Shadows of Empire E-Book

Lester Del Rey

• Herausgeber: Wildside Press
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 33

Beschreibung

As the battalions of Earth withdraw from Mars, in the fading days of an interplanetary empire, puzzles remain. The V’nothi had disappeared before the Pyramids were put up, leaving only pictures of themselves in the ruins of Mars, looking like big, good-natured Vikings, complete to brawn and winged helmets. Archaeologists were still swearing every time they looked at those pictures and wondered what men on horseback were doing on Mars, and why no bones had ever been found.

But one person in the Battalion seems to know more than he should about the ancients of Mars...

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

SHADOWS OF EMPIRE, by Lester del Rey

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 1950 by Lester del Rey.

Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

Originally published in Future, July 1950.

Published by Wildside Press LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

SHADOWS OF EMPIRE,by Lester del Rey

We slipped out of the post while Mars’s sky was still harsh and black, and the morning was bitter with cold. Under us was the swish of the treads slapping the worn old sands, and from the lorries came the muttered grumbling of the men, still nursing their hangovers. The post was lost in the grayness behind us, and the town was just beginning to stir with life as we left it. But it was better that way; the Fifth had its orders back to Earth after ten generations outside, and the General wanted no civilian fuss over our going.

It had been enough, just hearing the click at the gate, and seeing the few pinch-faced, scared people along the streets as we passed. Most of us had been there well over ten years, and you can’t keep men segregated from the townspeople in the outposts. Well, they’d had their leave the night before, and now we were on our way; the less time spent thinking about going, the less chance for thoughts of desertion to ripen.

At that, two of the men had sneaked off into the wastelands with a sandtractor and lorry. I’d have liked to find them; after twenty years with the Service, things like that get under your skin. But we couldn’t wait for a week hunting them, when the Emperor had his seal on our orders.

Now a twist in the road showed the town in the dim dawn-light, with the mayor running up tardily and tripping over a scrap of a flag. And old Jake, the tavern-keeper, still stood among the empty boxes from which he’d tossed cartons of cigarettes to us as we went by. Lord knows how much we still owed him, but he’d been Service once himself, and I don’t think that was on his mind. Yeah, it was a good town, and we’d never forget it; but I was glad when the road twisted back and the rolling dunes cut it off from view. I’m just plain people myself, not one of your steel-and-ice nobility like the General.

And that was why I was still only a Sergeant Major, even though I had to take second command nowadays. In the old times, of course. they’d have sent out young nobles to take over, with proper title, but I guess they liked it better back on Earth now. For that matter, we’d had few enough replacements in my time, except those we’d recruited ourselves from the town and country around. But what the hell—we managed. The Fifth lacked a few men and some fancy brass, but I never heard a marauding Torrakh laugh over it, even after bad fuel grounded our last helicopter.

Now the little red sun came up to a point where we could turn the heaters off our aspirators. We were passing through a pleasant enough country, little farms and canal-berry orchards. The farm folk must have figured we were out on a raid again, because they only waved at us and went on with their work; the thick-wooled sheep went on bleating at themselves with no interest in us. Behind me, someone struck up a halfhearted marching song on an old lectrozith, and the men picked it up.

That was better. I sighed to myself, found one of my legs had gone to sleep, and nursed the prickles out of it while the miles slipped behind, and the hamlets and farms began to thin out. In a little while we were reaching the outskirts of the northern desert, and the caterpillar tracks settled down to a steady sifting slap that’s music to a man’s ears. We ate lunch out of our packs while the red dunes rolled on endlessly in front of us.