Th House of Lords by Jack Vance

Author:Jack Vance [Vance, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi Short Story
Publisher: Saturn Science Fiction and Fantasy
Published: 1957-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

THE HOUSE Lords strolled back through the garden, talking quietly together. Emerson and Cope followed, half angry, half sheepish. “This is fantastic,” Emerson muttered. “Snubbed by the aristocracy half an hour after we arrive.” “I guess we’ll have to put up with it,” said Cope. “They know things we’ve never even thought of. That black bubble, for instance.”

The boy and girl reached the wall of the palace. Without hesitation they walked through the glistening surface. The young man and woman followed. When Emerson and Cope reached the wall, it was solid, super-normally cold. They felt along the smooth surface, pushing, groping in exasperation.

The boy came back through the wall. “Are you coming in?” “We’d like to,” said Emerson.

“That’s solid there.” The boy watched them in amusement. “Can’t you tell where it’s permeable?”

“No,” said Emerson. “Neither can the Wild Men,” said the boy. He pointed. “Go through there.”

Emerson and Cope passed through, and the wall felt like a thin film of cool water.

They stood on a dull blue floor, with silver filaments tracing a looped pattern. The walls rose high all around them. A hundred feet above, bars of black substance protruded from shallow ledges, and the air around the tips seemed to quiver, like the air over a hot road.

There was no furniture in the room, no trace of human habitation.

“Come,” said the boy. He crossed the room, walked through the wall opposite. Emerson and Cope followed. “I hope we can find our way out,” said Cope. “I wouldn’t want to climb these walls.”

They stood in a hall similar to the first, but with a floor of resilient white stuff. Their bodies felt light, their steps took them farther than they expected. The young man and woman were waiting for them. The boy had stepped back through the wall; the girl was nowhere in sight.

“We can stay with you a moment or two,” said the young man. “Our servants are gone; the house is quiet. Perhaps you’d care to eat?” Without waiting for response he reached forward. His hands disappeared into nowhere. He drew them back, pulling forth a rack supporting trays and bowls of foodstuffs—wedges of red jelly, tall white cones, black wafers, small green globular fruits, flagons containing .liquids of various colors.

“You may eat,” said the young woman, motioning with her hand.

“Thank you,” said Emerson. He and Cope gingerly sampled the food. It was strange and rich, and tingled in the mouth like carbonated water.

“Where does this food come from?” asked Emerson. “How can you pull it out of the air like that?”

The young House Lord looked at his hands. “The servants put it there.”

“Where do the servants get it?”

The young man shrugged. “Why should we trouble ourselves, as long as it’s there?”

Cope asked quizzically, “What would you do if your servants left you?”

“Such a thing could never happen.”

“I’d like to see your servants,” said Emerson.

“They’re not here now.” The young man removed his head-gear, tucked it into an invisible niche. “Tell us about this ‘Earth’ of yours.”

“It’s a planet like this one,” said Emerson, “although men and women live much differently.

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