space Opera. Early novels in both series were serialised in the dominant pulp magazines of the day: Argosy, Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories and a pre-Campbell Astounding, although his most successful works were published under Campbell’s editorship. Although he won no major SF awards, Smith was Guest of Honour at the second World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, in 1940. He died in 1965.
Copyright
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © The Estate of E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith 2013
The Skylark of Space copyright © The Estate of E.E. ‘Doc’ Sm
ith 1928
Skylark Three copyright © The Estate of E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith 1948
Skylark of Valeron copyright © The Estate of E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith 1949
Skylark DuQuesne copyright © The Estate of E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith 1966
Introduction copyright © SFE Ltd 2013
All rights reserved.
The right of E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2013 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 473 20184 2
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
www.orionbooks.co.uk
* Dorothy Seaton was highly averse to having the appearance of her living room ruined by office equipment. Seaton, however, was living and working under such high tension that he had to have almost instant access to the Valeron’s Brain, at any time of the day or night or wherever he might be. Hence this compromise – inconspicuous machines, each direct-connected to the cubic mile of ultra-miniaturization that was the Brain. E. E. S.
E.E. 'Doc' Smith SF Gateway Omnibus: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, Skylark DuQuesne Page 100