Read Online Hunt the Space-Witch! by Robert Silverberg - Free Book Online Page B

pawn, but to these people he was a ruler. He could not leave now. These people were savages, and needed guidance. The great computer was theirs to use—but they might never learn to use it.
    He turned to the robot. “The job is not done,” he said. “It’s just beginning.” He managed a tired smile and said, “I’m staying here.”

Spawn of the Deadly Sea

Chapter One
    The Sea-Lord ship was but a blurred dot on the horizon, a tiny squib of color against the endless roiling green of the mighty sea. It would be a long time before the men of the sea would draw into the harbor of Vythain—yet the people of the floating city were already congealed with terror.
    The whisper shuddered through the city: “The Sea-Lords come! ” Old Lackthan in the spy-tower saw the black sails first, and relayed the word down to those below. “The Sea-Lords come! ”
    In the streets of the city, life froze suddenly. The purchasing offish and the scraping of scales ceased, the writing of books and the making of songs. The Sea-Lords were making their way across the panthalassa, the great sea that covered the world, heading for Vythain to collect their annual tribute.
    The hundred thousand people of Vythain awaited their coming with fear. One— one —stood on the concrete pier, down where the oily slick of the sea licked angrily against the base of the floating city, and stared outward with open, unashamed curiosity.
    For Dovirr Stargan, this was a long-awaited day. He was eighteen, now; tall and broad and with the strength of a young shark. Looking out across the darkness of the sea, he scowled impatiently as the Sea-Lord vessel slowly crawled toward Vythain.
    From somewhere above came three shrill trumpet-blasts. Dovirr glanced up. At the parapet atop the sweeping flat face of the Council House, Councilman Morgrun was giving the warning.
    â€œThe Sea-Lords approach! Remain in your houses, make no attempt at resistance while the tribute is being delivered. They will not harm us if we do not give them cause.”
    Morgrun’s words rolled out over the amplifiers left behind by the Dhuchay’y , the long-forgotten, long-departed conquerors of abandoned Terra. And down by the pier, Dovirr spat angrily. Craven! he thought.
    â€œThe piers are to be cleared!” Morgrun ordered, and the amplifiers roared out his voice. Dovirr realized that the Councilman’s words were aimed directly at him; all the sensible citizens of the floating city were long since snug in their cozy nests, huddling till the men of the sea had snatched their loot and gone on.
    Dovirr turned, saw a swarthy red-clad officer come running toward him. He recognized the man: young Lackresh, son of Vythain’s lookout.
    â€œDovirr, you madman! Get off the pier before the Sea-Lords arrive!”
    â€œI’m staying here, Lackresh. I want to see what they’re like.”
    â€œThey’ll kill you, idiot! Come on—I have my orders.” Lackresh brandished a neuron-whip—another legacy from the Dhuchay’y conquerors of old. “Get up to your place, fast!”
    â€œSuppose I don’t go?”
    Sweat poured down Lackresh’s face. Life was peaceful, here in Vythain; a policeman really had little to do amid the everlasting calm—the calm Dovirr hated so violently. “If you don’t go—if you don’t go—”
    â€œYes?”
    The Sea-Lord ship was near the harbor now, and drawing nearer rapidly. Lackresh’s wavering hand unsteadily grasped the compact neuron-whip. Looking at Dovirr with blank lack of comprehension on his face, he said: “Why don’t you act like a normal person, Dovirr?”
    Dovirr laughed harshly. “You’ll never get anywhere reasoning with me, you know. You’d better use force.”
    Lackresh’s lower lip trembled. He raised the neuron-whip and said uneasily, “All right. I’m ordering you to return to