Image of the Gods

by Alan Edward Nourse

marksof carving tools. They had brought food--what kind of food nobody knew,for the colony's food had been destroyed by the first blast of thehurricane--but whatever it was it had kept them alive. And somehow, thecolonists had survived the winter which seemed never to end. There werefrozen legs and ruined eyes; there was pneumonia so swift and virulentthat even the antibiotics they managed to salvage could not stop it;there was near-starvation--but they were kept alive, until the windsbegan to die, and they walked out of their holes in the ground to seethe ruins of their first village.

  From that winter on, nobody considered the Dusties funny any more. Whathad motivated them no one knew, but the colony owed them their lives.The Dusties tried to help the people rebuild. They showed them how tobuild windshields that would keep houses intact and anchored to theground when the winds came again. They built little furnaces out of dirtand rock which defied the winds and gave great heat. They showed thecolonists a dozen things they needed to know for life on the ruggedplanet. The colonists in turn tried to teach the Dusties something aboutEarth, and how the colonists had lived, and why they had come. But therewas a barrier of intelligence that could not be crossed. The Dustieslearned simple things, but only slowly and imperfectly. They seemedcontent to take on their mock overseer's role, moving in and about thevillage, approving or disapproving, but always trying to help. Somebecame personal pets, though "pet" was the wrong word, because it wasmore of a strange personal friendship limited by utter lack ofcommunication, than any animal-and-master relationship. The colonistsmade sure that the Dusties were granted the respect due them as rightfulmasters of Baron IV. And somehow the Dusties perceived this attitude,and were so grateful for the acceptance and friendship that there seemednothing they wouldn't do for the colonists.

  There had been many discussions about them. "You'd think they'd resentour moving in on them," Jack Mario had said one day. "After all, we_are_ usurpers. And they treat us like kings. Have you noticed the waythey mimic us? I saw one chewing tobacco the other day. He hated thestuff, but he chewed away, and spat like a trooper."

  One of the Dusties had been sitting on Pete's knee when Captain Vargahad been talking, and he had known that something terrible was wrong.Now he sat on the desk in the office, moving uneasily back and forth asPete looked up at Mario's dark face, and then across at John Tegan andMel Dorfman. John's face was dark with anger as he ran his fingersthrough the heavy gray beard that fell to his chest. Mel sat stunned,shaking his head helplessly. Mario was unable to restrain himself. Hisface was bitter as he stomped across the room, then returned to shakehis fist under Pete's nose. "But did you see him?" he choked. "Governorof the colony! What does he know about growing _taaro_ in this kind ofsoil? Did you see those hands? Soft, dainty, pink! How could a man withhands like that govern a colony?"

  Pete looked over at John Tegan. "Well, John?"

  The big man looked up, his eyes hollow under craggy brows. "It's belowthe belt, Pete. But if the government's been overthrown, then thecaptain is right. It leaves us out on a limb."

  Pete shook his head. "_I_ can't give him an answer," he said. "Theanswer has got to come from the colony. All I can do is speak for thecolony."

  Tegan stared at the floor. "We're an Earth colony," he said softly. "Iknow that. I was born in New York. I lived there for many years. ButEarth isn't my home any more. This is." He looked at Pete. "I built it,and so did you. All of us built it, even when things were getting stormyback home. Maybe that's why we came, maybe somehow we saw thehandwriting on the wall."

  "But when did it happen?" Mel burst out suddenly. "How could _anything_so big happen so fast?"

  "Speed was the secret," Pete said gloomily. "It was quick, it was wellorganized, and the government was unstable. We're just caught in theedge of it. Pity the ones living there, now. But the new governmentconsiders the colonies as areas for exploitation instead ofdevelopment."

  "Well, they can't do it," Mario cried. "This is _our_ land, _our_ home.Nobody can tell us what to grow in our fields."

  Pete's fist slammed down on the desk. "Well, how are you going to stopthem? The law of the land is sitting out there in that ship. Tomorrowmorning he's coming back here to install his fat little friend asgovernor. He has guns and soldiers on that ship to back him up. What areyou going to do about it?"

  "Fight it," Mario said.

  "How?"

  Jack Mario looked around the room. "There are only a dozen men on thatship," he said softly. "We've got seventy-four. When Varga comes back tothe village tomorrow, we tell him to take his friend back to the shipand shove off. We give him five minutes to get turned around, and if hedoesn't, we start shooting."

  "Just one little thing," said Pete quietly. "What about the supplies?Even if we fought them off and won, what about the food, the clothing,the replacement parts for the machines?"

  "We don't need machinery to farm this land," said Mario eagerly."There's food here, food we can live on; the Dusties showed us that thefirst winter. And we can farm the land for our own use and let themachinery rust. There's nothing they can bring us from Earth that wecan't do without."

  "We couldn't get away with it!" Mel Dorfman shook his head bitterly."You're asking us to cut ourselves off from Earth completely. But they'dnever let us. They'd send ships to bomb us out."

  "We could hide, and rebuild after they had finished."

  Pete Farnam sighed. "They'd never leave us alone, Jack. Didn't you seethat captain? His kind of mind can't stand opposition. We'd just be athorn in the side of the new Earth Government. They don't want _any_free colonies."

  "Well, let's give them one." Mario sat down tiredly, snapping hisfingers at the Dustie. "Furs!" he snarled. He looked up, his dark eyesburning. "It's no good, Pete. We can't let them get away with it.Produce for them, yes. Try to raise the yield for them, yes. But not agovernor. If they insist on that we can throw them out, and keep themout."

  "I don't think so. They'd kill every one of us first."

  John Tegan sat up, and looked Pete Farnam straight in the eye. "In thatcase, Peter, it might just be better if they did."

  Pete stared at him for a moment and slowly stood up. "All right," hesaid. "Call a general colony meeting. We'll see what the women think.Then we'll make our plans."

  * * * * *

  The ship's jeep skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust. Captain Vargapeered through the windshield. Then he stood up, staring at the threemen blocking the road at the edge of the village. The little pink-facedman at his side turned white when he saw their faces, and his fingersbegan to tremble. Each of the men had a gun.

  "You'd better clear the road," the captain snapped. "We're drivingthrough."

  Pete Farnam stepped forward. He pointed to Nathan. "Take your friendthere back to the ship. Leave him there. We don't want him here."

  Nathan turned to Varga. "I told you," he said viciously. "Too big fortheir boots. Go on through."

  The captain laughed and gunned the motor, started straight for the menblocking the road. Then Jack Mario shot a hole in his front tire. Thejeep lurched to a stop. Captain Varga stood up, glaring at the men."Farnam, step out here," he said.

  "You heard us," Pete said, without moving. "Crops, yes. We'll try toincrease our yield. But no overseer. Leave him here and we'll kill him."

  "Once more," said the captain, "clear the way. This man is your newgovernor. He will be regarded as the official agent of the EarthGovernment until the final production capacity of this colony isdetermined. Now clear out."

  The men didn't move. Without another word, the captain threw the jeepinto reverse, jerked back in a curve, and started the jeep, flat tireand all, back toward the ship in a billow of dust.

  Abruptly the village exploded into activity. Four men took up placesbehind the row of windbreaks beyond the first row of cabins. Pete turnedand ran back into the village. He found John Tegan commandeering asquad of ten dirty-faced men. "Are the women and children all out?" heshouted.

  "All taken care of." Tegan spat
tobacco juice, and wiped his mouth withthe back of his hand.

  "Where's Mel?"

  "Left flank. He'll try to move in behind them. Gonna be tough, Pete,they've got good weapons."

  "What about the boys last night?"

  John was checking the bolt on his ancient rifle. "Hank and Ringo? Justgot back an hour ago. If Varga wants to get his surface planes intoaction, he's