Slaves of the Metal Horde by Milton Lesser

Author:Milton Lesser [Lesser, Milton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Imagination Science Fiction magazine
Published: 1954-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

“What do you think, Diane?”

“Don’t speak to me. I think it was a dirty trick, but I should have expected it from you. And you let Tom Burwood die, too.”

I couldn’t do anything about that,” Starbuck protested. “I tried.

By the time I got through to them, Burwood was already dead. As it is, I saved your life.”

“For this?” Diane gestured around her scornfully, to take in the tiny cubicle aboard the rocket which they occupied. After depositing them within it ten minutes before, the Robots had ignored them.

“I’m surprised at you. Have some patience, Diane. Someday you’ll be grateful I took you along. You’re young, you have no idea what life could be like in a civilized place.”

“Do you? How do you know how the Robots treat people?”

“I have heard rumors. We all have. But I’m older than I look. I was a small boy before the war, Diane. But I remember, I remember. The luxuries, the comforts. You’ll see.”

“I ought to kill you,” Diane said coldly. Starbuck blanched. “I might, too, first chance I get. You’re so self-centered, you’re almost inhuman. But maybe I’m dumb enough to think you’ll realize your mistake someday and two of us will have a better chance of getting away than one. I don’t know. I ought to kill you, though.”

“I did it for you. I wanted you with me. I couldn’t enjoy the life we’re going to lead without you.”

“You’re a fool, Harry. I can’t even hate you. I feel sorry for you. What do the Robots do from day to day? You don’t even know that. You haven’t the slightest idea what you’ve let us in for. You don’t even know for sure where we’re going.”

Starbuck shook his head. “You’re wrong about that. We’re going to the Citadel in New York. We should be arriving in a few minutes. You’ll change your mind, Diane. Wait until you see the Citadel. Wait until—”

“You’ve never seen it. You’re just guessing.”

“It’s more than a guess. Every rumor I have ever heard. Diane, I want you to share it with me, to learn to love it with me. You’re beautiful. You weren’t meant for buckskins,” Starbuck fingered the tattered clothing barely covering her torso.

“Keep away from me.”

“Don’t you realize it’s just the two of us now—and the Robots?”

“I’m warning you.”

Starbuck shrugged and sat down at the other side of the small cubicle. “You’re frightened now,” he said. “I’ve got patience, if you haven’t. Wait and see how the Robots will provide for us.”

Diane shuddered and tried to hide it. Trapped aboard a ship full of Robots, she was companion to a madman. Strangely, no thought could comfort her but the image of Johnny Hope, somewhere many miles behind them, a prisoner of Keleher and the band of Shining Ones. Perhaps, she thought grimly, the madman had for company a madwoman . . .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.