The World Wreckers by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Author:Marion Zimmer Bradley [Bradley, Marion Zimmer]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Usernet, C429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780886776299
Publisher: DAW
Published: 1971-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 8

“THIS PLANET is wide open,” Regis repeated slowly, his eyes fixed on Linnea. “I should have guessed before. I’ve read enough Empire history - did I never tell you, when I was a boy, I wanted to go offworld, into space? - to know what worldwrecking is. I don’t know why I thought Darkover would be immune.”

Danilo Syrtis said, “I never trusted those Empire bastards.” His tense, young face was implacable. “Some of the mountain men had the right idea. Rise up and throw every one of the accursed Terrans right off our world, tear down the spaceport and sow the ground there with salt.”

“You’re a fool, bredú,” Regis said gently. “It’s not the Empire. They have played honestly with us and they have honored their commitments. If they wanted to open this world by force they could and would have done so three hundred years ago.”

“But who, then, Regis? If not the Terrans?” Linnea asked.

“All I can say to that is that it’s a big galaxy and there are I forget how many inhabited worlds,” Regis answered. “Talk about hunting for a nut in a forest! Even on one world, looking for one specific person - the facts of the matter are, Linnea, we don’t have the kind of centralized organization - ” he spoke in lingua franca, as the old Darkovan language had no such concepts or words - “to deal with this sort of thing. It’s war; and we’ve done away with war long since. Fights, yes. Feuds, yes. Raids, yes. I fought my first raid-battle before my beard sprouted, when Kennard Alton led us against Kadarin and his crew. But we do our fighting and our hating by ones and twos and tens. It just isn’t reasonable to hate large groups of people who have never harmed us personally, just because they’re there. It’s why we never really fought the idea of the Empire, although I don’t think most people really wanted a spaceport on Darkover. It’s a big world and there’s always room enough for every kind of idea; that was what we thought. We’ve learned a lot from the Terrans, and they’ve given us a great deal. And in return we’ve made our own impression on the Empire. But while that kind of thinking is the only sane kind in the long run, we’re looking at the short run now. And it’s conditioned us against thinking in terms of war. We’re a peaceful people, by and large, and we’re wide open to this kind of sabotage.”

“Do you mean there’s no way to stop it, then?” Linnea asked; and Danilo, clenching his fists, said, “We can fight if we have to.”

“I don’t mean that,” Regis said, “but we aren’t set up to handle it now. We have one hope, and that’s dying out.”

“And that is?”

“The old telepath technology of Darkover,” Regis said. “But we’re inbred, our fertility is going downhill, and we’re being killed at an appalling rate, as witness the attack tonight.

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