Children of the Lens by E. E. "doc" Smith

Author:E. E. "doc" Smith [Smith, E. E. "doc"]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, War, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780586038475
Google: AVrlQwAACAAJ
Amazon: B0017KWUT6
Goodreads: 1052185
Publisher: Panther Books
Published: 1947-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

"What the hell kind of planet is this, anyway?" he demanded, hotly. "I come here

to see this louse Harkleroy because a friend of mine tells me he's a big shot and

interested enough in my line so we can do a lot of business. I give the lug fair warning,

too—tell him plain I've been around plenty and if he tries to give me the works I'll rub

him out like a pencil mark. So what happens? In spite of what I just tell him he tries dirty

work and I knock hell out of him, which he certainly has got coming to him. Then you

and your flock of little tin boats come barging in like I'd busted a law or something. Who

do you think you are, anyway? What license you got to stick your beak into private

business?"

"Ah, I had not heard that version." Vision came on; the face upon the plate was

typically Kalonian—blue, cold, cruel, and keen. "Harkleroy was warned, you say?

Definitely?"

"Plenty definitely. Ask any of the zwilniks in that private office of his.

They're

mostly alive and they all must of heard it."

The plate fogged, the speaker again gave out gibberish. The Lensman knew, however, that the commander of the forces above them was indeed questioning the dead zwilnik's guards. They knew that Kinnison's story was being corroborated in full.

"You interest me." The Boskonian's language again became intelligible to the

group at large. "We will forget Harkleroy—stupidity brings its own reward and the

property damage is of no present concern. From what I have been able to learn of you,

you have never belonged to that so-called Civilization. I know for a fact that you are not,

and never have been, one of us. How have you been able to survive? And why do you

work alone?"

" 'How' is easy enough—by keeping one jump ahead of the other guy, like I did

with your pal here, and by being smart enough to have good engineers put into my ship

everything that any other one ever had and everything they could dream up besides. As

to 'why', that's simple, too. I don't trust nobody. If nobody knows what I'm going to do,

nobody's going to stick a knife into me when I ain't looking— see? So far, it's paid off

big. I'm • still around and still healthy. Them that trusted other guys ain't."

"I see. Crude, but graphic. The more I study you, the more convinced I become

that you make a worth-while addition to our force . . ."

"No deal, Mendonai," Kinnison interrupted, shaking his unkempt head positively.

"I never yet took no orders from no damn boss, and I ain't going to."

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